#so that my posts are easier to look through

[fastandcarlos]

Stolen My Heart : ̗̀➛ Oscar Piastri

summary: sneaking around the garage was only going to last so long, especially with lando norris lying around

You wanted to say after so many years you were used to being the baby of McLaren, but truthfully, it never got easier. You loved your job, you loved snapping photos, filming content, and just being around the team…one of them in particular.

You were always promised yourself never to tied down whilst at work, you wanted to remain professional and keep things friendly. But then you met Oscar. The guy who somehow managed to change all of that for you.

What started out as friendly conversation, soon became a little bit more. He’d pull you into a corner when no one was looking and kiss you, or hold against your waist to reassure you whenever you felt that something wasn’t quite going right. You were the one that constantly made him look good, that resulted in thousands of fans losing their minds every time something Oscar-related was posted.

People were used to seeing the two of you together, but as the more time passed, the more Oscar liked to test the waters. Unlike him, you were terrified that if something got out your job would be at risk, you loved Oscar, but you loved working for McLaren too. There were moments when he’d try a little too hard, resulting in you having to be firm with him, pushing him away out of fear.

“Babe, I wouldn’t do this if anyone was around,” Oscar told you as you shot a glare in his direction. Your head shook at him, trying your best to ignore the look of desperation that Oscar stared back at you with.

With one person in particular you’d had a couple of near misses. Lando. The one person you knew would tease you like you could never believe if he found out about your relationship. If Lando ever found out, then you knew it wouldn’t be long before the rest of the garage found out too.

Lando had his suspicions though. For the past couple of months, he’d noticed how much bigger Oscar’s smile was, or how much more excitable he was for race weekends at the paddock. Every time Lando tried to push and find out what, or who, had caused his new enthusiasm, Oscar would just brush it aside as nothing. Deep down, he wanted to scream out your name, but the urge to protect you always pushed that feeling back down again. However, the more that Oscar pushed him away, the more Lando wanted to pull him right back in again.

It didn’t take long before Lando started to read between the lines more, he’d notice how Oscar would always ask for you to walk and photograph him, how he’d sit up straighter whenever you joined them for a team meeting, or how he’d always compliment your work the most when the two of them were deciding which pictures to post.

Lando opted not to tease Oscar about his findings, knowing that eventually the right time would present itself for him to finally get out of Oscar what he was hoping to here, with maximum satisfaction too. His plan was almost working too until one night Lando went out to find you for some help with a post on his social media, rushing around the paddock to try and find you before the sun set.

“Y/N?” He called out as he noticed a figure that looked like yours, picking up his pace in order to catch up to you. There was only a split second between him arriving and you moving, pushing away at something.

“Hey,” you smiled, straightening out your shirt, glancing at Oscar who stood beside you.

“Am I interrupting something?” Lando quizzed, looking between the two of you, noticing the anxious expressions that you both wore, how uptight you both were stood as you tried to calm your blushing cheeks.

“You are actually,” Oscar suddenly spoke up, leaving you stunned. “I was trying to enjoy the sunset with my girlfriend, is that too much to ask for?”

“Wait…you two are like together properly?” Lando grinned, brushing his hand through his hair. “I always thought the two of you were just crushing, like a pair of teenagers back in school.

“Lando, shut up,” you whispered, desperate for something, someone, to take you away.

“No way!” Lando giggled, pushing against Oscar’s shoulder. Neither of you quite knew what to say or do as Lando jumped around in front of you, unable to hide the wide smile that was on his face.

“Reckon you could go away now?” Oscar quizzed, turning Lando around and pushing him back in the direction that he just came from.

“Well, that’s me sacked in the morning,” you sighed, feeling an arm drape across your shoulders as Oscar pulled you in tightly against his side.

“He’s Lando, he’s only messing with us,” Oscar tried his best to reassure you, pulling you close enough to kiss against the top of your head.

“But what if-“ you began, only to find yourself cut off by Oscar pressing a kiss against your lips, cupping either side of your face to keep your eyes firmly on him.

“I won’t let it happen, there’s no chance. Plus, you’re crazy if you think Zak will ever want to get rid of anyone as talented as you,” Oscar spoke, trying his best to reassure you.

“I don’t know what to do,” you whispered, unable to clear the thought from your mind, filled with fear that this was the end of something. Your career. Or Oscar.

“I love you, it’s going to be alright,” Oscar calmly responded.

"But what if-" Before you had the chance to protest, he pressed yet another kiss against your lips, keeping you there for a few moments longer. It was a dangerous game with so many people passing by, but at this point, Oscar simply didn’t care.

“I know it might sound stupid, but trust me,” Oscar chuckled as he pulled away, “I know Lando, he might seem like a complete idiot…but he only is, partly.”

You took Oscar’s word and for quite a while it seemed to be true. Lando liked to mess with you both every now and then but he never risked properly exposing you both. He had his moments, and you had yours, hitting him or taking an unflattering photo of him any time he tried to reveal your secret. Like with him, Lando knew it was only a matter of time before you accidentally revealed yourselves to everyone else too.

As much as he tried to resist you, Oscar knew it was an impossible task. More than anything he wanted to celebrate those victories with you, but instead he had to remain professional, choosing to fist bump you in the paddock, and celebrate properly with you back at the hotel room.

One race when he was on the podium, you could barely contain your excitement, something that one person in particular picked up on in the garage.

“You could try and pretend like you’ve not just watched your boyfriend get P2,” a familiar voice whispered as they came up alongside you. “You’re not playing it very cool.”

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to act in this situation,” you admitted, looking to Lando for a little bit of help to sort yourself out.

“Just say well done to everyone,” Lando instructed, stepping back as he noticed the people in the garage part as Oscar finally returned.

“And to him?” You quizzed, but Lando was already gone, leaving you stranded as Oscar came striding towards you.

A lump ran down your throat as you admired the trophy that was in his hands, suddenly feeling the attention of the whole garage was solely on you.

