#when I say I think too much about comics craft this is what I'm talking about
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Lettering Tips for Comics Artists!
Lettering is an easy to overlook aspect of comics creation, partially because good lettering is designed to be invisible, but bad lettering can ruin an otherwise well crafted project.
Now, I'm not a letterer by trade, I'm a colorist who thinks too much about comics craft, but I've picked up on a few common mistakes I've seen new webcomic artists making, and I thought I'd share my tricks.
#1: Get a Dialog font
Sorry, despite Comic Sans having the word comic in the name, it's not actually good for lettering comics. Comic book letterers usually use specially designed fonts when they're lettering comics, and they often have websites where you can get these typefaces for a reasonable fee (or sometimes even free!)
What makes dialog typefaces special?
The barred-I! (and other contextual options)
This one is subtle, but generally, you want to only use the barred-I for the personal pronoun "I" or for roman numerals. It helps clarify that what you're looking at is an I and not an L, but it takes up more space in the word, and we're trying to reserve as much space as possible for the art on the page.
Specially made comic book fonts will also be custom designed to be legible at a distance, have multiple bold/italics options, and might even include special versions of individual letters for when you type multiple of the same character in a row! It'll give your lettering a personal touch that you won't get from typefaces designed for other things.
Blambot is a great resource for all your lettering needs. Here I'm using Backissues and Nightmark
#2: Dialog Stacking
Dialog should always be stacked such that your longest line of text is in the middle. The block of text itself should have a sort of diamond shape <>. Sometimes this is difficult to do, especially if you have any long words at the beginning or end of a sentence. You can't always get it to work (and if you're unwilling to rewrite your dialog so it fits), so sometimes it might not be perfect, but if your text block is more hourglass shaped >< that's a good indication that you should try putting your line breaks somewhere else. Basically try to make your text as round as possible if it's in a balloon.
#3: Balloon Shape
One of the more common mistakes I see webcomic artists making is using perfectly elliptical balloons. It's actually kind of difficult to fit text into balloons that are perfectly elliptical; there ends up being a lot of uneven space around the text, and it looks kind of cheap. Making your balloons slightly more rectangular is going to give you more bang for you buck, they'll fit the text block a little better. I like a hand drawn balloon, I tend to think they add variety.
One thing you definitely shouldn't do is this:
This might be a personal preference thing more than any kind of hard and fast rule, but these lettering styles give me the impression that the text is pasted on top of the art, and that no real thought was put into arranging it thoughtfully with the art. These are probably more appropriate for captions, not so much for dialog
Lettering is a part of the medium we're working with, the dialog should be approached as a part of the artwork, and treated as such.
#4: Balloon Placement
The number one, most important rule of lettering, is that the placement of your balloons should never confuse your reader. The goal of balloon placement is to guide your reader around the page, each one should naturally lead your reader towards the next thing they should read. Here's an example of something I see a lot:
While yes, it is true that on a comics page, people read left-to-right top-to-bottom, if two balloons are connected with a line, I am going to read them one after another. Readers are not going to intuitively assume they should jump to the other side of the page just because the #2 balloon is slightly above #3. In this situation the balloons should be interwoven.
It should not be possible to look from one balloon to another and skip over intermediate dialog. If your reader misses a part of the conversation and has to double back to figure out what they missed, you've broken the flow and immersion of the page.
Like I said, lettering is all about guiding your reader around the page, it should be a part of your composition from the beginning, don't forget to incorporate lettering into your work when you're first laying out your page. Put yourself in the place of your reader and see how your eyes track across the page.
Hope these help! Like I said, I'm no expert; it took me a while to learn a lot of this. I would have found these tips super useful when I was first starting out. If you're interested in the technical side of lettering, I highly recommend The Essential Guide to Comic Book Lettering by Nate Piekos. It's one of the most useful reference books I own, and I learned most of this from that book.
#undertale and deltarune webcomics get a free pass on using comic sans#webcomics#tutorial#comics#ferrouscomicscraft#when I say I think too much about comics craft this is what I'm talking about#I could go on and on about how cool auto-ligatures are#lettering
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tuesday again 4/23/22
three months unemployed YAY. also wherein i get SUPER pressed about star wars lore
listening
funeral by tele novella. popped open tiktok to see something my best friend sent me and this was there, the first thing on the for you page. let's yoink a description of their previous album from an interview i'm going to quote at length in a bit: "The result was “exactly what we wanted it to be,” a perfumed mist of jingling, jangling, lilting, off-center pop—a strange little snowglobe gathering dust at the back of the shelf."
youtube
the lyrics did hit me like a train bc i often find myself mourning places and situations that were not necessarily good for me but were familiar.
Oh, you're not tied up
Here comes the train
The tracks feel safe because you know 'em
if you had told me this was made in about 2007-2009ish i would have believed you. very spare production in the way folksier songs of the time were spare. a bit raspy and direct in her delivery. there's a bandcamp interview wherein i found out this is the side project of a vintage/antiques dealer and she has a fascinating perspective on her own music:
Her passion for the craft is evident—in our conversation as much as in listening to the band—but music, for her, is a means to an end, a way to transmit stories. “As a musician, I’m mediocre at best,” Ribbons says matter-of-factly. “I think that my talent lies in my storytelling ability. I think that I’m a good storyteller.” It’s something instilled in her by her grandparents, “voracious readers” who were always buying her books and secretly wanted Ribbons to be a writer, she suspects.
i really adored this whole album as a cohesive work. "vampire cowgirl" is another standout for obvious reasons.
youtube
You came barrelin' down
Rabid with some talk
Of a gal who rides at night
Picking off the stock
remarkably good at reproducing the general vibe of the midcentury cowboy western album, when tv cowboys were sweeping the nation
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reading
T. Kingfisher's Nettle & Bone. enjoyed it, but not quite as much as her other stuff. whereas her other series are almost always comical and often stray into farce, this one was a bit grim. even with the addition of a demonic chicken. had to stop and really think about if my own experience with funerals and funerary rites (too many, too often) was coloring this for me but i think it is simply not as funny or interested in being funny as her other works. not a ding against it, but not what i was really expecting or in the mood for. image from tor, let's yoink the description from macmillan
This isn't the kind of fairy tale where the princess marries a prince.
It's the one where she kills him.
Marra — a shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter — is relieved not to be married off for the sake of her parents’ throne. Her older sister wasn’t so fortunate though, and her royal husband is as abusive as he is powerful. From the safety of the convent, Marra wonders who will come to her sister’s rescue and put a stop to this. But after years of watching their families and kingdoms pretend all is well, Marra realizes if any hero is coming, it will have to be Marra herself.
If Marra can complete three impossible tasks, a witch will grant her the tools she needs. But, as is the way in stories of princes and the impossible, these tasks are only the beginning of Marra’s strange and enchanting journey to save her sister and topple a throne.
paywalled article, sorry, but i personally have a bone to pick with fanduel due to [REDACTED INCIDENTS] from [PREVIOUS JOB] so it does not surprise me in the slightest that they don't really seem to be doing a single fucking thing about money-laundering. allegedly.
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watching
the bad batch, or the 13/16 episodes of the third and final season that are out. all these images are from comicbookreview bc i watched this on my actual television
one of the plots i hate most is the trying to get someone back plot. for example, i think finding nemo does this really well bc it's also a coming of age/parenting movie. i do not think the second finding nemo movie does this well bc as soon as one person is reunited with the group, through a wacky series of coincidences they lose another member. plus that movie is part of the downturn of modern pixar where they forgot how to tell interesting stories but that's neither here nor there. the bad batch falls into the finding nemo 2 category. it's simply frustrating to watch. it turns into a desperate floundering after whoever happens to be missing instead of using a The Searchers style plot to say something about the act of the search itself. i realize i am once again saying "what if star wars was good" but like. come on.
the bad batch s3 is surprisingly focused on retroactively filling in the backstory of how and why palpatine got cloned with his force powers intact, which is apparently a difficult technical problem. i would have cared about this if this show came out before the last movie and we had a cool breadcrumb style approach leading up to the movie. unfortunately that movie (and the sequel trilogy more broadly) killed a lot of my interest in modern star wars. anyway, this cloning problem leads to a lot of very technical conversations in a children's' show that are interesting to me, a grownup, bc no star wars media has ever successfully explained 1) what midichlorians actually are and 2) the biological processes by which they operate but refuse to be cloned? which is extremely funny to me bc midicholrians aren't supposed to be real. qui-gon has that whole little speech and blood test in the phantom menace but the series had So scrupulously stayed away from explaining how the force works before that. they still fail to explain it but they at least attempt to break two inches of new ground. side note this show gives us TWO canon trans girl clones and i really wish they were in a better show.
it's annoying that i'm annoyed about a children's show meant to sell toys. some fun things: the pyke syndicate shows up, a slew of my favorite bounty hunters show up, this show is much better at painterly backgrounds and has an overall more concept-art feel than the clone wars proper or rebels. i think it would be cool if they stopped whitewashing the clones. i'm going to finish out the season but i don't exactly have a lot going on in my life right now. i am not terribly sad that this is the final season but BOY do they have a lot of loose ends to wrap up in three episodes.
