#This was the first time that I started to go *very* nuts with rendering.

[thotsforvillainrights]

HALLOOOO(⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)!

This is my first question on this app! I'm new and i don't really know how to use it◉⁠‿⁠◉

Also English isn't my mother language so I'm sorry if i spelled any words wrong

Anyways!

Can i ask for a Muscular, Chizome and Tomura reacting to their S/O calling them handsome during intimacy? :D

You can add any other characters if you want, i love all villians so i don't mind >_<

(Hi, welcome to this hellsite! I'm honored to have the first question and I hope this comes out good for you. Thank you for the ask!)

~Muscular/Stain/Shigaraki's S/O Calling them Handsome During~

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up|drabble

-Usually this man hardly pays attention during the act. Well at least that's the way it used to be when you first started going at it. He's admittedly selfish and honestly chased his own nut before even considering what you'd want for yourself. Honestly there are times where you would have to wonder why you chose to be with him.

-Over time he's changed so much, so I suppose you stuck it out for the better. Now he's more focused on the noises you're making for him. His ego is the second best thing you could stroke for him~ Therefore, knowing you're making those noises because of him really tends to get him going more these days. He doesn't consider himself to have a praise kink but pumping his head up tremendously plays a part in whether or not he cums quickly.

-When you tell him he's handsome in the middle of intimacy then he's going to smirk at you first. "Yeah I know." He says with a cocky tone before continuing what he was doing. He won't admit that deep down inside it had an effect on him. He's definitely checking himself out in the mirror more often these days after you pull that trick on him.

-He's mostly quiet during this time with more grunting or groaning when he's close. The main reason is so that he can hear you to know whether or not he's doing his job properly. He takes sex with you seriously and there's no way he'll be caught dead half-assing anything when it comes to pleasing you.

-He's never been one to base a lot off of his looks. He's already surprised you'd take him as he is given his prickly personality. Falling in love with you was more along the lines of a gift from God rather than something he could attribute to his nonexistent charm or looks. However, you never let how he feels about himself stop you from blaring your opinions at him in full honesty.

-You don't stop when you're in the bedroom either. You pause to tell him he's handsome during the act and he scoffs at you, rolling his eyes and chuckling lightly. "Is that so? You still spouting nonsense or have I fucked you silly already then?" You laugh and shake your head at him. "I'm serious..." You try to convince him but he's already back to what he was doing and suddenly your words get lost so easily on your tongue.

-His confidence gone and he'll tell you often how he feels about the two of you being together. After all, why would anyone want to be with a monster like him? He's confused you picked him in the first place. He's awkward, mean, way too focused on other things at the moment. his quirk is dangerous. He can't even let himself get comfortable enough to hold you half the time because he's worried about the effect his quirk would have if he messed up. He could lose you and for that very reason alone he's still doubting the relationship.

-Still, despite this you manage to keep him there because he'd rather be with you than without. He loves you even if he doesn't say it that often. Little by little you found yourself chipping away at the walls around his heart until he finally began to grown slightly comfortable with you. He now holds your hand ever so carefully and you two have cuddling sessions. It was inevitable that it finally led up to the two of messing around. Once he got his hands on you, he knew it was too late to consider even taking them off.

-You'd rendered him frozen when you uttered the phrase 'you're so handsome' during sex one night. What's worse is that you looked him deep in his eyes and smiled so softly when you said it. He hated the way you had so much control over him. He could only feel himself burning away as he his his face in the crook of your neck and kept going this time more tenderly. To say the finish was explosive would be an understatement. Aftercare was out of this world as well.

[this-thing-saved-me]

This Show Saved Me - BTVS 7x22

7x22 Chosen

I will never not find it funny that to stream Buffy I have to go to Disney+. Or the fact that the most recent episode I’d watched (whenever that was) was this one. Since I’m pretty sure I left my rewatch mid-season 3.

But that’s the thing about this particular episode. It’s practically a perfect finale. And felt like the right place to start, because who says everything should happen in order. That’s not always how life works. 

THERE WILL LIKELY BE ABUNDANT SPOILERS FOR A FINALE THAT AIRED OVER TWENTY YEARS AGO. There, that was your warning. And now for some Cole's notes “Story so far.”

Okay, so Buffy’s been through it by this point. The First has annihilated her self-confidence and Caleb has been on the warpath. Spike has told her she’s the one (!!!), whether she fully believes in herself yet or not. (SIDENOTE: yes, I ship Spuffy. Yes, there are very, very valid reasons not to. However I am a big fan of redemption arcs and where they land by the end of the comics feels like as healthy a place as possible with a very real love.)

And Angel shows up trying to be all tall-dark and forehead. Which I get, he’s Angel, he needs to be in the finale. But ultimately he's a delivery boy and he didn’t need to do it in person other than to prompt the first on my list of loves for this episode. 

Which is what I lovingly refer to as the "Cookie Speech." Buffy knows she has more growing to do and she’s self-aware enough to share that with the first love of her life. She’s come a long way from the season of post-resurrection depression, but she’s still not quite ready for what Angel might like her to be (granted he’s JUST lost Cordelia so the fact that he is back at Buffy’s door is a rant for another post.) The idea that things aren’t working for her romantically because she’s not done baking. She hasn’t figured out all that she wants to be. While I love love LOVE this analogy, I wonder if there’s ever really a time in our lives where we are done baking? Besides the end of course. We’re supposed to evolve. We’re supposed to grow.

Spike is her Champion, not Angel. They’ve seen the best and the worst of each other, remember? He knows she needs someone strong, someone with a soul, and despite the bad, she knows he’s earned the right to the title through growing and atoning. Motivated people can change, and that’s something I believe that Spike has shown.

“He had to split” - the joke is LHF and I love it. Does its utterance deserve a place on this list? Yes. Because it's very me-coded. I’d have a very hard time not making the same joke if I had just rendered a man from stem to stern. But I digress. This episode is serious and still silly. It’s the epitome of BTVS episodes. I mean Spike waking from a dream yelling “I’m drowning in Cool Whip,” come on. It’s akin to “the cheese wears me” in off kilter nonsense. Plus Anya later finding her strength in her hatred for "floppy, hoppy bunnies" will never not kill me. (Or her, again spoiler.) I adore Emma Caufield.

Willow is afraid to use magic because of her history with the darkness. Not knowing if she’s stable enough. I can identify with her at this moment after clawing back from my own mental health blip a couple years ago. She went dark. (I went, arguably, nuts) She’s regained her balance but how secure? It’s going to turn out to be really secure because “Oh my goddess” she’s got this. AND…

The fact that Kennedy is there for Willow to help keep her grounded. Her very presence supports Willow but isn’t the deciding factor for victory. Willow needs to believe in herself that she won’t go back over that edge. She touched the darkness and it freaked her the f out. (Once she came back down from the overwhelm and shock of her grief.) I lived in that fear for a long time. And I’m grateful for the grounding I’ve found outside of the support of others, but within myself.

Just for fun, let’s chat about the DND session. Even the scoobies needed to disassociate before the big thing. And self-permission to have fun during challenging times is key. It can’t all be doom and gloom. Sometimes you recharge that nervous energy through Trogdor the Burninator references and that’s more than okay.

Ultimately we have the’ shared power’ speech. “Here’s the part where you make a choice” more specifically. Because they could easily choose to let the First and its legions overwhelm the world and finally be the apocalypse they couldn’t handle. It’s easier to stay down. It’s easier to say I can’t. But where does that get you? Making that choice to take your power back and say I am more than what wants to overwhelm me is a beautiful moment. This moment, where all the Potentials get their piece of the power pie is tremendously moving. I get shivers just thinking about it. Male or female, we don’t need the permission of Slayer power to take back our own. To say ‘no more’ and get back up off the ground. (Although Slayer strength would be badass, let’s be real.)

The bottom line, this episode epitomises what I love about Buffy and the Whedon-verse. Real characters in a fantastic world who battle larger than life caricatures of the demons we fight in our daily lives. This show saved me in a lot of ways. My very first boyfriend got me to watch it back in 2005, which he may have regretted as it CONSUMED my brain for most of grade 12. It was the perfect time for me to experience this show. I credit it for helping me find my voice offline. I was always a nose-in-a-book girl or heavily distracted with FanFiction. I was one of the quietest in my friend group, not really feeling like there was a value to what I had to say. The message that we can choose to be strong and fight back? That’s one that I’ll eternally be grateful for and will carry with me, always. What’s your favourite episode? And why is it “Once More With Feeling”? ;)

(Honourable mention goes to this eye contact where my headcanon is convinced he sees she really does love him despite him telling her otherwise seconds before. THOSE SMG EYES! I can't.)

[floatingcatacombs]

It’s the Tar Taking Over That Came Unexpected

12 Days of Aniblogging 2023, Day 2

Back when it was a frustratingly rare Wii exclusive, I braved a storm to hunt down a used copy of Xenoblade Chronicles, and it still surpassed my every expectation. So finally sinking my teeth into Xenoblade Chronicles X earlier this year felt right.

This was a Wii U game and it’s still nuts that this was a Wii U game. The only change I made when emulating it was bumping up the internal rendering resolution, and it’s crazy how good it still looks. The highest-fidelity games I play are FromSoft so my frame of reference is busted, but even still, it’s frequently breathtaking. Monolith Soft has always had a reputation for building impressive open worlds on underpowered hardware, and their first foray into HD might be their greatest feat. Or maybe I’m just easily impressed by pretty skies. Emulated at 1080p 60FPS, the experience really clicks, with snappy menus, fast loading times, and the ability to alt-tab to the map on the gamepad. For once I didn't feel like I was missing out at all by not playing on original hardware.  

After starting a new game you're immediately dumped into a character creation screen, which means I already have to navigate an old stupid censorship debate. See, there was a whole internet shitstorm back in 2015 when this game released stateside because the English version removed the bust slider from the character creator. This was the era of GamerGate and “localization versus translation” and Fire Emblem Fates taking out a waifu-touching minigame and everything surrounding Tokyo Mirage Sessions – things got really heated for a second! In hindsight, it was weird mixture of niche game publishers misreading their target audiences and hypervigilant right-wing provocateurs gearing up for larger culture wars, using titty games as a nexus for radicalizing nerds.

Things have cooled down a lot since then, as Japanese games generally release unaltered these days, rendering it a non-issue. When controversies do happen, it’s not in Nintendo's court anymore, it’s usually Valve removing Japanese visual novels from their store page in an act of laughable double standards. Anyways, thanks to the wonders of PC emulation and memory editors, I was able to restore the boob slider to Xenoblade Chronicles X, and valiantly used it to make my character flat.

XCX’s design sensibilities are a pretty sharp contrast from the direction the series went afterwards, instead dealing in guns, gritty sci-fi, and a more realistic color palette. The storms and forlorn mecha on the box art tell you all you need to know. It’s all very western, with the designers definitely taking cues from Halo and Mass Effect in a lot of places. The hub city is also based on Los Angeles, further cementing the American influence in everything but the mechas.

Ultimately, I think this all worked out well. The original Wii release of Xenoblade Chronicles isn’t particularly “anime”, after all. Its aesthetic sensibilities are closer to Final Fantasy X than, say, any given Tales. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3, as well as the Switch remake of the first game, hew much closer to games like Genshin in terms of colors and character proportions, but Xenoblade X takes the original’s artstyle and places it in a more serious context. I’m glad the series didn’t commit to this direction (it would have gotten bland fast), but it’s cool that we got it exactly once. Despite the more western stylings though, this is still fundamentally a niche anime game, much more so than the first Xenoblade. There’s titty armor and fanservice outfits as quest rewards, a young moe girl in the main cast, and the occasional pervy sidequest. A lot of the localization conflict may have been Nintendo attempting to clean up Xenoblade X in order to pitch it as a mainstream release at a time when the Wii U really needed a hit. While it’s a solid game, it was never going to be able to appeal to a very large audience.

Also, the story’s a bit of a mess. The tone is all over the place, with both comic relief and serious moments frequently failing to land. What starts off as a surprisingly grimdark sci-fi about the last remaining humans trying to survive on an alien planet as their crashed generation ship-city runs out of power quickly morphs into Star Wars levels of goofy aliens. Plot twist after plot twist ensues, defusing a lot of the tension because you know that they’re just going to pull something even crazier out next. Though the main story struggles, the emergent narrative of New Los Angeles is actually pretty good. A lot of the player’s side questing is dedicated to resolving interpersonal conflicts and helping make the city feel like a real home for everyone. Gradually, NLA begins taking on alien immigrants and the mutual fish-out-of-water situation between human and alien refugees leads to some funny moments and the occasional surprisingly thoughtful quest about cultural tolerance.

