#but the problem here is food deserts

[themarydragon]

We either don't know better, don't have an option, or cook from scratch.

I only shop on the outside of the grocery store (produce, meat, dairy) and make a few runs thru the middle for staples like flour and rice and my household cooks 99% of our meals from scratch. Just about everybody agrees that restaurants aren't healthy, but its more important not to starve.

The European mind cannot comprehend what it was like to be a person who'd only had Hershey bullshit chocolate my entire life and then have European chocolate for the very first time and it made me realize why people were acting like that in the Willy Wonka movies

[lynxgriffin]

Eldritchrune - Dreemurr of Jokes

1 | 2 | 3

Story Setup Eldritchrune Masterpost

Toriel stops by Sans' shop for some goods, and for some more cheery distractions! Unfortunately, all this time later, it's still too difficult to escape reminders of what's been done.

It was fun finally getting to do some stuff with Sans in this universe! The last part for this trio of scenes will be up sometime next week!

Alt text for these pages is under the read more:

Page 1 Panel 1: Interior shot of a small store, with displays of goods, loose plywood, sacks of things. Two circular woven hangings bracket the door through which Toriel enters, a heavyset woman in a polka-dotted dress with a basket over her arm. Sans watches her enter, though we see only the back of his head. 

Panel 2: Toriel enters the shop and we see more displays, mostly food. There are large potted trees as well, and the shop’s counter, draped in patterned cloth and decorated with candles. Toriel: “Well, hello again. I was wondering if you had-” Sans, a jovial, bearded man dressed in loose robes and always smiling, waves a hand and cuts her off. “Hold on, you hear that?”

Panel 3: “...Hear what?” Toriel asks, nonplussed. Up close, her face is soft but distressed.

Panel 4: Sans leans over his slightly messy counter, still grinning. “I HERB that you needed some more cinnamon cloves, and look what I have here!” He offers a handful of herbs. Up close, the cuffs on his robe sleeves are patterned with little bones.  

Panel 5: “Just what I needed! How did you guess?” Toriel exclaims, reaching out with a real smile to accept the herbs. She and Sans are framed by other mysterious shop wares- jars of things, open sacks, rolled-up mats. Things you might find in an open-air desert market. 

Page 2 Panel 1: Sans: “Was just thinking it’d been awhile since I saw you making the neighborhood rounds with some of those pies of yours… Figured you were planning to start this month’s soon!” Sans gestures up at Toriel in explanation. 

Panel 2: Toriel smirks, setting down a handful of coins.  “And perhaps hoping that I would stop by your place first with them?” Sans: “I pride myself on my forward thinking, y’know.” His grin is conspiratorial as he leans towards her and he taps his temple with one finger. 

Panel 3: Toriel, eyes sad despite her smile: “All right. How about this: Tell me a good joke, and you have my word you will have the first and freshest one.”

Panel 4: Sans: “Just a good joke?” He raises an eyebrow. 

Panel 5: Toriel clutches her chest- we don’t see her eyes. “I find myself in desperate need of levity these days.” 

Panel 6: Sans waves his hand as if to keep her from feeling like she need say more, scratching his chin in thought with the other.  “Sure, I got one…” 

Page 3 Panel 1: Sans, with the smug grin of someone about to tell a terrible pun: “Why was the empire soldier happy to get demoted to horse groomer?” Toriel, with her hand on her chin in thought: “I do not know, why?” 

Panel 2: Sans shrugs widely like the answer is obvious. “Because he finally had STABLE employment!” 

Panel 3: Toriel laughs in genuine delight, although maybe a little harder than expected. 

Panel 4: Toriel: “Thank you, I needed that.” She smiles a relieved little smile. Sans: “No problem. So hey, aside from the pie… Can I maybe get an invite to those little get-togethers I see some folks around here doing once a month?” He steeples his fingertips together. 

Panel 5: San’s dialogue continues: “I’m so curious as to what goes on then!” We only see Toriel, though, shocked and dismayed. She’s thinking of the Ritual gatherings- townspeople gathered in their robes and animal masks- reindeer, fish, but most centrally, the goat masks she and Asgore wear. 

Panel 6: Toriel: “Unless you are completely enraptured by tedious talk of planting schedules and building repairs, I believe I can sate your curiosity by saying you would find them quite boring.” She waves a hand in front of her, dismissing the thought- her expression is once again drawn and weary. 

Page 4 Panel 1: Toriel turns to leave, waving goodbye. “You should look forward to your well-earned pie more!” 

Panel 2: Sans gives her a slightly skeptical look. “Alright.” is all he says. 

Panel 3: As she leaves, Toriel looks down and sees for the first time a small statue set by the door, surrounded by candles- it’s not a merchandise display, more like an altar. The statue is a horned figure holding a bowl filled with greenery- an offering of some type. The figure is rounded like a sitting child, and simple, with closed eyes and little other detail. 

Panel 4: Toriel’s dialogue over a close up shot of the figure: “What an interesting little figure you have. It does not look like it is for sale, is it?” The little horned one has three toes and four fingers on its stubby little arms and legs, and a detail on its forehead that could be a suggestion of hair, or it could be a symbol. The pillar candles surrounding it have been burned enough to have long wax drips pooled around them. 

Panel 5: Sans: “Nah, that’s just a holdover from my home country. Supposed to help keep demons out of your space.” He seems uninterested in this bit of lore, but Toriel, still facing away, is wide-eyed and shaken.

Panel 6: Toriel whirls back to him, sweating. “I-Is that so?” 

