#ive wanted to make a tutorial for So long and finally found a bit of time to do it lmao

[gemapples]

im so sorry it took me so long to answer these oml but YES i'd be happy to show how i draw and color :)

— SKETCHING

please note that i almost always sketch traditionally first lol it's just a lot easier for me to determine how the drawing is placed that way, but i always go over and re-sketch it digitally

for magolor i always start with a basic egg shape (lmao) and then i add his ears. then I draw the scarf; it's easy to determine the shape and dynamicism based on where the bottoms of the ears are located

then i usually add the cape and hood together. where and how these are placed and what these look like in general are very important because they're the main area that perspective is directed to (the ears and everything else is important too ofc!! but the hood and cape usually help demonstrate where he is looking and how he is moving the most). then i add everything else, usually his hands last!

— LINEART

ohhhhhh god my worst enemy. Hope youre sitting down because this will be embarrassing LMAO

lineart is easily what i struggle with most and is more often than not the most time consuming and grating step for me. If i had a choice i would drop it in a heartbeat, but my style is so dependent on thick lines and shapes that it's difficult to 😭 a hole i dug myself into unfortunately ITS FINE THOUGH. ANYWAYS I'm getting sidetracked

i use my finger to draw all my digital art, which means i usually have to use a Heavy stabilizer to avoid shakiness and staggered lines. Unfortunately ibis paint's stabilizer is actually dog water and doesn't even stabilize more than half the time (in which case i have to repeat lines over. And over. And over again until i get it right) but when it does like me and works properly it's very helpful!

i always use the soft school pen bleed brush as my main tool for lineart. This brush has been my best friend for everything, i even use it for sketching idk it just really like the way it looks lol. sometimes i change the aspect if i want the lines to look more ,, chalky?? or smoother depending on the work

i don't really use this tool much but for this specific piece, force fade was my partner in crime

also i think i need to mention that i use so many layers for this. So many layers lol like to the point it's embarrassing. and at the end i merge most of them (except for the gear patterns, rings on his ear, and eyes + hands, which usually need to be by themselves as they're colored separately) Thank you for layers

and i end up with this!

— COLORING && SHADING

yippee yahoo the fun part !!! the part that i love the most

at this point, if i havent already, i always create a folder for convenience in organization because this is the part that i stress the most about what details are on which layers lmao

then i add ANOTHER layer below that for the color, then i put every single color used on their own separate layer!

now, for shading, if im working on larger pieces with more complex shading, i'll usually plan it all out. normally when just drawing magolor, i don't really need to do this anymore because i'm so used to it lol, but for funsies i did it here anyways

then i use the bucket tool to fill them all in

i usually have a set color palette for all the characters i draw (though the way i shade white differs. A lot between my work as you can probably tell fhdfgf). For every color, i have two specific tones that are associated with the shading. for example, indigo + violet are shaded with my blue, pink + light orange (or lighter pink depending on my mood lol) are shaded with yellow, etc.

so, i shade the other areas with the 2nd shading color

a big tip i can give for coloring is to look at a color wheel when you draw. i know that sounds like. Such basic advice LMAO but that seriously was a huge help for me when developing my shading and something i learned while studying — if you notice, in all of the shading in my work, all of the colors used are analogous on the color wheel. note that not ALL combinations will work together like others obv !! but it's a huge step in knowing where to go with it

then i add other extra details like extra lighting, halftones (if i feel like it // if it fits the work), glow to his eyes, and color the lines and ta-da!

another tool i use a lot especially with my more recent art are blending modes, especially multiply. i use a clipping layer to add a dark color (usually a dark blue or purple) and set it to multiply, then erase the areas that emit light

and this is the end result! this is a very very basic demonstration of it fhdjg i was a pretty messy with the lighting and erasing in this example but you get the general idea right

and that's how i draw :) i hope this was helpful, and thanks for asking and being so patient with the response!

#ask #magolor #kirby #macdraws #ive wanted to make a tutorial for So long and finally found a bit of time to do it lmao

[oekaki-chan]

hi clef!! i first stumbled upon your art on twitter via a comic tutorial you posted. i finally decided play AA a month ago and remembered about your art and thankfully found your account again. After also finding your tumblr,, its just. wow. going through people's art tags is always a journey, especially when theres stuff in it that are older than a decade, haha. i just wanna say that your improvement over time motivates me to keep drawing, as ive been recently studying forms and shapes in other people's art, and yours is definitely one of the best examples. As im taking a gap year to work on a portfolio for college, i finally had the proper opportunity to start studying art as i wanted.

i mainly wanted to ask- when drawing, what types of references do you use for character poses? they always seem really natural but also have that "homemade feeling"- as in applied really well into an art style. The way you draw expressions is also really immaculate! I was wondering (if its alright with you), whether if you have tips on that too?

thank you regardless, and i hope you have a great day!

I hope this doesn't come off as bragging because honestly when I'm drawing poses I almost never use references 😭💦 During my art journey I conditioned myself to draw without references because my parents didn't allow me to have internet access until I went to high school, it was hard to get references for drawing so it was mostly just "frick around and see what happens", I just tried to project whatever I have in mind into the canvas 😂 Instead of training my eyeballing skill, I ended up training my muscle memory and the way I imagine poses in my head (that's why I'm a bit bad with realism drawing because I have bad eyeballing and real-time observation skills).

I do use references sometimes when the pose is a bit hard to get because it has many foreshortenings and hidden parts like this Diavolo doodle I made, but I studied the reference instead of tracing it so I can get a better gist of how things work in case I'll need to draw the same pose again in the future. (Also I hate that whenever I try to find some references for a specific pose google suggested me porn sites instead zzzz)

But I'm not saying using references is wrong, not at all 😭!! It's just my way of drawing! I'm lazy and get distracted easily once I'm scrolling the internet pages, it's also why I don't usually use 3D models in CSP because trying to get the right pose with that may take a while and the outcome isn't really worth the time because it often looks stiff, weightless, and unnatural.

And same goes for expressions! I think being a (somewhat) avid manga reader extends my visual library for expression (and um, I think drawing steamy stuff helps too because you can practice drawing exaggerated expressions and poses, just make sure you're not drawing the same type of expression and pose/angle over and over 😳💦)

I hope this helps and I'm sorry it got a bit long 😭😭!!

#ask #tutorial

[meltwonu]

| 🍒 CH-CH-CHERRY BOMB! 🍒 |     [CHAPTER 20] FINAL

pairing; dom!seungcheol x camgirl!reader

this chapter’s notes; camshow, sex toys, shibari, dom!seungcheol, dirty talk, overstimulation/forced orgasms, squirting, degradation, name calling, daddy!kink, gags! 😍💕 ✨HAPPY NEW YEAR!!✨ Here’s to more fun fics in 2021! I can’t believe this is our last chapter though omg 😭 It’s been suuuuch a journey and a privilege to write this little series out! I’ve honestly thought about a camgirl/boy series for like, over a year now, and I’m glad I finally did it! I completed one of my goals! 🥺💕 2020 was definitely a wild one, but I want to thank you all so fuckin’ much for supporting me and stickin’ it out with me all year! Here’s to more in the coming year!💕 Also I was proofreading this at the dining table last night thinking my roommate wouldn’t come out of their room but they did(while I was making dinner and my hands were dirty so I couldnt close my laptop ☠️) and they walked past my laptop and now I’m convinced they saw my fucking smut fic right in the open so yes my little mini-break next week is MUCH needed cause I am ✨embarrassed✨ 🤣 I’ll still do my inbox roundup tomorrow and probably answer a bunch of small thirst posts ‘n stuff throughout the week but there won’t be any drabbles! For now, enjoy chapter 20 🥺, have a safe weekend, and remember that I love you~ ❤️🍒💕

chapters; 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 COMPLETE

Seungcheol wakes up much earlier than you do the next morning; pressing a kiss to your forehead as you groan and snuggle deeper into your pillow.

“Baby, I need to go run some errands for a little bit, okay? Just keep sleeping, you don’t need to get up yet. But, I made breakfast and put it in the microwave for you when you decide to get up later.”

His voice is muffled and you can barely understand what he’s saying but you nod; a soft sigh on your lips when you drift back into dreamland. He takes his time getting ready, checking his phone notifications as he gets dressed and places a note on the nightstand knowing that you didn’t catch a single word he said.

‘Hey, did you get everything I asked for?’

Jimin🧍🏻: of course, who do you think I am? Jeongguk?

Jimin🧍🏻: and btw, i’m just giving you a crash course okay? We don’t really have a ton of time

Jimin🧍🏻: did you watch those tutorial videos I sent you?

‘Yeah, I did some practice on my breaks, but I guess you can tell me if I’m doing anything wrong.’

Jimin🧍🏻: okee, i’ll be waiting. Don’t get here too late!

‘I’ll be otw soon. Thanks again, Jimin.’

“Ow--damn, okay, you don’t need to tug on it so much!”

“Sorry, I’ll be careful! And why are we practicing on you anyway?! Couldn’t you just have shown me pictures or something?”

“How else will you learn if not on an actual body? It doesn’t work the same way, Seungcheol.” Jimin pauses, checking himself in the mirror. “Also, keep in mind she does have boobs so just… go slow, okay? It’s not gonna sit like this on her.”

Seungcheol blushes a crimson red; biting the inside of his cheek at how amateur he was at this.

“Okay…”

Seungcheol is gone for a lot longer than you anticipate and although he replies quickly to your texts, you can’t help but be curious about where he’d gone and what he was doing.

Especially knowing that the two of you had to film tonight and knowing that everything was up to Seungcheol.

A shiver rolls down your body at the thought and you quickly try to shake off the nerves that seem to slowly invade your body when your mind starts to wander.

“It’ll be fine, I’m sure…”

“I’m home!”

“Where have you--oh, that’s… a b-big box? Um, should I be concerned...”

Seungcheol grins, shrugging as he sets it onto the kitchen counter. “Just some supplies for tonight. I had to go pick them up from a friend but I had to make sure everything was right.” He notices the way you can’t seem to take your eyes off of the box; eyes twinkling when he makes his way towards you.

He tilts your head up to meet his in a searing kiss, lips easing into a smile when you wrap your arms around his neck and melt under his touch. You moan against his lips just before he pulls away; staring dreamily at him while his hands start to roam over your clothed body.

“We have a long night ahead of us, sweetheart. Let’s pamper you a little before then, hmm?”

j__min: ??? where’s the loverboy

j__min has donated $200

angelhan has donated $75

therealchan99 has donated $50

xcaliburDK has donated $75

xcaliburDK: is that the sybian? Haven’t seen that in a looong while

You bite your lip and nod, somewhat shy as you sit alone in front of the camera. “Seungcheol’s still… setting up but he told me to start! I’m a little nervous, to be honest…” Your eyes flit to Seungcheol who rummages through the box in the kitchen and from the angle you’re sat in, you can’t see a single thing he takes out.

Earlier, he’d cooked you your favorite meal and even took the time to give you a full body massage before the two of you cuddled on the sofa and watched a movie. To you, it seemed a little too suspiciously tame and you only found yourself more nervous when he made you drink two glasses of water and ever so quietly announced it was time to start getting ready for the camshow.

“He’s being so suspicious! He was even gone for a few hours earlier today…” You mumble; brows furrowed at the camera before checking the comments.

It still amazed you every time with how much money you and Seungcheol made from the camshows and videos and it made you feel even better knowing that everyone loved the chemistry the two of you had together. There were a lot of video requests and ideas mixed in with the comments at any given time and you were definitely ready to pitch some to Seungcheol now that you’d rebranded your channel to be a couple’s channel instead.

“Almost done, sweetheart!”

gc__koo: he told me to watch cuz he was being suspicious with me too 

gc__koo has donated $50

alphagyu97: what is he even plotting

alphagyu97: i am excited to see the sybian again tho ngl

artist8hao: pretty baby gonna squirt for us again?

universe_WZ: hell fuckin yea let us see how fuckin wrecked you get on that machine

You feel your pussy clench around emptiness at their comments; already feeling yourself getting wetter and wetter with the anticipation.

Movement out of the corner of your eye catches your attention and Seungcheol walks towards the bed with a wide smile and the same box in hand. “Ready?” You can only nod back slowly, watching as he dumps the contents of the box right next to your body.

gc__koo: oy

chwenon: oh shit

sleepy_wonu: oh baby, you’re in for it now

sleepy_wonu has donated $100

Your entire body fills with warmth as you look over the various objects; unsure of where to really look first. “I, um--”

A stack of red ropes sits next to a small bullet vibrator that sits next to a ball gag that sits next to a pair of EMT shears and your eyes immediately flit up to Seungcheol who only smirks back at your shocked expression. “I had some other toys I wanted to use but I figured I should go easy on you, y’know? Since you showed me some mercy last night.”

Nodding, you reach out towards the ropes, touching them shyly. “Why red?”

“Thought they’d be on theme for you, babygirl.”

Seungcheol takes his time; remembering Jimin’s words when he tugs the ropes around your wrists.

“Colour, babygirl?”

“G-green… daddy…”

He nods, sitting up on his knees behind you as you sit on the sybian and face the camera. You bite your lip, somewhat embarrassed that you were already soaking the toy underneath you as Seungcheol worked to bind your arms behind you.

“D--daddy, where did you l-learn this?” You whisper, somewhat curious if this had anything to do with why he was gone for so long earlier in the day.

“Mm, daddy’s friend Jimin was kind enough to help me get the tools and teach me a few tricks to make sure I kept my babygirl safe. Wasn’t that kind of him?” You nod gently, gulping when you shift atop the machine slightly in hopes of relieving some of the growing sexual tension in your body. “Why don’t you thank him properly, sweetheart?”

Your hazy eyes make eye contact with the camera, head tilted slightly. “T-thank you, J-Jimin… for--for helping daddy…”

j__min: omg a shoutout ive made it

kitty_junjun: we never thought we’d see the day

tangerine_kwan: and here we all thought you were gonna be the bad guy huh

hoshi_tiger_xx: like when u only see previews of the book online but the rest of it is different ykwim

Seungcheol makes sure your arms are bound snug enough but not too tight; leaning away slightly to admire his rope work. “Feeling okay so far, babygirl?”

Nodding, you whine back slightly. “Y-yes, daddy… But… my--my pussy wants s-something…” He laughs in return, readjusting so that he’s sitting on your side this time to give himself easier access to start the rest of the bindings.

“Is that so? You’re gonna have to be a little more patient this time ‘cause daddy’s not done yet.” He starts working on the rest of the harness; going slow and checking in with you often to make sure none of the ropes were digging into your skin or making you uncomfortable. “You’ll have to forgive me a little though, I’m admittedly a ‘lil inexperienced so our pretty babygirl is only going to be tied up in this pretty harness for tonight.”

gentleman_josh95: the fact u even took the time to learn just for her

gentleman_josh95 has donated $100

artist8hao: seriously, the dedication

kitty_junjun: we stan a man who knows safety and etiquette 

Comments of reassurance and donations flood in at Seungcheol’s small apology and although the two of you are in your own world; you can tell from just the amount of pings coming from your laptop that they all seemed to be encouraging him.

The two of you fall into a comfortable silence as Seungcheol continues to move around you on the bed to finish the harness and a smile graces his lips when he starts to secure the last knots in the back. He can’t help but mentally pat himself on the back at how neatly he’d done it for his first time.

“There. All done, baby.”

Your eyes flit to the laptop’s screen to see yourself; cheeks hot when you see how fucked out you already look and he hadn’t even touched you properly or turned on the machine.

The star harness Seungcheol had tied looks pretty with red ropes and you can’t hide your smile at how good it looks on you too either. “Ah, daddy made it really p-pretty… Thank you.���

This time, Seungcheol nods, letting you admire yourself as he silently reaches for the small remote for the sybian, switching it on.

Your entire body lurches forward as soon as the vibrations attack your clit and you immediately find yourself moaning and grinding down onto the machine as he gives you some relief.  

“You’re welcome, babygirl. Now let’s really have some fun, huh?”

You need to cum.

Badly.

“Awww, is my pretty baby drooling? Does it feel that good on your sensitive ‘lil clit?” He teases, smoothing down your hair as you cry around the ball gag in your mouth; drool seeping out from the side of your lips when he raises the vibrations a setting higher.

You don’t know how many times he’d played with the settings and edged you by now, but all you do know is that the urge to cum only grows stronger as you grind against the machine, soaking it with your wetness as you chase the pleasure building up in your body again.  

Surely cumming was okay, right? He never said you couldn’t.

You whimper around the ball gag, eyes fluttering shut when the tension in your body snaps in the blink of an eye and your thighs clamp down onto the sides of the machine. Throwing your head back, you moan against the gag and ride out your high as Seungcheol watches you from the side.

“Mm, bet that felt good, huh? But I know you want something in that greedy ‘lil cunt of yours, don’t you? You want daddy’s cock slamming into your tight ‘lil hole ‘til it’s full of my cum, right, sweetheart?” He licks his lips, turning off the sybian as you slump forward.

universe_WZ: shit shes so sensitive

chwenon: especially with her arms bound like that i bet she’s on cloud nine rn

gentleman_josh95: her cute lil head is probably all fuzzy already from all the sensations

therealchan99 has donated $100

gc__koo has donated $75

j__min has donated $150

All you can do is whimper and nod; teary eyes blinking back at Seungcheol as he smirks and leans in towards you.

“Mmm, you’ll get what you want eventually. But for now, you’re gonna cum again.”