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playing
new genshin update on uhhh thursday and it's kind of exciting bc i THINK it will finally fill in this hole on the map and the associated shorelines of three different countries!
i thought i had long since found all the chests in liyue (the second area released) but in the process of doing a recently released character quest set in liyue i found another chest. this game is very good at hidden objectives and little secrets but i wish it was better at letting you know when you have Actually cleared an area completely of all the little hidden stuff. anyway i have been holding back the last character hangout (ningguang, my best beloved ruthless girlboss business high femme) for a terrible day and that day came! unfortunately hanging out with the fake pretend video game lesbian did make me feel better!
also unfortunately i fucked up and cannot count so the gacha pity system (every 90 pulls you're guaranteed a 5-star character) gave me Neuvillette. who i don't hate but i wasn't really planning on pulling for. i do like his questline and his voice actor, he simply doesn't fit in super well with a mono-electro team bc i play this game like an insane woman.
the real bitch of the thing keeping me from upgrading him is going out in the overworld and collecting enough sea stars. why can't he need flowers or little gears or anything else i have a thousand of.
anyway this gal will be dropping sometime in the next six weeks and i AM extremely excited to pull for her. she has some cool abilities (GUN) and is part of a popular pair with the steampunk lolita character i love and leads my other main team. i hope their abilities play well off each other but she has such a cool storyline and design i don't super care if she fits in with my playstyle. i will adapt for her in a way i am not willing to do with neuvilette
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making
i am once again obsessed with gallery walls, bc a friend has asked me to find the correct gigantic size frames to put some comics on his wall, and that has given me an excuse to go to thrift stores again.
unfortunately i have mostly found frames for me, and the projects i have been working on have kind of a long tail of when they will actually be on my walls. i picked up four 16x20 frames for $2.50 each (solid wood! remarkably detailed!) bc i eventually want to put up these fallout maps in the style of national parks maps up on the map wall in my office. i suppose this means i should join @ruffledringdove and actually play '76, bc that's the one modern game i haven't played. these are getting scuff sanded with 120 and painted with a eggshell paint sample in a bright white u all know the drill at this point. ive painted a lot of frames in the past few weeks.
left is one of the painted 16x20 map frames, right i have also finally sanded and painted both 12x16 deckle-edged wood frames i picked up off the side of the road in MA. and found glass + backs for them! eventually i will procure fancy mats and print + frame my grandmothers' portraits. they will eventually go on the living room wall, which is a neutrals and blue-greens wall of slightly disdainful women. this will help me swap the three maps in there to the office map wall.
i have also acquired this gigantic plaster-over-wood mirror for $15. i am using leftover rub n buff bc i don't have a great spot to spraypaint here without sheeting my entire front porch, and rub n buff is way less susceptible to 80% humidity than spray paint. also i would have to buy spray paint. i am looking up suspiciously bc i thought there was a bug. not sure what mackie was looking at.
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OKAY! You asked for it ahah.
So this is, as always, a combo of what I think they actually smell like, and then I go looking for those notes, and go by vibes. I have these in mind for all my Blorbot Prime, and most second tier characters as well. I've smelled every one of the perfumes I've put on these ladies, with the exception of one, which will be pretty obvious why when I talk about it.
Minako. So I always think of her as smelling like peaches, which is rough in the perfume world, because, most perfume is made of of what's called absolutes, think of these as like, the building blocks of a perfume, and there is no such thing as a peach absolute. So, I love rose, and there is more than one rose absolute, so this is pretty easy. Peach, you mostly have to go off something that suggests peach to your nose. For a long time I had her in Bitter Peach by Tom Ford, but a couple months ago I smelled:
Oh Ma Biche by Lolita Lempicka and this is the one. It invokes the scent of a bellini, which is perfect because it pulls in that peachiness without being oversweet, because it doesn't have vanilla in the structure of it. It has that vaguely intoxicating, light quality, so it smells more of like what I think of when I think of Mina, that juicy sweetness but it's edged with something you can't quite pin down (and she likes it that way)
Michiru. I will never smell Michiru's perfume because we all know she has a house in paris mix it for her custom. This is a thing that absolutely exists, if you have a great deal of money. I put her in rose and white florals (like jasmine) with a classic and old school musk and vetiver base, maybe with a light dosing of wine lees. I think it would smell very classic or old, depending on your point of view. Don't get me wrong, I do want this perfume. There's two or three I've layered to get an IDEA of it, but I've never found one perfume I think made it up.
Rei as we all know, is in actuality too fucking cheap to buy perfume, and if she wears any at all, it's a dupe, but in my world that's not any fun, so let's pick out what she likes enough to have someone buy her. I see deep, commanding notes for her, I actually think she would wear ~Men's perfume~* some of the time especially when she was convinced she needed to be a Boardroom Broad and I don't think Rei is immune to some fucked up ideas about power and gender ANYWAY. For most times:
Ebene Fume by Tom Ford. I think this choice is a little boring (full disclosure: I own a decant of this perfume and really do love it) in that it's Tom fucking Ford and everyone has heard of it, but I think I'm going a bit xkcd comic on that one, if you know what I mean. But it's smoky and deep and powerful, it's like a men's perfume with softer edge to it. It's also a great night perfume, which is when I think she would mostly wear it, and it doesn't have any sweetness to it, really.
Haruka. Going outside the idea of Michiru having a perfume made for her, which I believe she would, let's talk about what I think she would buy for herself (and also a defense of the perfume I'm about to mention)
Dior Sauvage. This one is so common that even non-perfume people have heard of it. Do you know why? It smells good on almost fucking everyone. There's so much snooty ass disdain for this perfume in the weird world of perfume lovers, but honestly? This and Versace Eros are the two I recommend for folks wanting a masc-leaning perfume. (I also like to wear it, especially when I'm hyperfemme) It just smells good on people. It is so well crafted that it is mass appealing. Whenever we have men going, "What perfume can I buy that women love" they're so annoyed when I say "Dior Sauvage" but whenever I crack out the suit and wear this with it, a woman always asks me what my cologne** is. Haruka would smell amazing in it, and she would get compliments from women, and that would reineforce the behavior.
OKAY WELL SORRY ABOUT ALL THAT
*all perfume is gender neutral if you're not a little bitch about it. Women wearing men's perfume is not super duper uncommon, but men should really throw on a floral sometimes, but of course going toward masculinity is understandable, going toward femininity is weak blah blah blah you're all so fucking boring.
**Cologne is not just "men's perfume" it's a whole other category this post is long enough and I've spent too much time on it already and you are tired of reading it but please know this
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Your showXcomic swap AU is so deliciously unhinged and sweetly dark
Now I have the saddest imagining that Comic Dream lost his Hob because he chose Death a few years after 1989, unable to live in a world where his Stranger "forgot" about him. The Stranger he loved for close to 600 years.
But I do hope that Comic Dream finds a Hob to love and cuddle and stockholm syndrome into loving him.
Thank you! 🥰 I worked hard on the sweetly dark part, in the hopes that it would make the fic less unhinged. 😊 *glances at Dream* I think I failed, but that's okay! 😂
(putting everything else under the cut because fic spoilers 👀 CW: comic spoilers, dark!Dream, depression, dubious consent)
In this AU's multiverse, what you're imagining is definitely possible. 😔 There are Hobs who chose to take Death's hand after Dream didn't show up in 1989, Hobs who did it during one of the World Wars out of overwhelming grief, heartbroken Hobs in 1889, etc.
In The Truth Can't Hurt You, It's Just Like the Dark, I imagined that Dream lost his Hob in 1689, and his realm has been deteriorating ever since. And the state of the Dreaming is so bad that, after Dream escapes from his fishbowl, there is absolutely nothing left in the Dreaming except for ruins.
"But where are all the dreams and nightmares who have escaped to the Waking World?" you may ask.
As this is a dark AU, I'm gonna say that Dream ate them. 👀
He escapes and devours the first dreams and nightmares he finds in the Waking World without conscious thought. Just full on starving man at a feast mode. Because while he is Endless, he has also been starving for centuries, and the fishbowl made him feral enough to not care about anything except getting sustenance.
His arcanas give him more of a fight, though they do so with reluctance. Dream looks so gaunt, and they remember being lovingly crafted by him once upon a time. Surely they could help him, just a little, without losing themselves in the process?
But no. This Dream is too empty, too hungry, and has lost too much to hear their cries of mercy, and their pleas of no more, my lord, please, I still want to live!
I think Dream intentionally finds Corinthian last, and I think he relished each and every bite of him.
Does Desire go through with their dream vortex plan, knowing that their brother is already a shell of his former, haughty self? Probably not.
And anyway, I don't think Dream would talk to his siblings after 1689 at all. But especially not to Death. Even during their family dinners, and even with Destruction trying to get him to talk, Delirium trying to cheer him up, and Death apologizing endlessly because it was Hob's choice--
He doesn't say anything, doesn't eat anything, and just stares at the tablecloth until it's time to leave.
Desire senses no desire from him. Despair feels all his despair, but even that is too much for her. She chokes when she tries to bait him, while Desire feels like their lungs are collapsing because it's hard to breathe around him. It only takes one or two family dinners for the twins to ignore him completely. They both sit as far away as they can from him. They do not want to even look at him. (They still plot to get him captured though, but in this universe, it's because they hope that he becomes so weak that he would be forced to end his being Morpheus and become a new Dream of the Endless.)
