#pens vs bolts

[lunetaylina]

Ooh no, Jars.

[missingpucks]

when he takes a shot right in the face

[stitchposts]

Dunno if anyone's asked this yet but how do you transfer / create patterns for your embroidery pieces? :O

Has not been asked yet! :>

I prefer to print my design onto paper and then trace over it with Pilot Frixion products onto a piece of water-soluble stabilizer. Pilot Frixion products are pens and markers that disappear when heat is applied. My preferred stabilizer is Pellon 541. I buy it by the bolt because it is a tried and true favorite of mine and I know how to get the most out of it.

Tracing by hand is another step vs using products that allow you to print a water soluble design but Pilot Frixion pens don't stain my preferred fabrics I work on. And I can just use a glue stick on the Pellon 541 (which I cut into the shape I need) so that it sticks to the fabric without shifting, so I can use less for each piece. I keep many colors of the Frixion fineliners on hand so that when I transfer embroidery I plan out then, not later, where I want each color to go, and have a guide to follow when I'm in the weeds stitching. This is a choice I make for my workflow, not something that I see commonly done. If I don't do this, I'll forget how I intended to do some sections.

Pilot does not endorse crafters using the Frixion products this way since they're not tested or rated for that use, btw - they are normal pens and markers meant for paper. Very experienced high art crafters also do not endorse Frixion products because of the very valid reality that the PH could degrade fabric over time, or the marks can reappear if exposed to cold. I do not especially care about making heirlooms for people that are intended to last decades - my projects get a LOT of hard use and wear. The embroidery process will not be what causes the fibers to wear out on my clothes or accessories.

I have used the stick-on printable washable stabilizers. I used it on the dragon vest I made, and I regret it deeply. It turns out that some printer inks do NOT wash out when the piece is rinsed and the dyes/pigments settle on the fabric and just stain the everloving fuck out of your fabric. I had to use every ounce of my laundry knowledge from years of working with fibers to save my vest, so I had color catchers on hand and had to immediately run to buy two liters of vodka for soaking instead of risking it drying overnight.

I still have my printable interfacing sheets and I'll probably see if friend-printers have ink that works better than mine did, which is in the fine print of the product, that it might stain and to test it. Or I can just use them up as tracing papers without printing. It feels like a waste to do that without trying other printers since it's so expensive for a pack of sheets and I am currently unemployed. I'll do whatever suits my needs on a project by project basis with it.

Anyway. Don't be me with using new methods of transfers on the big important projects. Test your new transfer method with your fabric in an inconspicuous spot. Honestly, test older transfer methods with any fabric if it is a gift or something Special and Important. I almost destroyed 130 hours of work and I am experienced enough that I had the skill to just barely salvage my hard work.

[davycoquette]

Writerly Questionnaire

I got tagged back in my own questionnaire (tysm @saturnine-saturneight), so here we go!

By the way, if you see this and feel up to answering it, please do! I’d also love if you tagged me in your response so I can be sure to read it!

Smol trigger warning for mentions of various tough things.

About You

When did you start writing? I’ve been writing since I could hold a pen, quite frankly! As a toddler, I’d draw doodles then scrawl zig zags beneath to represent the “words” of the illustrated story. They became real words as I learned to read. I was never found without a notebook.

Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write? I read a lot of stuff I don’t think I could ever actually write. My all-time favorite author is Cormac McCarthy, followed by Jane Austen and Jack London. Larry McMurtry is becoming a fast favorite. My stories tend to require less lived experience. I am not well traveled or thoroughly educated, so, while I’m happy to do research, I most often write stuff that requires less expertise. I also write more about gay cowboys than any of the authors named above — at least as far as is publicly known.

Is there an author (or just a fellow writer!) you want to emulate, or one to whom you’re often compared? I have been compared to Chuck Palahniuk, which is enormously flattering (if not deserved!) It’s massively important to me to have my own style/voice, so I don’t want to write like anyone but me… but I would love one day to harness even a modicum of McCarthy’s talent.

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (Room, coffee shop, desk, etc.) At a desk or coffee shop. The stars must align just so, my mood must be just so, I must have creative juices flowing and absolutely no distractions or particularly strong feelings. (I end up not writing anything more often than not.)