“I did it,” Oscar chuckled as he showed you the trophy before closing the distance between the two of you with a kiss.

You wanted to push away, remind Oscar of where he was, but he was like an irresistible force. You stood and kissed Oscar back, hearing a few cheers when the two of you pulled away a few moments later.

“Well, well, well,” Lando teased, smiling proudly knowing that you’d finally done what he knew the two of you would do, eventually.

“I’d love to say I’m surprised, but I don’t think anyone really is,” Zak chuckled, leaving you stunned as he threw his arm around Oscar’s shoulder.

“I had no idea!” Andrea called out, leaving everyone in fits of giggles.

“You’ve hardly been subtle, have you both?” Zak grinned, nudging against your side too as he tried to encourage you to smile and relax a little.

You weren’t quite sure what happened for the next couple of hours, between explaining yourself to everyone and celebrating Oscar’s win, you found yourself in a hazy bubble. It was only when the two of you sat out on the pit wall, all alone, hands intertwined with each other, that you took a moment to calm back down again.

“I always told you there was nothing to worry about, didn’t I?” Oscar whispered across to you, noticing you staring down at the track.

You knew deep down you never had to worry, if anyone was going to have your back, it was Oscar. You had completely stolen his heart, everyone around him constantly teased how they didn’t recognise him anymore. He was a changed man, completely besotted and in love with you.

The two of you stayed in a comfortable silence for a few moments, enjoying the first time you were able to show each other any real affection and not look over your shoulders out of fear as to who was potentially watching you.

Not only had Oscar found himself winning with you, but what he had achieved on the track felt as good as a win too. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was, struggling to believe that the life that he was currently living truly belonged to him.

“I never got to say it back to you earlier,” you hummed, watching as Oscar’s confused eyes looked back at you.

You whispered those three little words across to him, the same three words he had told you earlier that day when trying to comfort him. It was a big deal for you anytime you said it aloud, but with Oscar, you truly did mean it. He made you feel special, cared for, and loved like no one had ever made you feel before. He was one of a kind, in the best possible way.

With your words, Oscar squeezed your hand a little bit tighter as if to silently tell you that he felt the same way. You shuffled closer so that you could rest your head down against his broad shoulder.

“I’d love for someone to take a picture of us right now, but no one is as good as taking photos as you,” Oscar mumbled underneath his breath.

“I could set up a self-timer, find the right angle, make sure we’ve got the right lighting,” you suggested, much to Oscar’s satisfaction.

“That’s a good idea, I always share your photos, so it would be nice to share one of yours to be able to share you with the rest of the world too.”

“You really mean that?”

Oscar nodded back at you straight away, pulling out his phone and handing it across to you. It was something that he’d wanted to do for some time, but now more than ever, he was sure that now was the moment for the two of you.

“Make sure you get my good side,” Oscar joked as you jumped off of the wall and went to set up the photograph for him.

“Babe, all your sides are your good sides!”

˗ˏˋ 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ! ´ˎ˗

[too-antigonish]

My Strange but Unified Theory of Exeunt

Last week I talked about the poem Horatio in a post about Morse and fathers and @astridcontramundum asked what I thought it meant in the context of Exeunt. Hopefully she won't be sorry she asked because here's my (as usual) long answer:

Horatio is quoted from twice in Exeunt. The first time, Prof. Fortescue is lecturing to his students at a tutorial and gives us the most famous lines:  

Then out spake brave Horatius, The Captain of the Gate:  "To every man upon this earth death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds For the ashes of his fathers And the temples of his gods?"

The second time occurs just before Thursday’s has his “turn” in the same spot where Morse will many years later experience his own collapse. He says: ”’How well Horatius kept the bridge in the brave days of old.’ We'd a padre big on that out in the desert. Drumhead service just before Alamein. ‘And how can man die better than facing fearful odds?’ Always stuck with me.”

I think they used those lines to plainly tease the idea that Thursday was going to die. Prior to Exeunt airing, almost everyone thought Thursday would have to die in order to explain Morse’s never mentioning him again in the future. When Fortescue says those lines in the beginning, I think we’re supposed to think that someone—probably Thursday—is going to die heroically. Then Thursday repeats some of the poem—connecting it to his WWII service—just before he has his “spell” and it seems like more foreshadowing. 

The thing about the poem though, that most people *don’t* know, is that the big surprise at the end is that Horatio *doesn’t* die. It just looks like he will: Even when his companions have abandoned the bridge because it is on the verge of collapse, Horatius remains. He stays until bridge finally does fail, and then plunges into the river below with the full weight of his armor. It is certain death and both sides stand stunned into silence by his final sacrifice.

But then, both sides find themselves even more surprised when they see the crest of his helmet beginning to rise from the water and he slowly emerges, striding towards the Roman bank. He not only survives, but arrives home to a hero’s welcome and a long life.

All of the usual narrative pieces are in place for us to expect Thursday to make the ultimate sacrifice—to die. For me, Thursday—like Horatio—does sacrifice everything, but the poem was actually foreshadowing his survival, not his death. And for Thursday, his survival is in many ways a far more difficult sacrifice than death would have been. It would have been easier for him in so many ways if he had died in defense of Sam or even fighting Lott. Instead he has to live with the ambiguous and messy aftermath.

Morse could also be Horatio in the sense that he goes to Blenheim Vale facing a high probability of death. What were the chances that the bikers would “come through” for him? That Morse went expecting to be double-crossed and killed by Lott seems much more likely to me. But I do think that Morse, like Horatio, would reason that, “If you’re going to go, then there’s no better way than defending the things that are most important to you,” and so he goes anyway.

He survives too—but unlike Horatio, his heroism will always remain a secret *and* with his realization about Thursday’s guilt and Lott’s revelation about Tomahawk’s identity, it brings perhaps more sorrow than it does victory. And, I would argue that his survival is only temporary or perhaps partial.

