#I know this is all pretty simple stuff but it is easy to forget. personally atleast

[shibaraki]

ADORE that you're giving out advice in a way a lovely old grandma would <3

plslkjslkjfd demi that is such a sweet vibe;; I simply want people to take care and not punish themselves for things out of their control!!

[sttoru]

“AS IF THE MEMORIES HAVE A HEART THAT ONLY BEATS AT NIGHT.”

༄ sypnosis. your boyfriend is on a business trip, yet always finds the time to call you at night. though, this time he’s lonely and in need of comfort.

༄ note. inspired by one of mahmoud darwish’s poems plus by my love for this man. sigh he’s so pretty. excuse me if this is too sappy.

༄ tags. satoru x reader. female reader. pet names such as ‘sweet, love, baby, babe, angel”. satoru is clingy. this is just uhh, fluff and sprinkles of angst + reverse comfort. spoilers jjk manga (stuff w/ suguru & toji).

“what are you doing,” “where are you,” and “who’s with you,”

satoru, as always, didn’t give you the chance to greet him properly once you picked up his call. your boyfriend was sent on a mission overseas and has been calling you every night since.

he says it’s to ‘hear your pretty voice’ and because he apparently ‘can’t survive without hearing it at least once a day’.

“satoru— love, calm down.” you chuckle softly, putting the call on speaker before going back to eat your dinner.

you hear the sorcerer let out a small whine over the phone, “my bad, sweet. you know i always look forward to speaking with you.”

you hum lightly in response. satoru has always had the habit to call you whenever he misses you even in the slightest of amounts.

some may find that annoying, however you’re aware that you are the only person satoru can rely on at the end of the day. that’s exactly why you try your best to answer all of his phone calls.

“how’d the mission go?” you ask after swallowing a bite of your food.

“pfft, the usual. dealt with some annoying curses that’ve been plaguing the area.” your boyfriend groans; he wished he didn’t have to take care of his duties so he could be with you all the time.

satoru just wanted to hold you in his arms, cuddle you, shower you with love, take you out on cute dates and spoil you with all kinds of gifts. his responsibilities as a teacher and as the strongest sorcerer constantly got in the way of that simple dream.

“good work, baby. you did well today.” you reply, earning a small ‘i-know-i-did’ huff from your boyfriend.

“thanks,” satoru adds, his voice muffled. it sounded like he had some food in his mouth, which you easily guessed was something sweet, “you know.. i was thinking about us— eh, you in particular.”

a silence falls over the phone afterwards. it was like satoru gave you a moment to process his words before he continues.

“well, when do you not think about me?” you snicker.

you couldn’t see it, but satoru rolled his eyes at your comment before letting a chuckle escape his lips, “hey! was trying to create a sentimental mood there.”

“but, i guess— yeah. true.” your words were the truth; satoru was a hopeless man when it came to you. you’ve invaded his thoughts, his heart and even his soul.

“anyways,” your boyfriend continues, pausing slightly to swallow the snack in his mouth, “i know i say this every day, but i wish you were here with me.”

you stop chewing on your food as soon as you hear the slight change of tone in satoru’s voice. you immediately knew that he needed you at the moment.

“mhm, i know,” you reply quietly. you wanted to let him get it all out before comforting him properly with your words.

satoru took that short answer as a sign to keep talking and opening up about his feelings to you.

“it’s just,” he sighs defeatedly, “actually, i don’t know. i guess being alone during times like these really gets to me.”

satoru stared at the ceiling as he laid on his back. his phone was on the pillow right next to his head, also on speaker.

when he’s with you, it’s easy to forget about all kinds of gloomy thoughts that may enter his mind. all satoru has to do is focus his attention on you and he won’t have any time to dwell on such stuff.

however when he’s alone, he’s left with his own brain and the thoughts that ate away at him ever since the inevitable incident with toji a few years ago.

suguru. amanai.

rustling sounds; satoru’s moving positions on his bed to somehow focus on your voice again.

“i guess it’s also because it’s unknown what the future holds.” satoru pauses. this time the pause was for him to collect his thoughts.

you knew what he meant by that; satoru had went through a few traumatic events over the years. he’s faced betrayal, loss and death ever since he was a teenager.

even if he doesn’t say nor show it, satoru is scared of what the future holds for him. especially with you in the picture now— he doesn’t want you to change or disappear on him. the thought alone makes his heart ache.

“..hey, can you promise me one thing, angel?” satoru eventually speaks up again, his voice a hushed whisper over the phone.

“of course. what is it?” you answer softly.

a third and short silence falls between you again.

“promise me that you’ll stay safe.” satoru sounds like he’s desperately trying to keep his tone neutral, however you could sense some vulnerability in there.

now that you’re thinking about it, you’ve never seen or heard satoru cry out in sadness or distress. though you know for sure that those feelings are building up somewhere inside of him. it’s only a matter of time before they need to be released.

“i promise,” you start in a comforting tone, “i promise i’ll stay safe, satoru.”

you could hear your boyfriend sigh in relief. just a small promise like that was enough to calm him down a little. for now, that is.

“i’ve failed many people before,” satoru continues, still trying to keep the tone of his voice neutral, “however, i will not fail you.”

you nod to yourself. the rest of your dinner was getting cold as you used your chopsticks to absentmindedly poke the rice while listening to satoru over the phone.

“you’re too important for me to lose,” he murmurs, taking a deep breath to steady his voice, “if it ever comes to that.. i don’t know what i’ll do.”

satoru actually doesn’t know how he’ll react or what he’ll do if you—the only person worth fighting for—would leave him; will all the thoughts come crashing down on him and cause him to finally break down?

he doesn’t know. nor does he want to find out. ever.

“don’t you worry, love.” you answer, “i hereby promise you that i won’t leave your side any time soon.”

you sigh, a small smile on your face which satoru couldn’t witness. you figured to cheer him up with your own words— it felt like he needed a mix of distraction and comfort at the moment and that’s what you wanted to give him.

“i’m not going anywhere. you’re completely and utterly stuck with me for now.” you playfully warn him, putting emphasis on the two words, “there’s no backing out of this, ‘toru.”

the sorcerer couldn’t help but laugh slightly at your last remark; you always knew how to make him feel better in an instant. that’s why he loved you to death,

“make that forever and we have a deal.”

“fiiine,” you reply in an over exaggerated tone before giggling, “forever it is. don’t get bored of me any time soon then.”

“oh, don’t you worry, angel.” satoru chuckles, sighing the stress away in one deep breath, “i’ll never get bored of my favourite girl. never in a million years.”

he sits up on his bed before standing up and walking to the window of his hotel room. satoru looked outside while grabbing another snack from a nearby table.

the sky was beautiful; it reminded him of you, though your beauty was no match for the sky. you were prettier than nature itself.

“satoru.” you call out to him over the phone and he immediately snaps back to reality.

“yeah, baby?” he replies, unwrapping his chocolate bar with one hand in the meantime.

“be reaaaal honest with me. like really honest.” a grin forms on your face as you thought of what to say next.

“you know i always speak the truth with you,” satoru mutters with a smile while putting a piece of chocolate in his mouth, “go on.”

“how many of those chocolate bars have you eaten today?”

the question caught satoru off guard and he instantly stops chewing.

satoru turns his head to the left and then to the right, eyes narrowed and body in a defensive stand like somebody was going to attack him any time soon.

