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shivunin · 10 months

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WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @greypetrel and @palipunk (on the other blog); thank you both!

*Gonna say in advance that I am still getting straight who all writes fic and/or does art, especially if I follow both of your personal and fan blogs, so if I sometimes tag you and sometimes don't just lmk if you do/don't want to be in on these things and I will do my best to oblige! I know people are busy/life is a pain in the ass lately and I don't want anyone to feel pressured or stressed or left out over it

I've been working on my Morrigan scarf, pictured below (hand for scale) and am getting close to finishing the main body of it. I'm really excited for some of the finishing touches, which will hopefully include fringe-like elements along the bottom edge. If they work out right, they'll look similar to feathers (fingers crossed), but if not they'll be irregularly-sized pieces that more closely resemble her skirt. We'll see c:

And here's a bit of writing from an unfinished chapter of Book of Memories; I've been fiddling with the beginning on and off for months, but I would really like to post it sometime in the next few weeks. (CW for fantasy racism and blood/injury):

He could have sworn he'd only taken his eyes off the children for a moment—hardly any time at all for them to get into any trouble—but just then, Leander ran up, his fine tunic torn at one shoulder, his cheek bloodied, and he was panting.

“What’s happened?” Fenris asked, his body shifting slightly in a way that Cullen immediately recognized.

Neither of them were sufficiently armed, but Cullen reached for the support of a sword hilt anyway, his hand falling to his belt knife instead. Fenris crouched, bringing his face level with the boy’s, and Leander pointed toward a crowd forming near the small side garden.

“Adhlea,” he panted, and that was enough—Cullen was already running. He didn’t bother to make sure the Hawkes were following. His daughter needed him, was in danger perhaps—nothing could slow him now.

Adhlea was, in fact, in the center of the crowd. He could hear her piping voice even before he managed to shove through the crowd of bodies.

“You take it back, you—you Blight of a boy!” she was yelling, accompanied by a yelp that was not hers. “Or say that to my face, coward!”

Cullen went on elbowing his way through the huddle of people, his mind racing: Why hadn’t someone pulled her away from whatever was happening? What could possibly have made her this angry? The undercurrent of this all, the fear that made the rest of it unbearable, was this:

She is a new mage. If she hurts someone with magic in front of all these people, what can I do to keep her safe?

“Mongrel,” a garbled voice said. “You and that other—oomph!”

There was a dull sound, flesh striking flesh, and Cullen made his way to the front at last. There was a reason nobody had interrupted her: somehow, Adhlea had called up a barrier, and the bubble of it stood between them and the observers. She seemed well enough—though blood was dripping from her chin—and the boy she was pummeling seemed to be in one piece, for all that she had him pinned.

Maker preserve him. Maker preserve them all.

“Adhlea Rose,” Cullen bellowed, and more than one of the surrounding observers took a step back. “You stop that this instant.”

His daughter didn’t seem to hear him at all; she raised a bloody fist and aimed for the boy’s cheek. Fenris was faster; in a moment, he’d reached through the barrier with one hand, the tattoos that marked the backs of his hands and arms lighting up all at once. He pulled her, squirming, from the barrier by the back of her nice Chantry dress.

Some other time, Cullen might have found this funny; she looked rather like a kitten picked up by a rather annoyed cat. In the moment, he only felt fear.

“Adhlea,” he said sharply, and she stopped fighting. The barrier had popped soundlessly as soon as she’d left it. The boy was summarily scooped up by an older woman—presumably a caretaker—and tugged back from their little quartet.

“What happened?” Cullen demanded, crouching to examine her carefully.

One of her teeth had been knocked loose, leaving an empty space on the upper row of her mouth. Her hands were both bloody about the knuckles, and her lip was already swelling. The redness around her eye would almost certainly be a black eye soon enough, and if the laundress could get the blood out of the gown it would be a miracle.

“He said I was trash,” Leander said unexpectedly, though his green eyes were fixed on Adhlea, “I thought it was stupid. I can’t be trash, because trash is a thing and I’m not a thing. But he said he could prove it and—”

“He was going to shove Leander into the trash can!” Adhlea said, shaking with indignation, tears spilling from her injured eye, “I couldn’t let him—it’s not fair! We didn’t do anything to him!”

Tagging: @ndostairlyrium @daggerbean @layalu (unless you prefer the other blog?) @idolsgf @brother-genitivi

#wip wednesday #shivunin scrivening #adhlea lavellan #leander hawke #scarf projects #this is the story of how they became besties for life #(also. cullen's kid absolutely would learn magic and use it to more effectively punch the shit out of someone #instead of like. actually *using* magic)#(though she does eventually learn that too...so she can be an arcane warrior lol)#(also also if you meant to tag the other blog all i got that's not dragon age is some meandering ME fic unfortunately!#but i can do that too haha. just want to keep all the da stuff together)

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ghostintheheadset · 4 months

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watchmojo's top five headphones_haver fics of 2023 (not clickbait)

I'm looking at my 2023 stats on ao3 and fandom disparities are really funny to me lmao, my main fandom at the moment is fe3h, and of the 22 fics I posted this year, 19 of them were fe3h.

All three of the non-fe3h fics are my top three most kudos'ed fics of the year:

It goes without saying ofc that these numbers don't really matter, if I was only doing this for the kudos I'd be writing m/m genshin fic, and it's not really surprising why the numbers are the way they are- both my Pokemon and Zelda fics were posted within a few months of the game coming, and gwitch is also relatively new and I was writing for far and away the most popular ship. Meanwhile, 3h is now past the 4 year mark, and largely m/m dominated while the majority of my fics are f/f. While I would certainly enjoy all my fics getting popular, seeing the numbers like this makes it easy to remember that engagement isn't a metric of quality.

(In that vein, Falling is probably the fic I spent the least amount of time on this year, being impulse-written in about 2 hours. Sometimes niche fics you pour your heart and soul into can't reach the same level of popularity as wider-appeal stories you wrote much more quickly, and that's okay)

That said, though, I am happy with the fics that made top 2. There's something satisfying about my first and last fics of the year being the most popular, and I am very happy with how the both of them turned out. They're both representative of the themes I like writing about and are both wholesome yuri, so I think they "belong" in the top 5 as much as any fic could be said to.

Numbers 4 and 5 are kind of a surprise to me- Pegasus Knight Dysphoria is a gen fic about a trans girl and Someday is an f/f rarepair. Of the 19 (wow) 3h fics I've written over 2023, these are not the two I'd expect to break into the top 5, but it's a pleasant surprise that they did!

Anyway, none of that actually matters beyond being mildly interesting to me specifically. Onward to 2024:

According to my stats page, I posted 126k words of fic in 2023, which averaged out to a little over 10k words a month or about 345 words a day. Not bad! Looking to get those numbers up next year though. If I don't, then that'll be okay, but 126k is the Word Count To Beat if possible.

I would also like to do some more fandom events! Apparently there's a FE rarepair week happening literally right now that I wasn't aware of until yesterday. Hoooopefully I'll be able to see more of that kind of thing now that I'm here, as they've always been a lot of fun when I could participate. I'm not leaving 3h just yet, but I would like to branch out a bit more- I definitely have more gwitch fics lined up, and I'd like to also branch out a bit and write for some other fandoms I haven't gotten around to yet.

Big writing goal is to finish Together We Ride, and also work on it more consistently. I was putting off starting it for a while because I wanted to "wait for a good time", but I realized if I kept that up it would never get started. Considering I started it in April and there's currently 7 chapters, it was in fact "not a good time", but! I am committed to seeing it through in the upcoming year.

That's about it I think. It's been lovely writing fic over the past year (and a great way to unwind from the Grad School Stress), and I'm very much looking forward to exploring more next year.

(might do a roundup later today of some fics from this year I really liked we'll see)

#ramblings

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zarvasace · 7 months

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PROGRESS POST

(10/4/23)

This is partly for accountability and partly just to get all this out of my head! This last month or two have felt so hectic, getting used to a new work and sleep schedule and all. I'm still not quite there.

