Back in 2017 I drew fanart for @flying-guinea-pig ‘s fic Season Finale and now every year starting in 2021 I’ve been redrawing it and this is this year’s attempt :D don’t really know why I never shared them before but hey here it is now ^-^

Also you can see the previous versions of this below the cut (Warning the 1st is about as far from my best work as you can get haha)

~2022~

~2021~

~2017~

What would your advice for just-starting-out young authors be?

I love new writers! I’ve never known a better way to escape my reality and live a thousand different lives.

I started writing when I was young, maybe 12 or 13 years old. I am now 25, and very much consider myself to be a child, but still, in my 10+ years of personal writing and classes, here are some of the best tips I can give anyone who is new to writing, regardless of age.

Read. Read. Read. Then read some more. The easiest and fastest way to learn how to write is by reading and studying how other people have written their stories. Study their balance of dialogue vs description vs action. Study the words they use and what they’re choosing to describe. Study the scenes that make you feel something, or pull you to the story even more, and dissect it until you understand how to do it.

Daydream. At night, in the morning, before and after school, during school, during work. When people are trying to talk to you, just daydream. Image worlds with populated moons. Imagine worlds with multiple human-like species all living in the same area. Image a boy who goes home and cries to his adoptive vampire parents, and girls who practices knife throwing every night to prepare for the apocalypse that no one sees coming. Dream of everything and anything because that’s how you keep and improve your creativity. Eventually you may even write something with it.

Write for yourself. Always start by writing what you enjoy, and love your characters and your stories. Everything about your first draft should be because you love the story, not what other people like. You will never please everyone, so start with yourself, and build a community with the ones who love your story as much as you do.

Do it on your own timeline. If you want to write a book in a month, edit the next and publish right after, do it. If you want to write the first five chapters of 8 books without finishing, do it. If, like me, you want to write your first novel at 18 years old, and 7 years later still not feel ready to publish, that’s ok! You are not falling behind anyone else, you are exactly where you should be on your own path.

Practice. Your writing will improve with practice, that’s how it works, it’s how it always works. No way to skip right to publishing a first draft and becoming famous for it. Practice and just keep writing, you will improve.

Challenge yourself. While you may love fantasy or romance, or maybe all your story ideas are too big for only one book and they all end up being series’, you need to try new things. Write a mystery short story. Write poetry on how you feel. Write one page on how you could survive a zombie apocalypse as long as you have your coffee in the morning, it doesn’t matter, just try new things. Trying new things is how I wrote this haiku: Take a deep inhale, Breathe fresh air into my lungs, I savorfreedom. Is it the greatest haiku ever? No, but it makes me happy, and reminds me that I can write, good or bad, and still be proud of myself.

Keep all your projects. Good or bad. Look back on them years later and think, yeah that was terrible, at least I’m better now. Or maybe think, this wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. It’s a progressive journey. You can take your time. DONT EVER SHAME YOUR YOUNGER SELF FOR THEIR WORK. THEY TRIED THEIR HARDEST AND WROTE AS BEST THEY COULD. WE ARE PROUD OF OURSELVES, NOT EMBARRASSED OR SHAMED. Whether the work is from years ago or days go. Be kind to yourself, no one else owes you that.

Compare. Compare to popular novels, compare to your friends stories or to people online. Compare and see if your character are developed enough, or if your story makes sense, or if it’s relatable. When comparing however, keep in mind that your written style will be different than all others writers. Your first novel will not be the same as an author’s 10th book that just went viral on TikTok. It takes practice and time. Compare for style, technique, structure and plot. Not for popularity, worth, importance, and don’t feel down thinking that someone writing at a higher grade level makes them better, it doesn’t.

Share your work. If you are embarrassed, use a pen name. That’s perfectly fine. Put your work out there and get feedback. Having one person saying your story is (negative criticism here) is going to happen, don’t freak out. It doesn’t mean your story is flawed and should be tossed. If most people are saying that, then maybe it’s time to revisit the story and plot. Getting feedback from people reading your story is important, you want to ask specific questions so you don’t get generic answers. Get real reviews from real people, the mean voice in your head doesn’t get a say.

Learn the difference between perfect and done. I know, I know. Perfectionists around the world just scoffed and thought ‘I would if I could’. Here’s the thing, it’ll never be perfect. A word won’t be right, you can’t find the right way to convey an emotion, your choice of vocabulary isn’t up to your standards, I get it. You want your work to be absolute perfection so that everyone loves it and no one can say a bad thing about it, but it doesn’t work that way. Instead make it to ‘complete’, then nitpick some details, then it’s done. Done is good, it’s where you want to be.

Self-publishing? Pay for a professional editor and a graphic designer. It makes a difference, I promise.

There’s lots of others, but I would say as a writer-starter-pack, these should get you started, then you will learn lessons all on your own, or find them as you’re writing later on. Truly, just have fun, and the rest will come with time.

Happy Writing!

Side Order review

Ever since Octo Expansion, the Splatoon series has been shaking up its single player content every few years, I only really got into the series during 3’s release cycle but it must be refreshing and exciting for longtime fans. With Side Order’s release, the shake up was adding a movement shooter roguelike to the game, a very indie game idea and a very exciting one. I was so excited, I ended up playing a few runs of every roguelike I owned in preparation. So how was Side Order? How does it compare to other games in its genre? Let’s talk about it.

In Side Order you’ll be climbing the Spire of Order, one floor at a time. Each floor will give you colour chip which ranges from things you can get in gear abilities to more crazy stuff like your dualie dodge rolls having attacks, or your shots having homing. You’ll then take that buff into a floor where you have to complete an objective, either destroying portals, defending splat zones, pushing a tower, sinking an 8 ball, or defeating runaway enemies. There’s not many objectives, but the amount of different rooms you can get makes each floor varied, though the objective count is an issue to some people.

Personally, my biggest issue with Side Order is that there’s a lot of downtime, much more than any roguelike I’ve ever played…except maybe Kirby Fighters 2. Between floors, you have to watch an animation of Eight putting the chip you chose into the palette, you have to watch the animation of the elevator going up, you have to take the cage to the actual level, then after you complete the objective you have to watch an animation of Eight walking back to the elevator. This adds up a LOT over the course of the run.

That being said, when you’re actually playing the game, it’s a blast. All of the rooms have designs that can be tackled in a variety of ways, and when you start seeing repeat rooms, it’s very satisfying to improve at them, whether it be with more optimized movement, better gameplans, or even just a new build. This is really complimented by massive build variety, there’s a lot to find with synergies between chips, or unique builds for certain weapons. The game also rewards min-maxing in a really creative way. Most upgrades will yield diminishing returns…unless you max out that upgrade type. Firing rate for the blaster would go from 300% on the 4th upgrade to 1000% on the 5th upgrade, and it’s super exciting to see what each chip type does when maxed out. It gives the game a lot to explore.

There’s also a lot of little things during combat that I like. Several enemies either interact with the stage in a unique way, or can be interacted with in a unique way. You’ll have some enemies that will only attempt to paint the zone, or enemies who love the 8 Ball and will try to hit it at all times. You also have enemies that drop a top or spring that you can take advantage of. It leads to super dynamic combat. Since not all enemies paint well, or some not at all,  you’re really rewarded for having stage control more than any other single player mode. Since most enemies attack you directly, you’re promoted to push past the zone instead of just staying in it, which is what you should be doing in Splat Zones normally! The bosses also follow this mentality of designing for skill expression, but to talk about them we need to go into spoiler territory.

The slowest and easiest boss is Parallel Canon, an army of Agent 4s. That’s not to say it can’t be done fast, or isn’t interesting though, as clones will scale depending on what buffs you take. However, it’s the only boss that isn’t always vulnerable. Meanwhile, the ball has a small weak point that can be expanded by either waiting, or by pushing it into a bumper. It’s super satisfying to take advantage of its positioning to get high damage while opening it up as it constantly rolls away. My favourite boss from the DLC has got to be the tower though, there’s so much risk to juggle but it’s so rewarding when done well, whether it be running under the tower to get to its weak points quicker, or only aiming for the layers you need to destroy to win. There’s tons of room for skill expression and I love it.

Special mention to the tutorial boss and final boss for sharing mechanics, meaning you can’t be blindsided by the final boss’s premise like you can in some games. (looking at you Time Eater) If we’re going into story stuff though, the game starts with a great intro, it left me really excited to keep going and has one of my favourite songs in the DLC. 

However, this is one of the weaker stories in the series. The main plot is only made with one win in mind, so while the finale is very good, the pacing to get there is a little janky. I was also left with a lot of unanswered questions that Octo Expansion and Alterna didn’t leave me with, aside from the classic “is this a mistranslation” thing. That’s not to say what’s there isn’t good, Marina trying to help the victims of Kamabo Co. is very compelling, Pearl is a bunch of fun to be around, Acht is very cool, and Smollusk is a hilarious villain, even if he doesn’t have the thematic depth of Grizz, Tartar, or Octavio. There have been loreheads who really didn’t like the story but it didn’t bother me too much, except for 2 instances.

I know roguelikes have never really been known for their story, (for the most part) but I can’t help but feel like the first trailer for Side Order was a bit of a sucker punch. Seeing all this concept art for visuals and potential lore that didn’t make it into the game is a little upsetting.

The second big thing writing wise is, and I know this upsets me more than it reasonably should, but fuck man, Eight not having a personality in Side Order hurts. I know she got more stuff than Agent 4, but Eight was one of the most real feeling characters in the series. The mem cakes from Octo Expansion gave her so many little quirks, but there’s almost nothing from Eight. No poems and very few emotes. It’s especially upsetting because Eight was on Team Order but there’s nothing she can say about her situation. What Eight does get is really sweet, and it’s not a dealbreaker for me, but man, it hurts.

There’s also a few other issues like the lack of seeding or any real Heat/Ascension settings. Any challenges you want to do, like no hacks or single tone palettes would be self imposed challenges, and I do wonder if the game may get stale faster than other rougelikes. There also isn’t any secret boss, nothing like the Heart, the Collector, the Lich, or Charon to really push your skill and your build to its limits. It’s especially frustrating because it feels like subsequent runs seem to be building up to something but it doesn’t really go anywhere. But then you have moments like the Epic, Vibrant Battle, or how charming the elevator dialogue can be, and it reminds me how much I’ve loved being a fan of this series. I may have a lot of criticisms with Side Order but I did absolutely enjoy my time with it.

So, in conclusion, should you get Side Order? Well, if you take your switch on commutes, I think the answer is 100% yes. Trust me on this, I can’t tell you how much time I would put into the slay the spire mobile port if it wasn’t Apple Arcade exclusive. If you’re a fan of roguelikes and Splatoon, I would get it, this is the category I fell into and I had a blast with the game. If you weren’t already interested in Splatoon 3, there are probably better roguelikes to get, I’d suggest Risk of Rain 2 if you want a movement shooter. If you value story as much as gameplay or more than it, I would instead suggest Hades if you want a roguelike. If you’re worried about the genre’s permadeath being unforgiving, I would pick up the game, as Side Order does a pretty good job of dispelling that fear while also allowing for the high stakes that makes roguelikes so exciting. I genuinely think you will get more out of Side Order if you’re not great at Splatoon, as you’ll have more hacks to disable for if you ever want to do challenge runs. Overall I’d give it an…uhh…8/10, I guess? Can we get rid of number scores?

Answer the Questions and Tag 5 Fanfic Authors

Thank you so much to @kitkatt0430 for tagging me <3

1. How did you get into writing fanfiction?

Well, I got back into Coldflash in a big way a couple years ago, and kind of got frustrated not really seeing anything new in the tag, lol. Desperation is usually my biggest motivator to do anything. If I had unlimited new Coldflash fics coming out, I probably would never have written my own tbh.

2. How many fandoms have you written in?

Just the one. I used to do translations for a different fandom, though, so maybe two depending on if translating counts.

3. How many years have you been writing fanfiction?

My own? Only a year and a half. Translating, maybe roughly ten years.

4. Do you read or write more fanfiction?

I probably write more now, but you wouldn’t know it because I’m such a slow writer!

5. What is one way you’ve improved as a writer?

Oh, I feel like my English has definitely gotten better since I started writing regularly. I always felt obligated to put a little disclaimer at the bottom, like please be nice to me, this isn’t my first language, lol. I feel a little bit more confident about it now (although I still obsessively google every sentence and word).

