#ABP UP

[coleopterabyte]

ANTHRO BUG POLL 2024 SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN

Guidelines for what is considered "anthro" in this poll: -displays intelligent behavior in an environment where the character can communicate with other characters. This allows inclusion of characters like Buddy the jumping spider from Webbed. -must have features (besides wings and antennae) that diverge from the regular human body plan (essentially, no humans with an exoskeletal texture slapped on them). Use the Bog King from Strange Magic as a reference for how far this goes, anything less than his level of variation from being human is considered too human. -if character is from a piece full of bugs, they must be the protagonist(s) acting as a representative for all bugs in that piece of media. CAVEAT:

Ghost from HK is not allowed in the polls this year. They won last year, we all know the HK fandom is a powerful beast to not be trifled with. Let's see some other bugs get the spotlight.

HOW TO SUBMIT:

Honestly, any way you feel like it. DM me, reply to this post, add it in the tags, send an ask, however. I'll be compiling everyone's suggestions (and the number of times a character has been suggested) into a google doc. An individual is free to submit multiple characters.

I'm hoping this year's poll will be mostly based on submissions, so if you end up seeing someone missing from this year's poll despite being in last year's, you'll know nobody submitted them.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Feb 1st, 2024.

[ferretrade]

it's a WIP Wednesday!

@smoosey kindly tagged me for a wip Wednesday and here I am a week later with a snippet from a whumptober prompt >:) (some calm before the whump)

"Darling, there's no need to impress me."

Cody huffs a laugh as he slices through an attack droid with Obi-Wan's lightsaber. He twirls it and disengages it before tossing the hilt to its owner. Obi-Wan lights it and demolishes another droid while Cody pulls out his blaster to shoot the last one circling them. (Force or no, he prefers the precision and distance you can get with a nice blaster.) 

"You dropped it, figured someone should get some use out of it," Cody snarks right back. The last attacker falls and the forest goes silent around them. 

Obi-Wan approaches him as he clips his lightsaber to his belt. "I didn't drop it," he insists haughtily. There's a streak of grease on his cheek and his hair's askew. "I left it for you."

"Whatever you have to tell yourself," Cody teases. His blaster goes back to his hip and he wipes the sweat from his forehead. It's still strange, not wearing his old bucket and kit, but a good strange. He's not a soldier anymore. 

"Perhaps if you got your own, I wouldn't have to share so often," Obi-Wan needles familiarly. He multitasks as he does, pulling up a map on his comm to scan for additional droids or life forms.

They hadn't expected much when they landed on this planet, if only because they'd gone through four others with no fuss. The Jedi Order had been sending them out to locate potential Sith strongholds, merely guessing at possibilities based on rumors and known temple ruins. It seems this time they've hit the jackpot—if there were droids, they were guarding something. 

"I'm not a Jedi." Cody's response is just as well worn and flippant. "I don't need a lightsaber."

[ask-cats-are-liquid]

Can you give the cats some brownies for me :3 (but without real chocolate so it's cat friendly)

[pupuseriazag]

A friend told me about the Murata leak for Natlán and if its real I am going to be so fucking disapppointed but sadly not surprised.

I've been expecting them to AT FUCKING LEAST do some fucking research on mesoamerican fashion and not just do stereotypical eagle warriors (or worse, doing whatever the fuck is going on with that Murata leak). And listen if thats supposed to be the archon I m going to fucking explode

So many good designs could come just by taking the Mexica pantheon as reference. Since shes supposed to be the god of war she could take some symbolism from Huitzilopochtli! Since, you know, HE IS THE GOD OF WAR IN THE MEXICA PANTHEON

Thats of course assuming we were right about Natlán being based in Mesoamerica (which by the name makes sense since the suffix -tlán is often used in Nahuatl meaning "place of ---" (examples from my country: Suchitlan, Cuzcatlan, Usulutan, Amatitlan.) -tan being the Nawat variant.)

I just hope they dont go that fucking route or keep it a level where the most we can get is the traditional garments acquired AFTER the spanish conquest, ponganle un poco de empeño por la gran puta, que hay un REVERGASAL de donde sacar si se ponen a investigar por lo menos una pinche media hora leyendo codices y libros sobre mesoamerica.

And thats assuming they would only use the mexica culture as main inspiration tho, if they are planning to take ALL mesoamerican cultures (or at least, the ones we have more archives and info about) its going to be more difficult considering the differences in clothing/myths/makeup/weapons.

I am killing myself if they dont add weapons made from obsydian tho. A macahuitl at fucking least or a long tecpatl as sword

[kandy-barz]

wtf youtube? ok but what do i do-

[todayworldnews2k21]

Congress Not To Field Candidates In UP Bypolls Amid Seat-Sharing Deadlock With SP

The Congress will not field its candidates for the bypolls to nine seats in Uttar Pradesh amid a deadlock with the Samajwadi Party, Congress General Secretary Avinash Pandey confirmed on Thursday.    Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi along with the Congress’ Uttar Pradesh chief Ajay Rai, Congress general secretary Avinash Pande said party workers and leaders…

[unearthlycat]

An addition: Firefox does still have some potential privacy issues, so when you install, you'll also want go to settings and make some changes for the best experience.

Most important: go to the "Privacy and Security" and uncheck the boxes under "Data Collection and Use" - by default, Mozilla can basically get constant telemetry from your browser, track how you interact with their content, and test experimental features in your browser without asking you first.

You should also go to the address bar settings on the same page and switch off "Suggestions from sponsors" (ads) and "Improve the Firefox Suggest experience" (which lets them spy on your search queries in the address bar).

Alas, Mozilla is great, but not perfect >_<. The good thing is these are all easy settings to change!

Some other stuff I also recommend:

going to "Home" and turning off options like 'recommended by pocket' and 'sponsored stories' (unless you actually want those to show up on new tab screens)

going to "Search" and changing your default search engine to something that isn't google

under "Privacy and Security", turning off various autofill and login-remembering options if you don't want a "save this login?" prompt every time you log in to something

under "General", customizing how Firefox should handle downloads and unrecognized filetypes - I personally prefer "Always ask you where to save files" because I can rename and organize downloads while I'm saving the file rather than downloading stuff to a default folder and having to reorganize later.

