#if not to sale to at least have for my own because it's silly!! very silly!! either that or I'm gonna make him as stickers so Kyle can just

[mbirnsings-71]

@pup-pee I know you have notifications on now but like hands you Magical girl Kyle!!!! He's done!! :D!!!

Magical Girl Guy can be found here!

(Transparent version under the cut because I like using that feature!!)

[skylermadness]

Cosmic Adoration (Ophion TF/PMC)

(Original Date of Upload: February 14, 2024)

Hey look, I'm uploading something in the same day it gets uploaded on my other accounts. Woah.

Original Description:

Happy Valentine's Day! I've sort of become infrequent when it comes to holiday-themed TFs, but this was actually a story I've wanted to write out for a long time! Quite literally since I started writing it back in January of last year before getting burnt out and never finishing it... until now, anyway. Now I have it done and I can upload it publicly for all to see! I'm quite proud of how this turned out. I typically don't deal in PMC but I feel like that would have been the best route to take this story, and full MC would have tarnished what little themes I was trying to convey with this.  I don't think I have much commentary besides all of that though. I guess I could mention there was going to be a reality change segment in the furthest end of the post-TF, but with how I led that segment of the story along I couldn't really fit it in without it feeling needless and awkward.

   Valentine's Day.

   Initially the very concept of the holiday had eluded Hugo for a good chunk of his life. This had mainly been because he had trouble discerning the purpose of the holiday. Why did such a holiday need to exist to celebrate love? Especially when such a thing could be celebrated on any day of the year. To him, at least originally, it was just a way for stores to boost sales. The most he'd usually acknowledge is the price drops of confectionaries after and that was it. So as far as he cared the holiday was nigh-nonexistent…

   That pattern of thought lasted for about twenty-five years. Then he met… Jace…

   Dating had always been outside of Hugo’s range of social skills. He had originally thought himself as never really feeling the desire for it. He was content with being single, or at least he tried to tell himself that as to avoid confronting any weird feelings he might have. This thought pattern had quickly changed over the past ten months however, and it was all thanks to the introduction of his boyfriend into his life.

   It was… strange, really. Having first fallen in love all that time ago. Was it love at first sight, or was it gradual…? Hugo had originally just been sitting in a coffee shop waiting for his order before going to work, but had encountered Jace after they seemed to recognize him as someone whom he shared a few high school classes with so many years ago. He'd be lying if he said he knew what the guy was talking about, but the thought of being recognized so randomly was quite pleasant.

   Their encounters at that shop became frequent, almost weekly. Casual talks about life between the two, sharing their interests and enjoyments to one another. Admittedly Hugo had been the more reserved one of the two, but he always enjoyed listening to Jace talk about their own life. He loved hearing his voice, he loved hearing him speak so passionately about things, he loved… him…

   It was definitely a little awkward whispering those very words beneath a breath while in mid-conversation. And even more so when they decided to take things outside and less public so they could talk it out. That awkwardness had quickly faded though, their conversation shifting more into the hypotheticals of dating each other. It was silly and lifted Hugo's spirits up a bit after what he felt like was one big act of making a fool of himself.

   Then Jace said he would like to date.

   Hugo was surprised, stuttering and sweating and being filled with complete and utter confusion. Jace then gave him a small kiss on the cheek, the man's mustache ticking the skin and making Hugo feel even more flustered. 

   That was enough to settle everything though. They were officially getting together… but now Hugo had a new problem.

   It's been ten months of them dating now and he felt… inadequate? He always felt like his way of expressing love was lackluster in comparison to Jace's. Jace was the more expressive and outgoing one of the two, meanwhile Hugo always had trouble trying to properly express his own emotions in a way that didn't sound like he was forcing it out of himself. He just always had trouble trying to say things properly. Trying to determine what to say, what to do. Was he romantic enough? Was he receiving without giving back in a perfectly equal amount? Of course Jace had been left unaware of these concerns. Hugo had chosen not to tell these fears to them, which in truth might not be a good idea…

   He shook his head, then whispered to himself. "Why am I such a mess…"

   Realizing he had his head down in thought the whole time, Hugo raised it and looked forward. He was currently walking down the sidewalk of the city's shopping district. It was currently February 13th, the eve of Valentine's Day, and Hugo had decided that with the day of celebrating love fast approaching he should do something for it. It wouldn't necessarily be something grand, but he at least wanted to give his boyfriend something that would commemorate his own love for them.

   That's easier said than done though. Fortunately Hugo had a plan! He was on this particular street for a reason, to visit an antique's store and locate something of value there that would be enough to encapsulate his passion. Unfortunately, that was also easier said than done. He wasn't even sure he'd find something there, especially considering how… odd the wares seemed to be, at least just by a casual glance at the store's website.

   Still, it was an adequate starting point. His steps began to slow as his peripherals caught onto the deep brown wood of a building. Hugo turned, gazing into the windows and finding shelves lined with various peculiar objects. Too many to discern properly. He lifted his head for one final check, staring up at the letting that spelled out the store's name.

   Maurice's Audacious Antiques. The very place he was looking for. Perfect…

   A bell above the door silently rang as the young man walked in and the wooden floorboards softly creaked beneath the new weight introduced upon them. The place had an odd and comfy feel to it. Hugo would describe it as cabin in the woods-type vibes. And considering the rusting of the shelves to his left, this place definitely has age to it.

   His eyes then caught a singular person here. To the right, behind a counter was a rotund man with a balding head and a thick, tied up beard. His head constantly went back and forth between two objects, a laptop and a notebook with poorly scrawled wording in it, while mumbling random things that Hugo couldn't discern. Hugo took a few steps forward before he was in front of the counter, the younger man noting that the older one hadn't seemed to notice him yet.

   "Uh, hi…?"

   The burly bear of a man raised upwards with his eyes wide, sharply inhaling. "Got damn, ya' startled me!"

   Hugo rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Sorry about that… sir?"

   The man's face suddenly shifted from startled to smiling. "No need fer formal'ties! Jus' call me Maurice!"

   "Er, right. I just uh, came here to…" Hugo started to trail off. Should he say the reason why he's even here? Will it even help?

   Maurice raised a brow. "Ya' alright, son?"

   Hugo blinked a few times, then swallowed the forming lump in his throat. "I-I'm fine! I just uh, wanted to find a… gift for someone close to me."

   The older man nodded, stroking his beard in thought. Silence filled the space between the two for a few seconds before one of them spoke again. 

   "Don' think I've gott'n a reques' like that before. Ya might be able to find somethin' in one a' the furth'r shelves though. They have all kindsa trinkets 'n knick-knacks." Maurice advised. He then repositioned his hand to lean his head on its palm. "With our recent batch a' stuff, ya' should find somethin' you like!"

   Hugo nodded in response. "Th-thank you… Maurice-"

   He turned around and went to the area he was advised to go to. The store's amount of stock was unimpressive with only a single row of five shelves filed one after another, but he had settled on checking the fourth one for anything interesting. It looked like it had small stuff in it after all. Although he was a little curious about the store owner's usage of should and would. It felt like they didn't know their own stock. They tried to ignore that though. They had to focus on finding a gift for Jace.

   It was now that Hugo truly saw how strange the objects on these shelves seemed to be though.

   Some seemed pretty normal. A few intricately designed rings, sets of jeweled earrings, and weird looking necklaces with a design-scheme that felt expensive to look at. However, oddities seemed to pop up left and right. A red, glass-looking orb; sitting beside it was a blue orb with gold metal zigzagging across the middle. Some weird sharp pen-looking thing, a golden chalice of some kind, and… was that a marble pauldron???

   "This is so weird…" Hugo whispered to himself. 

   Finding a gift was already hard enough, but the pure absurdity here made things feel more challenging than they needed to be. At least finding something perfect was a non-issue. He casually picked up one of the many spheres, one that looked like it contained an entire galaxy inside, and stared at it in utter confusion. 

   He whispered again, "What is your purpose??" while pushing his face close to the object. He then set it down again, suddenly worried that he might break it.

   "This isn't going to work…" he sighed, slowly stepping closer to the shelf's end and the window beside it. He sounded off more objects in his head as he continued forward. Weird blue crystal, a pair of sunglasses, a censor thing, some kind of… cap??

   For an antiques store all of this felt absurd-

   His confusion was momentarily broken as the peripheral of his eye caught onto something glistening. He turned his head to look and found… another necklace? A fairly simple one at that. It was a single golden string with a white elliptoid object on it. For some reason he felt compelled to pick it up, gently cupping the elliptoid and putting it in his hand.

   "What is this…" he asked himself, lifting his hand towards his face a little. The elliptoid looked almost like an egg. Its shell was adorned with beautifully designed spirals, rigid enough that rubbing a thumb over it allowed him to feel them out a little. It felt nice. Nice and warm. He wasn't sure why it was warm, probably because of the sunlight, but it was oddly calming to him.

   "It does look pretty neat," he said with a smile. His mind was wracking over all the possible representations this single object could hold. The warmth he feels around Jace, the way they have slowly have made him try to come out of his shell, the newness he felt upon realizing his love for them. A small laugh escaped his throat. All of those sound so cheesy, damn. But… they're the truth, are they not? 

   It feels so embarrassing though. His smile falters, his emotions dimming. What if it's too cheesy though? What if it comes out horribly and he makes a fool of himself in front of Jace? Damn it, damn it, damn it, he felt so fucking stupid!!

   He sighs. "I-I'm overthinking this, I have to… I have to calm down. I just…" he looked out the window, sighing. "I just wish I could better show my feelings…"

   Right as these words left his mouth the egg on the necklace began to glow. Bright gold shone from the unknown material, the object slowly shaking as it seemed to move closer to him. Hugo had felt the object moving in his hands and looked towards it, but barely got any time to process it as the object practically flung out of his hand and around his neck.

   "Wh-what the hell-" he exclaimed, feeling a tickling around his neck as the string tied around it. He reached up both hands to try and grasp the mysterious egg-like object and pull it off. However, the moment his palm made contact with it he felt an intense warmth run throughout his entire body. He took a few steps back, bumping into the shelf behind him, as an intense golden glow entered his irises.

   "What is… hhhaaa…."

   A hand opened, fingers unfurling away from the elliptoid as they began to twitch. A strange energy was filling his body, coursing through it painlessly and warming it to a strangely comforting degree. All the while strange changes was beginning to form into his form.

   His hands were the part of his body that first made contact with the necklace, which meant they were the first to have begun their transformation. As Hugo's fingers twitched his nails began to lengthen. They grew longer, the tips getting sharper and curling as if they were becoming claws. Their translucency was lost as they gained a golden tone as well. The skin on his hands started to lighten, a cream color entering them as the softness hardened. A leathery texture had steadily etched into them while their composition became less fleshy and more scaly.

   As the cream-colored scales started to form across his hands, their size was beginning to increase as well. Both hands had stretched out to become larger and thicker. His fingers were getting plumper and meatier. As his hands got larger in size he gripped both of them into fists, his knuckles proceeding to ache for a moment before short, sharp golden spikes erupted from beneath the scales.