6. What’s the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

I mean, thanks to Chapter 4 of What Happens in Vegas I know now way more than I ever needed to know about tornado sirens, considering we don’t have them in my country, lol. I also ended up doing extensive (and totally pointless) research about the ancient Sumerian city-state of Ur (located in the South of what is now modern-day Iraq), which is where Len/Cold was supposed to be from in my AU where he was a genie. For those who are unaware, Ur fell in about 2000 BC and had a very famous poem written about it. Here is the cheery opening of 11 stanzas of misery:

For the gods have abandoned us

like migrating birds they have gone

Ur is destroyed, bitter is its lament

The country's blood now fills its holes like hot bronze in a mould

Bodies dissolve like fat in the sun. Our temple is destroyed

Smoke lies on our city like a shroud.

blood flows as the river does

the lamenting of men and women

sadness abounds

Ur is no more

7. What’s your favorite type of comment to receive on your work?

I always appreciate when people point out the parts they liked. But honestly I’m happy for people to comment at all, especially on older fics :)

8. What’s the most fringe trope/topic you write about?

I don’t know that anything I’ve written can be considered fringe, lol. I do have a Lisa/Iris WIP, which I assume would be more of a rarepair, but I only have one scene written for it so who knows if I’ll ever finish it. I guess the Genie AU was kind of strange.

9. What is the hardest type of story for you to write?

Longfics ;-; God, I’ve gained so much respect for people who can do that consistently for 60+ chapters, or over multiple fics in a series. My longfic isn’t even that long, comparatively, and I still feel like I will never get it done.

10. What is the easiest type?

One-shots, my beloved.

11. Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?

On my laptop. I just use Word and I prefer to write in the morning, which isn’t super ideal because it only leaves me the weekend to really get into it.

12. What is something you’ve been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?

I’m too nervous to start more longfics at the moment because I feel like two is my absolute limit but I’d love to be able to write both the TATBILB-inspired fic I had in mind and the Future Fic that I sometimes play around with. I’d have to finish at least one of my longer projects first, or maybe try to get the whole thing written before posting it but I’m usually too impatient to do that!

13. What made you choose your username?

My username is captainicecube and I picked it because it’s roughly how Captain Cold was translated in the French dub. They translated it as Captain Glaçons (Captain Icecubes), which always makes me laugh whenever I think about it because it’s so stupid XD

Tagging @crestfallercanyon @joanthangroff @tiger-in-the-flightdeck @softboydepot and @moriavis

𓆩♡𓆪 breaking up with nct dream 𓆩♡𓆪

(picture credit to owner)

Word count: 1.2k

Warnings: the dreamies sound like assholes, a lot of angst

Notes: reminder that this a work of fiction and i don't know the dreamies personally, this is NOT an accurate representation of them. tmi but i was recently broken up with so, some of these are inspired by personal experience...sadly :") either ways i hope you all enjoy this piece of angst, i've been working on some of the requests even though i might not write them all :( but thank you so much for sending them in & for your kind words too hehe!!

𔘓 Mark

It was a pivotal point in his life, his career was taking flight and he had to make a decision. It was his fault really, for taking on so many responsibilities. He simply had too much on his plate, call him greedy but he refused to let go of anything that could help him achieve his dreams. The easiest thing he felt he could let go of at this time of his life was you. He still likes you very much but it wouldn’t be fair to you if he had no time to spend with you once he gets so busy. “I’m sorry but I can’t let this opportunity slip past me. I think it’ll be unfair to make you wait on me while I’m busy doing everything else. I don’t have the time to be with you right now, I’m so so sorry.” To him, you deserve better than what little he could give you, so he did what he thought was the right thing and let you go. (tldr: he chose his work over you)

𔘓 Renjun

Things were slowing down and not in a good way. It was not the comfortable silence that used to embrace you two. Your conversations got more and more dry and it never used to be a problem, but now it only made Renjun feel weird and awkward. This was not the relationship he wanted to be in anymore. Over the last few weeks of your relationship, he intentionally drew more distance, choosing to hang out with his friend than with you at home. He hopes this only helps with the aftermath of everything. He cooks you a simple dinner a week after the end of your finals and tells you that “this is where i think we end, i’m so sorry y/n”. Within three days, he packs his things and leaves your shared apartment. (tldr: he lost interest in you)

𔘓 Jeno

“I’m so tired of fighting y/n, I don’t think I can do this anymore”. Jeno couldn’t figure out why the two of you have been fighting so much. It wasn’t like this all the time, to be honest, the two of you rarely fought in the years you were together. He always wondered if that was a problem in itself. The two of you had drastically different fighting styles, too different. Jeno would want to calm down before talking things out, afraid he would say the wrong things. You on the other hand always had to deal with the problem immediately. So it led to argument after argument and at the start Jeno always thought that things would get better after each fight. Every hurdle crossed will only bring you two closer, no? But even he could tell that the both of you were tired of fighting. You were both sick of fighting each other and have long already stopped fighting for the relationship. (tldr: the fighting is getting too much and nothing is improving)

𔘓 Haechan

He should have seen it coming. The way he subconsciously compares you to his ex-partner. The things you did better, the way you reacted better. Even the areas where you don’t seem to match up, which leaves the void in his heart empty. He got together with you just a few months after his previous break up. And he was confident that he was over his ex, only to realise almost a year into his relationship with you that he wasn’t. What was he supposed to tell you? How was he supposed to tell you the truth and expect you not to go absolutely feral? “I really really like you y/n, you’re a sweet girl. But I… I’ve realised that I’ve never gotten time to myself to fully get over my previous relationship and now, I just can’t go on being with you. It’s just… the love, it’s not there”. He never really loved you and it pained him to tell you like that. To see your face drop, then harden, trying your best not to let the tears fall. (tldr: he never loved you because he still isn’t over his ex)

𔘓 Jaemin

He thinks you’re great and you might just be everything he wants in a life partner. The problem was, he doesn’t want a life partner, at least not right now. Unlike him, you clearly want to settle down. Not even in an obsessive way where you’re urging him to get a house or anything. You’ve just made your intentions clear. And Jaemin admits to himself that at this point, he’s just being a dick. Because he knows that he hasn’t reached that point in his life where he’s ready to settle with just one person for life. He can bet on his whole life that you were going to be the best wife and that he might regret this decision when he’s older but not right now. The longer he’s with you, the more trapped he feels and he just wants to be free. Free to do whatever he wants, wherever he wants, maybe even whoever he wants without having to think of having to limit himself because he needs to settle down. (tldr: he has commitment issues)

𔘓 Chenle

“I told you before y/n, I'm not a good person. I’m selfish, I just can’t find it in me to be as selfless as you”. Chenle told you when you started getting to know each other that you were the most selfless person he has ever met. He meant it as a compliment, really. But now, when you expect the same treatment back, he realises that he can’t do it. His love language is just different, and truthfully, he thinks more for himself than he does for you. Now, your selflessness is a factor that pulls the two of you apart. He can’t match up to you nor your expectations. And you simply can’t understand why. When someone tells you that they are not a good person, remember to listen. Chenle knew himself best, he knew that his views were too realistic and practical and self-centred. He doesn't think you're a good fit for each other anymore. (tldr: he can’t meet your expectations because he doesn’t want to)

𔘓 Jisung

The both of you were terribly emotional people. And it clearly hasn’t been healthy for your relationship. You’re both sensitive and avoidant. So when you’re upset with each other, you could go days without talking. Which only leads to more miscommunications and misunderstandings. The two of you are just way too alike. “Forget it, I don’t even want to talk about it anymore. You’re seriously the most annoying person ever,” you would spout out when you’re ready to brush this fight under the carpet again, giving it a few days before things go back to normal. It’s a vicious cycle at this point. But Jisung only replies with, “No, forget it. I want to break up”. After a few days, Jisung regrets even mentioning breaking up. But you can’t take back words like that. The damage is done, hearts have been broken, tears shed. And for the two of you there is simply no going back and maybe it is all the better that way. (tldr: the two of you are overly sensitive and can’t communicate to save your lives)

The Journal Journey Part 81                                

 Today’s entry on the long journey is another one of those messages the University delivers at the right time. I had come across a Brene’ Brown nugget that I have saved from years ago, that I revisit occasionally. It helps me reset perspective and today, as I opened my journal from May 17, 2017 – who are many of the quotes outlined from that day, one Brene’ Brown. Without any further delay, here are some pieces of wisdom from her, and others.

 “What steps would you take if fear and shame were not present?” – This is a great question. I think both, fear, and shame, can be intertwined a bit! Is it fear that presents us from moving forward, or shame? Both? Is being embarrassed of failure or what others might think of our behavior shame? Or can it be fear? Whatever the case, we don’t have to let either of them stop us from taking the step forward. I’ve come to accept that fear (not sure I categorize it as shame when going through it at the time), is going to present itself in many situations. It is not about being scared; it is feeling fear. That could be described as doubt, stress, anxiety – definitely uncertainty. Loss of control comes to mind and not able to look into the future, that crystal, and see how it all turns out. Accepting this, sitting in those feelings of uncertainty and doubt, fear….AND doing it anyway, taking that step – well that is courageous. I guess the easiest way for me to boil it down; being a parent with a high school junior and a college freshman that is 1700 miles away – the thought of control is gone. My wife an I accept we have to let go and believe that lessons we’ve taught them will come to the surface when called upon. We must let them leave the home and go off to be great adults. That is what we’ve trained them for so sitting in that fear, uncertainty, and doubt, isn’t going to do them or us any good. I don’t think the steps we took to this point would have changed – those characteristics were and will be present. We just have to accept it and move forward.  

 “Vulnerability is not knowing victory or defeat. It is understanding the necessity of both, engaging, and being all in.” – This reminds me of a great quote by Denzel Washington, it may not be exact, but it gets to the point. “You will lose. You will fail. You will embarrass yourself and you will suck at something. Accept it because it is inevitable.” The point, I think, is being able to embrace those failures. Own them and be vulnerable in those moments. More so in defeat than victory in think! Those victories are fun but how memorable are they compared to the defeats. I know my loses sting and it is hard for me to forget them. Not negatively though – they are the foundation for my growth and improvements. Don’t get me wrong, I remember the good wins too but the amount of knowledge and growth that come from winning fails in comparison to that when we fail. It is inevitable. Having the ability to be vulnerable in those embarrassing moments, when we don’t have our shit together, that is when the biggest gains are made.

 Great segue into, “When failure is not an option we can forget about learning, creativity, and innovation.” – The stress and anxiety that is typically caused by that drive to be “perfect” robs us of our creativity. We get nervous and tend to focus on the results rather than sitting in and engaging in the process. We get lost in the future and not in what is happening directly in front of us. Tiptoeing through our lives trying to not make a mistake. Reality is that we will make mistakes and fail, just like Mr. Denzel Washington eluded too above. I know, I do it – get caught up in trying to make the first pass at something turn out just as I envisioned. When it doesn’t happen or the circumstances don’t go as expected, I get pissed, disappointed, sad, or angry. Not a great way to go through life! As my wife tells me, “That must be exhausting.” It is except when I let go of expectations and work to focus on the experienced. When you let go of the results, the stress seems to go as well and the worry about how it will turn out doesn’t matter. We are focused on the present and the gratitude of the moment.

 I will end it with these two quotes, the first is anonymous but gets your mind back to the whole concept of the steps we take when we operate out of fear. If fear is keeping us from moving forward, what potential are we missing out on? What experiences are we not living, and what moments are we not creating. Will the version of ourselves that we become be the best rendition of ourselves?

 “The Definition of Hell – On your last day on earth, the person you become will meet the person you could have become.”

 And finally, from Brene’ Brown – simply leave with this: “No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough. Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am also brave and worthy of love and belonging.”

Reikan focal pro video tutorial

So you are right that an issue caused me to buy the software, but now they are getting data from lens that I did not think were a problem previously. I will continue to do this for every new lens I get or rent. From that point on, I have ran every lens through the software regardless of my perception of its performance beforehand. I purchased this software to check that lens. I had poor results with one of my old lens when I switched to a new body. You are also ignoring the impact of DoF and perception of sharpness. Most people only buy Reikan when they believe they have a problem which means that you are reading from a self-selecting population. Alternative reading: A vast majority of lenses do not need adjustment. Alot of people send their lenses back to the manufacturer thinking they have a faulty lens when they get lackluster performance though it is camera body dependant too. Though these tests clearly show they are not that accurate as the general consensus is. There is a general perception that third party lenses need calibration more than the first party lenses like Canon. FoCal takes all the guesswork out of adjusting your lenses, so for the sake of a few minutes with each lens it really is worth it to get the best from your kit. This time, the left side of the chart is a bad place to be.

