#I couldn't choose 1 for each one lmao

[4rackn0]

EVERYONE!!! DO THIS I WANNA SEE PPLS

[greenplumbboblover]

[WIP] Lyralei's Pose addon - Part 2

(See previous post: Click me!)

First things first, MASSIVE thanks to @thesweetsimmer111 for all the help to make this work better and sharing her knowledge on Track masks with me (and the world!)

👀 Better Look at (with reactions!)

Maybe it’s just me, but I used to get endlessly frustrated when Sims wouldn’t properly turn their heads to face an item. So, I set out on a little mission to make their head movements more natural! Unfortunately, that didn’t go as planned—turns out EA’s code for the “Look At” feature is completely deprecated and no longer functional.

Knowing I couldn’t just code a fix, I had to explore other approaches. That’s when @thesweetsimmer111 came up with a brilliant solution: blending left, right, up, and down poses to create a more convincing look-at effect! 🎉

(See: Post)

What's different?

Here's the original pose, without Look at turned on....

On the left, we got VA's original look at.

On the right is what Savanita and I came up with! :)

don’t want to make it seem like the original Look At feature was awful—it actually works pretty well in some cases! For example, in this pose, if the plant were on the other side, the difference wouldn’t be that noticeable since her head is already tilted slightly. 😊

(Same layout again: Left = VA's, Right = Me and Savanita's approach)

Plus, maybe you do want something more subtle, then VA's Look at is great!

Anyways! Of course, I couldn't stop there! Now, your sim has a few options of turning towards the object:

(Note, this list will get 10x cooler in the next feature ;D)

This list is what the "trackmasks" are. :)

Okay, let's give "Eyes Only" a try. So, we expect Morgana to ONLY look at the plant, with her eyes.

(Left is before using look at, Right is with look at, and one up for fun-cies)

And, to please @nocturnalazure's wishes, yep! It now accepts Facial Expressions! :D

(I never would've thought I would see Evil Morgana lmao)

🎭Blending Poses/Reactions

After Savanita's amazing idea of using Track Masks, I found out that I can apply that same technique on, well, poses! And this is a feature I'm SUPER proud of (And honestly, it's taken me an entire week to get working 🙃)

First things first, when we choose the interaction, we will first be greeted by our "trackmask" list with all the selections on it

So, I made a few examples to show of what you could do, but in all fairness, it's endless!

Here I chose the option "Both Arms".

Here I chose "Head And Neck". Look! She even has the expression! (Don't worry though, i also have an expression-less version in the making ;))

What about... Animations?!

While blending poses has the ability to also type in your pose names by name, rather than list, you can also use EA's!

The list is pretty long ( believe 200 entries?) but here is a sneak peek:

Though, as far as I've been able to tell, EA reactions aren't as flexible, where I can tell it to only use the arms, or the eyes. Instead, we got these options:

So, unless I found a way to get around it, this is the only way to do it.

But without further ado....

Here I used the same pose(left) as the last 2 pictures, but with "OverlayHead". And chose "Boo"

(I just realised it looks like she is about to get hit by a ball lol)

🕰️ History List

The Add-on now remembers your pose history!

Whether you’re a dedicated “Pose by Name” user or prefer the simplicity of “Show by List”, both options now display your pose history for quick reference.

Note: Each Sim has their own individual history list. This means you’ll only see the pose history for Sim X when clicking on them, and not for Sim Y.

📓What's up next?

Adding all the trackmask. (I still need add the hands and legs ones)

Adding an in-game Category maker, so you don't have to edit the XML. It will mean you need to replace the XML file in S3PE yourself. But I can always make a quick How-To for guidance 😉

(Note to self) Optimize the Categorisation code. It's currently taking 1 minute up from the loading screen 😬)

Fixing some minor bugs where Look at will still turn the sim's head back to it's original position.

Fixing some issues where Blending poses with certain track masks aren't working well or at all.

Fixing an issue where the dialogs can crash the whole game (woops!)

Sooo, I think a release date is pretty soon! I think within a week :)

Any VA Addon Bug Fixes?

Of course! It's the mod that inspired me to make stories, and even get to make this mod! I couldn't just... leave it to collect dust while it's other child mod is getting all the attention. :p

Changelog:

There is now an interaction that uses both look at & reaction simultaneously. (In case you don't want to use my look at interaction).

Fixed an issue where reactions would sometimes or never show on the sim.

Fixed an issue where using "Random Quick Poses" would occasionally show a breathing sim, doing nothing.

Fixed an issue where certain poses get called twice, making it harder to keep reactions or even look at history data.

Some minor code changes that aren't worth mentioning honestly.

[ghostofthepresent]

Why I think Shiguang can be canonically read as romantic

(I will only be using the donghua for reference, so no Studio Lan retweeting those fanarts (lmao) nor those especially gay manhwa panels (lmao x2) nor even the songs ("chase you to the end of the world, just to say your name once more" my beloved).

It's important to start off by saying that I'm aware Director Li said they ended up not making Lu Guang a girl because they didn't want romance to be seen as a must in Shiguang's relationship by the audience (and because he feels that "bros can have a good heart-to-heart connection with each other"). In my opinion that was a great move since it allows more freedom with how they write them than they'd have otherwise. I also think viewing Shiguang as queerplatonic is a great read too and it doesn't diminish their love for each other nor the importance of their relationship at all.

With that said, despite Director Li's words, there's been things that had me going 🤨 as someone who likes to adhere to canon relationships and read into the writer's intentions, so I wanted to share why I personally see them as romantic.

EPISODE 2

We've all seen this coming, right? Most obvious parallel ever, and in the second episode no less. We all know the similarities between both relationships, so I will just touch on those I consider the most important ones.

Lin Zhen and Yu Xia have gone to college together, and since then decided to start a business of their own - named after a mix of their names. They've been shown as being really close and having no romantic relationships. Lin Zhen also says that Yu Xia's happiness is her own, and then it's shown to us that she's gone through years of unhappiness just for Yu Xia. I believe you can replace their names with Lu Guang's and Cheng Xiaoshi's in your head without me writing all this again. And I'm not even going to get into the most obvious parallels like the special noodle recipe for each pair.

I think it's safe to say that Lin Zhen and Yu Xia are implied to be romantic. From that "one noodle" scene, to the close shot of Lin Zhen grabbing her hand, etc.

Now, I want to get into a writer's point of view and pose two questions:

1. What's the purpose of this episode, when even those which seem episodic connect to the overarching plot of season 1 (even the missing kid's case, as it leads to the involvement with the police)?

2. If we answer the previous question with the conclusion that it's meant to show us the nature/development of Cheng Xiaoshi's and Lu Guang's relationship, what does that say about it?

"Partner" in Link Click

Continuing with episode 2, what really got me thinking about the romantic intentions in their writing was the constant mention of marriage and anything in relation to it.

(may I remind everyone that the driver's comment was said when Cheng Xiaoshi was complaining about Lu Guang lmao)

They're telling us through "show don't tell" (for example, when Lin Zhen kept on eating the noodle despite knowing they'd kiss) and, also, connotations. They are presented to us as business partners, but then the entire episode goes on to tell us that there's more to them by tying their relationship to things percived as romantic. So what they want to really tell us is that beyond simple business partners, they're life-long partners.

And then, after establishing this kind of connotation to the word partner, Cheng Xiaoshi says this to Lu Guang in the next episode:

This doesn't stop at them. While it's the most obvious example, I think partnership in Link Click is intended to be seen as romantic, or at the very least dancing somewhere close to it. Let's go even further and take a look at our fully canon, heterosexual relationships and see briefly how their story is written:

1. Dong Yi and Xu Shanshan: both of them chose the comfort of each other's presence over moving on with their respective futures. Dong Yi had so much faith in their relationship and their love that he couldn't choose a life/future that didn't have Xu Shanshan - choosing to not go back to his family home nor go to that interview, and instead waiting for Xu Shanshan to define their relationship.

2. Liu Siwen and Ouyang: Siwen spent his entire life training with the purpose of getting his father-in-law's respect and marry Ouyang, going every year over and over to fight him. His perseverance and his undying love for her allowed Siwen to do the (seemingly) impossible.

3. Chen Bin and his wife: they're a tragedy. His wife understood Chen Bin the best, enduring feeling lonely because she loved him and wanted a future with him. But their relationship was cut short, so they promised each other to be together in a future life to make up for the time they wouldn't be in this one.

With this + the pictures I attached, it seems like Link Click has set this theme of "love is a life with you" for its romantic relationships, a partner that will fight to stay because they can't see a future that doesn't have their beloved. Going back to episode two, this applies even to the noodle ladies. When Yu Xia remembered what actually matters to her, she went back home - to the start, to her hometown. And, most importantly, to Lin Zhen.

So why is Shiguang romantic? Why aren't they queerplatonic, or just best friends, or bros or whatever else? Because besides what I said at the start of the previous paragraph, Shiguang's relationship mirrors a lot of the romantic ones. Each story and author writes romance and other kinds of relationships differently, portraying them in the way they perceive "this is what this kind of love is like". And beyond life-long partners, I think that the key elements of romantic relationships in Link Click are the ones I highlighted in bold above in the 3 canon relationships part - which Shiguang shares, too.