What’s your most effective way to muster up some muse? I wish I knew. Inspiration hits me light a lightning bolt once in a blue moon. Other than that, maladaptive daydreaming watching head movies. Music is an excellent source of muse.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about? Absolutely. In a way that reminds me a bit of Donald Ray Pollock, who writes about a pretty bleak and raunchy Appalachia.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all? Loneliness, self-loathing, self sabotage, addiction in many forms, mental illness, abuse, and suicidal ideation/thoughts/attempts, “taboo” romances (usually sexuality vs time period). Some of these come as a slight surprise; others are no surprise at all.

Your Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character? (Current WIP, past WIP, never used, etc.) It’s Shiloh. I have no idea why. He’s been my favorite since 2018 or 2019. He’s weird as hell but writing him comes effortlessly.

Which of your characters do you think you’d be friends with in real life? Preferably none. They’re kinda awful. In all seriousness, maybe Lou? He’s chill and makes a good listener.

Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them? Ruck. We have nothing in common, would have nothing to talk about, and his poor decisions would stress me out. He’s one of my favorite characters I’ve ever written, but I would hate to actually know him.

Tell me about the process of coming up with of one, all, or any of your characters. Just about every one of my favorites started out as a side character meant to garner very little attention. Somehow or another, they demanded to be written — demanded I let their personalities shine. And lo, here they are.

Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters? Mentally ill lonesome addicts.

How do you picture them? (As real people you imagined, as models/actors who exist in real life, as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc.) As real people! Often I’ll pick a model/actor as a template, but they always evolve into a slightly varied appearance from that person in my imagination.

Your Writing

What’s your reason for writing? It feels so compulsory there’s no other option but to write.

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers? I like when people tell me what they felt when they read my writing. Whether it’s attachment or hatred aimed at a character, or nostalgia, or just feeling like they were there when the scene took place. Anything that shows they absorbed and enjoyed it feels like the hugest compliment.

How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work? (For example: as a literary genius, or as a writer who “gets” the human condition; as a talented worldbuilder, as a role model, etc.) I want people to think, this bitch loves words. She loves writing. She is a writer.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer? Making people feel endeared to the characters. Realistic dialogue. Getting inside a character’s head.

What have you been frequently told your greatest writing strength is by others? Pacing & setting description. Which is awesome, but I always feel like these things are weaknesses of mine? I’m always iffy about them - pacing in particular. I have no idea how to do it, but I’ve been told I do it well. That said, there are definitely things -I- think I do well that get the most negative feedback/criticism.

How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question.) Writing is the only thing I feel I do relatively well. I’m certainly not the world’s best, and I don’t think I’m really ready to be published or anything like that - but I am pretty proud of it. It’s the only thing I feel this way about. I want to show it to people. I wanna talk about it. I love to read what I wrote. It feels gross to say that, but I’m making myself say it anyway, lmfao. I love to see other people feel this way vs anxious or self conscious about their writing.

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write? Yeah, for sure. I don’t know if I’d write as much fiction, because part of the fun is talking with others about it. But I’d still journal, and I would still imagine stories in my mind.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? If it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence? I hate this question, wtf Davy. It’s a slight mix. I’ll admit a part of me wants validation from others, but a larger part would rather write what she wants to write than turn it into a chore. Doing something just to entertain others is definitely a chore. My writing is heavily self-indulgent and I think it may suffer a little from that - but it also means when people enjoy it, they enjoy it more. I think it’s the same for any writer who does it this way. When I belonged to a huge online critique group, I edited the life out of a novel I was working on and made it less enjoyable to its biggest fans while trying to net a larger audience. I now know that was a huge mistake, because having a tiny group of people who eat your shit up is way better than having a ton of people read it, approve of it, but ultimately forget it existed because it wasn’t memorable.

[msmargaretmurry]

☕️ favorite sporting event you have attended in person — any sport, does not have to be hocke. yand also Least Favorite if you feel like airing out grievances and/or woes!!!

i will make a List!! in no particular order, favorite sporting events i have attended in person:

2015 winter classic at nats park

the game where ovi scored his 500th (and 501st) goal

the potomac nationals single-a baseball game my bff and i attended where the pnats baby pitcher threw a no-hitter

the bowie baysox double-a baseball game a pal and i attended to see adley rutschman before he got promoted to the o's and i asked my friend "when is he gonna hit a dinger over the left field fence" and then he hit a dinger over the left field fence

2023 asg in sunrise and the cats/bolts game the monday after

nicklas backstrom hat trick vs tampa in 2014

2013 nhl draft in new jersey where my friend and i were wearing medicine hat tigers jerseys (don't ask) and in the seventh round gmgm drafted a medicine hat tiger, we cheered, and as he walked by us after gmgm was like "that was for you 😉" gmgm call me!!!!!

