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thesecretsofthedivine · 5 months

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Pick a Pile Reading | What Do People Admire/Find Beautiful About You? ☄. *. ⋆

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*Disclaimer: This is a collective reading - take what resonates and leave the rest. If this resonates with you, please show support by reposting (with credit), tipping, or booking with me! :)

*Exchanges with other intuitives/readers are available via dm's

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PILE 1 COLLECTIVE

7 of pentacles. ace of cups. the magician.

channeled songs: sh-boom - the chords. starstruck - christopher wilde. magic - bob. where you lead - carole king.

people admire how much of a visionary you are! your aesthetic sensitivity, long-term goals, personal values, business skills, creativity, and optimism are some sources of your beauty. people find you to be very physically beautiful in general though. maybe it’s the advice you give or the pleasant sound of your voice, but your charm is undeniable. people also appreciate your unique flare, work ethic, and emotional intelligence. it’s clear you have big dreams and capabilities. something about you is dependable and trustworthy to others. you have tinkering energy and raw talent. people recognize the positive impact you make regardless of the environment. you may often be in a fixer-upper, alchemist, support system, teacher role. people admire your dedication and feel more connected to their dreams/purpose because of you. your energy is healing and uplifting. the sincerity in your heart is a gift and allows others to find hope/relief in you. you’re a trailblazer, philanthropist, humanitarian that does the world good simply by existing and sharing your light. your self-assured outlook is infectious and the way you make life feel like a party is irreplaceable. people admire how much of a safe space and muse you are, tied all into one.

PILE 2 COLLECTIVE

knight of cups. 2 of wands. 9 of wands rx.

channeled songs: perfect (exceeder) - mason. the heart wants what it wants - selena gomez. come & get it - selena gomez.

you are a natural flirt and an object of affection, whether you know it or not! you've got sweetheart/crush/eye candy energy. people love to simply know and be near u. it can be hard to read your mind because of your gentle/feminine/passive nature, which tends to keep the thrill or mystery alive! you're someone that can appear intimidating or too hot to handle, but your inner self is much more reassuring and grounded. people find your resilience, charm, social status, patience, thoughtfulness, style, and mysteriousness to be beautiful. it’s giving hot but unavailable/bad bitch or bad boy. you can be quite protective with your energy/time, which people admire. you know not to settle and to treat yourself like the prize. you often intimidate but intrigue others. cat's got their tongue when they look at you! you embody the beauty standard or simply have that “it” factor. you leave people wanting more and struggling to move on from you. you’re unforgettable and mesmerizing, which is beautiful. you’re like a still and elegant work of art that people would go up to admire in a museum. sometimes it can seem like you're a shiny toy that everyone wants a chance to play with, but you’re not easily impressed.

PILE 3 COLLECTIVE

queen of swords. 5 of wands rx. knight of pentacles. knight of wands.

channeled songs: look at me, i’m sandra dee - grease soundtrack. something that i want - grace potter.

your composure, morality, clear judgment, inner beliefs, and stimulating conversation are really attractive to others! people feel that you have a way with words or a commanding presence without actually exerting force. you’re strategic and wise beyond your years, which makes people want to respect you. others also admire your resilience and thoughtfulness. you can easily find answers to problems or have an unmatched intuition to those around you. you’re in it to win it, which makes u dedicated and passionate. for some, you may relate to the underdog. even with life’s tough challenges, you always persevere. people admire your loyalty & find your mind attractive. you may tend to keep to yourself or people could view you as having a big ego, but your tunnel vision blocks out all that noise. you're admired for the way you defy expectations and others’ authority. you are the boss of your own life and a force to be reckoned with. your identity is a mix of stoic tradition + edgy rebellion, which can surprise people at times. your tenacity, analytical traits, high spirits, and capacity to lead are beautiful. you have natural leadership skills that make people want your approval or loyalty. your aura is dominant and elusive so people know better than to stand in your way or do anything other than tag along for the ride.

PILE 4 COLLECTIVE

8 of swords. 9 of swords. 8 of pentacles. justice (libra).

channeled songs: i’m a mess - bebe rexha. mind over matter - young the giant.

your past, independence, emotional maturity/depth, complex mind, shadow self, and resilience are focal points of attraction. you are a survivor who takes their time in opening up/letting go. people admire the capabilities of your heart and feel a lot of sympathy for you. others may feel that you are too much of a people pleaser or often underestimate/overwork yourself, which makes them want to show up for you. the more reluctant with embracing confidence you are, the more people want to advocate for your potential and growth. others feel like you deserve all the privileges and platforms that you may have been previously denied. you deserve to take up space. people tend to develop a karmic attraction to you where they want to see things through or can’t bring themselves to leave your life. you are hardworking and deserving of everything good, which can enhance other people’s desire to provide and show up for you. if life has not been fair to you, this inspires generosity and admiration in others. people feel protective and want to advocate for you. your fairness and respect for the balance of life is also beautiful. people enjoy how even-tempered, considerate, honest, and reflective you are. they see you as the work hard, play hard type. “went from nothing to something”, apocalyptic energy. you’re on your grind and everyone wants to be a personal cheerleader to you. you fight the good fight and others believe in ur potential because of how beautiful your heart is + how much you’ve overcome. your willpower is also a defining statement/testament of your core identity.

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gwyns · 4 months

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https://www.tumblr.com/freyjas-musings/742671202419605504/im-just-curious-but-why-artists-draw-azs-shadows

https://www.tumblr.com/freyjas-musings/742670976839483392/i-just-cant-deal-with-elriels-anymore-they-want

I agree with these posts! I’ve seen so much fan art of Azriel’s shadows interacting with Elain even thought they skitter away from her and e/riel’s are saying that she will make his shadows go away, but in the beginning of his bonus chapter he talks about how his shadows will always be there with him.

They bring up how his shadows disappear around Mor, and it’s good since he had ( some e/riel’s believe he’s over her🤡) feelings for her, but that happened in ACOMAF when Mor & Azriel were originally supposed to be endgame. They were close with each other and had a deep friendship. His shadows vanishing, at that time since Mor who was his love interest, was probably a good thing and could be looked at differently, however in ACOWAR this obviously changed. Mor has to walk on eggshells with Azriel now. Proof of this is her pov in ACOFAS.

So Azriel’s shadows disappearing around Elain and e/riel’s thinking it’s a good thing because they do that with Mor, who is cautious around him, isn’t actually a good thing in my opinion. But they’ll argue left and right that this is good and that Elain makes his shadows calm, but there’s no canon text that she does make his shadows calm.

However, Azriel’s shadows had calmed, seemed content to watch him interact with Gwyn, which is actually stated by Azriel in his chapter, (and actually appeared to want to stay). They interacted with Gwyn in a positive way. I believe Azriel’s shadows are sentient and an extension of his soul. I think his shadows can sense the mating bond. Not saying that it’s snapped, because I most definitely don’t think it has, but I think it’s in the beginning stages. His shadows sense something is there. Which I think is interesting especially since a few days after Solstice we have that whole scene of Gwyn cutting the ribbon (👀), Azriel’s shadows also dancing again when she asked about a prize, Nesta calling Az the new ribbon, and his interactions with Gwyn pick up. When Gwyn was kidnapped for the Blood Rite (along with Emerie & Nesta) Azriel did react contrary to with e/riel’s say. His shadows AND siphons deepened. There was nothing him or Cassian could do though. Hell, even Rhys couldn’t do anything if they asked him. But both of them trusted in the girls to complete it. They showed their faith and support in them.

I think e/riel’s forget that the bonus chapter took place in the middle of the book, and Az’s interactions with Gwyn pick up after Solstice. Azriel and Elain have not interacted with each other (as far as we’ve seen on page unless it’s happening off page) since Solstice. I don’t think Azriel and Elain are having that secret-forbidden romance (there’s honestly nothing forbidden about it), because SJM writes her romances (and develops) them on paper where the readers can actually read it. Having a romance off page (that isn’t developed) isn’t her writing style. Azriel does say in HOFAS he doesn’t have a mate, but Gwynriel’s are fine with that, because we get to actually see their relationship develop. We get to see them become friends, we get to see them fall in love with each other, we get to see the mating bond snap.

I don’t think Azriel’s shadows interacting with Gwyn like that is her being evil as e/riel’s love to claim. Didn’t his shadows warn him about Koschei and the Cauldron? Surely they would do the same if Gwyn was evil. He felt a spark in his chest, which is how a mating bond is described and if you look at other mated couples, the bond is described to be a song between the souls. The wording with Gwynriel is so similar to other mates, especially Bryce and Hunt.

i agree! it's common knowledge at this point that e/riels steal from the other ships but then try to act as if they thought of it first when, no honey, 1. there's timestamp proof and 2. no e/riel has ever been that creative or paid enough attention to canon to develop widely fanon accepted things

even if moriel wasn't meant to be a thing (and tbh i've always been iffy on it. even back in the acomaf days i didn't really see it on both ends, and i swear a fan at a signing said sjm was surprised people shipped them but meh that's a topic for another day. maybe lol), sjm made certain to show us the difference in his shadows around these two women and tell us how deeply az values them. how they're his closest friends, how they're an intrinsic part of him, how they're not going anywhere. if once, them vanishing was a good thing, it's clear that's no longer the case. hence why they want the shadows to love elain but i'm sorry, that's just not happening lmfao

in my opinion, love is kind and sure and calm so the fact that az's shadows calm around gwyn is a huge green flag. like az is stressed af all the time! he needs to be able to come home and be at ease, to relax and just be az. without all the fancy and terrifying titles. we got this in his bonus chapter and they're trying to say it doesn't mean anything? really?? bffr

the "you're the new ribbon, az" is such an endgame indicator in my opinion. like nesta is telling us that gwyn has her sights set on az and we know how determined gwyn is. it's over for the bread and roses ship, if it wasn't already lol. the thing is, gwyn is a sexual assault survivor, az would never dream of coming on too strong with her so if anything happens between them, the ball is in her court. and then we have az who is canonically attracted to unavailable women, whether that's a coincidence, or some subconscious thing that ties into his low self worth... i don't know but to me, it fits perfectly together. gwyn will be the one making moves on him, or at least be the one to take that first, big step, and i think that will be huge for az who constantly feels he's not worthy or good enough

regarding the blood rite and the "forbidden" romance, there's nothing of substance there. just e/riels lacking critical thinking skills as always. if rhys couldn't do anything to get the girls out, what the fuck was az supposed to do? and no one is stopping e/riel from seeing each other except az himself so... you know. clearly he doesn't care about seeing her that much

why e/riels love the idea of every major moment of their ship developing off page, i'll never know. if i were an e/riel, i'd be so pissed. the fun of romance novels is seeing the characters come together and fall in love. and sjm knows that too, clearly, she's a romance author for christ's sake lol. she's not going to have these characters fall in love, move in together and get pregnant off page. no way in hell. that's also why they can't understand that gwynriels are perfectly content with that "he wouldn't consider her a friend but..." or whatever line because, like you said, that means we'll get to see them become friends. then lovers. then mates. why wouldn't you want that?