   The scales quickly started to move upwards to his wrists and forearms. The area increased in size to match the proportions of his hands. However, this new enlargement had also been due to a gain in muscle mass. Comforting heat surging into his forearm muscles as they began to gain bulk. At the same time the coloration of his scales had steadily shifted, hue changing from its soft cream to a brilliant gold. All the while more short golden spikes erupted from the back of his forearms at evenly spaced intervals before seemingly ending at his elbow.

   His elbows got larger, the scales rapidly transitioning to his upper arm and running beneath the short sleeves of his polo shirt. The sleeves proceeded to constrict, his muscles now bloating beneath the lustrous scurf he was gaining. His biceps bulged beneath the fabric to a quickly noticeable degree. His triceps mirrored those changes as well, Hugo's once skinny arms now having been mostly consumed by his newfound musculature. Rips started to form within the fabric of his sleeves as his delts ballooned, his shoulders widening drastically as everything soon began to flow into his body proper.

   Hugo leaned on a shelf, breathing deeply as he stared down at a hand. His mind was feeling… conflicted, to say the least. A fraction of him wanted to be afraid, wanted to attempt to pry off this necklace from his neck. His other arm was slowly raising itself up to fulfill that desire. But his fingers that were slowly curling around the elliptoid never closed the gaps between them.

   There was still another fraction of his mind. Curiosity as to what was going on, as to what this object was doing to him. A strange desire to let that curiosity flourish and let these changes progress. What was happening to him, why was it happening?

   His breathing slowed just slightly. "What does this necklace want to do to me!?"

   It had to be the necklace's will after all. Such a thought felt so absurd, but in the back of his head he felt it was correct to assume to.

   A sharp exhale exited his mouth as he felt a sharp heat enter his torso for a second. His shirt began constricting even more as he felt his own collar bone widen, his entire frame being made more wide and broad. The one button of his polo he had fastened started straining as a result, his frame clearly getting larger than his shirt had been accustomed too. Shortly after that the comforting warmth entered his torso as well. The light of the necklace's egg glowed brighter for a moment, Hugo beginning to feel a strange feeling well up inside him as it did so.

   As the scales started to converge on his chest their color lightened back to its previous cream tone. Meanwhile, his chest began to swell in size. His pectorals got larger and rounder, packing on mass at a steady rate as his polo filled out more and more. It wasn't long until their thickening pressed up against his shirt, steadily testing its limits each passing second as his cleavage got deeper and more visible within the fabric. The new roundness of his pectorals were quite visible in general. The one fastened button of his shirt would suddenly pop off, unable to hold itself against the slabs of meat that were now his pecs.

   Meanwhile the changes were running down his back as well. The back of his shirt was tightening as his trapezius muscles broadened and enlarged. A sudden surge zipped down his spine, the vertebrae decompressing and getting thicker steadily forcing his height to increase by a few inches over the course of the next few minutes. But the strongest feeling was in two points of his upper back, a massive pressure slowly mounting into them. Two bumps slowly rising from the skin-turning-scales, hard spikes emerging from those bumps and beginning to poke holes in the fabric of his shirt. This pressure only seemed to increase as time went on, Hugo stumbling forward a bit and hunching. He gripped his abdomen with his left arm while he grasped onto a shelf with his right, the sound of metal crunching piercing the air thanks to the strength of his grip and sharpness of his claws. 

   Hugo practically growled at the mix of senses he was enduring right now. "F-fucking hell-" his voice cracks slightly, sounding slightly deeper as it crackles. "W-where'd that comfort go…"

   The warmth he was looking for still remained, albeit now drowned out by the insurmountable pressure in his back.

   His abdomen started to churn, the region rippling as his entire lower half was consumed by scales. Hardened slabs of muscles arose from the area, abs pushing forward row by row. His shirt was riding up his belly during the process, his new muscles being granted increasingly better visible. It wasn't long until a solid eight-pack of abs formed. An even stranger addition occurred in his abdominal as well, golden gemstones formed on the perpendicular folds of his muscles: a massive diamond-shaped one at the bottom of his pectoral cleavage, a smaller one at the base of his first row of abs, and the smallest at the base of the second row. 

   Beneath a hand he felt his side getting indented as well, the muscles in his obliques shifting and gaining in muscularity, strengthening as his chest was barrelling out. All these changes tightened his polo shirt to an even stronger degree, the threads on his sides unstitching due his much larger body size. The size of his newly formed muscles had resulted in the crevices his muscles had produced being visible from indents in the fabric. Due to his increasing height the hem of his shirt continued to rise even more as well.

   By this point, the holes in the back of his shirt has been stretched even larger by the formulating spikes. Although at this point the spikes had grown larger enough to prove themselves as the pointed ends of an external bone growth. This growth had continued to extend and expand, a pair of large triangular bulges swelling up at his back. Pressure just continued to build up as these bulges got larger and larger. More and more of the back of his shirt continued to tear, and the bulges gained more and more definition in their shape to point that they were proven to be more than just bulging scaley growths. But after a few more seconds of pressure building, everything came to one big feeling of relief.

   “GGRRRAAAAGHHHH!!!” Hugo roared, the sound of splitting fabric piercing the air as his back was finally granted escape from its discomfort. What had emerged from the region was a pair of magnificent wings. They were draconic in appearance with the flesh and membranes possessing the same golden scales that the rest of his body had formed. Furthermore his newly developed wingspan was noticeably large, and as the new appendages curled into themselves it became evident that the fingers of his wings were long enough to descend down to the ground. 

   The young man could feel the heat of his blood pumping through the newly emerged wings. Strange tingles and sensations coursed through his nervous system as his brain was forced to get accustomed to them, and in truth he could feel his muscle memory rapidly getting used to having them there. Once all the pressure and tightness had subsided, Hugo shakily straightened his back and looked behind him.

   “These… things…” he stated, his voice continuing to deepen in tone as he spoke. Like the feel of something commanding was seeping into it. “Why does… having them feel so… nice…?”

   Finally unhanding the shelf in front of him, he moves a hand over to give his new wings a gentle caress. That desire to be afraid had been dispelled now, the man filled with a feel of familiarity at the sight instead. These wings were his, and this body…

   This body is yours, a stray thought pierces his brain. The Celestial Egg is granting what you desire…

   Hugo blinked a few times at the thought, and the pupils of his eyes seemed to get thinner which each blink. He then stops caressing the wing and pulls his hand over to rub a thumb on the egg that adorned the necklace.

   “The Celestial Egg…” he whispered, the meekness of his earlier tone of voice almost completely replaced by an almost deific level of deepness. Meanwhile his mind dwells on the object and thinks about what it's done, what it's doing to him, and as he does so he feels a tinge of pressure at the base of his spine. 

   Instead of sitting around waiting for what he knew was about to explode from his body, he decided to just move his other arm behind him so he could push down the back of his pants a bit. It was a little hard considering his legwear was already at the point that it could barely fit around his waist, but he managed to push the top of his jeans just enough that he could let whatever pressure in his rear relieved itself without having to fight against his pants.

   The act had unveiled a small, pointed growth at the base of his spine. Its size wouldn't remain diminutive however as pressure continued to build up within it, that pressure causing it to quickly extend downwards. At first it started out being rather thin and small, like an unimpressive snake slithering out from above the waistline of his pants. However after a few inches it became noticeable that the lengthening appendage was beginning to get segmented, and each segment was slightly larger in diameter than the last. Come ten segments long and it was undeniable that Hugo was gaining a tail, and it was only getting longer. Twelve segments, fifteen, eighteen, twenty two; all with a sequential increase in diameter by almost an inch. Come the mid-twenties and the tail would be about a ruler in thickness. A few more seconds and the segment count reaches the thirties, in which the rate of growth begins to slow down. Thirty two, thirty three, thirty four… then it comes to a halt at about thirty five segments. By then the tail’s width was about a ruler and a half, and the length itself could only be about four times that long. It also formed with the tail’s aforementioned pointed tip, a series of spikes running across the top of certain segments, and a shine from the golden scales adorning it.

   Concurrent with the growth of his new appendage were the swath of changes entering into the lower half of his body. The sea of scales cascaded down all sides of his body, flowing down his waist and hardening the skin of his legs to match the nigh-reptilian nature the rest of his body was garnering. Beneath the shifting scales on his thighs were his muscles which, just like in his arms, were in the process of bulking up and discarding their once skinny appearance. His quads and hamstrings grew in conjunction with each other, absolutely bulging in strength as the denims of his jeans were forced to strain against his rapidly developing musculature. At the back of his legs were his gluteus muscles, them too in the process of swelling up to the point his rear was rounding out a fair bit.

   Pressure surged throughout the bones in his legs, and the bottoms of each pant leg rose up the crus of his own limbs indicating that more height was being added to his body. All the while a low heat burned in his calves, those muscles also ballooning out of the back of the lower half of his legs. By this point all the crevices that divided his muscles were indenting into the material of his pants, splits and tears forming in the sides of his jeans and revealing the shining gold his body had attained. It was like the changes had finely sculpted his form to a body type akin to the Grecian marble statues, except looking like he himself was worth billions.

   The final change in his body’s lower half came to his feet. By now they had already undergone a process to have grown in order to fit his new bodily proportions, larger and wider and thicker. His chunkier toes were pushing up against the fronts of his shoes to such a degree that the footwear themselves was bulging in its attempt to contain them. The heels of his own feet dug into the back of his shoes, and the sides pressed up against their sides. Even a few rips could be heard as the strings began to snap against the bridge of his feet.

   And then came the sea of scales…

   Once beyond his ankles the hardening of his flesh went from the pristiness of the rest of his form to getting mixed with a shade of vermillion around his feet. As his soles were covered in scales an almost reddish-orange hue formed in the area. Meanwhile the top of his feet seemed to practically harden as a scute-like segmenting broke apart the skin, perfectly dividing itself to align with the ligaments of his toes. And by the time this plating extended to the ends of his toes, an almost bronze shade of brown dispelled the translucency in his toenails as they gradually restructured and sharpened. Rips could be heard from the cloth of his shoes as a quintet of pointed claws emerged from the front, curved and pointed and almost bestial.

   Yet none of the sounds of his clothing shattering or the feeling of his form practically improving on itself were as much a distraction for Hugo as they could have been. All during that segment of the transformation his mind was instead focused on his own thoughts. Because the longer the changes are pressed on, the more his body becomes less human, the more information his brain seems to attain. The more the Egg puts into his mind to make his mentality compatible. And he knows it's the Egg that was doing this. His mind registers it as his unique Sacred Artifact.

   “Holding all that is and ever was in the very palm of my hand…” the changing man speaks cryptically, a low and deep chuckle escaping his throat after he makes the comment. He could practically feel the power of his own voice resonating through the walls of his throat. Although that could also be from the scales rising up his neck.

