#its always so fun to participate!! ^_^

[muscariii]

Hiiii people. I am fully back.

I passed all my assignments and stuff and I'm officially done with my first year of art school!

I was very exhausted near the end so I couldn't bring myself to post but now that I'm done I will be more active again!! I also plan to make a post with oc stuff that I was making for my portfolio for uni stuff (which got accepted btw!!). As a treat for like the five people that enjoy my oc drawings :'3

So, as usual. Morrowind. I was thinking about the comic and all and I started wondering about what Dagoth looks like. And then it turned into this idea that he wears his mask for a reason so I did this drawing of him with scars on his face. I think it could be interesting. I also made him blind in one eye and the third one is missing. Maybe he uses a glass one for that?

I'll draw some more tomorrow but I'm happy to hear some opinions!!

And of course it wouldn't be a muscari™️ post without Rasha. The one with Nerevar is a reference to that one picture of Trixie Mattel.

The other one is a little ref sheet with Rasha's expressions that is mainly for the comic but I'll also put it on artfight later (I'm updating a few refs I had there).

That's it for today!! I'll be back pretty quick though!!

[thekittymuffin]

Happy TechnogiftExchangeV4 @pigeon-in-a-trenchcoat ! It was a delight to paint Techno as a tiny borrower!! :D

Here is the non-scanned full watercolor painting with closeups :D

Inspiration and more under the cut! Thank you @technoblade-gift-exchange for organizing!!!

In my personal au here Sneegsnag and Hannah are already living as borrowers in Phil and Kristin's house but while Sneeg and Hannah are out on their honeymoon, techno moves in. Then Kristin finds him and convinces Phil to let her keep him and by the time the other two are back borrowerblade has been fully adopted lmao

Initial sketches including the other prompts and my bad math to calculate blueberry percentages:

In progress:

This painting was super inspired by this one post I saw that had me cackling and as soon as I saw the borrower prompt I knew what needed to be done

[f-imaginings]

ITS PRIDE MONTH and us kmky fans demand that you give us some billford content! AND MAKE IT GAY! 🌈 🏳️‍🌈

I can do that 🫡 I'll make something just for June for funsies and I'll let y'all vote on what you'd like to see.

[poethebeloved]

the issue with discussions of "lore" is that people are thinking about/defining "lore" completely wrong. people beg for lore thinking that there must be universe-altering events constantly happening, and without that the story is not progressing. but large events like q!cellbit's kidnapping or q!roier and everyone going to rescue bobby are only one aspect of "lore" right?

to me, "lore" is anything that tells us something about the way the universe works or who the characters are that was not already known. q!foolish being batman? LORE!!! richarlyson hating baths? LORE!!!

people refuse to take these silly one-off events/comments and dismiss them in favor of major lore events, but that small stuff is necessary for the big stuff to pan out. I mean, without small things like richarlyson telling q!roier that q!cellbit easily falls for flirting, would we have built up to the wedding? without Tallulah/everyone on the server teasing q!quackity about his crush on q!wilbur, would we have had the "wilbur party" explosion?

at the end of the day, 99% of what the creators are doing is contributing to the lore (of at least their character if not the whole server) because they are roleplaying characters and the things they say are part of their character and become their lore. stop hating on creators for "not doing lore" when they are actively taking care of their egg or creating builds or doing silly schemes. because that is still lore that can and often will culminate in these larger narratively satisfying events!

[baradurus]

My piece for the qsmp femslash (well i have 2 other cooking but ill post em tmr!)

You can get an overview of all the beutifull fics and artpieces of this event on @qsmp-femslash

[good-beanswrites]

Random 1am thought: In that LCSYS/OoA crossover, how do the producers make sure Amane doesn't "die"?

I could imagine it all panning out like my curtain call responses, haha. "We're going to kill Fuuta." "No, you will not."

Ah, this was so fun to think about! There are a few painful references to her family (as to be expected), but this came out overall sweeter than I expected :’) 

Amane sat peacefully at the head of the conference table and looked between the debating adults, nodding along with the different arguments, very glad that she was invited to this meeting discussing whether or not she should be killed. 

Though not really a life or death decision, she didn’t think children were allowed to be involved in such important choices. She’d never gotten a say in any of her family affairs, or the events at her school – it was wholly surprising when Jackalope had escorted her to the meeting room and asked her to speak in front of everyone. The main project team was there, as well as the prisoners who were asked to sit quietly and listen.

