#your second shot (redux)

[theelmoarchive]

Sanders Sides theory (rant). I know im mainly a mh acc here but I have thoughts i need to get out there

(just fyi this theory is Roman centric, I know most TSS people nowadays are talking ab Orange and Logan so if Roman's not interesting then continue on 🔥🔥)

(Also slight TW, talking ab the sides "ducking out" and depression themes, so yeah👍👍)

Okay so. I was scrolling through Sanders Sides theories and found that no one seems to have this theory, even though I thought the Roman angst enjoyers like me would be writing this all over the place but. Ig that means I need to talk about it.

I've had this theory for years now, since the day I first watched SVS Redux.

I think Roman is going to duck out.

I dont know if I have to explain why but. I mean, just looking at the explosive end SVS Redux had will tell you a lot.

He doesn't belive Patton when he tells him they love him. He thinks Thomas has lost all faith in him in favor of the person Roman views as the epitome of evil. He's been switching views left and right to stay on Patton's side (because Thomas prides himself on his morals), but he always ends up doing something wrong - he always ends up as an antagonist. He no longer believes that he is the one thing that being has kept him stable since "Am I Original?" - Thomas' hero. The only side he has a stable and positive relationship with is VIRGIL of all people. And tbh that could quickly be ruined too. Logan is second, though, but that's EXTREMELY fragile, as we've seen.

Roman always does something wrong and it will and has sent him over the edge. From Roman's perspective, with a very flawed view of everyone around him, he is inherently the thing that flaws Thomas.

+ Roman is really dramatic obviously, so ofc he would do this.

When you look at Virgil's reasonings for ducking out, it seems plausible after everything Roman has gone through recently, too. I mean like:

"I quit. Decided it wasn't worth it anymore"

Why would Roman keep fighting a battle he knows he will never win?

"Well, It didn’t seemed like I was wanted. You all made that pretty clear any time I showed up."

Again, from Roman's perspective, he is constantly and consistently antagonized.

"If I wanted to stand around being insulted, I would've shown up I would've shown up in person like I usually do."

[same thing]

"I actually think you were right to not want me around."

Roman fears that he is becoming the villain (as we see in SVS, SVS Redux and DWIT).

(In fact, Roman has already said something quite similar to that last one in sentiment.

In SVS Redux, Roman says this, which is pretty funny because of the dramatics and the stupidity, and does get shot down quickly, but I am begging you to listen to him.

"The blame falls to me. If you're missing that do-gooder drive... I think It's because I'm in the driver seat... And I'm an awful driver... Perhaps... Perhaps I should let Patton take the wheel.")

(2nd sidenote to the Virgil quotes, can we talk ab Thomas' acting again I just love how tired Virgil is in AA. He's so. Troubled. I love him.)

WAIT ALSO I FORGOT TO ADD THIS UNTIL I WAS AB TO POST IT-

"I've always aimed to protect you,"

THIS!! First of all his face makes me so sad BUT SECOND OF ALL yeah. Roman core idk what else to say, you get it right.

"I thought I was your hero."

So yeah.

Anyway, I think the episode where Roman does this will be centered around depression. Without Roman, Thomas is depressed. Let me explain this further.

Roman is Thomas' creativity, imagination, ego, passion, love, wills and wants, hopes and dreams, aspirations and enthusiasm.

Without any of that, what is left? A guy who can't even will himself out of bed, but can still feel the nagging voice of reason and logic telling him how unreasonable he's being. A guy who cant will himself to talk to friends, family and loved ones, but can still feel sorrow for letting them down and worrying them. A guy who can't will himself to pursue creative content that he relies on for a living but can still feel anxious about letting millions of people down and never being able to create again. A guy who cant even make food for himself or brush his teeth, but still knows he NEEDS to take care of himself. A guy whose only creativity is activly trying to disturb and scare him.

So yeah thats really awesome idk.

Furthermore, I think the sides might be SEVERELY impacted.

It has been said many times over the series that the sides are purely figments of Thomas' IMAGINATION. so. Without Roman, I doubt anything would be left. Obviously, if Roman does duck out, I don’t think they'd all immediately just cease to exist because an episode still needs to occur, but I find it likely that they'd all start slowly fading or maybe even "malfunctioning", glitching, putting them on a timer to get back Roman and making it far more tense.

Is this theory weird?????? I feel like it's the natural progression TO ME but I've seen no one even getting near this and im just confused ghfhfhfh. Maybe it is kind of weird and im just too much of a Roman enthusiast. SORRY I LOVE ANNOYING WEIRDO FREAKS!!!! AND IF I WAS HIM ID DUCK OUT TOO BECAUSE NO ONE IS APPRECIATING HIM ☹️☹️☹️ EVEN THOUGH HE'S LITERALLY WHAT MAKES THOMAS DO THINGS. 🙄🙄🙄🙄

Anyway.

I also think it fits really well because of Prinxiety's parallels, such as:

(using the ship name just as a duo name because that's what I usually do I am not trying to push the prinxiety agenda although I am a fan of it ghfyfgfh)

"Thanks everyone... Well, almost everyone."

And

"I mean, it's cool to see you all trying to be helpful. Well most if you, but-"

The only difference in these two is obviously that Virgil just silently ducks out, while Roman has the entire "You make us better" speech, probably effectivly saving Virgil and Thomas, because it seems like Virgil was going to insist.

(Also another sidenote that I think everyone will agree with: WE NEED A "YOU MAKE US BETTER" SPEECH BY VIRGIL FOR ROMAN that is all)

Also. Who can forget.

Virgil saying that he tried to "duck out" and then

"That's a thing you can do?"

😐

Do you understand what I'm saying. Do you. Huh.

Okay anyway.

Idk how to end this I feel like theres still more I wanna say but i forgot. In conclusion: prin up that xiety. Reminder that FWSA was real and not a fever dream. I lied this is actually prinxiety propaganda.

But Hey That's Just A Theory. A really quite depressing and sad theory. Thanks for tumbling down a hill with me 🫶

[absolutebl]

Hey! Your bl recs are great! Do you have any in which the couple is already together from the beginning? Sort of like Don't Say No in which they start dating in the first ep already. (It can be gls and qls of any sort you find good)

Sure thing, you want a BL without a meat cute? Or meat cute only as a flash back? There are more sides that do this than mains (like in Wandee Goodday right now) but I will give it a shot:

BLs Where the Main Couple is ALREADY in a ROMANTIC Relationship

(you didn't specify these had to be good shows)

My Personal Weatherman

Just Friends?

HIStory Obsessed

Dark Blue Kiss (technically these 2 started as sides exactly like LeoFiat)

Cutie Pie

Naughty Babe

Papa and Daddy

Don't Say No

Ai no Kotodama (2008)

What Did You Eat Yesterday?

My Monster in Law (non ending)

Peach of Time (sad)

Confidential Coffee Break

Close Friend 2

Two Weddings and a Funeral

Bad Romance

Tien Bromance EXTRA (some of them)

Jack O'Frost

Love Place: Shiawase no Katachi (AKA Shape of Happiness 2)

Second Seasons that I argue by your metrics might qualify

Look Don't Say No is kinda a second season, after all we did see their relationship start as a side couple so...

We Best Love: Fighting Mr. 2nd

SOTUS S

Still 2gether

Any of the Our Skyy

My Beautiful Man 2

To My Star 2: Our Untold Stories

Make it Right 2

Summerdaze Christmas Together

Takumi-kun 2: Rainbow Colored Glass

Irresistible Love 2 AKA Uncontrolled Love

Gen Y 2

Magic of Zero: Zero Supporter

Papa and Daddy 2

Minato's Laundromat Season 2

Like Live 2

Ossan's Love redux-multitudes

I think there are a few Vietnamese ones that should be here too.

I'm not really wild about second seasons myself.

I dithered a lot:

My Only 12% - look one half basically assumed they were dating all along

Absolute Zero - it's very timey wimey

Two Worlds - same but different

SCI Mystery - they married, everyone except China knows this

I left out anything that edged into reunion romance like Tokyo in April is or too much more Friends to Lovers like Living With Him.

I stopped at things I'd rated lower that a 5 partly because I can't remember those ones intentionally and this isn't a trope I track so my memory is involved with this process.

[randomfoggytiger]

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part XIX): Eyes Averted, and Final Decisions

Thus far we've discussed the effect Scully's diagnosis has had on herself, her mother, and her brother. Yet, it's not until this scene in Redux II that we hear the Scully family bouncing off of each other in a crisis: what behavior they expect from one another, and what boundaries they do and don't push. It's an interesting portrait of resurfaced dynamics and shared familial traits.

More importantly, it sets up blink-and-you'll-miss-it explorations of their differing perspectives on Scully's odds of survival.

THE FIGHT

The scene opens on Bill’s building anger (“This is crazy, just crazy”) and Mulder’s somber, challenging response (“Well, crazy in what sense-- in that it might save your sister’s life?”) 