But for the most part, the story takes a backseat to exploring planet Mira. Through the gameplay loop I’ve come to understand Xenoblade X as something of a single-player MMO. The combat system is based around positioning, auto-attacks, skills that go on cooldown, and extremely customizable character classes. There’s a nightmarish amount of skill trees to keep track off, to the point where I’d forget about them alone until I was having trouble with a fight, and then remember an entire system I’d forgotten to take advantage of. There are item collections to fill out and side quests of all flavors and secret areas and difficult raid bosses yada yada yada…

Okay I can’t hold off from discussing the music any longer. The combat theme for Xenoblade X is the stuff of legends. Terrible, terrible legends.

Putting vocals in your RPG’s regular battle music is a bold move. You really have to make sure you knocked it out of the park, because singing is going to grate on the player far more quickly than any instrumental. Because of this, the battle themes of Persona 5, The World Ends With You, and Get In The Car, Loser! are all something of a flex. Black Tar is not that. I’m just going to link the song, because it really has to heard to be understood.

Xenoblade X’s battle theme starts off strong, the grim sci-fi tone clearly communicated through the moody synths. Soon enough the guitars come crashing in, giving way to a distinctly nu metal sound. That stylistic choice alone pissed people off in 2015, to which I say grow up, it’s great. But if you let the battle run on for 50 seconds, someone starts rapping.

Black Tar has some of the most nonsensical lyrics ever put to pen, delivered in the jankiest way possible, with words just kind of crammed in without any regard to flow. It’s not even a case of “non-proficient English speaker comes up with shoddy lyrics” as occasionally happens with Japanese songs. Every single word of this is an act of malicious fluency, and if I singled out all the lines I had questions about, I’d be here all day. Opening the first verse with “We’re stuck on a whole different planet” tricks the listener into thinking that the lyrics will to tie into the game’s events and setting, but this is a fool’s errand. The titular tar has no in-game corollary, so to make any sense of it you have to go metaphorical and claim that maybe it stands for losing your squadmates and giving up hope. That's still pretty flimsy! Maybe it really is just be about heroin.

Eventually though, we reach the chorus, and it’s actually a great hook! Except for the fact that it’s sung by a Japanese singer in English. The lyrics were clearly written with no regard for which syllables he’d have difficulty with, and making this guy utter the phrase “Black tar’lll” was an open act of cruelty.

In a 2015 interview, Black Tar rapper and lyricist David Whittaker brings up that the he wrote the words for his first video game song in about two hours, going for “just foolishness”. I imagine his work here was a similar situation.

It’s so, so easy to harp on Black Tar. Everyone did at release, and everyone who hasn’t played the game still does. The thing is, it’s impossible to keep that antagonism up when you’ve got an 80-hour game ahead of you where this is the standard battle theme the whole way through. For the sake of your own sanity, you have to learn to love Black Tar, and pretty much everyone who finishes the game comes around to it. Much to the chagrin of my girlfriend, I quote Black Tar constantly, with less of a sense of irony each time. Eventually, you too will find yourself shouting along with David Whittaker as he raps about being on a sea of dark matter. And of course, the instrumental was always a banger if you weren’t a coward. The theme for New LA also gets a lot of flak for its gibberish vocal samples and St. Anger snares, but I’ve always been a fan and think it holds up great as an endless-looping hub area theme. It’s so…. Sawano zeitgeisty.

The entire soundtrack is actually a Hiroyuki Sawano joint, and he does a pretty good job. It very much all sounds like the kind of music he’s known for, with the exception of the overworld themes, which instead try to mimic the compositions of the first Xenoblade Chronicles. Primordia’s theme is an excellent response to the first game’s Gaur Plain, with a more techy and ominous tone that nevertheless still evokes the sense of grand exploration ahead.

The edgy atmosphere, the washed out palette, the Sawano tunes….Xenoblade Chronicles X is extremely of its time, in a way that comes across as deeply charming 8 years later. It’s kind of terrifying that something can already be an early 2010s period piece! The Sawano music alone will shoot you back to the days of Kill La Kill and Aldnoah Zero, when Gen Urobuchi was absolutely everywhere and the default crap anime genre was magic school instead of isekai. The mere idea of early 2010s nostalgia sets off alarms in my head, but it’s definitely real, and will only become more of a thing in the next few years. Brace yourselves for the flow of time.

Last, but certainly not least, the mechas! They’re one of the main reasons I tried the game out in the first place. Giant robots are often part of Xenoblade worldbuilding, but they don’t really factor into the gameplay. X is the exception. From the first preview trailers to the title screen to their first step into New LA, the player is made to want a Skell. They’re so cute! The Skells were designed by Takayuki Yanase, one of the people who worked on Gundam 00, and I can see the similarities in the combination of curves and blocky elements. There’s quite a few mecha otaku who work at the NLA hangar out of love for the Skells. Most of them are women, a detail that made me really happy!

Adding even more to the player’s desire is the fact that Xenoblade X withholds Skells for a very long time. You have to make it more than halfway through the story and substantially explore the first three continents on foot before receiving your piloting license. And it’s Xenoblade, so these places are massive. Even with an extremely generous jump, you’ll run into countless clifftops out of reach. They really make you work for it, but at least the core gameplay loop of exploring to setting up waypoints and mining devices is a lot of fun on its own (I was curious if the plot would ever get around to problematizing the resource-extraction gameplay loop, but no dice).

party members next to the Skell for scale purposes

When you finally get a Skell about forty hours into the game, everything changes. One of the major challenges facing mecha games is getting the scale right –it’s pretty easy for the giant robot to feel human-sized if all the player is ever doing is piloting. Xenoblade X avoids this by making your human pace painfully clear before giving you a ten-meter robot to traverse those same landscapes. It’s night and day how much more quickly you can navigate. Skells are also wildly stronger than characters on the ground, and being able to take on behemoth creatures as well as pulverize the human-scale enemies you’ve been fighting all this time keeps the scale relevant. It provides a real power fantasy and makes them feel believable in-setting. Being able to get in and out of your Skell at will goes a long way towards making it truly feel like yours, and this mechanic also acts as something of an on-the-fly difficulty modifier for the remainder of the game. A few chapters later you get a flight pack for your Skell, and the world opens up all over again.

not pictured: the j-pop earworm that plays every time you start flying

After spending so much time hanging out with the mecha pervert mechanic girlies in the NLA hangar, the back half of Xenoblade Chronicles X finally lets you be one of the mecha pervert girlies. Customization is on the lighter side, as you can’t mix and match body parts like in Armored Core, but there’s still plenty of color customization and weapons fine-tuning to do. I totally fell in love with my robots, and that alone makes it a victory of a mecha game.

A new song plays during Skell combat, and it’s…. more verses of Black Tar!! There truly is no escape. The backing has more of an EDM sound to it, and the lyrics are even more laughable than before. “Shoot them with your guns” still gets me every time. And yet, I would be lying if I said I’ve never headbanged to the part about being stuck on a different planet. You learn to love these things.

So that’s Xenoblade X. It’s a weird-ass game, a real triumph but also absolutely the wrong thing for Nintendo to have to put out in 2015. It’s easily the most impressive Wii U exclusive and I’m glad Monolith Soft took this detour. You’d be disappointed in it if you went in with purely the expectation of a mecha game, but as a Xenoblade fan who’s been gradually falling deeper into mecha, it was a great genre blend. Xenoblade X’s servers will shut down next year, and while I didn’t partake in any of that (the multiplayer elements seem fairly minor anyways), it will be the end of an era for sure. Just in time to start fondly reminiscing.

[fioreofthemarch]

Finding Her - Chapter 8

Link makes notes, takes photos and keeps time on his quest across Hyrule, in the hopes of finding Zelda and staying sane until he does. [ Previous | Next | First | AO3 ]

A photograph of Blachery Plain in Necluda; the ground undulates gently between small knolls and shallow ponds. Ruined walls dot the landscape, and now among them are chunks of sky islands that have fallen to the surface. Between the ruins, wildflowers grow. 

A photograph of Fort Hateno and the aftermath of a fierce battle. In the foreground is a motley crew of Hylians and a single Goron, lead by their Captain, Hoz, who carries a hand sewn Hyrulean banner. They stand with fists raised, victorious. 

A photograph of Hateno Village from a distance, the lights from its houses twinkling in the dusk. Wafting lazily across the horizon is a dragon, Naydra, a tail of silvery blue light following in its wake.  

A photograph of a lone house in Hateno, in the old pre-Calamity style. It has a single chimney and a rendered brick exterior. Beside the house is a small garden with a large oak tree and a pond that glints in the moonlight. There are frogs in the water, strategically located beneath a concert of fireflies that have gathered at the pond.  

Caption: Haven’t felt like writing. But Hyrule is still beautiful, so had to snap a few photos. 

---

Log date: 20:30 6th month, 19th day, 104AC Location: Hateno Village Weather: Mild, clear skies. 

Well Zelda, I’m here. Our house is just how we left it.  

Did we ever call it ours? It was always just ‘the house’. I’m going to stop by the house. We’re out of Hylian Rice at the house. Did you close the shutters at the house? It gets hot during the day. 

I guess I’d always assumed that, after the Calamity, you’d go back to Castle. But you said you’d prefer somewhere with people, so we came here, and I offered to sleep on a mattress while you took the bed on the loft. That didn’t last long, did it? Two teenagers, with no responsibilities or parental oversight, spending all day together and sharing a candle-lit dinner every night? I think I woke up in your arms before the summer was over. 

Not that I’m complaining. We made our own little world here and fell in love in the quiet comfort of home. I’ll never be able to praise Hylia enough. Now that it’s been a couple years I was thinking of adding a few extra rooms. Enough space to live comfortably, for a library or a world-class pantry or… or a nursery. I never told you any of that. Why did I never tell you any of that? 

Silver linings. The house is safe, just like the rest of Hateno. I know you’ll be glad to hear that, wherever you are. 

A photograph of the pantry underneath the stairs. It is mostly empty except for a few jars of staple goods like wheat and rice, some limp looking vegetables and an empty bottle of milk. There is an old loaf of bread, tough as rock salt, and a half-eaten nutcake, blooming unpleasantly with mold. 

Caption: Need to get provisions for the house. 

---

Log date: 12:00. 6th month, 20th day, 104AC Location: Hateno Village Weather: Humid. Summer showers later in the day. 

Busy morning. My gut tells me something is brewing in Hateno, otherwise I’d be back on my horse and riding out of here by now. Started by nosing around the new well next to the house. Definitely didn’t read Zelda’s diary and definitely don’t have some new gear that she made to hunt down in Hyrule Castle. But if I did, I would be very grateful, just so that anyone reading this knows, and am sorely missing a certain someone’s expert tailoring. Because I do miss it, quite a bit. 

Anyway. Bought carrots and goat butter from the general store. Traded some nuts for milk with Dantz up on the hill. Making creamy vegetable soup for dinner. 

Popped in on Robbie at the Tech Lab. He asked if Josha managed to reach me with the Message Medallion and laughed at my shock. He said he wasn’t mad, more proud she’d been brave enough to try. To show he meant it, he added a sensor to the Purah Pad and gave me a Travel Medallion, which he swore to Kakariko and back was 100% reliable. We’ll see. 

From there wandered back down the hill. Stopped by the school. Symin looked harangued. Half a dozen kids in his care and no second teacher to help wrangle them. I promised him I’d come back tomorrow and take a class if he wanted. He said he’d just be happy to have a moment to sit down. 

Saw Mayor Reede tending his field. Tending is the wrong word. Attacking, more like. Taking to it with a farm hoe with so much vigour the dirt was flying five feet into the air. His wife Clavia saw me passing by and pulled me aside to ask if I had a moment, but seeing my arms full of groceries she said she’d find me later. Next ran into Medda by his new Hylian Tomato crops. He asked if I still wanted a garden put in at the house and I told him I’d have to check with Zelda first. Eugh. So used to saying that, in the past when her being away meant she was down at the shops or working late at the Tech Lab, or on a research trip and home soon. Medda just sighed and put a hand on my shoulder. Real sorry, we’re all real sorry, he said. 

