#but like cool have fun in your sandbox over there

[angelsdean]

it’s so fascinating seeing what metaphors and interpretations people will read into things, esp based on their own experiences. like I’ll see posts saying “spn is so clearly abt this” and well, it is so clearly Not to many other people but someone very much believes it is about that and has constructed a lens through which they view the entire show where it is about that specific theme / interpretation. And it’s like, okay! We are watching wildly different shows! But okay! Have fun with that, over there

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

I'm watching Adventuring Academy and Brennan and Murph are talking about when you become a DM, be prepared to only DM and never get to be a player and then he said "If you want to DM for me, hit me up in the comments," Brennan I've never been a DM but its my dream to learn, you don't know the lengths I would go to to DM for you PLEASE

[orionsangel86]

There is a phenomenon happening on Tumblr right now which may be a product of the Twitter exodus or maybe its just modern fandom mentality vehemently rejecting the old, but you guys have GOT to stop being so damn MEAN about fandom.

There are posts circulating on Tumblr right now hating on so many aspects of fandom. Yeah we all know the incorrect quotes format can be cringe and most of the time its the same quotes used for every fandom ever reducing the characters to stereotypes. Yes we know most fandoms scramble to ship the two basic white guys over all the other characters. Yes we know your blorbo probably Does Not Fucking Say That. Yes we know A/B/O is weird AF (especially now its breached containment and found its way into mainstream hetero erotica). Yes we know SuperWhoLock was ridiculous and attempts to make modern shows into a new SuperWhoLock have got old fast.

But do you have to constantly drag these things all the time? Why is it suddenly cool and popular to ridicule and criticise and hate on peoples fun?

Let people be cringe

Let people play in the fandom sandbox

Let people have their fun

Not everything has to be an intellectual critique and it doesn't make you a better person to constantly shit on fandom ON THE FANDOM WEBSITE

Fandoms can be problematic, toxic, and infuriating at times. But all the negativity isn't making things better. Yeah okay some aspects of fandom can be annoying, but must we have so many call out posts go viral on here specifically for hating on parts of fandom culture? Yet people wonder why fandom creators are quitting and there isnt as much art and interaction on here as there used to be.

If you see another negative post shitting on aspects of fandom cross your dash, maybe think before you reblog it. Maybe ask yourself if that post may be hurtful to a mutual? Perhaps youve got a mutual who writers A/B/O or CharacterxReader fanfiction who doesnt wanna see your reblog of the callout post stating reader×character fanfic is gross, or perhaps your mutual creates fun text posts applying quotes to their fave characters and youve just reblogged a 90k+ note post calling them cringy and overdone.

Just THINK please. Its not necessary. We've got to be KINDER to each other. Please don't let this place become like Twitter. Twitter was a toxic cesspool where no one had anything worthwhile to add to the discussion, no one created, everyone was just screaming angry rants into the void. Dont let tumblr become like that, because it will be the death of this place. And where will you go to find fanart and gifsets of your blorbos then?

[calypsocolada]

BAD ADVICE | s. nagi

synopsis: nagi gives you terrible advice... authors note: boy am I punctual. this series is so fun to write. i hope you all enjoy! I have one last part planned with isagi as the main li so... that will probably be out this weekend sometime :) wc: 3.2k cw: fluff, possibly ooc!nagi click here for my masterlist!

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

You’d been rotting in your bed for the past few hours. The embarrassing moment replaying over and over again. You pulled your pillow over your head and squeezed your eyes shut. You could kill Seishiro Nagi. Actually strangle him for the irreparable damage he has done to you. 

There was a boy you liked in school. He was a grade above you. He was aloof and reserved, tall and handsome. You’d gone to a few of his soccer matches at school and when you’d watch him play your heart would soar through the roof of your mouth, an embarrassing display as your eyes lit up. You liked him a lot. And it just so happened that he played on the same team as a childhood friend, Nagi. You’d known Nagi for years… you played in the sandbox with him. He was your first kiss during hide and seek when you were eight. You had a crush on him for the longest time but… your feelings didn’t really seem reciprocated since he sort of treated you like a little sister. He lived two houses over and sometimes you would ride home with him and vice versa. You had a history, a long history. Nagi would help you… surely. 

You clambered down to the field as the boys soccer team ran off. The boy you liked walked at a leisurely pace, he hadn’t even broken a sweat during the game. Your heart swooned just at the sight. You stepped in his path, hoping to introduce yourself when suddenly an arm slung around your shoulders, pulling you a bit off kilter. You fell into Nagi. 

“Hey, take me home.” He yawns, practically hanging off of you. You watched the boy you like stroll by and huffed. 

“Hey take me home please.” You corrected sharply as Nagi just laughed. 

“Yeah, please.” He adds more as an appeasement than anything. You sighed, you missed your chance, again.

“Come on then.” You groaned and stalked off towards the parking lot, Nagi’s hot body still glued to yours. You pushed at him. “Come on, let go! You’re all sweaty.”

“Did you watch me play?” He asks, ignoring your words. “That final goal?” To be honest your eyes were glued to his teammate the entire time so…

“I missed it.” You said and felt the tall boy slump against you. 

“Seriously? What’re you doing in those stands?” He asks, you weren’t going to answer that truthfully because it’s Nagi that’s been asking you to come to his games and if you told him you were distracted that would probably hurt his feelings. 

“I’m sorry, you guys were crushing the other team so I went to get a pretzel.” You lie and luckily Nagi seems satiated by that. 

“Didn’t save me any?” He teased, hand sliding in your coat pocket. You gasped, giggling as you smacked his hand away. 

“No! I didn’t!” 

“How inconsiderate.” He groaned, leaning on you so heavily he about took you both to the concrete. 

“Nagi!” You barked, hand sliding around his hip to stabilize you both. “You’re like a horse sized sloth!” That made Nagi laugh slightly, holding up some of his own weight as he ruffled your hair. 

“You owe me dinner.” He said as you fished out your car keys. You looked at him incredulously as he unlatched himself from you, walking off to the passenger side. 

“I don’t owe you anything.” You barked. 

“Don’t be a hassle. You missed my cool shot then rubbed your pretzel in my face.” 

“I didn’t-“ you were cut off by Nagi slipping in and shutting the door to your car. You groaned as you yanked your door open. “You’re an ass.”

“And calling me names.” Nagi replies drowsily as he leans back in the seat, already closing his eyes. 

“You’re impossible.” You huffed, turning on your car. Nagi was out by the time you turned out of the parking lot and slept soundly the short drive home. When you pulled into your driveway he perked up. 

“Hey… what happened to getting food?” He asked, voice soft from sleep. 

“Snooze you lose.” You say, flicking off your car. Nagi pouts as you get out of the car. 

“Your mom home?” He asks as you roll your eyes. 

“She’s not, so no poaching our dinner.”

“Your house has good snacks.” He points out, slipping out of your car following you to your front door. 

“You’re like a parasite, latching onto me.” You huff but let him follow you inside anyways. After cooking some instant noodles you and Nagi sit on the couch, leisurely watching something he picked. Some game tournaments he found on YouTube. 

“So… you’re teammate… Rin… does he have— someone?” You ask, trying to sound natural but failing as Nagi looks over at you with a strange face. 

“Have someone?” He echoes, a sort of amused expression forming. You looked away instantly, blushing. 

“I’m asking for a friend.” You say but the words sound silly even to your ears. 

“A friend, huh? Which one? It’s not the mean one right? Cause I think Isagi’s got a thing for her-”

“Stop calling her the mean one. And she would be mean if she heard you say that.” You replied. “Now can you answer the question?”

“I don’t know. He barely talks.” Nagi answers, taking a large bite of his noodles, spilling a bit of the broth in his shirt. “Boring sort of guy.” 

“He doesn’t seem boring.”

“Is that so?” Nagi prods and you catch yourself, blushing. “You know I’m starting to think I know this friend better than I thought.” 

“Shut up.”

“Jeez, seriously?” Nagi sits up, setting his bowl on the coffee table. “Y/n…” he almost sounded disappointed. 

“What!” You chirped, embarrassed. 

“You’re not slick.” Nagi yawns. 