The camera quickly cuts to Scully’s expression during their exchange. She closes her eyes in a controlled shudder at Mulder’s blatant acknowledgement of her illness, opening them only when she has regained mastery over her rocked emotions. 

Bill is flabbergasted but contains his fury.

His control is very telling. In Gethsemane, he pushed and prodded his sister's motives-- why didn't you tell me? do you know what our mother's been through? "loyal to who, to this guy Mulder?"-- but never yelled. When he first met his sister's partner, he shook his hand and glowered but didn't tear him up (as he will later this episode.) And here, he's listened to Mulder's farfetched explanation of farfetched chips and cures but still refrains. Bill seems to have put himself under an injunction (be it his own resolve or Maggie's warning) not to provoke or punish; but that resolve requires restraint. As we see here, Mulder pushes his buttons and effortlessly dissolves that restraint in under two minutes.

“You’re not a doctor. You have no place even suggesting this… science fiction.” 

Maggie and Scully bend their heads, their body language stiff and conflict-avoidant but not shocked or surprised. To them, a Navy man laying down the law is not a new phenomenon. 

“It’s not science fiction,” Mulder insists, immovably calm. 

This interaction is solidifying what Bill perceives to be Mulder’s character: insistent, thoughtless action followed by blatant denial of reality. For the first time, we hear Bill Scully holler.

“He’s never heard of it!”

Scully writhes in discomfort-- not wanting to be caught in the middle of her brother’s anger and Mulder’s last, pleading attempt-- and her mother catches it. Shaking off her role of quiet military wife immediately, she softly latches onto her son's arm and orders, "Bill."

Her son immediately complies, respectfully sighing out the bite in his voice. Turning to the doctor, he questions, “Have you?” 

“No, I haven’t.”

Maggie takes the lead here, stepping in before Mulder or Bill can steer the conversation back to confrontation. “I think there’s an obvious… difference of opinion here,” she puts delicately, carefully laying down her unspoken expectations of both men. 

Mulder nods, easily acquiescing; then turns to Scully when she quickly speaks up.

SCULLY'S DECISION IS HER OWN

Even on her deathbed, Dana Scully commands the respect to speak and to be heard. “I think… that everybody here has their heart in the right place.” 

She spares a split-second smile towards her mother, affection and love pouring from her worn, red eyes. 

Maggie's expression is not soft or warm: it's one of steely distrust. She is letting Dana advocate for herself but knows, already knows, she will disagree with the final decision. 

It’s not a stretch to come to this conclusion, either: her daughter left medicine for the FBI, creating a rift in the family; her daughter signed a living will privately, leaving Maggie to grapple with the task of following it through without notice; her daughter was somewhere else in the wild when Melissa was shot and died in her place; and her daughter didn’t want to tell her about the cancer diagnosis at first, then swore her to secrecy after. She may respect that Dana has the right to make decisions for her own life, but she doesn’t trust her-- each choice Scully has made unintentionally wounded Maggie. 

And since her husband’s death, Maggie seems less and less willing to “shove off” without question.

Bill, meanwhile, waits patiently for his sister to continue. However, when Scully insists, with strength in her voice, “But I need it to be my decision”, he shakes his head, attempting to break in with a gentle, “Dana--”  

Here we see a Scully family tic. He looks down and away when something personally affects him. Here, when his sister considers putting "pseudoscience" in her neck; later, when he cracks himself open to weigh Mulder's motives in the hallway. 

“I know you’re only looking out for me, Bill,” Scully begins, watching her brother's face fall, "but I don’t think you have all the facts.”

Her unbeatable spirit shines through-- faith in her facts and a little pride in herself. Assured, and believing she will pull through. 

Mulder looks from her to Bill; and Bill, knowing he can’t budge his sister, looks down before laying the blame fully at Mulder’s feet. 

It’s an important moment for his character: Memento Mori Bill would have blamed Scully for their father’s dashed pride and Melissa’s death. Instead, this Bill blames only Mulder for his family’s destruction. And even then, as much as he despises her partner, this Bill will still give him a opportunity to explain himself. 

Seizing one last chance to countermand his sister's inclination, Bill looks to his mother, hoping she will talk her daughter out of it. Mulder catches this and swings his attention to Maggie's face, too. 

“Don’t you think you should listen to your doctor?” she asks, diplomatically; tense, strained, and hoping Dana won't pursue the wrong path at the last hour. 

“Yes,” Scully insists, taking a gulp of air for her weak voice, “I am.”

Mulder immediately reads between the lines, brokering her concerns to her doctor. “Will she have to stop her conventional treatment?”

An important incident occurs: Scully panics, terrified at the thought she will have to stop her treatment plan. Because, deep down, Scully doesn’t believe she will die: her treatment-- her science-- will save her; and if it fails, then Mulder’s magic tricks will cure her. 

We know this to be the case because of her reaction to Bill’s incredulous, “You think you can cure yourself” in Gethsemane (post here); we know this because of her fright now that she will, perhaps, be disconnected from the medical safety net; we know this because she hasn’t, yet, accepted that death is imminent (and won't until Mulder’s chip “fails” and she falls apart in front of her mother.) 

Scully desperately locks onto her doctor as he soberly explains, “To be honest, at this point, the only approach I have left with her particular cancer is… quite unconventional.” 

Scully’s science has failed her; and she is crestfallen. 

However-- as in everything that is too terrible to face immediately-- Scully brushes her desperation aside, shoring up courage by closing her eyes and clutching the chip tighter.  

“I’d like to try this,” she determines, resolved. 

The camera shoots back to Maggie, caught between shades of disappointment, frustration, and resignation; and she turns to the wall to hide her turbulent emotions from her daughter. 

Maggie, like Dana, does not believe her daughter is marked for death-- she still wants her to fight, to take treatment, to turn to God and pray with Father McCue and trust to miracles. It’s a faith not unlike Mulder’s: they both believe, though she prefers to pray down the miracles and he to catch them in his hands. 

Resigned, Bill resentfully snaps up his head to glare meaningfully at Mulder. Mulder, spotting the searing animosity from across the room, keeps his head turned, uncomfortably avoiding eye contact. 

Bill, unlike his sister and mother, does not believe Scully will be cured-- the cancer is in her bloodstream, and all the family can hope for is a peaceful death. Hence, he buries the hurt and frustration her reticence caused, tries to steer the work away from her room, and intends to lay off of Mulder for Dana's sake. He is showing his love by guarding her last days-- not unlike Melissa’s bedside manner (posts here and here): both prepared themselves for their sister's death by looking out for her best interest (and by confronting Mulder mercilessly.) The difference between he and his first sister is that Melissa believed in the impossible, and Bill only in the probable. 

And that's the reason he and Scully and Mulder butt heads: he's looking out for his little sister, but he doesn't have all the facts.

Scully, emotionally overwhelmed, takes a page from her mother and brother’s book by avoiding everyone’s eyes.

CONCLUSION

Maggie bears the scars of her daughter's decisions, calling in Bill to lean on his strength (while also keeping him wisely in-check.)

Bill has revealed that he prefers the status quo. Trusting that her doctor has done his best, he views Mulder's last-minute, untested, shaky-at-best cure to be a reprehensibly irresponsible suggestion. Without saying it out loud, he has resigned Scully to her fate-- and Mulder, brilliant man that he is, has noticed and resents it, picking at Bill's disbelief in small pokes or digs. 

Mulder has doubled down on the untested and (seemingly) unscientific chip he picked up from the DOD as the cure-all for brain cancer. He’s already argued-- and won-- for it to be tried, handing out hope to the sick and dying. Bill, stubborn and distrustful, sees this trial as a moral failure; and hates his guts for it. 

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[grey-gazania]

End of Year Fic Recs

Tagged by @sallysavestheday and @polutrope

I tag everyone tagged here and anyone else who hasn't done this yet!

Recommend up to 5 series or multi-chapter fics from 2023 that everyone should read (multi-year WIPs count, if the last update was in 2023).

Recommend up to 5 single chapter fics/one-shots (long or short) from 2023 that everyone should read.

Recommend up to 5 fics NOT from 2023 that everyone should read (oldies but goodies).

Recommend up to 5 of your own fics (completed or WIP) from 2023 that everyone should read.

This was difficult!

Multi-Chapter/Series

We Will Make This Place Our Home by @leucisticpuffin, which is my new comfort fic and has A+ kidnap fam characterization.

Gloom, Doom and Maedhros by @hhimring, which I've been dipping in and out of since approximately 2011 and which never ceases to impress me.

Elegy for Numenor by @elfscribe. Not the kind of story I generally get into, but Scribe's OCs are vividly drawn and have captured my heart.

Maglor is an Eldritch Horror by @thescrapwitch. Who doesn't love a touch of horror in their fanfiction? Part 11 (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) is a particular favorite.

The Importance of Peer Review by @sallysavestheday, a series of Finrod-centric comic stories that never fails to make me howl with laughter.