On the bright(?) side, yes, this Dream will absolutely find a show!Hob who would love him and all his red flags. 👀 I think the Hob he'll find is very compassionate, and would see the state of him and his realm, and immediately be like, 'This Dream needs me, unlike my Dream whose funeral I just went to. 🥺 I cannot possibly abandon him.'
This Dream needs an entire realm's worth of new dreams and nightmares? Hob can help with that! Just tell him how, and he'll get to work. 😊
Rejuvenated by Hob's presence, Dream recovers his ability to create new dreams and nightmares from dreamsand. But Hob looks so eager to help, and Dream can't possibly let him down and say he can make new dreams and nightmares on his own.
So he tells Hob that they absolutely have to fuck, and Hob has to get pregnant and give birth to all of Dream's children. Because that's how dreams and nightmares are made.
Hob is intimidated because he has never even thought about being pregnant before. But if it's with Dream... 🥺👉👈
And a Dream who has been so kind to him ever since he arrived, never leaving his side and telling him that he loves no one else but him? A Dream who literally ripped the fabric of reality apart for him?
"Of course I'll help," Hob says shyly. "It might be a frightening experience, but as long as you're with me, I'm not going to be afraid. 🥰"
(Cue Dream immediately teleporting them both to the comfiest spot in the currently work-in-progress Dreaming and fucking Hob until his seed takes, because why does Hob know exactly how to make Dream insane about him? 🔥 Is that a skill that all show!Hobs have or something?)
And then of course Hob discovers that he absolutely loves being pregnant, because Dream dotes on him even more. So even when Dream confesses that he lied about the process of making dreams and nightmares, Hob just laughs and kisses him, and tells him to abandon his old way of creating on the beach, because Hob definitely prefers this method.
Needless to say, Dream is absolutely head-over-heels in love with his new Hob. He makes his castle--and basically the entire Dreaming, to Hob's liking. Hob would like to have more bright courtyards filled with flowering trees and picnic spots? Done. Hob would like for all their children to be able to have their own homes (so he and Dream can fuck wherever they want in the castle without getting interrupted)? A stellar idea. Dream helps Lucienne 2.0 build her house that's full of books, Gilbert 2.0 with his botanical gardens, and even Corinthian 2.0 with his sarlacc pit.
As a result, the new Dreaming is a cheerier and brighter place. The new dreams and nightmares love their parents very much, and they do not find it strange that both Dream and Hob always smell like sex, with their moddy always happily pregnant, and their father always smug and possessive.
Dream learns to delegate most of his tasks to his many children, so he and Hob could work on making more dreams and nightmares to repopulate the entire Dreaming. It's Hob's idea that he delegates so they can fuck more, and Dream thinks that his lovely husband has all the best ideas and can do no wrong.
And in this universe, all the new dreams and nightmares agree. Having Hob in the new Dreaming is a blessing. Absolutely the best thing that has ever happened ever. And the entire realm will go to war with anyone who would try to take him away from them.
#showXcomic swap AU#ask and you shall receive#dreamling#the sandman#my writing#(side-eyes myself)#girl this is a dark AU stop making them happy
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I've mostly avoided any discourse surrounding Wonderful Precure, mainly because 1.) I don't want to get sucked into it (there's only so many hours in a day, and I work full time), and 2.) I for the most part genuinely find the show entertaining (as a dog person and fan of older shows like Scooby-Doo, I find Komugi and Iroha's dynamic a lot of fun).
But I knew when I watched Cure Nyammy's debut last weekend that there was going to be some discussion regarding her use of physical attacks on the Garugaru, and how Cure Wonderful and Cure Friendy's response to it essentially condemns the use of violence (in a Precure show, which is a franchise that in previous installments has relied heavily on action scenes).
Look, I'm not going to lie: I like action scenes in shows I watch, magical girl or otherwise. They can be very cathartic when done right, and shows like Precure, Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, and Ultraman tend to do them very right. Even as Wonderful Precure is airing, I'm also watching the original Futari Wa Precure and getting a kick out of it. (I also like lore and worldbuilding more, but that's for another time.) I found people reacting negatively to this part of WanPre's recent episode interesting, not only in the context of a magical girl show, but in the context of superhero fiction in general (which the warrior type of magical girl is a part of).
Twitter user @/MagicalGirlOTD made a small thread relating to this that got me thinking about the use of fighting as a solution to problems in works of fiction. Particularly, they commented that many magical girl shows that feature fighting run the risk of feeling the same all the time. Adding to this, they commented "This is the end result of the genre heavily favoring 'we can fight but we also need peace!' for the last 30 years."
It made me think of an old blog post by American comics writer J.M. DeMatteis (whose work I have complicated feelings about, though I admire his idealism and enthusiasm for his craft). In his 2018 blog post "Slugging It Out," DeMatteis spoke on the then-recent premiere of the CW's Black Lightning, and how (though he found it to be to a good start and was looking forward to how the plot panned out) it seemed to highlight what he called "the massive crack in the foundation of the entire superhero genre." As DeMatteis goes on to explain:
"No matter how much these characters talk about high ideals, non-violence or the power of love, in the end it often comes down to two people in costumes dropping buildings on each other’s heads. (And the more street level, the more realistic, your story is, the more difficult those scenes become: A space battle against aliens plays out very differently than, say, Batman beating the hell out of a common criminal*.)"
People like to talk about magical girls and how idealistic they are in areas like love and friendship; there's nothing wrong with that. In fact it's one of the things I admire about the genre. But one can just as easily see the same people also talk about how much ass their favorite magical girl can kick. (In fact, there are more than a few characters I'm introduced to through people just saying "So-And-So can kick [Insert other character/magical girl from another show they find overrated]'s ass easily!")
I don't think there's a clean-cut solution to this--it's just human nature, in the end. DeMatteis himself has spoken about how he's often tried to address this problem in superhero stories, only to be rebuffed by editors because doing so would call into question the very nature of superhero fiction. He's still happily writing for Marvel and DC, though, so he doesn't seem too bothered by it (but personally I do like his non-superhero work, since he doesn't have to worry about those limitations).
I'm not a pacifist, by any means. I think there is a time for fighting. And I like reading and watching stories that feature cool battles in addition to cool characters and fun adventures. But there's always a small part of me that does think about these kinds of things. Maybe I'll always be thinking about it, until the end of my life.
There's already a lot of magical girl stories where the girls end up fighting monsters and bad guys. There's also a lot of shows where the magical girl doesn't really fight (I personally like Princess Tutu and the way Tutu goes through her conflicts). Maybe this concept of not wanting to harm the monsters is something one doesn't really expect in Precure. But I don't know, I don't think it's really bad to show children they have a non-violent option now and then. Just my two cents.
(*Yes I'm aware that what Batman does is the subject of its own discourse; I'm just quoting the guy. And he's written for Batman, to boot.)
#wonderful precure#wanpre#precure#iroha inukai#cure friendy#komugi inukai#cure wonderful#cure nyammy#mayu neko#mayu nekoyashiki#satoru toyama#magical girls#magical girl#jm dematteis#my posts#text
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I love your borderline story!! It is so well crafted and I love Bruce’s point of view for this. Even though they are literally sharing a brain he still comes across as a limited pov, and like there definitely seems to be things going around he isn’t instantly aware of. I think it gives a very realistic feel to a story about magic and such. Also, it reminds me of sense8 which I love (tho different type of connection of course)!
It was also nice to read bruce being bisexual about clark and the kids making fun lol. It’s like, ok doesn’t matter clark is a man they have known this for years (on the older kids part) haha. Also the latest chapter was very distressing! Like in a good way! You build plots and tension so well and I can’t wait to see where this goes!
Also I like the imagery you use to describe the characters. You have a way of writing that let’s me picture things easily and get immersed into the characters. I like how the characters are influencing each other too. I hope that j’onn isn’t right that they will just be one person, but it’s cool to read them borrowing from each other. Tho that part does suck when it’s like unwanted feelings like dick’s attraction to Barbara affecting bruce. It’s cool to see both the positive and negative aspects of such a connection.
I like that you write the characters as human who don’t always do what’s best for themselves and/or others. These days a lot of people want characters that only do the right thing always and feel the right things and never say the wrong thing and talk like they are teaching therapy lessons. But I like here where you can see they care about each other, but there is a lot of complicated history and relationships. You have such a good grasp on writing people and aren’t afraid to give them flaws! It’s so great.
Also I’ve not caught everything in comics and stuff, but so often times stories are where Jason outright hates bruce or it’s Bruce vs all his kids and it’s nice to read that even tho there are definitely complex relationships going on and obviously people aren’t perfect, but there is still this loyalty and love there still. After everything, there is still love. Or idk I could be reading with rose coloured glasses, but I just mean it’s nice to see something more balanced.
Anyways idk how coherent this, but overall I’m really loving this story and also shana tova!
Thank you so much, anon! I'm so grateful for this comment. Thank you for reading <3 there should definitely be more soon.
Shanah Tovah!
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Can I ask why you don't like RHaTO 2016? I started it solely because the scene of Jason and Bizarro talking on the floor on the first issues did things to my heart the one time I saw a panel of it, but I didn't get much farther. And I like how you talk bout issues
Oh, thank you for the compliment! Apologies for this taking so long. I had to reflect a bit. (For what it's worth, the scene you're referring to is one of my favorite scenes in RHatO and some of the best writing in the entire run).
