#two of these are actually part of a tiny animatic I did

[bloobydabloob]

The guys sketches

[frodo-with-glasses]

The Hobbits try shoes! :D (for the artist ask game) 6, 13, 17, 18, and 19 (my favorite part is Pippin, especially his "look I'm a human!" bit xD )

YESSSS I love that one so much! Let’s go!

(Read the whole comic here!)

6. What is your favorite part of this piece?

Ooh, that’s tough. I’d probably have to go with the four-part sequence of Frodo falling down in Part Three. There’s just something really fun about drawing in that tiny art style and capturing the sense of motion and exaggerated posing; you get the sense that with a few extra frames, you could watch that sequence as an animatic and it would just flow perfectly.

But honestly, I remember that I had an absolute blast every time I got to draw one of the hobbits splat on their faces 🤣🤣 It’s SO MEAN, and I feel so bad about it, but crazy dynamic poses like that are so much fun (and so hilarious LOL)

13. What Easter eggs/small details are hidden in this drawing?

Good question! In Part One, Aragorn and Boromir’s boots are the only ones the hobbits are using; you can tell which is which by how tatty Aragorn’s boots are contrasted with the fluffy fur on Boromir’s.

In Part Two, we still have Aragorn’s boots in play—in fact, the panels with Frodo and Pippin take place directly after their respective attempts at walking in Part One—but now we also have Gimli’s boots in play, as we can tell by the X pattern and the fact that Gimli is now in socks. I imagine he theorized the hobbits were only having trouble because the shoes were way too big for them, so he offered his own to be closer to the right size, and also lent an arm to Sam for stability.

The last panel of Part Two (pictured above) features Boromir and Legolas in poses from the Chris Evans Laughing meme and Aragorn posed like the Wheeze meme. That was a lot of fun to draw. X-D

My favorite detail is actually in Part Three: After faceplanting VERY HARD in Part One, Frodo makes a tactical decision not to risk the structural integrity of crucial corrective eyewear and sets his glasses aside prior to another attempt. This proves very wise. (Also when Aragorn bends over Frodo, he is of course wearing no footwear but socks, because Frodo has his boots.)

17. What did the drawing process look like?

I’ll be honest, I don’t really remember—since it was such a long time ago and I was drawing SO MUCH stuff back then—but I do recall that Part Three took a lot longer than I thought it would. But I know I was Very Excited to have the opportunity to draw such a hilarious prompt, so I had a lot of fun with it!

18. What was your favorite response to this post?

Probably all the new people who were seeing my art for the first time and saying something along the lines of “👀 nerd Frodo?? glasses?? inspired”. Also the one person who complimented Legolas with a ponytail X-D

19. [X] is my favorite part of this drawing; tell me more about it!

LOL there’s really not much to say! The thing that makes it funny is penny-anna’s brilliant writing; all I did was draw how it plays out in my head. But it WAS a lot of fun to draw those exaggerated faces. Pippin is GREAT for big facial expressions! LOL

ARTIST COMMENTARY ASK GAME!

[sepublic]

            All right so. I get that one of the whole gimmicks of the Studio Series is a consistent scale, accurate to the films. But when characters like Bumblebee are tiny Deluxes, that means characters such as Scorponok, Ravage, etc., can only be little non-transforming figures. Too small to have a variety of moving parts at that scale.

         So I think it’d be really neat if the Studio Series did a… Out-of-scale line? Or something like that. Where it’d focus on creating new, accurate toys of characters who would normally be too small to fit into the main Studio Series line, so scale and size is thrown out the window to have a proper transforming toy, alt-mode and everything. So even though Ravage is way too big, at least we get a fully functioning toy of him again, hopefully with a fish alt-mode based on the original animatics for Revenge of the Fallen.

         We could have the Microcons, which would basically be Bakugan. Wheelie and Scalpel, the latter with an alt-mode accurate to the one he actually had on-screen. Dunno about Brains, since his transformation into a flat laptop seems impossible; Maybe they’d HAVE to come up with a new alt-mode for him, like a Cybertronian USB drive. Scorponok can transform into a helicopter engine, and as for characters like Laserbeak and Frenzy…

         Well, those two are harder, since they can transform into anything but retain the same robot mode no matter what. So they’d probably have to come up with a new alt-mode, or stick to one; I could see Frenzy being a stereo like in his first appearance.

         If we REALLY want to get silly… Well, there are two transforming watches we’ve seen in the movies, so what if they made Studio Series versions of them that to scale with real life, actual humans? Identical in size to the actual objects they represent? Though I imagine there’d probably be licensing issues with the Nokia bot… Imagine if they made an accurate Dispensor. And Ejector. And OREOBOT.

         Also, and I get that it’s kind of impossible to do a truly accurate toy of him. But a toy of Reedman would be fun, just for the sole novelty of seeing how they’d pull it off. Or not a toy, but like… A cardboard cutout with Reedman’s left and right printed on both sides. Comes with spares in case you break it, obviously. I doubt they’d make a proper plastic, posable toy of Reedman unless they took a lot of liberties with his width, nor would it transform. Which, technically he’s a combiner, and people don’t expect those to transform to begin with. Not that I expect the Studio Series to have a Reedman combiner, given he’s composed of millions of Microcons. That’s a LOT of Bakugan to interlock.

         In the end, we’ll probably get redone versions of previous figures before we get a scaled-up Microcon. Not that I’d complain about that, either; ‘Crankcase’ needs a SERIOUS remold (or reuse of a pre-existing one that was literally right there), KSI Boss needs an accurate head. The Shadow Raiders need to resemble themselves instead of Lockdown but with some orange. And the KSI sentry… Literally just a recolored Stinger with a different head. Which sucks, because the KSI sentry is the most plausible KSI transformer to make a toy out of, they could easily pull it off if they managed to do a better Galvatron!

         I dunno why I care about toys of obscure side characters. But then, I’ve always loved the obscure side characters, so that may be exactly why. And I think the allure of finally getting proper, accurate, transforming toys of characters you’ve seen on-screen since over a decade ago… There’s something very nostalgic and wish-fulfillment about that to me. It’s never too late for your childhood dreams to come true, it’s part of why I appreciate the Legacy line, even if I haven’t really engaged with most of the shows it represents.

         Anyhow, I guess I’ll ramble about Studio Series figures I want to see, because lord knows we don’t need another, slightly-altered version of Bumblebee (unless it’s his Stinger lookalike form with a proper battle mask). Again, give some love to the neglected characters who have never had the chance, just for the fun, not characters we’ve seen over a million renditions of! And yeah I get it, it’s because they’re recognizable and so sell well.

         A Studio Series protoform would be great; As well as a Decepticon counterpart, which is just a different head, comes with a gun, and has back spikes. The Decepticon Protoforms were VERY common through the movies and would function as army builders. And even though they were never Transformers, just regular vehicles…

         I’d LOVE to see an Orbital Assault Carrier, from Dark of the Moon. Give him a robot mode, but mostly prioritize his vehicle mode (a change for once), and its ability to open up and house a deluxe-sized character, ideally a Decepticon Protoform. And also, do one of those Moon Protoforms, the ones with four eyes and the more bestial appearance! I’m sure somebody has access to the original CGI models to work with, so we can finally get a good look at them. And while the regular Decepticon Protoform has to transform into a comet, they could potentially make up anything for their moon variant.

         …Would they do the freaking Hatchlings? Who knows. Devcon would be great, he actually looks like his alt-mode, which got frustratingly rarer with the start of Dark of the Moon. And since we got a Studio Series Thundercracker that they basically completely made up, it’d be nice to complete the trio with a Studio Series Skywarp. In the same vein as Thundercracker, he’d probably be another flying character, but repainted and with a new head. Maybe they’d use one of the older molds from when the films first came out, like Mindwipe or Breakaway.

         The submarine from The Last Knight would also be fun, and like the OAC, it’s a case of the vehicle mode being prioritized, and making whatever you want for the robot mode. Could they even do a transforming Driller, given the size? Would it just be a Leader-class, but only come with one segment of the Driller; With the idea that if you buy multiple, you can extend its length to be more accurate? And what would it transform into, besides… A cybertronian train?

         Infernocus is a challenge, but if they TRULY wanted to be totally accurate to him being comprised of six identical Infernocons… Well, the best scenario is to just make a single, Voyager-class Infernocon toy. Which sounds simple enough, except this Infernocon has to be a quintuple-changer, forming into an arm, leg, lower torso, and head with upper torso for Infernocus. The arms and legs would have to be symmetrical so as to avoid having to make new transformations for Left and Right versions.

         Admittedly, I think this is fairly impossible unless they employ some Third-party level complexity in transformations, and make the limbs fully static. Pretty sure Infernocus’ head and torso are too big to just be two Infernocons total, when compared proportionally to his limbs. The Studio Series Infernocon would come up with each of the melee weapons that the individuals wielded, as well as a large arm cannon for Infernocus. Buy five more and you can complete him! Sure you’ve got a lot of extra weapons, but there’s no way to work around that.

         Again, it really boils down to if they can pull of a quintuple-changer Infernocon, whose different body parts are actually to scale with one another. And it’d have to be Voyager class… Or maybe a Leader-class, since they did that to DotM Megatron, who is about the same height as the Voyager-class RotF Megatron, but has more mass due to his involved transformation and alt-mode. In the end, they’d probably just do different Infernocon molds for different body part… In which case!

         Release a ‘Limbo Infernocon’, so-named because of the Hell-theming, and the fact that it forms a limb. It’s a triple-changer, turning into either an arm or a leg; Still an involved transformation, but a lot more plausible than a quintuple-changer. Then there’s the Infernocons for the lower and upper torso with head… The lower torso would be named ‘Torment Infernocon’ to subtly get the idea it forms part of the torso, specifically the lower part. And the other would be ‘Head Infernocon’, because it forms the upper torso and head, and is like the leader of the group. Torment and Head would just have one alt-mode each, the usual.

         What would REALLY be insane, however, is Dragonstorm… The Knights of Iacon transforming into him makes zero sense. Let’s be real. But I’ve seen what Third-party figures have pulled off, so there’s a morbidly curious part of me that WANTS to see them try. Each Knight is Voyager-class, and Dragonstorm himself is… Whatever you call Devastator, except even bigger.

         Given the Knights of Iacon only transform into Dragonstorm, each would only have a single alt-mode, their combined form. There’d be some heavy-duty ratchet joints involved, and it’s a similar case to the Infernocons, where it’s same the robot mode more or less, but re-engineered to have a different alt-mode. This does get me into my conspiracy theory that their leader, Stormreign, forms one of Dragonstorm’s front legs.

         It’s been criticized that Dragonstorm was somehow formed without him, but! We only see a brief silhouette of Dragonstorm, in which his two front legs aren’t visible. And then there’s a minor but definite cut to a bit later on, in which Merlin has ridden some distance back to the battle going on, and Dragonstorm is flying beside him. So, let’s just say that during this brief cut, Stormreign joined up with the other knights to finish Dragonstorm as his missing leg!

         As for the dilemmas of Skullitron and two other knights dying, only for Dragonstorm to be formed whole regardless… Well, Skullitron only fell, we never saw him actually die. And yes those two knights got stabbed, but so was Optimus in the previous film, and he walked it off just fine somehow? So let’s say the same thing. Maybe when Optimus and Bumblebee were duking it out, the other Knights of Iacon took a while to arrive, because they were busy repairing their three fallen comrades.

         Let’s say they had… A repair chamber or something. And that it fixed all three as good as new, especially Skullitron; Removing the decay so that he’s unrecognizable by the time the Knights of Iacon head outside, now resembling the rest. What am I, Trans Theories, coming up with explanations for the obvious flaws of the Bayverse? Maybe. Reminds me of a post I reblogged earlier, about seeing flaws and plot holes as opportunities to come up with your own stories and explanations. I really like that post and you can see how that applies here with Dragonstorm.

         And yes, I know there’s one more Knight of Iacon(?) unaccounted for, the green dude who dies at the beginning and gives Cade the talisman. But he’s evidently a lot smaller than the other Knights of Iacon, who are the same size as each other; So he’s a blatant outlier. So let’s just say that he’s a servant and not an actual member or something. Would he even get a toy? Honestly.

         Speaking of, the actual logistics of a Dragonstorm toy. I’m not even a toy designer, why am I discussing this? The Knights of Iacon would probably be panel-formers, turning inside out to reveal the textured armor of Dragonstorm, like the toy we got in TLK’s line, the one comprised of Stormreign and Dragonicus. When combined, Dragonstorm’s belly and the inside of his legs, as well as his wings, will probably be hidden to hide the obvious Knight kibble.

         How would Dragonstorm be split up? Well, there’s twelve Knights of Iacon. I already suggested Stormreign as one of the front legs, so each leg is a Knight. That leaves eight Knights left. We’ve got the three heads with long necks, so each is a Knight. That leaves five Knights. The wings, easily the hardest part, will probably be downsized and be a single Knight each. Three Knights of Iacon, to form the front torso, back torso, and tail.

         There’d be obvious spots where you can see the knight armor that breaks up the barbed aesthetic of Dragonstorm. But that’s okay, because it’s such a Herculean task to pull off a functioning, accurate combiner of him, that nobody is going to be critical of a minor flaw here or there, as long as it generally works. Hell, Dragonstorm might actually benefit from those spots, because they’d make him actually resemble his components more!

        I dunno why I bother with all this ruminating. I guess a part of me just LOVES the idea of some line actually going out of its way to do EVERY character justice, even the most obscure ones.

[wonderlandhatter]

Will you read to me?

Pairing: Spencer x femReader

Summary: You're feeling unsettled after a case, so Spencer helps you get some sleep and get a smile back on your face.

Word count: 1863

Warnings: fluff (is that a warning idk), mentions of an unsub, feeling overwhelmed after an unsub touches you (just your hand and waist nothing in detail). Tiny bit of angst I think mostly fluff though

A/N: Ok so this is my first attempt at writing a fic, it ended up being longer than I thought it would be, anyways if you would like to give me some feedback that would be greatly appreciated, hope someone out there enjoys this, I really liked writing it.  Ooh also if I missed any warnings pls tell me. 

A/N2: Hey so my old account got deleted so I'm reposting my fics if you have a sec I would appreciate it if you could boost it so i can try and get to where i was, thank you.

It had been a tough case, especially for you, the victimology fit you in every way and so you had been used to draw the unsub out, nothing had gone wrong but you could still feel his hand where he had touched yours, his alluring presence was lingering around you , all you wanted to do was go home and shower this feeling off but first you had to get there.

Unfortunately, there was still 2 hours left in the flight. So, until you did get home you would settle for sleep hoping time would pass faster, though you just couldn’t stop your mind from thinking, well overthinking. Spencer noticed this and it hurt him to see you like this he himself knew nothing had happened but he didn’t like the thought that you had even gone near that creep, to think about what he would have done to you, if the circumstances were different.