The gunshot scene has many possible interpretations, but at its core, my (forever unprovable) theory is that it balances out the survival foreshadowed by Horatio. Horatio was all about the audience assuming that Thursday had to die. But along with that went the assumption that of course Endeavour had to live. This is a prequel after all.

But the gunshot scene said a big, loud, “No. We can kill off Endeavour if we want to and we will.” You can go back and forth until the cows come home about whether or not the scene was simply him contemplating death, actually going through with it, or absolutely, purely symbolic and imaginative. However, I don’t think you can honestly argue that the scene doesn’t somehow connect the concepts of  “Endeavour Morse,” “gun,” and “death” to each other. Somehow those concepts have to be included in any interpretation.

So this leads to my weird theory about Exeunt, which is that Russ Lewis heard everyone saying, “Well I don’t know what’s going to happen in the end, but of course we all know that Morse is going to live—so no suspense there. And Thursday, well, he has to die. I mean it’s the only way to explain why we never hear about him later.” And to this, Russ Lewis thought, “Ha! I’m going to do exactly the opposite. Thursday lives and Morse dies!” 

Am I right? I will never know. Do I have more thoughts on Exeunt? You really, really don't want to know just how many.

[sirfrogsworth]

@vanriblogs asked for some product photography advice and it is easier to make a post rather than trying to fit everything into a reply.

Plus this might be of interest to other folks as well.

This is an example of her products.

I like your product photos a lot. Making a compelling photo of something semi two-dimensional is difficult. Adding interest with a neat background goes a long way and you do a great job of not making it too distracting.

Another approach... since you can't make your products more three dimensional, you might consider placing them on objects that are more three-dimensional.

It sounds to me like your biggest issue is mitigating unwanted reflections. Which is actually like 90% of the problem solving involved with high level product photography.

The easiest technique is to go outside on an overcast day. The world would be your light source and the only reflections would be of your camera which you have to deal with no matter what. But this kind of lighting is a little boring and weather is not very reliable.

Glossy items create what are called "image-forming reflections" on their surface. That means a picture of your light source covers your product. So what you have to do is make the light source attractive rather than the product. And typically that is done with gradient lighting.

And the way you create these gradients is by projecting a ball of light onto diffusion material. (Though for tall cylindrical objects like bottles, you would project a vertical strip of light.)

The light slowly fades away through the diffusion material which causes gradients like in this photo of my $8 gas station Aviator knockoffs...

The lenses reflect a distorted view of my light source.

Softboxes use a homogenous diffusion approach. Every inch of the surface area outputs the same intensity of light. But this kind of diffusion you are intentionally creating a hotspot that graduates away.

The industry standard gradient diffusion material is Lee 216 or Savage Translum. It's a bit pricey but a roll lasts forever. The Savage is a little thicker and more heavy duty. The Lee doesn't hold up as well but is easier to craft into different modifiers or you can hang either brand off a light stand with a boom arm. Karl demonstrates using diffusion material for gradients in this video.

If you can't afford the expensive stuff right now, you can double up tracing paper and get a similar effect.

All that said, I actually think there is another light modifier that would be perfectly suited for your particular products. And I know I look like a huge Karl Taylor fanboy (because I am) but he really is the only one doing high quality education about this stuff and he is one of the world's top product photographers.

So you might try... the Karl Taylor Light Cone!

I know that looks like a late night informercial product for photographers, but it really does work as advertised.

It is a great way to get rid of all unwanted reflections with the small exception of your camera lens which can usually be removed easily in Photoshop. The idea of the light cone is it completely surrounds your products with gradient light sources

It comes in three sizes. Big, medium, and smartphone. I think you can use the medium with your camera and the size of your products.

If you can't afford it right now, you can construct it out of tracing paper or similar diffusion material, but I'm not sure if that would be hard to get standing upright. Though you can actually turn the cone sideways too. You just have to get creative and problem solve with the space and equipment you have available. As long as you understand the principles the rest is just trial and error.

Depending on the object, you may need up to 3 lamps to get a good result but I think you can get by with two for now. It is very important they are all identical and have the exact same bulb. You will get more control if you can find lights that project a smaller ball of light onto the diffuser. That way you can back them off to make the ball of light bigger or move them closer to make it smaller.

Karl has a series of tutorials on the V-Flat World website.

Karl also has an entire education platform and you could subscribe to for a month and cancel when you have learned what you need to know. I have learned more from Karl than just about any other photographer so I can vouch for the quality of the info there.

His YouTube page has a few shorter and less in-depth product photography videos that you might find helpful as well.

Just so I don't sound like a Karl Taylor marketing robot, I also really like Martin Botvidsson. He isn't as good of a teacher, but if you are good at learning by watching others do the thing, you can absorb some good stuff from him. He also works in a much smaller space which might be useful to observe.

And Workphlo has some tutorials as well along with some surfaces you may find useful.

Now, the one thing that is important to keep in mind...

These folks all have the fanciest cameras and the fanciest lights and one of the biggest complaints they get is, "I don't have expensive gear, how am I supposed to get good photos?"

And then they constantly have to explain the principles of lighting never change and you can get good results with desk lamps and a smartphone.

Here is a video from Karl proving this point while doing a wine bottle shoot with desk lamps.

Don't fall into the fancy gear trap. You can work with what you have. It just takes a little patience and a lot of trial and error.

I took this stapler photo with a smartphone and two $40 video lights.

And these bottles too...

It was the knowledge in my brain that got these results. Fancy gear can make it much easier and it is more necessary as you get into more complicated setups, but that is something you grow into over time.

In any case, I wish you luck.

Feel free to ask questions if you run into a speed bump along the learning curve.

[pearlean]

hiii :3 so I was wondering how'd you make your sims look so smooth esp when you upload pics of them on you pinterest,, like do you have an editing process ?? they look superb 🌟

heyyy!! my editing process is very minimal so let me walk you through it

1 . i take my shot

i use this addon to hide the ui and make editing wayyy easier. also, I recommend checking out this post on what specific effects i use to make these shots look crispier!! btw - i use gshade's built in screenshot function.