Some caveats:
I like reading serialized comics, but I'm unpracticed in the art of reading serialized comics, so my structural analyses come largely from analyzing other forms of writing (mostly novels, some TV & film). This means that I might be expressing critiques that are not entirely fair given the nature of the medium.
I read the entire run in a couple sittings last September, so these are generally remembered vibes and not nuanced analysis. I'm open to correction if I've misremembered something.
I actually don't dislike all of RHatO 2016, even though I do strongly dislike some of the canon introduced (this canon is discussed in points 5-6, and thus contains spoilers)
Also, for brevity's sake (ha!), "RHatO" refers to the 2016 version; if I mean RHatO 2011 I'll indicate that.
Anyway, my problems with the run (cut for length):
RHatO doesn't know who Jason is. This is not a "RHatO!Jason isn't who I think Jason should be" critique (though I certainly feel some element of that as well) but rather a "Lobdell cannot decide the basics of who his version of Jason Todd is as a character." In a different run that went through the hands of multiple writers, I'd find this far more forgivable, but barring the tail end of the run, Lobdell is the sole author. Jason is by turns incredibly clever and incredibly stupid in ways that felt contradictory. I had very little sense of what he valued or cared about. Sometimes he expresses great empathy and sometimes he's bafflingly self-absorbed and the only thing that seems to determine these behaviors is what's most convenient for the plot. Don't get me wrong: there are Jason moments in RHatO that I absolutely love, but they're balanced by Jason moments that utterly confound me because I don't understand how this is the same person.
It's not an ensemble book but it's pretending to be an ensemble book. This is a fundamental issue with every iteration of RHatO (including the webtoon) because no iteration of RHatO is written as an ensemble book--Jason is always the main character. RHatO also sort of sets itself up for failure in that regard--Artemis and Bizarro are far less well-known characters with less history than Jason and would require more investment and buildup on Lobdell's part to make them more than just props, but Lobdell doesn't put in the work. Even arcs that ostensibly center Artemis or Bizarro end up feeling flat, especially because so often they operate in service to Jason, The Main Character. (Incidentally, the point when I found Artemis & Bizarro most compelling was when they were separated from Jason and allowed room to breathe and exist).
The emotional core of the story, insomuch as there is one, is between Bruce and Jason and it really, really shouldn't be. Don't get me wrong, I would read a million issues of Jason and Bruce being completely, wretchedly awful to each other, but because the emotional core lies between Bruce and Jason, and also because RHatO is trying to be an ensemble book, and also because Lobdell is very uninterested in crafting a story around an alternate emotional core, whenever the story isn't about Bruce and Jason (which is most of the time) it flounders. I'd say that's fine if Lobdell just wanted to write a fun, dumb adventure book, but the Bruce and Jason bits are too present to ignore, making the whole thing feel very off-kilter.
From a team perspective, I don't understand what Jason adds. The whole run is sold as a "dark trinity," but the role Batman plays in the Wonder Woman-Superman-Batman trinity and the role Jason plays in the Artemis-Bizarro-Red Hood trinity isn't really the same? I feel like I'm supposed think Jason deserves his place on the team because he's The Main Character, but even from a very mechanical powers and abilities perspective I don't get what he's doing there. He's not particularly clever or strategic. He doesn't have the resources Batman does. He's not the brains, especially because later arcs give that role to someone else. If I had to assign him a role I'd say he's the "heart," whatever that means, but I also fundamentally don't buy Artemis and Jason as a team or companions and would argue that Bizarro serves as the "heart" (as well as the brawn) most of the time.
(This section contains spoilers) RHatO introduces the stupidest plot threads and then proceeds to do nothing with them. Willis Todd is alive, for reasons. He's Wingman, who's just randomly part of Batwoman's Bat-Team, for reasons. He's Faye Gunn's son, making Jason Faye Gunn's grandson, for reasons. None of this has any real bearing on the plot but it does create a lot of problems for Jason's canon backstory, whatever it is at this point in time.
(This section contains spoilers) Which also, the fact that it opens with conflict with Black Mask, one of the few rogues Jason has had extensive conflict with as Red Hood, creates a nightmare of what's in continuity and what isn't. My understanding is that UtRH is in continuity, which makes literally everything about the opening act not only nonsensical, but actively confusing.
This is less a critique of the series itself, but worth noting: I generally disagree with how people rec the first half of the run (i.e. the run with Bizarro and Artemis) and not the last half of the run (the Red Hood: Outlaw part). I read the series in trade format so I don't have the issues on hand, but I think RH:O vol. 2 is way more enjoyable (at least when it comes to Jason content) than the middle sections of RHatO.
So I guess I have problems with consistency, character work, storytelling choices, and ensemble writing. I don't with it's a worthless run per se; it's certainly better than other Jason-centric stories, and I love Dexter Soy's art about as much as I dislike Kenneth Rocafort's, so that's definitely a bonus for (early) RHatO 2016. I also don't think Lobdell is a completely incompetent writer, necessarily; he's just lazy, and incurious, and generally kind of a hack, which in some ways makes it worse.
I also don't think anyone is wrong to like either version of RHatO. I am a very brittle reader with specific wants & desires from comics that are usually only ever met by accident. So, obviously, take all this with an amount of salt anywhere between a shaker and a mine.
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2 and 24 for the fic writer asks?
2. a character whose POV you’re currently exploring
I am going to count the comic I'm working on for the purposes of these asks because that's what's current. so the answer is boromir! i've written him before but mostly from the POV of other characters so i'm still learning him
i recently went through and kind of speed-re-read his whole involvement in LOTR (I probably missed things but it was just meant to be a refresher)
Boromir Thing I Forgot: he accidentally summoned the cthulu monster in front of moria because he threw a rock in the water (he was mad because he asked gandalf 'you know how to open the riddle gate right' and gandalf straight up says 'No!' and boromir is like why are we even here and he throws a rock). this is probably, in retrospect, one reason reason why gandalf gets so angry when pippin throws a rock down a well for no reason later on. we already had an end boss spawn in from someone doing that once already
anyway a really interesting thing about boromir is that he gets a pretty big chunk of posthumous characterization indirectly, via other people talking about him after he leaves the narrative. and it's all given from the perspective of other characters, so it's interesting, especially when there is some disagreement between characters
there's also a big POV shift from frodo's narrated segment in FOTR, which feels much more detached (boromir is big. and strong. and big. and strong. he's big. he honked his horn when elrond told him not to. he's big. and strong. yeah he told me he could snap me in half and take the ring and i wasn't into that, but i am too classy to say anything) to pippin's narration reflecting on boromir later (boromir just died in front of me trying to save me from orcs and i don't know about the ring thing yet, so yeah he's great i love him)
anyway, comics writing doesn't have the kind of deep internal POV you can get from prose (unless you do a ton of monologuing which is something i don't do currently), and i don't lock into one character for an extended time the same way, and it's often in omniscient viewpoint. but i need to know what the character is thinking in order to frame what they should say and do, of course
and i also find that how i frame the artwork does sometimes alter based on which character's viewpoint is being portrayed. especially in places where what the audience knows is directed by what the character knows/can see (or vice versa- the audience is directly shown something the character cannot see and i'm relying on them to be aware the character doesn't have the same information they do). so POV is still something i think about
24) how do you recharge when you’re not feeling creative?
i think i said said 'taking in other stories' earlier but i can elaborate on that, usually what's needed is a story that includes whatever thing was the inspiration for the story i'm trying to work on, which could be a basic plot, character dynamic, etc. and it usually does not have to be in the same medium that i'm working in, but the exception to that is animation, only animation makes me want to animate*
*i dont do it often
...i also listen to music and play video games. maybe too many video games. and i work on craft projects like knitting or embroidery (i bought a discounted scooby doo-themed perler beads kit a while ago and now i have 14 scooby doo perler bead creations sitting on my desk)
anyway. thank you for asking!
(if anyone didn't see the meme this is from, it is here)
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No Straight Roads is an impressive First Good Try from a newcomer developer. It's a bit clunky (loose jump mechanics; weird fixed camera angles during stages prior to boss fights; some uh, choice voice acting, though the latter is largely relegated to NPCs), but it's visually surreal and enticing, and the game is a mastery of nuanced depths and inner secrets coming from each of the major characters.
Naturally, I was immediately drawn to the robot boy band, which, conceptually alone, is fantastic. This is such an evil thing for a major corporation to do. You have advanced machinery designed to be the perfect entertainment system, drawing in millions of fans and their money. They're completely ageless and can be exploited for however long is needed, and if one "dies", another can replace it. 1010 is diabolical.
But NSR one-ups this amusingly bizarre backdrop by adding 1010's manager and his contribution alone simultaneously explains a lot about the game's creativity and charm, AND his character. NSR isn't above emotional and heartbreaking moments, but it constantly maintains an upbeat, positive energy; fittingly Neon J's war background is portrayed as hammy and comical.
But they're not making fun of him for being a strait-laced soldier (well, a bit, but not in a mean-spirited way.) NSR is really good about laying out the cards and letting you find and piece together why these people act the way they do. And I'm just so damn bewildered and in awe that this man, clearly a war veteran and possibly enduring PTSD, decided the best way to cope is to take his toy-making skills and create a military-themed boy band. Art is therapeutic, after all.