Panel 7: Sans’s expression intensifies, eyebrows dropping dramatically. “Sure thing. You know what happens when demons get in your grain stores?” 

Page 5 Panel 1: “They’re OATsolutely RYE-ined!” Sans holds his hands wide, like he’s waiting for the rimshot effect. It’s almost like his shop counter and back wall are suddenly a stage. 

Panel 2: Toriel hides a giggle behind her hand, relieved. 

Panel 3: “Is that something you have had to deal with previously?” she asks, stepping a little closer in her interest. Sans makes a slight gesture of dismissal. “Nah, I don’t really go in for that sort of stuff, honestly.”

Panel 4: Sans: “My brother, though… He’s all in on charms and wards and that sort of thing.” He gestures up, as if to point to wherever it is in the town that his brother might be now. 

Panel 5: “Keeping customs from your home country, I suppose?” Toriel asks, drawn again into the shop and closer to Sans. “Something like that,” he responds, leaning forward on his counter. On the wall next to him, there’s another woven wall hanging like the ones over the door.�� Toriel: “Do you have any customs that have a reverse effect?” 

Panel 6: Sans looks as skeptical as one can while constantly grinning. “You mean like, if you want demons in your house?” 

Page 6 Panel 1: Toriel puts a hand up in denial. “N-No, that would obviously be undesirable! I meant more… just out of curiosity about your home.” 

Panel 2: Sans stares up at her, for a beat of silence. 

Panel 3: “Maybe? Again, this stuff isn’t my thing.” He leans back in his chair with his hands behind his head, nonchalant as can be. “And anyways, we left our country for a reason. Old customs aren’t relevant in this town, y’know?” 

Panel 4: Toriel once again turns to go, with a rueful smile. “Maybe not… but I cannot imagine letting go of your entire history.”

Panel 5: Sans shrugs and looks away. “There’s worse things to let go of, honestly.” 

Panel 6: Toriel, gritting her teeth, thinks of a happier time tucking Kris into bed. 

Panel 7: Close on Toriel’s expression, now more haggard and pained than it was when she came in. She clutches her chest tight. 

[sunderwight]

Moshang AU where Airplane transmigrates into a demon NPC from one of the fanservice clans he created, rather than into Shang Qinghua.

So basically, there was a point in time where a lot of PIDW chapters were just Luo Binghe running around propelled by political plots and rebellions from the demon kingdoms, and most of that actually just ended up being Luo Binghe collecting wives with cute animal ears and tails and various abilities that Airplane used all of once and then completely forgot about. They covered the usual bases of the sexy cat girls, sexy fox girls, sexy bunny girls, sexy bird girls with wings, etc, before moving into more, erm, niche animal hybrid demon territory.

Which is all a roundabout way of explaining Cute Hamster Boy Shang Qinghua in his faithful-to-canon clan of Hamster Demons, whose primary skills include cute squeaking noises and digging abilities.

In the process of making his braindead written-in-a-panic-at-3-am "world building" on this front actually function in a real version of the setting, there has got to be a way for the otherwise-unremarkable fanservice demon tribes to actually survive the incredibly hostile environment which Airplane otherwise described, though. Like yeah sure when you're writing a book you can just say in one breath that the demon realms are incredibly brutal and cutthroat, and then in the next that this tribe of bunny girls with no visible skills at self-defense has existed here for thousands of years, but if you actually tried to set that up in some kind of a simulation the bunny girls wouldn't last one year, let alone one thousand.

In that case of Airplane's hamster tribe, their digging skills are so supernaturally prodigious that they are able to construct massive underground fortifications in otherwise hostile terrain. But that still doesn't solve all of their problems, because they still need to acquire food, and for that they mostly do have to go up to the surface. Some of their weakness is mitigated by sheer numbers -- they have a lot of kids to offset the high mortality rate. However, to further increase the survival rates, the hamster demons also try and make contracts with some of the local liege lords or ruling clans whenever they expand into a new territory. In exchange for protection, they send some of their extraneous family members out as servants, to either cement alliances through marriage (that high fertility is helpful and was indeed the crux of Wife #whatever's acquisition in canon) or to work as diggers or even high-level architects.

As the like, twelfth son of the Hamster Demon chieftain, this is Airplane's fate. On the one hand he's highly positioned enough to get an education, and his plot knowledge helps a lot. On the other hand, he's not high enough in the hierarchy to be kept around, so it's either go work for some other clan or else risk his neck doing missions on the hostile and deadly surface. Neither seems great, but Airplane would rather try his luck as a sycophant than a warrior.

Luckily (or unluckily, depending on his mood when he thinks about it) when Airplane reaches sixteen years of age, it's around the same time that the Hamster clan's tunnels have expanded towards the Northern Desert. Airplane ends up being part of the "hiii~ pleasedon'tkillus let's be friends~" tribute to Mobei Jun's father.

Mobei Jun's father tosses him to Mobei Jun, so Airplane dutifully latches onto him in order to avoid being eaten by any of the other retainers. Airplane has been educated in various subterranean building skills and is under the impression that he's been given to MBJ in order to build him his own palace or something?

Everyone else assumes that the Hamster demon is a concubine.

Mobei Jun also thinks that's what he's been given, but he's too busy bristling in teenage offense at being given a concubine by his father to actually consider taking Airplane to bed. So when Airplane starts doing other things for him, he just sort of bemusedly lets it happen.