One-shots

Tender Morsels by @sallysavestheday, which depicts a delicious and unsettling yet tender moment between my OTP among OTPs, Fingon/Maedhros.

As the Hare Flees Before the Wolf by @emyn-arnens. The author's note says "Rest in pieces, Eöl," and that is a sentiment I will always endorse. This also includes some wonderfully perilous Celegorm characterization.

Ilimbë by @thelordofgifs. This is everything I ever wanted out of a Fëanor/Nerdanel courtship story, and the characterization is utter perfection.

A Damnable Spot by @imakemywings. Kidnap fam with an extra helping of creepy! I think Elwing deserves to haunt Maglor a little bit. As a treat.

And a bonus two-for-one, because they're by two different authors but they go together: Desperation and Defeat by @elentarial and Maiar Hate This Simple Trick by @zealouswerewolfcollector. I'm a big fan of both humor and Celebrimbor/Narvi, so these both absolutely delighted me.

Oldies

Home from the War by @hhimring. Himring wrote this as a gift for me back in 2020, and it remains my favorite Círdan character study of all time.

Ain Melir Den Urui by Thranduil Oropherion Redux/Randy_O (whom I don't believe is on Tumblr). This Last Alliance themed send-up of Some Like It Hot dates back to 2011, and it's one of my go-to fics for when I'm feeling blue and need a good belly laugh.

Touch of a Vanished Hand by @elfscribe, from 2010. I love Scribe's character study of a younger, more hot-headed Elrond meeting his brother's descendants in the aftermath of the sinking of Numenor.

Winter's Drums by @lucifers-cuvette, from 2014. I absolutely adore Pandë's take on Sauron and Celebrimbor's relationship, and this deeply unsettling but evocative ficlet is one I've returned to many times.

Trinity, also by @lucifers-cuvette, which is from 2007, pre-dating my entry into the Silmarillion fandom. It was the first of Pandë's stories that I read and was my introduction to her amazing Pandë-verse.

Mine

Ill News, a Second Age kidnap fam aftermath fic that I initially posted as a one-shot in 2022. But an enthusiastic commenter inspired me to expand on it, so I added a second chapter in 2023. There's at least one more chapter to come, assuming I ever overcome my current case of writer's block.

Loyalty: A Tale in Three Voices, which is the WIPmost likely to kill me one day. I have a deep and abiding affection for the House of Ulfang, and this is the result of that.

And They Looked Up and Saw a Star, my ongoing early-days kidnap fam WIP. I'm enjoying exploring the relationships between both sets of brothers.

Maps, my Thangordim rescue Fingon/Maedhros WIP with a heavy serving of Caranthir. I'll readily admit that this fic has been an exercise in pantsing all the way and that I have no idea where I'm going with it, but the journey has been fun!

I made several updates to Woman King this year, which is my fem!Gil-galad WIP (sometimes affectionately referred to as the Girl-galad WIP, because I love stupid puns). This is by far my least popular series but it is also my favorite to write, because like all writers I have tropes that I love, and Rule 63 is one of them. Tolkien's works are an undeniable sausage fest and we need more ladies.

[sirfrogsworth]

Landscape Photo Recipe (Redux)

@ameliablair asked: I just bought my first non-phone camera (Canon PowerShot SX70 HS). I travel a lot and want to take great photos of the landscapes I see. What would you recommend for someone who is essentially a novice? So far I've been afraid to change the settings from "auto" but I want to use the full capabilities of this camera!

__________________________

This is the very first time I have presented this information. There was definitely not another post where I screwed up and gave bad advice.

Nope.

Didn't happen.

This post is basically just reformatted and corrected but there are a few "Note from Froggie" sections with updated info. I promise this is the final final final version.jpg of this post.

Okay, I am going start with a simple recipe for setting up your camera to take landscape photos. This will get you decent results 80-90% of the time unless you are in very challenging lighting circumstances. So, either a very dark area or an area that has very dark spots and very bright spots at the same time.

First, you will need to figure out the size of your sensor. This can usually be found by googling the model of your camera and adding "sensor size" to the search. If you are using a smartphone you can skip this step.

(The PowerShot SX70 HS has a 1/2.3" sensor size.)

I'm going to create 3 different recipes. Match your sensor size with the appropriate one.

Large sensors. (APS-C/Full Frame) Medium sensors. (Micro 4/3 or MFT or 4/3") Small sensors and smartphones. (1" or smaller)

Large recipe...

Put camera on tripod or stable surface.

Set timer to a delay of 1 second.

Put camera in Av or Aperture Priority Mode.

Set f-stop to f/8 or f/11. (Test both.)

Set ISO to lowest setting. (Usually 100.)

Let the camera decide the shutter speed automatically.

Focus 1/3 of the way into your framing.

Press the button, stand back, and let the camera take the shot.

Medium recipe...

Put camera on tripod or stable surface.

Set timer to a delay of 1 second.

Put camera in Av or Aperture Priority Mode.

Set f-stop to f/5.6 or f/8. (Test both)

Set ISO to lowest setting. (Usually 100.)

Let the camera decide the shutter speed automatically.

Focus 1/3 of the way into your framing.

Press the button, stand back, and let the camera take the shot.

Small recipe...

Put camera on tripod or stable surface.

Set timer to a delay of 1 second.

Put camera in Av or Aperture Priority Mode.

Set f-stop to the widest setting. (Lowest f-stop number)

Set ISO to lowest setting. (Usually 100.)

Let the camera decide the shutter speed automatically.

Focus 1/3 of the way into your framing.

Press the button, stand back, and let the camera take the shot.

So for the PowerShot mentioned, if you are zoomed all the way out, you would set the f-stop to f/3.4. If you are zoomed all the way in, it would be f/6.5. Basically just keep lowering the f-stop until it won't budge any lower.

Let's quickly go over these settings and get an understanding of why they work so well for landscapes.

Why a tripod?

For landscapes you want to have great detail and low noise in the photos. So you have to shoot at a very low ISO to avoid noise. But if you don't have a lot of light, the shutter speed could get very slow. If you don't put the camera on a tripod, the slow shutter speed will cause motion blur.

Note from Froggie: I just learned the PowerShot has optical image stabilization of 5.5 stops (which is great!). It's possible you may be able to take some photos without a tripod, but a tripod will *guarantee* sharp photos. I would say if it is fairly sunny, you can avoid the tripod. That said, sometimes stabilization can do funky things when a camera is on a tripod. So I would recommend turning off IS when on a tripod. But do your best to remember to turn it back on.

Why the 1 second timer?

Any movement could introduce motion blur into your photo—even the action of pressing the shutter button. Setting a delay allows the camera to be perfectly still. A shutter remote trigger works as well.

Why Aperture Priority Mode (Av)?

This is a semi-auto mode that allows you to set the aperture but then the camera will decide the shutter speed for you.

Why f/11? (for large sensors)

Unlike portraits where blurring out the background can create separation of your subject, landscapes are all about detail and capturing everything in front of you. A wide aperture (low f-stop number) will have a shallow depth of field, meaning only a small sliver of your photo will be in focus. A narrow aperture (high f-stop number) will have a very deep depth of field.

However, you don't want to choose an aperture that is too small, like f/16 or f/22 unless you really need an extra long exposure. Once you get past f/11 something called "diffraction" starts to blur the image and cause you to lose detail. Camera lenses tend to be their sharpest somewhere between f/5 and f/11.

f/11 is a pretty safe aperture that will most likely get your entire landscape in focus, be in the sharpest range of your lens, and avoid the diffraction blurring.

But it might also be worth taking shots at f/5 and f/8 and see how your camera and lens perform at those settings. And if there is something in your photo that is super close to you and you are worried it may not be in focus, taking safety shots at f/16 and f/22 is fine. A slight blurring might be preferable to something being out of focus. ALWAYS TAKE SAFETY SHOTS!

But usually f/8 or f/11 is the sweet spot and will get you the results you are seeking.

Why don't I use f/11 on a smaller sensor?

Physics!

Smaller sensors already have a very deep depth of field so everything will pretty much be in focus in most landscape shots. It's one less thing you have to think about, so that is nice. If you want a detail explanation you can read the rest of this section. Otherwise, feel free to skip to the next question.

There is a concept called "crop factor" which can help explain how a lens and sensor will behave compared to a Full Frame camera. This is called the "35mm Equivalent" due to a full frame sensor being modeled after a 35mm piece of film.

The PowerShot has a crop factor of 5.5x because it is 5.5 times smaller than a full frame sensor. Which means the depth of field and field of view would behave the same as a full frame camera if you multiply the focal length and aperture by 5.5x.

The PowerShot's minimum focal length is *technically* 3.8mm. But we don't know how wide that field of view is without a reference. So we convert it to a 35mm full frame sensor by multiplying by 5.5x and we get 21mm.

21mm on a full frame camera is typically considered wide angle. Wide angle just means you can fit more stuff in your frame. So at that focal length you can fit a bunch of stuff in your photo.

