Assorted musings

Formerly “princess potpourri”. She/Her, western Canadian. Assorted nerdly things. Fibre stuff is on my side blog “thisiswhyitscalledadropspindle”

[nattousan]

ok so, I approached my local library with a proposal to donate a mural as a way to A: build portfolio/gain practical experience and B: give back to a beloved public institution. The director was very enthusiastic about it and i've been working on it since the beginning of March. Come with me as I endeavor to paint what is in all honesty an excessive amount of birds

I wanted the birds to look like they were actually in the space so first thing after doing the draft was to do a lighting study

after that I covered the walls in letters in lieu of a projector/vr headset bc i have neither of those :) Then i take a picture of the section of wall and superimpose the lineart over top of it so I can pencil in the lines

et voila

and that was a whole week on it's own so next comes the paintin' >:)

[nattousan]

and now, the birds

Birds 1 and 2/14: Red Winged Blackbird, Male and female, Agelaius phoeniceus

[nattousan]

Bird 3/14, American Robin, Turdus migratorius

[nattousan]

hoo boy, ok *out of breath*

GIVE IT UP FOR BIRD NUMBUH 5, THE CANADIAN GOOSE, Branta canadensis!!!!

this guy took me about 4 days to completely finish, all of those freakingk coverts were a bear to render

[nattousan]

speaking of obnoxious coverts:

bird 5/14, Bluejay, Cyanocitta cristata

the friggin stripes almost got me chat, i may not make it

[nattousan]

Madam....

[nattousan]

birds 6 and 7: American Goldfinch, Spinus tristis, male and female

pleasantly simple to paint! next is the flickerrrrr

[nattousan]

*melts into goo*

BIRD NUMBER 8, (yellow shafted) NORTHERN FLICKERRRRR, Colaptes auratus

genuinely made me start questioning my sanity around day 3, it's half the size the of the goose, WHY did it take me 4 days to finish??

nothing but pain and suffering, i'm sure hope the next bird will be much easier and with FAR less barring :)

[nattousan]

in other news, I am losing my mind hairline

[nattousan]

SHE'S DONE!!

Bird number 9: Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis

my chains are broken i am FREE. although i did have a great deal of fun with this, the barring on the wings itself took me like four days and i am READY to move on

this was a week and a half of continuous work so please excuse me for getting a little emotional in the bg 🙏

[nattousan]

*does a little jig*

BIRD NUMBER 10!!! The Male Mallard Duck, Anas platyrhynchos

the male and female ones are gonna be posted separately bc they're taking a lot longer lol but yea! super happy i was able to capture the iridescent green of the head, i found metallic green and blue paint at a craft store that really made his head POP. it looks better in person i promise

ALSO!! As this is the 10th one, BIG announcement. The end is in sight!!!!! I plan to finish within the next 3 weeks and there will be a small dedication ceremony/ unveiling happening at the library to commemorate its completion on the 16th of May. If you live in the Western New York region and want to check it out for yourself shoot me a dm!

Also thank you everyone for your kind words and support throughout this whole process, it's been a genuine treat thinking there are potentially thousands of you out there cheering me on while I paint this 🥹

[nattousan]

aaaand another one bites the duck,

we're movin right along with bird numero 11!! The lady Mallard!! Anas platyrhyncos

the 16th is looming in the distance so i'm trying to get thru these as quickly as i can so i can have as much time for the GBH as possible. i still need to do the names next to all of them so i've got about a week and a half to finish everything which is GREAT because i have adhd and nothing gets my ass in gear like a fuckin deadline, let me tell you

[nattousan]

power couple that they are, here's bird number 12 and 13,

the Northern Cardinals, Cardinalis cardinalis

and NOW that they are complete, ITS GO TIME, in the next five days (library's closed for mother's day 😭😭) i need to have the GBH fully rendered, the names of the birds vectored, weeded, masked, applied to the wall, and then painted, plus additional cattails throughout. I may be able to get away with just getting the GBH done in time for the unveiling and then just have the names and cattails added later, but i'm gonna really try to get it all done in time. BUT, i have a plan. Part of why i take so long on these is because i really am just figuring it out as I do it lmao. there have been many a time where i am sitting on top of the ladder googling "how to paint birds" but I think if i take the time tomorro to do all that figuring out how to approach it beforehand, this will go a lot faster. I may also recruit some of my artist friends to help with the placing of the names... hrmm we'll see.

Anyways, shout out to the librarian who tracked down exactly the thing i needed so i could figure out where to place the highlights in my birds eyes, ur the real mvp

[nattousan]

thanks for the reminder, kid

[nattousan]

at long last, we've reached the end...