Gradually it becomes apparent that Airplane himself isn't interested in being a concubine. No. Clearly, this Hamster is gunning for future empress of the Northern Desert! How else would one explain all the lengths he's going to not only to win Mobei Jun's favor, but to secure his position and ensure his future rule? The system also wants Airplane to ensure the Abyss plot arc happens in the future, too, which means Airplane helps Mobei Jun win and instigate conflicts against the righteous cultivation sects too.

Obviously, Airplane wants power. Mobei Jun knows that if he gets an heir off of Airplane that will be that, the wily minx will use any children to secure his position, and MBJ is not convinced he could control himself well enough to prevent that sort of eventually. Airplane is fiendishly attractive, and he clearly knows it, and Mobei Jun is not sure if he wants to accept what increasingly seems to be the inevitable. He won't be a ladder for someone else's ambitions! But... as long as Airplane remains loyal to him, he will consider it. Even if Airplane never harbors any true affection for him, and simply considers him a means to an end. If, by the time he ascends the Hamster has not betrayed him or tried to elevate himself by flipping over this uncle's side, or seduced any of his other relatives or any of the highly-placed lords all salivating to steal MBJ's would-be empress, then Mobei Jun will grant his wish and make him the second most powerful demon in the North.

Airplane, meanwhile, just wants a snack and a nap. Maybe if he builds a secure enough fortress and amasses enough of an intelligence network and hoards a few advantages for himself, and figures out how to stop pissing off MBJ, he'll survive long enough to retire. Somehow.

[anger-sama]

UNKNOWN HORROR Part 1 Made By Anger-Is-Flawed

So, Nightmare picked up horror for the first time and promised him all the food he could eat. Once Nightmare and Horror arrived at his castle, He met the other two that were going to be working with him. Dust and Killer were the same just like him but something was off about them. Nightmare introduced Horror to them and then guided him around the castle where Horror would be spending most of his time in. Horrors room was nothing special, just a simple bed and a couple wardrobes. Horror was only in it because he was promised food. He was planning to give it all towards his au, considering everyone was starving in there. It was all too much to think about so Horror just decided to sleep it off. After that, Horror started going on missions one after another non stop. At the end of each mission, Nightmare would bring up the topic of food and Horror would instantly deny and ask him to send it to his AU. Nightmare agrees and disappears to send it over. Killer and Dust would constantly make fun of horror for the large hole in his head. They also would come at him for his clothes, his one eye, and being weaker than them. Horror didn’t really care that much. All he cared about was sending the food he got from his missions to his starving AU. This kept going on for over 50 years. Constant abuse from those two and trusting Nightmare to keep his side of the deal. He even found a way to talk to Insanity. They looked down on both of them so they bonded on something. Throughout all those years Insanity actually started to trust Horror. At least he has one friend here. Horror thought everything was going well… Until one day he walked by the living room and heard Killer and Dust talking about his AU. He was listening in on what they were saying. “Can’t believe he is THAT dumb! Does he really think Boss cares about a little AU! Boss probably already destroyed it by now.” Killer said. “Probably, but you better keep your voice down before he hears you.” Dust said. “What’s the problem if he hears? He can’t really do anything. Boss would destroy him in seconds! We can deal with him too if it gets that intense.” Killer said. Horror couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His AU gone? He quickly and quietly made his way back to his room and shut his door as quietly as he could. Horrors mind started to race and then he finally broke. He decided to take out Nightmare for deceiving him for all these years. Nightmare is hard to kill, especially since he can detect emotions. If Horror decided to sneak up on Nightmare, He would die in seconds. All of them underestimated how smart he was because of the giant hole in his head. Maybe he can use that to his advantage. He decided to contact Dream and ask for help. Dream can also sense emotions but Horrors true intentions were overshadowed by his genuine need for help. Dream accepted and they both agreed to meet in a deserted snowdin.

Part 2

[innerfare]

Blue Balls - Ace: Part 2 

Summary: Ace takes care of his blue balls; text below the cut. If you haven't already, read Part 1 here!

Pairing: Portgas D. Ace x Afab!Reader

Genre: smut

CW: penetrative sex, dirty talk

Word Count: 1,255

———

Ace couldn’t believe his rotten luck. 

Thatch had you on deck that entire night handling something, and just before dawn, Pops sent Ace out on a mission to a nearby island. It had all happened so quickly and he’d barely had the chance to tell you goodbye and punch Marco in the arm for that knowing, teasing look on his face before he was off. 

When he returned, it was just past three in the morning, and he was absolutely miserable, with a hole in his stomach and a throbbing, aching problem between his legs. He ground his teeth together to keep from groaning as he climbed onto the ship. 

Rotten luck, indeed. 

He’d had a real rough go of things, not just because he had a serious case of blue balls but because that mission Pops had sent him on had proven to be the sort of thing that only the second division commander could really take care of. 

He normally enjoyed that sort of thing, and he’d had a few moments that he relished, but ultimately, his mind was on you and the fact he hadn’t told Thatch to go fuck himself that night. 

Marco met him on deck with a plate of food that Ace tucked into as soon as he dropped his things. As he bit into two rice balls at once, he gave the deck of the Moby Dick a once over. It was deserted, most of the crew asleep in their hammocks for the night. 

“She wanted to wait up for you,” Marco said with a knowing look, "but I sent her to bed. Thatch has been running her ragged, poor thing.” 

Ace grunted with a mouthful of food, Marco’s phrasing conjuring images in his head that he knew he should have been ashamed of. But he wasn’t ashamed. He was tired and hungry, and he needed you.

“You should let her sleep. She’s in for another long day tomorrow.” Marco chuckled and clapped Ace on the shoulder. “But if you want to keep her awake, I’m guessing you could bribe Thatch with some of that sake you brought back.” 