And it somehow works? Like there is something absurd, but fitting about a former war vet addressing his band as soldiers and treating them as such. It's just another form of training, just replace guns with dancing, and any war fields with a stage platform. It's kind of fucked up, honestly.
I can see why fans have latched headcanons of this guy being a father to his boy band. Like in-game, he portrays the army-specific "Father to his Men" and hints of his backstory seem to imply that his robotic toys are very important to him. I mean, he's an artist, and a lot of artists extend a lot of themselves and a generous pouring of love (sometimes a little too much) into their crafts.
And then you see this and go, okay, yeah, I think the fans are onto something. He could have easily replaced any of these bots from an attack like that. Neon didn't have to get up front to try and protect them.
Of course, this could be another extensive of his military background; he's protecting his men because it's what he was trained to do. Maybe it's subconscious that way. Maybe he's already lost so many of his friends and brothers-in-arm that he just dived in. But I think it's abundantly clear 1010 aren't just soulless tools to him.
And like, the guy has, at least, a decent sense of morals. I'm not sure how he feels about associating with a capitalist company (and to be fair, NSR isn't really about that, though I guess I could argue that the people high up are as much victims in their own myopia that they failed to notice the greater issues as much as Bunk Bed Junction is), but he's one of the first to point out Bunk Bed Junction's chaotic method isn't exactly any better (he is correct, there wasn't any damn reason to break a nine-year-old kid's piano.)
This is kind of what I mean when I say NSR's characters has layers. So much that for a game I powered through in two days, it had a lot to say about its cast, and it does it with gusto. There's a lot I could probably talk about Neon J and 1010 (do the latter have self-awareness? Is he a cyborg because he suffered severe war wounds?)
Also holy shit, their Christmas upgrade. Words can't EVEN.
#no straight roads#neoyi talks#I recorded a video of Neon J's appearance because I wanted to show off his dance moves#but tumblr refuses to let me post this blog with it even though I met all the guidelines#tumblr ya gotta fix this shit#I hadn't had video uploading issues until this new blog format took over!
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To Cry for the Moon Part 10 (Moon Knight x Female Eternal!Reader)
Author's Note: The one is going to be tough, but I promise it will pay off. We actually do have a plan for this story.
Please do not take, copy, or translate without talking to me first. Reblogs, likes, and comments are encouraged. But anything else please message me first. I work really hard on these, I was a writing apprentice for a comic book writer and learned this craft despite having issues I had to overcome, like essential tremors, a mild reading disability, and aphantasia. I put my heart and soul into everything I write. Thank you.
The story idea, and most of the voicemails to Steven & Marc were written by @jupitersmoon167 (the original post I saw is here!) Also realized I should probably add content warnings, so I did and tagged them. If you think I missed a warning please send me an ask. I try to tw tag even the tiniest thing so no one has to suffer if I can help it.
Y/N = Your Name. Y/N/N = Your Nickname. Reader pronouns She/Her. Story is 3rd person POV. Italics are the reflected alter talking.
Tag Requests are Open just message me.
Tagged: @rosaren2498, @yuugenmomo, @faefanatic, @urlocallsimp @assassinsasha23, @queenariesofnarnia, @rmoonstoner, @crypticruler, @animelover18, @philiasoul, @distinguishedmakerpandapatrol, @22carolina08, @preciousbabypeter
Primary Pairing: Steven Grant x Eternal!Reader, Marc Spector x Eternal!Reader, Khonshu x Ma'at!Reader
Content Warning: Mental Illness, Injury, Death, Violence, Fighting
Word Count: 2k+ (for those curious the whole fic wc is 17,332. And it is nowhere near done lol)
WIP Series Masterlist
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 11, Part 12
Part 10: Seemingly the End
After getting off the plane painful memories came rushing back. Y/N had not been back here since the Eternals separated. It was a painful memory but she pushed through it. After taking a short trip to a small city, Y/N pulls out her phone. She makes one last call before they venture too far from the jungle-surrounded city to have signal. She calls Steven and isn't surprised to hear his outgoing voicemail again.
“Screw the theatrics, I don’t even know if you’re even going to get this. We’re in the middle of the god damn Amazon because Druig thought it would be a grand fucking idea to place his cult here of all places. He’s a stubborn bastard, but if we’re gonna pull this off we need him. I'm sorry, Marc, Steven. I am so sorry. Osiris can tell you what is happening, all Khonshu has to do is ask. Khonshu was more right about me than he could have ever known. And well, I meant it earlier when I said you should talk to your dad, you uh, never know when he’ll kick the bucket, so to speak. I miss you guys, I wish I could talk-” she lost signal as they got further from the city. She hoped enough of the message went through. She put her phone away and took to the air to attempt to narrow down Druig's commune location.
Her feet touch the ground as they near the modest commune. She could feel the people around them. Their hearts are kind and welcoming. She watches the people around her as the others talk. They all feel like good people. She can feel their loyalty. It's quiet and content. Her focus is drawn and she feels herself truly smile for the first time since leaving London when Druig finally walks out.
"Please," Druig says with a smirk, "Make yourselves at home."
He studied Y/N as she got closer. "Who do I need to control off a cliff for taking the stars from your eyes?" Druig asks as she finally near him.
"Wouldn't kill him, or them, if you did, but you'd probably still enjoy it," Sprite told him. Druig raised a brow.
"Doesn't matter," Y/N says, knowing it was so much more than her issues with Marc and Steven. "It's good to see you." It wasn't a lie. She always missed Druig. He was more her brother than the others. Druig could always understand how overwhelming her powers were. How being surrounded by people was a blessing and a curse. He could feel the minds around him like a constant buzz. Y/N always felt the same thing but instead of minds, it was hearts. Having to sit back and watch the wars and conflicts as time went on weighed on her heart as it did his mind. They had an understanding of things that the others just couldn't comprehend. The heart and the mind were vital to human existence after all. The only difference was he could control minds, she had to judge hearts as is. And honestly, he thinks he was given the easier task.
Druig rolls his eyes but hugs her, he didn't need to read her mind to know how broken she was. "Told you that you should have come with me. They would have loved you. No one would have broken your heart." He gestures to the members of his commune.
"Ask me again after you talk to everyone else," she tells him.
"I might just hold you to it." Druig grins.
"I might just let you." Y/N hugs him again.
Druig chuckles as he pulls away, and goes to the main hall with her just behind him.
She knew he was stubborn but she had hoped he wouldn't resist them so much. He gets under everyone's skin so easily sometimes. And Ikaris made it easy. It didn't help Sersi's phone went off. It made Y/N want to check hers, but she knew she wouldn't have anything. Marc didn't want anything to do with her. No need to waste the battery. Instead she reached out with her powers to feel the community Druig had cultivated for years. They were so content. It wasn't easy knowing if the team failed, these people would die. Her attention was drawn back by Ikaris saying Druig was wasting their time. Druig hadn't agreed to join them. She wasn't really surprised. She had been hopeful, but not unrealistic.
Y/N follows Druig out. "You told me to ask you to stay again," he says.
"I did," Y/N replied.
"Would you?" He asks.
"Not if it means I'd just have to stay here and watch them all die without trying to stop it. Osiris and Isis believe we can stop it. I have let them down enough ready, I have to try."
"And you're here to convince me to help," he states.
"I'm here because I missed you and I would feel better if you were there. Is it so bad I wanted to see one of my best friends one last time before we all might die or get reset? Yes, I was hoping you would help us, but I'm not going to make you."
"You still wouldn't join me, would you? You love your human too much, the one that broke your heart. You could always bring him."
"His mind would drive you up a wall. They have at least 3 personalities and Khonshu in their head."
"Sounds crowded," Druig admits. "But does sound amusing. Haven't had a new challenge in centuries."
"If you want a challenge then join us, forcing a celestial to sleep, I don't think you could find a bigger challenge."
"I see what you did there," Druig says, shaking his head.
"And you know me too well to know I can't just let humanity end because of Arishem's lies. I've always been willing to die for the truth, only this time I genuinely might."
"Try not to," he says. Before they can say much more, they hear Sersi shouting. Deviants. Deviants had found them. Y/N takes off running, summoning her wings as she did. She flies and joins Kingo in trying to buy the others enough time to get the villagers clear of the fight. As Kingo focuses on keeping one of them busy, Y/N tries to keep them away from where Sersi is leading the people. She shouts for Sersi when the other Eternal is hit while trying to fortify the building. Y/N immediately launches a round of feathers at the beast to draw it away from her friend. Her attacks are joined by rifle fire and her heart sinks when she sees a number of villagers under Druig’s control shooting at the beast. She goes to volley another attack when Druig jumps over the deviant and shoots at it.
“Seriously?!” She shouts as she drops down to block the creature's tail as it swipes at the humans. Her wings took the brunt of the blow. She hopes that Druig is paying enough attention so that she doesn’t end up with a bullet in her back while trying to defend his people. She doesn’t even have enough time between blows to get a hit in. She focuses everything she has on staying ahead of the deviant's tail. She was starting to think that splitting her powers may have actually been a mistake when she feels herself losing her footing. Unable to get into the air was limiting what she could do. She tries to summon a blade but the deviant shifts faster than she can, wraps its tail around her leg and slams her into the dirt, before she can get her wings back up to protect herself, the jaws of the beast latch onto her side. Ripping a scream from her as it does.