The PowerShot's maximum focal range is 247mm. If you multiply that by 5.5x, you get a whopping 1365mm! (Actually you don't, so there must be some other variable in the lens design that affects the number, but... close enough!)

1365mm is really really telephoto. Like, you can take photos of the moon with that. On a full frame camera you would need to spend $20,000 to get a telephoto lens with that much zoom. Which is a fun advantage to having a smaller sensor, but you definitely need to use a tripod to get clean shots at that focal range.

You also need to multiply the aperture to figure out the depth of field. The minimum aperture on the Powershot is f/3.4. Due to my brain not mathing very well in my head, I cheated and used this great crop factor calculator to figure out the 35mm equivalent.

So the PowerShot's minimum aperture would have the same depth of field as f/19.18 on a full frame camera. Which is way beyond f/11, so unless you want to do a long exposure photo of a waterfall or clouds or something, you can just leave the camera on it's lowest f-stop number and be assured everything will be in focus.

Also, the PowerShot has a "variable aperture" which means the minimum aperture changes as you zoom in. So if you end up zooming all the way to 247mm (1356mm), your aperture will automatically change to f/6.5. This will expand your depth of field even more.

So at max zoom, you'll have an f-sop of f/36. Which means you are going to need a lot of light to get usable images when zoomed in that much. Again, a tripod will allow you to achieve that.

Why ISO 100 (or lowest ISO available)?

Some cameras have the ISO set to automatic. You may need to check your manual or a tutorial to learn how to adjust it manually. But if you have a tripod, you can set it to 100 and keep it there. Just remember to put it back on auto when you aren't using a tripod.

ISO is like the volume knob on a stereo. If you put your ear next to a speaker when no music is playing you can usually hear a faint white noise. That is always there in everything you play. And as you turn up the volume, that noise floor gets louder and louder. And if you turn up the volume too much, that noise can cause distortion and poor audio quality.

There is noise in every digital photo. And the lower you keep the ISO, the less noticeable that noise is. But if you do not have a ton of light, it can be very difficult to keep the noise low without a long shutter speed and a tripod.

Why an automatic shutter speed?

Not using a full manual mode is fine. There are some old school photographers that believe you need to dial in every setting yourself. But camera metering systems are very good these days and may be better at judging exposure than you are.

That said, it might be worth learning how your "exposure compensation" feature works on your specific camera. This will allow you to raise or lower the exposure quickly if you think the camera didn't judge the scene properly.

So if you think the image is too bright, lower the exposure compensation a few clicks and see what you think. You have plenty of room on your memory card to take safety shots.

Why focus 1/3 of the way into the frame?

The point of focus will have an area in front and behind that will also be in focus. That is your depth of field. When you are fairly close to your subject, that depth of field is symmetrical. 50% of the depth of field will be in front of your subject and 50% will be behind your subject. I'll use this thing I made for another post to visualize.

The subject would be the baby's eye in this case. That is the point of focus and the area in front and behind is the depth of field.

But as you get farther away from your subject that ratio becomes asymmetrical. More area behind the point of focus will be in focus than in front.

There are actually apps and websites that help you calculate this ratio, but as a general rule of thumb for landscapes, most photographers will assess the farthest thing and the closest thing and choose a focus point at about 1/3 the distance between them.

So in this photo the mountains are the farthest thing and the road is the closest thing. If you divide that area into thirds and focus around 1/3, you will probably get everything you want in focus.

You don't have to get too precious about this unless you are shooting at very wide apertures (low f-stop number like f/4 and below). At f/8 and above, at these distances, it's actually difficult to *not* get everything in focus.

The only thing that can make landscape focusing a bit more challenging is if you want something very close in the foreground in focus. Like a cool rock or a statue or a person. In that case, I would take several photos and focus on a few different spots ranging from near to far away as a safety precaution.

Hopefully all of that gave you some context for all of my suggested settings.

But these settings are not magic. There are a few other variables to consider when trying to achieve a cool landscape photos.

First, the good news. If it is a bright sunny day, you can use this recipe without the tripod. Your shutter speed will be fast enough not to introduce motion blur into your images.

Now the bad news... don't take landscape photos during a bright sunny day unless you want to make a default Windows background.

Bright sunny days are often very challenging to make interesting photos. I'm not saying it cannot be done, but it requires a pretty stunning scene to make work. Yes, blue skies are beautiful, but they don't always make the most compelling photographs.

You already have settings that will work most of the time. You have the technical ingredients, but you need a few artistic ones to finish the recipe...

A stunning vista. Good composition. Interesting light.

Finding a cool location is usually just a matter of google or exploration.

Good composition comes with learning and experience.

And interesting light requires patience.

Sunrise, sunset, blue hour, and night time are all great times to find great light. Sometimes an overcast day with thick clouds can be more interesting than a sunny day. You may have to revisit a scene several times to find the best conditions for a cool photo. But during these times you're probably going to need that tripod I mentioned. When there is less available light, your shutter speed will be slower, and without a tripod things could get blurry.

If you don't have a tripod and there isn't a lot of light, you will need to know the reciprocal rule to make sure your shots turn out okay. The reciprocal rule tells you the slowest shutter speed you can use without introducing motion blur.

Your lens has a focal length expressed in millimeters. The reciprocal rule states that you should set the shutter speed to 1/focal length. So if your lens is a 50mm, you want your shutter speed to be no slower than 1/50.

The Powershot mentioned in this question has a focal range of 21-1365mm. So all the way zoomed out, you would not want to set the shutter speed slower than 1/20. And all the way zoomed in you probably want to shoot for 1/1200 or 1/1400. Although you can probably get away with 1/500 if you have steady hands.

Note from Froggie: The reciprocal rule changes a bit if you have some sort of image stabilization. Due to a brain fart, I did not notice the PowerShot had this feature. The image stabilization adds 5.5 stops to the reciprocal rule when it is activated. So, if you are shooting at 1365mm, the nearest shutter speed would be 1/1400. You can divide 1400 by 5.5 to figure out the slowest shutter speed.

That means, you can *theoretically* shoot at max zoom with a shutter speed of 1/250 without motion blur.

Also, if there is anything physically moving in your photo, it could have a motion trail at slower shutter speeds. Sometimes this is a cool effect that can make cars and people look ghostly. Depending on how fast things are moving, these motion trails can start around 1/50 shutter speed.

So, if you are in low light and you don't have a tripod, here is the new recipe...

Put camera in Tv or Shutter Priority Mode. Set f-stop as wide as it will go (lowest f-stop number). Set ISO to AUTO. Without IS: Set the shutter speed to 1 over focal length. (eg 1/20) With IS: Set shutter speed to 1 over focal length ÷ stops of stabilization. (eg 1/(20÷5) = 1/4) Focus 1/3 of the way into your framing. Press the button.

This might result in noisy photos. That is the compromise you'll have to make. But there are some great denoise features in image editing software now that can help.

That brings me to my final tip... editing landscapes will always make them better. It is very difficult to balance the dynamic range (the range of the brightest thing and darkest thing) without processing your images. This will be even easier if you shoot in RAW mode. But you can still edit JPEGs as well.

Lightroom is currently the best software for processing photography. But there are other options that do a great job as well, including a few free ones. But I'm afraid you'll have to do some googling for that, as I am not current on the best applications other than Lightroom.

Knowledge more than anything will help you improve your photography. You can take amazing photos with a Powershot or a smartphone or a $200 DSLR. You just need to understand the fundamentals.

I highly recommend checking out this free photography course. Tony will help you understand all of this on a deeper level and you can watch it in the span of a weekend.

I hope all of that was helpful. Feel free to ask questions if you have trouble.

Oh, and if you need a cheap tripod, this Amazon Basics one is only $20. It is light and easy to carry around, but it probably won't hold up to much abuse. That said, it's a great place to start and once you gain more experience you can upgrade to something nicer later on.