Ace just nodded and headed inside.

Exhausted, he paused outside the door and pressed his forehead into it. His blood was absolutely boiling in his veins, and he knew he needed to calm down some before coming on to you, but he wasn’t sure how to do that. 

A sound filtered through the door, and Ace’s ears twitched. 

No way. 

He leaned in closer and held his breath to listen. Sure enough, he heard a small, wanton moan come from inside his cabin. 

Ace’s heart jumped in his chest. All thoughts of remaining calm and slipping quietly into bed left his mind. He whipped open the door. He intended to slip inside smoothly, but he ended up stumbling, accidentally slamming the door shut behind him. 

You gasped, sitting up straight in bed. You squinted in the dark, only just making out a tall, broad figure in a cowboy hat. “Ace?” 

“Did you really get started without me?” Ace stepped out of his boots, almost tripping he was in such a rush. “You knew I was coming home tonight.” 

“I started thinking you got delayed and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.” You fell back on the pillows, enveloped in the scent of him once more. You were naked under the covers with your hand still between your legs, where you had been rubbing furiously at your clit in a pathetic attempt to get off on your own. 

“I’m here now.” He shoved his shorts down and stepped out of those, too; he never wore anything underneath. He practically dove into bed, struggling to get the covers off your body. 

He felt your lips on his shoulder. 

For a moment, you couldn’t breathe under the weight of your boyfriend, but you didn’t dare complain as the two of you struggled to get the covers out from between you. His crushing weight on top of you was the best feeling in the world. 

Well, one of the best feelings in the world. 

“How many times did you cum?” He asked, finally peeling back the covers. He pressed his naked body into yours and groaned. “How many times did you cum without me?” 

“You interrupted before I could finish,” you told him. You sighed in relief at the feel of his chest against yours. Your hands went straight to his black locks, but they didn’t stay there for very long. You ran them down his face and neck, squeezed his shoulders, and grabbed hold of his muscular biceps. 

“What about last night?” He pushed your head to the side and went to work on your neck, kissing and sucking to his heart’s content, biting so hard you mewled in pain. “How many times did you cum last night?” 

“None.” 

“And the night before?” 

You hesitated, but answered honestly. “Once.” 

He didn’t run his fingers up and down your slit. He didn’t tongue fuck you to make sure you were good and ready. Hell, he didn’t even ask you to finish the blowjob you’d been giving him before the two of you were separated. He just aligned his cock with your slick entrance. 

“Need this so bad,” he moaned into your shoulder. “I have the worst blue balls of my life right now. Hurts so bad.” 

“You say that every time.” 

“It hurts every time.” He pushed the head of his cock into your entrance and let out a loud groan as if nobody could hear. “Oh, that feels so good.” He pushed another inch in. “Tell me how you came the other night, sweetheart. Tell me all about it.” 

“I was thinking about that time you went down on me on deck,” you confessed. “When the others were all drinking in town.” 

Ace hummed in encouragement, pushing another inch in. His mouth watered and his abdominal muscles spasmed at the feel of your warmth encasing him bit by bit.

You whined at the stretch but kept on. “I rode your pillow like it was your thigh. It was so good.” Another inch, another whine. “I’m pretty sure Marco heard. He knocked on the door right after I came to check on me.” 

That bastard, Ace thought to himself. 

He couldn’t stop himself. He bottomed out inside you, pushing your thighs apart for better access. He rolled his hips against yours, fucking you like a maniac, the two of you panting and moaning.  

He was a complete mess, a sheen of sweat appearing on his brow line as he fucked you. He panted and whimpered, his rhythm far less consistent than usual. He rutted into you like he'd never done it before, like he'd never even experienced pleasure before.

Ace at least had the sense to thumb your clit while he fucked you, but he couldn’t think of anything beyond that. He tried desperately to hold off until you came. 

The second he felt your walls tighten around him and your nails dig deeper into his back, he released all of the tension he’d been carrying around with him, filling you with his cum. He gave another few deep strokes before collapsing on top of you. 

“So tired,” he muttered into your hair, still inside of you. 

You rubbed the back of his neck. “Go to sleep, then. We can catch up in the morning.” 

Ace didn’t need to be told twice. He kissed you one final time and was out like a light. 

———

Hope you enjoyed it! If you want more, you can check out my masterlist here!

[critterbitter]

SUBMAS MASTERPOST

Hello, my name is Crit (he/them.) Welcome to my SUBMAS art blog, @critterbitter! It is sfw, but please take care if you are a minor, as I’m Old. Thanks! To reach my main blog, please direct your attention to @proxycrit .

This is a masterpost of all the art and comics I’ve done for the funny train men so far. Feel free to browse and definitely feel free to comment!

(Here’s my kofi as well! If you wish to tip. If you want wips, here’s my patreon!)

All work can also be found under #myart.

Comics/Art List:

A SUBMAS spotify playlist-- Post Hisui Muppet Council

Emmet and eelektross— you and your dog get sent to feudal japan

Ingo and lady sneasler— you weigh like a bag of grapes

Emmet, meet volo

tynamo and emmet’s first meeting (they become friends instantly)

Litwick and ingo’s first meeting (they become enemies immediately)

Aftermath of training

The starters perform care on full grown men

Committing war crimes on both eel and man

Submas kids— the Snack that smiles back, litwick edition

Box shenanigans (caricatures of the children)

Emmet and litwick come to a deal

The difference in starter relationships boggles the mind

Good morning, litwick (good night, lady sneasler.)