erie otters vs. london knights in 2016 featuring baby dylan strome and baby matthew tkachuk in erie. last game of the season to decide who won top seed in the conference! erie won!! also everything in the team store was on clearance for the end of the season!! otters forever!!!

first ever nwhl game in boston!!

rat crew game last season when almost all of rat crew came to dc and we went to caps/oilers and everyone borrowed caps jerseys from me and we objectified leon draisaitl together and then the caps won a very fun game!!! i love my FRIENDS

every game i have been to where dylan strome scored a goal

the first mlb game i ever went to as a child, reds vs braves in cincinatti where we were visiting cousins (there was no baseball team in dc yet) and my dad disappeared for a while during the game and afterward it turned out he had set the vcr to record the broadcast and when he disappeared he'd walked over the the broadcast booth to ask them to say hi to us and so we watched the tape of the game they said hi to us 😭

i could keep going, i have had so many great sports experiences with pals. i'm probably forgetting at least one big one. but the list is so long already, so: least favorite in-person sports experiences!!!!

2012 playoffs round two game three. rangers at capitals. caps lost in triple overtime lmfao

2017 playoffs round two game seven. pens at caps. lmfao

the caps/oilers game in dc this year, when i was like i'm fine going to games alone i'm just gonna go and vibe!! but then the caps got shut out so badly it made me cry lmao

[rui-drawsbox]

Ehe, my shower was quick and so was my brain, episode three is about to hit your inbox at max speed.

Also I might take a crack at drawing weapons for the knights if I finish my history essay tomorrow, so we’ll see lmao.

After last time, Arashi is about to have so much fun, and so is Shu :):):):)

So we start with Tsukasa actually

its him in class and we hear his internal monologue

He’s questioning what the hell he saw and trying to figure out what class that girl he saw transform is in (he’s walking around during this cuz it’s lunch time at this point and like the scenery would be nicer for animation if he was walking lmao + nicer if my dumbass wants to draw him)

he actually does find Arashi + the besties (no Izumi tho) but he’s too shy to approach them so he just watches them

hes mostly focusing on listening in and looking at that makeup brush that he saw turn into a sword

then he feels a hand on his shoulder

he turns to look behind him and, “Sena?”

izumi is kind of pissed lmao, cuz he found someone spying on his friends 🥰🥰 aww ge cares about them

anyways Tsukasa tries to explain himself but Izumi doesn’t want to hear it and try’s to drag him away, until Leo spots him.

“SENA!!!” At this point Leo is bolting toward him to drag him over to lunch 🥰🥰🥰🏳️‍🌈 love wins: Izumi joins them for lunch + Tsukasa now

These mfers tease Izumi about making a new friend and he’s like “no this is just some weird kid that I found watching you guys”

Ritsu makes a joke about Tsukasa watching them cuz he has a crush on one of them, Tsukasa denies cuz, I mean it’s Tsukasa. The bullying continues <<33

Lunch ends like normal, school goes on

the next day is much of the same

Arashi invites Mika to lunch, he hesitates and then declines

Arashi catches on to his hesitation but decides to change the subject cuz she can tell that it might be a bit of a sensitive topic for him and she doesn’t want to press

she changes the topic to Mika’s friends, and in a panic without anyone else to mention he says “Shu Itsuki”

We then cut to Leo’s class for a bit.

Shu asks to borrow Izumi’s glass pen for a moment so he can write something down, Izumi gets furious and almost punches the guy

then we cut back to Mika and Arashi.

Arashi is like “really??? That guy??? Oh my god you could do so much better” but she doesn’t say this out loud she just thinks it <<33

she only knows him from Izumi’s complaints <<33

Mika can kind of tell that she doesn’t like Shu and immediately starts verbally defending him like a Reddit user defending his favorite anime woman.