   A grin then forms on his face, any emotion he was feeling earlier cast away as a feeling of pure confidence had overtaken him. “…and out of everyone within you you're making me one of the most powerful there is? I should feel honored considering just who I used to be~”

   He could only grin wider as he felt pressure wracking his very skull. He lets out a laugh of triumphant glee and exclaims, “Yes! Give me that visage and make this Ophion complete!” For a moment the Celestial Egg around his neck glows brighter as if in response to him, then Ophion (who has at this point cast out the name Hugo) continued to grin as his face finally began to push out with his entire skull structure shifting alongside it.

   The way his skull was restructuring was a complicated series of events to say the least. The lower half of his face was being pushed forward, and his lower jaw seemed to be extending and growing to be a bit wider in size in comparison to the upper portion. That portion of his face would only continue to push out more and more into a muzzle, the very features of his face being reconstructed to fit this new development. His nose melted into the muzzle’s tip as the nostrils became holes at the furthest end, meanwhile his lips quivered as small portions of them reshaped into points and hardened as they did so. By this point his new snout was looking to be one that belonged to someone draconic in nature, much like how the rest of his body had. This was further proven by how the dome of his head was being reshaped, humanity rapidly being lost under a deluge of shifts that made his entire skull structure that of an entirely different species. 

   The shape of his skull wasn't the only thing changing either. As the scales washed across his head, rushing past his neck and circling the base of his muzzle, bony protrusions began painlessly erupting from certain areas of his face. On each side of his head a triad of bone spikes would emerge. The series of spikes just barely obscured his ears, which themselves were in the process of repositioning themselves to protrude at the sides of his head while also gaining an almost elfine pointedness to their structure. His eyebrows were quick to fade beneath the scales, quickly replaced by juttings of golden spikes that layered over yet another set of bone spike triplets that would rise from his browline. Even right in between his eyes a very small spike would emerge. And although these weren't spikes, a pair of short and pointed protrusions would extend out of both ends of his chin.

   All while these changes had occurred, Hugo’s somewhat lengthy hair was being steadily sloughed off. With each inch of his scalp the sea of gold claimed clumps of hair would slip off his head. It's once luscious fullness thinned out, each follicle being shoved out at the root by his magnificent scales. As more of his hair continued falling off it would also reveal one last set of growths on his head. The first of which was rising from the middle of his head’s apex, a series of short brown spikes that would soon run down the middle back of his head. The second of these changes however was significantly more substantial. Two brown points erupted from a portion of the upper region at his head’s back, and those points were quick to grow outwards and upwards. Unlike the rest of his face’s pointed protrusions, these ones were noticeably less bony despite possessing an appearance of hardness to them. And as the duo of brown growths continued to rise out from his skull, diameter getting a little larger as they got longer, it was evident that he was gaining a pair of horns.

   Perhaps the last major change came to Ophion’s teeth. The omnivorous nature of his humanity was quickly shifted, incisors and molars quickly sharpening to fit his new species well. The most drastic change would come to his lower canines though as the reasoning for his lower jaw’s protrusion finally came into tangibility. Much like the horns atop his head the left canine of the two lower teeth would extend upwards a fair bit while sharpening itself and, after a few seconds, shift into being more like a prominent fang. The rightward canine didn't get that luxury however as instead it seemed to practically atomize and leave the gum to harden and scar in mere seconds.

   The pressure that had enveloped the anthropomorphic dragon’s head finally began to subside. A glint of red overtook Ophion’s irises as the pupils finally properly slit like a reptile’s. “This feels so… good,” he muttered to himself as he raised up a hand and gently caressed his own face. “Makes me wish I had a mirror to see just how divine I look now!”

   Because at this point that's just how he felt: absolutely divine! His brain can register memories of a world beyond this one, a life beyond this one, all of which has been meshed and mixed with his own thoughts of his previous humanity. The Egg had taken his desire and, inevitably, went a bit overboard in fulfilling it. But Ophion hadn't cared, the personality overhaul he had garnered was absolutely wonderful! No more pitiful fears about how he acts, no more staggeringly low amounts of self-confidence, no more worries about… about how he can show his love to…

   “Jace…” he whispered beneath a breath. The very name carried the same familiarity that it had when he was a human. And thinking about it… about him made Ophion’s brain register the same emotion the dragon had towards him: an intense feeling of love. But now that intensity practically burned inside him, he felt a devotion that not even those atop the System of Olympus could fell. It was an unquantifiable feeling and was something he just couldn't hold himself from expressing!

   “I can finally do what I've wanted for so long~” Ophion proclaimed. He turns and takes a step forward, but is stopped in his tracks almost immediately as he feels a knee of his pants split over his own. It was at this point that the dragon had finally taken full notice of his extremely ill-fitting clothing. His polo was somehow still hanging on for dear life, meanwhile his jeans were a few stitches away from ripping apart at the sides.

   “I'm going to need something better than this if I'm going to look more presentable…” he sneered.

   The Celestial Egg sparkled a bit and glowed for a few seconds, prompting his clothing to sparkle themselves as a bright light enveloped them. A few seconds later and his clothes would begin to grow, expanding over his form so they could all cover him properly. The hem of his shirt was quick to descend over his abdominal region as the entirety of it enlarged enough that his muscle mass wouldn't indent so intricately into the fabric. But then a different change occured, a deep brown beginning to overtake the coloration of the shirt at a rapid pace. As it did so the small placket of the polo began to extend down the middle, golden buttons lining it but not even bothering to fasten themselves. The once small collar would also lengthen, popping itself upwards as it raised higher and higher. And as the shirt’s split finished its full formation the entirety of the shirt would open to now fully reveal his muscled torso. Meanwhile the back of his shirt was seemingly being restitched, the giant hole formed by his wings altering to become more intentional rather than a byproduct of the appendages tearing through it.

   The sleeves of the shirt weren't left unscathed as any rips were fixed almost instantly. The constricted feeling was alleviated, changed to a more snug feel as they more comfortably outlined his upper arm muscles. By the time the sleeves were enveloped by the brown coloration they would also bulge as if they were simultaneously extending in length while still trying to contain themselves to their shortness. This would eventually manifest in the form of his shirt sleeves now taking a rolled up appearance.

   A similar discoloration had entered his enlarging pants, although this time it was more beige in tone that was enough to shift the denim into a different and finer material. The shifts within his legwear were a little less intense as they would also only enlarge enough to allow movement yet still be tight enough to outline his muscles, all while fixing themselves of the damage his unexpected growth in muscle had incurred. The button that held the jeans closed gained a golden tone, as did the zipper, both of which being left completely open despite the fact his pants fit him now. And with no belt the only thing that held the jeans on his body was a pair of suspenders that snaked from over his shoulders and down his torso before promptly buckling on his legwear.

   The last piece of his attire that remained were his shoes which after being enveloped by the Egg’s magical light… straight up dematerialized into motes of light and leaving his feet bare. The motes of light didn't disappear however, instead floating upwards and behind the dragon before seemingly rematerializing into something else entirely. Fine silken material layering onto his back, amorphousness quickly dispelling as it gained a menagerie of whites and browns, all with trims of gold lining. It was hard to fully realize at first but it would seem that some kind of suit jacket had manifested behind him, being worn casually as it was just clinging onto his shoulders.

   With that the Egg’s glow finally dimmed, Ophion now sporting a look that could only be described as both distinguished and casual. With a smile he held the Artifact with two claws and brought it to his face. “Really abiding by all my wants today, hm?”

   For once the Egg didn't shine in response. The dragon wasn't expecting any though, so he unhanded the object and let it drift back to hang over his chest. He then sauntered forward, making his way out of the aisle… and into the eyeline of a very awestruck Maurice who was still behind the counter.

   “Was wonderin’ if I needed to check on ya’...” Maurice commented as he made eye contact with the anthropomorphic dragon.

   “Does this not happen often?” Ophion inquired as he stepped forward towards the counter. “I can practically smell the stench of anomalous magic from this place now…”

   “Err…” Maurice looked away.

   Ophion chuckled. “Do not think I give much of a care with what you do here. Although I do give thanks for your wares allowing me to attain such a brilliant form~ I don't think I've felt this great in ages!”

   “Uhuh…” Maurice nodded, face still in a mix of awe and surprise. “Well, that’ll be-”

   “I'll be deciding the price here…” the dragon practically demanded. He fished around a back pocket for a bit and pulled out a wallet, although upon opening it he was greeted with his former self’s image in the ID photo window. “…and I have a feeling I won't be here for much longer.”

   Ophion then placed the wallet onto the counter, then turned to make his leave. “Thank you for your help, Maurice! Your actions shall be etched into my memory for as long as time flows!”

   Maurice is just left dumbfounded as he watches Ophion leave the store and, after a good few seconds, jet into the air as one would expect a dragon to do.

   “...still not quite sure how to process that,” the storeowner muttered as his gaze drifted to the wallet the dragon had left behind as payment.

----------------------------------------------------------

   The sound of a blender pierced the air of the apartment, Jace idly watching as the fruit within the object was shredded into a fine paste. He was never quite sure how to spend days off from work whenever he was left alone. Especially since he had his hopes on spending the day with Hugo, but it was almost 5PM and Hugo hadn't gotten back from his mysterious shopping trip yet.

   The apartment falls into silence and Jace eyes his phone. Not even an indicator that his last text was read. “What could he be doing…?” the man muttered in concern.

   Then the melancholy serenity of the room was broken in an instant by the sound of a thump from the apartment balcony. A giant shadow being cast through the glass, easily visible from the kitchen’s adjacency to the balcony door.

   “Uhhhh…” Jace backed up a bit, eyeing the shadow with a slowly building fear in his chest. He couldn't make out what it was, it was just large and… monstrous?

   He then hears the balcony door slide open. A sound that prompted him to turn around and scramble for a knife or something to-

   “Jace…” a deep voice called out, interrupting his actions. Jace promptly squeaked in response, heart rate skyrocketing. He very slowly turns around to see the form of a golden-scaled musclebound dragon anthro staring straight at him.

   “Wh-what are you?!?”

   The dragon tilted its head, a spiky brow raised. “How undignified, I probably should've…” he shoved a hand in a pant pocket and pulled out a phone. “Please give me a moment.”

   Jace just stood there in fearful silence as he watched the dragon futz around with their phone, the sound of claws tapping on glass being the only thing fully heard in the apartment. Then after a few moments a look of satisfaction formed on the dragon’s face.

   “Here,” the dragon held the phone out, its wallpaper fully visible to Jace. The man’s eyes widened as he saw the image: a picture of himself and Hugo. This was Hugo’s phone.

   With a shaky step forward Jace began to verbally panic. “Where did you- what did you-”

   A look of realization then formed on the dragon's face. “Jace, my love, it's me. Hugo.”

   “Your love???” Jace exclaimed, eyeing up the golden dragon with some level of fury in his eyes. “I don't- you can't be! For one, Hugo’s a human!”

   “Was, I was a human,” the dragon corrected. “It would be hard to explain it all fully but,” he raised up a hand and tapped what looked to be an egg that was hanging around his neck. “This? This changed me into this glorious form.”