(I didn't mention this before with the het couples, but I find it a little amusing that season 2 happened because a man wanted to go to the past and get his wife back (still fuck you Qian Jin) and then we find out Lu Guang did go back to the past and got his boyfriend partner back lmao).

"Friend" vs "Partner"

So where is the boundary between platonic and romantic? What marks the difference between a (best) friend and a partner?

There is, for example, Liu Xiao and Li Tianchen's relationship. They aren't shown to have any kind of romantic undertones and there's even the very real possibility of manipulation on Liu Xiao's side. They're also never labeled as nor call each other partners, but instead Li Tianchen says he "met a new friend" and Liu Xiao says he's "going to meet an old friend" years later. So we could say for now that they have a somewhat close relationship (we see Li Tianchen go against Qian Jin to give the phone to Liu Xiao), but never cross that "friend" label.

We can even bring Qiao Ling and the boys' relationship. She's never labeled as a partner despite taking part in the side job and, more importantly, being super close to both of them. She is very important and a cherished friend to Shiguang, so why not call her partner too? I think it's intentional. Since she's been given a familial role already (calling Cheng Xiaoshi her brother when talking to Li Tianxi), she can't fill a partner role. I wonder why? because it's supposed to be a synonym for a romantic relationship. who said that.

So even best friends (Qiao Ling, arguably what Liu Xiao is to Li Tianchen) don't enter this close space that is being a partner. It's different, it's beyond platonic. Or at least that's what they've been showing us for the past two seasons.

I could go soo much more into this honestly, because I do think the little hints thrown here (the music videos) and there (tiny seemingly inconsequential details) are worth to be looked at too, but I wanted to get into the core reason that makes me go "woah so they're In Love fr". I hope I expressed myself well ^^

tldr; the series shows us a divide between having a (best) friend and a partner, giving "partners" romantic connotations.

[missmeganlee]

Take Aways from the OMR Beauty Live

They started testing fragrances February last year

Omar asked Edvin about this December '22 right after Jimmy Fallon (he told Edvin all about OMR beauty, Intro, and the idea of a fragrance collab). Edvin's been a part of the OMR Beauty journey from the start

They're really proud that nothing got leaked lol (the closest was a picture of them on a balcony, which happened to be at the OMR Beauty office)

Edvin tested the fragrance on his family

They came up with the name pretty quickly. Cause it combines where they both come from, Omar with music and Edvin with cinema. And they liked that it was a word that is universal to *almost* every language (Omar specified to at least the languages they speak)

According to Edvin it's not fruity. It's warm, sandalwood, citrusy

Omar describes it as cosy

They have not tried layering Intro with Duo yet, but Omar has layered Duo with other fragrances. (Omar did end up trying layering the fragrances during the live)

They had trouble with the coloring for the box it comes in because of the gradient, which was Edvin's idea. The bottom starts at a peachy color and then goes into a very light purple

When they first started making the packaging the colors were too bright

Edvin thinks it smells like Stockholm in summer or like a summer night

"If you buy Duo, you're guaranteed to get laid" - Edvin Ryding

Edvin helped cho0se the bottle cause Omar couldn't decide. But once Omar saw Edvin holding the bottle they ended up choosing he knew it was the one

They had the idea for it to be orange because the scent was warm

Their favorite part of the process was starting and getting to be creative with it

"Intro is the OG and Duo is the rebel"

Edvin wore Duo while they were shooting s3 and smelling it brings him back to that time (I remember him saying in an interview that he likes to use 1 specific scent for each project he's on so that he can connect the scent with his memories during that time)

Omar wore Intro while shooting s3

The website crashed lmao. We crashed the site

"When you put it on sun is out. When it dries down sunset" - Omar

It's limited cause they wanted to do something exclusive for us

We'll find out more about the story soon. They've only released teasers so far

it's a vegan fragrance

[marleyybluu]

The Nanny

Part 4

Rio x fem!reader

Word count: 2.5k

Warnings: angst (I think lol), our favourite couple part their ways for now, Nick being a nosey weirdo, sad Rio, sad reader. Idk I think that’s it.

A/N: I know this is a bit short and (surprise) no smut lol but we will get there dw. this is (kind of) a filler. Also if you’re new, check out my master list for parts 1-3 ❤️cus I’m too lazy to link them here lmao oops

It'd been two weeks since Y/n's encounter with the blonde lady. Elizabeth. Her name was Elizabeth. She noticed it at the top of the ultrasound. That ultrasound felt like it was forever engraved in her mind. She hadn't talked to Rio about it yet, she didn't know if she wanted to. Y/n wasn't really an angry or confrontational person, but when it came to it, she could explode and if it was going to be like that she didn't want Marcus to hear anything.

So, until then, she played her part as usual. Well, the affection she delivered had shortened, and that was very noticeable for Rio. They were practically living in each other's skin half the time and now he suddenly felt cold and that's what she wanted.

"Y/n." She felt something poking her hip, she blinked a few times zoning back in and looking down to see poor Marcus attempting to receive her attention. "Sorry, honey, what's going on?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to put my plate in the sink." She shifted over allowing him access to the sink, she continued to wash the dishes and hummed a tune that was repetitive in her head. "Do you know when Daddy will be home?"

She shook her head. "No idea bud." Suddenly there was a knock on the door, Y/n turned off the water and dried her hands lightly jogging through the short hallway to get to the door. She held her breath as she unlocked the door and pulled it open. "Oh, hi." It was Rio's brother... cousin... whichever. "Hey... you." She awkwardly greeted him, she forgot his name. He chuckled reaching out his hand, "Nick."

"Right, Nick, sorry." She shook his hand, a little longer than she wanted to, his grip was a little tight on her. "What can I help you with?"

"Is my brother here?"

Y/n smirked. "Thought he was your cousin." He was amused.  "Anyway, he's not here yet but he should be home soon if you want to wait for him." She stepped aside inviting him inside the house, she closed the door behind him. He took off his shoes and wandered off at the sound of Marcus' voice. "Uncle Nick!"

"Hey buddy, what's going on? What are you watching?"

"Bluey."

Y/n chimes in. "As always. And remember our deal, after this episode, you hit the shower and hit your bed okay?"

Marcus pouted and delivered those sweet brown puppy eyes. "What about Dad?" She groaned internally, he had school tomorrow and she did not need him to be up all night and end up sleeping in the next day. "I'll send him upstairs as soon as he's through that door okay?"

"Okay." He agreed and sat back down on the couch. She turned over to Nick and smiled. "Would you like anything?" He put his hand up and shook his head. "I couldn't intrude like that."

She reassured him that it was fine, suggesting there was water, juice and wine to choose from. He chose wine. He followed her trail back to the kitchen, he sat on one of the stools and waited patiently, watching her squat down behind the island to reach into a cabinet where she kept her special drinks. She then walked over to the upper cabinets and reached for a glass, her shirt slipping up exposing a bit of her skin, a small silly tattoo of Snoopy sitting on her hip as her sweatpants were almost dangerously low. His tongue swiped across his bottom lip.

She turned back placing the glass on the counter and poured out some liquor. "Not too much gotta drive back."

She hummed and nodded.

"You're okay?" Nick asked. She'd never talked to Nick, had no intention of speaking to him ever again since the dinner at their grandmother's house and judging how stiff Rio acted towards him she didn't really want to expose the problem at hand. So she bit her tongue and nodded.

Well, maybe she didn't bite hard enough.

"Actually, can I ask something?"

"Yeah."

Her nostrils widened as she angrily exhaled through her nose. "Has Rio ever..." Sigh. "When he was with Maria, and she was pregnant... was he sleeping with other people? Or bringing other women around?"

He thought about and she couldn't tell if he was going to save his ass or throw him under the bus. "I mean, they weren't really together when Maria was pregnant, so he still had other women around yeah."

"Okay." She simply replied looking at her wine glass, twirling it around at the stem, the red liquid swishing and swooshing with every movement it almost became hypnotizing. Her ears rang as scenarios filled her head. Was she the other woman that was around? How come no one in his family said anything? Do they not know?

Nick noticed how quiet she was and the coping mechanism she developed sitting there, he gently placed his hand over hers and she stopped playing with the glass. "Are you..."

"No," She quickly answered. "No, I mean I wouldn't be drinking."

Duh. He thought to himself but he had to ask anyway. He leaned forward attempting to pry more out of her without giving himself away. "Do you think-"

She cut him off. "Maria said that when you think you're the only one you're not and-"

Not too much.

"Fuck, I don't know it just got me thinking. And now I'm overthinking."

Before he could reply to her statement Marcus repeatedly squealed.  "Daddy's home! Daddy's home! Y/n! Daddy's home!"

She smiled at his cheery tone. "So I've heard."

Rio's figure came to join the duo in the kitchen, an overgrown Marcus sitting on his hip, just a small reminder that he'd forever be his baby. A very apparent frown played on his face while his eyes darted between her and Nick. "Hey, pretty mama." Immediately asserting his dominance.

