#super super good. i'm decently happy with the result too!
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let's see how far we've come
literally everyone needs to go watch @chrisrin's animation for the hcs8 finale Right Now
#hfwcredraw#hermitcraft#grian#goodtimeswithscar#mumbo jumbo#pearlescentmoon#impulsesv#luna's constellations#moon big#this was so much fun for real i did warmups and gathered references#super super good. i'm decently happy with the result too!
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And he feels like home (j. hughes)
Happy winter fic exchange! @one-night-story I am so thrilled to be able to have written this for you! I hope I created something that you love that you feel fully represented in and safe to read. 🩷
Demi @wyattjohnston, thank you as always for creating such a wonderful event for our community. Your hard work for these exchanges will never go unnoticed by me, I appreciate you so much.
And thank you to @thomasschabot for proofreading this for me and making sure it was accessible for all to read, I appreciate you so much my friend!
Title was taken from long story short by Taylor Swift. This is 4.7k words, gender neutral reader. It has been double checked by lovely c to ensure that it is safe for all to read <3
new neighbor
You considered yourself to be a very patient person. You were also extremely understanding. You didn't get upset or frustrated by much. You were a good person, sometimes you allowed people to get away with things for their own sake, even if it inconvenienced you in anyway. But at this point, you had had enough.
Since you moved into your apartment in August, you could probably count on one hand the amount of times you had talked to your neighbors. You were in the corner apartment, the last at the end of the hall, your only neighbors being two young men who you presumed to be brothers.
You ran into them a few times in the hallway, the two of them hardly ever separated. You knew they left in the mid afternoon, usually in suits. You assumed it was for work, but you never felt inclined to ask. They usually look rushed, the older one pestering the younger one to "hurry up" as he got out the door.
It was only this week that you had learned their names. A piece of their mail had accidentally been dropped in your box. The name addressed as "Jack Hughes." You contemplated what to do with it, standing at their door with the letter in your hands for a few minutes when the door suddenly burst open, the younger brother opening the door.
"Oh! Hello," he muttered out awkwardly. Neither of you had known the other's name, but you both knew each other as neighbors. "Hi! Are you Jack?" You asked awkwardly, not holding out the card, making your question seem like a random inquiry. "No, I'm Luke, Jack is my brother. Why do you ask? Do you need something?" He asked in an almost bothered tone, as if people frequently came to him asking for unwanted favors.
"Oh! Duh. A piece of Jack's mail got put in my box by accident. I assume it's okay if I drop it with you?" You asked, making you almost instantly face palm. "Yep, that works. Anyway, I'm late to something. Thanks for dropping it off..." He mumbled off at the end, not knowing what to insert for your name. You told him your name, and that was that.
That was earlier this week. This was now Friday. Occasionally, you could tell that they had some small parties. Nothing too outlandish for an apartment building that shared thin walls, but a decent amount of people resulting in a louder volume. You were young yourself, you were never going to complain for a small amount of volume on the occasional Saturday night. This however, had been far too much.
You swear this was the 3rd night in a row of their little parties, and you had dealt with far too much. It was mid April, you were studying for a big exam you had. Part of your move in August was to signal the start of your journey to get your masters degree. You were almost done with the semester, just a few big exams in between, this being one of them. You knew that it seemed a little lame, studying for exams on a Friday night, but part of the move was moving to New Jersey where there was a school that was one of the best in the country for your intended major, not super close to home. With all of your studying and academic work, including working to pay for the apartment and schooling, you didn't have much time to socialize. You had gone to coffee with some people from your classes, but not much beyond that, not enough to warrant Friday night plans towards the end of the semester.
Slamming your textbook, you decided you had officially reached your limit. You paced back and forth a bit, trying to calm down a bit in an attempt to hopefully not absolutely lose it on your neighbor. It wasn't that late, but you had been studying all day with minimal breaks. You couldn't see the end of the studying in sight if your neighbors kept the music at the volume they had. You wondered how the people on the other side of them weren't bothered by the noise, but then again you had probably seen them even less than you had seen Jack and Luke.
You slipped your feet into the pair of shoes closest to the door, banging on the door in an attempt for them to hear it over the blaring music. You took a small step back when a man you didn't recognize answered the door. "Can I help you?" A dark haired man with an accent asked. Before you could open your mouth, a very energetic Jack came bustling towards the door. "Y/N! To what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked with a charming smile, almost causing your reserve to break down. But when your brain came back after the sound of the music blared through your ears, you remembered why you were over here.
"Do you know what time it is?" You asked, crossing your arms over your chest. "It's only 11. It's a Friday night. But based on your casual attire, I doubt that matters much to you," Jack quipped at your casual pajamas. "For your information, Jack, I'm studying for a big exam. Clearly you don't know much about that." You snapped back.
"For your information, my team just made the playoffs. We have a lot to celebrate." Jack flexed, causing his chest to puff out a bit. "I don't care which of your beer league teams made the playoffs, but I would really like to pass my first year of my masters program and not have to repeat. That is, after all, how I ended up here, as your neighbor." You were starting to lose your patience, and instead of Jack surrendering, he started laughing.
"Beer league, huh. Do you not know?" You rolled your eyes. "If this is your attempt at a 'Do you know who I am?' moment, you're failing severely. Or even better, if it's going to be a 'do you know who my father is?' Just save me the time, I have an exam to study for," you had one foot out the door when Jack grabbed your arm, stopping you in your tracks.
"Relax, I just figured you knew because that seems to be all anyone wants from us who lives in this building. Favors relating to our job. Luke and I play for the New Jersey Devils, the NHL team around here. It's okay that you don't know, however I hope now that you do, you'll choose us to be your favorite team." Jack smirked at you, causing you to giggle, which resulted in you immediately covering your mouth. What was happening to you? You didn't giggle over charming guys.
"Oh, did you guys win or something? Seems like an awfully long time to be celebrating one win," you quipped. "We made it into the playoffs. We are the number one seed. We've been celebrating for a few days because we have a bit of time off. I am sorry, it is probably excessive. We'll turn it down and remind the guys that we aren't the only ones who live here." Jack put his tail between his legs. You did feel a bit bad, but you were glad the noise was going to at least quiet down.
"I hope I didn't come off like a jerk, I just got flustered. I know you didn't know. I shouldn't have come over attacking." You muttered, causing Jack to smile.
"I'll accept your apology on one condition. Do you think you can find some time in your busy finals schedule to come to one of our games? I can get you more details when the playoffs schedule comes out, but I would it if you could come. I think Luke might be a little jealous that I softened you up first, but it just adds for some more bragging rights on the kid."
You couldn't believe your ears. Your cute, albeit a little clueless neighbor, was not only a professional athlete, but he was also asking you on a date if you weren't mistaken.
"Well Jack, I'd love to, but you just better hope I pass this exam." You smiled, feeling your cheeks heat up.
"Good thing we're gonna turn the volume down."
2. first game
What do you wear to a hockey game that you were invited to by your neighbor who you have only talked to a few times but you think he may have been awkwardly potentially flirting with you when he invited you?
You were digging through your closet, looking for something appropriate to wear for probably one of the most awkward, unique events you have ever been to. You can't say that you had ever been to a professional hockey game. You weren't clueless to the rules and such, you just never had the opportunity to attend one in person.
Not to mention, you were going alone. You only had a few casual friends at school through this point in the year, and it didn't feel appropriate to bring any of them to this... interesting event you were going to. Plus, you were certain that you would be wrapped up in the game. You were nervous enough as is, and you can't imagine if you had to sit there and make awkward small talk with one of your classmates who might be able to say what your last name is.
Sitting in the uber on the way there made you start to question your choice of agreeing to go to the game. You had no idea how this would go other than you knew that Jack had slipped the ticket under your door earlier this morning and written on it was instructions on how to get to the gate. One thing that caused your cheeks to heat was that on the bottom of the post it note, was his phone number.
This made it feel almost official in a way, having his phone number. Before you could dwell on it too much, your uber pulled up to the door that Jack directed you to. You thanked the driver and walked in to the stadium, immediately overwhelmed by everything. For a second you considered turning around and making something up to Jack that you were sick, but when you took a second to look around, you saw so many happy people with Jack's last name plastered across their backs, number 86 standing proudly. You felt a sense of pride for Jack, though you weren't sure how to feel about that.
That sense of pride never went away once the game started. Your eyes were on Jack from the second his feet touched the ice, and the moment he sat on the bench. Your eyes followed him all the way to the bench, wishing the time he wasn't on the ice would go faster. You wondered why you had never been interested on hockey. Jack was so talented, and the game ended with him scoring a goal and getting two assists. You thought for a second that he was looking up at you when he scored, but you shook your head quickly to rid your brain of those thoughts.
As the game ended, it suddenly occurred to you that you weren't sure how this would end. You sat in your seat for a while letting the seats clear out, preparing to walk towards the gate that you entered in, opening the uber app. As soon as your phone unlocked, a message from Jack popped up on your phone.
"Meet me outside," it read. "I'd like to take you to dinner and drive you home. I'll meet you by the gate you entered in."
Your cheeks flushed at his admission, suddenly looking down at your outfit. Was this appropriate for a dinner date? You were not planning on this at all. You checked what you looked like in the front camera of your phone. Before you could decide whether or not you looked appropriate, you heard a familiar laugh. Your chest warmed at the idea that his laugh could be so familiar, so homey despite the fact that the two of you had not spent much time together.
Jack's feet sped up as he caught up to you, just excited to see you after a great win. His smile was contagious when he saw you standing there, staring at your sneakers in an attempt to not be noticed by the rest of the guys who might ask questions.
In the end, it wasn't Jack who spoke up first. It was Luke. "Y/N! I'm so glad you came! I wanted to score for you, but unfortunately this guy beat me to it," he smiled, throwing an arm around your shoulders. You tried to relax into his arms, telling yourself this was a new normal in your life. Casual banter with your neighbors who just so happen to be professional athletes making millions of dollars.