“wh— the hell? how did you know? don’t tell me you’ve been secretly watchin’ me the entire time.”

you could already picture the way he’s probably checking his entire hotel room at the moment. your poor boyfriend may be strongest, but not when it comes to such silly ‘scary’ stuff. it’s adorable.

“babe, you never go a day without eating that one specific chocolate bar.” you giggle softly, taking another bite of your own food, “i’ve come to know your eating habits by now.”

“that so?” satoru grins to himself as he puts another piece in his mouth, “what am i thinking at the moment then? if you know me so well.”

you roll your eyes and get up to put your dishes away, taking your phone with you to the sink. “hmm.. well let me think.”

“take all the time you need, baby.”

satoru constantly tells you that you’re always on his mind, so you figured that this time wouldn’t be any different.

you know it’d probably be something sappy that’ll make you both giggle uncontrollably.

“maybe, something like—“ you start in a teasing tone, “i don’t know, uhh— ‘i love you?’”

there it goes; the uncontrollable giggles and laughter that fill both of your ears. it felt like you were two young teenagers in love again.

“damn, i’m really that predictable, huh?” satoru eventually says, trying to catch his breath as his tummy started to hurt from laughing so much.

“nah. i’d say it’s the power of love.”

another fit of laughter follows.

so, the night went on and on; going from discussions about random stupid stuff to deep philosophical conversations and back to the cheesy, lovey dovey remarks.

and of course, the call wouldn’t end without a direct and sleepy ‘i love you’ from your dear boyfriend.

[rainbowbarnacle]

Please make a tea post so I can save it especially the pineapple ice cubes I need more info

Oh, like, different teas I like to make? Okay! :D

🍍Pineapple Tea🍍

The way I do it is really simple:

Buy a giant jug of already-made tea (I like gold peak!)

Buy a carton of pineapple juice

Freeze the juice into cubes, pour a little of it in the tea for extra flavor

And that's it. That's aaaall you gotta do.

There's all kindsa ways you can dress it up, but nine times out of ten I just do this and drink it by the gallon when it's hot out.

If you wanna get fancy with it, feel free to cold brew your own black (or green) tea, add actual hunks of pineapple fruit in there, add some orange juice, add some honey, add some coconut milk or sweetened condensed milk, whatever sounds good! (Also, pairing pineapple tea with coconut cookies? SO GOOD.) Put mint in the pineapple cubes if you like mint! Add a bit of boiled ginger root or some brown sugar and cinnamon for a little kick! Heck, last summer I used blue peaflower star-shaped ice cubes just because they were pretty.

(Peaflower petals don't taste like much, but they make a GORGEOUS blue, and if you put something acidic in there like lemon juice IT TURNS PINK. :D)

🍓Strawberry Tea🍓

I find this stuff sort of difficult to find where I live, so often I go the same route as the pineapple tea: grab a jug of black tea, grab a jug of strawberry juice, (ocean spray has a really nice cran-strawberry one I like) freeze the juice, mix, and enjoy. Super simple.

If I can't find strawberry juice, I dice some strawberries up and put it in a jar with some water and a bit of sugar for a few hours, then add *that* to the tea. (heck, it's really nice all by itself!)

What goes with strawberry? ANY DANG THING YOU WANT. I am particularly fond of lychee. Jasmine tea and rose petals pair really well with it too. Again, if you like mint, it's *really* nice with strawberry. And you know how if you put black pepper on strawberries they taste even strawberrier? (If you haven't tried this, go do it, it's magic.) Same goes with the tea, add some peppercorns or a teeny bit of chili powder or some ginger.

If you wanna drink it hot or cold brew a batch of your own, here are some brands that are also nice:

1. Strawberry Sensation

2. Adagio Strawberry Tea (this is also where I got the peaflower petals)

3. Any of Lupicia's Strawberry Teas they are HEAVENLY

🍏Apple Tea🍏

As with the pineapple and strawberry teas, it's totally fine to just go find some ready-made tea and mix it with some apple cider or apple juice for tasty low spoons fun. If you drink it iced, a bit of sugar and lemon juice brings out the apple flavor nicely!

I prefer drinking this stuff hot though. You know that Fall Drink post that was floating around? IF YOU HAVEN'T YET, TRY IT, IT'S AWESOME.

☕Chai Tea☕

So here's the thing about chai for me personally: I don't tend to drink it iced or sugary, but if you do like it iced and sugary, there are a couple of really nice chai tea concentrates:

Oregon Chai Latte

Tazo's Chai Latte (Forget the "skinny" nonsense, I just wanted to include an option with no milk so you can add whatever you want to it)

Pacific Chai isn't concentrated, but you can use it to make hot or iced chai and it's really lovely, not too sweet and super easy to work with. As for dressing up chai, I don't tend to! There's already so much going on with all the flavors, I just drink it as-is most days. Play with milk-to-tea ratios or sugar amounts all you like, figure out what's your jam.

I do know that mixing chai and coffee together (or chai and chocolate together) is guaranteed to make a feeling groovy kind of morning, at least if you have two thumbs and you're me. Iiii think that's all the tea blather I can think of for right now. Thank you for asking, anon, it was fun! Anybody reading this, feel free to add your own favorite things to do with tea. :D

[gowonders]

11:45 ♥ c.bg

notes : helloooo >_> felt like writing a new years fic for the pure reason of me liking it more than christmas.. and i got a crazy idea while doing my makeup .. soo.. !!! DID I FORGET TO RELEASE THIS…??? maybe. so it is based around new years, im so so so so sorry!! its so late >_< hope you enjoy this ~

warnings : not proofread, english isn’t my first language, yes i did bsf➡️lover again kill me, perv!switch!gyu, kinda perv!sub!fem!reader, dubcon, mentions of alc, and oral (m. rec.), reader has a BAD oral fixation :3, lmk if i missed any baes~~

beomgyu only had one new years wish. or.. resolution, he should say. to get you, his best friend to be his new years kiss. and he had a set plan, to get you to a party, and get you drunk enough to forget anything if you didn’t feel the same .. simple enough, right?

except, like anything that seems simple, it was the most fucking complicated thing ever.

a couple of knocks are heard on the doorway as you fix your makeup up, you turn your head back and meet beomgyus gaze, a meek smile on your lips. “hey gyu, what’s up?” you ask, putting down your lip gloss vial. beomgyu huffs and shakes his head. “um? we have to go soon.. get dressed and finish your makeup, i only wanna be fashionably late.” he says with a chuckle. “okay, okay,” you respond with a giggle. “let me get changed…” you trail off as you put on lip gloss, it had a pretty glimmer which gave it a white tone, and of course, it drove your best friend crazy. because all he could think of was painting your pretty lips with his cum…

“beomgyu.” you cut through his thoughts, holding up some dresses. “can you help me pick one? i’ll be quick, i just seriously don’t know which one to wear.” you ask with a pout, tilting your head.

“uhhhhhhh” beomgyu says into the air.. both of the dresses were cute, and they’d look perfect on you.. but one was more revealing. one one hand, it’d be really easy to keep his eyes on you all night.. but on the other, people would be able to see you too… “that one.” he says, pointing towards the less revealing dress. he’d be able (hopefully) to see more some other day. “oh, yeah! that is cute!” you say with a smile, “let me get changed and we can go.”

a few minutes later, you’re walking out of your room, looking absolutely perfect. like.. beomgyu could die right. there. but luckily, he keeps his composure and stands up, looking you up and down. “you look really nice, yn.” he says with a grin. “um.. thank you gyu, you too?” you respond with a chuckle, tilting your head at your best friends sudden sentimental words.

with a sigh, beomgyu waves his hand and grabs his keys, waking towards the door. “let’s get going?”

and somehow, maybe 2 hours later, you’re wasted.

you only had a few drinks.. did you? at this point, you couldn’t keep track. your best friend kept handing them to you, and you just took them, because what kind of person turns down free drinks? maybe a smart person.. because at this point, you are feeling things worse than a buzz.