Also, fun feature: you can manually delete cookies from specific sites by going into Settings > Privacy and Security and clicking "Manage Data" under the Cookies and Site Data section!

hey instead of bullying or scaring you into switching to firefox, let me tell you why i LOVE firefox and how my online life has improved significantly since installing it

- the setup process is easy, and even fun! if you’re using tumblr rn, you can handle it, and if you’re the kind of tumblr user who likes customizing your blog or tinkering with xkit, you can have a lot of fun personalizing really granular settings and picking themes and extensions and everything, it’s very customizable and i happily spent like 2 hours getting everything perfect.

- you can use a command line entry tool to change specific settings right from the search bar! i did this to make firefox stop auto filling my email information since i use a different password locker (which you should too! try bitwarden!), and it was easier than digging through a bunch of submenus for a setting i wasn’t sure existed. you can just turn shit off!

- there’s a preset theme called aurora that’s purple and VERY pretty

- once you get ublock origin and as many other blockers as you’d like set up, no ads, anywhere, ever! streaming sites, youtube, all the basics, totally no stress and no compatibility issues for me

- in browser screenshot and picture in picture functions!! holy shit i use these every day, the PiP is especially helpful, it replaced an extension i used to use on chrome and it’s leagues better and works on all video content pretty much

- overall better downloads management imo, it’s a lot easier to get to your downloads and find them later

- better bookmark system, with the ability to organize your bookmarks with searchable tags and assign them a shortcut you can type into the search bar to go to

- containers! you can have two accounts to the same website open in two different tabs and switch between them without having to switch accounts. also gives firefox the ability to contain facebook and their trackers, so you can click that party invite link without feeling like you just let mark zuckerberg into your house

these were just off the top of my head, i love firefox a lot and actively enjoy using it, which i never felt with chrome! please download firefox!! you will not regret it!!! where’s your fucking rage!!!!!! go!!!!!!!!!

[bhupendrasinghsonwal]

भीम आर्मी ने खतौली विधानसभा उपचुनाव में आरएलडी गठबंधन प्रत्याशी को दिया समर्थन

भीम आर्मी ने खतौली विधानसभा उपचुनाव में आरएलडी गठबंधन प्रत्याशी को दिया समर्थन

आज नई दिल्ली में श्री चन्द्रशेखर ने चौधरी जयंत सिंह से मुलाकात की। नई दिल्ली: आज भीम आर्मी प्रमुख चंद्रशेखर आजाद ने आरएलडी अध्यक्ष जयंत सिंह चौधरी से दिल्ली में मुलाकात की। चंद्रशेखर आजाद ने चौधरी जयंत सिंह को संविधान की पुस्तक भेंट की। चौधरी जयंत सिंह से मिलकर चंद्रशेखर आजाद ने आरएलडी प्रत्याशी खतौली विधानसभा उपचुनाव में मदन भैया को समर्थन दिया है। भारतीय स��विधान की रक्षा व सामाजिक न्याय की…

[slytherinshua]

+1 CUTENESS

genre. fluff warnings. none. pairing. so mun x fem!reader. wc. 612. a/n. from this req by @blue-jisungs!!

“What are you doing?”

“Shh, just focus on the movie.” You smiled, turning So Mun’s head to look back at the TV screen. You were situated in his lap, but instead of paying attention to the movie currently playing, you were more engrossed in Mun’s curly hair. 

You had probably spent dozens of hours playing with it, just running your fingers through the soft curls. But you could never get over it. So Mun was just so pretty, and that especially included his hair. It smelled like his shampoo and framed his face so perfectly. You had no idea how it was so soft all the time— maybe it was a counter thing?

So Mun had let you put his hair in a ponytail in the past, and even braid it when you begged him enough, but today you had a different plan. You had been recently trying different hair accessories and had impulsively bought a pack of little colourful butterfly clips. You couldn’t lie and say that your intention of this movie night had been to actually watch the movie— no, you were desperate to see how cute Mun would look with colourful clips in his hair.

You had already snuck one into his hair, almost catching his attention. But he seemed completely relaxed now, and utterly unaware of your masterplan. You gently clipped a blue butterfly to one of his curls, squinting to see what the best placement for a pink one would be.

“Y/n.”

“Hm?”

“You’re not even paying attention to the movie anymore.” So Mun pointed out, a small pout forming on his face.

“I was!” You insisted.

Mun raised an eyebrow, “Really? What’s the last thing that happened?” 

Ah, so this is where he would catch you in your act…

“Okay, maybe I wasn’t paying full attention to it.” You mumbled.

So Mun giggled, “You could’ve just said if you weren’t interested in watching.”

“Well, it’s not that I’m uninterested in watching, but…”

“But?”

You held out your hand, one red and one yellow butterfly clip still resting in your palm, the last two that you hadn’t been able to sneak into his hair in time.

“I got these last week, but everything always looks better on you than it does on me, so…” You trailed off, giving him a guilty smile. He stared at you for a few seconds before raking a hand up to his hair and feeling around for the clips.

“Cute.” He whispered.

Minutes later, the movie had been turned off and the lights turned back on (which helped immensely for figuring out the proper placement of the butterflies). So Mun sat across from you as you took out the awkwardly placed clips and repositioned them to better spots. You couldn’t help but blush as you did it— Mun seemed to be so content to stare at you as you worked.

“Stop staring.” You muttered.

A smile crept onto his face, “But I like you.”

“Is that why you’re letting me put clips in your hair?” You asked with flushed cheeks, placing the last butterfly in his hair as he hummed approvingly. “All done.” You grabbed your hand mirror and held it up for him to look.

He giggled, “I look ridiculous.”

“You look cute!” You countered, but stopped when you caught Mun’s gaze again. “Why are you staring again? I feel self-conscious.” You complained half-jokingly. 

“I’m trying to see who’s cuter.” He said simply, eyes squinting between you and the mirror.

“You have plus 1 cuteness for the clips, but who wins?”

“You.”

Your cheeks turned a brighter shade of pink at the comment, “Why?”

“Plus 3 cuteness for the blush.”