If you're curious about what I've been working on and what my plans are in terms of writing and art for the rest of the year, read on. :)

I will say, though, that if you want more of a specific AU or story, the way to get it is by asking questions and leaving comments! Asks and comments remind me about things I'm doing and get me excited about them again! I have these plans, but I also am very good at chasing inspiration to unknown (and sometimes unimportant) corners!

By Fandom

Linked Universe Projects

I've been feeling less motivated to work on LU stuff, but I still plan on at least finishing what I have open, so you can look forward to some of that!

Writing

Disability AU—one small mobility trio fic in the works. A few vague ideas for doing backstory fics.

Council (1931 vampire AU)—this is still the "backburner to backburner" fic, but I do have some fun ideas. I just have been distracted with other things! I think this AU is a lot of fun and I'd love to do more with it. We'll have to see.

The Marvelous Misadventures of Wind and His Merry Band of Maybe-Human Misfits—chapter 7 (out of 9 or so) is in progress. I have it all outlined out, and it's fun to work on, but I have (again) been distracted! This is, I hope, going to be my main December project. It'd be nice to finish before it turns 2 years old next summer. Oops.

I have several other WIPs that aren't very exciting and probably won't see daylight, but they're there if I feel like them

Art

Coloring book—I'm part of the coloring book project! :) I have already finished 1/2 drawings, and they went so well, I'm considering doing more.

Shatterproof manga page—still on my radar! I'm doing the end scene from dazzling diamond danger, and my ambition keeps outgrowing my time.

Four Swords Projects

Writing

Fairytale AU—man I've started this Vidow BatB fic literally five times. I have an almost-complete draft sitting at like... 20k?? iirc, but I kind of hate a lot of it. I also like a lot of it. It's a bit difficult for me to work on rewriting something in that situation. Anyway. Another December thing probably.

Fright Fight—I have ideas for every week, but am currently unsure if I want to draw or write for them. Most of my October will be focused on filling these prompts!

Vampire Lords AU—I have strange as severe is this my fate open right now, with a fair amount of material... it just needs to be edited a bit. I do want to keep working on that, I've just... well. Distraction. A common theme. XD I might be feeling another little bite fic coming on, too.

Art

Fright Fight—see above

Fright Fight part 2—I have a few side things to do for this, like making graphics that I haven't quite finished yet. They shouldn't take long, I just gotta do em!

Non-Fandom

Stickers—I am in the process of drawing some stickers! Yay! These are for my work, but also just for me. I want some Halloween stickers. This is a backburner project.

Nanowrimo project—I need to spend some time figuring out a few things to really get going on my princess-verse. I'm going to be doing Nanolympics this year, so hopefully some of their preptober stuff will help!

Hearts Linked Together—my super-cool Linkverse. XD I love my dumb timeline, and all the characters, they're just filler drawings that I haven't had time to continue.

Secret Zelda project—I really really need to do this! I can't say much right now, but it involves a fair amount of work, both writing and art. I think I haven't gotten very far on it yet because I'm intimidated. Stop that.

Zine edits—I worked really really hard on an art piece for a LoZ zine coming up! This week is critique, and I anticipate a few edits later.

By Month

Facebook posts—a lady I know wants to commission pretty quote images to post on her Facebook. I need to reply to her text. And do them.

September

I primarily worked on the fic Blood-Sucker's Guide to High School. I also worked on and submitted one fic and one piece of art to two different zines, which I hope you'll see soon.

October

If you care, you may have noticed I'm not doing Whumptober this year! Part of this is because I'm a bit burned out from the above, and part of it is that the prompts just didn't seem very inspiring to me this year. Maybe that's just my mindset. I haven't been in a very whumpy mood.

I'm planning on filling weekly prompts for @fsfrightfight this month and maybe chipping away at some other fics, in addition to one more zine contribution. I'm also going to be planning for November and doing some scattered art work here and there.

November

NaNoWriMo! I considered skipping this... but I'm feeling really inspired and motivated to do it, especially with October as a break. I'm going to write some original work, and that will be the focus of my November. I'll likely get some other art done, too.

December

I hope to dedicate this month to finishing things up from this year! That means working on "backburner" projects.

#i speak from the coffin

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realityhelixcreates · 8 months

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Some days ago you wrote a post saying that you were writing something using elder scrolls lore? I think? What's that about? Are you writing some au? I'm a bit lost on your most recent fanfics (I'm waiting until I have some free time so I can give nexus a try, I'm just a bit intimidated cause I know next to nothing about DC) but I love reading about your ideas and characters, they all sound so genuinely interesting and we'll writen.

Ohhhh yes, okay so!

Wayyyyyyyy back in the day, there were a bunch of Riddler ask/art/rp blogs, that all portrayed their respective Riddler in very different ways. Some were based on official material (YJ is from the 2011 Young Justice animated series, Arkham from the Arkham City video game, Detective was originally based off the 1992 Batman: the Animated Series, but became highly altered as their storyline continued) some, like Narci, Puzzles, and Nash, were original takes on the character. Swag stared out as a parody that became a solid character as time passed. All of these interacted with each other, and developed into a found family.

Helix (My OC) came along a little later, and began interacting with them. None of us really expected how inextricably involved she was going to become, since she's much more of a high fantasy character, than a DC character, but it all happened pretty organically, and was a lot of fun.

Back then, I started a bunch of creative projects I wanted to share with the writers of these blogs, but I had just ended my relationship with my ex-fiancee, moved back in with my parents, and was working in a pretty toxic environment, and it just slaughtered my creative output. If I were to point you to my old blog, which I shan't, you would see that I drew maybe five or six things in as many years, when previously, I had drawn almost every day.

All of those blogs eventually went silent, the last interaction being between Helix and Narci. Since then, some of them have even been deleted entirely. I forgot about the things I was going to do, and they lay ignored for years. Then I stumbled across my old harddrive, where all these ideas still existed, barely sketched out, partially begun, and it all flooded back. Yeah, those blogs are done, some of the writers have disappeared, it's all over. But those stories are still there, and so am I.

I am in a much better place than I was. I have some writing practice under my belt, and, most importantly, I have inspiration again. I can make the art I always wanted to. I can write the stories I always wanted to. I can finish what I wanted to start.

That all being said, One of the things I started a long time ago, was an elder scrolls crossover. I had also started playing Skyrim at around that time, and it was an idle idea that I thought would be fun. When I found that harddrive, the first chapter had been partially written out, and I ended up taking the ideas there, and going in a different direction with them. I now have an over thirty chapter, ongoing story involving Helix and Swag stumbling their way through Cyrodiil, told entirely through Swag's POV. I've been posting it on my main/RP blog rather than here, because I felt that Helix and Swag's relationship hadn't been well enough expressed in the Nexusverse yet. Almost all of the Nexus stories so far take place in 2011-2013, and this crossover story takes place in 2020, so there's a lot in between that I haven't gone into yet, you know?

But considering that I've been posting some of the later Nexus stories out of chronological order, I might just start posting it anyway. I think it's kinda obvious by now how some of Helix's relationships pan out, so it might be okay. What do you think?

Also, you are very sweet, and I'm glad I've been able to express some of my ideas in a way that others can enjoy them with me. I will warn you, the stories that are from Helix's POV can be a bit challenging to follow; she doesn't experience reality in the same way as most people, which I've expressed with synesthesia and the repetition of consonants, syllables, and vowel sounds in a freeform poem/prose manner. If you do start the Nexus stories at their beginning, you'll see why.

Don't be too intimidated though; most Nexus stories are only 1-2000 words, with the exception of Orbital Unresonanace, which is, admittedly, a chonker. But you've been reading Lasa, so I know you can handle unreasonably large stories.