"Hi." She nodded before taking another sip of her wine. "Nick... why are you in my kitchen?" He asked with hostility lacing his voice. Nick smirked, always smug at how immediately defensive Rio seemed to get whenever he came around. "Just came to see you, little brother."

Y/n cleared her throat standing up from her seat, she reached out for Marcus who easily transferred over to her, he was reluctant to leave his dad at first, not seeing him all day and only getting a minute with him made him a bit sad, but after a promise from Rio that he'd be up to at least read a story he cooperated and clung to Y/n as she took him upstairs.

While they were getting ready, Y/n's mind couldn't help but wonder about how she'd bring up the situation at hand, the envelope had been tucked under her side of the mattress for a while, maybe that's why she had trouble sleeping too it was taunting her underneath where she lay. She felt a bit of guilt, it was wrong for her to keep this a secret from him, he had the right to know he was having another kid.

Huh.

Another kid.

And it's not with her.

She sighed shaking off the thought, putting it on the back burner for a bit to focus on whatever Roblox game Marcus was trying to teach her to play on his iPad. She couldn't understand why these kids were so into this thing, he was obsessed. He rested his head on her shoulder while she tapped away on the screen. Her character disappeared and respawned in a moment. "What did I do?"

"Someone killed you." He giggled, and she gasped playfully poking his side. "That's not funny, I don't know what I'm doing." She laughed. He took his iPad back showing her once more what to do, a slight knock against the door frame interrupted their time together. Marcus sighed knowing he had to put his device away so he handed it back to her to take downstairs and in the morning he could have it back during breakfast.

Rio smiled. "Picked a book yet?"

Marcus nodded reaching under his pillow and showing him. "Say goodnight to Y/n."

"Night Y/n."

She kissed his head. "Night sweetness. I'll see you when I see you." Strange, Rio thought to himself, she always said she'll see him in the morning.

She walked past Rio, avoiding even an inch of contact with him. He swore he felt a cold air as she passed by, her loving and warmth had suddenly been replaced. Rio poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue and nodded. "Cool, let's uh, start reading."

---

By the time y/n got downstairs Nick had long disappeared, she sighed placing the yellow envelope on the counter after retrieving it from their room. She needed another glass of wine if she was ever going to get through this. She sat on the stool around the Island and twirled her wine glass once again, staring blankly at it until the sound of descending footsteps brought her back to Earth. "How was your day?" He asked opening the fridge and looking for something to drink or at least snack on.

"Good,"

Sip.

"How was yours?" Her tone was cold and uninterested so he responded with the same simple answer she gave him. "Good."

The silence returned aside from the obnoxious tapping of her fingers against her phone screen. He knew her well enough, when she was making extra noise on purpose she was pissed. Rio shook his head. "What was Nick doing here?"

The tapping stopped. "Came to say hi." She answered placing her phone down on the counter and picking up her wine glass. "Why are you talking to me like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you want to pick a fight."

She chuckled pettily. "Hm."

"Y/n-"

"Who's Elizabeth?" She asked finally lifting her head up to look at him, he froze and audibly swallowed. "She's a business partner."

"Is she?" Y/n questioned with a trembling voice. She slid the envelope over to him as he took a seat next to her. "Open it,"

He was lowkey starting to sweat. He fumbled with the envelope until it opened, he reached inside and pulled out the evidence. His eyes fell out of his head and rolled onto the shiny clean floor. "Y/n..."

"Congratulations, I guess." She shrugged. He looked up at the name double checking if it was really Beth's. There's no way this was fucking happening. He'd admit they had their fair share of encounters, maybe one before he met Y/n but there was no way that it resulted in this. She would've told him, or at least he'd hoped she would.

This looked bad, there was no way to weasel out of this when the evidence was right there. What made everything more uneasy is how calm Y/n was being, any other woman would have thrown their wine at him or knocked him with the bottle but she downed the last of the liquid and poured whatever was left of the bottle.

"You think it's a boy or a girl?" She laughed tipsily. "This isn't funny."

"You're right," She sipped. "It's not, but you know... when you've been crying about it for two weeks, you just run out of tears and all you can do is laugh."

She continued. "You laugh and you wonder how you fell so fucking foolishly in love with someone, in such a short time... how in that short time he made you feel so special like you were his world. You fall in love with his son, the sweetest boy you've ever met who tugs at your heart everyday and you think to yourself maybe one day you can give this kid his own little best friend."

Rio dropped his head. "And you come to find out, that- that someone else beat you to it. Is that how you did Maria? I mean she- she told me I'm not the only one, Christopher can never have one girl and I fucking defended you. I was so fucking sure-"

Y/n's voice cracked, and her chin trembled as she fought back a flood of tears but they were no longer tears of sadness, they were angry. Pissed. "I was so fucking sure you wouldn't do that to me."

He didn't know what to say, his mouth ran dry. "I'm... baby, I'm sorry. Look at me, look at me," He put the picture down and grabbed her face forcing her to look at him. Her eyes were so sad, so tired, so broken. He'd never seen her like this, he couldn't believe he was the cause.

"I love you... Y/n. I swear to god, I fucking love you ma. I'm sorry, okay? But you're going to have to believe me when I say this ain't my kid. There's no way. I-it's just been you and me this whole time, baby, I fucking swear."

She sniffled. She could see it, or maybe she just wanted to see it. That he did love her and some part of him was telling her the truth, but bless her heart she didn't know what to believe. It was too much, maybe she moved too fast and this was her consequence, didn't ask enough questions when they started dating and now this was the result. She loved him. God she loved him. Her whole body gravitated towards him and it was so hard to pull away when she found out.

It was hard to pull away now, how close they were in proximity, noses almost touching, foreheads pressed together. He didn't want to let go, this was something he was willing to go to war for. Against her better judgement, she leaned forward connecting their lips.

The love, the regret, the sorrow was all wrapped up in it. Ugh, he tasted like alcohol, probably took a shot before he came home. He smelt so good even after a long day. His lips were so soft, so sweet to her and extra gentle. Their kiss started slow and soon picked up feverishly, she pulled at his shirt, the sudden need for him took over. The two sides of her brain knocked at each other, sleep with him tonight and leave in the morning or leave now and never see him again— let this kiss be the last.

Beep! Beep!

Someone else was there to answer for her. She pulled back but he brought her in, one last kiss. Just one. Y/n pulled back, tugging his hands away from her and she immediately missed them. She stood up and grabbed her keys off the counter. "I made Marcus' lunch... oh, you know the routine."

"Y/n... ma, please..."

She kissed his cheek. "Tell him I'll see him soon, okay?"

"No." He protested. "He can see you tomorrow, in the morning."

"Christopher."

"Y/n."

She wasn't about to argue with him, her sister blowing up her phone letting her know she was outside and to hurry the fuck up. She backed away as slowly as she could, his jaw flexed and his eyes became glossy. He was going to cry. She couldn't watch it otherwise she'd stay and she just needed the space right now. She quickly made her way down the hall with him hot on her trail, she opened the door and wiped a tear that ran down her cheek.

Her sister caught sight of Rio and shook her head. Y/n went on the passenger side.

Just one last glance.

She ducked down and sat, closing the car door. She turned away from her sibling not wanting to be bothered by anyone right now. Understandable.

Rio watched as the car disappeared, the gravel under the tires crunching as she vanished before him. He stood there, dumbfounded. He's fucked up a lot but never like this.

He needed a way to resolve this and he needed it now.

If you liked this fic, feel free to like this fic. Comments and reblogs are appreciated.

See you in the next one. Peace and love✌🏾

🏷️ : @darqchilddaydreamz @rio-reid-whoreee @bigenergy777 @christinabae @corpsebridenightamare @prettylilsapphic @realhotgurlshit @being-worthy @skyesthebomb

[junkyardstrash]

my thoughts on the new sleep token masks and what's next:

the boys have been hinting at this type of change for a while now, iii's paint slowly turning red and iv and ii taking off their masks at the show just before wembley. I think thr new album will be more metal and overall more heavy, similar to their songs vore and gods.

I don't think these changes are necessarily meant to be seen as a part of the TMBTE cycle, they quite literally said "a new era" on each of their posts, these masks are hinting at and showing us what to expect for the next era. Sleep Token is very deliberate with what they choose to do appearance wise and their lore so although these masks are a very drastic change, it's all part of the plan.