She knew for a fact none of them would follow such a rule, but at least they looked like they’d try for her sake.

Jackalope began the meeting by explaining his reasoning for all the plans, all of which felt sound to Amane. He gestured to her, and all eyes fell upon her seat. She stood. 

She could tell this decision wasn’t entirely up to her; Jackalope was mostly ensuring she wasn’t going to come back and sue them if faking her own death would cause any lasting trauma. 

That wasn’t of concern to her – she had bigger plans for this meeting. She inhaled deeply. She spoke as eloquently as she could manage with her nerves.

“I honestly did not give much thought to my preferences before today. Real or fake, the time of our own death is something that is chosen for us. Of course I would never want it, but I would never argue with the appointed time. But… I do wonder about the others. The script made sense for me, but hasn’t Haruka grown too much to do something like that? Hasn’t Fuuta changed so much that this is only cutting his story short?” She swallowed hard. “I… I don’t want it to sound vain, like I’m only trying to save myself. But, do we really need anyone to die?”

Jackalope offered an apologetic smile to her, then the room. “Unfortunately, we do.”

“Like hell you do!” 

Well, that didn’t take long. 

Fuuta shifted in his seat, fists clenching atop the table. “She’s right. Haruka would never do those things. The two of them are just kids – you can’t just kill them off like it’s nothing.”

“It’s not ‘like nothing.’ I’ve designed the perfect psychological experiment, and it requires we explore dark paths like this.”

“It doesn’t require shit, you’re just saying that!”

“Kajiyama, I have already explained the delicate thematic balances!”

“I’ll show you who’s a delicate –!”

Amane shot him a look across the room. He returned the expression, but clamped his mouth shut.

Jackalope folded his hands. “I assure you, the proper weight and care will go into every aspect of this. We’ve thought long and hard about the natural progression of things.”

“Are you certain?” Shidou asked. “I don’t think any of us would let Haruka out of our sights after he did something like that. And you say Kajiyama-kun would succumb to his injuries early in the hiatus, but I doubt I’d let that happen with the time and resources provided. Perhaps we could collaborate on your research.”

Though Jackalope was offended that his research would be called into question, the team appeared to sway the more they discussed. Amane lost track of their back-and-forth, preoccupied with keeping her tongue held. She wanted nothing more than to scold Shidou for being so arrogant. Such a bold claim that he could definitely fix any unknown injury was taking things too far. However, if he was saying it in defense of keeping Fuuta alive, and it was working, she didn’t want to distract anyone. 

She focused instead on the next thing she wanted to say. Her parents had taught the importance of a compromise during an argument. Jackalope noticed her change in expression, and reluctantly called the table to silence.

“Yes?”

“I believe this will make a nice agreement,” she announced. She’d been taught that the perfect recipe to prove you were worthy of something you wanted was to sacrifice something very dear to you. “It would be more realistic for Fuuta-san and Haruka-san to survive. I will still die this trial, and you can handle it however dramatically you wish.”

The room seemed less thrilled about the compromise than she would have thought, erupting into heated chatter. 

“Alright, alright!” Jackalope’s professional tone was beginning to crack in his annoyance. “Will you all shut up for a second?”

When the room finally settled, Mahiru spoke. So much for sitting quietly, Amane thought, grateful that none of them had sat quietly. 

“Why don’t you take some time to think about it?” Mahiru’s smile was as warm as always. “I agree with Amane-chan’s original statement – I don’t think anyone needs to die. People change. The project can, too.”

“Tch, people don’t change.” Jackalope gathered up his papers, freely showing his annoyance. “And if they do, they’re getting worse. If you all were capable of change so easily, don’t you think you wouldn’t be here in the first place? Haven’t you been paying attention to this whole project? You all might have made some new friends, but it’s not like you’re all changed people.” He marched to the door.  “I have another meeting, so we’ll wrap this up now. I’ll let you know my final decision by tomorrow.”

Amane sank back into her seat, even as the room grew loud around her. She thought being here was too good to be true, and it was. If anything, she’d doomed the others further. 

--- 

“Hey!”

“Just hold still.”

“I am – ow!” 

Jackalope crept through the hall, following the Amane’s angry cries.

“Kajiyana Fuuta, it’s not too late – I will kill you.”

In a project like this, it was important to observe his participants in every situation. It was especially effective if they didn’t know he was there. He’d done it plenty of times, and it always yielded incredible results. It wasn’t creepy; it was simply good business. 

He peered around the corner into one of the facility’s break rooms, careful to stay in shadow.