He turns the sybian back on, licking his lips when he sees your body tensing again. It was always easier to get you to cum a second time and his point is proven when you mewl around the ball gag a few minutes later; chest heaving in stuttered breaths as you try to shy away from the toy still vibrating against your overly sensitive clit when you’re quickly thrown into another orgasm.

“You always cum for daddy so easily, don’t you, babygirl?”

Your head feels fuzzy after already cumming twice in such a short span of time but you nod, head lolling to the side as Seungcheol finally turns the sybian off for good.

Seungcheol gives you a second to catch your breath before he’s scooting in and fiddling with the clasps at the back of your head to take the ball gag off.

A thread of saliva connects your lips to the gag and you whimper at how good it feels to be able to actually speak again. “D-daddy…” Drool drips from your mouth as your lead lolls forward and Seungcheol is quick to bring a hand up to keep your head up as he looks into your lust filled eyes.

“Colour, sweetheart?”

“Still g-green…” He nods back, checking to make sure none of the ropes had shifted. “Would you like some water before we continue, baby?”

“Yes, daddy…”

He fetches you a glass of water, tilting it against your lips as you down the entire glass and you find yourself a little surprised at how needed it was. “Thank you, d-daddy…”

“You’re welcome, babygirl. Ready to keep going?”

You nod, a little bit more energized. “I hope everyone, mmh, l-likes the show so f-far~” Your teary vision prevents you from reading the comments and before you can even make an effort to, Seungcheol is already helping you off of the machine and helping you sit on the bed across from him.

alphagyu97: ugh she looks so fucking good in that harness

angelhan: right? That shade of red looks so good against her skin too

angelhan: so fuckin pretty

tangerine_kwan: pics for the private room later? Plz i beg

Seungcheol takes this time to take off his boxer briefs, cock curving up against his abdomen when he’s fully naked across from you. He wraps a hand around his cock, moaning and spreading the precum down his shaft as you watch. “D’you want this, baby?”

Your lips fall open in a silent moan as you watch Seungcheol jerk himself off and you can’t help but squirm. “Y-yes…”

“Tell me exactly what you want then. Let them hear what a filthy little slut you are for me.” You can’t help but feel miserably empty watching him and despite having already cum twice, you want his cock fucking you open and making you cum again.

“I--I--”

“Yes, babygirl?”

“I, ngh, I want d-daddy’s cock… Please? Ah, I--I wanna feel you fucking my--my pussy into the, mmh, s-shape of your c-cock… And I w-want you to c-cum inside my--my slutty little h-hole…”

Seungcheol scoffs, hips shallowly thrusting up into his enclosed fist. “That’s right. You’re just my slutty ‘lil babygirl that lets me use all her tight holes how I please, right? You like it when I cum down your throat and in your pretty ‘lil ass. But we all know you like it best when I cum in your hot ‘lil cunt. Makes you feel all warm and full, doesn’t it? You like it when my cum is dripping out of your spent cunt and sliding down your shaky thighs.” This time you nod furiously as you whine back in response.

“P-please… Can’t wait any--anymore!”

This time, the impatience takes over as you slightly tug on the ropes; whining when they don’t give. “Daddy!”

And this time, he gives in quicker than he anticipates, growling as he reaches for the EMT shears to cut you from the harness. “Don’t let your arms down, no matter how much you want to. You’re going to strain your arms if you move too fast so let me handle it, okay, sweetheart?”

The sudden gentleness in his voice has a giddy warmth pouring over you as you nod and sit still while he cuts at various points of the harness to make the ropes fall loose around your arms and chest. You keep your arms in the same position like he requested and you soon feel his hands roaming your skin and massaging your arms to get the blood flowing again.

“You’re so good for me, baby.” He whispers against your hair, leaning down to kiss your shoulder before he slowly easing your arms down from being folded behind your back.

He continues to massage your arms for a few more minutes before it’s you that’s getting impatient. “Daddy… Can you fuck me now?” Whispering, you slightly turn your body to the side to meet his gentle stare.

Seungcheol laughs under his breath, nodding. “Lay on your back for me, legs spread.”

You follow his orders as you quickly scramble to get into position; legs spread wide for him to situate himself between.

“Mm, your pussy is still so fuckin’ wet. I wanna taste you on my tongue, baby.” Whines spill from your lips as you shake your head ‘no.’

“No! My p-pussy feels empty, I need y-your cock, daddy… ‘n I’m so wet, you can probably, ah, just s-slide your cock in…”

He wraps a hand around his cock just as you wrap your legs around his waist and he guides himself until the head of his cock is right at your entrance.

Neither of you say a word as he slowly starts to sink his cock in; guttural moans on his lips when he meets no resistance and bottoms out in a singular thrust. “Holy fuck, your cunt is so fuckin’ wet. Shit, and so t-tight!” You clench around him, already feeling good with his cock inside of you as you beg him to fuck you hard and fast.

“Ngh, p-please fuck me like--like I’m your, hah, c-cocksleeve… I want it f-fast, daddy!”

He grits his teeth at your words; drawing his hips back before snapping them into you just how you wanted. “Fast, hmm? All you think about in that pretty head of yours is my cock pounding you open, huh? Slamming into you so fuckin’ good, it makes your toes curl when you cum.”

Seungcheol starts a quick pace, already feeling the pleasure building up for himself when you’re reduced to garbled noises and broken cries of his name. The heels of your feet dig into the small of his back as you try to press him in closer and he’s quick to reach for the small bullet vibrator left on the bed next to your body.

“Your body is so fuckin’ sensitive, I can already feel how tight you’re getting around me. So fuckin’ greedy to cum too. Already came twice and you still want more. You’re not satisfied until your whole body is shaking underneath me, huh, sweetheart?” He turns the small toy on, pressing it to your clit as you yelp and let out choked sobs.

“Ah, ngh, d-daddy, my--my clit’s t-too sen--sensitive! I--I can’t--!” Squirming, you feel the pressure building up obscenely quick; bottom lip quivering when he takes one of your free hands and makes you hold the toy to your swollen clit.

“Just a little more, sweetheart. Don’t you wanna cum?”

He angles his thrusts to graze against your g-spot and loud cries of his name leave your lips in a hurried, jumbled mess when he only doubles his pace.

The sound of donations and comments pour in like water and get lost within the ringing in your ears; unable to even warn Seungcheol that you’re about to cum when you feel your entire body starting to lock up underneath him.

Your lips part in a silent scream and your back bows off of the bed, thighs shaking uncontrollably as you cum for the third time. Seungcheol growls, fucking you through it as you squirt all over his lower half.  He finds it harder and harder to thrust into you as you cum, but he feels himself quickly following suit with your warm walls fluttering around his cock.

“Fuck, baby, that’s right. Squirt for me, get me fuckin’ soaked while you cum.” He uses a free hand to make sure you keep the toy pressed to your clit, growling when he starts to unload his cum inside of you. “Mmh, gonna fill your cunt up with what you want, baby.”

A shaky moan leaves your lips as you feel him throbbing inside your pussy; walls clamped down onto him in a vice grip as you ride out the remnants of your orgasm.

“Ah, d-daddy’s cumming suh--so much inside of my p-pussy…”

Whining, you feel Seungcheol’s grip on your hand give way as he rides out his pleasure and you take the opportunity to turn off the small bullet vibrator while he doesn’t notice.

You watch his face contort in pleasure, hips still shallowly thrusting into you as his entire body shivers above you.

“D-daddy’s so h-handsome...” You mumble, cheeks hot when he cracks a smile through the pleasure wracking his body and chuckles under his breath. 

“Thank you, babygirl.” 

After you end the show, Seungcheol makes sure to cuddle with you on the bed for a little while longer.

“One more glass of water, baby.” You whine in response, pouting up at him before he gets up from the soaked sheets. 

“But I already had a glass! If you have a piss kink just say so, ‘Cheol!”

He lets out a boisterous laugh at your comment, trudging back to the bed from the kitchen with another glass of water for you. “You need to be hydrated, sweetheart. You came three times and we played a little more rough today. I just wanna make sure you’re okay.” 

“Fine, but you didn’t deny my comment.” You snarkily reply, taking the glass from him as you down the water. 

“Don’t make me have to punish you again! I’ll have you know I still need to get you all washed up and change the bed--”

A faint pinging has the two of you turning to the laptop; still on your camming homepage from where you’d checked the revenues from tonight’s show. 

A small [1] sits above your inbox and Seungcheol is quick to turn to you with an eyebrow raised. “I thought you turned off the messaging system on your profile?” 

You tilt your head in confusion, handing him the emptied glass. “I did. The only messages I should get are from, like, the actual system admins or other creator accounts which, I haven’t received any ‘til... now, I guess?”

Seungcheol sets the glass down onto the nightstand before he takes a seat next to you, dragging the laptop closer as you go to check the notification. 

“’Love&Letter Films’? Aren’t they one of the biggest adult film companies?” Mumbling, you click on the message, giving yourself and Seungcheol a second to process the message that stares back at you; a shocked smile on your lips.

‘Hello!

I hope this message finds Cherry and Seungcheol well. 

We, at ‘Love&Letter Films’, have really enjoyed the shows and videos from your channel throughout the years and we really have enjoyed watching the growth of your channel and the addition of Seungcheol to it. The dynamics between the two of you are rare in this industry and we’ve yet to see anyone like the two of you in this market. 

The shows from the last two nights have proven that the two of you have the right kind of chemistry to film together for bigger productions and we would love to hire you for a few film productions we have planned in the upcoming weeks as a feeler. Of course, all expenses paid by us if you would kindly take our offer. 

We love the various scenes and roles that the two of you take on with ease and we would love to help propel your careers forward, should you pursue a career in the adult entertainment industry. 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me as I’ve listed my contact information below. I’m excited to hear from the two of you and hope to work with you in the future on many projects.

Respectfully, 

Kwon Soonyoung, L&L FILMS CEO’

#cherrybomb!cheol #seungcheol smut #scoups smut #seventeen smut #svt smut #scoups scenarios #scoups imagines #seungcheol imagines #seungcheol scenarios #svt scenarios #svt imagines #seventeen imagines #seventeen scenarios #scoups fic #seungcheol fic #scoups #seungcheol #svt fic #seventeen fic

[vintagesimstress]

V. Adding missing body parts / Frankenmeshing / Finishing touches

(Previous: IV. The most useful meshing tools in Blender)

I know I promised to finally talk about uv maps, but I realised I forgot to cover some tiny, but important meshing-related details. Originally I hoped I could mention them in the parts dedicated to uvs or clones, but somehow they didn't properly fit into any of those topics, so I decided it'd be better to make a separate post about them. I probably will have to re-mention some of this stuff later though, so sorry in advance for anything being redundant!

1) Adding missing body parts

I mentioned a long time ago that my dress, being made from a top, comes without legs. It's not a problem, as it's supposed to be floor-length anyway – but what if it wasn't? What if it reached e.g. only until knees? Or what if you accidentally (or not) deleted/messed up some other body parts, like hands or neck, and wanted to replace them?

To fix this, first of all we need to get the right body meshes from S4S.

It's almost the same steps as in the very beginning, when we were getting the top which we used as a base for the dress. Open S4S, choose 'Create 3D mesh' under CAS and then click the CAS button. Just as back then, you'll see a list of all EA CAS assets existing in your game.

To find meshes of different body parts, type 'nude' in the box in the top right corner. No worries, it's The Sims, everything is safe for work (a.k.a. Barbie-style).

Now you have to select whatever it is that you need. Let's stick to the idea of a knee-length dress in need of some legs. Click the female naked bottom (if you're not sure which one is which, hover over the picture; it'll tell you if it's yf – young female – or ym - young male) and then hit 'Next'.

You'll be asked to name your package, but – just like in case of the top – it completely doesn't matter. It's only the mesh we want – once it's extracted, we can delete the package file.

Now that the package is created, you can access its data. Again, just like in case of the top: go to 'Meshes' and click the 'Export mesh' button. Make sure NOT to change the LOD!

You can close S4S now – that was all we needed from it.

Before we go back to our mesh, I suggest we open the newly extracted legs' mesh, select all the vertices (a) and remove doubles (w, choose from the list). By default each mesh coming straight from S4S is cut in certain places (I guess wherever there are cuts in the uv-1?) - and in case of a naked body such cuts are most definitely not needed.

Save and close.

Now, open the mesh which needs the legs. For this tutorial, I cut off the bottom part of the dress I was making. As you can see, it's very legless.

Go to Object Mode (tab), open the 'File' menu and choose 'Append'.

Now you have to find your extracted legs' mesh. However, you'll notice that just selecting the right blend file isn't enough – when you click it, it opens like a normal folder, making you choose from more specific contents of the blend file/package. Here comes the tricky and very important part: the mesh data sits in the 'Object' folder, NOT in 'Mesh'. When you open the 'Object' folder, you'll find inside the file you're looking for: s4studio_mesh_1. Select it and click 'Append from Library'.

Kaboom!

As you're going to join the legs with your mesh anyway, you can safely delete the bone_shape.001 and rig.001. You don't need them and they'll just be making your blend file bigger. It's only the mesh that's necessary.

Now we need to edit the appended legs by deleting the parts which we don't need. Select the legs' mesh, go to edit mode, turn on the x-ray and select (b) everything which will be hidden underneath the skirt. Leave some margin though!

Delete (x) the selected vertices and go back to object mode.

As you can see, right now your dress and the legs are separate from each other – in other words, they are separate cuts. And while some (...many...) EA meshes include several cuts, they are never cut in this way. We need to join them.

Select the legs' mesh on the right and, while holding shift, the dress' mesh. Then simply press ctrl+j. That's all! The legs are where they're supposed to be.

In case you're interested, if you want to do the opposite – turn a part of your mesh into a new cut – select that part, press p and choose 'selection' from the drop-down menu.

Of course, appending isn't limited to saving your dresses from leglessness. As mentioned, the same principle can be used for adding any other body parts... Or even clothes.

2) Frankenmeshing

There's not much I can say to it right now, without going into cuts, weights and uv maps, but if you want to try it, that's your starting point. You extract a couple of meshes from S4S, open one of them and then append the other ones. Depending on what it is that you're frankenmeshing, it might take some time to clean the meshes (i.e. delete the unwanted vertices). In most cases it's also very important to connect the vertices of the separate parts once you join the cuts! If you combine top A with sleeves B, or top C with skirt D, you have to merge the vertices where those parts connect – otherwise it'll at the very least look weird, and that's only a best case scenario.

3) Closing the mesh

I kind of mentioned this one last time, but I guess it won't hurt to explain it once again, this time properly. Whether your dress is short or super long, if you look at it from the bottom, you'll see that it's... Empty. Transparent. Unfinished. The legs – or feet – are ending apruptly, as if cut by a saw. We don't want to see it. That's why we need to close it.

(I remember when I was just learning to mesh I found this part super weird. I thought I'd rather not cut the legs, but duplicate the skirt and flip direction, to make it have both sides, just like in real life. While this idea is not completely ridiculous and can even be useful in certain cases (e.g. when you're making a half-transparent skirt – if it's see-through, you do need the legs to actually be underneath), there are two big reasons why you shouldn't do it: one, it might be very hard to get rid of any clipping, and two, the polycount could potentially kill you. Just in case you're having similar thoughts right now :) )

Select the lowest row of vertices. It might be a bit tricky now that the legs are appended – you might want to separate them into a new cut for a second, just so that they wouldn't be getting in your way. Or just hide them with h. Another easy method is selecting the row on the uv map, but we haven't covered this one yet, so let's stick to separating legs for now. Turn the x-ray on and, while in front view, select the row.

As mentioned last time, this lowest row is supposed to be a sharp edge, so before you proceed, mark it as sharp (ctrl+e)!

Turn the camera a bit to see what's going on underneath. Now extrude the vertices (e) and scale them (s). Click wherever.

As you can see, the new, extruded circle is selected now. Press alt + m to merge those vertices and, from the drop-down menu, select 'at center'.

Personally I don't like it when the bottom of a dress is so completely flat, so I move that middle point a bit higher, along the z axis (g, z). That's also one of the reasons why I left that leg margin earlier. I guess you don't have to do it, but I think it makes it look a bit more natural.

If you separated the legs, you can once again adjoin them to the main mesh now.

It's very important to close any open ends your mesh might have. The bottom of your dress/skirt, cuffs, necklines, sleeves if they're short – everything must be closed, otherwise you'll notice it in the game, sooner or later. It's fine if you don't do it now – you might want to wait until you're done with uvs and weights – but eventually you have to do it. Just for a little crack, here's a screenshot I took while testing one of my dresses. It's floor-length, so it shouldn't matter if it's closed or not, right?

That’s how it ends.

***

The long-awaited uvs tutorial will follow very soon, unless I suddenly get some urgent project to work on. I know how badly it's needed, so it's scheduled now, like any normal job-related stuff. And as hard as it might be to believe, I'm actually quite good at meeting deadlines if they're set in stone – I might not enjoy it, but I get stuff done on time. Stay tuned!

(Next: VI a. UV_0)

#tutorial #meshing #blender 2.79 #blender #appending #frankenmeshing

[nicolewrites]

We Stand, Fate-Tested: Final Thoughts

You thought you’d seen the last of that title? Never! I may have been distracted by Sylvgrid Week for a while, but I finally got this cleaned up enough to post. 

So, to those of you who haven’t read We Stand, Fate-Tested, this post is going to spoil practically the entire fic, so do yourself a favour and read the fic HERE. This post is also very, very long, so I apologize if you read the whole thing aha.