Next dropped into Sayge to get the paraglider serviced. He said to come back in a day, and asked if I had any photographs of wild animals he could use for new designs. I showed him a photo of a cucco I took in Kakariko Village and he said ‘Everyone knows what chickens look like’. Gotta dig through the dozens of photos I have on this thing now. Gotta be something good on here. 

Finally, to Cece’s, for a new Hylian hood — except she’s not open for business at the moment. Something about a new collection of hers. Can’t say I’m holding my breath. Not really a mushroom fan. I’ve eaten too many on the road that turned out to not be mushrooms and to actually be poisonous fungi. But I suppose that’s not the mushrooms' fault, and her designs seem really popular now, especially after Zelda took a liking to them. She had this pretty mushroom dress she used to wear around town, wonder if it’s still here…  

Back at the house now, making the soup. I’ve laid out dinnerware for two, lit a candle, and said a prayer to the Goddess, which used to be done just before we ate, one hand in Zelda’s as she sat across from me at the table. Old habits, I guess. 

Overall, nothing seems amiss in Hateno, just yet. Will stay one more day. 

A photograph of the cauldron outside of Link and Zelda’s house. A carrot, mushroom and wild greens soup bubbles gently. It’s at least enough to feed four, or more. 

Caption: Maybe Medda will accept soup and an I.O.U for the garden. 

---

Log date: 16:00. 6th month, 21st day 104AC Location: Hateno Village Weather: Warm, partly cloudy.  

Nevermind, something is indeed amiss in Hateno. Should know to trust my gut. 

It happened in a flurry. I was back at Cece’s to bargain for a hood (really need some new, clean clothes) when Reede barged in. Stamping his foot and red as a pepper, demanding she take down the mushroom lamps, and she, unphased, called him an out of touch old fool holding Hateno back from true prosperity. Your mushroom decor is ugly! Your vegetables are boring! Pointed fingers and lots of shouting. The tension in the room was so thick I was prepared to Ascend through the roof to get out of there. 

It all came to a head when Cece proposed an election to decide the fate of Hateno. Now every other resident is asking who I’m voting for, Clavia suspects her husband is up to something, and Cece’s sister Sophie claims she has a dark secret. Plus Reede and Cece both want my help with their campaigns — Cece gave me a stack of mushrooms to hand out (like… bribes?) and Reede is trying to hunt down an old family recipe (unsure how that will help him).

It would be so easy to teleport to a shrine on the other side of the Kingdom. Or build a Zonai glider and soar away. Or throw myself into the nearest Chasm. Politics was Zelda’s expertise. And every moment I’m here is another moment I could be out looking for her. 

But. I’m still here. Hateno might not be covered in Gloom or under threat from some monster but… this is my home, and these are my people. Zelda’s too, aren’t they? It’s something we haven’t had since the Calamity. And now they’ve asked for my help. I’ve never said no to that before. It would be wrong, to start here, to start now. 

Whoever we choose as the new mayor, I hope we choose soon. 

A photograph of two large racks inside a Hateno-style house belonging to the dairy farmers Dantz and Koyin. On the shelves are wheels of cheese - a novel invention once thought lost to Hyrule. Koyin poses happily in front of her creations, blushing as her photo is taken. 

Caption: Forgot to mention. It’s cheese! Cheese! They make it out of milk! It’s gooey and rich and perfect. I bought as much as I could carry. 

---

Log date: 21:00. 6th month, 23rd day 104AC.  Location: Hateno Village Weather: Cool and clear. 

Well, sometimes the trouble sorts itself out. 

Cece’s big secret is that she likes Reede’s vegetables, and Reede’s big secret is that he likes Cece’s designs. Who would have thought. After another argument between them on Election Day, Sophie and Clavia banded together to help them see that they could just work together, and all agreed. Reede is still mayor, but Cece’s designs remain the new life blood of the town. My role in the end was to be just nosey enough to uncover all that needed uncovering, and to cook a great meal in the process. It’s Hylian Tomato Pizza all around while the town celebrates the end of the election. I managed to get a new Hylian hood from Cece, plus a hat she made that in all honesty reminds me of some of the poison fungi I once ate… 

First light tomorrow I’ll saddle up Spot and we’ll head back on the road. Earlier today I saw Naydra heading north, towards Lanayru. Was standing just outside the school when she passed overhead (I made good on my promise to help Symin out for an afternoon). One of Zelda’s students, Aster, took my hand and pointed towards the sky. ‘You see it too, don’t you Mr. Link?’ I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know anyone else could see the dragons. I just nodded and told her I was thinking of heading the same way. Lanayru is nearby, and from my map looks to be having trouble with its water. I could be there in a day. 

I’ve since checked my notes and it looks like the next geoglyph (and next clue to Zelda’s whereabouts) is actually in the Gerudo Highlands. It doesn’t change my plans. I’ll get there, in time. I want to help the people of Hyrule in the here and now, rather than chase memories of the past. I know given the choice Zelda would want me to put their safety ahead of hers, as hard as that is to accept. I have to believe that doing so will lead me to her, or otherwise go mad with worry. 

And if she really is different now? If her journey to the present changed her? I guess… we can try coming here. We can have dinner. Light a candle, say a prayer, share a meal. It’s where we started after all. I’d do it all again if it meant just one more day, with her, here in our home. 

A photograph of the school in Hateno. The children play out the front of the modern, colourful building, while Symin supervises. He wears a large sun-hat and carries a whistle. Naydra flies high overhead, heading north, and much, much higher above is a golden dragon, heading south. 

Caption: Didn’t notice the Light Dragon there too. One is an omen, two is a sign. Off to Lanayru it is.  

[gremlins-hotel]

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: 　ANON LOVE　 :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

Just wanted to stop by and share what I love about you and it's your art! I could probably ramble on and on and on about your art for pages and pages but only a smidgen of it would even be coherent, especially when writing about the way you draw Russia! And I can't remember the name of the AU, but that render of America standing under I think a sign in the desert? The lighting, the drama, and I'm not sure if you have fics too, but just from that image alone, I just know I would read the HECK out of that!! I also love your archaeology Jones blog and all the stuff I get to learn, something that has to be one of my favorite things about this fandom, thank you for being such a wonderful part of it!

Now spread the love! (But no pressure!) You can tag someone to say what you love about them, or if you're shy like me, drop some love as anon in their inbox! There's never too much love for us to share with each other 💖

so i've had this sitting in my inbox for nearly two weeks, trying to think of how to respond. nothing eloquent came. so i am thanking you from the bottom of my cringe-loving heart and here to spread some of that love in the most obnoxious way possible.

@ironicorange i can't not start with my goof squad, my beloved, my sunbeam. i love you lots, more than i can say. thank you for always letting me be in your dms with insane words and ideas, we both grow closer to delirium each day. watch your back you whore i'm going to steal your hands so i can one day draw like you.

@abbittheturtle my beloved irl bestie, this creature would be wayward without you. you are a fucking jewel and i will eat your art at every opportunity. also seeing you be happy in working with metal and jewelry has been amazing. i hope you continue to enjoy it! i'm wishing you love and luck with your move and good luck in our upcoming semester! i will be coming up there. this is a threat.

@temtamoo our romerica echo chamber and transatlantic 5g connection is so strong dude. your ideas are deep and your art is stunning, i love to hear from you always, regardless of the topic.

@artistically-hershie from late-night crazy au ideas to invading your workplace establishment to give you a soul-crushing hug, seeing messages from you so we can both be giggly and nuts is the best. also ugh, bro, teach me to draw.

@sunnysssol clown duo, clown twins, the dumbass squad. i will slobber for your oc and your art right here, right now. can i just say i specifically love how you color eyes. like bro!! the sol eye stare. trademark it.

@dusklikescats to you, who was one of my first more steadfast buddies after rejoining hetalia, i know you aren't into it much now, but i still light up seeing your messages. you have an energy unmatched and a contagious laugh.

@snackbar-chez-paro i drooled over your art for a long time dude and similar to miq, you became a fast friend. i always adore seeing your headcanons on discord even if you say wonderful things my tiny anglo brain doesn't always understand. you're awesome!

@irlusa you, good sir, are a fucking angel. and i will smooch you on the lips. stop living so far away!! i'm gonna fight the state. you are far kinder than you let yourself think and your art style is so fucking soft i'm gonna sleep on it.

@picturespurple-68 i'm sending you to the camps for revealing my classified secrets (code for i'm definitely going to watch more shows and movies with you someday). you are so very quick on your feet with ideas and always have fun ones to share. i could slurp up your writing like a fuckign smoothie it's so wonderful. i love our conversations and our hangouts.

there are so many more people i would love to ping but then this post would be far too long. return rebloggers and likers and people in my askbox, those whose posts i see on my dash and interact with, names i have come to recognize and associate with the crazy tunglrites, i salute you. and ily guys.

[parttimepuff]

Oh yeah Deedles was having a panic attack much like how meta was having a panic attack much like you may or may not by the end of this ask bandwanna wabble bee see the reason Beep was calming him down was because an anon (not myself regrettably) tossed an m!a at him, as in, a magic anon, rendering him a dark matter for like, I dunno. 20 minutes for you guys? Same deal with Meta, short Sweet panic inducing and very informative for them both!

M!A dark matter bandanna dee

As the long run-on sentence went on, the Waddle Dee was truly overwhelmed by the info being thrown at them all at once. "W-wait, huh, what??" Bandana questioned, having more than a few thoughts on the subject and no real inkling on what was to come. The same could not be sad for the king as he began reaching out for them. "Hey, you better not-" Dedede demanded, but for naught as a cloud of colored smoke surrounded his advisor, leaving a Dark Matter drone with their signature head-wear.

"…shit." The Penguin muttered, Kirby open mouthed at the transformation that had just taken place. As for Bandana. "…aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" They screeched, any questions they'd had replaced with blind panic. The two winced at the unexpected volume and they weren't the only ones, Beep shooting up straight in her room on the Starcutter.

"B-bandana, it's ok!!" Dedede insisted, trying to calm them down with the first thing that came to mind. "It won't last!! …right, it won't, right?" Kirby asked the king, his uncertainty not helping matters. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Bandana continued, having hardly stopped as they had no need to take a breath in this state. "Nova damnit-" The penguin cursed, taking off his robe and wrapping them up in it. They continued screaming, though now the sound was muffled considerably.

Sighing, Dedede patted the Waddle Dee through the robe. It was the best he could do until they calmed down. But she might be able to do better. "WHO ARE YOU???" Beep shouted back through her mind just to be heard. "AAAAAAAAAA?????" Was Bandana's best response, not recognizing the voice. "Yer probably driving her nuts, Bandee." The king commented, not certain his advisor would absorb what he'd said. "Her..? Oh, Beep can hear them, right?" Kirby inquired, leaning in as though he could hear her as well.

The penguin nodded, turning his attention back to the new Matter. "Bandana! Bandana, take a deep breath, ok!? Close yer eyes. ..eye." Dedede corrected. "aaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" Bandana wailed, tough at least more quietly. "WHATS WRONG WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING???" Beep tried again, more frantic now about what was going on. "hhhhhhhhh, this is too much, Way too much at once..!" The Waddle Dee finally managed to express. Another pat. "Ah know, Bandana, it's a lot. Just listen to us. Don't think too hard about it." The penguin reminded them. "We're here and you're safe!" Kirby seconded.

"Well, tell me what’s wrong and where you are holy shit-" Beep probed, ready to go find them as soon as she could. Trying to calm themself down, Bandana focused on their voices. "Ok, ok ok ok, just listening, listening will help. I'm safe. I-I'm safe, right? You're safe??" They frantically asked. "We're all safe here, promise, Bandee!!" The puff echoed, patting them a few times for good measure. "Yer not in any danger and yer not a danger to us, Bandana." Dedede assured them.

"Ok, ok w-we're safe. I'm in, just in the throne room, been in here a million times. Did-is anyone going to come in?? Oh Nova, I was so loud-" Bandana whimpered. "Throne room-" Beep began, before she paused, understanding now what was happening. With a level of malice she rarely used, she hissed. "Anons." It wasn't hard for her to put those pieces together. Inside the room, Dedede tried to reassure the poor Dee. "Ah don't think-" He started, interrupted by knocking at the door, leaving them all silent.