Ingo fights his inner envy demons with the communication stick

Coat flapping

You are Beloved, Lampent. That’s all. 

A jackie at gear station

Tynamo evolution blues (this is funny)

The imposter syndrome sets in (it is no longer funny)

Library blues (elesa should be paid for carrying books)

Sassy night light

Happy eel dog

The joyful ordeal of evolution

Eelektrik boa (a gold standard!)

Lampent discovers discourse. This becomes everybody's problem.

Nimbasa trio walk and talk

Couch party (it's poll time!)

SUBMAS AU: Conventional Starters

Lampent is an umbrella, if you squint

Happy Holidays!

Eel-esa outfit (cause, you know, she dresses like an eel. Get it? Get it?)

Scheming

Master of manipulation.

They left Lampent in a Deino's Parking Lot

"These are our Exoskeletons, Elesa."

Chance meeting

Forbidden Lore Unlocked

Introducing Elesa, the New Kid from Sinnoh

Elesa and Blitzle

Outside the crowd

Volume Control

COLLAB: Forgiveness is Electric

Volume Control (Reprise)

Food Exchange

Electric starters

Homesick

Metaphorical and Literal Rat Children

Trouble starters

Snapshots: Route 3

Snapshots: Castelia City

Snapshots: Virbank Complex

Snapshots: Desert Resort

Snapshots: Route 8

Snapshots: Nimbasa City

Snapshots: Celestial Tower

Snapshots: Pinwheel Forest

Snapshots: Route 18

Snapshots: Anville Town

Snapshots: Undella Bay

Snapshots: Flocessy Ranch

Snapshots: Route 10

Snapshots: Driftveil City

Snapshots: Twist Mountain

Snapshots: Relic Passage

Snapshots: Route 6

Snapshots: Opelucid City

Snapshots: Chargestone Cave

Snapshots: Dream Yard

Snapshots: Route 1

Snapshots: Striaton City

Snapshots: Black City

WORLD BUILDING

Giratina and Arceus

[blood-smiles]

𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓...𝐘𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄!𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐈𝐃

Long ago, it was said that humanity thrived together as a whole in peace and harmony, they all went to the same places and had similar experiences, they shared and traded food and items, the peace was always kept because of laws, the air was pure and the water was clear and tasteless, complete perfection.

But where was that now? It’s the year 2313, it’s been a long time since that chapter was ripped from the ancient book of humanity,

You wrapped a mask around your head, clicking your tongue as your fingers fiddled with the leather buckles of the mask,

After a struggling with the mask for a few seconds you finally succeeded in fastening the item to the back of your cranium,

The thick belt wrapped around your head and behind your ears, the borders of the leather digging into your skin and leaving an aching red imprint on your head,

You steadily got up from your couch, walking over to the deserted shopping cart in the corner, putting your hands around the cart’s bars and lifting it up from the floor, putting it back on its wheels as it used to be,

You rolled the cart around your laboratory, listening for squeaks or strange sounds, when you made sure there wasn’t any problems with the cart you put it aside momentarily,

You ran over to one of your counters as snatched a pair of goggles from the metal surface,

Securing them on your eyes as best you could, your hands grabbed the flimsy fabric of your coat and pulled up the hood, you were all geared up and ready to go.

Your hands gripped the bar of your shopping cart, your eyes scanning the inside of the empty shopping cart, the once silver metal was oxidizing, slowly turning into a murky brown tint,

you pushed your cart through your run down town, waving at acquaintances and kicking little pebbles out of your way,

This is how your everyday life went, around 5 p.m you would get geared up and go into the junk yard to look for unwanted “trash” from Ether,

most of the time what you found wasn’t even trash, maybe a little worn down, but these people were throwing away full shampoo bottles and moisturizers! You wish you had that problem..

Ether was the island above the slums or better know as “the pit”, Ether was known as the place only peasants like you could wish they could end up there, which wasn’t ever going to happen,

Only the richest of the rich or elite are allowed up there, and the people down in the pit were uneducated and poor, having nothing more than a button and a few pieces of clothes to their name,

Truly pitiful, and you were no different, the only thing you had was a run down laboratory your father left behind,

He was supposedly a smart man, one of the first developers of the species known as “Androids” yet none of his work was given credit towards him, which ended him up here, in the pit.

You knew how to repair an android, but coding one was beyond your abilities, you worked as a handyman for a few silver coins, that’s how you went on about life,

You developed your skills as you went, and apparently the only note worthy trait you had was your ability to salvage broken things,

You kicked away some trash with your muddy boots, the rubbish flying far away and into the piles of trash,

“Fuckin’ trash..” you complained under your breath, your heavy duty boots clinging to the sticky mud underneath, making unpleasant squelches in the mud,

The sound of clanking was heard when the piece of trash hit a surface, your ears immediately pricked up,

Whipping your head into the direction of where the trash fell, you immediately let go of your cart and jogged over to a pile of crap,

You stepped onto the unsteady heap of trash, your knee beginning to buckle under your own weight, warning you that you were about to loose your footing,

You fell forward, wind brushing by your ears as you began your descension , sticking your arms out, you braced for the impact,

with a loud clank you landed on top of a scrap of metal, your hands laying on a hard, cool material, you pushed yourself off the object to get a better look on it,

it seemed to hold a humanoid shape, but it by no means looked like one, instead of a face it had a screen, which was pitch black and roughed up, split right through the middle, nothing you couldn't fix.

