#and it's always annoying when they make a Sim drop something

[victorluvsalice]

-->A process annoyingly interrupted by a specter, who caused them to drop their trash in favor of getting sprinkled. From across the damn front walkway, no less. *grumbles* Darn distracting blob-ghosts... I had Smiler loot the resultant pile for parts, then dropped it in the trash can for them and had them go sort out all the recyclables so the gang didn’t have to worry about anything overflowing any time soon. While they were doing that (and I knocked Victor out of a perma-weeding loop on a bugged plant so he would tend the rest of the garden), Alice finished her breakfast, cleaned MORE spoiled food out of the fridge (in fact, cleaning spoiled things out of fridges was going to become a theme of the day, as you will find out), then went and fed Toothy the cowplant before going to give the chickens a bit more feed (as at least one hen was still starving, as per the tooltips). As she took care of that, I decided that Smiler should probably clear that specter that was lurking by the front path and being a distraction on the way to the trash can and had them present them with a dark red chatterbot of their own design. To my relief, the specter appreciated the gift, and gave Smiler a glob of wraith wax! :D We do love our sacred candles around here...

-->With the specter no more, farm chores could continue – Alice collected the eggs from the chicken coop and chatted with all the chickens (who were glad to talk to her today, hooray), while Smiler went to check on Moory and see how she was doing. The cow wasn’t impressed with Smiler’s initial attempts at conversation, but cheerfully accepted a tipping. Smiler was thus able to successfully milk her for both the standard six regular milk and one enriched milk. :) Good use of 25 simoleons! As I continually state, it’s not like the gang can’t afford it. XD Victor, meanwhile, finished up tending all the non-bugged-plants, got the beeswax and the honey out of the beehive, and grabbed himself some banana split waffles to eat before running out to have a quick flirt with Smiler in the cow paddock. :) Poor Alice, meanwhile, was once again put on “get all this spoiled food out of the fridge, please” duty (seriously, so much stuff went bad today! This is what happens when you have a lot of produce and dairy products and such and Sims who don’t eat much if at all). I then sent everyone into the greenhouse to harvest a few key plants – Alice got the soy and black beans, bell peppers, and strawberries (the latter just because I know she likes them); Victor got the emotional berries off the Tree of Emotions (a full set of all the different ones this time) and some pineapples; and Smiler got their poison fireleaf and noxious elderberries (unfortunately getting a slight rash in the process) – before having Victor super-sell everything else. While waiting for him to finish up, I had Alice do a little scavenge in the yard (unearthing an emerald, nice) and sell a painting, and had Smiler brush off Shadow (still hanging out in the front entrance for some reason). Finally, once everyone was ready, I dumped the day’s milk and eggs into the fridge, gathered them all up –

[021894s]

BREAKING THE CYCLE ⭑ sim jake!

⭑ jakes apologies and heartfelt confessions keep pulling you back despite the recurring betrayals and hurt.

┃toxic!situationship, cheating, love confessions … 600 w

You come home late, your mind swirling with the day's frustrations, and there he is again—Jake, leaning against your doorframe as if he belongs there. You sigh heavily, annoyed but not entirely surprised. It’s the same old song and dance, the one you swear you’ll stop playing but always end up humming along to.

His eyes light up when he sees you, a mix of relief and something darker. "Hey, baby," he says softly, the endearing tone a sharp contrast to the turmoil he always brings into your life.

You cross your arms, trying to put on a stern face. "Jake, you need to leave," you say, your voice firm, though a part of you already knows you’re fighting a losing battle.

He steps closer, that familiar look in his eyes—the one that’s both apologetic and enticing. "Come on, Y/N, just hear me out," he pleads, his voice dropping to that low, husky tone that always makes your resolve waver.

You hate how easily he can affect you, how his mere presence can unravel all the walls you painstakingly build. But he reaches out, gently tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, and you feel yourself softening despite your better judgment.

"Please, baby," he whispers, and that’s all it takes. Your shoulders slump as you give in, turning around and opening the door. Without another word, you step inside, leaving it open for him to follow.

He trails behind you, closing the door softly, sealing off the outside world. The silence between you is heavy, filled with unspoken words and unresolved tension.

you drop your bag on the floor, Jake steps closer, his presence filling the small space of your apartment. His arms wrap around you, and you can feel his breath against your neck.

"I missed you," he murmurs, his voice thick with longing.

You stiffen in his embrace, the memory of him with Miyeon flashing in your mind. You pull away, turning to face him with a cold stare. "It didn't look like that when you were all over Miyeon," you snap, your voice laced with bitterness.

Jake's eyes widen, a flicker of guilt passing through them. He reaches out for your hand, but you pull it away, crossing your arms defensively.

"Y/N, I... it wasn't like that," he stammers, his voice desperate. "She’s not you. She could never be you. I'm sorry, baby. I messed up."

You want to stay angry, to hold onto the hurt that’s been gnawing at you since you saw them together. But the sincerity in his eyes, the raw regret, makes your resolve waver.

"Why should I believe you?" you ask, your voice softer now, tinged with the vulnerability you hate showing.

Jake steps closer, his hands gently cupping your face. "Because I’m telling you the truth. I made a mistake, and I’m sorry. I love you, Y/N. No one else."

His words sink in, and despite the pain, a part of you wants to believe him, to trust that this time will be different. You close your eyes, taking a deep breath, before nodding slightly.

"Okay," you whisper, the word barely audible, but it’s enough for him.

Jake pulls you into a tight hug, his arms wrapped around you as if he’s afraid to let go. And for now, you let yourself be held, hoping that maybe, just maybe, things can change.

© 021894s do not copy or publish

taglist: @cornenhapovs @myjaeyuns @magssu @jentlecoeur @heeslut4life @variety-is-the-joy-of-life @jaeyungxrl @rapmonie2047 @anormieee @nishislcve @leesura @en-happiness @heelariously @rikiwaify-blog @honeybunnee @seunghancore @winuvs @belovedsthings @heeseungwifey @gong-fourz @enhastolemyheart @jisungstuff @slvrnm @jayhoonvroom @svnuuu @lisaswifey @soobieboobiedoobiedaboobie @yoonjise

[koishua]

headcanon: academic rival!jake who's smitten for you

academic rival!jake who'd make it his mission to compete against you in all aspects of academia just to have you turn to him and show that adorably mad face you make whenever he scores above you. jake, who'd always seem to disappear after you give him that look. he's so arrogant, you'd think to yourself, reducing his disappearance into him just being his annoying self and thinking that he's just that much better than you that he doesn't even have to spare you a second of his day. jake, in contrast to your sour mood, who'd hide behind the classroom door trying to contain his squeals filled with so much amour, adoring the way you made his heart explode with ten different emotions at once, all having something to do with how much he just wants to grab you by the waist and hide your pretty little face from the rest of the world.

academic rival!jake who'd pester you about your rankings until the next set of exams and would be left breathless in awe when you eventually place above him, neck snapping around to find him right behind you— so close you can hear the hitch in his inhale when he's startled by coming into contact with your eyes, mesmerized— and you just flash this wonderful smile that turns his whole world seemingly right side up. all falls into place when he sees the tiny little dimple when your lips stretch out into an excited grin, smug and overjoyed at the same time. jake, who suddenly struggles to breathe with you right up against him, other students shoving him back and forth to get a look at the board. jake, who exercises every cell of self-restraint in his body not to devour your very existence and drop the chain of his life into your hands, willing to be your darling dog if you so much as exhaled in a way that hinted at your displeasure.

jake, who would kill and be killed if it meant preserving this smile on your face till the end of time. jake, who would rather face of the grimm reaper than see you frown. jake, who'd discover how much more he liked the sparkle in your eyes than the look of pride his father gives him every time he claims the number one spot.

jake sim, who believes in Heaven solely because of your otherworldly existence. you are what he believes in.

[auras-moonstone]

someone requested this but i lost it😫😫 the request asked me to write a story about reader being a streamer and jack and her meeting through one of mason’s streams. i hope you like it! 💖

locked up in your arms — jack champion

word count: 1,581

pairing: jack champion x streamer!fem!reader

summary: y/n’s crush gets exposed during her stream with mason, but luckily he feels the same.

Y/N HAD STARTED HER TWITCH CHANNEL PURELY FOR FUN, NEVER EXPECTING SO MUCH PEOPLE TO START FOLLOWING HER. She did pretty much everything—reactions to movies, music, chatting, occasionally gameplays. People were instantly drawn in by her charm, kindness and sense of humor.

And Mason Gooding had been one of them. He absolutely loved her channel, so when he saw Y/N was a huge fan of the Scream movies, he didn’t hesitate to reach out and asked her to do a stream with him. She, of course, said yes. The viewers loved their dynamic, and their shared streams became something they did weekly.

“You have gotten so much better at this game” Mason said as they finished playing Dead By Daylight.

Y/N grimaced “Sure, I still suck. I mean, my gaming experience starts and ends with the Sims”

Mason laughed, and was about to respond when the sound of his phone interrupted him. “Jack Champion just texted”

The girl gulped, hoping that the mic didn’t catch that. To say she had a crush on that actor was an understatement. Her face turned a dark shade of red, and prayed that it wouldn’t be that noticeable through the camera.

“He says, Mason tell the people I say you’re a sussy baka” the streamer read the text, trying not to laugh.

“Did he just say sussy baka?” Y/N pressed her lips together.

“Don’t make fun of my boy!” Mason warned her.

“I’m not! I thought it was ador- hilarious” holy shit she almost said he was adorable.

“And tell Y/N the Sims is a great game, and I bet she builds beautiful houses” Mason continued.

“I do build beautiful houses. Thank you, Jack!” she said, glad the stutter didn’t come into play.

oh god y/n is about to go into cardiac arrest

hey! don’t expose her lmaooo

girl is crushing hard

didn’t we know she had a crush on jack already??? have you seen her scream 6 reaction???

omg yes she totally thirsted over him for two hours straight.

Mason bursted out laughing at the comments. “I need to see your Scream reaction holy shit. Why did no one ever tell me?”

“They’re exaggerating” they weren’t. “And drop it! You’re not seeing the reaction”

“I so am” Mason said. “In fact, why don’t we react to your reaction?”

“Why don’t we end the stream and never talk again?” she frowned, acting annoyed.

“You’re so adorable!” he laughed. Mason actually thought she and Jack would make an excellent couple, and he was so going to make that happen. “Anyways, that was the end of an eventful stream. Now we gotta go, Y/N needs to put ice on her cheeks”

“I hate you” she said as she ended the video call.

Mason texted her a few minutes after the stream ended.

hey ur not mad at me, are u?

no, i’m not. i just am a little bit embarassed

now everyone knows about my crush

did jack say something? pls tell me he was not watching the stream anymore.

i don’t know. he didn’t say anything, so maybe he left before you exposed yourself

very funny

anyways he’s going to find out. people are for sure sending the clips 😫😫

why are you so worried?

it’s not like you’re going to meet him.

no i know

but idk, i don’t want him to think i’m a weirdo

for having a crush??

don’t be silly. he won’t, jack is the sweetest guy on earth.

okay fine

maybe you’re right

i’m overthinking as always :)

MASON ALMOST LET OUT A SCREAM OF EXCITEMENT WHEN THE TEXT ARRIVED. He had been pretty much hopeless about his plan, so he was caught off guard when Jack told him he was going to LA that weekend. Now, there was one last thing to do.

hey y/n/n

hey mason what’s up?

are you free this saturday??

yeah why?

devyn, jasmine and jenna are dying to meet you, so they told me to invite you :)

we’re doing a picnic!!

yess i’d love to!

GREAT I’M SO EXCITED

why?