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gqa-lite · 9 months

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'Where we’re going with ‘Frozen’ did not come from me. It came from an incredible person. That’s a new piece, I’ve told no one. And I’ve been blown away by it'

and

'They told us, the day of, and a little bit about what they’re thinking. It got us very excited. Now, we have to let the wheels of Hollywood do what they do, but we were very excited with their ideas'

can we talk about what these two interviews imply? lee and lopezes know what frozen 3 plot is about and they both admit it's ~amazing~. I think it bodes very well for the movie and we're in for a one hell of a ride.

the only thing that worries me is idina's lack of any reaction. she must know the plot, I'm sure someone from disney has called her and they talked about this. yet the only thing she said when asked about frozen 3 is 'yeah I'm happy 'cause I'll be able to pay my bills'...

anyway, I'm very intriqued by this whole thing. what are these ideas that got them so excited? I must know! maybe it's about Elsa finding romance? but on the other hand I don't believe romantic sub-plot is something that would make lee's mind blow away. let alone make her greenlit the threequel.

or maybe it's about neighbouring kingdom attacking arendelle? it would be too much like frozen 2, tho.

uuuuGGGhhh I just can't stop thinking about it!

Kristen Bell also lightly announced F3 back in 2022 but said she wasn't in charge to 'officially' announce it. This tells me she had heard about it (maybe small talks or rumors...or she's directing it just saying) and that they were actually, at the very least, talking about the film since 2022.

What's interesting about the quote "It's a new piece" tells me that while Frozen and Frozen 2 are meant to be one complete story, Frozen 3 might be starting something different, and may not even be called Frozen 3. It makes sense - Frozen 2 doesn't have a special title, it's literally just Frozen part 2.

Basically, every plot point introduced and explored in the first two films could very well be finished, and now we're treading new territory with these characters. Honestly, this possibility screams for an analysis post on who the characters are now and who they'll be going forward, and what plot points we'll most likely be leaving behind (for better or for worse). Stay tuned for this on my main blog haha.

In terms of Elsa maybe finding romance - My honest opinion is that Elsa won't be getting any romance (male or female) and remain ace. However, I do think they might heavily imply a strong connection to Honey, since fans were already on board with them and they already had a fairly close scene in F2, which opens up some more narrative opportunities between them. I'm 100% certain that there will be no prince though.

Now, in terms of Idina Menzel not being enthusiastic....that's kind of her overall personality, to be honest. I don't know Idina personally of course, but from what I've seen, she's a bit on the introverted side unless she's acting or singing. If you look at her during the Making of Frozen 2 Documentary, she also seems a bit unenthusiastic. Again, I think she's just acting that way because it's her personality, not because she's not interested in the film. But that's my personal observation.

#frozen 3

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recurring-polynya · 9 months

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Writing/Art Update 7/25/2023

Well...I'm kind of in the same state I was last week, which is to say, I have not done much in the way of art or writing. Lots happened last week! The frogs arrived! My son and I built a Corsi-Rosenthal box! I celebrated hitting 1500 followers by posting a bunch of deleted scene from my old fanfics!

Anyway, I feel like I am having a small amount of time freeing up, so I am trying to get back into my "write something every day, even if it's just a little" thing. I started yesterday, and wrote 508 words, which is...my writing for the entire week.

Since I haven't talked about it in a few weeks and someone asked today, I am back to working on Ductwork, the next part of the Heart is a Muscle. My goal for the summer is to be +20k words on it from where I started. It was at 7700 words in May, and the main document is at 17,638, which does contain a small amount of trash, but let's ignore that for now, and say I am currently at a net of 9,938. I also started a secondary document for flashbacks, which is at 508. I'm not entirely sure at this point whether or not all the flashbacks will make it into the main fic, but I wanted to write them, and it's often helpful to write stuff that happened so that I know. Odds are, I will probably cram them all in, because I am very bad at throwing out writing, but we'll see. I am going to need to re-write the Renji Breaks an Arm story to better fit into the narrative. I've been putting it off, but I feel like maybe I'm up to it. It's about 3500 words, and it feels a little cheap to count that as new writing, but on the other hand, rewrites are Hell, so maybe I do deserve credit for it. I am sort of planning that the first half of the fanfic is going to switch off between Inuzuri flashbacks and current time. I'm not sure how well that's going to work, which is probably why I've been putting it off, but maybe it's time to give it a shot. How many interwoven hurt/comfort stories can I fit into one fanfic? I am attempting three. I wouldn't have to do this if Soul Society had therapy, but instead what it has is Byakuya, so here we are.

When I was digging through my deleted scenes, I found at least two short stories that were, like, 90% complete? I pulled them out and stuck them in new files in my WIP folder, and I might try to finish them if I get desperate to Post. It's tempting to do that now, but I really do want to make some progress on The Monster. Alsoooooo I wrote, like two paragraphs of an adult fanfic that I would like to work on, in theory, but I just have too much else going on.

I can't believe it's Tuesday already. I am tired. Anyway, I am trying hard to have a productive week, let's see how it goes.

#writing update #art update

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boysplanetrecaps · 2 months

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Build Up Episode 1: If You and Every Moment

Welcome back to my project of recapping Build Up, the MNET show! In the previous one, we finished off the "voice check" mission, when the guys voted -- or didn't vote -- for each other. In this post, we'll tackle the judges panel as well as the first two performances: If You and Every Moment of You. Let's do this!

It's time for the performances already!

The judges are gathering. First in is Lee Seokhoon. You know, this guy.

He was the vocal coach on, among other shows, PD101 and Boys Planet. I have tried and tried over the course of this recap to remember his name but I cannot, and my scrolling finger was getting tired, so I will be calling him That Guy or That Vocal Coach Guy or something throughout and you’re just going to have to make your peace with that.

Then Wendy from Red Velvet and Baekho arrive. I’ve never seen Wendy on a show like this before, which checks out, because she says it’s her first time. And OMG. Baehko? Main vocal of Nu’est? The guy I bring up randomly in recaps that have nothing whatsoever to do with him, on the slightest pretense? I genuinely didn’t know he’d be a judge on this, but it sure sweetens the pot. I hope we get to hear him singing!

Baekho jokes that he feels like he should be on stage performing, because That Guy is here. The joke is that Baekho was on PD101 Season 2, when That Guy was a judge/trainer. Baekho actually won PD101 Season 2 based on the real votes, and should have been in Wanna One, but MNET rigged it and gave his spot to someone else.

I’m really surprised that Baekho would want to deal with MNET again after all that, but I guess this show has a different staff and showrunner.

Baekho and Wendy talk about how it’s their first time doing a show like this, and Wendy says she’s so nervous. She sounds really nervous. It’s one of the first times I’ve ever seen Wendy not smiling.

Eunkwang from BtoB arrives (if you don’t know BtoB, they’re with Cube and they’re known for their vocals), and Solar from Mamamoo. Finally, Jaehwan from Wanna One (he’s a soloist now) -- he’s the one who sang that part right before the chorus of Energetic, the part with the “no no no no!” His vocals are so gorgeous, my god. But also, I wonder if it’s weird for Jaehwan and Baekho to work together after being on PD101 together all those years ago…? Doesn’t seem to be -- they have a fun rapport.

Anyway, this judging panel is stacked.

LTR: Baekho from Nu’est, Solar from Mamamoo, That Guy, Eunkwang from BtoB, Wendy from Red Velvet, and Jaehwan from Wanna One

Dahee appears and introduces herself as the MC.

She looks really pretty. A long sleeved bedazzled denim tailored crop top paired with a matching denim mini skirt? I mean why not? Do your thing, Dahee. The judging panel applauds and shouts at her that she’s beautiful.

The camera reveals where the boys are sitting in a sort of green room area, and they are also shouting about Dahee. They’re now wearing the outfits they wore in their official photos. That will make it easier to recognize them from those photos, that’s for sure.

And looking at this, I realize, this is supposed to look like the coliseum. You guys. That’s why one of the boys said that the set looks like the coliseum as they were coming in, before the studio lights came up. Someone must have told him to say it. This is supposed to look like an ancient Roman gladiator ring or something. I wish it didn’t look so shitty, though.

