#I do believe I have a problem with rambling…

[wemlygust]

I'm playing it safe and putting my whole dang post under a spoiler warning. Do not proceed if you have not played Slay the Princess.

I'm reblogging this because I love the art, and I love Slay the Princess, although my own playthrough of Slay the Princess ended in me deciding to, well, Slay the Princess. The game was not a love story for me; it was more like a domestic abuse story, and the ending was coming to terms, letting go, and finding freedom and hope. I actually have so much respect for the devs for making the game in a way that allowed me to reach a very different conclusion than the one I believe they intended to be the "best", and while still giving me an absolutely phenomenal experience from start to finish. The game remains extremely satisfying even if you reject the intended meaning and find another. Like, I could still tell "ah, this is for sure not what they want me to do..." but the game let me do it anyway, and the outcome was satisfying and didn't feel like a punishment or a scolding. In my experience, there really aren't very many games that can absorb that kind of disagreement with their own narrative. Usually, games either shove you kicking and screaming into the "good" ending, or they hand you a "bad" ending that is unambiguously awful. Or they express no significant opinions on anything, no real themes, and are only permissive because they are bland and noncommittal. This one, though. This one is afraid of no theme, never hesitates to introduce a strong opinion or idea or moral position. And it yet it also fucking "no, but-" or "yes, and"-ed all my disagreements with it, and then somehow managed to give me an ending that actually fit well with my interpretation of the story. I cannot, CANNOT, get over how fucking incredible that game is. It's like the game is an extremely intelligent and philosophical horror improve partner with the player. I can't ever even talk about it without wanting to go play it again. Yet it's so hard to sell people on, too. 😅 But at least the surprise of discovering what this game is, under its title and marketing and genre expectations, is a joy as well. Anyway, my point, though I wandered far afield of it, is that yours is a really fun crossover idea, but I think I'd prefer it be wildly AU in execution, because the game ending that I think is intended by the devs is one I cannot accept, and the ending I got.... Is way too sad for Danny. >.< Also, I just have trouble imagining Danny committing that much murder and torture, tbh. :P Ultimately, though, this is only a me problem! Write and/or draw whatever ya'll want to, of course. :) Aaaaanyway, you really nailed the Slay the Princess art style, on the dot. Like, I would have known exactly what it was even if you hadn't included the title, or the writing underneath the image, or anything else but Danny chained to the wall. That's really impressive to me. In part because I cannot visual arts, and I don't have a handle on what it is about the Slay the Princess art that makes it so distinct, though I'm now finding it to be an interesting thing to think about. /long rambly post. Your art is great, though. Keep on keeping on, even if you end up slaying Danny or whatever.

”You’re on a path in the woods. And at the end of that path is a cabin, and in the basement of that cabin is the Ghost king.

You’re here to slay him.”

I like Slay the Princess a lot, and I feel like Danny and Valerie could work in this dynamic. This also gave me an excuse to focus on my line art cause that’s my favorite part, and I hate coloring.

[nik1okrock]

Konon's brother pt2

Part 1 here

Genre: fluff

Tropes: hidden relationship, bff's brother

Word count: 1.7k

(the texts in the header are what he sends you half of the time)

Masterlist

---

Riki was your best friend's younger brother, he was tall and handsome. You always had a crush on him, and two years ago you declared yourself. So, basically you were in a two year relationship and still no one knew.

You reluctantly made Riki move away, slowly and carefully as he whined like a baby; and luckily you got into Konon's room just before she arrived. A quick and awkward “hey” before the silence fell again as you both changed to go to sleep: Riki's shirt she still hadn't recognized and a pair of volleyball shorts.

And soon you snuck back into your boyfriend's embrace.

The next morning came too fast. Way too fast.

The sun filtering through Riki’s window casted lazy gold streaks across his bed. You blinked awake slowly, disoriented for a moment by the weight curled around your waist. Then you felt him stir—his nose brushing your jaw as he shifted closer, groaning softly.