The yellow chart above Percentage requiring very little calibration shows the percentage of lenses that fall somewhere between Calibrated and 2 point error. I keep mentioning tiny, small and large calibration differences, but what do these actually look like? The images below show the difference between a well calibrated lens, and an offset of 2 points barely any noticeable differencea 10 point error significantly blurredand a 20 point error hugely blurred. So now only 1 in 4 lenses will see a significant improvement remember, the other 3 will probably still see an improvement, just not huge. It means that - on average - if you had 4 of these lenses on the bench in front of you, 3 out of 4 would produce sharper photos if you ran them through FoCal. There have been more than different Canon EF lenses produced sinceand our database contains high quality information for nearly 90 of these lenses across the 16 different Canon camera bodies supported by FoCal. Nikon AF Fine Tune - Easiest and Best Way I've Found In this post, I wanted to take a look in more detail about the real world need for AF Microadjustment on Canon cameras and specifically Canon EF lenses. Over the past 5 years, FoCal users have been uploading their results to our database, and we process this information and feed it back to let them compare how their camera and lens compares with everyone else. Reikan FoCal takes the guesswork out of this adjustment by automating the process and using advanced computer analysis to determine the best adjustment for your camera and lens. Since the introduction of the Canon EOS 1D Mark III way back inmiddle to high-end camera owners have been able to adjust the focus system of their camera to work better with each lens.

Hi! I hope I'm not bothering you, but I love your mood board edits and was wondering if you could explain how you go about making/colouring them? I see lots of places to find gifs but turning them into a set is so hard. Thank you in advance!

hi! first of all thank you so much and second of all it’s not a bother at all! i am happy to give some of my own tips even if my explanation probably isn’t super helpful. i won’t give like a ps tutorial but below the cut (since i included example gifs, it’s VERY long) is my process for my latest jily aesthetic:

i keep track of all my ideas/sets in a spreadsheet (which i won’t show bc there’s a lot of info i’d have to blur/black out) but i always have a list of what scenes i need to gif/what gifs i’m editing and where i’m getting them from. i also include a couple extra ideas in case the gifs i have planned end up being too hard to color or don’t fit in the set. i’ve found it’s best/easiest to start w the list bc there is literally nothing worse than spending hours on a set and then not being able to complete it.

as for actually finding the material, i have a pretty healthy number of scene packs saved in my giffing folder, esp. for things i know i will gif frequently. most of the time i will peruse youtube, vimeo, and instagram for any aesthetic scenes. i also have a lot of gif packs saved specifically for the purpose of making mbs (usually i mix my own gifs w gif packs), if you msg me i’m happy to direct you to some gif packs i use regularly or you can check my #resources tag. a couple tips for finding material: 

always opt for download when possible, i used to screen record and the difference when i switched to downloading was astronomical. (it’s easy to lose quality and esp if you’re on mac, quicktime duplicates frames so either you have to manually delete those extras or you get sort of choppy gifs when you load them into ps.)

always use 1080p or better, 720p will work in a pinch for 268px or 177px gifs since you can make up some of that resolution loss with sharpening, but don’t go any lower than that, just love yourself. 

for pale sets, look for the right colors. i tend to look for scenes w high color contrast especially if it features poc so it’s easier to color without whitewashing, ie if the subject is a person then i look for light colored or blue/green/violet/white backgrounds. it’ll make your life wayyyyy easier. this also means if you’re making a set try to find scenes with already similar lighting bc you won’t have to work so hard to make it look cohesive.

here’s a quick rundown of what i do before coloring:

import all frames and save all the files in a folder together!!

play around with frame delay so all the gifs are moving at about the same speed, usually keep it between 0.03-0.05s

crop and resize gifs (i use 268x145 most of the time)

convert to timeline

when it comes to coloring it can be really hit or miss, i’ve recently gotten back into my groove but i was having sooo much trouble earlier this year. in general, don’t stress yourself out!! sometimes it’s easier to just find a new scene/gif (hence my list of extras!) than to try too hard to fit a gif into your set. i color all my gifs by scratch (ie no psds) but i tend to follow the same pattern, i’ll explain using these gifs/psd as an example since then i can also explain how to fix white-washing:

first off when you’re coloring gifs with poc always always always make a layer mask so you can compare the edited and unedited skin tones directly! i use the marquee tool to make a selection in the middle of the character’s face, select the folder of my adjustment layers, and hit ‘add vector mask’ (the third button from the left on the layers panel, it’s a white rectangle with a circle in it). 

i almost always begin by using hue/saturation layers to highlight and delete certain colors. here i highlighted red and raised the lightness on yellow by a lot since it’s a very yellow scene. then i use a combination of brightness/contrast, levels, and curves layers to brighten the scene. here’s what i have now:

i add a gradient map set to black/white, change the blending to exclusion, and lower the opacity to between 5-10% (depending on the scene) to lighten the contrast further:

then i add back a little depth with selective color in neutrals and blacks:

now i have two main goals: 1. add contrast between the background and the subject, and 2. brighten the scene into a pale gif. to do this, i use color balance to tweak the color of the background, taking out the yellows. this step works best if there’s at least some shade difference between your subject and background, otherwise isolating the two will be impossible. here’s what i have after adding color balance:

i use hue/saturation to selectively highlight the background color. in this case i chose to adjust magenta and used the color picker (the first eyedropper on the left) to identify the exact shade i wanted to lighten. now i have a fairly neutral background and a colorful subject, which gives a sort of pale effect:

and now i use a curves layer and a selective color (white) layer to brighten further:

before i go further, i start fixing white-washing. keep in mind that some variance is normal since you are naturally changing the lighting of the scene; this gif shows it rlly clearly bc of how yellow and dim the lighting is, so some lightening is to be expected. however, both because the vector mask shows a lot of whitening and because i’ve giffed dev patel before and have a general idea of what he looks like in this type of lighting, i know what needs to be fixed, so i go back in under the psd/adjustment layers with a combination of selective color (red and neutral) and hue/saturation layers to darken his skin again:

now that some more contrast has been added in, i can go back to working on the psd and use curves and selective color to play around with the background again:

i use another hue/saturation layer and a black/white gradient to tone down oversaturation:

usually i leave those layers on top, so if i want to make any adjustments (like lightening the background more), i go in under those two. in this case i tweaked the whites and reduced the contrast a little to get this:

again, you can see his skin tone has changed from the original, but variation is to be expected given how much brighter the room is, the fact that i took out a lot of yellow lighting, and the brightening effect of the computer screen in front of him. some other things to keep in mind when coloring:

when you add layers to correct white-washing, you’re likely to end up with overly red/orange skin tones (red-washing). this can be fixed by upping cyans in the reds, desaturating/darkening the reds, or adding b/w or desaturation later on.

when in doubt, it’s better to be darker than lighter (the issue with white-washing is that it promotes colorism, and there is nothing inherently wrong with a darker skin tone) but really. just put in the effort to color poc correctly.

when changing the lighting a lot it helps to look at pictures of the subject in natural/bright lighting, since you get a better idea of what their normal skin tone is. 

don’t try to squeeze all your selective color layers into one. you’ll get less grainy gifs if you separate them out and work one by one. 

TURN OFF NIGHT SHIFT/NIGHT MODE! yes i KNOW it’s bad for your eyes (especially if you’re like me and gif at night, when the lighting outside isn’t changing every 20 seconds) but your gifs will look VERY different under f.lux or night mode compared to daytime screens. especially if you’re giffing at different times of day, blue light filters can really change the way your coloring appears. best to keep it consistent.

my sharpening settings vary depending on what i’m giffing but in general i do two layers of smart sharpen (500% with radius between 0.2-0.4, 10% with radius at 10px) and then gaussian blur at 2.5px and adjust the opacity so it’s somewhere between 15-20%. i try to strike a balance between smoothing out the graininess from selective color, and sharpening details like clothes and hair. here’s what i ended up with for the gif above:

then i rinse and repeat for the rest of the gifs in the set! i tend to start with the gifs that i know will be hardest to color, which is usually the darker ones (coloring is limited by how much i can brighten the scene) and those that include poc (again, limited by how much i can brighten and adjust the scene’s lighting without white-washing). then i check set cohesion as i go, using those first few gifs as benchmarks. once i have all 8 (or 9 or 10) gifs, i play around with composition and try to balance and vary the subject, colors, and composition of gifs next to each other. i go back and make a couple of adjustments here and there according to what i observe and what i think might improve the overall appearance.

and that’s pretty much it! i hope this was helpful, if you have other questions feel free to message me and i’d be happy to help/troubleshoot. happy giffing!

(interview) cosmopolitan korea november issue 2020 — shining visual, shinee key

1. agreeing to have a magazine photoshoot scheduled a week after discharge must not have been an easy decision. i tried my best to not look like the military had changed me during my service. people don’t notice when you’re in a good condition, but when you come out in a poor state, they notice right away. this will probably be my last schedule for the month of october. i want to rest for a bit. 2. that's understandable. how was your military life? what i gained from the army were health and people. while i was in the military band, i came across many non-celeb friends, especially young friends who did music. it was an opportunity to learn about what people like these days. though adjusting was hard, it was fun.  3. some say that the mandatory service is like a vacation for workaholic idols. would you sympathise? vacation doesn’t seem like the right word, rather i was able to live a planned life. there was time dedicated to resting, training, sleeping, etc., a daily routine. i liked having to live doing things regularly.  4. for key, dancing and singing are a given, but you do more than the usual with acting, variety tv, musicals, etc. i’m curious about whether you tend to showcase only what you’ve gotten good at on your own, since you’re smart, or is it the result of your ceaseless efforts? besides music, i think the rest is just packaged well. though i can’t make it look like i’m doing really well when i do things poorly, it’s got to do with good marketing too. i also think i have a good grasp of how to look like i’m doing well. 5. it’s said that people who are lively and can express themselves definitively end up incurring the public’s wrath at least once, but over the course of 13 years, there was no such happening. others might not know, but i was aware of many of my failures. there were several shows that i didn’t stand out in, or many times when neither talking nor singing worked. through such experiences i think i was able to cultivate my judgement. 6. all celebrities showcase themselves, but they don’t do so without hesitation. comparatively, key tends to express himself naturally. and so, ‘naturally-talented celebrity,’ one with many talents, comes to mind.  had i stayed still and not shown myself, i don’t know what would have happened. i probably wouldn’t have been able to shoot for a photoshoot like today’s either. i’m the type of person who has to do multiple things simultaneously. for instance, i was able to do <amazing saturday - do re mi market> after 10 years of debut. through this program, there were many who most likely saw me and my personality for the first time. but had i not done it, would there be many people curious about me when i’m not in the public’s eye? of course not. though there are people who can arouse the public’s curiosity just by staying still, i don’t think i’m one of them. 7. your objective assessment of yourself is quite cold. i learned that the more you keep denying yourself, the more uncomfortable it gets. there are those who set an absolute standard for themselves and even improve by working towards it, but i don’t think i fall into that category. i came to a realisation by trying out things this way and that way, and then by staying still. in the end, i learned that being passive wasn’t the answer. even if i like my career as a celebrity, it’s meaningless if the people don’t like me. 8. what’s your judgement criteria for making choices? back in the day, i would do things people would like even if i disliked it. but now if i’m unsure about it, i don’t do it. i realised that forcing myself to do something in such an ambiguous state would not make a huge difference to my life. but you never know. i’m saying this now but then i might end up taking on many things randomly. however, what’s certain is the need for something new.  9. in the ‘solitary chatroom’ fans asked about your plans following discharge, to which you replied “i’ll probably be doing something?” have you not found something new to do yet? i’m troubled over whether to start youtube or not. i doubt people will be curious about my unbroadcasted, ‘off’ (-camera) appearance. the problem isn’t whether to start youtube or not, it’s the how that is important too. i haven’t found the answer to whether i can do it unabashedly. while competing with professional youtubers, i don’t even know if my content will be competitive enough. i’ve been deliberating for a long time. 10. after seeing you and your fans converse like friends in the ‘solitary chatroom,’ i felt that you adore each other. it took a long time for me to reach the point where i could show myself to the fans to my heart’s content. the fans must have waited for a long time too. in the past, i was focused on presenting myself to the public. i did take care of my fans back then too, but i thought it was more meaningful for me to show new people new things. whereas, now i know that if i continue to tread in the right manner, people who like me will continue to like me. it seems more proper to deliver high-quality content to those who are waiting for me. 11. it’s your 13th year of debut. i think you might feel beyond colleague camaraderie for the shinee members. whether we like it or not, i think it’s affection. it's all inevitable and natural. it’s difficult to answer questions that ask about how much i love the members or how close we are. it’s like asking one how much they love their mother. neither colleagues, nor friends, nor family; it’s a relationship that is hard to describe. 12. one idol vented, “it’s upsetting that idols are given secondhand treatment despite being young for the years of experience they have.” have you ever had these thoughts? of course. but i do get why people think that way. it’s because they must have seen them working as idols for a long time. if that’s the case, then they (idols) should switch it up; towards something different, something that’s enjoyable to the public. on that note, rain and lee hyori seniors are quite cool and amazing. while continuing to dance and sing, they’ve chosen to keep up with the times as well. 13. it seems like key possesses the perspective of a content creator rather than an artist.  i think the duties of an artist seem to be gradually increasing. youtube has become as popular as the television these days. that’s why i believe one should be able to adapt. 14. is there an unexpected side to you that people don’t know of? i have a simple side to myself, but people don’t seem to know about it. haha. i mentioned this to my military juniors as well that i prefer receiving a letter over presents. i feel like people are burdened by the idea that it’s a must to buy me something nice. of course, since they only see me on sns or tv, they might feel that way, but i’m truly a simple person. 15. what is key’s definition of a break? it’s thinking no thoughts. when i’m having fun or sleeping, i don’t think about work. that moment itself becomes my break. in our line of work, i believe we can change the quality depending on how much we involve ourselves in the process. and so, obviously, you end up with a lot to think about. when i watch a movie, i end up projecting myself onto the character; when i listen to music, i wonder about the song. back in the day, i couldn’t watch audition survival programs at all. because my hands and feet would tremble. this happened so naturally. that’s why i don’t have a tv at home. i only watch what i want to watch separately. 16. when do you feel that you’re a pretty decent person? (there has been) many a time when i like myself but the word decent is making me quite worried. haha. honestly, i’ve had a group of friends for 10 years now. they come running whenever i call them, even if people curse me out i feel nothing when these friends are around. going by the friends i have then, i’m not that terrible of a person, am i? i actually feel the sorriest towards the people who work with me. i can’t help but say things they’d dislike since it’s necessary for work. but seeing how i’m concerned over this itself makes me a pretty decent person, doesn’t it? haha. 17. as i listen to you talk, you seem very simple-minded but also a deeply complex person. being simple-minded is the easiest thing yet the hardest. you have to give up on a lot but can’t because it’s hard and scary. i came to this realisation naturally without any wake up call.  18. do you feel burdened by the fact that your future as shinee key depends on the choices you make now? no. it’s been a long time since i set goals for myself. i believe i will continue to find more work if i do the things i’m assigned without disappointing others. when i was young, i never once thought i’d become the key i am today. it’s just that now there are more people who favourably view my choices than before, so i expect it’ll be the same in the future. 19. only a confident person would be able to say that. i’m easily frightened but i don’t dread. i worry thinking ‘is this right?’ but when it comes down to making a decision i do it conclusively. people who dread a lot don’t take risks, but those with fears don’t run away.