↳ k-drama taglist: @yeonjuns-redhair,, @wolfmoonmusic,, @cha3w0n-hearts (abp & tuc only),, @tempobaekh (tuc only),, @edensgardenn

[film-in-my-soul]

the shoulders of a gentleman | 789 | finkpishnets / @madroxed

Summary: Billy’s perfectly aware that the only reason he keeps dragging himself out of bed at six in the morning on the weekends is because of Teddy Altman.

Simple Transactions | 1,250 | abp / @ferretrade

Summary: You can meet people anywhere--even at the bank.

Like the Change of Season | 1,521 | riko

Summary: Winter is particularly harsh this year. A scene from a hypothetical AU.

Magnetism | 1,839 | heartslogos / @heartslogos

Summary: They're like magnets pushing against each other. A pair of invisible forces colliding and holding each other up.

(See more recommendations below!)

In Sickness | 1,984 | Solarcat / @solarcat

Summary: Billy Kaplan frowned as his fingertips hit the cardboard bottom of the tissue box. That was not good. It could, in fact, constitute an emergency of epic proportions.

I Don't Care What You Think (As Long as it's About Me) | 2,436 | ambitiousbutrubbish / @unclebabybilly

Summary: “Why don’t you think Tommy’s hot?” Billy sort of shouts, and judging by the look on Teddy’s face, that had come out a bit more accusatory and hurt than Billy had intended. Also, he’s pretty sure he leapt over the line from ‘flirty self-deprecation to get your boyfriend to tell you you’re cute’ straight into just plain ‘creepy’. Fortunately - or unfortunately, as has been the case in the past - Billy is a pretty devoted practitioner of the principle of ‘go big or go home’, and he sets his jaw firm.

Enchanted | 2,829 | akaparalian / @floralegia

Summary: Billy wouldn’t be here, because Billy hates school dances, but his mom had chastised and nagged and chased him out the door with threats to call teachers to make sure he actually went, after giving him some psychologist-babble about how participating in social events, such as school dances, was crucial to emotional development in teenagers, but you know, it was fine, because he’d sit in whatever his new school’s version of the Nerd Corner was and he’d be okay.

Let Us Too Yield | 6,576 | takadainmate / @takadainmate

Summary: Trapped and hurt, all Billy wants is to protect Teddy. And maybe come out of this alive.

J. Haydn - Hob I:96 - Symphony No. 96 in D major (The Miracle) | 8,598 | ambitiousbutrubbish / @unclebabybilly

Summary: Really, Teddy's only orchestral goal is to stay well away from all that String DramaTM. Falling for their harpist literally at first sight was probably not conductive to the plan.

All Who Are Hungry | 8,943 | Ardatli / @ardatli

Summary: Teddy and Tommy are staying at the Kaplans' place for now, but they haven't really considered the meaning of being adopted into a large Jewish family. ~A seder teaches them the true meaning of Pesach~ (Insert holiday cliche of your choice here). Shenanigans, horseradish, matzah and fluff ensue.

Look Where We Land | 11,742 | riko

Summary: Teddy has always privately thought they had something special. Something worth listening to.

For the Love of Dog | 11,750 | ApolloAttraction / @apolloattraction

Summary: Billy’s depression has been getting the better of him lately, so Tommy gives him a dog to foster. Billy doesn’t really know how a dog is supposed to help, but things do start looking up right around the time he takes her to the pet store and meets the cute cashier.

Genesis / In the Beginning | 23,182 | Ardatli / @ardatli

Summary: The realization was as awful as it had been slow-building, loud enough now that he couldn’t force himself to ignore it any longer. Maybe it wasn’t Teddy who was the asshole.

Lazy Sunday | 1,016 | Lady_Ganesh

Summary: Billy and Teddy hang out. Pre-series. Written for mixe for Yuletide 2007.

bombs over manhattan | 1,230 | constellatory

Summary: Post-Civil War, pre-Children's Crusade. There's a special kind of terror reserved only for that moment when you see someone you love go down, and you're not sure they're getting back up.

Making Up Is Hard To Do | 1,299 | lilpocketninja (Banah) / @banahbanah

Summary: Sometimes, Teddy is an idiot. This is one of those times. (For the prompt "first fight -- making up.")

Tonight | 1,617 | minumi / @minumi-chan

Summary: Tonight something is different. Although, it’s very hard to identify why exactly that is when your boyfriend is intent on kissing all sense out of you.

peace on distant stars | 2,009 | sister_wolf

Summary: Billy isn't sure what the Young Avengers are even doing here, in the middle of a superhero civil war.

can we get a drumroll, please | 2,227 | hulklinging

Summary: You can take the nerds out of band class, but you can't take the band out of the nerds. You can, however, take them on a crazy ride to rock star status. Teddy's still feeling a little winded.

These Are Your Shoes | 2,369 | atti (attilatehbun) / @recursivities

Summary: Billy and Teddy live in each other's pockets, basically.

The Final Move | 2,455 | fontech / @akaikit

Summary: Fic request: Cris asked for Teddy's thoughts on discovering that he's an alien. A Teddy introspective on the death of his mother, and the questions of his identity left unanswered.

Definitely Not Good | 2,648 | Sheeana

Summary: Billy hurts himself. Teddy is not (very) amused. A couple days in the lives of a couple superheroes.

Sketch Me A Text | 2,764 | aconitemare / @aconitemare

Summary: Billy made a strangled noise and grabbed his pencil, drawing some random lines in his sketchbook while he gathered his composure. Cassie leaned toward Billy’s ear. “I think he heard you.” “Don’t worry, that has definitely been noted and filed under Reasons I’m Never Leaving My House Again Ever,” Billy assured.

Four Eyes | 2,939 | Xander_The_Undead / @xandertheundead

Summary: Billy wore glasses, and Teddy had no idea why this new discovery made him so excited.

International Diplomacy | 2,984 | DangerousCommieSubversive / @dangerouscommiesubversive

Summary: The delegation from the Kree and Skrull Empires has arrived, and Prince William is ordered by his aunt to keep the visiting Prince Dorrek entertained. Somehow.

We Don't Put Our Hands Over Our Mouths | 3,324 | atti (attilatehbun) / @recursivities

Summary: Billy has never had good impulse control. Something pops into his head and he generally just says it, or does it - joining a super-team, anyone? - before he actually thinks about whatever he's doing might mean. So far he's managed to mostly avoid making a complete idiot of himself through some crazy combination of snarkiness and luck. But this time he's not so sure.