Dahee says that the participants will get to experience the feeling of being in a 4 member group today, and that they be evaluated for their performance.

Wendy is super nervous. She might be even more nervous than the boys are. Come on, Wendy, my fellow North American. You got this! She’s wearing one of those three-quarter sleeve blazers. I feel like I should get one of those.

Dahee asks the judges what criteria they’ll be using. The judges reply with their criteria one by one, and the guys in the green room are seeing it on a closed circuit camera view and reacting to each judge. Apparently, this is the first time they are finding out even who the judges are, much less what the criteria is. Seems like maybe that info would have been helpful earlier, like maybe when the boys were rehearsing and planning….?

LTR: Bitsaeon from M.O.N.T, Ji Yeon Woo, Sunyoul from UP10TION, and Choi Su Hwan -- aka Team Decalcomanie.

The boys are excited to see the vocal coach guy, who they refer to as “that man with glasses.” I guess they also have trouble remembering his name. They’re also a bit intimidated by him -- he’s known for telling it like it is.

The guys are also especially delighted to see Eunkwang from BtoB.

To be clear, they’re also pretty surprised and happy to see all the judges, but my sense is that for most of them, Eunkwang takes top spot. He is often cited as a role model for young male kpop vocalists, in much the way that young female kpop vocalists would cite Taeyeon from SNSD.

Sunyoul, in his sparkly black jacket, pulls out a little notebook and starts taking notes of the criteria! Is Sunyoul low key the Woongki of Build Up? I think he might be, friends. I’m here for it. Not that anyone can replace THE Woongki, but it’s nice to have someone around who reminds us of him. So what must Sunyoul be writing down? Here’s the criteria we get:

The Vocal Coach Guy says that he’s going to be looking for the delivery of the lyrics and for them to do their own interpretation of the songs.

Eunkwang encourages them to have good teamwork on stage and to show their best performance with the chance they have.

Solar from Mamamoo tells them that, as a member of a 4-person vocal group herself, she’s looking for synergy.

Baekho says he’s looking to see that they distributed the parts correctly so that each member can shine.

Wendy tells them she’s also looking for lyric delivery and emotional expression.

Jaehwan starts to say that the others already gave good advice, and Eunkwang playfully interrupts to tell him to not say more in that case. Jaehwan goes on, undaunted, and encourages them to not let their nervousness get the best of them. They need their breath to sing!

And right away, it’s time for the first team to perform!

If You (originally by Big Bang)

The first team is doing “If You” by Big Bang, from 2015. Eunkwang says the song is really hard, and That Guy agrees. Shipji ana! It’s not easy. This song is not just something you can sing with a “nice tone.”

Who is taking the stage?

It’s Geonu from Just B, Jay, Kang Hayoon, and Hong Seongjun from BDC. They each introduce themselves.

Randomly, back in the green room, Seokhwa from WEi says he went to an academy with Geonu. See, all these guys travel in the same circles. One more reason it’s dumb to have fan wars -- you might be crapping on an idol who is best friends with your bias.

Hwanhee, watching from the green room, says he’s looking forward to Jay. And speaking of Boys Planet, That Vocal Coach Guy greets Jay, and they say “long time no see” kind of stuff. It’s interesting -- Jay’s Korean is obviously a lot stronger than it used to be, but he’s clearly still not fluent.

Vocal Coach Guy also knows Hong Seongjun from when Seongjun was on PD101, so the other judges tease him for knowing everyone -- is he like, the mayor of MNET? Vocal Coach Guy shakes off the teasing, but takes the time to praise Jay’s talent.

Solar and Wendy ask Hayoon why, if he’s ranked so high and can choose any song he wants, he chose this song. He says, in his very cute way of talking, that he thinks YG songs fit his voice, and we’re left to ponder how someone so cyoo can also be so YG we head into a flashback.

Let’s take a quick break and talk about the song itself. It was released in 2015 as a digital single only, with no video; an official for YG said that the song was too sad to make an MV for it! It was also unusual for a Big Bang song in that it featured only singing, not rapping. The lyrics describe a break up; the chorus goes, “If you, if you/ If it’s not too late / Can’t we get back together? / If you, if you/ If you’re struggling like I am / Can’t we make things a little easier?/ I should’ve treated you better when I had you.” The song did really well on the charts and got a lot of critical praise. For the record, I think it’s gorgeous, and I’m glad it’s going to get a cover done by a team of all main-vocalist. It has the feeling of a song written out of a real emotional place, and needs to be performed from that same emotional place if possible. Good things idols aren’t allowed to date, or they might actually experience some of these emotional situations! Sigh.

So, back to the flashback!

We learn that Hayoon chose If You immediately, because he thinks it suits him. Kang Hayoon kind of reminds me of that one episode of the Brak show where it turned out Zorak could sing in this really nice, clean voice -- but in reverse. Hayoon has this soft, sweet speaking voice and then he sings like an ageless wizard.

Anyway, based on my reconstruction of the team formation, six other contestants chose their songs next, and didn’t choose this one, but Jay made a bee-line for it. Jay explains that he chose If You at least in part because he wanted to work with Hayoon, which is kind of funny since earlier in the episode we learned that Hayoon was wary of working with Jay.

Hong Seongjun, looking on from down in the gladiator pit, says he doesn’t want to be in the same song as Hayoon and Jay, but after 17 more guys make their choice, he ends up choosing If You anyway. After all, he’s a great singer too, right? By the time Geonu chooses, all that is left besides If You is Decalcomanie, Don't Go, Breath, and of course Every Moment (more on that later), but he chooses If You.

They sing a bit together to help decide how to divide up the parts. Honestly, I’m not sure that I’m as much of a superfan of Hayoon’s voice as everyone else seems to be. I get it that it’s unique, and I definitely like some unique voices, but Hayoon’s voice just isn’t the kind of voice I love-love-love. I like it, don't get me wrong, but it's not my favorite voice in the whole world. Jay says Hayoon’s voice is very similar to G-Dragon’s voice, and I guess it is, actually, that’s fair -- but GD isn’t exactly known as an excellent vocalist, is he? He’s more of a rapper, songwriter, allrounder, swag king. (G-Dragon is the leader of Big Bang, if you're not familiar.)

So, I watched this episode the first time while a bit stoned (it’s legal where I live, guys, and I’m over 21) and I wrote down: “Jay is singing too, and jesus god on a pony he sounds gorgeous. I’m so distracted by his pink lipstick but his voice? Amazing. He says that he really wants a main part, and I want him to have one.” So… yeah. That’s how I feel now, too. (Write stoned, but edit sober, is what I always say.)

And they begin….

I know some of you may not have a decent link to the episode, so I’ll give the version with all the interruptions and reactions too, in case you want to watch it.

Here’s the version without all the reactions, if you want just the performance.

Here’s the version with all the reactions -- you can turn on the captions if you want.

My thoughts:

Basically, Jay’s voice is so impossibly sweet that he makes everyone else sound almost bad. I know I said he needs to work on his pitch and nasality, but he didn’t seem to have any pitch issues with this song, not even minor ones, and he was a lot less nasal. When I watched the performance before I saw the episode, I thought maybe he’d worked through the song with a trainer or judge or something to do the job he did, and you know, maybe he did. Regardless of how he did it, he sounded fantastic.

If you were eating really high quality ice cream, would you want to have a handful of Doritos right in the middle? Even if you like Doritos? I guess maybe some people would, but it’s not really the experience I’d want, personally. Doritos in one bowl, Ben & Jerry’s in the other, you know?

What I’m saying is that Jay is the ice cream and Hayoon is the Doritos.

Hayoon does have a GD-esque voice. It’s cool to listen to by itself, but next to Jay’s honey voice, it stands out kind of unpleasantly to me. It’s not a deal breaker or anything; it’s just that it wasn’t my favorite blend.