He couldn’t imagine what he would do if something had happened, you and him were close, very close, you had first bonded when he noticed your Dr who coin purse on your first day at the BAU, he hadn’t gotten a chance to say anything because at that moment Garcia bubbled into the bullpen announcing that they have a case. but when he saw it again on the jet, he couldn’t resist but to ask if you like the show, you love the show and your face visibly lit up at the mention of it as did his, you both exchanged a few words before Derek piped in to ask if that was the show with the flying phone booth but before Spencer had the chance to correct him, you did. ‘well firstly it’s a Tardis which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, secondly it isn’t a phone booth it’s a police box.’ Once you finish you simply smiled at him but before he could answer you piped up again early. ‘ ooh ooh and do you want to know why it’s a police box’, Derek honestly couldn’t care less but he couldn’t bare to take away the joy in your face that was brought by this nerdy little show you clearly loved, Spencer might also have been giving him a look that said ‘don’t you dare say no’, so he decided to indulge you, ‘sure kid tell me why it’s a police box’. Spencer saw your face light up even more if it was even possible, and so you began’ So the Tardis is supposed to change in appearance depending on where it  is because of a component that is called ‘the chameleon circuit’ but something happened to it so it no longer works and is stuck as a police box, its explained in the first Dr who series in an episode called An Unearthly child. Oh and…..’ by this time Derek has lost interest and was only half listening but Spencer’s full attention was on you as you talked about something that clearly brought you joy, at this point he decided  to chime in and so you two spent the rest of the jet ride to wherever it was you were going discussing your favourite episodes, plots and Drs. And so, a beautiful friendship began to bloom.

As spencer’s memory of that day came to an end he couldn’t help but be visibly sad at how much of a contrast your feeling were to that day, there was no smile so big you had dimples no hands moving around animatically  as you talked and no interrupting your own sentences as you thought of something else you thought needed to be said. And certainly, no you trying to convince him that David tenant was the best Dr. now there was only an uneasiness about you, you looked sad and in slight distress.

Spencer couldn’t keep sitting there doing nothing, he wanted to take those feelings away no, he needed to take them away, he wanted to go over to you and hold you, place you on his lap and let you bury your face into his cardigan like you had done so many times before on your movie nights, but that wouldn’t be appropriate while the entire team was around, and he didn’t want to make you feel worse by being so forward so instead he stood up from his seat opposite Derek and J.J and made his way to you on  the sofa holding his book, you were sat  in the corner looking so small, holding a now cold cup of tea.

Your mind was anywhere but there so it took Spencer calling your name quietly before you realised anyone was sitting there, and as you saw him all those bad feelings were drowned out by those of joy and love, they weren’t gone but their overwhelming words were dulled, Spencer just had that effect on you, you weren’t completely sure when your feeling changed from hey that’s my friend, to hey that’s my friend who I would like to kiss, marry, and have babies with. Maybe it was the day he showed you how to do physics magic, or the day he brought you coffee every morning for 2 weeks because he spilled one the previous day on your white shirt, or maybe the first time he hugged you, you knew he wasn’t big on hugs but after a tough case for everyone he could see you needed it and honestly once he was there holding you he never wanted to stop, after that he wouldn’t hesitate to hug you, you both waved it off as friendly but you both just wanted to be as close as possible, maybe when you came to terms with the fact you would both try your best to have physical contact with each other, be it holding hands or falling asleep on each other’s shoulder is when you knew you wanted a lot more.

You were brought back by Spencer’s voice, ‘are you ok’,’  ‘oh,  ah yeah sorry , my minds just wandering I guess’ you said looking down at your hands feeling bad for lying, he clearly knew you weren’t he was a profiler after all, and as you stared at your hand you   once again remembered his lingering touch on your left hand, before your mind could wander further Spencer held your hand ,he spoke up  ‘ don’t think about him, I know that’s what your doing , but he’s gone now were he cant hurt anyone else, were he can’t hurt you’. You looked away from him feeling silly ‘I know that, I don’t even know why I’m acting like this it’s ridiculous honestly he didn’t do anything he just touched my hand and waist but the thought of his hands on me just makes me feel sick, it’s like I can still feel him and I just want to wash it off and that’s all I can think about every time I try to sleep, I just want to sleep and forget about it spence’ as you said this you subconsciously scratched the back of  your hand where his had been, spencer took both your hands once again before you could hurt yourself,  ‘hey y/n, it isn’t silly, after seeing the crime scenes and knowing what he did to those women it is perfectly reasonable to be feeling like this’ you nod at his words and lean your head on his shoulder as you take in his familiar comforting smell, ‘thanks Spence’ you hear him hum in response as his head leans on top of yours.

You sit in comfortable silence just being with each other not even realising he hadn’t let go of your hand, it isn’t like you had made a move to either, and neither of you were planning on it. The jet was silent as everyone was either asleep, or going through some files, it was peaceful, it was wonderful.

You were the first to break the silence ‘what are you reading’ , ‘Alice’s adventures in wonderland’, you looked up at him from your place on his shoulder with a soft smile and simply stated ‘that’s my favourite book, I have a copy in my desk right now’ , ‘I know, that’s why I’m reading it, ‘ his reason made your heart swell as he continued, ‘even though it Is considered a classic I’ve never actually read it, I must say I am enjoying it’, ‘how far along are you’, ‘about half way’. Truthfully Spencer could have been done with the book already even though he had started it at the beginning of the flight, however this book was different, this was your favourite, this one meant so much to you and so he wanted to take it all in, he wanted that feeling you get when you first read a line that impacts you, a feeling you only get once with that line, a feeling he was getting often in this book because he knew you loved it and so he loved it.

The silence was disrupted by a very large yawn coming from you, he must admit you looked very cute when you were tired (he may also love the fact you were wearing one of his cardigans that you had claimed as your, and you also had very cute sweater paws). ‘Here lie down’ Spencer said, you knew you wouldn’t be able to fall asleep so you asked, ‘will you read to me’ there was barely a beat before you felt the need to justify your request, even though you didn’t need to he would do anything you asked. ‘it’s just I don’t think ill be able to sleep, and your voice is very calming’, the last part you said quietly and felt a light blush on your cheeks, spencer simply smiled and simply answered ‘of course ill read to you’, and so you laid you head down on his lap and he began reading once you were fully comfortable, ‘would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’’ ‘’that depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’’ said the cat………’’ and so Spencer kept reading to you, an you kept listening, his hand made its way to your hair and began to play with it while your hand drew lazy  nonsensical things  on his leg , and as you heard the words you had read a million times before, and as the man you held so much love for played with your hair all your worries and thoughts melted away and you slowly let sleep take over , you felt conflicted as you didn’t want to miss this, miss Spencer’s voice recite something that meant so much to you, it was like hearing a completely new story, but at some point you let it take over and so you were finally able to sleep, Spencer never stopped reading to you or playing with your hair in fear of disturbing your peace, he was so happy there was a smile back on your face, he would read to you every hour of every day if it meant seeing you smile.

[7ven-devils]

A really long overanlysis of minecraft servers.

This will be my only warning, this shit is really long.

I promised this to @ivi-prism 2 weeks ago (hi, i am Svetla) but university said no and then i feel my notes were incomplete so i have to do more research.

So let's talk about anarchism and capitalism. As a future political scientist, really bugs me how the fandom and some content creators (im looking at you techno) misinterpret both theories.

Yeah this will be a overanalysis about the political, social and economic system of two minecraft servers. Why? Cause i like analysis things like this and finally i can solved what is the system of hermitcraft and thats make me happy.

Things to consider:

First im not native english speaker and im lazy so im not often write or talk in english so my typos can make Doc really proud.

Second i don't watch Dsmp i only know things about the server by the animatics, the constant information wich pop up here on tumblr, the crossover fanfics and the tiny vods that youtube insist play when i have activate automatic reproduction.

Third i tried to simplified this much as i can because this analysis i maded talking with my friends (also political scientists) and a former professor, so it got quite technical while i was writing it.

And finally don't take this seriously, I'm not trying to insult anyone, I only started this because the hermitfandom started saying that hermitcraft was capitalist and then everyone started comparing the Dsmp with hermitcraft saying anarchism vs capitalism, that's why the dsmp entered into this analysis.

Guys, seriously chaos isn't anarchism and "sucefully economic" isn't capitalism, even paid with "money" (diamonds in this case) isnt necessary capitalism.

First, mini glossary:

I understand a server like a Society/State (country) with Mr Weber definition. In really vague words a State is anyone that has a territory and has legal control of violence (the laws, no the abuse of authority).

I understand the private property as the hermits bases and/or shops (i suppose only base in dsmp? Idk)

I understand the mass production as the farms and resources.

Capitalism is a economic, politic and social theory, wich it considers private property essential and tends to monopolize the resources 'cause this it also considered private property.

Anarchy means "without government" it has its origin in the Ancient Greece. And Anarchism theory is just a society free from any political authority, but respecting the liberties of the others.

A Failed State is which one lose control of the legal violence, and can't provide the peace, essential human rights and the basics for a normal lifestyle to its people.

I think thats all the bored shit (i hope so). Now the interesting shit.

Why hermitcraft isnt capitalist?

Short answer, their idea of private property is not the same as capitalism has.

Long answer, even if they have their own stuff, they had a really strong sense of community and dont really care if someone take things from them.

We can see this in the beginning of season when Iskall take some mini blocks from Etho and he didn't really care (yeah, iskall "paid" him, but later i will explain this) or the multiple times Grian "borrow" things from Iskall and Mumbo in season 6 or Scar in season 7, the team ZIT constantly take things from each other and i can go on and on with examples, but the point here is this couldn't happen if they had a capitalist society because this would break the "private" part of private property and mass production.

Basically their friendship made so strong their sense of community that they are basically inmune to capitalism, Uncle Marx would be proud of them (not really, but would be funny). So they are communist? Nope, communist don't believe in private property and the hermits does.

But you just said-? I said they dont has the SAME idea of private property as capitalism does. They still have their bases, farms and shops, but for them their private property isnt sacred like in a capitalism system would be.

They're respect each other things because they appreciated the effort and values the time the person puts on their buildings and not only because doesn't belongs to them (and obviously cause theyre frends, but shush, this is a overanalysis, the obvious things doesn't have place here) i mean even for the shenanigans they are really polite and try to cause the least damage possible not because is not of them but because they valued the person.

Basically the famous honor code of hermitcraft.

What about the economic system and the shopping district?

Lets talk about the elephant in the room.

If Hermitcraft isnt a capitalist system, why they have a economic system based in diamonds?

Well, despite the exchange based in money for resources or services is a principal characteristic of capitalism, it isnt exclusive of that theory.

The money is a social consensus, cause barter has becomes obsolete and gold isnt cheap or infinite to use as payment. And basically, this is why we use money on this days (if you want to know the history of money ask to your trusted historian or Wikipedia).

What does this remind us? Yep, diamonds and iou's are a consensus too. When the 1.16 came out some hermits tried to change to netherite as payment and didn't suit, so they ignored it and continued with their current payment system.

And as much as Mr Smith likes to say that this is how the free market (and his stupid invisible hand) works, capitalism needs the monopoly of resources and people who works to pay for those resources.

But in Hermitcraft nobody really controlled the resources, anyone can go and collect their materials or made a farm. They just decided don't do it and go and buy it, because they save the time to go and collect for themselves, in other words they paid for the time.

Various hermits say they saved so much time go and buy the materials instead to collect themself or trade with the villagers (cause theyre the worst and all of us know it) thats why the barge and lookie lookie at my bookie are so profitable.

The shopping district it wasn't a thing before season 4, i dont really sure how it worked before, because i started watch in season six and sadly i have a boring adult life to saw the old seasons, but i assume it works in the same way that the trades the hermits does between them to accord a discount or a collab, and speak directly with the interested hermit or directly take it and pays what's considered it was fair, like iskall did with etho.

Like i said all what's happen in hermitcraft is a consensus, even the shopping district.

So yeah, that isnt a thing that would happen in a capitalism system, probably you would be dead, because "how are you dare to entered to my property", or in the jail, "because thats not yours".

So, what is hermitcraft?

For the surprise from much of you, Hermitcraft has an anarchist system.

What?! But their server is so peaceful, they don't steal from each other, they doesn't griefing, hows that possible?!

Well, the anarchism isn't really a violent political theory, at least in its beginning, actually anarchism is one of the most peaceful theories i studied, thats why i dont really thing it will worked in our society, but work in a server of 24 friends. Its too idealist.

I don't really study all of the thoughts corrents of anarchism because they are a lot. But the one we are interested is one of original thought corrent, The Mutualism, this in contrast with their cousin Communism doesn't believes the private property was something bad and considered like one of the rights from the individual, but different as capitalism because like i said before it wasn't sacred and communal things will exist to help others to start or recover.

Proudhon, one of it intellectuals, considered not paid for the work of the other it was a form to violate their liberties and feel horrofied with Marx when he said we have to abolish the private property.

The mutualists believes that each person should possess a means of production, either individually or collectively, and the products obtained would be trade in the market for the amount equivalent of their work.

This sound familiar, isnt it? Hermitcraft works in this way.

The thing with anarchism is they don't believes in a government over the people. And the hermits doesn't have one, yeah there's Scar being the mayor, but he isnt have a power over the rest and only is in charge of the "cowmercial district" even aquatown isn't part of his jurisdiction, his function is more of organization, like when we put a friend in charge to organizing part of a roadtrip.

It's the same with Xisuma figure, we all put him in a position of the admin of hermitcraft, but the truth is he isnt the only one with admin commands (but apparently some or all of them losed their admin status, at least in one of the last tango's streams, he hasnt it anymore) and various hermits said that he is more like an ambassador of them in the legal things of the server.

The hermits take all of they decisions in group and in the majority of things all of them needs to be agreed with the decision or they simple doesn't do it. And this is a characteristic of the mutualism because for them anyone are over the other.

And if you aren't already bored at this point and you put attention to what i wrote of the concept of private property in the mutualism, you would see it is practically the way hermitcraft works. They make their bases and farms, recolect resources and sell what they don't will use, buy mostly to save time and paid for the price what they considered fair. Yeah i know sometimes they do some farm specifically for one shop, but this is more "yeah, this is my thing" (Tango and Iron; Ren and wood) or a division of activities "if you do that, i do this".

The perfect utopia.

What about the Dsmp?

If you do it to here, congratulations.

So what about the Dsmp, i entered here because i want to read of them and the only thing i read was about hermitcraft.

Well, the Dsmp only entered in the equation because much of you said they were an anarchist server, but i see it more like a "failed state" and when i was talked with an exprofessor he agreed with me.

I know the term of failed state is controversial and is almost obsolete, but is the best way to describe the server and stop said it is anarchist.

So why failed state and not an anarchist state? Because they have a government (or apparently multiples) a failed one, but is there, if it were an anarchist server wouldn't have one.

Usually the failed states are known for being violent and volatile places in which ones their governments can't provides the basics to their people to live, normally are places with ethnics conflicts, civil wars, authoritarian governments or states in wars. The most common examples are Haití, Somalia or Syria.