“Okay… whatever… I’m the friend.” You shrug. 

“Yeah, I know. But Itoshi? Really? Have you ever even spoken to him before?”

“No! You keep interjecting.” You groan. Nagi’s quiet for a moment as you look over at him. He runs a hand through his hair. 

“You want my help?”

“…Yes.” You concede. 

“Go all out. Put yourself out there. The dudes gloomy, he might like it.” Nagi sighs. You sit up slightly. 

“You think so?” You ask as Nagi shrugs his shoulders. “Alright… thanks for the advice.”

~

Famous last words. Things did not go to plan whatsoever. You did as Nagi said. You went all out and in return you got hit with ‘who’re you?’. Probably top three most embarrassing moments of your life. The worst part of it was… Rin was right. You hadn’t talked to him much if at all. You built this fantasy up in your head and jumped at the smallest lifeboat Nagi had given you only for it to sink under your weight. Why the hell would someone as aloof and quiet as Rin Itoshi like a big show of affection? You felt like an idiot for even believing in Nagi. 

“Okay… yeah it was embarrassing but seriously it’s fine, Y/n. Everyone will forget by Monday.” A friend of yours reassured you over the phone later that night, the mean one as Nagi had so lovingly called her. 

“You didn’t see it, the silence in the hallway… god I won’t be able to sleep.”

“You’re dramatic.” Your friend huffed. “Look, you put yourself out there, how many people can say they did that?” 

“I shouldn’t have done it at all! God I’m such an idiot. I bet Rin and Nagi are laughing it up as we speak. Especially Nagi, that Judas.” You hissed as your friend laughed. 

“I don’t even think Rin Itoshi knows how to laugh. Besides, I'm not sure why you would listen to Nagi’s advice in the first place.” 

“He’s a childhood friend! I thought he’d have my back.” 

“Maybe he thought it would work.” You could hear the well restrained laughter in her tone. You sat up. 

“You’ve seen Isagi today, right? Did he say anything?” You knew it was a stretch. Your friend and Isagi had a sort of… rocky relationship. One you really didn’t understand. Nagi assumed Isagi had a thing for your friend and although that could be true your friend felt very strong negative emotions towards him.

“Do you want me to hit you? The only reason I talk to that know-it-all ball kicker is for student council purposes.” She returned sharply. Yeah… it was a stretch. 

“I’m not sure what you and Isagi do could be considered as talking but-“

“I mean it. I will hit you.”

“I believe you.” You smirked, glad you had called your friend because she had helped you cheer up at least a little bit. Your front doorbell chimed as you startled. Your mom was working late and it was too late for any of the neighbors. “Hey, I’ll call later.” You said, hanging up the phone. You tossed it on your bed and winded your way through the house towards the front door. All you could hear was the gentle pats of rain just outside the door. You peered through the peephole and sighed heavily as you spotted Nagi outside the door. He was the absolute last person you wanted to talk to right now. You turned, pressing your back to the door, closing your eyes as the events of today played in your mind again. It reignited that fire as you whipped around, yanking the door open. Nagi startled at the suddenness of the door. 

“You absolute asshole!” You growled, reaching and yanking the tall boy into your house. Nagi was wet from the rain, his hair wet like a dogs as she slammed the door shut behind him.

“Jesus, what’s wrong?’ Nagi asked as you whirled on him.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong!” You parroted as Nagi stared at you, blinking and confused. “You didn’t hear? I’m sure I was the laughing stock of school.”

“Didn’t hear what?” Nagi asked calmly, in fact his nonchalance had you seconds away from ripping the hair from his head.

“Your advice! It fucking sucked!” You hissed as Nagi raised a brow and pursed his lips in thought. He had no idea what you were talking about. “I’m surprised the boys on your team weren’t talking about it.” You threw up your hands in defeat.

“Most of the guys skipped today because of the weather. I stayed for a bit but got sick of listening to Isagi flirt with that mean friend of yours.” Nagi groaned, pushing past you as he stripped off his jacket, kicking off his shoes.

“What’re you doing?” You asked incredulously. “You aren’t welcome here!”

“Did you make anything for dinner?” Nagi asked over his shoulder, ignoring you as he walked towards the kitchen.

“Seishiro Nagi.” You growled, that stopped him in his tracks. He looked back with a stricken look on his face.

“Geez, what’s wrong?” He asked, you slowly approached him with a strained smile.

“The advice you gave me about Rin was shit. I put myself out there and he turned me down.”

“I could’ve told you that.” Nagi shrugged. You grabbed the front of his shirt.

“I have had it up to here with you. Please get the fuck out.” You hissed, seething with anger. Nagi stared at you for a moment, it was possible he was deciding if you were actually angry or messing with him but when you didn’t crack a smile he finally understood the seriousness. He reached up and placed a gentle, warm hand over yours.

“Sorry. I thought you were-... What happened? I didn’t hear anything at school.” He explained calmly. You yanked your hand out of his.

“It’s like I said! You gave me shit advice and I completely embarrassed myself in front of most of the school, Nagi. It was humiliating.” You fumed, cheeks blushing at the memory of it. 

“So he turned you down, so what?”

“So what?” You echoed, running a hand down your face. “You know what. Forget it. You don’t understand. Please just leave.” You waved your hand in defeat as he caught your hand again.

“I… don’t get why it’s such a big deal.”

“I like him, Nagi! And now I've completely embarrassed myself in front of him… he’ll never look at me the same.”

“He didn’t look at you before.”

“Are you actively trying to make me never speak to you again?”

“You never talked to him before, Y/n. You’ve only seen him play. Who cares what he thinks?”

“I care!” You groan as he suddenly tugs you to him, you stumble slightly, surprised. 

“He’s nothing! Sure he’s good at soccer but he’s a maniac about the sport. He’s a hassle. He wouldn’t be good for you anyways.” Nagi explains and you can’t remember the last time he seemed so… passionate about something. He always seemed chill, cool headed. He was heating up the same as you. 

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” You pushed away from him and this time he didn’t reach for you again. “Just please go.” He stared at you and you couldn’t find it in yourself to meet his eyes. Not this time. There was something different in the air between you both. 

“I’m sorry.” Nagi said softly. You swallowed, your eyes shooting up to meet him. You didn’t expect an apology from him. You had expected him to leave. “I gave you shit advice.” You almost laughed, but your dramatics couldn’t let you find humor in this moment. “On purpose.” He finished as your lips fell open in surprise. 

“What?” You asked, taking a step towards him.

“I did it on purpose.” He repeated.

“I heard you. Why would you do that?” You asked sharply, eyes searching his guilty face. Nagi sighed exhaustedly. 

“I didn’t think you’d ask him so publicly.” 

“Nagi.” You admonished as he sighed again. 

“Do you really not know?” He asked, running a hand over his face as he leaned against the wall, all long legs and dramatics. 

“Know what?” 

“Come on. Aren’t I supposed to be the oblivious one?” He asked and you wanted to pinch him. He sighed once again. “This is such a hassle.” 

“You love that word.” You grumbled annoyed. 

“I invite you to all my games. I try to have dinner with you whenever I can. I ride with you to school as often as possible.” He lists off.

“Okay?”

“Okay?” He mocks as you narrow your eyes. “I like you, Y/n. I’ve liked you since we were eight. Seriously? You didn’t know?” He throws up his hands in frustration. You blinked. And blinked again. You sucked in a breath, almost forgetting how to breathe. You stared at him, processing everything he just said.

“You annoy the shit out of me! You gave me shit advice because you like me! Why didn’t you just say you liked me!” You argued, reaching over and pinching him. He jumps, sucking in a gasp at your pinch.

“Ouch!” He whined, rubbing the spot. You didn’t pinch him that hard as you rolled your eyes. “I didn’t… I didn’t want to ruin things by up and telling you… I was-- trying to find a romantic moment!” He argued back. 

“Romantic moment?” You echoed.

“Uh huh! I was hoping you’d see my sick goal last night and I’d run over and tell you.” He explains and you can’t help it, you dissolve into laughter. 

“Geez, how romantic.” You breathe out in between giggles. Nagi just stares down at you, red faced and pouting. 

