#I HAVE YET TO SLEEP

[medusas-graveyard]

"I don't understand no-cape Danny, the Waynes are literally vigilantes!"

Girl SHUT UP that's the whole point. The Batman having this insanely powerful kid that could rival god but doesn't wanna deal with the power is good. Okay? I feed on that shit.

Also he's literally the (somewhat) normal and sane kid in the family literally everyone of them are going to coddle him. Even Damian.

[kettlefire]

Nothing quite like banging out 3 new chapter drafts for a single story overnight, while sobbing to yourself through it because even you put yourself in the feels

Shameless fic plug here

[exforgot]

deeply sorry i havent posted much or at all.. for the time that i havent posted take this image of me and a neopets wocky drawn in mspaint

[qwerty99846]

nothing quite like finalizing an idea for had for a game after a night of feeling bad

[not-rigel]

the devil works hard but arcane fanfic writers work harder or however the saying goes

warnings: canon-typical discrimination, rushed bc I wrote this instead getting back the sleep arcane stole from me

WC: 1050

In the aftermath of the battle, as a gratitude for the Undercity's services to Piltover, the council voted to provide more jobs to Zaunites. Labor jobs away from the fissures, clerk jobs at the library, and even art commissions from the museum. The compensation was great too, allowing for so many people to afford food. But it came at a cost Piltover couldnt afford while recovering from war. It was Councilwoman Sevika's proposal for where the wealth would be drawn from. She proposed that the top 5% of Piltover's wealth holders would be taxed and the money be redistributed to all citizens affected by the war. It put a big target on her head but it meant her people could get jobs and eat. 

Councilwoman Sevika first noticed you on your second day, when you were tailing behind Shoola in the corridor, holding a stack of papers to your chest. You were taken on as Councilwoman Shoola's secondary assistant, the one she passed the less favorable errands onto. You gave Shoola the benefit of the doubt when she passed her worst tasks off to you, you're aware you dont have much knowledge on politics. But it always felt targeted. Each day, you run her dumb errands and pretend to be aware of the glares and rude glances. Sometimes you manage sweet ignorance, too occupied with enjoying the fresh air to care about your hurt ego at all. 

The two of you only made eye eye contact for a second but that second shocked Sevika. For the first time since she took her chair at the table, someone looked at her with something other than disdain. She had begun to think disgust was the only expression she would see tossed her way, but in a second you changed that. And gods, was it a needed change of pace. 

Later in the week, Councilwoman Shoola hands you a stack of files,"Take those to the Zaun ambassador," she orders, you catch the way she avoids saying Councilwoman Sevika's name. 

"Are these not for the meeting scheduled soon?" You inquire, needing to confirm your suspicions. 

"They were. Please inform her the meeting will not be happening. Deliver the files," she says with a finality. You exit her office and as you walk the hallways to Councilwoman Sevika's office, you hear the voices of the other councilmembers through the shut door. You're suspicions are confirmed, the meeting was in fact happening, it was just happening without Sevika. 

You walked into her office, looking at her like you did the first time you met eyes. It made her relax, knowing she was going to be treated like a person. 

"Councilwoman Sevika," you greet. 

She nods at you, "Have something for me?" It's your turn to relax, its it's been too long since you've heard someone speak informally. 

"Yes, from Councilwoman Shoola," you inform her. Sevika squints at you, now that you're in the same room she notices more about you. She notices that you don't hold your chin obnoxiously high. She notices your imperfect posture. She notices the tiredness and weight in your shoulders that only someone from the Undercity could carry. 

"Take a seat," she orders. You find a chair in front of her desk and sit, waiting for her to say something else. She looks over you again, confirming what she's already figured out. You tense with nerves. 

"You're not topside. Can't tell you how much of a relief that is," she sighs. The tension in your body is gone when you realize you're not in trouble. 

"Yeah. From the Lanes. Just a bit below the fissures," you tell her. She holds out her hand for the papers and you hand them over. She fingers through them, skimming over the contents before tossing them onto her desk. She wonders for a moment why you, Shoola's secondary assistant from the Undercity, would be delivering files to her. 

"Why'd Councilwoman Shoola send you to me for this? We're supposed to discuss these things over a meeting. Couldn't it wait five minutes?" 

You know the reason, you bite the inside of your cheek to hold back from letting the truth slip. She notices and calls you out on it. 

"Out with it." 

You sigh, deciding on the truth, "It's no secret the other councilors dont like you. They don't like you being on the council. They don't like you being their equal. Half of them really don't like you because you're the reason they're paying steep taxes. So Shoola, and likely some of the other councilmembers soon, hired me to do anything she didn't want herself or her actual assistant doing. Which right now, is keeping you from the meeting." 

Sevika groaned and rolled her eyes, rubbing her hand over her face. It hurt you to see, the non-suprise at the blatant discrimination flashing across her face.  

"Thanks. You don't have to stay here and keep me from their meeting anymore," she sighs, picking up the files and reading through them. 

