#EDIT: I JUST NOTICED BOTH OF THEM IN THE IMAGES I SAVED LOOK LIKE THEY'RE HAPPILY/SMUGLY STARING AT EACHOTHER💀💀💀

[viciouslyfilthy]

Mun shortly comes back on here to announce that two more nasty filthy men might invade this space made for nasty filthy men

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Destrachan

CR 8

Neutral Evil Large Aberration

Bestiary 2, pg. 83 (image from 2nd Edition's Bestiary 2, pg. 71)

These are one of my favorite creatures and I never did an article on them? Huh. I could have sworn I already did! Oh well! Here we go...

These sadistic stalkers always have an ear out for potential prey, as they're utterly blind and navigate entirely by sound and smell. They're willing and able to feed on whatever carrion they may stumble across, but they prize live meat--of course everyone who knows Golarion's predators will know the next sentence by heart--especially the meat of sapient creatures, as they draw immense amusement from hearing their screams. Almost as much as they love meat, they love fun, and their primary fun comes from stalking and tormenting potential prey, going so far as to know local languages just so they can better understand the pleas for mercy coming from their meals.

Within the tunnels and caverns of the Darklands, one must keep an ear out for the distinct trills and clicks they make as they echolocate, because by the time you hear it, it's likely heard you, and you have about 6 seconds to figure out what you're going to do about it. Their sense of smell is nothing to write home about (they lack Scent), but the true star of the show is their sense of hearing, a sense more acute than most creatures far above their own CR. The book notes that their ears are so complex that they can 'filter' unwanted sounds out while still catching others, which mechanically grants them Sonic Resistance 30 and heightened saves versus Sonic effects and spells. Lore-wise, this allows them to hear conversations being spoken over underground waterfalls, the skittering of mice over their own footsteps... and the hammering heart of a creature struggling to stand still and stay silent.

There is no hiding from one of these creatures; if you're near enough to hear it walking and breathing, that's far too late. If a Destrachan is acting like it hasn't noticed you, it's toying with you and relishing in your panic. With an incredible 100ft of blindsight and +27 to Perception besides, there's very few creatures that can evade the sensory radius of a Destrachan when it's searching for prey, and with +19 to Survival checks to track creatures who've managed to escape it, the only real way out of being hunted by one of these horrors is to either kill it, or hope some more amusing prey comes along.

Up close, Destrachan are just as lethal as they look. Their Claw-Claw-Bite deals 1d8+4 and 2d6+4 damage, respective, though they have Vital Strike available if prey is too mobile for them to make Full-Attacks against; especially easy, considering their tiny arms means they only have a 5ft reach instead of the normal 10. Of course, if prey is too mobile, they have another far more horrible attack at their disposal, one heard for miles around echoing through the tunnels of the Darklands: Destructive Harmonics. This incredibly flexible and dangerous attack is the Destrachan's bread and butter, quickly incapacitating or killing nearly any creature they encounter.

Destructive Harmonics has five modes, divided between two areas (an 80ft line or 30ft burst), two effects (Destruction and Pain), and one fifth category we'll get into later, and the horror can switch between them on the fly with zero effort or preparation. Unlike other breath weapons, this ability is usable at will and has no cooldown, allowing it to freely torment foes with a form of attack there's little defense against. The charmingly named modes of this attack, Destruction and Pain, both have different utility to the beast; Pain shocks a victim's nervous system with a shrill shriek so disorienting that it can stun any creature caught in the blast for 1 round and deafen them for 1d6 more if a DC 19 Fortitude save is failed, while Destruction is much more straightforward as a blast of 8d6 Sonic damage that a DC 19 Reflex save halves. If it so wishes, it can cause the damage to be nonlethal instead of Sonic damage, potentially knocking out prey so it can be dragged back to the Destrachan's nest and/or hungry packmates and enjoyed fresh.

Destruction has more to it than just pure creature damage, though. Normally, items caught in an AoE blast aren't considered unless the effect itself specifies they are, and even then items take half damage from all elemental effects, but these sonic lizards have ways around that. The Destrachan can target any item made of crystal, stone, metal, wood, or similar within 80ft of it and deliver an alarmingly precise blast of subsonic energy to that object alone rather than blasting an area with concussive force. The subsonic blast deals full damage to whatever it hits aside from whatever is subtracted by Hardness, and with an average damage of around 26, it can break through most impediments (and shatter most mundane equipment) in short order, leaving its prey defenseless. This power allows the horrors to play sadistic games with their prey, destroying their weapons before breaking every piece of cover they hoped to hide behind, all the while getting closer every round until it can practically taste them...

I like to imagine a party hiding inside a sturdy house or similar from one, only to hear it prowling outside, gently tapping on the walls with its claws to assure it gets the frequency right, then it steps away, giving the party some relief... and then they hear a strange sound that puts an unusual pressure on their ears seconds before the wall suddenly caves in, leaving them open to the next, far more harmful scream that's likely to tear them to ribbons. Do you think Destrachan have Skull Exploding Contests with each other?

You can read more about them here.

[simgigglegirl]

Hello, I’d like to make 2 of my twin sims identical; can I just use SimPE to copy ones face onto the other? From what I could find online this also copies the clothes of the shared faces original owner; hopefully thats it for whats copied and I’m not risking outright making another version of the first sim haha

How to edit a sim face only on SimPE

So there is a way to edit only the sim face and create the identical twins that you want anon, no clothes and DNA, aside from the face, will be changed (I did a quick test on the face DNA, keep reading to find out what I found).

So you'll need either the Chris Hatch SimPE version that has the tool you need (Be warned that there is a version where it has sexual fictional characters images in it. They're clothed but still stating it as a warning just in case) or add Theo's tool in your SimPE plugin folder (I have a guide on how to install it here)

So after you got the tool needed and opened up SimPE we're gonna need to first get the sim that will import their face to the other sim. So go -> tools -> neighbourhood and then Sim Surgery (Alt Sim Surgery if you are using Theo's plugin tool).

In this tutorial example, I'm gonna make the pleasant girl twins look identical. Using Lilith as the one to give Angela her face template.

So after I found Lilith Pleasant in the sim pool I select her and then click the use button on the Patient Sim tab. I then click the export button to get her character data, which we need to pass on Lilith's face template. It will automatically send you to save her file on your saved sims folder. Save it there for now. Remember to delete it later once you're done with all the steps in this tutorial.

After saving Lilith's character data file we can now start with the face replacement step.

Open up the sim surgery again and this time we're gonna select Angela. After finding her, press the use button on the patient sim tab and this time click the "face only". Now click the load... button, that's next to Archetype sim, and use the Lilith file we just saved inside the saved sim folder. You should see the name of the file under External File.