NOW for lore.... TPWBYT and Sundowning were kinda defeat albums, Vessel being at his lowest while TMBTE is a redemption album, Vessel taking control back in his life from Sleep and his insecurities/past faults. that being said- the next album will probably be Sleep fighting Vessel back. I think what's happening is that Sleep takes different forms of Vessels insecurities and past faults so Sleep is using this to their advantage, using the other vessels (ii, iii, and iv) as their puppets. the toxic back and forth cycle between Sleep and Vessel is ending so Sleep is taking the manipulation up a notch. the new masks look very intimidating and it's all deliberate, Sleep is possessing the other vessels and shaping them into Vessels (i) fears as a way to get to Vessel (i), I mean, what would be a better way to get to Vessel if not to use the band as a way to get to him?

people say the masks clash too much and they don't look consistent but I think that's exactly what's supposed to happen. Sleep is using ii, iii and iv as Vessels INDIVIDUAL insecurities. Vessel sees the others and its a mirror of his faults. or maybe they quite literally wanted to look more individual rather than have the same look as one another 🤷‍♀️

the next album will be like a videogame boss fight between Vessel and sleep

some other stuff I noticed and some more theories. do these mean anything? who knows! this is just me rambling:

Vessel has runes written all over his body, I couldn't exactly make out what they say but just going off the fact that it's runes- it can either be 1. a protection barrier from Sleep or 2. another way that Sleep is slowly taking over vessel

it seems like the mouths on the masks are getting wider and wider in order from ii, iv, iii, and then Vessel. while all the others have the band sigil across their eyes, ii is the only one who has it across his mouth. considering ii is the second vessel and Sleep is struggling to control Vessel(i), what if theyre going for ii? using him as the main vessel? he also imo has the most intimidating looking mask out of everyone so...

or maybe iii is gonna get a mic and thats why his mask is open HEHE

my sister pointed this one out- iii had gold on his hands as he was transitioning to the red body paint and as we all know, iii and iv are very touchy on stage, iii always lifting ivs mask up, them kissing, etc etc. now iv has gold on his mask, what if iiis gold paint from his hands transferred to ivs mask? what would this mean? IDK maybe it's another Sleep tactic or we're looking too much into it lmao

iv also has Vessels leg wraps on his arm? what's up with that?

ANYWAYS lmk your thoughts, my mind is going crazy rn and I think people are taking the mask changes at face value rather than thinking about why they look the way they do now and how it fits in the lore

[rockdwarftv]

So I've discovered Knave 1e

And It's everyone's problem now. Not so much fancy text this time but I've been going crazy making little systems for it. Like the first one, which was originally going to be in D&D 5e but I couldn't make it work there as easily. The system allows PCs to enchant any item with quality.

The effect any given spell gives is intentionally left out, as it should be up to the referee and the player as it what their enchantment does in the end. The next rule, again, was for 5e. But, translated well into Knave as I wanted the game to stay lethal but I wanted it to be a player decision. Sometimes a death would just be boring and that's dumb. So with this, you get to choose if you die or if you'd like to roll for it.

This would have had nice tables but google docs is ASS for arranging two tables next to each other.

Next is giving weapons a firm range. Knave had basic rules for this but I wanted to expand them to give players a little more wiggle room. The ranges use the base movement of all NPCs of 40 ft.

Knave also offers multiple ways to resolve attacks, while I prefer roling against a static value (ie Armor Defense), I wanted to offer players a way to actively defend against attacks. At a cost, however.

Rolling with your defense bonus gives you a chance to debuff the enemy, but puts you at higher risk of eating an attack. And even the rare chance of fumbling so badly the attack is made worse. Next was my crack at a monster, this is largely custom and based on the giant bloodworm statblock from AD&D. It's main purpose is to showcase how I want to handle conditions, this was made before Active Parry but it uses the same kind of idea.

Something Knave did not touch on at all, aside from stating a speed, was exploration. I wanted to steal from PF 2e for this so I made my own little simplified system.

This makes exploration feel a little more boardgame-y, and assumes there aren't going to be rolls for random encounters going on all the time. Ideally, unless the PCs are actively exploring new areas and not simply traveling between them, there should only ever be encounters which the referee has planned. Or, ones which match the movement of other groups on the map.

To tie into this, I've also worked out a Influence system, or a fame system.

PCs doing things should attract attention over time, they should have a real affect in the world they are in so that players understand their actions are actually doing something. It also could very easily tie into classic OSR ideas of building their own keep and managing hirelings. Doing that would draw the attention of local groups, for better or for worse!

Thank you for coming to my Knave ramblings. I like Knave a lot and I'm currently converting some modules into my own level 1 to 5ish game to run with these rules.

EDIT: (8/3/2024) I MADE MORE KNAVE STUFF

Made weapons a touch more interesting! Damage types now give bonuses, and the type of weapon is used to determine their bas damage and quality, not pictured because it's a big ass list lmao. Damage is also a flat value! If you deal damage you deal the maximum of a weapon's damage dice now, instead of rolling the dice.

Armor has been brought up to use the same mechanics as weapons, and adjusted slightly in how armor defense is calculated.

YEA PLAYER FOCUSED SPELLCASTING No more pre-made spell lists! Let the players make their own!

[italeean]

HI ELLE! CONGRATS ON THE FOLLOWER MILESTONE 💖💖💖

And this event sounds so fun so I had to send in something (no pressure ofc ^-^)

Description: I literally had to go around asking my friends to describe me bc I couldn’t think of much besides that I’m an introvert and pessimistic about myself lmao. So from the intel I’ve gathered: I’m shy, friendly, kind, care a lot about those closest to me, and worry too much about things. My interests are pretty boring, all I do is play videogames (mainly rhythm games nowadays) and watch anime occassionally, although I can get very passionate about them. I don’t have much of a preference to the people I surround myself with, as long as they can handle my more reserved nature and respect my boundaries.

I am a lee leaning switch :3

And I’d like to choose genshin impact as the fandom. I started playing not too long ago and it’s been my new hyperfixation.

With a romantic relationship with a male character!

Oh and my name is Sakura!🌸

I hope I did this correctly kahdjahdjahsh

Have a good day/night‼ And take your time!

Sakuraaa 🥹💕 After months of inactivity, I'm taking back the reins of this event and I'm more than ready to match you up with your special someone hehe ✨️ Thanks for your patience, e spero ti piaccia il mio lavoro 💚🤍❤️ (and I hope you'll enjoy my work) 🍡 *hands you the dango to eat while you read*

🔮 Without further ado, your match is... KAZUHA

🔮 Why did I choose him for you?

1. You say you're pessimistic about yourself, and this little ray of sunshine is the perfect way to bring some light in 2. He's delicate and soft-spoken, which won't make you feel overwhelmed by endless talking 3. He's super perceptive, which means he'll understand how you're feeling without you having to tell him, which can be hard sometimes when you're an introvert 4. If you play rhythm games, he might play a tune with leaves to match the rhythm you're playing in the game! That would be so cute... 5. Even he's usually a ray of sunshine, he can have his bad days, especially when he thinks about Tomo, and you'd be able to support him quietly thanks to your personality and your emotional baggage 6. Kazuha is a generally quiet person, so expect many, MANY successful sneak attacks... and if your sides or ribs are sensitive, you'll be in for a bumpy ride 7. He's the personification of gentleness, so he'd be sure to inquire about your boundaries without you even needing to tell him anything 8. He likes the sound of your laughter even more of the song of the wind between the leaves, so tickling you is one of his favorite ways to "bring some light into your pessimism" 9. I feel like he'd LOVE to blow some air into your ears or pepper kisses on your neck if those spots are sensitive 10. He also does mind a few pokes if he needs to be cheered up... and if you do that to get his attention, he'll get the hint and proceed to tickle you as much as you'd like!

🔮 Tickle scenario

Kazuha couldn't ask for a better morning than this. Azure sky with some fluffy white clouds, the music of nature made by the wind that caresses the leaves, lying on the grass in silence with his eyes closed...

... and you.

You and him had started dating a few months ago. He was the best thing that had ever happened in your life, and he thought the same about you. You two didn't need loud love, your relationship could be compared to a warm, soft cocoon. You expressed your feelings through little gestures and by being there for each other.

Unless you were bored.

Don't get me wrong, Kazuha loved every aspect of you, but when you were bored, you were quite the handful. Little pranks, pokes, silly jokes... you would try everything to distract him, and that's what you wanted in that exact moment.

Calling him was an amazing option, since he was a samurai with an astounding control of all his senses, but where was the fun in that? You surely could do much better, so you got up, making as little noise as possible, and approached him with your hands shaped in claws ready to attack.

His eyes were still closed, perfect. You just needed to attack. 3... 2... 1... Now!

Or so you thought...

As soon as your fingertips came in contact with his ribcage, you felt something gripping your wrists and in a fraction of second, you were on the grass, facing the blue sky and a white-haired guy with an ominous smirk that you had learned to fear.

"Were you trying to wake me up, love?" He asked in a sweet tone mixed with a hint of playfulness, "Alas, your reflexes seem a little sluggish, like a lethargic bear cub." He tsked with no annoyance in his voice, just a little mocking.

"Maybe you're the one who needs a little awakening, aren't you, little cub?"

Before you could make up even the faintest argument to object, his hands started zapping your sides with ruthlessly, relentlessly and with the meticulous precision provided by the knowledge of every single spot that made you squeak, squeal or even snort.

"Ka- wahahahait nooo..!" You begged, but your pleas fell on deaf ears, as the tickle assault only increased in intensity. You attempted to swat his hands away, but that was futile as well. His reflexes were much faster than yours.