And i am sure you can see the similarities with the Dsmp, so yeah, theyre chaotic but not anarchist.

The wars ruined the stability from the server, have a multiple sides and a megalomaniac for admin, but the goverment still there and they are fighting for the power wich wouldn't happen if the server were anarchist because anarchism don't believe the power should be possess for someone.

The server simply is failed state wich struggles under a violent fight for power.

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

If you read this far, you're a hero and had my gratitude for read my useless thoughts. Maybe some day i do it other overanalysis of this servers. I hope you enjoyed and dont confused so much.

Thanks for read.

And if there are some angry economist with me for "misrepresent" the capitalist i am completely open to a debate, my only condition is it would be in chilean spanish ;)

[melissa-s23]

Private lesson

Sumarry: Janus try to decieve himself into a timeline where he can save his friends. He does not expect reality to offer him an opportunity to prove himself.

Word count: 3127

Characters: Janus Sanders, King creativity Sanders

Warnings: Sword fighting?? Idk please tell me if you think something else should be added here.

Author’s note: MY FIRST ONESHOT EVER COMPLETED! Yes! And the honor goes to @rondoel ‘s King!AU! ( @kingcreativityau ) :D Now: are the characters OOC in this? Most probably. Do I really care about it? Only a tiny bit. I only started to post Sanders Sides content here recently, but I’ve been a fan of the series for a few months now so I had time to read a lot of fic... however I’m still not sure on what I got wrong so if you have any criticism, positive or negative, please let me know! Lastly, this was at first supposed to be an animatic (on the song called ‘This is war’) but I have NO TIME to draw and lot of time to write so enjoy! When I do get time, I might try to animate a certain part of it that I don’t think I nailed that well in the fic. Anyway, I’ve been rambling for long enough. ENJOY!!!

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

Janus stood there, in the empty training room. Since King's return, he felt very conflicted, and he hated himself for it.

The king was merciless, he cursed Patton to make him look like a toddler, he removed Logan's vocal cords, he cursed Virgil into torturing himself into deadly downward spirals, and...

And he was very spiteful, he was angry... because he'd betrayed him.

Janus clenged his fist. He couldn't help but remember the look of betray and rage that his King gave him when he discovered his team-up with Logan. Those orange eyes that could burn him down on the spot. Those oh so intense eyes... Damn it, he was back at it again. This is over now. His king was gone. Now it was the King. The tyrant. The side who hurt his friends.

He was standing in the empty room, looking at his reflection by the mural mirror. His now half-half face looked so tired. Was he really this tired ? He was probably very very tired... but he'll rest later, as the memory of his most recent wound was still fresh in his head, replaying this utter humiliation, he just couldn’t sleep. Anger soon filled him up.

He could have tried to stop him. He could have tried to save his friends, and instead he just... froze. He just let it happen like he couldn't do anything. And he knew how to fight ! He knew how to defent himself for crying out loud ! He could've done something, and instead... Nothing ! He recalled the scene, bit by bit. How Logan stood at his left, how virgil was just behind, how the king was looming over them, despite being 10 feet away from them. He remembered every movement, every word, and every second of that moment like it was written in his metaphysical blood.

And in a second, it was like he was dragged back to this hell again.

And he would not let it happen a second time.

He summoned his cane and raised it up at the memory of King. His mind wandered off now. He had to imagine how he would've react. Would he summon his sword or take full creative control to just trap him ? He wanted to think he had a chance, so he chose the sword scenario.

And just like that, the imaginary fight was on. Step forward. Left. Right. Dodge. Go protect them. Put up a fight. He would have rushed toward the tyrant and aimed for the head, the sword would've get in the way and he could uses the top of his cane to project himself back to the group. Go. Dodge. Pare. Block and Dodge and Move fast and Dodge again and Block and pare and send it back. The world was spinning around him and the fight got more and more intense. He may have his eyes closed, but he knew perfectly where he was in the room, and he was completely in his daydream. Left and Right and Block again and Forward and Left and Block and backward and spin and swing the cane for it to stop only an inch away from the face of his enemy. He would have been a threat, and he would have been able to save his friends from the King.

He didn't expect, however, to be met with the actual King in front of him when he opened his eyes.

Janus' eyes widened and he immediately cursed himself for backing up. Great. He was all about putting up a fight and a second later, he was cowering. ‘Talk about blowing smokes.’ He at the very least kept his glare from fading away. He couldn't be scared of him. He couldn't show it. He was simply surprised... He had to make that a challenge for him, Deceit was not a side you could see right through, after all.

« You seem to have a quite... Interesting dancing style » King spoke, an almost mocking grin showing as he looked down at Janus. Crap. Did he knew ? Was he there the whole time ?

As the tyrant lift his hand, Janus snaps back into reality, setting his guard up and putting a stronger grasp on his cane. Only for the object to sudenly float in the air, shining with bright light and transforms into a sword that Janus grabbed back before it falls on the floor. This left only more confusion in the half-snake, confusion which turns into alert when he lifts his gaze back at the King only to be met with another blade. He jumps back.

« W... What ? » Janus was lost.

« Wouldn't you try and learn an acutal fighting technique ... » King's voice was composed, but also slightly amused at Deceit's confusion.

«... instead of the poor travesty I just witnessed ? » until it all vanished in favor of annoyance.

Janus tried to process the words as King switched his position for a dueling one. His sword in front of him, his torso on the side and his feet dug on the ground. Was he.... what ? What was happening ?? One thing sure was that he invited Janus to mirror his behaviour. And so he did, taking a deep breath, and standing still while carrying his sword to cross the others. And before he figured out what to do next, King took three blows and sent Janus' sword flying through the air and crashing on the ground.

« Whoa wHoa WHOA ! Hold on ! » Janus lifted his hands in defense and gulped as the blade of his enemy got dangerously close to his throat.

He then heard a chuckle, and the blade finally got away from his neck. « It was just too tempting. » He snapped his finger and the sword flew right back to Janus' hand, who was still confused.

« Alright, for real this time, I let you give the first blow. »

Janus hesitated, still not sure if the scene before him was really happening, but quickly composed himself. He came back to mirroring King's posture and came with a serious expression. He quickly analysed how he could start and how he could win the fastest. When he assumed to find a way to win quickly, he lifts his sword up and went for it.

Boy, was his assumption wrong.

He thought he'd move faster, but the moment the sword swingged on the left, King's weapon caught him off guard, and it only took two quick slays for Janus' to fly in the air again. He felt baffled and humiliated. And the amused smile from his opponent didn't boost his ego at the moment.

« How ? » He didn't understand. Even his instincts weren't nearly as fast as the King, and the tyrant didn't get the chance to train in years !

He only got an arrogant giggle in response before the sword flew back to Deceit's hand. Janus frowned deeper and dug his feet in the ground, ready to jump. King did not miss, nor cared for deceit's threat.

« Again. » He simply ordered. He only had to move his arm to be back to his initial position. Was there a point to it ? Or did his tyrant just liked to put him through this childish show of superiority ?

For some reason, Janus obeyed.

And lost.

Again.

« Try again. » the King ordered.

The other obliged.

After the 4th time the sword flew back into the yellow side, he had to face it : This was happening. King was training him to sword fight. And he just... accepted it ??? What ?? How was this happening ? Usually, he would try to bite back, make some remark, try to hurt him, but here he just... went along with it. And King seemed pleased with that. He looked...content. He looked satisfied with giving Janus private lesson. This moment...  against all odds... felt... not as bad as he expected.

The more they fought, the less cold the tyrant was, and the less tense they both get. King stopped trying to bring him to his knees and instead looked like he a professor, excited to give his student something to work on.

Of course, he would never admit it, but in this instant, in this moment of intimacy and challenge devoted from any animosity... It was calming, it was like a fresh wind coming after a heat wave of chaos, and the adrenaline that came from the fight was giving him enough energy to savour every second of it.

Wait.

No.

No no no no no.

He wasn't enjoying it. He wasn't enjoying it at all. He could not appreciate what was happening : the sadistic bastard was bellitling him and humiliating him right now ! And worst part is ? He couldn't even do anything about it ! Because King is so freacking good at sword fighting and Janus' main weapon has been turnd into a sword for crying out loud. There was no time to lust over past relationship !

And another game lost.

« I told you to pay attention to what was happening high up. Looking at my chest is not going to do much if you want to predict where or when I'm going to hit next. I thought you'd know that. »

« I was simply lost in another train of thought, I hope you could forg- »

DON'T.

FINISH

THIS WORD.

'You be submissive, god dammnit.' He thought to himself before clearing his throat and returning to his cunning voice. He had to keep his distance.

« I don't need you to tell me that. I was simply lost in thought. Do you really I am this much of an idiot ? »

« Well, you didn't prove me otherwise yet so. » He chuckled low and got ready for yet another one. « En garde. »

Even though he couldn't hide the joy he was feeling at the moment, he could mask it behind his usual calm appearance.

« And how many times are we going to do this ? » He asked, his tone playing between teasing and bored

«Until you get some actual fighting skills. » King answered, playing along.

« Ouch. I think I prefer the wounds caused by your sword. »

« Well then hurry up and grab your weapon. » Damn it. Why did they seem to get along of all sudden ?

« As you wish. This was merely a warm up. » he lied

« I do not doubt it any second. »

And just like that, the conversation became non-verbal again.

…

Truth be told, neither knew how long they've been fighting. Was it an hour ? Three hours ? 20 minutes ?

Truth be told, neither cared.

All janus knew is that he was getting better and better, almost becoming a challenge to the King , and the other side seemed glad to step up and fight with more intensity.

And both completely forgot to hide their excitement.

Janus started to tease king, even when he was clearly losing, and the other responded with as much sarcasm and complicity. The two glared at each other with malice and playfulness the whole time. And both couldn't help but smile.

And just like that, it felt as if they never left each other.

When he was younger, Janus and his king would play around with wooden swords, roleplaying like two ennemy seeking vengence in the most childish way. Janus sometimes would fake losing so he could see his king's proud smile which was worth losing 10 times again. His king would sometimes lose and janus would feel a feeling of acomplishment that was very strange to him, in a pleasant way. And at the end, they would most of the time lay down on the green grass and just talk about everything and anything.

And right now, he felt like he was playing with his king. Only the swords weren't made of wood anymore, and it was more professional. But still, it felt the same.

And it felt ...pleasant.

He could hear himself laugh just like when he was younger, and if he listened closely, he could feel king chuckle just like his king.

And it felt … nice.

From the talk, to the movement, both were on edge, calculating every move and waiting for an opportinity to strike. It was an amazing strategy game combined with pure raw strenght. And King's fighting style was both very classical and yet creative. He was very crafty and Janus only had to rival with his own tricks. They were in the moment, living fully the present.

And it felt...

And dear lord, it felt so, so good.

He could feel himself fly as he dodged, he could feel fire in his vein when he was about to strike down, he felt his head spinning, yet everything around him was so crystal clear, it was like a dance. A disturbing, aggressive, cold and passionate dance.

A dance...

They used to dance before.

His king and himself.

Most of the time, when they were done fighting, they would lay down on the grass. Most of the time.

Sometimes, he could have the biggest honor of all.

'Now, my dear, would you enjoy a waltz with me ?' his king offered his hand

-'I don't want to step on your foot again'

-'I told you you didn't hurt me ! Come now, it's not your job to be scared.'

despite his defensive approach, he adored those dances.

-'Alright, I'll dance with you. '

How did it go again ?

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3.

Left, right, right, wait no, was it left again ?

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3

step up, forward, step back, and one turn and another. His king would have his hand on Janus' shoulder and Janus would have his hand on his king's waist. And they would dance, and the music filled the air, and his king would have made a room just for them to dance.

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3

Turn around, then left then back up.

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3

Then caught in their trance

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3

They would just spin around, and turn and spin and spin again and everything was  spinning around them and they could only see each other and the whole world was spinning and it was just them. Just the two of them.

And they would smile and they would laugh and everything was still spinning around them and it was blissfull, passionate, affectionnate and in they would join their hands once more and their finger would interlace and once their hands was only one thing, they would lift it in the air with bravery as a victory for their hapiness.

And he would lift his hand in the air, with his king.

And they would lift their hands, hold together, in the air.

And they would yell a victory choir.

King's sword fell on the ground.

And he had his hand on King's chest.

Oh lord, he was too close to King.

Their faces were only two inches apart.

And Janus visibly forgot how to breath.

King was staring with wide eyes, clearly not expecting Janus to send his sword flying nor getting this close. None of them dared move an inch, and none of them could breath.

What... what just happened ?

How could Janus get so caught up in his dreams that he erased whatever was happening in front of him ? And how did this stupid dance from years ago helped him beat the King to his game ? And how could he, despite everything,  try to search for his king's eyes in the tyrant that stood in front of him ?

Right now, the King's red and green eyes were  flickering into orange glimps and his look was just tearing Janus up from the inside. He looked ready to cut his throat open if he had his sword in hand.

And yet …

For only a moment, only for a single instant, did Janus find his King shining through the side in front of him.

Sadly, this bloom inside of Janus' heart got cut fast as thorns grapped him and pulled him far away from his The King, and before he realized what was happening, the thons just gripped tighter and tighter, making Janus unable to hide the jolt of pain.

He struggled, trying to get away from the grasp, but they only tightened and eventually, he stopped, gasping for air. He tried to look back at the tyrant, who was simply observing with a serious expression, the joy of the past moments seemingly dissapeared the moment Janus got too close. And now, he was back to being a threat. Without looking away, he move forward, with slow steps. Janus tried to manage a sentence but the pain was too high for him to form anthing coherent. Eventually, The King was in front of Janus, and the yellow side swore he was about to get killed right on the spot, but instead he just kneeled down, grapping back the sword that flew away.

Oh.

He got up and, with the other hand, brushed over the blade. Without looking away from it, he spoke : « You fought well. » He lift his eyes to meet Janus, struggling not to faint, and determined to look at him with rage. The corner of his lips twiched into the smallest of smirk and he turned back, opening the gap between the two.

And as the King took his steps, Janus' eyes widened, realizing what King was about to do.

'No.'

'No. Not again.'

'Don't leave. '

'Please'

'Don't leave me again. '

He turned into a snake to got away from the thorns and rushed towards him, ready to grip his cape. Anything. Anything but that. He was so close...

But the thorns got Janus back before he could make it.

He couldn't even hear his own grunts of pain. All he could listen to was the sound of footsteps, and a windblow that made King dissapear. Janus froze in place.

And the silence that grew in the room was deafening.

After what felt like an enernity, the thorns let go of Janus, who simply fell on his knees shaking. He hugged himself as hard as he could, and curled on himself.

He tried to fight back tears that wouldn't stop to threaten to fall.

And none of them ever left his eyes. Just like no wound ever left his heart.