Love is Like Falling | 3,487 | Khirsah / @khirsahle

Summary: Teddy reached down and took Billy’s hand, threading their fingers together. The warm, gentle grip immediately derailed his words, his brain. “Sure,” Teddy said, squeezing Billy’s hand. “That sounds cool.” “Cool,” Billy breathed. “Cool.” “Cool.” Teddy squinted at him. “Are you secretly a Buffybot stuck on some kind of programming loop?” Billy snorted, turning his face to press his forehead against Teddy’s arm. When he breathed, his lungs were filled with the incredible scent of him. “No,” he said. “Shut up, I’m just having a spaz.” “Oh, well, in that case.”

Redefining Normal | 3,510 | Tangerine / @atangeriner

Summary: Normal is overrated.

A Little Like Mutant Manifestation | 3,886 | howlikeagod / @eternalgirlscout

Summary: Billy pulls back a little (normal), and grins down at Teddy. His face is flushed (normal), his hair is a godawful mess (completely normal), and Teddy wants him to take his clothes off (not normal at all). That desire slams into him like a semi-truck and leaves him gasping. He’s lived his whole life a little too aware of where his eyes catch, on the lips and hands of other boys, where his thoughts wander to kissing and holding in the darkest corners he can find. It’s never been more than that.

On Responsibility | 4,501 | natcat5 / @natcat5

Summary: It’s about responsibility, and being held accountable for your actions. He doesn’t have to tell Teddy, doesn’t have to tell anyone because- Because- It wasn’t like a suicide suicide attempt. He wasn’t- it wasn’t because- He was just trying to fix what he had broken. Clean up the mess that he had made. Take responsibility.

The Common Issue | 4,833 | riko

Summary: Billy has feelings about civil procedure, the firm's new junior associate, and the fact that his co-workers are all nuts, and he isn't thinking about any of them.

Scenes From A Teen Life | 5,252 | Etharei / @etharei

Summary: He's never been in this space before: broad daylight, his cheek throbbing, clothing dirty from the street, and at the same time floating, skin thrumming like he's using magic; hopelessly, helplessly happy. In which Billy Kaplan, against all expectations and documented statistics, has a boyfriend.

One More Bad Excuse | 5,323 | Ardatli / @ardatli

Summary: Life is full of changes. Losing his mother was one, losing his home was another. Teddy can't begin to cope with the idea that he might be losing Billy, too.

Who Can Retell (the things that befell us) | 6,297 | Ardatli / @ardatli

Summary: Or, one Christmas that Billy and Teddy didn’t spend together, and five that they did.

Monsters of Men | 8,873 | takadainmate / @takadainmate

Summary: "Get up," he said, and his voice sounded muffled and distant and for a long time Teddy stared at him, trying to work out what he meant. They had nowhere to go. There was no point in going anywhere. They were alone here and no one was going to save them. No one could save them.

Our Lives Lead Other Lives | 10,045 | riko

Summary: "Those things Billy's learned to bundle up tightly, keep compact and hidden so far down that even he forgets they're there sometimes. The gay thing is one. The being bullied at school is another. Now the spellcasting, shooting lightning from his fingertips, and fighting evil are rounding out the roster."

The Shelter Rule | 10,890 | orphan_account

Summary: Teddy’s life consists of a couple bags of clothes, a bed at the youth shelter, a therapy group run by his case manager, and two very dead parents. At least, until he switches schools. Then, Teddy’s life grows exponentially.

All Grown Up and Still Don't Know What (or; Billy Kaplan's Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Life) | 14,233 | atti (attilatehbun) / @recursivities

Summary: Everything cycles back around into powers, his new powers. Powers that, by the feel of it, Billy’s really only scratched the surface of. But powers that he thinks could really do some actual good, on the right team. Assuming he doesn’t blow anything up with his mind by then.

Mine | 1,415 | isengard / @goulets

Summary: You are the best thing That’s ever been mine.

The Things I Am Doing (Instead of The Things That Should Be Done) | 1,541 | atti (attilatehbun) / @recursivities

Summary: Normally there's classes, work, citizens to be saved from dimension-ripping monsters with tentacles bursting from their eyes and venom dripping from several sets of extra ears. That, or Kate's endless charity functions, in both official and unofficial capacity. But not this morning. This morning there's just them; them, a bed cozy and warm with body heat, and time.

The Problem with Planning | 2,238 | atti (attilatehbun) / @recursivities

Summary: Billy really doesn't want to hate his friends, he loves his friends, but he wishes that for once, just once when he and Teddy shut Teddy's door it wasn't banging open again before they'd even crossed to Teddy's narrow bed. He'd love them a whole lot more easily if they could understand the concept of 'personal time'.

Birthday Boy is King | 3,203 | tekowrites

Summary: Teddy/Billy, for Teddy’s birthday Billy decides on a little body modification present, the problem though is not letting anyone find out about it.

Fire in the Blood | 3,385 | youngavengersbigbang

Summary: Teddy was so close he was practically whispering in the shell of the man’s ear. Billy watched, transfixed, as one big hand slid into the neat fold of his pewter gray suit and pulled out a straight razor. The handle was mother of pearl. The little blade shown like a mirror, giving a whispered shhht as Teddy opened it into a wide, gleaming smile.

Maybe Everything Returns | 7,321 | riko

Summary: There are 3058 miles between them, and Teddy can feel every one.

whatever's living will yourself become | 7,816 | atti (attilatehbun) / @recursivities

Summary: The trouble with shape-shifting is that so often the shape seems to shift more than you do. It changes day to day, moment to moment, and every time you shift to fit it you're one step behind.

Alms in Autumn | 13,861 | aud_k

Summary: In which a fairy reluctantly dons the mantle of “prey,” a golden-haired prince leads a ritual hunt, and a November dawn chases away more than just the night’s shadows. There are many ways to die, and some of them, William discovers, are smaller—and luckier—than others.

Work In Progress | 20,912 | Ardatli / @ardatli

Summary: Wherein Billy is a Steve/Tony fanfic writer, Teddy is a fanartist, online relationships are confusing, and NYCC is coming.