“There… there’s been so many times I’ve wanted to tell you… but it never seemed right. Then you started talking about Rin and I just…” Nagi sighs, running a hand down his face. “I’m sorry I embarrassed you. If… if you want I can talk with him.”

“You’d do that?” You ask, voice soft. He met your eyes and the hurt that lined them was palpable, but he nodded his head.

“It’s the least I can do.” 

You thought about letting him squirm but the hurt in his eyes was too much. You didn’t have the heart to tease him or play with his heart, not when he’d been such a good friend to you most of your life.

“Forget it.” You waved slightly. “You're right. I don’t really know him.” His eyes found yours and for the first time you felt something charge in the air. You hadn’t thought about Nagi as more than a friend for the longest time but… something about it had your heart speeding. “Nagi?”

“Hm?” 

“Are you serious? About liking me?” You asked as Nagi’s cheeks blushed, despite his effort to keep a cool facade. He nodded his head and suddenly the hall you two were arguing in felt tighter. You averted your eyes and chewed softly on your bottom lip. There had never really been an awkward moment between you and Nagi before but right now it was unbearable. 

“Is that… okay?”

“Uh huh.” You hummed nervously, fiddling with your hands. You couldn’t look up at him, you just couldn’t. This was the second most embarrassing thing to happen today. “Are you gonna look at me?” He asked and you could hear the smirk on his tone. He shouldn’t be the one smirking, he should be the nervous one! He was the one that confessed after all! Your eyes shot up to meet him. Sure enough he was smirking. Damn him.

“What the hell is so funny?”

“You’re blushing.”

“You’re blushing!” You argued, pointing at his face but again he caught your hand and this time when he tugged you forwards his other hand slid across your cheek into your hair. You knew enough to close your eyes as his lips crashed assuredly into yours. Nagi was a lot of things, he was lazy most of the time. Tired and annoying. And you weren’t sure if he’d ever kissed anyone before but… he kissed exactly how he played on that field, like a pro. What an ass! He was good at everything. He pulled you closer and pressed your back into the wall kissing you as though he’d die if he parted from your lips. It was a lightheaded inducing kiss. You had three kisses in your life. Of course Nagi when you were eight but… it was less than a peck. Then there was the boy from middle school who kissed you during a dance. That was little more than a peck. Then the boy you dated two years ago. He moved away two weeks after your one year anniversary. He was a good kisser, though you had nothing at the time to weigh it against. Now… you did. That boy before… was nothing like Nagi. It felt weird to even think about it since you two had been friends for so long but… really. This was… something different. This was the kind of kiss that pop girls wrote about in their love songs. The kind of kiss you’d dream about for years to come. 

“Where’s your head at?” Nagi asked against your lips, his voice low and breathy, it sent a shiver down your spine. 

“I’m thinking… you need to kiss me again.”

“Mhm,” He hummed amusedly, nodding his head. “Yes ma’am.” 

[dstrome]

waittttttttt oh this style Rocks actually

(sorry for bastardizing your style, OP, but the original set was magical, and this is such a sick effect!)

do you happen to have any in-process screenshots or BTS thoughts on making this? the aesthetic is sooo good, and the photo choices are peak. tumblr.com/simmyfrobby/758073585328930816

!!!!!!!! oh this is such a fun question to be asked.

[cameronspecial]

Before The Last Petal Falls (Part 1)

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x Reader

Warnings: Talks about sex and drugs.

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 2.4K

Summary: Coming home is supposed to be a happy occasion, but it's hard to be happy with your ex-boyfriend lurking around the corner.

A/N: This is a sequel series to Thorn In My Side, Rose in My Hand series.

Masterlist

Going back home is the last thing Y/N wants to do right now. The Outer Banks is full of memories from a heartbreak she does not want to remember. However, she is no match for the force known as Cassie and Marvin, and that is how she finds herself on a plane back to North Carolina. For the past five years, Y/N has done everything in her power to not step foot on the island again and now, it is all for nothing. “Please fasten your seat belts, we are preparing for landing,” the pilot’s voice stirs Y/N from her slumber. She can’t believe this is actually happening right now. The elderly lady beside her smiles at her, “First time going to North Carolina?” “Uh, no. I actually grew up there, in the Outer Banks, but I haven’t been back since I left. It feels a little weird,” she answers honestly. 

“Ahh, so you were running from something.” 

“Yeah, I was. But it looks like I can’t anymore. I just hope that something isn’t there anymore.”

The plane lands and Y/N gets her bags from the carousel. She waits for Mason in the pick-up area, running towards him when she spots his car. Mason crushes Y/N in a hug, “It’s so good to see you back on American soil. This is long overdue.” Y/N pats his back while returning the hug. “Yeah, yeah. It’s good to be home. Did Lace get Sparky here okay?” Mason picks her suitcase up and packs it into his trunk, “Yep, he’s probably being a little energy ball in our living room as we speak.” They both laugh at the joke and then hop into the car. “So how’s your internship at the architectural firm? Is it different from the one in Toronto?” she asks her brother, bringing her hand to the locket around her neck. Heading back to the Outer Bank is causing her to be anxious and playing with the locket calms her down. It doesn’t go unnoticed by Mason that she still wears the necklace and is playing with it. 

“It’s going well. Most buildings that people look into getting built here are a different style than in Toronto. OBX wants beach boxes, while Toronto has a wide range of styles. It’s really fascinating watching how my boss’ designs still match to look different from one another.”

“That’s cool. I like the name beach box. It sounds fun. Like a giant sandbox. And are you enjoying it?”

“Yeah, I really am. Although, I do want to see if I can get an internship in an Asian country afterwards. They have a different style that’s interesting. How is the bookstore coming along?”

“A little stressful right now to be honest. Juggling my book edits and what I need to change or add so that the building is up to code and now being here. It’s all just a little too much. At least, I have a name Bookkeeper. It’s gonna confuse people who actually know what that career is but I think it’s funny.”

“It is a good name. It’s very punny.”

“Ugh, that was so bad.”

———

One of the worst places to be is her childhood bedroom. The countless days they spent cuddling on the bed haunts her. The love they expressed physically all over the room is practically engrained in her brain. She had never been able to feel that way again. She unpacks her clothes into her closet and goes to check on Sparky downstairs. He was left down there because she didn’t want him sitting on her suitcase like he did when she was packing her bags in London. He has gotten bigger and he has a little bit of an attachment issue. He doesn’t like being very far from his Mommy for very long. Y/N’s heart drops to the pit of her stomach when she sees the open front door and bolts out of it in hopes of catching her dog before he gets too far. 

She follows his barks like a trail of breadcrumbs to the sidewalk. If her heart wasn’t already giving her problems, it certainly is now. The sight before her is one she never thought she would see again. Rafe Cameron is kneeling down and petting Sparky. Beside him is a beautiful woman in a sundress. Her long black hair cascades down her shoulders and her brown almond-shaped eyes show such warmth behind them. Her makeup is done to absolute perfection. Y/N slowly approaches the trio without hesitation. She doesn’t want to go near Rafe, but seeing as it doesn’t look like Sparky is nowhere near going home, she had to go get him.

 “Hey Sparky, long time no see. It’s good to see you again, Bubba. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for ya. You’ve gotten so big,” she hears him greet. As she approaches, she accidentally steps on a stick and the crack alerts the others to her presence. “Hey,” she awkwardly begins. “I’m just here for my dog.” Rafe nods and stands up, moving to wrap his hand around the woman’s waist. “Uh, yeah. I remember a time when he used to be my dog too.” Sensing the tension, his companion introduces herself, “Hi, I’m Blythe Katsumi. I’m Rafe’s fiancée.” Blythe sticks her hand out for Y/N to shake, which she does. “I’m Y/N Y/L/N. Rafe’s- uh…this is Sparky.”

“It’s okay. I know you were his high school girlfriend. He told me about you.”

“Right. And he didn’t tell me about you.”

Rafe rolls his eyes and huffs, “Yeah, well it’s not like we were doing a lot of talking in the last five years. What are you doing here, Y/L/N?” 

“You mean besides looking for my dog, in front of my house? The better question is what are you doing here Rafe?”