“Mornin” he murmured, voice still thick with sleep. You hummed back, eyes slipping shut again for a second. His warmth was still too intoxicating to let go of just yet. You felt him grin against your skin, the mischief already returning. “You agreed to tell them today,” he said, voice barely more than a whisper. You sighed, burying your face into the pillow. “You really remembered that, huh?” He nodded against you, his arms squeezing tighter. “Didn’t dream that part. Believe me, I replayed it all night.” You turned to face him, lips brushing his as you spoke. “You’re ridiculous.” “I know. But I’m your ridiculous.” There was a small beat of silence, the weight of the day beginning to settle between you. Riki gently tucked a strand of hair behind your ear, his expression softening. “We don’t have to do it over breakfast, okay? Just sometime today. When it feels right.” That helped. Slightly.

But downstairs, the world felt different and you knew you had to go back into Konon's room to not make her suspect you two.

But she wasn't there and so you walked downstairs, Riki just a few steps behind. The table was set. Konon was already pouring herself coffee. Sola sat cross-legged on the kitchen bench, humming to herself while texting someone. Their mom was at the stove humming along to some old song on the radio. Their dad, newspaper in hand, nodded in greeting when you and Riki entered the kitchen—though his eyes lingered a beat longer than necessary.

Konon’s eyes narrowed. Immediately.

“You two came down together?” she asked, voice deceptively casual. Riki didn’t flinch. “Bathroom line,” he said smoothly. “Y/N was brushing her teeth when I knocked.”

“Right,” she said, taking a sip of her coffee. “Of course.” Your hands trembled slightly as you reached for a glass. Riki’s hand brushed yours as he passed you a plate, and that tiny touch alone steadied you. You nodded at him in quiet gratitude. The meal passed in tension-laced normalcy. Sola rambled about an upcoming school trip. Konon watched you too closely, and their dad kept glancing between the two of you, like he was solving a math problem no one else could see. It wasn’t until after breakfast, when everyone had started to scatter—Sola disappearing upstairs, and their parents out in the garden—that Konon cornered you in the hallway.

“You like him, don’t you?” The question landed like a hammer and your mouth opened, then closed. Konon knew that during the first year of high school you used to have a small crush on him, you told her, but suddenly last year you stopped yapping how you felt when your eyes randomly, briefly met his. But the real problem were now Konon’s, dark and searching, didn’t leave yours. “I’ve known something was up for a while now. You’re not good at hiding things. Neither is he.” You felt your heart hammering. “Konon, I—”

“I’m not mad,” she interrupted. “Not yet. But if he’s playing you… if this is some kind of joke—”

“It’s not.”

The voice came from behind you.

You turned to see Riki, his jaw tight but his eyes calm. He stepped beside you, brushing his fingers lightly against yours. “I love her,” he said, plainly. “I’ve loved her for a while.” Konon blinked, stunned into silence. “And we didn’t tell you because…” He hesitated, then looked at you. “Because we were scared. Mostly of how you’d react.” Konon’s gaze flicked between you both, then she folded her arms, leaning back against the wall. “I guess I should be mad,” she muttered. “But I’m more annoyed that you two thought I was stupid enough not to notice.”

You blinked. “Wait, so…?”

Konon rolled her eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Just… don’t be gross about it. And if he hurts you, Y/N, I will cut him out of family photos.”

Riki grinned. “Deal.” “Swear to God, Riki, don’t push it.”

You burst into laughter, half in relief, half in disbelief that the hardest part was over.

Later that evening, the whole family sat around the TV. You and Riki sat close—this time not hiding it. Konon didn’t say a word, but she did nudge Riki’s foot off the coffee table with a muttered “you’re still a menace.” Riki leaned into you, his hand casually slipping into yours.

You weren’t hiding anymore.

And it was terrifying.

And exhilarating.

And entirely worth it.