   Jace was far from convinced though. “Please, people don't just suddenly transform into dragons! You- you have to have done something to him-”

   “Our anniversary is in two months, the receipts for the bracelet you bought me for it are in the dresser next to our bed, and you’re still trying to reserve a date for that one restaurant with the shrimp,” the dragon listed out in rapid succession. He then stepped forward with his arms outstretched. “Now do you believe me, my love? Or must I go into your personal confessions?”

   Jace swallowed a lump in his throat. All those things the reptilian spoke of were correct, and there's no way he could've garnered that information unless he was somehow spying on the two of them. “I-I was hoping you wouldn't have noticed any of that!”

   “We live in an apartment, love,” the dragon, Hugo apparently, stated as he leaned over the kitchen’s island. “It's almost impossible to hide such sensitive information.”

   Jace just nods as he stared into Hugo’s eyes, and just looked at his draconic visage in general. He appeared so nonchalant, so calm, and his face seemed to look more tender the longer he looked at Jace. 

   “I'm… still trying to process this,” Jace began leaning onto the counter behind him. “How the heck did you get that… thing that transformed you into this, Hugo…?”

   “I'd like to start by saying I go by Ophion now. In truth I was trying to find an adequate gift for this coming Valentine's Day,” Ophion began to recount. “I found an interesting antique's store a few days back and decided to pay a visit today. Although in truth it seems that place is some kind of front for magical artifact vending but well…” a somber look formed on his face as he took hold of the necklace’s egg and held it into view. “Truthfully I've always felt like an inadequate lover to you. I was hoping to get you something that'd prove myself, and perhaps make up for my lackluster approach to our relationship. Once I picked up the Celestial Egg it resonated with my desires and made me into this. Transformed me physically, mentally…”

   The dragon leaned a little closer, a fervorous look in his eyes. “Perhaps it even deepened my love for you…”

   Jace let out a sharp exhale, then stepped forward to gently caress Ophion’s face. “Hu- Ophion. You don't have to give me some trinket to prove your love to me. And truthfully for me, I never found you lackluster at all! Perhaps a little neurotic but, you were always still a wonderful person…”

   He then gave the dragon a kiss on the snout.

   “...but I should really ask if you feel better about yourself?”

   “I do,” the dragon confessed. Ophion lifted his head out of Jace’s grasp and straightened himself up. His form from the waist up was visible from behind the kitchen island: strong muscles, glistening scales, those weird crystals embedded in his body. Jace couldn't even help but give a glance at Ophion’s wings, the man wincing at the thought of having to suddenly grow those. Nonetheless, the golden reptilian had a certain confident aura that Hugo seemed to always have trouble mustering.

   “I can't say I'm the same person I was as a human,” Ophion admitted. “The way this Egg works, it put so much into me to make me fit an identity I desired. But I will also admit a fraction of that was because I wanted to be able to better show how much I love you, my love~”

   “I don't think you had to change yourself into a literal dragon to show how much you love me,” Jace said with a laugh. “I'm glad you're happy though. I will admit I'm getting used to being called your love, it's so dignified!”

   He then paused. “Now how will we explain to the landlord that my boyfriend has become a real life scalie…”

   Ophion let out a hearty laugh. “We don't need to deal with that now…” he then walked around the counter to properly stand near Jace. “It's just me and you, today~”

   Ophion then brought Jace into a warm embrace. This mostly meant Jace was being pressed up into the dragon's meaty pecs as he was put into a hug. It made the man blush a bit…

   “Now then…” Ophion’s voice lowers to a whisper, and Jace could feel himself being lifted. “How about I show you how a universe can be made…?”

   Jace raised a brow. “What's that supposed to mean?”

   Ophion just chuckled, and Jace turned his head and found himself being moved out of the kitchen. It took a few more seconds for him to fully register what was about to happen as he realized they were moving into a hallway, and everything finally clicked.

   They were heading to the bedroom…

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Speaking of twst events, what are your Top 3 Favourite game events so far? I'm genuinely curious. :'DD

Are there any events you didn't like?

[Referencing this post!]

Mmmm… I think most events are at least okayish? In general, I tend to prefer stories with high stakes or the ones that have some meaningful impact on character development, which are few and far between when it comes to TWST 😅 so their events aren’t typically my thing! You’ll notice that my favorite events in TWST actually do have story and/or character relevance.

That being said!! My favorite events would have to be:

Glorious Masquerade — This is, in my opinion, TWST’s strongest story and best overall event. It stands out against the others by having actual stakes and fully committing to it, as well as does wonders for the SSR trio’s involvement and interests in taking down the Big Bad. This is particularly true of Idia and Malleus. Said Big Bad, Rollo, is also very compelling in his own right.

Wish Upon a Star — Historically, this was the first time we saw the student’s rooms! The story itself introduced us to Star Rogue, which was pivotal to the Shrouds’ childhood (and later becomes relevant again in book 6). It was sweet to see Deuce try so hard to get Idia to come out of his shell, and even sweeter to see how far Idia is willing to push himself for his brother.

Fairy Gala: What If (NOT the first Fairy Gala; this is an important distinction!) — The edge this has over the original is that it is connected to Ortho’s growth as an individual post-book 6. He is able to discover his own take on what “evolution” is. Silver also gets a cool spotlight which demonstrates the pacifist teachings he was imparted with, serving as the bridge between fae and humans. Very pretty clothes and makeup too!!

I also liked:

Happy Beans Day I and II — This was a nice event that gave the whole cast their time to shine without feeling too bloated. It was also fun to see the different strategies and tactics each student employed; it helps show off their characters and problem solving abilities!

Ghost Marriage — I really liked that TWST parodied the fairy tale love stories and romantic events (that Disney and even mobile games in general are typically associated with). Hilarious how each of the guys tried and failed because they’re just silly high school students with no idea how to actually get a date 😂 I’m also biased for any outfit that involves formal wear.

White Rabbit Festival (Queendom of Roses hometown event) — The Alice in Wonderland aesthetic of Clock Town captured my heart 😌 It was also nice to see Deuce prove that he has turned over a new leaf to the townspeople.

The events I didn’t care for are:

Endless Halloween Night — I have very strong beef with the ending and the reasoning given for it 💀 It feels like everyone got gaslit into forgiveness… I also hated how no one held Malleus fully accountable after all the stress they were put through. Easily my most disliked event.

Tamashina Mina (Sunset Savanna hometown event) — Underwhelming ending in spite of the hype building for it. No meaningful payoff for the foreshadowing of Cheka’s guards.

Tsumsted Wonderland I and II — Nothing really happens (other than I guess the Tsums being cute)?? And it doesn’t really make an impact on anything.

Lost in the Book with Stitch — Same issue(s) as the Tsumsted events, except somehow even worse because everyone magically forgets everything they did with Stitch :/ so the experience means nothing in the long term…

Honorable mentions for my dislikes:

All Master Chef/Culinary Crucibles — I hate having to sit around and wait for ingredients and the fact that you can’t cook multiple dishes in one go. The lack of story also makes these events just not worth it for me.

Sam’s New Year Sale(s) and TWST Anniversary — Do these event count as a story event???? They’re just kinda celebratory short interactions, if anything.

[akajustmerry]

would LOVE to hear more about your tabitha and naomi headcanons!!!

and yee shall receive !! idk these are probably silly n basic because we know SO LITTLE about both, but whatever it's free real estate!!

considering we meet tabs at the underground rich ppl party, its a fair bet she's probably a rich nepo baby like everyone else in succ, but she seems pretty chill about it. she's just vibing, wooing her hot rich peers.

tabs has the laidback vibe of old fuck off money. older than the roys or pierces, i think. probably in property or land which is why she has no interest in the Roy trust or the pierce's or politics. we know that makes her more attractive to rome but probably to naomi too. here's someone so rich they really are only in it for you!

i imagine naomi and tabs crossed paths and hooked up occasionally in the past, but grew closer during/after naomi's accident. naomi told ken in the show she was struggling cos of press, trust, trauma, addiction, etc, during that time. from what we see of tabs with roman, she is a pretty patient and understanding person, at least to a point (everyone has limits). i imagine after her accident, naomi would have appreciated having someone like tabs in her life who isn't after anything and is relatively non-judgemental and chill.

don't really count this as a headcanon cos it's just true but tabs and Naomi were hooking up that whole weekend at the Pierce estate. I know it's framed as the "Ken and Roman attempt to get Some" weekend but we know neither of them got any lmao but u know who did?? my gorls <3

for what it's worth I do think naomi and Tabs both genuinely liked kendall and roman. i don't think there were any ulterior motives on their parts. as we saw, neither naomi or tabs had any power or insight to sway the deal in any way. equally, tabs and naomi really gain nothing power-wise from dating these guys so u gotta assume it was genuine on some level. like they really just saw these human shaped messes of men and went "hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii <3" kinda very bisexual of them both really. I felt v represented by it I must say

i dooooo think in the immediate aftermath of naomi and Kendall break up, the next time she hooked up with tabs, they defs had a little "what IS wrong with them?" convo where they probs just showed each other roman and Kendall's lame texts, had a laugh, and then washed their hands of the roy boys

when it's announced tom is ceo of waystar, naomi calls tabs like, "isn't that literally the guy who swallowed his own load because you told him to 😂" and she's like yeah turns out he never stopped and idk they probably start dating seriously again after that.

after naomi gets her share of the money from the sale to the Waystar I like to think she uses it to start some overpriced rehab centres or something. eventually, her and tabs get engaged. nan pierce never acknowledges the relationship and passively refers to tabitha as a friend of the family, even at their wedding because she honestly seems like that kind of bitch.

honestly they probably just continue living cool beautiful bisexual women lives. maybe naomi has some rough patches here and there cos you know addiction isn't easy, but tabs is there for her. they just become this quietly classy wealthy lesbian couple who throw great parties with other philanthropic influential gays and closeted wealthy folks. I'm imagining something like what the kindness blind items say sandra bullock does with all the Hollywood lesbians gays.

shiv invites them both to her baby shower because they're honestly the closest thing she has to friends who are women after everything. they don't go though cos they assume shiv is just inviting them to mess with the boys. they send a very precocious expensive gift though like literal gold and silver baby cutlery or something

tabitha becomes like an insanely successful ghostwriter or something. idk why I just have the impression she's kinda been a wallflower in all these insane wealth spaces and eventually tells all those stories somehow

I feel like if I don't stop I'll just be writing fanfic so I'll stop but idc if it's just projection I jus love that there's 2 beautiful aloof bisexual women in this show and the only thing we really know about them for certain is that they were both way too good for the Roys <3

[shinelikethunder]

Regarding your tags about Good Omens not making your brain go brrrr - it's really interesting because early on while I was watching the new season, I found myself asking, like, "Is this actually good or do I just enjoy it?" And very quickly I decided the answer was "Well, you see, I enjoy it so much."