After making sure you're using the correct sim file, patient sim and clicked face only, you can now click surgery on the bottom right. Congrats, you have just made your identical twins! Let's check in-game that all is correct.

After entering the lot of the sims you edited, sometime their face won't have changed to the new one you gave. No worries, we can fix that by just entering the change appearance either by sending them to a mirror or using simblender.

Forgot to mention I used a hood that I tested my GC sims on...oops. She doesn't look like Lilith's default game face but Angela still looks correctly like she should by now having Lilith's GC face.

And if you noticed. The face only tab also does as it says and ONLY changes the face while keeping the DNA the sim had before. So if the twins you want to look identical have different DNA, the DNA will at least be kept.

So I have been using this feature for a while with no issues but I wasn't sure if their facial DNA was also changed. So much to Angela's displeasure I'll be using her to test if she will have a chance to give her babies her new face or if her default base game will instead be used.

And as shown below, after I aged her up, and had her have two babies. One is her clone (done just in case none of her facial DNA passed to her test kids) and the other is with Dustin (since I needed a male doner). Both versions have successfully gained her new face as Angela's DNA 😃... man clone baby just proves that Angela's face feature was the one that strongly passed on, not sure if it was just pure luck here. Would advise you to test this more anon.

[ysa-dalawatatlo]

Place of Words

VOGUE RESEARCH

I first took a look at Vogue, skimming through the archives. I chose to look at the May issue for every 10 years, starting from 1950. I laid it all out on my process book document. It's only pictures right now since I'll be discussing here. They are arranged chronologically from top to bottom:

The covers sport the classic portrait of a woman and the large masthead. The portraits are aligned to the right, save for the 1950 cover which is centred. The mastheads do not really interact with the portraits. On the left, feature titles wrap around the portraits.

The pages typically follow either a 4-column or 3-column grid. Text and imagery take up the space of the page entirely, the information is dense and with little negative space, again with the exception of the 1950 edition. I personally find the 4-column pages too academic-looking, not really dynamic. There is little text layered over the images, it appears strongly adherent to the columns.

None of the images are too exciting, they're model shoots that showcase the fashion being featured. They are clean, full shots rather than collated.

I enjoy how some of the images take up full pages, while others bleed onto the next page.

The covers now have half/full body shots as opposed to the portrait-exclusive era seen prior. The models and mastheads also interact, the models being in front of the text which I find more pleasing. The features' titles/catchphrases are now bolder than the previous decades, sporting more colour.

These also follow the 3-4 column grids, as well as similar image layouts.

1990 is showing some large title text that goes over both pages which I find impactful in its breaking past the grid.

Again, I enjoy the image spillovers but I also appreciate the double image spread from the year 2000 with a large title "scents & sensibility" at the bottom + some caption on the left page.

The first thing I've noticed is that the covers now have much less text, with even the masthead becoming barely noticeable. It seems like much more attention is being brought to the subjects of the cover.

Vogue has retained the same layout throughout these years, with the most changes I think being in the text. 2021-2023 seem to be consistent in style: the same/very similar fonts, the same drop cap. I suppose it's also worth noting that these were released only a year apart from one another, compared to the ten year gaps of those previously mentioned.

The text-image layout is much cleaner this time, there is no text layered on the images that feel like they're breaking boundaries.

Though I do enjoy the layouts of Vogue, I think I would prefer more negative space. But, I've definitely taken note of the image placement as well as their subject matters which I could then bring into my own work.

Each of the spreads I've viewed all have a clean, sophisticated air to them which I like but think moves away from the 18-25 year old target audience, so I've also taken a look at the more appropriate Teen Vogue:

My immediate thoughts when looking through this magazine: it's packed. It was so busy with products here and there. It's much more image heavy than text, and I actually found it difficult to find article-like chunks of text similar to those seen regularly in Vogue. I suppose it's due to the younger generation not being so fond of reading anymore.

The left page shown above are mostly double page spreads of images. There is little text, showing just titles and captions.

The right page shows images I found with some text. Still, it's image-dominated. The image in the middle is especially chaotic, with clothing images collated on the full spread.

The typefaces used are sans serif for headers (bold) and captions (thin), but serif for the body text.

[endless-bunny]

Pathfinder Iconics Update

So we have a sneak peak of those two new classes that were promised:

These classes are entirely new – not concepts brought forward from First Edition into Second Edition—and we can’t wait to share them with you!

— Save the Date – Pathfinder Playtest Stream Aug 31!

They weren't lying when they promised "fresh, new" classes. These are not Iconics we've seen before (or if they are, they're outfits are different enough to make them hard to recognise).

The image on the left reminds me of Maui's appearance in Moana, and some people in the comments on the announcement blog post (linked above) suggested that he "makes me think of mythological heroes like Hercules or Samson" which could be a divinely-empowered strength-based class who charges into melee combat. Mechanically though, it'd be hard to separate that from a Barbarian. Maybe this is a successor to Crowe, the Bloodrager.

The coarse weave of the cummerbund resembles traditional textiles from around the world, and Wayne's typical dense style means that even in a close-up we get a good look at some of the accoutrements, it looks like they have a sporran and some talismans. One thing that I do notice is that this character seems to be baring their chest. Between PF1 and PF2 Sajan and Seltyiel, the Iconic Monk and Magus respectively, both put on shirts, and most characters seemed to be covering up more in general.

The second character seems like a caster or something? They have what looks like a quiver tucked under their arm so maybe wands and staves are a big part of their toolkit. It looks like they have a set of pan pipes too, so maybe they're a music class, like a semi-bard? I like the design on their pouch. Not speculating on the purpose of that, I just think it's cute.

Guess I'll be back in a week to preview the actual classes.

[riku-writings]

ADMIRATION

Pairing: Mitsuya Takashi x Fem! Reader

Summary: Reader likes to fantasize about The Home Economics Club Leader's Hands.

Warnings: Smut with a smol plot, Fingering.

A/n: I am not really sorry about this ꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡,,, inspired by that one megumi oneshot in wattpad that i read ages ago. . .((edited hundred times since i just realized now that some of the smut parts were messed up even though i checked it multiple times,,, I'm sorry for the confusion i hope i got the order right ಠ,_｣ಠ)

Wc; 2k

It started with just an innocent admiration of him being a charming dude, that's all. The guy's a good student, an overall husband material with his sewing and cooking skills. He was heaven sent with his overall visual ( dyed hair, piercings and his eyebrow slits). Everyone knows he's a delinquent because of that Pehyan dude who would fight with Yasuda-San just to excuse mitsuya out of the club. Despite his delinquent bg, Mitsuya was respectful and patient. Making every girl and boy swoon over him.

A bad boy with a soft hubby side. Best of both worlds they would say.