Bird number 14 out of 14,

The Great blue heron, Ardea herodius

thank you to everyone who reached out or got excited about this project, it genuinely gave me the fuel i needed to keep going. In total, the 480+ total hrs it took me to cover this wall pales in comparison to how long its expected to spend on there, hopefully imparting a sense of beauty and love for the natural world to the next generation and here's hoping i'm only getting started with these.

i'll see y'all soon :')

[odonata523]

@nattousan these are lovely. I’m in central Alberta, but so many of these are also the birds of my childhood here on the prairie. Thanks for sharing your work!

[abalidoth]

Fun little math trick I find really helpful: the ratio of a mile to a kilometer is within 1% of the Golden Ratio. That means that if you have a good memory for Fibonacci numbers (1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89) you can convert pretty accurately by taking consecutive Fibonacci numbers.

For example, 89 kilometers is really close to 55 miles (55.3). Or, say you need to convert 26 miles to kilometers: 26 can be written as 21 plus 5, so taking the next Fibonacci number up gives 34 and 8, meaning it should be around 42 kilometers. Sure enough, it's 41.8 km!

[tamberoo]

i need several moments, math like this scares me

[abalidoth]

Not gonna lie, as much as I want to be helpful and comprehensible, I am very proud of provoking that reaction image.

[no-one-offical]

‎

[soclonely]

dolly parton isn’t in star wars

Dolly Parton is the living embodiment of the Force

[allwhoponder]

I desperately need a Star Wars edit of the Prequels where every time the force is used Dolly is edited in doing whatever the Force is doing. Like

Obi Wan force pushing Grevious in Clone Wars

Dolly Parton runs in from off screen and full body tackles Grevious like 30 feet into the wall.

Jedi mind tricks:

Ben Kenobi: "These aren't the droids you're looking for"

Dolly: "Y'all better let us move along cuz you don't want none of this"

Stormtrooper: "These aren't the droids we're looking for"

[ineedausernamel829-deactivated2]

when you marry him...

It had been one week, two days, and six hours since Padme’s secret illicit marriage to her hottie Jedi lover (as the tabloids had enthusiastically termed the situation) had been revealed to the galaxy. The fallout had been enormous. Florid headlines had swung through the news; the Naboo Queen had recalled Padme to discuss her future in the Senate; and the Jedi Council, although busy with the war, had implied that there was a meeting on the near horizon about Anakin’s place in the Order.

Which is why when Padme, sat in her office to frantically cover what she could in the possibly limited time she had left, got a message that there was a Jedi to see her—two Jedi—neither of which were her husband or Obi-Wan or Ahsoka—she inwardly groaned. Just the littlest bit. As Padme had taken fire on the Senate front, Anakin (and Obi-Wan, really) had handled the Jedi. She wasn’t sure as to their purpose in seeking her out, given that their connection to the situation was to her husband, but steeled her shoulders in preparation. The Jedi would be polite, no doubt—but there was also no doubt that she and Anakin had landed themselves in boiling hot water and had yet to swim their way out of it.

She stood up as the two entered the room. Ah. Council members. Higher-up Council members. A nerve-wracking clue as the tenor of the conversation about to occur.

“Master Windu, Master Yoda,” Padme nodded. “I understand you wanted to speak to me?”

“Yes,” Mace said grimly. He crossed her arms and gave her a heavy stare. Below, Yoda remained silent, but also peered up at her as if to see straight through her.

“Would you like me to comm Anakin?” Padme offered politely. “In case—”

“No.” Mace interrupted. He was still studying her, eyes narrowed.

Bewilderment shot through Padme. So, they didn’t want to discuss anything with her and Anakin, but that begged the question of why they were there. She straightened and met their gaze, waiting for them to speak.

“Senator Amidala, I will get straight to the point,” Mace began, arms still crossed as he stared her down. Then, he asked the absolute last thing Padme expected.

Sternly, “What are your intentions with young Skywalker?”

Padme didn’t know what to say.

“My…intentions?”

“Yes.”

To stay married to him? Have babies with him? Live a long and happy life with him?

“I would think that my secret marriage to your ward already indicates the answer to that question,” Padme said a tad sharply, thrown off by the question.

“Precisely—a ‘secret’ marriage,” Mace said, even more sternly if possible. “An elopement.” His grim tone suggested that few horrors in the galaxy compared.

“Meet Ruwee and Jobal, we would like,” Yoda added kindly.

Padme blinked. “You’d like…” Why would Mace and Yoda care…?

All of a sudden, a chilling realization seized her brain. Her parents. They wanted to meet her parents—Anakin’s in-laws.

Which meant that Padme’s in-laws were—

Oh, no.

“You’re older than Skywalker, correct?” Mace was asking disapprovingly, as Padme’s mind distantly tried to come to terms with what was happening. “Significantly older.”

Padme was more than a little offended. “I’m in my late twenties, and Anakin—”

“Anakin was nineteen when you married,” Mace finished with a statement that had not been what Padme was about to say. “Yes. I’m aware.”

“Meeting this week, perhaps would be nice,” Yoda muttered with an absent tone. “Meet Ruwee, Obi-Wan can.”