Arashi is like “chill for a moment please, I just don’t know him that well, I’m sure he’s a wonderful person once you get to know him :)” (Lmao 💀 with my plans for this outline ma’am you’ll know him a bit too well by the end of this)

Mika is like “yeah <<33” before realizing he’s supposed to be keeping his distance from Shu at school and immediately going onto the “well I don’t know him that well either, he’s just in the craft club with me, he’s just really nice sometimes”

Arashi drops the convo there and decides to show Mika some pictures of the cat

Mika likes cats so she invites him on a friendly study date at her house so he can see the kitty and they can do homework together

Mika, after a bit of hesitation, and also thinking about the pros and cons of listening to Shu vs playing with a kitty, decides that Shu won’t be too mad if he goes to play with the kitty. Also he reasons that Shu would want him to blend in well and get good grades so a study date with a cute girl who he happens to be friendly with can’t hurt.

anyways when they do get back to the house the study date is going well expect for the fact that the cat doesn’t like Mika very much, in fact his hands are scratched to hell and back.

Arashi helps him bandage them up but as they’re doing that they hear a loud bang from outside the bathroom

Arashi has the makeup brush in her pocket so she’s ready to transform if it’s another one of the dolls

she tells Mika to stay in the bathroom and to lock the door if he hears screaming, Mika is like “???😰😰😰☹️😨???” About this

arashi gets back to her room to find it being rummaged through by a bunch of little porcelain dolls. Like the creepy Victorian kind.

all of them turn in sync when she opens the door and after a second they lunge at her to grab the makeup brush.

Arashi transforms and yells for Mika to lock the door.

She fights off the horde of dolls, detransforms and then rushes back to the bathroom to check on Mika

He’s fine btw, just worried about Arashi

she tells him that everything’s fine and it was just the neighbors dog that got in again so she had to escort the dog out cuz the dog isn’t friendly to people other than the dogs own family and her family

Arashi asks if Mika wants her to walk him home, Mika declines and thanks her for the offer before leaving

Arashi texts her friends about what just happened

anyways we cut to a dimly lit mansion, it’s quiet and the only sound is the sound of a sewing machine and the frustrated sighs of the man using it.

The man methodically weaves golden thread into wine red fabric, his work is as delicate as it is precise, practically perfect to the untrained eye, and impressive to one who knows what to look for.

The dolls around him move about his work shop, carrying supplies, organizing shelves, dancing at his whims with the simple flick of the golden strings tied to his finger tips.

the air in the room changes and life sized doll clad in wine red with a frilly veil obscuring his face materializes across the room from his master.

he reports the intel he has found, and the man stirs from his work at the news.

“Another magical knight? And you’re sure the cat was with her?” The man allows his strings to flow freely toward the doll, enveloping his frame in a warm golden glow. “Well, there’s no need for you to bring the cat anymore, if she can transform already then there’s no point. That cat is useless to us now. We need that makeup brush. Make sure your dolls get it next time.”

the doll nods and waits for further instruction.

when he is given none, and is dismissed he stops kneeling and leaves the room.

the man who is sewing (the audience can’t see his face btw) sits back down at his machine and grumbles about there now being two headaches to deal with.

I’m having too much fun with this ✨✨✨

Imma try and draw the weapons tomorrow if I have time, if not, I’m off from school on Monday so I’ll just have my history course work which means I’ll have time <<33

Hello there! Everyone's ready for their weekly Magical Knights AU?! No?! I dont care let's gO

ok tbh the whole sequence has been in my head non stop so i had to animate it, and this time i made a storyboard! who knew that actually planning things beforehand made it easier!

i swear in krita it looked better

i know its in 144p i cant do anything about it sobs

now Mika defending Shu's image like his fav waifu is so canon to me. Is like IzumiP's trying to clean his image in any hate post about him adfkash

Shu VS Izumi who has the worst image 100% real no fake (goes wrong)

and im so jealous of mika for going to a study date w arashi fr i want to live that dream sobs

Also Arashi's cat just knowing that Mika's is not to be trusted is so good, like lil kitty knows things. Poor Mika's hands tho

fake screencap! i took the bathroom from a 3d printer site, hope that's not illegal akjdfsa

anyways Mika would be hearing how some loUD crashes and tumps and shi and then when he goes out there's nothing broken (by miracle), not suspicious at all nono

and Arashi offering to walk him home, what a gentlewoman 🥰🥰

also Shu and Mika living in a mansion?? so true?? Shu robbed a bank before the main story?? definitely. still it would be so funny if it's just a medium apartament and is just very well decorated--

take this as a promo poster btw i just like the compo a lot--

nOW i have this idea of the little dolls walking all over the house but not in the floor cuz that would be annoying when Shu/Mika walk, so they have these wood planks in the walls like the ones for cats!

that's all for today! seeya in huh,, dunno! ill see if i procrastinate less!!! :))

[redpensandplaywriting]

Future plans: Red Pens and writing guides

Sneak preview—you've seen it here first!