“beomgyu….” you slur out, titling your head as you look at the boy sitting next to you. “can you hand me that..” you say to the boy holding your purse in your lap, pointing at it. you had kindly asked beomgyu to hold your purse before you came, and thank god you did.. because who knows where your stuff would be without him? “yeah, for sure.” he says stiffly, handing you the bag.

his mind is going crazy. he pulls out his phone a few moments after giving you your stuff, and sees the time. 11:45. he only had around 20 minutes to try and get you to be his new years kiss.. or more.

and god.. the way you applied that pretty and shiny lip gloss right infront of him didn’t help. he wanted to kiss it off, and have it smeared all over his cock. you would look sooo pretty… big, round, glassy eyes looking up at him, your bruised knees visible from your short dress, his hands tangled in your hair. don’t even get him started, if only you gave him a chance.

“it’s 11:50…” you start, pouting. you take your can of.. whatever you were drinking at this point, who was keeping track, and holding it up to your lips. “another year, no kiss.” you say in a tone that, to beomgyu, sounds like you’re begging him for that kiss. you take a sip of the drink and hold it up, making a toast to yourself. “ah, no.. yn..” beomgyu says, pulling your can down. “if you want.. i could kiss you? i know we’re best friends but like.. you complain every single year.” he sighs, looking you in the eye. he had you right where he wanted, you were drunk, he could have you in his arms if he used the right words. “i just hate to see you so upset!” he says with somewhat fake pity.

“really? you’d do that for me, gyu?” you ask, your face almost lights up. “you’re so thoughtful.. shit, i’ll take it.” you say with a slurred chuckle, pulling out your phone once more to check the time. 11:59.

“well. um.” beomgyu starts with a chuckle. “yn, happy new years. you’re my closest friend, and i can’t wait to see what the new year brings, right? i think you’re really great so like-“ he says, somewhat rambling before you cut him off. “its 12.” you mumble, holding onto his shoulders and pulling him in, pressing your glossed lips to his.

finally, ohmygodohmygodohmygoddd- are all of beomgyus thoughts repeated as you kiss him, and soon enough, he tries and shoots his luck, swiping his tongue across your lip, and your lips part.. which just ends you guys making out for a little longer than some “new years kiss”…

as he pulls away for air, you’re still connected by a string of saliva, and his lips are smudged with your lip combo.. just like he wanted. you guys had already made out.. and you were in some isolated part of the house.. it wouldn’t be a crime to ask.. “yn, wanna give me head?” it was bold. really fucking bold. but you were drunk, you would not remember anything in the morning. “yeah, sure.” you mumble. “like.. right now…?” you ask, and he just nods.

“mkay.” you say under your breath, and your hands move to his belt, undoing it. the clinks echo throughout the empty room as he leans back on the armrest of the couch, his hair turning more disheveled than it was before. your fingers hook under the waistband of his briefs once you unzip his pants, and he shivers, leaning his head back.

“i’m gonna.. yeah.” you say, slipping off the fabric and watching his hard-on spring against his stomach, your mouth watering at the sight of his leaking, red tip. you press your thighs together and whine, wrapping your hand around the base of his length, starting to pump it. his cock was so pretty..?

you could barely contain yourself as you press a small kiss to his tip, a shaky breath fanning against it. “so pretty. love you.” you mutter before you lick up his precum and wrap your lips around his length.

beomgyu couldn’t believe his ears.. aren’t,,, drunk sayings,,, sober thoughts??? he didn’t want to harp on it much.. he was literally about to ruin you. and your pretty little face.. and that really distracted him as he laced his fingers through your hair, fisting it.

as you sped up, beomgyu started to push your head down to take all of his inches, making you choke slightly and tears well at your eyes… you could care less. the salty taste and the way it hit your throat had you going crazy, you had to press your thighs together to try and satiate some neediness, but you could still tell, with the way your whines and moans muffled against his cock, making the experience all the more better.

“n-ngh, yn, fuck!” he chokes out, hips snapping up against your face as he pushes your head all the way down. “f-feel so- good..!” he pants. sweat was beading at his forehead, and a sheen of it could be seen from his half open dress shirt.

and you were faring no better, because beomgyus taste alone had you going, eyes squeezing shut to hide the way they rolled back.. you couldn’t wait for him to just paint up your throat.. and he looked so pretty, eyes squinting and lips parted as he lets out heavy breaths and groans, his disheveled hair and shirt.. god you were going crazy.

your hands jerked off the parts you absolutely couldn’t reach, so with that, your mouth and the vibrations of your moans.. beomgyu was on edge.. he could cum. any second. and honestly.. so could you.

“g-gonna c- ah!!” beomgyu cries out, throwing his head back all the way against the arm rest, hips rolling up into your face, gripping your hair for dear life, needy moans leaving the boy until he stays in a hilt, shooting white ribbons of seeds into your throat, making your whine against him, and that shot off your climax, except you finished in your panties, ruining the flimsy fabric. he just tastes so good..

and you were about to get the whole.. ruined underwear.. somewhat taken care of.

[cyberpunkaddict]

2023 Letter.

Here we are again. It’s been a year since my last letter. This is my last post for 2023. I included a bunch of unreleased VP again.

Read the letter below:

This year has been a rollercoaster in many ways. It’s really easy to focus on the negative because it seems to take up so much space. But it’s important to take some time and think about the positive in life too to get some perspective.

Life is made up of tiny moments of happiness after all. ❤️

The Cyberpunk 2077 community is very important to me. "Stuff" we may or may not agree with is bound to happen no matter where we are, IRL or online. But no matter who you are, in the end we all want the same things; feel like we belong, make connections with people, escape real life for a while, have fun and feel safe.

I'm a broken record lol, but... Without you there wouldn't even be a community whatsoever. Thank you for being part of it and making it fun! ❤️

So, back to reminiscing on 2023...

If you know me, you know I'm a stubborn perfectionist. With that comes pessimism, but I’ve grown and gained a more positive outlook on life, which is something I’m proud of. It's not often I'm proud of something, striving for perfectionism and all, so admitting this is a huge achievement for me. I know I'm always gonna be a perfectionist when it comes to my art though, but that just forces me to be a better artist, so it's not all bad... As long as I don't overdo it, which is something I'm working on. My goal for 2024 is to stop being so hard on myself and upload more to Tumblr. ❤️

I started doing OC gif giveaways this year, and I definitely wanna do more, and not just gifs but VP too. I do these because I want to spread, excuse the cringe lol, happiness and positivity. I love to give back. It gives me purpose in life.

I started modding as well, which I wanted to do for months, but I was too scared because it seemed so complicated... But I did it. I'm proud I went out of my comfort zone for once.

So, Dear Everyone ❤️, once again...

Thank you for sharing your incredible art, writing, cosplay, mods, and the list goes on. I hope 2023 treated you well, if not, let's make 2024 beyond amazing! I want you to know that you make my day better no matter what is happening in my life. The simplest joke in a tag or a simple hi in a DM make me smile and laugh. And if this is how I feel, just know you make other people you've never met before feel this way too. I think that's pretty cool.