The only reason it doesn’t kill her is that Sersi traps it in a metallic tree and Druig pulls her out from the shocked creature’s gaping maw. She pushes him away. She doesn’t have the energy to tell him how stupid he was being. She left Sersi to talk sense into him. Y/N took to the sky to get a better chance for an attack. The pain in her side was unbelievable, but she focused on attacking as the deviant broke free from its improvised cage. She’d never been so glad to see Ikaris in her life when he shows up to take on the deviant now heading for Druig. He took the beast out swiftly with his eye beams, before going after another. She tried to give him aerial support, but it was becoming harder and harder to build up enough energy for an attack. She feels water hit her as Sersi battles a deviant by hand. Y/N is just as shocked as the rest of the group when Sersi transforms the deviant into a tree.
Y/N begins to feel her wings fade and flicker, and her vision grows fuzzy around the edges. She knows she won’t last much longer. Her heart is beating too fast and the bite on her side has already soaked her shirt and jacket in blood. She knew her phone was probably smashed in her pocket. There went her chance at telling Steven and Marc goodbye. She tries to lower herself gently to the ground but her knees buckle and she falls. She hears shouting and feels hands on her. They move her and she stares at the tops of the trees. She wishes she could see more of the sky. She loves the sky. She loves flying. It felt natural. She wishes she could see the moon, one last time. To know that maybe, just maybe she'd get to say goodbye. She tried, but all that came out was a choked sob. She wanted to tell them all that she would see them in the next life. It wasn't until hands gripped her face and brushed back her tears that she focused on the figures now blocking small bits of the canopy.
She tried to reach for them and her blood-soaked hand was pulled into Sersi's own. She shook her head at Druig as he tried to help her. Her other hand gestures for them to come closer. They do. She summons up as much energy as she can. "Save them for me."
"We will," Sersi says.
She leans her head up with the last strength she has and bumps Druig's forehead earning a sad laugh. Her head drops back down but he returns the gesture.
"You've got nothing to worry about now," he says. Her strength is gone, she closes her eyes and knows it's over. A fleeting thought of goodbye and then darkness.
Druig was on his feet as soon as he knew she was gone. He looked at the destruction around them and the blood on his hands. Sersi squeezes the limp hand in hers before she stands up. She needs to think. She has to call Steven. Sersi feels another piece of her heart shatter. But before she can do anything she's called because Y/N isn't the only loss. Gilgamesh had fallen defending Thena. And Thena was inconsolable.
Egyptian Underworld
Osiris hears shouting. He approaches the scales as the chains of the plate holding the feather break. He picks up the feather and it feels wrong. Very wrong. Too much like a normal feather and the ethereal glow dims slightly. That was not good. He gently sets it aside. "Time to intervene," he says and gestures for Anubis to follow him as he opens the gates and they pass through. Summoning their avatars he opens the path to Y/N. "Oh little feather, what did you do." He nods at Anubis who has his avatar carefully lift Y/N and they return to the temple. "Fix her up as best you can. Her master may have forsaken her, but we shall not. Teach those Celestials that they have no more power over death than we do."
Osiris was quick to retrieve the feather of truth, encouraged by the slight glow that it still held. It was her, she had told him. Now he would use it to put things back the way they should be. A devoted goddess like Ma'at deserved at least that. If she was too far gone and beyond his reach, he would have Anubis do what he was best at, what he was worshipped for. But Osiris felt it would work. They would not be saying goodbye to Earth. It was not their time yet.
Ruins of Druig's Commune
"Where is she?" Kingo asks as he goes to retrieve Y/N to place her alongside Gilgamesh.
"What?" Druig pushes past him to find Y/N's body gone.
"You're sure she was dead?" Ikaris asks and earns a vicious glare from Druig.
"Yes," Druig spat.
"Maybe an animal-"
"Don't-" Druig warns.
"Druig," Kingo starts.
"Then we have to find her," Sersi says.
Sprite and Thena stay with Gilgamesh while the others search and find nothing. No signs of tracks, no trace. Nothing. They eventually decide that they had to give Gilgamesh a proper send-off. And Sersi still had something she needed to do.
Once Sersi was able to clean her hands she found her phone and found Steven's number. She calls it. They don't answer, though she wasn’t surprised. They probably thought Y/N had borrowed her phone to call. So she left them a message she knew would destroy them if and when they do get it.
"Steven, or Marc, it's Sersi, I…I hate having to do this in a voicemail. I would rather do this in person, or even in a real phone call, I…if we had more time I would do this in person, but we lost Y/N. Part of me hopes Khonshu knows, she always found it annoying when he boasted about knowing all that happened under the moon." Sersi let out a shaky laugh. "She…well, she fought to the end. She loved humanity, she loved you all. She loved you, both of you. She would want you to know."
Sersi hung up and just hoped the message got through. But she would find a way to reach them, to save them, and all of humanity. Druig was onboard now. They would end this for all of them. Their deaths would mean something.
Temple of the Gods
The first thing that registers to Y/N's mind is the cold. She feels cold, the cold stone beneath her makes her shiver.
"Welcome back, Ma'at," the voice of Isis' avatar says. "The goddess will be glad you pulled through." Y/N goes to speak but is hushed. She hears footsteps approaching followed by a whispered conversation she cannot process. Y/N finally opens her eyes but puts up no fight as she is lifted. The avatar of Anubis sets her back down but this time on a soft blanket that the goddess' avatar gently wraps around her. "You have been through quite the journey, and you need rest. Sleep now."
The next time she wakes Osiris is there, his avatar looms above her as he updates her on what has happened. Her family had lost another soul. Gilgamesh had fought and earned a warrior's death and were it up to Osiris he would be rewarded in his afterlife. Sadly, Gilgamesh, like Ajak, was beyond his reach.
"But your feather saved you," he told her. "Your commitment to serving humanity in this life and the next is what brought you back. Your strength will hopefully return with time, but your heart beats again, and when the time comes you will show the Celestials that we gods are not to be underestimated. He sat the feather gently beside her, the faint glow although weaker than before still shown. "You have earned more time, feather. I know you will use it wisely."
She wakes again in a bed with soft light shining through the open window. "You are safe," the voice of Osiris' avatar spoke. "You will find everything you need in this room. Bathroom, if you feel like you have the strength is through there." He gestures to an open door. "You are safe here. Osiris will summon you when the time comes."
"I need to call my family, to call-"
"If you wish to help them you will not waste your energy," another voice spoke. She recognized the avatar for Horus. "You wish to join your friends again to fix things, do you not?"
"I do," she admits.
"Then do not waste your energy or tax your healing system with concerns that won't matter. You do not yet know if you can join them or if they will succeed. Why make them suffer your death twice?"
"And Khonshu has not graced us with his presence, even Taweret is surprised, but no need to worry the old bird over things he cannot change. Heal first, then you can right your wrongs."
#To Cry for the Moon Fic#eternals!reader#moon knight eternals crossover fic#eternals x reader#egyptian gods x eternals!reader#marc spector x eternals!reader#marc spector x y/n#marc spector x female!reader#marc spector x reader#steven grant x y/n#steven grant x female!reader#steven grant x reader#khonshu x reader#tw: death#tw: violence#tw: fighting#tw: injury#tw: mental illness
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💌 to the recipient Victor Grantz;
At first I thought you disliked me, with how you'd flee the room so suddenly whenever I'd tried speaking with you, or look away in what I'd assumed to be contempt. It upset me at first, thinking I had done something to deserve your ill-view of me. I have come to realise otherwise, as the other residents have explained to me your general aversion to being in the centre of attention. Suddenly it made sense to my why you performed so well as a postman. Every letter crafted with careful attention to the people around you so that you could help us all in matches- I'm amazed everytime at your consistency but even moreso at how earnest you are. Forgive me for saying this but I'm so very intrigued by you.
In recent times everytime I get a letter in matches from you it takes me back to the excitement I felt reading the first letter you'd ever sent my way. I recall the hope it gave me to push on and eventually escape that match through that dungeon. I couldn't expect you to have known then, but I wasn't doing too well that day and was quite upset, but that small act of kindness from you was enough to help me rest easy when I went to sleep.
To be honest it's something I'm jealous of, the ability to concisely write in a way that touches the heart everytime, an envious gift to have. You may not talk to us in the conventional sense but your writing speaks in a way thats far more impactful. I found I'd be more saddened if I could no longer read it and as you're no doubt aware, the Baron has expressed we must get rid of your letters after the matchea so that we dont smuggle them for future use.
So I have taken upon myself to ask that perhaps instead of talking we could write to eachother, outside of the matches. I'm not as good as you at putting my thoughts onto paper, but I hope they reach you and that you may understand my intentions. I find myself reading too much between the lines in those matches to try to pry open the glimpse I had of just who you are. I ought to be more upfront in asking you, instead of wallowing in these feelings. Perhaps one day we could revel in eachothers presence without any spoken words too, if that makes you more comfortable. If I could come to understand you without having to utter a word, then I'd be willing to continue to write to you, if you'd do the same for me.