BECAUSE😬😬

you’re so weird

thank you

see ya on saturday

Mason couldn’t shake the smile off his face as he opened the group chat he had with Jasmine, Jenna and Devyn.

she’s coming!!!

the ship is about to sail!!! 🚢

she’s going to hate me but it’ll be worthy

i still can’t believe how red she turned during the stream. she’s absolutely adorable

okay but can we talk about how smiley jack was when we showed him the clips???? he’s down bad too

that’s why i’m doing it. i wouldn’t if i weren’t sure they are attracted each other.

i can’t wait till saturday😫 they’re going to be so cute!!!!

he’s going to kill her with adorableness with his dad jokes

he already killed her with the sussy baka thing. i can’t believe he said that. he’s lucky he’s pretty

Y/N, AT THE SAME TIME MASON WAS TEXTING ON THE GROUP, OPENED THE MESSAGES APP. She had a huge smile on her face as she texted.

he really thinks he’s being a mastermind 😭😭😭 it’s so funny

i know 😭 i bet he’s planning everything on the gc with the girls. he has no idea. i feel powerful😎

you are so cute 😫 i can’t wait to hug tf out of you

cute? so, in your scream reactions you call me hot and say you’d be lucky to have been one of my victims and irl you call me CUTE? 🙄

you’re not ethan landry, jack

he’s top 1 on my love of my life list

what place am i in?

third

THIRD?? who’s second? 🥺

taylor swift

oh yeah. should’ve figured.

well, to make you feel bad, you’re in my top 1.

i don’t feel bad at all, jack

oh… well okay. i am totally fine being in your top 3, tbh. at least i made it.

NOW i feel bad😫

i really want to hug you, like the thought of it brings me butterflies

just a couple of hours left ❤️❤️

we have two entire days alone before we meet with the group

i can’t wait to see your pretty face in person🥹🥹

ughhhhhh

stop being so sweet when you’re not here😫😫

i’ll see you in exactly 8 hours :)

good night gorgeous 💕

night pretty boy 💖

Y/N STOOD IN FRONT OF THE METAL STAIRCASE, WITH A SIGN THAT SAID LOVE OF MY LIFE #3. She offered Jack to pick him up from the airport, so there she was, waiting anxiously for her boy.

She couldn’t believe it was actually happening. They had been talking for a while now—he sent her a dm only a few days after the stream, and had been talking non-stop ever since. Both of them have been open about their feelings for each other, as they were pretty obvious, and they basically acted like a couple. Even though that had never met in person, until now.

Jack’s heart stopped when he caught sight of the beautiful girl with the sign, which made him laugh a lot. He pushed through the people, muttering quick so sorry’s until he reached her. Y/N was looking up at him attentively, as if trying to take in every detail about him. The sparks in her eyes made his stomach go crazy.

“You’re real” he breathed.

“I mean, there’s this theory that we are actually characters in some big videogam-“

Jack grabbed her by the cheeks to pull her close to him, so their foreheads were touching. His smile could literally light up a whole town “You can tell me all about your interesting theories, which you know I love to hear. But right now I’m deciding if I should kiss you or hug you”

“In that order, please” she said, completely wonderstrucked by his close presence.

And so they kissed. Y/N found out Jack was a slow kisser, which she absolutely enjoyed because she never wanted that magnificent kiss to end. And Jack discovered Y/N was very touchy—her hands wouldn’t stay in just one place, but she explored every inch of visible skin.

“Now I want my hug” she said after a couple of seconds of trying to recover her breath. Jack threw his head back laughing before embracing her in the so awaited hug. “Yup, never leaving these arms” she squished her cheek against his chest.

The grip around her shoulders tightened “Thank god, cause I didn’t know how to tell you that you’re now forever trapped in here”.

“Um, could you please move?” one old woman said.

Y/N sighed as they pulled away “Taylor Swift was right when she said forever is the sweetest con”

“I’m sorry. You two are really adorable but I want to get home already” the woman said.

“No, it’s okay. We’re sorry” Y/N smiled kindly.

“Let us help you with your baggage” Jack offered, taking one of the suitcases while Y/N grabbed one of her bags.

“How long have you two been together?” the woman asked as they walked her to a taxi.

“Oh-uh…” Y/N wasn’t sure what to say. She wanted to think they were together even though they never said the word ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’.

“Three months” Jack spoke up. “We live in different states, but we talk everyday. We never made it official, but in case you were wondering, and this is for you too Y/N/N, I feel that we are a couple”

The woman looked at Y/N, waiting for her answer. The girl smiled brightly, feeling the weight of her heart evaporating “I feel that way too, Jack”.

[oven-thermometer]

Don’t Ask.

Summary: Damian needs a place to spend the night, somewhere he won’t be riddled with questions – somewhere he’d feel safe. Jason’s place just seems to materialise. 

(NOT A SHIP)

a/n: my bff and I made a sims world for dc and cod characters. that’s how this started. enjoy. This is a hurt/comfort if you were wondering. 

Warnings: mentions of abuse, violence, past trauma, swearing, the author has never written for dc before, spelling mistakes problably.

w/c: 4.7k

It was raining when Jason pushed the doors open. He had been sitting in that stuffy room in a sharing circle for what felt like hours. He hadn’t spoken much in today’s session, not that he minded. He preferred the days were he could sit back and silently make his own judgements about the other people sitting in shitty plastic chairs, pouring their hearts out for six strangers and one mildly qualified doctor.

A soft hand touched his arm as he stared listlessly at the wet parking lot. Turning his head, he found the comforting smile of Meemaw Vicky staring at him. The elderly woman had insisted he call her Vicky, it made her feel young apparently – he added the ‘Meemaw’ part himself to tease her.

“You didn’t talk in there today.” She remarked, letting her hand fall from his arm in preference of standing next to him.

“Didn’t feel like any of the topics applied to me much.” He lied.

She just hummed in reply, letting him stew in the fact that she knew exactly what he actually wanted to say. ‘Today just felt like one of those days where if I talk too much I’ll drop dead.’ 

She knew because she had those days too, he knew that as well. She was in the same therapy group as him, and he’d heard some of her stories. Her husband being murdered in front of her from a home invasion wasn’t what he was expecting to come out of what seemed to be the kindest old lady, although he didn’t think anyone was prepared to hear his truth either. He left out the raised by batman and dying part, but being kidnapped by the Joker was all too well known by some of the people in this godforsaken community center. 

Breaking out of his trance, Jason inhaled sharply, “You still coming over tomorrow?”

“Yes, and I’ll be bringing a surprise, I think you’ll like it.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke, just kept watching the soft rain pattering onto the ground. 

“I’m sure I will, Meemaw.”

Jason helped her to the bus stop, leaving with a kiss on his cheek and a dish of leftover mac and cheese he wasn’t sure where she was keeping. 

Something was wrong. When he had arrived home, the rain still making itself known, something had been off. None of his lights were on, so he couldn’t see in – but the welcome mat Barbra had gotten him was scuffed with mud he knew he hadn’t tracked in last night after his patrol. Checking the front door confirmed it was still locked. 

Opening the door slowly, he surveyed the room. His bottom floor was completely open plan, save for a cupboard acting as a divider between the kitchen and the living room. Nothing was amiss from what he could see, except for his missing dog. She always woke up before he actually got in, waiting to greet him at the door. But she was missing and he couldn’t even hear her soft snores. 

Then he heard it. A soft mumble. Something he couldn’t make out. But he had heard it. It had come from his living room area. When he made his way over, he couldn’t do anything except let out a deep, annoyed sigh. 

“I thought dogs were meant to deter unwanted guests.”

Damian Al-Ghul Wayne sat on Jason’s beaten up couch with a neutral expression as he ran his hand behind Dog’s ear. She looked up at Jason, her tongue flopping out. Damian seemed to either be in a deep comatose state, or he was completely ignoring Jason’s presence. 

“What? No snarky comment or backhanded compliment?” Jason asked as he moved to turn the lights on. When he turned back to the teenager, the bruises littering his neck catches his attention immediately. From what he could see they continued all the way round and disappeared under his shirt too. He would’ve been alarmed if it weren’t for the fact that Damian was a crime-fighting vigilante, had a kill count in the triple digits and oh yeah, was the son of Batman. So Jason just shook his head and walked to the kitchen. 

“So you gonna tell me why you’re here?” Jason called out, busying himself with shoving some of the mac and cheese in the microwave.

Dog had finally let up on her pure betrayal. She trotted over to Jason, purely unaware as she scratched at her food bowl. 

With no response coming from the couch’s occupant, Jason just rolled his eyes and bent down to pet Dog and fill her food bowl. Her slightly crossed eyes closed as she licked at his face before she started on her dinner. She was a certified therapy dog, another gift from that group therapy. She worked, though. She gave him something to get out of bed for. Whatever happened, he knew he had to get home and feed Dog. And she calmed him down during the occasional panic attack, so he didn’t mind the downside of walks and feeding too much. 

Later, after Jason and Damian had sat at the kitchen island in silence and each had eaten their own dinner, Damian got up without a word and began washing the few dishes left in the sink. Jason knew not to argue with him when he started doing something. He settled for watching him as he washed and rinsed, offering the occasional help when he noticed the boy would stop for a few seconds as he didn’t know where something was. At this point Jason was getting slightly concerned. Damian was never this quiet. He would show up without explanation sometimes, but he’d always offer some insult or sassy statement throughout the visit. This wasn’t normal. 

Checking his phone, no out of the ordinary messages peaked his interest, no one asking where Damian was or who had him. Then, the time caught his eye. If Damian went to sleep any later, he’d be a disaster to deal with in the morning and there weren’t enough therapy dogs in the world for that patience test. 

“C’mon, you can sleep in my bed. I’ll take the couch.” 

Just before Jason left his bedroom to let Damian get some sleep, he stopped. Damian was standing next to his bed, awkwardly wringing his hands together and shifting his weight from one leg to the other. 

His voice was small when he spoke, and it sounded too broken for it’s own good, “I presume Alfred has been told of my whereabouts.”

“Nope.” His reply was quick and matter-of-fact. 

“He would want to know where I am – and so would… so would father.” The last part was softer, almost like he didn’t want to say it in the first place. 

“Between you and me, I can tell when someone doesn’t wanna be found just yet.” 

The door made a soft click as Jason closed it behind him. Dog was all too happy when she got to smother him completely as he lay down on the couch.

The next morning, as the last part of yesterday’s rain still prattled on stubbornly against his windows, Jason stood in the kitchen with his favourite mug. His neighbour had gotten it for him, a house-warming gift. He hated the stupid camo decals but it was the first genuine gift he had gotten in years. So he kept it. Not hearing the sound of careful footsteps coming down the stairs, Jason blinked his thoughts away when Damian’s unkempt set of dark curls entered his peripheral vision. 

“Rough night?” Jason joked.

“What? I stayed in the room if that’s what-“

“It’s an expression dumbass, your hair looks like it’s going in five different directions.”

“…Oh.” That small glimpse of innocence and the look of a tiny epiphany in Damian made Jason smile, but it was wiped away quickly when Damian started listing off his breakfast needs like he was at a restaurant.

“-and with that you’ll pour the cream over. Oh and don’t forget the eggs. Not too crispy and not too soft.”

“You order Alfred around like that in the mornings?” Jason turned to his cabinets, pulling out a box of cereal that was probably two months too old. 

“I usually accept my breakfast in bed, and he already knows how I like everything.” He sat on one of the high-chairs, looking impossibly childish as his legs hung off too far from the ground.

“Oh, sorry your highness, but you’ll have to deal with cereal today.” They did this dance everytime he came over to visit.

As Damian ate, Jason started with washing the mug and spoon in his sink. This felt better. The younger boy was finally offering up full sentences one after the other and wouldn’t immediately look away when he tried to meet his eyes – even though he could tell he was still struggling.

But those bruises caught his eye again. Bile started to rise in his throat.

“Your neck-“

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He stopped eating for a moment before returning with more fervor. 

“So they aren’t ones from fighting?”