[deathsbestgirl]

I love your thoughts on the cancer arc and your second post reminded me that Mulder straight up murders the guy who was surveilling him. Now it's been a minute but were there ever any consequences for that? Like officially or otherwise? Like on his soul? Or was it just a case of ooooh it's Blevins and the FBI was so embarrassed that they just gave him a lil freebie?

oh i love this question. i think he got a freebie 🤣 like blevins oversaw the x files for a while, he had a decent amount of power within the fbi. to out a man in blevins' position and being right is actually pretty insane. it was illegal surveillance, scully was dying because of what blevins did/was part of. like they were investigating her cancer, an approved investigation. whether there was any real proof tying blevins to it barely matters because he ran (and then was killed, made to look like a suicide?) all the marks of a guilty man, even though i'm sure he was a small player, most likely a pawn, the perfect fall man. in the end, even though mulder killed a man and broke into a government facility...this time he was right and kind of saved the fbi's asses. (and arguably, possibly helped cover up the bigger conspiracy for the moment. but what mattered then was scully so.) AND if they tried, mulder+scully would have dug up more, and bringing that to the fbi's attention, into a court of law would have been very bad. so like other times, i'm sure csm was pulling some strings. and skinner 100% would have been backing them (even without csm pulling his strings).

i also don't think this was a kill that weighed on his conscience at all. the man he killed, while also probably a pawn, had to know enough about the syndicate. he was part of the conspiracy, undergoing illegal surveillance, at the least keeping tabs on their progress and at worst helping hinder it. which is why he started burning the files when he realized mulder found him out. he didn't simply run, he was protecting his investigation and the men behind it.

it always comes down to how mulder will do anything for scully, and that very much includes killing people endangering her, hurting her, trying to kill her. like in unruhe, he wanted to know more about gerry schnauzer but he didn't hesitate to kill him and he didn't feel any guilt over it. (mulder would do this for anyone being victimized, he regrets not killing the man in young at heart idr his name rn lol and he doesn't hesitate to shoot him when he's holding that woman hostage. but scully is of personal priority, and after everything she's been through, i think he's quicker to react & go to extremes.) like somewhere recently, i mentioned fight the future, which is only a year after this. he gets shot in the head and finds his way to antarctica to save her. he doesn't for a moment question if he can, or should, or what scully would do for him. he just does it. and thankfully, well manicured man hands him the cure. (WHICH i love that wmm does this, because the syndicate knows the best way to take mulder is out is by eliminating scully. but what they did doesn't eliminate her. wmm recognizes this is only going to hurt them. very much like what could have happened in reduxes. antarctica is what solidified that killing either of them, or splitting them up, was not an option. at least that's the way i see it haha)

[ciaran]

SO NOT READY FOR THIS (trigun stampede ep11 post)

jumping right into the opening...bad sign

Wolfwood and Meryl meeting!! not going well but i was rewatching ep4 recently and he elder brothers her too, like, immediately. he looks so broken here though ;_; !!! wait they're doing it again and she kicked him in the ankle. i love that

he ran out of cigarettes ;_; that was a nice shot

VASH SOUP!!!!! i keep pausing every second it's going to take 5 hours to watch the episode but VASH SOUP!!!!!

Knives got in with him 👀 griddlehark pool scene redux? say it ain't so (i know it ain't so). also knives has NOTHING between his legs. Ken doll ass. also this scene is so. rape metaphor. i was right sjhdjhfjdjf Vash getting stabbed WAS erotically coded, and it's nearly framed as a consummation. gorgeous, really.

the black stuff crawling out of Vash ;-;

MERYL MOMENT

this lore drop has implications but I'm not thinking about that rn

i love that Vash is basically punishing his whole species for a mistake he and his brother made. <3

something harrowing about Vash falling again and again. you know, falling, the thing that killed Rem?

remade...window...the rape metaphors keep piling up ......... HEADING DEEPER? stop

Wolfwood's losergirl stealing cigs from a dead man moment <333

I CAN'T BELIEVE WE GET CANONICAL MINDBREAK I HAVE NEVER BEEN FED SO WELL IN MY LIFE

although i have to say it's kinda clear that Knives isn't THAT good at... creativity? c'mon dude you could've made a whole dramatic thing to teach Vash about failure and pain and defeat and instead you're just rewinding the greatest hits. git gud

i love that Vash's powers look like roots

THE RED PETAL IN HIS HAND...STIGMATA

this all feels very. unearned. I'm thinking through it but the connections are thin. i do love the moment where Vash gets excited about the plant and then Nai points out that it's ornamental, paralleling it with Vash himself.

“without any powers, you're too weak to live as a plant. that's why you craved the love of humans over all else—you needed to smile, show your charm, and behave like a harmless pet. you'll never find happiness that way. i had to protect you.” i love when the underlying philosophy that Nai espouses is fundamentally one of loving+protecting his brother because the stuff he says is so right! it's so difficult to counter him in some sense because his perspective reflects a lot of what i know about the power dynamics between adults and children. but he's still so wrong in his own ways and i love that about him.

Knives is such a fucking idiot lmao he just traumatized the hell out of Vash and turned him into a weapon and he doesn't even REMEMBER you! idiot. he's gonna get your fucking ass

plantussy visual 👀👀👀

oh this rape metaphor is. really involved. and just made my stomach turn. oof

love that the episode ended on Wolfwood's eldritch gf

[official-nadc-management]

NADC NEWS

N: Ladies and gentlemen, wrestling fans from all corners of the world, we stand on the brink of history! One year of epic battles, unforgettable moments, one year of NADC!

[A takes a step forward, looking at N with gratitude.]

A: N, if you don't mind...

[The crowd falls silent as A takes the microphone from N's hand, she nods in approval.]

[A turns to the audience, addressing them for the first time.]

A: It is with great pleasure that I bring you... the event that will define our legacy, the very essence of what we are.... "Gold Rush Redux: NADC Legacy Rumble"!

[ the crowd erupts in applause.]

A: On this momentous occasion, every ex champion will step into the ring for the chance of a lifetime! For all the former NADC champions, all of you that are seeking another shot at glory, this is your stage!

[N, her initial surprise replaced by pride, claps along with the crowd's ovation.]

A: Mark your calendars! On February 28th, in the heart of NADC's grand celebration, we will witness a Rumble like no other. It's not just about the second chances; it's about legends colliding and our championship reaching new pinnacles!

A: Get ready for Gold Rush Redux: NADC Legacy Rumble!!

[The lights flash, the crowd roars, and A exits the ring, leaving N and the fans buzzing with anticipation.]

N: Oh my god!!! Did y'all here what he just said?! This will be the most spectacular event in our NADC history!!! Are you guys ready to Ruuumbleee?!?!

[The crowd cheers even louder, knowing that this event cant be missed!]

@freshlychaos

[veryflirtytransportalate]

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"I'm calling it right here. This world can officially bite my ass." - Sizz'el the Lone Survivor, a nickname she did not get to pick

Throwback to a punch-up I got into a little while ago - you can tell because I hadn't yet trusted a random settler at Starlight Drive-In to laser the tattoo off my eye yet. I loved that tattoo, glad it's gone. You can't imagine how much easier my self image cultivation has become since building all those little towns in the Commonwealth! Preston thinks we're a civil defense oriented militia, meanwhile I had to send back the first test print of t-shirts for "Sexy Sizz'el's Pure Water & Mutfruit Emporium". Every so often they have a chore for me, but when that isn't the case and my knuckles need dusting, I don't usually have to wait long.

On this particular day I'd bopped down to Concord to go shoot some photos at the old museum when what do I spy with my little eyes but a whole bunch of guys just waiting to die. So, I changed into the Silver Shroud outfit I've been lugging around and did a couple kinds of shooting. I don't understand why raiders attack on site - I've mowed down hundreds of them by now. Who's doing their intel? I know they hang out as raider groups but how?! Even when I look just like them I get a laser hello. I look better in this fit though, which is good, because I have tried to throw it away like two dozen times. Piper insists I don't throw out this old nasty costume. I literally can't even fit my head in the hat, but she insists, "It's priceless, it's an heirloom, there's a radio show about it," which, that show is... not good. I literally can't put it down. Someone help me.

The museum is apparently some kind of hotspot, but ever since I took the power armor (shout out to my Atom Cats, meow you wild sons of kittens) and the minigun it's like... for what? Tacky outfits and rotten wood? But, what do I know. I'm just the single most brilliant business woman and devastating bombshell this wasteland has seen since... I'd... like to... rephrase, that last thought.

(Outfit credits, my thoughts, and a few more shots below the cut.)

< Previous > . . . < Next >

I'm pretty sure Sizz'el is wearing crimsomrider's 1950's Feminine Outfits (opens in new tab), Silver Shroud with stockings. The large caliber rifle is the Modular Simonov PTRS-41 by kazumamqi (opens in new tab), and the laser on the bottom is the CROSS_BreakActionLaser by Niero (opens in new tab). Phew, that was a lot of 'um this time, jeez.

I wander into Concord from time to time, whenever I want to just relax and kick back with the combat side of the game. A couple of Brotherhood of Steel dudes plopped in at the end and cleaned up, which was fine, I guess. We're not hostile with each other... I wanna say "yet", but, to be decided.

I like the feeling of combat in Fallout 4, but as you can imagine, I've made a number of major modifications. First, which I've shared before, I've completely rebalanced damage (and have to continuously to make it stay balanced): I, the player, deal a 3x more damage than normal. Everyone else deals 5x more. I love the feeling of games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Far Cry 2 (with that one mod) - when the time between seeing someone and being dead is a breath.

With that in place, I also made two major mechanical changes: first and less impactful is the removal of an AP cost to sprinting, thanks to Unlimited Sprint by TroyIrving (opens in new tab). Sprinting is already an inherent tactical decision, costing precious time, and removing your ability to reload or fire. When the game was slower and more about draining health pools, it made sense to limit this to a gauge... maaaaybe? I think AP draining sprinting is a funking dumb choice in basically any version of this game, but, I'm not a professional game developer so, what do I know.