2 . crop crop crop

never mess with the resolution! i tend to crop ratios, 4:5, 3:4, or 2:3

3 . 1 effects

the only effects i really use are oilify & smart sharpen. to make things easier, i made an action for this.

first, i duplicate my photo -> apply the action (i usually use high)

then, i play with the opacity of the edited layer that smooth effect is less intense (i tend to make it around 40-60%)

3 . 2 effects

i merge those layers then go in with smart sharpen again!!

yay that's it ;3

[bloominglegumes]

Oh my goodness I just had to say I really love your fem Jazz she's so gorgeous I literally get so excited whenever I see her kicking my feet in the air help me..😭💖💖 I saw your previous post about fem Prowl and was wondering where you got ideas for visualising fem Jazz too!! :> Anyways love your work they are truly a blessing 🥹🥹

aahgh thank you so much!! <3 me too fr i'm the one drawing them and i'm like hunched over my tablet face in my hands grinning madly twirling my hair with my pen like nuts absolutely nuts

sorry this answer got really long,, i get asked about my favourite fictional guys or my art process and i just like schwoomph every time

for prowl my instinct was just straight up put her in a uniform ,, hair pinned + gelled back, low bun above the collar and held in a net etc etc and that made decisions like giving her thick shoulders and a gorgeous cold stare a lot easier!!! but i struggled more with jazz because of.jazz's whole character ykyk

jazz was one of the first tf characters i started noodling with a bishoujo design for, so initially i used the kotobukiya designs as a general style guide along with loose vibes combining spy + dancer, with a healthy amount of "how do i make her more cool + hot"

so so so i dug through pinterest a lot while looking for refs/inspo and felt my love for pretty girls growing by the second T~T

for the hair though,,, i tampered around a little trying to decide between buns and braids and such but i think now i'll mostly stick with giving jazz the undercut + dreadlocks?? i can finagle some cool shapes from it tied up, feels like it fits the effortlessly collected vibe that jazz would have, and since the hair doesn't cover the neck, i can give her that type of black turtleneck collar because it's.like . i just have to

^^ literally just crusty scribbles on bits of scrap paper many months ago ;w;

since then i've decided on more little things like .super strong muscled dancers legs + thighs that can and have killed + nails trimmed short + calloused finger pads + catlike flexibility but im largely dooming myself bc i cant show all of those things even if i'm drawing them in a more realistic style and im so.hhdgfhdj

i'm still mostly messing with outfits as i go, though, so. thats why theyre different in every drawing but i'm generally trying to keep a similar feeling between them :,D

[howlingday]

Team RWBY face off against White Fatalis from Monster Hunter.

COLD RAGE

"Are we there yet?" Yang yawned, walking at the rear of her team with her hands folded behind her head. "We've been walking for hours."

"Will you take this seriously?" Weiss chided from beside her leader in the front. "This mission was ranked five stars and handed to us specifically. We're essentially being told to fight on the same level as headmasters!"

"Is that weird for anybody else?" Blake asked, walking between Ruby and Weiss in the front and Yang behind. "If this mission is so dangerous, then why only send the four of us?"

"Apparently, the one who posted the mission said they didn't want to risk spending more than he needs to." Ruby said, tapping at her scroll. "The five star was actually something agreed on by the headmasters."

"It's still weird." Weiss said, cupping her chin. "Why only send us four without a headmaster?"

"Maybe it's to test us?" Ruby smiled.

"Maybe it's to be bait." Blake worried. A cold wind blew, making her shiver. She then felt an arm drape over her. "Huh?"

"Don't worry about it." Yang smirked. "Whatever it is, it won't stand a chance against Team RWBY!"

Yang pumped her fist into the air, making Blake smile. Ruby giggled as Weiss rolled her eyes. The trek uphill became a lot easier, though the cloudy sky did little to improve morale any further. Looking ahead, the team saw the path open up where it had previously been blocked by an avalanche. Upon passing over the crest, they eyed their mission objective.

"There it is." The team stopped, looking over the frozen remains of the former Castle Schrade. Legend said that a once great kingdom, now long past, was ruled by a good king. But then disaster struck and wiped out everything and everyone within the kingdom in a single night. Blake looked to Ruby. "What's the game plan?"

"Hang on, I'm getting an update from the headmaster." Ruby tapped her scroll. Her lips then pursed as she scrolled through the message. "Uh oh..."

"Uh oh?" Yang repeated. "Why uh oh?"

"Uh..." Ruby started. "Oh, well, um, see, the thing is that we... might need to go back?"

"Go back?" Weiss repeated this time. "Why in the world would we need to go back when we're so close?"

"Well, it's kinda because of the ranking."

"See, I told ya it was nothing to worry about." Yang said, tapping Blake's shoulder with her fist. "Rank's probably only a three at best."

"Well..." Ruby winced. "See, um, the thing about that is-"

"Oh, will you just spit it out already!" Weiss barked.

"SIX!" Ruby yelped, covering her head.

"Six?" Blake repeated, completing the set. She then asked for clarity for what she feared the only logical answer. "Six what?"

"Six... stars. This is a six stars mission."

The wind blew again but had no effect on the already chilled team. Their battles against Salem's Inner Circle, in which they had assistance from far more experienced huntsmen and huntresses, were four to five stars. Six was an all-headmaster emergency, as in it required ALL headmasters to accomplish the mission. It wasn't until somebody spoke up that the long silence ended.

"So, what do we do now?" Blake asked.

"Obviously we retreat!" Weiss shouted.

"Should we really leave the mission like this when we're already so close?" Ruby asked. "What if the threat only just got bigger and us leaving would only make it worse?"

"It sounds like a stretch, to be honest, Rubes," Yang sighed, shaking her head, "but it's also your choice. What's the plan, Leader?"