But as a result I've been thinking a lot about how I define whether or not a story is "good" because surely that indefinable quality of Makes Brain Go Brrrrrr should figure into it somewhere. And there's the inverse phenomenon to account for, of things that are like a dead fish to the fictive libido. I think that might be even more subjective, though.

It's not that I think quality is a totally meaningless concept when assessing art, I've just been thinking I might need to make more space within my metric for things like "joy" and "energy" and "vibrates my brain like a tumble dryer". As opposed to seeing those things as incidental and trying to take my own emotional response out of the equation.

it's a factor for sure, but if SPN proves anything, it's that "vibrates my brain like a tumble dryer" can be completely orthogonal to quality and enjoyment... sometimes the vibration is from canon having a two-for-one flash sale on hate crimes and writing crimes, y'know? sometimes episodes i find genuinely excruciating make me want to dissect them like bugs. (and on the flip side, there are plenty of works i do very much love on their artistic merits and enjoy, but not in the specific way that makes me want to scream in the tags of a tumblr gifset.)

like, yeah, variants of that Roger Ebert Reviews The Mummy (1999) reaction of "i can't even say what this has to recommend it except that i enjoyed the shit out of every minute of it" do deserve space as merits in their own right, but also, for me personally at least, that Brain Go Brr quality of... investment? engagement? obsessive need to poke at it and roll around in it and rotate it on the blorbo rotisserie?... doesn't necessarily have a straightforward relationship with quality or enjoyment. see previous reblog tags re: liking nbc hannibal perfectly well the first time around, but only losing my absolute shit over it when approaching via some borderline-unreadable thomas harris nonsense that managed to sink the first hooks in. and also many previous rants about the brain-go-brr-ness of rtd's doctor who being at its height when the show was most direly in need of fixing.

all of which is kind of a digression from good omens 2, which provoked neither fandom brainrot nor any particularly strong other type of enjoyment - i was sitting there going "this is... nice i guess?" amidst an increasingly acute realization that whatever quality of the book it was that originally hooked me in, pratchett's barbed sense of humor was absolutely vital for making the silliness land for me. i wish everyone who can get in their OTP Feelings about GO2 the joy of it, and will mostly be saluting from a distance as i scroll past on the dash. it seems to have succeeded reasonably well at the things it set out to do--and it turns out those things didn't do it for me, on any of the levels i might've wanted them to. the strange nature of it all is, i'd probably have much more specific criticisms if it had grabbed me.

[davidmariottecomics]

Copyrights and Wrongs, Part 1

Hello there! 

Feels like it's been a bit since we last spoke, and I'm sorry for that. Two weekends ago, Becca and I were out of town (I'll share a little bit of that later) and then last weekend, I was just dealing with being really depressed and uninspired and I didn't want to just not write my blog, I didn't really want to do anything. I'm doing a bit better and am about to have a lot to talk about, probably for a few weeks (at least 2-3), so buckle up and get ready! This blog's a special one because appropriate for the time of year, it has HOMEWORK!!!

Also, as a head's up, this first part's going to be a bit shorter as Becca is at Cartoon-a Palooza starting this afternoon! More on that below too! 

What is Copyright? 

Copyright is both exactly what the name says and a much deeper, more complex thing. In a nutshell, it is the right to copy a creation. If you draw a piece of art, if you write a poem, if you design a machine or a building, if you compose music for a song, if you write a blog even (hehe!), under U.S. law, you are the owner of that work and other people can't use it without your permission. 

In more concrete terms, copyright is a form of intellectual property law that defines ownership and use of art under some pretty specific terms. The three biggest ones being: originality, creativity, and fixation. Originality asks if a work is original and unique. What that means is if you and your friend see a cool dog, and you both draw a picture of it, as long as your friend didn't just copy your exact picture, you both now have an original piece of work. Maybe the most commonly thought of example against originality is plagarism, where someone takes another person's written work and tries to pass it off as their own. Creativity is maybe the most nebulous term involved in determining copyright and often overlaps against originality, but should broadly be thought of as the work's intent and execution. Let's say you put together a Pintrest board of inspiration. It isn't meant to be a unique creation or piece of art unto itself, it's just a bit of reference. But if you printed all of the images from that Pintrest board out and collaged them into a piece of art, that would qualify as a creative effort. Finally, fixation refers to whether or not you actually made the thing in a trackable way. If I sing my cats a silly little song to announce their breakfast, but I never write that song down and it isn't ever recorded, it isn't fixed and there isn't proof that you've made the thing. However, if I shoot a TikTok of me singing that song to my cats, hey, I've got that record and I'm set. 

That's a very basic overview and, like I said, copyright is complicated. Being a set of laws revolving around ownership in a capitalist system, there're whole sections of the legal industry dedicated to arguing out and testing and defining the limits of copyright. The other really basic stuff you need to understand about copyright for the rest of this conversation are what you can do as a copyright holder, how long copyright lasts, and what "fair use" is.

Here it is from the horse's mouth--the U.S. Copyright office--but the rights a copyright holder has come down to reproduction, continuation, and distribution. You can make more of your work, either through copies or by creating more new work covered in part by your initial creation, and you can display it or sell it or perform it or otherwise make it available. As part of sale, you can also sell the copyright itself--transferring the ownership to someone else. A lot of comics is done with this step happening before the work is started as "work for hire." This basically says that if you're creating an image for a company that owns the copyright to, say, a character like Batman or property like Transformers, you understand that their copyright to the initial work of art supersedes that of the work you now produce for them, and in exchange, they're going to pay you for your creation and any rights that might otherwise be claimable with it. Not to say it too many times, but it's a complicated system and one that has a lot of very reasonable and righteous criticism lobbed at it. There's often a bit of a rub between copyright as protecting creators and copyright as protecting companies.  

Companies, for example, famously have been responsible for the expansion of copyright after the death of the author. Current U.S. law dictates copyright for modern creation lasts until the death of the author, plus 70 years. After that, works enter what we call the public domain (more on that in a sec). But just to really put that into perspective: Stephen King is still alive! And there is a distinct chance that his books won't be available until the 2100s under current copyright law. Or, rather, most of his books. If I did my math right, I believe Carrie will be available in 2069 because it actually pre-dates the current code! And this is further complicated by various other things--like work-for-hire creations and anonymous creations have different term limits, and we're reaching an interesting point where some original works are becoming public domain, but their derivative works are still copyrighted (like, say, Mickey Mouse. Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey short, will hit the public domain in 2024, but ALL OTHER MICKEY STUFF will still be under Disney). 

Which brings us back to public domain and fair use. To briefly tackle public domain first, it is the idea that after a copyright expires, that work is available to anyone to use as they please! You wanna tell a Dracula story? Do it! You wanna stage a Shakespeare play or adapt it into another medium? Do it! You wanna turn the Odyssey into a rock opera? Do it! Public domain says no rules, just right! Do it! It's a good idea to check what is in the public domain (Wikipedia linked as a starter) at any given point, just to see what may be available to you. This is going to be important in coming weeks. But everything in the public domain is fair use.

As are certain other things--if you're an Adobe subscriber and use photoshop, the software is copyrighted, but you've got fair use to use it, if you see a movie, the movie is copyrighted, but you've paid your money and have fair use to view it. There are certain limitations for research, education, and transformational uses too. I can't get into all the specifics, because they're varied and incredibly nuanced, but as a few examples: if Mad Magazine does a parody of X-Men called "Ecch-Men" or whatever (a thing they've definitely done), that's fair use--it's understood to be parody/satire and not the original work. If a textbook is publishing a historically significant photo, that may be under fair use. Posting a quote from a book on social media and in a locker room with or without proper attribution may be fair use (this is a real example). 

Okay, that's a lot to take in and we haven't even gotten to stuff like trademark, patent, or infringement. But hopefully that's enough of a primer that you'll feel confident in the coming weeks of conversation. 

Homework Time 

Toldja there'd be homework! So here's what we're going to be talking about over the next few weeks that you might wanna get yourself primed on too! 

First off - The Copyright office is conducting a study on generative AI and taking into account public opinion and information on it related specifically to copyright. Public comments are open until October 18th. I already submitted one--that I may reproduce in part or in full here--but if you are (rightfully) concerned about "A.I." as it currently exists and the many ways in which it is already violating copyright law, definitely take the time to share a comment! 

Secondly - You may've seen the news in the past 24 hours that Bill Willingham is releasing Fables into the public domain. I'm linking to the A.V. Club's article because well... you all know how I feel about Substack (and you may know how I feel about Willingham himself, which is to say, he sucks!). Next week, this'll be our first topic of discussion to see what that actually means. And please remember, I'm not an expert in copyright law, but I do wanna discuss it! 

Finally - No homework on this one, but the other thing we'll be talking about is digging a little bit deeper into work for hire and the complicated relationship between comics, artists, and licensed and unlicensed works. 

See ya next week! 

What I enjoyed this week(s): Blank Check (Podcast), Dungeons & Daddies (Podcast), Craig of the Creek (Cartoon), Honkai Star Rail (Video game), One Piece (Manga), One Piece (Live Action--I know there are some strong feelings on this take, but maybe we'll talk about that in a future blog), Birds of Prey #1 (Thompson, Romero, Bellaire - Comic), Blue Beetle #1 (Trujillo, Gutierrez, Quintanta - Comic), Shazam (Waid, Mora, Sanchez - Comic), Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #1 (Starer, Bustos, Bonvillain - Comic), The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon (Book), Chainsaw Man (Manga), the Original McDonald's Museum. 

New Releases this week (9/13/2023): Sonic the Hedgehog #64 (Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog's 900th Adventure (Editor) 

Announcements: Becca is at Cartoon-a Palooza in Temecula on 9/15 & 9/16. It's a cool free all-ages little con, so come on out and see them! That's today and tomorrow at time of posting! They've got new stuff! 

Becca (and their letterer pal, Duke) has also got a new comic out! It's a short NSFW comic in Midnight Ouevres, the adult part of the Stellar Inflorescence Genshin Impact free zine! 

Wanna support me? Consider joining my Patreon!

I have a webstore! And I did, in fact, get a couple extra copies of Beast Wars Vol. 3! But check it out! Limited quantities on everything! 

I've still got a few things on my eBay, if you're looking for stuff! 

Pic of the Week: Becca and I were in Vegas a couple weekends ago, saw Weezer. It was fun. But on the way back, we stopped by the Original McDonald's Museum in San Bernadino! It's a fascinating little place, in the building that was built where the first McDonald's was before it was torn down and rebuilt to be a little theater. It's also not recognized by the McDonald's corporation because this is the location the founders kept for themselves when they ultimately sold the rest of the company to Ray Kroc. Anyway, so it's a funky little place with a lot of history and is full of toys and packaging and photos and outfits and this big Grimace suit with Becca! 