------------------------- WHOOOOOO What a ride! This was really fun to write and the challenge of putting words on the visuals your head come up with is certainly something. Now, I hope you didn’t expect things for them to get better just like that, huh? ;) There is too much they need to discuss before being close to make peace, so that’ll have to wait! I have other ideas for those two so I’ll see if I get motivated to write it out. Hope you liked it!! :D

[dreamteamspace]

So this stream I got a bit confused with what was going on with the whole spiel with schlatt and dream, and I dont actually think theres a traitor. However if there was one why not niki ya know? I mean, he kept saying how it would be way more unexpected than eret in the independance war, and literally everyone so far has been thought of as a potential traitor to pogtopia,, except well,, why not niki? She also had this letter to her "dear friend" that sounded like a new turn for her character and idk man why not?

Alright I’m a very texting type of person and you’ve got my started on my hyperfixation here we go-

My thoughts on the whole situation and why I think Fundy is the traitor:

I think from Dream’s perspective: Everything makes sense. I’m HIGHLY certain that Schlatt’s deal, which Dream said is “Something Wilbur and Tommy would never give him”, was that L’Manburg will either cease to exist (become part of the Dream SMP, and we know neither Wilbur not Tommy would ever do that), or that Dream would essentially become leader of it.

That’s why, in this flip situation, if he wins, he wins all of it. This also makes sense, as Dream is 100% alright with Wilbur just blowing it up, too: Because essentially he achieves the very same thing: L’Maburg/Manburg is no more.

Dream is absolutely right that he was never on their side or really on anybody’s side. Dream is his own side. It’s his server. He IS the Dream SMP, in that sense, just like Tommy is the spearhead of the rebellion right now.

I’m also fairly certain Dream will pull a lot more people than they think into this, and I think they ALSO know, in a meta-way, that they won’t be fighting only Schlatt and Dream and one traitor. He’s just letting them wallow in their security, although I have to say he LOVES dipping in his dramatic implications about what he’s doing or will do. In this case, he might’ve managed to keep quiet to let them think they’re safe.

So for Dream: Either they win, and L’Manburg is his/no more, or Wilbur sees they start losing, and L’Manburg is also no more. Honestly? He just has to make Wilbur panic hard enough to hit that button... and then he wins. It would be bad if he loses, though, so I do think he’ll pull together for this. He’s very competitive.

(Lot more juicy theory as to who the traitor is under the cut)

I predict that a good portion of BadboyHalo, Georgenotfound, Sapnap, Punz, potentially also people like Thunder or Alyssa?, are going to join Dream’s side. Sam seems close to the rebellion, but he’s also friends with George and Sapnap, but I just can’t see those two seriously fighting against Dream. If the stakes really are high, they’ll flip over to him, although I also can’t see them convincing Sam.

Most likely, George and Sapnap are just going to stay out of it entirely, and let Sam fight on the side of the rebellion. Maybe the current pet war might change that, though, say if Sapnap develops a new hatred against Tommy or even Sam? (I dont know what the pet war’s at atm but didn’t Sapnap and Sam fight over pets?), he would join in on Dream’s side. George? I have no idea. Most likely he just won’t be there. He doesn’t want to go against Sam (Who provides him with like. Everything), but he also doesn’t wanna fight Dream. IF he fights, though, I’m tempted to say he’d be on Dream’s side, but I’m honestly not up to date enough on his streams to say for certain.

As for the traitor: I actually haven’t seen Niki’s letter (to my great regret, I saw the news float around though), since I’m very focused on watching Tommy and Wilbur’s POVs. Honestly, if it’s Niki? That would be MASSIVELY surprising, and the biggest brain move I’ve ever seen. It’s possible, but I honestly don’t think it’s likely.

They’ve kept their characters fairly consistent, and while this IS kindof meta to say, I don’t think (with how things are atm), that Niki would betray L’Manburg, UNLESS she’s doing a double-agent thing and plans on tricking Dream in the end. That I could potentially see happening.

But knowing that she changed the anthem from Wilbur’s posessive “My L’Manburg” to just “L’Manburg”, that she’s been loyal even when they kinda half left her alone with Schlatt to tax her, and even during the pet wars she never strikes blood, but rather takes hostages and wants a sincere apology... I don’t see it right now. Then again, I don’t watch Niki’s streams on the SMP, so I could be wrong, as I’m not quite familiar with the intricacies of her character on the SMP besides the surface level.

On on hand... I also doubt whether there is a traitor at all, and Dream is just hoping to drive them apart and make sure they don’t get things done as efficiently as they could, because they’re busy pointing fingers at eachother, suspecting eachother, potentially even throwing somebody out once the tension between them snaps.

He needs to win this fight. If he does, he gets EVERYTHING. What they think of him after that point doesn’t matter, so the lie doesn’t matter. They can laugh at him afterwards, but he’ll still have won. I don’t know how many actually highly important details Dream would drop into conversation like that.

Consider, he does have a traitor. Why would he tell them he has one there? Why tell them that they’ll never guess? It just sows chaos in their group, and that’s what he wants. If he DID have one, he might just not say anything.

On the other hand: He might just be dramatic like that honestly. We all know they’re meta-fighting for the next spot in a sad-ist animatic, so Dream could very well be taking a more active role to insert himself into the story and cause some drama. Even if he DOES have a traitor on the inside, saying it still sows chaos. It’s a little risky, but if it really is something they won’t guess, then the chance that they’ll suspect the wrong person might be high enough, and make it worth it.

If he DOES actually have a traitor, my top sus are honestly Fundy, Tubbo, and maybe Ponk. I’m very sure it’s NOT Wilbur, Tommy, Sam, or Quackity.

Ponk doesn’t seem like the type of person to be reliable enough. He’s just kinda in it for the ride, and he’s too quiet to set a focus on. I don’t think Dream even considered him on the side of the rebellion for certain until today. It is, however, still possible. Tommy seems to trust him, and he’s not in deep enough for them to intently interrogate him on his loyalty, cause they know he’s more laid back when it comes to that. He feels only half in the rp to begin with, just wanting to fuck around with everyone. And then, BOOM, he’s actually been playing a massive role this whole time. It’s a little bit of a safe target, too, albeit a little underwhelming.

Tubbo... listen. We all love Tubbo. Tommy loves Tubbo, and we know Tubbo cares greatly for Tommy. Tubbo also seems(?) to care for L’Manburg. But I just....

It’s Tubbo, man. I have no idea. He seemed SO close to ACTUALLY flipping over to Schlatt before the festival. Everyone keeps pushing him around like this innocent tiny kid when he has the biggest third eye out of everyone and is the only one actually doing any work.

Tubbo has stated before that his official motivation is that he just wants peace for everyone. He just doesn’t want to fight and wants to do fun stuff. So of course he sounds horrified at the prospect of having to hunt down Tommy after Tommy was exiled, but happily went along with the festival. He was excited to do his speech. Schlatt actually placed responsability on them for once. He truly did seem happy about that.

It doesn’t matter as much to Tubbo who’s who. What matters is that the fighting preferrably stops, and they all just have a good time. Dream gave the line “I’m very convincing”, so I think he did actually have to convince the traitor, if there is one, to join his side. It wasn’t automatic.

Technically speaking, if L’Manburg is no more, and they’re all part of the Dream SMP again, doesn’t the fighting stop? If there’s no nation to fight over, then there’s no reason to fight. If L’Manburg is no more, then Schlatt has 0 power, and if Dream takes over, he could’ve promised to un-exile Tommy and Wilbur. And then they’re all part of the Dream SMP! No more fighting! Everyone’s on the same side!

Tubbo seems to care less for nations or sides, and much more for people, and for the people around them to be happy. His switch to enthusiasm at Schlatt’s festival came quickly, because many of the people he cared about still partook in it, and he never did hurt Tommy, because he does care about him.

But Tubbo DID say the line “may the festival begin” after his speech, and they knew what that would start. So why? In a way, I think Tubbo waged his options. Who does he care about more? Tommy, to his knowledge, is on Wilbur’s side. He might’ve decided in a moment of uncertainty that Wilbur and Tommy’s opinions of him are more important to them than the opinions of the other people there. Mostly Tommy, because we know those two would die for eachother. They chose Tommy over everyone else at that festival, potentially even over their own motivations, over their own gut.

Fundy, in fact, has MANY reasons to be the traitor, but isn’t quite obvious in that sense. They thought he was a traitor, actually, but once he showed them his diary, he essentially convinced all of them very certainly that he’s not the traitor, and they believed him. Dream joined the call later, so it’s possible he heard that part or Fundy told him about it (They’ve all been known to listen in on convos sometimes to know whats going in. They have to in order to build a good story line.)

Fundy has all the reasons. Reason number one, to me, is Fundywastaken. It’s canon in the Dream SMP lore, they just surprisingly haven’t done anything with it. During the independance war, that wasn’t a thing yet, and since they ARE a thing in canon now... they’ve never actually fought eachother. In fact, as things are now? We’re EXPECTING to see Dream fight his canon fiancé. Fundy officially joined the fight when Tommy asked him, confirming that they can count on him and that he will fight. We know for certain that Dream will fight.

If Fundy isn’t the traitor and doesn’t become one, then Dream and Fundy are inevitably meeting in battle on the 16th.

Consider his storyline: We’ve all been highly expecting Fundy to either punch Wilbur in the face or at LEAST be dissapointed in him or SOMETHING. He hasn’t, as far as I’m aware. He’s just standing there near him, very very quietly, giving a firm but quiet “yes” when Tommy asked him if they could count on him.

Fundy hasn’t expressed much to Wilbur at all, despite heving been left alone with Schlatt by him, despite how much he deserves to be angry at him for being patronized and not trusted with anything.

And, y’know... He’s officially Dream’s fiancé. The others don’t seem to know yet, and I don’t know how many people do know or not. It’s possible they just don’t know, and of course Dream wouldn’t tell them anything, not even tell anyone, this close before a fight. Dream might not even tell his close allies out of fear that the information could spread or that they could turn on him.

So honestly... Fundy seems the most likely for me to be the traitor, especially because there’s been plenty of foreshadowing for it, there’s a good setup, he has good reasons, and it wouldn’t seem like a cheap plottwist, but rather a gradual change.

Not to mention that meta-wise, Fundy has been actively involved in the rp and been dropping some pretty good lines himself. This isn’t something that Dream would have some non-rping person do.

I’m also kindof sure it’s not Technoblade, because Dream laughed it off and half-indicated that it is (Tommy: “I bet it’s Technoblade” Dream, cracking up: “I didn’t say that, you said that”), because he profits from doing so. He profits from them thinking Technoblade is the traitor. And also I really, really don’t think Techno would team up with Dream in this rp. Then again, Dream recently proclaimed to be on the side of chaos.... so who truly knows? I’ll definitly be surprised if it’s Techno, but I suppose it is a possibility. I just don’t think Techno can be convinced to much of anything, unless of course all it took was saying “Hey it’s Schlatt and Me against like 6 people so if we want an actual fight for once-” “Finally some bloodshed and war. I’m in”. I mean, I doubt it, but I’m leaving the possibility open.

TLDR: Dream wins if he wins the fight OR if Wilbur blows everything up. The traitor is likely either Fundy, Ponk or Tubbo, and I think there will be more people fighting on Dream’s side than just Schlatt and one traitor.

[irkenheretic]

(How I Learned) How To Read Irken: A Guide

(Pictured: Us....) (From @zimgay​ ‘s lovely animatic!)

Okay, I’m finally making this post. 

If you’ve been following me for a while, you might have caught on that I can read Irken. When I started, I was completely confused over wether or not I was teaching myself correctly, how long it’d take, et cetera. But I’ve finally hashed it out for myself, and I thought:

Why not make a guide for anyone else who wants to learn but has no idea where to start? 

So that’s what I’m doing. Some disclaimers, though:

- This is what worked for me. It may or may not work for you, I’m not sure. I think it’s a pretty good method, though.

- Reading Irken and Writing Irken are two different skillsets. I’m gonna show you how to do both, but don’t worry if you’re better at one than the other. 

- This will probably take a while of daily (or near-daily) practice to learn. It’s not impossible, it’s not super challenging, but it’s not super easy, especially if you have memory problems like I do. (For context: I started in September. But I also have a really shitty memory so, like. It might take less time for you.)

Okay! Let’s do this!

First off, you’d probably do well downloading the Irken font for practice purposes. Messing around with it and typing in it is fun, and can help!

You’ll also need a notebook. It’s not required, but having it all in one place is super convenient. (And, if it’s tiny enough, you can carry it around whenever, and also have it on hand to whip out at cons.)

The first thing I did was write each individual letter over and over and over again. This is what’s at the start of my notebook, and writing the letters over and over helped me remember which were which. I also had to focus pretty hard on what letter this actually was, this is tedious as hell but it’s not something you can do mindlessly.

(Pictured: Normal levels of interest in a show.)

This is what my notebook looks like. Don’t worry about those simplified versions of the letters yet, but you’re gonna wanna leave room for them. Don’t worry about learning simplified/handwritten until later, it helps recognition if you really have to focus on actually drawing the letters, at first.

(And yes, I know my pen is really smudgy. And that my H’s suck.)

After this, three letter words are your friend. Pick just, common three letter words you know, and write them down a lot. I have just, the Irken for “THE” written in the margins of my class notebooks a TON. Once you feel like you can remember that word well, go onto another 3 letter word with a different set of letters. Recognition = good, so pick something you like, use all the time. 

While I was doing this, I tried to string together Irken letters I knew into like, coherent phrases. I was very bad at this at first. Acronyms are your friend here, lmao. (I don’t think I can count the number of times I’ve written ‘u r a qt pie’ in my notebooks.) It doesn’t matter what you write, just that it makes coherent sense. 

There are gonna be some uncommon letters that are gonna be hard to practice, like W and Z, off the top of my head. For Z, that was easy. I just wrote ZIM over and over and over. For W... I used UWU. You laugh now, but the absurdity of it cements that I will always recognize those two letters. 

Four letter words are also good. (Please, absolutely write “FUCK” over and over in order to remember letters. I encourage it.)

There is also the absolute cuntwaffles. Y’know how in English, b, p, d, g, all look kinda the same? Yeah, Irken has that too. 

(Pictured: Head hurting juice.)

The I and Z don’t look that similar now, but good luck without a translation guide. By this point, you should have memorized a good chunk of the Irken alphabet, and be able to recognize some others when you see them. If you’ve been writing common three- or four-letter words, it’s likely you’ve been using letters very common in the English language. Which brings us to our next stage, and the actual fun part: 

READING! 

You’re gonna want a translation guide on hand in these early stages, you will need it. The main goal of this stage is to read anything in Irken you can get your hands on- but start small! Fanart with Irken in it was a godsend to me. It’s not that long, so it’s not overwhelming. I did need to look up some letters at the beginning, and I read really slowly, but that’ll change quickly if you keep up with it! The specific fanarts I used are:

@inimoose​ ‘s The Last Irken comic, specifically chapter one: part one, and chapter two: part two have a lot of Irken. But I’d recommend reading the whole comic; it’s good!

@paketdimensioncomic​ ‘s page of lore for their comic! Spoilers, though. Again, I’d recommend reading through the whole comic, because it’s just that good. 