translated by romanceboys — take out with full credit (source)

On a scale of one to ten (one is your screwed and ten is your gonna destroy them) how would you do in a fight against the dead by daylight killers. First rules though. 1. No prep for either side (suck it Danny) 2. No guns! Only weapons found around your house. 3. It's to the death one being leaves an that's it. 4. No help from friends or pets. 5. Whether legion is four teens or just one combined is up to you.

Uhh, this depends drastically on if you mean I one v one every one of them, or if I’m trying to fight a mob. Because if it’s me vs all of them, I’d just die. Like I’m sure I’d have decent odds of killing at least one, maybe two, and taking them with me. But I’m not John Wick—I cant 1v23 a bunch of armed people with some degree of experience with their weapons given no prep time, allies, or special weapons to save me. I like basically anyone else die sadly to the mob.

If this is one v one though, bc it’d be hard to get them all to work together anyway, and that’s the only way like anyone stands a chance?

Evan: I give me 50-50 odds. He’s way bigger than me and his weapon has a longer reach than any known, even the swords. I’m pretty good at thinking on my feet though. I feel like I have about a 50% chance of living or dying (I’m getting gravely injured regardless), but if I die, I am taking him with me, 80% chance. I was not always proficient at winning fights, but I was very good at not losing them. I’ve been known for taking a sword to get a kill hit at cons a lot. I give me a 6 at simultaneous KO or victory.

Philip I refuse to kill. Even if he was trying to kill me. I would defend myself though. Much bigger threat than Evan to me because I /don’t/ want to hurt him at all, which puts me at disadvantage and liable to freeze up or make mistakes even trying to deal nonlethal damage, he’s bigger and taller than me so height and weight advantage, and I don’t have long enough weapons to help me overcome that, plus on top of that, he’s a tactical fighter, which is what I am. And I think it’s harder to beat someone at your and their own game than just to beat another style most of the time. I mean skill is skill in any area, but I’d take a really strong tank in a fight rather than a planner any day of the week. I think he’s smart, probably smarter than me under pressure, definitely more experienced, and would kick my ass tactically if his heart was in it. If it wasn’t though, I’d have a chance to catch him off guard. I think Vs Philip I get one chance to use a tricky move, and if I mess that up, I die. If I do it right, maybe I can knock him out. It’s a one shot long shot at disadvantage. I give me a 4 if his heart isn’t in it, 3 if it is.

Hillbilly has a chainsaw and hammer, but those are both unwieldy and slow weapons. I’m faster than him, and I’m willing to get hurt. Also he’s killed a lot, but he’s not a /fighter/, which gives me an edge. Being tactical works really well vs someone whose edge is brute force. And he doesn’t have as massive a height or strength advantage. I also have tricks and home court advantage. So long as I don’t fuck up, I give myself an 8.5.

Sally isn’t that scary. I would try to incapacitate her. I feel I could easily take her as a ghost or a person. I have good ghost fighting supplies, salt, chalk, talismans, knowledge. I’m prepared for this. I think I’m coming in for this one at a solid 10.

Michael Myers would kill me. I mean, he’s got like X-Man semi invincibility, good skills, and I don’t really want to kill him. I’d try to talk him down while defending myself. I’d probably fail, but I’d try. Best case scenario I get him to hesitate, but also I’m being generous and giving me a 12% chance of that. Realistically, best case is I pull out a rug, trip him, and temporarily escape. A fight in an enclosed space, most likely outcome is I try and fail to talk him down, and I die. I feel very sure I cannot take him in a fight unless Ishtar herself blesses me with god like abilities. I’m probably dead. At least it would be quick. I give me a 1.6.

Lisa is tiny and not that strong. I could easily break her little glass bones. I’m taller and stronger than her, and she had worse weapons than me. I would try not to kill her though—just incapacitate. I feel I could do this while sustaining only minor wounds. Not to give you a look beyond weird ghost shit into my personal arsenal, but I definitely have supplies for that. I give me a 10.

Herman is tall and strong but he’s not a fighter. He’s a scientist. I’ve been shocked before, and I know what to expect from him. He’s getting blasted by a power washer at range until his weird face apparatus comes off and he’s down and out. I have more precise weapons than him and can easily neutralize his abilities and turn them against him. Also have rubber to wear. He’s big though, so for that alone I give me a 9.6 in case I mess up.

Anna would destroy me. She’s good at ranged weapons, I am not. I would try to look as young as possible and convince her in my very bad but slowly improving baby Russian to please have mercy on me. We’re back to the Michael scenario where I know I have no chance of normal survival and would have to try and talk my way out. My odds are higher here though. I’m pretty cute and I know a little Russian. I give me a 4. But the 4 is not me winning it’s my odds of surviving through begging for my life. She’d kick my ass in a fight.

Bubba isn’t that good at fighting and has a big and cumbersome, if scary, weapon. I feel I could easily use terrain, weapons, and strategy to my advantage and kill him, unless I’m in a place with no terrain or furniture. In which case it’d be a lot worse for me. If I was not, though, I give me a solid 9.6 at owning that fight. I have a good throwing arm and plenty of stuff that can blind a foe, and a lot of weapons. A lot of weapons.

Freddy. Okay this is hard. I know how to kill him about as well as anyone does? So comparatively my odds are good? But. Also he’s a demon and a bit of a heavyweight in this arena. Sadly. If we’re in-realm rules, I have a /very/ good chance of kicking his ass. Give me a 10 to win, although I might not survive either. Probably would. If he’s like /film/ loadout? I give me more like a 6. It would be a battle, but I have a lot of knowledge and determination. Also I’m taller than him and bigger and could break his arms.

Amanda. Easy fam, that’s a 10. No, 11. Injured recently drugged Eric Matthews almost kicked her ass while toting a smashed foot. She’s like, 5 foot 1 and 30 pounds underweight. It’s not gonna be hard at all.

Kenneth I give me a 10 too. Easy fam. Even if he gets realm rules where he’s not tripping balls on his own drugs, I know what he’s got. I’ve got better weapons, I’m young, fast, strong, and smarter. I hold my breath, and run him through. Quick jabs from a dagger, take him down. Use my agility. He was never a fighter anyway—he used drugs to prey on people who couldn’t fight back. You know what? Give me another 11.

Rin? Uhhhh, I know as much as about anyone how to deal with her, but my odds of succeeding /before/ she killed me are...not great. And if we fought, there’s no way I have the ability to kill an Onryo. I put using my supernatural beings knowledge to hold her back long enough to stop her in the realm of improbably, but potentially doable, and give myself a 2.7. This is not to kill her though. Just to make her stop killing me. I have no way near the power or spiritual knowledge needed to kill something like that.

Legion I’d not really want to kill. They’re all teenagers or baby 20 year olds. I don’t want to wail fatally on kids, even ones who suck. That said, I think I could take them in a fight. If it was four and I got to fight them one at a time, easiest, four in one body back to back is medium, four at once is hard. First two options I could potentially fight to not kill. Third option only choice would be do everything I can to even /maybe/ have a shot. I have less experience stabbing people, but I’m more ready to take pain, and more motivated, so I give myself a 6, 5, and 3.5 to those scenarios respectively. I would be badly wounded regardless.

Adiris I don’t have healthy enough fear of dying of bubonic plague, and that would give me an edge. I think I have a good sword and shield combo to deal with the mace. She’s tall, but I have her beat in strength and stamina as well as agility bc she’s emaciated and dying. I would not want to kill her though. Might try to talk to her in my fucked Akkadian. Try to incapacitate if that failed. I give me a solid 8 if she’s treating this like a 9 to 5 or distracted by me, give me a 4 if she wants me /dead/. Either way, I probably have to run to the CDC and pray I survive scarred after.

Danny is just some sneaky dick with a knife. He doesn’t even know how to get stabbed. Slightly harder than a few other knife fighters bc he wears so much damn leather, but the eyes and mouth of that mask are vulnerable, and I feel sure I can drive a knife into them before sustaining any kind of fatal wound. He doesn’t have much edge on me in any area, I have him well beat in conviction, and I’m smarter than him by quite a bit. I give me a 9.

Uhhh, Demo isn’t that hard, and I love fire. Probably gonna get a little hurt, but I’m not worried about this one. Easy 10.

Kazan is interesting. He has me beat in size and strength, but his weapon is unwieldy and slow. I have quick weapons and am more agile, and I’m ready to fight dirty to save myself. 7 probably. It’s a luck thing. I have the edge, but if he really lands a hit on me even once, it’s all over. So. Not the /best/ of odds. Maybe a 6.8, actually.

You said no guns but I assume Caleb still gets his. He only gets one shot before being vulnerable though, and he’s much older than me. I’m faster and more agile, and stronger. He’s got really good endurance too though so I don’t have the edge there. It’s gonna be kind of a game of chicken to see who blinks. If he misses his one shot, I win. If he gets the shot, he wins. However, I think my odds of baiting the shot and getting my opening are decent. I give me a solid 7 here.

I still don’t even know which Pyramid Head he /is/. Why does any version exist here and want to kill me, can he smell, can I use that, can electricity hurt him, can he use my guilt against me? There are so many unknowns for both of us, I give us both a 5.

Talbot is an easy 10 unless he gets the jump on you. But you said no planning, so no surprise attacks, so I give me a 10. His body is literally falling apart, and all the blight serum in the world can’t save him from me forever. I have a bunch of tools at my disposal, and he’s fast, but he’s not accurate. Edge, me.

Victor and Charlotte. Interesting one here. Don’t want to kill them either, but I would to save myself I guess if I couldn’t stop them. Not scared of Victor. I bite too, and I go for the throat. Charlotte is more of a problem. Finally it’s a tall killer with a short range weapon though, so edge: me, in weapons. I think I have decent odds of beating them, but I would not get out unscathed. Give me a 7.5.