*True Colors | 34,093 | Khirsah / @khirsahle

Summary: Growing up queer can be tough, even in New York. Lucky for them, there's a place upstate they can go every summer to meet new friends, let loose, and know they are not alone. Welcome to Camp True Colors.

*this fic also heavily includes the Steve/Bucky ship

2024 Reclists · INBOX · Blog Updates

[alders-simblr]

Rowanwood Estates

Rowanwood Estates - WillowCreek - Sage Estates

I'm calling this the 'lite' version because I'm going to go back and clutter it up and change it but it is by no mean 'light' on CC. This one is going to be a long list of links just as a warning and includes my own mod tweak packages for the two cars on it (further explained below).

As with ALL my builds, you're going to want to have bb.moveobjects ON before placing the lot and I DID use TOOL to place some of the more complicated tweaks.

As with all my builds, it is on my gallery under EA ID: alderwitch but you can also download the tray files on my patreon as well here.

Lot Size: 50 x 50

Furnished Price: 915,012 Unfurnished: 336,018

Bedrooms: 6 Bathrooms: 7

Details and CC Shopping List below the cut.

Packs Used: HSY, Cottage Living, Snowy Escape, Eco Lifestyle, Island Living, Get Famous, Seasons, City Living, Get Together, Get To Work, Werewolves, Wedding Stories, Dream Home, Dine Out, Spa Day, Little Campers, Blooming Rooms, Courtyard Oasis, Bust the Dust, Nifty Knitting, Fitness, Backyard, Romantic Garden, Movie Hangout, Cool Kitchen

CC Used: CM Designs: Isla Pt 2, Jasper, Oakley, Rugs, Thermostat Oni: Traditional Japanese Room, Artist's World Room, Custom Food Pink Baddie: Baby Food, Magical Rug, Play Kitchen Sooky: Abstract Frames, Moroccan Rugs, Hydrangea Jug, Kids Rugs, Pretty Blue Rugs ClutterCat: Shiba Inu Rug Aira: Vanilla Rice Cooker Amoebae: Half Strip Tile, Statement Walls, Hallway Stone ATS4: Bagclutter AWingledLLama: Diaper Pail House of Harlix: Bafroom, Baysic, Harluxe, Jardane Brazen Lotus: ABP Closet, Greenhouse, Chronicles of Dressup, Reupholstered Sofa, Phoenix Fence Black Charly Pancakes: Lighthouse Collection, All CC Merged? Felixandre: Chateau, August 2019, Berlin Pt 3, Colonial Pt 2, Florence Set Pt 1, pt 3, Georgian, Grove Pt 4, Paris pt 1, Pt 3, Shop the Look Season 1 Walls That Make Sense: Dynasty, Fundamentals, Lights, Opulence Harrie: Country, Octave, Livin Rum, Tiny Twavellers Icemunmun: AirFryer, Canning Preserves, Finger Sandwiches, Floral tea, Burger Essentials, Mill, Soup, Soda Joliebean: Padtow LBB: Grannie's Cookbook, Recipe Tin, Recipe Stand LilacCreative: Body Butter, Candle LeafMotif: Magnolia Bathroom, Sunbeam Study, Starlight Crystals Ivy LittleDica: Chic Bathroom, Rise N Grind Cafe, Sleek Slumber, Modern Kitchen, Roman Holiday MadameRia: Back to Basics, Luxe, CoL Wallpaper Addon, Lucky Man Marvell: Lux, Janina, KC, Tiny Footsteps, UPcycle MyCupofCC: Maple Manor Books, Curtain, Macrame Shelf Max20: MasterBedroom Pack, Pouf Soft, Washing and Drying Machines Myshousun: Nora Living, Serene Bathroom, Zephyr Office, Dawn Living, Garden Stories, Freja, Gale Peacemaker: Atwood, Grasscloth, Bayside, Caine, Coulor Me Rugs, Drapery Delights, Elme Jute, Elsie, Futura, Gorgeous Georgian, Glass Tile, Hamptons Hideaway, Hamptons Retreat, Hinterlands, Hudsoon, Kingston, Kitayama, Lennox, MCE, Mina, Myra, Nox, Oasis, Quintin, Serenity, Vara, Marcissus Folly PieriSim: David Apartment, Domaine Du Clos, MCM, Oak House, Teeny Weeny, The Office, Tidying Up, Winter Garden Redhead Sims: Nintendo Switch RVSN: Advant 2020 Holiday Decor, Bidet, Binge Inking, CakeABreak, Cupcake Machine, Don't Be Alarmed Alarm Clock, Flood Saucer Light, Hoarders, Void Critter Gaming, Kids Toybin, Knit Happens, Major Inspo, MOtivational Speaker, Personal Brewer, Cod Fish Tank, One Nightstand Short, Peg to Differ, Procraftination, Shop Chef, Shut the Front Door, Smeglish Dishwasher, Sport Retail Therapy, Throw Shade, ToolTime, Watts Not to Love, SP Built Ins, You know the Drill, Ruggable SimCredible: DishDrainer, Naturalis Pantry SimKoos: Boba Storage, Home Clutter, Infant Bottles, Office Tour, Stroller Deluxe Sixam: Cozy Family Room, Gothic W Lighting, Home Basics, Home Improvement, Luxbath, Mixer, Private Surface, RetroVibes, Small Spaces, Spring Six, Stylish Wood, Teen Room Softerhaze: Bramblefinch Powder Walls Syboulette: Oceane, Advent 2022 Wood Parquet, Attic, Bayhouse, Boho Wedding, Brigette, Bougainvillers, Candy, Clarisse, Coraline, Crossfit, Delphine, Designer Meeting Table, Diane, Dino, Dreamy, Faveo, Fitness, Helios, Karaoke, Laundry, Louane, Millenial, Mozaik, Nothingtowear, Pascaline, Petite Chef, Ratatoulle, Sabine, Serenity, Unicorn Birthday Taurus Design: Cassandra Bathroom, Eliza Bedroom and Closet, Elsa, Jade, Katrina Tuds: 2nd Wave, Cave, Crib, Cross, Emma, NCTR, SHKR, Wave WhoisSage: Shag Rug, Handful of Mats, Simply Striking

Functionality

These mods are not technically in the build but are needed to have mods (syboulette's crossfit and aira's rice cooker specifically) functional.