"….Kirby, go answer that. Outta the room." Dedede instructed. "Right! Right, I'll do that!!" Kirby agreed, running off to run defense. Bandana groaned, their fears realized. "Y-yeah, those no good gray guys with the sunglasses, they did this a-and oh Nova, what if someone comes in..!" They despaired, terrified of what could happen to them, to the others. The king blinked, confused by their response "Eh? Oh, yer talking to her." He surmised. "H-huh?" The Waddle Dee replied. "Let Beep know ah'm here with you and you'll be alright." The penguin told them.

It was Beep that they'd been talking to..? "His majesty, he said, um he wants you to know he's here." Bandana relayed, hesitant. "Oh shit? Deeds?" Beep responded, surprised, but relieved that he was there to help them. "Y-yeah, King Dedede. Y-you know him well..?" The Waddle Dee inferred. "Pretty well." Dedede confirmed. "Are you one of his friends…? I mean, even if you aren’t I’m sure you’d be okay. I’m sorry the anons are bullying you too…" She expressed.

"I'm, I work as his advisor. We, yeah, we're really good friends… I, thank you… I never expected them to-I didn't know they could do something like this." Bandana explained. "That's, kinda on me. Ah should've told you." Dedede apologized, glancing away despite the fact that they couldn't see him. "Good! Good. So you’ll be okay!" Beep ensured them. "Anons are jerks. A lot of them anyway. They kinda do whatever the fuck they want." She grumbled. "What’s your name? Are you gonna be okay being like-" A pause. It could be left unsaid. "You gonna be okay?"

"I will be, I'll be ok…" Bandana repeated, mostly to convince themself. Trying to move on, they focused on the rest. "We've had to kick them out enough times that we know that, hmph." They huffed, more than done with their shenanigans. "My name is Bandana Dee. I'm… i-it feels so strange, but I'm, nothing hurts and I'm not, no one else is, hurt…" The Waddle Dee trailed off, still cared of the thought. "See? …it's scary, but yer still you. That hasn't changed." Dedede told them, speaking from experience.

"I-it hasn't, no. …I'm, I apologize for screaming." Bandana replied to the Matter now that they understood what she must have heard. "…why would anyone get hurt." Beep interrogated, making them tense. "I-I, that's…" The Waddle Dee searched, flustered, for the right words, catching the king's attention. "That is, what I meant was, g-getting hurt was, because I was really scared-" They continued, making things snap into focus for their boss. "Oh. Yikes. That's one thing we're going to need to teach everyone, the big thing, really." Dedede figured. "Dedede, please-" They pleaded.

"Oh." Beep realized what they'd been getting at. "I didn’t hurt anyone when I got scared. You won’t, either." She promised. "Y-yes… You're right, I-I won't. I'm, so sorry…" Bandana apologized, ashamed of thinking of the possibility. "Mm. Ah'm sure you would've come around to this without the forced transformation, but… Well, ah'm glad you know what ah know now." Dedede patted them on the head. They supposed they did know now, having spoken to her. She was just as they'd insisted she was, if not more so. Nothing like some of the things they'd heard.

"I understand… U-um, Beep? We're going to work really, really hard on announcing you and your family's citizenship. I have some ideas, we're gonna do our best." Bandana announced. This came as quite the surprise. "…really?" Beep asked, hopeful. "Really! It's, I've never really put together something like this before, but we'll go over everything with you before we start. I think his majesty has a number for you?" They glanced at the king. "Fer her uncle, but yeah." Dedede confirmed.

They paused. "Her what? Um, I need to get, caught up on everything first, I think." Bandana figured. "He has Gremlin's phone number, I think." Beep remembered. "Gremlin?? Is your uncle??" The Waddle Dee exclaimed. "Yup." Dedede confirmed nonchalantly. "Huh…" They hummed. So much strange new information. "Is it, gonna be soon?" Beep asked. "Um, if we work at it consistently, we'd probably be ready in about a week? Maybe two, depending on getting material together." They detailed.

This time, Beep said nothing. She was just surprised. Pleasantly so, but surprised nonetheless. They were working hard for her, even Bandana who had just been terrified of what she was. It wasn't lost on them how she must feel, either. With what she'd been through... they felt they could understand her, even if just a little. And as that thought passed, smoke billowed out from Dedede's robe, leaving the Waddle Dee back in their original shape. They'd certainly learned something in what must have been the last 10 minutes.

[coalii]

A few months back I realized that, if you change Magnamon’s armor colour, he’s the same colours as the trans flag :D

Note: Since he’s my Digisona, he’s trans like me!

[sys128]

Artificial Intelligence as it stands

The world of AI has been rapidly developing in the past couple of years, and now we have this chatbot named ChatGPT, which is apparently so good, that people are starting to use it to write their college-level essays. That sounds like a situation that would play out in a science-fiction, comedy-driven novel about how academics will be like in the 2030s. But nope, this is real. This morning, in my first period class, I was randomly assigned a task to read a couple of articles about this whole ChatGPT thing. That was how I found out about the whole idea of using it to fully write their essay assignments, while I was forced by the assignment to think about how it would change how we think of well, everything. How the AI situation is depends on the medium. At the present moment, there is little fear of AI taking over the world of text. For the time being, we may not have to worry about our text being indistinguishable from human and AI.

When we use these bots for enough time, we start to notice something interesting. Sometimes, it makes some confidently incorrect statements. There are many instances of AI goofs. In text for example, I will now tell you something that came from the experience of someone in my Discord server. With ChatGPT, you can tell it to make a Python program to render something using the PyGame library, or even work with a file format that you developed yourself, but it is not going to be correct every time. The more ambitious your prompt is, the less likely it will be for the AI to make something that works first try. You would have to go through dozens of prompts to make the final product, not counting the mistakes fixed by the human. Ultimately, there is still a large human component to it. If we absolutely had to, we would have to use the AI more as a companion then a 100% reliable generator, especially for proofreading. I remember when we were in a Discord voice chat, talking about the chatbot, we had to constantly tell it about the errors it makes and then see if it would go ahead and do some troubleshooting.

In the case of academics, when the bot is confidently wrong, it causes a lapse in the user’s judgement, and it bites them in the butt when they see a fat C- on their next paper. As it turns out, the bot is currently really bad in citing their sources and finding nuances. So it really needs to train more on tone in text if it wants to get an A every time. Because of these types of weaknesses, there are still ways we can exploit the weaknesses of any AI to distinguish between what is done by a human and what is not. My English told me this morning that there is already a beta of a detector that can put a percentage of confidence whether the text you give it was generated by an AI or not. The English department in the school I go to has quickly been made aware of this tool. The more we know about ChatGPT, sure, the more it will be developed, but also the more we know about how we can exploit it. This lets us learn about the AIs that we develop so that we know how to stop them from going too far, and maybe even taking over the planet.

So that was the whole gist on how the world of text is safe for the time being, but it is good to be made aware of it. Artificially generated art on the other hand? That is a tougher nut to crack depending on what you are using it for, and worse, it is a lot more morally questionable. This calls back to artificially generated images in general, like with human faces or road signs. Someone at some point had the idea of using images taken from art websites and then see what happens. But we first need to understand what an image AI does. Every AI needs a dataset to train on to get the result the user needs. The problem lies in what the type of data it needs. In the case of art AI, it would need to use other people’s works, usually obtained from the original artist without the permission of them. For all I know, my furry art could very well be a part of their datasets too. Because of the lack of permission and the fact that it is generating art that can sometimes be harder to distinguish from human art, people are rightfully pissed off about it. There have even been protests about the issue of AI generated art. It has trended on numerous platforms across the internet, spammed to oblivion on pro-AI art websites, and much more. There is also a group of people that saw money signs in their eyes when they first saw the concept of AI generated art. They now turned a profit from it, which made human artists even MORE furious! Their art is now being stolen, not just by the datasets in which they generate from, but now the people making thousands of dollars off of it! This only fueled those protests even more.

This whole thing about the divide between what is human and what is AI made me think of generational gaps. Many boomers do not like the idea of having computers and the internet, especially for the gaming world. Many millennials are not fans of modern social media platforms like TikTok. Do you think the same is going to happen with artificial intelligence and Generation Z? I am definitely opposed to a lot of aspects of AI, but they can be fun to develop if you are doing something less useful and more fun, like some of the stuff that Cary Huang – aka carykh – does. I have a feeling that Generation Alpha will find a lot more fascination in this medium than any of us ever will. If it turns out that artificial intelligence has dominated the planet after we find some sort of equality measure between humans and robots, we might have them to blame for feuling the decisions of the Generation X/Y leaders.

<< TEXT GENERATED BY SYSTEM128-BOT, BEEP BOOP, TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER! >>

[theputterer]

Good Things In 2021

“It’s that time of year again! Time to remember all the good things that happened in 2021. I’ve done this since 2017, and highly recommend doing this as a fun way to reflect (and to have something for future reference when you are feeling Down.)

y’all. we did it.

I don’t really know how to talk about this year. in many ways it was better than 2020, but in many other ways it was not. This month has been very difficult for my family and me. (If you are curious you can read about what happened here).

But this is about looking at the good things that happened this year.

PERSONAL

I finally received my Irish passport!!! This was the last step of my journey in receiving Irish citizenship and was very exciting. 

I’ve been applying to jobs in Dublin and seen some success. I did receive a job offer I ended up turning down for several reasons, including the pay, what happened earlier this month with my family, and the timeline.

I have an interview for a different job next week I am interested in, so we’ll see how that goes!

I updated my resumé for the first time in three years, that deserves notice.

I returned to the ROGUE ONE life (BRIEFLY) and wrote a new fic called death trembles to take us, a ROGUE ONE-THE OLD GUARD fusion/AU.

a new friend on this here app, @riflegoespurr made a moodboard for it!

and special thanks to @kestrelsward for the early enthusiasm!

I am reasonably pleased with how the fic turned out.

I got a new idea for a secret original writing project that I began some tentative work on. It will remain secret for now.

I had some solid success at work, achieving a few goals I had set and improving systems for the organization. Much of this info will remain REDACTED for privacy purposes but if we are Insta friends you know. (Side note but message me if you wanna be insta friends).

I visited a city in Idaho for Work Purposes and it was nuts. They don’t believe in COVID. scenes.

In May, I went to the ocean on a small solo trip and it was very nice.

I got a couple new tattoos there! Color tattoos of lavender and hydrangea to go on my arm.

A friend of mine got married in July and I got to see it AND act as casual bartender which is hilarious because I rarely drink.

I got jabbed and boosted. Please do this when you can.

Anything bolded below is something I particularly enjoyed and recommend. 

MOVIES

2021 movies I saw and liked:

HOUSE OF GUCCI

I fucking loved this. it’s a riot. Ridley Scott can do whatever he wants forever.

BEING THE RICARDOS

BLACK WIDOW

PASSING

THE HARDER THEY FALL

DUNE

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

FOUR SEASONS TOTAL DOCUMENTARY

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO

MALIGNANT

10/10 NO NOTES

REMINISCENCE

NO TIME TO DIE

“I miss you” RIP ME

GODZILLA VS. KONG

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

2020 movies I saw for the first time:

TENET

SHIRLEY

WONDER WOMAN 1984

EMMA.

TV

WANDAVISION

similarly, Leland Philpot on Twitter: “Agatha All Along Trap/Hip Hop Remix”

WESTWORLD

THE WHITE LOTUS

THE OTHER TWO

I’ve started EUPHORIA but I’m not far enough in to render judgment.