Jo-Woon. Depends wildly. He throws tiny knives that do too little damage. If he takes me seriously as a threat and tries to go for the throat before I can get close, edge: him, and I’m in for a really rough fight even with a shield. If he wants to fuck around with me though, I’ll win. Because I am prepared to suffer immensely to get a kill shot. If he was smart, I’d give the fight a 6, but I feel extremely confident he’d be cocky, so I give me a 9 to survive, a 10 to at worst get a simultaneous K.O.

Hi, did you play every AC game? If yes, in term of game plays which are the easiest? For someone without much experience in games, ty!

Not every AC game, because I can handle only so much of cookie cutter games at a time. Before I say more, lemme get this out of the way first: I played the Ezio trilogy back in 2018 because Da Vinci’s Demons was cancelled and I wanted more Da Vinci content and the white and red hoodie looks cool. In other words, I didn’t play the game because it’s called Assassin’s Creed.

The AC games I played so far, by the order of which one I play first. I’ll rate gameplay by my personal preferences (because it’s the only way I know how).

Ezio’s trilogy (AC2, AC Brotherhood, AC Revelations, played in 2018): decent parkour, minimal grind (just invest in the villa and you’re a millionaire in a day or two), very story focused (perfect balance of historical and modern plots). Decent combat. The golden years of AC and I agree.

Unity (played a few months after Ezio): good parkour, medium grind (bigger map and more items to upgrade, you still get to invest in properties so it helps). Time-saver items are on sale for real money aka MTX (ew). Combat is ok, not much difference since Ezio. Historical story is meh (I don’t care for Arnold because Elise’s story is more interesting) and they completely ditched the modern plot (you think Odyssey has little modern day plot, try Unity). Buggiest AC game I encountered and I played this game 4+ yrs after launch (hold on to that thought, keep reading). Ubi spent all of their time and budget doing the interior design (which is gorgeous btw) that they have none left to fix the bugs.

Black Flag (a few months after): chasing flying papers is my favorite activity to NOT do. Grindy af (no property investment). I can’t tolerate the controls for the ship so I hate everything that involves ship in this pirate game, except for sea shanties. You’ll have more fun playing this game as a pirate than an assassin. Combat feels the same since Ezio. Other mechanics are like Unity (understandable). Modern plot is minimal, but it makes bloodline irrelevant and there’s a....soul inside a computer server that wants to possess a human body, meanwhile said soul’s husband is a maniac who has unlimited reincarnations (realism, I know). Black Flag is the gateway game that convinces me that I should stop wasting my brain cells in “what kinda bs realism is dis?”

Odyssey (a month after launch, bought solely because of Kassandra also when I heard Odyssey is set before the creed, oh fuck yea I don’t need to sit through another rehash of Creed crap or at least minimal anyway): oh gods a breath of fresh air from the old controls where you have to hold R2 whenever you want to run and my fingers hurt sfm. Climbing is the best because the protag actually moves where you want them to move. MTX (ew). Grindy but because the combat and movements are smooth, best combat so far; I don’t see Odyssey as grindy because I enjoy my time playing (also Kassandra); I platinum the game on PS4 at around 130 hrs I think, could’ve been earlier but photomode. Fun quests that I giggle whenever thinking about them (I don’t remember shit about any quests in any other AC game, but then again Kassandra). People bitch about no parkour but who parkour in the 450BCE?!?!? Full disclosure: I never cared for parkour and never will. I stop caring for modern plot after how Unity and Black Flag handled it. Playing Odyssey makes me realize that I enjoy AC games more if idgaf for the AC aspect, rather, I play for the fictional historical tourism aspect. Just ditch the AC and voila, blue sky and fresh air. Playing Odyssey also makes me realize that I want a spin-off IP that focus on the Isu so we can go full fantasy. Do I need to say how pretty Odyssey is? lol

Origins (planned to play Origins first, but Kassandra. Also, I remember Amunet from AC2, but somehow we play as a dude in Ancient Egypt, I’m not too eager to find out, despite I prefer Egyptian mythology over Greek and I’d like to thank Yu-gi-oh for that): combat is clunky, heavy, and slow, though no need to hold R2 to run so phew. Grindy af. The bow mechanics is a decade outdated (Horizon Zero Dawn came out the same year and oh boi the difference is night and day, oh yea I played HZD before Origins. I get it the bow isn’t the focus but does it have to feel like Skyrim in 2017?). I’m glad I play this game for the Ancient Egypt (which is beautifully designed *chef kiss*) aspect and no more. 

Syndicate (I play this along side of Origins, still haven’t finished it though. Literally bought the game for Evie and I nut over Victorian fashion): combat is no different from Unity. Grindy like Black Flag and Unity. Story is meh in both historical and modern plot so far. Evie is the only reason I’m still trying to play this game. At least the Helix outfits are included in the Gold edition of the game. Victorian London is gorgeous tho.

Valhalla (only care for this game because Eivor. Tbh after God of War and Hellblade, idc for another Viking game): game is buggy af, buggiest AC game I’ve played. Combat is like Origins but worse: the only saving grace is the finishing move & the bow mechanic hasn’t been improved since Origin; I honestly would rather have combat from the Ezio games over whatever-this-is. You have to toggle a button to run now, which is dumb af because I miss Origins and Odyssey automatic run. They bring parkour back (because Vikings totally dig parkour back in the Dark Ages) as well as the-character-doesn’t-move-where-you want-them-to from the older games. Chasing flying papers from black flag is back, no thx. Looting enemies is useless, but hey you get to run around to look for a key or two or THREE to get some minimal amount of materials; so imagine if 2/3 of every chest in Origins and Odyssey are locked. Oh! You have manually pick berries/food to heal, no healing potion, wtf is this half-ass RPG shit? Side quests, oh sorry World Events, aren’t tracked in an open-world game (guess who hasn’t been doing these bitches?). Grindy af. I’m wasting my time looking at the skill points interface (you have 99 lv in Odyssey, 55 in Origins, 403 power in Valhalla. A game doesn’t feel like grindy if you level up every 2 quests for 403 times, does it? lololol). The useless SP tree is so massive that I just don’t use the skills I acquire because it takes too much time to find out which buttons to push to locate the 10 skills in this 403-dot clusterfuck, but the astronomy design is beautiful (gotta give credit when it’s due). Scummy practice from Ubi: releasing “time-saver” pack AFTER reviews are published. Also, who wanna bet there will be more mtx outfits than in-game outfits? Don’t worry, Ubi makes inventory management cLEaNeR for you *hands over 8 outfits for an RPG game*. The free event bugs tf out of your already buggy event, but hey, you’ll get a free outfit that’s a reskin of what you already have, teeheee be grateful. Eivor is amazing but by the gods playing this game is a chore. Tbh I only play Valhalla if I don’t feel like playing Ghost of Tsushima that day. Lastly, why is England so yellow like it’s Ancient Egypt?!?!? And why the sunlight moves faster than Eivor’s running at full speed? Which parts of this game does realism count?!?!?!?

Unsolicited opinion: GoT is an example of how an AC game should be and how DLCs should be handled, but with Ubisoft it will never be and I’m so fucking glad that it is Sucker Punch Prod which handles feudal Japan with utmost respect and realism. See how “honor” is handled in both games and compare the writing. Ubisoft should have announced ding dong AC is dead and create a new IP, but AC is their most financially successful franchise so expect more of this MTX, I mean, grindy RPG approach with minimal narrative. 

The Price of a Soul

Part 1/? - Agent Russel Part 2/? - The Letter

Of course Agent Russel isn’t who she said she was... but who is she really?  And what is the significance of the letter she left in Peggy’s purse?

-

It wasn’t until she was packing up her things to head home at the end of the day that Peggy noticed the envelope.

Peggy was used to finding envelopes on her desk – it had taken her a while to find a proper apartment in Los Angeles, so she’d used the SSR office as her address and still got mail there.  Her colleagues also left things for her.  But this wasn’t on her desk or even in her desk, it was in her purse, which had been sitting next to her desk all day, except for when it had been sitting next to Daniel’s desk in his office while she spoke with Agent Russel.  Peggy didn’t recall anyone coming near it, but then, she hadn’t been paying that much attention.  What she was sure of was that there had been no envelope in it when she’d left home that morning.

She pulled it out.  There was nothing written on it and the flap was not sealed.  Inside was a single sheet of typing paper.  Peggy unfolded it, and found two typewritten lines of numbers:

74 47 35 95 25 03

Below them was a quickly scrawled drawing of a five-pointed star with two circles around it.

Peggy’s breath caught.  Her first instinct upon just seeing the numbers was, of course, that it represented some kind of code or cipher, but noticing the star… perhaps she was biased, but she was fairly sure that represented Captain America’s shield.  And if it did, maybe the numbers were far simpler than a code.  Maybe somebody knew where the Valkyrie had crashed.  Ninety-five degrees was a long way to the west, and seventy-four was further north than Howard had ever looked.

Who had left her this?  Her initial idea was that it must have been Russel, but why would Russel do that and where would she have gotten such information?  If she had it, wouldn’t she give it to Daniel or to Chief Thompson in New York, or even to the joint chiefs or the president, rather than to Peggy Carter?  Everybody thought of her in association with Captain America, yes, but she’d been a comparatively minor figure in his career.  Maybe it was some kind of trap or a distraction?  But why do that?  It seemed entirely incompatible with Russel’s goal.  But if not her, who?

She folded the page up again.  She was getting ahead of herself, wasn’t she?  She didn’t yet know what those numbers meant.  Possibly she was jumping to conclusions.  She needed a map or a globe.  Peggy did not own one personally.  There was a large map of North America on one wall of the SSR office, but she didn’t want anyone seeing her poring over that and asking why.  Perhaps a public library?  But what if she were followed?

Remaining calm, Peggy put the page back into the envelope and the envelope into her purse.  She gave Daniel a kiss and wished him good night, and said goodbye to Rose on the way out, as if she were simply going home at the end of a tiring day and nothing was wrong in the world.

She did not go home, however.  She went to Howard Stark’s house.

Howard himself wasn’t home, but Edwin Jarvis answered the door and looked delighted to see Peggy, as he always was.  The man never seemed to learn.

“Agent Carter,” he said with a smile.  “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’m afraid it’s a business call,” said Peggy.  “I need to borrow a book.”

“Of course, come right in,” Jarvis said, standing aside.  “I’ll make tea.  Can I interest you in a slice of apple torte?  Anna has the dog outside, so there’s no need to fear an immediate assault upon entering the kitchen.”

Peggy smiled – the Jarvises had recently acquired a Bernese Mountain Dog puppy, which Anna had named Zoltan.  It was already twice the size it had been when they brought it home and showed no signs of slowing down, while having no idea that it was already much too big to fit in a human lap.  Anna adored the monster, and Edwin pretended to be annoyed with the amount of hair it shed, but could not bring himself to truly dislike an animal that made his wife so happy.

“Thank you, Mr. Jarvis, apple torte sounds lovely.”

In the library she quickly found what she was looking for – an enormous leather-bound Atlas of the World, the sort of book Howard bought because he was supposed to have one and then never looked at because he had the entire geography of the earth memorized already.  Mr. Jarvis brought her pie and tea while she flipped pages, until she found one showing the islands of Northern Canada.

She took the paper out again and spread it out.  Seventy-four and a half degrees north was… just about there, and ninety-five degrees west was… just off the coast of Cornwallis Island, a place choked by sea ice for nearly the entire year.  As she’d suspected, it was very far north of where they’d thought the Valkyrie might have gone down based on its last known trajectory.  Perhaps they’d underestimated the speed of the craft?

Could it really be?  Could somebody have simply handed her the location of Steve Rogers’ body?

The only way to find out would be to look… but looking would be a big undertaking, with people and ships and winter gear.  Peggy did not yet have nearly enough information to start something like that.  Before she could even begin she had to find out who had given her these coordinates, where that person had gotten them from, and how many other people might know about them.  For all she knew, this was some kind of trap.

“Agent Carter?” asked Mr. Jarvis, coming to collect her empty teacup.  “Have you found what you needed?”

“I believe I’ve made a start,” Peggy replied.  “May I use the telephone?”

“Of course,” he said.

She pulled out the card Agent Russel had given her, and asked the operator for the number.  The phone rang… and then rang again… and rang again.  Peggy waited with increasing impatience until it had rung twelve times, and then hung up.  Maybe Russel was still busy, or perhaps she’d gone out for dinner or something.  There were plenty of explanations that didn’t involve her deliberately avoiding Peggy, and Peggy would not improve the situation by becoming paranoid.

She put the envelope back in her purse, thanked Mr. Jarvis, and headed home again.