"Hey back off, I invited them. You dropped the ball. Your turn is up, by the way," Jack muttered, causing Luke to give a quizzical look. Taking advantage of Luke's moment of confusion, Jack sneaks around him and puts his arms around you, squeezing you tightly. A noise of surprise comes out of your mouth. Not discomfort, just surprise at his sudden display of physical affection. "That was awesome!" Jack yelled. "Did you have so much fun?" He asked, pulling away to see your face looking up at him.
"Well it would have been more fun if Luke scored for me but I guess I'll settle for your points," you teased. He smiled, his cheeks turning red at your teasing. "Y/N, is Jack blushing? Did you turn him into a shy mess?" Luke teased and Jack groaned, hiding his face in your shoulder. "I just want to impress you," he smiled which caused your entire body to heat up. It never occurred to you that he wanted to impress you. That you were there because he wanted you to be impressed with his game and how he played.
"Well don't worry, I was thoroughly impressed. Would you like to go to dinner now?" You asked. "Am I invited? Is this like a neighborly get together?" Luke was now teasing you both, causing both of you to get bashful. "Dude, clearly this is a date," Jack mumbled, causing your eyebrows to raise. "Clearly? Is that what we're calling it now. I mean I certainly thought it was, but you never asked me." You and Luke were truly just having fun with the teasing now.
"Jack, it's not very gentlemanly to assume it's a date. You really should ask, especially with someone like Y/N. They're a catch!" Jack was glaring daggers into Luke. "Yes, I should. Y/N, I would like tonight to be a date. Will you go out on a date with me?" Jack asked, grabbing your hand in his. You were grinning, nodding your head. "Well then, Luke I think it's past your bedtime. Why don't you go home with Holtzy and I will take Y/N out for dinner?" Luke shook his head, giggling. "Wouldn't you like that," he laughed. "Luke-" "Fine! Fine! I'm done. I'll go. Y/N, it was a pleasure to laugh with you. You kids enjoy yourself."
"I have a feeling we will."
3. first (real) date
Your dinner with Jack was perfect. You finally got the news back that you had passed the exam you were stressing about, and to celebrate, you got your favorite take out and watched Jack's game on the couch with a glass of wine. It was strange, to whole heartedly notice his absence when him and Luke were away for games. Right now, they were on a short West coast road trip, Denver, Arizona, and Seattle, and then heading back home for a few days off before a home game.
This was their last game being gone, and you found yourself waiting hopefully for Jack to come back. You had been texting a lot on the road trip, Jack even calling you once after he crawled into the empty bed next to Jesper's bed. According to Jack, his friend, teammate, and road roommate Jesper slept like the dead, even going as far as to wearing headphones when he slept, so there was no concern of the call waking him up. That didn't stop you from keeping your voice to a low volume, which Jack of course countered by yelling an obnoxious "What was that?" whenever he couldn't hear you.
After a Devils win, you crawled into bed for the night, finding yourself thinking of Jack, and how you couldn't wait to see him. You were in so deep.
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As you cleaned up the remnants of your late afternoon lunch, a knock sounded on your door. You had a feeling you knew who it was, but you still checked the peephole to see Jack's face on the other side, nervously rocking back and forth on his feet, holding something in his hand.
Flowers.
"Hi, it's so good to see you!" You smiled, welcoming him inside. "These are for you. I wasn't sure if it was appropriate, but I wanted to ask you something, so I thought these might help. I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go to dinner with me on Friday? We have a game on Thursday night, and I thought a more formal, not after a game greasy pizza joint dinner would be fun. That is, if you are interested? If not, it's okay, I was just," you finally cut him off with a hand on his arm. "Jack! I'd love to. The flowers are beautiful. Thank you for thinking of me. I would love nothing more." You smiled, causing an audible sigh to come from Jack's lips.
"Oh thank God! Sorry, I didn't want to ramble, I just really got nervous. I wanted you to say yes but I didn't want to sound weird or make you uncomfortable." He smiled. Neither of you knew what was going on. Jack was stunned that his neighbor who he had barely talked to but admired from afar had turned him into a nervous, blushing mess. You also couldn't say you were expecting to fall for your neighbor. But when he was gone, you came to that conclusion: you were absolutely falling for Jack. You were falling for him, you couldn't understand how it had happened or why, but you absolutely were.
When it came time for your date to come, you felt more nervous than you did for the game. Jack had let you know that you were going to be going to a nicer restaurant. You picked his brain a bit at what to wear. What you didn't know is that he had preplanned his outfit, mannerisms, conversations, basically his every move for the date with his mom and brothers. Well, mostly Quinn. When Luke saw how nervous he was, he was constantly teasing him. Luke loved to tease him about how you should have fallen for him instead of Jack. Of course it was all jokes, as soon as the two of you started hanging out Luke could immediately see the chemistry between the two of you. He knew that your connection was much deeper than any sort of joke he could make. He was really happy for his older brother, finally seeing him fall for a person who made him truly happy.
When you decided on an outfit that was both appropriate for the occasion and made you feel good about yourself, you started pacing by the front door of your apartment, anxiously waiting for Jack to come. It was about 10 minutes before he said he would arrive. On the other side of the wall, Jack thought about coming a few minutes early, but his mom immediately shut that down. Jack argued that he wanted to seem timely and didn't want to keep you waiting. Ellen shut him down, though.
"How long does it take you to walk 10 steps next door? You never want to rush someone getting ready, especially for a first date." Luke was cackling in the background, of course.
At 6:00 on the dot, Jack was knocking on your door. He was almost more nervous than when he came by a few days before asking if you wanted to go to dinner with him, if that was even possible. When you opened the door, Jack planted his feet in the ground, willing himself to not fall over on his ass and make a complete fool of himself.
You were absolutely stunning. You looked so amazing in Jack's eyes. He felt himself blushing as soon as you opened the door. He was thanking his lucky stars, wondering how he had gotten so lucky as to find someone as special as you.
"Y/N..." he finally breathed out, his heart racing. "What? Do I look okay?" You began to feel nervous under his intense gaze, your hands instinctively picking at your fingernails. "Okay would be an insult. You look incredible. These are for you, by the way," Jack handed you the flowers he forgot he even had. "That's so sweet! You didn't have to bring me flowers. The ones you brought me a few days ago are still going strong. They will look beautiful together, though."
You took a minute to put the flowers in a vase. Jack was watching you from afar, you felt his eyes on you, following you around your small kitchen. Truthfully, he was admiring you. He couldn't help but blush at the sight of you, putting flowers in the vase that he bought for you, getting ready for the date that he was taking you out on. He felt like he won the lottery.
When you turned around, you saw him blushingly admiring you, causing your own cheeks to heat up. "What has you so smiley?" you asked, taking a step closer to him, bravely grabbing his hand in yours. You rubbed your thumb over his hand in an attempt to help him feel calm. Jack was certain no one had ever made him feel this nervous. Certainly not someone he was dating. "I just can't believe how beautiful you are. I feel so lucky that you are going out with me."
Both of you were nervous wrecks at this point. Before you could convince yourself otherwise, you were leaning forward, kissing him on the cheek. As soon as Jack felt your lips on his skin, he knew he had to kiss you. "Can I kiss you? Like, on the lips," he muttered, causing you to giggle. "Yes Jack, you can kiss me, like on the lips." He groaned at your teasing, but before he could throw his head back exasperatedly, you leaned forward, capturing his lips with your own.
Jack felt himself melt, holding onto your waist in an attempt to hold himself up straight. It was official. You had softened Jack into a gushy, pillowy mess. And Jack had never been so happy.
+1. as a couple
6 months later
"Jack, honey, if you keep stomping any louder, the people below us are gonna come complain," you muttered teasingly at him. "You really think they can hear you? Besides, if they came and complained, I would simply explain to them that my amazing partner, whom I care for very much, is meeting my family for the first time, and I think they would understand." He quipped back, causing you to laugh.
Jack's parents were coming in to town for the first time in the new season. Before you met Jack, you had long planned to spend the summer abroad with your closest friend. Jack was thrilled for you, but disappointed you wouldn't be able to spend time together over the summer at his summer house. He did however, jet off to meet you in Italy for a week, which was perfect. Ordinarily, you probably would have met Jack's parents already, but with the chaos of your summer, it was now the Devils home opener, and you had yet to meet your boyfriend's parents.
"If I'm so amazing, why are you so nervous for me to meet them?" Jack groaned, causing you to laugh. Teasing each other was something so common, but it was always done lovingly. It was almost a love language of sorts between the two of you.
"Babe, how many times have I talked to Quinn on FaceTime with you? And Luke is the best friend I have here in Jersey, besides you obviously, so it's just your parents. Who, by the way, we have also Facetimed with a handful of times together."
"I know, but in person it's different. They might get knocked on their ass by your good looks and charm, just like I was. And besides, if you think Luke's teasing and sarcasm is bad, just wait until you meet my dad. Where do you think he gets it from?" Jack continues to ramble. To an outsider, it might look like Jack didn't want you to meet his parents, but you both knew it was the complete opposite. The two of you hadn't been together for that long, but in a way that didn't matter. Jack was close to saying the "l word," and you probably weren't that far behind him. He wanted you to meet his parents because he wanted them to love you as much as he did. You felt the same way.
In an attempt to stop his never ending nerves, you took the few steps across the room towards him, putting your hand on his cheek and pulling him in for a soft kiss. "Jack, I am thrilled to meet your parents. If it makes you feel any better, I am a bit nervous too. I want them to like me. Although, I'm sure you've bored them to tears with stories making me seem like I'm the most amazing person on the Earth." "Because you are," Jack intervened, serious as a heart attack.
You laughed at his genuine tone, he was always buttering you up. "They'll love you, because you're amazing. Besides, Lukey and Quinn already love you. This will be easy work for you. The shock of me being in a serious relationship has already worn off. They're thrilled to meet you," you laughed at his half hearted attempt at a joke.