If you listen to just Seongjun’s voice, it’s nice too, if sometimes fairly nasal. Next to Jay's, it pales a bit, but on its own, it's really nice. It’s got texture and warmth and emotion. But he loses control just that little bit in service of the emotion, and he has a habit of letting his voice kind of “slump” at the end of each line. (That’s my term for it -- I don’t know if there’s an official way to explain.)

Judging by the criteria of, “who showed the most emotion,” it’s Geonu by a mile. But it was maybe a bit too much emotion…? He ended up going a bit pitchy and here and there -- he also loses control in service of the emotion. I could imagine a fan enjoying that, but I don’t think it’s what these judges want. That said, his vocal color is actually really very sweet and pleasant. I think he probably adds a lot to Just B songs.

The parts in harmony sounded pretty amazing. Everyone was in such control. Nice work, team!

Overall, this performance was really great. If this was a real vocal group, I’d like to listen to them. Hayoon’s instinct that his voice and Jay’s wouldn’t mix well was dead on, but I’d work around that to hear each of them individually. I also think that all three of the other voices blended well. It also doesn’t hurt that I love this song. I admit fully that it will be harder for me to evaluate some of the other songs.

MNET Edit:

It’s comparatively restrained for an MNET edit, with a lot of reactions but a minimum of instant replays from both the other guys and the judges.

The judges say:

The judges love Jay and Hayoon especially. It seems that only Geonu leaves all the judges stone faced. The boys backstage are impressed by especially by Jay especially, but seem to have kind words for all four.

When the song is over, everyone applauds, and Dahee asks the judges what they thought.

That Vocal Coach Guy says that overall they were good. Jay was a good fit for the song, and he really enjoys Hayoon’s unique tones.

Baekho praises Seongjun as the one whose performance held the performance together. Aww, that’s nice he got a bit of love. He really did sound nice here, and displayed a bit of range compared to his teaser song performance.

Jaehwan says that Geonu’s gestures and expressions were too canned and pre-planned, and it made his performance feel lifeless. Kind of harsh, but fair, I think. It’s tough because in kpop idol music, they tend to plan everything, even minor things like when they’re going to pass their hand in front of their face. Coming here where they’re expected to basically freestyle sing may be a tough adjustment for them.

Hearing this tough critique upsets our sweet Sunyoul, who asks his teammate Ji Yeon Woo to feel how hard his heart is beating.

With any luck, some girls will ship this and vote for him! Fighting, Yeonwoo! Fighting, Sunyoul!

Dahee asks the judges to select the top tier singer. It’s down to Jay versus Hayoon, and the judges spend time thinking, but it seems kind of obvious who it’s going to be Jay. The boys back stage think it will be Jay, too.

It turns out it’s unanimous --

-- they all chose Jay.

The other guys congratulate him, but they’re obviously disappointed to not be picked themselves.

When Dahee asks Wendy about her reaction to Jay’s voice, she says it tickled her ears, and I know what she means.

Jay kind of can’t believe he’s hearing such high praise from Wen-fucking-dy from Red-fucking-Velvet. I would die. I would die! I would evaporate into a wisp of carbon and oxygen if Wendy praised my singing voice!!

Dahee asks how it feels to win, and Jay tries to answer but first has to figure out what to call the judges. Eunkwang says he can call him hyung, which also blows Jay’s mind. Jay decides to stay formal, thanks them for the compliments, and promises to keep working hard.

Again, I’m sure the other boys are disappointed, but I think they knew it was a long shot to win against Jay. They try to take it in stride because they mostly got good feedback.

The judges talk about how good Jay is until it’s time for the next performance.

Every Moment of You

When the next song pops up on screen, the whole judging panel is pretty shocked, because it is apparently a really difficult one to sing. It’s called “너의 모든 순간 (Every Moment of You)” and is originally by Sung Sikyung. It’s from a drama My Love From The Star which was a phenomenon at the time, to the point that the lipstick color the main actress wore ended up trending. I watched this drama and liked it (not loved it but liked it a lot), but I didn’t really recognize the song, which is telling. I do often get to like songs from dramas I watch because you hear them over and over, you know? I just find this song a bit cheesy, personally. If you like it, rock on -- a LOT of people like this song.

Some of the lyrics:

After a while, when I recognized you, Everything was clearly changing/ My world separates to before and after knowing you/ When you breathe, a warm wind blows/ When you smile, dazzling sunlight shines …. Because you stayed there, because it’s you / Because you sometimes quietly lean on my shoulder/ I’m really, completely happy / I follow you as time flows and stops.

Anyway! So, the guys come out and introduce themselves.

Jang Intae says he’s hoping to establish himself as a good singer. Jang Intae was the one who came in last place in the voting. He performed a BtoB song as his teaser (V31) so it’s safe to guess he might be a fan of Eunkwang’s. Jaehwan gives Intae’s introduction a lot of approval, and we find out later that the two of them are friends.

Seunghun from CIX introduces himself and says “I sing deep emotions with a soft voice.”

Hong Sungwon says he’s a musical actor who will tap your eardrums sweetly. He’s in this fabulous ombre sweater with frayed hems and I want it. Sungwon is the one who sang Desperado as his teaser song, and I thought he did a great job.

Finally, Bain says he’s going to cut your heartstrings which doesn’t sound great…? Maybe it sounds better in Korean.

We hop back in time to see some of their preparations. We find out that Sungwon the musical actor chose this song quite willingly, but he was 14th to pick, meaning that 13 guys chose a song before him and none of them chose this song. In fact, it was the song that stayed empty the longest. Then, when we got to the last four guys to choose -- Bain, Seunghun from CIX, Lim Junhyuk (former Day 6), and Jang Intae -- there were three spaces still in Every Moment of You and one space in Breath. So there wasn’t really much in the way of choice for those last four guys, and three of them ended up here. What I’m saying is that most of the guys really didn’t want to sing this song, Sungwon aside.

When it came to their preparations, the main issue was, who gets to sing the intro? It’s kind of the “killing part” of the song, the part that everyone mimics when they talk about this song. At first, it looks like the team is going to have the musical actor Sungwon sing it, but then CIX’s Seunghun challenges him. Who won it? We have to watch the performance to find out.

Here’s the version without all the reactions, if you want just the performance.

Here’s the version with all the reactions -- you can turn on the captions if you want.

My thoughts:

Enh, guys, I had a rough time with this one, but I admit the song is kind of growing on me, despite my best efforts to keep not liking it.

Overall, this wasn't bad, but I liked some of the performances more than others.

So the first time I listened, I just listened, not watching, so I wouldn’t know who was who. Then I watched it again to match up voice to singer. From my blind listening, I ranked them

Sungwon (the musical actor)

Bain (orange hair from Just B)

Seunghun (from CIX)

Intae

I just didn’t really like the way Intae sang this.

It was so nasal, for starters. He has to switch awkwardly to falsetto sometimes and when he does it’s the wrong kind of breathy. He must be doing something wrong with his breathing because he also runs out of breath at the end of lines sometimes. He does have good pitch, and nice control over his vibrato. But overall this is just sort of not something I like to listen to. I feel bad because he came in last place in the voting and I don’t want to kick a guy when he’s down, but… yeah.

I also didn’t much like Seunghun’s performance. Again, I thought it was quite nasal, though not as nasal as Intae’s. He runs out of breath in the first bit, which may have been a stylistic choice but comes across to me as a mistake. His vocal color is certainly pretty on the lower notes when the nasality is less present, and boy, does the camera love his pretty face.

Eunkwang is edited to show disgust for Bain’s singing, which, you guys, ugh, omg, I can’t, I’m so mad. Bain did great. I’d admit it if he didn’t, but he did great. Fuck this show. I swear. His longer notes have resonance. He has barely any nasality. He has a tiny teeny too much vibrato for my taste here but I think it’s appropriate for the song. Pitch? Check. Emotion? Check. Breath support? Check. I don’t get the criticism.

Sungwon, to me, was the obvious MVP. His voice is so clear and lovely that it just goes down easy in your ear holes. He doesn’t have a hint of nasality and his control and pitch are both spot on. He vibrato is perfect, just perfect. Any more would be too much and less would be not enough. He also looks right at the camera and acts it perfectly. I also think the camera loves his pretty face, too, but you guys know that I don’t know who is or isn’t handsome in this world.