Ruby stared down at her scroll, then looked to the ruins of Castle Schrade. Something about it seemed to be calling to her, though it was more like a monster luring its prey than a friend beckoning their ally. She took a deep breath, then turned to her team.

"Here's my plan..." Ruby said with confidence. "I'm going to message the headmaster, let him and everyone else know that we're going to continue the investigation." At this, Blake and Weiss noticeably stiffened. "It could be nothing, but if there's a chance that there's something there that could hurt more people by us just sitting around and waiting, then we should at least try to slow it down." Though it wasn't by much, her team softened. "And if things get really hairy, then we'll pull back and regroup with the headmasters, who are probably on their way."

"Getting hairy, huh?" Yang grinned. "Sounds like we'll need a Schrave and a haircut~!" Everyone groaned. "Huh? Get it~?"

"You're gonna get it if you don't keep quiet." Weiss grumbled. "And while I can't say I like the idea of us charging headfirst into danger without knowing what's waiting for us, I like the thought of us doing nothing even less."

"Agreed." Blake nodded. "And if we can keep it stalled long enough for people to evacuate, then it's all the better." She then rubbed her arm a bit. "The headmasters are coming, right?"

"In the message, I got told that they were coming to relieve us of our tasking." Ruby answered.

"Not even sending somebody else in?" Yang whistled. "This thing must be pretty serious."

"Unlike some of us." Weiss said, getting a giggle from Blake.

Ruby tapped her scroll to message the headmaster. She'd likely get told to fall back and might even be scolded via some form of a strongly worded e-mail, but she had to hold firm. Especially when such high stakes were at play. She looked to her team as she pressed 'Send'.

"Ready, guys?"

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

Walking into the ruins of Castle Schrade was an eerie experience. Once a mighty and near-impervious fortress, what remained was little more than rubble upon rubble. Old weapon racks had become decayed wood piece that once held rusted swords and spears now strewn about the charred floor. Atop short-reaching steps were ancient bowguns that still functioned, in theory, but were unlikely to last longer than a few shots, if even one. What calamity that had befallen this once noble military outpost had rendered it completely uninhabitable and indefensible.

Blake rubbed her hand against the cold stone as she walked by the long-destroyed pillar. Her cat-like ears twitched and a shiver ran through her body. Looking over the ruins, she voiced her suspicions to the team. "Whatever did this wasn't a natural disaster."

"I think that depends on your definition of natural, huh?" Yang agreed, looking over the scorch marks on the wall. "Whatever happened here happened a long time ago, right? Has to be something unreal to leave scars this deep."

"Anything from the headmasters, Ruby?" Weiss asked.

Ruby tapped her scroll, hoping for an update. "Nothing new." She sighed. "They said they were on their way, but they couldn't give an ETA clearer than 'as soon as we can'."

"Ruby, I don't think we should be here." Blake said, looking to her leader. "I think this is way above what we're capable of."

"I hate to say it, but I kinda agree." Yang gave a sigh. "The last time we took on something capable of destroying a city, we nearly got wiped out. This..." She gestured to the smashed walls and collapsed arches. "This is way beyond that."

"I know, guys." Ruby nodded. "I'm nervous, too, but... I don't want to think about what would happen if..."

Dark clouds started to swirl above. Not just dark, but blue with red lightning. In the distant sky above, the shining sun was blotted out by a swirling mass as a dark circle took it's place. From the hole in the sky, in perhaps reality itself, like something out of a nightmare, a silhouette made its approach to the castle.

As it drew closer, the monster became much clearer to see. On beating wings, a reptilian beast with silver scales and snow-white hair made its descent onto the failed fortifications. With its long, ancient snout, it bellowed its declaration as red lightning crackled across the sky above. Team RWBY readied their weapons in defiance to the ancestral wyvern, White Fatalis.

With a thundering crash to match the sky above, the dragon-like monster spread its wings and let loose a mighty roar, shaking the ground and huntresses beneath it. The girls split apart, Weiss and Yang circling one direction with Blake and Ruby going the other. Leaping ahead of her Faunus friend, Ruby swung Crescent Rose around onto the scaled hide, only to find the blade bounce off without leaving so much as a scratch.

"It's too tough to cut into!" Ruby called out, hoping Weiss and Yang heard from the other side. Blake readied a cartridge of ice dust and loaded it into Gambol Shroud. "Look out!"

Blake was lifted off the ground, her former position swept away by a massive white tail. Before she could thank her leader, she shoved her away in time for red lightning to fall from the sky between them. Looking over to White Fatalis, it lowered its head from what seemed to be a roar to the skies. It had control of the weather and could call forth thunderbolts to strike its foes.

"Ruby-!"

"I saw!" Ruby replied before Blake could say anything. "I've never heard of Grimm doing that!"

"I have, but it wasn't red like that."

"What dust do you have in right now?"

"Fire." Blake lifted her weapon. "It's white and covered with fur, so I thought-"

"Got it." Ruby pulled out her own cartridge. "Do you think Weiss and Yang are okay?"

"We're fine." Weiss said, panting next to Blake.

"You don't look fine." Blake noted. "And where's Yang?"

Weiss pointed to the blonde brawler currently wreaking havoc on the monster ahead. Checking Weiss' aura, Ruby saw that she was already low in her reserves. Without saying a word, Blake ran in, opening fire on the titanic for. If she missed, she missed. If she hit, she hit. If she hit Yang, then it would make her angrier at worst. And she was already blazing with rage.

Yang crashed into the monster again and again, colliding like a comet with the white dragon, noticeably knocking it to the ground. Blades did nothing to pierce it's hide, but blunt force weaponry seemed to be doing the trick. Either that, or the flames of Yang's semblance made it noticeably weaker. Blow after blow was delivered, until finally the beast could take no more and fled to the other side of the ruins.