It was when later the two protagonists of the movie were about to kiss—after a slowest and twisted burn— that you felt Riki's hand on your cheek, turning your head towards his. Eyes fluttered and lips carefully connected in what clearly seemed impossible to turn into a make out session, which actually did. It was sweet, but soon it became heated and sloppy, Riki's hands were all over you, grabbing your waist, pulling you closer until your back pressed against the couch cushions. You could barely think—his mouth was urgent, a little reckless, like he’d been waiting for this exact moment, like the months of hiding had built up into something neither of you could hold back anymore.

“Okay—seriously?”

Konon’s voice snapped you both out of it like a cold bucket of water. You froze. Riki groaned softly against your shoulder. “I said don’t be gross,” she continued, arms crossed, looking mildly horrified and mostly exasperated. “You’re two feet away from our dad.” Riki chuckled as he sat up, brushing his thumb across your cheek, smug and unapologetic. “Sorry. Got caught up in the… cinematography.” Konon rolled her eyes so hard it looked like it hurt. “You’re both insufferable.” Their dad cleared his throat loudly from behind his newspaper. “I’m not hearing anything,” he muttered. “And I’d like to keep it that way.” You covered your face with both hands, your cheeks blazing, while Riki just leaned back and threw an arm behind your shoulders like nothing happened. Typical. The rest of the movie passed in relative peace—well, except for Sola dramatically gagging every time you and Riki so much as looked at each other for more than three seconds.

Later, when the credits rolled and people started to drift off to their rooms, you and Riki found yourselves alone in the dim glow of the TV. “Today wasn’t so bad,” you whispered, fingers playing with the edge of his sleeve. “Nope,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to your temple. “Told you we’d survive.” You leaned into him, heart still thudding in disbelief. The secret was out. The world didn’t collapse. And somehow, everything felt a little lighter now. “You know,” he added, voice suddenly lower, “next time we’re about to kiss like that, maybe aim for when your dad isn’t within spitting distance.” You laughed into his shoulder. “Yeah… noted.” Then, quieter: “Still worth it.” He grinned, pulling you closer. “Every second.”

--------

©2025 nik1okrock all rights reserved

Lil tag @nikismyprincesses

[etirabys]

current original work protagonist is the magically powerful bastard child of a clan with mind control; her thing is that she despises them for how they treated her mother, is plotting their downfall, and considers herself morally superior to them. like the rest of her family she on some level considers it her natural right to maneuver other humans around on the board, but she has trained up her charisma so that she can manipulate and gaslight people the old fashioned way instead of using dark magic, which is Bad

[the-worms-in-your-bones]

I know I’ve said this before, but as much as I think gallifrey really wouldn’t work all that well outside of audio, I would absolutely love to be able to see character’s mannerisms, how they stand, how they walk, the facial expressions they make. I want to see the stupid time lord outfits and the halls of the citadel and what low town and the outlands look like, what the houses look like, I really just wish we had more visuals of gallifrey

[tyracaterinagrant]

genuinely hilarious btw how people on twt want soo bad to make matteo a villain in jannik's story or some shit like it's a disney movie. less than a month ago he said they'd talked recently and he's never had anything but good things to say about jannik but to some people it'll never be enough because he made a decision for his career that i understand is hard to digest but it has nothing to do with his relationship with jannik, jannik himself said it doesn't bother him, they both have never indicated they weren't on good terms. like yeah we can't ever really know the truth behind what they say in public, but i think we should stick with what we can see and read, yeah? because making wild assumptions based on nothing doesn't lead to anything good, it's just speculation and i don't see what anyone gains from it?? i think maybe some people need to grow up and accept that they don't know these people. they don't know jannik and what he thinks or feels or who he talks to or who avoids him or whatever. we know what he shows and tells us and that has to be enough because otherwise we go down dangerous paths

[lesbiansforeddiediaz]