Anyways, continuing on, I wrote over 70 000 words for this story and this was after two solid weeks of story editing to get the fic not to come across as incredibly clunky. I want to use this post to discuss my favourite and least favourite things about writing the story and to talk about some of the things I had planned that never made it into the final draft or things that were changed to fit the flow of the story better. 

Let’s start with my favourite and least favourite things!

Favourite Chapter: VII - What’s A Little Fear (I loved this chapter. It was a blast to write, creating the duality of the attacks as well as finally tapping into the mystery genre I stubbornly tagged this fic with. It’s also one of my favourites to reread).  Favourite Present Scene: Either Byleth/Claude in the coffeeshop (Chapter III), the car crash scene (Chapter VII) or the Byleth/Claude scene in the bathroom (Chapter VIII) Favourite Past Scene: Either Byleth/Dimitri’s first reunion (Chapter II), the Sreng fight scene (Chapter IX), or Dimitri’s death scene (Chapter X) Favourite Character to write: Past!Dimitri, Present!Edelgard, Present!Claude (probably no surprises there haha) Favourite Plot Detail: Byleth having a flashback in the tomb and then going to the lab and having that scene play out later, in Chapter XI, in the past.

Least Favourite Chapter: XI - No Rest For the Weary (Don’t get me wrong, I like how it turned out. I just had so many things that were scrapped for this part and something about it still doesn’t sit with me as well as I wanted it to. It was hard to write a past section without the anchor for the past: Dimitri) Least Favourite Present Scene: Probably the lab scene with Byleth (Chapter I) where she looks up Claude because it was written so early and it still feels a bit info-dump-esque to me. Least Favourite Past Scene: Hands down Byleth’s final scene (Chapter XI). I do feel like it came out alright, but I really struggled with this scene. It was tricky to highlight everything I needed to in that scene without removing all the development Byleth had gone through.  Least Favourite Character to write: Many of the undergraduates in the present. It’s not that I didn’t like them, I was just frustrated because the future was focused so heavily on a few key characters that none of the background characters had the voices I wanted to give them. Least Favourite Plot Detail: The Scorch and the Riots. I specifically crafted them so that there would be a plausible excuse for the physical records to have been destroyed and yet I feel like I relied too much on them in some cases.

Now let me talk about plot details that almost appeared!

Starting with some general facts:

The Golden Deer were supposed to be MUCH bigger characters in the present. I had programs, relationships, interactions and plot points hinged on their interactions with Byleth and Claude, but I ended up scrapping a lot of it when I moved forward with the undergrad dig team plot and decided to bring in Edelgard and Dimitri more. 

They were supposed to go to Shambhala. Instead of at Garreg Mach, the final attack was actually supposed to take place while at a dig site in Shambhala. After research into archaeology more as a whole, I realized this didn’t fit, so I removed it.

I considered having Jeralt be alive in the present.

I was going to write more dreams for Byleth and actually have them as independent scenes.

Byleth was supposed to make two separate trips to Almyra in the past. 

The fic was originally only 10 chapters and would have ended abruptly in the past. 

Rhea was supposed to make an appearance in the present.

Chapter Specifics: 

Chapter I 

Ironically, the only real trick with this is I considered renaming the university, but ended up leaving it. 

This chapter was actually mostly written before much of the plot was hammered out so it can read a tiny bit inconsistently to me now, but there’s not much I left out of it.

Chapter II

Initially, I had all three of the reincarnated lords in Byleth’s tutorial, but then I remember that that never happens in university courses so I fixed it. I hadn’t planned on introducing the Guardian’s Sword here, but I did accidentally and then just rolled with it.

Byleth and Dimitri’s Chapter IV argument was originally in this chapter. They were also originally married in between Chapters I and II, something which changed to between III and IV once I changed this chapter. 

Chapter III

Dimitri was supposed to tell Byleth that he was having odd dreams before he found out about the dig project in the present. This chapter also would have had a vivid dream scene before Claude and Byleth’s tea conversation lasted 3000 words. 

Claude was supposed to be a cause of strife in Byleth and Dimitri’s relationship in the past, but then I decided that was stupid and changed him to play the voice of reason. Additionally, this chapter changed a lot as a result of the moving of the wedding.

Chapter IV

This chapter was, again, supposed to feature a Byleth-brand dream, but I changed it to the scene in her office with Claude to set up the Almyra trip. This was the moment in the story where I had decided to make Claude the Almyran Prince. Before this, he was just an ambassador’s son.

Claude in the past was supposed to give a wedding gift to Byleth and Dimitri, but this was changed when I had him attend the wedding. Byleth and Dimitri were supposed to argue about Byleth and Claude’s friendship, but as I already said, I didn’t want Claude to be a source of jealousy.

Chapter V

This chapter actually stuck fairly close to the points of the outline I made. The only point I struggled with was having the tapestries be mostly ruined or preserved and I eventually landed on preserved.

The council meeting was an addendum to the chapter written after the heavier scene at the end. I added it to give a bit more background to Byleth being in Fhirdiad and the way that her relationship with Seteth and their friends would become a bit more strained in the future. 

Chapter VI

This chapter was supposed to highlight the argument alluded to in the chapter between Dimitri, Edelgard, and Claude. There was supposed to be a little bit about how the tomb seemed to be dragging up animosity that didn’t previously exist. I removed it because I wanted more space to discuss the dream and the scene with the TV.

The past section was supposed to feature more political drama. There was supposed to be a cabinet meeting that showed the progress of divorcing church and state and siphoning the power away from the nobility, but I came up with the idea for the Rhea scene which I ended up liking a lot more, so I rewrote the chapter, almost completely removing the politics.

Chapter VII

This chapter actually almost exactly follows its outline. The four go to Fhirdiad and deal with their pursuers and end in a car crash. 

The only change in the past was that it originally ended with the infirmary scene from chapter 8, but I changed it to create a stronger parallel between the past and the present by ending both on relative cliffhangers. 

Chapter VIII

The present section of this chapter was actually one of the first scenes I ever outlined for this fic. Naturally, there wasn’t much that was left out. I scrapped a few interactions with people including Dorothea, Sylvain, and Mercedes in order to give Byleth and Claude more time to chat in the bathroom. Basically, the point of the party was to really highlight the fact that while reincarnation had occurred, everyone had ended up in different situations with different people. 

Originally, Byleth was supposed to have recovered well from the assassination attempt and it was supposed to be Dimitri who took longer to heal. Because I was already leaning into the dying-goddess idea though, I swapped them to make it more impactful when Byleth still tries to go against all of her advisors to get Claude to take her to the Slithers.

Chapter IX

Byleth, here, was only supposed to begin to suspect Flayn. I considered having her not even speak to Seteth and Flayn, but I changed that because I think I wanted her to know at this point. However, it was only when I began writing the chapter that I realized that Seteth would know the Archbishop’s full name, so that tidbit was actually the very last thing added to this chapter. 

I wrote the past section of this chapter first. It was fairly cut and copy from the outline so not much was left out here, just one small scene where Byleth and Dimitri saw Claude off when they were still mad at each other and they would have been awkward.

Chapter X

Originally, Leonie was going to be the one to find Claude and Byleth in the alley, but I liked Edelgard and Hubert for it better. This is where Rhea would have appeared in the Modern section. She would have come looking for Seteth before the send-off party started and would have had a crypt conversation with Byleth, but instead, I changed her simply to be the mysterious benefactor that funded the original expedition and removed her physical appearance for flow purposes.

The only big change seen in the past section here, was that Claude and Byleth were supposed to bring Dimitri outside of Shambhala before he died and he would have died seeing the rising or setting sun. When I wrote the cave-in this was changed to match that. 

Chapter XI

Since Byleth was originally supposed to have had a different conversation with Seteth in chapter 9, when the four of them were running for the gunman, they would have revealed their ancestry and connections to the past lords which would have been the point that Byleth actually connected all the dots. 

Byleth and Claude were supposed to be en route to Almyra after dissolving the monarchy when she started to die, causing him to take her back. I changed this because it didn’t fit with the futility of so many of the actions that Byleth had taken after Dimitri’s passing. I also just really wanted her to have the ‘I never intended to return to the Monastery’ and the ‘I hadn’t planned on living this long’ lines. 

Chapter XII

Claude was supposed to be with Dimitri and Edelgard when they said goodbye. There was supposed to be strange tension between them, but it didn’t fit with their interactions inside the tomb, so I just sent him back to Almyra to coordinate his abdication instead. Originally, there would have been a shootout in the tomb as well, resulting in Byleth actually killing the gunman, but instead I used their escape to give Seteth and Flayn a reason to disappear. This is one of the points I was most tentative about changing and is one of my least favourite things that I changed in the whole story. 

The past section was originally just supposed to have been Claude admiring his commissioned tapestries, but I couldn’t resist adding a Hilda in because I love her.

That’s pretty much it for all the plot details and changes. And that’s pretty much everything I have to say about the story. This fic was a labour of absolute love and it has given me an incredible appreciation for the writers in fandoms who can continue stories into the tens of chapters because I found my plot tied up in a neat little bow at 12 chapters. 

If you have any more questions, please shoot them to me on Tumblr, in the AO3 comments, or even on Twitter (@nicolewrites37) and I’ll be happy to answer them. 

Thank you so much to everyone who read, commented, and left kudos on the fic because knowing that there were people waiting to see more was the reason I was able to continue writing and finish the fic. I hope you enjoyed the story overall and that you might find something else you like amidst my other Three Houses works. 

- Nicole

#the writing section #we stand fate tested #fic: we stand fate-tested #fe3h #fire emblem three houses #author's thoughts #claudeleth #dimileth #tumblr #ao3 #long fic

[xec]

EDIT: AN UPDATED VERSION OF THIS POST CAN BE FOUND HERE.

hi everyone! i've been asked a few times to make a gifing tutorial, but there are already so many of those and i don't think there's that much to learn from a step-by-step guide, plus the instructions tend to be complicated and hard to follow, so i decided to instead make a "general tips" type guide to help up-and-coming creators. i'm not a master gifmaker by any means, but i've been doing this for 7+ years and i've learned a few things along the way that i am happy to share with you all! ♡

please keep in mind: this guide presupposes that you have a basic knowledge of the gifmaking process, like how to import footage to photoshop and use the timeline. with that said, let's get into it!

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i. capture your own footage. i know this option is not realistic for everyone, but if you have a good enough computer to run games on medium-high settings, i recommend recording your own footage and using that instead of taking something from youtube. not only will the uncompresed material look better, but you also have a lot more control over things like camera placement, mods, skins, settings, etc. that you simply don't have when using someone else's footage.

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ii. use 60fps footage instead of 30fps. record in 60fps, or download videos in 60fps when you can. this contributes hugely to making your gifs look smoother. keep in mind that it also limits how long you can make your gif, since you'll be using twice the amount of frames for the same scene, making it a larger file size. it's up to you to decide whether the tradeoff is worth it. i personally find that 30fps looks perfectly fine in gifs where there's not a lot of movement, but for character/action shots you'll generally want to use 60fps. here is a shot with some movement to demonstrate the difference:

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iii. use avisynth. this is a big one. if you want your gifs to look smooth, crisp, and uncompressed, this is the key step. video players like kmp and potplayer extract frames as pngs, bmps or jpegs, which makes them lossy/grainy/less colorful. avisynth simply crops and shrinks existing footage to your desired parameters, so your final footage is completely lossless and perfectly crisp. it takes a bit more effort and time, but you make up for it by not having to sharpen or color correct at all. the difference in quality is noticable, especially with darker gifs that would normally look jagged and grainy. here is an excellent tutorial on how to install and use avisynth.  

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iv. use gradients. i do this a lot, especially with scenery gifs. adding a lighter gradient to the edges of your gifs will make the rest of the colors pop more. simply paint over the sides with a soft brush and a medium/dark color, set the blend mode to screen, and ta-da! the difference is subtle, but your gif inexplicably looks a million times better. it's science, folks.

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v. delete duplicate frames. this step is not mandatory but it will help you achieve a "smoother" look. you can do this with all gif types — go through all your frames one by one and make sure there aren't two that are exactly the same — but it's particularly important for 2d animation. without doing this your gifs might look choppy and unfinished. the alternative is to simply speed up your gif until the duplicate frames are no longer noticeable, but i recommend deleting them, since that way you will be saving on file size & upload time.

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vi. don't use the same coloring for all gifs. also not a hard and fast rule, but usually one single psd will not suit the lighting of every scene. you can always customize your coloring by either making your own, or downloading someone else's (yeahps and itsphotoshop have a lot of great ones) and tweaking it to your liking. everyone has their own style and you are not obligated to stick to whatever's popular at the moment. there are no rules when it comes to coloring except one: make sure you are not lightening the skintone of characters with deeper complexions.

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vii. and finally...don't be afraid to experiment! photoshop has a lot of buttons and gadgets that can be a little intimidating at first glance, but don't be afraid to give things a try; you might discover effects you never knew about and end up with an end result that you never would've expected.

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thank you for reading, i hope you learned something new from this post! if you implement any of these techniques, please feel free to tag me in your beautiful creations! ♡

#photoshop tutorial #gif tutorial #itsphotoshop #chaoticresources #yeahps

[staysocky]

answering a handful of asks under the cut !!

answers & replies here are generally:

brush settings

misc. responses

(MANY OF THESE I’M ANSWERING...VERY LATE.... IM SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY I JUST WANTED TO WAIT A BIT SO I COULD COMPILE EVERYTHING ALL TOGETHER.....)

Anonymous said: Hello friend may I ask about your brush settings? Because I am in love with your colouring and line work!

Anonymous said: Your art is so cute! What brushes do you use?

Answer: i main SAI2 now, but here are the same settings when i was using them in the original SAI!! 

(i just copied my own settings in SAI2 now so they should work the same... also sometimes i use the marker tool for doodling nowadays)

Anonymous said: do you post speedpaints anywhere? i'd love to see your painting process! your art style is phenomenal hngh 

Anonymous said: Do you have a youtube channel? Just wondering, since I can't seem to find it. I'd like to watch some speedpaints or something .u.

Anonymous said: could do you a tutorial on how you color hair??? its so pretty and baffles me all the time

Anonymous said: Would you ever do a tutorial showing how you draw? I've see you post on how you color but not lineart (ps your style is super duper cute!!)

Anonymous said: Ayy ;3c hello stocky, your art is amazing ;; how is your process for color your drawings? Plz need to know! God bless you♥

Anonymous said: How do you color soooo well? Can I get some tips? ( ;n; )

Answer: i’ve sometimes done lil art streams for friends before! i could use the same capture software to make speedpaints sometime.... i’ve been considering it for a while actually! 

my process can be a lil sloppy when i try to break it down into steps for tutorials so i think the best way to show + explain is through art streams (& video process)... 

i was thinking of starting art streams on twitch in the near future too... it’s just when i’ll finally be able to get setup finally that i’d be able to set a streaming schedule

Anonymous said: I never played Megaman but I used to watch my older brother play it, and I finally started playing it because of your art too lmao (i love it)

Answer: MEGAMAN GOOD!!! im so glad you’re enjoying the series now too!!

Anonymous said: Socky, will you restock the sanic charms (the knuckles and tails link one) or make other characters?? i love them !

Answer: THANK YOU i’m glad u like em!! each time they sell out i do plan to restock them so no worries!! 👍 I AM AIMING TO MAKE MORE CHARMS OF OTHER SONIC CHARACTERS TOO they’ll come eventually when i’m able to make the designs & get them ordered!!

Anonymous said: ((whispers, this may have been asked before and I wasn't sure where to ask it, but what does "i tried my best x5" mean? is it a reference to something? ;;))

Answer: OH NO WORRIES I’LL CLEAR IT UP!! it’s in reference to a youtube user’s rp comments as “kagamine len”. i’ve seen it MANY years ago & at that time it became sorta an inside joke between me & my friends. 

later i referenced/used it as a response a few times on my len askblog to keep it going.

it’s a small lil thing i guess but i’ve sorta adopted the saying now haha

Anonymous said: socks r gr8 doncha think

Anonymous said: ookay im going to sleep now sorry

Answer: no come back you are valid !!

Anonymous said: your aRT gives me heARTATTACKKKS

Answer: BREATHE, ANON

Anonymous said: I JUST FOUND YOUR BLOG AND I LOVE YOUR ART STYLE! <3

Anonymous said: Wanted to say I absolutely love your art and how you draw the Kagamines. Please keep it up!

Anonymous said: HELLO I JUST. WANNA SAY I ADORE YOUR ART AND BLOGS !! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND I ALSO WISH YOU ALL THE BEST !!

Anonymous said: your art makes me cry out of joy. I am actually crying because your style makes me so happy!!!! keep up the good work!! <3

Anonymous said: your artstyle. CUTE

@transjackatlas​ said: you art style is absolutely adorable 💙💚💕

@emmi-san​ said: I only wanted to say that I love your art style and the cute representations of the vocaloid songs ✨💕

@tyranart​ said: Your arts wonderful and I hope your day is full of nothing but enjoyment

@thekillermarti​ said: how do you draw so cute?!

@neykoart​ said: YOUR ARTSTYLE IS SO CUTE OH MY GOD YOUR TETO DRAWING WARMS MY HEART SO MUCH

@dumiz-hyper-saiyan​ said:  Hiya! I wanted to ask, how is your art so great!? You are so so talented (I know it’s not really a question but I love your drawings so much! I hope we can be friends cause you seem to be a amazing person!) hehe!♥️

@seraphofivorylight​ said:  (￣▽￣) i just found ur blog today and i want to say i really love how soft ur art is !! its super pleasing to look and i definitely wish i could have some of these as prints to slap onto my wall of posters ✨ keep doing ur good work !! i hope ur doing well !!