“Would that make them better? Acceptable?” Damian looked straight at his brother, piercing through him with his accusing stare. A challenge. 

“No, but I just wanna know if you’re safe, idiot.”

His gaze fell. He pushed his almost finished bowl of probably unsafe cereal away and stood.

“I want to leave now. The walk to my school from your house is longer than from the manor.”

After a long moment of Jason scrutinizing his every move, he sighed. “You can leave, but you’re not going to school today.”

His mouth snarled and his brow raised as he registered his words, “Excuse me?”

“If you think my questions about those marks are too personal, you’ll hate what the teachers are gonna ask.” He shrugged. 

He pondered for a moment before replying, “Maybe missing school is for the best, just today though.”

Jason put the mug and spoon onto the drying rack, wiping his hands on a dishcloth while he made his way to the front door. 

“Where are you going?”

“Oh, I thought you wanted to leave? Might as well take dog with us, she needs a walk anyways.” He held out a leash, offering it to Damian as Dog made her presence known with excited barks.

The skeptical look on Damian’s face as he walked over could have been framed. He questioned the idea of ‘us’ out-loud as he clipped the leash onto Dog’s collar.

Jason didn’t bother replying, opting to walk out the door, expecting the others to follow. The morning was still exceptionally dreary. The rain was even more misty than yesterday, but still annoying enough to warrant Jason bringing his umbrella from inside. 

The trio walked down the street without a word, with Dog being none the wiser as she sniffed at every passer-by. Jason waved to his neighbour as they passed his house, although the man just gave a blank expression and a nod in reply.

“What is wrong with him?” Damian asked as the blonde man quickly disappeared back into his house. 

“I know him from therapy, he’s ex-military or some shit. Got traumatized enough to be discharged early I guess.” He decided to leave out the part where his husband died in his arms from a gunshot to the head.

After a short while, both of them had fallen silent. Neither felt the need to fill the space between them with pointless chit-chat. That was until Damian piped up, “Your… therapy, does it actually work?”

“Most the time. Thinking of finally talking to someone?” Jason taunted him with a raised brow and smirk, wanting to get him back for this morning. 

“Definitely not. I can’t imagine anything worse than some stranger who only cares about their paycheck asking me about my life.”

“You know, it’s not always like that. Some therapists actually care. Sure, a lot of them only want the session over with so they can diagnose you and ask for the bill,” Jason sat on a park bench, expecting for the other to follow his lead, “but there are therapists that genuinely want to help people. And, you don’t have to be alone when you do it, by the way.”

Instead of replying immediately, Damian bent down to unclip Dog’s leash. She set off instantly in search of a nearby flock of pigeons with her tail pointed high and her nose to the ground. Damian chose to stay standing, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. It made Jason smile to himself.

“I don’t think the being alone is the issue to me.” He said it quietly, his gaze darting from one person to the next as they went about their business in the park. Even though most Gothamites were used to the near-constant downpour many still chose to stay indoors when the weather got like this. Autumn was Damian’s favourite season just for this – he could go just about anywhere and not be bothered by huge crowds or people willing to linger too long.  

“It helps, when you’re in a group. It hurts like hell and it gets embarrassing when you start crying in front of like, eight civilians and a doctor who just smiles the whole time-“

“That sounds awful.”

“But,” he says forcefully, immediately regretting it when Damian recoiled ever so slightly, “forcing yourself to be vulnerable around strangers actually gets you used to being human again. And when you realize those strangers are actually going through the same thing as you, they become way less scary.”

Gently, Jason placed a hand on Damian’s shoulder. Damian stiffened a little, but his expression remained blank as he kept staring off into the distance. 

The words sat on his tongue like acid, burning his throat from the inside out. He wanted to shake the boy and scream at him that it didn’t have to be like this. That he didn’t have to pretend to hide where those bruises came from. That he didn’t have to miss school like this. That he didn’t have to come running to his older brother’s house anymore. He wanted to scream the softest words he knew he’d never heard before. But he settled for letting his hand fall from his shoulder and placing it next to Damian’s clenched fist. Not an invitation, or a threat, just a reminder. 

They stayed like that for a while, sitting in silence. When they finally arrived back home, Jason noted that Damian seemed less dejected, but as if he was now just floating above his body. 

Jason took his place in the rocking chair Meemaw Vicky got him for knitting in. The whole thing had been her idea, she said knitting helps keep your hands and your mind off of other things – and god knew he needed that. The old, stolen, clock that sat on Jason’s, also stolen, shelf reminded him of something he had very much conveniently forgotten. 

Meemaw Vicky would be arriving in exactly ten minutes, maybe longer if she was late – Jason knew she wouldn’t be. His gaze turned to Damian who was sitting quietly on his couch, reading through one of the random books Jason kept on his shelves, next to that clock. Dog slept at his feet, her muffled snores indicating her tiredness after their walk. Damian’s glazed over eyes flew across the words, leaning back into the plush cushions as he flipped the pages. His nose crinkled every few sentences, trying to decipher whatever hidden message the author was trying to make him read between the lines for. He had two options, shove Damian out the house before Meemaw Vicky can get her hands on his chubby cheeks and then end up with a knife in her ribs, or lock him upstairs till she leaves. He decided on neither. 

“I have someone coming over soon.”

“Pennyworth?” he didn’t even look up as he answered him.

“For the last time, he probably knows where you are already and no I have not called him. A friend of mine is visiting.”

“You have friends?” that got an amused look from Damian. Friendly eye contact, progress.

That comment snapped his invisible patience though.

“Speak for yourself,” stop, “you’ve been at that school for what? Eight months?” what are you doing, “How many friends have you managed to make?” why am I saying this, “And how many of those kids actually know you past the fact that you’re a billionaires kid who can’t talk about his feelings?” God please just shut up.

Jason bit the inside of his cheek before he could continue fucking up. He tasted copper while he saw the emotions flit through Damian’s eyes. They were too short to recognize but he felt each one like a gut punch all the same. Damian just blinked and looked back down to his book, obviously not actually reading it. Progress erased. 

“I’m sorry, I-“

“Don’t. It’s fine.”

That feeling came back, the urge to grip him so tight and engrain what he was feeling into his bones. The feelings he couldn’t hope to find the words for. The apologies, the forgiveness, the reassurance, the anger. 

The ringing of the doorbell announcing Meemaw Vicky's arrival interrupted Jason thoughts.

Damian didn’t even pretend to be interested in getting up. He just kept looking at the book.

Dog got up and happily trotted over to greet her through the door. Jason sighed as he walked over to open the door, giving her cheeks a kiss each as to say hello.

“Oh Jason, I finally managed to grow those orchids we talked about! They were tough but they bloomed just this morning! I brought a few cuttings for you to keep around the house.” Her smile                     seemed to cleanse the soul, letting you know just how good her intentions always where. Not a bad bone resided in this woman’s body – maybe that’s why Jason loved having her over. He felt as if the goodness overflowing from her every word would stain him and his house so that nothing of his past would remain. And he also just enjoyed the company every once in a while.

Jason failed to notice just how quickly the elderly woman could still move. She had already gotten all the way to his living room while he was thinking, leaving the plastic bags surely filled with flower cuttings on his kitchen counter. He had to move.

But when he walked the distance and talked himself out of revisiting the locking Damian upstairs idea, all he found was Meemaw Vicky leaning dangerously close over Damian’s shoulder, asking him a list of questions about himself. 

She stood up and looked to Jason, shoving an accusatory finger in his space. “You never told me you had a little brother! I expected better from you, Jason Todd.”

Damian scoffed at that. Jason just rolled his eyes and mumbled an apology.

Meemaw Vicky sat a respectable distance on the couch from the boy, giving him ample space. She had calmed down considerably, but still asked Damian questions he answered through gritted teeth. 

“How old are you?”

“13.”

“Oh, same age as my granddaughter! You’d love her. I think I should bring her over one day to meet you.”

“Please don’t.”

“So what are you learning about in school? Ooh, what book have you got there? I need to catch up on my reading.”

“I- I am on a normal curriculum and I’m reading, uh, Pride and Prejudice.”

“I see,” she sat back for a moment, studying him, “you know that’s your brother’s favourite book.”

“…Really?”

Meanwhile, content that he wasn’t going to stab her, Jason had left the two alone to make some tea. While waiting for the kettle to boil, he decided to actually check his phone for the first time since last night. The usual app notifications were quickly deleted, with a few kept – if he doesn’t keep the instagram notifications he will never remember to watch all the reels Dick sends him, and then he’ll never hear the end of it. His finger stopped in it’s motion across the phone when it lit up with a call screen. The caller ID seemed to seep into Jason’s psyche and grip his lungs. 

‘Bruce Wayne’ in plain, black text in front of the white background laughed at him. It was taunting him. 

He declined the call. And the next one. And the next three. 

He only picked up the last call because this time it came from Alfred, and he was too scared to decline a call from that man.

“What’s up?”

“Master Jason, I assume Master Damian is with you?”

“Why?”

“He didn’t come home from school yesterday. He’d only ever stay the night at your or Master Dick’s house.”

“And how do you not know he’s not at Dick’s place?”

“Because he at least answers Bruce’s phone calls the first time. Master Dick has not seen Master Damian.”

Damn that man and his phone addiction, and his undying loyalty to their adoptive father.

“Listen, he’s here but I can tell he doesn’t wanna go home. Not yet.”

“That is not what I’m concerned with, what I don’t like is him getting to skip school. You know how important an education is to give that boy some semblance of a normal life.” Although Alfred’s words were curt and pinched, Jason felt the genuine care that lay beneath them. Alfred loved Damian just as much as any of them. 

“I… I know. But Alfred, did you see his neck? People would ask questions. And you know he hates that.” He spoke in a hushed voice, careful to not let Damian hear.

The silence that came from the other end of the call was filled with the kettles high-pitched whine. Quickly turning the stove off, Jason wracked his brain for what to say to Alfred about any of this. 

But, it was Alfred that spoke as Jason poured the cups of tea while holding the phone to his ear.

“I was not made aware of any injuries. How bad are they?”

“God, Alfred I- shit,” he winced as he spilled some boiling water on his hand, “I don’t know. He won’t even let me see but there are nasty bruises all over his neck. And I can tell they go further. He must’ve had a pretty bad fight, did something happen?”

“Master Damian has not been on patrol for a few days though, he has been on a strict sleeping schedule due to an upcoming school project.”

“… what?” Suddenly, those calls from Bruce started making sense.

It was hours later, Meemaw had left long ago and Jason disappeared into his room. When he descended the stairs, clad in his vigilante costume, he found Damian still sitting cross-legged in the living room. He was actually properly reading the book and Jason almost didn’t have the heart to interrupt him. 

“Did you bring your suit?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Get dressed. Meet me on the roof.” He knew he didn’t have to explain how to get up there, he'd find his way fine. 

By the time Damian finally joined Jason on the roof, Jason stood with his hands on his hips looking like an impatient mother. “Follow.” Was all the instruction Jason gave before he darted off in the direction of the next rooftop. 

When they stopped a few minutes later, Jason looked over to Damian, “Tired yet, kid?”

Damian shook his head, a neutral expression staining his face.

This continued for city block after city block. Mile after mile, they ran. Every few stops, Jason would look to Damian with a grin– a challenge of his own. And Damian would accept it every time.

Only when both of them were drenched in sweat and panting for breath did Jason finally speak again. 

“Tired?”

Damian stood hunched over, with his hands on his knees. Oxygen flooded his lungs as he breathed and sweat dripped off of his face. He didn’t even try and respond.

Jason just chuckled, huffing before setting off in a run again.

Only about five rooftops later did he think to look back. He didn’t think he would find Damian right behind him – on all-fours, his chest heaving. 

Jason silently came towards him, sitting on his haunches and placing a hand on his shoulder. His voice was gentler this time, “Tired?”