Second, and this is the big one... bullet time. I use V.A.F.S. Redux by Itzal713 (opens in new tab). I love bullet time. I love it so much. Stranglehold is actually a childhood favorite of mine. I think it's so cool to dip and dodge and do cool stuff like jump over a table and then fire on someone, and it also makes taking pictures in the middle of a fire fight way easier. It's not balanced. It's just fun.

So it's easy to die, bullet time, added some big weapons... I never thought of it before but I've kind of turned Fallout 4 into F.E.A.R. 1. And everybody loves the combat in that game, so... win for me. I rule. Go me.

< Previous > . . . < Next >

[manorpunk]

Who are the loony left and the loony right?

Sunny: oh this is gonna be fun. So, we should probably start with some context - there was a lot of self-sorting during the Polycrisis and we’re still living with the downstream effects of that in 2069.

Maria: And it wasn’t just an urban coasts vs rural interior thing. There were a lot of digital communities that became face-to-face communities.

Sunny: Yeah. It was kind of the silver lining to all of this. The coasts were fine, everyone knew the coasts would be fine, they still had people keeping the lights on, but in the interior it was just YOYO - that’s an acronym for You’re On Your Own - and there were some people who were really into that. If you didn’t like your life then you could just move with your internet friends to some ruins in Montana or whatever and start over.

Jacob: neo-carpetbagging, baby!

Maria: Yeah, but the odds weren’t great. The textbooks like to portray it as this brave new world, like a Thirteen Colonies redux, but it was more like… you flip a coin, if it’s heads then your new community turns into a sex cult, if it’s tails you die from contaminated water or get shot over a petty dispute, and if the coin lands on its side then you start some rural industry like brewing or beekeeping that’s boring and profitable enough to form a stable business and cover basic maintenance costs. So it really was like the Thirteen Colonies in that sense.

Jacob: Yeah, all the successful Kowloons - that’s the nickname for these frontier towns by the way, Kowloons - the successful ones were all, like, hipster company towns.

Maria: They’re not that bad. Not anymore, at least. Sorry, what was the question?

Sunny: loony left and loony right.

Maria: okay, yes. Point being, “the ideological became geographic,” as the saying goes. So, do we wanna do right or left first?

Jacob: We kinda just did. The loony left formed sex cults and the loony right shot each other over property disputes.

Sunny: there’s so much more we could talk about, though. Like the Suburban Samurai. So, in eastern America you’ve got the Boswash megalopolis on one side, you’ve got the Great Lakes Republic on the other-

Jacob: that’s me!

Sunny: -and in between it’s one big exurb full of Suburban Samurai: rentiers, small business manor-lords, get-off-my-property types… Neo New Hampshire people, basically.

Jacob: Yeah, they’re all the chuds who think they’re Charles Martel protecting their local Denny’s from Chinese invasion.

Maria: Really? I thought you would’ve liked the Suburban Samurai.

Jacob: Why the hell would I?

Maria: Because you live on a manse and dress like an 18th century cavalry officer.

Jacob: Ahem, just because I live on a vast estate with a fleet of cross-dressing servants doesn’t mean I’m not a socialist.

Sunny: the word ‘socialist’ has pretty much lost all meaning now, if that didn’t tell you already. Shall we do the loony left now?

Maria: excuse me, I think we’re forgetting something.

Jacob: oh I know where this is going.

Sunny: folks, it’s gonna get weird for a minute.

Maria: the Suburban Samurai pale in comparison to my sworn nemesis, Tidewater. The wrong side of the Appalachian mountains.

Jacob: ‘sworn nemesis,’ they’re literally on the other side of the continent.

Maria: and they’re still too close! Ladies and gentlemen, I will not rest until every last bastion of Southern perfidy has been erased from America! Dixie delenda est!

Sunny: Maria. No purges.

Maria: but how do know they don’t work if we’ve never even tried it?

[the next four minutes and twenty-three seconds have been edited from the recording]

Maria: Ahh… mommy has her gin now.

Sunny: So, the loony left!

Jacob: Slimmer pickings here. There’s a lot of off-the-grid types on the interior side of the Rockies.

Sunny: god, yeah, they’re all “but I don’t want the Global Logistics Network to track my location. The president shouldn’t be able to hijack my electronic devices whenever she wants, waaaaah.”

Jacob: what else… Maria, is Juche Cascadia still around?

Maria: Sort of. I let ‘em keep a little corner… like a zoo. *tipsy giggles* My own little open-air zoo of Maoist Third-Worldists.

Sunny: I’m stopping this before it gets weird again.

Jacob: too late.

Sunny: that’s all the time we have for today, folks!

[anghraine]

I was tagged by @ladytharen in a cool fic meme! The idea is to post the first lines of your ten most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written fewer than ten, that's fine, just go with what you have (if you want to do it; no pressure if you don't!).

Tagging: @ncfan-1, @hoidn, @kareenvorbarra, @elwing, @heckofabecca, @irresistible-revolution, @kazaera, @lantur, @melyzard, @steinbecks

Love, Pride & Delicacy | Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth/f!Darcy, WIP

When Mr Wickham first arrived in Hertfordshire, Elizabeth was as ready as anyone to admire him, and perhaps readier to be admired in return.

The original draft of this fic was on hold for nearly ten years until it struck me that I could begin much earlier in the story, at the first point where Catherine Darcy was likely to come up—Wickham's tale of how Miss Darcy had horribly mistreated him. This has meant more Wickham content than I ever anticipated, but it also propelled the fic forwards.

2. Untitled | Guild Wars 2, AU of pro patria, Gwen Velazquez (Ascalonian human female PC w/ street origin and a missing sister) and Deborah Velazquez gen, WIP

Gwen always knew the Seraph would hunt her down one day.

I told myself I wasn't going to write fic for this, and then, well. I am what I am.

3. Untitled redux | Guild Wars 2, same universe as #2, Gwen Velazquez/Althea Fairchild, WIP

Gwen Velazquez regretted many things about her time among the Bloodcrow bandits. Robbing nobles was not one of them.

I then told myself the main part of the 'verse would be a one-shot, lol, so I didn't end up with a pro patria-sized monster. It's not a one-shot. It's been an interesting balance between trying to lean into GW2 feelings while also staying relatively accessible. We'll see! Someday.

4. the captain and the hero | Guild Wars 2, side-story to pro patria, Althea Fairchild (human female PC w/ noble origin) and Logan Thackeray gen, on hiatus

Even by Logan’s usual standards, the battle at Shaemoor was ugly.

This fic floated around my head for a long time and finally would not be contained, and this seemed the right place to jump in. It probably will never go very far, but I'm still fond of it.

5. and the sun shone | Lord of the Rings (bookverse), Faramir/Éowyn, WIP

The Steward Faramir was, Éowyn swiftly concluded, a strange man.

Fun fact: in my drafts, this was just called "F/É telepathy fic".

6. Untitled | Lord of the Rings (bookverse), f!Faramir/Éowyn, WIP

Even in Gondor, Éowyn was cold. She had always supposed it would be warm, if she ever came here. And after Aragorn’s arrival in Edoras, she had very often imagined herself in Minas Tirith, for all the obstacles in his way. Someday, she had let herself hope, perhaps—and she had come after all, but not at all in the way she anticipated. And she was still cold.

The document for this one is "Fíriel mingling". Guess what it's about! :D

7. pro patria | Guild Wars 2, slight AU of canon following Althea Fairchild (a noble, Ascalonian, human female version of the PC), WIP

I always thought of myself as Ascalonian first, and Krytan second.

It's a weirdly-structured fic that mostly was a depository for my GW2 feelings, with a bitter main character who continually vacillates between hauteur, adaptable personas, and hovering on the edge of violence. Lots of fun and it couldn't have begun any other way.

8. the voices of the sea | Lord of the Rings (bookverse), f!Faramir and Boromir, ft. Tar-Míriel

The dream always began the same way.

I was thinking about how a female, non-military Faramir would get news of Boromir via the water, and then had the idea of linking it to the dream of Númenor for extra pain. The true goal of fanfic!

9. The Jedi and the Sith Lord | Star Wars (films only), f!Luke Skywalker and Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader

If Darth Vader did not avoid the sight of his daughter in carbonite, he certainly did not seek it out. Solo’s features had been frozen in lines of shock and pain. Lucy, however, did not look surprised, but resigned, her upturned face hardened into a look of hopeless dread. After his first inspection in Cloud City, he felt no need or desire to examine her unchanging features any more closely.

The previous fic in this series ended with Lucy in carbonite for Reasons. This fic is all about how their relationship develops from there and was definitely the most purely enjoyable to write of the whole series. This opening was one of the oldest part of it, written years before I got the rest out.

The overall story, however, begins more simply:

Padmé screamed.

10. we also are daughters of the great | Lord of the Rings (bookverse), f!Faramir/Éowyn

“Is there no deed to do? Who commands in this City?”