"Not good, your reflexes don't show any sign of awakening yet. Such a lazy little cub..." He joked, enjoying the blush that invaded your cheeks because of the nickname, "Do we really need to take extreme measures to make the lazy cub arise?"

Your eyes widened in shock and glee, and your laughter became much more nervous. "No no nohoho w-we dohohon't... we don't need to..! Please we do-" Not even Kazuha's refined lexicon had a term to define the high pitch of your scream, and the samurai knew this was his stop signal.

He raised his hands and helped you sit up while you were gasping for air, using his Anemo vision to create a gentle, refreshing breeze for you.

When you recovered, you looked at him with a gaze that meant war and pronounced the words: "I swear to the Seven Archons, I'll get you back."

Your warmongering glare was met with a smug, playful one. "Come at me then, cub, and show me your awakened reflexes" He chuckled, getting ready for a day full of combat.

[adamnablelittledevil]

Hi! How’s part 2 of QotD treating you? And as you seem to have reached it, what was your impression of the Devil’s minion chapter?

Hi!

So far so good, but I'm really early, I've just read the first POV (Daniel's) and now I'm on the second page of Khayman's. He just entered the venue, but nothing has happened yet. There is this alarmingly clear feeling in the air that something big is about to happen, but I haven't reached that part.

The Devil's Minion was probably my second favorite chapter. I mean, I love Armand, he's my favorite, so it's really easy to love anything that includes him. It was sweet, appealing and even hilarious at times (I literally laughed so loud I woke up relatives in the a.m. and had tears in my eyes). It warmed my heart to see Armand learning about all the changes the world has gone through and his excitement with all of it. It was lovely to see how Daniel would just go on with it and was so patient because Armand was, well, intense about those discoveries lmao. It was awesome that Armand felt safe and comfortable to be himself and experiment so much when he was with Daniel. I truly enjoyed it.

The only downsides for me are, first, the fact that Anne's timelines are weird sometimes. She covered, what, 12 years on one chapter? And even though it's on my top 2 of chapters, it didn't feel like it represented as much time as it was supposed to. I think I'd only be convinced of that if there had been more chapters, or even a whole book series about them. It was deep, but didn't feel like it was such a long period, you know?

And the second thing is the fact that I still don't believe I know Daniel that well. I usually take too long to fall in love with a character or ship, I often need a lot of time and development. I have to feel like I know both of them well, and why those two are the right match for each other instead of something else, I have to see the chemistry etc. That's why I struggle with movies (they're too short) and books (I can't see them in front of my eyes) and prefer TV shows. However, even with TV shows, I usually take seasons plural to fall in love with anyone/anything (specially now with series getting shorter) and don't have as many favorite characters and OTPs as most people do. It's very hard for me to be immediately sold. There have been a few exceptions that captivated me in film or just one episode/chapter, but it's rare. I think I need to learn more about Daniel, but it's okay since there are more of his POVs coming. Still, it doesn't change the fact it was one of the best chapters so far. Like I said, I genuinely enjoyed it and it was my top 2, but not my number #1, you know? Quite high, but not the highest.

That said, I'm absolutely sure the writers and actors will elevate it to a whole new level. I can't wait to see it finally being brought to life, because it has so much potential. Specially if they span it through multiple episodes and do it at a slower pace. And it would make it both more earnest and tender. Plus, I have a soft spot for slowburns (they're most of my OTPs), the longing, the wait, the hype, the sense of something being earned and that whole shebang. The journey of slowly reaching milestones, is, like, 30% of the fun for me. And I'm positive they'll use the opportunity to make it more dramatic, emotional, intense and give us chills and tears in the best possible way. My expectations couldn't be higher and I have total trust in them. I mean, THIS is already my favorite scene on the show.

Okay, it's a perfect tie with loustat's church and reunion/hug scenes and I'll never be able to choose one, but these are my HOLY TRINITY. I will never stop freaking out about their chemistry. TDLR: I already enjoy Armand and Daniel individually and together (specially on the show), I'm really curious and excited to see more and I expect them to get even more of my appreciation with time. They're special, just not a favorite at the moment... But with the full potential of becoming one.

By the way, sorry for how lengthy this is, it suddenly got waaaaaaay longer than I'd anticipated lol. How about you, what do you think? :) And thanks for the question! <3

[hotcat37]

Woke up N the first thing I saw was ur OTP ask game post N f4n *KNEW* what 2 do so here I am :3!! 54, 42, 39, 34, 30, 21, 13, 10, 7 N 3 for Bojere pls! (U don’t gotta do all of them if it’s 2 many N Deaf! Jere AU preferably cuz it’s been idk how long but that fic *still* has a chokehold on me N U bet my Ass is gonna be wrapped in a f4 ton of fluffy blankets with snacks N plushies as soon as U bless us with a new chapter!! X33

~^*•.’+ BOJERE BEAM GO!

I'm glad the AU lives in your mind rent free 👀 Thx for sending some numbers!! :3

54: who's more likely to carry the other to bed?

Probably Bojan because he likes to pick Jere up and carry him around randomly for fun haha Jere does also have strong arms though so it's not out of the question for him to carry a sleepy Bojan to bed and tuck him in <3

42: what's their favorite type of weather to enjoy together?

Snow for sure <3 They love making snow men and playing and watching the snowflakes fall. They also just find it cute to see the other bundled up in a big winter coat and a cozy scarf💞

39: who would rescue an injured animal and nurse it back to health?

I can see both of them doing that tbh They both have huge empathy for animals so both of them would be on board with helping an injured bird or abandoned cat or something. But I do think Jere would be the one to play responsible adult at some point once the animal is healed again and explain that they have to set it free even tho they've both gotten attached to it

34: who's more likely to tell a dirty joke to make the other blush?

Jere 👀👀 He can be surprisingly raunchy lmao The fact that he communicates mostly through text and looks so innocent is something he uses to his advantage. No one would suspect a thing if Jere casually shows Bojan the dirtiest message you can think of on his phone lol While Jere is often the one to start things, though, Bojan tends to be the one to finish them 😏

30: your OTP gets to pick out each other's outfits, what are they wearing?

Jere: he'd really love to see Bojan in leather so he'd give him a pair of his own pants and a leather shirt so he can swoon over his handsome Bojan 🥰 Bojan: he's putting Jere in more skirts... 1, because it's sexy. 2, because Jere really does look nice in skirts <3

21: who would get into a fight to defend the other's honor?

They're both pretty protective but unfortunately Jere is more likely the one to be harassed or treated rudely by a stranger so it's more common that Bojan would (fiercely) defend his angel. Bojan doesn't get angry easily but if someone is mean or hurtful to Jere he can become absolutely livid. Jere prefers to avoid conflict but he's not above using a right hook to protect his Slovene 💪

13: who's the bigger tease?

I couldn't really choose one in particular. Bojere have a really playful dynamic so the teasing is pretty equally divided haha

10: describe their first date

Something active. Maybe like a bowling date. It'd be just something lighthearted, something they'd do as friends. Except whoever scores a strike first gets a kiss 🤭 Hand feeding each other fries n whatnot 🥰 Then at the end Bojan would try to pay for everything but Jere distracts him and ends up paying ahead. Bojan is devastated until Jere tells him he did the math and Bojč can pay his half of the bill later. Equality 💪💪 Afterwards they walk to Jere's dorm together hand in hand ♡

7: would they build a pillow fort together just because?

100% They'll have sleepovers on the floor surrounded by pillows even though there's a perfectly fine bed waiting for them

3: do they wear the other's clothes?

Yes 🥰🥰 Jere likes to wear Bojan's hoodies and rings. Bojan also wears Jere's sweaters cuz they're oversized anyways and also his socks cuz Jere has a bunch of socks with fun patterns :3

[mindtrove]

Inquisitor tag game

Damn haven't done one of these in a while.

Tagged by the lovely @emmg and I have to strongly agree. While I look forward to Veilguard. My Inquisitor will always be my baby. Moro is very special to me and as the years have gone her lore and her personality have really been enriched (especially in BG3, because of course I had to shimmey her over there)

So here's the answers to all the questions with how Moro would react accordingly:

1. Their reaction to the Evanuris

I think deep down Moro will be extremely relieved that she's taking a backseat this time around. Don't get me wrong (I've decided her daughter will be my Rook) she's not going to leave Rook to completely take care of everything but I definitely see her being overwhelmed by the entire thing.

To begin with Moro wasn't born Dalish and didn't really choose to join them, as she was too young to make the choice. So she was more agnostic than anything else and had more of a "it'd be nice to believe we have our own gods and they watch over us" as suppoed to resolute blind belief. So the Evanuris coming back would be a very "Oh...shit...well...that's awkward.."

2. How are they saying hi to Solas (punch/kiss/hiss/once again—middle finger/offer him a stylish hat??)

As fun as it would be to keep things super angsty, I think Moro would have come to terms with their relationship's end. But I think she'd still hold a grudge about losing her arm.