Damian’s eyes were screwed shut. Tears of exhaustion burned him. The stench of sweat invaded his nostrils. Every part of his suit clung to him in all the wrong ways. He wanted to tear every offending piece off of him. He wanted to scream but the exertion had stolen too much out of him.

Jason’s eyes narrowed. His hand rubbed soothing circles into Damian’s shoulder as he spoke, “Hey, it’s gonna be ok. You did good.”

No. No he didn’t. He had failed. He’d lost the challenge. He couldn’t have hoped to keep up if they had continued. He-

“Hey. Look at me.”

Slowly, Damian’s eyes opened. His ribs burned with embarrassment as his gaze lifted. 

“I’m sor-“ Damian tried.

“Stop.” His voice wasn’t too rough this time, he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. He’d been trained better than that. And yet Damian still winced. 

“Look at how far we came. How far you came.” He nodded his head to the horizon behind them, and Damian followed his guide to glance back.

He couldn’t even see Jason’s house anymore. He could only see an unfamiliar landscape dotted with buildings and rooftops. They had gone so far he couldn’t even recognize where in Gotham they were. 

“Where are we?”

“One of the newer suburbs, Bruce hasn’t mapped this part of the city yet. That’s why I love coming here.” He stood, moving to the edge of the roof.

“Why did you bring me here, Jason?” the way he said his name made his heart hurt.

“Because,” he grunted as he swung his legs over the edge and took a seat, “I wanted to remind you that you’re human. You can’t do everything. You can fall over because you’re exhausted. You can fail.”

Tears pricked at his eyes for a different reason now. His limbs screeched at him as he stood.

“I am aware that I am only human. I am reminded of that every single day.”

“Yeah, but did anyone ever teach you that that’s a good thing? That it is allowed?”

Damian reluctantly sat next his brother. It was late by now, the final streaks of dusk laying in the sky.

“I can hardly see how constantly being told that you are human is a good thing.”

“Told?”

Damian’s breath hitched.

Jason smirked, “There it is.”

The younger boy’s shoulders dropped. 

“So, who is it? Who do I need bury?”

He refused to answer.

“Damian if someone is hurting you, you are allowed to defend yourself. You don’t need to keep up this civilian charade when it comes to-“

“I know that. My civilian persona doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

Jason quirked his brow at this. A deep orange glow disappeared over the buildings and the final stars began to show. The theory Jason feared the most was rearing it’s ugly head.

“It was Bruce wasn’t it.” It was less of a question, but he was getting tired of beating around the bush. 

As the navy sky blanketed the city and snuffed out any of the golden sunset, Damian finally allowed himself to let go. Jason didn’t need to look over to see the tears flowing down his brother’s face, he knew. How ever silent Damian thought he was being or had been last night in Jason’s room, he knew. He also knew the pain. The pain of acceptance that came with acknowledging what had happened, and who did it to you. 

“I wasn’t fast enough. I deserved it.” Jason just let him talk, “We were training, and I- I failed. I could’ve been faster, stronger – I could have…”

It took a few more moments before he continued, “I got too tired. He caught me too many times. I-“

His voice broke when Jason pulled him towards his chest. He wrapped his arms around the too-young boy. Damian let his heart sink. He let his exhausted mind melt. He let himself be human for a second. 

[callofdudes]

Dropping all my AU thoughts on you. (Lovingly) pt1??

Hunger Games AU: All of 141 bring previous victors from their games who find solace with each other in the capital. Would go through what they experienced in their individual games and how they won. But when the victors face off comes they all have to work together to end the games permanently.

Skyrim AU: Ghost works with the Dark Brotherhood. Johnny is 1000% a Companion. Gaz is a bard who is also attending the College of Winterhold to become a mage. Price is either a leader of the Companions, or he's a captain of the Imperial Guard. Don't exactly have a proper plot. And Gaz is obviously a redguard. Price is definitely a Nord. John is probably a mix of either Breton and Nord or something. It just makes sense. And Ghost is an Imperial. It just makes sense and I can't explain why!

Or, another Skyrim idea: Johnny as the dragonborn and Simon as a Daedric Prince of Akotosh who chooses to serve Johnny after doubting Alduin's reign.

Transformers AU: It could go either way, I envision it with Ghost as a Tranformer. He's the last of his squad who escaped captivity (I hope you catch on) and is sent to earth to protect Intel and find a place to stay. Runs into the annoying Scottish mechanic when his paint is dinged up. Or Simon as the angry mechanic who does not want to fix this alien thing that keeps yapping all day.

Rise of the Guardians AU: All the characters are there. If Y/n was present in this I'd make Ghost the angry easter Bunny who "hates his job". But if they weren't he's hands down Jack Frost. Sorry. Gaz can be Sandy (sandman) we all know who Price is, and Johnny can be the tooth fairy. If you know why, you know why.

Obviously a httyd AU: because everyone needs one. I'm already conjuring up things for Ghost's backstory it's insane.

Gaming AU: Price is a moderator for a large gaming community channel and streaming platform. He greenlights a lot of games that go through and plays them occasionally. RDR games and those likes. Johnny and Gaz definitely play the sims together. They'd play those games like Lethal Company and such. They try to play horror games but it doesn't always go well. Simon, (known to fans as Ghost) wears his mask or has one of those cool avatars. Plays horror games religiously and first person shooters which has attracted a glamorized following. Friends with Price and that's how he ended up getting together in the streaming group with Gaz and Johnny. They're annoying, but ok, they're cool.

Assassin's Creed AU: I've been working slowly on this for a while but Johnny as a sword/bow for hire whose work has slowed in the city he's at. So he packs up with friend Gaz who is going to a different city to study as a medic. Price is probably the king of said place. (I'm thinking of setting up in Greece or we're going to old Britain.) And Ghost is our famous assassin. And they meet and some stuff happens!

Not sure what to call this one (AU) As a young kid Johnny was diagnosed with ADHD and went to weekly day camp for kids like him. It wasn't particularly boring and Johnny had lots of fun. Until a new kid who is very socially awkward and reclusive starts coming. He's quiet and fidgety and doesn't make much eye contact. Johnny wants to be his friend. The story where Autistic Simon and ADHD Johnny become inseparable childhood friends.

Winged AU. I did a little thing on this a couple months ago. Some 30% of the popular are born with wings. Johnny is one of them. He's incredibly proud of his wings and it gives him some advantages and disadvantages in the military. Simon seems to hate Johnny for the sake of it. But every time Simon sees John's wings, he remembers the scars on his back and the pain of when his wings were torn off...

[storiesbyjes2g]

3.89 Lose control

During our conversation about pre-wedding activities, Sophia and I found the idea of having a party appealing, but we had reservations about the traditional bachelor and bachelorette party. I'd never been to one, but I'd heard stories about them. Getting wasted and dancing with other women didn't appeal to me at all. My party didn't have to follow that formula; we could spend the night however I wanted. But the real reason we were anxious was because we both we both had a small circle of friends. We loved kicking it with our respective squads, but a party with just one or two sims wouldn't be lit.

"What if we did a joint co-ed party?" she offered.

That was the most brilliant idea, and it relieved us both. I mean, the whole point of a bachelor/bachelorette party was just to hang out with friends and have a good time, right? Who's to say we couldn't do that together? Our friends and their plus ones were enough sims for a fun, intimate party.

We tried to take Mama's advice and not show up early this time and walked in with the first wave. Heh, if Sophia had agreed to my offer earlier, we could have been super late, but let's not dwell on that. While getting a drink, I saw Alessia. I was low-key pissed, to be honest. Not enough to make a scene or even snub her all night, but we were definitely not okay.

Dub snuck up on me, and I almost dropped my drink.

"This is a nice place," he said. "The food selection is...interesting."

"Yeah. I guess I should have been more specific when I requested light refreshments."

"It's all good. Nothing like a little natural sugar to get you pumped up!"

"That's right. I expect to see everyone dancing, Dubstep."

"Dubstep??"

"Yeah! I think it's about time I gave you a nickname."

"But Dubstep though? I can't stand that music! It's everywhere at home!"

"Sorry, dude. I'm not often this clever. It's sticking!"

"Ugh! You better be glad your name can only be shortened, or I'd come up with something annoying for you too!"

"HA! Thank you, granddad I never met, for a boring name."

"Oh, hi Dub," Sophia said. "Thanks for coming!"

"Of course I'd come. I gotta make sure my boy Luc stays out of trouble!"

Sophia laughed.

"That's kind of you, but totally unnecessary."

I loved she said that. We had several conversations about my female friends, and she always expressed her acceptance of them. I believed her, but part of me wondered if she was actually cool with it or just trying to avoid conflict. Those conversations triggered her sometimes, and I knew she was still dealing with scars her ex-trash man inflicted. I never gave her a reason to doubt me, and I intended to keep it that way. Even so, her display of trust touched me deeply.

Less and Justin were chilling in the corner, probably relieved that I was busy. Did they keep in touch? Probably not. Regardless, I was happy they maintained a small connection, even though I still believed he was much too old for her. Once Rashidah and her husband showed up, Sophia hit the dance floor and got the party going. I sat down and watched her, mesmerized by the thought that tomorrow she would be my wife.

Chi Chi latched onto Maia as soon as she arrived and did not let her go. When Dub noticed, he not-so-casually got closer and watched their every move. I don't know why I thought it was funny, but I laughed anyway. Seeing him transition through this relationship, going from uncertainty about pursuing it to worrying about someone encroaching on them, was fun to watch. I knew Chi Chi was harmless, but he didn't, so I didn't laugh too hard. Still, what was Maia thinking? She was so gracious to endure all that talking for two nights straight. I knew all too well how draining it could be, trying to keep up with all the words that flew out of her mouth.

I eventually finished my drink and got out there to shake it with everyone. Poor Dub didn't even take one step and spent the whole night watching Maia and Chi Chi. I made a mental note to talk to him about it before we left, so it didn't become a big deal later on.

The fruity drinks were lame, so I invited everyone to the bar downstairs and bought us a round. The thumping bass from the DJ downstairs reverberated through the walls, injecting a surge of energy into our group. Moving the party downstairs was a genius move. The room was buzzing with excitement. Lively conversations and laughter filled the air. In the midst of all the excitement, I spotted Less trying to slip away, but I quickly caught her eye and called her out.

"Where were you last night?"

"What?"

"The engagement dinner? You didn't show."

She shrugged.

"I didn't want to go."

I needed a moment before replying, because her response struck a nerve. Her indifference was no stranger to me; I'd been dealing with it my whole life. It annoyed me then, and triple annoyed me now. I usually coped with it by ignoring her, but this was something I could not shrug off.

"You couldn't at least call and tell me you weren't coming?"

"I guess. Why are you so upset? You had the dinner and now this party. They're pretty much the same thing, so why do I have to come to both?"

I was teetering on the edge of losing my cool, and it caught me off guard. Despite all the challenges I faced in my life, I could never truly feel angry. I could've been mad at Dad taking us away from Mama, but I was just a little kid and more scared than anything. I couldn't bring myself to be angry with Mama for breaking up our family because my love for her was too strong. Less always got on my nerves, and I could've been mad at her countless times, but I felt pressured to always be in control as the oldest, especially since she always copied me. I just wanted to experience losing control for once, but was that the moment to waste my chance? In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that serious. Less was just being Less, and as much as it pained me to overlook it again, I just took a few deep breaths and re-centered myself before responding.

"You're my sim of honor, Less. Does that even mean anything to you? We were doing toasts, and you weren't there. Dub did a toast for me, and we just met. Maybe I should have asked him or Maira to be my sim of honor."

"I'm sorry, Luca! I thought it was just a casual dinner or something. I didn't think you'd be mad."

I sighed and shook my head at her.

"You never do, Less."

Speaking of Dub, I saw him stewing on the sidelines, so I let Less go and went to de-escalate him.