Amane swung her legs from atop the counter while Fuuta scrambled around her with paper towels. He tried to wipe down her bloody knee. A first aid kit lay open beside the two.

“Be careful…”

“Maybe if you were more careful, you wouldn’t have fucking asphalt in your leg!”

“It was just a little game outside! I’m sure you’ve tripped in the road before.”

He clicked his tongue at her in lieu of replying. 

From the beginning, Jackalope had known this particular experiment was designed perfectly. The pieces fell into place better than all those that came before it. He could practically picture the way it would play out in perfect, horrifying, beautiful paths. So when had it become something unrecognizable to him?

Once Fuuta got most of the blood cleaned off, he moved to the first aid kit to pick through bandages. Amane leaned close, supervising. 

“Just a small one.”

“You need a big one for a scrape like that.”

“I told you, you were only allowed to do this if it was a small one.”

“No, the deal was that I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“And we both know you can’t keep a secret, so can you at least use a small one?”

“What do you mean? I swore I wouldn’t tell, now let me cover it.”

“Pinky swear.”

“I’m a grown-ass man, I’m not gonna pinkie swear.”

Amane’s pinkie hung in the air between them. She scooted away as Fuuta tried to place the large bandage across her knee. Her pinkie poked in his face.

“Fine! Cross my heart and all that shit. Happy?”

“Yes.”

Jackalope retreated around the corner. He rubbed a hand down his face. He hated being wrong. Worst of all, he hated when his participants – nobodys who would have ended up in jail, or tormented, or dead without his intervention – were right. 

Well, that was exactly it, wasn’t it? People don’t change, and these participants wouldn’t have changed, if it weren’t for some grand force of good working in their lives. Special connections that wouldn’t have happened naturally. 

They were so lucky to have him in charge of their fates, weren’t they? 

[civilization-illstayrighthere]

Hey so I’ve mentioned this a lot of times on my main blog, but I wanted to put this out over here since it is Hallow’s Eve. I always give out little tchotchkes on Halloween along with candy. This year, I’ve completely switched over to 100% doohickeys and doodads— think mechanical pencils, shaped erasers, little notebooks, squishes, vampire teeth and spiders rings and all. It started years ago in college when I signed up for a dorm Halloween event where kids from an area that was too dangerous to really trick or treat through got bussed in to trick or treat at our dorm. I bought some candy and dollar store Halloween themed stuff with what i had. And you know what the kids went ape shit over?

Motherfucking. Mechanical. PENCILS!!

These kids could not get enough of them. They literally went “PENCILS??!” I had never seen kids get so hyped up for pencils lmao. They were the first things to go. Candy is fleeting; the little pencils you can bring to school to flex are eternal, until you inevitably lose one of the refill parts and then they aren’t but listen, in that one moment they are infinite. And its nice thinking that maybe some kids who don’t always have access to school supplies not only get them, but get them in fun shapes and designs.

Anyway. I recommend people to give out fun stuff like this not just because kids seem to genuinely enjoy them, but also because there’s this thing called the Teal Pumpkin Project here in America. You can put out a teal pumpkin to show that you are giving away non-candy items and sign your address up so parents of children with allergies know that there are houses their kids can safely and happily trick or treat at! It’s a win-win! Plus, if you accidentally bought too much, it’s not like candy— just pack it away, pencils and fidget spinners will be good next year, too! :)

[abirddogmoment]

A little bit about CKC pointing field trials (puppy stakes) in general for those who are interested in how they run.

CKC has its hunting dog events broken out pretty specifically. CKC is restrictive in which breeds can run which events (e.g., only CKC registered approved pointing breeds can run pointing tests, other breeds are excluded even if they technically could complete the exercises. Rory can only run pointing events, she couldn't do a retriever test or a spaniel test).

We also have a distinction in trials vs tests, as most other venues do.

Trials - you are competing against other people and being judged against a standard. You run in pairs. Top 4 dogs get placements, once you get enough points you get a field championship.

Tests - you are running alone and being judged against a standard for a qualifying/non-qualifying runs. 3 qualifying runs gets you a title.

We are currently running CKC pointing field trials.

CKC pointing trials have two main distinctions within them - puppy stakes and senior stakes. You can enter whichever stake you're ready for, with some exceptions (like age) - you don't have to run puppy stakes before running senior stakes.

Puppy stakes are a little lower pressure because they judge puppies' potential. Within puppy stakes, there are two main types of runs.