[jessreadsandreads]

Ooh, yay, my first Tumblr tag game, thank you @aesethewitch! How did you know that I wanted to refresh and resume using my social stuff! :) Also, I love, love, love learning fun facts about people, so, bonus.

are you named after someone? No, I'm basically the only person on my mother's side of the family who is NOT named after St. Mary.

what sports have you played? I've never played any - I was the girl in high school with a reputation for being a lesbian and a witch, because I was home every night role-playing online instead of socialising, long-distance dating a dungeon-master, and playing Dance Dance Revolution for hours as my form of exercise. Funnily enough, I didn't actually dabble in witchcraft or dating women until I'd fled my hometown. Oh, but I did used to lift weights in the garage with my dad while blasting classic rock - that's almost a sport! It's a montage, at the very least!

do you use sarcasm? Not anywhere close to as often as I used to. Now I prefer silly word-play and even sillier voices, ridiculous sound effects, and exaggerated facial expressions.

what is the first thing you notice about people? Ever since I started working a sales job in a cosmetics store, the first thing I notice is the health and overall condition of people's skin and hair. My GOD did everyone have fried hair in a lot of old slasher movies!

what's your eye colour? Dark, dark brown.

scary movies or happy endings? Scary movies every time!

any talent? I don't really feel like I have any special talents, but my most consistently received compliment is for helping people feel heard, safe, and protected. I'm super proud of the fact that colleagues will come to me if they need someone between them and a frightening person or situation - I work in a major downtown area, so it happens more frequently than it should - or if they spot someone else nearby who needs any type of help. I definitely want to grow that aptitude in various ways. It's also really, really funny to me, because I'm 5'3", fat, and soft-spoken, and yet also the shop guardian!

what are your hobbies? My primary hobbies throughout my time off from work have been watching loads of movies, reading a lot of spicy romantasy, and trying out all sorts of new recipes, but I'd like to include more walks around the city, more decluttering and decorating, and more dedicated writing now that my energy levels are beginning to rise. Plus, I want to attain a conversational level of French, because I'm surrounded by cute francophones now!

do you have any pets? My chubby li'l geriatric baby kitty Lucy! She's my one and only - I don't see myself owning pets again after her - but I adore her and give her everything I humanly can. :)

how tall are you? Technically, I'm 5'3".5.

dream job? As of last night, I've been randomly fixated on considering becoming a massage therapist, but if I'm really fantasizing, I would combine it with becoming a registered dietitian, professional tarot and/or tea leaf reader, and romance novelist. Ideally, I could continue getting paid to rest at home and do whatever I want, but that deal expires with the cancer that I've almost finished officially removing from my body. X)

I'm only going to, very pointedly, tag @rosewitch89 to see if I can bully you into being active. ;) But I'd genuinely love to read answers from any mutuals!

[irregularbillcipher]

okay I gotta share my thoughts on this because you brought it up in the tags re: running the risk of Bill's background coming across ass "oppressed person goes too far and is the real bad guy" because tbh I think it's a risk you can run into wether or not you hc Bill as irregular considering triangles weren't dealt the best cards either and there's something to think about how Bill doesn't care about norms while having grown up in the dystopia that is Flatland. Anyway, my point is I do mostly see the implications that come with him being from Flatland as a parallel to Ford who himself was ostricized and personally do also see the emphasis on Bill being selfish. Like I think about how Ford never really stopped caring about other people while Bill burned down his whole world INCLUDING people who were in similarly bad places in life as him anyway yeah I'm normal about him

YES YES YES you get it you get it like, no matter what, bill as a flatlander is gonna run into the trope where it's like "well i agreed that this oppressed person should have rights, but then he started shooting puppies :/" just because the canon end to "bill is a flatlander" is "bill killed every other flatlander except kryptos because kryptos is his silly rabbit including ones who would have undoubtably been so much worse off than him." the most privileged he could have been is a perfectly regular equilateral from a "good family line" who owned some sort of business and that's still part of the acute rabble, and there's no textual evidence that he was even that well off (there's also not any textual evidence he wasn't, to be clear, but it's up in the air. hell, some people even hc him as isosceles, and while i don't, because i think his salesman persona being something he got from his life in flatland and still falls back on is SO juicy, it's still possible! as long as it's in the realm of "was a triangle," SO much about bill's flatland life is up for grabs! the only thing that's solid is he was, at least, near the bottom of the foodchain) anyway i just personally think mildly irregular "repaired" bill who was just "acceptable" enough to make it to adulthood and even be tentatively allowed a (very monitored, very scrutinized) sales career, but still considered a societal Freak fits with a lot of bill's whole deal and fills in a lot of gaps about his relationship with his family, his relationship with his home dimension, and gives a good insight into why flatland brainwashing wouldn't have worked on him, because it's very hard to find any value in a system that automatically sees you as a disposable thing as opposed to a person also "mild" birth defect that shapes and defines every aspect of your life, like... ford parallels (and to a lesser extent, dipper parallels,) are fun! but YES no matter what you headcanon bill's life in flatland as being like, the end result still boils down to him being wildly childish and selfish. while he runs into the trope by virtue of his social standing no matter what, i think he skirts it at least a little just because he is not the type to care about others, and he clearly doesn't care about any real societal change. he's a nuanced selfish bastard, sure, but a selfish bastard bill and ford are both weird little societal freaks, but despite what the world threw at ford, he never stopped caring about others, even at his worst. bill on the other hand, at what could have been his best, (at whatever turned him into a god with more power than any flatlander had ever had,) killed everyone he'd ever known and even those he didn't. ford got a taste of insane power and, once he was lucid enough to realize the implications of it, was terrified of the way it could hurt others. bill got a taste of insane power and burned a damaged world into a crisp instead of doing literally anything else anyway yeah i'm also really normal about bill

[coinandcandle]

Okay, silly question incoming

I worked in a crystal store, the New Age kind, not the geology or gemology kind. All of us there had to learn each stone's correspondence and some other basic info to help with sales and customers. Shungite (I'm pretty sure it was shungite) was labeled as "disrupting electromagnetic waves" or something like that. No one thought anything of it until a coworker asked "will it mess up your phone?" No one had an answer and none of us were paid enough to test it out (also why would we).

So my question is: does shungite or any stone labeled as effecting electronics do anything to your phone?

So I had a pretty good idea of this answer but I called up my buddy who was a geology major in school just in case and here's what he had to say:

The only reason a rock or crystal would affect your phone is if it was radioactive and it would have to be very radioactive to do so.

Shungite is a mineral made primarily of carbon and if there is any radioactive material in it, it's not enough to affect anything.

He also suggested the website mindat.org which will tell you the makeup of a rock and, if anything, what to be wary of. There are no listed concerns of radiation for shungite.

Then I did a bit more research on my own because I was curious about where this misinfo may come from.

As you said, it seems like a common new age idea that Shungite can "neutralize" or protect from EMF or 5g. While shungite can shield EMFs, it doesn't fully block them and certainly doesn't seem to neutralize them. (Shielding effect of mineral schungite during electromagnetic irradiation of rats)

However, some shungite does have antibacterial properties, it seems!

There are also studies in the work that show possible Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Shungite against Ultraviolet B Irradiation-Induced Skin Damage--at least in mice, that is.

So, will mess with your phone? No.

Will it protect you from EMFs? No.

Is it a cool rock? Yeah!

Are there scientific or medical applications for shungite? Looks like there is very promising research happening but nothing that the new age folks are trying to pitch to you.

[krejong]

Since I love your writing style and your ideas (and because I have way too much time right now to think about Karin&Leo) I would love to hear more about your WIPs. Maybe about "So sorry if I say some things I mean"?

If you just didn't get around to answering more asks yet, please ignore this :D

Hi, thanks for your ask! Sorry it took me so long to get around it, but my trip ended up being quite a bit more chaotic than originally intended 😅

Anyway, please ask me about my WIPs, I looove talking about them!

So in "So sorry if I say some things I mean", Karin and Leo have to pretend to be married (I couldn't resist writing a fake!married AU, whoops) for a case. For hand-wavy plot reasons, they have to do this while live together in a very expensive apartment and wearing very expensive clothes that the police department definitely has no issue funding with tax-payer money. It's all a bit silly, honestly, but this story hold a special place in my heart anyway.

Please have two excerpts, as an apology for my belated answer :)

"For a second, Leo swore she could see a flash of binoculars coming from a dim window in one of the nearby buildings. When she blinked, the binoculars and the person behind them had disappeared from sight.

“Peter. The tall building our bedroom window gives onto, what is it?”

“They’re offices from W.M. Keller, a law firm. They should be empty right now, though. Today was a bank holiday."

“How can you gain access to the building?”

“We can look into it, but I bet they either have personnel ID or a changing access code.”

“I think our suspect &lt;;i>is</i> spying on us. And that they have been doing it by trespassing into those offices.”

Peter mm-hmm-ed, then obviously moved the phone so he could write something down. The tearing of the paper and the scritch-scratching of a pencil could be heard in the background as he continued: “If he is indeed our guy, then breaking and entering will be the least of his worries once we have him collared.”"

"“They even got us lingerie. Isn’t that a bit excessive?”

“Well,” Karin said, “I guess that if the goal is for us to get the murderer into bed, they might become suspicious if underneath our several-thousand-euro dresses there’s four-year-old underwear we got on sale from some mid range brand.”

From the way she looked down her own front, it was clear she was mostly referring to herself. Leo’s bras could probably also do with an upgrade, if she was being honest.

Leo guessed she had a point. Picking up the bags, she went into the bathroom with her clothes.

Out of the bag came a box, and out the box, wrapped in black tissue paper, came a lingerie set unlike any Leo had ever seen: every baby blue piece had entirely too many ribbons, and all of them were&lt;;i>aggressively</i> transparent. Leo was suddenly very glad for the waxing appointment she’d had yesterday. Besides a tiny thong, there was a bra, a suspender belt, and a pair of chestnut stockings with lacey welts. Leo was almost afraid to touch everything, it looked like it had been spun out of spider silk.

Then, without letting herself think about it too much she put the set on, struggling with the suspenders and finding out which bit was supposed to clip onto where, but then she stood before the mirror, examining herself critically. She looked—she didn’t know. The lingerie fit her like a glove, that wasn’t it, but she didn’t look like herself anymore. Arguably, she had never looked less like herself. The woman who wore this was daring and expected the best; this was lingerie for Eleonore Bergmann, not for Leo Winkler. A disquieting feeling rolled around in her stomach. She resolutely pushed it aside."