You were part of it. The Home Economics Club, they were lying if the whole club wasn't a simping club for the one and only Mitsuya Takashi. It was only yasuda and you who took the club for extra credits. The others well, you could say they were there to see him. Eitherway everyone was cooperative and hardworking.

Not only were you with him in that club. You were his classmate. Even better, his seatmate. You always get a view of his charming side profile.

You find yourself just staring at his features, from his long lashes to his pointed nose, down to his lips. Sometimes his tongue would dart out, out of pure concentration. (You noticed this whenever you try and get his attention to check your work in the club)

Your eyes always latching itself down to his hands. Not that you're a complete freak but you appreciate it. Like if someone asked you what body part attract you the most. You would definitely answer, hands.

His hands were the prettiest especially when its enclosed with those rings that has a cross engrave on it. It was veiny, fingers elongated and a bit bony. Nails cleanly cut. His wrist always had a silver bracelet on it. You don't know why was that attractive.

You had an unpopular opinion that it was soft to touch. You wonder if your thoughts were true. You can feel yourself blush at the thought of him just holding your hand.

You can't help it but you just stare at them with pure admiration. Due to this, you noticed how he liked twirling a pen around his middle and index finger. Fascinated, you tried it once, though you failed. You not knowing he was looking at your failed attempts. Grinning.

"y/n are you listening?" A voice called pulling you out of your own embarassing thoughts. You look up at the owner of the hands you've been staring at for a while now.

"U-uhm yes?"

"Tell me how did you end up with this then?" Mitsuya raises his brow, your messed up fabric lifted up by him. The girls around you giggled at your clumsy behaviour. You retrieved it. "Ehm, I'm sorry leader can you explain it again?"

"Alright, listen this time dummy" He says with a teasing grin, ruffling your hair gently. He sat next to you. Using the seam ripper to remove your mistakes. You just stared at his fingers pointing at where you should redo it.

You wondered how he would shove it in your mo—

You mentally slapped yourself. As you crossed your legs together at the sudden image that came over your mind. "You okay? y/n?" Mitsuya stared at you noticing how you pressed your thighs together. "Hmhm" You responded.

"Leader! can you check this?" Another called out for mitsuya. He stood up and pats your shoulder.

"alright, I'll leave it to you then" He smiled.

The next days you tried to scold your mind for having intrusive thoughts of Mitsuya and his hands. Unfortunately, your mind developed a sudden kink with it. Making every imaginary situation more. . . . lewd.

"Hey Y/n! Hold up your hand" Your classmate suddenly called you lifting his hand towards yours. You knew exactly what he was trying to do, since he's been busy tryna do that with the other girls this morning. "Eh? I don't want to." You replied.

"Bet if mitsuya did it, y/n would do it!" Another classmate of yours shouted from the back. You raised your middle finger, continuing on cramming your homework.

"Leader~ Can you do that for us~" The boys teasingly called mitsuya. Who was back from his lunch raising an eyebrow at them. Hands pocketed "Do what?"

"We're just comparing hand sizes" They shrugged lifting up their hands. "Y/n won't let us~~"

"Eh? Stop bothering y/n." Mitsuya say in his deep voice his feet landing a hit on their butts, before proceeding to you. The men in the back groaned.

Bending to meet your gaze. He grinned "Now you owe me, work on your missed templates with me later" The lilac haired boy reminded. You just rolled your eyes on him mocking a tongue out. He chuckled. "And I thought you just saved me, leader."

You stayed with him in the club room. Doing your templates beside him. Him just handstitching a bunny like doll. The room slowly darkening as the sun sets. He turned on a lamp beside his table. Slowly the other girls started to leave the club room, waving their goodbye's to Mitsuya.

"Hmmmm you've been spacing out lately, are you okay?" He coughed softly referring to your messed up works recently. Eyes going to you.

"Me? spacing out?" You acted dumb, you scoffed in a fake manner. Brushing your hair with your fingers to shake off your stiffening state.

Not meeting any of his gaze, you just continued to sketch.

Did he figure it out? Did he catch me staring at his hands? Nah I need to stop overthinking.

"Alright then." Silence invaded the whole club room again. Your eyes roamed around realizing the rest of the girls left already leaving you two alone.

"Hold your hand up." Mitsuya suddenly commanded. Eyes going to him, you raised your brow. "I wanna know— our hand difference." He explained raising his hand infront of you. Placing his doll down the table.

"You know the boys in our class are just a bunch of perverts right?" Speaking like a fucking hypocrite, your actions didn't match up with your words. Almost instinctively, you faced him holding them up. He pressed his against yours.

Your insides melt at this gesture. Your theory confirmed that he has actually, soft hands.

"You have cute small hands" His lips curled up, slowly his fingers intertwined with yours, locking it with his. "Well yours rough" You lied, cheeks burning as you looked at your connected hands. "Is that so?"

Abruptly, mitsuya pulled you close to him. Making your other hand rest on top of his shoulder. His face centimeters away yours. Lips almost brushing.

"So is this what they're trying to do with you?" He asks in a low voice his eyes piercing through you. Craning his neck, curious.

"Yeah. . . " You broke eye contact. "Good thing I stopped them." He chuckled, eyes closing. He leaned back. Patting your head.

Funnily, that interaction with him didn't stop your thoughts. Actually it made your whole dirty secret worse. Just seeing him tapping his fingers on his lips as his chin rested on his palm. Made your mind run thoughts about the things his hands would do to you.

You leaned back looking around the morning peace in the clubroom. You were always the first one to go here. Since it's more quiet that way.

You closed your eyes craning your neck side to side. Loosening up a bit.

What would his fingers feel wrapped around your neck— no. no.

You shifted on your seat, pressing your thighs together. Mentally slapping yourself.

Changing your attention, your sight caught your pen. Picking it up you tried to do that cool trick again. Trying to twirl it around in between your middle and index finger.

"Ohhh you're trying to do it again?" Mitsuya popped out of nowhere. You jolted a bit, making him laugh. You clearly didn't see him coming in.

He hovered behind you, his chest pressed on your back as he rested his hand on your desk right beside yours. He leaned in observing your half-done project. "Again?" You asked head turning towards his face.

"Well I saw you trying to do this"

He pulled his other hand up grabbing your pen, his fingers did it in ease. "no need to brag leader-san" You tell him grabbing your pen back. "Looks like you're gonna stay with me again later" Mitsuya mentioned pointing at your work.

After classes you proceeded to your clubroom already, knowing you're gonna take so long with your project. Though you were greeted by yasuda leaving you with her tasks because apparently she also had friday plans like the others. The others always had friday plans that it would leave you, yasuda and mitsuya with the work.