az's shadows know everything, that's why he's such a valuable spy. they tell him things he couldn't otherwise know. that's literally explained in the books. i believe they're sentient too, they tell him to sleep when he needs to so they obviously care for him, if gwyn were a danger to az, they would absolutely warn him. also the gwyn is secretly evil theory is shit because she's in part based off of sjm's irl friends and her villains are pretty two dimensional. so yeah, that's never happening lmao. even if (big if) gwynriel doesn't happen, gwyn is safe, so they just look stupid as hell talking about "evil gingers" or whatever the fuck they say these days.

i think that after so many books, true sjm fans know when she's working her mate bond magic. no matter how much others cry about it, sjm is a fated mates author. don't like it? go find someone else's books to read. it's as simple as that

#acotar #azriel #gwyneth berdara #gwynriel #antielriel #anti e/riel #asks #anonymous

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sodafrog13 · 1 month

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hotline 1 character gamer thoughts.. bc i've been thinking abt it a lot. under the cut for convenience :-)

jacket: fighting and racing games, also more "chill" stuff like stardew valley but that's just bc he likes running around and doing fuck all. if he and gf play together, she's managing the farm like she's running the navy and he's just off fishing or running around in circles while digging thru ppl's trash and maybe doing things on gf's behalf if she asks him to. he can fuck you up in most arcade games tho; he particularly loves those light gun ones and he's like scary good at claw machines (which is great bc he can win beard or gf prizes :V)

gf: she and jacket share a lot of the same tastes; esp when it comes to fighting/racing stuff. they're both pretty equally good at fighting stuff (jacket's a little better) but she's way better at racing stuff ironically enough, even tho she doesn't actually know how to drive. also enjoys boomer shooters (jacket likes them too but not rly to play; he enjoys watching her play them tho) and beat 'em ups. also a little more niche but i think she'd also like those types of games where you have to sort things; thinks they're satisfying and helps with her compulsive need to sort things irl

beard: i don't think he's much of a video game person but i think that guy would love any sort of table top game. like i'm convinced he would rlly fw m:tg and dnd, y'k? things that require a lot of thought and maybe theatrics (and also things jacket would very much Not be into but i think he'd go w beard to competitions as like. his moral support lol). video games wise tho, he'd probs like. idk, minesweeper or 2048 LOL something that's just kinda supposed to keep you preoccupied rather than entertained. but also maybe smth like inscryption and buckshot roulette; i think he'd like the style of those and the strategizing aspect (maybe not story so much)

biker: oh this guy would fuck so heavy w typing of the dead. that and shit like guitar hero; i know at heart this jackass has a little bit of nerd in xem no matter how much xe may try to deny it. xe's also into boomer shooters/beat 'em ups/shmups but also xe typically gets tired of them relatively quickly so xyr library is like filled w games of those types that all have like a max of 5 hours on them each; very much does not give a shit abt secrets or any sort of story aspect. can fuck you up in tetris tho, xe'd probs do that shit that doremy does where he places blocks on the beat of the music. also weirdly good at pinball but refuses to admit it

richter: this man has 1000+ hrs on tf2 and almost all of them are on sniper. he spends most of his time on never-ending ctf servers and has gotten accused of being a bot more times than he can count. the only thing that can prove he's not is the fuck all rare unusual he got by accident and australium stock sniper rifle. he does not speak in VC. he does not type in TC. he uses voice commands and taunts only. he can and will single handedly carry your team to victory. you should uber him, and i'm not joking about that at all. he is a man to be feared. he also helps his mom with the sudoku and crossword in the paper every morning.

richard: i think it'd like uhm. weird art games. or i guess, as jacob geller puts it, games that are not games. that and weird/horror/unsettling(?) (j)rpgs. LSD dream emulator, yume nikki, ib, witch's house, who's lila?, IMSCARED, and anything that's sort of... meant to be an experience rather than an actual game (drawing blanks rn but presentable liberty obvs comes to mind). likes to ponder/analyze things and also enjoys things where you gotta fuck around w the files to find out more stuff, it's like a little treasure hunt to it. also think it would like firewatch, both for the story and also bc it likes watching the sunsets in that game.

don juan: boomer shooters also but its mostly the newer stuff that catches her eye; stuff like the new blood boomer shooter trio (ULTRAKILL, dusk, amid evil) and cruelty squad would b right up her alley (and she'd totally be a tryhard about all of them). she also rly likes puzzle games tho! stuff like bubble poppers and tetris/puyo puyo tetris especially, but she can also keep herself occupied for A While just by playing solitaire. oh and minecraft. i think she'd rly like minecraft. terrarria, too, esp either of them modded, i think she'd have a lot of fun w them. def one of those ppl who gets all the minecraft achievements by herself, no cheats, on the hardest difficulty. bc she can, mostly.

rasmus: also not as big a video game person but they can and will crush you at chess (DJ's not as good but they play together sometimes; they specifically go easy on her). not as big a fan of it but they do also enjoy tetris/ppt; they and DJ will play together sometimes and rich will watch that shit like it's coco melon lol. part of me also wants to say they might enjoy desk jockeys? like papers, please and death and taxes (and i guess by extension, things that can enact moral/philosophical quandaries), but also maybe not; i think they usually get a lot more entertainment out of books and cinema/movies than games

#hotline miami #the trash speaks #trashcan's analysis #technicallyy hcs more like but i don't have a hcs tag and i don't want one

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markrosewater · 2 years

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Maro’s Mega-Teaser for Unfinity

Before previews for Unfinity officially begin, I thought it would be fun to do another of my Duelist-style teasers where I give tiny hints of things to come. Note that I’m only giving you partial information. Because Unfinity is filled with more strangeness than the average set, I’m doing a mega-teaser where I tease even more than normal.

First up, here are some things you can expect:

• a card that can become almost two-hundred and fifty different cards for the turn

• a card that enchants your graveyard

• a card which requires you to use pantomime

• an enchantment subtype appears on an artifact for the first time

• a new subgame card in a color that’s never had one

• a card that can make one of five different artifact tokens that each don’t do anything

• an outside assistance card where the person assisting doesn’t even know

• a common command

• over ten new named abilities including best in show, gear up, and parade!

• a card that can make multiple Storm Crow tokens

• a cycle of “fill in the blank” cards

• multiple cards that let you win a prize

• a creature ability gets converted to a land ability

• a planeswalker that doesn’t do what you say

• a card that makes flying Cat tokens

• a cycle of cards that care about certain objects you can see from your seat

• another spell that lets you open a booster pack

• a card that gives you a resource to pay costs that no card has ever granted before

• a card that asks an outside person to rate something on a scale from 1 to 5

• between cards and stickers, over twenty-five nonevergreen/nondeciduous mechanics are returning

Next, here are some rules text that will be showing up on cards:

• “An opponent tells you a statement about themselves and secretly notes whether it’s true or false.”

• “Each player in an Un-game who can hear you may bid life.”

• “where X is the greatest number of stored results on it of the same value.”

• “except by creatures with flavor text”

• “for each item in its art that’s not touching CARDNAME, another item, or the card frame.”

• “As long as CARDNAME remains tapped, that effect doesn’t end.”

• “As CARDNAME enters the battlefield, choose a word with five or more letters.”

• “target non-Brushwagg creature”

• “Ask a person outside the game to choose which of them is most like a rock band.”

• “using the first letters of the names of permanents you control,”

• “As long as three or more hands are touching CARDNAME,”

• “first strike and a sword, vigilance and a shield, menace and mean eyes”

• “with the same artist and different names”

• “with #GuessThatMagicCard and no other text.”

• “any number of printed Clown Robot tokens that aren’t touching each other, that you hid on the battlefield”

• “choose A through M or N through Z.”

• “If the cracks in CARDNAME’s art are completely covered,”

• “An opponent chooses ‘the fastest’, ‘the scariest’ or ‘the weakest.’”

• “As CARDNAME enters the battlefield, choose a named Magic character.”

• “When you draw yourself, you win the game.”

Here is some reminder text that appears in the set:

• “Anything with two or more capitalized words in its name that begin with the same letter is alliterative.”

• “A top is an outerwear garment worn on the upper body.”

• “the card, not your head”

• “They can’t be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.”

• “Align the tops of both cards to check.”

• “Don’t explain anything else. You choose targets.”

• “This creature has first strike as long as it’s blocking or being blocked by a creature that comes after it alphabetically.”

• “The vowels are A, E, I, O, U, and Y.”

• “This spell costs 1 less to cast for each Clown you control.”

• “It has their total power, total toughness, combined mana costs, all text boxes, names, art, and so on.”

• “Something is hot if it has hot things in its art, like fire or explosions.”

• “CARDNAME divides the battlefield into alpha, beta, and gamma sectors.”

• “Each time you gobble, take a bit of food or sacrifice a Food token.”

• “You can have two commanders if both have partner.”

• “It becomes 2/2, then 1/1, ½ / ½ , and so on.”

• “about 0.3 meters”

• “Creatures in a log together can’t be blocked unless they’re all blocked.”

• “Don’t touch other people’s phones without permission and be careful if you do.”

• “Places everyone! The first creature in line gets +0/+0.”

• “They continue to exist after they leave the battlefield.”

Finally, here are some creature type lines in the set:

• Creature - Rat Rogue

• Creature - Alien Insect

• Artifact Creature - Clown Robot Mime

• Creature - Dog Employee

• Creature – Beeble

• Creature - Frog Guest

• Creature - Human Hatificer Assassin

• Creature - Alien Squirrel

• Creature - Minotaur Child Guest

• Creature - Porcupine Performer

• Creature - Dinosaur Employee

• Creature - Zombie Coward Guest

• Artifact Creature - Plant Mutant Food

• Legendary Creature - Devil Performer

• Legendary Creature - Human Gamer

• Legendary Creature - Alien Ooze

• Legendary Creature - Human Pilot Employee

• Legendary Creature - Elephant Mouse Performer

• Legendary Creature - Human Clown Artificer

• Legendary Artifact Creature – Robot

Tune in tomorrow (Tuesday, September 20) on the official Magic YouTube channel or twitch.tv/Magic at 9AM to watch WeeklyMTG where we'll kickoff the week-long Unfinity preview. Blake Rasmussen and I will talk through the set including showing off Attractions and a number of exciting preview cards. Hope you can join us!

#Magic The Gathering #MTG #Unfinity #WotCStaff

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whataboutmyfries · 1 year

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Spilled ink

oh my GOSH it has been a hot minute since I wrote these lovely boys!! so here I am, coming at you with small details for fictional kisses oknutzy style!!! headcanoned about this a while ago in the sw discord and it hasn't left my mind since so here we are! characters are by the wonderful @lumosinlove featuring art by my lovely friend @tobi-tobi-tobi who somehow manages to look into my brain with every single one of their pieces and this one was no different :)

enjoy!

1.Whispering ''kiss me'' to your lover

Right, so I’ve been thinking about LionFish reading and annotating a book together non stop :’)

The two of them get cosy and comfy with their different coloured pens, smiling goofily at each other as they crack open the book, jumping into a brand new adventure together.

If you were to go look at the book after they were done with it, there’s all these little signs of love over every inch of available space.