It didn't have the look of a typical android, it seemed like it was missing its silicone skin, a normal android look closely alike to a human, this one looked more like a robot,

Its body was large, made of a sturdy material, despite having no muscles it did have something alike to it but made of steel, the shine being dulled by the dirt,

your eyes trailed to its chest, which was steel, a shocker. It seemed to have a symbol on its left pectoral in an electric blue tint, while its right one seemed to have a name tag, but the letters were scratched off, what looked deep jagged scratches on its chest, whoever did this either didn't like their name or didn't want anyone to see its real name,

that logo.. That was the logo of the best android engineers in Ether, Its obviously an android, but its strange that they would throw out androids,

your eyes wandered down the android's body to its legs, which were missing, cables poked out of the holes where its legs were supposed to be,

you rand your hand down your face, where were its fucking legs? You couldn't take it home without its legs! You put the Android's upper body on your back, then letting it slip off your back and into your shopping cart with a loud bang,

you began to look around, lifting rubbish with the tip of your shoe, peeking under all surfaces until you saw what seemed to be a foot poking out from a pile of soggy cardboard,

you pulled out the limb with your whole body weight, the sheer height and thickness of that single limb was impressive, the leg stood in height about where your waist was,

you tossed the heavy limb in your shopping cart with the Android, you walked around for about 40 minutes, looking everywhere for the other leg,

just when you were about to give up you tripped over something, looking at what made your hit the ground, you realized it was the leg you were looking for,

your heart beat happily in your chest as you pushed the heavy cart back to your house lab,

you had a dopey grin on your face the whole way home, you couldn't help but have a pep in your step, you were already thinking of how you would name your new Android,

"(Y/n)? O-Oh! It is you! How are you, sweet pea?" You could recognize that voice anywhere, if it wasn't the the village doctor!

You turned around, smiling widely at the man, still in his clad white uniform, hair tie slipping down his long ginger hair, and those characteristic cracked glasses, it was Kairo.

"Heya Kairo! 'm good, jus' pushin this home.'" You waved to him weakly, your calloused hands tired from pushing the cart,

Kairo jogged up to you, stopping only inches away, he brought a hand up to his face, his cheeks adorned with alight dusting of pretty pink,

"I recall asking you to rest, didn't I? You better have a good reason to be wearing yourself out like this.." the ginger scolded, crossing his arms across his chest, his magenta eyes staring you down something alike to a mother’s disappointed gaze,

Kairo was an absolute blessing to have down here in the slums, he was the doctor and used to be a scientist, his knowledge in both fields was greatly appreciated, especially since it seemed the world had it out for you and your physical well being,

he got kicked out of Ether many years ago, you were about 13 when he got dropped in the pit,

He really stirred the pot when he got here, no one even tried getting closer to him due to their reluctance about him and his origins, no one here trusts those who were born in Ether,

Kairo got pushed away, glared at, kicked and even sometimes people spat on him, no one really knows what he did to get him off Ether,

Yet it is still a fact that even if the others have warmed up to him, they still treat him exponentially different from the other habitants of the slums,

you were the first and only one to extend your hand out to him in times of need, you gave him a safe haven when he needed it most, and just for that fact he has sworn to always be with you, through thick and thin, he will protect you and put you back together time and time again, just how you loved him, he will love you back tenfold.

your smile turned bashful, wiping your sweaty hands on your shirt you started trying to recount the events of today,

"..So then I decided to take him home to repair him back up! He's in pretty good shape, I jus need ta' wire his legs back on then fix his screen, give him a lil' bath and I will be done with him!"

Kairo looked back at the robot with narrowed eyes, a dark shadow casting over his pale features,

you felt oddly unsettled by his sharp gaze, this side of him was completely unknown to you, and gee was it scary.

"..Where did you find this thing?" He asked—no, demanded, his voice dropping an octave lower, the sharpness of his tone wasn't quite directed at you though, but more at the robot in your cart,

"Uhm, I found him in the Junk yard.." You rasped out, your throat feeling constricted, words barely audible out of the feeling of fear you had, this mood of him was awfully uncharacteristic of him, it really creeped you out,

Kairo seemed to notice your state, the last thing he would want was to make you fear him.. for now, he will let it go.

"I see.." the taller male responded, a tinge of worry in his voice "Well, all I ask of you is to be careful, you don't know where it came from, and personally, I don't want to see you hurt.." He hugged himself, looking off to the side shyly, his gloved hand reaching up to twirl a strand of his cantaloupe colored hair around his finger,

the carefree smile you had earlier started returning as you saw Kairo softening up again, you were glad he wasn't upset at you,

you ran up to him, momentarily leaving your cart and new companion behind to give him some affection,

your arms wrapped around his slender waist as you cuddled his chest, your cheek pressed up right next to his heart,

Kairo's breath hitched, a kaleidoscope of butterflies going off in his guts, the wings of the small insects making contact with his insides, the pleasant feeling didn’t help the flush in his face spreading like a wildfire,

his longer arms wrapped around your neck, hugging you closer to him, he pressed his lips against your forehead gently, intentionally catching a whiff of your hair's scent, ‘my sweet baby.. You really don’t realize what I feel for you, do you?’ His eyes fluttered closed, long eyelashes ghosting over his tired under eyes,

these were the moments with you he could kill for, he would do anything to be this close to you always, skin to skin, heart to heart, and hopefully one day, lips to lips.

The ginger reluctantly let go, crossing his arms once again as he gazed at your retreating form longingly, his mind couldn't help but wander back to that specific Android, dangerous thoughts leaking into his brain continuously like a broken faucet,

"If you do something to her, I will rip your fucking head off.."