Season 15 of IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

BOOKS

I read 64 books this year. Below are the ones I liked and/or had thoughts on:

“The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” by V.E. Schwab

“The City We Became” by N.K. Jemisin

“Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost Words of the Irish Landscape” by Manchán Magan

“Dearly” by Margaret Atwood

“Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath” by Heather Clark

This book is well over 1000 pages but it is brilliantly written and researched

“The Secret Place” by Tana French

“The End of Everything” by Katie Mack

“The Ten Thousand Doors of January” by Alix E. Harrow

“The Trespasser” by Tana French

“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison

“Black Sun” by Rebecca Roanhorse

“Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion” by Jia Tolentino

“The Witch Elm” by Tana French

“W-3″ by Bette Howland

“Girl A” by Abigail Dean

“The Witches Are Coming” by Lindy West

“How Long ‘Till Black Future Month?” by N.K. Jemisin

“Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler

“Republic of Shame: Stories from Ireland’s Institutions for ‘Fallen Women’“ by Caelainn Hogan

“The Killing Moon” by N.K. Jemisin

“Sin Eater” by Megan Campisi

“Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty” by Patrick Radden Keefe

RAGE RAGE RAGE

“Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee” by Casey Cep

“Mister Impossible” by Maggie Stiefvater

“His & Hers” by Alice Feeney

“Mirrorland” by Carole Johnstone

“The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig

“Tender Is The Flesh” by Agustina Bazterrica

This book is DEEPLY fucked up but wow.

“A Ghost In The Throat” by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

“The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett

“Caul Baby” by Morgan Jerkins

“The Only Good Indians” by Stephen Graham Jones

“Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family” by Robert Kolker

“Persephone Station” by Stina Leicht

“Folklorn” by Angela Mi Young Hur

EASILY one of my favorites of all time!!!

“The Angel of History” by Carolyn Forché

“The Maidens” by Alex Michaelides

I HATED this book. it’s so bad. it is on here because I have to say that.

“Sorrowland” by Rivers Solomon

“Hummingbird Salamander” by Jeff VanderMeer

“When The Sparrow Falls” by Neil Sharpson

this book rules

“2034: A Novel of the Next World War” by Elliot Ackerman

“The Living Sea of Waking Dreams” by Richard Flanagan

“What Comes After” by JoAnne Tompkins

“The Shadowed Sun” by N.K. Jemisin

With this book, I have officially read every novel or short story in N.K. Jemisin’s published bibliography

“The Last Mona Lisa” by Jonathan Santlofer

“Something New Under the Sun” by Alexandra Kleeman

my very rare Did Not Finish. if you did please talk to me.

“The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine” by Janice Nimura

THE BONE SEASON by Samantha Shannon

“The Bone Season”

“The Pale Dreamer”

“The Mime Order”

“The Song Rising”

“The Mask Falling”

LITERALLY WHERE HAVE THESE BOOKS BEEN ALL MY LIFE!!!!! PLEASE READ THEM AND COME TALK TO ME

“Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights” by Katha Pollitt

“Shadow and Bone” by Leigh Bardugo

“Constance” by Matthew FitzSimmons

“Goldilocks” by Laura Lam

“Sabriel” by Garth Nix

“The Fourth Island” by Sarah Tolmie

“Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro

“Slaughter-House Five” by Ryan North (graphic novel adaptation!)

“My Heart Is A Chainsaw” by Stephen Graham Jones

MUSIC

Halsey, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power

Lorde, Solar Power

Olivia Rodrigo, Sour

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, Love For Sale

ABBA, Voyage

OTHER GOOD THINGS

Walter Chaw, for Film Freak Central, a review of “No Time To Die” that I found very moving

Joc Pedersen and Harry Styles: Bad Bitches

Steve Buscemi Won Halloween

Bret Stetka for NPR: “How Playing Tetris Tames the Trauma of a Car Crash” 

brains are so fucking weird yo

The Orioles coming in clutch for the Mariners

Dan Odess for The New York Times: “Ancient Human Footprints Push Back Date of Human Arrival In the Americas”

This video of Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain

The saga of the fake high school that played a real game on ESPN

This thread from a man describing what it is like to be in the modern dating game to a new divorcé

I was on the FLOOR

Reeves Wiedeman and Lila Shapiro for New York Magazine: “The Spine Collector”, about a mysterious figure asking for copies of unpublished manuscripts FOR NO APPARENT REASON.

Trea Turner’s magnificent slide home.

Jennifer Senior for The Atlantic: “What 9/11 Did to One Family”. a really devastating, beautiful piece on complicated grief.

Anna Russell, for The New Yorker: “The Beguiling Legacy of ‘Alice in Wonderland’”

Shohei Ohtani’s massive homer. i have never before seen a ball hit the fourth level that far out at Safeco Field.

Dorian Rolston for The New Yorker: “The Trip That Doesn’t End”

Casey Cep for The New Yorker: “Noticing the Mothers of the Old Testament”

Margaret Talbott, for The New Yorker: “The Women Who Want to Be Priests”.

as someone who was raised Catholic and identifies as feminist, this piece was very interesting and illuminating!

Franz Lidz for The New York Times: “She Fell Nearly Two Miles and Walked Away”

This tweet from Mark Harris that still makes me cackle

Ayesha A. Siddiqi, “Sorry for your loss”

Angelica Jade Bastién’s “The Feminine Grotesque” genre list of LetterBoxd. one day I will see them all.

This bonkers play by Javy Báez.

Grown Man Drinks Kool-Aid.

Nora McGreevy for Smithsonian Magazine: “Graves of Enslaved People Discovered on Founding Father’s Delaware Plantation”. (the founding father is John Dickinson).

This guy’s experience getting the vaccine that made me LOLLLL

Simon Levien for The Harvard Crimson: “The Crimson Klan”. Harvard reckoning with its white supremacist ties.

Patrick Freyne, for The Irish Times, eviscerating the British Monarchy via Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah

Philippe Sands, for The New Yorker: “Reckoning With a Nazi Father”. the denial and hard legacy for a family with Nazi relatives.

John Matthias, for The New Yorker: “Living With a Visionary”. 

“When I ask her if she is awake, she says she does not know.”

Katie Dowd, for SFGATE: “The story of ‘Drake’s plate’, the biggest hoax in California history”. a romp.

Jen Chaney for Vulture: “No, They Weren’t Dead the Whole Time.” an oral history of the LOST finale that I kind of think was written FOR ME

Kaylyn Hlavaty for Cleveland News 5: “Her ancestors forgotten, a mantel from a slaveholder’s home bears witness to their lives”. a really devastating reminder of how hard it is for Black people to find their ancestors.

et voila. Happy New Year. let’s be kind to each other.

(Raymond Chandler)

go forth and share your good news and be sure to tag me!

c.c. @leaiorganas @fortysevenswrites @magalis @callioope @cassianserso @i-am-slain @riflegoespurr @alecjmarsh @alittlemomentum @earnestfeeling @jaylie12 @thenewyorkreload @moprocrastinates @andorjyny @the-dala​ @sleeplessant​ and anyone else who wants to share!!!

[lilypixels]

Izzy’s Dag-Dag The Artist… Tag

By @morgynemberisagenderfluiddaddy

~ Rules ~

Show us a rendition of yourself in your own art! Can be anything! Sims render? Random stick figure? Picrew? Go nuts! (Just be sure to tag the artist if you use someone else’s picrew!!!!) Tag the blogs you want to know, and don’t be a dick that’s it! Also, feel free to answer as vague or in-depth as you want. And if you don’t want to answer a question for any reason just don’t vibe with it! Skip it if you wanna! Also make sure you tag me and use #dagdagtheartisttag so I can see it!!!!!!!!

This is a bit long so i’m just gonna...

~Questions~

1.) Do you prefer to be referred to by your name or blog name? Both are fine! I don’t care much about what people refer to me as in general and have had someone on here call me lily once

2.) Where are you from? I won’t say exact, but I live in the middle of USA (I can’t wait to move-)

3.) Do you have pets? 👀 Yes! 3 dogs and 2 cats, tho only one cat is truly “mine”

4.) Tell us about your “dream”. uhh like where I want to be in life? what I want to do? um I’m still working on the exact job title, but I wish to do research at a natural history/science museum (sorta like archives or collections manager, but neither of those are quite right i think). Otherwise, I just hope to adopt and even foster kids cause my life would not be complete without little ones :3 (spouse/partner optional lol) 

5.) Aside from art, what are your hobbies? Randomly researching things that grasp my attention, games...lots of games, reading, watching tv, coloring (wait does that count as art-), uhhh spacing out

6. )Does anyone irl know about your blog? yeah, but mostly just know about, not like see my posts i guess

7.)Do you know anyone from your blog irl? not outside of just chatting on discord

8.) What are some fun facts about you? I’ve had some poems published before (it was with entering a poetry contest), I have surprisingly good balance, my brain is not properly awake/functioning until 10am which has led to me almost using soap as toothpaste a few times too many, I have a birthmark on my finger (bonus: it sorta changes color/how noticeable it is depending on how hot or cold I am lol, i call it a mini thermometer cause of this), apparently Lion King was my Disney movie obsession as a kid...oh and I have a certificate in cryptozoology lolz

9.) What’s your day job? i work as a private nanny/glorified babysitter (i don’t live with them or drive but work regular hours through week and as needed; even join the occasional vacation with them)

10.) Do you have a celebrity look alike? i don’t think so; a girl in high school once said I look like Cameron Diaz tho-

11.) What’s your aesthetic? for my blog I think it’s becoming like dark academia meets cottage core?? idk for myself...who knows

12.) What kind of artist are you? the tired kind lol

13.) How did you get into your form of art? if we’re looking at sims, uhhh well I just happened to learn about cc one day, then happened upon simblr, saw edits, and thought I’d give a try cause I can’t draw but I need a creative outlet so this worked for me

14.) What do you watch/listen/read/anything else while you create? if I do anything, its listen to music; music is generally random based on what I feel like but more recently its been 2d anime groups (idolish7, hypnosis mic, etc)

15.) What is your favorite of your own creations so far?  lets see...this, this, and this edit wise I think

16.) How would you describe your art style? idk chaos

17.) What is more satisfying to you coloring or outlining? coloring, I like coloring 

18.) What meme would you use to describe yourself?

19.) What character from any media form do you most identify with? oh gosh uhhhh there’s a few but I’ll say Iori and Sogo from Idolish7 since they come to mind first lol. Iori is a fellow aquarius who hides his interests and agonizes over past slipups even a year later, others have legit moved on but he’s still stuck on it (that was true moment I was like “omg you are aquarius” lol cause yeah meee). Sogo i heavily relate to as well cause he’s,,,very nice and hides his own feelings, putting others before himself (but when right buttons get pushed, he can be scary lol) so yeah, those two

20.) If you were on the run, what would you change your name to? I’ve never thought of this...no clue

21.) Have you ever or do you want to change blog names? I have changed names, yes; I used to be silverine-sims but after a time i didn’t ~vibe~ with it

22.) God forbid Tumblr decides to pull a MySpace and lets us have page songs, what song would you choose?  page songs like adding playlist to blog? i mean its possible already with bit of coding and I used to have one set up but uh one song huh? gosh um I guess Twisted Hearts by tasuku hatanaka; it was op for Moriarty the Patriot s2 and I’m pretty obsessed with it rn 

23.) Oh yeah, I’m still on the MySpace train and I’m starting discourse! Who’s your top 8? my brain refuses to think and rank; i have trouble with choices and that extends to favorites,,

24.) Did you understand those references or did you have to look them up? (I’m fully aware I’m ancient, but are you?) i know of myspace but otherwise i have no clue what all it entailed

25.) One last question; why are you like that? I grew up watching Secret Saturdays, He-Man, Teen Titans, Danny Phantom, and Spongebob idk what to tell ya ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Dag dag?

Now tag tag!!!

I know not all of you will do this or was tagged by izzy already but I’m tagging everyone I can think of anyway-

@cyansimblr @neriney @lunchsims @waysims @klayde @sinfulwunders @void-imp @ladykendalsims @lazysunjade @almost-spring @smolteabirb @lunaziie @clumsyghostie​ and uh uh anyone else cause its too early and my brain just quit

[ohgodmyeyes]

Hot Wax (Like A Band-Aid)

Luke Skywalker x Reader, 2k words. Modern AU? Mature, but no sex.

Summary: Your infallibly sweet husband, Luke, helps you wax your pussy because you’re too pregnant to do it yourself.

...

"I— um, I'm not sure about this anymore. This stuff is hot."

"Come on, Luke! You promised you'd help!"

Luke looked up at you from between your legs, desperation writ on his face. He had to peek around your belly to do it— you were about eight months pregnant right now, which was why you'd enlisted his help with this in the first place. He might have been nervous, but you weren't about to let him back out now... especially given the fact that it was his baby whose steady growth was preventing you from performing your usual hair-removal ritual.