"Besides, I'm sure they will be so excited to meet the person who has turned you into a sap," you laughed, causing Jack's mouth to open in shock. "I am not a sap!" He tried to quip back, but you both knew he was absolutely lying. He was so soft on you, something none of his loved ones had ever seen. "Jack, yesterday you laid your nice jacket over a puddle in the nasty streets of Jersey for me to walk over because there was no way around it," you stared back at him. "That puddle was huge! Your pant legs would've been soaked, I know you would've hated that." You laughed at his kind hearted attempt at an explanation.
"You are one of a kind Jack Hughes," you started. "I truly love you." As soon as the words came out of your mouth, your hand covered it in shock. Of course you loved Jack, but you were so nervous to tell him. You had never said those words to someone romantically before, and you were both certain he would say it first, even though you hadn't talked about it before.
"You love me?" He asked, his voice quivering. "Of course I love you, did you miss the puddle story? I would be crazy not to have fallen in love with you." At this point, both of your eyes were watery, Jack's grip on your shoulders never wavering. "Oh my God, you love me. Oh my God, wait, I love you! I love you so much! I can't believe I haven't said it back yet! I love you!" Jack was over the moon, causing you to laugh wetly.
You had absolutely softened Jack to his core. But you were nothing but soft for him, the two of you a perfect match for each other. When you pulled each other in for a kiss, the love between the two of you was imminent, the nerves of the upcoming event melting away. Jack couldn't wait to introduce you to his parents as his partner whom he loved so much, and you couldn't wait to love them as much as you loved him.
#jack hughes#Jack Hughes fic#Jack Hughes imagine#Jack Hughes x reader#nhl imagine#nhl x reader#New Jersey devils#New Jersey devils x reader#New Jersey devils imagine#hughes brothers#jh86
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QUALI RECAP: Chinese GP 2024
Ft. Nico Rosberg quotes because he's commentating again (scroll to the bottom bit)
Out in Q1
P20: Logan Sargeant, who spun out and caused a yellow flag
P19: Yuki Tsunoda, whose DRS wasn't working until the last 6 minutes of Q1
"I mean, there's definitely something going on, I can't be fucking 19. Honestly, the lap was pretty good." - Yuki Tsunoda, Team radio
P18: Lewis Hamilton goes too aggressively in his final lap and exits Q1 for the first time since Jeddah 2022
"When I was making the set-up changes I was like, it can't get any worse surely- and it did." - Lewis Hamilton
P17: Kevin Magnussen
P16: Zhou Guanyu, who placed an impressive P9 for the sprint, gets knocked down and out by Charles Leclerc, to the frustration of his home city
Out in Q2
P15: Pierre Gasly, who makes it into Q2 for the first time this year
P14: Alex Albon, who has exited Q2 in every race this season
P13: Esteban Ocon
P12: Daniel Ricciardo made it into Q2, out-qualifying Tsunoda for the first time this year. He had a minor setback when he reported smoke coming from his breaks in Q1, and wasn't able to advance to Q3
P11: Lance Stroll
Q3 results
P10: Valterri Bottas, who is on an absolute roll with his pace in China, qualifying P9 during the sprint
P9: Nico Hulkenberg, also managing to pull the HAAS to decent results
P8: George Russell
P7: Carlos Sainz, who crashed in Q2 (red flag) but came back on track in time to place third fastest, apparently struggling in Q3
P6: Charles Leclerc, who struggled a bit as well during Q3
P5: Oscar Piastri
P4: Lando Norris, who got pole for the sprint only to finish an unfortunate P6
P3: Fernando Alonso, oversteering a little in his final lap and just getting knocked down by Perez
P2: Checo Perez, making yet another front row lock-out for Red Bull
P1: Max Verstappen, taking Red Bull's 100th pole position, his first pole in China, and becoming the first driver to qualify P1 in all 5 starting races of the calender since Mika Hakkinen.
Bonus Nico Rosberg Commentary
"It's a super difficult one isn't it, for Mercedes. Lewis has put them into quite the difficult position there." (About what Mercedes will do after Lewis leaves)
"Lewis, you know, the 7 time world champion. That's a mistake probably that should be avoidable."
"Lewis tends to say we have so different set-ups and such a big car difference and that's kind of his excuse this year…and he's gone again for that"
"I'm happy to appear on a statistic. I don't appear much very often anymore 'cause it's so long ago." (The statistic being previous poles in Shanghai)
"I know that because he [Fernando Alonso]'s my rival in those statistics. That's why I know his numbers."
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I dont think i ever mentioned it but ever since i started applying to art colleges I've been keeping up an art wall and since i just added some new illustrations to it, i thought it would be fun to explain some things on my wall and revisit some of my old favourites!
Going from left to right, we start with some more recent illustrations (featuring, ofc, gussiri, Niv, and a recent illustration of Cato from @otwdfanfic 's fic that i liked sm i just had to print and put up somewhere). Next to Cato, I put a gift i got from my dear friend @lt-catbolt of our bois Niv and Melatron and i cant remember if this was for my birthday or for fun, all i know is that i nearly cried when she gave it to me (go follow her now btw she's awesome and shes gonna become one of the most expressive storytellers of our generation i just know it)
Underneath Cato and Niv/Mel, we've got a huge pencil drawing I did 2 years ago to get accepted into an art college. It took me so. So long. I even begged my teachers from high school to let me follow classes online so i could continue working (they said yes lmao) and my mom even had to help. Worse, it wasnt the only assignment that particular art school had given me, no, they had given me a total of 6 assignments I had to complete. They all took a lot of time and didnt all turn out great haha. I didnt get accepted into that school (it was a fine arts study so im pretty sure i wouldnt have been happy there anyways) but that just makes me all the more happy i did get accepted into the one im currently attending
Anyway ive been too lazy to take it down so now itll be there until i find the willpower to take it down
The butterfly above it is a painting i did towards autumn of 2021 for my portfolio. I'm not the best painter (decent enough but its just not for me) but im still really happy with how this turned out. It was pretty fun!
Underneath that is an inkt print made from a stencil once again featuring Cato (i have. No idea why hes on my wall twice lmao i guess hes just a great muse). People who have been with me for long enough probably still remember this cuz i was superproud of how it turned out and plastered it all over my account (and my house. My mom wanted a copy as well)
Underneath the inkt print is a poster i got while visiting the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe stage play when I was in London in autumn of 2022 (take me back London take me back take me back). The play was absolutely stunning and the way everything was staged left me (as a life long narnia enthusiast) ecstatic and super excited. One of the best plays ive ever seen even if i had one of the worst seats in the theatre <3
Next to the poster is another little gussiri drawing i printed lmao. The little goobers show up so much
Above the poster is more of gussiri!! And above that is another painting i made, this time of some mushrooms. I made this during a party i threw for my 18th birthday, we all did some painting together and i remember my lovely lovely friend @allilcat painting with watercolours so well. That memory is just etched into my brain <333
Above that is a painting i made of the night sky! I used it for my portfolio and it was really cool to paint since i, not knowing basic painting techniques, could only really throw my own imagination into it which gave a really cool result. Still really love it!
Lastly, we've got a Siri illustration made by a classmate of mine for a secret santa we did last christmas! I was so happy with it and ofc it deserved a really good spot on my wall <333
Thats been a bit about my wall, if youve made it this far thanks for listening to me rambling <333
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Remember my first crochet sweater from forever ago? The one that turned out like shit?
Frogged it and now it's a knit 😎
So to recap; I tried making a crochet sweater based on a YouTube tutorial like years ago, and although while making it I could tell it didn't seem... right... I just kept on telling myself to "trust the process" and that "it'd turn out okay in the end"
It did not
The sweater ended up being so square-ish and massive I could've fit three of myself inside of, going well beyond "comfy oversized sweater" straight into "clown clothes" territory. It was bad.
On top of that, although I tried to get the same yarn to do the top of the sweater in a pastel purple, I ended up leaning about this thing called "dye lots" the hard way, as the yarn I had needed to finish the sweater ended up being a completely different shade from what I had used for most of the sweater.
So yeah. The sweater turned out like shit, and I wore it maybe once before putting it into my closet and refusing to even look at it for like IDK two years.
Now I have some nicer yarn that I'd like to make something with, something preferably knit because I like knit fabric more than crochet, but I don't want to practise knitting clothes with that nicer yarn.
And so I figured, if I frogged this crochet sweater I could then practise knitting sweaters, reuse the old yarn (=don't have to buy jack shit), and maybe remake this failed sweater into something I'll actually wear
And so the sweater was frogged, this being all the usable yarn from the project. Pastel purple dyelot on the left while the more pinkish yarn (the stuff I had originally used while trying to convince myself it wasn't pink)
You can see the difference in the hue better here
So yeah. Now admitedly after frogging the sweater I did lowkey think about just trying to re-crochet the sweater and did kinda start on that, but I very soon realized that I probably wouldn't have enough yarn to remake the sweater the way I wanted to, and just trying to crochet with it made me double down on how much I just I don't like crochet fabric as clothes. It's just so bulky, man
So I got to knitting instead. And because I'm deranged I chose to... mostly wing it. I did look at a few YouTube tutorials for top-down raglan sweaters to get an idea of what I was supposed to be doing, but in the end, I do kinda learn the best by just winging it.
But what I did make a big note of while remaking the sweater was just trying it on as often as possible, just to make sure I didn't make it as oversized this time.
I did want to make this process relatively simple though and because I didn't want to risk losing out of yarn at an inconvenient point I chose to skip the stripes of the original sweater and just make it a simple two-color sweater. This also had the added benefit where I was able to use up all of the purple yarn on the yolk and just go as far as I could go with it before switching to black.
But yeah, the end result?
It's decent!