Answer: THANK YOU SO MUCHHCH!!!!! i’m glad y’all are enjoying my art u folks are the MVPs & it’s super motivating to get your nice feedback _(┐「ε:)_ 💕 💕 //sends you all my lov e

@moderndayoutsider​ said: Just thought I'd shoot a message and say that I absolutely ADORE your art and you're one of my inspirations <3 God bless! Keep on doing what you're doing! :D

Anonymous said: ahh i wana say that ive been a fan of you for years and youve inspired my own art sm T_T... bout time i told you how much i love ur stuff 💖💖💖

Anonymous said: Woah, I'm a bit new to your blog and I just want to say how cute your art is. I'm literally so glad this was on my recommended. If I hadn't clicked on your blog then I don't know where I would be. To be honest, I would send you this on my real account but I'm actually really afraid to talk to you, and plus I'm really shy heheh. But keep up the good work! You're an inspiration to us all.

Anonymous said: Hi socky!!! I just wanna drop by and say that I love ur art so so so much !! The coloring and shape of it is so appealing and sometimes I spend hours at a time on your social media just marveling your art. It's really pretty!! Keep up the good work ✨✨✨

Answer: sdfgFDGDdsf knowing that u folks are inspired by my works makes it all worth it, i hope u know (;__;💕 💕 thank you so much for sticking around & enjoying!!! it really means A LOT pleas y’all have a lovely week!!

Anonymous said: Do you take commissions?

Anonymous said: Commission?

Answer: I SORTA HAVE COMMISSIONS OPEN tho i take them by a commission form which puts you on a waitlist. i’m more active on my twitter and tweet updates, & handle most contact about them there...

here’s a link to the tweet about my current commission info + the link to the form is inside --> [comm info]

Anonymous said: Where are you from? Your art is so clean and stylish!! 💖✨

@mysticmangaanimepainter​ said: What year u start drawing???😮 

Answer: started drawing wayyy back when i was able to first hold a crayon haha. tho i sorta started paying attention to what i was doing around middle school? started drawing digitally between middle & high school iirc... im from the US also !!

AAAND AGAIN A LOT OF THESE WERE ASKED/SENT VERY LONG AGO.....  & IM SORRY FOR JUST NOW ANSWERING THEM... o+<

but to all who’s sent me nice messages & words of encouragement, thank you so much 😭💕💕💕 i rly appreciate em all & even tho i’m not very responsive here on tumblr i rly like to look at and read the messages from time to time;;;💖

#THIS IS SO LATE THERE ARE ASKS SENT FROM YEARS AGO IM SO SORRY HGFDJLHDJ #i'm not very responsive here on tumblr but i do see & love all the good feedback yall have sent!! #ask compilation #answered

[shhh-no-ones-home]

practice makes patience connor murphy x reader

+++++++++

super short, still sorry if it sucks, i havent read it since i wrote it like two years ago

prompts:

120. "Can i do your hair"

117. "Hes pampering me, let him be"

57. "Dont talk anymore"

tag list: @cynic-spirit

+++++++++

I sat on the couch and poked at my stomach, laughing at connor peering over at me. I could secretly tell he was a little peeved that i was having way to much fun with this pregnancy. It wasnt like we planned on having a kid but ever since we found out he'd been spending a lot more time with me, which i think was just an excuse for him to get out of the house and away from his family. I ran my hand over my stomach a couple of times before he got up in a huff and left me to watch the tv by myself. I rolled my eyes in a play manner before checking the channel guide for different movies that were on.

I decided on one and not long after connor walked back out of my bedroom and leaned against the couch behind me. I reached up and haphazardly stroked his arm before resting my hand back on my stomach. He kissed the top of my head before resting his own head on top of mine. We sat like that for a minute before he opened his mouth.

"Can i do your hair?"

I was a little shocked and had to look back at him to make sure he was serious. He looked dead serious, and was definitely concentrating on something.

"I guess?'

"Well i mean, you always do mine cause i dont really know how to, and since we found out we are expecting a little girl i figured i might as well get some practice in right?"

I shrugged.

"Is there anything you want me to teach you how to do or are you just gonna try to do something on your own?"

He let out a nervous laugh.

"Actually ive been watching some youtube tutorials on how to do certain kids hair styles and i kinda wanted to try those."

I was a little shocked, hed never really taken a big interest in certain things the whole time we were together and gosh darn it if he wanted to learn something new then i was gonna help him to my best ability.

"Alright cool, do you want me to sit at the table or anything or is here good or what?"

He looked a little like a deer caught in headlights at my question.

"Crap i hadnt thought that far ahead."

"Thats okay, youre new at this, just pick a spot where you think you will have the easiest access to what you wanna try."

He looked up and thought for a second.

"You know what i think you can stay right there, i just need you to sit up a little bit."

"Alright, sounds good."

I offered him a proud smile and gladly obliged. I sat there and waited as he ran around the house collecting the things he thought he needed. Pretty soon he got to work and i was loving every minute of it. No one played with my hair as often as id prefer but it was happening now and i was gonna revel in it; that is until he caught a stray hair and started pulling on knots and things. Thats when it became a little less bearable but i was still willing to work with him. An hour or so passed when my mom came home, she was holding bags of groceries and was a little shocked to see connor concentration on not only me but also my hair. After she put everything away she joined us in the living room.

"Your letting him touch your hair like that?"

I felt him stop and i knew he had that sad face without even turning to look at him. I gave her a stern look.

"Hes pampering me, let him be. Hes trying his hardest and im gonna support him because he wants to learn how to do hair before our little girl gets here."

She just rolled her eyes and i looked back up at him to see him smiling down at me. I heard her call back in from the kitchen.

"When hes done he can come learn how to cook your little girl a propper meal too."

"Hes trying his best, and we've been working on that now shush and dont talk any more!"

I looked back up at him.

"Youve been doing great baby, we have a good while before shes actually gonna be eating real food, i mean for heavens sake she isnt even close to being here yet."

I let out a soft laugh and he sent me a reassuring smile.

"Ill be sure to add proving your mother wrong to my to do list. But for right now i gotta finish this."

"Right, ill hush now and turn around."

Another hour passed and i was beginning to think he hadnt done much despite what i was feeling being done to my head. He clapped though which caused me to turn around.

"All done babe, wanna come look at it?"

I smacked my knees before standing up.

"Well of course i do!"

He covered my eyes and walked me to the bathroom, he turned me around, had me open my eyes, and handed me a small mirror to look at it from behind. When i saw it my jaw dropped.

"Connor it looks fantastic! Our little girl is gonna look like an elf or a princess!"

He smiled really big at me.

"You really think its that good?"

"Of course i do, i love it baby."

He gave me a big hug.

"I told you ive been watching tutorials, i didnt think it would be that hard but a couple braids here and there aren't to bad once you finally get the hang of it."

"When her hair is long enough to do stuff with i know she is absolutely going to love having you do it."

We walked back out into the living room and he kissed my forehead.

"Thanks babe, i cant wait to do it for her."

#wattpad #x reader #connor murphy #deh #dear evan hansen #imagines #one shots #prompt #unedited #190

[jane-runs-fast]

In this Tutorial, you will learn how to make your art blink using illustration software (that you should already be comfortable with) and free resources.

Overview:

This tutorial will go over how to make a simple gif in a (hopefully) understandable way.

We will be going over how to make eyelids in our illustration software, saving, uploading to free GIF making software, tweaking our gif, and finally saving the finished product.

1. Making Your Eyelids

We start our project in our illustration software- for this tutorial, I will be using Clip Studio, but any illustration software will work.  Open the image you would like to turn into a gif.

I am using a flat image as my base image to keep things clean with this tutorial, but there is no rule against creating eyelids as you are creating your image.

For this GIF we will only be making two eyelid overlays.  Two is the minimum amount of overlays for a smooth blinking transition.  One set of closed eyelids is going to look cheap and unrealistic, but it is doable.

The more eyelid overlays you have the smoother and more natural the gif will look. you can't have too many overlays, but for your first time making a gif, I recommend sticking to two until you get the hang of things.  

For these two eyelids make two layers over the base image layer, labeling them ‘lid_1′ and ‘lid_2′  as depicted below:

Once that is done using one of those layers to draw a set of eyelids at half-mast, doing your utmost to make the new lids look natural to the base image. It is okay if the overlayed lids are not perfect- while the gif is blinking you won't be able to notice small mistakes, but we still want the gif to look professional.

Repeat the process with the fully closed eyelids on the second lid layer.

When finished you should have three layers; A base image layer, a half-mast eyelid layer, and a closed lid layer.

GIF’s work and look best when cropped into a square, and since GIF’s are small and can't handle tons of detail it is a good idea to crop your image to focus closer on the face (since this is a blinking tutorial.)

Don't forget to add a new watermark to your base image!

2. Saving Your Images

Since free GIF making software has trouble handling .png images with clear backgrounds, we will need to save three variations of our image;  the cropped base image, the half-mast lids overlaying the base image, and the closed lids overlaying the base image.  

You can save in .JPG or .PNG, it doesn't really matter so long as the images do not have any ‘clear’ portions.

[Just to clear it up, it IS possible to create gifs using images with clear backgrounds: for example, the base image and the standalone eyelids saved as .png- but that requires better editing software than we will be using (like after effects, wondershare filmora, etc.)]

when you are finished your three saved images should look similar to these:

3. Turning Your Images to GIFS

Now that you have your images its time to move on to making the actual GIF!

There are several free gif making sites you can use, but for this tutorial we will be using EZGIFS.COM.   

There is no downloading required, but like most free stuff EZGIFS is convenient but if you want to make GIF making a regular thing you are going to want to upgrade to legitimate editing software at some point.

Click on the bold EZGIFS.COM link ive shared above and you will be taken to a site that looks like the screenshot below.

You are going to want to make sure the ‘GIF Maker’ tab is highlighted before you get started.  Locate the “Choose Files” button and click it.

Once you upload your images you will need to make a ‘copy’ of the ‘halfmast lid image and arrange the images in this order:  Base image (open eyes), half-mast lid image, closed lid image, copy of half-mast lid image.

This is so we can better simulate blinking.

Now after you have your images in place you need to adjust the time they will be shown in the GIF.

You can do that by adjusting the numbers in the box under the images next to the words ‘Delay:’

You will want to have your base image have the longest delay, the closed lids will need to be the second longest delay, and then the half-mast images will be the shortest.

After you have everything in order (my delay numbers are in the image above, feel free to use them as a reference,)  you are ready to go! Click the blue button labeled ‘Make a GIF!’ to see how your gif has turned out!

If your gif needs adjusting you can easily do that by scrolling back up to the delay times and then refreshing your GIF by pressing the ‘Make a GIF!’ button once more.

Now that you have made your GIF you are going to need to make sure it meets social media requirements, or else your GIF will just be a nice stationary image on your blog.

Directly below your shiny new gif, you will find the file size, width, and height of your GIF.

Most blog standards are 2 MiB MAX file size for your GIF, if your gif is above 2MiB then you will need to click on the “Optimize” button (the image with a cog and a broom, found directly below your new GIF.   

This button will take you to a page where you may condense your GIF at the loss of some size or clarity, but it's necessary for your GIF to work, so it must be done.

Once your gif is the appropriate file size you need to check the length and width of your GIF.  This is a bit more flexible because although 500px is the best size you can get away with larger GIF measurements if your file size is below 2 MiB.

Once all that fun stuff is done all you have left to do is click the ‘Save’ icon below the finished GIF, the ‘Save’ button has a black floppy disk on it and is in the same row as the resize and optimize buttons (you can see the save button in the screenshot above.)

Now you have saved your gif!

depending on what your last edit to your gif was the file name should look something like the image below, it will have the words ezgif in them (for those of you who have a massive amount of content in your downloads folder.)

Now your GIF can be uploaded for the world to see!

To upload your own GIF to Tumblr just upload it as you would a basic image.

Feel free to contact me for any questions, I hope this tutorial was easily understood and that it has opened up a new medium for my artistic peers! 

#mm #mystic messenger #gif #gif making #gif making tutorial #tutorial #animating #gif tutorial

[sage-nebula]

how do you like sword/shield so far? i'm a little leery of the whole reduced pokedex thing, but then again, they did this with black/white but worse. mostly, i'm intrigued by the rivals :D

The lack of a National Dex was not done with Black/White, and certainly not worse than it is here. While it’s true that only Unova pokémon were able to be found and caught in the wild in Black/White during the main story, once the main story was completed and the National Dex was obtained, players could transfer in any pokémon from Gen I to Gen IV. The ‘dex was never limited, and in fact in an interview given around that time, Masuda said that they would never limit the ‘dex because they didn’t want to cut people off from pokémon they loved the way they almost had to between Gen II and Gen III (before finding a way around it with FireRed/LeafGreen and the Colosseum/XD games). So no, the limited ‘dex that we have in Sword/Shield---and that we’re going to have in the foreseeable future---is not something they already did in Gen V. It’s brand new, and is unfortunately never going away.

That said, a brief rundown of my thoughts on Gen VIII so far, keeping in mind that I only have Sword and that I’m only just past the first gym (because I’m trying to get a Galar Ponyta through Surprise Trade and it’s not going well):

Pros: 

The trainer customization is already much better than it was in Sun/Moon, and I like that you have a clothes shop right in the first (real) town, so that you don’t have to be stuck with an ugly outfit for too long if you don’t want to be. I do wish that there was a genuinely purple color option for hair, but the fact that my trainer is at least wearing good clothes soothes the wound for me.

Being able to skip (some of) the tutorials was a GODSEND. I must’ve missed the way to skip the “how to catch a pokémon” tutorial with Leon, unfortunately, but I was able to tell the others to fuck off when it came to learning what a Pokémon Center is and whatnot, and that was just so great. Honestly, I’ve been playing these games since before these characters were even conceptualized, I do not need them to tell me a goddamn thing.

I like seeing pokémon in the overworld, because it makes it not only easier to know what you’re about to do battle with, but also more realistic (in the sense that it doesn’t make sense to have a huge bear just attack you out of nowhere in tall grass; there’s no way you shouldn’t be able to see it coming).

The game is so BRITISH that I find it really charming and amusing. I like that even in the US version they kept all the English slang and terminology, and even worked it into some accents (like you can tell that Marnie is supposed to have a working class London accent, and I like that).

I like most of the characters so far, and am especially thrilled that we finally have a jerkass rival again. It’s been three thousand years . . .

I like several of the new pokémon so far. My team is only four ‘mon at the moment (would be five if I could get someone to TRADE ME A PONYTA), but they’re all good.

While there are some graphical areas that don’t look so hot (those Ocarina of Time trees . . .) other aspects, like the water, look pretty nice.

Cons:

The music, by and large, is so generic and doesn’t have a Galar feel. This has been an increasing problem with the past two gens, although admittedly there were certain themes in the Gen VII games that tried to spin a Hawaiian sound for Alola (e.g. the PokéCenter theme). In earlier gens, the wild battle and trainer battle themes were all distinctive, sometimes to the point of leaning heavily on certain instruments (e.g. Hoenn’s famous trumpets, and I remember Sinnoh having quite a bit of percussion). But in recent times the themes all kind of sound alike, to the point where the main overture can be heard in standard Galar trainer battles. As someone who always loves OSTs, that’s pretty disappointing to me.

THE STUPID Y-COMM BADGES ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE SCREEN HOLY SHIT. The fact that you cannot turn these notifications off naturally is maddening. I keep having to turn wireless communication on and off to clear the notifications because that’s the only way I can figure out how to do it (because even in Local Communication you get notifications for shit you just did like?? I know what I did, leave me alone??). Y-Comm is definitely better than RotomDex, don’t get me wrong, but oh my god that thing is bloody annoying. If they could patch in a way to turn off Y-Comm notifications that would be real swell.

It’s not as bad in the spot where I am at right now, but in the beginning of the game for sure I was being stopped by either Hop or Sonia every ten seconds and that was really annoying. The writing was a bit repetitive at times now (e.g. I don’t need to be reminded every two seconds that Leon gets lost easily, I got that the first time you told me).

If you have wireless communications on in the wild area, the lag is pretty noticeable. Aside from the Y-Comm notifications, this is another reason I prefer to keep it off.

I spent $18,000 on a Gym Challenge uniform and my trainer still wears the ugly default one in challenges and I see no way to change this. I feel like I was personally victimized. (Speaking of, the Arcanine shirt is $30,000 while all other shirts are $980 hello?? Considering Arcanine is one of my signature ‘mon I feel personally attacked by this.)

The weather effects in the wild area seem random and don’t really make sense, haha. Like I get it, there are phenomena in real life where you can be in a place that’s raining and then drive through it, but how is the sunlight harsh in one spot, but two steps later it’s snowing . . . like I live in a place where we experience every time of weather phenomena there is to experience throughout the year (we have summers over 100 F easily, and then winters -10 F easily), sometimes on a day to day basis, but even then, this is kind of ridiculous lol.

I’m starting to think none of the big pokémon in the wild area will be catchable until after I beat the game considering how they’re all mysteriously still too strong after I got my first badge, but we’ll see I guess lol.

There are probably more things I could say for each, but this is where I’m at right now. I am enjoying it more than I thought I would, but my expectations going in were also rock bottom, so that’s not really saying much in terms of kudos to Game Freak, haha. We’ll see how things shake out for the rest of the game.