"It's okay yasuda-san! I promise to clean up and remind leader to lock the door!" You assured her, she then finally nodded. "Fine fine— Also don't let that slimy delinquent distract leader" She added, you nodded giving her a big thumbs up, she then waved her hands leaving you all alone with the mess of excess papers and fabric from this morning.

You tied your hair as you clean up the place before doing your own project. You actually sat on the front desk as you look around feeling satisfied. Finally continuing your hand stitch. (You gave up after breaking 3 needles into half with your machine.)

You stay seated on the front desk, comfortably doing your own project. Humming a few songs here in there. The door then slid open.

"I'm guessing yasuda san has plans?" Mitsuya came in seeing you on his desk. "yup" You nodded eyes focused on your stitch. Sudden fingers gripped your knees.

"You should stop manspreading in that skirt" He scolded you pushing your knees together. You shivered at his touch against your skin. Due to this sudden awareness of his hand still gripping your lower thighs— you accidentally pricked your finger on a needle.

"Ouch." You hissed as you saw your finger starts to ooze out blood. "You're so clumsy" Mitsuya clicked his tongue removing the cloth on your hands bringing it down to the side. He grabbed your hand and started sucking on your finger.

"U-uhm" You widened your eyes as you saw the sight of mitsuya sucking your index finger. You blushed profusely at this. "Eh? I- I — you didn't have to do that" He finally let go of your finger.

"I don't have bandages on me—plus that always does the trick" He says wiping it. You just nodded looking around. "Tsk what is it that got you distracted again hm?" He questions furrowing his brows he leaned closer to you. He layed his hands on the table, locking you in.

"Ugh you really want me to say it huh?" You groaned. He craned his neck to the side. Waiting for you to continue. "Okay— I may have a small admiration towards your hands. . ."

"Admiration?"

"Well it was honestly innocent at first until it got all dirty and as much as I wanted to get it out of my head you suddenly do things to me"

"And what was my hands doing?"

"Mitsuya . . "

"No dove tell me" He said as the choice of endearment shoot straight to your core. Making you shift on your seat.

"hm shoving it in my mou—"

Mitsuya shoved his middle and index finger inside your mouth. Your cheeks burn at the sudden action. His other hand held your waist, holding you closer. "You like this?" He asked with hooded eyes. Your tongue twirled around his finger, he slowly discarded them letting out a popping sound as it came out of your lips. Feeling your chest warmed up down to your lower belly.

"Is this why you're so distracted lately? because you're too busy thinking about my hands?" He then held your chin with his fingers as he hummed. Lips inching closer to yours. You just nodded feeling feverish. "Do you want me to kiss you?"

Once again you nodded. You can feel the growing lust underneath your skirt. Pressing your thighs together to relief the heat. Mitsuya following the movement. His eyes went back to pierce through yours.

"Say please" He smugly commanded. You pouted.

He taps your lips. Wetting it with your own spit.

"Please kiss me."

Mitsuya leaned in to claim your lips, you lightly gasped as his lips finally touch yours. Closing your eyes, you melt into his kiss. He smirked at his before his hand on your waist went up to your hair tie, pulling it to let your hair flow against your shoulders.

He then licked your lips, instinctively you opened your mouth allowing him to enter his warm wet muscle inside. You whimpered at this, feeling your feverish state get warmer. Spreading all over your body. He caressed your cheek as he kissed you deeper. His other hand caressing your side, slightly brushing up against your chest. You hummed against his lips.

Biting onto your bottom lip he licked it. Before leaning back, placing a soft kiss on yours before taking in your whole panting visual.

"Do you want me to touch you, dove?" He questions, his thumb now pressing onto your bottom lip. His left hand went down on your thighs, softly pinching them.

"Please touch me, takashi"

With that his fingers indulged inside the band of your damp underwear. "Hm you're so wet, princess" He hummed letting his finger brushed up against your folds. You squirmed under his touch, your pussy clenching around nothing.

"Is this what you're thinking about in class?" He whispered next to your ear, placing a hot kiss on your cheek. You nodded, biting onto your red lips. As his middle finger continued to slide so easily with your wet slick. Up and down teasing both of your sensitive clit and your pleading hole.

You then felt the pad of his fingers teasing circles on your entrance, you looked at him with glossed eyes. He licked his lips seeing you practically begging for it.

His other hand held the back of your knees spreading your legs to gain more access. You leaned back supporting your weight with your hands.

Letting your skirt ride up, He bit his lips as he saw your ruined flimsy panties with his hand in it. You just looked at him with a pout wanting his fingers to penetrate your hole. "Please" You plead him trying to grind into his hand. Without caution he plunged his two fingers in your heat.

You bit back a moan. "Don't hold back now, dove." He said with a smug as he felt your hole clench around his fingers. "I-I can't takashi" You say feeling little under him. He chuckled at your pouting lips before placing a kiss on them. "Acting shy now huh"

Mitsuya curled his fingers inside making you squirm. "Don't move." He warned before pounding his hand into your writhing pussy. His long fingers hitting your soft spot almost immediately. You moaned letting your forehead clash itself against his. "You're taking my fingers so well baby. So noisy" He said referring to the slick slapping sounds of your wet pussy. You blushed at this ashamed on how you were making a mess on his hands.

"Aa you're so lewd— bet you've touched yourself multiple times thinking about this" He said adding another finger in your hole easily. You sobbed at the sudden feeling of fullnes inside "Hmm too much"

"Too much? you're a good girl you can take it" He says kissing your cheek once agaib. He thrusted his three fingers into your hole curling it up to feel your spongey walls clenching into him tighter.

"Mmn t-takashi—k-kiss" You mumbled feeling yourself itching up to your own orgasm.

"You want a kiss baby hm?" He hummed as his thrusts got harder and faster. Knuckles deep, the tip of his fingers hitting your sensitive spot. You purred nodding, He kissed your lips deeply making your moans muffled. You felt hot inside you as you panted trying to comprehend everything that he was doing to you. With that you felt your orgasm continue to build up. Your head leaned back breaking off his kiss, grinding back into his hand. Mitsuya felt yourself tighten continuing to hit on your sweet spot. Your own wetness beginning to drip down.

His thumb finally taking notice of your abandoned nub. He played with it. You squirmed as you feel it burn against his thumb.

"'m close" You squeak biting onto your lips. "Go on baby cum on my fingers" He said littering kisses on your neck, hands pounding into you harshly. With those words and his thumb rubbing your sensitive clit. Your thighs started to fidget. You closing your eyes shut as you panted.

You came onto his fingers. You let out a whiny moan as His fingers slowly ride out your high.

"Good girl" He said pulling his fingers out your panties. Your eyes opened seeing him cleaning his fingers clean with his tongue. He smirked as you lolled your tongue out. He placed his fingers on your tongue, letting you lick and suck them clean.