The Warden looked uncertain.

The same universe as #6! I don't usually begin with dialogue, but it can be especially helpful (for me) with AUs, to signal the ways in which it's splitting off or which scene is being played with.

[nyotasaimiri]

Arc Two (redux) 97

Nyota settled back comfortably and accepted a bottle of water from Tarvei. “Thank you. Is there anything else I should know at the moment?”

“Not sure there’s much more to tell,” Lumen told her. He pulled a pocket-watch out of his vest pocket and checked it, then shut it with a sharp little click. “We got most of them Occasus, think a few ran for it. Arjun’s been chattin’ with Esther, and Esther’s botherin’ them folks at the Outpost, to figure how they hide their little meteor there. We oughta be able to tuck this place away. It’ll be right safe soon enough.”

“Making contact with the Outpost has been a boon for our camps as well,” Lana said. “The technique is reliable for evading Miniknog sensors.”

“Good.” Nyota nodded. “You handled that well.” It was reassuring to know she could leave everything in Lumen’s hands if she had to. He was proving ever more capable as her second in command.

“Okay, but you gotta hear all about how the scuffle went, Captain,” Sonny said, jumping in with a bright gleam. “See, they had this big robot thing, like the one that went for Hadley. And somebody shot my arm. That wasn’t nice. But then all them wispers woke right up, and froze the robot stiff as a fencepost! Then Namina popped in and smacked the ol’ thing to pieces!”

Nyota sat up a little straighter. “Namina is here?”

“Sure is. Brought him and Eldie with me,” Lumen told her. He checked his pocket-watch again. “Now, I know yer gonna tell me she ain’t a fighter, but it was her idea.”

“No, I trust your judgment, and hers,” Nyota told him. The thought still sent a sour coil of anxiety through her stomach. Oldarva had learned well, but she was still untried in actual combat… “Were they hurt?”

“Nah, they’re both right as rain,” Lumen told her. He hummed, warm orange glow growing murky. “But I told them to catch up with us when they could. Shoulda been here by now.” He tapped the microphone on his collar. “Hey Ferny, where are ya?”

Namina’s voice crackled through, too quiet for Nyota to pick out the words from where she was sitting. Lumen listened and nodded along. Stopped. Whistled.

The microphone crackled again, and Sonny giggled. “Dang, that’s a good swear.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Lumen muttered. “Forgot the mic picks that up so hard. But whatcha mean she caught a prisoner?”

Nyota sat up. Her back twinged; she ignored it. “She what?”

Lumen held up a hand to stall questions as he listened intently to Namina’s voice, humming in quiet surprise as Namina told him the gist. “Well how ‘bout that. Thank ya kindly, y’all just stay there then.”

Nyota waited as Lumen gathered his thoughts, trying to at least seem patient while she burned with questions.

Hadley asked one for her. “What’s this about a prisoner? Occasus don’t surrender.”

Lumen shrugged. “This one did. Eldie said that Fern-fangs already searched them, so we ain’t got a sneak attack or sneak-spy to worry about, no weapons or wireless or nothin’. I dunno what’s up, but I trust Oldarva.” He looked right at Nyota. “She sure knows when a person oughta be spared.”

The words sent a shiver through Nyota and made her fur rise with something that had no relation to cold or fear. “Yes. You’re right.” It felt right. Lumen didn’t know—he couldn’t know what had happened between them so many months ago. But she felt that he did have a guess, somehow.

She closed her eyes and shut out as many distractions as she could, searching her mind for options. “I do not want to leave our crewmates alone out there, though. Or send them both back to our ship with a potentially volatile element.”

Tarvei raised a hand. “I’ll go look after them, sis. It’s not a bad run to get there, and we should get Hadley back to the ship soon anyway.”

“Now hold on,” Hadley cut in, half-rising in indignation before Tarvei’s hand caught her shoulder and gently pushed her back down. It said much of her condition that she did not protest, but fierce resistance still burned in her mauve eyes. “I’m not going anywhere just yet. I want to see what’s back there. Has to be something good after the fight that rock put up.”

“Ya oughta rest,” Lumen told her, and she turned her fiery glare on him. “C’mon, lil’ Firebrand. Ya know I ain’t gonna order ya, it’s no good to push so hard.”

Nyota cleared her throat; Hadley looked down. “We stay together,” she said, quiet but firm, and Hadley looked up again with a mix of confusion and hope. “Lumen, please ask Oldarva to bring her prisoner here. SAIL can keep our ship safe on its own, and I can think of no more secure place right now than the Vault, in either case.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Lumen was thoughtful, she could see that in the bubbling under his shell. But not upset—he was intrigued. “What’s the plan, then?”

Nyota gestured at their makeshift camp. “I’ll warm some rations for us. We will rest here until they arrive, and I will question this captive myself.  I want to see why Oldarva thought them worth saving.”

[cryo-lily]

Swtor Player Asks

2, 6, 8, 9, 15

Thanks for the ask!

2. What is your favorite class and why? And/or list the player classes in order of most -> least favorite.

Honestly? Jedi Consular has been been my fav so far where I started a redux play through of my Main so I don't repeat my first blind play through where I made some choices I wasn't happy with. I'm honestly all about the Wise Healer slowly becoming more and more disillusioned the more the Consular class story goes on; Wanting to do good only to be just another pawn in just another war.

But I will say Sith Inquisitor quickly shot up the list to a very close second. Just everything about that class story really. Zash? I both love and hate her. Seeing her on Nathema the first time made me go feral. I'm totally not debating playing with the story beat of she didn't die then and will come back AGAIN later down the line... lol. That and the whole force ghost story bits, and the end of the class story? *(Chefs kiss)*

Least fav? Jedi Knight. The whole light vs dark side bits were waaay to ridged for my tastes. Yes Kira was like a little sister to my character, No that doesn't mean she's turning to the dark side.

6. Do you primarily play Republic, Empire, or a mix of both sides? Is there a specific reason for this preference?

Currently I mostly play the pub side only because most of my Cartel items/purchases are reedemed on Isadola (my main). I have been slowly leaning towards playing more of both as I dust off my Sith Inquisitor more and more. But I'm not gunna lie I love the Imp fleet a lot more, it's design is much more up my alley.

8. Name your top favorite companions (feel free to include reasons why).

Ohh, that's a bit of a list but I'll stick with my top 5. Top of the list is Lana hands down, She's Issie's better half among other things that would be too long to list here. Number 2 slot is HK-51, I've had him for less than a few weeks and I would already die for my assassin bot buddy. Next in number 3 & 4 is Nadia & Ashara, My fav force students that are borderline sisters to each of my mains. And number 5 is Khem Val easily, I love my big morose monster of a teddy bear. He reminds me a lot personality wise of my old cat. So yea.. I got quite attached to him.

9. How about your least favorite companions?

Doc. Hands down, no list. Dude does not take "no" for an answer. Kira was close to killing him? Girl would have to get in line behind me as I throw his ass out the air lock. At least Tharan took the hint when you shoot him down, but fuck does Doc just not let it go if you're playing a female jedi. Not to mention he's so fucking full of himself. I could rant all day about this, and no shame to those that do like him, but Doc just rubbed me in all the wrong ways and there was no way I could get rid of him. He made a tedious playthrough like I was pulling teeth.

15. Show us your main(s)!

You mean fav swtor OCs/ my mains? Hell yeah!

First we have Isadola Ardeen Shir (Or known as Issie by those closest to her); Jedi Consular, Miraluka.

This girl can hide so much trauma in her.

I've been trying to write more stuff for her considering she's the Character I have almost literally all my time/progress on. I feel I need to do her backstory justice.

Now my other main, Or in Issie's case the other side of the mirror-

We have the Sith AU Issie, otherwise known as Atteia Ulla Shir, Sith Inquisitor.

Small changes in their shared backstory resulted in her becoming Sith instead. In this timeline she lost her original name, and was given another.

In some sense they are both the same person and different people. And if you forced them to meet, they would probably try to kill each other over who suffered more in what little of their pasts that they share, but would be stuck in a stalemate because they are both on the same power level as the other.

Best quote I can borrow for these two is from Bioshock Infinite: "Constants and Variables". These two are the almost literal embodiment of that quote.

[randomfoggytiger]

CSM Inflicted Insanity On the Syndicate

POV: You're the Syndicate.

You've just been contacted, threatened, and struck a deal with mercenary alien overlords. Your partner Carl Spender decides this is the perfect time to have a messy affair with another partner's-- Bill Mulder-- wife. They dodge that issue for years (because Bill either A. willfully blinds himself to that reality or B. doesn't care to know the details) while butting up against biology concerns with the Mulder children; and, because he hasn't caused enough trouble, Carl then helps direct the abductions from each Consortium member's family but somehow loses Samantha Mulder in the process. You don't know until later that this IDIOT didn't return her because "she was his daughter", which sent Bill Mulder's son on a crusade that will unravel the entire Conspiracy and send the planet into possible Colonization.