@xryn-art​ ‘s Linguistic Au’s first comic has a good chunk of Irken! The other comics do have some, but it’s all translated. Still good practice, though, if you wanna... read them......... ;) ;) ;) 

Yes, this segment was partially a way for me to plug my favorite fan-artists, (or at least the ones that use Irken,) sue me. It’s my guide and I make the rules here.

(I am very sorry if I bothered any of you by @’ing you.)

But just some sources isn’t enough, so I introduce you to browser fonts. And changing yours to Irken. 

It will not effect everything in your browser, and it can be toggled on and off, so don’t worry. If you really want, you can download a separate browser to change the font of, and leave your normal one be. It’d be convenient if you could, since having your browser font be Irken is inconvenient if you need to use Wikipedia, like, ever. 

Here’s a guide for that, for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Internet Explorer for some reason. You’ll see four options to change, I just changed all of them. Not every page is going to have Irken on it, though. For me, Wikipedia is all in Irken, and so is TV Tropes. And some Tumblr blogs (PAKet Dimension’s is one, just in case you need a reason to go back there ;)) But it might be different for you. 

Whatever it is, now you have a nice way to practice. I read Wikipedia articles on stuff I already knew about (so I wasn’t completely lost and could figure out what letters I didn’t know were from context clues,) but not a page I’ve read before in recent memory- you might just be recalling what the page said, instead of actually reading it.

And about the absolute cuntwaffle letters: yes, this will help you in recognizing which are which. Seeing the letters in context is always going to be much more helpful than just, a bunch of meaningless squiggles floating in the void.

At this point, I personally am much better at reading than writing Irken. It’s one thing to know a letter when you see it, and another to recall it and write it down from memory. Right now, I’m trying to write song lyrics and dumb little phrases in Irken, to improve my writing skills. Again, nothing too long, don’t overwhelm yourself. This sounds stupid, but Vines are good. When I don’t remember a letter, I just leave it blank and look it up after I’m done. 

Another thing that helps is having a friend to practice with, or someone to just give you Irken phrases for you to translate. 

Once you’re around this stage, you can try to learn simplified/handwritten Irken. You can also try to learn it before this, I started it around when I started reading fanart for practice, it’s up to you. This guide is a good starting point, but you don’t have to follow it exactly. This is your handwriting, do what feels natural for you!

(Also, don’t even worry about speedwrite Irken. That has no place in this holy land and frankly I am scared of it.)

And that’s... pretty much it! Most of the process is just... practicing a lot. 

If this post does well, I might make a server for people who wanna learn Irken to practice together and stuff. It all depends if anyone even wants to learn Irken. 

EDIT: Well, guess what I ended up making just the next day. Here’s the post for the server, and please read the joining rules.

Also, if you wanna learn Irken numbers, here you go. But start with letters first, worry about numbers later. These are never used, aren’t even in the Irken font, and three of them look a lot like those cuntwaffle Irken letters. 

Anyway I just really hope this guide helps someone out. If you do use it, tell me! And have fun learning Irken!! It really is just, a blast to do honestly.

[batsandbugs]

Damian Wayne x Marinette Dupain-Cheng Playlist - Part 1

(As always the pictures aren’t mine!)

So I love music playlists, I have one for almost every OTP, holiday, or mood. When I found out we didn’t have a Daminette playlist post, I had to put one together. Starting out at pre established playlists for the two did little to help, because their universes are very different and they’re personalities do not lend to overlap within a song only about one or the other. But after some searching I found several that I thought fit well. These are only my opinions though. 😊

I would love if you left recommendations for a Part 2!

Can You Feel the Love Tonight - Pentatonix

I utterly fell in love with this song the second I heard it. I love most of their songs and covers because they’re such a creative group. I got into Daminette and this song just clicked for those two. This was actually the first song for the playlist!

Drama Club - Melanie Martinez

Okay so this is less a Daminette song and more of a salt song against The Class from Marinette’s perspective. But like since half of the Daminette stuff is salt in one form or another I feel justified putting it on here. Recommended to me by @tiny-goddess-of-chaos

Angel - Jack Johnson

I love Jack Johnson and could listen to his stuff for hours. This song is sweet, short, and I figure is a sappy inner monologue of Damian’s in the morning or something. It mentions angels, heroes, and soulmates - literally the perfect Daminette song.

Falling - Trevor Daniel

Another recommendation by @tiny-goddess-of-chaos this could be perfect from either Damian or Marinette’s perspective if either of them had been in a relationship before.

How Do You Talk To An Angel - The Heights

I think any song with angel in the lyrics or title is self explanatory for this pairing 😅 But I love the mood of this song; it fits Damian’s cluelessness at how to deal with a girl who’s not quite intimidated by him and at the same time totally able to keep up with him - how to talk to a angel indeed.

Taking Chances - Celine Dione (Glee Cover)

Okay so I found this song and I didn’t like the Céline Dion version, but I loved the Glee version. I know, Glee? Really? But hear me out, the song is perfect for Damian and Marinette; “don’t know much about your life, don’t know much about your world” and “what do you say to jumping off the edge, never knowing if there’s solid ground below, a hand to hold, or he’ll to pay” trust me it’s perfect! And Lea Michele does a great job singing and the chorus towards the end is too pretty for words! 🥰

I Choose - Alessia Cara

Okay this is another one from @tiny-goddess-of-chaos and oh my gosh it’s soooo PERFECT! You could just imagine Marinette singing it to Damian. It fits them so well!

Love Me Like You Do - Ellie Goulding

This is just a good song from Marinette’s perspective and it’s a little darker than your average love song which just fits better.

Lucky Ones - Lana Del Rey

Oh my gosh this song is too perfect for these two. I saw the lyrics and was immediately sold and then I saw it was by Lana Del Rey which means that it had that beautiful haunting sound her songs have which is the perfect aesthetic for these two. The best line is “every now and then the stars align, boy and girl meet by the great design” and it just sends shivers down my spine.

Superheroes - The Script

I mean, pretty self explanatory, but still such a good song and the imagery really fits with Damian and Marinette. They really have to be stronger in order to be heroes and I feel like this song synthesizes that for these two.

When the Day Met the Night - Panic at the Disco

Everything about this song is perfect for Damian and Marinette; the lyrics, the imagery, the tune, the mood - just perfect. “Just hanging around and he fell in love, and he didn’t know how to get out.” Uh, if that’s not our poor assassin boy right there I don’t know what is. 😁

Angels or Devils - Dishwalla

Such a great song from Damian’s perspective. Perfect for imagining both of them going through a hard time and supporting each other through it. Plus the language is perfect imagery for them.

Lucky - Jason Mraz

One of the few duet songs I found for this pairing (I’ll need some more part two) Two lovers pining for each other across the sea? Daminette for sure 😊

Luck Be a Lady Tonight - Frank Sinatra

Classy and fancy, with such a perfect Marinette vibe. It makes me think of all the galas/balls/fundraisers in all the fics that I had to include it.

Can’t Help Falling In Love - Pentatonix Version

Have I mentioned that I love Pentatonix, because I really do. Their version of this song is so epic, and it just really fits these two.

Heroes (we could be) - Alesso

I think this song rally hits the superhero/vigilante side of their personalities even better than Superheroes by the Script. It really hits on the difficulties of being a hero and the call to be a hero - which is so big for both of them.

Lucky Strike - Maroon 5

Such a fun song to listen to and absolutely perfect for Marinette!

Angel - Aerosmith

Any good playlist should have some old fashioned rock and roll! 🎸 This song is beyond perfect lyrics wise for these two! I’m imagining all the Damian perspective songs are being passionately sung in his head while he only scoffs aloud. Any telepath in the room is going to hear a never ending stream of gush! 🥰

As Long As Your Mine - Wicked

The one other duet song on here, and the only one from musical theatre which is insane, so I’ll be combing for more for part two. This one was recommended to me by @salty-fang so thanks for that! It’s Wicked, so what more than I could say than its perfect!

Lovebug - Jonas Brothers

Oh my gosh I’m jumping all over the past several decades for material 😅 I actually really like some of the old Jonas brothers stuff and this song was too perfect not too add. It’s so sweet.

Safe and Sound - Capital Cities

Another recommendation from @tiny-goddess-of-chaos a really fun sing with a total Daminette vibe.

Stand by You - Rachel Platten

I love this song and as soon as I was putting together a playlist for these two it was inevitable that it ended up on there. It’s such a great song about standing together and get through hard times and the imagery is perfect for this couple.

Fools - Lauren Aquilina

I have the animatic in my head for this song because it’s just that perfect for Daminette. It’s haunting in that same way Lana Del Rey’s stuff is. Absolutely stunning!

Angel in Blue Jeans - Train

Okay, I love the beat and rythm in this song. And the lyrics are so perfect! I could also see this as a Jasonette song, but either way great fit for this fandom!

Alright I’d love to hear what y’all think! Please leave any recommendations you think would fit for these two!!

😇♥️😈

[offbrandmercyplates]

And Another One Gets a Post!

Ms. Emmibee: I’m tired and my back hurts.

Me: Hmm, I can’t as of yet teleport over-the-counter pain medicine and soft things to unknown locations with my mind. How can I help?

Me: Wait.

Me: There is a soft thing I can sort of teleport.

And here it is!

Sooo, I’ve been on a bit of a lazy streak this past week or so, so I figured I should actually do something productive, and what better way to be productive than to make a gift for someone? Thus, this is here.

I’ll also be posting this to my fanfiction account… AND my brand-new Archive Of Our Own account! Yeah, I finally did the thing and got an account. If I can figure out how to post the story right, then it’ll definitely be up today! Thanks once more plus infinity to Emmibee to inviting me and letting me write and post these and just generally being a really cool person!

If you’ve seen the picture that this story is based on, then you’ll definitely recognize the title. Speaking of things, but not entirely, here are some “warnings”:

Contains fluff and, like, one sort-of quote from Homestuck and Spongebob season 1, but I don’t know what episode. Read at your own risk.

Maximum Yearn

“Something on your mind, Dr. Gaster?” Emmibee asked the skeleton sitting across from her. He had been alternating between sneaking glances at her and staring intently into his coffee cup ever since she had sat down at the kitchen table that morning. Clearly, he was thinking hard about something, but what?

It took him a second to register what she had said, and he blinked his good eye socket at her. “There is always something on my mind,” he said simply. “My mind is a fascinating puzzle that I continue to improve on a daily basis with my incredible skills and accomplishments.”

“That, you do,” Emmi said with a light laugh.

He raised a bone brow at her. “I was being serious.”

“I know.”

He continued to look at her for a moment, at first with a bit of a hard expression, but slowly, it began to soften to one of neutral content. His two-second stare became a four-second stare, and Emmi turned her attention to her tea cup. She sipped the golden flower tea Asgore had gifted her on her first day in the Underground. The flavor was wonderful, a little like a sweet and floral oolong with natural hints of cream and honey.

She could still feel the doctor’s gaze on her. She wasn’t sure how one could “feel” a gaze without seeing it, but it felt… calculating, but not cold. Analytical, yet anticipatingly fascinated. Yes, anticipation. That was the emotion she could feel from him. A hint of apprehension and nervousness, all hiding an eagerness to learn, to expand. What a way with words I have this morning, she thought to herself. I’d better get to the bottom of why he’s looking at me before I write a whole creative essay.

She had just raised her gaze and opened her mouth when Gaster beat her to the chase. “There is something I must do.”

She cocked her head at him. “Must do?” He hummed in agreement. “And what might that be?”

He set his elbow on the table and raised his hand, the palm (or lack thereof) facing her. “Hold your hand like this.”

Slowly, she copied his position. “Why?”

“No questions.” He proceeded to stare at her hand for another couple of seconds. Emmi watched his eye socket shift slightly from side to side, taking in the sight. She wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this. Sure, Gaster could be a bit… odd, for lack of a better word, but he usually had a reason for what he did, even if his logic was just as odd as he was (again, for lack of a better word).

What could this be about? She ran through the possibilities: maybe he was trying to tell if her body was real or some sort of illusion created by her human SOUL? Or maybe he was trying to see if she had a nervous tic of some kind, so he’d know if she was feeling one way or the other? Both seemed like they could be it, but they didn’t seem to match the emotion she felt from him. So what—?

Without warning, Gaster pressed his hand against Emmi’s, hard and suddenly enough to create a soft clapping sound, but not enough to hurt. She did jump a bit, though. A very tiny part of her mind wondered how his hand had made such a sound without a palm. The rest of her mind was thinking, “hand”.

Gaster was now staring at their pressed-together hands, and she looked as well. His hand was much larger; the tip of her longest finger just touched the top of the hole in his palm. He fingers were long and slender, which was probably good for dealing with delicate machinery. And it was so warm.

So warm and comforting, in fact, that she nearly missed what he said. “…just as I thought,” he was saying.

She leaned forward across the table, inadvertently pressing their hands closer together. “What do you mean?”

“It’s increasingly obvious,” he continued, seeming to ignore her. “We can deny it no longer.”

“What? What?!” The anticipation was going to set Emmi’s wings aflutter again.

He paused again. Then he turned to look at her, his teeth quirking into what, on anyone else, would have barely qualified as a smile, but on him was the visual definition of “goofy”. “You are small.”

…

“PFFT-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!” She locked her fingers with his in an effort to keep herself from falling face-first onto the table and out of her chair.

“I’m perfectly serious,” Gaster said. His teeth quirked a little more, sending her into another series of loud guffaws. “Honestly, you can be so strange. Why in the world would you be laughing?”

Emmi wheezed. She probably would have kept on going for an hour, had she not felt something press against the back of her hand between her fingers. She looked up and saw that Dr. Gaster had also locked his fingers with hers. Their hands were now clasped. They were holding hands. We’re doing this, man, Emmi thought, we’re making this happen. In all honesty, if she could just have a single minute of this, every day, for the rest of her life, then deciding to come to this world was already more than worth it. And it could only go uphill from here.

Unfortunately, it was not meant to last. Gaster blinked suddenly and pulled his hand away, staring at her in a way she couldn’t describe. Definitely not that same, goofy warmth from before, though. Someday, Gaster. Someday.

“I have work,” Gaster said sharply, standing up. He grabbed his coffee mug and stared at it. “It’s cold,” he stated. He then downed the coffee in one gulp. “It was cold.”

“Shame.”

Gaster hurried around the kitchen, shoving his arms into his lab coat and slinging his work bag over his shoulder. Emmi watched him scurry, still in a good mood despite the hand holding being cut short. “I think I’ll spend the day at the Librarby,” she said nonchalantly.

“Library,” Gaster corrected. “They made a mistake when painting the sign.”

“I know. So… can I, you know, do that?”

“Do what you will. Just don’t talk to anyone.”

“I’m not going to ignore someone if they say ‘hello’, Dr. Gaster.”

He gave her a look before sighing in defeat. “Only talk to someone if they engage first.”

Emmi grinned at him. “Thanks, Dr. Gaster.”