One day I might have to leave Cyberpunk 2077 behind, because that's how life goes sometimes. And that’s sad to think about... I’m not ready to put it behind me yet. At the same time it means that this community, and my OCs and yours will always have a place in my heart.

I will never forget you.

Here's to another year filled with lots of happy moments. ❤️

Bye 2023! Hello 2024!

Vicky

To everyone who made it this far, I have a little surprise... I’d like to do VP with one of your OCs. Comment on this post and tell me what you’re proud of in 2023. In a week-ish I’ll pick a random person (from the comments). :3

❤️❤️❤️

[mamawasatesttube]

tim for the ask game? :-)

Headcanon A:  realistic

part of the reason he keeps his hair longer later is that he has a pretty significant burn scar on the back of his neck after the explosion he's caught in late in robin '93. he's not too self-conscious about it or anything, but he hates when people stare or ask about it.

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

when he was going through his dad's stuff after his death, he found a box of his own baby teeth that his parents apparently just... kept. which he had feelings about for sure, but also like... he didn't really want to keep a little box of his own teeth. that feels weird. but also throwing them away when they clearly had significant value to his parents feels BAD.

solution: he makes sure the box is clearly labeled (there's a tiny paper that says "tim's baby teeth <3" in his mom's handwriting in the lid; he goes over it with sharpie because it's kind of faded) and then just leaves it in a drawer in dick's apartment. dick you want these right? for emotional attachment or whatever? yeah cool.

dick finds them like two weeks after tim just places them there and goes hm. considers calling tim like hey why is there a box of your teeth in the drawer under my tv? but then he's like eh you know what, my life is weird enough. this may as well happen. so he just leaves them there and forgets about them again. tim considers this a job well done.

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

he has a boatload of internalized homophobia to work through before he can even admit to himself that he's bi, thanks in large part to jack drake. he's also trans, and jack's acceptance of that hinged on tim being able to play the part of the classic ~all-star american boy~ so well. as a result, after jack is dead, tim has a lot of issues allowing himself to stray from what he knows his dad would've wanted him to be. it's not a simple easy said-and-done journey. it takes him years; he's the last one of core four to come out.

he also doesn't just like. tell people. his sexuality and his relationships are on a need-to-know basis. he's a very private person he's not going like oh i'm queer? i need to inform everyone i know. it's like... partly because he is just a private person, but also because it takes him a looong time to work through the shame around his sexuality that his dad left behind.

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.

he and zoanne are still friends. or they reconnect when tim eventually goes to college to get an engineering degree. specifically i think he just goes "well i'm great at tinkering and shit so how hard can this be?" and then once again has to struggle with juggling vigilanteism and having a normal life and doing homework. and zoanne is there going jeez your eyebags!!! are you good?? and tim's like no i want to sleep for a week :( why did charaxes show up last night when i have an 8:30 am lecture on tues/thurs >:( except he can't say that because secret identities. the point being tim gets to continue exploring his Themes and Issues re: identities and ALSO zoanne wilkins is there.

[linawritestwst]

May i request hcs of trey, jack, leona, and ace with a shy chef!s/o who is a chef and likes to make bentos for them?

trey, jack, leona and ace x shy chef!reader headcanons (gn!reader)

i'm slowly going back to working on the writing reqs. i will finish writing them soon, i promise ;-;

trey clover.

♡ trey would admire your talent a lot. he's more of a baking guy and even though he most likely can cook at least something, he still prefers baking. but you can cook pretty much anything! he is so proud of you, he loves your cooking and he often asks you for advice, who knows, maybe he'll get better at cooking too thanks to you! though he doubts that he'll be as good at it as you.

♡ he wishes you could be more confident about your skills though. he understands that it can be hard to admit that you're good at something, especially if you have a low self-esteem, but still! come on, y/n, you don't have to be so shy, everybody here loves your cooking and you should be proud of it! he's always here to remind you that you're doing great and that there's nothing wrong with saying things like "i think this dish turned out well" or "i want you to try this, i think you will love it".

♡ he would love it if you made bentos for him. with all his vice dorm leader's work, it's easy for trey to forget to take care of himself. and your bentos are so good too! he always smiles when he sees the bento you made for him and how cute it looks. you often leave cute little notes for him too and he's very happy to see them, because it means that you're slowly opening up and it's easier for you to express your feelings for him.

jack howl.

♡ he would respect you so much. he is so proud of you. he knows you work hard on your cooking and you're always trying to get better at it even though you're already basically perfect. but that's a very admirable trait of yours, it means you want to achieve more and that's great! just don't push yourself too hard and go a little bit easier on yourself.

♡ he would support you as much as he can, he knows you're not the most confident person, so he really wishes he could help you somehow. if anyone even tries to insult you or make fun of you, your boyfriend will teach them a lesson or two. it would be a bit hard for him to support you with his words though, because. you know. because of that tsundere personality of his. but that's okay, because just a simple smile from him is enough for you. or you can notice him blushing while saying something and that's when you go "OH.. OH SO HE DID LIKE IT.."

♡ jack really appreciates you making bentos for him and he loves them a lot even if he doesn't actually say it, you can just see it on his face. he loves how balanced and healthy your bentos are, but they're also tasty at the same time. and he's not gonna lie, it feels nice to receive a bento from you right in front of other savanaclaw students, especially his upperclassmen. he just has to be careful so that a certain hyena boy won't try to steal it. don't worry ruggie won't do that. he's a bit jealous but he thinks that you and jack really are cute together

leona kingscholar.

♡ huh, so you're good at cooking.. okay. JKSHBDHSJDJ okay, okay, he actually does find it impressive, but you're not gonna hear that from him unless he's in a really good mood. you can still easily see how much he actually loves your cooking because he clearly likes the food that you cooked more than the food from the cafeteria. he also wakes up from his nap a little bit faster when you're the one bringing him food instead of ruggie and it's something that you cooked yourself.

♡ he thinks you're weird for having a hobby like cooking because it requires so much time and hard work and you have to know a lot of stuff too. when you mention that you find cooking relaxing, leona pretty much goes "i didn't know my s/o is this insane". but don't let his words hurt you, because this is how leona is actually saying "my s/o is on a whole different level. they are so talented, they even find an activity like this relaxing".

♡ he doesn't understand how you can be this shy about it though. like, do you even hear yourself? maybe your cooking is not perfect (though it almost is), but you should stop saying things like "oh, sorry, my cooking is not that good" or "oh no, i knew you will hate it", HE DIDN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING YET, Y/N. stop thinking he hates your cooking when he didn't even say anything yet! fine, maybe he should actually praise you more often. maybe it will help your self-confidence grow. he thought him liking your food was obvious, but it looks like even though you know so much about cooking, you're absolutely clueless when it comes to your own boyfriend's reactions.

ace trappola.

♡ OHHHH he loves showing you off to other students so much. he never shuts up about how cool and talented his s/o is and he doesn't notice your face becoming completely red after he says all those things about you. it does sound more like he's praising himself for having a s/o like you than actually praising you but we're not gonna talk about that. but all jokes aside, he really does think you're amazing and he loves your cooking so much! maybe even more than he loves you- he's just joking around, please don't kill him.

♡ it surprises him how shy you are, because if he was as good at cooking as you, he would never stop talking about it and he would remind everyone about it like every five seconds. seriously, you should be more proud of yourself. if you keep not giving yourself enough credit, ace will just force you to praise yourself and say that you've done a good job. sure, you can say he's cruel or whatever, but he just can't watch you letting people walk all over you and say whatever they want about you when he knows that you're trying your best.