“Master Yoda,” Padme bravely tried to begin, “I’m sure—”

“Old, I am!” Yoda said with a thump of his cane. “Wait, I will not.”

Padme’s mouth opened, shut, opened again, but before she could say anything, Mace flatly spoke again.

“Anakin Skywalker is the Chosen One, and one of the most promising knights of our Order. The peak of your career was when you were a child, I understand.”

‘Master Windu hates me’ indeed, Ani, Padme was inwardly cursing with a foul irritation. She plastered on a smile. “Yes. If you recall, that was when Ani and I first met.”

“You were fourteen and Anakin was nine, yes.”

Damn it—

“And then we didn’t meet again until we were adults,” Padme said meaningfully, noting how Mace had pointedly said Anakin instead of Ani.

“Which resulted in marriage nearly immediately.”

“After we had spent time together.”

“Time being three days.”

“Three days under duress, if you recall.”

“I recall Skywalker being under duress.” The word vulnerable was unsaid but loudly implied.

“Well!” Yoda sighed, peacefully shuffling up to Padme as if she weren’t currently fighting the battle of her life for her dignity. “Make him happy, you do.”

“Hm.” Mace didn’t say anything else.

“Thank you, Master Yoda,” Padme said, relief flooding through her. “We’ll have to share a meal sometime.”

“A promise, that is,” Yoda stared up—oh no, was he being stern now? And where was Anakin, shouldn’t he sense Padme’s distress—“All of us, together will.”

“Of course,” Padme said smoothly, although she knew the two beings in front of her could easily sense her turmoil, damn it. “Just set the date.”

“We will,” Mace said heavily.

The interview appeared to be over with that. Both exited as quietly as they had come. Padme stared after them as the door shut, and then walked back over to her desk, fell into her chair, put her head in her hands…and started laughing. She had tears streaming down her cheeks when Sabe came in worriedly.

“I heard the Jedi were here, what did they--what’s so funny?”

“Oh, Sabe,” Padme gasped. “I have a new and entirely unexpected appointment next week.”

“…what unexpected appointment?”

Padme composed herself, drew herself up, and said with a grin:

“Dinner with the in-laws.”

[lizartgurl]

MY DUDE THIS IS SUCH A BREATH OF FRESH AIR SEEING MACE CONCERNED FOR ANAKIN'S WELL BEING I LOVE THIS. DINNER WITH THE IN LAWS INDEED

[allwhoponder]

HOW COULD YOU LEAVE #frog grandpa IN THE TAGS THATS HILARIOUS

Also considering how things turned out, their marriage becoming public may have been a saving grace.

[rights-for-redshirts]

AU where Anakin drops out of training halfway through his Padawanship and starts a mechanic shop of his own. This, predictably, saves the galaxy.

Because let's be real, he would be insanely good at it. This leads to several patents running under his name by the time he is 18, including but not limited to

A very easy and cheap to build scanner that *can* be used for detecting slave chips (the Hutts are Not Amused by the skyrocketing number of freedom trail escapees. There is a bounty on his head because he is silently donating a lot of his money to the people organizing said freedom trails. Anakin is aware of this but doesn't let it show. It is a badge of honor, but not one everyone knows how to read. The people who do know know either way.)

a little addition to hyperspace antennae bc he wanted!! to talk to!! his mother!! more often!! that coincidentally completely revolutionized military communication (Anakin is unaware of this)

some type of hyperspace engine modification just because ships and space travel are cool. This also starts to revolutionise research in that area; "The Force told me I could" may not be a valid basis for a scientific project, but "How the kriff does that mechanic DO THAT" sure is

Probably some lightsaber modifications bc come. On. There's no way he wouldn't find a way to improve those. (In the ensuing legal battle, it is noted that the construction and possession of lightsabers is no longer prohibited to the general public. Some Jedi Shadows slip away and do some investigating into when exactly that was changed. And by whom.)

He can’t buy his mother back because even though he has the money now, Watto won't sell her in the hopes of extorting him with her welfare. Anakin is this close to hiring a bounty hunter to deal with this and rescue his mum by himself. Only is Shmi happily busy directing her fellow slaves to operation centers and has no intention of stopping by leaving the planet ("Mum, don't you always say the true tragedy in the galaxy is that nobody helps each other?" Yeah, that woman is SO organizing the resistance against the Hutts.)

While the Jedi aren't really allowed to help because of politics, a good deal of them (the chaotic good alignment faction, i.e. Quinlan Vos & Company) help whenever they can, brokering peace with the original natives (Tuskens and Jawas) to facilitate escape through the desert and prepare an interim government for the inevitable slave/native revolt against the hutts. The council turns a blind eye to this, because a) they know it's the right thing to do and b) the lightsaber permit headache.

It's up to you which faction Obi-Wan belongs to.