When she arrived, she rang Russel’s number again but still got no answer.  This was annoying for several reasons, not the least of which was that Russel would be the easiest suspect to eliminate.  Peggy could just ask Russel about it, while her colleagues were a different matter.  If she asked the wrong person and they weren’t the culprit, they might spread the news around and then there would be a big fuss over what might turn out to be nothing.  Peggy didn’t want that.

It did occur to her that this might just be a ploy to distract her from looking for Dottie so that somebody else could take the credit.  That would have been infuriating if Peggy hadn’t long ago let go of caring who got credit for saving the world just so long as it ended up saved.

Before she turned in that evening, Peggy did try one last time to telephone Russel and still got no response.  She told herself not to get cranky about it.  She’d only met this woman yesterday, and an FBI agent was doubtless busy… especially a woman, who would have to be twice as good as the men to get half the respect.  Peggy herself could be almost impossible to contact sometimes.  Howard, Mr. Jarvis, Angie, and even Daniel had all complained of it.  When it was time to panic, she told herself as she shut off the lights, she would know.

- 

As it turned out, the time for panic was around four o’clock the following morning, when Peggy was awakened from a sound sleep by her phone ringing.  She turned the light back on and picked up the receiver.

“Hello?” she asked.

“Peggy?” it was Daniel.  “Did I wake you up?”

“I should say you did – do you know what time it is?” she asked, having to turn her alarm clock in order to find out for herself.  Ten past four.  If Daniel were calling her now, it was something serious.  “What’s going on?”

“They found Agent Russel,” he said.

Peggy’s heart went into her throat.  “She’s dead?”  That had not been an expected outcome.

“No…” Daniel said.  “The woman who came to see you yesterday wasn’t Agent Russel.  Agent Nedrick Russel has been found tied up in the trunk of a car at the airport.”

Having only just leaped, Peggy’s heart now sank, all the way down to the floor and possibly through it into the apartment below.  “Bloody hell,” she said.

“Can you meet us at the police station?” asked Daniel.

“Absolutely.”  Peggy threw aside the covers and stood up.  “Give me a moment to get ready.”

She hung up without saying goodbye, because now was not a time for pleasantries.  In the washroom to give her hair a quick comb and put on makeup as best she could, Peggy caught her own eye in the mirror and scowled.

“Bloody bugger,” she declared.  “Bloody, bloody bugger.”

She might not know what was going on with the mysterious envelope, but she now knew in her gut exactly what had happened yesterday and it was not at all nice.  Peggy had always been as lenient as she could with Dottie Underwood, though that wasn’t very, because she knew Dottie had been brought up by cruel people who’d twisted her into a monster.  The same was doubtless true of this woman calling herself Nadine Russel… but Peggy was going to have a much more difficult time trying to be kind.

When Peggy arrived at the station near the airport, dressed and groomed but definitely not looking her best, a police officer escorted her into a room where three men from the SSR, including Daniel, and several more police were standing around watching a man devour a ham sandwich.  He was in his early fifties, with graying dark hair and a chisel-straight nose, wearing a white shirt with sweat stains under the arms, his tie and his blue plaid blazer draped over the back of his chair.  His audience didn’t seem to interest him at all.  He was entirely focused on his food.

“Agent Russel?” asked Peggy.

The man glanced up at her, then quickly swallowed his mouthful and washed it down with half a glass of water.  He’d clearly been imprisoned in the car trunk for some time, and it had left him both hungry and dehydrated.  “You must be Agent Carter,” he said.  “This isn’t how I pictured us meeting.”

“Nor I,” said Peggy.  She looked at the police.  “You questioned him?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” said the nearest man.  “He says he was having a drink at the Coconut Club when a pretty blonde came up and started flirting with him, and the next thing he remembers was coming to locked in the trunk of his car.  His wallet and his briefcase are both missing.”

Peggy had heard of the Coconut Club, though she’d never been there.  It was a fairly swanky pub not too far away from the airport.  “Do we have a description of the suspect?”

“We’ve got a sketch artist on his way,” the policeman promised.

“She was about so tall,” said Russel with his mouth full, holding his hand at the height of his shoulders to suggest a woman significantly shorter than he.  “Blonde hair, blue eyes, great skin, nails like a tiger.  Black dress with a little bolero, and a choker necklace with a great big rock on it.”  He pointed to his adam’s apple to suggest where that had sat.

“Did she give her name?” Peggy asked.

“She said it was Katherine.  Told me to call her Kay,” Russel said.  “You’re not going to tell Alice, are you?”

Peggy rolled her eyes, and Daniel looked like he badly wanted to.  “Agent Russel,” he said, “the SSR wants to know who this woman is and why she’s interested in finding Olga Barynova.  We don’t care where your wife thinks you were last night.”

Russel had been about to bite into his sandwich again.  Now he hesitated.  “You mean Underwood?  She’s got a real name now?”

“Was that not in the information your assailant took from you?” asked Peggy.

“No…” said Russel.  “No, we’ve got a list of her aliases but none of them were Russian.”

Peggy had already been fairly sure this mysterious Miss Kay must be from the same organization as Dottie herself… now she suspected she knew it for certain.  Had she assumed that the SSR already knew Dottie’s real name?  Or had she only called her that by mistake?  Either way, she’d covered for herself very quickly.

Had Kay gotten the coordinates from Russel?  Peggy would have to find a more private moment to ask him.  In the meantime, she took out the business card her visitor had given her yesterday, and showed him the number.

“Does this telephone number mean anything to you, Agent Russel?” she asked.

His mouth was once again full.  He shook his head.

“Then that’s where I’d like to start,” said Peggy.  Maybe Kay hadn’t thought they would find the real Russel so soon, and was expecting Peggy to try to contact her.  Or maybe it had only been a ruse, to keep Peggy from being suspicious.  She offered the card to one of the policemen.  “Would somebody mind tracing this for me, please?”

The man looked at Daniel, who nodded.  “Do it,” he said.

“And I’ll want to speak to the sketch artist, myself,” Peggy added.  At the moment it was technically only a suspicion that ‘Nadine’ and ‘Kay’ were the same person, but it would be nice to have it confirmed.  Then she could decide what she would try to do next.

Hello all, I thought that this was an important topic to cover. Red flags are something that we all hear about. However, I don't think that it's something that is often explain. It's either something deliberately sought out or something that someone learns the hard way. Communication is a beneficial tactic and people standing up for themselves is often a core concept of feminism. Even if it's just making sure that someone is treating you properly.

While the statement seems redundant, this is something that can happen to anyone in any form of relationship. Perhaps the topic could spread some light on relationships with another person.

1. Moving too fast

After being in a relationship with someone for just a short period of time. Moving too fast is when they will attempt to pressure the other party into doing something before they are ready. Examples include having sex or moving in together. If someone is pressuring another person into a sexual encounter be aware that they don't fully care about consent. Nothing less than enthusiastic consent is okay. If the person manages this then be aware they will step on other boundaries or keep pressuring for sex.

In the concept of moving in together, it is often to put the other in a position where they are either contractually obligated to stay or in a position where the other might have power over them. If someone is pressuring for another to move in before they are ready, it's good to be wary of that individual and say that the pressure is not okay. If the reaction is poor then their intent often is as well.

2. Stepping on boundaries

If someone is willing to ignore boundaries it'll come up quickly in any kind of relationship. It's also the easiest for people to ignore. Oftentimes society teaches that someone putting up boundaries is something to push to change. We all have our own comfort zones and when they are too be crossed is entirely up to the person and what they want to do.

Someone making continuing comments about how someone else lives their life when it in no way hurts or affects them is not alright. Especially when asked to stop. When this is ignored it is creating a clear feeling of 'my words are more important than your feelings, so shut up and take it.'

Partners, friends, and parents overstepping boundaries is a huge issue. It's a basic idea of autonomy and respect. Might I add that this is especially important for parents. The idea of 'my house, my rules' comes to mind. While yes, it's reasonable to expect someone to help around the house. That doesn't give another person the right to invade their privacy. This is saying that parents do not see children as independent or able to think in any way. And that loss of control can be extremely damaging to egos that are frail. The same goes for friendships or partnerships. If people cannot accept their faults, then there is room for improvement.

3. Attempts at isolation

Isolation can be an extremely dangerous and scary thing once someone successfully puts this into motion. There are a lot of different ways that this can be put into use.

The easiest to understand is physical isolation. Pushing for someone to be alone with another when they aren't comfortable. Such as only hanging out one on one. Sure, this might be easy for someone who has social shyness, however, it becomes an issue when the other feels obligated to spend all their time with that one person. Even forgoing time with other friends and family to be there for one reason or another.

Emotional isolation, often used in cases where someone tells another they have suicidal thoughts or depression to manipulate them into staying. These are real issues and should be taken seriously. That does not give another person the right to emotionally isolate another for their own personal therapist. Some people even use this type of manipulation to pressure someone to be in a romantic relationship with others who are not interested. They feel as though this is all on them to keep that person alive. When in truth they should be seeking some form of professional help.

4. Secrecy/Forgoing safety

The title says a lot here. Secrecy in a relationship is understandable in some situations. Should the persons involved be in some kind of danger to their safety or livelihoods. This does not apply when two people have been in an ongoing relationship and a partner has been refusing to make it public in any form. This continues to grow in ease in the modern day with technology. Be aware, if someone is dating more than one person at a time without the other knowing. It is not the fault of the other person they are dating. It is solely the responsibility of the person that is cheating and those who take steps to deceive unaware parties.

Forgoing safety relates to sexual activities. There's nothing wrong with sex, it can be enjoyable and liberating for people involved. Doing so safely is greatly important. A partner who doesn't want to take all safety measures involved is thinking more of their pleasure than future outcomes.

Testing for Sti's. This is extremely important for young couples before they have unprotected sex. One person refusing to get tested might be a sign that they're hiding something important. If you're sexually active get checked frequently if you have multiple partners. Being healthy is more important than a night of pleasure.

5. 'Negging'

Negging is a lesser spoken about the concept. Or something that hasn't been frequently spoken about in previous years. Negging essentially boils down to a backhanded or slightly off comment to a potential partner. Someone's tone is often a big factor here and if addressed may easily be brushed off as someone being overly sensitive. If someone doesn't have the best self-esteem in the world little things like this can really build up.

Some examples include

'wow, you must be really brave to wear your hair THAT way'

'I'm surprised you can pull that look off'

'That's not something I would do, but on you, it works.'

'You're really brave to smile when your teeth look like that.'

Oftentimes these people pick up on what others might be insecure about, something that isn't conventionally attractive, and use a comment like this to try and ingratiate themselves while knocking down the other person's self-esteem.

6. Not like 'others'/comparing to others

This concept is vice versa. The topic of someone claiming to another that they're 'not like the others'. Is meant to make this person feel as though they are special. Which someone can get swept up with when they think someone thinks that they are special in a certain type of way. What's important here is to think about the concept. Why are they saying you're 'not like the others' and what situation is it applying to? 'not like the other girls.' is frequently used. If a woman is told she's not like other girls, it might not occur to wonder what's wrong with other women?

The truth is that there is nothing wrong with other women in this concept.

On the other hand, if someone is comparing two people, especially in a relationship it's important to think about why. While two people may have similarities they aren't the same person. People should treat everyone as an individual and not use others as a comparison. People are not one and the same and it's important to take individuality for what it is.

7. Gaslighting

Gaslighting is a form of abuse that can make a person feel as if they're going insane. The reason it is on this list is that it's something that can easily be done to another person. In any situation, though it is usually spoken conversations over a period of time in which this tactic is used.

Usually, it starts with someone saying that they never said something to you, when they most definitely did. If they do this enough then it can start to build doubt in the mind of another person. If this is done enough they start to doubt their own mental security and their memory.

Another form of this abuse is people moving things when another isn't looking. It might start out with just moving car keys to a different hook, moving someone's purse or clothing to the left, or placing them in a different drawer. Sometimes even straight up hiding them and when the person leaves putting them back as though they were there the entire time. If you suspect someone is doing this then take notes on what happens. And don't doubt yourself. It might be hard but that's the most important thing to breaking the cycle.

8. Refusing to talk about the future

This is something that is important mainly for couples. If there are ideals that people may disagree on it is important to address them early in a relationship that appears to be taking a serious turn. It is perfectly reasonable for someone to request some time to think about a topic. However, continually ignoring something crucial is a lack of communication. If someone is not willing to at least attempt communication on this level then one needs to think about how this will affect the relationship in the future.