But you on the other hand were giddy as fuck, you had already unloaded the android and sat him down on your lab counter,

lifting his left leg up you propped it below the wires hanging off the holes of where his legs were supposed to be in,

you connected the wires carefully, melting them together once again, soon you connected the legs into his hip socket, a loud clicking noise let you know you did the job correctly,

you did the same with his right leg, another loud click reached your ears, you pulled on the legs as best as you could from different angles, and they wouldn't budge, not a single creak or sign of the limbs wanting to detach from the body anymore,

and with that you moved onto the cracked screen of the head of the android,

you somehow managed to seal the cracks and give the mask a polish to leave it looking good as new, you were pretty satisfied with the results,

you scrubbed off the dirt and grime off the metallic protective plates, you scrubbed and scrubbed every single crevice of its body until the robot was spotless and shining under the dim lighting,

he was beautiful.

Your heart was pounding out of your chest, anxiety coursing through your veins, sweat beads ran down your skin, dampening your shirt,

you opened the back of his cranium, cables wrapped in metallic material linking to the back of his head, a blue power button inside all the wires and mother boards inside, green and silver peeking out from inside his head,

you pressed on the button, then stepped back, crossing your fingers that he would come to life, you clasped your hands together in prayer,

buzzing came from the Android, limbs twitching, sparks coming from its joints,

soon, the screen on its "face" lit up, something alike to a smiley face being displayed on the black screen,

it looked down at its hands, closing and opening its fists, kicking its legs, it realized it was alive once more, that it was moving and that it was okay,

you didn’t know how to react, should you be happy? Scared? It was all so conflicting, you wanted to jump out of happiness but at the same time you wanted to run away, cry and vomit.

It turned its head to you, the gentle sound of ticking coming from deep inside his metal plates,

The sound of its metallic feet hitting the murky ground startled you, making you jump violently, you would have jumped out of your skin if it came closer,

It seemed to stop when it saw that you were scared, and so it stopped, it stared at you, not moving an inch from it place,

slowly, it extended its long arm, opening its robotic palm and holding it out to you, (e/c) looked down at its hand, analyzing how his joints popped and twitched,

you were starting to regret taking the massive machine home, Kairo was right, this Android totally had something off about it,

but even as your common sense screamed at you to stay back and run away, it all was drowned out by the overlapping thoughts buzzing in your head,

how much could this thing sell for? It was modified, Obviously, it was crystal clear that these modifications had been done illegally,

you carefully put your smaller hand in his own, you looked up at the screen that was his face warily,

“a-ah..” the android made a noise, was his voice box broken? You tried repairing him as best as you could, but his voice box was something you unfortunately didn’t know how to repair,

he pointed a finger towards you, tilting his head while making more noises,

“ah.. ah?” Was it asking you something? It gently tapped your arm, pointing at you,

oh. It was asking you for your name.

“oh.. You can’t speak, can you?” It shook its head, putting it hand on its throat to emphasize,

“well.. I’m (Y/n), and.. It’s nice to finally meet you..?” You coughed into your fist as you finished, awkwardly shifting from side to side,

an emoticon of sorts appeared on the metallic male’s face visor, it seemed… happy?

“Aaah?” It pointed to itself, looking down at its name tag, only to realize that it had completely scratched off,

it stayed silent before looking up at you, gently guiding your hand to its chest, where it’s name tag once resided,

“..You want a name?” It nodded, pointing to itself once again,

“..I actually was thinkin’ about what to name you.. Welcome to the world, Exo.” You gave it a toothy grin, watching as how the screen visor of his suddenly showed a blue glowing heart,

It took you by surprise when the droid grabbed onto you by under your arm pits, lifting you up to his height,

you watched as how the glowing blue heart on his visor beat like how a heart would, and it only seemed to be getting faster,

it brought you closer to it, holding you like a baby, it rubbed its cheek(?) against yours, the uncomfortable friction of its glass screen making contact with your own,

And that’s when you heard it, a low rumbling sound resounded from its chest, the vibrations melting against your skin,

is he fucking purring..?

“I’m glad— urgh.. you liked your name..” you barely made out, trying to create some space between both of your bodies, however the bot wouldn’t move a centimeter away from you,

after pleading with it, he decided to put you down,

it gently pat your head, before putting its hands on its knees to observe you more closely,

“uh.. Okay, Well.. You can just follow me around, I want to see how good of a job I did at fixing you..” and with that you walked out of your laboratory,

a larger hand grabbed onto your sleeve, you already knew who it was so you didn’t spare him a look,

you let him grab onto your sleeve, the cool feeling of it’s metal fingers making contact with your skin,

Exo didn’t know what to make of things, he was especially surprised when he woke up to a little human greeting him,

he couldn’t see anything, but from the noises and fleeting touches around his body he could tell that someone was trying to fix him up,

and then he could see everything, from the little scars on your skin to the exact shade of your eye color,

his memory board felt empty, he tried to remember, but his mind was a blank slate, it was like trying to squeeze water from a stone, impossible.

but one thing he did know was that he was eternally indebted to this cute human, Exo wanted to assume that this was his creator, but he knew better, his real creator didn’t care about him,

he knew he was thrown off somewhere high, he didn’t know when or from where, but just that action showed him that whoever created him had no care for him,