#pokemon #Anonymous

[blaurascon-kzk]

KZK Discord Digest [Week of Nov 22 - Nov 28]

SUMMARY: Work's still progressing on the LE Kirins. Some previews for the Aeterna (Time) one in this post! Kat's made a channel in the Discord specifically for posting quick WIP shots and previews while he's working. I likely won't be covering that channel in the Digests, given 1. there are a lot and 2. there are still WIP shots in Announcements, but we'll see. In the meantime, you'll have to check out the Discord to see em. Links in my SL profile. We migrated our databases to a new host the other day. The old host had been giving us fits for a long while, from downtime to failed purchases, but the recent streak of "vendors going offline and unable to come back online if we had to reboot anything" was the last straw. New host is much more robust than the old one - you'll notice this in faster purchase times, and if vendors need to reboot, they'll come back up faster. In addition, we'll be able to add item descriptions again! We weren't able to have these for quite a while due to issues with the old host. We'll get those updated soon as we have a bit of spare time. One caveat: If you happen to have any Vouchers left over from old events (e.g. the Sweetheart vouchers from Valentine's where you choose an avatar color), those will no longer work. They need to talk to the databases & don't have the right configuration now. You can manually redeem them from Kat if you need. Similarly, any vendors that we missed updating will no longer be able to properly talk to the item servers. If you happen across a vendor that seems to be failing to deliver an item, let us know so we can update it!

______

Nov 22

KatLast Friday at 5:09 PM @everyone So one of the final 4 kirins to be release is Aeterna, the avatar of Time. Here's a quick concept doodle for it. It wears a mask resembling a ram's head, and the horns are notched like a gear or cog.

For the design, I wanted something that looked aged and wise, yet still had a regal air to it. its main colors will be bronze, gold, copper, and maroon.

KatLast Friday at 8:31 PM @everyone So tonight I was approached by a fellow KZK community member and friend, with a simple request to help them troubleshoot a rig. After trial and error, a solution was found and they were well on their way toward finishing a project that had been plaguing them for weeks.

And herein lies the problem. The individual, who will remain nameless, who rigged this model, seems to have taken umbrage to me assisting.

I don't understand this mentality. I don't understand why they're upset, or why they're taking it out on the person who asked me for help.

KZK wouldn't be where it was were it not for the contributions of many before me. Everything I've learned, I learned from youtube videos, forum tutorials, and industry leaders like Michael "Orb" Vicente, most famous for his 'Orb_Cracks' brush that basically every major game studio uses these days(I'm not kidding).

Im also not afraid to admit when I'm wrong, or when I don't understand something. Years ago, I didn't know how to make good LODs, until members of this very community gave me information that made it possible.

Point I'm trying to make is, and the reason I'm posting this: If you don't know something, reach out. Its not dumb to not know something. Its dumb to not ask for help, because it just makes you look close minded and ignorant. Don't punish others for your ignorance, because the files I worked with tonight were new territory for me. I had the missing piece to the puzzle and progress was made.

Art and progress can't exist in a vacuum. There's entire generations of others who came long before you did--And there'll be plenty more to follow in your footsteps and eventually surpass you. Its why I'm always so eager to help. always eager to teach, because someone else was kind enough to teach me.

This has been your latest 'Old man shouts at clouds', brought to you by Kat who needs another cup of coffee.

KatLast Friday at 8:39 PM @everyone Also, if you're new to KZK, or not familiar with this: Sometimes a topic will come up, or something will happen that sorta.. just sets me off.

I'm 'famous', at least as far as the furry community in Second life is concerned. I could use that power for evil, but I dont. Instead I use it to try and spread a message from time to time. Today's lesson just happened to be about 'learning to learn', a subject that's always been near and dear to me.

You can ignore these kinds of posts if you want, but if you do read them, Please take them either with a grain of salt, or to heart. up to you. Its just important for me to raise awareness for issues like this from time to time.

______

Nov 24

KatLast Sunday at 1:57 AM @everyone Kinda dawned on me tonight that I wanted to make a channel where I could post updates and teasers to ongoing projects too minor/frequent to place into announcements(I don't like sending too many too often).

So, I've added a new channel to the General tab, called #teasers-and-wips. Reactions are enabled, but replies are disabled--you can share feedback in #general chat.  Enjoy!

KatLast Sunday at 5:25 AM @everyone My progress for today on the Aeterna Kirin. I've got the rings already modelled, just need to uv unwrap them and get them baked out once I get some sculpted detail onto them. Then its on to the floaty bits of fabric, which should go quickly, and lastly a new set of fur assets to make this old soul look wiry and wise. I'm particularly tickled with the skull so far. While definitely not true to a goat's skull, as intended, I much prefer the visage this design gives and I hope you all do too!

The skull and horns (and all other parts), will be static(with a bento alternative tail included, per the norm), so you'll be free to rip everything apart and repurpose it as your heart desires!

______

Nov 25

KatLast Monday at 6:16 PM @everyone Progress on the Aeterna is probably 95% at this point. The skin/body textures in use are not final(jsut using the chocolate textures so its not solid white), and I still gotta add the belly scales and make the asset for the maroon fabric hanging from the rings all over. I'm pretty stoked with how these hair assets came out. Also fun little side effect, when you remove the mask/horns, it looks like a cool kirin/zebra witch doctor kinda, so hey, some modding potentiall there for people.

Bonus: No mask

______

Nov 27

KatYesterday at 3:37 AM @everyone Hey reminder that there's a snazzy new #teasers-and-wips channel where I post progress on upcoming projects! I've been posting my recent progress on the Nova, complete with some behind the scenes  showing how I create assets that contribute to larger items. Its good fun!

KatYesterday at 4:35 AM @everyone At this moment, we're performing some server migration for our databases(We've got backups this time I promise!), so purchasing will be unavailable.

For those curious, we've had many vendors crashing and not coming back online in recent months. We originally suspected this to be a Second Life issue but it traced back to recent changes our host made, effectively crippling our servers.

We're migrating to a new host, and internal testing has already shown faster purchases, vendor boots, and the restoration of a long missing feature, item descriptions!!

We'll give the all clear once migration is done.

KatYesterday at 7:20 AM @everyone It is 7:15 in the morning, and Flame and I have powered through the night (although this is his day), to chase down a MYRIAD of issues that have been plaguing our system for the last several years. The crashing and failure to boot was definitely the nail in the coffin So this had to happen sooner or later.

BUT! We're ..technically code orange. The migration is complete, and as of the time of this writing, only the MAIN STORE KZK vendors and DIREWOLF Vendors have been updated to cache to the new server.

ANY Purchases made from ANY OTHER KZK vendor WILL NOT DELIVER at this time. I will be fixing the remaining vendors grid-wide once I've gone and copped a few hours of beauty sleep. This includes all KZK Multi-category vendors, and ALL Single prim vendors besides the Direwolves.

ALSO: If you are in possession of a voucher, they will no longer deliver items! There is no way to fix these going forward besides doing a manual delivery of the desired item(in exchange for the in-tact, unused voucher). All future vouchers going forward will use the new system.

TLDR: Only kzk main vendors work in Okarthel, as well as direwolves. Everything else is still fucked and im too tired to bother. I'll deal with those in the morning(after ive slept) (any purchases made to off-site vendors will be manually redelivered tomorrow as well, so if you wanna avoid failed purchases, just use Okarthel)

Flame SoulisYesterday at 7:35 AM Do note though that vendors and vouchers will continue to be recorded. All we have to do is re-add the purchase/item redemption to the newer system and your item will deliver.

So, in short, your purchase will be recorded if purchased outside the main store. It'll just be delayed until someone can update the newer system.

KatYesterday at 8:08 PM @everyone Took all day but I think I've managed to track down all active locations. All vendors, including the single prim stuff, has been switched over. In the event you find a vendor that fails to deliver properly, please let me or blau know.

Current vendor versions are 1.94(sergal and normal), and 1.51 for the stone pillar ones.

you are now free to move about the cabin. Now if you'll excuse me, I need more coffee and food. Stupid blood sugar @-@

#kzk-dd #kzk

[remindersofgrace]

Our Birth Story

Today marks 10 days since our daughter Talitha was born. Our daughter - I’m still getting used to saying that. She came without warning and on her own timing, but I’m beginning to see God’s perfect providence in blessing us with this sweet little girl 5 weeks early. I woke up Saturday morning, September 1st, 2018 at 5:30am without an alarm, unsure of why I felt so wired and unable to fall back asleep (which, if you know me, is a very unusual thing). I was feeling some uncomfortable pressure in my lower abdomen and kept sitting on the toilet for relief, and actually pooped 4 times in 4 hours but had no idea that this could be a sign of early labor. (Is that TMI? Oh well.)

By 10am though, the pain had started moving up my abdomen, and I started to count the contractions. They were sporadic, 30 seconds of pain every 6 min, then 40 second after 4 min, then 3 min, then 8 min - but they were persistent and unlike any Braxton-Hicks contractions I had felt before. I texted Talitha, my friend and doula (we’ll call her Talitha P so you don’t confuse her with our baby), and let her know what was going on, but still didn’t think anything serious was happening until she texted back, “Oh my goodness. Definitely monitor them and keep me posted.” She suggested hopping in the bath to see if that would help the contractions subside - and although it seemed to ease the pain a little, after the bath the contractions started up again every 6 min. We called the triage line at Kaiser and the doctor on the line told me she wasn’t sure it was true labor, but instructed us to come in just to be safe.

We cancelled our lunch plans, haphazardly threw together a hospital bag for me, threw our car seat in the trunk (we still hadn’t figured out how to strap it in yet) and called our mothers during the car ride to let them know that we were headed to the hospital for triage, but that we didn’t think we were going to be there for long. After all, Talitha wasn’t due for another 5 weeks, I had 2 more packed weeks of work to transition out for maternity leave, we had a baby shower scheduled on the 15th, and our house was not close to being habitable for a newborn.

The car ride to the hospital was a bit tougher with some stronger contractions, and we walked into the Kaiser Sunset’s labor and delivery unit to be triaged by a nurse. She strapped the fetal monitors on my abdomen, and sure enough - the contractions were consistently every 6 minutes. The pain was there but manageable, and Talitha’s heart rate was responding well to each contraction. The moment came at around 2:30pm when the doctor came in to check how dilated I was, and our jaws dropped when he told me I was 4 cm dilated, 90% effaced - and I was not going anywhere. Eden and I looked at each other and shared a moment of disappointment that our baby was not going to be born full-term, which we were hoping for since she needed to be big enough and strong enough to have surgery shortly after birth. We called Talitha and let her know that I was being admitted, and this incredible woman did not hesitate to drive 2 hours from Palm Springs on her Labor Day weekend to be there for mine. Best doula ever.

We were transferred into the room that I would deliver in at around 3pm, and I was started on an IV to give me fluids and also to give me a preventative antibiotic since my test for group-B strep had not resulted yet. I was also given a steroid injection to give my premature baby’s lungs a boost, but it would only be effective if I was given a second dose 24 hours later. I was hoping that I would not be laboring for another 24 hours, but wanted to give my baby any fighting chance I could.

Well into labor, I still hadn’t lost my mucous plug or had any bloody show, and my water still hadn’t broken. The toughest part about this labor was that because I was 5 weeks early, my nurse didn’t want me to get out of bed and kept trying to have me delay delivery - she thought it was best that I try to hold off until I could get the second steroid injection in 24 hours, or to even delay delivery 4 more days until our baby was 36 weeks old. I looked at her sideways - I couldn’t imagine going through these contractions for 24 more hours, let alone 4 days, and the thought of it stressed me out! Thankfully by then, Talitha P had arrived at about 5:30pm, and she gave me this reassuring look after the nurse left and said, “Don’t worry, you are having this baby tonight.”

By then, Jabez had dropped off an exercise ball for me (sadly it was not used) and my brother-in-law Ken came to support me and Eden as well. The contractions became stronger and more frequent - every 4 min, every 3 min. I went to the bathroom and sure enough, there was quite a bit of blood in the toilet after I peed, and Talitha P reassured me that it wouldn’t be long before I delivered. She had thankfully met with us just a week before to give us a labor crash course in what to expect with labor and how to breathe through the labor pains. During the pain of contractions, the temptation is to tense up your body but that is the opposite of what your body should do. Instead, what you actually need to do is relax your body as much as possible, and so she instructed me to focus on taking deep breaths and to have my palms face up so that I couldn’t clench down. She also would rub my neck muscles to gently remind me to relax my shoulders when she felt me tensing up. And so I was able to get through my contractions without pain medicine and without any screaming, which is something I always wanted to do but didn’t think that I would be able to do. For me, the pain of my contractions was actually pretty bearable (around 6-7 out of 10) because I knew what to expect and the pain was only really bad for about 30 seconds until I could feel the contraction begin to subside. It could have also just been God’s kindness to me because I have horrible pain tolerance!

At around 7pm, the doctor came in to check my cervix again. He told us he couldn’t feel a cervix, meaning I was fully dilated at 10cm. I had to wait through a few more contractions since the neonatologist team was not quite ready to come in yet, and then it was finally time to start pushing. Talitha P had taught me - deep cleansing breath in and out, then another deep breath, tuck your chin in, grab the bottom of your thighs, and push like you’re pushing out the biggest poop of your life for 10 seconds. Then exhale and repeat until your contraction has finished. For me, I was only able to get 2 rounds of effective pushes each contraction. Though women are usually pretty nervous about the pushing stage, pushing actually felt like a relief because you’re finally getting to do what the contractions are making you want to do. I was told that my pushes were effective, and after about 45 min we started to see her crown. The neonatologist and pediatric surgical team came at the perfect moment when I was pushing out my final pushes. I had a mirror positioned so that I could see her come out.

As her little head finally popped out, it was more painful but not unbearable, and she had not yet made a sound. I remember pleading with God that she would take her first breath even with immature lungs. The doctor delivering Talitha instructed me to pause on pushing so that she could reposition her and ease her out without as much tearing. Once she had her positioned, she instructed me to give some final pushes and I gave it my all, and her little shoulders and the rest of her pudgy body made it through. Then came the glorious cry! They instantly put her on my chest for a brief time of skin to skin. I felt so relieved and couldn’t believe this baby on my breast was Talitha in the flesh, the little being we had waited for so long to meet. Eden cut the cord, and Talitha was whisked over to the exam table to be assessed while I delivered my placenta. She was 6 lbs and 10 oz, which we later found out was due to the amount of fluid trapped in her vagina. They indeed found an imperforate anus (which we had expected) but they also found no vaginal opening. The diagnosis was made that our baby had a cloaca, which was on our doctor’s list of possible diagnoses but not at the top. All babies have a cloaca (a common channel for the urethra, anus, and vagina) in the embryonic stage, but it normally separates into the 3 separate channels during development. Our baby was one out of 25,000 babies to have what is called a persistent cloaca and we would learn in the coming days what that meant for our baby and her life.

Eden and our daughter went to the NICU while I received stitches for a second degree tear (not fun). Meanwhile, the neonatologist was furiously putting in orders and contacting our pediatric team to schedule Talitha to have a colostomy and a vaginostomy for 8am the next morning. I was transferred to the postpartum unit, ate some dinner with Eden, Ken and Talitha P, and we reflected back on the delivery together. Talitha P gave me a tutorial on breast pumping before she headed back for Palm Springs. When it was cleared for us to visit our baby in the NICU, we headed over close to midnight and found our baby. She now was on IV fluids and had a little tube threaded down her throat to suction out any contents in her stomach before surgery. Her nurse was so kind and talked me through a lot of what to expect tomorrow, then gave me ample time to hold her skin to skin and snuggle with her. It was such a precious time that I won’t forget. We finally got to bed that night around 1:40am, and so concluded the day that made Eden and myself parents. As I finally finish typing this, we are a day or two from bringing our baby home. We have seen so much evidence of God’s grace during these past 10 days and are confident that He will continue to care for Talitha and for us. She has had an army of over 100 people praying for her ever since her 13-week ultrasound and I know those prayers are powerful and effective. We had prayed for healing, and although it didn’t come the way we expected, I can see already how God is healing broken areas in Eden and myself, and how He is using Talitha and her sweet little life to proclaim His goodness and faithfulness in the midst of trial and suffering.

If you haven’t already, please read my hubby’s post-birth story and also our specific prayer requests for these upcoming months. Thanks to all who reached out and supported us, I wish I could individually thank you all. God is so good to us through you all!

[sodapaladin]

PawelCyril’s Top 10 Games 2017!

Just like my good friend @shylax, I’ll be considering any game I played for the first time in 2017, not just games that came out this year, because I mostly play older games and can highlight some underrated gems this way!

10. Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (GB)

Castlevania: The Adventure is not a good game. It’s slooow and missing many Castlevania staples, such as subweapons and stairs, of all things. Its sequel, on the other hand, is Game Boy Castlevania done right. Hot damn. The four castles can be completed in any order, so even if you forget your password, you aren’t stuck doing the same intro level a hundred times. The action and platforming is on point. There are problems, certainly, but unlike the first Game Boy outing, this one feels like a proper Castlevania. The soundtrack is also killer, as par for the series’ course. Interestingly, the Japanese and international versions have one different subweapon, the cross and axe, respectively.