That's when things got worse. Either out of rage or pain, or a mixture of both, the scales around its eyes and chest began to glow red, like blood had been spilled in excess, and it bellowed a mighty roar that shook the world around them. In a blink, the monster was on top of Yang and slammed its claws down on top of her. She'd barely managed to dodge, and the near miss caused her to trip and roll on the ground.

"Yang!" Blake threw Gambol Shroud to her partner and, on her catching it, pulled her away in time as a lightning bolt came crashing down to where she was.

It was at this point that the sky itself was rumbling with rage. Beneath their feet, with little doubt in the danger presented and little room for shelter from the incoming danger, light began to glow all around, save for beneath the beast itself. All of Team RWBY rushed in, getting as close to the enraged monster as they could, as red lightning danced across their battlefield. Pillars crumbled and rubble was reduced to more rubble. Most concerning of all, however, were the less solid structures like the weapon racks and bowguns, which were destroyed with little evidence of their existence. Had any of the team been caught by this attack, then it was very likely that this mission would no longer be a problem for them in the worst possible way.

"What do we do, Ruby?" Weiss asked.

She looked to her sister. "Yang, when you were punching it, did it look like it was getting hurt?"

"Well, I don't think it's putting on this light show because it likes it." Yang answered.

"How much fire dust does everyone have?"

"I have enough for myself and to refresh one of you if you run out." Weiss replied.

"Okay, then stay out of the way until your aura recovers." Ruby said. "We can swing by to refill if we need to. Yang, stay angry and keep hitting him."

"On it~." Yang grinned with red eyes still blazing.

"Blake, you and me will shoot from a distance." She looked out to see the lightning die down. "Everyone ready? Let's go!"

Once the crimson lightning storm had settled, Yang immediately leaped out from beneath her mighty foe and began her head-first charge into the monster. Weiss, using as few glyphs as she could, retreated into an alcove and watched as her team spread out to avoid being hit all at once. Ruby ran to the beast's left, peppering its wings and hide with fire dust rounds while Blake used her ribbon to pull herself to the remains of a column and swung around and unloading a magazine of fire dust into their foe's left side.

With a loud cracking sound, the white wyvern reeled in pain as its horn snapped off from Yang's strikes. Tossing her down, it jumped into the air and landed on top of her, using its weight to crush her. The blonde brawler struggled beneath her enemy's mountainous strength, finding her semblance failing her to keep the giant held aloft.

"Yang!" Ruby cried, looking around for something to do more damage. It was then she noticed a ballista hidden away, untouched by battle and ready for use. Using her semblance to arrive sooner, she aimed the ancient weapon at the ancient devil, lining up her sights to the back of its scaled neck.

Click! Shoomp! Shing! Thunk!

The massive gear rattled and shook in place as the ballista released the ancient missile. Time, however, was not on the weapon's side as it's rusted metal and frayed wire broke and snapped, thankfully waiting until Ruby had already fallen over from the kickback to avoid being struck by the shattering apparatus. Climbing to her feet, Ruby awed that her target had been struck, though not where she had intended.

In her haste to strike a killing blow in the neck of White Fatalis, she'd failed to account for its shifting form. However, this proved to be a boon as the shifting monster had moved itself just right to be struck through its right eye. With a piercing scream, it fell over, thrashing on its side and release Yang from her weighted prison. Ruby ran out to her sister's side, though Blake was already there to help her to her feet. Together, the three unloaded every fire dust they had into the flaming red core of the raging cataclysm. With a few short clicks, they were out of ammunition.

"Weiss!" Ruby shouted, noticing the shattered building where Weiss had retreated. Terror gripped her heart.

"No need to shout." The heiress huffed. "Here." She tossed the remaining fire dust into the air before spun her rapier and stabbed it the ground. A glyph appeared ahead of the team as a giant, flaming knight took form. Jumping from Blake's hands, Ruby took hold of the fire dust and loaded it into Crescent Rose.

"Hey, Blake." Yang tossed her fire dust. With a crack of her knuckles, her hair flared to a golden shine. "I ain't gonna need it."

In a coordinated assault, the team of four huntresses unleashed a blazing fury unlike any felt before. White Fatalis screamed on the ground as it thrashed against its attackers, tail whipping around before it was cut off by Weiss blazing gigas. Blake moved to the side, carefully aiming inside the massive maw where it was likely weaker than its snowy scales. Ruby fired into the exposed wound of the eye, hoping for a quick end through the brain to end the monster's pain, though the scenario grew more and more hopeless with each pull of the trigger.

Yang blasted punch after punch at the red core, ignoring how red it was making herself and the ground around her. She could feel the blood burning her skin through her aura, but she didn't care. All that mattered was taking this thing out.

However, despite their efforts, it rose to its feet and bellowed a ground-shaking roar. The sky filled with black clouds that blotted out any light, save for the largest red thunderbolt zooming through the air to the highest object it could...

"RUBY!" Her team cried as red light vaporized any remaining rose petals. Tears filled their eyes as the petals drifted into ash. The clouds began to part to reveal the shining sun once more. It was as though the heavens wished to aid in finding the missing leader. Sadly, she was nowhere to be found.

Until they saw that the clouds had been perfectly cut. Like a scythe through its harvest tasking. And from the clouds, they saw a red dot growing bigger and bigger. In a red spiral, they saw Ruby Rose, weapon in hand as red electricity danced across the blade of Crescent Rose. In arrogant defiance, White Fatalis took flight and charged the descending huntress leader.

In a scatter of rose petals, the ancient wyvern was split in twain, blood spilling from its severed torso and body. Its chest smashed into the ground before Team RWBY while its body destroyed what was left of Castle Schrade. Landing atop the head was their team leader, dizzy and stumbling before falling off. Yang ran and caught her little sister, grateful she was alive.

"Ruby!" She called.

"How did you do that?" Blake asked.

"Since when could you do that?!" Weiss shrieked.

"Well..." Ruby chuckled. "I just changed my scythe and..."