There’s wobbly tear spots that are outlined and doodled around where the words hit just a little bit too close to home

Sticky notes over the typewriter ink where the feeling were too big for the page to hold

Leo draws little fishes swimming across the margins and it makes Finn a lovely-dovey mess; Every. Single. Time.

Naturally Lolo sees Finn scribbling in one of his precious books, gets curious, and decides to give this whole annotating thing a go.

One day Lolo just hands Finn a book with a scribbled note inside the cover saying 'hey, i read this and it made me think of you xx' and the first thing Finn notices is that the top right corner is like a centimetre or so thicker than the rest of the book from where Lolo's dog-eared all his favourite parts and Finn english major O Hara’s eye just twitches as he tries his best to not implode

He loves it. He cries.

It’s this book of heartwrenching, delightfully emotional poetry about love and pining. And Logan’s scribbles about Harvard, and Finn, and finding him and Leo, and finding himself through them are so vulnerable and heartfelt that the only time Finn can read the book without sobbing his eyes out for hours is if he’s wrapped up in his Logan, head resting on Logan’s strong chest so he can lean up and whisper a hoarse “kiss me” when the memories are too big and too much to handle.

It’s one of Finn’s most prized possessions.

Leo annotating for Finn on the other hand…..

Picture if you will: What if Leo's current read is some historical fiction book and when he hands it to finn it's basically more than twice its original size and won't even close anymore from the sheer volume of sticky notes that Leo's put in there pointing out historical inaccuracies or just dropping cute lil history facts

Finn is a mess of heart eyes and undying love as he works his way through the behemoth of the book, and it still holds a treasured place on his bookshelf

Yet another of his most prized possessions

Fun fact: It’s only when they get into reading together that Leo finds out that Finn will use anything as a bookmark

One day he comes home to find the household cat’s (king’s) face smooshed gently between the pages of Finn’s latest paperback, his whiskers peeking out the pages as he sleeps

Leo can’t decide between snapping a picture and laughing his ass off (he does both)

Of course, in an effort to get their beloved Lolo into reading, the boys decide to annotate a book for him together, potentially giving him an incentive to read it.

They find a brilliant thriller/horror+romance book that they think Logan would enjoy and they spend hours poring over it (even though it gives leo the heebie jeebies at times) and annotating it for Lolo, Logan's super confused as to why his boyfriends are reading the same book at the same time, like ???? this is so dumb? Why don’t they just take turns? it's it awkward to have to wait for the other person to finish reading? wouldn't it be easier to do it one by one? but when they're both finally finished writing all over it and making it perfect for their boy (there's absent-minded doodles of fleur-de-lis all over the margins in the purple pen that Leo used and little stick-figure drawing of the three of them in Finn's orange ink. It clashes horribly (Logan loves it). they give to him all wrapped up and pretty and Lolo tears up a little

When Logan's reading it, he can't help but laugh at the cacophony of purple and orange on every square inch of available space and the book quickly becomes his most prized possession. He knows it's a horror book and it's supposed to be scary and stuff, but how is he supposed to be scared when there's stick figure Finn with the most floofy hair brandishing a sword against a monster that doesn't look even remotely like the thing described in the book as he holds stick-figure logan in astronomically muscly arms?

Sometimes when Leo can't sleep, Logan grabs the book and reads to Leo, though Leo usually loathes thrillers/horror books. He's lying with his head pillowed on Logan's chest listening to the rumble of his sleep-hoarse voice as Lolo does silly voices for Leo and Finn's annotations and that's how Leo reads the book start to finish without being scared

Just them being happy and in love and the intricate rituals of storytelling <3

#oknutzy #lumosinlove ocs #coast to coast #hazelverse #whataboutmywriting #GODDAMN I LOVE THEM OKAY #LEAVE ME ALONE #THIS IS MY NEW COMFORT HC #logan tremblay #leo knut #finn o hara

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ask-de-writer · 7 months

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QUEST FOR ANCIENT CANTERLOT! An RP : PAGE 2, A New Plate, Old Memories!

Return to MLP Fan Fiction

Return to Role Plays with De Writer

QUEST FOR ANCIENT CANTERLOT!

An RP by @wind-the-mama-cat and @ask-de-writer

Scene setting Part 1 : LUNA AWAKENS CELESTIA

Scene setting Part 2 : AIRSHIP!

Scene setting Part 3 : ONE LAST VISIT

Scene setting Part 4 : SCOUT’S PRIZE

Scene setting Part 5 : REBOOT / START UP

Scene setting Part 6 : CELESTIA AND LUNA GO TO MEET TWILIGHT

PAGE 1, THE ADVENTURE BEGINS!

PAGE 2, NEW PLATE, OLD MEMORIES!

As usual for a developing story, new text is in BOLDFACE type.

Role Play begun 05/26/21

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Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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@wind-the-mama-cat

Learning to Fly

Wind watched as Choco and Rose put their heads together to design the potential wing suit. As she watched, her eyes drifted to Rose's wings. Once upon a time, from what she recalled from her memory files, her Unicorn overlords once tried to give her sisters a means to fly.

She shook her head silently at what she 'remembered”.

One of the Unicorn engineers had come across an ancient picture, which, interestingly, showed the Rom Pegasus Angel with her artificial wing. Using that as a basis, and nothing else, the Usurper King thought it would be a good idea to give the battle droids wings.

The results were disastrous.

During the first round of testing, the wings where too small, as they made them proportionately to Pegasi wings. They lost 20 droids.

The second round of testing went no better. While they made the wings larger, they didn't anticipate the increased power draw. They lost 30 droids.

Dark nudged Wind back to reality.

“Wind?” The black mare asked quietly. “What's on your mind?”

Wind looked down at the mare. “Just recalling somewhat painful memory files.” She nodded at Rose and Choco. “Did I ever tell you how the Unicorns tried to give their droids wings?”

Dark shook her head. “No. You never did. However, we did get reports from Princess Twilight and her scouts about falling droids with reported wings.”

Wind snorted. “The idea had merit, honestly. Instead of using ships to transport the droids, they could simply fly into battle. The way they went about it was foolish and pointless. Now that I think about it, that tends to be how they do most things.”

The earned a chuckle from the small horse.

“Where you thinking of making wings for yourself, Wind?” She asked curiously.

Wind nodded. “Aye. Perhaps.” She tapped her chest. “I'm very heavy. Even with my new legs that you gave me, I still weigh over two hundred pounds. Two hundred and fifty, if we're being specific. The wing suit that those girls are designing won't work on me.”

“So, why don't we design wings that would work for you?” Dark asked. “Thanks to the dismantling of the Renaissance, I have a surplus of material to use for pretty much anything. Even with the demands of the Hammer, I have lots of carbon fibre, copper, steel, aluminum... you name it.”

“Well, a fixed-wing style would work best, I think.” Wind said. “But I don't want permanent wings.”

“So, a backpack that straps to you, and the wings fold up and extend?” Dark asked. “That you can control with your hands?”

“Right.” Wind said with a nod.

Rose's ears quirked. “You guys are designing your own glider?”

Wind sighed. She had forgot how sensitive Rose's ears were. “Now that the cat is out of the bag... yes. Not a wing suit like your design, Rose. More of a backpack shaped glider, like your wings, but not powered.”

Rose thought for a moment. “Well, they would have to be powered. Considering your weight, an unpowered winged glider would have to have a wing span of at least 22 feet.”

Wind and Dark shared a look.

“Yeah. That math checks out.” Wind sighed.

“Now, if you were to power the backpack-glider-thing with a single, central jet turbine, that would provide enough lift for the wings to be smaller.” Rose said. “Not as small as mine, but small enough to fold up.”

“A jet turbine could work.” Wind said in agreement. “Like you wings, I take it?”

Rose nodded. “Only with 3 fans stacked on top of one another, spinning and causing thrust.”

“Right.” Dark nodded. “Really small fans. But how would you power it?”

“Not with my central crystal.” Wind admitted. “It powers me and has a high power output, but I doubt it would power me and a... jet engine.”

Choco was frowning. “This all seems very complicated.”

“I certainly am.” Wind agreed. “As a result of a combination of mechanical parts, crystals – both magic in nature – and Soulblade, I am very complicated.”

“So, why not make your glider like Fenrir?” Choco asked. Upon hearing his name, The wolf stood up from beside Dark's shop and wandered over to the group. The small horse giggled. “Oh, hey Fenrir.”

Dark kneeled in front of the wolf and placed her hand on his cheek. “You're just like Wind, Pup. Technical and magic in nature.”

He blinked slowly at her.

“So, a separate crystal to power my wings.” Wind nodded. “Sounds like a good place to start.” She looked at Dark. “Now, a large egg-sized crystal would be impractical. One the size that powers me would be best.”

Scout giggled. “Except your chest crystal took most of my magic to charge, and it's maintained by your food processing systems.” She pointed out. “A jet pack with wings would require more power.”

“Well, my crystal is the size of a lemon... and Fenrir's is the size of a dragon egg. So...” Wind thought out loud. “Say somewhere in between.”

“A phoenix egg.” Dark said. “As for charging it? We can use my solar charger. It worked for Fenrir after all.”

“Right.” Scout said. “We can all work together on this project. If Wind is going to be testing this new technology, and Choco is going to be testing hers, safety is paramount. Lots of prototypes and testing and scale models, just like Dark said earlier.”

The five girls got to work on their glider project. Rosie and Choco worked on their wing suit, while Dark, Wind and Scout work on theirs. Occasionally, the two groups would stop and share notes, and miniature models, and other ideas.

Eventually, after a week of testing, Choco's first prototype suit was ready for a test flight.

Wind's jetpack however was far from ready, as it was more complicated.

On the morning of the day that Choco was ready to go up, with Rosie's help, that is, Dark got a call on her mirror.

“This is Dark.” She greeted the other Rom.

“Dark? This is Nala of the Topographical and Plate Locator Scout Team.” Nala greeted. “We discovered a new plate, just below plate 16. We're calling it plate 17 for now. It's three plates below your plate.”

Dark nodded. “Have you scouted it yet?”

“Not yet.” Nala answered. “It's mostly desert. Naturally desert, to be honest. Not like the desert plate like plate 1, which formed when the unicorns took the water with them during the shift.”

“Wait.” Dark said suddenly. “Are you saying that plate 17 is originally desert?”

“We are.” Nala nodded. “It does have a stream however, which wasn't affected by the shift either, surprisingly.”

Dark blinked. “Well... that means...” She nodded. “Don't worry about scouting that plate. I'll go and scout it myself.”

“Roger that, Dark.” Nala smiled. “Nala out.”

Wind and the others looked at Dark. “Dark?”

The small mare smiled coyly. “Wind... you have Wind's memories. What's the one location that is desert, but has enchanted water that no magic can affect?”

“The desert that the Rom originated from.” Wind answered. “Where...”

Dark smiled when Wind trailed off. “Marchhare's original resting place.”

“Whoa.” The gathered Rom gasped.

“We'd have to go and look for ourselves.” Dark said. “But I'll bet a hundred bits that it is there somewhere.”

“Isn't that also the location of the Lost Wood mines?” Choco asked. “It's a story that we Forest Horses grew up on.”

Dark shrugged. “I'll have to go and see.” She looked at Wind. “Wind? I'll need you to come too. Your scanning systems and memories will help me.”