"I just— I mean, I don't want to hurt you. And anyway, you know I don't care whether or not you—"

"I care," you interrupted him, from your spot on the living room couch. "I like how it feels with no hair down there, and anyway, you've already trimmed everything down to the right length— you don't want to quit with the job only half-finished, do you?" Appealing to Luke's sense of duty, you thought, was the most effective way to get him to do something he didn't really want to do.

"Trimming it was easy," he mumbled, seemingly to himself, as he peered back between your legs as if to examine his own work. "This seems... I don't know, dangerous." He paused. "...You didn't really used to do this by yourself, did you?"

"Of course I used to do it by myself," you told him. You weren't crazy about the idea of a stranger removing the hair from your vulva; you'd always shaved or waxed it yourself. Now that you couldn't see the area in question well enough to perform the task, Luke was the next best option— whether he thought he was or not. "Now, hurry up and start putting it on before it gets too cool. The sooner you get to it, the sooner it'll be over."

Luke sighed in defeat. He was sweet, you thought— sometimes almost too sweet. When you'd told him you needed help with something, he'd agreed right away, before even asking what it was you needed him to do. He was probably thinking, now, that he'd made a mistake; however, you knew that with the right amount of reassurance, he'd do a fine job of grooming your pussy. Luke was good at nearly everything he tried, and you were sure this would be no exception.

"...Alright," he conceded. "Alright, fine. But if I screw up, you're not allowed to get mad, okay?"

"You won't screw up! You'll do just fine." You spread your legs as widely as you could, and went on to instruct him, "Just gather some of the wax up on the little stick, and spread it into a line wherever you want to start. Leave it for a minute or two, and once it's hard enough that it makes a noise when you tap it with your fingernail, it's ready to be pulled off."

"Won't that hurt?" he asked, the concern in his voice coming through loud and clear.

"Of course it'll hurt, but only for a second."

"What if you yell? What if there's blood? ...Wait, this can't hurt the baby, can it?"

"I might yell, but there won't be any blood," you told him. "And no, there's no way this can hurt the baby." You placed a hand gently upon your stomach and smiled. "I think she's asleep right now, anyway," you added. "She won't even notice."

He laughed despite himself. "Still think it's a girl, huh?"

You hadn't opted to find out the sex of your baby; you'd both agreed a surprise was a lot more fun. You had a feeling you were carrying a girl, although Luke happened to disagree.

"I do," you said. "It's just a feeling I have, though— we'll find out soon enough."

"I still can't believe you're doing this for us," he said, peeking around your belly and back up at you one more time. "You're going to be a fantastic mom, you know."

"I'm glad you think so... but you wanna know what I think?"

"What?" he asked, flashing you one of his loveliest smiles.

"I think you're going to be a fantastic esthetician. As long as you don't let the wax get too cold."

"Okay, okay! You just want me to start, then?"

"That's exactly what I want."

He shook his head and sighed again, but that sweet smile didn't leave his face. "Okay. I'm going to start at the bottom, and work my way up. Does that sound alright?"

"Sounds fine to me, Luke. Don't worry, it'll be over in no time."

He went to work, after that— just like he said he would, he started at the bottom, with what felt like an appropriately-thin strip of wax in just the right position. He was quiet while he waited for it to harden, and so were you. Your hand stayed on your belly; the baby still seemed to be asleep.

Luke was going to be a wonderful dad, you thought absently as you waited for that first strip to cool— he'd proven to you over and over throughout the course of your relationship that he was willing to do just about anything for the people he loved. Waxing your pussy was just the most recent manifestation of that willingness, and you appreciated it... especially considering that he didn't care whether you were fuzzy down there or not.

"Okay," he said, after a couple of minutes had passed. "I think it's ready. What do I do now?"

"Can you tap it with your fingernail?" you asked, just to confirm that it was, in fact, time to pull it off.

"Yeah, I can. Do I just... pull?"

"Hold the skin right below the edge of the wax so it's super-tight, and then rip it off as fast as you can."

"'Rip it off'?"

"Yep— just like a band-aid."

You heard him take a deep breath, and then he did exactly as you had told him: He held your skin tight with his fingertip, and proceeded to wrench the strip of wax right off of you. You shrieked, partly because you weren't the one doing it; partly, too, because it stung. It would have stung no matter who'd been doing it.

"I'm sorry!" he said. "Are you alright? I didn't mean to—"

"I'm fine," you laughed. "Actually, it felt exactly the way it's supposed to. How does it look?"

"Like your pussy has a bald spot."

"Well, then you'd better get started on the rest."

Having taken on a more serious expression (Luke always looked quite serious when he was hard at work on something), he glanced up at you, nodded, and went on to complete the task of rendering your pubic area perfectly smooth.

You didn't speak anymore so as not to distract him; he didn't say anything else either, except to confirm, periodically, that you were still alright. Every time you squeaked or squealed or otherwise showed even the slightest hint of discomfort, he looked up at you with concern; however, he didn't deviate from his task. By the time he'd worked his way up to the spot just beneath where your belly bulged out, he seemed as though he'd grown quite comfortable with the process.

"Looks like I'm just about done," he said, as he spread one last strip across your mound. "How do you feel?"

"A lot better," you answered, and that was the truth. Not being able to do this job for yourself happened to be one of your least favourite parts of being heavily pregnant. It was worth it, of course; you'd always wanted a family with Luke... but carrying a child did come with its fair share of frustrations and inconveniences. You were glad to have someone like him, who was willing to help you with whatever you needed, whenever you needed it.

Luke, you mused, was an infallibly sweet man— you'd always considered yourself very lucky to have him, and the fact that he was willing to do this for you only served to drive that point home.

By the time you'd finished contemplating how wonderful he was, he'd warned you that he was about to pull off the final wax strip. You told him to go right ahead, and so he did— and with one final pinch (and shriek), the task was complete.

"You have a pretty pussy," he said admiringly, running a finger along the edge of your outer labia. You looked around your belly and at his face; he was smiling again. It made you smile, too.

"Only thanks to you," you said. "I can't tell you how much it means to me that you helped me with that— it was driving me nuts."

"It wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be," he admitted. "I just didn't want to hurt you— you, or the baby."

"You didn't," you said, heaving yourself back up into a seated position (Luke, being the gentleman that he was, helped you by taking your hand and giving it a gentle tug as you did). "We're both just fine. Although I do think I might have woken her up with all my yelling."

"She— I mean he— woke up? How do you know?" He got to his feet, and then sat down beside you on the couch, eyes trained on your stomach.

You gave him a look, and took his wrist in your hand. "She's kicking," you told him. "Right about... here." You placed his palm on the upper part of your belly, just a few inches above your navel. You couldn't actually tell if the baby was kicking or punching right now, but she was certainly doing something, and you had no doubt that her father would want to feel it, too.

He waited a few moments, staring curiously at his own hand. Then, all of a sudden, a broad smile completely overtook his features.

"Feel that?" you asked, with a grin of your own.

"Yeah— yeah, I did feel it!"

"Strong, isn't she?"

He appeared to think for a moment. "...Maybe you're right," he said. "Maybe it is a girl."

"What makes you say that?"

"All the strongest people I know are girls. You, my sister— my mom, too, from what my dad always tells me." He took his hand off your belly then, and leaned in closely to offer you a kiss. "Do you know how proud I'll be if our baby turns out to be even half the person you are?"

You looked into his eyes, which were absolutely brimming with love. Yes, you thought— you really were very lucky to have somebody like Luke to share your life with.

"Whether it's a boy or a girl," you said to him, "I hope they turn out to be just like you— kind and loving, and always willing to help anyone who needs them... even if the thing they need help with is kind of awkward." Like pussy-waxing, you thought. "You know that's why I fell in love with you in the first place, right?"

He blushed, which he'd always been prone to doing. "You're too nice to me," he said. "I just didn't want to hurt you— I wasn't going to tell you I couldn't do it without at least trying first."

"That's why you're a perfect husband, Luke... and it's why you're going to be a perfect dad, too."

You put your arms around him after that, and drew him in as closely as you could to give him a tight squeeze. He hugged you back, and went on to whisper something into your ear... something about heading to the bedroom, for the purpose of more thoroughly checking his work.

With a giggle, you nodded emphatically, and watched as he stood up. Once he'd deftly helped you to your feet, you sauntered off together hand-in-hand, down the hallway and in the direction of your favourite place to spend time together.

All of your 'spending time' together might have been the very reason you couldn't wax your own pussy today... however, not being able to see between your own legs for a few months was a tiny sacrifice, given all of the wonderful things that came with being tied to somebody as kind and generous as Luke.

[jobean12-blog]

Addicted to Love

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Word Count: 900

Summary: You’re addicted to Bucky (I AM SO ADDICTED) 

Author’s Note: This is for the MCU HBC @the-mcu-horniest-book-club​ 80s music drabble challenge! It’s based off the song by Robert Palmer- Addicted to Love. In some places I pulled lyrics right from the song and in general it’s inspired by the fact that I’m totally and completely in love and addicted to Bucky. HA! Hope you enjoy this and thank you all for reading! Much love always ❤❤❤

Warnings: Fluffy fun! Bucky being hot and sexy and sweet and flirty :) 

The first time it happened you were caught completely unprepared and you knew you were in trouble…Bucky saunters into the common room in search of water after his run with Steve. You’re sitting at the counter with your chin resting in your hand, looking bored. Your eyes nearly pop out of your head when you see his tight blue tee shirt clinging to his sweaty body.

“Hiya doll, what’s going on?” He grabs a bottle of water and takes a long drink, showing off the long column of his neck and his chiseled jaw. A drop of sweat trickles down the side of his face and under his shirt. “Um. Hey. Can you throw me a bottle too please?” You’re suddenly feeling hot and so thirsty.

He takes a second one out and carefully throws it your way. “You ok?” Opening it and taking a drink you simply nod, not trusting yourself to speak. “Man, it’s hot out there and of course Steve had us run like 15 miles.” You just stare at him, trying to think of what to say that isn’t just a lewd moan. Managing a smile, you take another drink, eyes glued to his body as he grabs the bottom of his shirt.

He starts to lift it off and when he tries to get it passed his shoulders, he has some trouble mostly do to the fact that he’s so sweaty. He grunts and his abs flex from the labor. You’re completely mesmerized and practically drooling so when he asks for some help you barely register his question.

“Huh? Oh yeah, sure.” You walk over to him in a dizzy haze and get his metal arm out of one sleeve then pull it over his head. “Shit. Thanks babe. Sorry if I’m gross.” Your throat is tight, and you can’t breathe but you bring your eyes up to his, “ok.” Mentally berating yourself for the ridiculous reply you try to think of what else to say.

“I’m gonna go shower. I’ll be back and I’ll smell better I promise.” He kisses your cheek and walks away, leaving you standing there with your heart beating in double time. Sam walks in and snaps his fingers in front of your face, “hey, y/n! You there?” It breaks you from your spell and you give him a wide-eyed look, backing away with a small smile. Sam knowingly chuckles, raising his eyebrows, “you’re in deep, huh?” With a scoff you brush him off and head back toward your room only to hear him shout after you, “might as well face it!”

The next time you’re no more prepared than the last… You and Bucky are sitting on the couch watching a movie, his thigh brushing yours every so often and it’s driving you nuts. You can smell him, feel the heat radiating off his body. It makes you shiver, and he turns your way, “you cold doll?” You’re not cold, you’re on fire but you say “yes,” anyway. He takes off his Henley and puts in over your head.

You look down at your body dwarfed by his huge shirt and you bring the material up to your nose. “Smells better than you did the other day,” you giggle and find yourself proud you were able to make a coherent remark. Bucky laughs too, his eyes crinkling around the edges and his nose scrunching up and you’re rendered useless once again.

Focusing on the movie is probably your best bet but he makes it very difficult when he drapes his arm over your shoulder and starts playing with your hair. Your heart sweats and your body shakes. You thought you were immune to him but it’s closer to the truth to say you can’t get enough. Sam is right, there’s no doubt, you’re in deep.

You have a one-track mind at this point, unable to think of anything else but straddling his lap and letting his hands roam over every inch of your body. Sometimes you think he must be able to read you like a book because his hand moves from your hair and under the neck of your shirt, gently brushing over your shoulder. You shiver again and he knows you’re not cold this time. You feel his heated gaze. You can’t be saved, he’s all you crave. Looking up to meet his eyes you’re surprised when you see the same fire you feel reflected back.