"Am I crazy?" he asked as I sat down. "Is she really that bold that she would try to take my girl in front of my face?"

I was glad to have something comical to take my mind off my annoying sister.

"She's harmless, man. A bit of a flirt, yes, and she talks a lot, but she would never do that to you. She's sweet."

"Brooo! The talking! I thought maybe she liked me too because she had me hemmed up all night last night. I barely escaped in time to make a toast!"

I laughed.

"Believe me...I am aware. I feel like she has a word quota she has to reach every day or she'll explode or something."

"Yeah, and she's spending it all on us!"

"Seriously... But for real...I really appreciate you doing that last night. My sister should have been the one making that toast, but she wasn't there, and that really hurt my feelings."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I got you, bro. Whatever you need."

"I appreciate that, Dubstep."

"HEY!"

Dub and Maia by @mysimsloveaffair

[1ainsw3ld]

Beach House (Jake/reader)

Summer hit fast, and you hated it. You hated every aspect of it. The odor of sweat, sunburns, etc. but soon you were being sent off to college, which I didn’t mind at with all those weeks of cramming for finals. However, your sister Yunjin was completely opposite; though she got average grades, she was a party girl. You had made mutual with her friend group (Eunchae, Sakura, Kazuha and Chaewon). But not so close to the boys they had usually hung out with. (Heeseung, Jay, Jake and Sunghoon) you would see them usually in our house hanging with Yunjin or at school they knew you were a big introvert, they didn’t bother you much though it was nice having a casual conversation with them at times. 

This summer heat hit you too fast for your liking. It felt as if you were going to die of a heat stroke. The stench after sweating so much annoyed you a lot, and so by nature you sat in your room all day with the air conditioning on. 

Yunjin came in offering to take you on a beach trip where you could be staying in a beach house for about 2 weeks. On top of that, it was with her friend group who you were barley familiar with. 

“Come on just go and have fun before college, you never go out” she groaned as she laid back on the chair that had been set near your desk.

You knew it was going to be hotter then ever in that place but at the time she was right. It’d be a little fun to do something other than to stay in your room. Saying cool all day in that cramped space would just make the summer even more boring. You always were skeptical of things as of first but as you thought of it, you thought of Yunjins friend group, and a certain person who caught your eye. 

Sim jaeyun.

They mostly call him Jake and his smile was most contagious. You never had thought of falling for anybody in high school let alone one of your older sisters friend. You had spotted him in your house a couple of times with the rest of the group though you stayed to yourself you caught on to a couple of things. He was the most energetic out of all of them and you soon found out you shared the same music taste. 

During your 2nd year in high school while you were sitting at your dinner table you overheard the group talking about something leading them to laugh. You looked back to see Jake laughing as well and felt your face warm up at the sight. Of cause that feeling of butterflys you hadn’t felt since 1st grade reappeared and your mind tried to deny it. Not even noticing that you had been smiling too along with Jake glaring at with with an equally lit up face. You turned away in embarrassment and continued to eat your pizza.

Or even your 3rd year when they dropped Yunjin off while she was wasted. Jake came to your door step hold Yunjin as he tried to set her inside. Jake had come up to you to give you her bag. 

“I know your younger than us but take care of her ok?”  You knew he lightly smiled though you couldn’t see that well. 

“Alright..goodbye” you spoke with hesitancy.

“Night y/n” he waved and closed the door behind him to get back to Jays car. 

Now. You packed as much as you could as it was going to be a 2 week trip. Mostly prioritizing sunscreen thou you weren’t going to be out much. Yunjin had planned to leave with you at sunset.

“Come on hop in” she said leaning on her car. She laughed a little at you struggling to walk down the steps if you house with the big bag you were carrying. It didn’t take long for you to throw it in the trunk along with her stuff as well. You laid on your elbow as you leaned on the car door. Memories by the sunset and the colors of the sky whilst listening to your favorite band ad you began to fall asleep while lookin at the sky you felt a pit in your stomach as you worried about what would come next from this trip. 

Let’s just try to make the best of it. Not even realizing you had fallen asleep until you woke up to Chaewon knocking on the car window waving it had been close to nightfall and at the sight where you spotted Heeseung and jay opening the door to the Bach house which made your eyes widen. How the hell did they afford this place? You thought as you were now fully awake. You opened the car door greeting Eunchae and Kazuha as you got your bags from the trunk. 

“Hey y/n” You turned from the car to se Jake standing there with the same hoodie you saw him wear a few times, guessing it was his favorite. Along with a pair of one of those corny tropical shorts you would see at a beach stand. It made you smile a bit. 

“Hi Jake” you took in his presence as you hadn’t seen him since school ended.

“Want me to hold you bag?” He offered a hand to you. Though you were going to decline, Sunghoon jumped in to rest his arm on jakes shoulders with another equally heavy bag. 

“Can you hold my bag too bro?” Letting out a chuckle you walked up to the porch and joined the rest of them inside. The house was spacious and well furnished considering all 10 of you were gonna be in it for 2 weeks.

“How the hell were you guys even able to get this place” you walked around trying to find a spot  to place your bags.

“Jays parents funded the booking for it” sakura replied already looking like she had settled in.

Of course you thought to yourself. Jay was known as that one super rich kid who had a reputation for having fun parties because of the large pool in his backyard. Though he was a popular kid, he was humble. He was also thoughtful when it came to supporting his friends. That was one of the things you liked about him.

Yunjin came in as if she was about to give some type of speech. “Alright kids. No parents but still try to have some decorum. Don’t get too drunk alright?”

“You’re the last one to be talking about decorum” said from sunghoon while yunjin flips him off in response.

“She’s right though, anyways lets go get our rooms” chanson stating letting out a sigh along with it. Eunchae then whispered to you “Hey, ditch yunjin for a while, lets get a room together”.

You ran to go pick up your bags, scouting out a room with two beds for you and Eunchae. Obviously the one with the best view of the beach. It was quite convenient for you and Eunchae to be sharing a room sense of course you two were the youngest ones. Along with that, you both had grown quite close over the past year. During year 9 she was the first to find out you and yunjin had been related. Eunchae of course had to step out of her own shell before you two started talking. She was not as introverted as you though it took her some time to get familiar with everyone. 

You took a moment to take in the view as the sun had finally set as night had risen. With the sky now purple and the sight of the waves crashing against the rocks, you felt a cold breeze hit. Something you missed. While you enjoyed your peace, you were interrupted by groans coming from downstairs. Concerned, you went back down to see annoyed faces and disappointed looks from everyone.

“Did I miss something…?” You looked around.

“Ugh we forgot to pack food and everyone’s hungry” kazuha spoke slouching deeper into the couch. 

“There is a connivence store near by, Ive stayed here before with my parents” jay replied. 

“Who wants to go??”…Silence.

“Lets settle this with rock paper scissors” of course heeseung said this. The group all knew he always won at this game. After some time you all agreed, forming a circle with your hands out.

“Sunghoon you have to play too” yunjin spoke, side eyeing him in annoyance.

“Im not going anywhere” not budging from his place on the couch. 

You all shook your hands with a quick “rock, paper, scissors” for 3 rounds. Everyone shouting hectically to see who won and who was eliminated and of course heeseung and chaewon won every round suspiciously. But god how did this happen.

You and Jake had been the last ones standing.

[demonsfate]

I have to say that despite the nice content creators and some rpers in the Tekken fandom, overall, the online experience in this game is pretty awful sometimes. You have people spamming, ki charging, tea bagging, plugging, cheating, and being just toxic af for no reason. And the matchmaking will put them one after another. It truly makes you want to stop playing this shit lmao

Oh yeah I agree fully. I'm just gonna be frank about it, too: The majority of the Tekken fandom is atrocious. Like I enjoy the company of a few people here, so far, most of the rpers have been epic. But other than that? The majority is just... ugh. You can tell by how bad the online experience is. It's just FULL of pluggers, tea baggers, and ki-chargers. GOD, the amount of ki-chargers and tea baggers is annoying. I understand it's just a game, but it's not fun when everyone you play against is an arrogant prick. As I've stated before, I didn't play TK7 online as often as I did 8, but the people there were better sports. Hell, I'd even voice chat with some ppl after playing matches with them.

And another proof of just how awful the fandom is is how often people in the subreddit were just fucking cunts to me for simply expressing an opinion on the game or the game's story. Like I can state my opinion in the nicest, politest way, even saying "this is just my opinion" or "it's not too big of a deal but I did notice-" and they will STILL hurl insults my way. Like I pointed out the bad quality of the TK7's outfits in TK8, and I get obliterated for it. (Which is funny as that's now a popular criticism ever since the store dropped) Or how I pointed out Jun's character feels "changed" or "different" in TK8 compared to the older games, and again - people just hurling horrible insults. Imagine being called "fucked in the head" or "autistic" (in a derogatory fashion) for simply pointing out something you've noticed. Of course, you'll always find ppl who insult you like that... but when it's the MAJORITY doing it??

No, it's not just because it's Reddit or because that's how people online are. Because I used to frequently post in the Sims subreddit, and that's usually where most of my karma came from. I'd get hundreds to thousands of upvotes for my statements or opinions. Most people there actually agreed with me, and when they didn't - they did it in a polite fashion. People in the Tekken fandom are just... wild, unhinged even.

It sucks because I love this series, but it seems to attract the worst people.

[jovialtorchlight]

AS YOU ONCE WERE

A short play by Jonny Bolduc

Characters:

VOICE: You, in a dream.

YOU. You, as you are.

CHILD: You, are you once were. 

---------------------------------------

VOICE:

The door flies open.

YOU:

Damn. This is it. The house I grew up in. The blue armchair in the living room, the hardwood floor, the desk by the window. I remember every divot in the carpet. Can I…go into my room?

VOICE O.S:

It’s your dream. You can do whatever you want. But there’s something you should know. The junk drawer, the one that squeaked really loud every time it opened and annoyed the shit out of dad is stuffed full of handwritten apology notes.

YOU:

Apology notes? To who?

VOICE: 

I’ll tell you in a moment. But get this. The hamster you buried in the backyard in 2005  is scurrying across  the kitchen countertops. Fresh sheets,  still hot from the dryer are parachuted  on the bed. Sims 2 is loaded up on the  white brick computer.

YOU:

Holy shit. Can..can I stay here?

VOICE:

No. 

YOU:

Oh. 

VOICE: 

Tell me something.

How are your days? How have you been living?

YOU:

I haven’t. I haven’t really been living. I have given myself to the flow of

the days that do not  understand  mercy or  what it means  to cry “uncle”. I have burned this house in my mind. I have razed this memory to the ground. I have tried to end my life twice.

VOICE. O.S:

Huh. Interesting. You know, I think someone here might be able to help you. 

Come on in.

A CHILD enters, clad in a baseball cap. 

CHILD:

Hi.

YOU:

Hi. Are you…?

CHILD: 

You?  Yeah, I am. 

YOU:

Me. As a..kid?

CHILD:

As a ten year old. 

YOU:

Woah. 

CHILD:

Yeah!

YOU:

So. I was, uh, wondering something. 

CHILD:

Whatsup? 

YOU:

Can I stay here?

CHILD:

I don’t think so. Why? Is the future not good? I mean, are we not happy?

YOU:

No. We’re…not.

CHILD:

Why not? What’s wrong? Are we not a famous writer? 

YOU:

No. And look, it’s just…time hasn’t been kind to us. Time has taken and taken and taken and we’ve been battered by the unrelenting force of the days. The terror of the nights. 

It’s like every day, another heavy stone is dropped onto my chest. I just…I can’t take it anymore. 

I gave up. 

On life.

CHILD:

You gave up on us? What? How could you? 

Why?  Is there nothing else to learn? No books to read? No time to go look into the water of a pond and see the water teeming with tadpoles and triops and waterbeds and life? No good video games? No time to give  mom a hug? 