Disclaimer

These are all things I've written down from one personal experience or another. I am not an expert but still think it's important to talk about, as someone doesn't have to be an expert to recognize abuse. If you'd like to add things on, ask questions, or ask me to write more in the future please go ahead.

Recently I gave into the internet ads telling me to come back to Runescape for its 20th anniversary. Back in 7th or 8th grade it was my first MMO and a game I was totally hooked on for a few years. I think I played the most from about 2004-2007 and last played in 2009. After two weeks of being completely unable to tear myself away from it, I’ve compiled my thoughts into a pros and cons list, compared to what I remember from middle/high school. 

Pros:

Leveling is way faster. I don’t think it’s just that I’m better at video games now or that you can easily get xp lamps from the Treasure Hunter mini game (in fact, the easiest way I’ve found to level is to complete quests to get Treasure Hunter keys and then use the xp rewards on combat skills), the levels themselves just go up faster even when you’re doing them normally. This is great for me as a returning player because I’m now getting close to being back to where I was without having to spend months or years getting there.  

You can also make money faster and easier. Everything costs more but you also get more money, so I now have 2 mil, but this has about the buying power that 200k did back in the day. Regardless, I can’t imagine getting 200k this easily back in high school. I did it mostly by selling random items on the grand exchange, getting rewards for quest point milestones, and mining and smithing.

The combat is more similar to that of other MMOs where you have an ability bar. You can choose to ignore this and put it on autopilot or just set the combat to work the way it used to. Either way the animations look a lot better and more varied, there are way more weapons, and you can dual wield now.

Most skills actually give you more to actually do while leveling them. For example, while mining, you have to click on different rocks periodically or they won’t yield any more ore.

You now start the game with tool belt that comes with a tinderbox, chisel, hatchet, pickaxe, etc. that is separate from your inventory. 

A lot of the quests have been reworked and many new ones are fully voice acted. It is a little weird having the NPC chat heads come with audio while mine is still silent, but I just read aloud for my character and that’s fun for me.

The graphics, while still not fantastic, are greatly improved, particularly the environments. Al Kharid looks stunning. The human character models are a bit dated, but it’s come to my attention that they are in the process of completely overhauling them.

Character customization is less limited and in particular is much more convenient. You can change your hairstyle for free at any time, all the outfits from the in-game store in Varrock are free, and the gender wizard who can trans your gender (sorry, Makeover Mage) also offers services for free now.  

The Free-To-Play content has gotten a pretty decent upgrade. Skills, quests, and areas that were once Members Only are now F2P (notably, the quest where you get a kitten, Burthorpe and Taverley, and most if not all of the new fully voiced quests.) There are a number of entirely new skills, but I haven’t really tried any of them yet. I will make time for Archaeology at some point.

Many of my cons are going to be “they removed x,” but the easy solution there is to just play Old School Runescape. While I myself have been too preoccupied with RS3 to play any OSRS, I think the community over there is actually larger.

The community seems very chill on the whole and is mostly just players trying to have a good time and help each other out. Everyone is just like, getting stoned/drunk and vibing in this game.

There’s an achievement system that will direct you to specific challenges and give you something to do if you’re lost/overwhelmed. Particularly useful in the beginning.

Fast travel for everyone, no Magic skill requirements.  

The website itself links to a Runescape Wiki that has all the game info and quest walkthroughs you could want in one place.

The quests are still fun and unique for an MMO. Lots of puzzles and creative problem-solving, lots of twists and turns.

Cons:

They took away the random events. All those NPCs are now scattered around the world. The Sandwich Lady now runs a bakery stall in Ardougne.

The Burthorpe Games Room is gone. How am I supposed to play Connect Four using death runes as my game pieces so everyone knows how edgy I am? Actually, Burthorpe on the whole looks different and a lot smaller, but at least the trolls look really cool now.

They removed the Romeo and Juliet quest and now there are 0 quests based on Shakespeare plays when really there should be 37. We are moving in the wrong direction here.

The quest Imp Catcher has been revamped so that now the beads are based on the four humors and you have to recover them from imps that have swallowed them and taken on those characteristics, and yet for some reason they missed the opportunity to rename the quest “Every Imp in (or out of) His Humour.”

This is the part where I admit that I shelled out the ten dollars for a month of membership so I could revisit all my favorite areas. While many of the F2P areas have received massive improvements, not all the Members areas have. I don’t think Ardougne has seen an update since 2008, which is a shame since it was my favorite city.

The dark wizards in front of Varrock don’t attack you on sight anymore. Idk why this bothers me but I found it shocking upon discovery.

The cities and towns now each have their own coat of arms which is cool except that I disagree with the colors they chose. Varrock should be red and blue, Ardougne should be blue and white, Falador should be white and black, and Lumbridge should be green and blue. I could go on. This is every bit as vital to me as knowing which color folders/notebooks go with which school subjects.  

The fast leveling does mean that practically everyone is at least level 100 and there’s not quite the same sense of accomplishment that used to come with reaching a high level. While it used to be very rare to see someone at the level cap it is now quite common. Still, this is on the whole a very small price to pay to be able to do more of what I enjoy without grinding for hours on end (for those who aren’t aware, you unlock many quests in this game by meeting skill requirements.)

This game is very British. I don’t think I realized just how British it is when I was younger. One of the primary downsides of this is that the aforementioned wiki’s quest walkthroughs call the first floor the ground floor, which is all well and good, but then they call the second floor the first floor and the third floor the second floor and I’ve gotten lost on multiple occasions specifically because of this.

While there is an “outfit” system that lets you override whatever you’re wearing with special appearances you can unlock through various means, there is nothing like the WoW transmog system which would allow you to override it with other in-game items.

Combat abilities are sort of locked by weapon. Like you can’t really do magic without a staff.

All in all, my impression is that Jagex has made a ton of quality-of-life changes while keeping everything that made the game great.

TL;DR play this game it’s worth it.

Ask for writers

I was tagged a while ago by @theisolatedlily @zanniscaramouche and @tomlinvelvetfics. Sorry it took a while!

1. describe how you first started writing and when you first posted: I’ve been writing since I was literally able to, but I first started writing fanfic on ff.net back in the good old days. I wrote HP fanfic, among other things. In 2012 I made the switch to AO3 and started writing Ziam fanfic.

2. which of your characters do you typically resonate most closely with? do you base any characters off of yourself?: I’m very similar to Louis in a lot of ways, so his POV definitely comes easiest to me. When I’m writing Ziam I find that I prefer to write from Liam’s POV, though I don’t feel I’m necessarily similar to Liam.

3. where do you often find inspiration?: Movies, shows, random posts on Tumblr.

4. has quarantine helped or hindered your writing process?: Not necessarily either of them, I feel. I’ve had a little bit more time but since I don’t work much I’ve always had the time to write. It’s more the other way around, writing has helped my quarantine.

5. do you listen to music/noise while you write or do you prefer silence? Silence. I can’t write with music on.

6. what is your biggest writing pet peeve in your writing or in general?: In general, bad grammar or ooc characters pulls me out of a story really quickly. I don’t tend to read much fic, since I don’t want other people’s writing style to seep into my writing, so I suppose that would be my own biggest pet peeve, is when I find that I’m not writing in my own voice.

7. describe your ideal writing setup: Basically just at my desk, in a good chair, because right now my chair sucks and my back issues are making me lightheaded a lot, which is why I haven’t written as much as I want to.

8. favorite time of day to write?: Early in the morning/day. When I don’t work I like to write from around 9-11 am since I have the most energy in the morning.

9. favorite genre to write + one you’d like to try writing in the future?: Fantasy, for sure. Soulmates/fates/dystopia fics are still great.

10. do you struggle with writer’s block? how do you typically overcome it? I do when I haven’t been writing for a while, I need to be in tune with my story to really keep it flowing. I tend to force myself through it by just committing to certain times to write, and trying to keep that regularly so I don’t stray too far from the fic.

11. what is the easiest part of your writing process and the most difficult? I tend to write as I go, meaning that I sit down and the words just come pouring out. When I’ve outlined and I feel like I need to stick to that, it sort of feels stifling and I struggle, so I’m best at just free writing and letting the story go where it needs to go.

12. how do you come up with original characters? (if applicable): I don’t usually write original characters into my stories, but if I did it’d be from people I know or based roughly on characters in shows/movies.

13. what is your favorite and least favorite word? My absolute least favorite word is cum. Especially as a verb. That’s a hard no from me. I don’t really have a favorite word.

14. what is one thing about your writing that you’re really proud of and one thing you hope to continue working at?: I feel I’m a pretty solid story teller, and that I manage to put emotion into my work that translates to the people who read it. I want to keep working at my craft, I don’t feel there is something I’m particularly bad at, but I know I can improve a lot.

15. what work of yours has your favorite ‘verse/world building? how did you come up with it?:  Definitely there’s no fair in farewell. It’s been in my head since 2014 and I finally sat down to write it in 2017/2018. It’s got so much world building and such a unique storyline, I’m still so proud of it. I don’t remember how I came up with it, it sort of feels like the story’s always been there, just waiting for me to sit down and tell it.

16. what font and size do you write in? single spaced or double?: calibi, 11, single space.

17. what is a typo(s) you find yourself making consistently?: I don’t really know? I don’t think I make a lot of consistent typos. I just write fast and mess up words on the regular lol. but this is a question better suited for my beta, @lightwoodsmagic!

18. (if applicable) do you separate fic writing from fandom?: Yeah I really only write AUs. 

19. what emotion is your favorite to write? which is the most difficult?: Angst is my absolute favorite. I love writing emotional stories, with a lot of introspective characters. I feel that lust is the hardest to write since I’m aroace and I just cannot compute that people want to do the deed lmao.

20. what is one thing you hope readers always take away from your works?: that there is always hope and fate always works her way.

21. what is the best and worst writing advice you’ve ever received?: The best is to not compare yourself to anyone else, since it’s a race you’ll inevitably lose. The worst, oof, I don’t really know.

22. which one of your works would you most want to see turned into a film/television show?: There’s no fair in farewell, absolutely. I feel like it has movie potential.

23. do you write scenes chronologically or out of order?: Chronologically. Usually my stories go where they want to go, so if I wrote out of order none of the scenes would match up.

24. how do you handle criticism?: My first instinct is to be frustrated. My second, more thoughtful attitude, is that I will listen if it’s something I feel is valid. I am very vulnerable in my works and so criticism feels personal sometimes, but I’m also secure enough in my work to know when something is valid and when I should stick to my own ideas.

25. what is the advice you would give to someone who is looking to start writing?: Do it. Write what appeals to you. Write from your heart and your soul.  

26. what kind of feedback on your work always makes your day?: Any comment is great, but I love when people point out the parts that made them emotional or that resonated with them. I love when people pick out quotes that they say helped made them feel better.

27. which fic ‘verse of your own would you most like to exist in? which fic’s characters would you most like to befriend?: Oof. I don’t think I’d want to exist in most of my AUs. I’m pretty content with my life as is, but I’d love to befriend Zouis in my Zouis wallsficfest fic just because I am that mom friend and they both needed hugs.

28. what do you always enjoy getting asks about/wish people would ask about more?: I’d love to get asks about my fics in general! These asks are pretty damn fun!

29. what has writing added to your life? how has it changed you?: It’s added so much love. Love for my writing, love for the stories and universes I put out. And love in the form of dear writer friends who have enriched my life and who have become some of my most favorite people.

30. why do you write?: because I’m a writer and I have to.

boost yourself + tags!

1a. share the last sentence you wrote:

The only one who has a choice is Harry, and this time, Louis will have to listen to it.

2a. describe the wip you’re most excited about:

I’m only working on my @onedirectionbigbang which is a Pygmalion fic and it’s so far 27k of pining and angst and if that doesn’t tell you enough IDK what else to tell you 

3a. share the piece of dialogue from one of your works you’re most proud of: 

Nothing particularly comes to mind at the moment. 

4a. share the best first and last lines from your work(s): 

I always try to start and finish with a good line. Here’s the ones from TNFIF:

Sometimes, when he looks down, Louis envies them.

And every day he thanks God for giving them the chance to find each other.

5a. link the last fic you read: 

I uh, kind of reread my own fic last night, does that count? It’s under the moonlight

6a. link the last work you published: 

My christmasfest fic room for your love underneath this tree

7a. link to your ao3 (if applicable):

we_are_the_same

8a. someone that inspires you: 

Louis Tomlinson, and as far as writers go, @londonfoginacup and @lightwoodsmagic

9a. a comfort fic/work that you’ve been grateful for this year:

I truly don’t read much, but anything Emmu writes is top notch for comfort honestly. She infuses her fics with so much warmth and charm that I can’t help but fall in love with every universe she creates.