Eager regards, Dahlia
Victor Grantz has received your letter! 🔔
Victor has always felt joy in sending letters. The blissful reactions of his recipients is enough to make him feel the same. He does feel down sometimes whenever he wishes that there could be a letter for him too. Sometimes, he peeks at his letters just to momentarily feel what could be felt when someone sends a letter to you.
He became totally elated when he saw his name in the envelope. His whole body felt giddy with excitement and he blushes as the same color as his uniform.
That day, he immediately sent all the letters he needed to sent and competed the tasks he had to do. After that he rests in his room, taking his time at reading your letter.
Those words you've said, your praises, your sincerity, went straight to his heart. No one has ever said these to him.
He has sent letters but never received anything back. So to receive a letter about your love for him...he could just cry...–oh, but, from happiness, of course.
He is so thankful for your consideration of him. You acknowledged his existence more than anyone has. You've made him feel more special than he's ever been. You've made his wish come true.
Right! He needs to reply!
He rushes to grab a piece of paper and a pen from his desk drawer and immediately sat on the chair. The speed at which he did it is almost comical and even Wick is baffled by his sudden burst of energy.
Victor writes on the paper merrily, occasionally halting to think deeply.
This might be the first letter he writes and will delivers and so excitedly.
— Victor replied to your letter!
Dear Dahlia,
I sincerely apologize that I made you think I dislike you at first. It was unintentional...Actually, I didn't want you to hate me that's why I often avoid personal conversations. But, thank you for being so considerate of me. Hearing that you're interested in me makes me feel all excited and my cheeks starts to warm up...
You're one of the first people who read my letters more deeply than anyone else. You even replied to me. It's embarrassing, but even as a postman, I deliver letters everyday but there are none for me. This is one the first letters I've ever received. I'm really happy.
And yes! I would love to keep exchanging letters with you. I am not a vocal person. And I do prefer to keep things on paper... This is the only way I think I'd be able to talk to someone properly. Perhaps, in the future, we can be close enough to say our thoughts and feelings beside each other.
If you ask me, you might have already understood me better than anyone else. Thank you. And I hope I can make you feel the same way you feel about me.
– Victor Grantz
[ This might be the longest letter I've ever done. Hope you liked it! ]
#identity v imagines#identity v x reader#idv imagines#idv x reader#identity v#identity v matchups#idv#idv matchup#victor grantz#letter: sent!
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Some thoughts on the ending of Captain America Sentinel of Liberty
considering how I haven't been that much enthusiast with how the second arc of this story has been handled (Cold War was terrible, imo), and mostly with Bucky's character, I have to say I'm rather pleased with how this ending was crafted, considering the writers had to cut it short and change plans midway, probably. This was maybe the best they could do at this point.
I just beg for one thing
can we stop having scenes' like this one each time Bucky is facing an enemy? I know that in this case the scene serves as a parallel to what happened in issue #5 (I think?) with Bucky killing the former Revolution, and this is also a way to show us how Steve has taken a different sight to his friend's approach, standing by his side and trying to understand his pov. That's cool and reasonable.
BUT PLS LET THIS BE THE LAST TIME WE SEE THIS TROPE in comics and in mcu or wathever!!! Bucky isn't a child pulling a tantrum that needs to be calmed down each time by someone else, he is a man who has gone through so many terrible and unfair shit, and still he has proven so many times he can be a real hero. He is a good man at heart, that knows compassion in spite of how bad he has been treated since forever. He has his own moral compass and sense of justice, but he is not a killer anymore, and he hasn't been for a long time now.
How much more powerful a scene would be if there wasn't someone else to talk "sense" into him when he is pointing a gun at a bad guy (a scene similiar to this one was in Falcon and WS 2020 too!), and still he would lower the gun all the same and spare his enemy life, by himself?
I get why this scene was used here, and it is a good one who speaks some volume on Steve's character too, but I do really hope this will be the last time Bucky has to go through this!
btw, Alpine was the absolute best character, sorry not sorry, awesome badass baby murderer <3
Wondering if the Love somehow escaped the explosion and saved herself? She was the only OC member with some decency (and some sense), it seems, and still we know so little about her! (still living with my headcanon she had a crush on Bucky, lmao!!!)
#sentinel of liberty spoilers#captain america: sentinel of liberty#captain america finale#spoilers#I dream for bucky barnes to be his own man#alpine is the best
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*lays on tummy and kicks up legs* tell me about them
This is when I wish I had access to Discord emotes, but regardless thank you for enabling me and my horrible ocs >:]
Meet Sherri and Myntea! The main teal and goldblood characters in my batch of critters. Some context before I get into both of them individually: The story they're apart of is called Temporal Shuffle, and a running theme among their group is following in their ancestor's footsteps in one way or another, similar to the canon trolls symbolically paralleling their own. However here, it's more extreme. Like- think something along the lines of a session full of trolls who treat their ancestors as Eridan and Vriska did. It's a mess of children who don't know what the FUCK they're doing. Anyways, onto Sherri and Myntea themselves.
Sherri Asafer, Prospit dreamer, Mage of Life [She/They]- Assassin in training, though she has a disdain for it. She's only doing so to follow in her ancestor's footsteps who was a high ranking assassin herself, as they were hatched and raised to do so. In spite of this, Sherri has a prominent side gig online as an anonymous creator who promotes rather controversial ideas online [for alternia] and tries to spread positivity when she can [to mixed results], often getting away with a lot of it due to having connections. However, this has lead to her being subjected to physical danger on multiple occasions on the off chance someone is to figure out who she is. Still, this doesn't stop them as they have a strong belief that things can get better. Aside from that, their other main hobby is plush crafting.
Myntea Horrol, Derse dreamer, Knight of Heart [She/Her]- A psionic who once had rather impressive but destructive and hard to contain abilities, until an incident that greatly burnt out her abilities. She still can use them, however they are pretty weak and can cause strain if used too much. Very much so the edge to Sherri's fluff, Myntea is a reclusive and paranoid troll who works at a convenience store. Her ancestor was a warrior who fought in one of the rebellions against Condy, someone who Myntea admires and unfairly uses to compare herself to. Aside from that, Myntea has a fondness for science, and a curiosity that can make her quite nosy despite her better judgement.
Myn and Sherri met when Sherri had taken a particularly rough job as she ended up taking a beating before she finished the target off. Her body sore and her hive being too far away to walk all the way back without a rest, she decided to take her chances and rest up in a cave she had found hidden away by some boulders.
It was a lot larger than they expected, the entrance was so covered up it seemed like more of a crawlspace, except this cave was big enough to have a hive inside of it. With some consideration, they decided to risk the potential of the troll living there being hostile, eventually running into Myn.
I'm not gonna go into the whole thing here because I am tired and I honestly wasn't planning on typing this much, but hey! It is what it is and I'd love to talk about them more outside of this post. I will say as a fun fact! They are in my Pesterquest comic as side characters, so look out for them ^_^
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I thought this was going to be an extremely busy two months for me at work and it mostly has been, but so I've been playing a lot of games lately to decompress when I get home. I went from Alan Wake 2 (which is exactly my kind of thing, at least aesthetically-- I just thought that was a really neat game) to Spider-man 2, which... and I liked Spider-man 1 fine, but the sequel somehow feels different / worse...
Spider-man 2 is a celebration of the one thing that makes Spider-man great to the designers-- which is of course, hang-gliding. Who can think of Spider-man without thinking about hang-gliding? Not whoever made Spider-man 2.
But then the weird part is inbetween all the hang-gliding, every single character talks like a 2015 Joss Whedon acceptance speech for an award for feminism (I'm not sure which one, he won many, but). Everyone's trying to sound hip but in a way that feels very much written by someone who's online too much, and on like the YA parts of the internet. Which I don't remember being true of the first game.
Spider-man listens to podcasts while he hang-glides, as you do when you're bored with your life (me, hang-gliding Spider-man, guys who work late night security, people who need to buy mattressess, murder-afficianados-- we're all podcast listeners). And the people on the podcasts will talk in this weird tone that's somewhere between Xeni Jardin saying "Homie what set you from" and a NPR host telling you about new developments in fiber supplements... One of the podcasters started rambling about the importance of hydration and doing mental health at one point. I... thought we would be ... fighting supervillains...???
And then inbetween the podcasts, the game is like "Do you want to be Miles Morales from the entertaining Spiderverse movies? Except in our game, Miles Morales is not on an entertaining adventure at all-- he spends all of his time learning valuable lessons about civic pride and the importance to NYC's vibrant food scene of immigrants honoring their roots. It's so important for immigrants not to forget where they came from while also feeling welcome to teach us about the spices they brought with them to their new home in the United States."
There was one level where Miles Morales helps high school kids take photos for a yearbook, and the game says "now go take photos of the high school's eSports team-- you know, a job for Spider-man." So I say, okay, what do those kids look like? And the game yelled "they look like everyone else, it's wrong to judge people based on how they look! This isn't that kind of game! We're a post-looks society, you fool!" And I was like oh okay, now I have to run around a large high school campus taking photos of random children in the hopes they might be gamers within a game, so I can complete this "mission", which... I don't think that's something you want to encourage gamers to do!! Stay away from the high schools, gamers!