His free hand practically flew to adjust his glasses, and he seemed a bit too distracted to notice at the moment. “Mm. I’ll pick you up when I get back from… work.”

“Say ‘hi’ to the boys for me,” she wanted to say, but figured that would just redact everything that happened just now. Instead, she said, “okay. Bye, doctor.”

He hummed in acknowledgement and hurried out the door, slamming it behind him out of a need for speed rather than a need to express intense emotion.

Emmi settled into the quiet of the house for a moment, then looked at her tea. “It’s probably cold,” she said aloud. She drank the tea in one gulp. “It was cold.”

After putting the cups in the sink, she grabbed an energy bar out of the fridge and put on her coat. Time to read up on monster history to impress a certain skele-man.

***

When does this take place? I imagine maybe a week or two after Emmi has settled into Snowdin with Gaster. Long enough that there’s something of a routine in place, soon enough that Emmi still has some golden flower tea from Asgore, and before Emmi officially meets the boys. Who knows how long it’ll take to get there; it’ll be worth the wait, though!

According to this site I found called Adiago Teas, golden flower tea is a kind of oolong with hints of honeysuckle, “Osmanthus” (which is a flower apparently found on the “devilwood” tree), and a subtle creaminess. I’m not sure what kind of tea Emmibee would like, and I don’t even know if this would count as the same kind of golden flower tea Asgore makes, but she wasn’t complaining during chapter one, so I imagine she’s good with sweet teas. (After some further research, it turns out Adiago also does “fandom” teas, including a series for Undertale! However, the teas are based on characters, and none of them are a straight up “golden flower” tea. Though Flowey’s does have gunpowder. Blow up a cardboard box with it.)

Does this seem to friendly for Gaster? Keep in mind that he has his own logic to these sorts of things, and was probably trying to see what would happen when he put his hand to Emmi’s. Also, I imagine he was sleep deprived (suddenly having someone in your home can wreck your sleep schedule), was thinking about it since she showed up, and also touch-starved. Disguising hand holding as a miniature “experiment” is the perfect way to keep yourself from thinking you have emotional needs!

A part of me wondered if Emmi’s hand would accidentally go through Gaster’s hand hole, but I figured that would ruin the mood, so that’s a mystery for another day.

I saw an Undertale animatic a few days ago that just put Spongebob quotes over Undertale characters, and Flowey was Plankton, and he said what Gaster says here. Like all children growing up before you could buy all of the seasons of a TV show at once on DVD, I never saw all of the episodes or even seasons; just whatever happened to be playing on the TV when I was in a place that had cable, like not my house. I missed this quote, and I am sad. I figured I should have Gaster say this, because, soft humor.

Speaking of quotes, there’s no real reason for the Homestuck quote I had Emmi think; I just like references. I also made the quote more grammatically correct, because I like grammar. There’s not much else to say on the matter.

Cold coffee and cold tea. Not the most enjoyable, but apparently perfectly viable. I’m not much of a tea or coffee fan in real life (hot cocoa all the way!), but I personally don’t mind downing cold hot chocolate all that much; it’s easier to gulp down and you can taste it without worrying about burning your tongue. Cold drinking chocolate, though, iS DIFFERENT AND IS DELICIOUS AND I’VE HAD IT ONCE AND I WANT SOME BUT THE ONLY PLACE I KNOW OF THAT HAS SOME IS IN A DIFFERENT TOWN AND ALSO I HAVE NO MONEY/TRANSPORT.