The Techno Union is extremely unhappy about their monopoly on, well, technology being broken. This leads to some more legal battles that ... idk, I didn’t think this through, but they lose. Badly, and this proceeds to drag the Banking Clan and Trade Federation down with them as further investigations are opened.

Padmé delightedly pounces on the opportunity to drag all of them down and get revenge on Nute Gunray; she and Anakin make a magnificent team by combining political/legal and technical/market expertise into hell of a headache for the people who would otherwise fund the Separatists. There may or may not be a passionate kiss over some legal evidence and spare parts.

Sidious, who had so far been trying to push all the pieces into position he will need for the Clone Wars while keeping Anakin friendly to him and slowly building public support, now has his hands full juggling a) the lightsaber construction legislature investigation from the Jedi, of which they keep him duly informed (stressful), b) Anakin hyperfixating on mechanics so badly he hardly has time to spiral, never mind build up resentment against the Jedi, c) the Techno Union, the Banking Clans and the Trade Federation slowly crumbling under the combined weight of Skywalker being stubborn, Amidala campaigning and R2 slicing some pretty damning evidence, taking the financial backing for the droid army with them; d) what do you mean, the attempt on Shmi Skywalker's life was thwarted by a random Jedi "passing through" and several hundred newly freed slaves?? Since when did the Outer Rim start getting democratic??, e) with the slow, but steady dismantling of the three most powerful enterprises in the Republic, the main reasons for secession (Republic inefficiency, corruption, and corporate greed using monopolies to choke smaller planets into financial ruin and dependency) slowly falling away, the reasons for a war also fade into nothingness and the Republic returns to functionality.

By that time, the Jedi Shadows, led by Mace Windu (who traced the lightsaber construction thing) and the Jedi Slave Freeers (who traced the attempt on Shmi's life) meet up in front of the chancellor's office like the spidermen meme, down to kill a chancellor for completely different but both very valid reasons.

Upon opening the door, they find Padmé Amidala with a Ysalamiri lizard and a blaster. The unexploded (because Force-blocked) body of the Chancellor is lying in front of her, three smoking holes in his chest (he tried to blackmail her into leaving the Techno Union alone by way of her affair with Anakin (that she, as a Nubian Senator, is not allowed to have). She brought the lizard without knowing it blocked the Force, but she got it as a gift from Anakin, who told her it would keep her safe if ...).

Mace Windu deactivates his lightsaber and tells Padmé with a straight face to drop the gun. There might be fingerprints on it that could lead to the culprit.

[allwhoponder]

This is amazing and fantastic and I have just one thing to add to it: Count Dooku.

Dooku, having already sided with Sidious, but seeing the reasons for his fall being dismantled entirely within the system, retires to Serrano and becomes a distant advocate for the limiting of Republic influence on worlds that desire independence (Half out of lingering distrust of the Republic and half out of the need to save his own skin), and finds a stalwart ally in that fight in the form of Padme.

It takes many years, but Dooku finds redemption in fighting for these people, though due to his inability to forgive himself for Yaddle's sacrifice and fear of the full consequences of that crime, he never reconciles with the Jedi Council, though he (re)kindles and maintains a strong relationship with a few key members, including Yoda and Obi-Wan, and when Padme subtly directs him to what's going on with Tattooine and the former slave nation developing there, Dooku slightly shifts his political verbage to advocate for independent nations and peoples, even within the same systems. He even becomes an active agent in his own right with dismantling the Hutt's chokehold on the Galaxy.

When he eventually dies of old age, he has a massive traditional Serrano funeral, attended by not only hundreds of thousands of the people he fought for, but also by dozens of Jedi who forgave him even when he went to his grave unable to forgive himself.

[odonata523]

I heard “It’s Padme Amidala with an Ysalamir lizard” in the voice of a WWE announcer.

(Much as I love the idea of her in a cage match with a folding chair… a blaster is more practical)

[cobaltbeam]

It's about the gentleness

Consider joining Patreon for extra content!

[cyber-corp]

this website’s easy watch. *dangles a bunch of greek gods like keys*

[cyber-corp]

i know what i’m doing dw

[cyber-corp]

Keep in mind I only know like. Two Greek gods by name. Homer is one of them, and he was good friends with Odysseus I think?

[cyber-corp]

Wait fuck Homer isn’t a god he wrote the fucking thing. Fuck

[cyber-corp]

POST CANCELLED NO ONE LOOK

[cyber-corp]

desperately google searching for “greek gods to pray to when people notice your online idiocy”

[pluto-officially]

You're failing.

[cyber-corp]

You don’t think I know that, God of Death? Can I pray to you so I can DIE ALREADY

[communist-mannyfesto]

Pluto is Roman, not Greek

[cyber-corp]

?????

[enigma-system03]

Short version is that Pluto is a later name for the god of death, which is often associated with the Roman era/Roman mythology. Hades is the earlier name.