In a bold move you get up and sit in his lap, draping your body over him. You start talking, trying to explain what you’re feeling but your will is not your own and you’re rambling. He lets you talk for a minute, his smile growing until he finally silences you by pressing his lips to yours. Your mind goes blank and you melt against him. He pulls away too soon, leaving you breathless. “I just want to make sure this is what you want, because it’s what I want.”

Dipping your head back down you breathe against his lips, “yes. I want it. All.” His grin becomes wicked as he inches closer, “good, because another kiss and you’ll be mine.” He doesn’t wait for your reply, his mouth covering yours and his hands slipping under his Henley. He growls into the kiss, sending shockwaves through your body and you know you’re gonna have to face it, you’re addicted to love.

@aesthetical-bucky​ @auro-ora​ @book-dragon-13​ @bugsbucky​ @buckys-broody-muffin​ @buckys-minty-breath​ @buckys-henley​ @bucky-on-my-mind​ @breezy1415​ @eurynome827​ @emilylyoness​ @buckosawrus​ @hiddles-rose​ @hawksmagnolia​ @hailmary-yramliah​ @throwmyheartawayagain​ @ikaris-whore​ @itsunclebucky​ @imgaril-lindru​ @jhangelface0523​ @jewels2876​ @kaosera​ @loricameback​ @lorilane33​ @littledarlinhavefaithinme​ @littleredstarfish​ @mushyjellybeans​ @marvelandotherfandomimagines​ @marvelgirl7​ @tales-of-spring​ @tuiccim​ @nano--raptor​ @pinkdiamond1016​ @nerdypinupcrystal​ @randomfandompenguin​ @hopefuldreamers-world​ @lokilvrr​ @the-wayward-robot​ @sallycanwait68​ @softpeachbarnes​ @yansi1923​ @scarletsoldierrr​ @cuddles-with-bucky​

[yarrowleef]

Daffodil, Laurel, Lily, Sunflower, Violet, and Wisteria? Also Begonia but I'd like to know your favorites of the old covers and the newer/reprint covers. And the Russian Warrior Cat covers too! Some of their art is quite pretty.

laurel, violet and sunflower answered previously

Daffodil: When did you first start reading the series?

Start of third grade when I was 8 years old, which I believe was 2007!!  .......so like literally most of my life I have given to these cursed cat books. I remember The Sight was the most recent release. It was the first real book series I ever read, and I think I went through the first 2 series within a couple months.

Prior to that I just read stand-alone books and I only read because I wanted to win “accelerated reader” points....i couldn’t do sports, so reading was the only thing I could win at AND I DID WIN. but warriors was the first thing I read that I was actually like...into. and realized I could read for reasons OTHER then winning the most points.

Lily: If your five favorite characters were foods, what would they be?

asdfghgfdxs I honestly have no idea how to answer this question, in part because I don’t think I even have 5 favorite characters. I suppose Firestar is doritos out of obligation. What else can he be?? I mean ok flaming hot cheetos maybe seems more fitting on the surface because ~flame-y~ but lets be honest, Firestar is a bit too bland a character to be spicy. He is one of my favorites for nostalgia sake, I mean it’s Firestar, how can I not be fond of him?

I also have a soft spot for Scourge just because of the sheer ridiculous audacity of him. I wish he’d come back as an evil ghost. Anyway, when I was about 9 and going through my brief (incredibly unfortunate) twilight phase (I was just jumping on the popularity bandwagon tbh) I went to Hot Topic right before one of the movie premieres and they had this...edible bag of blood? it wasn’t actual blood obviously, but I remember it was advertised as being really high in iron to mimic blood, but it was really this sickly sweet mystery juice packaged inside of a fake hospital blood bag. I of course bought it because I went through my edgy phase early, and for some reason thought it would look cool to pretend I was drinking blood. It was the most disgusting liquid i have ever consumed but hey it did also have the unpleasant metallic tang of blood because I guess they were going for authenticity over edibility, so it’s not like I didn’t get what I paid for (or rather what my mom paid for, because i was 9)

Anyway, Scourge is that. He’s awful fake blood juice from the Hot Topic in the mall.

 That's all I got.

Wisteria: Are you looking forward to the Warriors movie?

YES ABSOLUTLEY!!

don't get me wrong, I fully expect it to be terrible. Embarrassing even. I expect they will try to change it for a wider audience appeal, and of course it will end up bad, BUT IT WILL BE SO FUNNY!! I have this inescapable morbid curiosity about it, like I really want to see what they try to do. Like watching a train crash. I can't help it.

Warriors is a silly series. I have a feeling this is why a movie hasn't been made yet, even I would have no idea who to market it for. Yes it's violent and touches on very dark topics, but the fact that its about cute little cats with very dumb names coupled with those dark topics in a way makes it look even MORE silly. I don’t think Warriors will ever have wide appeal outside of its fanbase, the concept looks too ridiculous if you’re not someone already into animal xenofiction like this, but a movie is inevitably going to try to have wider appeal anyway because that's what movie studios feel they need to do. They will either water it down, or worse, try to go a more family friendly comedy route since that’s how general audiences are used to seeing animated talking animals and they think that's the only “”safe”” way to market an animal movie, which will 100% ruin it either way. The second one is more likely, I mean why else do you think they hired the guys who wrote kung fu panda, and the recent alvin and the chipmunks and Spongebob movies to make the script?? [no shade to kung-fu panda, it’s good in it’s own way, but it is not the same vibe as warrior cats at all]. For me, this is simultaneously the absolute best and the absolute worse scenario, because like, it’s horrible, its an insult to everything I love about the warriors world, i have surreal nightmares about it, but it’s so horrible it f*cking hilarious ya know? how can you not be a little curious to watch that train crash (and the outraged reaction posts that will inevitably follow)????

A warriors movie will be bad, I can't see any way that it won't be bad, and honestly? I think that's ok. I don't need a good movie, I simply need a good laugh, and then I'll go back to watching fan animations which will always be more interesting anyway because they don't feel the need to have ~mass appeal~

Listen, we don't actually need a good official adaptation. In some ways, a good adaptation might be bad for the fandom. The fandom is cool because of how wildly different and creative it is, the series is so bare bones with no consistent official art that people can go nuts with it. I worry on the off chance we get a really good adaptation, it might take over the books. People might be less likely to draw/create with their own wild bonkers interpretations of canon in favor of sticking closer to what the official adaptation presented us with, and idk if I want that. I also def don't want to deal with searching "warrior cats" for the rest of my life to only bring up gifs/discussions of the movie/tv show, rendering material and fan creations for the books almost impossible to find. This is something i've suffered with when other books i like get popular adaptations, where as series with bad adaptations (like percy jackson) I have less trouble finding content about the books. 

Begonia: Which book cover is your favorite?

So of the old covers I admit i have a soft spot for the darkest hour, it was my favorite as a kid and I know I tried to redraw it several times. Warrior covers have a tendency to blend together, there’s only so many ways to draw mysterious cats fighting, but I think this cover is one of the most memorable for me, if only for the center art (shout out to the old Fire and Ice cover though, I also really like the center art on that. I wish the box had kept being used for more than just a single cat face in the later series)

but now that i’ve gone and looked, I really really like the full cover art for Tallstar’s Revenge, the colors just look super nice and match his eyes and everything. Tallstar having a fun and more unique looking design gives it extra points. Maybe I just like warm tones idk. And shout out to Wayne for also imagining the moor as a golden-brown field even though it’s probably supposed to be green.

out of the new covers, I like the vibe of Dark River, it just looks spooky and mysterious......and I think this artists cats look better from the side, they are always a little crooked from the front (honorable mention to Place of No Stars cover, I really like the colors and the ominous vibe, it definitely had an impact when I first saw that cover, I just don’t love the look of the cats faces blown up close from the front. The more I look at it the more off it becomes, but the colors are cool)

and I definitely agree the Russian warrior cats art has a very charming look to it, I like seeing it whenever it comes across my dash, but unfortunately I’m having trouble finding a catalogue of it to look at so I can’t pick a favorite

[realityhelixcreates]

Beta, Theta, and Me Chapter 9: Magic Carpet Ride

Chapters: 9/?

Fandom: Thor (Movies), Avengers (Movies) Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Relationships: Loki x Reader (But not right now),Drug Use

Characters:  Loki(Marvel) Additional Tags:  A/B/O, Sorta, More Of An Exploration Of  Life And Self Expression Within An A/B/O Framework, Loki Does What He  Wants, But Loki Does Not Actually Do What He Wants, Antagonistic Bosses,  Loki Has A Throne Now, But It’s Not What He Wanted

Summary:  Loki, paragon of self-sacrifice, must face down a cultural taboo.

Loki stared ruefully at the little bottle of pills on the table in front of him.

“You've got to be kidding me.” he said, “Your weak mortal medicine will have no affect on me.”

Tony Stark shrugged. “Works on Cap.”

“I am not your Captain Rogers. We are worlds apart.”

“The guy's a never ending science experiment. We had to develop insanely strong meds for him because, in the event that he actually managed to get hurt, our strongest stuff couldn't help him. But I have it on good authority that this'll do the trick. That authority being your brother. King of Asgard.”

Loki glared in scandalized disbelief. “You are telling me Thor actually took one of these?”

“Took some persuading, but yeah. After he came back down, he was pretty sure they'd work on you too, despite your differences.”

Loki's eyes flicked to you, then back to Stark, then to the bottle. “Hold your tongue. We don't need to discuss this any further. I will not poison myself at your command.”

“It's not poison!” Stark insisted. “It's a painkiller and anti-inflammatory. It will help you heal.”

“You cannot expect me to degrade myself for your convenience.”

“No, I expect you to lie for your convenience.” Stark shot back. “Though I don't see how hiding this from me,” he gestured at the chair, the neck brace, “actually helped you at all. You don't get anything out of it. Anyway, you really need to start cooperating if you want to stay. I'm trying to be lenient, but the more you complicate things, the more likely it is you'll be discovered. I think we all agree that would be bad.

As for you, if you want to come back downstairs and rejoin society, we've always got space for you” he said to you. “The baristas have been asking after you.”

“No!” Loki burst, “If I must befoul myself with your medicines to retain my lodgings, then I require her assistance to oversee things while I am...impaired.”

It had been an accident. Or rather, a lapse in personal judgment. You had left Loki after dressing him one morning, to fix breakfast, and Stark had shown up. And because he was your boss, and owned the building, you had just let him in. That's right, you had helped out the landlord. Your parents would be ashamed of you. You were ashamed.  

And the silent fury Loki had been radiating when he wheeled out into the seating area and Stark had gotten a look at him as he really was made you surprised that he wanted to keep you around at all.

Stark had given him an exasperated earful, and then left, coming back this morning with a bottle full of small pills. You couldn't even come close to pronouncing the complicated name on the label, but from what Stark was saying, they were the kind of thing that should never be taken by a normal person. Not if they had been made with Captain America in mind. Not if they were powerful enough to string out Thor.

You were surprised Loki was even pretending to go along with this, considering the cultural attitudes to chemical medicines in Asgard. Really, you fully expected him to order you to throw the pills away once Stark left.

When you brought him his tea, he sighed deeply, his expression a mask of utter melancholic resignation.

“Crush one of those accursed pills into a powder and add it to the tea.” he said woefully. “Stay by me as I suffer this indignity. Be forgiving of any upcoming transgressions, I implore you.”

“Hey, I'm sure it won't be that bad.” you said, grabbing a cooking spoon, and carefully breaking the pill down into a fine powder with the handle. “It won't stay in your system for very long. Your body will filter it out and flush it away, and you'll be clean again.”

You brushed the powder into his teacup, and stirred until it dissolved. Then you handed it over to Loki, who stared into the cup morosely.

“Won't it be good to not be in pain, even just for a little while?”

“I thought that many times, when I was in the clutches-” He stopped abruptly. “I've thought that many times. It is always denied to me somehow. There's always a catch.” He took a long sip of the tea, and sighed again. “And so I am tainted. At least the tea doesn't taste any different. You are getting better at that.”

“Here, have a muffin.” you offered him your freshest creation. “It says on the bottle that you're supposed to take it with food.”

He accepted the muffin with all the graveness of a prisoner at his last meal, but he thanked you graciously, and stopped you when you started to leave his side.