“I have every right to be here because unlike you, I’ve been coming back home.”

Before Y/N can retort, Blythe stops the conversation from going any further. “Well, it was lovely meeting you, but we need to go. We have to get some stuff ready for the engagement party.” Blythe waves goodbye and takes Rafe’s hand to walk away. This draws Y/N attention to Blythe's left hand with the giant diamond engagement ring. This causes a stabbing feeling to shoot through Y/N’s heart. Her hand shoots up to her locket and she begins to rub it for some comfort. This action doesn’t go unnoticed by Rafe as he catches it from the corner of his eye.

———

Everyone has their own vices. Cheating. Gambling. Alcohol. Lying. Rafe’s is drugs. There was a period of time in his life when weed was not the outlet he turned to when in need of getting out of his own head. That one blissful year he had with her was his escape instead. But after the breakup, weed was the only thing that made him forget about her. Eventually, he became numb to the weed and he needed something stronger, so Barry introduced him to cocaine. Mason didn’t know that Rafe had stepped it up in the drug department because if Mason knew, he would’ve found some way to get Rafe to stop. And Rafe didn’t want to, he needed to escape the feeling of being consumed by her. 

Before today, Rafe had managed to go a month without thinking about her at all. It was his highest record in the past five years they had been apart. There was no bookstore he walked by with a girl quite similar to her standing at the window. No hard kombucha in Mason’s fridge to indicate that she had been there. No caramel ice cream at the parlour that she would beg him to buy. It was like the universe was giving him a break from being haunted by Y/N. It seems the universe is done with giving him that gift because as he drives to Barry’s house, he is drowning in thoughts of her. He loved seeing Sparky, of course, but why did she have to come back? He couldn’t get the smell of her hibiscus body wash out of his mind. The sweet but gentle tropical scent she wore contradicted the foggy and rainy place she had moved to. Her hair is held back in a claw clip he used to play with whenever she would leave them around. 

And the thing that had really caused him to spiral is her hand still holding the locket he had given her for their first Christmas as a couple. Has she been wearing it for the past five years? Had she worn it while she let other men make her feel good, but nowhere near as good as he can make her feel? Would she wear it when she told them she loved them? But most importantly, how dare she come back to what is now only his island and wear it as if she cared for him? She hasn’t been back in years or talked to him; she doesn’t get to pretend like she’s thought about him. It is driving him crazy and he needed something to stop him from going too deep down this rabbit hole. 

Barry hears Rafe’s motorbike and is waiting outside for him. “Well, well, well, look who came back from the dead. Thought you went sober on me for a second there, country club. What can I get you for you?”

“However much you got. I got a feeling that I’m gonna be needing it more often.”

He knew he would need whatever he got his hands on to help him forget about her because if he didn’t then he would remember. And it would probably kill him to remember just how his heart almost leapt out of his chest when he saw Y/N Y/L/N right before his eyes.

———

When they broke up, Mason told both of them that he would not be used as a source to find out more about the other. He said it was for his own sanity in not wanting to be caught in the middle of his sister and best friend, but it was also in hopes that it would cause discourse between the two that would lead to their reunification. So it made sense that Mason would keep an engagement from her. But she still needed more information that she would give Mason no other choice but to give her. “How long have they been together, Mace?” Mason closes his eyes in a silent prayer that he isn’t about to have this painful conversation with his sister. He lifts his head from his laptop and turns towards her, “A year and a month. They’ve known each other for a year and a half.” 

“How long have they been engaged?”

“Four months.”

“Did you help him propose?”

“He didn’t ask.”

“How come you didn’t tell me?”

At this, Mason can hear the sadness in his sister’s voice. He knew no matter how much she says she is over Rafe, it isn’t true. It’s why she still wears his locket after all. He knew she needed to know though. 

“You know I don’t want to get in between you two. Also, I just didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t want to tell you something that would hurt you so much. I love you and I want to protect you from that pain.” 

“Yeah, I get that. It just would’ve hurt less if it came from you,” she whispers, not knowing what else to ask or add to the conversation. She turns around and goes to her room, where she finds Sparky waiting for her. He gives her a pouty look, asking how come he couldn’t go with his Daddy. She sits down on her bed beside him and places his head on her lap, “I’m sorry, Bubba. But I did what I had to do. Breaking up with him was necessary. I mean I set him free and look at him now, he is getting married.” It hurt. It hurt that he was okay with marrying Blythe before he turned twenty-five. He wanted to speed up his life plan two years earlier just for Blythe. How come he was willing to do that for Blythe but not for Y/N? Was Blythe really that much better than her?

Doing what any other girl would do, Y/N resolves to some internet sleuthing. It wasn’t that hard to find Blythe’s Instagram. She has a public account and Mason is following her. She has an impressive 500K followers; probably because she is the heiress to a popular Japanese hotel chain. All her posts have her makeup done to perfection and her clothes are all designer. One of her saved reels is of her and Rafe partying on New Year's Eve. At least Blythe can keep up with Rafe on that level. Y/N moves her search to Google and finds Blythe’s Wikipedia page. She was born in New York and raised there. She attended UNC for fashion. From multiple tabloid pictures, she can tell that the party scene is one Blythe frequent but she is also a sweet girl. In one picture, she is giving her jacket to a homeless person along with some money when she is returning home from a party. She helps out at soup kitchens and takes children out on shopping sprees. Y/N supposes that Blythe could just be doing it for the media attention, but the look in Blythe’s eyes tells her it isn’t true. 

After finding out possibly everything she could find out about Blythe, Y/N turns all of her electronic devices off to stop her from spiralling on social media anymore. She heads over to her bookshelf in need of a bookish escape. Her eyes glance over the different titles until her eyes find one particular book she had not thought about it in a while. She pulls the book off the shelf and opens it up to the title page with the inscription on it. The copy of The Lightning Thief that Rafe had annotated sits before her. She had left it here when she went to university because it felt too hard to bring with her. It held too much meaning. As she sits down on her window sill, she begins to read the book with a special focus on the inscriptions. She reads for hours, allowing herself to feel every bit of emotion that passes through her. God, it hurts to be back home.

Taglist: @sublimepenguinpeach-blog @gillybear17 @f4ll-for-you

[melpomenismask]

Revati, The Messiah.

I’m going to give you a look from the outside in, because I get what you guys feel about Revati naks. We are also watching ourselves in real time. We are aware of how strange it all is, ourselves, our lives, the world around us. But when you already know how things will go, are not confused by the basic existential concept of cause and effect, what the hell are we supposed to do with this big, long, messy trap everyone else calls life? When you can understand everything you see—given you can see yourself—how do you even life a life without knowing every step you take is not your own, but a part of a dance that starts from the womb and ends when you never come back?

Oh, and, everyone thinks you’re either the second coming of christ, or that other guy who shows up when it’s time to get a bit more silly.

Welcome to the Revati conundrum. We hate it here too. That’s why we’re laughing through it. You just don’t get the joke. You think all this stuff matters still. Sorry to see it. Let me know when you’re ready to chill out.

I am a Revati sun AMK in the 12th house and it is time for me to cook 🤓. I love being a Revati. We are everything and nothing. We are simultaneously in and out of the loop. We are the loop. We are the bridge between “reality” and the true order of things. And then there’s all this other stuff. …Yay…so..cool…

Revatis are fundamentally esoteric. We are magical and zany, and we only have to open our eyes to use it. This is no easy task, of course, but it is the only one that matters. Everything else is just noise. But, the noise is fun. Sure. Until everyone takes it far too seriously like that’s all there is to being a person. Then you judge us. Then we’re suddenly crazy, bizzare, unhinged, dangerous. We’re just bearded kids playing in this big, weirdly realistic sandbox. We’re not thinking of you. That’s our power and our flaw. We’re not thinking of you, we’re thinking of everything. If you can grasp that axiom, you will decode us very easily. We love and care deeply—so deeply we have to laugh at how awful everything is. How cruel and selfish and heartless everyone seems, and how it could be fixed if we just followed the obvious guiding signs.

But that’s the thing. They’re not very obvious, are they?

Well then, maybe I should tell everyone what they are!

People think what you’re saying is crazy, and there’s no proof. Maybe we are crazy?