"You look so pretty like that, dove" He say as you finished pulling his fingers out popping out of your lips. He held your waist with his arms, moving you closer again. Leaning in to kiss you softly this time on your forehead. "How was that?"

"Better than what I imagined actually"

"C'mon it looks like we have friday plans too" Mitsuya said kissing your lips. Bringing you down the table. You smiled.

[itmighthavebeenintentional]

We've Got Tonight - Ch 5

Summary: “It���s not your job to do this, Andy. You make people happy. I was in the diner all of ten minutes, and you knew exactly how to get me to smile. You do normal, real things like garden and sing karaoke. Saving the world is my job, Sam’s job. Sometimes it’s even Cas’s job, but it’s not yours.”

Inspired by Bob Seger’s “We’ve Got Tonight”

Warnings: Major Character Death, More Major Character Deaths (sort of?), higher than show level violence, blood, light smutting, language, demons, apocalypse, inferred suicide, cult activity.

18+ ONLY, MINORS DO NOT PROCEED

Author’s Note: This story is set hazily around season 8. Just squint a little, and it’ll settle in somewhere. I wrote this story after certain big revelations in the show, but before other big ones; you’ll most likely be able to tell which. I play with time a bit in the story itself, so if things seem out of order, they are. Hopefully, by the end, all the pieces will fit together.

What the hell, let’s give it a shot.

Image and major edits by the incomparable @there-must-be-a-lock . Heavy editing and cheering by @thoughtslikeaminefield . Thank you both so much.

This chapter in particular is dedicated to @foxyjwls007 . If I'm going to torture you with something, it's not going to be a cliffhanger. I'm going out of town for two weeks, so you get an update early since I won't be able to post while I'm away. Thank you for the encouragement.

In case you missed it: Chapter 4 ItMightHaveBeenIntentional’s Masterlist

...

We’ve Got Tonight

Chapter 5

“Miss? Miss? Hey, are you okay?”

A hand grips Andy’s arm, firm but polite, and she jerks to, almost losing her footing. It’s been a long day already, and she still has two hours before she can go home, shower, and put her feet up for a little while before karaoke at the Brass Monkey starts up.

Maybe I can even fit in a nap, she thinks excitedly. But first, gotta wake up and make it through the rest of my shift.

Of course, if she hadn’t been tossing and turning all night from a crazy dream, she wouldn’t be as tired as she is now, but that’s neither here nor there. And it doesn’t help that she can’t even remember the stupid dream. It was really long, though, and there was blood and books and…someone...

“Can I get a refill over here?”

One hour, forty-seven minutes, and twenty-two seconds to go. She can do this.

The minutes crawl, though, and it’s all she can do to stay on her feet and focus. The lunch crowd has long since thinned, and she’s about to ask if she can maybe take off a little early when the door chimes, and she catches the tail end of the entering customers’ conversation.

“Could you at least consider putting something green on your plate? Like, ever? Broccoli won’t kill you.”

“I’ve already told you, I’m getting breakfast since you didn’t wake me up early enough to eat a decent one this morning. Pancakes, bacon, and coffee, which, I might add, grows on a tree, so it counts as a plant. That’s balanced enough for me. You like broccoli; knock yourself out, Jolly Green.”

“Sam isn’t green, Dean. Is your vision faulty? Perhaps we should get your eyes examined. Or you could try carrots along with the broccoli. Carrots are supposed to improve vision.”

No. No, no, no, she thinks, her mind whirling frantically. It was a dream, they can’t be here. This is...this is how it started, and...

She turns, and there they are, Sam and Dean dolled up in their clean, pressed feds suits and Cas looking just as rumpled and bewildered as she suddenly remembers. They seat themselves at an empty table in her section, but any thoughts of leaving early evaporated the second she heard their voices.

Every moment of the dream, every minute of those four weeks comes screaming back, cramming each terror-laden, tension-ridden second into her mind so fast she actually does stumble and has to grab the back of a nearby booth to keep from hitting the worn-out linoleum.

“It...hasn’t happened yet.”

“I’m sorry, did you say something? Hey, hey, hold on there. Are you okay?”

Then Sam’s hand is supporting her elbow, helping her straighten up, and she looks up into his concerned eyes, unable to express how glad she is just to see him breathing. Behind him, Dean and Cas are arguing about something trivial, wonderfully animated and alive and completely unaware of her.

“I’m sorry, hun, it’s just been a long shift. Gimme a minute to grab some waters and menus, and I’ll be right over.” Sam accepts her flimsy excuse at face value, and why wouldn’t he? He hasn’t lived with her for the better part of a month, hasn’t saved her life once, hasn’t tried to save the world with her. He doesn’t know her at all.

Why should he question a strange waitress in a strange diner who says she’s had a long day? He’s met hundreds of women just like her, maybe thousands, and he’s got no reason to question a completely legitimate statement.

She rushes into the back to find the coldest water possible to splash on her face. Her reflection gapes back at her from the staff bathroom mirror as the enormity of her situation begins to dawn on her.

Why? Why is this happening? Either she actually lived through those weeks and is somehow getting a do-over, or she dreamed the whole thing and is getting a shot to fix things from this end. But why? And how?

How in the hell?

Think, Andrea, think. It was real. It will be real. It hasn’t happened yet. You haven’t screwed everything up yet. You have to fix this. But how? How can I fix it when I screwed everything up so very badly last time?

Just...think. Think. Start small. Try to stop it before it happens. But...the cult. Crowley said they were real. They found me before, they’ll find me again. I could talk to Sam and Dean and Cas about what's going to happen. They’ve been through enough insanity in their lives that I actually have a pretty good shot at convincing them.

She stares into the mirror, racking her brain for every helpful detail she learned during her time with the Winchesters.

They're already investigating all the break-ins hereabouts; those were the cultists looking for me in the first place. Then they find me, take me, bleed me, and start the apocalypse. The boys could stop the ritual before it even happens.

Her reflection in the mirror frowns, unconvinced the solution could possibly be that easy.

But the literature, the books, it’s all still out there. Someone else could find it, could come after me. My blood is the problem. I’m the key. As long as I’m around, someone could still use me to end everything. Crowley can still use me to get to them. Think. You’ve got to actually stop everything and save them this time.

Her eyes widen as realization dawns. The world can’t make it without the Winchesters. There’s only one way out of this.

Fifteen minutes later, she sets a fresh green salad in front of Sam before dropping a towering stack of steaming pancakes in front of Dean.

“Fresh pot of coffee coming off in two, be right back with your refills. Need any more butter or syrup, hun? How ‘bout a couple of extra pieces of bacon on the house?”