I've decided that I'm going to use my Grammar Talk series to put together a couple of guidebooks for writing: one for the nuts and bolts of written communication, and one for literary techniques. They won't be extensive deep dives—more like a Hitchhiker's Guide to Good Writing sort of deal, with easily digestible and engaging explanations of various grammatical rules and writing techniques.

Most of the content will be based on the Grammar Talk posts, but scrubbed up a bit so that they fit together as a cohesive whole. There will also be entirely new stuff in the guides that doesn't get posted out in the newsletter. My intention is to keep churning out posts, but with an eye to release, firstly, Red Pens 101 (focusing on parts of speech, sentence structure, and punctuation), then Red Pens and Storytelling (focusing on literary techniques).

As a broad outline, this is what my initial plan looks like:

Red Pens 101: The basics of good written communication

Part 1: Words

People, places, and things (Nouns, pronouns, subjects vs objects)

Cutting to the action (Verbs, active vs passive)

Adding description (Adjectives, adverbs)

Adding context (Prepositions)

Sweating the small stuff (Determiners, conjunctions)

Part 2: Sentences

Building the sentence (Phrases, clauses)

Different types of sentences

Part 3: Punctuation

In the middle (Commas, semicolons, dashes, slashes, quotation marks)

At the end (Full stops/periods, exclamation marks, question marks)

Red Pens and Storytelling: The basics of literary techniques

Part 1: Considering the options

Mediums

Genres

Part 2: Drawing the roadmap

Perspective

Structural techniques (there's gonna be LOADS of these)

Part 3: Setting the scene

Settings

Showing and telling

Archetypes

Part 4: Making it happen

Narration

Dialogue

Action

Part 5: Making it pretty

Symbolism

Metaphor

Allusion

Motif

Irony

This will obviously not be a fast process, since Grammar Talk posts come out about once a month, but I'll keep a running tally pinned here to give an idea of my progress (and so that you can read the related posts as they're published).

I'm very excited about putting this together, and I hope you'll be excited about it too!

[chaotic-tired-cat]

AO3 is down, have a scene to fuel yourself in the meantime

summary: adult hero eldritch!Izuku vs. government sniper: FIGHT

World Walker spoilers below the cut. also tw for guns. all you need to know is that he’s baiting the hpsc for funsies and spite. uuuuh for new folks, take dimension travel and make it cosmic horror, thats Cryptid’s quirk. Cheers and i hope u enjoy!!

Takihiro really does not care much about heroes, but his best friend has a hyperfixation and therefore he must fuel it. This used to mean sending a video every time an underground hero walked down the sketchy alley his window looks over, so Shin could scream in a combination of capital letters and paragraphs. 

Takihiro may have set up his desk at the window so he'd notice passerbys for this exact reason. He may have gotten a better camera. He also may have ended up calling in enough petty robbery and assault to make him very distrustful of his neighborhood, with a side effect of attracting so many heroes to his alleyway. It's definitely a stop on their patrol routes. Now he just turns on a video call and listens to Shin experiencing serotonin like clockwork.

The infodumping he gets nightly is fantastic.

So when he sees movement, it's a habit to check for a familiar costume. He lets Shin know the nightly entertainment is happening and flips his camera. They were already on call studying anyway.

"That's Cryptid!" Shin yells in his ear, like it isn't Thursday on the Iidaten patrol route. It's either Mindblank or Cryptid, every time. Wednesday is a little more unpredictable- yesterday Zookeeper made judgmental faces at the dumpsters and swept the whole place with her cleaning quirk. It must have been a slow night.

Shin happily recites his internal Wikipedia page on Cryptid as Takihiro procrastinates finishing a paper. Outside, the hero has stopped to stare at the weirdly sterilized alley suspiciously. It's a good night.

"And that's only after the Chaos Crew merged with Iidaten," Shin is saying as Cryptid finally starts moving again. It's kind of funny. He's sticking to the shadows as if the dumpsters are about to jump him. "Since then, the core members have taken up leading positions. Uravity heads their rescue department and Mindblank heads the Undergrounds. I think Ingenium actually is their Daylight spokesperson while Cryptid is their Underground media person, so-"

A gun fires.

Cryptid stumbles.

Takihiro flinches violently back from the window, scattering pens and highlighters across his desk. He ducks and fumbles with the desk lamp until it turns off.