The character Venom showed up and told me he was trying to get the corporation he was in charge of to do diversity when it hires people. Is that... is that from the comics?? I didn't read those comics, so I'm not sure. It's not even what they're saying though-- it's that it all just sounds so inauthentic to how people talk. It just all seems like a goody-goody lecture that will never end. I'm sure it's heart is in the right place, but it's just not well crafted.
It's just not really the experience I expected to be having (but it's been a strange month generally). And as a game, it's not fun at all, so far (even though the first game, which was the exact same thing, was fun-- go figure). The fighting just feels bad. It's nearly been voted like Game of the Year, though. So I guess I'm in the minority on this one. But if Spiderman 2 has taught me anything, it's that being a minority means I can contribute to NYC's juggling scene, and make real contributions that honor the past... while also pointing the way to the future. Time to juggle! Get me some bowling pins!
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so sleep is refusing to happen, which is very annoying. i took my night meds and wore my blindfold and everything. my right leg has also decided it is stabbing pains time, which might be associated with the first thing. so while i wait for some ibuprofen to kick in, i figured i would start to explain my latest effort in the ongoing saga of getting myself to actually go to work.
so i was talking to logan about it, as one does. i haven't even explained logan for the sherlock holmes people, have i? call him my imaginary friend, close enough. he's a version of wolverine from the x-men (comics version circa 1983 if you want to get specific -- hugh jackman is a foot too tall and looks oddly like peter lorre to my prosopagnosic ass), he's my big brother via my teenage mary sue (that's a whole other post, but my little sister maintained this au where we all got to pick our own fictional or invented parents and relatives, which says exactly the things about our irl family situation that you'd think), he's been with me for nearly twenty years now, saved my life multiple times, got me out of some truly horrendous situations. these days he mainly shows up when things are Very Bad. and right now, because i'm struggling to get myself to go to or stay at work by any damn motivation whatsoever, things are pretty damn bad.
so i was talking to logan about it, which i've been doing for a bit while, but this time we were talking about the delayed gratification aspect of a paycheck. how if i skip work and go do a fun thing, i get to have fun immediately, but if i sit at work being mildly bored and intermittently annoyed, then i get money 1-3 weeks later, which might as well be the heat death of the universe as far as actually making an emotional connection between action and reward is concerned.
(it might be relevant to explain what i even do, huh? text chat tech support for a major cell phone company, basically. it's the sort of job where the elevator pitch is like "living the dream", because i get to sit around at home in whatever state of dress i prefer, doing anything i want as long as i keep an eye on my workstation and drop everything when a message from a customer comes in. on slow days it can be a good 15-20 minutes between customers. on busy days, i can be typing nonstop for hours, but those are rarer. however, when faced with a basic choice between "i can't practically play certain video games or do complicated crafts on the clock, because they're too space consuming or not pauseable enough, and I definitely can't go to any events or meet people" versus "if I'm not on the clock I can do whatever I want", it's hard to prioritize Getting Money At Some Future Point.)
so anyway what logan suggested was -- because i know how to calculate my own payroll taxes and often do it for fun (in fact, it probably indicates just how badly off i've been emotionally that i hadn't even downloaded the 2023 irs schedule 15-t for payroll tax brackets until yesterday), i have the ability to figure out, down to the minute if necessary, exactly how much my take-home pay will be based on time worked so far. because logan is inside my head, he also knows that i used to really enjoy being the banker for monopoly, organizing all the play money and making change and keeping track of Amounts and what-all.
so he suggested getting some play money and paying myself in realtime -- basically creating a physical representation of how my paycheck is accruing. i have sat at work for so many minutes, pay myself a dollar. like gamifying shit, but instead of getting a little token in an app that doesn't directly relate to anything irl, i'm getting tokens that very directly represent the exact benefit i am getting by sitting around being annoyed that i don't have room for my gaming laptop next to my workstation.
at this point it becomes relevant that the game of monopoly no longer comes with play money. the company that sells it decided, some years back, that declining sales were due to cash being insufficiently hip with the kids and making change being an absolute turn-off, rather than... you know, literally nobody anymore having the free time for an all-day game that causes intergenerational feuds. so they replaced the paper money with play debit cards and a digital voice-activated top hat that does all the math for you. so now you don't even get any practical life skills with your intergenerational feuds!
so, after a couple of shopping adventures, i have procured construction paper and a silver sharpie (and a working black one because mine was dead) and a clear jar so i can see all the colorful play moneys when i pay myself. i have adapted the rupee color system from breath of the wild, because i'm already familiar with it, to fit the colors of construction paper i have, so ones are green, fives are blue, and so forth.
i tried this method at work yesterday, and so far i'm very excited about it. it takes me about six hours of work to cover my healthcare deductions for a two-week pay period, and after that (until federal tax brackets kick in after a few days' earnings) i basically earn a dollar every four minutes after tax, which means roughly every time i start to get bored, i've earned another dollar and i get to fidget with my little pieces of construction paper again.
i'm also definitely going to have to confront the thing where it feels wrong and unrealistic that i make this much money. because in an eight hour workday near the beginning of the pay period, my take home pay is about $120, and that just feels like a silly amount that doesn't apply to me. but, well, i earned this dollar, and also that one, and the other one over there... which one didn't i earn? it is a conundrum.
i don't know if i'm just excited because everything is shiny and new, but i definitely am very excited that this might actually Help, because it's making being at work *feel* different in a way that hasn't happened before. have a couple of pictures.
#money tw#budget tw#i feel like this probably needs some other warning tags but i'm not sure what#eletelephony
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[...] This is the last one ☝️ I promise 🤞🙇♀️ I have Giovanni's Room by Baldwin in my wishlist and I know nothing about it!! 😃 How's he writing style? Is it too refined? Don't know anything about him not gonna lie, but I've heard/seen his name around multiple times. Do you have favorites? Or a recommendation from where to start? 👩❤️👩 Definitely go read Fight Club 🙆♀️ I highly recommend reading it at one sitting (especially bc it's short) even tho it's been a couple years since I read it and, nowadays, I don't think it would get to me as much ― honestly, barely did back then; but the consumerism as a sort of coping mechanism was something that def made me police how I spend money with stuff that I want vs stuff that I need and the whole Individual Image & Society bit I got from it. Hope I don't get a Tyler Durden bc of insomnia, it would piss me off 🙇♀️🧘♀️
I have to check your Bobby Book Club tag to get some different stuff to look at, bc I remember when you posted a picture that included Gay Bar and my guts yelled for me to read it, but 1) english only and 2) I don't know where to find it. When my guts yell I know something is waiting for me, bc I BELIEVE IN INSTINCTS 🏄♀️🔮 Watchmen has been in my radar since 2018 when a friend mentioned it, but a copy is hella expensive!! You mentioned the backstory and world building and it made me want it so bad, bc those are some aspects I CRAVE in books 🙆♀️ if one day I get to it, I'll let you know — mark my words!!! 🧎♀️ Last one: the Beautiful World Where Are You ― I've seen some people say it was a disappointment but I still want to read it, what turned you off the most? But I'm pretty sure I'll end up not liking it that much, it's a feeling AN INSTINCT 🏄♀️🔮
Damn, do I talk a lot 🫥 at least I’m exercising my english skills ― but I hope I make sense too 🥴
THE FINALE 🎬
I've only read one fiction by Baldwin (Go Tell It on the Mountain) but i really loved it! Then again I think I'm just a sucker for the intersection of coming-of-age and religion and repression, the hypocritical layers of morality and all that good stuff 🍽️ My knowledge is limited too (I think I've only read 2 or 3?) but I have yet to be disappointed. Personally I'm trying to read in chronological order bc I like to see the evolution of the Craft 🤌 but I don't think you can go wrong with any of it! I think he's very indulgent with his exposition and writes in his train-of-thought— all very thorough and maybe even a little rambling which can kinda make it difficult to follow certain sentences/paragraphs Because there is so much to follow, but in the end I feel like it helps his points come across that much clearer like he really leaves no room for misinterpretation if you take the time to work through and unpack it all 🧰
GAY BAR IS SO GREAT!!! Im surprised there's not a translation yet bc I feel like it's gotten so much critical acclaim? But maybe I just live in my little naive bubble 🫧 & I'm surprised Watchmen's still expensive bc it's been decades?? LET IT GO ALREADY 🗣️ jk I get it & im sure it's a hot commodity with comic book collectors or whatever.... definitely avoid watching the movie then (if you haven't already seen it) until you read it 💭 (but also maybe avoid watching that movie in general bc it was just pretty awful period 🤭)
I do like Sally Rooney's style of writing and would probably read just about anything by her bc I do enjoy the conversations her characters have & the sort of processing of politics and current events in a very digestible/millennial way (as repetitive as it's gotten this point) BUT I think by this point I'm also kind of like, this can't be all there is!! The story & characters themselves are going to have to do it for me too, and I thought the character developments were so weak and disappointing? Truly bizarre and rushed ending too, though I don't really know what kind of ending would've saved it anyway. OH WELL. My friend openly hated it and I still read it / thought it was worth it even if just to fully form my ability to shit on it LMAO so if you're curious you should defo still check it out!
#TY for ur service🫡 once again ALWAYS a treat to hear from u & I hope ur new year's been sweet so far!!#we did it joe!! and now I bid thee goodnight 🧘♀️#(it is not nighttime here)#asks#💅 anon
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