"Team RWBY?" The girls looked over to see their headmaster, accompanied by other headmasters who each had their own variant of shock on their faces, approached them. "I believe I told you to abort this mission." A smile then grew in place of a scowl. "But I am grateful for both your initiative AND your productivity. I believe you have a mission report for me."

"Uh..." Ruby stood to her feet, looking back to the slain monster behind them. "I think this speaks for itself, doesn't it?"

"It does, but..." The headmaster leaned in with a smile. "I'd like to hear your side of the legend."

[7grandmel]

SiIvaGunner Blog MOJO!

The Ripper's Guide To That SiIvaGunner Tumblr Blog!

Hello there! You, yes you, reading this! Are you a high quality ripper contributing to the SiIvaGunner YouTube channel? Perhaps you've stumbled onto this blog before, through a link sent on Discord or through hearsay someplace else? Or, hell, this might be your first time on here, in which case: Welcome!

This is the uncreatively-titled That SiIvaGunner Tumblr Blog, where I've written over 350 posts analyzing, retelling the history behind and ultimately celebrating a selection of high quality rips found on SiIvaGunner. My rationale in posting has been to cast as wide of a net as possible in the kinds of rips I feature, and chances are, dear ripper, that a rip YOU've contributed to has already been covered on here, or is well on the way to be! But, that begs the question: How do you find the posts you're looking for?

With this post, I want to give some pointers of navigation for the people following this blog who aren't Tumblr users, or simply people who haven't kept tabs on this blog all too actively. This includes a quick overview of how my tagging system works, how it can help you find what you're looking for, and how to move around the Tumblr platform's infrastructure in general. So, let's begin!

1. What's up with the tags?

At the bottom of just about every Tumblr post, you'll find these grey footnotes called "tags". They serve a lot of functions: Like hashtags on Twitter, you can use them to help other people find what you've posted by "categorizing it". Compared to Twitter's hashtags, however, Tumblr's tags are far more normalized due to the lack of a character limit and their specifically allocated space at the bottom of posts. The image above is of the tags for this week's post on The Legend of Cage: Staff Roll.

The tags not highlighted in the red square are ones placed there to make the post discoverable to average Tumblr user. With the tag "tloz" ("The Legend of Zelda) in place, for instance, it means that the post will show up alongside other Zelda posts for users following the tag. But there's more uses to tags than just for discoverability, which is where the red-square tags become relevant: These are the tags placed for the sake of categorization!

You can probably imagine that a lot of Tumblr users will be keeping track of fandom tags like "Zelda" or "Majora's Mask" - but who is looking for "Season 6" or "rip visuals"? These are tags applied specifically to help one find posts within this blog. Every one of my written-analysis posts is tagged with the following template:

#todays siivagunner (Every written analysis post)

#season [x] (Filtering by Season)

#siivagunner and #siiva (Discoverability)

#[name(s) of ripper(s)] (Filtering by ripper in order of credits on Wiki)

#rip visuals (Added if a rip has visuals, eg. animation)

#[more rippers] (If the rip has visuals, these are the rippers who worked on those)

#tentative rip name (The rip lacks an album release)

Now you know why all these tags are here and what they all mean - but with the red-square rips in particular, there's ways you can use them to make reading the blog easier!

2. Okay, so how do I use these tags?

Here's a step-by-step guide with visuals to show how to go from a post to other posts like it. First, make sure you're viewing the post on the blog itself and not through a reblog - the easiest way to do this is to click "View original post", or just click the header of the original post itself (around where it says "April 16, 2024). Then, scroll down to the tags we just discussed, and click the one you want to filter by - say, for instance, you just want to see Season 2 rips I've talked about? You'll get taken to a view of the blog that only shows you posts I've tagged as being about Season 2 rips! How cool is that!

Finally, however, is the coolest use of tag categorizing and searching on Tumblr - The Archive.

3. What is the archive, how do I use it?

The archive is the page featured on the main image of this post! A blog's archive is a file explorer-esque view of every post ever made and reblogged onto a Tumblr blog, which also lets you filter posts by a tag (not multiple) used in them. If you know how Tumblr's links are formatted, it's very easy to find - this blog's archive, for instance, can be found at https://7grandmel.tumblr.com/archive, my personal account's archive can be found at https://melblur.tumblr.com/archive - you see the pattern yourself. The archive is very annoying to navigate on mobile and I would recommend doing all of this step on desktop.

Like I covered in the previous points, all of the blog's posts are tagged according to the Season they were released in, the people contributing, whether the rip features visuals, and more. Given the immense scope of SiIvaGunner's contributors, there's no concise list with links I could give you of all the ones that have been featured on here - thus, its up to you to edit the archive's URL link to make it show what you want to see. In the above image, for instance, we've added "/tagged" followed by "/dante" - which, then, displays all of the posts I've made that were tagged as being made by ripper dante. Click on one of the posts displayed, and you'll be sent to exactly that post!

There are some additional caveats to keep in mind here. Rippers like dante, toonlink and more go under multiple names online, and in those cases I've tried to always tag all of their aliases: all posts tagged with "dante" are of course also tagged with "soundcirclet". (This rule of thumb is excluding deadnames, of course). Additionally, April Fools 2024 saw me do a very stupid event wherein I covered every single Raft Ride rip uploaded on the channel - to keep the archive clean, I decided to forego my typical tagging system for these posts and give them their own dedicated sorting. You can find all of these posts under the tag #raftmageddon, and you can filter by rippers by writing a ripper's name in the URL with the prefix "raft :" For instance, a Raft Ride rip made by SonicHeroesFan1 would be tagged as #raft : SonicHeroesFan1.

Note also that Tumblr's URLs are magic and support spaces - if a ripper's name has a space in it, like Retro Gaming, the space also goes in the URL.