♡ he LOVES getting bentos from you and whenever you cook one for him, he doesn't miss a chance to show it to other heartslabyul students and mention that it was made by his s/o. yes, his s/o is so great, they always make sure ace is eating well and taking care of himself. stay jealous <3 and if you left a cute message for him, he will show it to everyone to annoy them even more. but he does it not only because he wants to show how lucky he is, but also because he really does want everyone to know how kind and amazing you are.

[fallenclan]

Hey! I was wondering, I'm thinking of starting a Clangen blog like yours. I was wondering if you have any tips for 1. how to draw as awesome as you do and 2. how to stay invested in the plot.

Oh and also! How do you always remember so much about all your cats?! You seem to remember everything!

Have a nice day/night!!! :D

Thank your for the very sweet ask!!! I will do my best to give you a good answer

For art, it's really just a matter of finding what sort of style works for you. Mine is pretty simple and cartoonish. I didn't know how to draw cats before I started this blog, so you can see there was a lot of development very quick, but I grabbed a lot of details from how I would draw other things--eyes, hair etc, if that makes any sense. I also definitely recommend using references. References are your best friend. Personally I have a pinterest board full of them

For staying invested in the plot, I would say interact with your cats in the way you would interact with any other character you liked. Listen to music and relate it to your cats. Doodle fan art in your spare time. Write down notes and little lore bits! Just have fun with it. If you genuinely have trouble staying invested, start over with new cats! It's your blog and you can do whatever you want with it

As for remembering stuff about the cats, it's mostly just because I was (and still sort of am) very hyperfixated on them for a bit. So obviously I cared a lot about them and thought about them a lot. It's also because I write down all the events that I draw, or the events I think I should remember, either in a google doc or in a cat's personal notes. If it seems like i remember Everything, I don't. I just happen to have all my documents and the actual Fallenclan file on hand, so when someone asks something it's easy for me to look it up when I forget

Hope this helped, good luck!

[insecateur]

do you have any tips on where and/or how to make blinkies? i want to learn how to make them but don't know how. have a good day btw :3

hiiii i will do my best to give tips!! o7

first of all if you want to get a feel for blinkie making without diving in directly i recommend using a site like blinkies.cafe which lets you just add text to premade blinkie templates! i think it's a good way to get an eye for the blinkies "aesthetic" especially regarding the actual blinking part, the borders, all of that. and ofc the size (which for the record is traditionally 150x20px!)

if you want to actually get into Real Custom-Made Blinkies, studying ones you like up close is a great idea because it'll help you see what works and what doesn't. obviously everyone will have different design sensibilities, but that's why it's always good to take inspiration from things that you personally like!

here are things that i like, as an example:

dotted/dashed borders that blink between two colors

shadows

outlines

pixel art

keep in mind that blinking can be upsetting to the eyes for some people! i always try to not overdo it, but at the same time, they are blinkies, so it seems kind of like a waste when they don't blink at all...

traditionally, blinkies include two things: a picture, and text. they don't always! sometimes there's only a picture, and sometimes there's only text. for example, this blinkie i made of lysandre only has his card art and little hearts. this is once again going to depend on your preferences. but for the sake of explaining, let's say you want one or two simple pictures, and some text.

i find pokémon to be a pretty easy thing to make blinkies for, because you have a large panel of pixel art to choose from! for example, i made this blinkie for my blog using one of the mini scyther sprites. a lot of them are animated, too, which is fun. i can't really advise you on what program to use for animated stuff because i use really old ones LMAO but i've always had a good time using ezgif! you can just feed it your frames and use the website to put them together into an animation.

the text imo is the trickiest part. the blinkies you find on blinkies.cafe use pixelated fonts, but i've had a really hard time using them outside of that context. it's hard to get them to look good imo, especially at the small scale that blinkies end up at... so what i've been doing is making my own little pixel art alphabet. it's very fun for me and i don't think it's as difficult as it sounds, so i definitely recommend it because it gives you a lot more flexibility imo. i handdrew the text for all of my PSS blinkies, as well as the aforementioned scyther one, and this trans rights one. i actually have the trans rights and PSS alphabets completed and saved in a file for later use in case i need them, lmao:

you can see what the process is like: i make a rectangle, draw one letter, and then copy the rectangle to draw the other ones at the same size and in the same style. it's very, um, vibe-based, i guess? you just have to figure out what looks good for your Vision. but i find it super fun... so it's easy for me to do, i guess...

if you want to see the scyther blinkies text closer up, here it is at 500% size:

uncapitalized letters are more difficult than capitalized letters imo, but i think i did an ok job! maybe i'll make a full alphabet for that one too at some point, lmao. for the "tumblr" text i just copied the style of the logo (hopefully that comes through...)

i'm not sure what else to say, so feel free to ask more specific questions if you'd like! i think a lot of the other stuff is more general art/graphics advice, like color theory and the likes, which i'm not sure is worth going over LOL. but as a parting note, i'd definitely suggest not going overboard on the color palette. blinkies are pretty small at their default size, and too many colors will make them really hard to look at, let alone understand. in general, keep in mind the final size when working on something like blinkies, and make sure to zoom out periodically to double check you've got something readable!

and don't forget to have fun 👍👍👍

[olderthannetfic]

The previous convos about sensitivity readers and purity culture in booktwit types definitely feels familiar. I'll never forget when I was querying agents a few years ago with a novel I wrote, and I was told my writing "caused discomfort," was "problematic" and could be seen as racist/anti-black and having a lot of instances of queerphobia and misogynoir. The novel was a horror-fantasy story that actually was based on the transatlantic slave trade but on a different planet (So, yes, I would hope that this kind of story would be disturbing and cause discomfort in the reader. Mission accomplished). The plot covered several generations of the captured aliens who were enslaved (a la A Hundred Years of Solitude), the fallout of their enslavement, and the mistreatment of the enslaved people as a result. Most of the agents who requested the full manuscript said they liked the story, but I was met with many intrusive questions about my identity, race, gender, and sexuality and urges to work with a sensitivity reader should we progress forward as agent and writer. I am a Black, femme nonbinary, bisexual person. This was all fine and dandy with them, so they wanted to make this information about my identity public for consumers to appease the Twitter crowd and dissuade callout posts from the functionally illiterate. I wanted to maintain my dignity and not disclose any personal information. (They assumed it was because I was in the closet or something. I was not then and am not now. My identity just isn't anyone's business if they want to read a book, simple as that. This was also especially because there are mentions of sexual assault of some characters, and that kind of information definitely isn't anyone's business to know about an author. Period.) I also didn't want to hire a sensitivity reader because they were advertised to me as someone who performed outrage at works for a living (It also didn't help that I was linked to a few sensitivity readers who were very vocal on YA book Twitter and SFF Twitter. No thank you.). This was, apparently, a problem. That was when I decided publishing may not be for me, at least traditional publishing.

--

Yeah, sadly, I feel there is an audience for that book, but you're going to have to find it yourself. Anything YA adjacent is too outrage-driven without the necessary nuance, but a lot of more oldschool SFF circles are too full of the kind of sensitive, delicate white guys who wouldn't get this book either. Maybe an indie black press? Somewhere with a more literary bent that thrives on controversial books? Depending on how horror-y it is, maybe there's an avenue to pursue there. Horror fans do include a lot of manbabies too, but those circles can be more open to actually dark stuff.

At least self publishing is easy now, but self publishing and then getting a significant number of people to buy and read the book is hard.