What could be so bad that you would want to do that? I mean, things can be dark and scary and bad, right now.  The  dark corner of the  basement where  I saw a ghost.  The terrible roar of  the furnace echoing in the dark. When I get real trapped in my thoughts and my chest gets tight and I get sweaty and panic. When I get sad for no reason and want to get lost in the woods and never come back to school. But I keep going. 

You’re telling me…we aren’t worth it?  

YOU:

I’m so sorry. 

I’ve tried to get better. To get help. But every fucking day—

CHILD:

That’s a bad word. 

YOU:

I’m sorry. Every day is full of stress and terror and failing. I just…I can’t do it. I can’t do it. I can’t get better. I’ve tried so many times and I keep falling back down into this pit of black. 

CHILD:

Look. It's okay. Want to play Animal Crossing? That always makes me feel better when I'm sad. Or we could look for frogs at the grassy edge of the retention pond. 

YOU:

I would love to. But do we have time? 

CHILD:

Of course we have time.  Obviously, you can’t stay here forever. But you can find someone like me. A kid who needs what we needed when we were younger. And if you help, if you make things better…some of the sadness will go away.

 I can’t stay here forever, either. I’m gone. I’m a part of you, now. But we can do this. We can find the light again. We can feel safe. 

We can do it together.

YOU:

I’m so sorry.

CHILD:

It’s ok. 

Want to play Super Smash Brothers?

YOU:

Absolutely. 

I’m going to beat you. 

CHILD:

No way!

Grabs cap off of CHILD’s head. CHILD reaches for it, and they run off, laughing. 

END

[flygavioli]

ao3 first lines

Rules: post the first lines of your last 10 fics posted to ao3. if you have less than 10 fics posted, post the first lines of all your fics.

I barely ever post on here, but @ml-nolan tagged me so I guess I’m playing now

Oh leave him, Johnny, leave him!

The Magnus Archives (Jonathan Sims/Elias Bouchard and Jonathan Sims/Martin Blackwood)

Jon had read many books in his life. Actually, many might be an understatement. A whole lot of books might be more correct. A ton of books. Probably an uncountable number of books. Anyway. The point was, Jon had a lot of experience in reading books. He had read all sorts. But never had he read one that gave him the impression of wasting his time as much as this one.

Christ, what an awful book.

What a wonderful world this will be

The House in the Cerulean Sea - T.J. Klune (Linus Baker/Arthur Parnassus)

If someone asked Linus who he thought was the most confident person he knew, he wouldn’t hesitate a single second. It was Arthur. Arthur, who was always so certain about what he was doing, about the decisions he took, about what the right words were in complex situations.

Because Arthur was wise. Arthur always considered everything under every angle imaginable before making a decision. And if he ever felt like he wasn’t the best judge about something, he would ask Zoe or Linus for advice and trust them completely, without a trace of doubt.

Arthur was the most confident person Linus knew.

Except right now, where Arthur was the complete opposite of confident.

Oh good God, let me give you my life

The Magnus Archives (Jonathan Sims/Martin Blackwood)

When he had become the Archivist, Jon had thought the presence of his God in his head was overwhelming. The constant need for more knowledge, the incessant push of new information dropped directly in his thoughts, the difficulty to control his powers…

It was nothing compared to what he was living now.

We'll drink and dance with a hullabaloo

The Magnus Archives (Jonathan Sims/Elias Bouchard)

Jon was going to kill Georgie. Well… If her illness didn’t kill her first. And if boredom hadn’t killed him too.

To be fair, he wasn’t really mad, just particularly annoyed. He hated going to balls on his own, and he would have never agreed to attend this one if she hadn’t said she’d come too. But apparently, staying in bed to recover from a bad cold was more important to her than helping her best friend.

Alright, maybe he was exaggerating a little.

For the voyage is long and the winds don't blow

The Magnus Archives (Jonathan Sims/Elias Bouchard)

There were many things Elias looked forward to when he came back from one of his missions. Of all of them, this had to be the one he loved most.

Opening the door to their bedroom had been difficult enough with Jon practically glued to his chest, seeking his lips constantly for more kisses. It didn’t help that he had decided to start unbuttoning Elias’ uniform before they had even closed the door behind them.

I should have worshipped you sooner

The Magnus Archives (Jonathan Sims/Martin Blackwood)

The temple was impressive. Its massive front doors were framed by large stone columns supporting a pediment ornamented with various owl figures surrounding a giant eye. Next to the building, Martin looked minuscule. He felt so. That was probably the point, he thought. A simple reminder that humans were nothing compared to the Gods. The effect was all the more impressive with the growing darkness of the evening.

Must I pretend that I am someone else for all time?

The Magnus Archives (Jonathan Sims/Elias Bouchard and one-sided Jonathan Sims/Martin Blackwood)

Jon heavily drops himself in his seat, in front of his dressing table. He closes his eyes for an instant. He doesn’t want to see his reflection right now, not just yet. He still wants to pretend it was a normal day. In many ways, it has been a normal day. Nothing he has done today was out of the ordinary. Still, he feels more exhausted than usual. His body is sore in the same way as any other day, but his soul aches on its own for a reason he doesn’t want to unpack. Not now. For the moment, he just wants to bask in the safety of his room.

How Time Flies

The Magnus Archives (Jonathan Sims/Martin Blackwood)

As consciousness gradually crept in, Jon could feel the growing intensity of a sharp pain in his chest. He didn’t want to wake up.

Head empty, only jmart baby

The Magnus Archives (Jonathan Sims/Martin Blackwood)

Nothing could have prepared Jon for the intense feeling of love that passed through him every time he looked at Martin.

Nothing could have prepared him for the absolute adoration he felt for his daughter from the first time he had held her in his arms.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sight he had now in front of him.

Words of Love

The Magnus Archives (Jonathan Sims/Martin Blackwood)

It had been a slow day. They had spent the whole morning in bed, cuddling lazily. Around lunchtime, they had decided to go for a picnic next to the loch a few miles away from the nearby town. It wasn’t a big loch, but it usually took them a good hour and a half to walk around it. About halfway through their stroll, they had decided to take a rest to eat and watch the beautiful view they had from the bank. They had placed their blanket in a grassy patch near the water, and the sound of their laughs resonated through the sunny sky.

Uuuuuuh I don’t know who to tag, I don’t come here often enough, so uh, @mikecrewsteacup I guess?

Please come talk to me, I need more friends on this app

[andrevasims]

Sims Tag

Tagged by @ho3sferatu​! Thanks ^_^

Readmore’d cause it gets a bit long :P

1. What’s your favourite sims death?

Probably fright, cause the animation is so funny like they have time to pause and check their pulse before dropping dead

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

I can tell this is aimed at TS4 haha I had to google Alpha CC to check I knew what it meant - So semi-realistic? I mean obviously I lean towards Maxis Match, but if I like how something looks I’ll use it even if it’s not from the same style.

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight?

No, that actually happened to Klothilde because she kept eating fish and it takes so long for them to eat fish that she got fat after eating it once lol - But TS2 fat meshes aren’t even really fat, so it doesn’t make much difference to me heh

4. Do you use move objects?

Only for placing deco things, cause I don’t want to end up placing a chair or something that’s actually inaccessible and not find out until after I’ve built everything else around where I placed it

5. Favorite mod?

No Red Pause Lines, cause it’s 500x more annoying if I have to crop that out every time I take a screenshot

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got?

University, I pretty much got all the TS2 stuff as it came out heh

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing?

aLIVE, but I think about it more like how a TV show says “We’re live” or something since that’s where the game actually progresses in time

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

Cirrus! There’s some close seconds, but Cirrus actually has history in my game versus just being a face I liked, and the way her parents’ genetics created the little side smirk she has that I don’t think I could recreate in CAS

9. Have you made a simself?

I did when I was 13 - I was exactly at that age where child sims felt too young to represent myself, but teen sims felt too old. I went with a child sim just for the proportions lol but yeah that was the last time I was interested in making a simself.

10. What sim traits do you give yourself?

Well to keep it TS2 themed, I think it’d be something like this:

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color?

Um black? That’s always the default color I pick when doing any sort of dress up game

12. Favorite EA hair?

fhairshorttuckin:

It’s the only hair I’ve never fully replaced with a default, I just do a texture default

13. Favorite life stage?

Adult I guess, they just have the most stuff available to do

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

Both, I like building but I like to play the lots I build. And when I’m playing, I think of what kind of builds would be fun to play, and so the gameplay also inspires my building.

15. Are you a CC creator?

Kind of? I’ve made clothing recolors, makeup, hair recolors, etc. but I haven’t done anything besides sharing lots/sims in a while.

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad?

Not particularly, I have mutuals that I always like seeing on my dash/activity but I’m not the most talkative person on tumblr lol

17. What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4)

2 of course ^_^

18. Do you have any sims merch?

No? lol

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims?

Technically yeah, it’s my “personal” YT account but 90% of my videos are of The Sims.

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing?

I used to do more semi-realistic CC, just based on what I’d accumulated and liked the look of at the time. I still have a lot of that CC in my Downloads, I just don’t use it as often anymore as more recently downloaded Maxis match stuff.

21. What’s your Origin ID?

idk, I think I have one but I’ve never shared anything for TS4 so it’s kinda useless lol

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator?

Ooh that’s a tough one, @platinumaspiration​ comes to mind cause I really love how bright/colorful a lot of their CC is and I like a lot of the clothing/hair styles :)

23. How long have you had a simblr?

2012.............. lol

Here is the 1st post I ever made on here, it’s for TS3 and has way more straightness than my game has had in years lmao

24. How do you edit your pictures?

I explained it here sort of a few years ago, but I have a newer version of Photoscape and I don’t have access to Photoshop anymore. I still do the highlight/shadow tweaking stuff, but I use Photoscape to do that now.

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next?

Well obviously that’s not a question for TS2 lol but something that both TS3 and TS4 have that would’ve been cool in TS2 is careers that you can actually play/interact with instead of the sim disappearing for 8 hours.

26. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far?

Nightlife, I love everything about the themes/aesthetic/gameplay, it has objects/features I use more than any other EP to this day, it’s just exactly my style.

Tagging: @krabbysims​​ @potentialfate-sims​​ @aondaneedles​​ @simmer-until-tender​​! Feel free to ignore if you’ve done it already haha

[toxics-sims-adventures]

Decided to categorize what I think are the most invasive packs (that I own) in ts4

Explanations under the cut:

INCREDIBLY INVASIVE:

The Base Game is needed to play TS4 at all so I just threw it into incredibly invasive for a giggle.

Eco Lifestyle causes the most annoying effect of turning my neighborhoods into industrial hellscapes just because most of Oasis Springs uses plaster and stucco and Willow Creek uses plastic siding. If I turn it off in settings though, I can’t remove the industrial cloud over Evergreen Harbor. NAPs make people litter my neighborhoods in junk items that I can’t just pick up and delete because it’s not part of my lot, or I end up with the most active kleptomaniacs in any game since my days in the Sims 1 where I’d literally build a treasure vault maze to punish the burglars. I have to turn off NPC voting just to make them all stop. I still get constant popups from each voting cycle saying something won even though absolutely no votes went through and there’s no actual NAP put into place but still. High key annoying.

Parenthood. You cannot escape the character values. They effect every toddler, child and teen, like it or not. You constantly receive school projects in the offspring’s inventory. If there was an option to turn it off at the expense of getting the bonus traits, this would drop straight into only invasive with interaction.

My Wedding Stories literally changes the wedding party. Gone is the simple day of decorating Willow Creek’s cherry blossom park with an arch, a piano and a bar to get an easy progression through your soulmate aspiration. Without mods anyway.