ZulfAndHakrabr: Let's Get Fits Modpack Ricky: Useable RiceCooker

Vehicles

Technically, the two vehicles used for this build use the the Breeze Motors 2018 Mercedes E-Class Wagon and the 2020 Maserati Quattroporte as their base. I won't link to the download page as its a perma-paywaller and I fundamentally disagree with how Breeze Motors is handling their patreon personally. I will leave it to you to decide if you want their CC and how you acquire it if you choose to do so.

For my personal game, I have edited and stripped down my copies of these two cars and modified them so that they work with Simnation Travel. I have a pinned patreon post that is not paywall locked here explaining that more in depth and include the required files HERE.

If you go that route, and would like to download the cars, you can find them here:

Maserati Quattroporte

Mercedes E-Class

I should note that in addition to lacking the door open /close options of the original as those were stripped down, the textures were redone with simlish for a more maxis match look in game.

Mods for this Build

These are not technically required for the build to function but this build was built using overrides for both Sim Realist's SNB Bills mod as well as Simnation Travel vehicles. You shouldn't get any weird errors if you load the build in without those mods but if there's an exception caught by MCC related to that, it's probably just reconciling that the override the lot was built with is not in place in your game. It should only be a one time alert the first time the game loads in if it happens and should not cause any issue other than MCC making a noise at you about it noticing weirdness.

(The SNB provides the High Speed Internet trait to the lot and I think it will just set that trait to empty if its loaded without but I haven't personally confirmed it, hence the note here. ) Additional Note

I'm pushing this to live today just to make sure it hits my tumblr the same time as I pushed the build to my gallery but I will be going back to add links into the list. There are just a LOT to track down and it might take me a day or two to finish that part.

[walker-extended-universe]

Sammy Reborn, Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Relationship(s): August Walker & Dean Winchester, August Walker & Cordell Walker, Cassie Perez & Cordell Walker

Tags/Warnings: Kidnapping, Drugging, Investigations, Delusions, Obsession

Written for @medwhumpmay Day 4- Sedated

Summary: In which August tries to make a move and Walker tries to keep his wits about him.

Taglist: @theladywyn, @ihavepointysticks, @klaatu51, @itsjessiegirl1, @neptunium134

------

Cordell stumbled into the ranch house at around 4am, got a couple hours of sleep, then made his way to the family breakfast table to break the news to his family. 

He and Cassie had spent hours looking through traffic cam footage the night before and hadn’t had much luck. They did manage to identify the car most likely used by the kidnapper but the license plate they pulled from the footage was fake and tracking the car had proved to be almost impossible since the driver mostly used side streets away from the cameras. All they knew was that they were looking for a black 1967 Chevy Impala (which they put the APB out for before leaving) and that whoever did was long gone.

Not exactly great news.

He hesitated before the doorway and took a deep breath. He couldn’t put this off any longer.

“Mornin’ everyone….” He tried to smile but he wasn’t sure it was convincing. “I…I have something to tell you. Something important.” He didn’t wait for his mama’s concerned questions before barreling through it. “Last night, August was kidnapped while taking out the trash at the Side Step. We don’t know who took him or why. All we have right now is the vehicle the kidnapper was driving and we’ve got a state-wide ABP out on it right now-”

“Wait, what? Last night?” Stella turned in her stool, breakfast forgotten. “Why didn’t you tell us as soon as you found out?”

“Why don’t you ask your boyfriend?” Cordell muttered. “Colton’s the one that called it in. And after that….. I needed to know what we could find out. I wish I had better news but at this point there’s not much we can do. We’ll have to wait for someone to report the car and that’s honestly the best we can hope for. Until then, all we can do is investigate things here, try and find out if anything suspicious has been happening around August lately. I’m not dragging all of you in for interrogation but we’ll need to have a talk about what he’s told you -if he has- and we’ll need to track down some of his school friends too.”

He watched as his family slowly absorbed the news. There was a long silence before anyone said anything.

“He didn’t mention anything strange to me,” Liam said slowly. “Stel?”

She shook her head. “No, but I know some of his school friends; I can talk to them and see if they know anything.”

“Do you know if he kept a journal?” Bonham asked. “He may have put something in there.”

He shook his head. “Not one that I knew of but it couldn’t hurt to look. But I’ve got to get to work, see if there have been any updates.”

“Cordi, honey, it’s been one night. You can at least get some breakfast before you go,” Abby insisted.

“But-”

“If there’s a big update, they’ll call you. And you won’t do August any good collapsing on the job. Eat.”

Sighing, Cordell sat down and started eating. He knew better than to argue with that tone.

—-------

August woke up with a groan. His head hurt and the loud music wasn’t helping. Why was Stella blasting Led Zepplin anyway?

“Oh, sorry. Did I wake you Sammy? Here, let me turn that down.”

The lowered volume did help August’s head but that voice didn’t help his nerves. It was the same voice from the alleyway. The guy that jumped him and knocked him out.

“You wanna stop at the next exit and get something to eat? I’m a little hungry myself. I bet you are too. You gotta get something besides a salad this time though. I know you’re on a health kick and all that but you’re too skinny.”

August made himself sit up and open his eyes. He wasn’t sure what this guy wanted or why but he figured it’d probably be smart to play along for now. Just until he could find a way to contact his family. “Where are we?”

“We’re just coming up on Texarkana. I’m good on gas for a bit but I think we need fuel for us before we go much further. I know I’m starving.” The guy took the next exit but he was going too fast for August to see where it was.

August was feeling hungry too, but he didn’t think he could trust anything this guy would give him. But maybe he could use this to get some more information. “I’m not that hungry, actually. Thanks though, Mr….?”

His captor laughed. “Sammy, I know you’re hungry. And don’t call me that. I know I’m older than you, but come on, I’m just your brother.”

August had so many arguments he could make but none of them seemed like a good idea in a moving car. “Fine. Where are we going?”

“Just a little diner I know. You’ll love it.”

August very much doubted that but, again, he didn’t think it was a good idea to get into it.