Rosie nodded. “That makes sense. As old as I am, I won't really be of help. Besides, I want to stay here and work on my suit.”

Scout pouted. “And since Midnight has me on stress-rest, I can't go either.” Wind smiled and hugged her.

Dark smiled. “We'll have to hire a glider team.” She looked at De Writer as he, Tia and Midnight came wandering over to help with the glide test.

“Some good news, De Writer...” Dark said as she explained the call she just got.

@ask-de-writer

Old De Writer thoughtfully stroked his beard as he thought through the news. Nodding, he agreed, “That MIGHT be a portion of the old Sunset Mountains and Celestia's Anvil. The many disruptions caused by the Shattering did actually open some new springs, so what was seen might not be Sha Ja Shehan. “There appears to be a modest river with a valley on the opposite side from the observed desert. It would not be at all unlikely that it is part of the old Red Branch and fed by the Maze. If so, it could even hold Morton's Swale and the ancient Wood Mines.”

The others were staring at him and slowly realizing what they knew but never really had to grasp. The amazement showed on their faces as it came home to them just how ancient De Writer was. He was speaking of those places and times as if they were recent memories. Places and times that were lost in the mists of time, thousands of years BEFORE the Shattering.

Choco looked over to Dark, whose eyes had gone puffy with tears and slowly sorted out, “Dark, if you find Marchhare's Lake, do you think that maybe he is there?”

Wings shuddering with suppressed sobbing, Dark sat and shook her head. “No, Choco, not really. After he came back from the Lake of Paradise, we could never speak to him at his Lake.” She gave a slightly broken smile as she snickered at the memory, “Unless he was right there beside us laying a stone for himself. The first time that he did that the Rom had been on the Roads of Equestria for 844 years. He thought that laying a stone for himself was a great joke!”

Putting her face in her hands, she wailed, “I miss him so much!”

Choco looked on helplessly. Knowing that Dark was immortal did not prepare her for the consequence of carrying grief that could last five hundred years and still be this raw. She quietly sorted out that Immortality had some serious drawbacks.

Midnight crouched down and simply wrapped Dark in her midnight blue wings, holding her and gently rocking the weeping pegasus.

She murmered, “We know, Dear, we know. Tia and I Laid the Stones for him ourselves. Sometimes with him along side us, cracking a joke. He was always serious about the actual Stone Laying and saying that he was glad that we were taking such good care of his bones.”

Dark looked up from her crying and wondered, “Even if we find the right place, will there be anything left? Five hundred years is a long time for his bones to be un attended. He could just be weathered away to nothing.”

It was Tia who thoughtfully answered that. “Dark, dear, if nothing else has scattered his bones but weathering, there should still be traces. Teeth should last and some other larger, heavier portions of bone. His harness had metal fittings. As dry as that area always was and, according to scouting reports, still is, those should still remain.

“There is another there that we might find as well. On the old river course side of the mountains was the Wayside where Sando went to the Lake. Finding him would be a wonderful treasure.”

Dark nodded slowly, “That is true. If this is the right plate, it holds a number of treasures, some of them are more valuable than just physical things.”

De Writer looked about and suggested, “We are going to need a big cargo glider to carry this crowd. I suggest that we all set up packs of supplies for exploring and then contact Air Trafic Control to see about getting a large enough glider to carry this expedition.”

It was Midnight who pointed out, “We mustn't forget to take along at least a pair of Stones. One for Sando's Lake and one for Marchhare's. It has been too long since they got that simple bit of respect and our love for them.”

Dark had to grin and pretend to calculate, “Let's see, five hundred years, at at least two visits a year, that makes about a thousand stones EACH. Me, Wind, De Writer, Midnight, Tia, and Choco makes about SIX THOUSAND STONES to carry. I don't think that there is any glider on any Rom plate that can carry that much along with us and our supplies!”

Midnight snickered and suggested, “Maybe we that have wings could carry the stones, IF we flap REALLY HARD. Then, the glider could be a lot smaller!”

De Writer snorted, “If you all were mimes, you couldn't find your way out of a box that isn't there! Let's all go and pack for the trip.”

Back at De Writer's Fair, the old pony quietly took Dark into his arms and gently rocked the small black pegasus. Softly, he offered, “All of us that knew him, miss him dreadfully, Dark. I wish that I could tell you that he will be there, waiting for us at his Lake. Not even I can tell you that without a lie. Wherever he has gone, I am certain of one thing. He knows how much you love him.”

She quietly sniffled, “I do know that, De Writer. It must sound really nutty to say this, but I want to show him how much I love him by playing Poison Grandpa one more time.”

De Writer nodded gravely as he agreed, “I actually do understand that, Dark, my dear. With you, it makes perfect sense.

“Now, about packing for this little expedition. We are going to need cartographic equipment and supplies to map the new plate. Let's see, a first aid kit, a tent and sleeping bags. Anything else?”

Dark grinned her shark like grin and retorted, “Food. You don't really need it and I can survive without it, being immortal, but I really detest starving.”

De Writer snorted, “Right. It is a comfortable habit and the others might not really like it if we forget it. Some of them will starve without it and Tia and Midnight just recovered from starving for five hundred years. They might not appreciate doing it again so soon.”

Dark was quickly to work packing things into neat bundles. She casually added a pair of picks and shovels. “Might need to dig some if that plate is where the old wood mines ended up. Could be useful for other things as well.”

@wind-the-mama-cat

Holding Close

Wind watched her “cousin” Dark gather their supplies. She knew that the Rom gliders were big, and could carry a lot of weight. However, with over six thousand semi-precious stones, and mining equipment, and food and water, not to mention 4 adult sized Rom, and Dark, they would need three gliders to get to the new plate.

She walked over to her now Wife, Scout with a thought.

“Scout?” She asked, as she sat down next to the Horse in the shade of their caravan, “I don’t suppose there’s a spell you could use to make all of our supplies feather weight, by chance?”

Scout shook her head. “Spells like that would need to be in constant use. Even for someone like Tia and Midnight, it would be exhausting.”

The cat-bot pursed her lips. “Darn. Looks like we will need to go with three gliders then.” She sighed heavily. “Not to mention, getting back up once we’re done with our exploring with all the added weight.”

“It’s a shame Auntie Esper isn’t here.” Rosie chirped as she doubled check Choco’s wing suit. “Out of all the Rom, thanks to the Spirit that lived within her, she could teleport unlimited weight miles and miles without breaking a sweat.” She shrugged. “She could move all of you down to the new plate, and all the equipment.”

Wind looked at Scout. “She could?”

Scout nodded. “From what I was told be De Writer, the first week Esper came to the Rom, she shifted 10 caravans and all the horses about 2 miles, all by herself.” She smiled at the thought. “Not even Black Lotus could have done that.”

Rosie looked at Choco. “Are you ready to test our first prototype, Choco?”

The young mare nodded. “Roger.”

The pink cat pulled the shoulder straps of the parachute tight. “I’ll be right up there with you, but it never hurts to have a back up.”

Choco nodded in agreement. “Better safe than sorry.”

Rosie pointed up. “I’m going to fly you up to the Ponyville plate directly above us.” She scooped Choco up Bridal style, spread her wings, revved her turbines, and took off.

Wind stood up. “I’m going to go help De Writer pack.” She bent down and kissed Scout on the nose. She walked over to the Blue horse’s caravan, and opened the door. “Need help, De Writer?”

He looked at her and smiled. “Can’t seem to find my Pre-Shattering maps.” He said as he shuffled through his bookshelves. “Mind going through my chest?”

Wind shrugged. “Sure.” She knelt in front of De Writer’s chest, and opened it. She gasped as the inside of the chest appeared to be as large as his caravan, and deeper. It also appeared to hold everything the Old Horse ever owned over his entire life. She looked inside it, and did a double take at the outside of it. “Uh…”

De Writer chuckled. “Just think about what you want, and it will appear in front of you.”

Wind thought about the maps, and lo and behold, a green, ordinary looking, shoulder bag appeared in front of her. “What the hay?” She grabbed the bag and stood up. “So, uh… I thought of the maps, and this old looking shoulder bag, um, appeared.”

De Writer walked over to Wind, and took the bag from her. Tears played at his eyes as a serene smile a came to his face. “Oh my… I had forgotten that I had this.” He looked at Wind. “This is Wind’s bag of holding.” He chuckled. “She took this bag everywhere with her. In fact, it was this bag that helped me design my chest.”

“It’s larger on the inside?” Wind asked.

“Much.” De Writer answered. “You are familiar with the concept of infinity, yes?”

Wind nodded.

“Well, this bag of holding… is infinite.” He explained. “Or more like a gateway to a self-contained dimension of infinity. She could put anything in this bag, any object of any size, of any weight, so long as it could fit through the opening, and carry it with her.” He smiled. “And to find an object within the bag, just like my chest, all you had to do is think of it.”

“And the bag… wouldn’t get heavier?” Wind asked.

De Writer smiled. “Exactly.” He reached into the bag, and pulled out his maps. “Here they are.” He set them on the table, and then reached into the bag again. He pulled out a pink, well worn, cloak. “Oh my…”

Wind’s forehead crystal flashed. “My cloak.”

De Writer sniffled and set the bag down on the floor. He then held the cloak with both hands and held it at arms length. “Yes, Wind. This is your cloak. You remember it, don’t you?”

“I…” Wind but her lower lip briefly. “Mama Dragon gave it to Wind… on her 16th birthday. It belonged to Shia, her other mother.”

“Indeed.” He brought it closed to his nose and sniffed it. “Wind loves this cloak. She wore it that night she… passed to the Dream World.”

“Passed to the… huh?” Wind blinked. “She didn’t travel to the Lake of Paradise?”

“No.” The blue horse said. “Even though she was a Rom, first and foremost, she was the Watcher of her World. Watchers… don’t really die. When they find their Dragon, their life force becomes connected to the Source. As they use the source, their Dragon, they age, grow old, and when the Source is used up, they simply fade away.”

“Where do they go, if not the Lake of Paradise?” Wind asked gently.

“The Dream.” De Writer answered. “They join the other Watchers, along with their mates.”

“So, Wind and Penny… are together again?” the cat asked. “In the Dream? Along with Mama Dragon?”

“I can only guess, but I certainly hope so.” He smiled as he handed the cloak to her. “Here. She would have wanted you to have this.”

Wind took it and draped it over shoulders, fastening the brass clasp. “Thank you, De Writer.” She looked at the bag. “De Writer… I think we have the solution to our weight problem.”

“Weight problem?” He repeated. “Oh, with all of our supplies.” He looked down at the innocent looking bag. “Yes. I do believe you are correct, Wind.” He picked it back up and held it out for her to take. “This is as much yours as it was the other Wind’s.”

Wind took it and held at arms length. “Is there anything else that once belonged to Wind? I mean, with Rosie here now, should she not get some of her mother’s belongings?”

“I understand what you’re saying, Wind.” De Writer sighed. “I actually do have something for Rosie, that once belonged to Wind.” He walked over to the chest, rustled around some, and pulled out a silver looking chain shirt.

“Wind’s mithril shirt.” He said as he stood up. “Her birthday is next week, and I was going to give it to her then.”