A lot of that Werewolves invasiveness happens because either Greg decides to suddenly visit Oasis Springs for ZERO reason and scares everyone on my street, or because Jake Volkov keeps coming to Copperdale High in full fury furry mode and makes everyone run screaming from the classroom. Like, dude, just stay home, call in sick, take the mental health day. Cripes.

Moderately Invasive:

Seasons adds weather to all worlds. You can turn most of it off though, the only weather you can’t avoid is sunny and cloudy days. It also adds temperature effects to Sims, but you can turn that off completely in the menu if you’re tired of sims overheating or freezing to death. Other than the seasonal life cycle of plants from gardening, which can only be subverted with indoor greenhouses or a pot in your sims living room to shelter the plant, the other thing Seasons does that would be considered annoyingly invasive would be the holidays. Even if you turn off all the major holidays preset in the pack, Love Day, Harvestfest, etc.  by deleting them from the calendar, you’ll still get random holidays popping up that keep coming back (without a mod to disable it) like the lottery or fight a sim day, which if you refuse to participate in can give your sim a sad buff depending on their traits.

Get Famous adds the fame system. Everything you do can effect your sims fame level making their lives easier or harder. You can however step out of the spotlight so your painter monkey doesn’t get famous in the basement. (I have never made a painter monkey in the basement but some of you do and I’m as intrigued as I am terrified of you all.) BUT Get Famous also has a reputation system that you CAN’T turn off. Every friendly action/new friend you make will change your reputation positively and every mean interaction/enemy you make will change your reputation negatively. You can end up with a beloved or beloathed sim who when meeting new people will have their reputation precede them and effect their future relationships. Celebrities will show up anywhere, grinding pretty much everything to a halt so NPCs and even your own sims can swoon over them. (Plus Judith Ward and every other celebrity will always walk through your neighborhood no matter where you live, breaking the immersion. Yes even if you live in bumfuck nowhere, Strangerville.)

High School Years WILL NOT STOP MAKING MY TEEN SIMS MISERABLE. Acne all the time! Hair in weird places ALL THE TIME. To stop hair growth I have to go into cas and turn off the option for every body part FOR EVERY DIFFERENT SIM. Acne is in the actual pack settings to turn off. You have to turn off the check in the career tab in-game to stop the popup that asks if you want to follow your teen sims to school, for every teen sim. AND THE RANDOMIZED TOWNIE OUTFITS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE. I hate Trendi with a passion.

Dream Home Decorator. ITS JUST A COFFEE TABLE STOP TRYING TO PUKE ABOUT IT BEING MISSION STYLE! Sims will constantly go around critiquing my shit, even in bedrooms they weren’t invited to! because they like or hate it and it’s getting annoying. It’s not worth the little happy moodlet when they like living in a midcentury modern decorated home.

Only Invasive with Interaction:

Get to Work gave us our first occult sim, not counting ghosts. However, if you engage in the scientist career, you better prepare for absolutely every night to be filled with alien abductions. I never, ever see alien abductions or get pregnant male sims unless someone in the household is a scientist. The illnesses that come with the pack also can’t be disabled which is a little annoying when your previously healthy sim suddenly turns dazed because of a hidden buff of having a cold, or your screenshots are suddenly ruined because someone sprouted orange tiger stripe rashes. The only cure for these illnesses are the medicine bought off the computer, or the shopping for gifts menu from the phone. AND SOMETIMES THEY DONT EVEN WORK COMPLETELY! sometimes you have to wait and take another medicine to completely cure the illness! However it’s largely easy to ignore and easy to fix so I won’t count it as totally invasive when faced with absolutely everything else this game can do to give your sims a billion moodlets.

Cats & Dogs won’t really affect your gameplay unless you adopt one for your household. Yeah, you’ll still see the occasional stray in your neighborhood but that’s it really.

Spa Day only affects gameplay due to the refresh, which gave the new trait High Maintenance. Which is very likely to make the sim with that trait freak out over any little thing under the sun. Including the sun. Sitting makes them uncomfortable. They get weird dreams that make them tense. They need constant spa days and wellness activities or they get angry and tense. if they don’t have the High Maintenance trait though? You will never need the Spa Day stuff close at hand.

Strangerville only really affects the residents of Strangerville. The possession mood only affect the sims that eat the bizarre fruit to get the Infected trait. On occasion you’ll see certain Strangerville townies go possessed but only if you have them invited out from before 1am ingame.

Realm of Magic introduced spellcasters and they really don’t do magic outside of the realm. They’ll ride brooms outside of the realm but they tend to stay grounded if they’re going to walk through your neighborhoods.

Laundry Day is only invasive and adds gameplay IF you put a washing machine/tub and/or a dryer or clothesline on your lot. If you just want the cas and build objects aside from that, you will never see a stinky pile of laundry.

Tiny Living only affects your lot’s number of room tiles when selecting to live in a tiny home residential. If you exceed the maximum number of tiles, 100, you just won’t get the hidden lot traits that benefit your sims from living on a tiny home residential.

Paranormal Stuff only becomes invasive on haunted house residential lots. You will not see a specter, Guidry, or Temperance without going into the paranormal investigator freelance career otherwise.

Not All That Invasive:

Get Together will occasionally give you a notification about clubs or have townies invite your sims to the discotheque.

City Living will give you a notification about whatever festival’s going on and NPCs will invite your sims out to them.

Discover University will give out a popup to remind you that your sims can enroll and get a degree once for every new teen or older sim.

Cottage Living will give a notice every weekend for whatever fair is happening in Henford on Bagley

Dine Out won’t give an effect to your game until you place a restaurant, and even then it’ll just be another location NPCs will invite your sims to.

Wait I have that pack?:

Holiday Stuff (the free pack) adds no gameplay

Island Living is pretty much self contained. Other than occasionally seeing mermaid sims around town, the gameplay is self contained to Sulani.

Snowy Escape gives a residential world with a few vacation lots so your sim can vacation in the mountains. This pack is self contained.

Outdoor Retreat gives a vacation world centered around camping. The herbalism skill doesn’t need to be interacted with and you don’t have to capture bugs. This pack is self contained.

Jungle Adventures gives you a new vacation world and is easily the fastest way to get a ton of simoleons to end your rags to riches nightmares. Just make sure your sim is skilled enough to avoid getting poisoned/cursed to death. Otherwise this pack is self contained.

Journey to Batuu gives you a call and notification that you can visit at any time but you’ll never see a star wars character outside of Batuu unless you make friends with them. This pack is self contained.

Spooky stuff adds a party type and that’s it.

Movie Hangout will give your sims the option to watch movies and you wont’ see any other gameplay unless you toss the popcorn maker into your kitchen, which I consistently forget about.

Backyard Stuff just gives you the option of having a waterslide in your backyard.

Vintage Glamour adds no gameplay except for the butler and the tiny bit that is the makeup table but does nothing else

Fitness Stuff adds no gameplay except for the climbing wall which can help build fitness or climbing skill if you own Snowy Escape

Moschino Stuff fixes the limited photography skill but doesn’t do much else.

Knifty Knitting you can knit and unlock some things in CAS and that’s it.

Carnaval Streetwear adds no gameplay

Moonlight Chic adds no gameplay

Desert Luxe adds no gameplay

Everyday Clutter adds no gameplay

Invasive Until Patched:

Vampires used to visit your sims at night pretty much all the time to bite and suck their blood sorry, plasma and give them a day long uncomfortable moodlet that you had no way to avoid without locking your doors to outsiders or engaging in the Vampire knowledge skill to make garlic braids and prevent feedings from garlic allergic vampires. Now you can turn off their nightly visits by clicking on the front door and disallowing vampire visitors.

Do Not Own:

I don't own a majority of the kits and a good few of the stuff packs, so I can't say what is or is not invasive from the listed:

Bathroom clutter, Simtimates, Pastel Pop, First fits, Little campers, Deocr to the max, Blooming rooms, Modern Menswear, Incheon Arrivals, Industrial Loft, Fashion street, Courtyard Oasis, Country kitchen, Throwback fit, My first pet stuff, Toddler stuff, Bowling night, Kids room, Romantic garden, Cool kitchen, Perfect Patio, Luxury Party

However, since most of these are CAS or build kits, and stuff packs with maybe ONE gameplay object in each, They probably all fit under the Wait I have that pack? category

STAY OUT OF MY GAME FILES:

YOU KNOW WHY BUST THE DUST IS HERE. (If you really don’t know why the Bust the Dust kit is here, unlike Laundry Day, this kit can’t be turned off. You have to buy the stupid vacuums to make your sims clean up the dust overlay on your floors and remove the dust bunnies. It’s annoying and I don’t want this kit even looking at my game files.)

[alders-simblr]

CC MasterList - Pose Packs and Photography

A brief break from the CAS content. Mostly because I looked at the giant pile of hair, clothes and shoes and realized I need to organize it before I even try to list it all. So, I thought I'd do something a little lighter and talk about the pose packs, mods and props that I find essential.

Must Have Mods

Before I get into the pose packs, there are two mods that are critical for taking photos and using pose packs.

Scumbumbo's Teleport Any Sim

(Andrew took over the mod so the updated version is on his Creator Studio but most places will still reference it as Scumbumbo's mod)

It's really easy to use. It's in your Decorations/Misc Buy Catalog though I always find it by typing 'Teleport' and then clicking to search for the text as its faster. I have a lot of misc decorations in there.

Once you put it exactly where you want the sim to be, use it to teleport a sim if they're on the lot, or summon a sim from a different lot.

Andrew's Pose Player

This will let you click on the active sim to select the pose you want to use from whatever you've loaded into your mods folder. The only real trouble I have with this mod is the icons on the pose pack are so small on my UI that it can be hard to remember which is the one I'm looking for. It's an action with no end so you can safely activate live mode and know they're not going to drop the pose until you cancel the action.

Additional Mods and Cheats

Because I use re-shade blooms, the highlight effect when you mouse over sims can be super annoying bright. Even without bloom effects, it can break emersion when you're trying to take photographs.

There is a cheat command for it -> hovereffects off but I prefer to have a mod remove it entirely.

Foggity's Hidden Highlight

That still leaves the plumbob and other tags. You can disable ALL tags but it will hide everything, including other sim names, etc. Hover info will vanish as will thought bubbles. After typing:

testingcheats true

You want to use:

headlineeffects off

That will hide all the emersion breaking hover effects while you're trying to take photos. It just makes the game harder to play if you leave them off.

A Note on Reshade

If you're using ReShade, you can set up a key command to take a full screenshot and give it a target folder to dump all of those. Most of my screenshots I take, I use that method. I have the screenshot folder on my desktop and every so often, I clear it out and delete the ones I didn't like. It's built into the ReShade program and functions seamlessly.

Pose Pack Creators

Chewy Butterfly -> Patreon | Tumblr

Katverse -> Patreon | Tumblr

Pink Baddie -> Patreon | Tumblr

Rebouk -> Patreon | Tumblr

SamsStudio -> Patreon | Tumblr

Spacecase -> Patreon | Tumblr

StarrySimsie -> Patreon | Tumblr

Errata

To get Nifty In-Game Photos to use on my walls, and for decor, etc, I use Ravasheen's frames and this camera for the in-game photos as it means less fighting with the game's camera controls.

I also have swapped out the maxis textures on background buildings for Miiko's Pastel World Mod which you can find here.

[trensu]

a phantom of the opera AU (except not really)

so awhile back i was listening to my musicals playlist and All I Ask of You popped up. obviously, OBVIOUSLY, this is a jonmartin song to the core and I immediately messaged one of my irl friends about it and even tho i did this, the AU WOULDN'T LEAVE MY HEAD SO NOW YOU ALL HAVE TO SUFFER IT WITH ME.