I promise that decent sensitivity readers exist, but the ones that crowd is going to send you to are... not equipped to deal with dark horror fantasy, in my opinion.

And as a writer, I wouldn't work with anyone I didn't know pretty well anyway. How are you supposed to evaluate the feedback of a rando? What if they fundamentally don't get your genre?

If you do decide to press on, I think I'd look for like-minded fellow writers to begin with. Start a club. Serialize your stuff in the same place. IDK. There are plenty of grown-ass adults who buy books and who like nuance. There's got to be some way to find your audience.

It would be a pity to give up just because publishing is full of cowards.

[tendermiasma]

I Hope this question won't attract unwanted crowd, I'll try to type it in a way it hopefully will prevent it, but I have a question. As a professional artist, do you have any advice on how to not feel discouraged by A /i g3 ner*a/t3d images? And what to do to protect my art from being stolen? Recently I discovered one person close to me, also an artist, started incorporating that into their works and got into selling stuff assisted by it, and I feel kind of... heartbroken, betrayed? I don't know what to do, it makes me not want to continue the relationship, because this stuff is, in my opinion, actively hurting artists, but on the other hand, I don't want to lose a friend over it. Also, I am afraid that the only way to prevent what I create from being stolen is to not share it online at all, which is also heartbreaking, because one of the biggest part of creating (at least to me) is a form of dialogue with fellow humans, sharing emotions, and interaction between the creator, the art and the audience. I just feel lost. Also, I really admire your art, your skill, and you inspire me in a very profound way, just wanted to say that. Hope you have a good day!

Hi! It's a really shitty situation and I also often feel really doom and gloom about the whole thing. But the reason I keep making art is simple: It is my greatest joy to communicate through art and with every piece I make I continue to assert over and over that my human soul and the expertise that comes with it is a thousand times more valuable than a machine, and even though a lot of people wouldn't give a shit if a person or AI made it, there are always people out there who will care. I just really, really love doing it even while capitalism and our culture of consumption is taking on new and terrible forms. If we stop making art, what's left? Just the machine and nobody to speak up otherwise. Do nothing and lose everything vs keep fighting and something else, something better by some measure happens. Action is always the cure. I'm a big believer in that because I've found it to be true.

We're at a crucial time in the entertainment and arts industries. We all have some measure of power we can use against emerging policies and trends that don't benefit/actively hurt us. The WGA is currently striking in part to make AMPTP reconsider their AI policy of essentially just updating the WGA on the technology's progess annually. Other organized labor in entertainment and visual arts can negotiate anti-AI clauses into their contracts to make it less acceptable as a practice overall. You can use Glaze on your work to confuse AI engines and they just came out with a new version that I hear is a pretty nice jump in how detectable the texture is to your eye in the images.

I'm sorry you're going through that with your friend, though. It's hard and messy and there's no set way to go about it. It all depends on what you value most and what your own moral compass is telling you what you need to do here. Personally if it were a close friend of mine, I would talk to them about it. Depending on how they respond, your decision still might be a hard one or they could make it very easy. They will absolutely tell you how much time you should invest into this. Even if their attitude is clearly signaling that they do not care about you here and that you should move on from the friendship, it's probably still going to be painful and you'll grieve it for a while. Surround yourself with friends who understand how you feel and time will do its thing.

I think you should take comfort in that if you continue with art, this won't be the hardest decision you'll ever have to make. You'll have to make harder ones and will still come out on the other side. Even if you choose not to share your art on the wider internet and keep it as a precious thing among a smaller group of friends, it still has just as much worth and as you go along you will naturally find a balance between risks and reward. Don't forget that speaking out does actually have power in itself. Remember we've been able to bully a few companies into rolling back harmful practices in the past year or so.

I hope that was somewhat helpful. We're all trying to figure this out together and there's always going to be a future for artists as long as we keep pushing back hard. Capitalism takes a mile when you give an inch so it always, always matters to be vocal, spread useful information, use anti-ai apps on your art etc. It takes more energy to stay away from something you really want to do so I'm sure you'll find a way to share your art in the capacity you're comfortable with.

[ankhegs-in-my-salad]

I'm not even sure why I'm writing this, but I felt like I needed to get it off my chest.

My wonderful friend @tavyliasin made a lovely addition to this post about how important giving your friends positive feedback can be to people, specifically former gifted kids, and I wanted to chime in with my own addition but it got super long and wasn't even the original point of the post lmao so here I am.

Anyway, we got some awesome insight about how leaving your lovely feedback is especially beneficial to former gifted kids in the previous post. Under the cut - me rambling about why positive feedback means so much to me, the Chronically Mediocre Kid.

Growing up, I was always painfully mid. I worked my absolute ass off to get my passing grades, and I got them for the most part. I wasn't good enough to be told I was doing well and I wasn't bad enough to actually get any help. Got into uni by the skin of my teeth and my degree the same way. I was stuck in middle-of-the-road land and pretty much always have been, with the exception of one notable outlier in my late 20's.

Now, as the name would suggest, us Mediocre Kids are very easy to forget about. We're just kinda there, and there's a lot of us. The NPCs or the studio extras, filling out space in the background of the class.

So how does this tie into writing or art or fandom in general?

For myself, and probably a lot of other people like me, writing in fandom has been the first real time to get that positive validation beyond "congrats you passed! You achieved the bare minimum!" I didn't get it at school (the place where, upon telling my chemistry teacher that I wanted to study chemistry at uni, was told verbatim "but you have to be smart to study chemistry") and it certainly wasn't at uni (where I had to resit a year and where the defence of my dissertation started with the words "the first thing we hated about it was[...]").

God, looking back I wish I had started posting fan fic so much earlier. Yes, comments are few and far between but when you get them? Oh my god.

Now I want to preface this by saying - Yes, I know that "you shouldn't write for validation" and I absolutely don't. I've been writing since I could hold a pen and only started posting stuff for actual humans to read in October. Does my background sound like that of someone who expected to get validation from strangers online? You can bet your arse that isn't why I'm here. It was just an absolutely massive unexpected bonus.

Fan fiction sent me from "congrats on the bare minimum" to someone telling me my silly AO3 story was their favourite thing they'd ever read on that whole website.

Do you have any idea what that does to someone who has spent their whole life being "good enough"? "Fine"? "Passed"? I was never good or bad enough to receive attention. My performance always "unnoteworthy". And that was fine, I always told myself. Because, as mentioned above, I've always been doing stuff for me and me alone. I learned early there wasn't any point in doing it for anyone else. Do you know how it felt to have a complete stranger reach out to me through the Internet and tell me that something that I had done, something that I had created, had a profound effect upon them?

Folks, I fucking cried.

For someone like me, every single comment, kudos, tag, all of it, is incredibly special. Even a comment as simple as an emoji or "loved this". It puts a little piece into a void in me that I didn't even know was there. It makes me feel as though maybe, if I can make one person happy with my writing, bring someone that kind of joy, there is more to me than just "passing grade".

And let me tell you, I'm still not used to it. It's one of the most wonderful feelings. And if you feel it too, don't ever let anyone make you feel bad for "seeking validation" or whatever. We know that's not why we're here, but my goodness if it doesn't make a difference when we get it.

So, to anyone who has ever given kudos, made a comment, left a tag on a post, any of it - thank you. It means more than I think a lot of people could ever know.