Like let's be real, my raglan increases are an absolute fucking mess and the shaping on the yolk is a little funny, AND I did make the collar too big (I was so worried my giant head wouldn't fit through so I made it way bigger than it needed to be, but honestly it's better that way than it being way too small. It looks a little silly but it's not the end of the world), and the sleeves ended up being like maybe 4-5 centimeters too long they could've been a smidge shorter.
But aside from that?
I'm honestly really happy with it
Because the fabric is super soft and nice, it's not too bulky, and most importantly, it fits me. It's not obscenely massive on me, it's just the right size.
And really, that's all I wanted. A sweater I'd actually USE, and yeah, I'm gonna wear the hell out of this next fall/winter when the weather gets cold again. It's not perfect, but it's more than good enough for me.
And most importantly, I now feel infinitely more confident in maybe using that nicer yarn sometime soon to knit something
Now what the fuck am I gonna do with the leftover yarn 'cause boy howdy do I have a ton left
#Moon posting#Yarncraft Diary#Yarnblr#They really weren't joking when they said crochet eats up more yarn than knitting does#Perhaps I will knit a little pink pillow for my cat with the leftovers
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so, when i could tell the writing was on the wall (lol) when it came to me and the publishing industry, i told my therapist that i needed to find something else to do with that time, and that i thought i might get really into running again. it seemed like a decent thing to do with my new time AND gave me the possibility to actually achieve goals and find success. he agreed whole-heartedly that this sounded VERY GOOD lol thanks bro you got my back. i decided i would join a seasonal running event through run across america (runs about 2.5 months).
i did the fall one last year! it was a great way to get me back into things again, but i set my goal as 50km and i just BARELY made it between vacations and getting sick. i set my spring goal at 50km again. it's been 2 weeks, and i'm at 35km already. ???? LOL looks like i'm going to need to up that goal to 100km. but not only that!! i am hitting sub-10 minute miles with WAY less effort than it feels like they should be. even on the treadmill, which i HATE and am so slow on because it's so boring, i can pound out 10-minute miles just to keep my speed through the bad weather spells when i can't run outside.
even when i was running 10ks, i never got down sub-10 on miles. i could hold a pretty decent 10:20 average mile pace, and would MUCH rather have run longer rather than faster. now, i have less time to run because of parenting (i can't run until 7:30 PM most nights) so now it's faster or nothing hahaha. and turns out, i can actually do that. i've gotten to some not super duper hard 9:20 miles which is really good for me. i'm SO happy that i was right. this is finally actual success! i feel good!! i'm seeing actual results from my hard work!!!! i WANT to run, half because i'm so desperate for those endorphins to feel normal BUT ALSO because i'm feeling so amazing after i do it knowing i've already come so far!!! i could cry. i'm so happy about this. this is BY FAR the healthiest thing i could have done in the wake of the fucking misery of losing my publishing dream. CONGRATS KATY ON FINALLY MAKING BETTER CHOICES IN YOUR LIFE. TOOK YOU WAY TOO MANY DECADES TO FIGURE IT OUT LOL
positive effects of this: the brain chemicals are the only thing making me feel like myself these days, which is quite huge. also i'm drinking WAY less beer because i know i have to run later. my clothes are fitting differently??? negative effects: MY FUCKING LEGS AND FEET HURT. so much fucking laundry??? i am so fucking HUNGRY all the TIME. i get sleepy and i collapse and i get nothing else done. i am COLD CONSTANTLY.
so if you wanna help pump me up!!!! i am feeling good!!! sometimes i don't want to go on the treadmill but i do it anyway and then i tell myself i have to keep going!!! this is the most consistency i have had since before i left japan!!! i believe in myself and everyone else, too!!! lol
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SCUTTLES IN HERE. I'M SO OPEN TO HEARING YOUR THOUGHTS
under the cut for possible spoilers
okay so first off Deimos is a super unreliable narrator. I don't know if I'm making that clear in the fic but his worldview is completely warped and his ability to read social cues is non-existent. coupled with the head trauma and his emotional instability, half of the descriptions of other's demeanor, expressions, and tone of voice is inaccurate to what's actually going on. he'll think Doc sounds disappointed or irritated but he's honest to god worried sick over him. he thinks Sanford hates him and thinks he's a monster, and Sanford has his own little history with clones that I wanna get into, but end of the day he has no personal issues with Deimos. he just thinks he's dangerous in the wrong hands (the moral status of Doc's hands are ambiguous as far as he's concerned). Hank does not like Deimos and is possibly the only person he can actually read properly. and it isn't a personal dislike, but he is also of the opinion that Deimos is dangerous and Doc, being Hank's ""friend"" and more importantly life support, is considered 'at risk' if he's in the same room as Deimos. also Hank knows a lot more about Doc's feelings in this whole situation than anyone else because again, friends (college roommates)
that being said Doc is 100% smitten and has been for a very long time. but he also acknowledges that Deimos is very much so not right in the head even slightly and is afraid of taking advantage of Deimos's need to please. he's slowly feeling him out to try and figure out what Deimos actually wants and if this actually makes him happy. he's like. trying so hard not to be selfish about things because if it were completely up to him he'd never put Deimos in the field again and would shower him with affection 24/7. it would make Deimos miserable though. he needs a purpose in life and part of that purpose needs to be hurting others, and too much positive treatment makes him pull back faster than anything else. so while Doc does his best to keep Deimos content with the work he's given and tries to keep his own feelings on the downlow, he's not necessarily happy about it
I really wanna write Deimos going into shock after making it back to the SQ because that was the first time Doc had felt genuine fear in a long time. wasn't a person near him that didn't get yelled at to Fix Him
Sanford and Deimos are gonna become decent-good friends as the story progresses, mostly because Deimos starts to realize that Sanford is right in a lot of ways and Sanford can't really think of Deimos as 'just another clone' after he was saved by him
this version of Deimos deviates completely from the Defective-storyline in that Deimos is actually the product of the Agency trying to create stronger, more violent, more tenacious soldiers that wouldn't back down from Hank. the result? one that didnt turn out completely out of control and was kept under thumb for most of his life by his handler, who I also wanna dig into. basically he's engineered to be dangerous and highly unstable/reactive. can't break a mind that's already broken
Hank might come around a little, but at the end of the day he still thinks Deimos is gonna snap and kill Doc or Sanford someday. ticking timebomb
he's got that whole thing about people touching his face/head because I refuse to let go of the "he had his jaw broken by the Agency" headcanon. he has PTSD about a lot of things but that's a big one
despite the title being the name of a TOP song it was actually inspired by The Loneliest by Maneskin which is funny because the fic is Deimos pov but the song would be from Doc's
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Mel's 2023 Reads 🎉🎉Tier List🎉🎉
F Tier
I would consider this tier the You Sucked Tier
These books all disappointed me in major ways. Some were just two short and underdeveloped whilst Insurgent was just a crime on humanity. It committed Character assassination badly and really underplayed abuse.
I was not the audience for the Leia book as its clearly for kids who aren't old enough too watch the Star Wars films.
Honestly I've had a pretty decent year F Tier is thankfully been minimal.
D Tier
I would consider this the Very Underwhelming Tier.
Sorry Marvel fans the Spider-Gwen comic would be higher if I didn't start with issue 5. It was cool okay I saw it at universal and went mine!! I also apologise to Good Omens fans. As a huge fan of the show I just didn't enjoy it. It works a lot better as a TV show. It was too crowded and I wish similar to the High Republic that there was individual pov chapters.
Allegiant I'm suprised I enjoyed it more then Insurgent but it didn't character assassinate Tris character but instead had weird new characters because the villians in the last book were defeated. I cried and the ending so therefore it belongs in D Tier. Old As Time was the most disappointing out of all of the Disney Twisted Tales I was expecting more. Some really good ideas that weren't fleshed out properly. I also found Belle really unlikeable in the first half of the book. I also wanted more Enchantress, her being Belles Mum was fascinating. Would still recommend though it has a beautiful message.
Again not bad for being one of the lowest tiers.
C Tier
I would consider this tier the Enjoyable But With Huge Flaws Tier.
The two books here I enjoyed but have too many major flaws holding them back. I'm suprised that there aren't more but then again 2023 has been a great reading year so I shouldn't.
Look I'm a new to the World of FNAF so I may not be able to accept weirdness. I also accept and respect The Creator didn't expect his game to be popular and as a result is new to writing but the second Fazbear Fright Book Fetch whilst improving on Into The Pits flaws had its own flaws to the point I couldn't put it further. Don't be angry FNAF fans.😰
I adored the Bullet Train movie and was super excited when I found out that it was a novel originally. But the outdated language, highly visible fatphobia and transphobia meant I couldn't put this any higher. I don't care the year it was published, call me a Snowflake but as a Trans Nonbinary Plush Sized person I do not want to read stories that mock my existence, so it's going in C tier. Still a really good story though.
I'm happy that most of my 41 reads ended up in B, A and S Tier
B Tier
I would consider this the Loved It But Could Have Been Better Tier.
Only six books in this tier again it's very surprising how many books have dodged this tier. I loved also this books but they had wasted potential and could have been better. They definitely would have been in A and S tier if they were.
I hope FNAF and Star Wars fans aren't angry at me but Darth Plagueis and Into The Pit absolutely deserve to be in B Tier. I loved Darth Plagueis as my first legends novel but the pacing was garbage fire. I would have much preferred a Trilogy where Book 1 is Plagueis's Backstory and Training With Darth Tenerbous till he kills him. Book 2 is Plagueis Grooming Palpatine to be his apprentice and then Book 3 takes place a few years before and then during Phantom Menace. It would have made the book feel less like 3 books squished into one. As for Into The Pit well, all three protagonists we're insufferable especially Millie in Count The Ways and the stories as a whole are to vague for me. The ending of Into The Pit had me scratching my head. I'm hoping I have a better time with the Tales Series.