[littlestsnicket]

the thing they don't tell you about owning an old home (not that my home is even old by non-american standards) is that some time in the past 15 years, it became difficult to buy appliances that fit through the tight corners in my house. the choices for washers and dryers that are under 25 inches in at least one direction are limited, and are tiny in all directions cause they are meant to be stuck in a closet. the current one is 28 by 25, but it seems like standard american laundry machines are more like 27 by 30 (which is at least an inch too wide to fit around the corner), and then compact is 23 by 25. and the choices of highly rated compact washer/dryers seems to be pretty limited. (especially since, being a very smart person who grew up in a modern suburban house, i did not consider this problem until i had already ordered a laundry machine, so i have to get one from the place i ordered it if i want a full refund.)

i think i found one though. would be a ventless dryer because that's the only one with good reviews that will fit around the corner to get it into the basement. reading the reviews are funny though... people are complaining it takes 45 minutes to run a dryer cycle and i am like... huh, i've been putting this off because i thought i just wanted a new dryer but mine takes significantly more than an hour and is probably wildly energy inefficient, this is a reasonable decision. it seems like technology has improved and the capacity isn't actually much lower, but i wanted to be able to fit a queen sized comforter in it (reviews say you can definitely physically fit a queen sized comforter in it, but if it will become clean rather than ruined is highly debatable). oh well.

really don't want to be dealing with this now, on top of the car stuff, but i have wanted a new washer and dryer since i bought the house (three years ago to the month, how the fuck did that happen), and i promised myself i would do this while things were on sale for presidents day, and, well, i don't want to deal with returning rather than exchanging the one i already bought.

hopefully (i really think so), i've done enough research that i didn't miss some obvious solution to getting a higher capacity but still tiny-in-one direction unit, but i don't think there's much of a market for people with this specific problem.

this is very silly, but i'm quite annoyed.

[bomnun]

but before i log out again my paranoid/pessimist brain has some more thoughts i want to share. this is based on severe overthinking, a lot of guessing, and i could be (and hope i am) wrong about everything. if anyone has any thoughts please share, because i feel like i’m going a little bit insane.

1. im pretty sure the reason cube sends pitigi to all this random festivals is so no one tries to terminate their contract early clc style, because blue box can argue that they as a company fulfilled their part and supported them throughout the entire 7 years career. performing at festivals is part of being musicians, right?! who cares that we’re letting thousands of songs rot in the vault?!

its easy for them, they probably often dont even organize transportation, they dont need to hold any of the responsibilities if they were touring. the company can just rake in some cash while pitigi rearrange their songs and choreographies for whatever the lineup of the month is and, like, the members, the closest stylists, managers and festival staff do all the work while the company can save money. (bp and bg had cashgrab tours why couldnt we get one!!!!!! i know its because the company is lazy and budgets in their own way but its still pissing me off)

2. how is it not...illegal...or at least frowned upon for them to just straight up lie and shittalk the group?

obviously success is relative and depends on what you consider most important, but, yet again, if we’re talking overall success and stability, late 2020-2021 was pitigi’s strongest era. the fanbase was the biggest, the highest total album sales were achieved, they did good (for a bg that debuted after 2015) on kcharts... but cube’s just going to pretend nothing notable happened after 2018 now, and get away with it? actually, since cube is so into album sales without realizing that semi-frequent comebacks are a necessity for keeping a fandom alive, i’m just going to throw out the fact that the most recent album, in:vite u, had their highest first week sales ever, thus highest preorders and biggest fandom size willing to preorder.

i don’t doubt that hui honestly feels invisible or rejected, but are we really going to let cube get away with acting like thats the natural cycle of the industry, and not a very deliberate decision on their part? the company is the only reason there was no comeback when the fandom was at its biggest ever in the summer of 2021. the company forced them to release feelin like agaisnt their will, made them promote it at the worst time in a really rushed, weird way, and then act like “oh, their time is just past them”. they even passed the company’s stupid test of getting a music show win when all music shows are canceled, so for months they worked so hard (links to a video compiling moments they teased AND CUBE ANNOUNCED a second ptg comeback in 2022) on a comeback it now feels like we’ll never hear. the members did their part in preparing the songs, seemingly the concept too, but when it’s time for the company to do something they cancel it for...an mnet survival show?

to me this feels like deliberate attempts at sabotaging their future career prospects out of the company, and, while i’ve seen other companies do it before, these pure lies being spoonfed to everyone anhd just being eaten up really amazes me. how can they get away with that?

3. re:invisibility and rejection. it’s clearly not to the point where they can’t come back, no matter what people say, they’re working with their usual producers, the feelin like choreo team (auspicious) worked with them when they did worse, and work with smaller artists, sane for stylists. music video directors seem to care more about how much they get paid than fame of the artists. it feels silly to even mention this because in the past 3-4 years of their career ptg have always been near the end on music shows; they’re clearly seen as a bigger name there. they’ve also kept going to random non-comeback related variety shows, like three special weekly idol episodes in 2022, random dingo shows, some new variety show that’ll air this month or next, a lot of radio shows big and small, singing shows of different scales, brand ambassadorships. none of this is huge, but, tbh, they’ve never been on the biggest variety shows anyway, so why would that be an obstacle this time? they were the 7th most booked idol group of 2022 and attended big end of year shows too... seriously... it’s not like they’re only doing random gigs here and there that anyone could be booked for.

4. this is very heavy guessing i could be even more wrong about than anything ive written above. we all know hui was super rushed into boys planet, auditioning a week after coming back (and if we’re humoring more of my shots in the dark, the idea could have been introduced about 3-4 days after him coming back), and from the way he talks on that show + one of his vlives, it sounds like the company really has been lying to him too, making him think all fans have left, and, yeah, sns interactions have gone down (because feelin like didnt attract new fans, some old fans went inactive bc they dislike it, and now its been a year since) i dont remember his exact phrasing, but hui went, like “thank you all for still being here and commenting and clicking the hearts”, and i remember him almost sounding surprised... but what i was going to say was that i wonder if they made him audition with him/the members still thinking they’d let the group come back if he achieved a satisfactory result. i’m basing this on hui’s “rather thank rank, it’s about proving” bio, choosing “just do it yo!!” as his favorite song, and shinwon saying every member’s decision was made “because we love pentagon so much” (30 dec 2022), as well as jinho in his seasons greetings message saying “in 2023, we’ll do what we couldn’t in 2022″ (november 2022, but likely to be after the boys planet participation was decided), shinwon and kino both saying pentagon will come back in 2023 (30 december 2022) and kino on his birthday asking universe to look out for pentagon in 2023 too (27 january 2023). however, based on yuto’s recent instagram live, it sounds as if the boys planet thing is just a hui thing, and like there are few group schedules planned in the future (imo, looking at it pessimistically), (11 february 2023). this makes me think that the company might have initially said they’ll just postpone the comeback, but now, maybe after the reception of their well-crafted mnet script, they’ve decided to cancel it for real. i also wonder if we’ll actually get any serious japanese promo, like CUBE ANNOUNCED (again!) was the plan for 2023, or just a random snow show. (i’ll take it though).

this is barely coherent, but i really just feel so angry, sad, and tired for them. is one stinky mnet survival show really this much more important than 10 years of the lives of, and the future livelihoods of 9 people, who weren’t even doing that badly for themselves, but now everyone will think they did...

[wanderingcas]

hey so like, i hope this is okay to send? but feel free to ignore it if you don't want to answer. i hope this isn't tmi but recently my mom became a single mom and i've been trying to help out more as the oldest, and that includes meals from time to time. my mom usually doesn't have time / energy to try out new things(frozen meals is the usual) and we're definitely on a budget- i found your post from like. two years ago lmao, saying to message if anyone needed any recipes. i don't even follow you or know you but if you had any ideas for stuff i'd really appreciate it! currently we have a lot of beans but tbh take that with a grain of salt because we can totally go out and get other ingredients, its just a matter of 1. making sure it doesn't cost much and 2. her not having to go to the store super often. do you have anything in general you'd suggest? especially with the fact that i'm a beginner in mind? it's also worth mentioning my mom likes to keep a low amount of meat in the house(but it isn't off-limits, just preferred to not be in everything). i dunno it feels super silly but i don't even feel like i know where to start. thanks in advance!

absolutely it's okay to send!' i answered the best i could, but obviously there's SO much more to go into specifically, so please feel free to message me if you have specific questions

but for every meal, i think it's best to keep it simple: protein, carb, vegetable. everything else on top of that is just extra, but at the base, the meal should consist of that. now, breaking it down into those parts:

vegetables

-frozen vegetables - peas, carrots, corn. you can’t tell these even were frozen when you put them in a soup or a casserole

-potatoes are usually cheap, depending on where you are in the world especially russet potatoes, and they can be baked alongside any protein you make.

-this isn’t necessarily on a budget, but ready-to-mix salads are a great option if you’re looking for something healthy and also fast. but those can be a couple dollars a bag. if that’s not an option, a really good idea is buying spinach (it can last at least a week in the fridge if you keep it good and sealed), buy a favorite dressing, and eat that combo for an iron kick. not the most fun thing in the world, but it’s very nutritious. you can even throw a few croutons or dried fruit in there if you can. plus, spinach can be thrown into any canned pasta sauce you get for an extra vegetable - just let it simmer on the stove for a few minutes until the spinach breaks down and gets soft. it’s a pretty versatile green!

-onions are usually affordable and always elevate a dish - just buy the cheapest your grocery store has, and don’t worry if a recipe says a certain kind (like yellow onion vs. red onion). most of the time, in a pinch, it truly doesn’t matter. we’re not aiming for a michelin star here lol

-celery: you can wrap it in tin foil and it'll last a few weeks in the crisper drawer

protein

-you mentioned you have a lot of beans, which is great, because if you don’t want a lot of meat this will provide you with a lot of protein! some ideas are chili (with those frozen veggies), vegetable soup, tacos, simply just rice and beans... they're really versatile!

-chicken thighs, bone-in, is harder to eat but always cheaper. thighs in general are cheaper than chicken breasts, too. if you can swing it, ready-made rotisserie chickens at the grocery store are the easiest to work with - simply cut and serve with rice, pasta, salad... literally anything!

-somtimes you can find discount meats that are about to expire at the grocery store. your freezer is your friend in this case - buy on sale, then freeze for up to 3 months until needed

carb

-rice is THE cheapest carb and can be used with literally anything. there's a variety of rice, all have their own personality, but get whatever is cheapest - you won't notice the difference in recipes, generally

-bread is obviously yum for any dish, especially garlic bread with pasta - cut a baguette or any thick loaf in half and spread some butter and garlic powder on it before throwing it in the oven wrapped in some foil

-pasta pasta pasta!! buy any shapes or sizes. can work with hundreds of dishes

now for random recipes that you can google for the steps or improvise - they're hopefully not too crazy complicated! obviously not a complete list, but enough to hopefully inspire you. they can all be theoretically cooked in under an hour, too.

-chili, potato soup, any baked chicken dish with veggies + a carb, fried rice, pasta with marinara sauce from an jar + side salad, tacos, quesadillas, beans + rice.

-googling "cheap dinners in 30 minutes" will also get you a crazy amount of results!

in terms of grocery shopping, i'd look up the recipes in advance, then make a list. then you can substitute any veggie or protein you want depending on price.

i hope this helps!! good luck:) and feel free to message me again with any specific questions or if you want specific recipes!! i'd be happy to provide links/steps but i didn't want this ask to get too crazy long <3

[thessalian]

Thess vs Next Fest 2023, Pt 1.

I managed to try two of my shiny new demos before I crashed last night. I have Things To Say already.