"I could stay and help. You don't have an assistant yet and I'll have nothing to do until the meeting is over," you offer. In truth you mostly offered to stay so you could continue being treated like a person. 

"How well do you know their laws?" she asks. The answer is very little. 

"Not much," you answer. 

She picks a book up from her desk and tosses it at you. You try to catch it but it passes through your fingers and thuds into your lap. You pick up the book and read the cover, which simply reads "The Ethos". You're shocked and ecstatic, Shoola took no time in making sure you were versed in their laws. But within minutes, Sevika was handing you a book for you to study. 

"You can go. Study that, you seriously need it. And I'll have a word with her about tonight's 'cancelled' meeting personally" she says. Now she has officially ordered you out, you have to leave. 

"Good night, Councilwoman Sevika," you say in farewell. 

Once you're gone, Sevika moves over to her typewriter. She's pressing down hard and angry onto the keys, typing out a letter to Councilwoman Shoola. She types out a list of her grievances. Then she types out a request to have you transferred as her assistant.

deep sigh.... councilwoman sevika<3

[hinamie]

9 / 266

[stonedopossums]

why is this shift taking so long

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

For moment, you are home.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[gideonisms]

I always fall for someone and forget that like I LOVE getting home and everything is exactly the way I left it in my apartment which is my beautiful space where no one will ever turn on the overhead lights or want me to come up with something to say and a facial expression to make, right now, quick or they will think I hate them! The pressure is on! The clock is ticking! Except it's not ever ticking in my wonderful apartment. An idyllic world where my body language just does not matter and I only do the tasks I want to do

[cj-the-random-artist]

I have made. Another comic. I took a very, very long time, as usual lmao. I originally got inspired to make this after watching through Arcane cuz. Nicely done media makes me want to make things and all that. And, at that time, I'd sent Narinder out on a mission trip in my new save and he came home full of existential dread (I have terrible luck with Narinder on missions therefore so does QPR AU Lambert I guess lol), and it had occurred to me that that would make an interesting premise for a comic maybe?? Turns out it did.

I think I'm happy with this?? The perfectionist in me is not, and to be honest I think I could've drawn a lot of things better and also I think this would read better if it felt a little slower... but also it's 13 pages long so I can't fault myself all that much. I do wish I had spent more time on some of these interactions, particularly between Lambert and the Goat and also between Narinder and his siblings, I have a lot of thoughts about the Bishops post their joining the cult but I haven't had a ton of time to really like... flesh out those ideas as much as I would like to. Maybe someday?? Idk.

Semi-related, while this comic gave me a lot of thoughts about the Bishops it also gave me a lot of thoughts about like, the exact like, I guess boundaries and terms of Narinder and Lambert's QPR, and also about what exactly happened to Narinder while he was out, and he's not lying a lot did happen but that's a little too long to just throw in the description here so maybe future me will describe it somewhere or something. This comic also got me thinking about Webber a fair bit, and once day I will expand upon those thoughts but not today, I have outside activities today lol

Anyways. This comic, like all my art, is not perfect, but it was fun to make and I spent too long on it for nobody to see it, so... enjoy!!

[aquanutart]

I was talking and I mentioned that I have my old Game Boy and original Pokemon cartridge. I said, "I think they still work."

I was told, "The internal batteries on the Game Boy cartridges have run out. They're all dead."

"Oh," I said, trying not to show how crestfallen I was. I felt like I was losing nerd cred for not knowing that, although I never kept up with that type of info anyway. I'm here for the fantasy and imaginative aspects of games, and tend not to follow the competitive or technical details.

I tried not to feel anything as I went home. If they were real animals, I reminded myself, I would have had to say goodbye long ago.

But like so many other people, Pokemon was my childhood. It was all I thought about and dreamed about, and the closest thing I could imagine to heartbreak was the knowledge that they weren't real. I spent nearly all my time writing longhand self-insert Pokemon fanfiction--far more than I spent actually playing the game. My Pokemon were with me in my imagination wherever I went. I started playing Pokemon Blue when I was 5, and the last time I had played it was probably when I was 9 or 10. I remembered I had turned it on again one more time after that, not to play it, but to look at my childhood Pokemon.

It was during high school, after a move overseas that completely upended my life, and I was struggling with the crushing blow of being taken away from everything I knew and trying to make sense of anything (least of all adolescence) in another language. All I wanted was to go back to childhood and have everything go back to how it was before.

Seeing my Pokemon, just as I'd left them, had comforted me. I had looked at their stats pages, taken photos of them with my digital camera (that I don't even know if I still have), and then turned it off without doing anything.

That was probably 9 or 10 years after the games came out. It had been a long time since then. I had long since taken the AA batteries out of my Game Boy Color and left it untouched. I didn't even have AA batteries anymore.

It had worked then. But now it had been 27 years... I thought about not trying to turn my cartridge back on. As long as I didn't turn it on, I could believe my Pokemon were still there, the way I remembered them.