As for the comics I haven't even Read Phase 2 yet so I was way too lost to properly enjoy The High Republic Adventures it also in genuine felt way to short. I loved Maz and Dexters appearances though. 2024 is looking to be the year I delve more into Doctor Who extended media with Big Finish having their first fifty stories free on Spotify but 2023 was a good start. Seventh Doctor comic was a pick up from the library and it was good but it also felt way too overcrowded with characters so in B Tier it goes.
I will come back to Plagueis someday and see how it goes but for now I'm super happy with my decisions.
A Tier
I would consider this the Amazing But Not Peak Tier. All the stories I really liked but they just missed a single step preventing it from being S Tier. Nine stories again which shocks me as it shows how generous I am.
Again hoping that fans of these novels are meant. I loved seeing my favourite prequel film turned into a Shakespearian play but unfortunately but unfortunately the source materials flaws stop this from being rated higher. It has however got me excited to read the orginal Trilogy Shakespeare plays.
Would have loved to put The Story Book Of Legends higher as well as it was very enjoyable and brought back alot of nostalgia for me involving Ever After High as it was basically my childhood but the world building is very nonchalant. It feels like if I hadn't been a fan of the orginal show I would have been dreadfully confused. I hope the next two stories in the Trilogy are less alienating when I get to them.
Bloodline and Spider-Man Hostile Takeover are definitely gonna be the most controversial. I loved Bloodline as a Leia Stan but I do not love Disney assassinating Leia and Han's relationship be like Satine and Obi-Wan. Leia even gave up being a jedi for her family. I just don't think that Han would listen to Leia and stay away whilst she's going through so much. Han would never be satisfied with only a video call. As for Hostile Takeover, Liss really messed up with one of the characters Anika she felt tropey and stale, only there to be Peter's over love interest option. Hostile Takeover is such a good Spider-Man story but Anika really let's down this book for me. Echo was written brilliantly I don't understand why Anika couldn't have been as well.
Congratulations to the books in A tier for coming very closer to S Tier though. 🎉🎉
S Tier
Welcome to the Peak Writing Tier it feels like I just give books the S Tier too generously but trust me when I say that these books have absolutely earned it. These books blew me away and are the reason why I've had to do a Tier list instead of a ranking. I'd mention all the books if I could but then this post would go on for hours so I'm just gonna mention three.
Claudia Gray dominated this year and has honestly become one of my favourite authors. The way she writes Leia is so masterful and awesome. Leia Princess Of Alderaan shined and hugely redeemed Holdo as a character for me. However as usual The High Republic lands on top as usual. Into The Dark By Claudia Gray blew my mind in all the best ways possible. It gave me a rollercoaster of emotions and I enjoyed the smaller cast of characters alot. Each character arc felt well done and hugely earnt. As a Star Wars fan I can say your missing out if you don't check out The High Republic in my opinion its so much better than the sequels cos all the writers actually sat down and talked with eachother laying out a clear plan. Peak Star Wars with amazing representation.
I got to go to my first authors talk this year and it was amazing. The Many Half Lived Lives Of Sam Sylvester is a book I wish I could have shipped off to younger Mel who had been bullied in High School for their Autistic traits and was so confused about their identity. Maya MacGregor is such a lovely person and a great author it was a privilege to meet them. They really did the queer Autistic community the representation we deserved. And their next book which I won an arc copy of was just as good. I will be following more of their stories in the future they deserve the hype.
Finally When Our Worlds Collided was an emotional book that brought out the rage in me. I hope this book gets put on the GCSE English curriculum and replaces the harmful stuff such as Of Mice And Men. As a lighter skinned biracial person I was heartbroken realising the struggles and injustices Black teens might face in the UK. I loved Chantelle, Jackson and Marc and how they managed to come together through tragedy and help eachother through their battles. So glad that I impulsively bought this July 2022. Everyone needs to read this especially if you are White. Read diversely people it's important.
Conclusion
Overall 2023 was a great reading year I'm excited to try dip into more nonfiction and fiction in 2024. I'm also listening to Doctor Who Big Finish this year which means my 2024 tier list will certainly be larger next year.
Here are my storygraph and goodreads if you want to follow me.
Goodreads: Melody Soundy
Storygraph: melsage1823
-Melody-
They/Them
#bookish#booklover#bookworm#book tumblr#star wars#star wars books#marvel#marvel books#marvel comics#star wars comics#doctor who books#doctor who comics#tier list#reading in 2023#reading#2023 reads#fnaf#fnaf books#five nights at freddy's#fazbear frights#bullet train#autism representation#autism
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What are some pieces you're particularly proud of?
This is a really great question and I wanted to give it a thoughtful answer so it took a few days.
I'm most proud of the art I made when I first started learning Blender a little over two years ago so I could do gamejams with friends.
Very early on, I remember thinking that I wanted to save and keep all my progress so I could look back on it one day -- so I saved more or less everything I've ever made, in chronological/numbered order, so it's easy to look back fondly and get a snapshot in time of what I was making and how goofy it was.
This is the first thing I made after fumbling with Blender's sculpting tools, and realizing I could make muscly-men-shaped things and also bird-shaped things.
I would try to keep sculpting things for a while and get super frustrated at my computer not being good enough to handle the files. Eventually this would nearly cause me to quit learning altogether, convinced that my computer was too underpowered -- not that I was working in absurdly high-poly without realizing it.
This attempted gimpsuit Bowser I tried making for a friend, for example:
75 million triangles!!!
400mb!!!!
Not really knowing any better, it took me a long time and a lot of trial and error doing gamejams and working with my smarter, more wizardly gamedev friends to start getting an understanding of poly counts and optimization. Eventually, with a lot of practice and models, I would get better at working in low-poly - a style I really like. By comparison, my last model was 33,116 triangles (7mb)
I can tell from looking at my pile of projects that something clicked after our third gamejam. I started having a better understanding of how Blender worked as software, and how 3D modeling worked conceptually. At some point, I started seeing misc art ideas on tumblr etc. and thinking "i think I know how to do that!", and some of the time I actually could (or at least, a bootleg quality version of it)
But the biggest turning point for me, and the closest I can get to answering the question about projects I am most proud of, were these two models.
I had started playing Dragon Quest 11 some time before I started learning art, got bored/burned out on it, and unknowingly quit right before the big mid-point events of the game. It wasnt until a year or so later that I picked it up again, and immediately saw it with the noobie "cube eyes" I'd been developing over the last few months.
I realized that the art style was beautiful yet simplistic enough that I could try and copy it, and was indeed able to make pretty decent versions myself (though unusably unoptimized it has to be said). It was also my first deep dive into Blender shaders, something which would take me another year or so to even scratch the surface of.
That moment not only empowered me a ton as an artist, but it also opened a whole new way for me to play and appreciate games that I had never experienced in my like 25+y of viddy gaming up to that point.
Honorable mention:
I went through a BOTW phase earlier in the summer when I replayed it looking for art to make. My eye crimes are buried deep in my #my art tag, but tldr I made a rito first, then zora, a goron... building up to the big man himself - whom I was afraid to try making because I was afraid I wouldn't do him justice.
Kass was easily the most complicated model I had ever made until that point - involving handpainting his colors and patterns, a complex rig for animating both the body and the accordion, and just a lot of decor and misc outfit accessories. I cut some corners from the original design, but I was still really happy with both the result, and myself for being able to have achieved it.
Thank you for the ask!!
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"No it's cool, it was reclaimed."
So the other day, just kinda trying to follow a conversation some people were having on Discord, I saw the topic of Nazi symbols rear its... quite literally ugly head, as people were trying to have a civil little chat with someone who really wanted to see people posting that one Nazi frog. Short answer is no, that's still not OK, there is never going to be a time when that is OK, and the fact that you're even testing the waters is about as big of a red flag as they come, but let's take a moment to articulate why.
As anyone who's been following me for any length of time should know, along with anyone who's just been dealing with violent threats and intimidation from Nazis over the past decade give or take, there's this frog, see. Really, a couple variations on it. Nazis just absolutely love using this frog as profile images, making it into response macros in chats and spamming it, putting it into little forum signatures, putting it on lapel pins, just generally displaying it like it's their corporate sponsor or something. How this came to be the symbol or choice for this I'll eventually circle back around to, but first let's talk about why they do this, and why it's important to take action when you see it.
All nazis start out as people, just like you or me, except they're just sort of bad at being a person. Some combination of not developing proper social skills or morality, failing at everything they try, and failing to recognize how crap like how the "hero" always "gets the girl" in movies doesn't reflect how reality actually works leaves them all bitter and self-pitying and receptive to Nazi recruitment, and from there they slowly get indoctrinated until there's nothing left of them but a hollowed out husk of a human being who will focus on trying to ruin or end the lives of any normal functional human being they have pitched at them as "the enemy." Which tends to be anyone sufficiently marginalized by society that attacking them won't result in the sort of general outrage from onlookers that they have to worry about getting their teeth kicked in in response.
Because they're miserable losers trying to make themselves feel big by targeting only the most defenseless people they can find, they always need the psychological security of knowing people around them have their backs. Ideally other nazis, but you know, in a pinch, it's also good to know about people who are maybe sympathetic to them, or at least see them as harmless, or are conflict averse enough to not intervene if they get rowdier, or hate some of the same people they hate, etc. And of course if they just stood up and shouted, "Hey everybody! I'm a Nazi! How do you all feel about that!?" then unless they happened to be in a super pro-nazi room, the likely and correct response would quiet likely be that Nazi being absolutely mobbed by decent people and faced with justified violence until such point as there was no longer a Nazi in the room.
So, symbols it is! Want to see if people around you are on your side without calling too much attention to yourself? Have some symbols you can flash in a crowd that probably won't mean anything to anyone but the people in your in group. Want to know if a place you're gonna hang around in is onto what an evil piece of garbage you and people like you are? There's more recognized symbols for that. Want to know if they're happy to have you around? There's universally well-known ones for that.