It was another half an hour of his captor singing off-tune before they pulled into the diner parking lot. It was a grungy place that looked like it had been open a few decades too long- then again Gramps swore up and down those places made the best food (besides Mawline’s, of course). And August actually was a bit hungry, not that he felt like admitting it.

“Yeah, I know it doesn’t look like much,” the man said, unlocking the doors. “But I’m sure they have some kind of salad for you. But I am gonna order you a burger; you’re too damn skinny, Sammy.”

August wouldn’t mind a burger. It would give him the energy to run away if nothing else.

And being here gave him some options. He didn’t have his phone anymore, but there were people here. If he could get away from this guy for just a second, he could get someone to call his dad. That would have to be good enough until he could find another way to talk to his family.

“Well, howdy Dean!” The waitress standing behind the counter greeted them with a blinding smile. “Been a while since I’ve seen you. A few months at least. And who’s this fella?”

The man, Dean, returned her smile and pulled August into a one-armed hug. “This is my little brother, Sammy. We’ll have my usual, Debbie.”

They were given a table near the front window while they waited for whatever Dean’s usual was. August spent his time looking around the diner. There was a decent crowd, not so busy that he wouldn’t be able to get a waitress’ attention for a few seconds but busy enough that he could do it without drawing Dean’s attention. Hopefully.

“Alright, here ya are!” Debbie plunked two plates in front of them. Dean’s “usual” was a heart attack on a plate- a greasy bacon burger with an overwhelming side of fries.

Normally, August would dig in with glee. He was a growing boy and while the Walkers weren’t exactly health nuts, something as greasy as this was definitely a rarity. 

But, normally August hadn’t been kidnapped by some weirdo. So that killed his appetite a bit.

“Come on, Sammy, eat up,” Dean said around a mouthful of food. “We gotta hit the road if we wanna be home by sundown.”

August ate some fries and looked around the diner, waiting for the right opportunity. If he could just get a waittress’ attention….

He saw one of the young ladies in a uniform going into the restroom area. Bingo.

“Hey, uh, I gotta hit the head. I’ll be back in a sec.”

“Sure thing, Sammy,” Dean muttered, entranced by his burger.

August quickly dashed to the back of the restaurant. There was a “No Entry- Cleaning” sign on the door but he opened it anyway. This was more important.

“Didn’t you see the sign?” said a very annoyed voice.

“I- Yes, but this is important.”

“I don’t care which burrito you ate, I’m cleaning.” A very annoyed woman poked her head out of one of the stalls. “You can wait five minutes.”

“I really can’t. It’s- I don’t actually have to use the bathroom but….” How was he supposed to explain this?

The woman’s face softened a bit. “Are you okay? If you ate the Dynomite blaster-”

“It’s not that. It’s- You know that guy I came in with.”

She nodded. “Yeah, Debbie said he’s your older brother.”

“He isn’t. He’s not my brother at all. I don’t even know him.”

Her eyes widened with understanding. “Do you need to sneak out the back?”

He shook his head. “No. I don’t think that would work. That guy is…. Scary. And I don’t even have my phone on me. But my dad’s a cop and I know the tip line for where I live. If you could just call and tell them I was here, that would help a lot.” He could just play nice with Dean until his dad rescued him.

Right?

“Uh, well… I don’t-”

“I’ll be okay, I promise. Just- Let me give you the number.”

She handed him her order pad and he quickly scrawled the number for the Ranger tip line and his name. Hopefully he wouldn’t be stuck with Dean much longer.

He thanked her and quickly went back to his table. Feeling slightly better now that he had a plan in place, he went straight for the burger. He didn’t know if it was actually a good burger or if he was just hungry, but it tasted like the best thing he’d eaten in months.

“Woah, slow your roll, Sammy. I don’t need you getting sick in the car.”

August rolled his eyes. “I haven’t eaten in hours, I’m starving.”

“Suit yourself.”

As soon as they finished eating, Dean threw some cash down on the table and motioned for August to get up. He did and immediately felt queasy. Maybe he shouldn’t have eaten that burger in less than a minute after all….

—-----

It took longer than Dean thought for the drugs to knock Sammy out. He’d made the dose smaller so it wouldn’t hurt Sam by accident. He’d have to adjust it for next time, but it did the job for now.

Sam fell asleep about 30 minutes into the car ride and Dean turned the music down for him. “Sweet dreams, kiddo,” he murmured, stroking his hair. “We’ll be home soon.” It was a 10 hour drive, but with Dean at the wheel they’d make it in 5.

He hated to drug Sam for the ride. He wanted to sing along to the radio with his brother rolling his eyes at him the whole way. But Sammy was still confused and Dean didn’t want to risk losing him again. He just needed some alone time with Sam and then things could start getting back to normal.

It wouldn’t be an easy transition for Sammy- kid always was stubborn. But, just like when Dean got him back from Stanford all those years ago, he would eventually come around. He’d stop having all those big dreams about leaving Dean behind and living a “normal” life, whatever that meant. 

And it would be better this time. There would be no Dad to drive him away, no Jessica to keep him away, no Ruby to poison his mind, no Lucifer to claim him, not even Castiel to ruin him. Sammy would be all his this time. Just like he should be.

And if his other “family” tried to come after him, to take what isn’t theirs anymore, Dean would take care of it. Just like he always did.

—---------

Cassie rewound the traffic cam footage again, just in case she missed something. Even a taillight would be something more than what she had. And she had to give something to Walker. She had to.

She glanced over at the conference room where he was staring blankly at their- equally as blank- caseboard. She would bet anything he was currently running through the stats on survival of a missing person versus how long it took to find them. She certainly was.

Her desk phone ringing jarred her out of her thoughts. “Texas Rangers,” she answered.

“Uh, is this the anonymous tip line?”

She sat up straighter. “Yes. What do you have to report?”

“Uh…. God, this is gonna sound weird….”

“Nothing too weird for the tip line, believe me. What did you see?”

The woman sighed. “God, this is dumb. I shouldn’t’ve let him go. I shoulda told him to sneak out the back and just called the cops right then. What was I thinking?”

“Ma’am, I can’t help you or him unless you tell me what’s happened.”