On my day off, which happened to be Pokemon Day, I googled and read that some people on forums and Reddit were still able to play their original Pokemon games.

Then... it was possible. I went out to buy toothpaste. At the store, I asked where I could find AA batteries.

It was a big thing for me to be able to go to the store and buy things myself. When I moved at age 13, I felt like something went wrong with growing up. It was difficult to follow what people were saying, and people didn't always understand what I said either. I had been introverted even in English, but now I had enough negative experiences that I became afraid and stopped trying to talk to people altogether.

I threw myself into video games and reliving childhood memories. The internet was where I could communicate in my first language and understand. I lived online and didn't interact with the real world. On the internet I felt like I was understood and could find people who shared my interests the way I did, but in the real world it always felt like I could get hurt if anyone knew me.

I realize now that I could have had a better experience overseas if I'd known how to adapt and socialize, but this was not something I knew even in English, and trying to learn in another language made it ten times harder. I'm sorry now for missing out on interactions that I know I could have had, but I just didn't know how. I wouldn't know how until I learned, and it took me a long time to learn.

I grew up online, in the company of others who had trouble fitting in with the real world, even in their own language. Those experiences shaped me, and the friendships I've made and support I've received online are invaluable to me. The internet gave me a way to live, and through it I learned how to interact with others. But in many ways, for many years, it felt like my life was put on hold and I stopped growing up.

Several years ago I moved back, to not far from where I was born, and I was able to work for the first time. I began to interact with people and feel like I had a place in the real world.

After shutting myself away for so many years, every little step I made out in the world felt terrifying. But every little thing I did on my own made me feel like I was living for the first time.

Even something as little as going to the store and buying a pack of batteries.

I was directed to a shelf at the end of an aisle, and found myself looking at a rack of lithium AA batteries. Did they not sell the old kind anymore?

I walked around to the other side and was relieved to find the familiar black and brown Duracell batteries I'd known from my childhood. I felt more confident about putting in a battery that looked the same as I remembered. The smallest pack they sold was an 8-pack for $12.99. I really didn't need 8 batteries. I didn't have any other devices that used them.

I thought, what if I turn it on and it doesn't work and I'll have wasted $12.99?

I also thought we might already have batteries. I might be able to say, "Mom, do we have any batteries?" and she'd pull out two AAs from a drawer somewhere and I'd save my money.

But somehow I felt like part of what was important about this was being an adult and being able to buy my own batteries.

Yet... what if it just ended up making me sad? Was it better not to know?

I went to the checkout with just the toothpaste and stood hesitating at the edge of the checkout line.

If I didn't get the batteries now, and it turned out we didn't have any batteries, I wouldn't try it. I knew I would just put it off until even more time passed, and then... "Are you in line?" someone asked me.

"No," I said, and I turned around and went back to the shelf.

I bought the batteries.

At home, I took out my original Game Boy Color from the drawer where I left it, the one my dad had surprised me with when I was 5 years old and that I had brought overseas and back.

I put the batteries in and turned it on without a cartridge first to make sure the batteries were inserted correctly. The Game Boy logo scrolled across the screen and it made the familiar blinging Game Boy startup noise. I turned it off again, satisfied.

I took out my original Pokemon Blue cartridge, momentarily having to remember which way it went in, and slotted it in.

I turned it on, watched the whole Pokemon Blue intro out of nostalgia, and then pressed START.

My heart leaped for joy.

MY POKEMON!!!! MY POKEMON ARE ALIVE!!! 🥺🥺🥺

My original Pokemon, that were with me in 1998 when I was 5-6 years old, are still with me 27 years later. I want to cry!!! I love the old sprites, I'm SO happy to see them again 😭😭😭 the Pokemon look so little and cheerful at the same time, which I love 🥺🥺🥺 I know there are people with many more hours on their games, who have leveled all their Pokemon to 100. But these are my Pokemon who were with me through my childhood, and I spent many more hours making up stories about them than actually playing the game. I'm so happy to see them again 😭😭😭

All I want is to see my Pokemon. My other Pokemon are in boxes. Now, how do I get to the nearest PC? Where am I?

Oh... Oh. I have to confess something. When I was a kid, I was scared of the dark cave areas, and whenever I got to them, I stopped playing for a while. (I was stuck at Mt. Moon until I was like, 7.) So I never actually beat the game.

And here I am on Victory Road, with the team of Pokemon I was taking to the Elite Four, without an Escape Rope.

The only way for me to see my other Pokemon is... to finally make it through Victory Road, after 27 years?!

[bacchuschucklefuck]

class swap design masterpost for convenience (from top to bottom: bard!riz, cleric!gorgug, sorcerer!kristen, barbarian!fig, artificer!adaine, and rogue!fabian)

[salamispots]

on to the next gift wip

[teenytraveler]

first morning of the new year!

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

finally at that age where i'm thinking i should get a tattoo. not bc i feel strongly about it, just seems like a waste not to. i've got so much skin i'm not using

[kaiserouo]

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got a corpus engineer on board

he really likes warframes