Now obviously it's not like Nazis keep some sort of formal hierarchical list of all their symbols in some sort of central repository. It's all a lot more ad hoc, with new ones getting introduced and tested out and all that, and it's also not like all Nazis talk to each other so some of these can be pretty local, or just for a single event even. Like if a bunch of Nazis are planning to crash a pride parade in Wyoming one year maybe when they're trying to organize that someone goes "hey everyone wear a white polo shirt and a set of mirror shades so we recognize each other" and yeah, on that particular day, at that particular event, polo shirts and mirror shades are Nazi symbols. They probably aren't going to continue being seen as such past that event, unless maybe someone records them beating some queer people to death and shouting the 14 words or something and inspiring other Nazis planning other crap to copy that look, but you know, after seeing that go down you probably wouldn't want to walk around Wyoming with a white polo and mirror shades the next day. Oh and of course if their whole big plan boils down to all of three people dressed up the same way lost in a crowd and not finding each other, or running into someone who caught wind of their planning and beaten down, yeah that looks really not gonna take off as the new Nazi fashion.
The real point I'm making here though is it's not like there's some sort of Nazi brand manager really sweating over the creation of new Nazi symbols and distributing them and getting everyone properly kitted out with them. It's organic, it's shifting, and if a particular symbol gets more and more recognized by other Nazis on a more global scale, or gets recognized more and more by normal people as a Nazi symbol, usage of that one is going to just natural shift to the sort of contexts where they're comfortable being a lot more open with it. Which in turn means if the average person recognizes something as a Nazi symbol, it's a particularly bad one and seeing it displayed is a sign of imminent danger.
All that having been said, let's get back to that ugly Nazi frog. That one is a SUPER well-recognized Nazi symbol today. Like if a Nazi wants to have absolutely no subtlety at all, they're probably still going to just straight up fly the Nazi flag or wear a red armband with a swastika on it, but IMMEDIATELY below that on the latter we have the damn frog. At this point seeing that thing might be a bigger indicator that a Nazi has shown up to throw down than seeing someone fly the Confederate flag, and that one's literally a red flag symbolizing a readiness to go to war on the side of white supremacy.
Personally speaking, as someone Nazis have been pretty vocal for some time about wanting to see dead, and not even just in a broad categorical sense, I see any of the above, I am in immediate fight or flight mode, and I am going to take whatever steps feel prudent for my life and safety. What those are going to be depend on context, but one way or another I'm not going to share space with someone so clearly broadcasting their desire to see me dead, and we are not going to have a discussion about my stance. If you are present, you should have my back here, if you are responsible for the venue someone is flashing this hate symbol in, you have a moral obligation to remove the offending Nazi. Like I know in general we have a societal problem where most people in charge of moderation duties were taught completely wrong, but hopefully the "Nazi bar story" has been circulating around well enough for people to finally be on the same page about this.
Returning to this conversation I walked in on the other day, someone I'm forced by the facts of this anecdote to assume was a Nazi shows up in this server that I suppose I'd give a C- on moderation when it comes to this (the Nazis who eventually show up do eventually all get the boot, but the people doing the booting tend to be frustratingly slow in strapping the boot on) just sort of out of the blue and passionately objecting to people's objections at seeing that frog. Safe to assume I got here late and missed a deployment and deletion of said. But the main argument this person was going with was that the Nazi frog "had been totally reclaimed" and trying to compare it to "the OK symbol."
So... OK, let's knock out the sidetrack first I guess. Nazis, especially ones with a 4chan background, are absolutely OBSESSED with doing these "false flag operations," where they try to frame one group of people by pretending to be them and get some other group of people to mindlessly attack them. To be fair they had one absolutely massive success with this, getting Nazi crap back into general public view by pretending to be angry about something involving video games a decade ago (again, unless you're REAL new here, we've covered this plenty), but almost always failing to get things off the ground, or only catching enough attention to generate maybe an article or two about their sad little stunt. One of these a couple years back was an effort to convince people that the "OK" symbol (you know, where you touch your thumb and pointer finger and splay the rest out) was a "secret nazi symbol" and... really the whole thing was so poorly thought out it's hard to even follow the logic. I assume the goal was to get people who kept tabs on Nazi activities to start violently attacking anyone who used this long-established gesture that things are going well, thinking it was always and exclusively some secret signifier of hate, or something? In practice I don't think most people have any awareness this was a thing, and the people who do were just the Nazis absolutely failing to make it happen, and people like me monitoring hate groups watching a bunch of prominent Nazis make asses of themselves trying to make an alternative to a thumbs up look sinister on cameras for like maybe a week. There's no "symbol being reclaimed" here there's just a poorly thought out prank failing to get off the ground.
This of course does not compare in any way to the frog, which again, legitimately is at this point a broadly recognized Nazi symbol with no other meaning attached to it, displayed explicitly to intimidate targets and establish whether Nazis are welcome in a space. So the notion that it has been "reclaimed" is absolutely ludicrous, but also I have to take a moment to ponder what that would even mean.
Like, the first thing that comes to my mind when we talk about "reclaiming" is the word "queer." There was a period in, what, the 1970s? where if you heard the word "queer" it was almost certainly being shouted by a bigot in the same way you'd hear someone now deploying a certain three letter slur starting with an F... which honestly had taken over the role as go-to slur by the start of the '80s, and really nobody was particularly saying "queer" with any real regularity besides bigots too old and out of touch to even stay current on their hate speech by the time we got to the big ol' social movement from the people who'd had it shouted at them to do a whole international series of demonstrations with people marching through the streets of major cities shouting "We're here! We're queer! Get used to it!" in a way that I'm pretty sure is so thoroughly burned into our collective memory that I really shouldn't need to explain this to anyone.
And of course since then it's grown into this big ol' catch-all umbrella term, because every other term we have for queer people is weirdly specific and plenty of things aren't otherwise covered, and this is a pretty natural outgrowth for a term that originally just meant kinda meant "atypical" and was tossed around for a century or so to refer to anyone who wasn't both cis and straight before the terms "cis" and "straight" had really caught on, and not always in a negative light. So yeah we took this term that was frankly super handy to have as a neutral discriptor for a broad group of people dealing with bigotry and reclaimed it from people specifically using it in an explicitly hateful context.
So the two things that would have to happen to "reclaim" the Nazi frog would be it no longer being so strongly associated with hate and violence, which, yeah, that has not happened, and no effort is being made to make that happen, and then the people who it was weaponized against would start using it again as their own symbol before Nazis corrupted it.
But, you know, for THAT to be popular, it would have to have originally been a symbol used by the people being targeted with it. So, broadly and in no particular order, queer people, particularly trans people, Jews, people with disabilities, women, particularly those not actively onboard with being Nazi brood mares with no rights of any sort, anyone who isn't white, and anyone else who understands that Nazis are evil, dangerous, and must be eradicated. And uh... that's kinda just most people? Not really a single particular group with a need to rally behind a symbol, nor is there any subgroup within that that has ever, in any way, used the Nazi frog to represent anything.
Where did that frog even come from before it became a Nazi symbol anyway? Well, for a good bit it was one of the symbols people used to indicate that they were a 4chan poster, but... OK we already covered the Nazi bar thing. 4chan is absolutely "a Nazi bar." It's openly welcomed Nazis forever, more or less since it was founded, they use the aforementioned three letter F-slur like a piece of punctuation. I've shared some pretty strong thoughts on the site and its relationship to Nazis before, and there's a pretty strong case to argue that the mascot of a well-known Nazi hangout is kind of already a Nazi symbol by default.
So OK, where did the Nazi frog come from before THAT? Well, some webcomic. So far as I know, said webcomic doesn't have a damn thing to do with any of the various marginalized people Nazis hate either. Just kind of a stoner/slacker thing. And I am of course fuzzy on the details because it's deeply obscure. If it was something anyone had otherwise heard of, it wouldn't have ever ended up as this weird obscure thing for people to paste in places to indicate that they're "from 4chan" because that was otherwise the only place anyone beyond the creator of said comic or however many fans it may have or have had would ever recognize it.
So... the people being targeted with the hate here can't "reclaim" the symbol because it was never ours. The creator of the comic and it's fans could potentially reclaim it if they were the ones being attacked with it, but they're not, and the creator quite sensibly killed off the character featured to end any associate between himself and this clear hate symbol, so, if that's your background it's extra disrespectul to flash that symbol. Random 4chan posters REALLY can't reclaim it because I mean, they're literally the people who initially made this into a symbol of anti-queer/pro-nazi sentiment. There remains, to this day, absolutely no reason for anyone to post that thing anywhere than to try and proclaim it as a Nazi-friendly space, and as such everyone's reaction to seeing it in absolutely any context should be swift and brutal. Same for the other symbols mentioned here.
Hell, you could honestly actually make a better argument for the damn swastika. I mean, nobody would ever buy it, nor should they, but at least it actually did exist in an actual positive context a century ago unlike the rest of this crap.
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you're so right about shika reacting like that, I totally agree!!!
I love the fact that the supernatural are known in your novella, that's so uncommon for books like that and I love it! the vampiric animals is a really cool and original idea omg I can't imagine vampire cats, they're so chaotic already, add vampirism to it??? they would rule the world and I wouldn't complain. the implied conversion of the MC though?!?!?!? I love it, it would definitely be me, who would say no to being a vampire????? I would love to read it 😭😭
you got me with the mystery part of your other story, I'm obsessed with that. I also love it when authors use classic tropes but switch the characters around, it makes it so fun! we almost never get playboy MCs either, so that's also super cool!! and the fact that they help each other heal from their issues and grow? &? $? $? I bet I would cry reading that novel but I would love it 100%
AMY????? FIRST????? THAT IS SO COOL I'M SO PROUD OF YOUUU. CONGRATULATIONS OMGGGGGG!!!!!!!! TELL ME YOU CELEBRATED OR SOMETHING! '! &!! & &
how bad is it to get sick during a trip? that's so sad!! also YES I recommend them, I didn't watch them all but I watched a recap and they look cool, it's a classic whodunit and the murders are brutal at times. there's 6 movies in total!! the 6th was released this year and jenna ortega is a mc, I love her. she also played as Wednesday last year and she's such a good actress. I'll definitely check out happy death day after I finish scream 6!!! <3333 also thank you for your congratulations you're very sweet
Yes! I really wanted to include some of the societal impacts of the supernatural in my book, like my MC being a lecturer in Supernatural Studies. One of her classes is in the book, so you'll get to learn a little about how the Black Death affected vampire clans in London :D
And vampiric animals, yes I wanted to include one, so there is one haha. The process is much trickier than with turning a human into a vampire and it takes much longer, so there aren't many around. Most big clans have one though.