[cyber-corp]

I set up my own house made of sticks and it has promptly fallen on me

[cyber-corp]

HE’S NOT EVEN REAL?????*

[cyber-corp]

I made this post thinking I knew what kind of fire I was playing with. Hephaestus, God of Fire, looking upon me from his fuck off tower or whatever said “Oh you think you know? Check this shit” and promptly set my post ablaze for everyone to observe

[legionoftuna]

Hephaestus doesn't have a tower, he lived in a volcano

[cyber-corp]

FINE THEN. BIG FUCK OFF VOLCANO. WHATEVER

[cyber-corp]

wrong.

[pointless-achievements]

Achievement Unlocked:

Lightning Bait

You're basically doing the post equivalent of standing out in a field during a storm with a ten-foot copper pole, you better hope Zeus is busy hiding from Hera.

[cyber-corp]

FUCK'S SAKE NOT AGAIN

[taco-bee]

I need you to name every greek God you know and what they are for plz

For science

[cyber-corp]

OKAY FINE HERE'S WHAT I'VE FOUND

HERMES: DA FUNNY ONE

ZEUS: DA LIGHTNING (NOTE: THOUGHT HE WAS NORDIC, FATHER OF THOR)

POSEIDON: DA SEA ONE

HEPHAESTUS: DA FIRE/FORGING/STEEL ONE

APHRODITE: DA HOT ONE

KRATOS: GOD OF WAR

HADES: DA HELL ONE. ROGUE LIKE

APOLLO: DA DODGEBALL/PROPHECY ONE

[boxxed-juice]

ares is the god of war, not kratos

[cyber-corp]

WHY THE FUCK DOES THE GAME CALL HIM GOD OF WAR THEN

[ironwoman359]

I can't believe this post is less than 24 hours old, it feels like something out of classic tumblr lore

[bingle-official]

op god of war is not official greek mythology lmao

[reekill-playlists]

Someone needs to read a Percy Jackson book

[reekill-playlists]

hey is this still post of the year or

[cyber-corp]

NO

[zelly-fangirl]

how's the hole op? want some snacks? a blanket? a shovel to dig yourself out?

[cyber-corp]

I'D LIKE OUT NOW I THINK

[serious-tabaxi]

ok cool. fair warning, this shovel only digs down and not up.

[sioltach]

this website lets you listen to the sounds of all different forests around the world 

[riven-wanders]

Reblogging again cause I tried this site last night and if you need background noise to focus this is perfect for that, I was locked the fuck in on a task. And it’s also just gorgeous to listen to

[tinyyellowflowers-blog]

Was talking to a coworker today who explained that her grandfather was like Snow White “but Californian. And an old man.” in that the creatures of the forest would follow him around and presumably duet with him.

“When he died the ravens sat in the trees outside for a week, watching. Taking turns. A horde of raccoons tried to break into the house every night, tearing at the siding. Eventually they gave up, but it was unsettling.”

“Aww. They were checking on him!” I said, like a normal person. Internally, I thought “Maybe you could do the thing you do with dead pets, where you show them to the living pets so the living pet understands they’re gone. But I guess if you did that to a bunch of scavenging species, they’d be like “Well, that’s very sad but he IS food now.” So what you’d need, for human sensibilities, is some sort of transparent corpse barrier. Like a see-through coffin oh that’s what the dwarves were doing! You’ve stopped paying attention to this conversation about the loss of a beloved family member you gotta phase back in.”

[sun-ni-day]

oh that's what the dwarves were doing

[writing-prompt-s]

You’re a mimic. You were disguised as a chair in a dungeon when an adventurer decided to take you as loot. You’ve actually enjoyed your life ever since as furniture in a jolly tavern. So when some ruffians try to rob the now-elderly adventurer’s business, you finally reveal yourself.

[grumpygreenwitch]

Podfic by Odonata

Part 2 by GGW

If it had learned one thing during its long life, it is that Noisies are creatures of habit. Of patterns. Of repetition dictated by the coming and going of the light, or of the cold. When the light began to fade, the Noisies gathered in Carry-Me’s den and were even noisier than usual. They fed and drank and made much of themselves. When the dark began to fade, they made their way off to their own dens, and home grew quiet. Carry-Me always seemed relieved at the quiet, even as he welcomed all his fellow Noisies and took their shinies and gave them food and drink. Carry-Me’s mate, Move-Quiet seemed no less relieved, and no less tired. Those quiet moments were also the only time when Smoky-Growling came out of the den where the food came from, and made happy noises with the other two. They would all gather the drinking containers, and scrape away the dry rushes from the floor, put down new rushes, straighten up the furnishings, set the place to rights.

Keep reading

[sleepyspoonie]

when you see a tumblr poll with this picture attached and you know it's time to lock the fuck in lest you get a bad grade in an impromptu absurdist pop quiz you didn't know you were about to take

[charl0ttan]

best multiple of nine

9

18

27

36

45

54

63

72

81

90

Voting ended onMay 28

[prismatic-bell]

Oh Jumblr's gonna skew the heck out of this.