“Right, right. Uh, well, these two guys came into the diner earlier. The older one called the younger one his brother and he ordered from Debbie. But then the younger one came and found me while I was cleaning the bathroom and told me they weren’t actually brothers and told me to call this number.”

“Right.” Cassie grabbed one of the report slips and started scribbling down information. “Can you tell me anything else.”

“Well, the older one is a regular. Debbie knows him well. His name is Dean I think. He called the younger one “Sammy” but then the kid told me his name is actually August Walker. Said his dad was a cop and that’s why I had to call this number.”

“Thank you. Is there anything else you can tell me about the man August was with?”

“Uh, well he’s older. I’d say in his forties maybe? He’s white, he’s got green eyes, and I’d say he’s about six feet tall. He always pays in cash, he drives one of those classic cars- a black one- and I think he’s from somewhere in Kansas? I think that’s what Debbie said.”

“That’s great. And can you tell me the address of this diner?”

“Oh, right! I forgot.” She gave up the address and Cassie did her best to keep all the details straight. “They were here about half an hour ago. I couldn’t call sooner because we were busy; this was my first chance to take a break.”

“That’s still helpful. Thank you.” She hung up and picked up her report slip. She smiled as she read over everything again. This was good. This was a lead. This was a chance. They could bring August home.

“Hey, Walker,” she said, rushing toward the conference room. “We just got a tip on August. A waitress in Texarkana called in about him. Whoever took him stopped for lunch and August was able to get away long enough to get help.”

His head snapped toward her and he zeroed in on the slip in her hand. “Really?” he said. “Texarkana? They must’ve been driving all night…” He snatched it from her and read over it. “This is good. We can work with this. We should probably get in touch with the PD there and see if we can get camera footage from the diner and the surrounding streets. Also put an APB on this description.” He was moving around the conference room frantically now, adding to the still sparse case board.

“I’ll let James know,” Cassie said, backing out of the room to let Walker do what he needed to do. His son was missing; he could sweat out as much nervous energy as he needed to.

[ferretrade]

@foreverchangingfandomsao3 tagged me a bit ago in the last line challenge and I have a piece I’m actually working on now? SO (no tags bc I took ages but please consider yourself tagged if you’d like to be

“No drugs,” he tells them. His brain is coming online still, and he’s definitely not going to go back to sleep or be loopy on pain meds. 

“No drugs,” Oath promises sweetly, just before Cody’s IV kicks in and he feels his eyes drooping.

“Lying son of—” he growls and then he’s out.

codywan week readers, I hope you’ll see the rest of this in a few days. :))

[ask-cats-are-liquid]

(btw, u should take a break from all these asks!!)

Red, why do you bite the others, do you know they...may not like it? Σ(･o･;)

Also I wanna pet u!! :3

[shadowmaat]

Artificial Incompetence

The conversations around "artificial intelligence" are getting a bit bonkers. Not that they're really conversations so much as screaming matches. And not that we're talking about true artificial intelligence so much as algorithm blending programs.

I don't like the recent fad of ABPs. It has a lot of the same earmarks and defenders as NFTs had, and boy howdy did that not work out well for folks. I don't think ABPs have been tied to the fake currency market, but their current implementation is still going to do more harm than good, in my opinion.

I'm not gonna say that writing or art should be "hard" or that people need to "struggle" in order to create things. I do, however, believe that they need to do the goddamn work themselves. Feeding prompts into a content generator doesn't make you a writer or artist. Well, scam artist, maybe. It's taking words/brush strokes from someone else and claiming credit for it. Even if you mention you used an ABP you still didn't create the art yourself, you just fed a program some prompts or the name of some artists you like and it spat out something you claimed as your own.

That's one of the big hangups I have with this fad: taking credit for someone else's work. Reaping all the perceived benefits (kudos, reblogs, etc) without actually doing anything to earn it.

If I give someone a prompt and they write a fic based on it, that story isn't mine. Sure, they might mention I gave them the prompt, but they were the one to write the actual story. Not me. My name doesn't go on the author line and I can't boast to others about the fic I wrote. Because I didn't.

I'm all for accessibility tools to help people complete tasks, and if ABPs were being widely used to help make creative efforts more accessible, I might have a different opinion. As it stands, however, the vast majority of people currently using ABPs aren't using them to help with their own creativity, they're using them as a substitute.

The arguments about data scraping and plagiarism are important, especially if we want to make sure that ABPs stop doing that, but from where I stand it still all boils down to people trying to loophole past responsibility and effort.

It gets worse when you switch gears from fic writing to essays and articles. At least in fiction stuff is supposed to be made up, so, all jokes aside, if some details are wrong it doesn't really matter.

When students start submitting essays to their teachers that they didn't write or sites try using an ABP to write articles, facts become a lot more important. And ABPs are infamous for making shit up whole cloth, even to the point of citing imaginary sources for their facts. That is, quite frankly, dangerous.

You think the past few years (decades, centuries) of misinformation have been bad? It can get a whole lot worse. These programs can seed in just enough "real" information to sell their bullshit as legitimate, and if even some experts have to double-check stuff to figure out what's false, where does that leave the rest of us? Especially all the ones who don't fact check at all before reblogging/believing something they read?

I think the future of artificial intelligence- real artificial intelligence- could be incredibly cool, and when the first AI submits a fic to AO3 I hope I'm around to read it. Right now, though, it's less about exploring potential and all about exploiting it.

[mjalford98]

Solemn Requiem Mass at the SSPX Chapel of St Michael the Archangel in Burghclere, Hampshire, England for Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallarais on Saturday 19 October 2024. 🙏

I think a lot of newer generations of Traditional Catholics can easily fail to appreciate just how crucial a role Bishop Tissier played in establishing the traditionalist movement within the Catholic Church - dare I say that without Father & later Bishop Tissier, we would not have had the historical giant that was Archbishop Lefebvre. I did know some of the well-known stories, such as his involvement as one of the first nine seminarians who went to Abp Lefebvre during the initial upheavals in the 1960s, and of course his later consecration as a bishop, but there were also many stories of his ongoing support to the Archbishop both in the early days of the Society, and later in the lead-up to the consecrations of which I was personally unaware until after his recent untimely passing.

Thanks be to God for such a wonderful man!