MC doesn't get turned in the book, but it is directly expected and referenced that they will be at some point soon.
As for the novel, yes, I switched it because I thought it'd be very cool to get the playboy's inner monologue. The first parts of the novel include, along with the mystery, a lot of the MC slowly focusing more and more on the male lead and forgetting about flirting with others. Let's just say that MC's friends are sick of hearing them give a play-by-play of what the male lead ate at dinner, and then denying that they're interested in him as anything more than a bit of fun lol.
As for the mystery plot... It's my first time writing a proper one, but I'm having a lot of fun and I think it's a decent one, but we'll see haha.
Haha, I didn't celebrate no, because results were so delayed from the strikes, I only just found out the marks and idk, I'm probably going to get something tasty as a celebration at some point :D Thank you though!!!!! You're so sweet!!!! <333333
I was pretty sick in Tokyo, but it was a combination of the flight, which I predicted would happen because it always does, and then also a really heavy workload while there. I lost 9 lbs in ten days because of how much walking I had to do and I the fact that I was too ill to eat more than two apples over three days. It was a shame, but that's what happens when you're in a big group: you can't tailor the trip to your individual needs like needing to rest after a 14 hour flight and two hour queue at customs XD I still had fun though!
And oh, I didn't know Scream films were who dunnits, that's awesome, I'll put them on my list of things to check out! Thanks for the recommendation!!
And you more than deserve my congratulations for surviving exams hehe
🎉🎉🎉
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McCalls Sewing Pattern 7470
This is just me talking about sewing so I'll put most of it under the cut.
I made the mistake of buying the fabric BEFORE I had a pattern in mind. I knew I wanted a shirt dress, but wasn't sure what one, and I had this McCalls in my stash and it was in my size (I bought most of my patterns when I was skinnier, and the Big 4 normally stop at 14. You need to buy the 'larger' option (normally 16-24) in their own envelope.
Because I have the worst decision fatigue ever, I figured picking one I had and would fit was easier:
I honestly think I got this free in a magazine many, many years ago as the pattern I have looks different on the front but it's just the same pattern.
My fabric was a DREAM. Like I'm not even gonna lie, I bought 5 yards and I'm seriously thinking about buying more. I love it so much. I got it from Mood, like I'm a proper fashion person. The people who do the Project Runway thing get the fabric from Mood.
It was called Black and Red Buffalo Checks and Animal Silhouettes Peached Cotton, and it cost £5.70 a yard. It feels like flannel and its 100% cotton, which is nice!
I legit love stags and I know this is moose, I don't care. I love it. It's red and black and check and I'm always gonna love that. I never really got over that Avril Lavigne phase of personal style.
So the style of the dress is princess seams, which I'm not SUPER fond of because I like a waist seam because I think its more flattering.
I didn't fit the paper to myself because I was making a mock up out of an old bedsheet. I've always kinda sucked at fitting patterns and I thought this would be a good time to... try? I did okay but there are a few things I'm not happy about.
The pattern instructions were.... pretty typical for McCalls. The Big 4 always give pretty basic steps, which I'm not super fond of as a self taught seamstress*. They tend to be like "insert zipper" which sucks.
The dress did come together pretty easy, but it was time consuming. I was trying to be as careful as possible with cutting and matching notches as I love this fabric so much and this dress took 3 yards.
There was a lot of top-stitching and I was being real careful.
I can't pattern match to save my life and I was also trying to save on fabric, but this was probably the best top stitch I've ever done in my life, because I don't have a twin needle. I've been patting myself on the back for this one for a couple days now.
The collar, which I've struggled with in the past went together nice and easy - so taking my time and checking things a couple times before just jumping in does actually work. Who woulda thunkit?
I cut the yoke on the bias because I wanted it to look a little different and I'm really pleased how it came out.
I was going to add sleeves as well, because I like shirts and I think it's more waerable. However it's been fuckin roasting here and I'm not super excited about wearing a FLANNEL shirt dress in this heat
So I made it sleeveless, which makes me feel like a bad ass.
So it does still need buttons which have now arrived, so I'll be adding them on at some point. I may be putting it off because buttons require button HOLES and that means if I fuck it up its VERY VISIBLE.
It took me about 2 weeks to make this shirt dress. I was trying to do a little every day after work. I took it to Bo's once it was finished and she thinks it looks really good and like something you'd get in a shop, although that might be a Primark, so I didn't push it with my 'give me compliments' vibe. She did also say it made her feel like a lumberjack which is also a GREAT vibe!
Overall, I think this is a decent pattern, but I wouldn't make it again. I do like the end result, and will be adding the sleeves at a later date. I really would expect it to come together without too many issues, but the mock up really was needed as there was a LOT of ease it this pattern in the back and also the top of the bust. I EASILY took out 3 inches from the center back and upper bust area. I've recently read that the best thing to do is to measure the upper bust rather than the waist in Big 4 patterns as this can be a common issue, so I'll remember that next time.
*I use seamstress because I'd love to be a member of the Ankh Morpork guild of seamstresses.
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i hope this request isnt too out of left field, but do you have any references for piercing jewelry, preferrably multiple ear piercings? funny enough this is actually for me irl, as i intend to get more piercings done but most of the references i find are kind of, tame? and more dainty than i usually like. i like to go into things with at least some idea of a desired end result- but i get it if piercings or recent piercing photos squick you out too bad, or if you dont feel like this is close enough to your wheelhouse!
not my typical request but i like it! i personally don't have a problem with piercings/body mods but I'm gonna put everything under a cut here for the sake of any followers who might have issues with pictures and discussion of needles, piercing, and slightly more extreme procedures.
So, what you described is basically the majority of what i look at on pinterest! I am also currently working on my ear setup (in its infancy, admittedly, i only have double lobes and an industrial but i want to get waaaaay more when i have the time and money!) and i prefer really big, unique pieces over dainty/minimalist ones. Obviously, I'm no professional, so my word isn't gospel and you should ALWAYS do good research and consult a professional before you make any decisions, but i sure have ideas!
I'll get the really extreme one out of the way first and talk about coin slots, bc i'm obsessed with them. It's considered more of a body mod than a piercing because it's completed via cartilage removal and definitely not offered by every piercing studio (and it's actually illegal in some places, so REALLY do your research on this one!). I don't know if i can truly recommend it to you because of this, but if you find someone who knows what they're doing and you think you can handle it, i think it looks incredible. I'd LOVE to get one when I'm out of school and have the money!
(source)
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I mentioned Pinterest but it's also worth checking out the subreddits (yeah yeah i know, reddit) for piercing and body mods-- the people there are usually professionals and enthusiasts so their taste is a bit more out there and unique than what you'll find on a google image search. If you search by popular -> all time you should be able to find the good stuff without sorting through all the text posts.
Other than that, I think the best I can do is give you some of the setups that I have saved for inspiration! it sounds like we have similar tastes so maybe i can interest you in what interests me :D since these are coming from pinterest the sourcing may not be perfect but I'll link you back to the pins themselves-- that way you can look at the related images and find even more ideas similar to the ones you like.
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Also while i'm on the subject, i might as well share my experience getting an industrial piercing (the bar that goes across the upper cartilage of your ear like in the fourth pic) for anyone reading this who might be considering it :P For me, it did NOT hurt when it was happening and there was actually very little blood, BUT the pain set in after about 20-30 mins and the first 24 hours after that were a little gnarly in terms of pain, i had to pop a decent amount of ibuprofen. You have to be super careful with it for a long time and it'll easily take a year or longer to heal (i'm on 7 months). Even after months, it will hurt like a BITCH if you hit it/put pressure on it by accident (THINK TWICE WHEN YOU GO IN FOR A HUG WITH SOMEONE. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH.) It's also probably best for people with short short hair because longer hair will get caught pretty often. With ALL that said, i do still really love the way it looks and I can't wait for it to be fully healed! I've wanted one since high school and it makes me happy that i finally got one. So, it's definitely worth it if you really want it BUT you should be aware that the healing process is NOT a walk in the park. Hopefully someone reading this was on the fence before and this helped them make a choice, who knows lol
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hi!! i saw a couple of your halloween matchups going around and it looks super fun, so i thought i’d submit an application if thats okay! 🥰
Anime - jjba (i feel like it’s v obvious im a dio lover but choose whoever you think is best im honestly curious lol)
no gender preference
Picrew -
I’m an Aries sun!
I would prefer canon adult characters pls, but other than that, anyone’s fair game!
Physical Traits i like : sharp features, nice hair (esp if it’s a well taken care of, longish/shaggy-ish style lol), and then Tall/Roman/hooked noses are hot imo
Personality Type: On one hand, im a sucker for the “stoic, mysterious type” but i also love the “confident, witty asshole” type (esp with villains lol)
Personality Traits: loyal, not too clingy, sharp-witted, confident, strong-willed
Pet Names: Darling or Sweetness
Aesthetic Board questions
i’ll do a halloween theme! i rly like Interview With The Vampire and the 1992 Dracula!
oooh im very much into scent chemistry so i’ll go with perfume!
i like a nice dark crimson
red poppies
cinnamon rolls and an iced latte!
Thanks!!!
Thanks for sending it in! Glad you found it fun and your welcome!