Oh.

Maybe I am crazy.

Maybe I can make it fun.

Revatis usually get no mind nor sympathy when we are young. We are too different and confusing to even try to work with, and we understand things most don’t, but we aren’t sure either, so when no one else gets it, what else can we do other than laugh at the confusion of it all. Because maybe then you’ll let us hang around. Join in.

Right?

Crazy, Crazy Revati!

We literally don’t know what we’re doing. That’s another thing. They sound like the same, but they aren’t. Is that already too confusing? Boo hoo, welcome to Revati. As a Revati, I was born into the world with the sense that there was something bigger than what was around me going on, but with no proof and no sense of where to find it. So I just screwed around instead, and then I found out everyone hates fun Revati. And, I didn’t get any less ignorant than before, but I sure did walk all over everyone in the process!

It’s fair to not be pleased.

Fun Revati is weird. Fun Revati is laughing at jokes that are definitely at your expense. Fun Revati does not care if you feel bad, because it’s not about you, it’s about how you and everything are just so hilarious. Imagine waking up everyday walking over two left feet in “reality”, but with a bunch of mysterious spiritual gifts and esoteric knowledge that is oddly making things work out for us. Most people do not understand Revati while carrying its energy, so understand they are likely confused too, but trying to find the sense of things. It’s when they don’t want to admit they are wrong or have harmed others that the problems start. We look for rules, but the only rules we ultimately get is to have fun. Make the world brighter, happier. Laugh at yourself. Laugh at the world. Enjoy the world, you learn more when you explore. Try not to hurt people in the process. And be sure to smile. Smile, because everything is so sad. Smile, because everyone is so sad and lost. But we know where to go. We’re being led.

…Well, kinda.

Mostly?

I feel like there’s someone else better qualified than me to give you wisdom. I’m just Crazy Revati, remember?

Why are you all looking at me all of the sudden?

Revati, The Wise One.

I find it interesting how the planets resonate as motivations for nakshatra behavior. For my own analysis, I like to point out that mercury is a small, fast planet. We are on the outskirts because we are light years ahead of everyone around us without trying, it’s just what we were given. The downside of that power is that we are light years ahead of everyone without trying. Mercury is smart. It knows it’s smart because no one can keep up. But it is so small and everyone picks on it for being so smart. So it gets bitter. Jealous. Resentful. Hurt. Scared.

Stronger.

Mercury never has to stop. That is our curse. We are constantly moving and making things happen. But what is actually worth making happen. Why are you moving so much? What the hell is going on?

Revati stops.

Revati listens.

Revati, with time and support (and patience) understands.

We are all born children, and we all enter the world as if it is an blank canvas as for our own lives. For most other planets this becomes clearly not the case, but Mercury is too fast. Reality can’t even keep up with us. We’re so smart. We’re so clever and brilliant. We’re on top of the world. We deserve it. We should take everything for ourselves. No one ever considered us, so we should take everything we can get. It ours. It’s owed. We deserve to take the world, and we can. It’s justice, not greed. Don’t you know what I’ve been through?

Hello, Jyestha. Dodging therapy sessions, I see.

When you master the game of life, when you can conquer the world like you can wag your pinky, then it’s not that important anymore, is it? Unfortunately Jyesthas don’t figure that out until they destroy all they build, but Revatis slow down sooner. We are still in conflict. We’re so fast we start slowing down. Nothing is ever in perfect order. Nothing is ever “clear”. But that is the clarity.

Everything is as it should be.

That is the truth Revati natives live by. We follow the flow of existence as beat we can. We try to help the world get in tune with it too, hence our humanitarian and nerdy streaks. We want to find a way to make everyone understand, because we can feel how much the ignorance hurts. We see it hurting innocents who only committed the crime of having bad luck, we see it fueling those that are the root of the cause. We try to laugh. But it’s not a laughing matter. And at a certain point, it’s just not funny anymore, and we have to slow down to fall in tune with how out of order yet in order everything is for our own sanity and sensitive hearts.

Still, we are ever misunderstood.

If we are not jesters or fools, we are gods. Messianic. Heroes. We don’t think of ourselves that way if we’re well-adjusted. That’s the opposite of the Revati way. There is no pride, no ego, no leaders, no hierarchy. There is simply Being. We focus too much as Revati as a mere fish, but fish are a part of the whole. You forget, the ocean is one big soul. You forget the ocean of existence, of all things. After you conquer reality, the only thing left is to understand it. And to reach true knowledge, you must leave yourself behind.

Ironically, it is by doing this that Revati natives finally get what they always wanted. To be able to help, to be able to understand, to know what they’re doing. We are tour guides—inexperienced, but just give us minute—to this whole funny game called life. It is at this point Mercury finally slows down and can join in with everyone else; share what it has learned and gathered from all that running instead of keeping it for ourselves.

(Seriously, Jyestha. Therapy. It’s painful to watch you guys make messes. Literally get over yourself and your problems will “magically” disappear. With love, it’s genuinely stupid behavior if you’re so smart. Get over it all and watch the light come in. Obviously not all of you, but the ones who got personally offended. Doesn’t it ever get boring, the same old victim mentality?)

When Revatis finally come into themselves, we are finally able to help everyone else smile about life too, because we know where to find hope, where to find love, where to find certainty (spoiler: there is none). We think it’s obvious until we finally slow down and open ourselves up to our bigger, slower friends. Mercury is clever, but not exactly smart. That’s a whole other ballgame. But it is wise once it finds its way to stop running, and just start riding the waves, because it can show everyone else how to do it too.

As long as you don’t turn us away, that is.

The “ocean” of life is big and wide, unfamiliar, unpredictable, and Revatis are born native to it. We are moved by the waves. We connect with our friends while we wiggle our little fish butts all over the sea, trying to learn as much as we can. When you are one with the sea, you no longer have to fight it to get what you want, where you need to go. It’s not easy for us either.

But we see you. We see how much more lost you are. It surprises us, but we are soft people. We see you, and we want to help. And when we are done, we can finally join the ocean in its grand design, and leave the need to smile behind. It seems harmless, I know. There are worse things to cling to. But when you have all heart and no clarity, when one thing hurts, everything hurts. And we can truly feel everything. We can find joy in it. Even gratitude. Even power. Even freedom.

But we no longer need joy when we are at peace.

That’s what this is all about in the end.

I think.

Maybe.

From a friend. :)

[theslimeologist]

what are your opinions on sandbox games

It’s a vague topic to tackle, but yeah I have some thoughts.

Sandbox games are fucking GREAT. But man. They need to be made right.

It is probably one of the genre’s i’ve loved most over the years, my personal faves being Minecraft and Astroneer.

Minecraft to me is immaculate in many ways conceptually. Microsoft has been pushing their luck with what they’re doing with the IP. The bedrock microtransactions are rampant and embarrassing compared to being able to get any of that and better for free on java. Older versions are available to play and mod compatibility is honestly one of the core things that has made Minecraft so versatile and everlastingly popular. but alas, a pit in my stomach forms when I think of what Microsoft has planned for the ip for years to come..

Astroneer is an interesting one for me to talk about, and is less well known. the concept for that game is that you have a solar system to explore, and every planet is planet scaled, and you can dig into the earth with a vacuum styled tool. How the world is shaped around you is through polygonal adjustments and alterations, making the world an incredibly versatile and unique experience to explore. It is encouraged in Astroneer that you dig all the way down to a planet’s core, where they’ve taken things like lower gravity into consideration. it is VERY COOL!

Yet, er- over a year ago the devs added microtransactions into the game. I havent played much since, as one of my points of pride in the game was that i had all the achievements and cosmetics collected. but then if i wanted to stay that way, id need to start paying for emotes, helmets, suit designs, suit colours. Boo!! I quit. But the devs have been tirelessly updating the game for years and years now. They truly love what they’ve made and it shows, I am just easily turned away from any series. It is a very unique and fun game!

One main thing that I struggle with in games like Minecraft is how building in a creative limitless mode appeals to me so much but once I’m using it, it is impossible to return to survival mode and enjoy it. Balancing in resource collection and gameplay to keep players interested is vital.