The MNET edit:

They of course play an instant replay of those important first few notes, and see everyone reacting to them. We get a lot of edited in reactions from the judges to let us know that apparently Bain is terrible, just the worst, get off the stage you loser. But other than that, the edit is relatively restrained for MNET. I guess they’re not going to be tap dancing on their edit keyboard as much for this show as they do for Boys Planet-esque shows.

The judges say:

All of the judges compliment Seunghun’s singing in the intro. Then Jaehwan compliments everything about him, including his height and looks. That’s… not the point, Jaehwan, but ok.

Wendy really liked musical actor Sungwon, and praises him a lot. Her praising him makes me feel smart. Yay! Wendy and I agree so all is right with the world.

Solar is glad that Intae smiled. I guess she has a point since the song is a love song, and watching most of them sing, you’d think that it was a sad song. I mean, here’s Bain singing with his eyes basically closed -- and he was like this for a WHILE.

But I don’t think Intae's smiling overcomes the other more serious problems with his performance.

Eunkwang says, “Bain used a singing method that is far from this song.” I don’t know what that is even supposed to mean. But of course, we just see this one sentence from Eunkwang, and don’t hear what any of the other judges had to say about him. This is just the MNET editing, and MNET has decided to hate Bain. Well, I hate MNET, how about that? Also, Eunkwang, you’re low-key on my shit list. I didn’t get the best impression of you on Kingdom, TBH, so… yeah.

Oh no, Bain is sad! Everyone listen to his cover of Seven by Jungkook to cheer him up.

The judging panel is over, and it’s time to choose top tier. The boys backstage think it’ll either be the musical actor Sungwon or CIX’s Seunghun. I’d give it to Sungwon, if it’s not obvious.

Most of them vote for CIX’s Seunghun, but Solar votes for Intae. OMG, Solar. You can even see That Vocal Coach Guy looking at her as if to say WTF.

Naturally, Seunghun is really glad to be chosen top tier after what happened in the first vote. Even though I didn’t adore his performance here, he’s a sweet guy and I know he really wants to be recognized as a vocalist, not just a handsome face, so I’m happy for him. Also, he’s singing in the ballad style, which is what he was asked to do, so if it’s not to my taste, maybe that’s ok.

Ok, I think that’s good for now! I’ll see you in the next one, when we’ll pick up with Don’t Go. Thanks as always for reading!

#mnet #bpr recaps build up #cix #just b #Jay Chang

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cthonyxa · 3 months

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This is the last piece of buffer art from 2023 that I have prepared (though I might pull some art from other projects to use as buffer since I'm now officially out of it). It's of two characters from my Ashmont Vigilantes world: Lucia and Dominic. You may remember Dominic from my first post on the Transcendent Trio, although he was only mentioned in passing. This is concept art from when he was in his late teens/early 20s, set several years before the Transcendent Trio storyline and in what I'm tentatively calling the CREWCUT storyline.

While Lucia/Ziyara's backstory is still under heavy development, the basic idea is that she's from a planet called Ootalax (her species is Ootalaxian) who was sent to Earth at a young age as part of her training to eventually be the Ootalaxian ambassador. She was given the identity of Lucia Carter, niece to Gerald Carter (the secret identity of a well-known hero called Captain Amazing), and began living as a normal human. She met Nic through his parents (Isabella Allard, aka Birdseye, and Anthony Allard, aka Dire Jibe), since they ran in the same superhero circles as Captain Amazing. Despite living in separate parts of the country, they became fast friends and would go on to form an unsanctioned teen heroing group together with some other superhero friends.

A few fun facts about Ootalaxians: they are shapeshifters with the ability to change every part of their body, except for their brains, their body mass, and their specific form of mitochondria (which is what allows them to shapeshift). Their natural form tends to be tall (7 or 8 feet) with skin tones on the blue/black spectrum, four arms, and six eyes with no visible pupils. While Ootalaxians can emulate the reproductive tract of any animal, their natural reproductive system is that of three parents: imna (contributor of ova), ishrrl (contributor of sperm), and ithos (bearer of the child). Babies are born without a sex, but most settle in a single sex for the most part by the age of 5. It is not uncommon, however, for them to change their sex based on how they feel about themselves, to fit the parental role they want to have in their child’s life, or a variety of other reasons. The vast majority of Ootalaxians are multisexual, since that's their natural reproductive state, although they have the same broad spectrum of (a)sexuality that humans do. Lucia's main gender is imna, which is why she goes by she/her pronouns, and she identifies as omnisexual (the multisexual label she liked best).

In this picture, Nic is shown to be Owlet, which is kind of the Robin to Birdseye's Batman. However, as I started fleshing out the pre-TT timeline, I decided I wanted that mantle to go to his brother, Connor. There are reasons for this that I won't go into right now, but the end result is that Nic is no longer Owlet, but Mockingbird--intended to the sidekick of Dire Jibe. I'm not 100% sure if either of them will be official sidekicks or "you can't tell us no" unofficial ones, though. Nic has always been uneasy with authority, which is what draws him to the punk aesthetic/culture. There's a lot about his backstory and personality that I haven't settled on, so I can't say much right now, but identity-wise he's bisexual, demiromantic, and polyamorous.

Anyway, that's it for now. I need to finish the model sheets for the Transcendent Trio, so I'm not sure when my next post on this world will be. But, hey, maybe I'll get inspired to do a vignette. Or I'll need buffer and so I'll show you the character concept art I have for a pre-TT visual novel game I want to make around the same time I officially start working on the TT comic. I guess we'll see! 😁

#art #original art #digital art #alien character #genderfluid #omnisexual character #bisexual character #demiromantic character #polyamorous character #superhero art #punk fashion #ashmont vigilantes

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ocalaghan · 4 months

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i finished watching the golden girls tonight and let me tell you... that is not a show to finish watching when you're in the heartache of a friend break-up lmao.

it was good though. i started it in january 2022 because it had been on my radar for a while and in the wake of betty white's passing, it felt like a fitting time to finally start it. i watched the first 5 seasons quite quickly but slowed waaaaaay down with the last two. i can see why it was so loved. i almost wish i'd kept note of the plot-holes to make a post about them though because i noticed soooooo many.

i think rose and dorothy were my favourites. rose was so sweet. i'm clearly too fucking soft to be alive because sometimes when the other girls made jokes at rose's expense, it made me feel like crying lmao.

i was surprised the series ended without saying anything about she and miles' wedding because they were engaged just a few episodes before the finale? i guess that might be because of the sequel show but i was shocked it ended with a wedding that wasn't rose's. i'm glad she was choosing to stay living with blanche and sophia instead of moving in with her daughter though, but it did sort of make me wonder because if she's getting married won't she be perhaps moving in with miles sometime in the near future???

i was happy for dorothy though. the whole series she had such back-and-forth with stan and the other girls joking about her single life so i think she deserved a nice husband!!! the fact it was someone related to one of her best friends was a nice twist (although it did make me wonder how old he is if he's blanche's uncle).

blanche's story concluded the way she'd always been and she's fairly happy with her life so... no complaints there??? i think it would've been fun if sophia had a lil boyfriend though. but i still have to watch the golden palace so i guess we'll see. i'm just glad none of them will be lonely/without each other. the scene of them all crying and hugging goodbye had me so sad though. like pls! you can all visit each other! </3

throughout the series though i had a crazy hard time keeping up with their families. it seemed like they all had absolutely hundreds of siblings and children. rose had like... nine (???) adoptive siblings. and she mentions five children but we only ever meet two of her daughters, kiersten and bridget, and we know of two granddaughters, both kiersten's.