Halloween Café Blind Double Dates 💜🎃 Anime Online Date Matchups
If anyone else is interested in a Halloween Anime matchup Here's a Link for the info. They’ll only be open until October 31st is over
"Happy Halloween! It's time for your results. It looks like you had fun at the Dracula café."
"As you can see I'm wearing my costume. It's time to choose between your two dates. I wish you the best."
Matchup Applicants:
Profile:
Name: Dio Brando
Gender: Male
Description: Serious, stoic, mysterious, confident, witty asshole, god complex, strong, intelligent, violent, dangerous, book worm, not too clingy, sharp-witted, confident, strong-willed, date is fine with villains
Moral Alignment: Neutral Evil
Appearance: Blonde, tall, very muscular, sharp features, nice hair, longish/shaggy-ish hair, tall/Roman nose, scars, red eyes
Occupation: Vampire, former lawyer
Zodiac: Aries
Dating Survey Results: Compatibility 100%
Communication 💌 90%
Emotions 💗 66%
Similar Values 🏡 95%
Passion 💘 87%
Profile:
Name: Yoshikage Kira
Gender: Male
Description: Serious, stoic, mysterious, confident, witty asshole, murderous, powerful, unemotional, not too clingy, sharp-witted, confident, strong-willed, dangerous, date is fine with villains
Moral Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Appearance: Blonde, blue eyes, sharp features, nice hair/well taken care of, tall nose, muscular, tall
Occupation: Office worker
Zodiac: Aquarius
Dating Survey Results: Compatibility 92%
Communication 💌 70%
Emotions 💗 30%
Similar Values 🏡 75%
Passion 💘 50%
Zodiac 💫💖
Dio Brando
Yoshikage Kira
Love Meter 💓💖
Dio
Kira
Dating Results 💖
Percentages Matches: 0-25%= Bad Match, 26-50%= Poor Match, 60-70%= Decent Match, 70-80%= Good Match, 80-90%= Excellent Match, 90-100%= Perfect Match
1. Dio Brando:
Survey Results: Perfect Match 100%
Love Meter: Deep Admiration 85%
Zodiacs: Aries + Aries Compatibility 56%
Over all Results: 91% Perfect Match
2. Yoshikage Kira:
Survey Results: Perfect Match 92%
Love Meter: Desire & Longing 51%
Zodiacs: Aries + Aquarius Compatibility 84%
Over all Results: 73% Good Match
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You’re right it’s not that surprising, but it is pretty bold. He went from spending the last couple chapters fighting for everyone to work together, to deciding against everyone he knows. So I’m super interested to see how he plans to go at it alone given that the only ppl who would be on his side are probably the First and maybe the demons under him. Whom I definitely wanna get back to. I’m curious if Asuramaru’s return might lead to an interaction between him and Krul. Mainly bc I wanna know if the demons being exposed to other vampires might lead them to break away from the First’s plan and messaging.
Which brings me to the thing you brought up about potential ‘programming’. I definitely think that’s likely the case at some level. When there were so many versions of Yu created it makes sense to think that the First was maybe experimenting with him in some way to figure out how to get his desired results. If so, I think it would be cool to see how acknowledging that some part of their bond was manufactured could change Yu & Mika’s perspective on one another.
Also, as far as Yu wanting to save everyone, that would be a very expected goal for him to go after. But I think if he actually did it, that might become what we talked about awhile ago: an unrealistically easy solution. As a character, he has a habit of making up his mind and dragging along other characters with how he thinks things ought to be, even if he doesn’t have a solid understanding of how to achieve that. So, especially with Yu’s past naive behavior about having his cake and eating it too I personally think it would be more interesting narratively for him to take a path of either sacrifice or selfishness.
Although, I’m never truly against a happy ending, regardless of whether I feel it’s well earned or good for the plot. If everyone gets reunited and there’s world peace? Great 👍 lol
Thanks for chatting with me again :)
True, it is really bold. Yu isn't much of a planner. As you sorta say later, he kinda just does things. He's pretty decent at thinking on his feet, but rarely does it seem like he'll come up with a plan on his own, so I think that, at least for now, he plans on winging it. Probably thinks that he and Mika can do anything if they try. Yu's not stupid when he puts his head to good use though, so I guess we'll see.
As for Ashuramaru, I wouldn't be surprised if he interacted with Krul soon. We kinda got faked out on that one back in 109 (iirc?), so it'd make sense if that was looming on the horizon.
Oh yeah, it would definitely be that too easy ending we talked about. I'm not entirely against it either, but I'd want it to feel deserved. Yu would need to develop and grow as both a character and person for that to feel deserved to me. If he just continues to pull people along and get his way essentially just because he's the protag, then that'd make for a lackluster ending.
Pure speculation, but I could see an ending where, because Yu has some weird unknown power about him, it turns out that Yu can sacrifice himself to help bring back humanity and Mika. I'm personally not too sure how I feel about that atm since it just occurred to me. Don't wanna deep dive on it for length purposes (I could speculate about possible endings all day), but Yu already has no regard for his own life, so you know he'd do it in a heartbeat. What could be more interesting is if that option is available to him, but he's convinced not to. I digress though. We can speculate until the manga ends, but at the end of the day, that's all it is. Speculation.
Thank you for responding to what I said. Always fun to hear what you think about... well, my thoughts lol
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Thursday, November 9 -- SwynRPVision: Create your own TV show, book, video game, piece of media, etc. that would exist in the SwynRPuniverse which does not exist in ours. Write a description, make a graphic, write a script or do whatever you want.
reddit.com/r/broadway
u/magicalmistermistoffeleez
What's your favorite Broadway flop?
I'm kind of obsessed with flops. Shows that ran one, two months— maybe even less (I'm looking at you, Carrie) or even shows that had a decent run but lost a shit ton of money. So I thought I'd pose the question here! Regale me!
u/fvckyouflipflops
I wouldn't say favorite, because this is pretty messed up, but it sure is... something. This is the story of Dreamland, a very good lesson in why Mundus shouldn't mess around with pixie dust. Especially if they don't know what they're doing.
So back in the 70s, Rob King (big broadway producer to those who don't know) was in his white-guy-exploring-the-world era. Not all that problematic in and of itself, but he got really obsessed with fairy culture and basically kept trying to butt his way into Pixie Hollows. Obviously this is super not okay since Mundus aren't supposed to be there but he was apparently a pretty charming guy and at least managed to befriend some fairies in the neighboring towns who told him about their traditions and stuff. He comes back to New York OBSESSED with fairy culture and pixie dust in particular.
Enter... Dan Rivers and Pat Richardson. Yep, that Rivers and Richardson. A lot of fans of their more recent stuff don't know about this (unless you're me, a weirdo who goes on Wikipedia deep dives at 4 AM for fun) but after they put out their big smash hit in 1972, they were working on something much weirder and more niche. They wanted to write a musical about dreams, and they wanted to do a bunch of experimental stuff with it: no house lights, audience participation, and most daring of all, they wanted to incorporate magic.
Rob King gets wind of this show and right off the bat he's convinced that pixie dust is the answer. He's seen it do amazing things when handled BY ACTUAL FAIRIES (did you hear the foreshadowing in my voice?) and he thinks this is gonna be the perfect gimmick. Rivers and Richardson are a little apprehensive, but King assures them that pixie dust is gonna be the key. It's beautiful. It's magical. It's the perfect complement to the whole Dreamland project.
(Btw before the Rob King defenders come for me, yes I think he was a tool and no I'm not sorry for being biased. This is my post!! Write your own!!!)
Anyway, King manages to get a couple of jars of pixie dust (from where? We still don't know. imo it is super shady and I think he should be investigated... he claims it was a gift from his fairy friend abroad and maybe that's true but I just think the guy is so slimy there had to be something weird going on here). But he refuses to let anyone rehearse with it because it's such a limited resource.
It's only during previews that the cast actually gets to use it, and the results are pretty mixed. The thing about pixie dust is you don't just pick it up and use it, there's a mental component (thinking happy thoughts basically) and it's not easy to master if you're not a fairy and you've never used it before. Only one or two of the actors actually manages to get floating during previews, but King explained it by saying they were using a minimal amount of pixie dust before opening night because they had to conserve. So the show gets a few middling reviews but not all that much attention.
And then opening night happens. They double the amount of pixie dust being used, and things start immediately going haywire from the first scene. The actor who managed to float during the previews accidentally goes way too hard and flies into the house, crashing into the aisle (thankfully not into the audience) and bruising his ribs. A prop book gets enchanted too and this one does fly into an audience member's face, which she later tries to sue for. They can't even get through the first musical number before they have to call a tech hold for safety, and then they just decide to cancel the performance altogether.
The show comes back the next week without the pixie dust, but with the main gimmick gone, nobody really cares about this show anymore (I will say, it's got decent music but it's definitely not Rivers and Richardson's best work. It's interesting, but there isn't much plot... It's definitely too high-concept and weird for a mainstream audience). They try to get Gloria Gaynor in there as a stunt casting, but she pulls out at the last minute and the person she would have replaced threatens legal action for contract breach. It's a whole thing. Rob King tries to keep things going for another two weeks, but the opening night incident just casts way too big a shadow over the whole thing, and combined with the lukewarm reviews (both from critics and audience members) and the lack of any big gimmick, nobody is going to see this show.
The final nail in the coffin is when Chicago comes out. And then that's all anyone really cares about on Broadway anymore. Rob King finally sees the writing on the wall, and Rivers and Richardson do everything they can to erase this disaster from our collective memories.
So yeah! Dreamland walked so Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark could run, I guess. And to be clear, I'm definitely in favor of weird theater, and I think we should have more of it. This show just wasn't any good to begin with, and the way it exploited fairies (and honestly damaged their reputation a little bit, since King mostly blamed the pixie dust in the press later) is just super messed up to me.
TLDR: if you're going to incorporate magic in your show, get an ACTUAL magick on the creative team. Just sayin'.
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