“Don’t encourage him, please,” Sam groans. Dean slaps his brother on the back of the head, sending Sam’s coiffed hair into a tizzy of disarray. Sam swipes back at his brother, who waves off Sam’s attempts at retaliation like he’s swatting a fly.

“You shut your pie hole. She said free bacon. That makes her a queen.” He turns his most charming smile on her, glancing down at her name tag then back up to meet her gaze squarely. The crinkles around his eyes deepen with his grin. “Andrea, is it?”

“Andy,” she corrects automatically, and she can’t help her answering smile. He throws her a wink that clearly says he knows he’s cheesy but it's all part of his irresistible charm.

She doesn’t disagree.

“You are a goddess, Andy. I love you, and you need to know that.”

“You don’t,” she says, only just managing to keep her voice and smile level, “but you could.” His answering laugh sends a twinge through her chest, and if she clenches her jaw a little around her smile, she figures she’s entitled.

When the men finally finish eating, she offers a slip of paper to Dean, while Sam pretends he isn’t rolling his eyes.

“There’s a karaoke competition at the Brass Monkey tonight. Winner gets tab on the house for a week. Interested in maybe meeting up there around ten or so? We could have a drink, sing a song, and see where the rest of the night takes us.”

He grins and takes the slip from her with sure fingers. She’s certain he has her number memorized before the paper even retains his prints, but he makes a special show of tucking it safely into his pocket.

“Dean, do you think it wise to allow yourself to be so distracted when we’re in the middle of an investigation?”

And without even realizing it, Cas gives her the perfect opening.

“Oh, you boys investigating all the break-ins hereabouts? Were they too much for our local boys to handle? Listen, hun, my friend was one of the ladies whose house got broken into. If you want to stick around for a few minutes, I can fill you in on what I know and send you her way. Would that help?”

Castiel’s eyebrows lift in surprise, and he is clearly pleased with his first-rate investigating skills. “That would help immensely, Miss Andrea. Thank you.”

She can’t believe her luck at such a perfect lead-in, and she runs with it.

“Now that I think about it, the shop next door mentioned something about their alarm getting tripped a few nights in a row. Maybe I could talk to your friend while you two check it out? And I’ll see you tonight, Dean? Ten o’clock?”

Dean’s grin softens, and she can see the faintest tinge of red along his cheeks. She didn’t notice it the first time around, and now she wishes she’d paid more attention. Then the brothers leave, and she’s alone with the angel. ...

Chapter 6

[that-bajan-kid]

Boku No Hero Academia Chapter 277 SPOILERS

("Fuck off Dad. I'm my own man now." -Shigaraki Tomura 2020)

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Honestly Gran, you should have seen this coming. You of all people should know that Midoriya i-will-break-all-my-bones-if-it-means-i-get-to-save-one-life Izuku is allergic to obeying authority.

Midoriya said fuck you and my quirk, Aizawa is more important. Speaking of Aizawa he looks stuck somewhere between being touched and absolutely horrified.

Aizawa thinks back to that time he told Midoriya he couldn't be a hero, which honestly wasn't the best first impression, and Bakugou comes in with A.P Shot: Machine Gun which looks really powerful. Except that it's not because Shigaraki literally shrugs off his attack and calls the explosions "little fireworks". If four of my favourite characters weren't in mortal danger right now I would be feeding off of Shiggy's dgaf energy.

(Edit: I am currently feeding off of Shiggy's dgaf energy.)

Midoriya tries to restrain Shiggy with Black Whip and ends up being dragged along for the ride instead. Shiggy says he's not really interested in them right now when Bakugou tries to intercept Shiggy again and it looks like he's about to give Bakugou a bitch slap to heaven but Enji shows up in time to punch Shiggy out of the way. Nice to know you're still trying buddy.

(Edit: I'm only just now noticing the blood coming from Enji's nose and mouth. Eh, he'll be fine.)

Endeavour's first and immediate reaction upon seeing his two trouble making interns is to ask where the fuck his son is and I think that's adorable but I digress.

Midoriya tells him that it's just him and Bakugou and now I'm half expecting Todoroki to just appear out of nowhere. Enji refocuses his attention on Shigaraki, who is already on his feet after being punch, like, 30ft across the ground by fists engulfed in flames but I guess that's just the norm for him now.

AIZAWA DON'T SAY SHIT LIKE THAT THAT'S HOW PEOPLE DIE HAVEN'T YOU EVER READ A SHOUNAN MANGA FUCK!

Enji has given up on trying to keep Izuku and Katsuki out of the fight if he was ever trying to begin with and tells them to support Aizawa and tells Bakugou to make sure Izuku doesn't get snatched. Meanwhile, Shiggy's objective has switched to grab Deku and run.

YO WHAT THE FUCK! Has he gone full on AFO now. How the fuck is Midoriya going to explain this? He's gonna have to tell them. Shiggy looks like what ever thread was holding his fractured mind together just snapped and I feel really bad for him. This isn't even dgaf vibes anymore, it's just insanity and I find myself thinking, not for the first time, that they really should just unplug AFO's life support.

(Edit: Low-key waiting for OFA to take over Izuku's mind too to complete the circle)

Ok nevermind Shiggy hasn't completely lost it yet and both him and Midoriya are very confused by what just happened. Enji uses Hell Spider cause it worked so well the first time while Shiggy not only realises AFO spirit or whatever TOOK OVER HIS MIND FOR A FEW SECONDS, he also takes this opportunity to call AFO out for his MASSIVE ego and straight up tells him not to fuck around with his body and that he has his own reasons for wanting OFA, and I stan that so hard. If only Shiggy wasn't actively trying to kill everyone.

DISOWNED MOTHERFUCKER

(Edit: I was joking here but the Madlad actually did it.)

The last time I stanned Shigaraki this hard was the Liberation Army arc. You go Tomura. Be your own man. You don't need that asthma riddled potato head looking ass. Also I like how Hori drew him and AFO together like that. It's like even as he's saying it, AFO is right on top of him.

(Edit: LMFAO)

I really need to keep reading lol. Shiggy says he wants to be better than AFO and then proceeds to DECAY AFO'S IMAGE, permanently cutting ties with him. I think this might be a worse outcome to AFO taking over his body but we'll see.

Gran kicks Shiggy and tells him not to trample on Nana's heart anymore to which Shiggy responds "Who the fuck is Nana?" with the most dazed and confused look I've ever seen in my life. I guess it makes sense since he never found out what her name was. That or he just doesnt remember her. He did decay her and the rest of his family in his weird dreamscape.

Gran thinks back to how defeated AM looked after they found out who Tomura was and comes to the conclusion that Shigaraki breeds pain and suffering where ever he goes, which is a valid assumption to make considering *gestures wildly at the last 10 chapters*.