So… yeah, that’s everything! I have to go eat dinner now, but as soon as that’s done, I’ll get to posting these things on my other sites! Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom! See you around!

~~~

I am BEYOND exhausted so I can’t write a whole long thing but i wanted to get this up so everyone can read this wonderful fic!! I’ve had a rough day today and this made it much much better, so thank you very much, Author, this is really sweet and cute and I keep re-reading it. 

Since I like addressing your comments tho here: Emmi does like sweet teas! She doesn’t like bitterness, and like Gaster, she has a sweet tooth. I grew up drinking sweet iced tea (it’s a southern USA thing), fun fact. 

Disguised hand-holding is the ultimate fluff.

Again, thank you so much again for writing this. Its so so sweet.

I’ll be reblogging this with the AO3 and FF links!

[kuiperchaos]

Everyone’s recommending new/different YouTubers to watch instead of Smosh/NE6 so here are mine! (please tell me how to make a cut to read more I’m on mobile)

Value Select- mostly song comedy, some sketches, somehow deeply profound at times

Polygon- video game adjacent content, their series overboard is kinda like board af, Mari is on their quibi show, also unraveled good

Brian David Gilbert- part of polygon (unraveled twink), sketch and song comedy

Dollightful- very wholesome doll makeovers, my dad and I bonded over her dragon makeovers

EvanAndKatelyn- diy couple, very cute and fun, obsessed with resin

Tom Scott- he’s the guy who sent garlic bread into space and did the two drums and a cymbal fall off a cliff vid, informative but fun!

Leeham- very small YouTuber, does reddit readings and briefly did reviews, kinda edgy, watch at your own risk

PM Seymour- does fun tumblr reads, is a voice actor, on tumblr

NegativeLegend- another small YouTuber, covers video game and cartoon and toy topics, I just think he’s neat, also here on tumblr

Royalty Soaps- wholesome soap making! sometimes does soap kits with her toddler which is very cute

Louie Zong- does animatics, makes music, excellent collabs with BDG

JonTronShow- flex tape guy, also kinda edgy

Mahalo games- baby Ra, lasercorn, joven, and sohinki content (tread lightly to avoid he who shall not be named)

WotsoVideos- Disney/Pixar theories/content

Seamus Gorman- Pixar/Disney/Star wars/Harry Potter content/theories

SuperCarlinBrothers- similar content to Seamus, Seamus actually worked for them for a while!

Rory Lowe Comedy- extremely Aussie, does “Aussie _____” videos, highly recommend the Aussie Peppa Pig videos, Very Crude Humor

SethEverman- he’s Seth Everman, on tumblr too

IBXToycat- another small YouTuber, does Minecraft vids, uploads every day

Boffy- yet another small YouTuber, Minecraft videos (usually with mods)

June Kwon- tiny YouTuber, does polygon and BDG edits mostly

Trixie Mattel- drag queen, I’m living for her ongoing easy bake series

SimplyNailogical- surprisingly no longer about nail art, wholesome

Safiya Nygaard- used to be on buzzfeed, mainly makeup content, highly recommended her Franken-series of makeup, also love her dumb outfit series

Sam O’Nella Academy- kinda edgy, informative but funny as hell

Sam O’Nella Vlog- mainly surprisingly good music mashups, one hilarious asmr parody

Lunch Club- chaos

Overly Sarcastic Productions- informative videos in several topics, very fun

One Topic At A Time- very wholesome, Reddit reader, extremely strong lgbtq+ ally

GrayStillPlays- sadistic take on gaming, highly recommend his sims 4 and universe sandbox series, loves his FULL LIQUOR BARS

Brad Taste In Music- completely honest opinion based music reviews, does not hold back, dislikes tøp tho

[mischieflily]

Hater is changing.

Peepers is... uncertain.

An animatic set directly after the events of the WOY finale - with a bit of an alternate ending ;)

Song: Two Birds - by Regina Spektor (p.s.- It’s important to listen to the lyrics, they help convey what’s going on! 😛)  A bit more about this project under the cut!

Heya! So... once upon a time, about 2 summers ago, I started this Wander Over Yonder animatic because I had a GRAND IDEA and I had been wanting to make one of these babies for a LONG, LONG TIME. I got a good chunk of it finished that summer - like, maybe 2/3 of it!

Then, life happened! Senior year of art school, followed by job interviews, a car crash, months of recovery, and then a new job... but I have finally, FINALLY finished this animatic. My baby.

Actually, it was originally going to span the whole song - and if you know how the song ends, you probably know it would have had quite a sad ending. Since I don’t intend to do anything else with it I may as well tell you how it would have ended! If you’re interested, I encourage you to listen to the rest of the song after reading, to see how it fits in with the lyrics ;) If you don’t care, you can skip from here to the part after the line break!

Initially, after where this video ends, Peepers would have had a flashback of himself and Hater having good times being evil together, and after said flashback, ultimately put his outstretched hand back down, not taking Hater’s offer to come up on stage and join him (which would symbolize not joining him in his newfound “good” attitude). Hater would get upset and run away, and Peepers would try to go after him, but see Wander and Sylvia going after him and stop, realizing he’s been spending more and more time with them... and realizing he’s too far gone. Hater gathers a few things to take with him in a near-to-tears state, and looks over his shoulder 1 last time, sadly, then looks back to Wander and Sylvia and nods. It would have ended on a shot of Peepers, watching out one of the two eye windows of the skull ship, while Wander, Sylvia and Hater flew away in an Orbble. And finally, the original summary sentence I would have put up top was “Hater is changing. Peepers is not.”

DESPITE ALL THAT, I do like where I ended up cutting it off - it is an ending in itself, and a much happier one in which you can assume Peepers did join Hater, with a little coaxing, after seeing how happy he’s become.

I love these characters a little bit too much can you tell .;P

I know there’s a lot of things that could have been better about this project - like using tone, and most of the beginning part where I used my REALLY TINY, crappy storyboards IN the actual video.... hahahaha. Sorry for the quality of that part but hopefully you can still tell what’s going on. x’D;;; If you CAN’T decipher what’s going on, don’t hesitate to ask me haha! I’d be super excited that you’re interested enough to want to know! 👍🏼✨

Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy this homage to one of my favorite cartoons out there; I put my blood sweat and tears into this bad boy. And y’know what? I’m proud of myself for sticking it out to finish this thing - and I think it turned out pretty decent for a first go! ;)

Wander Over Yonder © Craig McCracken / Disney Two Birds © Regina Spektor

[rannadylin]

Your OC as a Child, #2

OK now that we’ve had a glimpse of Violet Itzli’s childhood, it’s time to talk about young Lenneth Morelli! She’s definitely got more of the classic “adventurer’s tragic backstory” than Violet…

1. Who named them/Significance of their name: Well, on my part, the name came from an Elvish (Sindarin? or some other fantasy elvish?) name generator and meant something along the lines of “wandering girl” because I wanted to give her the Drifter background. In character? I’m not sure what it means but her mom probably picked it out, because it doesn’t sound Vailian (her dad’s background) and her mom was from the Living Lands, the impression of which I have is that Anything Goes. Maybe her parents just liked the sound of it? They also like double consonants, because LeNNeth was followed by siblings BrieLLa and TuLLien…

2. Home they grew up in: Tiny cottage in Rauatai. Then a string of homes, taverns, shelters, rented rooms small as a cupboard, that sort of thing, after her parents died and she was left with two siblings to look after. She’s always had the odds against her, more or less.

3. Relationship with parents: Mom kept everything running smoothly – especially Lenn’s somewhat scatterbrained father. Liodoro Morelli was a musician and a tinkerer who somehow managed to eke out a living between the two trades as he wandered from the Vailian Republics all the way to Rauatai, where he met Devi, a trader from the Living Lands. He fixed a clock for her, one thing led to another, and eventually they got married and opted to stay put in Rauatai when Lenn was born. Devi brought order to Lio’s life and he brought frivolity to hers. Lenneth brought a whole new dimension of both responsibility and delight. Her mom was a rock of security to lean on; her dad was an endless source of fascination, as tiny Lenn followed him around his workshop or accompanied him to the taverns where he performed to earn their supper. Grown-up Lenneth would come to realize her father’s flaws but always hold dear his extravagant cheer and flair – and she takes after him in many ways.

4. Three Words to describe them as a child: Inquisitive (not limited to her childhood of course ;-D); Energetic; Teasing

5. Favorite Toy: A tiny model of an animat – not actually animated by soul essence like the real thing, but constructed by her father with gears and clockwork and all so that she could wind it up and have it march around. Of course, within a few hours after receiving this toy, she took it apart and had to have Lio show her how to put it back together. At least six times. But by the seventh, she was taking it apart and putting it back together without assistance.

6. Childhood Trauma: Her parents died when she was young, especially so by elven standards. Lenni was 7 when her sister Briella was born, 19 when their brother Tullien was born – and their mother died in childbirth. After that her father quickly spiraled down into a depression from which he never emerged. He barely even acknowledged the son born on his wife’s deathbed, so Lenn and Bree were obliged to care for the baby themselves. On Tully’s first birthday, Lio didn’t come home from a gig at a tavern; they found him later drowned in the harbor, whether by accident or by suicide. From then on Lenneth had to play mother to her siblings and work any odd job she could find – and there were a lot of those, because she’s a bit of a mess herself and did not last long at most of them – so as to provide for Bree and Tully.

7. Hobbies: Tinkering has been a lifelong hobby since the time she toddled around Lio’s workshop and he put simple tools in her hands to keep her occupied with small projects. As an adult, it’s often been her source of income as it was her father’s; as a Watcher, it gave her an edge on disarming traps and picking locks. ;-) She was also a voracious reader of romance novels when she could get her hands on one.

8. Childhood fear(s): Death. Losing more loved ones to death. She was probably afraid of something simpler before she did in fact lose her parents, but that one sticks ever since. Don’t think she’ll get on well with Berath in Deadfire…

9. Quirks: Hiding in order to surprise parents or siblings with suddenly jumping out of her hiding spot. Finding hidden things, and always being the first one to find whatever household object someone else in the family had misplaced. Asking nonstop questions without pausing for breath.

I won’t tag anyone new in this one since I did already in Vi’s post, but again, feel free to claim a tag from me if you want to share your OC’s childhood!

[my-dear-hammy]

Basking in Firelight-Jamilton Sequel-Part Forty Two

Masterpost

Part Forty-Two: Voluntold Candidates

AN

I just want to apologize in advance for this chapter, I wrote it on my phone on the go and on my laptop as it decided to go on the fritz, so there's probably a lot of mistakes. I'll go over all the chapters at once sometime soon though.

And update on the animatic for The Impossible Deut- I've got three frames done. I know, so much. Really moving fast, huh?

----

Warnings below

----

Madison was rudely woken up by a pounding on his door that his head decided to mimic. He may have had a little too much last night. The pounding came again and Madison knew it wasn't going to stop until he answered the door. Achingly slow, he crawled out of bed and answered the door.

Fuck. He went to shut the door but Hamilton's hand stopped it. Madison left it open and walked back into the house, going to make himself some coffee. Hamilton let himself in and closed the door behind him.

"Madison, I need to talk to you."

"Coffee," was all Madison said.

Hamilton sighed and waited until Madison was drinking his coffee. "Why are you here so early in the morning?" Madison finally asked.

"It's after noon, Madison. Why are you just getting up?"

Madison groaned, he hadn't meant to sleep in that, he had to go check in on Jefferson. "Why are you here, Hamilton? Couldn't you just have called? You got a new phone, didn't you?" he asked. His head was killing him and now he had to find his phone to text Jefferson.

"I need you to tell what happened to Jefferson." The sentence in itself was self-explanatory. This wasn't something to be discussed over the phone.

Madison froze. "What do you mean?"

He hesitated. Madison had hesitated. Hamilton was right, something was up and Madison knew about it. "You know what I mean. Something happened to Jefferson and I need to know."

"What's it matter to you? It's not like you hang out with him anymore." Madison looked around for his phone.

"Because I-" Hamilton stopped short. "Because it's obvious and he's my friend."

"It's not for me to tell," Madison said, spotting his phone on the couch.

"Well, Jefferson's not going to share because he doesn't know me so I need you to tell me."

"He doesn't know you because you didn't bother sticking around and helping him with his memory loss. Maybe if you put more of an effort into being there for your friend, he might be more willing to share." Madison walked over and grabbed his phone.

"For fuck's sake, please, I'm just trying to help."

Madison looked at him, "Why should I tell you?"

"Because-" shit. Hamilton couldn't say it.

"Well?"

"Because I love him, okay? Are you happy now?"

Madison looked at Hamilton in shock. Why hadn't he realized it? It was so glaringly obvious. "When did that happen? You hated each other?" Madison asked.

"Over two hundred and thirty plus years ago," Hamilton answered, collapsing on Madison's couch, rubbing his face.

Shit. Madison hadn't expected it to go that far back. "And Jefferson?"

"Felt the same way. Until recently that is. We've been together since the late 1700's and we found each other again over a year ago, almost two now, then it all went to shit eight months ago when he woke up and didn't know who I was."

"I didn't realize you were so close," Madison said.

"Were. Look, Madison, are you going to tell me or not?"

Madison sighed and sat down as well. "It was couple nights ago. He wasn't answering his phone, he always answers his phone. So I went over, let myself in with the key he gave me. The house seemed empty so I was about to leave when I heard glass shatter. I know you and Jefferson are still targeted by people, so I was immediately on high alert. I walked into his bedroom and saw something I never expected. Jefferson was sitting at the foot of his bed, entire posture lax and uncaring, empty bottles of alcohol were all over the room and a full one in his hand. I was in shock. Then I saw the gleaming silver gun in his other hand. He looked up at me and said, "Nice of you to join the party!" I asked what he was doing he just shrugged and said, "Drinking and contemplating death. Do you think it's better? I was about to see if I could find out." Hamilton, he got so close. I yelled at him and I guess something I said struck a cord, because he tossed the gun on the floor, got up, handed me his bottle, and went to sleep. I called Lafayette to see if he knew what to do. I stayed there to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. The next day, he woke up, cleaned everything, and just seemed to have snapped back to himself. A sad, depressed version, but he was himself. He threw out all the alcohol he had except like one bottle of wine or something. That was the day of the celebration."

"Fuck," Hamilton whispered, "I didn't know he was that bad."

"I don't think any of us did." Madison looked at his phone and sent off a text.

Hamilton's thoughts turned inward, remembering the moment he found out Jefferson didn't know him, how he ran out and into an alleyway and contemplated the same exact thing. Their lives weren't supposed to be this way. "Thanks, Madison. I gotta go." Hamilton walked out the door before anything else could be said.

***

"Hamilton knows."

Damn.

Jefferson's eyes darted over Madison's text again. Hamilton just didn't give up, did he? If he didn't get what he wanted one way, he'd manage to get it through another. Jefferson was in the office at his house, reclining in the comfy chair, feet up on the desk.

Jefferson was actually kinda impressed. Determination was a trait he strongly admired.

Now that the Constitution was written and finally ratified. They were officially out of an oligarchy and were a republic once again. A stronger, better republic. Jefferson was proud. Now all that was left to do was to get it up and running, starting with the presidential elections. Bets were going around, Madison, Hamilton, Lafayette, Burr and himself all had their bets placed on Washington and Adams as the first presidents. The rest of the group wasn't so sure.

But Jefferson and those who remembered knew that history was repeating itself, there was only one way the elections could turn out. And that was with Washington and Adams leading the nation. Luckily, France didn't seem to be delving into their own revolution. Now if they could just avoid a world war, they'd be all set. Then Jefferson could go back to the quiet life he always wanted doing-

Jefferson's phone slipped out of his hands and thudded onto the floor. Doing what?

What did he use to do? He couldn't remember. He started to panic slightly, he planted his feet on the floor and held his head in his hands. What did he use to do? What were his hobbies? His interests? How did he always dream of spending his time when he wasn't knee deep in national turmoil? Surely he enjoyed doing something in his down time.

Reading. He loved to read. But that was obvious and he wasn't going to be able to read for the rest of his life, even if he loved it so much. There was writing, but what would there be to write about after all this smoothed out? What else?

He couldn't remember.

He bent down and scooped up his phone and scrolled through his contacts. Who would know? Who could he ask? Madison. Madison would know. Jefferson's thumb hovered over Madison's name, then, in a split-second decision, he scrolled up and punched Hamilton's name instead.

Hamilton's reply was almost immediate, which was scary, considering it's length.

"Gardening. You loved to garden. You used to have this massive garden at Monticello where you'd sit, digging through the dirt, sweat glistening on your skin as the hot Virginia sun beat at you with its sweltering heat. You planted all sorts of things. Flowers, vines, leafy greens, vegetables, bushes, anything you could think of. You would have Lafayette send you plants from France to plant in your garden and you collected rare species that was unknown to Virginia soil. You loved that garden."

"You also loved architecture. You designed Monticello. Countless times in fact. You would tear it down and then rebuild it all over again to get it just right. You also designed the Virginia State Capital, along with several other things."

Hamilton just kept sending paragraph after paragraph.

"Astronomy. You used to drag me out of my office in the middle of the night saying, "If you're not coming to bed then you're at least going to stay awake with me and watch the stars." I'd always complain. You loved charting them. In fact, when you sent Lewis and Clark off on their expedition, you specifically told them to chart and study the stars on their travels."

"You were an inventor. Always fiddling with things and trying to make things better. The swivel chair seems to still be popular. You also invented macaroni, a dish I personally think the world was better without, but whatever. The iron plow. That was life changing for farmers everywhere who used wood ones that didn't work well and made erosion a problem for crops. You also invented the dumbwaiter. You know, those little tiny elevators that are used to deliver food but are typically shown in movies as a place the kids crawl into. The pedometer, that thing that tracks how far you walk. And the wheel cipher to code messages with. Just to name a few. Your mind was always ticking away at the oddest things."

"You also used to keep mockingbirds. You were particularly attached to one you named Dick. You let him fly around the presidential cabinet and perch on your shoulder."

"Of course, there was reading, writing, and violin playing. You also played cello. You were an obsessive book collector. Your collection reached over six thousand novels, six thousand four hundred and eighty-seven to be exact. The Library of Congress bought them all to replace what had been burned by the British in the war of 1812. You also went fossil hunting, you discovered a prehistoric sloth that was named in your honor."

"You loved to take long walks and horseback rides. You'd go fishing all the time and bring it back to cook. You never let me cook because you enjoyed it so much and plus the added fact that I'd burn the house down. We used to joke that it'd give you an excuse to remodel."

"You hated to be stagnate. You always had to be doing something. You just tended to prefer it to be your home life and not politics, but you deemed the nation more important."

Jefferson didn't realize he did so much. "Thanks, Hamilton, that really helped."

"Anytime."

Jefferson set his phone aside and looked around the room. He couldn't garden here, there was no soil and he didn't want to get potted plants. That just felt like cheating, plus, he didn't want to stay in New York much longer than he had to. There was no green unless he went looking for it. Just city. He couldn't do astronomy because it was day. His thoughts were cut off when his phone rang.

"Hamilton? What-"

"Thomas, look out your window at the street and tell me what you see," Hamilton said quickly.

"That's a weird reason to call me," Jefferson said, standing, "couldn't you just have texted me?"

"Just do it."

"Hold your horses, I'm getting there."

"Hurry up."

Jefferson pulled back the second-floor curtains and looked down at the street. "Holy shit," he breathed.

"I know. It's the same outside my hotel."

A sea of people covered the street below like ants on a soda can. They were waving signs and shouting things that Jefferson couldn't quite make out due to the thick glass of his windows and his poor vision. Jefferson retrieved his glasses and pushed open his window. The signs they were waving mostly said, "Jefferson 4 President!" or "Jefferson has my vote!" A couple people saw him on the window and immediately started pointing, shouting, and waving. Soon the entire street was cheering like a crashing wave. Jefferson waved back which only earned him more screams.

"Well, fuck, they saw me. Now I gotta go talk to them," Jefferson said, ducking back into the window.

"Way ahead of ya," Hamilton said, "I'm in the elevator."

"We're going to get trampled."

"Say you gotta go meet with someone else important. Madison, Washington, Lafayette. I dunno. Escape plan."

"Good idea. Gotta go." Jefferson hung up his phone, pulled on his most favorite and flashiest coat swung open the door, and stepped outside.

***

Madison was at home, sitting on the couch, a blanket over his lap, a bowl of soup in his hand, and the t.v. remote in the other, nursing another cold. He was flipping through the channels when he stopped on one.

"I'm currently standing outside Jefferson's door at the edge of this unruly mob," said the newswoman. "I'm starting to wonder if they're going to break down the door. How are things on your end, Jim?"

"Over here is not much different, Katie. The street to Hamilton's hotel is jam packed with fans cheering him on for the upcoming elections," Jim answered, the screen splitting in two to show them both. There was a sudden commotion on Katie's screen.

"Jefferson has appeared in the window and is waving to his fans. He seems to be on the phone with someone," Katie reported, the camera zooming in on Jefferson's face. He disappeared a moment later, the crowd saddening.