“Oh.” Wind said. “I…”

“Rosie is not the jealous type.” De Writer said simply. “Sure, when she first met you, she was a little sore about Soulblade, but she understands that the blade is not inherited, She chooses herself whom she goes to.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Wind was my daughter, and I want you to have the cloak and bag. Rosie has no need for them, trust me.”

“And she won’t think I’m… trying to emulate her mother?” Wind asked. “Become more like her?”

“No.” De writer assured her with a gentle tone as he put the shirt away and closed the lid to the chest. “But come, let’s go help Dark pack for our trip.” He picked up his maps, and The two Rom headed out of his caravan. “Speaking of Rosie, where is she?”

Wind pointed up. “Choco is about to jump of the edge of Rom plate #2, to test her wing suit prototype.”

9 miles up, standing on the edge of Ponyville plate #2, Rosie watched as her marefriend tested the flexibility of her wingsuit.

The wings were made from a very thin, yet strong, carbon fiber cloth, and held together using a light-weight from of rom wood grass. Each wing was ten feet in width, and in theory, could sustain flight, when not being pulled by a Pegasi, for 18 miles.

“So our goal today is to fly straight.” Rosie reminded her. “No maneuverability tests. We’re just seeing how the wingsuit performs under weight, and checking for stress points.” She smiled. “And testing a smooth landing.”

Choco nodded nervously. “Roger.”

Rosie pulled down her goggles, and watched as Choco did the same. “I’ll be right beside you.” She pointed to the Edge of the Rom Plate #1. “Aim for the Rom Gunner Battery. It’s about 18 miles away.”

Choco gulped and nodded, and spread her wings. “For science…”

Some time later, Rosie landed at Edge Battery #10 and looked up to the sky. She watched as Choco angled her body to slow her decent.

“Knees bent, Choco!” Rosie encouraged her. “Slow yourself, just like we practiced!”

Choco landed a little faster and rougher then she had planned. Rosie acted quickly and caught her.

“I’m shaking…” Choco said through chattering teeth as Rosie hugged her.

“That’s the adrenaline.” Rosie said softly as she stroked Choco’s back. “It will wear off in a minute.”

Choco took deep breaths as she tried to calm herself. “That’s one heck of a rush. You know… flying. Or falling with style.”

Rosie giggled “I felt the same way when I tried to fly for the first time. I was one. You get used to it the more you do it.”

Choco giggled too as she slowly stopped hovering.

“Hey.” A voice said suddenly.

Rosie looked to her left. It belonged to the Wrecker captain, Nala. A beige mare Pegasus with long red hair.

“We had sights on your flight the entire time.” Nala said with an approving nod. “You did really well, Choco.”

Choco smiled “Thank, Nala.”

The Captain examined the suit. “So, you girls are just going with a personal glider approach, huh? No sustained flight?”

Rosie let Choco go. “We discussed that. We just want to make a personal, short-range glider to use on the Penny’s Hammer.”

“18 miles is short ranged?” Nala asked.

“Yeah.” Rosie nodded. “Most large wing gliders have a glide ratio of 4 to 1. We were 9 miles up. So, we got a glide ratio of 2 to 1. Not bad for a prototype.”

Nala looked towards De Writer’s fair. “So, um, how are you guys going to get back?”

Rosie smiled and scooped Choco up bridal style again. “I’ll fly her back.” Her wings revved up as she took off.

18 miles later, she landed back in De writer’s fair and set Choco down gently. “You okay Choco?”

Choco nodded absent mindedly. “Huh? Oh. Yeah. Okay. Just… feeling overwhelmed.” She removed her parachute, handed it Rosie. She then unzipped her suit and stepped out of it. “I think I just need a nap.”

Rosie nodded in understanding. “Oh. Sure. Want me to wake you for lunch?”

Choco smiled “Sure.” She handed the suit to Rosie. “We need handles on the wings. Holding onto the wings by the top bar was really difficult.” She yawned and headed into her caravan.

Rosie watched her go, and didn’t notice Scout sidle up to her. “How’d the test go?”

The Catter started for a second. “Gah!” She calmed down and looked at Scout. “It went well. I have to make some changes to it, no surprise there. It is work in progress after all.” She looked towards Wind, De Writer and Dark packing for the trip.

“Is… that my mother’s…” She walked over to the group and up to Wind. “Is that My Mama’s bag?”

Wind looked down at her. “De Writer took it the night your Mother passed on to the Dream. He gave it to me.”

Rosie nodded “Well, that solves your weight issue.” She looked to De Writer. “Are you guys leaving soon?”

@ask-de-writer

TO BE CONTINUED

Return to MLP Fan Fiction

Return to Role Plays with De Writer

Scene setting Part 1 : LUNA AWAKENS CELESTIA

Scene setting Part 2 : AIRSHIP!

Scene setting Part 3 : ONE LAST VISIT

Scene setting Part 4 : SCOUT’S PRIZE

Scene setting Part 5 : REBOOT / START UP

Scene setting Part 6 : CELESTIA AND LUNA GO TO MEET TWILIGHT

PAGE 1, THE ADVENTURE BEGINS!

PAGE 2, NEW PLATE, OLD MEMORIES!

#QUEST FOR ANCIENT CANTERLOT #Page 2 #ROLE PLAY WITH @ask-de-writer and @wind-the-mama-cat

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tanadrin · 2 years

Text

in general there’s a tier of science fiction antirealism that’s not even so much “rule of cool” as “rule of i resent even the vaguest suggestion of plausibility.” like, for example, mainline star trek has tons of silly ultra-soft sci fi elements in it, all kinds of phlebotonium and nonsense technobabble that exist just to move the plot forward. you can get kind of a rough picture of the shape of the universe, but god help you if you ever want to try to work out the actual distance between the klingon homeworld and earth, what warp factors or stardates actually correspond to, or what the prefix “iso-” is supposed to mean. some of this is on the order of normal continuity problems in long-running TV shows (how many decks does Voyager have? nevermind how many crew members), some of it is clearly just writers glossing over unimportant details--the difference between “warp 9″ and “warp 8″ don’t matter much, as long as you understand they’re both really fast, and warp 8 is slightly slower.

but there’s a tier several levels below that which is like... not only is the director or showrunner going to gloss over any unimportant details, they will hold in contempt even the thinnest veneer of an attempt to make the fictional world coherent. a great example is Abrams-trek, which is nominally approximately the same setting as base Trek. one of the planets-of-the-week in TOS was Delta Vega, a random remote planet far away from Earth that was the setting of the second pilot of the show. Not only is that name re-used in Star Trek, it’s reused for a planet close enough to Vulcan that from its surface the full disk of Vulcan is discernible, large enough that you can see Vulcan being destroyed with the naked eye.

this is patently ridiculous. not only can it not be the same planet, despite nothing in the movie indicating it isn’t, two celestial objects that close would gravitationally interact, to the point where either their orbits would be unstable, and they would cease being that close, or to the point where they’d be gravitationally bound, like the moon and the earth. although star trek has always been pretty soft sci fi, they’v cared enough about plausibility to often base plots on real-world speculative science, and to hire science advisors to bounce ideas off of. and while you can bend over backwards on fan wikis (and indeed Memory Alpha has) in that biblical-apologetics style that gins up alternate scenarios the on-screen action doesn’t explicitly contradict, this is plainly an after-the-fact patch up job.

the screenwriter in fact gives an explicit reason for these changes: the easter egg of the name was more important than the consistency, and while they could’ve had Spock watch Vulcan blow up through a telescope, this wasn’t considered cinematic enough.

and like... yes, moviemaking has an art to it, and sometimes plausibility and doing things in a particularly cinematic way have a tension between them. but it’s possible to prize storytelling style so far above storytelling substance that you actually end up with an incoherent story. i think i’m on record as saying prioritizing canon too much is a bad idea, but the problem here isn’t continuity errors within the larger star trek franchise as taking a science fiction premise, and then discarding fundamental elements of that premise (this is a universe which in most ways resembles our own, and functions according to realistic laws, whose major exceptions are flagged as such, either via technobabble or the characters’ own surprise at their existence), and holding that in contempt.

you can argue that impressionistic interpretations of cosmology for storytelling purposes 1) are nothing new, and 2) are tolerated by plenty of moviegoers who aren’t orbital mechanics anoraks. but there are plenty of things the average moviegoer doesn’t know, which we would nevertheless expect a filmmaker to get right. i don’t know much about the rank structure of the US army, but in a movie about the US army, i would not expect a colonel to give orders to a general, because that’s not how the army works. there is a rich vein of more impressionistic, fantasy-adjacent or even explicitly science fantasy works within the speculative fiction genre to draw on if you want to make that kind of movie. but (and this is my problem with the reboot movies generally) if you want to make a Star Trek movie, you probably shouldn’t make one that holds the fundamental premise of Star Trek in contempt.

this turned into a big rant about Abrams star trek, which is really not the only thing i have in mind here, just an especially handy example. i think there’s a big problem in the utilization of science fiction elements in stories, most especially in film, where because the realistic depiction of the astronomical universe isn’t something most people have an intuition for, screenwriters and directors feel like they’re not constrained by it when it comes to plausible storytelling. and while i think ordinary suspension of disbelief should be able to handle minor inconsistencies and stylistic flourishes if you’re a grown-ass adult, because requiring absolute literalism in all the media you consume is a little deranged, it’s a big problem when those inconsistencies become major plot points. planets hang out right next to each other in space. gas giants have solid surfaces. explicitly STL spaceships cross vast interstellar distances in mere hours or minutes. benedict cumberbatch is cast to play a south asian man. the problem is, if you do have even the roughest intuition for astronomical scales and how planets work, these errors crop up everywhere, and are as nonsensical as a World War 2 movie where Patton is a Nazi.

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phantxmthreads · 3 months

Text

❝ COURAGE IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF FEAR. IT'S THE JUDGEMENT THAT SOMETHING ELSE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FEAR. ❞ ⸻ inspired by frank reagan (blue bloods), reynolds woodcock (phantom thread), mufasa (the lion king), and jiro horikoshi (the wind rises)

PINTEREST — SPOTIFY

tw: death, car accident

basics

• full name: rigel lorenzo thorne

• nicknames: ri (by those closest to him)

• gender: cis male

• pronouns: he/him

• age: 69

• date of birth: 13th march 1956

• zodiac sign: pisces

• sexuality: heterosexual

• place of birth: cowes, isle of wight, england

• residence: a quaint victorian terraced house a fifteen minute drive from the atelier

• occupation: tailor for the bastion

• aesthetics: old leather bound books, silver fabric scissors, old films, boxes of tailor’s chalk, whisky, reading glasses on top of his head, little vases of flowers, a crackling fire, ink-stained fingers, strewn sweet wrappers, meticulously arranged sewing equipment, hot cups of tea

appearance

• faceclaim: jeremy irons

• voice claim: jeremy irons

• height: 6’ 1”

• build: tall ; slim

• eyes: brown

• hair: grey

• piercings: n/a

• tattoos: n/a

• style:

personality

• positive traits: reliable, organised, hardworking, creative, meticulous, loyal, selfless

• negative traits: reserved, stubborn

• mbti: infj - the advocate

• likes: reading, going for walks, film and television, sweet food, documentaries, coffee, whisky, having everything organised, going to the theatre

• dislikes: being interrupted when he’s focused, spicy food, hot weather, arrogance, prejudice, liquorice, sports

• phobias: arachnophobia

• hobbies: reading, designing clothes, sword fighting, going to the theatre

• skills: accomplished artist ; close-up magic ; expert on poisons

• pet peeves: being late, when people use incorrect grammar, being interrupted, loud music, noisy eaters

• other: owns a black 1970 jaguar e-type which is his pride and joy

family

• mother: penelope ‘penny’ roberta thorne

• father: unknown

• siblings: n/a

• wife: charlotte alessia thorne (née thompson - deceased)

• son: rhys henry thorne

favourites

• food: hard boiled sweets

• drink: whisky

• time of the day: morning

• weather: cold and foggy

• colours: blue ; red ; bronze

• songs: mainly film scores (anything by hans zimmer in particular)

bio

— rigel was born on 13th march at 7:25am to penelope ‘penny’ thorne, a seamstress. when his father found out she was pregnant they were both young and unmarried and so disappeared, not wanting the responsibility of being a parent and leaving penny to raise rigel by herself.