"Was that-"

"Yeah," Takihiro whispers, caught between retreating further into his apartment and staying to watch. He taps the record button on his laptop, grabs his phone, and is about to shuffle backwards when Cryptid reaches out and claws open the air in a wide swipe. A second later, the hero casually drops something into a small bag and seals it.

"The bullet," Shin whispers as Cryptid tucks the evidence bag into one of his regulation belt compartments.

"I was wondering," the hero calls as he searches for something amidst the tall buildings, "when they'd cross this line. Is a blood sample really worth this kind of risk?"

"Holy shit, he's about to monologue," Shin says. "Dude, go to your kitchen or something. He only does this when the villain can hear him. You don’t want to get caught up in some kind of long-range quirk."

"How does he know they're close, though?" Takihiro mutters as he switches speakers. 

"I bet he uses his portals to see. Are you safe?"

"I'm going, I'm going-"

Four more shots fire in quick succession. One visibly hits the wall behind the hero, shattering brick.

Cryptid hacks out a laugh. It's an awful sound. Tired and frustrated, like a wild animal that's bolted through a maze only to find itself cornered. Takihiro stays frozen as Cryptid bends forward with starlight bursting from the darkness around him. Limbs lengthen further, unseen wind buffets nebula-dusted hair, and the hero's spine curls. He tips his head back, straightening up again, but his posture is now decidedly unnatural. There is something wrong with his eyes.

There is something wrong with all of him, really.

"There are easier ways to buy blood," Cryptid says in a voice that physically shudders through the air. His head turns, the movement eerily smooth, and his face becomes visible.

Takihiro's breath freezes in his lungs as the most villainous hero he's ever seen stares down a sniper. Cool gold has begun to well up from the hollow places his eyes should be. Instead, there rests galaxies. Metallic light drips in a perfect line down each cheek and falls straight through the concrete below him.

Cryptid is the second-most villainous looking hero according to the HPSC’s official polls. He is only that far down because pushback against anti-mutation quirk feelings have made the poll itself unpopular, so the generation that grew up with Gang Orca vote more often.

Takihiro is now a little sure that the people who vote for Cryptid were maybe on to something.

"I am not made to die easy." Cryptid's voice has gone terribly gentle. "And neither are you. So why court a fate that does not suit you, friend?"

Brick shatters again under the force of a bullet that must've nearly clipped him. The hero didn't even flinch.

"You're afraid," Cryptid notes casually. Thick black sludge wells up between needle-sharp teeth, splattering to the ground in uneven clumps that do not match the tears. "I'm sorry if it's because of me. Hawks should have warned you - I told him not to get close if he wanted to kill me. Did your labs fail to make sense of what he took? Or is this hubris and greed the aftermath of success?"

"What the fuck," Shin says. Takihiro is a little preoccupied with the way Cryptid has begun to drool. sludge puddles outwards at his feet with twin lines of gold tears mixed in. The concentric circles ripping out are faintly hypnotic in that he is awefully aware of something alive down there that's trying to break past the pattern to get at them all.

Another bullet fires. It doesn't seem to impact anything.

"You're far too close, friend." Lips pull back to reveal sharpened teeth in a smile that dumps ice down Takihiro's spine. "The only thing you'd kill is my humanity. I'd rather not find out what the rest of me will do without that."

Cryptid pauses then.

Somehow, his expression turns unbearably sad.

"The hollow parts of me are not made of things that enjoy being controlled," he says to the rooftop. "It will linger. Go home to your plants and parents, friend. Live well in your borrowed time. And water your shiso before you both meet the earth too early."

"He did not just stop his own assassination with a bluff," Takihiro says.

He did.

Another last bullet fires, absorbed into the pattern at Cryptid’s feet.

It’s a cold night.

Pale yellow light catches the outline of the hero’s shoulders amidst shapeless blue shadows.

Cryptid stays in that alley, waiting, as he tracks movement beyond the window's sightline. He stays there until whatever he's watching has moved towards downtown.

Then he sighs.

Eerie posture reverts back into the wary stance he arrived with. The steady drop of gold and black halts, and the puddle dries up in seconds. Cryptid swipes the back of his hand over his mouth, then his other hand across his cheek. His grimace bares almost normal-sized teeth.

"I am on shift for thirty more minutes," the hero tells his smeared gloves. "Thirty minutes until I can put a dragon hatchling in Kacchan's desk, and have a different, more immediate problem to deal with."

Cryptid stares at his gloves.