Where my Eddie meta differs from the popular fanon is I don't think all his problems are because he's gay and I don't think kissing a man would heal him or really benefit him much at all. (He is gay but that's not important right now)

[novantinuum]

steven quartz universe is a wild character because never before have i simultaneously had various facets of imagined scenarios in my head where a character is either: cis+, nonbinary, a trans boy, OR a trans girl before

like you could genuinely go ANY direction with this character and still come up with a satisfying and interesting bit of character work for Why gender is the way it do be

[pyrepostings]

imagining a defiant interrogation whumpee who gets sick of saying "I'm not telling you" so they start going into what sounds initially to be them finally telling whumper what they want to know, but ends up being whumpee wasting time by just quoting a song.

[gojoest]

not the usual good morning post, but hello and morning! ( :

i’m deeply grateful to everyone who is looking out for me here — it truly means a lot and i appreciate it immensely. however, for my own peace of mind, i kindly request that you refrain from mentioning other users in my inbox, especially one in particular whom many of you are likely aware of. this is purely for my own comfort. thank you! 🤍

[viridian-house]

remembering the time I asked my ex to please make some distance between himself & my bestie because of remarks he'd made to me about her body and his response was to get home, sit on the sofa and fold his hands, and look at me and say "since you're thinking I'm cheating on you, I can only assume this means you're projecting your own guilt onto me and you're the one cheating. I'd like to look through your phone now."

and guess who ended up being the one cheating 🥲

[reanimatedgh0ul]

this is their dynamic to me

[king-lena]

roger waters and david gilmour would have either had a much better or a much worse relationship if they had just listened to plato and socrates and given in to their carnal desire towards their fellow man and just fucked about it in the first place but they really took the beautiful homosexual wisdom of man loving philosophers for granted and look where it got them

[doomdoomofdoom]

Dear USAmericans,

Since that post about a US company nuking germanys HIV prevention videos picked up a lot of traction, I've noticed that you're still having the same election debates as a year ago.

So I figured I'd break it down as best I can. One of these two will be dropped off at your home. You must choose.

You do not have a third option. You cannot refuse. If you attempt to do either, the worse option will be chosen for you and your entire neighborhood.

That's what your presidential elections are.

Please, for the love of all that was ever holy, stop receiving hydrogen bombs. We're all getting blown up and would like it to stop.

Because I already know the discourse, long breakdown below the cut. I'm a literal expert on this topic.

For the sake of simplicity, I am mainly referring to presidential elections, although this applies to most of them.

First thing you need to know: The US is a Two Party System. This is very unfortunate because those are bad. While it's true that there are more than 2 parties on paper, they do not stand a chance in federal elections. It 100% sucks, but I need you to accept this as true for the time being.

This can be rough to wrap your head around, so here's why:

The US uses something called the Electoral College and Plurality Voting. You may also have heard the terms "first past the post" or "winner-take-all". A state's votes are all given to one party, no matter how close the result is. Best example is probably Pennsylvania:

In pretty much every presidential election since the 70s, Pennsylvania has its votes split down the middle. But all of its electoral votes go to the party with more votes. So even though only half the state voted Republican, it's treated like all of them did. This is also why Pennsylvania is so often a key state in winning the presidency.

Winner-take-all also happens when there is only one position to fill. Think of mayoral elections as an example. There is only one mayor, they can't exactly split that guy proportionately and sew on half of the other party's candidate.

I am telling you this because now we're going to talk about the Spoiler Effect, also known as Vote Splitting.

If Republicans get 40% of all votes in a state, that would leave 60% to go to Democrats and they'd win that state. However, if there's a third party involved that's just as popular as Democrats, they get 30% each. That's less than 40%, so Republicans win the state, even though the majority did not vote for them.

It absolutely sucks that the mere presence of a third party candidate can change the outcome of an election without getting elected themselves. It's awful, it's unfair, and it has been abused in the past; RFK Jr all but admitted his plan had been to split the democratic vote, but found himself splitting the republican vote instead, so he dropped out of the race. But that is the system you're living in right now and it is the system you have to work and vote in.