— rigel grew up in cowes, living a short distance from queen victoria's residence of osbourne house. he and his mother lived in a beautiful cottage that had a large garden, two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a spacious living room. he spent most of his time in the kitchen, at the table, where the sun would shine its light the most and where he would draw with prized pack of crayons. this was the start of his interest in art and, with his mother’s influence, in designing clothes.

— rigel loved his mother more than anything. she was the strongest and kindest person he’s ever known. penny raised rigel alone (with the help of her own parents when they could) and never saw rigel’s father again. she taught him to sew from a young age and how to grow vegetables in their back garden as well as how to read and write before he even started school. she would also take him to the beach during the warmer months and they’d often go for walks through the countryside and to the market.

— rigel’s love of literature and his sewing skills landed him a little job at the local theatre, helping design and put together costumes for their productions. he mainly helped out on the weekends and a few evenings during the week, but once he finished school he was working there full time.

— during the summer after his seventeenth birthday he met a girl named charlotte. she was visiting the island on holiday, was also seventeen and english, but has been living in wales since she was twelve. they met at the local bookstore where rigel found her carrying six books in her arms and searching for more. he helped her with some recommendations and to carry the books back to the family’s rented holiday home and the whole time was spent talking about their favourite books and plays and the two decided to spend more time together whilst charlotte was around. rigel thought she was so beautiful, so compassionate, so intelligent, and so easy to have a conversation with. after charlotte returned home, the two exchanged letters frequently and even had a few lengthy phone conversations.

— two years later, charlotte returned to the island and announced she’d taken up a job with one of the local florists. for the time being she lived with rigel and penny and spent most evening cooking for them both to repay their kindness and generosity.

— rigel was 23 when he felt like he wanted more out of life. he loved his home and the people there, but he wanted to broaden his horizons. despite the guilt he felt for wanting to leave his mother behind, penny reassured him that nothing would make her happier than seeing her son make a life for himself with the girl he loved.

— rigel then had one last thing to do before leaving and that was to propose to charlotte. he did so during a sunset stroll on a quiet beach and up to that point it was the happiest moment of both of their lives. they bought a victorian terraced house, where rigel still lives today, and he found a job working at a big theatre whilst charlotte was employed at a florist around the corner from their home.

— they were unbelievably happy together and with their work, but once people started commenting on how time was ticking on for them to have children rigel began to consider fatherhood.

— his son rhys was born in 1985 and both rigel and charlotte couldn’t be happier. by this time, rigel was working in the costume department at the famous pinewood studios, but gave it up to be closer to home.

— when rhys was seven, his mother died. she was hit by a drunk driver whilst crossing the road and was put in an induced coma, but died from her injuries four days later. the driver was brought to justice after a long legal battle, but nothing anybody could do could bring back charlotte. rigel was broken. and what was worse is that he had to explain to rhys that he would never see his mother again.

— rigel ensured that rhys grew up hearing stories of the kind of wonderful person charlotte was and what kind of likes she liked and liked to do. as much as it pained him, rigel also had several photographs of her around the house- some from family days out, some from when she was a teenager, and even had her final photograph (taken a fortnight before she died) in an ornate gold frame in the living room.

— in 1999, rigel caught the attention of the table. they knew of his reputation as an accomplished artist and tailor and wanted his services on their side. struggling for money to provide for himself and his son and with being presented the opportunity to put his skills to proper use, rigel took them up on the offer. he could let the shady side of everything slide because he wasn’t directly involved in scheming and killing, but instead providing protective and beautiful clothing for people who needed it. he’s been working at the atelier ever since and genuinely loves his job.

other muses: e. crowe / d. montmorency / m. fox

#talesfmintro #⸻ sky ; she/her ; 23 ; gmt ; no triggers

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mahou-furbies · 1 year

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It is time for

This year the event will be hosted by Snow Miku! Not exactly magical girls but close enough design wise.

Here is the magical girl media consumed on this blog this year:

(Delicious Party Precure, Futari wa Precure Max Heart, Magia Record s3, Machikado Mazoku s2, Tokyo Mew Mew New, Magic Users' Club! (OVA), Magic User's Club! (Tv), Tropical Rouge! Precure season movie, Futari wa Precure Max Heart season movies 1 & 2)

At first it looked like I barely read any magical girl manga this year, but then ended up reading a couple in the final few weeks of the year:

(Magilumiere co ltd, Time Stranger Kyoko (reread), The Life After Retirement of Magical Girls, No Match for Aoi-kun, Magical Lollipop)

Also I read a lot of magical girl webcomics!

(Magical Mom, Sleepless Domain, Cloudy Wondrous, Apricot Cookie(s)!, Miss Guillotine, Strawberry Seafoam)

Then let's go through the events that happened this year. We had a tournament for the favourite Precure, and Cure Milky was the winner! This time it has taken even longer to draw the celebratory art for the winners than last year and I'm still not done, but I guess nobody but me really cares about that so all is well.

We also had a poll for most/least favourite magical girl elements, which I used to compile the most liked and least liked magical girls (though I think the least liked one turned out to be more popular). I really liked this idea and would like to do something more with it one day, or at least just get statistics on people's opinions on different magical girl tropes for fun.

I also did both Mermay and Witchtober this year (and Adorkastock Draw Everything June which I've done every year since its inception), which included a lot of magical girl content. I like these monthly drawing challenges since I enjoy drawing a set of themed characters, and usually the results are a lot more varied than the stuff I usually draw. So next year I'd like to do some more, but I'll have to find different challenges so it won't get repetitive, this was the second Mermay I did and while it mostly involved characters I never draw otherwise, I'd still like to give that spot to something else next time.

Saban Moon was unleashed to the public this year, which did not affect me that much since I have very little relationship with Sailor Moon, but I can still appreciate unearthing a secret alternative version of a well known character (also it was my most popular drawing this year)

This year I started and exercise project by trying to motivate myself with the reward of buying a Miku Nendoroid each time I exercise a certain amount of times. It has been mostly successful, or there are breaks but they are a lot shorter than they would ever be without a prize looming in the future. Much recommended!

Finally one thing that's different from last year that I didn't draw a lot of characters for my magical girl chibi series, because I was busy drawing a different kind of chibi series (hundreds of Pokemon chibis on my other blog). And this chibi style spread to several of my other fandoms too, I used it on the Witchtober, and I've done four (I think) sets of requests in it.

Finally a mention to my frustration on the lack of green Precures culminating in a series of green Precure OCs.

Then onto the awards!

Best Henshin Design goes to Cloudy Wondrous! A solid design where everything works together (I’m especially a fan of the cloud motif used in different places), and the unique details (crown, wing eyepatch thing) make it more memorable.

Best Team Design goes to Tokyo Mew Mew New! Granted I think I like the original designs more, but TMM team design is still strong here as well, it's recognisable as TMM but highly customisable for OCs.

Best Powerup Design goes to Strawberry Seafoam! Or they should probably rather be called separate forms on the same level with different purposes rather than increasing in power, but who's counting. They are all pretty (as are the other mermaids' transformations) but let's say the jellyfish one is my favourite, it has such warm glowing palette (but also an illuminated dark mode!) and it creates a unique silhouette.

Also a shoutout to Cure Spicy's Party Up Style "hat".

Best Civilian Design goes to Amane's winter look from Delicious Party Precure! It just looks so comfy...

Best Hair goes to Sae from Magic User's Club! It's pretty simple compared to the usual absurd magical girl hairstyles, but I like how the angular shapes make it memorable.

Best Magical Item goes to Bijou's pen from Strawberry Seafoam! It looks pretty, and I like magic where you actually draw your spells. And it's fun to see her style evolve!

Best Henshin Scene goes to the dresser henshin in Magilumiere! Overall it has a lot of creative henshin and I really hope it gets animated some day!

Best Fan Creation is the catch-all award for everything that's not from, like, a big corporation, and this year the competition is really tough with all these highly polished webcomics, on a normal year any one of them would have been the winner but now I have to pick one. And it is also this year's Best Work, so more on that later!

Best Relationship goes to the group in Magic Users' Club! Their relationships feel very natural, and everyone has something different going on with the other characters. And while there is a little drama, the overall vibe is delightfully positive.

Best Mascot goes to Kome-Kome from Delicious Party Precure! Personality or plot-wise there's nothing that interests me about her, but it must be said that I'm a sucker for progressively aging designs and she's also stupidly cute.

Best Supporting Character goes to the 4th wall breaking Director of Darkness, from Apricot Cookie(s)! He just cracks me up every time he is on panel with his friendly and welcoming attitude.

Honourable mention to Mari-chan from Precure who is the best character in the season but who unfortunately doesn’t get to do much.

Best Visual goes to the art style of Strawberry Seafoam! Bold and unique glowing saturated colours that somehow feel nostalgic. Special mention to all the swirly magic.

Honourable mention to the art style shifts Apricot Cookie(s)!, sometimes the art goes to retro manga or anime or 3d idol dance models for fun. And another honourable mention to the visual presentation of the Apricot Cookies website.

Best Audio goes to the Shiny Luminous / Queen theme in Futari wa Precure Splash Star (not the henshin one but the one when she’s doing something epic). Feels very majestic.

For the Best Scene I don’t have anything specific that comes to mind over everything else this year, so let’s say Kuroe’s fate in MagiReco, Shiny Luminous in the Max Heart finale and Grandma’s fate in Apricot Cookie(s)! can share it.

Innovation Award is for honouring a work doing something new and refreshing for the magical girl genre. This year I read several webcomics (that generally get to be more innovative than commercial anime) and even one actual manga that focused on "magical girls as a job", but each with a little different angle. So a shoutout to Magilumiere Co ltd, Sleepless Domain, Cloudy Wondrous, Apricot Cookie(s)!, Miss Guillotine and Magical Mom! With this many of them it'd feel a little weird to pick any for the "innovation award" over the same topic, so let's reward Magical Mom, for having, well, the magical mom! Magical girls whose mother is also a magical girl are of course a thing, but this time the child is a boy, and the mother also is an active and prominent character (and not just a background mentor), so that is new to me.