9. Mobile Golf (GBC)

Did you know Mario Golf (GBC) had a sequel only released in Japan? It probably didn’t come over due to its relation with the mobile adapter which also wasn’t released outside of Japan. It seems odd to test mobile multiplayer with a golf game, seeing as I could get the same result by playing the game myself and then comparing scores with my friend. That gimmick aside, this game’s essentially an expansion pack sequel to Mario Golf, running on the same engine but with new courses. It also features Foreman Spike, from Wrecking Crew! When will he make another comeback?

8. Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt (PC)

I tried this adorable indie game thanks to @arkthepieking recommendation, and he was right, it was right up my alley. Everything about it is so charming, from the characters to the graphics to the music. The difficulty goes up at a good pace, and there are quite a few secrets to be found. It’s free and short, so give it a try sometime!

7. NES Remix (1 and 2) (Wii U)

The idea of sampling old NES games’ best moments is brilliant. Every once in a while, I think, “Gee, I miss Super Mario Bros. 2, but I’m only in the mood for a couple minutes of it.” Well this highlight collection has you covered! I appreciate Zelda II in theory, but I don’t have the patience to get through its slow dialogue and frustrating areas such as Death Mountain. Thanks to this game, I was able to experience the thrilling boss fights and memorable moments without hours of irritation. It’s also a great way to sample games for a younger audience who may have not even heard of some of these games. My biggest complaint would be how the first challenge for certain games (Kirby’s Adventure uuugh) forces you to sit through a tutorial every single time, making it annoying to replay those challenges for a high score. Some challenges are also scored in a strange way, leaving you wondering why you got 3 stars or only 1. Not every game is a winner, but there are enough classics to entertain any NES fan.

6. Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)

Mario Kart 7 was a bit underwhelming, but Mario Kart 8 brought back the fun. While some of the character choices are disappointing (waaay too many babies), we also got Isabelle, so it balances out. The zero-gravity gimmick is fine, although I don’t even realize I’m upside-down most of the time. Regardless, the new courses are a blast, and there are plenty of revamped retro courses that make me nostalgic and happy. The F-Zero and Animal Crossing courses in particular are full of love. I can’t get over the little details such as rupees replacing coins in the Zelda course, or how every Animal Crossing game’s theme is represented (ILY GameCube AC).

5. Final Fantasy V (GBA)

Being a huge Dragon Quest fan, I’ve held off on playing this for a long time, but I finally got around to it this year. This may just be my favorite main FF game. The story is simplistic compared to IV, but it’s still interesting enough for me. The best way to describe it is charming. The music is also lovely, especially the battle theme, which is my favorite in the series. I’m still not finished with this game, but it’s safe to say I like it a lot.

4. JGTO Kōnin Golf Master (GBA)

I bought this game just to add to my golf game collection. I did not expect it to be such an underrated gem. Easily my favorite golf game on the GBA, and one I still play from time to time. You can read my full review on it for more details. Overall, it’s a fun game with good pacing and a super catchy soundtrack. Technically this game came out in the west as ESPN Final Round Golf 2002, which took out the story mode and changed some graphics. The cartoony real-life golfers were replaced by realistic-looking fictional golfers, and a few other things such as the HUD are changed around, but it’s essentially the same game. If you want a golf game for the GBA besides Mario Golf, I highly recommend this.

3. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (3DS)

Although I put Fates on my top ten list last year, it was a massive disappointment in many ways. Echoes blows it out of the water. Despite being a remake, it’s so fresh! It’s a remake of Gaiden in terms of story, but it’s a completely revamped game that takes everything you know about Fire Emblem and chucks it out the window. It took a while to relearn things such as inventory management and spells, which are now handled differently, but this breath of fresh air is exactly what this series needed. Easily one of the best Fire Emblem games.

2. Dungeon Travelers 2 (PS Vita)

Technically I bought this last year, but I put it on hiatus for a while and played a lot more this year, so I think it’s earned a spot. Not gonna lie, I bought this game primarily for the sleaze. It’s a dungeon crawler with cute girls. What else could I ask for? To my surprise, though, it’s actually a fantastic dungeon crawler in its own right. The difficulty can be quite tough at times, but that makes it so satisfying to overcome. There are tons of ways to build your party, with dozens of jobs that fit into various archetypes. I love the idea of the maid class, which isn’t too useful on its own, but has the ability to restore another party member’s MP for free. This is a fascinating idea, essentially sacrificing a slot in your party for an extra battery for your mage. The story is rather forgettable, but the characters are surprisingly likable and are more interesting than simply sexy ladies. Gratuitous fanservice is still a major part of the game, however, so it’s difficult to recommend this game to any RPG fan. If you’re into women and dungeon crawling, though, this game is way better than it has any right to be. There’s a free demo, so check it out!

1. Chrono Trigger (SNES)

Can you believe I played this for the first time in 2017? For years, friends have told me I’d love this game, but I didn’t believe the hype. Chrono Trigger is one of the best RPGs I’ve ever played. The story, music, characters, gameplay, and more are all incredible. The story was interesting throughout with little filler, and it moved from plot point to plot point organically without the need to gather seven magic crystals or the like. The party members felt like individuals with their own goals, not merely tagging along because you’re the protagonist. For example, having to fight Magus alone as Frog is you have him in your party was satisfying and made sense. I could gush about this game forever but RPG fans already know how great it is. I cannot recommend it enough.

#goty

[matayu-sometimes-writes-stuff]

On Final Fantasy XIII

          I have to admit that I went into this game expecting to be disappointed. While I have intended for a while now to play through every non-MMO Final Fantasy game, at the time I started playing it I had only completed the original and FFII, and was around halfway through FFIII. The only reason I decided to play it now was availability; my brother had a copy, so I didn’t need to purchase it for myself.

           I hadn’t really heard much about the game other than “It’s bad” and “It’s Final Hallway XIII lol”. And while there is certainly an argument to be made that FFXIII is objectively a bad game, and the “hallway” criticism (that most of the game’s areas are linear, with barely any deviation in route) is valid, I absolutely loved this game. I would not recommended it to anyone who isn’t determined to play it through, for reasons I’ll elaborate on later, but this is currently my favourite Final Fantasy game, beating out the original, II, III, and now IV (which I am at the final dungeon of as of this writing).

           I’ll address the criticisms first. Beginning with the “hallway” criticism. Yes, of the game’s 13 chapters, only the area in chapter 11 (which can be revisited during chapter 13) offers any sort of exploration. It’s also where the game’s version of side quests are introduced. Note that although it’s labeled as chapter 11, almost two thirds of the game take place in this open area. I understand that this isn’t worth ten chapters of linearity to some people, but I actually found the linearity of the game to be quite enjoyable. Some people make the argument that the linearity is necessary for story purposes, as our six protagonists are fugitives from their government, and don’t have the time to be running around looking for twenty bear asses with the army breathing down their necks. This is a valid defense, but I have a much simpler one.

           Of all the Final Fantasy games I’ve played, Final Fantasy XIII was the first and thus far only one where I didn’t need an internet walkthrough to figure out where the fuck I was supposed to fucking GO.

           Maybe it’s because I’ve only played NES and SNES-era Final Fantasy games for comparison, but FFXII was so much more enjoyable simply because I didn’t need to constantly be checking a mile-long GameFAQs walkthough every twenty minutes or so, searching for place names or proper nouns just for some hint of where I needed to be. Now, this changed when I started doing the aforementioned side quests, if only because there’s no indication on the in-game map where the questgivers are unless the quest is active, but until that point I had no need for cross-checking a walkthrough. Hopefully this will get better when I finally get through the 16-bit era, but until then the linearity that I’ve heard so many people complain about is one of Final Fantasy XIII’s biggest draws for me. The linearity made the game more fun.

           As mentioned earlier, the game only really opens up in chapter 11, which is where the majority of the game’s runtime is. This is because chapters 1 through 9, and most of 10, are the game’s tutorial.

           These segments are roughly 20 hours long.

           Final Fantasy XIII has a 20-hour-long tutorial. There’s really no way to spin that as a positive. The game uses that time to its advantage, introducing five of the six protagonists from the get-go and developing them in a way that I quite enjoyed, and will say more on later. The fact of the matter is, though, that 20 hours is a ridiculous time to spend teaching the player how to use your combat system. I’m not sure if it makes it better or worse that it does legitimately take 20 hours to master Final Fantasy XIII’s version of the Active Time Battle system.

           Again, full disclosure, I wound up loving the combat system in FFXIII. But I didn’t understand how it worked until around chapter five. To explain, you have a party of at most three characters. You control one character directly, and the other two are controlled by the game’s AI, which takes its cues from you. Each character has a combination of three of six possible roles. You create what the game calls “paradigms”, six sets of any three of the available roles that you can freely switch between during combat. This allows for a party in trouble to switch on the fly from offensive classes to (for example) a tank and two healers. Once you get a handle on it, it’s very intuitive. The problem is, of course, how long it takes to get a handle on it. Twenty hours is still ridiculous.

           Ultimately, a video game succeeds or fails on its gameplay. You can have the most gorgeous backgrounds, beautiful music, and memorable characters, but if the game is hard to play, all that falls by the wayside. Looking at you, Skyward Sword. But that’s a discussion for another time.

           I’m sure the twenty-hour long tutorial turned people off of FFXIII when it first came out. I do agree that it’s ridiculous, and it’s most of the reason why I wouldn’t recommend the game to anyone who wanted something just to pick up and play. My brother, who you’ll remember is the one who actually owns the copy I played, never actually finished the game, nor has any desire to. I likely would have put it down myself if I hadn’t resolved myself to playing it all the way through. I’m glad I did. But if you aren’t approaching it with that mindset, I wouldn’t expect you to enjoy it.

           Speaking of enjoying things, let’s move on to what I actually liked about this game, which is the story and characters. I don’t know how it stacks up against more contemporary Final Fantasy games, but I personally was glad to not be playing yet another Dungeons and Dragons campaign. The story is mostly driven by its characters.

           Claire “Lightning” Farron is the face of Final Fantasy XIII, and the only character I knew about heading in. What I knew, or rather had heard, was that her character was “Cloud Strife but as a woman.” I’ll be the first to admit that, since I haven’t played Final Fantasy VII yet, I don’t know how firsthand how true this assessment is. However, from what I’ve been able to gather from pop-cultural osmosis, this is almost completely untrue. Lightning was designed with “female Cloud” in mind, but for the most part this is where the similarities end.

           Lightning is essentially the single parent of her little sister Serah, and is overprotective of her to a fault.  This has caused an estrangement between the two of them, exacerbated by Lightning’s disapproval of Serah’s fiancé, who will be discussed when we get to him. When Serah is cursed by what are essentially minor gods in this setting with a task that will either transform her into a mindless monster if she fails or put her in stasis potentially forever if she succeeds, Lighting sets out on a quest to rescue her from her fate, to the extent of defying her own gods-given task, and heaven help anyone who gets in her way.

          One of the weaknesses of Final Fantasy XIII, in my opinion, is that the game’s engine doesn’t give its characters the most expressive of faces. Lightning is a very reserved person, but you are able to figure out how she’s feeling from careful consideration and inference based on what she says versus what she’s been through. This could be made much easier if the engine was capable of rendering microexpressions. I do kind of hope FFXIII will get a high-definition rerelease, if only so that this sort of thing could be added.

          Lightning’s arc in this game (it continues slightly in Final Fantasy XII-2, and completes in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII) involves her learning that even if Serah is getting married, it doesn’t mean she’s going to be alone in the world. She forges friendships that will last literal lifetimes with her fellow companions, one of whom is her future brother-in-law she despises so much.

          Time to talk about him. Snow Villiers is a dumbass. A moron. An idiot. An airhead.

          I love him so much.

          I didn’t always. I actually started out hating him just as much as Lightning did. Snow wants to be a hero. Sorry, make that a Hero™. He’s the leader of a citizen’s militia in his and the Farron sisters’ hometown, and he believes that a true hero never needs a plan, because of the laws of narrative causality or some such bullshit. Naturally his arc involves him realizing that that’s a really, REALLY stupid way to live your life. It’s actually better than I’m making it sound: he goes through a gradual realization that his philosophy is hindering others more than helping them, and goes through some low points before he learns how to temper his enthusiasm with careful planning and coordination. Part of this is coming to the conclusion that he can still be heroic, even if he (or anyone, really) can’t live up to the platonic ideal of heroism he has constructed for himself. I began by hating him, by the end of FFXIII I loved hating him, and by the end of the trilogy I actually genuinely grew to love him. But that’s a story for another time. Snow’s motivation is actually the same as Lightning’s: to rescue Serah Farron from her fate, regardless of who or what gets in the way.

          One of the people hurt by Snow’s general idiocy is another of our protagonists: a young boy of fourteen named Hope Estheim, whose mother volunteers to fight alongside Snow to defend her son. Her death isn’t COMPLETELY Snow’s fault, but both Snow and Hope act as if it is. It doesn’t help that she shares a name, Nora, with Snow’s militia. (No Obligations, Rules, or Authority. No, seriously.) Hope’s initial motivation is revenge against Snow. To the point of murder. Naturally this doesn’t play out, but Hope’s interactions with Lightning and Snow are a guiding factor in their own arcs, giving Lightning the familiar ground of a big-sister role as she teaches him how to survive on the run, and showing Snow that heroism is still possible even if you don’t match Snow’s ideal. (To elaborate, when given the opportunity to take revenge for his mother, Hope not only can’t go through with it, but shortly after that actually defends an unconscious Snow after the two survive a several-story fall.)

          Hope comes into his own after reuniting with his father, whom he was afraid would shun him both for not being able to save his mother, and for becoming one of the gods-cursed beings that the general public are being made to fear. Bartholomew Estheim not only reassures him that he would never feel that way about his own son, but gives Hope the confidence he needs to stand up and take action of his own accord, rather than reacting to what’s happening to him as he had been doing. Hope’s a good kid.

          To contrast, Sazh Katzroy is a good father. He’s the oldest member of the main cast, old enough to have a young son, Dajh. Dajh is cursed in a similar way to Serah, and Sazh’s journey is about trying to get him back from the government, who in a cruel twist are using the powers the curse gave him to hunt our protagonists. Sazh is effectively the team dad, and honestly his arc can be summed up with a single GIF of Marlin from Finding Nemo. “Have you seen my son?!”

          Kidding aside, what Sazh has to go through are probably the most realistically terrifying events of the game. He’s a single father whose preschool-aged son is not just missing, but has been taken from him. And like everyone else under the curse, Dajh is on a ticking clock to decide which fate worse than death awaits him. There’s actual, realistic fear there, and I did really care about seeing the two reunited.

          Sazh also got the chance to act as a surrogate father to Oerba Dia Vanille, the fifth and final character who’s introduced from the get-go. For initially unexplained reasons, she’s the only member of the main cast (that we’ve met) with an Australian accent. She’s bubbly, peppy, and dealing with a trainload of internalized guilt over events that happened 500 years before the game even began.

          Vanille, along with our sixth and later introduced really final party member, are the last survivors of a civilization that fought and lost a war against the floating colony the rest of the cast lives in 500 years ago. The two of them were cursed way back then, and entered stasis until the present day. Vanille is a gentle soul, and was horrified both at the number of innocent people she had killed way back when to complete her task, and at what her awakening had brought: both Serah and Dajh were cursed, by different gods, directly because of it. There’s actually a very touching scene shown as a flashback of Vanille meeting Serah a day or two before the events of the game proper, in which she essentially apologizes for what she’s done, and Serah forgives her despite not really understanding the extent of what Vanille was apologizing for. There’s also an even more powerful scene when Sazh finds out that what happened to Dajh was Vanille’s fault, after spending roughly a full day trying to keep the young woman alive. Sazh has a tough decision to make, but it ultimately results in Vanille realizing that she is worthy of forgiveness, which she can achieve by joining with the other characters to save the people she was tasked with destroying.

          The sixth and final party member is Oerba Yun Fang, introduced about a chapter or so after the rest as a “mysterious woman” before swooping in with an appropriately named renegade army faction (the Cavalry) to save the other characters from a tight spot. She also has an Australian accent, marking her and Vanille as native to the surface of the planet. (The difference is that Vanille’s VA is actually Australian. Fang’s is not.)

          Fang is in many ways a foil to Lightning. She has the same sort of big sister relationship to Vanille that Lightning has with Serah; although where Lightning is overprotective because she doesn’t want to lose her only family, Fang is overprotective because she and Vanille are literally the only members of their people left alive (to their and our knowledge), and they are actively being hunted down by a hostile nation. Fang’s motivation is to keep Vanille safe, at any cost, even her own humanity. There’s an often-quoted line: “I’ll tear down the sky if it’ll save her.” There are some people who view Fang and Vanille’s relationship as romantic, and while I understand where they’re coming from, I prefer the parity it gives the narrative if Fang and Vanille’s relationship is incredibly similar to that of Lightning and Serah’s. While Lightning learns to overcome her unfounded distrust of others, Fang is overcoming her very well founded distrust of others. Both women learn to open up to their companions; that they aren’t as alone in the world as they feel they have to be.

          I also really loved the ending of this game, so spoilers follow. The heroes win; what kind of Final Fantasy game would it be if the villain wins, eh? Though the floating colony does get dropped on the planet, our heroes were able to convince the army to evacuate the colony instead of fighting to the death, which means most of the civilians survived. Fang and Vanille, however, sacrificed themselves to stasis in crystal for an unknown amount of time to create a support pillar for the colony; it forms into the logo for the game, which I thought was a clever touch. Lightning, Snow, Sazh, and Hope are all rocketed to the surface of the planet, but survive via also being turned to crystal; they are freed from the stasis and the brands indicating them as cursed have mysteriously vanished. Out of the wreckage walks Serah and Dajh, also freed from the curse, to reunite with their families. Bartholomew Estheim is nowhere to be seen, but a codex entry in XIII-2 confirms that he survived and reunited with Hope after the fact. I would have liked for him to be there, but I understand that showing the reunion with Serah (and Dajh) was more important. It was a bit jarring hearing Leona Lewis in 2017, as I had forgotten she even existed, but apparently there was no way to translate the Japanese theme into English and have it still be lyrical AND make sense, so they substituted an English song with the same thematic elements. It’s a nice song, and it works. This was a good ending to a good story in a maybe-okay-at-best game.