[odonata523]

I am ENTRANCED by the fact that (as of today) the poll is showing that people have a clear preference. For numbers.

people are fascinating

[creekfiend]

I'm so glad that that truncated fucking ran-into-a-wall-at-speed tadpole-ass looking squirrel only lives in high altitude forests in Borneo bc this means I am extremely unlikely to encounter one in my day to day life. thank god

[tuftedpygmysquirrel]

Hello.

[creekfiend]

DID YOU MAKE THIS BLOG SIMPLY TO TORMENT ME

[tuftedpygmysquirrel]

I can go upside down.

[creekfiend]

WHERE IS THE REST OF YOU

[tuftedpygmysquirrel]

Here I am eating some delicious moss.

[creekfiend]

ok that one is pretty cute im ngl

[tuftedpygmysquirrel]

Thank you! Here's another angle on my climbing skills and eartufts.

[odonata523]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Jango Fett Open Seasons (Comics) Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Jaster Mereel/Jocasta Nu Characters: Jaster Mereel, Jocasta Nu Additional Tags: Minor Original Character(s), Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Graphic Description, Blood and Injury, Injury, Major Character Injury, Spiders, Caves, Spelunking, No Sex, Rated For Violence, Mandalorians (Star Wars), Mandalorian Culture & Customs (Star Wars), All Mandalorians Have a Competence Kink (Star Wars), mandalorian x jedi, How is that not a tag, BAMF Jocasta Nu, Jocasta Nu is sneaky lil guy, Nerd Jaster Mereel, POV Jaster Mereel, Force-Sensitive Jaster Mereel, just slightly tho, for plot convenience, That's Not How The Force Works (Star Wars), BAMF Jaster Mereel, the arachnoids are actually mantoids, they're nerds your honor, Planet Dantooine (Star Wars), totally real alderaanian university, Beskar'gam | Mandalorian Armor (Star Wars), Beskar Metal (Star Wars), Beskar Metal Blocks the Force (Star Wars), Mentioned Jedi Order (Star Wars), Canon Compliant, there's nothing in canon to say that they DIDN'T get stuck in a cave together is all I'm saying, Suicide Attempt, Self-Sacrifice, Angst, i swear i never mean to write angst but i somehow always do oops, Angst and Feels, Bittersweet, Bittersweet Ending, idk i always think that bittersweet endings are happy but your milage may vary, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, the beta was me reading it seventeen times before having my screen reader pick out every typo i missed and calling me dumb, it's a good hack tho, the robot (non-generative AI all my homies hate generative AI) will humble you like no one's buisness, Mando'a Language (Star Wars) Summary:

Needing a break from the tedium of bounty hunter work, a newly-exiled Jaster Mereel investigates rumors of a historical artifact on Dantooine while contemplating his morals in the wake of his exile. Arriving on the planet, Jaster discovers he might be in for more than a light vacation as rumors of a missing academic lost in the cave system beneath a small farming village pull him into an unexpected rescue mission. The details of the academic’s story aren’t adding up, however, and as Jaster ventures further into the cave his questions only grow.

Just who is this obviously fake-named “Jo Antilles,” and what more, exactly, is she lying to Jaster about?

[grimandghoulish]

reblog if you remember what it felt like to walk into blockbuster

[bucketofdeltav]

So my beta reader for the Big Fics is an astrophysicist, right. Who is currently also writing a hard sci-fi novel about the exploration of Phobos (more power to them, I cannot with the physics required for that, best I can do is soft sci-fi/fantasy and that reminds me I should finish that story).

Anyway I was bitching about how hard it is to come up with feasible planets in Star Wars because sometimes you need a new planet from scratch and sometimes you need to know more about a planet than the 'has jungles, is probably a moon technically' than Wookieepedia will give you, and they're like 'oh yeah I can do something about that'.

So they've written (in Matlab but they swear it will run as a .exe as well and I may be conscripted to embed it as a web tool at some point) a star system generator.

You input what you know about the planet (ecosystem, population, sun colour, does it have liquid water, does it have a moon or moons, is it a moon or moons, temperature averages, atmosphere, you get me) and it will give you the... everything else about the star system, in obedience to real-universe physics. And if you input nothing you get a randomly generated star system.

And I’m like oh I know people who will be into this with a vengeance, and they're not on Tumblr, so this is me seeing who exactly would be keen on, and I cannot stress this enough, a real-physics comprehensive star system generator.

It's still in the debugging phase (last error fixed: every planet wants to have a population of exactly 5000 regardless of other factors, turned out to be a missing equals sign somewhere), but I'm psyched for this and trying to gauge interest for how high a priority 'make this an accessible web tool' needs to be.

[star-system-generator]

Reblogging to drag this project over here, this is killing my notes on main so I'm giving it its own URL. Follow over here for updates on the star system generator and only the star system generator, and not on my Star Wars bullshit.