Open puppy stakes: any puppy *of eligible breed* between 6 and 18 months old. No birds hidden in the field, no gunshots on the course, 15-20 minutes running.

Derby stakes: any puppy of eligible breed between 6 and 27 months old. At least two birds hidden in the field, puppy needs to point birds if encountered, gunshots, 20-30 minutes.

We run open puppy for now. Here's how this goes:

We are randomly paired with another puppy and handler (this pairing is called a brace, the other handler and dog are our bracemates). We walk up to the start line together (usually the entrance to a big pasture) with our puppies on leash. Two judges (on ATV or horseback) give us a quick overview of the course we have to walk. The course is usually through a big open field with medium cover (think knee high grasses and shrubs, some wetlands, some hills but no forest) and typically avoids fencelines or roads. They tell us to release our dogs at the same time, so we let the dogs off leash and start walking (very fast, and I'm a fast walker to begin with). The course is usually huge, much bigger than we could possibly walk in 20 mins.

Usually the puppies play a little bit and then get to work. The judges are looking for puppies who can ignore the other dog and handler, judges, ATV, horses, and spectators, hunt independently, cover lots of ground (move fast and steady across the terrain while still sniffing), use the wind to follow scent, and respond to their handlers' directions. If the puppies want to play too much, the judges will ask the handlers to split up a little bit to encourage the puppies to work independently. Usually you stick within about 10m (25ft) of your bracemate. Puppies can range anywhere as long as they stay visible and ahead of their handlers. (Puppies are often about several hundred metres/yards away from their handlers depending on breed. Rory ranges about 50-100m in real life and about 75-300m in field trials. It is an exhilarating exercise in trust in my training.)

The judges follow behind us and then spectators can follow behind the judges, if they want. We have to keep up a very fast pace to encourage the puppies to cover as much ground as possible, not at a jog but pretty close.

In puppy stakes, you want to keep as quiet as you can. The judges are looking for instinct and basic potential, so you don't want to ruin that by giving your dog tons of directions. If your puppy follows directions, that suggests they need directions to function. If your dog ignores directions, that's unresponsive and also bad. Ideally you shouldn't say much during your run unless there's danger (if a deer runs out, you would recall your puppy) or evils (if your puppy is eating poop, you could recall or redirect). You are allowed to chat with your bracemate but you have to hustle fast so it's usually friendly but minimal.

One important piece of open puppy stakes is that there are no planted birds in the field! There may be wild birds, but it's unlikely. Many people "over train" their bird dog puppies on live birds, and then the puppies get really frustrated that there are no birds in the field after they search so hard. This causes puppies to slow down or give up entirely during their run, so this is something that judges look for. In real life hunting, there's no guarantee of birds so it's important that puppies can work through frustration without losing enthusiasm.

The judges kind of shout directions (go left, head for those trees) from behind to keep us on course. In the best courses, the judges make you walk a loop, but sometimes your time ends in the middle of a field. When your time is up, the judges will thank you and tell you to leash your dog. We recall our puppies and put them on leash and walk them back to our cars for water and snacks.

That's the whole run for open puppy! It's very low pressure. The puppies basically just follow their hearts and do what they were made to do.

Derby is extremely similar, except there are birds planted in the field. The puppies don't HAVE to find birds but obviously its preferable that they do. If they find birds, they must point (stop moving and stand still staring at the bird). They don't have to be steady to flush or shot (they can chase when the bird flies or when the gun goes off), and only blanks are shot in derby. The course is a little longer but everything else is the same.

In open puppy and derby stakes, the judges are just looking for potential. They want to know if your dog would be competitive in the senior stakes, so they're looking for lots of independence, lots of bird drive, lots of stamina, things like that. Because they're judging potential, younger puppies may be judged a little easier than older puppies.

I think that's the gist of puppy stakes in CKC pointing field trials! Send me a message if you have questions about our experience so far!

[vaniliens]

Im not even sticking around for the drama that stuff gives me heart diseases im just here to see where this guys gonna lead us and to make fun of him if it ends up bad and ignore it if it was good

[tariah23]

Man, I still remember participating in one of the many jjba zines that I took part in and how my piece was placed as the first page (for the second time) and how one of my mutuals/artists that I’ve always admired, hit me with the “oh… you’re on the front page again… 😅…” like man, that kind of killed me lmfao. I never got over it like man, what was that about.