Gran and Enji charge at Shiggy and Shiggy gets this look of death on his face and it scares me.

Tomura uses jump and avoids them both in favour of going directly after Midoriya instead. Bakugou, of course, expected this and pulls the pin on his gauntlet that's aimed at Shigaraki. I have a bad feeling about this.

All the pros watch in mild horror as Bakugou proceeds to release a bigass explosion right on top of Shigaraki. Bit the real question is: Did it work?

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!??! YOU'RE CITTING BACK TO THE MANSION NOW?!?!?!??!!??!!??!

I don't even know why I'm surprised, Hori's been pulling this shit for weeks. I should be used to it by now.

Alright, let's see how much shit they're in now.

Well shit.

Imma be completely honest with you, I completely forgot about Mt. Lady. I was honestly expecting everyone to be trampled.

I also noticed the Giganto is trying to head in the same direction my children are in and I don't really appreciate that. I like that you sorta make out what's left of the league on Giganto's back. They look like little beans (>w<).

Anyway, show of hands all those who think Bakugou's explosion actually did anything besides blocking Aizawa's line of sight. No one? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Until next time.

[sophie-writings]

Can I request a scenario for Prohero!Bakugu where the reader is his crush and also a pro hero but the media just decided that the reader was an easy target to make fake news on which the people believe so reader has to disable comments on social media, people throw stuff at or harrass reader or yell at them "for ruining their Baku-ship" and even get demoted for saving Bakugou's life because their luck can't get any better. Bakugou visits them on their forced vacation and they're a crying mess

I got carried away and this ended up being 1000+ words long 🥺👉🏼👈🏼

Character: Bakugou Katsuki 

Type: Scenario

Katsuki Bakugou 

You're y/n, pro hero, a former student from UA. You graduated with the rest of class 1-A and landed a job at one of the best hero agencies in the country. You fought alongside some of your former classmates, but especially Bakugou, your best friend and ally.

You had to confess you had a crush on this man, but afraid of ruining your friendship, you decided to not confess. His friendship was enough for you.

But people online seemed to like to see you two together. You had some fan accounts just for your ship, people made edits of you two and gossip media outlets talked about your "secret romance".

You found it entertaining, but Bakugou seemed flustered by it.

"Look at this edit our fan page made for us! I'm gonna retweet it ".

"Ugh you pay too much attention to those".

Life was sweet. Until it wasn't.

You woke up one day and turned on your tv, so you could listen to the news while getting ready.

You were in the bathroom, brushing your teeth when you almost choked. "Is pro hero h/n, slowing down pro hero Bakugou?"

You ran to the living room and stared at the tv, showing images of a fight that happened some days ago.

"It seems like in a battle that happened two days ago, Bakugou was injured after jumping in front of an attack that was supposed to hit y/n." 

That didn't happen. Sure, the images suggest that but it wasn't the case at all.

The reporter continued. "Y\n tried to control the situation right after, but could only defeat the villain after causing some major damage to the urban area around."

You turned off the tv, not being able to listen to it anymore. This was a major misunderstanding, but no one listens to that right?

You checked your social media and realized your name was trending everywhere, but people seemed to be on your side.

With a sigh of relief, you left the house and headed to your agency.

Every single of your friends were supportive of your situation. Uraraka hugged you tightly as soon as she saw you and told you people would just stop eventually.

You were assigned to patrol the streets with Bakugou that day and both of you went out. He didn't mention anything about the news, which isn't surprising since he rarely pays attention to gossip media outlets and social media.

"Watch out!" Bakugou said and he pulled you against him.

You were so focused on your own thoughts you didn't even realize someone tried to throw a soda can at you.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Bakugou asked the young man who was still standing there.

"Why are you protecting her after what she did to you?"

"What the fuck...?" Before Bakugou could say anything else, the man sprinted away from the scene. He thought of chasing the guy, but you stopped him.

"Just... leave him be, it's not worth it".

The rest of the day was exactly the same, with people throwing and yelling profanities are you. Bakugou was confused as to why everyone was acting like that all of a sudden, but you didn't answer his questions.

Once the day was over and you both returned to the agency, you were called to the boss office.

"Y/n, I think you already know why I called you here. I want you to know that I don't blame you for anything. But it's not safe for you to be around for a while". Your boss didn't want to do this, but he had no other choice if he wanted to protect you. "You're dismissed until further notice".

You didn't even try to argue anymore. You were tired and just bowed slightly before leaving his office and going home for the day.

Two days passed you were still home. The hate online hasn't stopped, in fact, it got worse. But it was nice to see your supporters defend you.

You had to disable comments on social media because of all the hate you were getting. Now that you're home, all that you did was read those comments, and it was hard on your mental health.

Honestly just remembering some of the words was enough to make you cry.

A hard knock on the door was enough to snap you back to reality. You look through the peephole and it was Bakugou. You dried your eyes in a swift movement and opened the door before he punched a whole through it.

"Hello, Bakugou, long time no-". "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME".

The loud sound of his voice ringed through your ears.

"Deku was the one telling me about everything!" He continued. "The fake news spreading around, all the hate you were getting... Why didn't you tell me sooner?".

"It wasn't that bad and I thought it would stop eventually..."

"It wasn't that bad? Look at you, YOU'RE CRYING". You didn't even realize the tears had started to fall from your eyes once again.

"I- I don't know what to tell you". You looked down at your feet. You were embarrassed to be crying in front of Bakugou because of something like this.

The man in front of you let out a frustrated sigh and held you by the back of the head, pulling you closer to his chest.

The warmth for his body made you feel safe and sound, and every problem seemed insignificant for a second.

"You should've told me, so I could protect you, stupid." With his free hand, he pulled you closer by your waist. "I really care about you dammit, haven't you noticed that?"

"I really care for you too Bakugou, you're a precious frien-".

"Not as a friend, idiot." Bakugou let go of your head and held your chin up. "It's much more than that".

He closed the space between both of you with a tender kiss. His kiss was so gentle that for moments you thought you were dreaming. You held him by the sides of his face, deepening the kiss, but Bakugou pulled away before things got too heated.

"Gosh I've wanted to do this for years, but let's get this story straight first so you can go back to work".

You smiled at his words, and once again, your problems seemed insignificant.

"Yes, let's do that".

[tech-battery]

Dell's XPS 17 Proves Big-Screen Laptops Are Back, and They're Awesome

A few years back, a lot of major laptop makers began quietly paring down the number of 17-inch laptops they made (aside from monstrously large gaming rigs), with Apple and Dell dropping the 17-inch MacBook Pro and XPS 17 respectively. However, thanks to improvements like smaller bezels and improved energy efficiency, thin and light laptops with plus-sized screens and big performance are making a comeback.