Will go through and tag interested parties when things calm down below 100 notes an hour.

[chaoticpersonal]

So I just read up on some copyright laws and found out fanart and fanfic are technically illegal. Now I’m laughing at the thought of someone getting sued in court for writing smut about their favorite character 😂

[gefionne]

THIS IS NOT TRUE!!!!!

Fanworks are not illegal. Most all fanart and fanfic are “transformative works,” which fall under the protection of Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law, the statute of fair use. Fair Use allows you to use sections and elements of copyrighted material to critique, expound on, or create using that material as long as you’re creating something new. You can read about fair use here: https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/. And learn about how to decide if something is fair use using this simple guide of the four factors of fair use: https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/.

Why is AO3 built by the Organization for TRANSFORMATIVE WORKS???? Because it stands by fair use and creators of new, unique fanworks.

FANWORK IS NOT ILLEGAL. READ ACTUAL COPYRIGHT LAW.

[dreverybodyilovedies]

Also know your fandom history Anne Rice used to literally sue our asses over this shit which is why old school LJ fanauthors used to always have the “don’t own not mine just playing” disclaimers on their shit

[jocarthage]

fwiw, I wrote my thesis on this and fic is neither illegal nor illegal – it’s a legal grey zone that has never been tested in any court (in the US, unless there’s an explicit law about something, we function in a common law system, meaning most of the rule of law in our country is a mish-mash of court precedents, differing and debating between jurisdictions, like this this case). There has never been a lawsuit by the copyright holder of a commercial, fictional work, against someone producing a non-commercial, derivative fictional work; thus, there is no case law about fanfic and we’re all living in the grey zone. There have been a few lawsuits from the copyright owners of commercial, fictional work against commercial, fictional derivative work; one lawsuit from the copyright owners of commercial, fictional work against a commercial, non-fictional derivative work. But the fanwork we all make every day *may* be protected under fair use; fair use is the right the hire a lawyer, being an affirmative defense, and is rarely tested. The other affirmative defense folks might be familiar with is self-defense in the case of a murder – you say ‘yes, your honor, I did murder him, but it’s ok for x, y, z, reasons.’ Then the trial is about deciding if x, y, and z, reasons are good enough, not if you did the murder (since you had to admit it to use the affirmative defense). Using fair use is like saying, ‘yes, I did infringe on their copyright, but I believe it was acceptable’ and then you have to pay lawyers about it. I believe that fair use for non-commercial works should be assumed, and the burden should be on the copyright holder to prove harm and infringement, rather than on the non-commercial producer to prove they are covered by fair use. But, given that there’s no case law, and no explicit laws, tons of high-powered lawyers for commercial content producers like to make stuff up, like to send scary cease and desist letters, like to threaten fans who don’t have the money to fight back. Most major content producers have decided that terrorizing their fans is Bad Business Practice and they’ve stopped calling us all pirates and thieves and are instead madly catering to our whims (often, not always); but that’s a marketing trend, not an indication of any actual change in the status of fan works. If you’re interested in supporting folks working to change copyright law or protect fans within it, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Organization for Transformative Works are excellent places to spend a bit of money, if you’re flush. Our current copyright system isn’t fulfilling its constitutional mandate to encourage the arts and sciences, since some of the most amazing creative work in both spaces is happening in exactly the grey zones we all operate in, which is not how it used to be and not how it should be. </copyright-soapbox>

[monanotlisa]

The thing about law, it’s not some Black Box you push Facts in, and you get a  Decision out – it follows certain rules that you can easily study and go over yourself. 

Common law countries like the US make this more difficult through the vagaries of a system based on precedent and pontification by judges; civil law countries make this more difficult through judges being biased and on power-trips and refusing to read statutory law in the abstract way it is meant to be read, that is: applied to real life at this moment in time, not in their heads, or a distant past.

(Ya, judges. Can’t live with them; can’t live without ‘em.)

Either way, worry not about your fanfic if you do it the classic way, i.e. if you don’t sell it. There’s a longer reasoning behind that, but I’d consider that the lynchpin reason.

[tbqtalks]

Speaking as one who was affected by the Anne Rice thing when it happened - which was WELL before LJ was a gleam in a Russian bot’s eye - I’d like to clarify that it never got as far as a court of law. She had her lawyer send Cease & Desist orders out to various high-profile members of the fanfic side of fandom. Some of those C&Ds implicated the private businesses of the people involved. Because all of us were poor, we didn’t challenge the C&Ds. Instead we took our stuff off of the websites they knew about and hid the fic away.