Now that Idiot Carl caused unnecessary fracturing in the group, twice-- within the same family-- he will abandon his own son and near-crazed wife to hover over Bill Mulder's instead, claiming the boy as his own (to which you will roll your eyes in a "what does it matter, you have a son RIGHT THERE, CARL" manner) and indulge that insanely smart and talented young man to eventually discover and take over the files-- so much so he sends a recruitment girlfriend to intercept him out of college, steer him towards FBI, guide him to said files, then reassign her when Mulder gets mired in Squatchin' instead of the "more important things"... which Carl didn't foresee because, again, he's an idiot.

Idiot Carl will then, because he's bored, send Schrodinger's Son a scientist to-- he assures you, hand on his heart-- debunk Mulder's work, which will, most definitely, get him off our tails, guys. (He will then claim, later, when she helps instead of hindering Maybe Son's work, that this was his long-game recruitment for his Second Son all along.) Scientist Partner will then ring your necks with logic and data; and you will grasp at Carl's when he has the gall to say "in due time" to all your concerns.

You decide Idiot Carl has bitten off more than he can chew, sending his close friend Alien Shooter to monitor the Mulder situation in 1993. All of you are fooled because he was the first of a long line of double-crossers, somehow believing Spooky Mulder is saner than Idiot Carl (agreed) and the lot of you (highly offensive.) Alien Shooter is shot, the files are closed, you scowl Carl back into his place, the end. Problem solved.

...BUT THAT IDIOT'S PET PROJECT WON'T LET THE FILES GO. Because Carl decided to play god and not recruit Schrodinger's Son from the start, Mulder is now on a self-pitying "how dare you take my life's work away from me" quest (despite the fact he's only had the files barely three years.) And because this brat was indulged since Carl indulgently stole away his sister after breaking up his family after having an affair with the Purposefully Forgetful Tena Mulder, you're stuck with this convoluted mess because someone else-- likely a loyal disciple to the late Alien Shooter-- is now double-crossing for the cause your betrayer colleague was killed by last year.

AND BECAUSE CARL CAN'T LEAVE WELL ALONE, he hires a spy to spy on said Maybe Son-- who is already off the X-Files, lest that detail be forgotten, CARL-- to possibly suss out the new double crosser and help bury any leads Mulder comes across... and then Idiot Carl sends this New Rat to send Mulder right into a conspiracy-alien hornet's nest just to set up an unnecessary abduction for his brat's scientist-ex-partner-not-girlfriend who was ALREADY REASSIGNED ELSEWHERE anyways and who IS RETURNED BY IDIOT CARL FOR NO REASON... and survives. Because of course. (And Carl also had a chance to kill Mulder in his apartment but never did and probably never told you, his buddies, about that because you likely would have killed him sooner than Redux II.)

Idiot Carl Spender lets the clones get loose, bringing Bill Mulder back into the game briefly; then Idiot Carl Spender's two-penny goons assassinate Bill Mulder and THEN they willy-nilly shoot the wrong Scully sister, reigniting HER dedication to the cause. CARL HAS MULDER IN HIS GRASP, grenades a traincar and sets fire to it for good measure... AND SCHRODINGER'S SON LIVES. Not only that, but Rat Boy Rootin' Tootin' Wrong Person Shootin' threatens Idiot Carl with exposure and he loses the group's leverage in a deal with Skinner. Mulder escapes a face full of alien blood, being blown up in a train car TWICE, and being shot at by a fleet of agent operatives all by Season 3.

Because of these escapades, your contempt of Carl Spender's methods have reached new heights; and you send out another colleague-- the British one-- on behalf of the Group to Scully. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders; so from here on out, the members continue to trickle to her throughout the year 1995 whenever CSM can't stop Mulder's zany shenanigans.

1996 brings another problem: Russians and that Rat double agent that Idiot Carl hired back in 1994. (He also tag-teams with Mulder before double-crossing him again.) This particular thorn is far from done his double-crossing ways, however: elevating them to TRIPLE crossing the following year in a three-way between your group, Mulder, and the Russians (throw in the UN for a quadruple feature.) Before that, however, IDIOT Carl makes a deal with Mulder's groupies during Scully's cancer because he just won't let her die without playing god some more.

At this point, you're done. You hire an assassin and have Idiot Carl taken out before he can do something INSANELY STUPID like hand over a cure to the one person that validates Mulder's work-- oh, wait.

Just as you've gained a breather-- your newest dead colleague's family and ego drama is over, Mulder drops his belief and is no longer a threat, and British Colleague has taken back from Triple-or-Quadruple Agent what was yours-- Carl's infuriating legacy lives on: Triple-or-Quadruple (T or Q) Agent pops up from the dust like a cockroach and triple-quadruple-crosses all of you again by siding with Mulder. NOW all of you have Carl's vanity project to deal with again without Carl there to corral or counteract him (not that that helped.) But at LEAST the one person Carl hasn't tampered with seems the most promising. Oddly enough, it's his own child-- Abandoned Son.

BUT THEN CARL HAS TO RUIN A GOOD THING BY CONTACTING ABANDONED SON... which means the Idiot's alive. So, having no choice, you send a Triple-or-Quad out to track down his master; and the quadruple-crosser brings back your not-dead colleague, who sweeps in and... actually helps out, for once, cleaning up the Psychic Kid Mess and closing down the X-Files for good. Wow. He's changing, you think.

Foolishly.

AND THEN your last "on the ground" colleague-- the British one-- betrays all of you by siding with and giving Mulder the cure for Scully's viral infection after you all agreed, soundly, that she needed to be done away with.

AND it turns out Idiot Carl is STILL an idiot, because he's back to his melodramatic family drama by RE-OPENING THE X-FILES HE CLOSED DOWN AND PUTTING HIS OWN SON ON THEM WITH HIS SCHRODINGER SON'S RECRUITMENT GIRLFRIEND. Not only that, but he muddies the waters further by having former recruitment girlfriend string along Schrodinger Son Mulder to pull him away from scientist Scully (because Well-Groomed-Now-Dead British Colleague saved her life) while also forcing Abandoned Son to rot in the basement-- hoping to ignite his passion with Recruitment Girlfriend or the Truth or some such thing that worked the first time around. And, of course, Idiot Carl fails-- no dice.

Abandoned Son then TURNS ON ALL OF YOU because Idiot Carl abandoned his mother; and he and the Rat T-or-Q spy split off from your efforts to save yourselves from Colonization by attempting to stop your plans. NOT ONLY THAT, but Schrodinger's Son joins the cause from a talk with Idiot Carl and Recruitment Girlfriend... BUT THEY DIDN'T DO A GOOD ENOUGH JOB BECAUSE SCIENTIST PARTNER THAT CARL RECRUITED ALL THOSE YEARS AGO TALKS HIM OUT OF IT AGAIN AND STOPS HIM FROM JOINING.

And you realize, too late, that the only intelligent member of this entire, foolish, fumbling charade was the British one who chose to go out in a car bomb after saving all the necessary pieces.

So, in the end, you all toast.

Because of Idiot Carl's idiotic melodrama.

[trustnfc]

Metro exodus sequel

#METRO EXODUS SEQUEL SERIES#

Keep your eyes on Stadia’s Twitter and Facebook for more news on upcoming games and other up-to-the-second announcements. More games are coming to Stadia this year, including Marvel’s Avengers, The Elder Scrolls Online, and SUPERHOT. With the legendary ‘Ranger Mode’ and all previously released DLC included, Metro: Last Light Redux is the definitive way to experience this critically acclaimed sequel. Two unique Play-Styles – Spartan and Survival – allow you to experience the game with action-packed shooting or through tense moments where every shot counts. Players will once again step into the boots of Artyom, and venture forth on an epic adventure through the Metro tunnels beneath Moscow. Metro: Last Light Redux is the spectacular sequel to Metro 2033.

#METRO EXODUS SEQUEL SERIES#

With both sequels ( Metro: Last Light and Metro Exodus), the entire trilogy of this genre-defining series will soon be playable on Stadia. A gripping, story-driven first person shooter set within the sprawling Moscow Metro, it blends combat, exploration, and stealth to create one of the most immersive experiences in gaming.Īll the gameplay improvements and features from the acclaimed sequel Metro: Last Light have been transferred to Metro 2033 Redux – superior AI, controls, animation, weapon handling, and many more – to create a thrilling experience for newcomers and veterans alike. THQ Nordic recently confirmed that 4A Games was working on a Metro Exodus sequel. Metro 2033 Redux is the definitive, remastered version of Metro 2033, the first game in the critically acclaimed Metro series from 4A Games. When Metro Exodus launched earlier this year, it did so nearly six years after the previous game in the series, Metro: Last Light.For its follow up however, it seems that fans won’t wont have to wait as long.

[aiiizawa]

i selfship on main i don’t give a shit you WILL see my me/aizawa images for as long as you follow me i guarantee that.