"I should not do this," he says abruptly.

"You really should," Shin whispers. Cryptid's head snaps up, eyes immediately finding Takihiro's window.

He points. 

On instinct, Takihiro points back.

"Next time, don't stay by your window when there are villains around," the hero calls, still posed like some kind of Spiderman meme. Takihiro awkwardly stops mimicking Cryptid, because pointing is rude and this is a hero no matter how unhinged he may be. "Everything okay?"

Takihiro nods over the sound of Shin hyperventilating, and leans past his laptop. "Yeah, sorry about that. Hey, can I get an autograph?"

Shin squeaks.

"My friend is a fan."

[selphplusplus]

Asymmetrical Poker Hand

♣️ ♥️ ♠️ ♦️

Hard to hit like a gut shot straight draw

But left you crossed up,

Jesus faded when the pen tip

Slaps like fake Xanax:

the bars hard.

and leave you blacked out

if you try to pull up,

It’s meteors vs short tyrannosaurus arms,

I’m just tyrannical, with long reach

Unpalatable, tasteless,

emperor Palpatine force choke holding the leash.

Kinda like that time you were dog walking,

froze and about faced

when I parked,

Got dog walked

ran inside and pulled the dead bolt,

little did you know

Feeling safe,

Looking out the window

Soon you’d need a life preserver,

moonshine in a mason jar.

So unethical

I’m a lawyer that’s been debarred

Billy GOAT 🐐 gruff when I called your bluff from my bluff.

Atop it all.

Always Take it too far,

Fourth trimester

a moon shot, scorched earth, soothsayer blindfolded

Gambled life away, storms raging

With stakes so high above your pay grade,

Not even your wasted life could pay up

Oh well,

take it anyway,

pay a portion

Leave you looking like afterbirth

post abortion.

Jokers 🃏 death 💀

Shove All in more than the pen tip

Wholly fucked when I rolled up

you and your hand both fold up.

Like lawn chairs during a cold front

Smiling ear to ear, from cold steel

Caressing carotids now hold still.

Formally introduced to formaldehyde

Preservation, (told you you’d need a life preserver 🛟)

Can it bitch, karma sent

you got what you deserve.

Quad queens, with the ace of spades ♠️

Double take, one of ‘em was your bitch I picked up along the way.

いいガムだった。

片道切符ではあなたの地獄　🔥

(Katamichikippu dewa anatanojigoku )

[psychewritesbs]

Hello, so far do you feel satisfied with how Gege handled the 10S technique? Like, there's so much abilities in this series that's really cool in concept that's just being thrown away before we get much showcases of it but I always thought Gege at least had better things in mind with 10S.

This is not even about whether or not Megumi is coming back to showcase it. It's the fact that there's a possibility what we'll get are only half of the shikigamis left in his arsenal. Like forget Mahoraga, but we didn't even see Mourning Tiger, what it looks like or what its abilities are. It just got namedropped and got destroyed alongside Agito. Not to mention the rather underwhelming showcase of this technique in the Gojo vs Sukuna fight. I know Sukuna focused on Mahoraga's adaptation that's why he was purposely tanking hits and mostly used Maho. But what was even the point of Agito? Was it made only to serve as a distraction? If so, was it worth sacrificing Madoka Deer, a shikigami that could have helped him heal much faster? He couldn't think of another way to distract Gojo while he copies Maho's slash? Like say, summoning a huge Nue that rains lightning bolts the same way he did before while he recuperates in the shadows?

There's also the problem with how vague Gege had been with the 10S. We aren't clear with its rules cause apparently even the passing of a shikigami's abilities works differently. Can certain shikigamis only pass their abilities on a particular shikigami? Is Maho's adaptation passable then?Why doesn't Mahoraga spam its adaptation-acquired abilities? Why didn't Mahoraga go for Gojo's head the two times it bypassed his infinity? Does it retain all of its attacks/quickly forgets it after it throws it out? Does it need to be told what to do? What happens when all shikigamis are destroyed? Does the technique reset? Or does Megumi get left with only his shadow abilities?

Idk, maybe Gege is cooking something. But depending on how he proceeds with the 10S in particular I'd be sorely disappointed.

And I'm sorry if you're not interested as much in this topic. If so, pls feel free to ignore my ask. It's just, for me personally, I've always noticed a callous handling with Megumi's character (if you disagree it's fine), but this one has been particularly infuriating.

anon.

I love your ask.