Then the Golden Mana Award, that is the dishonourable mention awarded to one thing I didn't like this year!

This year it goes to Porun from Futari wa Precure Max Heart. Frankly he was probably more annoying in the original Futari wa but I had something else to complain about that year so now it's his turn. For the life of me I can't understand how this would be an appealing character concept even for children, like don't even 5-year-olds get annoyed at a toddler sibling's tantrums interrupting their big kid play? Even his less overtly irritating scenes don't do much for me, since they rely on "aww isn't it cute how the baby wants to be with you" mushiness.

Also another dishonourable mention to downgrading Pudding’s jumpsuit into a dress.

Best Character goes to Kuroe! (from MagiReco) I really like her design (especially how it mirrors Iroha’s), her quiet and hesitant personality and her melancholic story that felt fresh among all the magical girls who excitedly jump into saving every passerby. Or I don’t really like how she fit in the larger narrative, but in isolation I think her story was interesting.

Best Work goes to Apricot Cookie(s)! It's really funny and the art is great, and the character designs are memorable. The heroine is charmingly dumb and everyone in her family is great. And it took a while to grow on me, but in the end the weeb references make me feel at home.

Plans for 2023

I didn't manage to get any of the shorter mg shows from last year's list (though I did watch Magic User’s Club which wasn’t on the list) so those are still there. I'd also like to watch two series from the Precure backlog, this year I only managed one.

Art-wise I plan to do more for the chibi series, and do another "x colour Precure oc" series. And I'd really like to draw more art that has, like, a background or a mood or a composition, but let's see if that goes anywhere.

(also hopefully more Miku Nendoroids)

#blog stuff #annual wrap up

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

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This weekend’s episode of "Saturday Night Live" began with a skit poking fun at former President Donald Trump’s recently released, meme-worthy non-fungible token (NFT) collection.

“Seems like a scam and, in many ways, it is,” said James Austin Johnson, who played the 45th President in the show’s cold open.

While the mainstream media has eagerly picked up the story on the collection for its comedic value, the popularity of the Trump Digital Trading Cards has continued to climb since the collection dropped on Thursday, selling out within 24 hours.

According to data from OpenSea, the collection’s trading volume is 6,658 ether (ETH), or about $7.8 million at the time of publishing. Its floor price, which started at $99, has been hovering around 0.3 ETH, or $350.

The collection features 45,000 tokens in the style of baseball cards. In each collectible, Trump wears a different costume linked to rarity elements that allow users to enter a sweepstakes to win prizes like a zoom call with the former President or a cocktail hour at Mar-a-Lago.

In the wake of the project’s apparent success, internet sleuths have dug deep into the project and the parties behind the wallet addresses associated with Trump’s collectibles. Among the nuances and inconsistencies alleged on Twitter: the company that created the collectibles is hoarding a large amount of them; that the project poorly relies on stock imagery; and that most of the buyers opened new wallets without holding any cryptocurrency, sticking them with an NFT and no way to derive any future value from them.

THE STRANGE CASE OF 1,000 NFTS

Over the weekend, Twitter user @NFTherder noticed something strange about a large number of the rarest NFTs in the collection. The user posted a thread explaining the nature of the transaction data of the contracts involved in the mint.

According to data from Polyscan, Polygon’s version of Etherscan, a “Donald Trump Admin” wallet minted 1,000 tokens to a Gnosis Safe Wallet, a multisignature smart contract wallet that requires a handful of users associated with the tokens to approve of any asset movement.

While the Collect Trump Cards site said that 44,000 of the 45,000 tokens created in the initial series would be available for users to mint, it did not specify what would happen to the remaining 1,000 tokens. Where another project might save those assets for a later date to revive demand, data suggests that the administrative wallet holds the remaining minted 1,000 tokens.

After the collapse of Three Arrows Capital, the crypto-hedge fund backed NFT collection “Starry Night” moved its tokens into a Gnosis Safe wallet, along with other valuable assets. It was likely done out of caution to hold the assets in one place to prevent any singular actor from moving these out of the wallet.

The Trump Trading Card site specified that there was a “strict limit of 100 Trump Digital Trading Cards per purchaser/household,” meaning that an individual or a group who did not have to abide by the rules for the general public was able to pick up a large swath of the NFT pool.

In addition, the mystery wallet isn’t full of second-rate NFTs. It minted 26% of the rarest 1-of-1 tokens and 28% of the autographed trading cards, according to NFTherder. These are the most valuable and expensive assets in the collection, respectively comprising 0.4% and 0.16% of the total tokens in the collection.

NFTherder told CoinDesk that not only do the wallet owners have the ability to inflate the price floor of the collection, but they also could have the ability to rig the sweepstakes and alter the competition.

“If this was a 10,000 unit collection about monkeys, the whole discord would be blowing up about how this is a rug and a scam and that the team is holding one fourth of the most rare supply,” said NFTHerder.

THE CURIOUS MARKS AND MAKER OF THE ART

While people have been digging into the wallet addresses and collection sweepstakes, other Twitter users were delving into pop culture digital artist Clark Mitchell and the artwork he created for the collection.

On-Chain TV founder Morgan Sarkissian tweeted an image of one of the collectibles featuring the 45th president in a space suit that seemed to still have a visible watermark from Shutterstock.

She also uncovered an Adobe watermark in another token listed in the collection.

Other Twitter users have found inconsistencies in the artwork, with some of the creative assets used to build the collection apparently taken from stock images or Amazon costumes.

While Mitchell has worked on other projects such as artwork for Disney, Hasbro and Marvel, this isn’t his first NFT project.

Web3 researcher and Twitter user @Valuemancer uncovered that Mitchell also did the artwork for Sylvester Stallone’s SlyGuy NFT collection that never launched, according to the digital collectibles website.

The collection included similar creative assets, such as drawings of the actor paired with exclusive access to events such as the Ultimate Stallone Experience, a dinner hosted by Stallone for token holders.

Mitchell, Sarkissian, @Valuemancer and the SlyGuy NFT collection did not respond to CoinDesk by press time.

THE SHINY NEW WALLETS WITH NO CRYPTO

While NFT collections often attract a wide range of buyers with various stake in the game, Trump’s NFT collection had a large number of buyers that appear to be new to digital collectibles.

According to data from Dune Analytics, of the nearly 12,900 users that minted Trump NFTs, about 9,300 did not hold any cryptocurrency in their wallet for gas fees – the fee all users pay for a transaction on the blockchain. If a holder has no balance of either MATIC or wETH, he is "No Gas" holder. That means he can't list his NFT for sale until he get some balance into his wallet, the Dune dashboard shows.

This means that 72% of buyers were likely purchasing NFTs for the first time.

The total number of tokens held by holders with no gas is 21,420, according to Dune Analytics, which one Twitter user pointed out may be stuck due to the more advanced nature of trading on Polygon.

“It's more like a 20,000 set than 45,000,” said Tyler Warner, staff writer at Lucky Trader on Twitter, citing the data as one of the reasons why the tokens skyrocketed in trading volume.

Warner did not respond to CoinDesk by press time.

In a harsh crypto winter where NFTs are already subject to market vulnerabilities, celebrities releasing successful NFT projects or funding Web3 ventures seems like a promising sign.

However, when the project is executed before fully working its kinks out, it does not serve as a vehicle for mass adoption. Instead, it can onboard a new user base that is not familiar with cryptocurrency or the steps needed to make a sound purchase, analyze blockchain data for irregularities and fund wallet transactions.

As projects like these continue to rise in popularity, it’s important to educate holders, dig into the details and look beyond the hype.

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i-rate-horse-games · 2 years

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Horse Isle 1 was incredible back in the day! i have so many memories of spending all day on this. (until I ran out of unpaid minutes. this game had timers built in) in Horse Isle 1, you capture wild horses, buy them from other players and their ranches, ride them around the map, compete in tournaments and minigames, and really have a good time. there are quests to complete that take you all over the place! there are cool rocks to collect, wishing coins to throw in the wishing wells, and npcs that need you to play a specific tune on their pianos. there are poetry rooms, where you can make magnet poetry with other players! there are art rooms, where you can do the same with drawing! there's a fishing minigame! you can get a pet for your horse that just hangs out in the picture and offers moral support!

some of my favorite parts of the game were when a message would pop up in global chat saying something like "the next 5 minutes are a water balloon fight!!" and everyone would get 10 water balloons to throw at people, and the people who splash the most pop up in chat and win prizes. there were also action buttons for when several people were standing in the same place, like Dogpile! in which a message pops up describing the sudden dogpile and dog noises play.

the soundtrack is also very memorable! it's been archived here.

the map is huge, and I never made it to every island!

although it was a flash game, it's still playable here, but these days there's only about 10 players online at a time. i often wish the game were remade into a single player on-the-go sort of thing, like a DS game. :)

there is no horse breeding. horses are obtained as adults and do not age. you can buy a foal as a pet, which is decorative and also does not age.

i rate it 4 stars out of 5!

★★★★☆

the star off is because of the creators being homophobic and transphobic, as well as the low player count. it's a pretty social game, so traversing this wide world with a silent chat taking up a quarter of your screen is very lonely. the art style is lovely, especially how the pixel art coordinates with the detailed horse portraits. the minigames and quests were very fun! the music gets stuck in my head even now!

#homophobic horse game #horse isle #horse isle 1 #horse game #horse videogame #flash game #web browser game

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readingrobin · 2 years

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A little bit late, but here are the rest of the books that I managed to finish before the end of @logarithmicpanda's summer readathon. By some miracle I read 22 books during the month of June. Absolutely bonkers.