Solas nervously see's her form across the room and waves and she smiles back and waves with her cut arm then just give him the stink eye lol

Solas is definitely not over it though. They'd argue a lot about how to advise Rook/Ramia. They'd probably argue about a lot of things that ends with their tongue's down each other's throats.

3. What’s their go-to reaction when Cassandra Allegra Portia Calogera Filomena Pentaghast recommends them a book?

Moro's never read a smut novel in her life. She'd be polite and accept the book and then end up down the smut rabbit hole.

4. What did they do at the Winter Palace? No like really. Hook up? Get drunk and chat with the golden nug? Egg on every noble?

She would have definitely felt out of her element. I think when not down to business. Solas would have been trying to keep her calm and getting her to try enjoy the night.

5. This is very important—did they have the ugly Qunari Par Vollen bed in their quarters and if not why did they make the wrong choice? (lmao I love that bed, so stupid)

I had to google that shit cuz i couldn't remeber it why the fuck does it look like that?! XD

6. Who is their bff?

Varric. Before Solas the one thing they have in common is being hung up on their ex.

I think Varric is also that person that always reminds the protagonist that they're still a person and not to get swept up by what everyone wants from them and I think that's something Moro needed.

7. What have they been up to in the 10 years between Inquisition and Veilguard?

Moro has a brother. He was taken to the Circle as a child while they still lived in the alienage and she's spent her whole life accepting he was either dead or she would just never see him again.

Turns out he's not dead and has been doing well for himself in Nevarra despite being a mage and an Elf. I think he would have come through and once he'd proven that he was indeed her brother he would take taken both her and Ramia into his protection to get them away from everything and let her heal.

Clan Lavellan got wiped out during Inquisition so they had nowhere else to go. So she's spent the last 10 years catching up and rebuilding a relationship with him. She lost her arm and a lover but she gained a brother, which would be really great for her. Despite some of his tendancies, i peg him as neutral evil alignment lmao but he is genuinely happy to know he does have family again and his sster and niece are exempt from his more morally questionable dealings.

8. The most important question: how do they plan to annoy Solas in Veilguard?

She's going to be very passive aggressive. Lot's of tutting and scoffing at anything he discusses.

Chilling on a couch with a glass of wine while he makes battle plans and he can feels her eyes on the back of his head and it'll drive him nuts.

She'll claim everythings fine but he knows it's not fine but he can't get her to to be honest and it's just a never ending cycle.

Gosh I haven't thought about DA Moro for a while, especially while writing (i need to hurry with those) the BG3 version of her atm but this was fun! Halsin is defibnitely healthier for Moro than Solas is but who doesn't love some good toxic sexual attraction.

[xpao-bearx]

Okay S O--

I promise I'm updating my Moon Knight fic (Like A Virgin), but this is an idea that's been nagging me like Khonshu for a while now and I've finally decided to share it! But please keep in mind that it's just what it is: an IDEA. So I'm sorry if this sounds a bit messy/incomplete/all over the place (and there's a possibility that some things could be changed), it's literally just me rambling and I think it's actually a pretty interesting idea! And this turned out a lot longer than expected ;-;

At the moment, I also have no clue what I wanna do with this idea (or if I'll ever even do anything with it at all). But I, obviously, take all credit for this so please don't steal (or at least tell me if you got inspired and plan on writing a similar fic to this cuz I would totally read the F U C K out of it) 🙃

Anywhore--

So my idea is, basically, this: The story begins in Season 1 of Moon Knight and it mainly revolves around a romance with our one and only sassy baby boy, Steven Grant (and of course with some 🔥spahcy🔥 smut thrown in) ❤️

For Steven's love interest, I dunno if it would be an original female character OR a Fem!Reader situation going on, so for now we'll just refer to the love interest as MC (main character)

Now MC and Steven live in the same apartment building and are next door neighbours. They've also been dating for quite some time, but strangely enough Steven doesn't remember ever asking out MC.

Steven and MC are pretty much what is considered to be the "perfect couple". You can really tell that they love and care about each other a lot, but recently a rift has been slowly but surely growing between them. It all started when Steven has been mysteriously disappearing, sometimes for days on end with MC not being able to contact him and not knowing his whereabouts. It doesn't help that Steven doesn't know anything either which, obviously, is very concerning but MC really likes Steven a lot and (maybe quite foolishly) chooses to let the matter go. MC thinks that whatever the hell is going on, there is a good explanation for it and can be resolved once Steven is ready to open up.

But things only become much worse from there when Steven started to miss dates and other important events in his and MC's relationship. There are also some days when Steven acts very odd, being cold towards MC and acting as if he didn't even know who she is which obviously hurts MC especially when she continuously tries to help him and just wanting to figure out what's happening.

It eventually comes to a point when MC couldn't take it anymore so she goes to confront Steven about his behaviour. She is rightfully mad and confused, but nothing changes the fact that she's still very much in love with him and wants to properly work things out.

Once MC goes to Steven's apartment using the spare key she has, she is shocked to find a woman there (this is shortly after Steven is fired from the museum and he discovers Marc's things + the scarab in the storage locker). A frazzled Steven is shocked when MC suddenly appears, too, especially when the woman--Layla--introduced herself as his wife.

MC couldn't even say--do--anything, only staring at Steven with such hurt, angry, disappointed eyes before running out the door and out of the building. Steven chased after MC to explain, but he wasn't fast enough and the damage was already done.

Fast forward into Season 2 (I know at this point in time there's no S2 but just indulge me LMAO xD), MC is revealed to be living with a friend of hers as she picks up the pieces of her broken heart and starts anew.

But here's a lil twist: After the events with Harrow and the gods' Avatars died, MC became Hathor's (the goddess of love and music) new Avatar. I still don't know how this came to be, but just roll with meh 👍

While MC does her missions for Hathor, she eventually crosses paths once more with a familiar face who she is surprised to find out is Khonshu's (another god Hathor has quite smittenly told MC a lot about) Avatar--Steven.

Only... This isn't actually Steven, but a man who claims to be Jake Lockley.

Jake then explains to MC that Steven has dissociative identity disorder and that he, along with another man named Marc Spector, were alters in a system with Steven. Obviously this is a fucking LOT to take in, but MC eventually believes Jake and it made sense as to why Steven acted different sometimes when they were still together.

It is also revealed that Jake was the one who asked MC out and before Steven even knew her, Jake was the one who liked her first. But in an attempt to keep MC all for himself, Jake doesn't say the truth about Layla, of how she is now Marc's ex-wife since things never worked out with them and Steven is still very much hung up and in love with MC. So MC is kept in the dark about everything, still believing that Steven lied and cheated on her.

It is definitely weird meeting Jake, especially when Jake is extremely open about his feelings for MC and continuously attempts to go out of his way to find her and woo her (to no avail). MC knows that despite sharing the same body, Jake is an entirely different person. But it hurts a lot to just look at him since all she sees is Steven.

Overtime, however, MC gets over her heartbreak and realizes that she also has feelings for Jake and decides to say "fuck it" and take a leap of faith. At this point in time, MC is still under the impression that Steven is married to Layla (even though she hasn't seen the woman again at all). Deep down, MC knows that it's wrong, but she really does like Jake and believes that they both deserve to live their own lives and have a relationship with each other, even if it may be challenging to keep it a secret.

Once MC confesses to Jake, he realizes that what he's doing is wrong and if he truly cared about her, he needed to be honest. So Jake takes MC out on a date and plans on telling her everything, but before he had the chance to Steven suddenly gained control of the body!

Steven and Marc have both had suspicions for a while that there's a third alter and now it's been confirmed, along with the two of them being surprised and infuriated that Khonshu isn't actually out of their lives. But the more pressing matter is that MC was here, right now, with Steven, even though it shattered his heart to see her looking at him with those same pained, spiteful eyes that haunted him when she completely disappeared from his life.

But in a panicked rush, Steven told MC everything. Of how he didn't know he had DID before, about coming to terms with Marc's existence and Steven's own purpose, of how Layla was actually Marc's wife and they were now divorced, etc.

All of this was much harder to take in than when Jake told MC about their situation. Although, meeting Steven again made MC realize that she did still love him as much as she loved Jake. But that didn't erase the pain in MC's heart and while she was glad that the truth was finally out and all the misunderstandings were cleared up, MC just needed time. Time to heal, time to just really wrap her head around everything and determine where she stands in Steven and Jake's lives and where they stand in hers.

So that's what MC did. As much as Steven missed her, as desperate as he was to hug her and kiss her and just say that everything will be okay, he respected her decision. And he understood because he, too, needed time to get his and Marc's and Jake's shit together.

As time passes, MC and Steven meet again. And this time, they were ready to be together once more and for forever. Jake is there, too, and they all work together to navigate through their unconventional romance, but they don't worry too much because they know they will be alright. Because, just like the constellations in the night sky, their hearts had a special connection.

But as MC's love blooms with Steven and Jake, Marc is there. He's always there, like a dark shadow. Unlike the other two, Marc actively avoided MC and/or openly expressed his distaste. He didn't love Layla anymore, but the divorce really affected him as well as his perception on relationships. He just didn't want to suffer through that same heartbreak again, but this time he had a lot more to be protective over because he not only had to watch over himself, but also Steven and Jake. He absolutely would never forgive you and himself if you broke the boys' hearts.