Alright, I think a lot of people have already done this, but if you haven’t and want to, consider yourself tagged! I’m gonna tag @lightwoodsmagic @jacaranda-bloom @disgruntledkittenface @fallinglikethis @vintageumbroshirt and @dinosaursmate just to see if they want to share!

10 things finishing my 10th book taught me

Hey People of Earth!

(I cannot believe I typed the title of this post!)

Today, I’m going to be sharing 10 things finishing my 10th book taught me, which means--as of 2:30 this morning, I have finished writing my tenth novel, aka MOTH WORK. I’ve written posts like this for my 7th, 8th, and 9th novels as well!

Enjoy this note no one asked me to write but that I wrote because I was sad: 

I introduced this project on this blog back in June, but actually started it in the notes app of my iPhone (iconic) sometime in January of 2019. At this time, my mental health was *lackin* as I was stressed and in my final months of high school. I needed something to cheer me up, and so Moth Work became a place where I could dump my “bad writing” and also have fun. For more context, you can read more about Moth Work in my various writing updates HERE. 

I didn’t intend for this project to become a novel, but thought I’d write it as a longer “for fun” story (prospective word count was 5k words). I chipped away at it for a few months, but didn’t really start picking it up as a serious project until around May/June. It was only once summer vacation hit that I, under the advice of my therapist to have a “reach goal” for the summer, decided to say fuck it!! I shall write this as a novel (prospective word count now 50k words). This novel has seen me graduate high school + almost finish my first year of university, and I’m so excited to share all the wonderful things I learned while writing it!

1. It is totally okay to take your “guilty pleasures” seriously. 

I was in a mega dilemma writing this book. I’d wrapped up writing my ninth novel just after starting this project, and felt a need to write something that was more “serious”. Though I’m an advocate for writing what you want, when you want, even I struggled not to feel like I was wasting my time writing a project that didn’t have very much literary/craft merit (in my eyes, this changed eventually). 

I am here to tell you--do NOT let anyone, including yourself, shame you out of writing what you like. Allow yourself to let loose and write “bad” things, and remember you don’t have to feel guilty/ashamed for writing stuff that seems “juvenile” or “bad”.

2. Processes change--embrace this.

I took about 4000 different approaches writing this book, and though I really wanted to stick to one (outlining, pantsing), eventually, I let my process be what it wanted to be. For example, I am a pantser and began this novel pantsing. Very quickly, I realized I needed an outline because I could not keep track of events (this book begins very plot-oriented). But, pre-determining events that would happen eventually stopped working as I began feeling constrained, and so I settled for outlining as I went so I could keep track of plot points. 

I outlined 10 of the 15 chapters like this before I sort of... stopped doing this (though I will go back and fill it in just for future reference)! I went back to full-blown pantsing in the last four or so chapters, as what I’d planned would NOT pan out--and I think it’s so important to let your process be what it wants to be. Sometimes this book needed some planning--sometimes it really didn’t. This flexibility has really allowed me to be in touch with my projects more, and really listen to them/understand what it is they need. 

3. Sometimes plans change. Don’t be afraid to follow your gut.

I did not plan for Moth Work to be a novel. But as the project developed, so did its final form. My gut was telling me what I needed to do (continue writing), and another example of this is when I sporadically made this a dual point of view book! I’ve never written a full-length dual POV manuscript, and haven’t written dual POV since I was 12, but I didn’t let that stop me from doing what I knew in my gut, was what the book needed. 

I want to emphasize here--sometimes the vision you imagine changes. Allow this change to happen if you feel it’s right, even if it’s scary. I feel I’ve grown a lot as a writer by just allowing this of myself! It’s easy to beat yourself up for not following your plan, and I did this a lot. Understanding that sometimes plans turn into other plans turn into other plans etc, is the most freeing thing you can do for your writing!

4. Write what makes you happy!

This project began as a means to increase my serotonin lmaooo and I think sometimes as writers, we forget that yes, art is hard, but writing what you like can make that difficulty just a little more tolerable. This book started toiling toward disaster mode for a few chapters in the middle, and I really was not happy writing it. You can feel the difference in the chapters when I felt comfortable writing, versus when I struggled because I felt I “had to”. And so I took a step back and re-evaluated. Since this was not working/not making me happy, what would? This question solved my problems (not easily, but lead me on the right path). The artist! does not! have to! suffer! 

Sometimes problems occur, and critically thinking through them is vital. I’m not saying just to do whatever every time something doesn't work because this isn’t a shortcut. However, my point is not to be afraid to change things up and write what will make you happier and help you finish the book if you feel that’s what you need. I wanted to write a cheesy romance about two boys who both need to chill, and so though I could’ve written something else, I wrote this because it genuinely made me happier! And I love that about this book!

5. Things can take longer than you expect. You’re not a bad writer because of this.

Y’ALL. I wanted to write 50k words of this book over one summer. One month! One! Month! Lots of folks can do this, but I did not! In fact, I hit 50k this month, which is half a year after I projected. 

I think a lot of us constitute speed to being a good writer, and while speed and being a good writer can coexist, speed is not necessarily a determining factor in whether you can write or not! This book took me just over a year from when I started it (nine months from when I took it on as a full-time project), and while sure, I could’ve written it faster, I let it develop as it needed, and wrote it when I felt I could. I am not a professional writer with deadlines (that’s different)! While you gotta put in the time to improve, I think you also gotta look out for yourself! Use your gut, and take your time if that’s what you need!

6. Craft and play can coexist.

This took me so long to grasp, and I still struggle with this today! Craft and play can coexist. Say it with me y’all: craft and play can coexist!!

My manifesto for Moth Work initially was to have it be my dumping ground for shitty writing. While this took the pressure off initially, I then felt like I was regressing in my craft (which was untrue, I just didn’t realize it at the time). So, I decided to begin taking the craft aspect of this book very seriously, trying to write polished, delicious prose (every! time!) and the fact of the matter is that often, this did not happen. 

I beat myself up over this! I was like: Rachel, 16-year-old you was pumping out better prose than this, what’s up? And I put so much pressure on myself to perfect the writing, even though this was only ever meant to be a “for funsies” project. Eventually, I came to understand that, okay, I really do want this to be a for funsies project, but I also want to enjoy re-reading it and not criticizing every aspect of it. I then began incorporating a few passes of line edits after drafting a chapter, until eventually, I stopped circling back to chapters to line-edit them altogether. You don’t have to be perfect on the first draft!

You also don’t have to sacrifice craft to have fun, just as the opposite is true. This book taught me a lot about finding this balance, something I’ve lacked in my writing process for years!

7. Your writing styles can differ from book-to book!

I couldn’t understand why my prose in this book felt “thin” (aka awful in my eyes), why the only thing I felt capable of describing was literally everything shining in some sort of way (glinting, glimmering, glowing lool) or overzealous descriptions of the moon. It was only about a month ago that I realized, after making a breakthrough with my litfic novel Houses With Teeth, that Moth Work was not sucking the life out of my prose--it was just a different book with a different style of writing.

And this makes sense! I was writing with two different characters, in two different perspectives, in a completely different POV than I’m used to writing in the long-form (third-present). Of course things were going to be different! I felt a bit silly realizing this, lol, because it felt so obvious, but I struggled with this for a long time (you can even see bits of this struggle in my video Problems I’m having with writing + solutions). 

I thought I had regressed to being a bad writer because of this book, when in reality, the fault was on my inability to stop comparing a very different book to my very different past works. Sometimes you don’t even realize you’re working against yourself! Acknowledging this, and then letting it go was the best thing I did for this book and it allowed me to draft it much faster toward the end!

8. Writing is NOT linear.

I spoke about this in my Problems video, and I honestly was nervous to see how this hot take would be received. However, I was surprised to see that some folks thought this hot take was actually not a bad one, so I’m re-iterating it here!

I think, because we writers are often always practicing writing, we assume everything we write will be better than the last. Honestly, I feel like at least for me, this was my goal--to always be working linearly in terms of progress. It wasn’t until this book that I really came to realize that this is just not how writing works. The easiest way for me to compare this, also as a visual artist, is to say that sure, practice does make perfect, but I have sketches from last week that are worse than sketches I drew two years ago. Why is it that we expect writing to always be linearly better from one project to the next? My answer is that this is just not how writing works. I wrote some of my favourite paragraphs years ago, and may be embarrassed of a paragraph I write tomorrow. 

I got caught up in this idealism of “I must be writing better each time I write” because I thought this was the most logical progression of my writing craft, but realizing that actually!! progress jumps around, was so important for me. Some days I’m better at writing description, some days I write dialogue worse than I did when I was fourteen! It’s okay not to always be uphill. 

Y’all, if I step down a wrung on a ladder and then step up four the very next day, that’s how it’s going to be! Practice intrinsically will make you grow as a writer, but it doesn't mean everything you write has to be better than what you wrote before (though this can be the case, which is awesome). I feel like I don’t see this spoken about enough, so I do want to know if this is relevant to any of you or if this point is bologna!!!

9. The story wants what it wants.

This is heavily in line with some previous points, but is something that was driven home for me while writing this novel. If I can give one piece of advice, it would be to let the story be what it wants to be. If my story wants to be a YA fantasy trilogy, but I’m trying to force it to be a standalone pretentious character-driven coming-of-age saga (calling myself out), my writing may suffer! Of course, some writers can take control over their story and execute their initial vision perfectly! I am not! one of those! people!

I’m a firm believer that sometimes the story wants what it wants, and it’s often your best bet to follow this path. Write intuitively--if you know something feels wrong, or contrarily, feels right, follow that path. 

I did not know how to end this book. I’d had an ending planned for a few months, though it eventually fell apart in the last few weeks. I didn’t know what I would do instead, but last night when I was drafting the last two chapters of the book, I felt in my gut that I was heading to the end. I wanted to stop writing for the night--I almost did, but instead, I kept at it because I knew I was on a roll toward the finish line, and I felt compelled to follow my instinct. This is how I landed at the end I wrote in, and it was a completely organic process.

Planning out your story is a great thing to do, and I’m not here to start a debate about whether plotting/pantsing is better because they’re both amazing!! But for me, it’s important to let the story breathe, and let it eventually grow into the shoes it chooses for itself. Taking a step back so I could stop trying to mould this story into a place it didn't want to be is probably the best thing I could’ve done for it because I finished the book. Any process is a good process if it gets you to the end healthily, and for me, allowing the story to be what it wanted to be and allowing it to take the lead helped me get there.

10. It’s okay to love your story.

I’m going to end this post on another hot take because it is probably what I primarily felt early this morning as I typed up the last paragraph of this book. I’m not going to lie--I cried finishing this book lol. I ached finishing this book. It *hurt* to finish this book. I didn’t want to finish this book. What I wanted to do was shut my computer, and pretend the end was not coming, and come back four months from now to finish it, maybe. I wanted to hang onto my story because it’s my story and I love it!

Y’all, this book is cringey. It’s melodramatic, juvenile in some places, comically serious in others. But it’s mine, and I love it. Sometimes I’m ashamed of the writing in this book--sometimes I think I’m getting worse. But it’s my story, and I love! it! 

I think so many of us want to please other people! Or maybe that’s just me lol!! oh boy!! There were so many times I wanted to give up on this project because I thought others would find it cringey in places I too, thought were cringey, but simultaneously loved.

I’ve written for other people a lot in the past, and sometimes those ‘other people’ are just me--many critical versions of me. Don’t forget about how much you love a story (for its quirks maybe, its clichés, its “bad writing”) before you finish it. A first draft only comes once and finishing a first draft is so wonderful, and even more so when you love that story. We got enough hate y’all, lets give our stories some love. 

So that’s it for this post! I still have five chapters to write writing updates for, so the party ain’t over til it’s over!!!

For my obligatory Oscar’s speech! A special thanks to @sarahkelsiwrites​​ for reading about these trash people for five years, and for enthusiastically contributing to their trash decisions (#do it for the tea)! And for reassuring me that the prose in this book is actually not as bad as I believe because I would never have finished this book without that pep talk lol. To @imdisappointed​​ for helping me crack some of the toughest plot problems!! You talk me out of problems and it’s magic! And to my MOM @shaelinwrites​​ (for being my mom) and also for all the kind/insightful things you say! Y’all get me through it!!!

And of course!! I thank all of YOU for following this journey of drafting Moth Work. My community on here never fails to amaze me, and I’m a big stan of you all!! Please tag me in your stuff--I’d love to read about what you’re writing!

Here’s to finishing a book, but more importantly, to hoping I don’t make Moth Work a series lmaoo!!! *pops confetti*

--Rachel