Books Finished:

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao - One of the most refreshing books I've read in a LONG time. Just the pure, raw emotion poured onto the page that comes to a satisfying and cathartic head at the climax. Honestly, we need to carve out more of a space for women's anger in fiction without making them out to be horrible monsters for actually being upset at their situations. So much in YA fiction, the female lead always has to be merciful, always has to be the bigger person in the end, but here, there's really no time for mercy and no one that won't ultimately take advantage of it. Can't wait for the sequel! (5/5)

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward - An ultimate mindfuck of a book. It's the kind of story you immediately want to reread just so that you can go back and see everything knowing what you do now. Also, has such a strangely satisfying and hopeful ending that you don't really see in horror too often. (4/5)

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett - Not my first time with Good Omens, I've probably read the book maybe three times now, but it's my first time with the audiobook. The one I listened to had a full cast, complete with David Tennant and Michael Sheen as Crowley and Aziraphale. Naturally, their performances were excellent and it was neat to see them put new spins on dialogue that they had already read for the show, as well as put their voices to scenes that didn't make the transition to the screen. (Aziraphale's possession world tour was a highlight.) The rest of the cast was amazing as well, like Arthur Darvill as Newt, Gabrielle Glaister as Madame Tracy and Louis Davison as Adam. Definitely recommended for those who love the show. (5/5)

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood - Had to read this one for work and I wasn't too blown away by it even though it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It's a sort of almost autiobiographical story about a woman's experience with her rise in social media fame, with the first part mostly being tiny chunks of texts of "hot takes" I've seen a lot around the Internet and the second half taking a more emotional, personal turn. However, because of the writing style, I never really felt attached to the main character, and her grief and loss just rang a little hollow for me because of it. It's a book where you have to be familiar with Internet culture to get all the references and nuance, but not too familiar to the point where all these takes are just expected at this point. It'll have an impact on some people, but I wasn't one of them. (2/5)

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen - An anthology of fractured fairy tales that I had a better time reading than Yolen's other collection The Emerald Circus. There was a lot of variety in the kind of stories told, there was even a good smattering of Jewish stories which I rarely see, so it's not just your Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty retellings, though there are a bit of those here, but they find a new sort of charm through their reframings. (4/5)

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation Vol. 1 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu - Though the writing style of the translated book was a bit tough to settle into at first, I had a blast reading this one. Wei Wuxian is such a little ass and I love how his personality conflicts with the more stoic Lan Wangji. I love me a good odd couple. (4/5)

Real Hero Shit by Kendra Wells - Sort of your basic, D&D one shot plot of a ragtag group of adventurers going out on a mission to investigate disappearances in a certain town. We got the flirty fighter, a snarky spellcaster, the good-natured cleric, and the mysterious rogue. The art style was pretty good, it's something I would probably pick up if it has a continuation. It just has the one trope that annoys me of "clearly these two characters have some sort of tension, so they're just going bone it out and get it over with." (3.5/5)

#summerreadathon22 #reading challenge #readathon #summer reading

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tibbinswrites · 2 years

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Hiiiii! For the fic writers questions:

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

45. What’s something you’ve improved on since you started writing fic?

Hiii! Thanks so much for asking!

This got a little away from me so answers under the cut.

37. Be warned on this one it's an MCD fic, so please mind the tags. It's called Hallowed Ground and it was based on some gorgeous art (which is linked in the A/N of the fic). It's a Supernatural, Destiel fic set post-season 13 where Michael was possessing Dean and Cas goes after him to try and save him. And it doesn't go well. Hallowed Ground - Chapter 1 - Tibbins - Supernatural [Archive of Our Own]

It's been a long time since I wrote it but I think it's the most 'deep cut' fic I have (Aside from the Harry Potter fic where it's just about me wandering around Hogwarts). I remember being so proud of capturing what I felt at the time to be a very powerful and painful moment. I even made myself emotional while writing it. And a friend of mine quoted a particular line from it about grief that she said was very impactful. Which means a lot as she herself is a brilliant writer. 45. I'm sure over the years I've improved in countless ways. When I was 9 I won a writing competition at a local bookstore with a quaint story called 'The Beach'. It was a ridiculous and silly story with terrible spelling and grammar and I partially believe the judges only picked me over the 16-year-old competitors because they thought it would be cute and good press to give the winning prize to the youngest finalist. I've come a long way since then (and I'm in a contemplative mood so I apologise for the rambling). My first fanfic, looking back, was horrific mary-sue cringe where the main villain wasn't even present in the fic until the final chapter. Every fanfic since has been slightly better. In the basics of spelling, grammar and formatting, yes, but also learning how to craft a story. Most of my early works were relatively short. I found myself most comfortable writing dialogue and small character moments missing from or only implied by canon. Limited characters, plot only in the sense of where it fits in the canon story.

This might be the thing I've most worked on. A lot of my Supernatural fics are like this. That is my writing comfort zone. Getting into the D&D show Critical Role (and the game itself) however, made me want to try expanding to an ensemble cast and test myself with more long-form story, and gave me a fresh perspective on how to go about doing it. So I gave it a go with Supernatural in 'The Final Season: Home is Where One Starts From' and with Critical Role in 'Tangled Threads' and they are both the fics I've worked the hardest at, and the ones I am most proud of for the work I put in.

This is something I want to practise more, when I have the time and the ideas to spare. These feel closest to the kinds of things I love to read. And intriguing plot but focused on character and often the 'found-family' dynamic. It is this style I will likely adopt if I ever think of an idea for an original, non-fan fiction book.

But the more I improve and experiment with, the more I realise how valuable 'The Beach' was. And I miss the aspect of my childhood brain that wasn't restrained by what 'makes sense' or 'is realistic'. The ideas I so quickly and so automatically dismiss that they have been mostly filtered out.

Perhaps I should work on that next.

#TibbinsAnswers #questions #fanfiction #supernatural #critical role #TibbinsContemplates #TibbinsRambles #sorry for the ramble #I just rewatched Calamity and I'm still a tad emotional

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faustocosgrove · 5 months

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and on the thirteenth day of reviewmas I, Fausto, give to thee:

[(a show taking place in 2040/6 other shows i reference in this dual review)/(a different franchise with 1 manga + 4 anime series + 3 tv specials + 5 feature films + 1 musical +1 video game + 2 live action adaptations)] - (one show released in 1994 - the other released in 1987) = 13 reasons why i’m placing this review at number 13.

one of 12 instances of elder abuse

11 yawns

my 10 remaining brain cells after this shitty movie jfc

9 instances this show reminded me of a better show

an 80s cult movie

7 lgbt main characters in an incredibly queer manga like holy shit

6 ye olde government agents

5/5 stars best movie of the decade easily. might be the best movie of all time

4 scantily clad teenaged girls (fbi open up! meme)

the 3rd time i read the same book about lawns maybe?

2 high school animes

and a ninja book

…from a guy who still thinks about the naruto series in the year 2024

yes that math checks out. i would have simply placed it else where if it didn’t.

here’s the math again without words to make it easier on you:

[(2040/6)/(1+4+3+5+1+1+2)]-(1994-1987)=13

hell, i’ll even show my work

2040/6=340 1+4+3+5+1+1+2=17 1994-1987=7 340/17=20 20-7=13

Another dual review!

this review contains spoilers for a series not reviewed here: the nausicaa manga.

So I was turned off by this first show’s art style and kept scrolling around it but i’m running out of bad 80s and 90s anime on this free streaming service. also there’s like 3 seasons and 2 movies i keep seeing over and over again so i finally said the hell with it and turned it on. i don’t know how far i got through episode one, but i turned it off before the credits rolled. Anyway, City Hunter is the story of a vigilante/mercenary in 80’s tokyo with a gun who is also a massive pervert. that’s it. that’s the show.

based on the wikipedia page, it seems to have been quite popular, considering is has like 2 seasons and 3 movies or whatever up on the streaming service i should have seen that coming.

y’know i’d brush off that i didn’t like this on the fact that i’m not a fan of crime dramas, but i literally watched all of Nightwalker and that show was fucking awful. and i would also make the excuse that i’m not a fan of pervert is comedy but that’s a good chunk of Ranma 1/2 and like all of Urusei Yatsura and i didn’t hate either of those. i dunno, stars weren’t aligned or something.

Anyway, since i was scraping the bottom of the barrel for 80s and 90s anime i made the massive genre shift to a 90s american saturday morning cartoon.

i am not a clever man.

I also only got part way through episode one of Phantom 2040, but i’ll probably come back to it, just not often enough to shelve this review until i do.

I have never seen an animated show where everyone is ugly before. it’s fascinating. i want to study it. i mean the bad guys are clearly uglier than the main cast, but even the Phantom, who is supposed to be an 18 year old kid, is kinda ugly. best looking character in the whole cast so far is light googling Guran, the grandson of the original Guran. i mean at least in a franchise that’s core theme is “white man gets magic power from africa and is trained by a black man” makes everyone uglier than the one black character. i choose to believe that was intentional. tiny consolidation prize for the overarching racism.

the show also has that 80’s “this show was made for the sole purpose of selling merchandise” feel, mainly in how all the character models look like they’d translate into dolls very easily. unfortunately the result of the dollification is that everyone is doing the tory power stance at all times. like, so the doll can stand up by having its feet apart. this choice also leads to a lot of weird crotch shots. like, a guy or an evil robot gets shot and tumbles backward. with their legs apart. so you just get this animation rotating around the whole no-no-zone. and like i can see kids playing with their dolls shoot them and they die and knocking them over and like the kid knocks the doll down to show it’s dead. and this is like animating that. but it’s still weird crotch shots.

mild tangent warning, but i am going somewhere with this.

i am a huge fan of nausicaa of the valley of the wind. it’s my favorite book, bar none. yes my favorite book is a manga, shut up. i’m really touchy when it comes to nausicaa references. i detest the character rei from the new star wars movie because the opening sequence of that movie is just nausicaa references and then the rest of the movie has zero environmentalism. i’m also a huge Lily Orchard fan who has through the years used rei as an example of a perfectly fine character that men don’t like just because she’s a girl. and in spite of all the evidence i’ve seen of rei being a perfectly fine character whose trials and growth just don’t happen to revolve around environmentalism, i still can’t bring myself to like the character because i can’t detach the lazy nausicaa references from her. a thinking error on my part, but i just can’t fix it.

and then there’s the movie I Kill Giants where in the final battle the little girl’s hallucination tells her to stop fucking around and go see her mother before she dies of cancer and then drops the line “All things that live in this world die. That is why you must find joy in the living while the time is yours, and not fear the end. To deny this, is to deny life. But to embrace it…can you embrace it?” which has some, keyword some, resemblance to the final fight scene in nausicaa where our hero says “all things are born from the darkness and all things return to the darkness” and “suffering and folly will not disappear in a purified world. they are part of humanity. that is why, even in a world of suffering, there can also be joy and shining light” and “we can know the beauty and cruelty of the world without the help of a giant tomb and its servants” which is not to say that i think the mom cancer movie was ripping off nausicaa like starwars did. i understand that accepting death is a concept that many works depict and use almost these exact phrases because we all have to fuckin grapple with death, but the lesson of accepting death is an important one and it’s one the movie i kill giants did poorly. but because i’m obsessed with nausicaa it’s an insult to nausicaa to tell a story where a little girl is in denial for like 80 minutes then gets all the lessons crammed in her face that she somehow accepts suddenly versus nausicaa who comes to this realization herself after her father dies in book one of seven, being in a content wide war, and suffering from radiation poisoning herself. i mean even her pets die. her teacher dies. and in the purified garden scene nausicaa has to be brainwashed for her to forget all that’s going on and she only struggles for about 5 minutes with the idea of forgetting the real problem and playing a game of everything being fine in fantasy land before she snaps back to reality.

wow i really wrote more words letting you know how obsessed i am with nausicaa than i did reviewing either of the shows.

anyway, back to phantom 2040. there’s this bit about the new phantom discovering a leaf that after scientific analysis is determined to be a plant that absorbs the poison in the soil and destroys it.

unenthusiastic drumroll

exactly like the forest of corruption in nausicaa.

and… i don’t hate it.

i don’t know why it doesn’t come across as blatant plagiarism to me when i kill giants literally had nothing to do with nausicaa and i hold it to that standard anyway. it might be because i haven’t finished the series so i don’t know how bad it gets. it might be because phantom 2040 clearly didn’t make any money so i guess i think stealing is okay if you suck at stealing so bad you can’t even make money by copying literally the best thing to ever be written? sure. there you go, there’s my review.

#fausto reviews things #city hunter #phantom 2040

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