Though let's just say, long story short, that you work things out with Marc and wormed your way into this lovable grump's heart 🥰

There are also two potential endings for this story. Ideally, of course, I LOVE a happy ending and I want them all to simply be lovey dovey (which they DESERVE). The other ending, ROUGHLY, is that some bad shit goes down and MC ends up having to sacrifice herself to keep the Moon Boys safe and she dies. This obviously completely fucks the boys up, so much so that they never fully accept MC's death while also losing their will to live and blaming themselves. As a result, during a mission for Khonshu, the boys are so out of their element that they end up being killed by their enemy.

B U T even tho me likes some good ol' angst, I could never actually go through it without a proper conclusion!! SO when the boys die, they meet and be with MC again who's been eagerly waiting for them at the Field of Reeds, truly for all eternity now and just U G H MY HEART 😭💔

Now that I've written this out, I'm SO fooken excited!! Though, as I said, this is only an IDEA (at least for now)

Buuut what do y'all think??? :3

[p-receh]

Hali with shadow, taufan with sonic, gempa with knuckles, blaze with blaze, solar with tails

Yaya and amy

Hali and shadow be respecting each other with their respective weapons (sword and gun)

Taufan and sonic is just racing with the hoverboard/extreme gear (Ying gave taufan super speed)

Gempa and knuckles are having tea :D

Blaze is flabbergasted with blaze, but both are now performing flame dances (blaze also tried to pet blaze which resulted in a very tired no)

Ais and Duri are watching the blazes doing their intimidation dances and betting on whos winning. They decide blaze wins by default and when questioned on which one they both said "obviously the kitty, you think mr armpits man was even close?"

No one knows where solar and tails have run off to but they feel a constant chill to always be worried, they are terrified on what the heck those 2 could be up to

Yaya, amy, ying, and rouge are having a girls day and its a blast

Nice observation!😁👍

But I may have a different pairing than you, anon. Bear in mind this is all subjective.

Trio ori for me is unknowingly has similar characteristics with Team Heroes and I. mean. it.

Like look at their color codes!

Yeah sure, Sonic and Taufan literally similar and had the resemblance from the word "Wind" by their own practices.

But the rest two from both group are painfully close.

Knuckles and Hali are notoriously the solo fighters with high discipline. "Oldest" member of the group, always be the frontman fighter for the bottom two, recklessly think he could do it on their own, the biggest tsundere and "unsurprisingly" always get tempered easily by the middle kid lol.

Whereas Tails and Gempa always be their peacemaker. The calm, innocent kids who observe the surroundings before take any decisions. And both have their own giant... Companions to accommodate them! That's honestly what I thought about Gempa when re-watching the OG era until Galaxy season 1 happened.

I absolutely agree Yaya with Amy! This cute pink gals should never ever be underestimate by everyone. They strong yet also act as the mother figure for the group.

For Ying...she also could work with Sonic too I guess? But in some sense, both characteristics and core powers are honestly different. But her discipline kinda fit with Blaze. Oh Sonic gonna love to race with her everyday he wants too😏

For Blaze, in my head, the perfect candidate that could work with him is either Marine or Sticks. I was gonna pick Sticks only, but then both of those have similar personalities with Blaze despite power differences. I can picture all three of them do some wild traps and bombs. Only their wacky ruckus brain could survived it.

Ice might be the only character that I couldn't find his counterpart. I want to say Espio, but eh...not fit enough.

My best guess for Duri is of course, Charmy! Being the "pon" of group, they are able to strike the opponents with their snarky words. I couldn't imagine which character that beautifully encapsulates Duri other than Charmy. X'D

Solar is interesting choice. I'm not choosing him with Tails cause in a sense, Tails' characteristics is not like Solar. But I can see their intelligence and power can be both match in some ways. When you think about it, Tails is somewhat the perfect balance of both Solar and Gempa.

Gopal's best pair must be with Vector. By all means I don't need more to add for these two. Especially if there's another call for new cases, 100% guarantee these two will handle it in Ace Attorney/LA Noir-esque. 😎👌

For Fang. Again my heart was pumped up when I see Shadow's wings in Shadow Gens. I literally yelled, "Finally, Fang is not alone!!" lmao🤣. That's the basic reason why I drew this(still have no idea how I cooked that. 🙃)

But really, the reason why I paired these two because:

1. Both of these two essentially being the second most popular character outside of the main protagonists (not include the elementals),

2. They're both aliens and born outside of the earth. And—

3. Just like Sonic and Taufan, they implemented the word "shadows" in their own view.

Last but not least! Adu Du and Eggman!

Such very ecentric genius characters that have their own comedy minions. Both have their signature apperances that instantly grabbed people's attention, whether as a threat or just being a random dude on the streets.

And personally I always adore when series consistent with who's the main protagonist and antagonist till this day. Yes, the enemy is getting dreadful and maybe even stronger than the original villain are, but don't forget what had made them who they are from the start.

(which is why I might not be ready for Gentar animated arc. I already cried enough with the comic ver but I don't think I could do another round :'()

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that is all I could think of! let me know what you think! :D

[softpine]

Two things: (1) would love some behind the scenes thoughts on your most recent post, especially regarding the background convo Elaine is having (her reactions aren't shown and I just feel like she could be so helpful in piecing some things together/formulating theories) and (2) I'm especially curious about Finn's book selection. What was your thought process when you picked them? Which are his favorites and why? Do some of the themes of the stories, symbols, lessons, or characters line up with Frozen Pines or specifically Finn's arc in general? I love pretty much every single book in Finn's stack and my brain has been going wild all day analyzing them lmao!

thanks for asking!! so originally i did include elaine's dialogue too, but i found it really wasn't necessary and i was able to include more hints by cutting out all the transitions between each piece of information. the thing i found interesting is how lucy is reluctant to speak to them about who finn was as a person, because that's where the majority of her guilt lies. asa and elaine are certainly not the only people who've asked her to talk about her son, and she must know how bad it sounds that she can't name more than 1 thing about him. it clearly causes her a lot of distress. so when asa leaves the room, elaine doesn't bother asking her more questions about griffin -- she gets right down to business, talking about the case, not the person. and lucy opens up to her immediately, because this is easier to detach from. she feels secure in the knowledge that she did everything she could after finn went missing; she has no guilt over that. here's a full breakdown of everything she was saying:

(… why I called my sister first — ’cause that’s where he would’a gone! I never thought something bad happened to him, just thought he ran off …) the first question elaine asked is "why did you wait so long to call the police?". finn ran away from the camp site in the evening, and no one noticed until the next morning, when everyone sobered up. lucy & richard didn't call the police for many hours, instead choosing to look for him themselves. lucy called her sister first, because she thought that would be the first place finn would run away to. when her sister told her she didn't know anything about finn coming to stay with her, then lucy called the police. by then they'd already lost a whole day of potential evidence.

(... come to find out, the only thing they took prints off was the cigarettes. Now tell me how that makes any sense, that a killer would stop to smoke Griffin’s own damn cigarettes? They never found ...) finn didn't smoke, but he did carry a pack of cigarettes in his back pocket at all times; mostly to look older. when his body was found, the cigarettes were also found, alongside a bunch of broken glass from a beer bottle. the police never took fingerprints from the bottle shards, only the cigarettes. this is ridiculous to lucy, and elaine agrees. the killer never would've touched the cigarettes. they used the bottle as a weapon, so if ever a fingerprint was going to be found, it would've been found there. but now we'll never know.

(... cousin was never the same. She got herself institutionalized, you know. She said she could see Griffin, hear him talkin’ to … ) this one is a deep cut lol. lucy's sister has a daughter, liz, who finn was pretty close to despite them living so far away. after he died, he spent most of his time following liz around, trying to talk to her. she couldn't see/hear him at first, but slowly she began to recognize his presence. she was terrified. eventually she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where she was prescribed heavy antipsychotics. at the same time, finn decided to leave her alone because he didn't want to scare her, so she falsely assumes she was hallucinating the whole time due to grief. this is when finn got so lonely & sad he basically hibernated for a few decades.

(... damn cruel, that’s what it was. They had no right to tell me that way. No right. Treatin’ me like a murderer ...) finn was missing for 2 weeks before his body was found. the police have long suspected finn's parents are the ones who killed him. as a way to get them to "crack" they decided to inform them finn was found dead while they were in the middle of a televised interview, so everyone would see their reactions. ever since, people have judged lucy & richard for how they went completely stone cold and "showed no emotion". elaine is angry on her behalf too, because there's no possible "good" way to react to that information. it was always meant to be a trap.