[cryptids]

I think it's been about like 3-4 years now since I resolved to try and leave a comment on every fic I enjoy enough to read all the way through to the end, and I do pretty much all of them (the few exceptions are always when I'm reading before bed and accidentally fall asleep then forget to do it lmao) So uhhh.... for no particular reason, here are some things I've learned over time? This is just me personally though so ymmv of course.

It becomes a lot easier to think of what to say after you've been doing it for a while. At first I used to really struggle with what to write and putting stuff into words?? But is easy for me now.

The commenting itself also becomes a habit after some time and stops feeling like something that takes significant extra effort. It's just second nature now and really does feel easier.

I only get a response from the authors on maybe like.... 1/5th?? Of the comments I leave. It can be disheartening at first (especially when it's a really long or heartfelt comment that took you ages to write) bc it feels like the writer isn't seeing it and you're just posting into the void lmao. My only advice is just to try not to let it discourage you... I know a lot of writers don't reply bc they're shy or aren't sure what to say, or they intend to and forget, or they just haven't checked that account in years. Tbh I just figured there's no way to know if my comment will be seen, but it's worth leaving them anyway bc the times they are appreciated always makes up for it like tenfold.

If you can't think of much to say or don't have the energy, simple stuff like "I loved this" or even just some heart emojis still seem to be appreciated in my experience.

Please don't feel too embarassed to leave comments on super old fics!! I've commented on some fics from 10+ years ago, and gotten delighted responses from their authors who were super happy to know people still enjoyed them.

Please don't feel embarassed to be the first commenter on a fic either. This could just be bc I'm always in rarepair hell but I can't even tell you how many fics I'm the singular comment under, even ones that have a lot of kudos and bookmarks. I promise its not weird to be the only person in a comment section, and yours might encourage others.

Making an account makes things quicker and easier than having to put your info in for anon comments each time. I have an empty ao3 account I use only for commenting and bookmarking, I recommend that for anyone else like me who is not a writer themselves.

I'm not bothering with "don't comment rude or entitled things" type of points or "how to write/structure a comment" bc there's already a lot of posts like that from fic writers, this is just some things from the pov of a regular commenter that I learned through my experience.

I think my final thing worth saying is that if you have any anxiety issues with feeling self conscious like I do, you might worry a lot that you're "being annoying" by leaving comments (especially if you end up leaving multiple by commenting on different chapters). But I've expressed this worry to a number of writers over the years and all of them have told me that its actually the opposite to annoying and they love it. So please let their words reassure you as well gsjshdjs

[juni-ravenhall]

sso vs the concept of good gameplay. yeah its another fucking book length post >:3

thoughts from someone with a brain full of what good game design means and tons of years of studying and analysing that topic etc, bc of game design being one of my main interests.

basically the major thing i want to say about the hollow woods update aside from "yay forest kinda pretty :)" is that most of it doesn't really consist of what i would call gameplay. this is ofc something u can argue back and forth that im also open to, bc respectful analytical discussion is healthy.

the firefly stuff id personally call something more like "satisfaction play" than gameplay (idk if there's a widespread term that anyone else made up already). there is zero challenge to gathering fireflies - it's on the level of poking a glitter slime simulation app. it might feel satisfying to collect them, but there is no practised skill needed, no thinking or planning or anything. so i don't consider this "gameplay", but "satisfaction play" in itself isn't a bad thing, either. it's not that "gameplay" would be inherently better than "satisfaction play" in every case.

the puzzles are gameplay, i think - not very challenging gameplay (the answers are right there as soon as the puzzle is presented), but it *is* arguably gameplay, since we do call puzzle-solving "gameplay" in general. there is some argument there to be made about what a "puzzle" really means, and what is a simple "request and task" rather than a "puzzle", or what "knowing a real life fact" (what is 180 degrees?) versus "having to figure something out using information available inside the game" might mean for how we view what is or isn't a puzzle. but that's not specific to sso at all (a question for tons of various "puzzles" as seen in tons of various games).

there's nothing wrong in itself with satisfaction play, or with easy puzzles. sometimes that's exactly what an audience wants. but sso has a bigger issue, in that the main gameplay until now has been races (or courses, tracks, but let's say races) and that those races are not especially well designed. that there is very little of really challenging, fun, satisfying, rewarding gameplay in sso - in the terms of what people usually expect from videogames (of the gameplay-based type, not satisfaction play-based).

don't jump to conclusions here, but: i often make a comparison to mariokart, a game with a primary race mechanic. i used to play mariokart a lot because it was just really fun. it was fun alone or with friends or strangers, and it was fun to try to beat my best score, and it was fun to explore different ways of beating the same track. when you design a game, you have to think really heavily about: is the core gameplay loop fun? what makes people want to play this? to *re*play this? does it feel satisfying and exciting? is it better or at the same level as its competitors? what kind of things appeal to the target audience? and so on.

somehow sso has never felt like mariokart (except that one rainbow race, obvs), and i don't mean that sso could just "copy mariokart", this isnt the point. what i do mean is that there has to be a way to make your racing mechanic (if it is a primary mechanic of your game!) actually fun, engaging and challenging in the right way - the good game design way, not the clunky, frustrating and broken way. (yes, i know the engine is spaghetti garbage. no, i don't think that's a get-out-of-jail-free card for every problem that sse has.)

they made some progress with this when they added a completely out-of-place, more challenging race in one of the more recent story quests (i forget exactly when that was, but the race was in hollow woods). the problem then was that within the context of sso and what they have taught the players about their game, this race was thrown at us with no preparation for its challenges, which is bad game design. you want to introduce your player to different challenges and allow them to practice and learn, which didn't happen when we jump from "races with basically no skill needed to pass" to "a race with new things happening everywhere you need to react to while also successfully following a new path" out of nowhere. the intent was good - more challenging and exciting, dramatic races - the execution wasn't great.

they also made some progress with this when they revamped a few of the champs. the revamps aren't perfect, but they're good, and it was a good step towards improving core gameplay mechanics, that not only are genuinely enjoyable to many players but also *fit into the theme of the game* (as in, beating others at horse sports is a common theme within the equestrian theme). (i'm personally in shock that we don't have more champs across the map since all of these years, and that they aren't better already, since it's one of the most "regular videogame quality" content this game has and it shouldve been relatively easy to add more as well as maintaining and improving what was there).

so, back to the new valedale stuff.... sort of. there have been some puzzles in sso before, and some random gameplay (the click timing of searching for gold). the stuff we've had before: it's usually very basic puzzles and random gameplay, partially on behalf of that - for a long time - there doesn't seem to have been that much resources put into fighting with the engine to create new things that weren't in the code before, and partially because of a view held by some people at the company that games for young girls don't need to have any actual well-designed challenging gameplay, and that it's better to make it ridiculously easy so that nobody ever really loses or gets stuck on anything. you don't have to practice to beat any of the races - you might have to practice to get a top score or win a champ, but none of those are required for progress. similarly, there wasn't any real challenge that i remember to the absolute majority of non-racing quests, either. you might have to hit a thing with the right timing once in a while, but it's always easy (other games do this too - see QTE in certain AAA games!), or you might have to remember a number or a word for a minute and answer a question or type in a code correctly.

more or less everytime that there were puzzles in sso, they held your hand through it - whether you wanted to or not. the same is true for the rune puzzles, which have their solution blatantly in front of you as soon as they load. there is no changing actual difficulty level to make it more fitting to the player (which doesn't necessarily have to be a literal level setting - it can come organically, such as giving extra explanations, or slowing a timer down, after a player has failed a task 3 times, etc). yes, you can make the rune puzzles more complex in some sense - a bigger grid, or choosing the type of moves you are worse at - but the solution is always right in front of you, regardless. they hold your hand whether you like it or not, by the type of puzzle that they introduced.