After Apple re-envisioned its big-format laptop as the 16-inch MacBook Pro in 2019, Dell made a similar move by bringing back the XPS 17 this year. While the circumstances are different this time around (especially considering 2020 is a tire fire of a year), the revival of Dell’s flagship 17-inch laptop couldn’t have come at a better time. Big-screen laptops are back, baby, and they’re even better than before.

For the big reintroduction of the XPS 17, Dell didn’t deviate too much from the classic XPS design. The XPS 17 has a tapered wedge-shaped body with a silver aluminum lid, a big carbon fiber deck in the middle, and another aluminum tub on bottom. Despite its overall size (14.74 x 9.76 x 0.77 inches) and weight (5.53 pounds), the XPS 17 still manages to feel quite sleek and surprisingly portable—until you stack an XPS 15 on top and see how big the difference really is. In some ways, the size and design of the XPS 17 feels like a mirage, because when you open it up, you can’t help but appreciate how much display you get from a system that seems smaller than it is, especially when you consider the last time we saw the XPS 17 was back in 2012, when it weighed more than eight pounds instead of five.

Along its sides, the XPS 17 comes with an ample assortment of ports, including four USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3 (all support charging, too), a headphone jack, and a full-size SD card reader. The only ports you might be missing are HDMI and USB-A, though Dell has that covered too with an included dongle.

Inside, Dell maximizes the XPS 17's display (which comes in a multitude of options, from a 1900 x 1200 non-touch panel to a 4K UHD+ screen), with razor-thin bezels. Dell’s super tiny webcam and IR camera module, which sits above the screen, are exactly where you want them. The built-in IR camera offers support for Windows Hello face login, while the 720p HD webcam is meant to handle all your video-calling needs, though I must say that the XPS 17's webcam image quality and resolution aren’t quite as high as I’d like.

Below on its deck, Dell flanks the keyboard with large stereo speakers that feature a 2.5-watt woofer and 1.5-watt tweeter on each side capable of delivering rich, room-filling sound. And as for the keyboard itself, Dell wisely hasn’t messed with the feel of the XPS 17's keys, which are crisp and bouncy. I’m not gonna call them perfect, but the XPS 17's keyboard is pretty much my platonic ideal of how keys on a laptop should feel. And finally, there’s that huge 6 x 3.5-inch matte touchpad, which leaves just enough room for your wrists on either side while providing accurate gesture recognition and more mousing room than most people probably need.

The one potential oddity about the XPS 17's deck is Dell’s decision not to include a dedicated numpad like you sometimes see on 17-inch gaming systems. Some might bemoan that call, but on a well-rounded system like this, I think sacrificing the numpad for bigger speakers and an overall cleaner design was ultimately the right choice.

And then there’s that screen. Our review unit features the upgraded 4K 3840 x 2400 touchscreen, and I just can’t get enough. It puts out over 450 nits of brightness and has some of the richest and most vivid colors you can get from a laptop LCD panel today. If you’re intending to buy an XPS 17 to edit photos or videos, I would highly recommend upgrading to the 4K screen instead of the base FHD+ panel. Furthermore, with its 16:10 aspect ratio, the XPS 17 also provides a bit more vertical screen real estate, which is exactly what you want from a big all-purpose laptop.

The XPS 17 ain’t no slouch when it comes to performance, either. The base config comes with a 10th-gen Intel Core i5-10300H CPU, but our more expensive review unit came upgraded with a Core i7-10875H CPU, and it absolutely flies. In our CPU rendering test in Blender, the XPS 17 took almost four minutes less to render the same image (4:40) as MSI’s Creator 15 (8:33), despite the smaller Creator 15 having the same CPU.

And when it comes to graphics performance, it’s a similar story, with the XPS 17 (6:26) beating the MSI Creator 15 (8:36) by more than two minutes in our Blender GPU rendering test, once again with both systems featuring an RTX 2060 GPU. This kind of performance makes the XPS 17 a great choice for content creators, and while it’s not intended to be a competitive gaming machine, the XPS 17 is able to pump out more than 80 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p with all the graphics bells and whistles turned on, so it’s not a bad fragging machine either. Thermal headroom also seems quite respectable, because while the XPS 17 will throttle itself a bit when maxed out, I didn’t notice any major lag or dips in performance during more normal loads.

Even the XPS 17's battery life is pretty solid for a system this big, with it lasting just shy of 9 hours (8:58) on our video rundown test, nearly two hours longer than the MSI Creator 15 and an hour longer than HP’s ZBook Create G7.

After using the XPS 17 for several weeks, I only really have one complaint: its price. Because even though it starts at just $1,350 for a 17-inch FHD+ screen, Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, and integrated graphics, when you start upgrading components, the cost balloons quite quickly. So in comparison, our review unit, which features a 4K touchscreen, Core i7 10875H CPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and RTX 2060 GPU, costs more than double the price at around $2,750. And annoyingly, if you want to cut back on a few components like RAM or storage to save money, currently the cheapest model with an RTX 2060 card starts at $2,450. Thankfully, if you’re less concerned with graphics, you can split the difference for a system with a GTX 1650 Ti GPU, which starts at around $1,800, and if you’re looking for the best balance between price and performance, that’s where I’d start.

But for me the biggest takeaway about the XPS 17 is the way it fits into 2020. While a lot of people wait for the world to get back to normal, I feel like it’s also important to think about what normal even means. Right now there are millions of people who have to work or learn from home, and even when things start opening up again, a lot of people won’t be returning to the same buildings or positions they were in before. This makes it even more important to consider what you need from a personal computer.

For years, 15-inch systems have been the most popular laptop size, as they generally offered the best balance between price, power, and portability. However, if you’re the kind of person who is only going to travel with their laptop a handful of times every year (or less considering the ongoing pandemic), a bigger system like the XPS 17 suddenly becomes a very intriguing option. Not only does its bigger screen translate into more productivity (or better movie-watching) when you’re stuck at home, you also get more ports and a wider range of upgradable components.

Meanwhile, the XPS 17 doesn’t suffer from being tied to a desk or table like a normal desktop or all-in-one. And all of this comes in a package that’s not that much larger (or much more expensive) than an XPS 15. (Though you will want to make sure you have something to carry it in, because the XPS 17 definitely doesn’t fit in my normal messenger bag.) So in a strange way, 2020 was sort of the perfect time for Dell to bring back the XPS 17. You get a bigger, more powerful system from one of the best laptop lines on the market, but in a body that’s way less of a burden than its predecessors from the not-too-distant past. So even if a 17-inch laptop might not be in your immediate future, the XPS 17 has demonstrated why they’re making a comeback, and it’s done so with power and style.