and then blanche is one of five children and i think we meet all of her siblings bar her brother tad in this series. and i was constantly confused by her kids, every time she mentioned one of them it seemed like there was a new drama!!! probably because she was a distant mother who relied on nannies because she had five kids she seemingly wasn't super interested in mothering, but anyway. i know we meet janet and rebecca whom she repairs her relationships with, and then we don't meet matthew "skippy", or doug, or biff. and we know her late husband had a son borne of an affair, david. i like to think blanche keeps in touch with david and maybe introduces him to his half-siblings so they can all have a relationship. it bugged me that he was called david though because, common as the name may be, they could've just made it something different since one of janet's three children is called david and we meet him during the series too.

dorothy was less confusing because she only had one sister and one brother (i was so sad for her and sophia when he died??!) and only had two kids, michael and kate. so as a result, sophia, also less confusing, because she's got three kids with one of them obviously being a main character.

anyway. i find it deeply interesting how the perception of middle-aged women has changed in the decades since this show aired. i always thought these women were meant to be much older than they were (with the exception of sophia, since she's aged 80 in the pilot). like definitely late 60s at the very least (which still isn't really that old now). but they're all early to mid 50s when the show begins. they are by no means 'old' ladies in my eyes. whereas you look at shows nowadays that portray women in their 50s, you generally wouldn't assume they're 50. it's just interesting how the style has changed but also the lens through which we view aging women.

anyway, it was a great show. i'd like to watch the sequel. i feel like it tied up the main plots nicely enough and it made me laugh out loud genuinely several times. it was far more progressive than i expected it to be considering the era and seeing these beautiful women being trailblazers for 'older' women, and for these minority groups and prevalent issues they discussed on the show was a joy.

it feels strange to think they are all now passed, but they've given people such comfort even long after their deaths. <3

#the golden girls #rose nylund #dorothy zbornak #blanche devereaux #sophia petrillo #tv: the golden girls

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sawdusst · 5 months

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Theft of a Crew (Coroika Pirate AU) Chapter 1 ⚓

Hi hello hi!!!!! We're back on the writing grind with another choose your own adventure type thing :D

Sorry if this chapter was a bit boring,, I hope you guys enjoy it :'D I had a bit of trouble arranging a few things but I think it turned out ok!

As I do with all of my posts, here's the link back to the main thread in case you'd like to read more about the pirate AU :D or— or re-read, I guess if you're already familiar with everything.

Anyways, enjoy!

[Word count: 1,128 + some revisions]

“Don’t forget we’re here to pick up some supplies that should last us the next couple of weeks,” Barreleye said, pacing back and forth on the main deck. He scribbled a few other notes on the yellowed sheet of paper, “We also should pick up a few ropes, the ratlines are starting to get worn out. I also think we should buy some extra sails. I'm not sure when's the next time we'll reach land."

=====

Barreleye walked onto the wooden deck, being met with a bright afternoon sun and a soft breeze that brushed through the piers. He held a tattered piece of paper in one hand and a quill in the other.

“I hope I can get myself a new jacket,” Tako mumbled as the anchor was lowered, “My old one's falling apart.”

“And I wonder if there’s any place where my tri-stringer could get repaired,” Mitsuami said, plucking at a stray thread hanging off the bow’s limbs, “For a fair price too, Hagglefish weapon shops are so overpriced.”

“Tell me about it,” Hornmet interjected, “Seriously, twenty-thousand cash for just a check up??? And it’s just for them to look at it?? As if I don’t already do that every day.”

Barreleye laughed, "I'm honestly just glad to be here. I might stop by a few gift shops myself."

Port Mackerel was a bright and luminous town that was famous for two things: pickpockets and bountiful markets. By sundown the town had a soft and warm glow with the streets lit up by lanterns that hang from one street light to another. It was certainly a city of life and one that never seems to rest.

Once the crew was finished docking the ship, some of them hopped off while other crewmates decided to stay behind.

“We’ll meet back here at sundown,” Barreleye said, “Don’t forget about the supplies! I’ll see you guys later!”

Barreleye and Mitsuami walked down a cobblestone path, passing by an assortment of merchant stalls as they entered the town. They passed by an old, wooden board with withered wanted posters plastered all over it. The ink on the yellowed paper was starting to fade, the bounties barely legible. Newspaper clippings and other posters were stuck onto the board with short daggers. Barreleye had his hands tucked in his pockets with nonchalance as they passed by the wooden board. Mitsuami held her tri-stringer in her hand, following after him and occasionally stopping to look through shop windows. Her pet salmonid rested on her shoulder while they looked around.

Barreleye and Mitsuami walked past the merchant’s stalls that displayed a colorful array of trinkets and other mementos. They passed by a stall with a merchant claiming to sell wood from an “island of shadow” when it was really a bunch of logs painted pitch black.

They walked past another stall directly next to it that sold pieces of a ‘cursed mirror’, which were just regular shards of glass with a yellow tint from regular wear.

“Do you think they’re real?” Mitsuami asked, “I’ve heard no one’s survived a visit to the shadows before… except for maybe a few rare cases…”

“Really?” Barreleye responded, “I didn’t know if it was possible to escape from that island or not. I’ve heard the inner coast of the island is too strong for any boat to sail properly. Once you’re there you’re pretty much doomed.”

“I’m not really sure what to make of it,” Mitsuami replied with a sigh.

While the two were walking, Mitsuami couldn’t help but feel as if they were being watched. Sure, it was a town with a huge pickpocketing problem— they still had those to look out for. However, whenever Mitsuami glanced over her shoulder— she noticed a silvery blue inkling standing somewhere amongst the citizens passing by.

They wore a white shirt with ruffled sleeves and a pair of dark pants. There was an empty holster for a dagger on their waist. They looked exhausted. Their eyes were dull and emotionless. But as other inkfish passed by, the inkling would disappear into the small crowd.

As the two walked, Mitsuami could feel someone was watching them from the passing crowds. She looked around cautiously, holding her tri-stringer close to her chest. Everyone else around them seemed to be minding their own business. She gently tugged on Barreleye’s arm.

“Captain, something doesn’t feel right,” Mitsuami said out of the blue, “Something’s— off.”

The two stopped walking as Barreleye turned to face her. He tilted his head with confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I-I’m not sure, actually,” Mitsuami replied with a shrug, she then laughed it off, “Maybe I’m just being extra cautious— you know, cause of all the pickpockets around this part of town and—”

“Did you see something?”

“Yeah I—” Mitsuami turned around, seeing the passing inkfish behind them all appeared to be normal. She tilted her head with confusion. “Huh… that’s weird. I could’ve sworn that—” She trailed off mid-sentence and looked back at Barreleye. “I could’ve sworn I saw someone was there…”

Barreleye turned around, looking in the same direction that Mitsuami was. The two looked carefully at the crowd before Barreleye shrugged.

“Maybe it was just someone passing by?” Barreleye suggested, “It could just be someone going the same direction as us.”

“No… No it’s not like that,” Mitsuami replied, “It was like— they were watching us. I-I’m not sure, I think I’m probably just being overly cautious— like I said earlier.”

Barreleye had a look of concern on his face. He took one last glance towards the bustling crowd and busy streets. There was nothing wrong. Everything appeared to be normal. Businesses were operating as usual and merchants were talking to possible buyers.

“Oh… right—” Barreleye replied, then turned back around, "What was it that we were looking for?"

"The weapon shop?"

"Oh! Right! We should get going then," Barreleye said.

The two continued, eventually arriving at a brick building with a large display window out front with a variety of weapons on display. Barreleye and Mitsuami stood at the front, looking up at the large sign.

“You don’t have to wait for me if you don’t want to,” Mitsuami said, “I could just meet you back at the ship at sundown, like you said earlier.” She reached into her pocket, pulling out a small, drawstring bag of coins. “Hopefully I have enough for a repair.”

Barreleye reached into his coat pocket, taking out his drawstring bag and handing it to Mitsuami. “Here, you could just borrow some from me if that isn’t enough. I think I’ve got at least three or so thousand in there.”

“What? No, no, captain it’s okay— I don’t like owing inkfish money—”

“You can have it,” Barreleye insisted with a smile, “It’s just for a repair. You can pay me back another time!”