Sand box games are an incredible genre with a lot of potential. Finding one that’s executed properly and respects their players is a whole other ballgame, so if you know one, SHARE IT.

[blackmesaflashbackepisode]

What is it like then??? -🎸

Benrey: look man i dunno if you're fresh enough to "get" any of this yet. forzen definitely wasn't. but i'm not... like you dude.

i'm a glitch. i was s'posed ta be the big ugly baby or whatever, but something got fucked up and now i'm... this.

[He gesticulates vaguely to himself.]

Benrey: and it must be soooo nice that all you guys have your little fake fake baby fake MEMORIES or whatever but i don't. okay? i'm the super cool bonus extra mode character who doesnt have any part in the story.

when you guys get to the end youre gonna have to beat me up.

Benrey: and itll be REALLY funny. i wanna punch you all so bad you bleed a little. cos thats how we play together. killin and shit. allll the violence.

Benrey: and then itll be over. and you all get to ascend to little npc heaven or whatever.

but this game, man... it's all there is. it's all there'll ever be.

i just figured- i dunno. maybe i could get you and i to have some fun times before the end. show you the sandbox. spawn a father grigori again.

all this fake stuff just made you sad, anyways.

Coomer: You know, it... It's strange, you say that... And yet, we've all been constantly trying to... fit you in to our backstories...

Benrey: yeah i mean- yeah. i dont remember it but its whatever.

Coomer: Bah- it's ALL fake! But the CONNECTIONS... they ARE real! Benrey, we're "remembering" you because YOU ARE PART OF THE SCIENCE TEAM! And that means... this isn't just some... some pre-scripted backstory...

Coomer: THAT'S IT! We... we ARE alive! In a way! We're advanced technological pieces of code! We're writing our OWN backstories! Benrey, isn't that INCREDIBLE?!

[He grabs Benrey by the shoulders and shakes him.]

Benrey: uhhh- it is pretty nice yeah-

[toskarin]

im starting to slowly get the appeal of OOMSEStep NC (henceforth: omake) over plus but why do u prefer it to plus? i love the new omake guilds and also the fact that south tyris isnt walled off like it is in plus makes the game feel so much more alive to me like im not forced to immediately grind lesimas to be able to breathe

the new gods are cool too

but enough of my opinions im want tk hear Urs

so to get the simple stuff out of the way: I really like slow-burn rpgs where your character develops into something unique through interactions with the sandbox, which is what OO excels at

more contextually, I think OO is really interesting in the ways it preserves Elona's original core, which is one strongly informed by the state of western rpg otaku (which is to say japanese players of western rpgs) subculture in the 2000s

Elona+ is a lot of fun, but it's a very 2010s type of rpg, showing an approach to sandbox design that ends up a lot less punishing, but sacrifices more complex customisation in pursuit of that [unrelated image of todd howard]

this makes Elona+ excellent for learning on top of being very satisfying to play. I've seen people dismissively refer to it as having "mmo progression" and I don't really disagree, but I don't consider that a bad thing. Elona+ has a very defined meta that you are constantly nudged towards, with challenges tuned to meet you on that curve

OO's strength is in allowing you to make mistakes and make them for a long time before realising you've done it, which would turn a lot of people away even if there were readily accessible english documentation on the game (which there isn't, I will add)

at the end of the day, they're both Elona, but Elona+ is charming for being a modern skilling rpg built around Elona, while OO is charming for being an expansion of Elona that focuses in on its synthesis of rpg maker games and roguelike sandboxing

or at least that's my takeaway!

[basedkikuenjoyer]

So what's creepier? Standing over your own dead body, the fact it's surrounded by weird bird men, or...that damn Changeling girl standing off to the side? Honestly Clara is my answer, always such a weirdo. IYKYK, but this is pretty much the climax of the Haruspex route. Pretty much this then the only thing Pathologic could call a boss fight. I made it.

As much as I love the classic "Daniil Dankovsky's Fun Steppe Vacation" vs. "Artemy Burakh's Steppe Nightmare" meme...have to say honestly the Haruspex overall felt a fair deal easier than the Bachelor's route. It starts a lot harder. Starts. Because unless you're an ass the Bachelor pretty much never has to worry about reputation. But once you get a handle on that? Which takes half the first day? Overall he doesn't have quite as many huge challenges in my book. The jail segment being the only one that felt super technically hard, even the boxing match with Oyun wasn't too bad. I did it on the first try. That's what it comes down to for me, Pathologic has some clunky controls but if you have enough experience with old games to adjust to the crap factor none of it is as bad as some of the truly grisly 8/16-bit challenges. Artemy also gets easy access to the shotgun so even when you do have to deal with reputation, it's not that hard to play Dr. Batman at night and cap some muggers.

Now, some of that of course was knowing the mechanics better with this being my second pass. Which blends well with playing the prodigal son this time around. Artemy grew up in Town-on-Gorkhon. He left to study medicine and comes back at the behest of his father who dies shortly before you arrive. You're following his notes and unlike the Bachelor who's constantly frustrated with the pagan steppe traditions you uphold them. Which means a lot more time out on the steppe which hey...isn't plague stricken. Had fun with the alchemy bit. You can make medicine out of plants you forage. Which is pretty fun. I also got a kick out of rat racing. Artemy's story is all about paving the way for the kids to take over the town after the plague so he gets to join in on some of their silly games. One of them being racing plague rats if you can sneak up on one and catch it.

All in all, I liked his story. The town felt a lot less hostile and you get to interact with some of the weirder aspects. It's a lot more grisly at parts with some harder decisions. But eh, Artemy Burakh is a hard man. I love his relationship with the Bachelor this time around. Very collegial. Capella might just be my favorite NPC in the town as well. She's a cool kid. Speaking of...let's talk the secret ending because I managed it this time as well:

The funniest thing in this entire game to me so far. I'm sure Clara's route will have some contenders, but this is great. Like with Daniil, you get to the last day and have the final test. Were you able to stockpile enough cures to heal the other two characters' bound? Sweet, then you get the secret endings with the kids in the sandbox and talking to the "makers." I don't think either really gave me that much new compared to the Bachelor. Daniil is more incredulous where Artemy gets mad but especially the theatre goes very similarly.

But I like what you can do with that info. Bachelor can tell Clara the Changeling who already knew, hinting at her story which if you'll recall is locked until you clear one path first because she's very dependent on meta knowledge. But she suggests that Haruspex can't handle the revelation. Playing as him though? Go rub it in to that snooty doctor. Who won't believe you but will insist if it's all a game he wants his side to win. Amazing.

The other big thing Artemy gets is extra dialogue with the Inquisitor. Who has the hots for him. She also inevitably figures out it's all a game because her doll belongs to the kids' aunt. You get a fun bit with that where you can try to hit on her as the player while she demands her Artemy which is trippy. Good stuff, very fun route. I'll wait a bit before tackling Clara's but I'm sure it'll be great too.

[seeminglydeathlessredshirt]

Ramblings on Bioshock Infinite

So, I've decided to start writing down how I feel about what I'm playing here rather than wait for my friends to be online so I can infodump at them.

Anyway, Bioshock: Infinite. The original was pretty alright. I didn't get all the way through it because I was getting a bit tired of Rapture and some other little annoyances, but it was a perfectly decent experience. Skipped past 2 because once again, not in the mood for spending a dozen more hours underwater, and went right to the one that people fuss about all the time to see what the fuss is all about.

I shouldn't have gone out of my way to see what all the fuss is about.

Spoilers for an 11-year old game will follow, but I do not recommend going out and checking this out yourself.

To its credit, the game does have a very strong opening. The welcome centre/church you arrive in offers absolutely gorgeous visuals and a strange yet interesting blend of Christian motifs and the weird sort of reverence built up around the founders of America. "Gee," I thought, "maybe this will be a game that finally tackles religion in an interesting and nuanced way that doesn't just feel like it was written by a 14-year old who just discovered Reddit." Unfortunately, it doesn't(if anyone knows a game that does, please let me know.) After a level where you walk around and take in the sights of Columbia(an experience that feels like walking into a veritable wasp nest. Either one, take your pick), you're thrust into your standard action game plot shenanigans. Kill a bunch of guys while someone rants at you over an intercom, go through various setpieces, all that good stuff.