Welcome to jjk confession Sunday, not on a Sunday.

Today we ave a case of "anon, you're too smart for your own good!" because these are all fair points 🤣. I don't even know what to say lol.

Honestly, I just loved all of your questions so much because you had me nodding right along with you lol. You had me feeling like I should burst out with a pen and paper and start a formal letter of complaint to send to the cat--the letter would obviously start with "monsieur, please bring Megumi back or there will be consequences". where consequences is just me screaming into the void about it on the internet.

There are really good quotes that I've recently ran into that I thought were super relevant to how much more untapped creative potential 10 shadows has as a technique, to the point that it is bound only by the imagination of the caster (starting with Gege). I'll look for the quotes another time and will share them.

Thanks for the thoughts anon!

[patrice-bergerons]

Pens vs bolts...the bite each other's dicks off can they both lose match up of all time truly

[lunetaylina]

Literally blinked and Guentzel had it.

[kmartinfilmfestivals2023]

Hypothetical Film Festival

The Dog show film line up would gilms that feature dogs, with 1 day specially being animated movies. movies to play: Bolt, Hotel for dogs, Clifford, Cats vs Dogs, beverly hills chihuahua, secret life of Pets, isle of dogs, Lady and the tramp, fox and the hound 2. movies that arent and dont get too sad. Location would be in early summer before it gets too hot, and be in a sort of closeed of area in a park, with blankets and bean bag chairs set about. There'll be workers walking around with dogs from local shelters, with any puppies being set in a puppy pen for people to go up and look and play with. anyone can ask a worker to be able to spend 10 mins with any dog they see , to be able to see if this dog could be a could fit for them, while be observed by a worker from a close-ish distance. adoptions would work on a first come first serve basis, If they like aq dog and are interested in adopting they'd write there name down on a list for that dog, and thats how they'd be contacted in that order to start the offical adoption process (which would happen after the film festival event) sponsers for the event would be dog food, treat, and toy companies.

[morwenlovespoems]

Marginalia

(by Billy Collins)

Sometimes the notes are ferocious,

skirmishes against the author

raging along the borders of every page

in tiny black script.

If I could just get my hands on you,

Kierkegaard, or Conor Cruise O'Brien,

they seem to say,

I would bolt the door and beat some logic into your head.

.

Other comments are more offhand, dismissive -

"Nonsense." "Please!" "HA!!" -

that kind of thing.

I remember once looking up from my reading,

my thumb as a bookmark,

trying to imagine what the person must look like

who wrote "Don't be a ninny"

alongside a paragraph in The Life of Emily Dickinson.

.

Students are more modest

needing to leave only their splayed footprints

along the shore of the page.

One scrawls "Metaphor" next to a stanza of Eliot's.

Another notes the presence of "Irony"

fifty times outside the paragraphs of A Modest Proposal.

.

Or they are fans who cheer from the empty bleachers,

Hands cupped around their mouths.

"Absolutely," they shout

to Duns Scotus and James Baldwin.

"Yes." "Bull's-eye." "My man!"

Check marks, asterisks, and exclamation points

rain down along the sidelines.

.

And if you have managed to graduate from college

without ever having written "Man vs. Nature"

in a margin, perhaps now

is the time to take one step forward.

.

We have all seized the white perimeter as our own

and reached for a pen if only to show

we did not just laze in an armchair turning pages;

we pressed a thought into the wayside,

planted an impression along the verge.

.

Even Irish monks in their cold scriptoria

jotted along the borders of the Gospels

brief asides about the pains of copying,

a bird signing near their window,

or the sunlight that illuminated their page-

anonymous men catching a ride into the future

on a vessel more lasting than themselves.

.

And you have not read Joshua Reynolds,

they say, until you have read him

enwreathed with Blake's furious scribbling.

.

Yet the one I think of most often,

the one that dangles from me like a locket,

was written in the copy of Catcher in the Rye

I borrowed from the local library

one slow, hot summer.

I was just beginning high school then,

reading books on a davenport in my parents' living room,

and I cannot tell you

how vastly my loneliness was deepened,

how poignant and amplified the world before me seemed,

when I found on one page

.

A few greasy looking smears

and next to them, written in soft pencil-

by a beautiful girl, I could tell,

whom I would never meet-

"Pardon the egg salad stains, but I'm in love."

[ohmyxiuyi]

I hope Sully has an ear full for him.

[starshine-cal]

Return of the blue bedazzled anthem singer lady!