[ozomatli]

augh i went to library dnd today and the dm asked if id be interested in being a secondary dm in case our group gets really big again, and also said i had good social management skills and he trusts me to help lead the kids :3

[battleshipgarcy]

[dashiellqvverty]

i do think the amount of comparisons between black sails and ofmd - both favorable and unfavorable tbh - is a little out of hand lmao like even before the flint vs stede poll there was a lot of it and its like. they are completely different shows with completely different goals. i just saw someone call ofmd a "black sails ripoff" and honestly what the fuck are you talking about. is black sails a pirates of the caribbean ripoff?? is there only allowed to be one television show about pirates and everything else is a copy?? or is it just the fact that there are also gay characters in it? im just like there are PLENTY of real and good criticisms why does it always come back to this. let them exist separately

[hermanunworthy]

yall does my lack of personal romantic experience Show in my writing 😭

[st4rstudent]

finding out last years toon fest was in Atlanta is really funny to me

[unproduciblesmackdown]

billions sure seemed to settle on the people with Less Power who have in-universe supporting roles to the more powerful players ultimately doing better than the central men do (and not quoting hitler & raring to launch nuclear attacks as much, so nice job) & deserving to walk away, but where then it's like okay & so what about the people with less power than Them who had supporting roles to Them. so the pyramid scheme here crumbles as each more burdened tier may fall alway, is the extension. & billions is like oh no no it isn't. because the people in a lower tier than These [better than the central men] parties have less power b/c that's what they Deserve, of course. then you can turn to all the instances of billions, with the central men it knows are shit & refuse to change, having those central men express "other people have less power than me b/c that's what they Deserve, of course," and billions like "oh god. sickos. not true, & we're freeing those people these guys wrongly think are inferior" like okay and whoosh lightning fast swap that [central men / their support network] juxtaposition with [that support network / the Lower Ranking people who work with Them] and nope billions is just going "no yeah This power imbalance is objective & righteous. the Winners deserve to do whatever they want" like you do see how it falls apart (they do not, presumably)

and that as always the pyramid scheme is also a sierpiński triangle b/c you look at any point & zoom in & as always when [well a hierarchy is objective] is thee way, as soon as you have multiple people in a situation there must be an establishing of the hierarchy in that situation. and there we go in the finale where it's like the [s1 yay axe wags wendy sooo cool even if i guess don't let people die] continues and like taylor in s2 did get in in time with enough thought & with enough intention that the character be in Juxtaposition with everything s1ly, and they belong to the adequately deserving group of characters in the end and certainly with Any effort at giving them some focus, but they cannot disrupt their Deservingness by disrupting the Deserved Hierarchy and i.e. Not deferring to wags, wendy, axe. taylor & sacker (& philip) team would've had this wrapped up in two to four episodes; instead we have way too much focus on wags & wendy not doing anything except getting in the way, or being sooo cool, & at least taylor interacting w/axe was more characterful material for taylor, but they don't even really get to criticize anyone for getting in the way or being sooo cool terrible now or prior, like, okay look just ask axe why he's not being as totally epic as you know he truly is, and don't be helming this shit that's always Actually been most relevant to this once-newcomer character who was written to inherently contrast with all the s1 epicness, wonder why that relevance is. step aside and let our hero wendy through please while we all kneel & clap & think about our inferiority to her

then just bonus mentions like that i guess rian was supposed to also be contrasting but she just turns out yet another bog standard axe cap bully who happens to so totally be a woman, we remind you, yet different from bonnie in that she also is less overtly aggressive, despite this she's So deserving but not so much that they ever made room for something besides [if you removed her from the series it'd be so easy to make it so that pretty much nothing changes] despite that she was supposed to be like, relevant. even better we have our beloved ben kim who billions cared to have in every episode (if some eps cut post production?) and who was here in s1 but to first illustrate like where my 50something fellas at these damn young whippersnappers think they're sooo smart but NO only axe. which is why he deserves to be epic boss boy. and later on it's like well yes he's lower tier than these other characters but it's because he's Too nice. to truly become a winner you simply need to Believe you are one & act accordingly confident (i.e. it's still Deserved, his fault, he needs to step up & stop acting Like he belongs in loserdom) and we like get any material for him here & there & eventually tuk (zoom in on Multiple People, tuk is lower tier than ben, presumably billions considers that once again this is indeed Deserved) and in the end well he's still here, hooray, still so Unstrategic and An Pussy so we all see that, though we may pity him, his lower tier status is still brought upon himself, and hey also we need people to fill in the ranks for epic boss boy again so come stand over here okay thanks byeee