Is the killing actually all that fun? For a certain stretch of the game, yes. You have some okay abilities, a good selection of weapons to choose from, and takedowns are pretty cool as well. The skyrails scattered around some maps are gimmicky, though a welcome addition(the irony of a game like this leaning heavily on what are basically rollercoasters is not lost on me.) But somewhere past the halfway point, it takes a steep nosedive. The weapon list gets bloated to hell and back, and a combination of the carry limit of two plus the tendency to only ever give ammo for everything you don't want to use drags it down. Enemies also seem to get substantially spongier and more numerous, which makes fights incredibly unsatisfying. Bioshock was already firmly in that grey area between immersive sim and combat sandbox, and Infinite is neither of those. Everything feels so much less versatile, there's no thinking outside the box to be done here.

As for the rest of the story, you may have heard about how centrist it gets, and I am sad to report that everything they said was true. What really gets me is how it's already setting up the "both sides are the exact same thing" even before the characters would have any reason to think that. They're literally basing this entire viewpoint off of "oh, the workers are being violent about overthrowing their oppressors, that's super bad, right????" This game also does try to tackle things like racism but I don't exactly have a good eye for whether or not something tackles that matter maturely, so all I'll say is that it feels very surface-level and inconsequential. "Inconsequential" can sum up everything else in this paragraph too because it's all eventually abandoned for !!Dimensional Shenanigans!! This is what the last few levels are taken up by entirely and all it accomplishes is covering over a weak attempt at social themes with an even weaker attempt at sci-fi themes. The ending is certainly a bit more batshit than you'd expect for your standard seventh-generation slop, but it can't salvage this. The fanservice just reminded me of a somewhat better game. I would make a joke about this game only having two characters, but then it goes out of its way to say "yes, there really are only two characters."

I am not playing the fucking DLCs.

[vee-creatation]

CREATATION – a Sandbox Survival Mon-Catcher Project

Hello, I’m Vee (she/they/it) and this is my lifelong passion project, Creatation, where an open-world sandbox building game meets the fun of catching and battling with powerful monsters.

What is Creatation?

Creatation is a video game idea I've been ideating and developing since I was 9 years old, slowly morphing into the fully-fledged plan I have now.

This game would be an open-world sandbox survival game, combined with a creature-collecting/creature-battling game (think like a combination of Minecraft and Pokemon, but with a stronger focus on exploration and more action-oriented gameplay)

Explore a procedurally generated open world with climates both real and fantastical, that can be mined and shaped to the player’s whim, full of hundreds of creatatures to catch, collect, train, and use to help survive and thrive in this strange world.

Real-time strategy combat mechanics where you fight alongside your creatatures to hunt for materials, train your creatatures to become ever stronger, scour for rare creatatures only fabled to exist, and defeat the giant, powerful bosses that lurk in the dark corners of the world.

Enjoy the various areas to explore, items to collect, bosses to fight, and creatures to find, catch, train, and use to help you stay alive and claim mastery over Creatation’s threats.

Further mechanics will be explored in later posts, but I would love to hear about what you want to know more about!

I’m not currently planning to code or develop it (although am not opposed to doing that in the far future when I have more time, money and manpower to run such an operation as I do NOT know how to code) but this blog will be primarily where I post the art and design notes I have. With every creatature and biome being drawn, there'll be plenty to look at alongside more things to check out!

Be sure to follow for more art, design info, and more! I’ll hopefully have a Patreon and/or Ko-fi set up soon where y’all can kick some money my way, but for now please be sure to follow, like, and reblog for more cool stuff!!

[prolix-yuy]

Sit on the throne with whoever 👀👀

Hmmm, whoever you say? Well then it has to be my OG boy, my favorite space husband, the tin can man himself!

Pairing: Din Djarin x F!Reader

Position: Sit on the Throne

Word Count: 1277

Warnings: Explicit, 18+ MINORS DNI, unprotected PiV sex (don't be a fool, wrap your tool), fingering, semi-public sex.

Notes: This is a bit of a Mand'alor Din AU that I thought would be fun. Follows parts of S3 but I ignore what I feel like because we're in my sandbox now, babes. Enjoy!

“Brooding, my Mand’alor?”

Din groans when your voice drifts over his shoulder, elbows on his knees and head hanging between his shoulders. He’s focused on his hands, the phantom image of the darksaber haunting the corners of his mind. A responsibility he never wanted, but not the first.

“Don’t call me that,” he sighs, leaning back in the throne he was meant to ascend in a handful of days. Bo-Katan had been watching him with simmering distrust, but every day seemed to lessen her ire. The traditions are foreign to him, wishing for the cool anonymity of the underground tunnels he grew up in. Mand’alor the Reluctant, he was sure they’d call him.

“Just trying to get used to it myself,” you say, leaning your hip against the stone arm. Din looks up at you and tries not to choke on his tongue. It’s never enough to say you’re beautiful, or whip-smart, or resilient. You’re truly the most constant part of his heart.

“Sit with me?” he asks, reaching out for your hand. Gladly taking it, you round the throne and perch on Din’s thighs, letting him wrap his arms around and pull you close. You rest your head on his shoulder in the soft spot between his paudron and helmet. It was the first place your affections fit perfectly all that time ago, when Din Djarin was only Mando and you were only a nuisance on his ship. 

“What’s troubling you?” you ask, letting your fingers burrow into the cowl around his neck. With practiced slowness you inch your fingers under the helmet and cup the back of his neck, soft strands of hair entwining and the scratch of his beard under your thumb. You only know his face by touch, and exactly how to give it to soothe your beloved.

“I’m too old for this,” he grumbles, bubbling a laugh between your lips. “Too set in my ways. Too much of the Watch, of a beroya, of anything but a leader.” He squeezes you tighter, letting the helmet rest on the crown of your head. It’s a weight you’re happy to bear.

“You have a council, and Bo-Katan. The Armorer, and Paz, even though he drives me nuts,” you list, a little of his tension easing. “And you have me,” you add just a little quieter than the rest. 

“Thank the Maker, I hold your opinion in the highest regard,” Din says, and you chuff against his chest. “I do,” he protests when you snort. 

“I don’t believe the Mandalorians will accept the council of an outsider,” you say, trying to hide your rueful tone. You’d been on the fringes of plans thus far, a perturbance when you enter a room. Trying not to take it personally, you’d kept to your rooms and waited for the brief moments you could steal with Din. Most were short-lived, snuffed out by sleep or pressing duties, but in the deep dark of your bedroom you could still kiss the man you loved. 

“They will accept yours,” Din says, bite in his tone that zings naughty arousal up your spine. You rub your thumb soothingly along his jawline.

“I don’t need to be seen, or heard. I can serve you in other ways,” you say, the double entendre not lost on either of you. Din’s touch grows from comforting to all-encompassing, hands kneading at your thighs and hips.

“Is that so?” he says, seduction thick on his tongue. “How would you serve your Mand’alor now?”

Turning in his lap, you slide back against his hips to nestle your ass along his hardening cock.

“So you like the title now?” you tease, dragging against him as he stifles a groan. 

“I like being yours,” he manages to grit out, making butterflies dance in your stomach. For a man of few words, Din always knows the ones to choose. “Can I have you here, Cyare? Right now?” He cups your mound and grinds the heel of his hand against it, palming your breast and circling your clothed nipple just the way you like it. Heat builds in your cunt, the insistent press of Din’s cock against you quieting the nerves.

“Let me serve you, my Mand’alor,” you purr out, and if he wasn’t worked up before he is now. Two thwaps of leather and he’s yanking your pants halfway down your thighs, ripping open his own to release his cock. His bare hands soothe your overheating skin, circling your clit gingerly as he nudges against you.

“Don’t know how much time we have,” he whispers before the heavy clunk of the helmet spikes your heart rate.

“Din, anyone could…” you protest, but his lips on your neck silence you.

“Many walk another path,” he says, dragging his cock through your folds. “Maybe I can too.”

The implication of Din’s words distract from his thick length splitting you open, a loud whine bringing his hand to cover your mouth. 