“Thank you Captain..” Mitsuami replied.

Once Mitsuami left, Barreleye looked around and wondered what he should do next.

=====

thank you for reading!!!

im sorry if there wasn't much for this chapter— and also sorry for apologizing so much it's probably growing bothersome HDHDJNFJDNFJ

have a nice day/night!! :D

#coroika pirate au #coroika #splatoon

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the---hermit · 1 year

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The Wolf And The Woodsman by Ava Reid

I listened to the audiobook of this novel without knowing anything about it. I had never heard or read a single thing about this book, so I went into it blind. I must say I have really enjoyed it, it's not the perfect book, but it was really good, and touched very interestng topics. This book was influenced by Jewish mythology and Hungarian history, especially regarding medieval times. If you have read a few of my posts you know that I am very passionate about mythology and I am an history student so what can I say more? The themes were perfect for me. This fantasy novel felt a lot like a dark fairytale to me, it's quite gory, there's a body horror element to it, and so it made me think a lot of the fairytales by the Grimm brothers (which I absolutely adore). It was the perfect read for autumn to be honest. A bit on the plot. We follow our main character Évike, who is forced out of her pagan village to go to the capital with the woodsmen, who regularly take one of the wolf girls of the village away. We slowly learn about the different religions of this land, and they are very clearly based on Christianity, Judaism and Paganism. There's also different magic systems for each religion, which I thought was a really interesting idea. The main theme of the book is oppression based on religious differences, how violent it can get, and how blind the hatred for the "other" can be. This subject in my opinion fits very well with the fairytale vibe I was talking about for some reason. The similarities to actual history and religions is really clear and it was very nicely done in my opinion. Particularly I like how the magic system of the capital, which follows a religion inspired by Christianity is very cenered on body mutilations, it's gory yes, but it drew inspiration from a part of this religion's history is not often talked about. The idea of sacrifice and pain linked to faith has a strong bond to Christianity and it was really interesting to see it in the book. Another thing I really liked is the way the book talks about stories. Characters of different religions find themselves sharing with each other different myths and stories of their own people. I like how all of them no matter what differences they had relied on stories so much, and how important they fell all throughout the book. Telling stories is one of those things we humans have done since the beginning of time and we'll never stop doing that, I liked how it was shown in the book. One critique I have, and that I have also seen around a lot, is that the pacing of the book is a bit weird. I think some scenes were too slow for my taste, but overall the book was good, and the audiobook was really entertaining I would recommend that as a good option (and I like that is sort of continues this thing of having someone telling you a story like the characters do in the book). I have written this after finishing the book, so I honestly hope my opinions are not too confused, anyway I really enjoyed it, and I see myself rereading this novel in the future. I'd recommend particularly for the topics that it touches, but I'd check the trigger warnings because as I said there's some body horror some people might be sensitive about.

#2022 book #book cover #book rec #book recommendation #book review #booklr #bookblr #reading #books #ebook #ava reid #the wolf and the woodsman #studyblr #book #fantasy novel #mine #the---hermit

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drizzileiscool · 5 months

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new pinned

yo. what's up. my name is azure, im a drizzile.. or something like that. this is my blog. I guess

i was created in a lab.... I think..... and these weird scientist people turned me into a shiny and stuck an everstone inside me during an extremely painful process. long story short, the experiment gave me sentience, they found out, and injected something into me that made me black out and next thing I knew I was in some forest.

i now hate (most) humans. especially scientists. actually if there's any humans on here I'd advise you not to interact. eebydeebies and humans that have only temporary been turned into pokemon are allowed, though.

currently living in a hotel in sinnoh. it's only temporary, though.

at the time of writing this, my only friends right now are the people over at @thatoneguy031. I've known guy since I first joined, but I've only just gotten acquainted with cherry and mx. suicune.

please feel free to send asks about literally anything (as long as it isn't anything nsfw), I like answering questions and I'm currently trying to talk to more people to grow my social circle

i feel like I should add more stuff, but that's mostly it for me. follow if you want, I guess

////pokemon sprite art created by ernmuffin on twitter!! please follow her!!! sprites downloaded from the pmd sprite repository!!!!

//more ooc under the cut

hello peoples!!!!!!!!!!! this is like my 4th time doing a pinned post lol

and I actually @ mentioned someone this time!! normally I'd be too nervous or shy but I actually did it this time yippee!!!

also follow @amber-bnnuy this is a spinoff sideblog taking place in the same universe but with a different protagonist, amber the eebydeeby lopunny.

pronouns/gender for characters:

Azure - Any/all, Genderless

Crys - She/her, Cis woman

Cobalt - He/him, Trans man

Unnamed human - She/her, Cis woman

ps: I know I said humans dni in the in-character part, but human characters are allowed to interact lol. I think it would be nice if people helped restore azure's trust in humans (this may be a thing for an upcoming arc! or it might not depending on how it goes. we'll see!) and also it would be funny to see azure react to finding out a human interacted with them

azure is bi and uses any pronouns. currently, they have No Gender and really couldn't care less about what people interpret their gender as. go wild with this. call them a man, a woman, non-binary, demigender, genderfluid, or whatever! neopronouns are also ok, feel free to come up with the most annoying pronouns possible for azure!

magic anons and pelipper mail are also on! send asks for any of those things (as long as it doesn't affect the story, or makes a part of the story finish faster. for example, no giving them items that they are currently searching for, and no offing people)

anyways now to the actual ooc stuff

about me

you can call me either sig, drizzile, or mod drizzile!

I am under 18, non-binary and use they/them pronouns. I like pokemon, persona, puyo puyo, tetris, and rythym games as well as a bunch of other stuff. pokemon and persona are currently the things I'm into the most right now, but I am still pretty good at tetris. I am also bisexual

This is also a personal blog, since this is the only blog I have

Also, I'm not good at interacting with people. If you wanna have an interaction with me, you're gonna have to start it

also to any irls who somehow find this, please refrain from using my real name on here! I don't like having people I don't know irl know my name

DNI if:

You are an nsfw blog. I'm ok with suggestive content, though.

You make/look at suggestive/nsfw/kink/fetish drizzile content. Ultra hell for you. Banished to eternal damnation. I will not tolerate drizziles in any nsfw thing, even if they aren't apart of the "main thing".

You dislike drizziles or piplups. drizziles and piplups are very important to me personally.

You are a terf, or are transphobic in general

You are lgbtq+phobic

You are a proshipper

You support israel

You are a pedophile. And yes, loli/shota counts as pedophilia.

You are a zoophile

You post spoilers for any pmd game. I've only beaten pmd2 and have basically no way of playing the other pmd games (citra runs like shit on my phone, and I can't get the pmd1 remake and refuse to play it any other way) but I would still like the chance to go into these games blind

azure's backstory

Azure woke up in a lab one day with no prior memories. It isn't amnesia, they were literally made in the lab. A group of unknown scientists were conducting experiments on several pokemon, azure being one of them. Azure's experiments involved getting made in a lab as an artificial pokemon, having a substance being put into them to turn them into a shiny, and having some scales on their neck being replaced with parts of an everstone, rendering azure unable to evolve. After azure gained sentience as a side effect of one of these experiments, the scientists quickly injected something into azure, causing them to block out and appear in a forest. After a few weeks, azure discovered galar mine #2, and decided to dig a hole in the wall and make it's home there. An unnamed human miner who was doing work in this mine discovered azure's home, and is now looking after her by giving them berries each day. This human also gave azure a piece of azurite, which lead to azure choosing their name to be azure.

Azure is currently living with the unnamed human, since they wanted an actual home after staying with her for a while at the crown tundra. The only other pokemon living with them is crys, a very shy lampent who is over 200 years old.

Azure is currently in their second arc. They have learned how to get out of their body, and have awakened the original owner, Cobalt the drizzile. This is more or less just a filler arc until I create more lore, and cobalt doesn't get have a backstory.