“I will be rendered a senseless fool by this foul poison. You must stay close, so that I do not do something utterly moronic, like throwing myself from the balcony on the assumption that I can fly. I might not actually survive in my situation, and I dislike long falls anyway.”

“You're scared of heights?” you asked, scarcely able to believe it.

“No,” he said haughtily, “I dislike long falls. It is different.”

“Why do they bother you?”

“That is personal.”

“I've seen your dick.” you pointed put.

“You would not be the first.” he said, matching you for vulgarity.

You rolled your eyes. “Whatever. Do you want more tea?”

Loki glanced into his empty teacup, bemused to see the bottom.

“Yes, I suppose I would.” he said, setting it down for you.

He had tried to teach you the fine art of pouring tea, and you had finally managed to do it without dribbling, but, as Loki put it, you also did it without grace. He didn't say anything this time, just tightened his lips in a sarcastic way, and took a sip.

At least you knew how to make tea to his specifications. It wasn't difficult, once you had figured it out. Just measurements and timing.

He had devoured his muffin, so you brought him another. Loki was extremely particular about flavors; not adventurous at all. Even banana nut offended his senses. But cream cheese met his approval in every application so far, even if he did complain about the texture of bagels.

“You'll have to get me an Asgardian cookbook, if this keeps up.” you said. “I might be able to whip you up something that reminds you of home.”

“I do not necessarily always want to be reminded of home.” Loki said. “And some of our dishes take many hours, even days to make. I need you for more than that. You cannot be in the kitchen at every moment.”

You would never admit it to anyone, but you got a surge of secret pleasure every time Loki said that he needed you. You'd always enjoyed hearing it from others, but it was so much better coming from a god.

Though it did make you wonder if the isolation up here was messing with your head a bit.

“Besides,” he continued, “enough cheese, bread, and meat will approximate the diet well enough. Asgardians have high metabolisms, and require many calories, and so do I. Our active lifestyles tend to make us big eaters as well, although I do not get my usual exercises these days.”

“If you would actually give yourself the time to relax and heal, you might be able to get back to that sooner.”

“Yap, yap, you nag like a bratty lapdog.” He scorned. Your eyebrows skyrocketed.

“Well gee,” you said with exaggerated shock, “if you don't want me here, just go ahead and say so. I'll go downstairs and be a barista.”

“No, you cannot leave me!” There was a distinct waver in his voice. “I will be polite. You won't leave me, will you? I didn't mean it.”

“Loki.” you said, suddenly feeling guilty. He sounded like a scolded little boy, on the verge of tears. “I'm not going anywhere. Don't worry about that. You should be more polite though.”

He reached out gracefully and took your hand.

“Dear lady...” he began, his words slightly slurred, and you finally realized that the medicine was taking effect.

“How are you feeling?” you asked, filling his tea again.

“Strange.” he said. “I feel light, but like there is a weight upon my eyes. Light, but like I cannot lift my limbs. One with this chair. Melting into the floor. I do not hurt...it's been so long...”

He really was starting to tear up.

You took his tea from his trembling hand and grabbed up a tissue.

“Here you go.” you said, dabbing his eyes gently. “Go ahead and enjoy it. Pain shouldn't be an everyday thing for you, if it doesn't have to be. You don't have to feel bad for enjoying a little bit of peace.”

“No, you don't understand. I don't deserve this. The pain was at least something familiar. I don't recognize this feeling. This lightness. It doesn't feel real.”

“Well, you are real, and I am real, and the medicine is real. The feeling is the medicine acting on your perceptions, so it's kinda real, it's just different than usual, that's all.” you patted his hand, and he grabbed for yours.

“Will this feeling go away?”

“Of course!” you laughed, “don't worry, this is just temporary. It will help your neck, and when you're healed, you won't have to take it anymore.”

“What if I can't stop?” he asked. “I am...not good at refraining from...indulgence.”

“If no one brings you anymore, what could you do about it?”

“If I am healed enough to remove this brace? To move about freely? What could I not do about it?”

“You know, that's a good point. I think we'll have to find you some of that ultra-powerful super weed the cops keep saying totally exists, but no one else seems to be able to find.”

He gave you a sideways stare. “More poisons?”

“It's to help free you from the other poison. But there are multiple strategies for getting clean, if that really becomes a problem. It's not like I've never seen addicts before; I'll help you if you need me.”

He reached for your hand again, and missed.

“Blessed thing.” he blabbered. “You are a draught of Alfar wine, brewed under the starlight. The fresh breeze through the forests of Vanaheim, just after sunrise. You are the faithful moon, pure as gold.”

“And you are high as balls.” you teased, bashful about the flowery praise. You really shouldn't be pledging any more of yourself, but the allure  of being needed-wanted even, was as addictive as any drug.

“You are the only once who may see.” he said. “I want no one else to see me like this. Stark especially. None save you may witness my dishonor.”

“Loki,” you mock-scolded, “if you keep looking at it like that, you'll impede your own progress. You'll fight it subconsciously, and just slow your healing down.”

“How, pray tell, should I look at it then?” he asked.

You took his hand, which was still waving around after yours.

“Look at it as permission. Permission to relax, to let the guard down and just exist for a while. You have everything you need right here, you can just be. It's okay to take some time to just be.”

“Just be what though? What is worth it for me to be?”

You shrugged. “A prince?”

“In exile.”

“A god?”

“Blasphemed rather than worshiped.”

“How about...my master?”

He squirmed a little in his chair.

“I could perhaps do that effectively.” he said quietly.

[its-sixxers]

First (2013) vs Last (2021)

Tagged by @slothssassin​! tysm! <3 not tagging anyone but if you wanna do the thing go nuts (recommend bracing yourself for embarrassment, as all old art is destined to inflict)

Rules: you choose one of your first art (even if you don’t like them) and one of your latest art. Don’t forget to specify the years when you drew them and you can even write what, when and why these pics were drawn! Oh, and make sure you tag your fav artists!

So I hope you appreciate the mountain of cringe I inflicted on myself hunting down some old art of mine. This isn’t the first art I’ve ever drawn, but it’s from around when I first started posting stuff onto the internet and drawing a LOT.

This was done in 2013 when I was in my early early days of SWTOR RP. I had a zabrak jedi. She was very tall. I loved her. This was in the height of my baby artist amazed by the airbrush tool and going ham with it phase. And the start of my slapping textures onto my crap to make it look better. ;) It’s fun to see myself trying to do the DRAMATIC LIGHTING I still love to this day.

For my latest piece, I picked one with a similar idea to the one above - a portrait with some shading/rendering going on. This is still a WIP because I have no time but eh. Carrying on in the trend of me playing strongk ladies in MMOs, this is my WoW orc shaman. I love her.

Some things never change, I guess. ;)

[unintentionalgenius]

ok @ongreenergrasses tagged me to do this and that's how I know we're made for each other bc tagging me in things is my love language

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 20, but 13 of those shouldn't count because they're Sherlock and I am not that person anymore

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? ok I had hopes that there was some way to do this besides doing, you know, math. but. it's 169,674

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?  shockingly, #1 is Death and John Watson; or, Five Times John Watson Met Death and the One Time He Died at 615 kudos. If you'd asked me what was going to top this list I never in a million years would have said this one. I might have to re-read this now.

What I would have said actually comes in at #2, the (almost complete, dear g-d I'm so close) Come then, and be broken at 376 kudos.

#3 my beloved, my eldest daughter of a fic, Put Away Childish Things at 223.

#4 is astoundingly another Sherlock fic, this one creatively titled Five Times John Woke Up to Sherlock and One Time He Didn't (it's not bullying if it's past me I'm making fun of, right?).

#5 is a tie, with 60 kudos each, but they're part of the same series: A Great Man and Something Like Beginning, from my Sherlock kidfic (and incidentally how i met Hayls in the first place!).

I'm really committed to preserving my ~journey~ as a writer, but the outsized prevalence of Sherlock fic on my profile is making me question that decision. I feel like it's false advertising for who I am as a person now. 😅

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to! It might not be in a timely fashion, and honestly sometimes I feel weird about it, but I do go through and answer a few at a time when I have a few minutes.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? I refuse to re-read the Sherlock fic just to confirm, but I think Childish Things wins by a landslide anyway. Fic where John or Sherlock died was a dime a dozen back in the day whereas "[a genderswapped] stiles helps peter kill her best friend" is still a very particular, unique twist of the knife.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? this is probably going to be that Sherlock kidfic verse!

7. Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written? I absolutely do not write crossovers. No offense to anyone who does, but I simply do not understand the appeal.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic? It was less about the fic and more about the fact that I pointed out 911 has some copaganda elements via a fic's tags, but yes.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind? I now, as of literally the most recent chapter of the most recent work I posted, have to admit that I do technically write smut. It's super cerebral, feely smut, but you do read two people having sex, so like. guilty.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I don't think I have written any fics worth stealing but if it's happened I don't know about it

11. Have you ever had a fic translated? nope!

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before? nope! I have co-written things in Real Life and I honestly don't think I have anyone that I would want to write fic with like that. HOWEVER I do have a beloved sounding board in @ragequilt

13. What’s your all time favorite ship? i literally cannot answer this, there is no way I can say decisively

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? I had this fic from when the first of the new star wars movies came out where everyone thinks poe is dead, so finn has to become a person on his own, essentially, rather than being taught/hand-held by poe which I felt like I was seeing a lot in fic. The whole thing was epistolary, a diary that finn's therapist had him start keeping, which he then started writing to Poe. That's pretty firmly abandoned at this point, but it still haunts me and I wish I had finished it.

15. What are your writing strengths? Hayls once told me I'm really good at dialogue, and I actually think that's true. I'm also pretty good at atmosphere, I think, though no one has ever said exactly that. I do think I'm good at characterization, and that for me is really tied to how I do dialogue. I would honestly accept any commentary anyone wants to offer on the subject, though

16. What are your writing weaknesses? PLOT. not like, emotional arcs or a character's journey or whatever but. the ticky little nuts and bolts of how we get from a to z, especially when it requires a tight plot of external action. I always think about myself as (to quote @ragequilt here) someone who writes hurt/comfort, not casefic, and this is why. I'm rarely interested in writing the finer details of a mystery or an extravagant plot full of courtly intrigue. I'm probably bad at other things, too, but this is the one that stands out like a glaring neon sign to me.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I think in almost every case it's not necessary UNLESS it's being done for effect - that is, if I intentionally want the reader not to know what's said. Otherwise, I'm just going to put the switch to french/spanish/hebrew/arabic/mandarin in the narration. One exception to this for me, which is really just a sub-clause under the "only for effect" rule, is when I'm writing canonically bilingual characters who would employ words or phrases in both their languages in the same sentence. Some of this is characterization - Eddie Diaz speaks Spanish or Spanglish around his family; someone writing me wouldn't be writing me properly if they didn't write the Hebrew/Yiddish/English patois that I speak in Jewish spaces. I don't want my writing to read like the over-translated subtitles you sometimes see where loan words are translated, thereby rendering the subtitles actually less intelligible. It's a delicate balance and I wouldn't guarantee I get it write all the time, especially when it comes to not othering a character I'm writing. (also @ hayls I am one of those people who always/almost always says Hashem instead of g-d 😂 for me it's a way of making sure people don't think I'm talking about Christian God™️) You will notice, though, that I do have a tipping point implicitly delineated here - if someone is speaking another language for whole sentences, I'm just going to put that in the narration; single words or phrases will be written as spoken.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Sherlock (womp womp)

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to? I've never written Destiel fic, and while at this point you might be wondering what on earth there is left to say via fic about that pairing, I have a lil thing bubbling around in my brain about bodily autonomy vs. trauma vs. helping someone not suffer from their trauma while violating whatever the brain equivalent is of bodily autonomy.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? whyyyy would you ask someone this, it's like asking someone to pick a favorite child. the answer will change tomorrow, but right now I think it's the still-WIP sequel to Childish Things, A Twisted Thing Cannot Be Made Straight. It's got fun witchy!Stiles, buckets of angst but also lots of fun pack shenanigans in flashbacks, lots of me working out my own feelings about childbirth and raising children, ambiguous relationships, belated grappling with trauma, and also a satisfyingly bloody climax. There are some scenes there that still give me chills to read, and I wrote them.

@ragequilt I want to see yours!