“Cyare, be quiet for me. I don’t want them to see you stretched on my cock. That’s for me, and me alone.”

He punches up into your noisy cunt, wet slaps and heavy breathing echoing through the great hall. Bracing your hands on the throne, you meet his thrusts, fingers slipping over your lips and dipping into your mouth. Every time he buries inside you, stars erupt, explode into glittering constellations across your vision. His fingers are sloppy on your clit, panting in your ear and whispering how good you feel around him, how precious you are, strings of words in Mando’a you can’t understand except for cyare, and kar’ta. 

“Can I fill you up, Cyare?” he rasps, strokes getting shorter and his fingers frantic. 

“Please, Din,” you gasp, back bending like a bow before your pleasure snaps. He guides your hips to buck against him as he pounds into your quivering cunt, spilling his seed as he moans brokenly into your skin. 

Slumping back into the uncomfortable throne, Din takes you with him. You’re a little stiff against him, making his bare hands wander.

“Was that okay?” he asks, sudden very aware of how exposed you both are, half clothed and without his helmet. You lace your fingers with his, taking a deep breath.

“Did you mean it? You want to walk both paths?” you ask, and it clutches at Din’s heart. He presses a kiss to your shoulder, engulfing you in his arms.

“Maybe one day. But not yet. There’s still much I’m not ready to meet without all I’ve known protecting me,” he says. You nod, reaching up to stroke along his cheek. He melts into your touch, kissing the palm of your hand. 

Once you’ve redressed, Din’s helmet replaced and your clothes straightened, he cups your mound again.

“Keep me inside until I come to you tonight?” he asks, making you shudder and give him a sultry smile. Then you leave, and he’s alone with his thoughts again. Well, not the same thoughts. Some new ones.

First, that in a few days he’s to ascend the throne, and all that comes with taking a station he’s never wanted. 

Then, that he would rather not do it alone.

The night before his coronation, he will lead you to one of the gardens those who remained tended so carefully. Among the flowers of a world he would soon rule, he would ask you to be his riduur, and remove his helmet. The first to see his face would be you, whether or not he chooses to walk both paths one day. And you would walk the path with him, beside him, The Reluctant and the Resilient, exactly how it should be.

END

LJ’s Bangathon 2023

[peachpitss]

The Player in your Undertale fic is cool. People usually get meta like that in Deltarune fic. What made you do that for Undertale and what do you think the canon relationship between Frisk and the Player is like? :O

ah!! this is such a challenging question. i'm glad you like the way i tackled the subject in my fanfics! i don't think i'd suggest using them as a blueprint for how to interpret the canon player/meta elements in UT per se, since it was mostly just unrestrained summer fun for me. i was just playing in the sandbox trying to figure out how to portray subjects that work MUCH better in a visual/interactive medium. hahaha

i've stated this elsewhere, but i don't think undertale is nearly as concerned with direct player/protagonist relationship and conflict as deltarune. in deltarune, the friction created by kris being seemingly aware of this relationship and their lack of autonomy is one of the plot's primary occupations. undertale seems more interested in playing with the meta of actual video game mechanics/frameworks and turning them diagetic. (hence saving/loading/resetting = timeline/time travel shenanigans.) but in a story where player input still shapes the world, despite the characters involved being much less directly aware of the fourth wall, i decided to depict the player as a sort of eldritch third influence. (the first two influences in my fic being frisk and chara respectively, since i was writing a narrator!chara fic.) the player as a mysterious miasma presence that you can't quite pin down or look at directly. if you had a player, but didn't know what the player was, how would you perceive that? on some level, what i've written may not really be canon-compliant. especially when i tackled the no mercy route. (i really upped the drama there and made things very direct!) and i wasn't really aiming for that, since i was just having fun! there are some really great people doing UTDR analysis, so i'm sure someone has articulated the canon meta elements in undertale much better than i could myself. i'm not generally a theory-crafter and don't have time to go scouring for canon bits to analyze right this second. but to answer your question: i'm not certain if there IS a canon diagetic relationship between frisk and the player since i don't think frisk specifically is aware of the player in the distinct way that kris is.

in my fic, i implied that the repetition of timelines over and over made the memory of where frisk and chara's actions and desires ended and where that "third influence" player element began blurry. IS this something frisk wants to do? is it prompted by something else? are your desires really your desires? it was an echo of frisk and chara themselves finding the boundaries between the two of them increasingly porous. so i was just taking some artistic license and having a lil writerly fun with those themes.

but i'd love to hear other interpretations/answers here bc i frankly just wanted an excuse to write cosmic horror. (':

[highly-important]

Thoughts on the Venture Bros Movie

I absolutely love this series and periodically get obsessed with it. The last two seasons were especially some of my favorites. I enjoyed the movie, it really felt like an episode. Any complaints I have are really in the "I loved it but the portions are too small" category.

I love that Shoreleave and Dr. Girlfriend are friends. I think this was kind of established earlier. It just makes sense.

I like how Brock - who knows Rusty better than anybody for better or worse- went to the bat defending Rusty to the OSI. And that Brock's shining moment isn't him being super kill guy.

Along those lines, I like how Rusty's entire arc this show is realizing to some degree or another that he isn't a failure. His father was able to present an idealized image of himself to the public, and it meant Rusty growing up under a shadow he could never live up to. But the reality is Rusty isn't as incapable as he or others believe he is.

We’ve kind of gotten this growth with Rusty during the show so we don’t need it as much in the movie. But it’s very interesting that he can use his brother’s robot to save not only the building but “restore” the destroyed Venture compound. I think it’s Rusty really earning his own legacy.

Plus his attempt to build something Jonas Jr-ish just made something super Science-y. Maybe he’s returning to his true calling

I like how the movie represents Dr. Girlfriend's powers. Yes, she is good at fighting, and is intelligent enough to build super science tech, but her strength is also in her diplomacy and the loyal connections she builds. Part of that is that when she is in trouble, others come to her aid. And her challenge in the movie is a test of her negotiation and diplomacy. I like that the movie takes time to give her this moment.

You can really see how Hank got a lot of his personality from Debra.

Debra’s tech was really cool and I love the scene on the train platform. Its a little frustrating that we don’t get more, but I think Venture Bros is very good at building expectations and then letting your imagination fill in the gaps.

I think this is partially because Venture Bros often ends at the climax and skips over the resolution. The building tension makes you want answers. And often the end-credit sequence gives us the pieces to put the puzzle together without handing it to us. It creates a sandbox and asks you to play in it.

Gary is just living his best life. He got a grappling gun and got to co-pilot a giant robot.

Hank's multiple personalities was never something I'd imagine getting conclusion on, but I'm glad they did. It kind of reminds me of Return to Oz, where at the beginning Ozma is free to wander around the real word, but is trapped in a mirror in Oz. And at the end that reverses. Hank doesn’t destroy these pieces of himself, he just puts them in a place where they can’t control him.

Dean's plot was kind of interesting, there was rumor that one of the brothers would be a protag and one would become an arch. Dean is so worried that his negative life experiences are going to ruin him and prevent him from having the type of life he wants to have. But sometimes things aren't as bad as we think they are. And I think it suggests he can stay with his brother and not be damaged by the experience

Hank and Dean are both controlled by vivid imaginations in different ways. Hank imagines how good things could be, and Dean imagines how bad things could be. Meeting his mother is never going to be as good or cathartic or as healing as Hank imagines it, just as reality isn’t as horrible as Dean imagines it.

I really like the story structure of this show where an emphasis is put on something - like who is the mother - and then the mystery is eventually dropped. But the reality is that who is their mother isn't as important. Hank didn't need to find his mom, and finding her wont give him what he wants. He needed to reconnect with his brother. But it’s also fun that we can solve this puzzle on our own, it’s just not the point.

Of course, I think it does mean Dean is heir to the guild.

I wasn't expecting the twist with the Monarch at all, and in retrospect I think I should have ? Its really interesting how well it fits with Rusty's arc the entire show. Rusty turns his hatred inwards and blames himself for not being his dad. Now that Malcolm understands his unconscious thoughts, it shifts his relationship to arching from an impulse to a choice.