(... always getting himself into trouble. He used to be such a good kid, and then, well, I don’t know ...) elaine had to bite her tongue at this part. lucy is basically saying she doesn't understand why finn started getting in trouble at school, stealing things/money, fighting back against his parents (to some extent). she still doesn't understand the gravity of the abuse she played a part in. like no shit he started acting different after his most formative years were spent in survival mode 🙄

(... ’bout two months before our old friend Chris killed himself, cops brought him in again. Yellin’ at him. Telling him they had all this evidence they don’t got. He was …) she's talking about chris porter, steven's dad. the guy who jada saw a vision of and who asa sees in spirit form every night. steven also wondered if his dad might have killed finn. when steven himself was about to die and was briefly able to talk to finn, he said: "[Chris] came home late that night drunk out of his mind, and his shoes, his pants, everything was soaked. I know they were, 'cause he threw a shoe at me and I had to clean up the mud. And he was different after that. I never saw him smile, never again. When the cops finally came 'round, I lied and said he was home all night. He was my dad, what was I supposed to say?". but lucy clearly doesn't believe chris did it. elaine remembers hearing about chris' death (it's not every day someone decapitates themselves on the train tracks) so she was more curious about what evidence they claimed to have gathered on him. she's not sure she believes it was ALL a bluff on the police's part, but she doesn't say that to lucy.

sorry that was so long omfg but to answer your question about the books: i think the prevailing theme is mostly "books a 10, 11, 12 year old shouldn't be reading yet" -- not because i think pre-teens can't handle these types of themes, more so because i wish no kid could relate to them yet. these themes include forming concepts of morality and justice, feeling ostracized from society, lacking control over your own life, complicated family dynamics, loss of innocence, and of course, abuse. there are moments in finn's journal entries where he sounds exactly how old he's supposed to be, but mostly he just sounds so much older and more exhausted than he should be. he couldn't relate to most kids his own age, let alone books meant for his age range. instead, he took solace in horror and mystery novels because of these themes. stephen king is clearly his favorite; he has almost every book of his written before 1982. he also has a TON of books that were later turned into movies (some he was able to watch, some came out too late). i can't even list them, there's so many. he loved comparing film adaptations to the original work and he was a big fan of movies in general. the really sad thing is he writes about wanting to see blade runner and that he's going to read the book that inspired it first (do androids dream of electric sheep? is actually in his stack of books) but blade runner came out just a few months after finn died, so he never got to see it :(

oh and i also was going to scan my own copy of the outsiders and create some annotations that finn would've written (which is why lucy mentioned him writing in the margins in the last post). because the outsiders was my favorite book that i read when i was around finn's age and i can seriously quote it cover to cover, so i had plenty of ideas about how finn would've reacted to it. but i decided it just wasn't necessary after all those journal entries. maybe i'll still do it for fun someday lmao

[nickelstudy]

I passed N1!

Yep, as the title suggested. I took JLPT N1 exam this July and the here's my result!

I didn't have time to write about how the exam was, so I'm using this as a good opportunity to write about it. Though, it won't be as clear as that very day.

Reading

I started off with my usual way, doing the 読解 very early. This time I tried to apply some tricks I learned from Sou-matome hoping it would help me which is

Skimming the first time -> Read again while making different symbols for different types of keyword including conjunctions too. I didn't have time to summarize each paragraph of course. I could only underline some phrases I think were important.

Knowing that I won't have enough time to do all of them, my time management was a little better. I skipped to finish the last reading problem first, the one with an information/table/graph.

In the end I couldn't finish only one big mondai which is fine. I did my best. And looking at my reading score, I was 1 point from failing which is really scary. If I take a test again, this is what I need to improve on.

Also the girl sat next to me finished it with 45 mintues left and took a nap. I wonder who she is...

Vocabs/Kanji/Grammar

Grammar part was actually the first section I do. This time I must say it was harder than I thought especially the star one. It was surprisingly confusing. There were a lot of problems I marked to do it later because I couldn't figure out the answer at all. Despite that, the format is the same as the last round. There was one polite language, and this time I didn't let it catch me off guard again because I was well prepared. Other than that, I kinda forgot...

Vocabs and Kanji, I did these when I had 10 minutes left. Kanji was so easy that I could speedrun through it. There were some that I wasn't so sure like 粘膜 or 誓約書 but in the end I correctly answered all 6 oft them. For choosing the right vocab, I'm okay with some. There are some that I felt stupid choosing, trusting my gut rather of my brain like when I choose 低迷 instead of 返上. I know the first one isn't that close but I chose it anyway...

Choosing the same words were almost all correct if it wasn't for the word ぞんざい. I've seen this word TOO MANY TIMES in the textbook or Anki but yet I could choose the right counterpart of it because it has too many meanings and I guess I wasn't so precise.

Lastly, the context usage. We have this 風潮 which I didn't even know how to pronounce it. It was hard deciding whter it litereally means as the kanjis show or is it something more figurative like a trend. (I chose the wrong one). There was 補填 and other words that mean a similar thing. I still couldn't figure out the differences lmao. And the last one, which was コンスタント. Should it be a constant (like a math) or constantly? or always or stable action? It was hard to choose but I made the right choice YIPPEE. I only 5 mintues but I had to read every single sentences so I was shaking a little bit but gladly, some are easy that I could tell from a glance like もたらす or how to use 撤回する -> 宣言撤回 from 籠り唄 by 悒うつぼ really helped me TT

Listening

There was no guarantee that I will pass the listening test. That's the scariest part. But I think I did pretty decent. Every time there is a listening mondai where they explain 4 things, could be 4 courses, 4 items, 4 rooms. And there will be a couple talking. Then you have to answer what each of them choose BUT THIS TIME THEY DIDNT DO THAT they go with what the girl choose first and what did both two have done I thought I could understand all of the 4 activities and I was going to be fine but nah. (maybe I really did)

Overall I'm just happy that I pass regardless of the score. All of the effort really paid off! The learning journey will continue despite reaching this level and I hope I can learn more and more from now on.

[snowandwolves]

yooyoyo it's the lengthy ask anon (i nearly typed "ass anon" and that should give you a clue as to how crazy this week has been jfc) back again with some qs because the lighthouse au will forever be in my heart 💕

is there anything you learned about Ava through writing this fic, particularly being in her pov?

uh do you think they ever revisited that conversation about public acts?

is there any particular places you see them visiting together? places Ava visits by herself?

what made you pick "Somebody to Love" as the heartbreak of the century?

did they ever play with the ouija board or the um other things they found in the everything shed?

how did you come up with the idea of Suzanne restoring the truck?

do you think Bea ever gets good enough at cooking that she has dishes she confidently makes for Ava?

which martial arts does Bea have proficiency in?

do you have an idea as to what distracted Bea to leave the rations storage door open?

also after that, when Ava went into town and showed Mary, Cam, and Lilith that "proof of life" pic, just how much shit did they give Bea?

as always, pick and choose or ignore, i totally don't mind - i hope your week has been good and if not, that the weekend gives you some respite! (or at the minimum some yummy veggies? lol'd hard at your tags about broccoli bc i couldn't help but think about Ava making that comment about her asshole in chapter two lololol)

hard relate on the crazy week because that has been me this past week and this is genuinely the first day i feel like i have room to breathe lmao i hope you’ve been having a gentler, slower time this week though! 🥺 right, ok, on to the questions 😂

1. just like,,, how complex of a character she is. in the show, you know she loves life, you know that she’s a glutton for experiences, you know that she wants to live more than anyone else. but when you really get down to how much she’s had to survive to get to that point—all the pain and suffering and grief—you can’t help but love her more. especially, when i had to ask myself how she must’ve felt. that… was an experience lmao

2. yes. ava had to shop for underwear at some point…?

3. GRANDPOP OLIVER! i was genuinely so sad i couldn’t find a way to get him into the story, but in my head, he’s alive and kicking and prone to bursting into tears in the presence of his pseudo-granddaughter. ugh, i wanted to write that reunion 😭

4. this is gonna sound nerdy, but with ava’s age and her mom’s, i figured it was the song that would make the most sense considering what music was like at the time. I Will by The Beatles was also a contender though.

5. ouija board is a horrible idea in a huge ass compound where there’s no other person for miles and miles 😂 as for the uh other things, i’d say they’d have a conversation about it but bea would prolly be like “who knows whose bodily fluids that leather has soaked up”

6. genuinely have no idea 💀 i was like “oh they prolly need a car but also no one to do maintenance here so,,, maybe suzanne knows how” and just went with it 😂

7. yes!!! ava would teach her how and they have fun with it while they google recipes and the cultural background of each dish together. i’m thinking bea would make her waffles from scratch and ava cries into it because she used to have it with her mom 🥹

8. aikido is one. i remember doing research for that for sixth to the ninth hour lmao as for the others, imma say she’s prolly a jack of all trades type (though this is more because i don’t know which to pick. she seems like she could do it all)

9. actually i did think about this 😂 bea definitely didn’t mean to. it’s just the door gave up being a door and it didn’t close properly. she didn’t think to check because she didn’t expect the door to… not door 💀

10. a hell of a lot. so much so that bea put her phone on do not disturb as soon as ava got back with the groceries 😂

ok but what are your thoughts on celery 😭 jk, thank you again for this anon!!! 💙