races in sso have a "gold, silver or bronze" system, but we don't actually see that the races have been correctly playtested to properly reflect what a time worthy of each medal should be, and we also don't really gain anything from reaching any medal. i never feel a thing about getting this or that medal, because they mean nothing. it might be a good thing that we're never asked in a quest to "complete this race with a gold medal" or "complete this race under a certain time" or "complete this jumping course with no faults", since that could lock some players out of completing quests (while this is the case for most other games, there is also an important discussion happening around accessibility in game completion).

there are ways to make the medals in races matter, feel accurate, and feel rewarding. there are ways to make races more challenging or more interesting without just being more clunky or frustrating. there are ways to do that while keeping them more or less grounded in reality, and ways to do that while incorporating non-realistic elements that are fun and feel fitting (remembering that this is a game with magic and fantasy from the start). they could have added faults to jumping courses forever ago, they could have added dressage forever ago, and improved on gameplay like pole bending and barrel racing, and so on, and all while allowing players at all skill levels to still complete tasks and complete races, but also allowing players to challenge themselves for rewards.

if the core gameplay - around races and championships, around horse care, horse bonding and horse training - or around magic and protecting what's dear, or around rescue missions with the rangers, or tons of other stuff i can think up that would fit this game - if that stuff felt like actually well designed gameplay, something fun, not frustrating and buggy, challenging in the right ways and rewarding. if all that was done well, then adding some "satisfaction play" with fireflies or some simple puzzles with blatant solutions wouldn't be as easy to criticise.

the closest thing we got to challenging gameplay that you can really clearly *lose* at - that there is a risk and a skill involved - were some of the druid training missions. they still suffered from some clunky frustrations and non-ideal design decisions, but it was an attempt at more regular gameplay (among the non-racing gameplay). comparing the new gameplay in valedale to the druid training, you can see that the risk of failure has gone down a lot or been removed completely, rather than being built upon any more. they also didn't continue to update druid training in any way afaik or to build upon that foundation for other gameplay. (i'm open to that druid training may have been too difficult for a small subset of players, and that's a valid discussion. but i also think it was optional?)

i don't have a really nice tidy thought to end this with, and im really sleepy rn and going to bed. but the overall point is that if sso had other, well-designed and well-functioning gameplay that felt satisfying and rewarding for players, the flaws of the new valedale stuff would be less glaring. as things are, the lack of challenge and the lack of fun gameplay are really glaring problems with it, as well as the lack of reasonable rewards. (it makes very little sense that you have to purchase the items you unlock, but this is the same company that charged whatever x starcoins it was for those recoloured balloon pets, so.)

[auteurdefeu]

Please I want to know more about your Dan/Hunch and Hunch/Fix/Pasha headcanons I’m begging

Oh yes. I have so many.

Hunch makes sure to devote time to each of his partners, he's practically (unofficially) moved out of his apartment considering how much time he spends the night at either of their places (and then of course, late nights at his office working). Whenever he's at the orphanage, though, he's the go-to for kids who can't sleep and want some company. He makes little cloud puppets for all the stories he tells them <3

Pasha and Dan are platonic girlfriends, thank you. Daniel Fucks is genderfluid, and in this essay I will—

Ahem. Anyway. I just think their dynamic could be pretty fun as pleasure and passion but I don't see them having any romantic chemistry. They do "fun nights out" and dance together, and Pasha is definitely the one to tease Dan the most about how he pretends to dislike the Wayward Interests all while playing with them and making them laugh every time he's over.

If we're using humanoid heights... Fix is 8', Hunch is 6', Dan is 5'6" (short king) and Pasha is 5'4". The height differences make me feral.

Hunch and Pasha would have the most modern-trope-y dates with getting coffee together and going on walks through the park. Fix and Pasha rarely have time to go out on dates together given the fact Pasha has a job and they have to take care of the kids, but when they do, it's mostly domestic stay-at-home stuff, like movie nights or baking together (Fix is too big and awkward for using most kitchen utensils so he is there for moral support and taste testing). Fix and Hunch have the "Good Old-Fashion Lover Boy" kind of dates, and yes I mean the Queen song. Hunch and Dan don't go on proper dates, usually drinking together at Sugah's. They are the type to go out and dance and probably make out in the rain, though, because TROPES!

Hunch has a cane because of how perpetually injured he is (and the old-timey detective aesthetic!), but he always forgets to take it out of his office with him, claiming it's inconvenient to carry around. Fix ends up getting him a more fancy refined one as a gift better tailored to his height, leading him to using it more when he actually needs it.

Pasha and Hunch curled up together on Fix's chest for cuddles :( he's so Big !! It's so easy for him to hold/carry them both.

You'd have to ask @turtlelover59 for their headcanons on the petnames Fix & Pasha give but since I have hyperfixated on Hunch (more specifically HunchFucks but shhh..) I can offer what he'd call his partners <3

Him calling Dan Danny will always live in my head rent free. He started calling them "Princess" as a joke based on how demanding they can be and it just became less of a joke over time. In turn, Dan calls him "Angel" (in reference to waking up and thinking they were in heaven with him) and "My Phoenix" (in reference to his fast healing and supposed immortality). "My dear" and "sweetheart" are classics for Pasha, sweet and simple. I feel like they have such an innocent kind of love, like the Hallmark movies :( as for The Fix... I want Fix to have a more personal name, rather than just 'the fix' because it feels more like a title, his job occupation. That is something I will get into in another post if people are interested but Hunch calls him by the name he chooses for himself to distance himself from his Previous Work™️.

I do not have the time or energy to write more fanfiction but I am hoping that spreading the brainrot might inspire people... :,)

[fabaceous]

I feel with all of Shauna's..questionable decisions/ shitty actions, people forget that teen shauna can actually be..pretty kind/empathetic? Obv not the most out of the yellowjackets but she still has plenty of compassion, theres the stuff with Jackie you mentioned, but she was also by far the kindest to Javi, going up to the attic for Tai, she has a tendency to jump into action whenever someone's hurt/freaking out (Van, Mari , Lottie at seance), etc..some people will act like shes evil lol (sorry I'm pretty defensive of teen shauna😅)

OKAY THANK YOU 😭😭😭 i am also really defensive of teen shauna and i think her good side gets overlooked a lot because it's generally more interesting and plot-relevant to talk about is how fucked up she is and how much she sucks...and im not saying its not true!! but at the same time, yeah, i think it's easy to forget that she really can be sweet and kind and empathetic and like, just an actual decent person. going up to the attic with tai is a great example, and the seance too like you mentioned, i always think of how she's one of the first to try to comfort lottie and try to like, get her through the moment, because yes she is very good in a crisis. and i loved getting to see shauna take javi under her wing. its funny cause i saw a post about how shauna is nurturingcoded but not actually nurturing and i DO AGREE at least in regards to adult shauna but teen shauna was really sweet with javi, very big-sisterly, and i also think that instinct to jump in during a crisis and try to take care of people is pretty nurturing of her.

i dont have like a big unifying statement or psychoanalytic theory about why shauna is both compassionate and cruel but you know what, maybe it's a simple answer: she's complicated and contradictory, like most human people (and teenage girls) are! and it just so happens that the things about her that are fucked up are like, super fucked up. but thank you for mentioning her genuine good traits because i think they are underappreciated and its nice to remember that they do exist.