4. Now I know how to find things! But how do I submit rip suggestions for you to cover?

The easiest method if you're an active Tumblr user, is to use the Ask Box, which is accessed under a big blue "REQUEST A RIP!" button on the blog's main page. If you're not a Tumblr user, don't fret! In the regularly-updated pinned post, you can find links to a lot of the tags and such I've talked about just beforehand, but also to the Google Forms Request Form. There's no formalities needed to request a rip: Just your name (if you wish to be credited with one), the name of the rip or YouTube upload, and (ideally!) a quick description of why you think the rip warrants being written about.

Finally, if you're ever talking to me on Discord in DMs or the SiIvaGunner server itself, feel free to just request things off the cuff! I jot down all the requests sent my way in the same spreadsheet as all other requests. Note that requesting a rip does not guarantee that I will cover it, nor will I send any sort of message accepting or declining your request.

5. Conclusion

Last week, I announced a bit of a shift in the blog's structure, as I have a lot more stuff to juggle than I did back when this all started to where I've had to slow down the rate of postings. (You can read more in the Update post I made last week). Really, this is the first post I've made to branch out of my typical postings of rip analysis, reblogs and blog updates, barring some one-off anecdotes made once or twice. Hopefully you've found it a worthwhile (and helpful!) read - and if you know of any rippers that would be curious to see written analysis and coverage of their work on here, send them this post to get them started with the basic ropes of navigating this weird website.

Tumblr is vast and intimidating, and definitely not a site for everyone. But hopefully with this, even more of you readers will be able to find the posts that you're looking for!

See you on Monday!

[greeenchrysanthemums]

The timeline of past events for the GG rivals au

Year 547:

War breaks out between Wintertide and Coral Crest.

Impulse and Skizz join the army.

Etho leaves his village to fight in the war (he is 16)

Years 548-49:

Etho grows to be feared and infamous.

Year 550:

Grian and Pearl meet (they are 14 and 13).

Year 551:

Ren becomes king following the suspicious death of his father (he is 24; young for a king)

Year 552:

Scott becomes Impulse's squire.

Grian vanishes, leaving Pearl all alone.

Joel becomes Lizzies personal guard.

year 553:

Etho is captured by Coral Crest -> set free by Joel.

Mumbo and Grian meet.

Pearl starts her mercenary work.

Wintertide and Coral Crest enter a tense and hostile truce at the very end of the year.

year 554:

Whispers of a resistance in Wintertide begin.

Year 555:

Etho helps Mumbo and joins the resistance.

Scott becomes a knight.

Pearl and Scott meet.

Martyn joins the Wintertide army.

Year 556:

Gem leaves her village and becomes Impulse's squire (she is 17).

Gem and Grian have their first run-in and Gem is promoted to knight.

Cleo joins the resistance.

Year 557:

Jimmy and Tango join the resistance.

Bigb joins the resistance.

Marytn and Ren grow close -> Martyn becomes his personal guard.

Etho and Gem cross paths again.

Year 558:

Pearl reunites with Grian.

Pearl befriends Gem.

Year 559:

Grian and Mumbo meet Scar.

Scar agrees to help + joins the resistance.

Year 560-561:

Lots of back and forth between Gem and Grian.

No other major events.

Year 562:

war breaks out again.

Year 563:

Wintertides Commander dies -> Gem takes over.

Year 564:

Coral Crests ruler dies -> Lizzie takes over.

another uneasy truce is made, and fighting is halted.

Years 665-66:

Relative peace between the kingdoms

Some back and forth between Gem and Grian, but things seem to be pretty quiet on the resistance's part.

Year 567:

Current events

[mattodore]

found out while putting together matthias's oc page that his name has the exact same etymology and meaning as theo's name...

i’m sure this is information matthias is very normal about…

[zymstarz]

yeah sure that's how i'll [re]come out

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

"I remember a time when everyone I loved hated me because I hated them. So what, so what, so fucking what. I remember a time when belly buttons were knee high When only shitting was dirty and everything else clean and beautiful. I can't remember anything without a sadness so deep that it hardly becomes known to me. so deep that its tears leave me a spectator of my own STUPIDITY And so I go rambling on with a hey nonny nonny no. How long can one go on writing and writing like you. I now don't really know who I'm writing to or why its quiet [sic] peculiar. I usually write like this and forget about it, but if I post it it's like a little part of my almost secret self in the hands of someone miles away who will wonder what the hell is going on or just pass it off as toilet paper. Anyway I don't care really what happens because when I think about it, its so bloody unimportant – but what is important, who has the right to say that this letter is not important and Jesus is a something anyway – in any way – anyway – Yeah! I wonder what it would be like to be a cretin or something. I bet its great. Er how are you keeping, Stuart old chap. Are you OK – is life good – bad, shite, great – wonderful as it was or is it just a thousand years of nothing, and coalmen on and on and on. I think this is it Goodbye Stu don't write out of – er, what's it? Well, not because you think you ought to. Write when you feel like. So goodbye (from John. You know, the one with glasses) ANYWAY BYE BYE See you soon. I don't know why I said that."

– An unsent letter from John Lennon for Stuart Sutcliffe (1961)

[hella1975]

the closest ill ever get to being a pick me girl is the joy that fills me when the chefs at work so clearly favouritise me. like im there nicely cleaned up in my smart-casual uniform just a 20 year old waitress smiling my customer service smile and behind me spawns Scary Dog Privilege 10x in the form of several burly middle-aged chefs at least three of which have criminal records and would all stick a bread knife in someone for bothering me

[judicent]

Yeah, I did fill 4 sketchbooks in 4 months so far this year. Huh? Am I gonna post even an ounce of it? Well, you see, I am allergic to my phone, so you will have to come CATCH ME

[pinkieglitterheart]

trying to make a ship name for Aden and Samuel is hard. using their names themselves gives me shit like Samden/samen or Admuel which looks awful.

I'm trying to figure out something simpler then blueberry detective and hxjccjjcjgvhv

[blupengu]

Even if Tempest as Reductress headlines (pt 1!)

[synthaphone]

trying to tackle updating my inspiration blog again

help