          Beautiful music, lovely visuals, fantastic characters that play off each other, stacked up against a control system that takes almost a full day to learn, a slightly sluggish camera, and a linear, story-driven game world (which apparently counts as a bad thing for some reason). I love this game. I’ve heard very good things about VI, and everyone always gushes over VII and IX, but until I get to those, I have my favourite Final Fantasy, and it’s XIII.

#Final Fantasy XIII #blogything #i love this goddam game #Final Fantasy

[nicolewrites]

We Stand, Fate-Tested - IV

I'm still stupid stressed over school and procrastinating so I'm not sure when I'll get part 5 out, but here's part 4 for the meantime.

Rating: T+ Genre: Mystery, Friendship, Romance Characters: [Byleth/My Unit, Dimitri B.], [Byleth/My Unit, Claude R.] Words: 5,458

There's something odd about the 8th of the Ethereal Moon. / Marriage is work too.

AO3 | FFN

IV - Of Memories I’ve Lost

Garreg Mach University - 8 Ethereal Moon, 732 AU

Byleth was glad when Red Wolf Moon was over. She had been drowning in her own work as well as the marking for the class she was TAing. Because Seteth was teaching three different classes on top of his own research, he had delegated the marking of the term papers for the class to Byleth.

It really shouldn’t have been such a big deal, but Byleth had struggled to get them done on time thanks to her progressing research and managing the applications and interviews for the expedition. The start date for the project was rapidly approaching and, as of the previous week, they had finally managed to choose the undergrads would be a part of the team and had been rapidly working with them to try to get their skills up to snuff before they were handling real artifacts.

Even so, the marking was finally done and the essays sat in three towering stacks on her desk, just begging for a breeze to sweep by and knock them all over. Byleth was currently planning the first of several workshops that would teach practical skills to the undergrads. She kept glancing at the door of her office, waiting for the first students to come by to pick up their essays and she nearly spelt Lysithea’s name wrong on a sheet before she managed to shake away her distraction.

She looked down at the sheet in front of her and the list of eight names that she and Seteth had painstakingly chosen. There were the natural fits in Lysithea and Linhardt from Byleth’s tutorial as well as Ingrid, who had had an exceptionally well-written application. From Seteth’s tutorial there were also Annette Dominic and Ignatz Victor. The last three students were Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard. Byleth had a sneaking suspicion that their applications had been all written together and that they had all been Claude’s idea.

Nonetheless, they had their team of eight: Lysithea, Linhardt, Ingrid, Annette, Ignatz, Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard. Their applications had all been excellent and Byleth had been pleased with the level of enthusiasm exhibited by a group of undergraduate students, especially since technically none of them were actually Archaeology majors.

Someone knocked on the door and Byleth looked up, placing her pen down. Annette stood in the doorway, smiling shyly, as another girl stood just behind her. Byleth beckoned Annette in and the redhead came in, biting her lip and looking a bit skittish.

“Here for your essay?” Byleth asked.

Annette nodded. “I know your office hours haven’t technically started, but I wanted to beat the rush.”

Byleth waved her off. “No worries at all.” She flipped through the first few essays in her first stack until she found Annette’s essay and she pulled it out. She handed it over and Annette peeked at the grade before beaming and making her way out of the room.

After that, there was a steady stream of students that came by her office to pick up their term papers as well as to ask questions about the discussions planned for tutorial in the coming weeks. Byleth had handed back nearly all of the essays when her office hours officially ended and she started putting the rest of them away in the filing cabinet she kept for assignments and paperwork for the class.

“I hope we’re not too late, Teach,” a familiar voice called out just as she was closing the cabinet drawer.

Byleth looked over her shoulder and saw Claude standing in front of her desk, flanked by Lorenz and Hilda, the two friends who were in Byleth’s tutorial with him. She shook her head and pulled the drawer back open, fishing out the trio’s essays.

“I wanted to come right at the start at the hour, but these idiots said we should come at the end,” Lorenz said as Byleth retrieved the papers. It wasn’t surprising to her.

Hilda snorted a laugh. “We would have been late getting here if it wasn’t for me, so I’d watch your tone, Lorenz,” she snipped in reply.

Byleth handed Lorenz and Hilda their essays and was about to hand Claude’s back when he cleared his throat.

“I actually had a question about the essay, Teach,” he said before he’d even taken the paper out of her hand.

Byleth blinked in surprise and her grip lingered on Claude’s assignment for just long enough that it was awkward before he swept it out of her grip and sat in the chair on the other side of her desk.

“I’ll catch up with you guys back at the house,” Claude said to Hilda and Lorenz. His friends just shrugged and made their way out of the room, bickering about punctuality as they went.

Byleth watched them leave before she turned her gaze back to Claude and raised an eyebrow. “Did you really have a question about the essay?”

Claude grinned. “Just wanted to know what you thought of my topic.” He tapped the circled 88 on the front of the page and winked at her. “Apparently I picked a good one.”

Byleth shook her head. After three months she was getting to know Claude’s antics well enough. He was criminally light-hearted, but wicked smart. He liked to tease and poke fun, but he was serious about his work when it came down to it. Since the first time they’d spoken at Anna’s about Byleth’s research Claude had made it a habit to try and stop in on her office hours as often as possible so that they could talk about whatever research Byleth was currently doing.

It was a slightly weird relationship given that Byleth was the TA, but the semester was almost over and she somehow knew that just because she wasn’t seeing him in tutorial once a week, it didn’t mean he was going to stop coming around. And she didn’t really want him to stop. It was nice to talk about her passion to someone who was just as interested as she was.

“What do you want, Claude?” she prompted again.

He smirked. “Come on, Teach, tell me what’s new this week,” he urged.

Byleth rolled her eyes, but she turned her laptop towards him so that he could see what she was working on. “I’ve been doing stuff for Seteth all week so I haven’t really had any big breakthroughs since we last spoke.”

Claude scanned the screen of her computer curiously. “Do we have a start date yet?”

“Guardian Moon 17,” Byleth said. “You can pass that along to the others if you’d like. I’ll be sending out the email this weekend. We have our first training session next Wednesday night for everyone.”

“Wednesday?” Claude repeated, looking a bit perplexed.

“Problem?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Maybe. I have archery on Wednesdays, and so does Ignatz, but if this is later in the evening we should be fine.”

Byleth leaned forward a bit and gave Claude her own sly grin. “Maybe I’ll just bring everyone to watch so we can put the pressure on you.”

He shrugged. “If you want to see me shoot flawlessly, be my guest.”

Byleth rolled her eyes and turned her computer back to face her. She tapped out a few more notes on the page before glancing back at Claude. “Did you actually need something?” she asked curiously.

“I came here to give you something,” he admitted.

Byleth was surprised, but Claude reached into his bag and pulled out a folded brochure. He unfolded it so she could see the front and passed it to her. It was in a mix of Almyran and Fódlani, but Byleth recognized the logo on the front of it.

She ran a fingernail over the looping script and glanced at Claude, furrowing her brow. “The Royal Almyran Gallery? This is in Almyra, you know,” Byleth murmured. “They’re not exactly jumping at the idea of a Fódlani researcher entering their royal galleries.”

“You’re hitting all the same deadends as everyone else who has ever studied the Guardian of Order,” Claude pointed out. “There’s no way that you’re going to make progress unless you try to tackle something that other people haven’t attempted to dig into.”

“Like the underside of Garreg Mach in the old monastery ruins, not in a foreign national gallery,” Byleth said. She placed the brochure down and shook her head. “I can’t exactly just get up and go to Almyra right now anyways.”

“What about over the winter break?” Claude asked. “The galleries aren’t busy during the holidays. Almyrans usually spend the holidays completely absorbed in family and celebration.”

Byleth spun the paper underneath her fingers. She had to admit, the idea was intriguing. Almyra had done a much better job of preserving artifacts from the Unification Era since they hadn’t suffered the Scorch of Garreg Mach or the riots in Fhirdiad that had followed it. Even so, the National Board of History in Fódlan had seen the Almyran collection and deemed it unimportant to Fódlan’s own history. She wasn’t sure exactly what the Royal Gallery could offer her, but she also didn’t know what it might have that could be useful for her work, even if it was all just speculation.

“You will consider it, won’t you?” Claude asked. “I’ll be in Almyra over the winter break if you did want to check it out.”

Byleth finally relented, picking up the brochure and sliding it into one of the drawers on her desk. “I’ll consider it,” she agreed.

Claude grinned. “Excellent. Now, tell me about that crazy dream you had last night.”

Byleth’s eyebrows shot up. She had said nothing of her weird dream to Claude. She had very briefly discussed it with Seteth in private a few hours ago, but she had said nothing to her student about it. She hadn’t the faintest idea about how he knew she had even had a weird dream.

“I had to see Dr. Cichol about a history assignment and I just happened to overhear part of your conversation,” Claude confessed when she had been stunned into silence. “I only know that there was a dream and that apparently it was weird.”

Byleth frowned. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business. That was a private conversation, Claude.”

He shrugged, looking only mildly apologetic. “You don’t want to get my opinion on it at all?”

Byleth leaned away from him, pursing her lips. “And why would I want your opinion?”

Claude tilted his head and looked at her. “I don’t know. For the same reason you haven’t kicked my ass for asking you a million questions about your thesis and for being probably the worst student in your tutorial section?”

“The worst student?”

“Well, most people aren’t on a first-name basis outside of tutorial with a TA, are they?”

“That’s just because I can’t get rid of you,” she teased.

He smiled at her again and the glint in his green eyes made her chest hurt suddenly. The satisfied look on his face combined with the mischievous gleam was pulling at something in her memory and she couldn’t help but remember the weird dream from the previous night. She dropped her gaze to the desk and took a deep breath.

“You’re sure that we’d never met before this year, right? We’d never had a class together or chatted at a party?” Byleth asked. The teasing humour had disappeared from her voice and Claude seemed to pick up on it.

His brow furrowed and he dropped his amused pretenses. “No, I’m pretty sure I would have remembered that,” he said.

Byleth bit her lip and nodded. “Have you ever felt like everything you ever did was leading you in circles?”

Claude looked genuinely interested now, his playfulness suppressed by his curiosity. “At times, maybe,” he said. “Something about this is familiar to you?”

Byleth opened the top drawer of her desk and pulled out a notebook. She flipped through it to the page where she had made the sketch that morning, after her dream. She turned the page to face Claude and let him pick it up to study it closer.

“It’s a throne,” he noted. “It looks like it’s Old Civilization.”

“It’s pre-Unification,” Byleth agreed. “That symbol,” she pointed to the roughly sketched swirl on the back of it, “makes me think it would be religious. Seteth says he doesn’t recognize it and I haven’t found any record of it in the old monastery’s records.”

“Maybe it’s in the capital somewhere?” Claude asked. “Dimitri and Edelgard have spent a lot more time in Fhirdiad than I have, so I can’t be certain.”

“It’s not in Fhirdiad,” Byleth said. “I don’t know why I know that, but I know it’s not there. I dreamt of a large, empty stone chamber for three days in a row and then last night I dreamt of the same chamber, but this throne was there.” She paused, recalling the longing that had coursed through her when she had seen it for the first time in her dream. “I wanted to sit on it,” she murmured.

Claude looked puzzled and he slid the notebook back to her. “Honestly, while I’m not one to subscribe to all the spirit stuff, it seems to me like you have real memories of it that have been surfacing slowly.”

Byleth closed the book and slid it back into the drawer. She brushed her thumb over the handle on the drawer and frowned. “That’s honestly what I’ve been kind of afraid of,” she admitted.

- ~ -

It was late in the evening by the time Byleth had finally finished up everything she had wanted to do on campus. The sun had set almost two hours ago and the dim, artificial yellow lighting across campus provided only enough illumination to make every student or staff that passed by her a looming shadow.

She pulled her coat tighter around her stomach and burrowed her nose into the scarf she was wearing. Byleth had just left the part of campus where the Archaeology and History departments had their offices and she was headed through the main part of the campus when she spotted a lone figure standing on the quad in front of one of the dean’s offices.

Her curiosity got the better of her, and she slowly approached the figure, squinting through the gloom to see if she recognized them. To her surprise, as the figure tilted their head up, illuminating their features, Byleth recognized Dimitri as he stared solemnly at the building. Almost immediately she stopped walking, pausing around 30 feet away from him. She wanted to approach him and check in on him, but at the same time, the moment felt strangely private and she wanted to respect that.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to make a decision, as Dimitri turned and spotted her himself. His shoulders straightened and he tucked his hands into his pockets. He strode towards her and Byleth noted the polite smile that he was wearing. It looked forced, but practiced at the same time and Byleth felt her heart clench. It was a smile achingly similar to the one she had worn after her father had died.

“Hello Byleth,” Dimitri greeted politely once he had gotten close enough.

“Hello Dimitri,” she replied cordially. “What are you doing here so late?”

He laughed lightly. “Well, we are getting into the end of term and I’ve got a few last assignments to turn in by the end of this week. I had been working in the library, but they’re closed now, so I’m headed home.”

He was lying. She wasn’t sure exactly how she knew, but maybe it was simply the fact that she knew Dimitri was a business student and the business library was at the south end of campus, not near the centre where they currently stood in the cold night air.

Byleth frowned. “Is everything alright, Dimitri?” she pressed carefully.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, smiling ruefully, but much more genuinely. “You are very perceptive,” he admitted. “Everything is alright though,” he assured. “I’ve just been feeling a bit off today. It’s like there’s something about this date, in particular, that is an itch I can’t scratch. I’d been trying to follow that feeling and I ended up here.”

Byleth glanced at the offices around the quad. This building was one of the oldest on campus and was part of the restored old monastery. Above each of the three main offices was a beautiful stone carving. From left to right they depicted a deer, a lion, and an eagle. They were the symbols of the three student-life houses that Claude had told her about, and if her research was true, they were also the symbols of the old Officer’s Academy that had been run out of the monastery.

“I get the feeling,” Byleth admitted. “It’s like there’s this string in your chest that’s yanking you along through memories that don’t feel like yours.”

“Yes,” Dimitri agreed. “I never spend much time on this part of campus, but this,” he gestured to the carving of the lion over their heads, “it feels so strangely familiar.”

“Maybe it’s the Blue Lions of old speaking through you,” Byleth suggested lightly and Dimitri laughed softly.

“I should like to think I would know if that were the case.”

He fell silent after a moment and Byleth studied him. He looked tired, but a lot less solemn than he had when she had first found him.

“I’m sorry about your parents,” Byleth said before she could stop herself.

Dimitri’s shoulders tensed, but then they relaxed and he sighed. “Yes, it seems like everyone is.”

Byleth reached out to touch his arm and he looked towards her. There was a deep, resonating sadness to the blue of his eyes and before she could stop herself, her hand had found its way to land on his cheek. Dimitri, to his credit, didn’t react to the boldness of the gesture and Byleth gently retracted her touch.

“I lost my father too,” she admitted quietly. “The circumstances were different, but I’m still sorry you had to go through that.”

Dimitri nodded. “I’ve been well supported, thankfully. I’m sorry for your loss as well. Unlike what people say, it doesn’t really get any easier.”

Byleth smiled sadly. “No, it doesn’t.”

A sharp, cool wind blew around them and Byleth bristled in her coat, shivering. She nearly stepped closer to Dimitri on an instinctual level but managed to catch herself before she could. She stepped away instead, leaving a respectable distance between them. They were familiar enough, but the intimacy in the moment they had shared was almost alarming to her and she needed a clear head.

“Get home safe, Dimitri,” Byleth said gently. She tugged her coat more tightly around herself and gave him one last reassuring smile. “I’ll see you in tutorial.”

- ~ - ~ - ~ -

Garreg Mach Monastery - 12 Lone Moon, 1 AU

“The church is really coming along, Your Grace,” Claude complimented. There was a teasing lilt to his voice when he said her title and Byleth elbowed him.

“Just because you don’t believe in the goddess, doesn’t mean nobody else does,” she scolded lightly.

Claude shrugged. “You’re the one who invited the foreign national to visit,” he pointed out.

Byleth sighed. He was right, but she didn’t want to admit it. She walked away from him instead, heading toward the Reception Hall of the monastery, assuming he would follow. He did so, after a few paces, and they walked silently back through the bustling halls of the monastery. Monks and knights would pause in their step to nod or bow to Byleth and she offered them the best smiles she could before they were passing her by and moving on with their tasks.

“It feels different around here now, doesn’t it?” Byleth asked as she led Claude into the Reception Hall.

“Maybe that’s just because we’ve all changed so much. It has been six years since we started our year at the Officer’s Academy. Cyril tells me that you’re reopening the academy in the Great Tree Moon of next year,” Claude commented.

Byleth laughed. “To say we’ve changed is a bit of an understatement. Fódlan has changed a lot too.”

“Definitely,” Claude agreed. “I can’t take anything away from you or His Majesty on that front. You two have done a wonderful job.”