My Dream Setup: Okay, this one’s little, silly, and really Zen. It’s basically just taking the room design aspect of the Sims, simplifying it a lot, and removing the “you must work to afford this or get really good at using the Motherlode cheat” aspect from it. Basically it’s a room design game. I can see myself futzing around with it as a wind-down exercise ... well, at least when all the main features aren’t locked out of the game.

Code Vein: Okay, this one wasn’t a “NEW AND COMING SOON” game. This was a game I’d heard a lot about from various sources and thought I’d give a try since there was a demo. It’s ... it’s another one of those very Japanese ones? Also it’s an ARG, and I’m not generally great at those. And its combat is heavily based on the Soulslike formula, which means “a lot of dodge and / or block, no easy mode, git gud scrub” etc etc. Then again, while “git gud” is a horrible way of phrasing it, I guess the only real way to learn how to play those sorts of things is to keep trying and not be too stressed about constantly dying. I mean, it’s entirely possible that changing the keybinds will help if I do get this one, because some of the keybinds they use for those of us who don’t use controllers are just awkward as fuck. So it’s basically Jedi: Fallen Order all over again as I try to work out a reasonable keybind set-up that’s intuitive for a keyboard user rather than one designed by someone who thinks that a controller is the sole proper conduit for the voice of the gods ... or whatever, I don’t know. I just know that being disabled really, really sucks.

So, yeah, all of the things I downloaded the demo for went onto the wishlist, but it’s only the ones that I like that are going to stay there. My Dream Setup and Code Vein both stayed there, and shifted up fairly high. I arrange my wishlist a little weird, I admit - mostly I keep it in priority order with “coming soon” games down at the bottom (also arranged by priority at that point), but “coming soon” games move up into proper priority order as soon as there’s a solid release date on them. So, like, Dredge finally got its release date (30 March) so it goes right up at the top where it belongs. My Dream Setup actually comes out in about two weeks so that went right into priority order near the top. Since Code Vein’s been out for awhile, it went into priority order too ... though I will admit that the only reason that Code Vein is so high up there is that it’s currently 85% off until next week and if I am going to buy it to try my hand at that particular genre, it might as well be when it’s significantly on sale. Maybe then I’d have some idea about where to set my keybinds and actually give Jedi: Fallen Order another try. Point being, it’s all a kind of weird organisational system but it works for me because it means I keep my priority order fairly up to date instead of just tacking stuff on at random. It also means I get to look through reviews of the things on my wish list and go, “Okay, given this is what’s being said, do I really want this?” A fair few times, the answer has been ‘no’, so it’s an interesting sort of way to be a mindful shopper, I guess.

...’Mindful shopper’ my entire ass; my wishlist is over 100 items long and I still haven’t played half the games I already own. Still, it’s like with books - one day, one of those games is going to be the only thing that speaks to me on any given day. Besides, if I can fuck up the Code Vein demo, maybe fucking up something like A Plague Tale: Innocence won’t be that bad. I mean, I’ve seen the final boss fight now and I kind of need to know how the fuck we got to that point...

[beautifulpersonpeach]

K-pop Fan Perception of BTS's Ticket Pricing (Repost)

Anonymous: Hi BPP! Are you going to Vegas? I got tickets just now and I'm so excited I could almost pee on myself!! Sorry haha. It's only been a few months since the LA concerts and I already miss BTS. The energy and quality of their performances always moves something deep inside me. The happiness it brings is so tangible for me. I will gladly spend more and more money on them. Which brings me to my question, kpoppies were upset at floor/barricade tickets going for ~$500. Firstly, why do they care?

**

Hi Anon,

I’m happy you got tickets! Honestly, myself and a few friends breathed a sigh of relief that all tickets went on sale for ARMYs first, rather than that SOFI disaster that had randoms and scalpers bleeding people dry. Things have become incredibly busy for me irl recently so it’s possible on that date I might not have the time to go, but yes, I got tickets for the Vegas concerts!

I. Am. Excited.

But I’ll admit I laughed reading your ask. "Why do they care" indeed.

Because they’re k-pop stans.

Serious question: is it possible to be a k-pop stan in 2022 and not be outraged at BTS / ARMY / HYBE on a bi-weekly basis?

That’s a really flippant thing to say, isn’t it? I’m not sure I can write the rest of this post in a way that won’t have a multi coming for my neck lool. But I’m asking a serious question and it’s one I’ve been asking since like 2017. I’m sure these people have what they think are genuine gripes with BTS or whatever. Perhaps there is really some hyper-capitalist theory that damns HYBE’s business practices as ‘immoral’.  What I’ve observed however is these bursts of outrage seem to be more from shock than anything else. Pure incredulity. There’s the outrage born of boredom that you’ll frequently see in k-pop spaces, usually in the discourse-for-discourse’ sake -type environs, but genuine surprise also plays a factor sometimes.

Shock that BTS can charge what they do, when no one else in k-pop charges those prices. Awards, streams, album sales numbers - all of those things can be ignored and dismissed after you’ve heard about them often enough. What’s harder to look away from is demand shown in real time and expressed in cold hard fiat currency.

I keep saying k-pop is so inherently competitive and it’s because I’ve seen even those decrying how competitive it is, falling into that same mindset nearly every single time. It’s a really hard mindset to shake off and it’s why these people see BTS’ numbers and instinctively compare to the groups they know. It’s one reason I was laughing non-stop when prices for BTS merch were released. I saw people comparing Jin’s PJs to PJ merch of other k-pop idols (of course priced significantly lower) and then being outraged. BTS merch prices were on par with many Western (and a couple Asian) artists’ merch. At least the pajamas, accessories, hoodies and sweatpants were (Hobi is so unique with the potted plants idea). But k-pop stans expected BTS to be priced similarly to other k-pop groups… when that’s been kind of silly to do for about 3 years now.

There are a lot of questions k-pop stans ask that can be easily answered just by reminding them BTS is the biggest group in the world.

BTS is the biggest group in the world and has been selling out multiples dates of ~100,000 capacity stadiums since 2019, in seconds. Considering this, $500 for barricade/floor seats is a steal. If you’ve ever felt the heart palpitations when buying floor tickets at Coldplay, Adele, Beyonce, or Drake concerts, then I wouldn’t fault you if you weep for joy at the generosity that is BTS’s ticket pricing. Scalpers sold multiple tickets for the LA concert for as high as $22,000/ticket. For the BTS Vegas concerts, HYBE of course offers very affordable options with several tickets going for $50 - $65.

But these fans think either that BTS is not good enough to charge those prices or feel anger that their own favored groups are ‘better’ but not valued as highly… Again, competition. They can’t help it. Price is typically determined by demand and supply, and rather than condescend more than I’ve already done in this post so far, I’ll just leave it at that.

Let’s just let people enjoy things. :)

One really shouldn’t be getting triggered by how fans choose to spend their own money and resources on musicians and artists they love. 

Originally posted: March 3rd, 2022 12:54am

[blakasbook]

Try it ! They said life brings you a lot of opportunities and you can do it they said. We will help you they said. Really nice of them and really supportive you think, maybe when the time comes they will help me to make it, because they know how hard it is to be on your own?! Or that’s what I thought at least. Silly me huh? To think that my own blood will be ready to help me out or lend me a hand or at least a finger. Really stupid thoughts huh?…

Let’s start from the beginning my name is blake I am a female, my age? I am 26 years old I had a lot of ups and downs but mostly my life went fighting for myself every single day and do you know why? Let me tell you that there are some types of humans that they hate you from the bottom of their heart they hate you, hmm why? Good question the answer is they hate you because you exist ! just the existence of you the others hate you just for being alive or just for breathing even though you didn’t do anything to them, just the shadow of you is hateful. And guess what that person it is me and it always has been me people hate me just for me ? Sounds unbelievable huh?? But it is true I feel like a lot of people might relate with me because someone somewhere is in exact position as I have always been in my life, and you know what being hateful just for breathing it’s really hard to survive you know…. Always watching out your back and front from everywhere and everyone… huuuyh a lot of thoughts flew in my head after mentioning that sadly it is continuing even today these events and everyday of my life😅 !

Right now I am living in Germany it’s a really good country honestly german people as far as I have had contact with like 100% germans they are very softhearted and friendly people they love those who work a lot and do their job good, they respect you for who you are and they will always watch you, your moves your expressions and when they have something to tell you they will not say it in your face but threw someone else bad habit that is but in the end I support the idea of them being softhearted.

But why Germany huh? ….

Now you are probably wondering how did I decide to come live in Germany?! .. Yes I am a well educated person and had a good job, in my homeland I was a teacher I finished my master degree and yeah I found a job in public school and everything was nice at least after three years of experience. Wonder why huh??… Like I said people hate me just for being a human being, I am a first child in family and my beautiful mom raised me so well and made me a perfectionist in everything that I do so even teaching is a privilege I should do it in perfect way, some of you might or might not agree with me but let me say all the employees in that building they didn’t agree with me and with my ways of having fun threw teaching hmmm a lot of them came to work because they had to ! And did it just because they had to come and take a salary because they needed it for the family, well yeah we all do it for the sake of the money but not all of us do it the wrong way and by wrong way I mean that not having fun with teaching and giving knowledge to the beautiful kids we have in front of us ! For me it should be done in perfect way, playing, having fun and learning all together in one class but my hateful existence made it hard to accept that it was the right way to teach the kids, anyways a lot of downfalls in those three years but that’s a storie for another time.

Know my journey to Germany begins from a year ago around these time for the first time in my life I stepped on the ground of lovely land of Germany precisely in beautiful city of Frankfurt… I came here by working visa and my current job is a sales person in coffee bar in “Tankstelle” or as know in English gas stations… hmm I know I know from a master degree to a noneducated employee in gas station yeah hard to swollen but bad and poorly paid jobs make you change your country and come and be a uneducated worker in another country… heartbreaking …..

My first time here was hard I was not sure my relatives would come to pick me up at the airport or not I had a lot of fears and stress what would’ve happened to me what should I do all alone in big city that was my first time leaving my home land and my fears took me I couldn’t concentrate I couldn’t of feel my body at all I was lost by all means if someone would of cut me with a knife in that right moment I would of not bleed a single drop of blood. My soul left me that day from all the bad thoughts and terrifying feelings I had inside of me and a lot of regrets that I had back then for leaving my home land even though I needed money and I needed to work hard so I could offer my little baby brother a future somewhere better than the homeland so in the future I could take my parents here and they could be a little bit happy in their lifetime. I wanted this I needed this opportunity but I was scared being all alone and knowing myself that people hate me no matter what I knew the journey would be hard for me. I was numb everywhere. ‘

‘WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING? DID I LOSE MY MIND WHY THE HELL AM I IN GERMANY STUPID AND STUPID FOR LEAVING ‘ - my voice inside of me. ..

‘This was my time to make my family’s life a little better but as I said earlier all my relatives told me before come you have a place here everything you need here all of you don’t worry everything is going to be so good we will come and take you from the airport and find you a job and everything don’t worry at all” …. Those words made me feel good and happy and proud of my relatives but that happiness didn’t last long, when I won the appointment to came in Germany, guess what happened? ….