Also to be clear: we had warnings on our fic WELL before that (edited to add: I mean the “not mine, no profit made” type warnings). We did that as common courtesy in the fanfic world at the time. And long as I’m going down memory lane and spilling tea along the way, I’m gonna point out that many of us who got those C&Ds also worked hand in hand with Anne, her publisher, and her family business to promote her books and business dealings purely for the love of the fandom. I, personally, left a part-time job at a web company when they asked me to do what amounted to allowing them to profit off of Vampire Chronicles fanfic. When I told them that legally and ethically I could do no such thing they said I could do it or they’d find someone else. I said see ya. (AFAIK they never found someone else).

So the amount of respect those of us in fandom had for Anne’s work and right to profit off of her material was large. What changed in our case was when 1) Anne got some of the rights back to her characters which meant she could profit off of them in ways she couldn’t before and 2) she realized us fans and our fanworks made for GREAT free market research into what her personal company could try to profit off of. The most perfect example of this, and how Anne’s greed ruined so much, was the Talismanic Tour company which was created by fans, worked with Anne and her official biographer to come up with walking tours of New Orleans based on things from Anne’s life and books, fully had Anne’s blessing, then, once it proved successful, Anne gave THEM a C&D and created her own tours at ridiculously jacked up prices.

Karma being what it is, nobody wanted to pay for that bullshit and Anne’s tours ultimately failed. But since she used her lawyers to scare the fan business out of running this then became another example of why Anne is the reason the fandom can’t have nice things.

(Can you tell I have so much tea from the VampChron days? Oh Anne. Bless your fandom-destroying black heart.)

Making this more fandom general, the points to take away here are a few:

Sometimes it’s not about law, or what the law “should” be. If a well known author, or TPTB from a TV show or a movie studio sent you, personally, a C&D letter for your fanworks, would YOU have the ability to thumb your nose at it? Do you have the resources for that lawyer battle and possible court case? Or are you like us Anne Rice fans were, living meager paycheck to paycheck, and not having it in you to even put up the fight with your ISP, let alone a millionaire’s legal team?

The blessing of the original creators means nothing. They love us until they don’t. Relying on their goodwill to keep fanworks safe is like relying on the skills of the person driving you around to keep you out of an accident: sure it’s possible, but you wanna put that seatbelt on and hope the car has airbags just in case.

Appreciate and support those who have done the work to explain WTF fanworks even are, let alone why they should be legally allowed (so let me repeat the earlier links to Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Organization for Transformative Works ). If you can donate money to them, great. If you can’t, at least appreciate and be grateful to the teams of people who took the risk of putting their real names out there (C&Ds are another reason many of us write under pseudonyms) at all, let alone on legal documents, and appeared before the US government in person to defend your right to make fanfic and fanvids.

[fyeahcopyright]

And all this is why the OTW has its own lawyers.

Really. If you get a c&d because of your fanworks, let us know! If we can’t help you we might know a law school clinic who can!

[mysteryteacup]

And all of this is why anyone who has been in fandom for a while despises the newbies who whine about how they should be allowed to make money off their fanfics.

Because the moment money changes hands? That lovely grey area of the law is not there to protect you.

[pronouncingitwang]

at some point in your life you will be boiling fruit, water, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot to make a syrup or jam. the instructions will tell you to simmer for a certain amt of time. your timer will go off and you will look at the pot and go, "hm, this doesn't look thick enough. maybe i'll let it go for another 10 minutes." this is the devil speaking. it's only so liquid right now because it is at boiling point. it will thicken when it cools down. learn from the follies of my youth and do not let this happen to you

[yokowan]

at some point in your life you will be making a sauce or a stew in which you need to add cornstarch to thicken it. and you will prepare a slurry of starch in cold water and think "this looks like way too little starch to thicken this amount of liquid." this is the devil speaking. cornstarch instantly polymerizes at 95°C and if you add too much it will turn into an impossibly thick goop.

[le-jardin-inculte]

at some point in your life you will be making some sort of cream based dessert that requires gelatin to thicken it. and you will soak some gelatin sheets in water and think "this is too few gelatin sheets for this amount of cream." this is the devil speaking. it will thicken in the fridge and if you add too much you will end up with milk jelly

[shithowdy]

at some point in your life you will be baking cookies. you will take the sheet out after twelve minutes as the recipe instructs and the cookies will still be glistening and soft. "these don't seem cooked enough," you will think to yourself, "i should place them back into the oven until their edges are nice and golden." this is the devil talking. this is how you get dry, overdone cookies. the cookies will continue to bake on the warm sheet for several more minutes and then harden up after sitting on a rack for a while. trust the process. trust the process.

[whitachi]

at some point in your life you will be adding a small pasta to a soup and you will think "that is not enough small pasta." this is the devil talking. the pasta will absorb the stock and expand. this is how you end up with a soup that is a solid mass of soggy ditalini.

[foldingfittedsheets]

at some point in your life you will be bringing sugar and butter to boil for toffee and you will think “it hasn’t thickened enough.” that is the devil talking. the toffee needs to cool before it can set. this is how you end up with toffee that will annihilate your mouth. learn from this folly.