Byleth paused in her step and studied him. “You could have helped us,” she reminded.

Claude laughed. “Yeah, but then I wouldn’t get to be here as foreign royalty. I would just be another Lord under His Majesty and the Almyrans would still be pounding at Fódlan’s Locket.”

Byleth sighed. “I suppose that’s true. What is it they have taken to calling you, the King of Dawn?”

He shrugged. “My father’s rule was stagnating. I suppose I have merely supplied a breath of fresh air for Almyrans. The new partnership with Fódlan has helped me curry more favour than I would like to admit.”

Before Byleth could reply, a familiar, booming voice pulled their attention across the Reception Hall: “Claude! Byleth!”

Byleth smiled at the familiar voice as she watched her husband approach them. He was smiling broadly as he took in Byleth and Claude. He paused to embrace Claude briefly before turning to Byleth and pressing a warm kiss against her cheek in greeting. Dimitri tried to pull away, but Byleth gripped his collar and planted a soft kiss on his lips before he could withdraw fully.

Claude laughed at her. “I see you two are the same as always.”

Dimitri slid one of his hands into hers as he smiled. “We try to be. How have you been Claude? We haven’t seen you in person since the Ethereal Moon.”

Byleth felt a pulse of unexpected bitterness rise in her chest and she bit down her retort. She didn’t want to snap at Dimitri when he was visiting the monastery, especially with how infrequent his visits had been recently. She didn’t want to complain, especially in front of Claude, about how she had spent almost as much time with Claude as she had with her husband since they’d been married.

Of course, it was a burden they had to bear. Byleth had a responsibility to the church at the monastery and Dimitri had a responsibility to the nation in Fhirdiad, so they spent much of their time separated by distance and work. It wasn’t exactly the married life she had imagined for them.

Claude and Dimitri had moved onto discussing some political motion that was in the works in Fhirdiad by the time Byleth managed to refocus on the conversation and she squeezed Dimitri’s hand. She stole a glance at him and noticed that he looked even more tired than he had when he had arrived three days prior.

“You must exclude me, Claude, my beloved, but I have something I have to do before dinner this evening. I will see you both then,” Dimitri said. He smiled at Claude and leaned down to give Byleth another brief kiss before he pulled his hand out of hers and was slipping away.

Byleth couldn’t manage to disguise her disappointment fast enough as she caught Claude giving her a curious look as Dimitri walked away. She quickly frowned and turned so Claude was only looking at her profile, hoping to dissuade whatever conversation he wanted to have about the interaction.

“This is different from the last time I was here,” Claude noted quietly. “His Kingliness is usually much better at picking up your signals. He was always better at it than anyone else, so it’s odd to see him so blind to it today.”

Byleth’s frown deepened. “We both have our own duties,” she said firmly. “There is no break for us in any of this.”

“No,” Claude agreed, “but surely a man can take a break to shower his wife with praises?”

Byleth sighed. “I don’t know why you think you’re qualified to speak on someone else’s relationship,” she pointed out sternly.

“Consider this the concern of a friend then,” he supplied. “Teach, I have never met a man more enamoured with a woman than Dimitri is with you. But, if that’s what all of your interactions have been like recently, something is wrong.”

Byleth sighed. “We got through the war,” she said simply. “We will get through this.”

She walked away from Claude then, not really caring if he followed her. It wasn’t that she was angry with him for his words, more frustrated that her own emotions regarding hers and Dimitri’s relationship had been so easy for him to discern. She was also frustrated that he had been right in the first place in noting the disconnect between the spouses. Besides their short, snipped conversations in the evenings and mornings, Byleth honestly couldn’t remember the last time she and Dimitri had had a real, personal conversation and it did make her nervous.

Without intending to, Byleth headed for the training grounds. It was an old habit she had of working out stress through fighting, something that had developed during her years growing up as a mercenary. The grounds were thankfully empty and Claude seemed to have picked up on her annoyance and had wisely chosen not to follow her.

Byleth set up a line of training dummies and then a line of magic targets on the far side of the hall. She forewent the training weapons, opting to work on her brawling skills. She picked the softest of the dummies and started with a few slow jabs before she worked into a faster, harder-hitting set that made her hands throb minorly. The pain was therapeutic, though. It reminded her that she was feeling and that helped, especially on days like this.

Once she had worn out her brawling drill, she chose to start in on her magic skills. Byleth called a crackling Thunder spell between her fingers and she turned to fire it at the targets she had set up, only to have to jerk her hand sharply left and blast lightning into the corner of the room, where it crackled and smoked with a bang.

Felix, who stood directly in front of her targets, seemed unphased as he strode towards her. Byleth folded her arms and frowned at him.

“I could have killed you,” she pointed out.

“I’ve taken a Thunder from you before,” he noted. “I’ve taken your spells at full-strength before, not when they were powered by your frustrations.”

Byleth blinked at him. “My frustrations?” she echoed.

“Don’t cast when you’re overly emotional,” he said. “You were the one who taught me that after I nearly burned Sylvain’s arm off. There’s nothing more dangerous to a magic-user than losing control.”

She had indeed taught both the Gautier and Fraldarius heirs the importance of control when they had been learning magic under her tutelage during their academy days and during the war. Byleth uncrossed her arms and brushed some of her hair out of her face.

“What are you doing here, Felix? I didn’t know you would be coming here with Dimitri.”

“Technically I’m not here with him,” Felix admitted. “We’re actually here to see Mercedes.”

“We?” Byleth questioned.

Felix’s lips pressed together and Byleth answered her own question as the pieces clicked in her mind. She smiled.

“Congratulations, Felix,” she commended.

He nodded. “Thank you. Annette will find you to tell you officially before we leave.”

“Are you just here to avoid all the celebratory talks then?” Byleth questioned, gesturing to the training hall.

“I was looking for you, actually,” Felix corrected.

Byleth frowned again, her optimism draining away. “Why?”

“Because I heard you and Dimitri got into it yesterday,” he admitted.

It was true. At the meeting with Claude to discuss foreign treaties the day before, Dimitri had pressed Byleth and the church for resources they couldn’t supply and she had, in return, pressed him for legislation that wasn’t supported by a majority of his advisors. It had definitely been one of their uglier discussions, especially since their wedding and doubly so since they had a spectator in Claude.

“We handled it,” Byleth said curtly, which was also true, but only thanks to Claude stepping in as a mediator.

“You did,” Felix pointed out. “Dimitri has been beating himself up about it all day. That’s why he’s been avoiding you.”

“Avoiding me?” she said.

“You haven’t noticed? How whenever you two run into each other, he miraculously has some meeting or something to get to shortly after you see each other? How he seemed to have more to say to your mutual friend than he did to his wife earlier in the Reception Hall?”

Byleth pressed her lips together. “I didn’t notice,” she admitted softly.

Felix exhaled. “I know. That’s why I’m here. Because, as much as he’d like to pretend otherwise, Dimitri will never be the same as he was before the war. He’ll never be that perfect, princely figure again and he’ll certainly never be able to see himself in the same way again. Professor, he loves you very much so he’ll do his best to make sure you never notice, but he’s still struggling.”

Byleth twisted her hands together, rubbing her wedding ring almost nervously. “How could I miss that? Shouldn’t I notice things like that?”

Felix reached out and, in a rare move for him, placed his hands on her shoulders. “Professor, he is taking all the precautions to ensure you don’t see what he’s going through. He’s gotten better at hiding things from you since you’ve been here and he’s been in the capital. That’s why we’re here, right now,” he confessed.

Something clicked in her head. “Dedue wrote to Claude to invite him, didn’t he? And you and Ingrid and Sylvain and the others made sure that Dimitri would be here where we wouldn’t be able to hide from each other.”

Felix didn’t answer her question directly, but the answer glimmered in his amber eyes. “You take care of each other. You bring out the best in each other.” He dropped his hands from her shoulders and stepped back. “Don’t lose that, Professor. There’s a lot riding on that trust and love going forward.”

Felix took another step back and then he was fully retreating, heading out of the training hall. The door closed behind him and Byleth was alone. She felt anchored to the spot and afraid. She was scared of being blind enough to miss the self-hatred that roiled in Dimitri. She had always been able to see it before and if she was losing that gift, she didn’t know what she was going to do.

She loved him, that much was certain, and obviously their friends cared about them both a great deal too.

Byleth immediately left the training hall and jogged through the hallways of the monastery. She hadn’t done much running in the halls since her ascension and there was something oddly freeing in the action. She felt a smile creeping up on her face as she dodged around people and made for the Cardinal’s Room on the second floor where Dimitri was supposed to be in a meeting.

She opened the door and immediately saw her husband speaking with a few Alliance nobles. The conversations halted when she appeared in the doorway and Dimitri rose from his seat, surprise etching across his face.

“Your Majesty,” Byleth said politely, “I need to speak with you. It’s urgent.”

Dimitri nodded politely to the nobles he had been conversing with and followed her out of the room into the hall. Byleth led him ten paces away from the door before she pivoted sharply to face him. She reached up and grasped his face, pulling him down for an urgent kiss. He reciprocated after a brief moment of surprise and Byleth pulled away, staring Dimitri in his good eye.

“I love you,” she said firmly. “I will never be angry with you for fighting for your country. I am proud of you and there is no one I would rather do any of this with,” she said, letting her emotions flow through her words.

Dimitri stared at her face for a long moment before he kissed her again, more firmly than she had kissed him, and he let the kiss linger for a second longer. He inhaled shakily and pressed their foreheads together. Byleth rocked onto her tiptoes to relieve the strain on his neck due to their height difference and Dimitri smiled gently.

“Okay,” he breathed out.

“I love you,” she said again.

“I love you too,” he replied.

#the writing section #we stand fate-tested #dimileth #claudeleth #fire emblem three houses #f: fire emblem #fic: we stand fate-tested #ship: dimileth #ship: claudeleth #c: dimitri #c: byleth #c: claude #r: t+ #fe3h #fe3h fic #g: mystery #g: romance #g: friendship #words: 5.4k+ #byleth #dimitri #claude #byleth x dimitri #byleth x claude

[mushroomhedgehog]

GAME REVIEW: Marvel VS Capcom: Infinite (2017) The latest entry in the iconic Marvel VS Capcom series has finally arrived, and since at least the past summer, the game has been notably bashed by a large number of gamers. But the question remains of whether this hate is justified. Without further ado, let's dive into the other major superhero fighter of 2017, Marvel VS Capcom: Infinite. Marvel VS Capcom: Infinite is the sixth crossover between the characters of Capcom and the Marvel Comics universe, originally beginning with X-Men VS Street Fighter in 1996. In this entry, we return to the original format of two-man teams, but like the aforementioned first game, returns to sidekick characters no longer being able to provide assist attacks. This is a bit of a shame compared to previous games, but it at least shows that Capcom knows how the series got started. What is also worth noting is that due to Marvel's recent policy on certain characters whose film rights are currently controlled by Fox, all characters associated with the X-Men and Fantastic Four have been excluded, leading to multiple mainstay characters such as Wolverine, Doctor Doom, and Magneto not returning for this game. This marks the first time in the history of the MvC series that Wolverine does not appear as a playable character. In addition to changes made by Marvel, this game marks a major change to the series, as Capcom has altered the gameplay to allow newcomers to not get overwhelmed by its mechanics. This has resulted in many special move motions being altered from previous games. For instance, my usual character, Spider-Man (no surprise there) has a different motion for his Spider-Sting attack. Originally this was a reversed motion of the same input used to perform Ryu's Shoryuken, a very similar uppercut move that Spider Sting is likely based off of. Now, the input requires you to press down twice before pressing the attack button. Other characters such as Captain America have also been affected by this. Ironically, Ryu's Shoryuken was not affected by this. In addition, Capcom has scrapped the previous game's format in which four attack buttons could all be used for special attacks, aside from the uppercut that launched opponents into the air. The game now has two punch and two kick buttons, allowing for new special moves such as Spider-Man's Spider-Cannon attack, Ryu able to charge his Hadouken to create a short beam-like version, and Captain America able to throw his shield in different ways, as well as reflect projectiles with it. This is important to know, for everyone claiming the game was just like UMvC3, when in actuality, the characters play nearly nothing like they do in that game due to various aspects like new moves and button layouts. While I appreciate that Capcom recognized that learning how to play this series is difficult, I was hoping they'd offer more detailed tutorials split into sections like NetherRealm Studios has done. The game is still a bit difficult to learn, and an easy combo mode isn't a good way to learn how the game works, since it teaches nothing. There is an area of mission mode that does focus on the basics of gameplay, but the character-specific missions focus more on doing nearly impossible combos instead of certain special moves or basic combos. Injustice was much better at teaching new players how to play as certain characters in its mission mode. Putting that aside, the combat has greatly improved. It's much easier for players to perform combos, and while it won't help them for previous entries in the series, it will be a nice introduction to fighting games, particularly if you've gotten comfortable with Super Smash Bros, which doesn't require much effort in its special move inputs. Next up are the graphics. Contrary to what most are claiming, the graphics aren't nearly as bad as they are made out to be. The characters have had a major facelift since the last entry in the game. One of the biggest issues with Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3's graphics was hair on certain characters. Not only does character hair look magnificent this time around, but plenty of details are visible that weren't on past incarnations of the series. For instance, incredibly strong characters like Mike Haggar and Hulk have visible veins on their bodies. Characters with metal suits such as Iron Man, Thanos, X, and Arthur, also have detailed shining on their metal suits, making them look better than ever. A lot of people have even gone as far as comparing Captain America's appearance to that infamous drawing by Rob Liefeld, which, even for exaggerations, is ludicrous. If there is one complaint I have about the graphics, it's definitely that the alternate costumes for most of the characters in the game are massive disappointments. Unlike the previous game, which featured full recolors with new patterns, many of which were based on actual alternate costumes, this game merely recolors the characters, texture patterns and all. This makes for some notably sloppy edits of costumes that would otherwise be something like Spider-Man's symbiote suit. So far, only Hulk has been the one to feature skins that match the quality of his UMvC3 skins, particularly the skins of his original grey appearance, and of his enemy, Red Hulk. Finally, with this being the first game in the series to feature a cinematic story mode akin to Mortal Kombat and Injustice, the cinematics and voice acting need to be taken into question. Many actors from UMvC3 have returned to voice their respective characters, but the most notable characters that feature new actors include Spider-Man, Chun-Li, and Ghost Rider, to name a few. The replacement actors for these three arguably gave these characters better voices, especially Robbie Daymond as Spider-Man, who now has a more fitting voice of the geeky kid that doesn't just sound like a generic teenager like Josh Keaton does. Ghost Rider also sounds a bit more demonic, though some might consider it corny compared to his previous voice actor. Other characters that have new actors such as Doctor Strange, Rocket Raccoon, and Dormammu, aren't bad either. Frank West of the Dead Rising series, also sees the return of his original voice actor after the disappointing portrayal by a new actor in Dead Rising 4. Other characters who see the return of their actors, such as Morrigan and Arthur, now feature a lot more emotion behind their lines, rather than all of their lines sounding like fitting their personality instead of emotion. It's also nice to see that Capcom wants to pursue a bigger story in their games, considering the character interaction in previous games like Street Fighter IV and UMvC3. But it should definitely be noted that there's likely a reason why Capcom and Marvel have been such a significant match in the past. The story is being criticized for various aspects, and it seems people were expecting something of Injustice or Mortal Kombat quality. Even when Capcom was featuring story cutscenes through arcade mode, it was clear that they aren't nearly as dark as NetherRealm is. Just as it would be ridiculous to compare certain aspects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to those of the DC Extended Universe, it's not a good idea to compare certain aspects of Injustice to those of Marvel VS Capcom. As a matter of fact, the storyline to this game is significantly similar to Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe, but done much better, as unlike Darkseid and Shao Kahn, who have next to nothing in common, Ultron and Sigma are both robots focused on destroying all of humanity, among other issues that are addressed such as the better combinations that have resulted from the worlds of Marvel and Capcom colliding. The only real issue with the story mode is that there is not much of an explanation as to how Ultron and Sigma were able to merge the Marvel and Capcom universes, and that the game isn't played in chapters focusing on certain characters to allow us to familiarize ourselves with them. If you do wish to play the story mode, I would definitely recommend you do some reading on the history of these characters in the various media they originally came from, as the game seems to expect you to already understand the backstories and original works of the characters. Despite the inclusion of more single player modes and the roster featuring more starter characters than Injustice 2 at launch, there's a lot of complaints that Capcom hasn't learned from Street Fighter V. This is not the case. The game feels like a full game this time around with what there is to do. Now this doesn't mean there's not room for improvement, like featuring endings for arcade mode other than a simple "Congratulations", and there could have been more characters since many like Black Panther and MODOK appear in the story mode, but also because unlike Injustice, MvC has more than one player character per match, so the argument of having more playable characters is somewhat obsolete when this is considered. Another issue regarding characters that should be pointed out is that several characters who have deserved a spot in this series for a long time like Demitri Maximoff, The Punisher, M. Bison, and Daredevil, are still nowhere to be found. Hopefully somewhere down the line, Marvel VS Capcom: Infinite will be updated similarly to Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, which will be available at no cost to players who had already purchased the original version of the game and on a separate disc for new players this January. Until then, Marvel VS Capcom: Infinite gets a grade of a solid B from me. It's not as exciting as Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 was, but it's a welcome title to the MvC series that surprisingly does well despite its shortcomings. It's just a shame that Marvel was too picky with film rights to allow series mainstays like Wolverine, Magneto, and Doctor Doom, to return.

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