Now, there are three main talking points I need you to understand:

Do NOT EVER give up your vote. Every chance you get to vote, YOU VOTE. Local, state, federal, every election you can vote in. It doesn't matter if your vote feels pointless in face of winner-take-all. Or you don't like either candidate. You are facing fascism. You cannot afford to leave your strongest tool unused. Yes, you cannot vote away fascism. But you can show your support. You can stop the election of more fascists. You may even be able to elect people who fight it.

You cannot have a third party win in the current system. It simply will not work. The top 5 third parties currently have less than 1% of registered voters combined. Not only would you need to somehow convince and mobilize a majority of voters across several states, but you would also need them to come from both Republicans and Democrats. (And non-voters, but systemic issues etc.) It simply will not happen that you can sway all voters from one party, so your third party would need to be in the middle, which by definition would make them more right-wing than democrats. Also keep in mind that no matter how well you campaign, most USAmericans do not pay attention to politics. Google Trends noted a spike of "did joe biden drop out" searches on election day. the spike was much smaller than the one back in july and probably got boosted by reporting and inaccuracies but it did happen. There is no viable way to introduce a third party in the current system. It sucks. Both options suck, I agree. But one is a fucking hydrogen bomb and the other is a coughing baby.

The US needs a voting reform. Desperately. A popular suggestion is so-called Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV). This would allow you to vote for a third party, but still cast your vote for a different party if they don't succeed. This would reduce the Spoiler Effect and allow voting for a third party without the immediate risk of fascism. In fact, a few states already use it! However, as of writing, RCV is banned in 17 states. In all of these states, the ban was heavily supported by Republicans and opposed by Democrats. notable outlier here is kansas where the ban was supported by democratic governor laura kelly who seems to be a bit of a piece of shit anyway. other semi-outlier is kentucky where the democratic governors veto was overruled You need proportional representation, ideally abolishing the electoral college altogether. You need an end to voter suppression (particularly aimed at BIPOC) and gerrymandering. You also should probably get rid of the Filibuster once you have a functional democracy, but that's neither here nor there. Republicans strongly oppose any of these reforms, because they would lose the power they've been consolidating. Democrats tend to support them, as they'd like some of that consolidated power.

Right now, you have two choices. If you ever want better choices, or even more than two, you need to vote Democrat. While you still can.

Democrats are far from great, or even good, but unfortunately they are the only way out of this. And in the meantime, they have immediate effects on the rest of the world: The US provides the most humanitarian aid across the globe (because it got rich from all that colonizing etc). Or at least they used to until someone took a literal chainsaw to these programs. Right now, people are dying because the aid they needed, that was promised to them, that they relied on, was cut off. We're about to see a resurgence in several disease outbreaks because their prevention and treatment programs are defunct.

Oh and, you know, the Republican President just bombed Iran.

[quetzalpapalotl]

Pre Dark Cybertron exRID it's pretty balanced towards its ensemble cast, but if there was a main main character it would be Bumblebee, so it is very hilarious how Optimus came and stole the show and made it All About Him when Bee complained that people won't respect him as a leader as much as they did Optimus and there was even a storyline in the Costa ongoing where even tho Bumblebee is supposed to be in charge Optimus keeps steamrolling him.

[m0thlegs]

As much as purity culture IS penetrating fandom spaces and sanitising them beyond their core intent, I feel like some of you are overusing the phrase "don't like, don't read" (and others like it). Rather in response to people being nitpicky about certain themes merely existing in content (fan-made or otherwise), you guys keep using it as a way to shut down critical discussions of your favourite medias in a way that feels oddly anti-intellectual and ironically puritanical in and of itself.

[somatosensors]

my hater moment about marvel designs is that female superheroes are overwhelmingly young. and also other things but thats a big one.