"There's been no appearance from Hamilton as of yet. I've heard reports that there are crowds outside every general that served the rebel cause in the war, though none quite to the degree of these crowds out here today. It seems all of New York is out showing their support for their candidates. Washington-" The cheers of the crowds from both screen cut him off, both reporters spun to see Jefferson and Hamilton emerge simultaneously from their buildings. The reporters started frantically shoving their way to the front.

"Jefferson, tell us what you're thinking right now as a candidate in the first election of the new republic you help fight for and create!" Katie the Reporter shouted, elbowing someone in the face.

Jefferson laughed and ruffled his hair, causing several girls to swoon. "I hadn't realized I was one."

"Well Holy Mother Mary," Madison breathed.

----

Warnings: Recounting of a suicide attempt, mentions heavy drinking, a confession, mobs.

[lorrainecparker]

Search – A Conversation with the Editors

Editors Will Merrick and Nick Johnson co-edited the film Search, which premiered last weekend at Sundance 2018. Search was written by Sev Ohanian, and is the first feature for director Aneesh Chaganty. It stars Debra Messing and John Cho, and features a story told entirely on computer screens. While visiting Sundance last weekend, I had a chance to sit down with Merrick and Johnson to talk through their process as co-editors on this very unique project.

PVC: So how did you both get involved in this film?

Merrick: Our film tells the story of a father (played by John Cho) who when his daughter goes missing decides to look in the place nobody else has looked, on her computer screen. The entire film unfolds on his computer screen and other screens. I got on the film because I met the director Aneesh through USC. He had just left his job on the creative film team at Google, and he rang me up with a movie possibility.

Johnson: I went to USC with Aneesh, I knew him from classes, and we were friends. Then he went off to New York to work at Google, and I hadn’t seen him in years. Then I got a call from him asking me to edit “Search,” and asking me to meet up with Will. Will and I met up because we didn’t know each other previously. Then we decided it would work, we could work together.

Merrick: Aneesh was hired at Google after directing a spec spot for Google Glass, and they brought him on to the creative film team. I had edited the spot that got him that job.

Johnson: I think there’s something where you want to find people that are ambitious and are going to put everything they have into a project. I think Aneesh felt comfortable that we’re creative people, Will and I, and we are also hard workers. I think there was this understanding that we were going to go 100 percent the whole time.

Will, Nick, and Aneesh in the edit bay

PVC: How do co-editors work on a project like this, how does that collaboration work?

Johnson: It’s perfect for this project. There was actually very little discussion about our dynamic. It just kind of organically happened. Because this is such an unusual film, it’s essentially an animated film. The script was incredible, but it was kind of unusual because of it being told entirely on screens. You couldn’t quite break it down into scenes like you traditionally would, so what we did was we just drew lines in the script and broke it into 26 sections. We lettered the sections alphabetically, and Will took section A, I took section B, and then we just moved that way through the movie. Then when we went into start doing the second passes, we just swapped so that we were constantly refining each other’s work.

Merrick: This happened enough times that we really can’t even remember who started what anymore. We both worked on every sequence.

Johnson: Yeah. It got to the point where it’s like, “L has a bunch of notes but Q really needs some work.” Like, “I have Q open, I’m going to take Q, you take L.”

PVC: Were you guys editing side-by-side or the same location?

Merrick: We were working pretty much in the same room.

Johnson: There was a door you could close, so it was actually perfect. What would happen is Sev, Aneesh and Natalie would come in, and they might be doing notes with Will, and meanwhile I would be implementing some notes in the other room. Then they’d come over work with me.

Search filmmakers at an ASC event at Sundance 2018

PVC: So the film takes place entirely on computer screens. Can you explain that?

Merrick: Telling a movie through a computer screen is not an entirely new idea. There have been movies like “Unfriended” by Bazelevs, the same company that did ours. Those films tend to be told in real time and in wides of the screen, kind of “Paranormal Activity” style. What we wanted to do with our film was in the same way that early movies were wide shots like theatrical vaudeville acts. We wanted to go in and sort of discover what coverage is in the computer world. We will, for instance, have a FaceTime call where we’ll cut to one person…say John Cho is talking to his daughter, then we cut down to her sort of like a reverse.

Merrick: At first, we didn’t think it would work. We thought it would be against the rules, but we found out we could make a shot reverse work by punching into the small screen where you see yourself and then punching back out to the wide.

Johnson: It was a lot like DP’ing, and we actually have a “directors of screen photography” credit on the movie.

PVC: Is that a thing?

Johnson: It is now. It really was like shooting a movie. It’s challenging because unlike a three dimensional world where you can kind of get off-axis and do your coverage that way, we were all on a two dimensional plane. So the tricky part was the shot sizes had to be significantly different when you were cutting, which gets really hard when you’ve got camera movements happening, and you might find yourself in a little middle area.

Merrick: One of the most mind blowing things we discovered was that in some cases we could cut from one punched-in area of the computer screen to another punched-in shot, without going back out to a wide. You don’t think it will work, but you just try it and you discover you have almost as much film language in there as you do in real life.

Johnson: “Unfriended” is really effective, it’s wide real-time, but we wanted to punch in. We had seen this in a “Modern Family” episode, and in “Noah,” it’s a great short film. “Nerve” did this, but all of those movies wouldn’t cut.

Merrick: They do a fast zoom. “Voosh, voosh, voosh.”

PVC: They were doing that to try to retain the geometry of the scene for the audience?

Johnson: Exactly.

Merrick: Our first cut was like that. It was actually Sev who came in and watched our first cut and told us, “Guys, what are you doing? Just cut.” We were like, “Whoa,” when we started trying it, and it worked.

PVC: So as a DP, one of the tools I can use for covering a conversation is the OTS. It’s a simple way of establishing the geometry of each person in the scene in relation to each other. But you don’t have an OTS on a flat 2D screen.

Merrick: Even when we’re almost showing a video full bleed, we usually show the edges of the video. We’ll frame with edges of browsers or videos.

Johnson: We felt like full bleed was kind of visually uninteresting, and just didn’t keep you grounded in what you’re looking at. In FaceTime calls, it’s nice because you have the little face in the bottom, so when you’re cutting to the one shot, you’ve got both people.

Merrick: It’s like a wide. That wasn’t fun to edit.

Johnson: Those are extremely difficult because unlike a shot reverse, you always have both shots playing at the same time. They have to be timed up exactly right.

PVC: Were those conversations shot in real-time on both subjects? Or were they shot separately?

Johnson: They did in most cases. I think it was helpful for the actors and for pacing, but what we found was even in those situations, the pacing was off a little bit.

Merrick: Like you always want to make the little tweaks while you’re cutting and we didn’t have the freedom to do those at first until we came up with the cutting idea. Because no matter how good your actors are, you do want to play with it.

PVC: Do you do any morph cuts or anything like that?

Johnson: We did some morph cuts. We also used one trick that gave us a lot of, I don’t know, consternation …

Merrick: We were very nervous about it, but we tried “glitching” as a transition. We tested it on a lot of people and we found you can glitch between multiple shots if you’re very subtle about it.

PVC: What do you mean?

Merrick: I almost feel weird even talking to you about it. Occasionally, it freezes up for just a little bit and it’s organic. We data moshed it slightly, just slightly, not crazy.

Johnson: We were watching it and we’re like, “This is super obvious.” I kept telling the producers, “Please ask this in our test screenings.” They were like, “It doesn’t bother anyone.”

Merrick: Everyone in the test screening were like, “What glitches?”

Johnson: We actually ended up compressing it and like pumping out super tiny H.264s to get that kind of blockiness.

Merrick: Yeah, we’d export in H.264 at like .5 bit rate, then export another one from that at like .2 bit rate. Because we used glitch software, but it’s too obvious.

PVC: Okay, so on the live action thing, I’m just trying to wrap my head around this. When they filmed the live action footage for these conversations on screen, did they film it with the actors facing each other? Or were the cameras in separate rooms?

Johnson: Well, the system that they rigged, we had nothing to do with. It was our DP, Juan Sebastian Baron. It’s like genius. I think Bazelevs has kind of slowly created this process.

Merrick: Sebastian rigged a system where basically the actors could look at each other on a FaceTime call while a GoPro is doing the actual filming. They were getting a live feed from each other so they can perform, but they’re in separate spaces.

Johnson: We actually created a full animatic seven weeks before they shot, and we pumped out wides for every scene with information like “Here’s the finder window. Here’s where John Cho will be.” Then the script supervisor was able to show them “This is where your eye line is.” The animatic helped us a lot because the actors’ eye lines were always, for the most part, pretty accurate.

PVC: This sounds like an incredibly post-heavy film. Talk to me about some of the tools you used.

Johnson: Our overall process was in three stages essentially. There was pre-post-production, post-production and post-post-production.

PVC: Oh god.

Johnson: We had rehearsals with Aneesh before we actually got in the room. Then once when we got in the room, we spent seven weeks with Sev and Aneesh, creating an animatic that was used then as a model for shooting. We were using Adobe Premiere Pro for everything at this point.

PVC: For the animatics? How do you do that in Premiere Pro?

Johnson: What we were doing was, we were using ScreenFlow. None of this movie ultimately was screen recorded but we were using ScreenFlow and taking screenshots, and then bringing those assets into Premiere Pro.

Merrick: There’s like no other place where you start with a totally blank slate as an editor. Like we didn’t even have storyboard slides.

Johnson: You take the script and you’re like, “Well, let’s make this thing.” So we opened Finder, we start screenshotting. We opened FaceTime, Aneesh would take pictures of his face, kind of performing the scenes. He would record a voiceover until we built a full cut that was shown to the crew. They were all sort of like, “Oh god, we have so much work to do to make this play.” The animatic was all these jumbled pieces, screen recordings, like screenshots of Aneesh’s face making faces with his lines underneath it. We nested everything. We decided early on that nesting was the way we had to go.

PVC: Why is that?

Johnson: We needed to be able to shoot around the desktop, so we decided in the nest, we would production design, essentially, a wide of the desktop, put all the icons, we would do all the movements, all the blocking and staging in the wide and then we would nest it and then cover it with the scale and position attributes. Every time we had a timing change, we had to go into the nest, change the time, punch back out of the nest, and move the camera moves for everything.

Merrick: This was one of the weirdest things to get my head wrapped around, because we were editing not only temporally, we were editing spatially in a way. If we moved anything, rearranged anything on the desktop, we would have to then adjust all the timing. Then we also had almost parallel sequences going on in a weird way, because we had the macro edits on the nest.

Johnson: We would duplicate our edit, and we’d have to duplicate every nest inside the edit, or else we would destroy those nests if we made changes. So we had all these macro edits and then if we wanted to make this five frames shorter, we’d have to go into the nest, move everything in the nest over five frames, then step back out and move all the other edits over five frames.

Merrick: A “Null Object” in Premiere Pro would be great. We could have parented everything to a Null Object and been able to just keyframe that around it.

Johnson: Which is how we did it in after effects.

Merrick: The animatic became our foundation for the movie, so as they were shooting we cut the live action into the animatic. Then refined that with Aneesh, Sev and Natalie into like a director’s cut and a producer’s cut, and we showed those to audiences because we knew once we moved to After Effects, we’d be talking months for small edits. So we did a hard picture lock, and moved everything into After Effects where we, with our VFX company Neon Robotic, created Adobe Illustrator files of almost everything in the computer interface.

PVC: Everything was recreated? You did the screenshots, you put the video and all those assets on top of that, you keyframed rough moves, then recreated everything again? Is there a faster way?

Merrick: We always thought there would be. We never found it.

Johnson: If there was a better way to screen record your desktop in Vector, or screen record on a 16K monitor.

Merrick: Bazelevs is actually working on a software that will do this, but it’s just, it’s so extremely hard to create that it just wasn’t ready by the time we needed to use it. Basically, the decision that made us have to recreate everything was they were punching in for so much coverage that even if we had gone for the pixelated look, which we just creatively didn’t want to, it just wouldn’t work.

PVC: So you had to recreate the interfaces themselves in Illustrator, to avoid pixelation when you punch in for coverage. It’s icons and toolbars and all that kind of stuff, right?

Johnson: Yeah, and button states.

Merrick: We have like a Google Chrome bar that has five possible tabs, because we figured out that was the most we ever needed in the movie. It has all the button states for when you close it, click a new tab, we can add new data. Basically, the VFX company we were working with, Neon Robotic, created that large asset with all the tabs and fully customizable. Then we would take it, cut it in After Effects for every scene and make it what it needed to be for that scene.

Johnson: We basically would have like in a folder, 35 Illustrator files numbered in order. So when the the mouse goes up, you got the hover state. He clicks it, and it’s foregrounded. Then also, we had to worry about drop shadows.

Merrick: A funny thing that will never make the movie or the interview is the pixel aspect ratio of the Illustrator files is the same as the size on the computer. Like if there’s a 10 pixel bevel, we just made it 10 pixels in Illustrator, and so we could make things exactly … We made it happen in like a 2048 by 1152 screen, and you could just make it that size in Illustrator and it comes in perfectly.

PVC: Would you have signed up for this if you knew that it was going to be this hard?

Merrick: Barely, but yes.

Johnson: I would say yes. But I was constantly telling myself this could not possibly be the best way to do this. I was like, “There’s got to be a better way.” I would spend maybe a couple of hours digging around, playing, experimenting, trying to find a different way and I’d always just inevitably come back to “This is the way we have to do it. We have to just animate every single state with Illustrator files.”

Merrick: I didn’t even think it would be half as hard as it was but, also I’m really proud because I think we did something that hasn’t been done before.

PVC: Well, that’s the thing. This film is unique it its time, but I think it might also be unique going forward just because the barrier for entry to make a project like this is so much freaking work.

Johnson: To be honest though, as far as if you compare this to animated movies, it’s like probably nothing. It was just the fact that it was me and Will doing all this I think. It was just a two-man sort of job with the help of Neon Robotic on the technical side. Creatively, we had a whole team, but that’s what made it so challenging. So we discovered you can find all of the icons in your computer in a folder in Mac, but they’re maxed out at like 125×125 pixels. And in our punch-ins, sometimes we’re like right on icons.

Merrick: There’s some icons that have never been as big as they are, until this movie.

PVC: I haven’t had a chance to see the film yet, but you’ve got FaceTime calls, you’ve got Finder interfaces, and texting I imagine? I’m just trying to think of how many different communication techniques can you use on a computer? What options did you have to tell this story?

Johnson: I think that’s where Aneesh and Sev, their original script was brilliant. Because I think whenever anyone watches a screen movie, you’re kind of waiting for like, “Okay, how are they going to get away with this? How are they going to cheat?” Sev and Aneesh worked really hard in making a really good narrative and a really good thriller with a great story. Then they worked to find ways to put that on the screen that didn’t feel contrived in any way.

Merrick: Yeah. I think it would be okay to say that at one point in the film, we moved to say news footage, things like that, and you can actually see the actors in there as well. We do have options kind of using video streaming occasionally. They use FaceTime a lot, but the texting…honestly, you can have a compelling scene just all on text messages.

Johnson: That was pretty surprising to us. That was a big challenge, rhythmically you would have a whole dialog scene taking place on chat, and there’s like a whole rhythm that is very foreign. As an editor, you don’t really edit chats like that, like go back and forth.

Merrick: Like if you cut in, and then a message appears, it’s weird. It’s like drawing. You have to like do all these weird tricks.

Johnson: We had a lot of tricks with cutting, because you want to cut on motion a lot of times, but everything happens on one frame in a computer. We didn’t have motion.

PVC: Don’t texts kind of “bloop” in a little bit?

Merrick: They blooped a tiny bit, yeah.

Johnson: Yeah, so we were always trying to exploit those little movements. We used the mouse moving in and out of frame a lot.

PVC: That’s your person wiping the frame?

Merrick: Yeah. Sometimes the mouse just jumps to another place, but you don’t know notice because we’re cutting at the same time.

Johnson: I think you pace it like you would a conversation. You’re not necessarily just stuck in shot reverse, shot reverse. You’re going to have your two shot, you’re going to have your master. Your two shot would be like this wide framing.

Merrick: We tried to keep the frames somewhat narrow and then we would usually start on that and then whenever there was a particularly important line, you could cut in for the closeup. We didn’t do too much cutting back and forth but like you could have one up here, and then like slide over to where they type and see the response be typing.

PVC: Ah, so that would be more like a traditional pan over to a reaction?

Merrick: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Johnson: That was something that we had to learn ourselves I think. I totally get the impulse to want to just follow the mouse everywhere and not cut. It took us a while to understand that we can do these things, and by the end it was just like editing a normal movie.

PVC: Ok, so the 16:9 aspect ratio doesn’t exactly fit a computer screen, right?

Merrick: It does actually. We may have cheated it very slightly, but when we go out to the full 16×9 wide, it looks like a MacBook.

PVC: Did you find that wide framing to be an impediment when you’re cutting around stuff? A text message thread is not really that wide, it’s kind of square, right?

Merrick: We don’t go out wide often. Normally it’s for effect.

Johnson: That was one thing that Sev, our producer, really said early on. As soon he saw the animatic, he said we should be reserving our wides for really important beats.

Merrick: Like you never use a wide as your default. You never default to the wide.

Johnson: The nice thing is that everyone’s familiar with the layout of a computer screen, so we can kind of use that to our advantage. It’s not like you need to, like in a normal scene, live action movie, you have to establish the space at some point early on maybe so that people aren’t confused. We could start a scene on a text notification, for instance, and not worry that people are going to be like, “Whoa, where are we?”

Merrick: It’s funny to even play with that sometimes. There are times where we start in closeup, and you don’t know where you are yet, and you slowly find out through context. Our best compliments were after a lot of our test screenings people said, “I totally forgot everything was on a computer screen.”

PVC: So I imagine that you used the full Adobe tool set on this project.

Merrick: Most of it, yeah. Mostly Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, and Illustrator.

Johnson: Yeah, we didn’t really use InDesign. We used Lightroom a little bit, for some photos we shot.

Merrick: We even used SpeedGrade. It was our DPX viewer.

PVC: This was before … I guess SpeedGrade has since gone away?

Merrick: Yeah, we found a way to get it back.

Johnson: SpeedGrade weirdly was the best DPX viewer we could find. But we did color, we did do almost all of the primary color in After Effects with Color Finesse.

Merrick: We found a colorist, Zach Medow, who could do it.

Johnson: Zach was one of the only people who could listen to our workflow and not laugh us out of the room. He understood what was going on in our sequences. He had to color every live action element separate from the screen without ruining the screen. He was amazing.

Merrick: He had no playback. It was terrible. Just the worst conditions you could have for a colorist. But he did an incredible job. Like he nailed it. We had a pretty short amount of time, and he nailed it.

PVC: Sound design probably plays an important part in this sort of film? Who did sound design and how did that process work?

Johnson: A company called This is Sound Design did it, and this was actually probably the most traditional part of the process. I don’t necessarily want to speak for them, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that they had to also wrap their heads around the rules of this kind of film.

Merrick: Something that was weird…Foley for clicks in a keyboard suddenly becomes very critical, like you have no leeway.

Johnson: There’s a lot of character.

Merrick: You could show emotion through the clicks and through the keyboard, like how hard somebody’s typing. They did a great job with that. Every time we’d go to … I don’t want to explain how we go between computers, but when we do, it’s a different mouse, different keyboard.

Johnson: Each computer has its own unique keyboard sound and click sound.

Merrick: Then they would pan just a slight ambiance around the room, so that you kind of felt like you were in a space and had something to hear. It’s very hard because a lot of computers, there’s not, you kind of have to justify sounds because you don’t want to just sit and it’s quiet. It’s very music heavy too.

PVC: Was there like hum from fans? Did they go that far as well?

Johnson: Yeah, yeah. I think they would have birds, they would have a lawnmower in the distance for like afternoon. Like room tone hum. Honestly, it’s pretty traditional treatment, it was just, I think, tough to wrap your head around the rules, especially with typing and clicking. And I think David’s voice is actually panned a little bit. So you have this feeling that David is right with you, and the people on the computer are just in the center track.

Merrick: They did a lot of great futz work too, because if you’re talking to somebody on the phone, it has to be just distorted enough but not distracting.

PVC: Thanks so much for your time, and good luck with the premiere!

Sony Pictures Worldwide bought the global rights to “Search” the night of the film premiere at Sundance, and a theatrical release is expected.

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