Here goes!

firstly, there's no opera ghost bc this aint about him (and I have a soft spot in my heart for eric since i read the book back when i was a baby teen in high school). what we have instead is Elias as the owner of a prestigious opera house that also provides the most acclaimed music instruction. Grandmother Sims has no idea what to do with her newly orphaned grandson who is in constant need of stimulus and gets waspish and restless so easily. So she enrolls him in vocal lessons here, using Jon's inheritance. Her son and daughter in law had loved the opera. This was a way to keep her grandson occupied and honor her son's memory. Jon is six years old and the opera house is big with creepy dark corners full of spiders. He cries, quietly and hidden, every time his grandmother drops him off.

His vocal instructor Gertrude Robinson is as no-nonsense as his grandmother but she knows her stuff and Jon appreciates learning from her as he gets older. There are other students there, and Jon's self-aware enough to know he's not as good as some but still better than others. When he's eight, a new student joins them. His name is Martin Blackwood and he stutters and flusters and struggles to project his voice. Jon thinks he's kind of annoying up until a couple years later when shy, meek Martin stands up for him against Michael Crew who had taken to bullying him sometimes.

After watching Michael Crew run off, he turns to Martin who is standing firm and scowling, and tells him, "That's how you should be when you're singing."

"w-what?" martin stammers. Jon scowls and looks away.

"you have to sing like that. strong and no shaking."

"er, i-i think i'm just not...very good at singing." martin's face goes pink and he nervously tugs at his copper hair. jon shrugs stiffly.

"maybe, but i can help you get at least little better"

"oh! th-thank you."

They're fast friends after that.

As they enter their teen years, martin develops a crush and jon realizes he really wants to do a duet with him but the thought of it makes his heart pound and his hands tremble and he doesn't know why. he's done duets with others before.

The thought doesn't lead to anything, though, bc when jon is fifteen, his grandmother dies leaving him an orphan once again. They weren't wealthy and Jon's inheritance had quickly dwindled as it was invested in his music lessons. But isn't he lucky that Elias is so kind and generous as to take him in. He lets Jon stay in the opera house's dormitories; it's fine, he assures Jon, he can go once he's of age. And he can earn his keep by continuing his lessons and performing on stage.

Yes, Jon is so very lucky. And if the way Elias looks at him puts him on edge, it's probably all in his head. This is all fine.

Gertrude starts checking in on him more frequently. She is frank in her assessment. Jon has a good voice but he is not made for leading roles. Jon is quietly relieved. He's happy in chorus; there's less pressure and scrutiny. A small part of him is relieved, too, that Gertrude somehow always manages to make herself present when Elias visits him, though even he notices the malignant tension between the vocal instructor and the opera house owner.

Jon's seventeenth year is a bad one. Martin suddenly stops attending lessons. Gertrude won't tell him anything, saying that if Martin wanted him to know, he'd talk to him about it. Jon has no way of contacting him and he lacks the money needed to go looking for him. When he asks Elias for help (heart pounding, scared of him even though he has never done anything to him bc something about the way he watches Jon sets off his instinct to flee), the man scoffs and tells him not to waste his energy on a talentless hack like that Blackwood boy who was going nowhere in life anyway. Jon's fury overcomes his fear and he snaps at Elias, saying that Martin was still more skilled than he was and that he had to settle for owning an opera house since he couldn't be on stage.

This is the first time Elias locks him in his quarters as punishment. The punishment lasts nearly two weeks and ends only after Gertrude and Elias have a row that sets the opera house's gossip mill turning. It's too late by then, though, Jon had no hope of tracking down his friend now.

A few months later, Gertrude Robinson disappears mysteriously and Elias takes over Jon's lessons. He tells Jon not to worry; he's a better instructor than Gertrude and will help him reach is full potential. Jon will land leading roles in no time. Jon smiles shakily and thanks him as a cold, anxious dread settles in his stomach.

--

Martin is nearly thirty when his luck finally turns. He dropped his music lessons at 17 when his mother fell ill and his father abandoned them. Martin took on any work he could find because of course his father hadn't left them a penny. Martin grew from his awkward teenage body into a large man with hands roughened by hard labor. He ended up working at the docks, where big strong men were always needed to haul cargo. It's there that he meets Peter Lukas who ends up taking a shine to him and hires him to be his personal attendant. The Lukas family was very wealthy and Peter made sure Martin learned what he needed to in order to not embarrass himself or Peter in those social circles.

Peter was also a recluse and eccentric to boot. When he passed away, he left most of his wealth with Martin. He had no direct heirs and apparently did not care much for any of his nephews. The family kicked up a fuss but the late Peter's lawyers did their job well and Martin suddenly was independently wealthy.

With all this new money, Martin decides to become a patron of the arts. He carried fond memories of the opera house and the childhood crush he had in those years. His generosity ends up funding the majority of the opera house's renovations. As thanks, he gets invited to attend the performance celebrating the grand re-opening. Everyone assured him that it would be a night to remember because the jewel of the opera house himself would be performing the leading role.

The air leaves his lungs when he sees Jon step onto the stage. It's the first time he's seen him in well over a decade; he'd half thought that he'd imagined how gorgeous he was but no, it was not an overactive imagination. And then Jon starts to sing and Martin is afraid he'll never be able to breathe again. The sheer passion in Jon's voice; the way he becomes the role he plays; it's astounding. And Martin's not the only one who thinks so, if the way the audience erupts in tearful applause after the solo ends is anything to go by.

--

After the show, when Jon is told that the opera house's newest wealthy patron wanted to see him, he did not expect to see his childhood crush.

"Martin?" Jon says nearly breathless in surprise. He stares unabashedly, taking in all the changes in the boy he once held dear.

"Jon! Hello," Martin says nervously. "Er, you sounded lovely. On stage. Even better than I remembered."

"Oh," Jon flusters at the thought of Martin remembering him, thinking of him at all in the intervening years. "Th-thank you."

So the two catch up. They get to know each other all over again, and Jon laughs more in that time than he has since he was a teenager. Martin takes pleasure in Jon's company, heart full and warm at his friend's joys and successes. But he can't help notice how he dims whenever Elias is mentioned. He sees how skittish and quiet Jon gets whenever Elias is in the same room as them. Something in his stomach twists whenever Jon shies away from Elias' touch. He can't help but notice how Elias is constantly invading Jon's space, and taking every opportunity to lay hands on him. Martin hates how Jon is made small whenever Elias is near.

At some point, Jon confesses that he never wanted to be a star performer, but he didn't have a choice since he owed Elias and the opera house so much. He was, essentially, an indentured servant. All Jon really wanted was a place to call home and warm companionship (at this Jon had flushed prettily, gaze darting to Martin and away).

"And perhaps," Jon says with a self-deprecating smile, "become a bookshop owner. At first I thought I'd make a library since I've always had a fondness for books. However, once I've read them they are no longer able keep my attention. So a bookshop would be better, I think."

Martin takes his hand tells him fervently, "Jon, you deserve all the good the world has to offer and more." He drops a gentle kiss to Jon's knuckles. "Would you allow me the privilege of joining you in your bookshop? To...to be your companion?"

Jon, of course, says yes. It's a nice dream. He lets Martin promise him a lovely future, even if he can't bring himself to believe it would ever happen. He forgets that Martin is a stubborn man with a delightfully petty streak when he believes someone has been wronged.

Martin investigates and discovers that Elias has been cheating Jon out of his earnings. He knows that Elias would not let go of Jon willingly, but he also knows that Elias is deeply invested in maintaining appearances. He arranges a very public and overly fancy affair: a dinner and a masquerade, to be held at the opera house.

It's here, in front of half of Paris, that Martin plays role of entitled wealthy man and offers twice the amount requested for Jon's contracted services. Elias, with everyone's eyes on him, is forced to graciously agree. Jon can hardly believe it. It's not until a month after Martin whisks him away, while they look at an empty shop in the Scottish Highlands, that it hits Jon that he's finally free.

He does get to finally have a duet with Martin. They sing together as they clean and prepare the bookshop for its grand opening. There's no audience. No stage lights. It's just him and Martin, pouring out their love for one another.

[annegirl13]

Sims Tag

Tagged by @charmandersims, so I figured I'd answer. I don't share my sims stuff any more but I do still play. (Now that I finally have a computer that can run it again.) I never tag anybody, but if you're a sims person and you want to do the tag, do it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What’s your favourite sims death?

I like death by satellite. I don't make a habit of killing my sims on purpose, but sometimes, just to let some frustration out, I'll make a sim of an annoying person and drop a satellite on them on purpose.

Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

Maxis Match. I think alpha CC looks out of place in any sims game.

Do you cheat when your sims gain weight?

Not usually. Sometimes, if I have a story reason for a sim to be skinny, I will, but usually I just let them stay fat until they roll the want to be skinny again.

Do you use move objects?

ALL. THE. TIME. I have to. I try really hard not to get my sims stuck places but sometimes they get stuck. And sometimes you just want somebody or something RIGHT THERE. Move objects is the easiest way.

Favorite mod?

I'm gonna go with Macrotastics. I like being able to tell my sims to do something using the macro menu instead of giving them 47 commands.

First expansion/game/stuff pack you got?

I first played Sims 2 Deluxe, which had the regular game and Nightlife. My sister got it for our ancient PC (which we called the Rocket, because it always sounded like it was going to blast off). Boy was I surprised when I got the base game for my Mac and there wasn't a downtown or dates or anything!

Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing?

I think I say "live" like "alive" but I don't know. I don't usually say it aloud, and then when I think about it for this kind of question, I can't figure out what I actually say...

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

So, I don't know that I ever shared this neighborhood (and if I did it was ages ago and all evidence has been deleted) but I made a BACC founder named Lexi who I really liked. She was kind of quirky and she had elf ears...(I don't tend to make a ton of my own sims...)

Have you made a simself?

Ages and ages ago, and I don't have one around anymore.

What sim traits do you give yourself?

Bookworm, Shy, Creative, Loves Kids...I'm a family sim? (I don't think about this much...Can you tell?)

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

I'm a sucker for red hair. I always wanted red hair.

Favorite EA hair?

Um...I don't know? I haven't used just EA hair for a while now.

Favorite life stage?

I'm going to say toddlers, because they're cute, but I like all ages.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

More gameplay and storytelling than building. I'd rather download something if I need a specific lot, but sometimes I just have to build it myself.

Are you a CC creator?

Nope!

Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad?

Not really anymore? I mean, I have people who I know play sims on here who I'd call friends, but we don't talk about sims. I just like their posts of their sims. (Is that friendship?)

What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4)

Sims 2. I never played Sims 1 or Sims 3, and while I got into 4 for a while, I find the gameplay too shallow for me to enjoy it longterm. Whereas with Sims 2, I can remake the same town and makeover the same sims 47,000 times and not get tired of it.

Do you have any sims merch?

Nope! I can't think of any that I'd really want either. It's cool to have, I guess, but I don't wear jewelry or t-shirts much and I have too many mugs already...

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

Nope!

How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing?

Um...I've just kind of learned a lot more about how the game works, I guess? I've probably gotten more Maxis Match...Um...When I first started I was making original characters in original neighborhoods and now I play premades?

What’s your Origin ID?

I have no clue. I don't use Origin anymore, since I don't play Sims 4. (Sims 2 still runs on my Mac without needing Origin, for which I am rather grateful.)

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

I can't pick just one!

How long have you had a simblr?

Since...2013, maybe? I don't remember exactly. I started on Tumblr around the time people were moving over here from Livejournal, because I wanted to follow certain people whose blogs I liked.

How do you edit your pictures?

I use Preview. I just kind of crop them and that's it.

What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next?

If somebody would make the last two expansions for Mac, I'd be so grateful! Specifically Apartment Life. I want witches!

What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far?

I'd say Nightlife is my favorite. I also like Open for Business, because Bluewater Village is my favorite neighborhood, but as I mentioned, Nightlife has features I can't live without. (Also Bon Voyage just for the "walk to lot" feature.)

Again, I'm not tagging anybody but if you want to do the tag, do it!