But.. You took the time to fix him with your caring hands, you didn’t have any obligation whatsoever to even touch him, but you did,

from looking down at his own body he could tell you spent countless hours polishing his body, not even a crevice of his body had a single spot of filth,

his joints were smooth, his movements were swift and elegant, something he never thought he would be able to regain,

you might as well be his owner now, you are so small.. So frail, he looked down at you and he felt this inexplicable feeling of wanting to grab you and cradle you like a human baby,

your smaller form was so comfortable to hold in his arms, he could accommodate his body to your liking,

he understands that his chest isn’t the most comfortable, under the heavy metal plating there is soft layers of silicone that could help with trying to make you more comfy against his body,

he wished nothing more than to communicate with you, to tell you how much he appreciated you and how he wished to serve you in the way you served him,

but the only type of noise that made it out of his mouth (?) was pathetic moans and sighs, that was no way to communicate with you,

He heard the voice of a man earlier, his sensors picked up on his heart rate, it was.. familiar, he knew that rhythm from some where.. but he can’t quite remember from where,

this mysterious man’s heart beat spiked up as soon as you approached him, his breathing turned slower and heavier,

Exo heard you call out to that man, apparently his name was Kairo.. the android repeated his name in his mind, Kairo, Kairo, Kairo.. That was an unusual name..

then he spoke, and his voice hit home, he still had no idea who this man was, but his hate for him tenfolded,

Exo hated how he spoke to you, his voice was so warm and welcoming towards you, pure love and adoration in his tone, he just knew that man wanted to shove his tongue down your throat, repulsive.

but Exo has claimed you long ago, ever since you picked him up and ever so gently put him into your cart he had vowed to be by your side,

‘Kairo’ directed his tone towards him and Exo didn’t like it one bit, his tone was so sharp, the iron-clad Android could feel the intensity of ‘Kairo’ on him, his eyes feeling like they could burn through the thick layers of metal of his body,

Then he felt a warm calloused hand on his shoulder, gently running up and down the ridges of his armor, that touch made him melt into a puddle of goo,

making him forget about the developing grudge against Kairo,

however he knew that wasn’t going to be the last time he would see him.

୧‿̩͙ ˖︵ ꕀ⠀ ♱⠀ ꕀ ︵˖ ‿̩͙୨

Several days had passed since you had booted Exo’s system up, and it was safe to say that the last days had been nothing but bliss,

it was like he was lying on cloud nine, he started to believe that he had been blessed by some force and sent you down, it was nothing less than euphoria.

You, however had to head into town, and Exo could never dream of making you go alone, never in a millennia would he allow that,

So he decided to accompany you, his large hand clasped around your own, your hand gently grabbing onto his pointer finger,

Exo kept a close eye on you, trying to sense of something was amiss, your heart beat seemed steady, your glucose was normal and your oxygen levels were okay,

he wished he could just carry you so you wouldn’t need to walk, he wouldn’t want to wear down your fragile bones!

but you refused his offer.. you said that you were ‘too old for that’, Exo really didn’t want you to be embarrassed, he decided to let this slide— for now.

his steps were heavy behind you, loud thumps being heard when his mechanical feet hit the ground,

you were pushing your cart through the dust and dirt, while Exo was carrying your backpack and money, who were comically small compared to his large and broad body,

you snickered to yourself as you looked back at him for a split second, he seemed to notice, suddenly his screen lit up, a blue heart blinking on the screen,

“a-ah..” he moaned out, tilting his head close to his right shoulder, you really wished you could understand the damn thing, but it seemed to be able to communicate through moans and exhales,

“Ya know I have zero idea what yer sayin’, right?” You sighed as you looked away, your cart wheels getting jammed on a rock out of nowhere,

it had you clicking your tongue as you bent down to pick the rock out of the old wheels,

the bot bent down to assist you, kneeling right next to you, there to help you if you needed anything,

“(Y/n)! What a coincidence! It has been a bit since we have last spoken, you aren’t running away from me are you?” The familiar voice of a certain admirer rang out from above you,

“hah? ‘Course not, You are my favorite person in this old dinky town..” you gave Kairo a crooked smile, dusting off your pants to face him fully,

his eyes softened, a gentle smile marking his plump lips, sometimes you really forgot how pretty Kairo was,

“..Y-You really think so..?” Aw shit, did you say that out loud? You nodded your head either way, an embarrassed flush warming your cheeks, Kairo put his hands on his face trying to hide the blush heating up his whole face, his hand gently extended out towards you,

Kairo was about to put his hand on your head, however his hand was stopped by a silver encased one, the mechanic fingers tightening around the Ginger’s arm,

“…” a certain chrome plated male stopped Kairo’s arm from going any further,

“..Huh. And who do you think you are?” Kairo retaliated, veins sprawling across his arm and porcelain face, an unnatural look to his other wise doll like appearance,

his glasses slipped down the slope of his nose, showing a pretty little bump on his upturned nose,

his thick brows furrowed, his pretty face twisted into a menacing scowl, his lively magenta eyes losing the shine they had when they met with your (e/c) eyes,

Exo on the other hand didn’t show a sliver of emotion, the screen visor he possessed didn’t show the emoticons he tends to show, instead a pitch black screen was shown,

Expo refused to utter a single sound, which was somehow more menacing than anything, fear instilled deep inside you, slimy tendrils of uncertainty and the urge to run pooling in your intestines,

“ha..haha— How about we calm down?” You suggested as calmly as you could, which was not very good since you were about to piss your pants,

You didn’t notice your hands shaking violently, your fingers and hands being unable to keep still, you were so distracted trying to tone down the situation you forgot about keeping calm yourself,

Both of the men turned to face you, noticing your shaken up state they seemed like they were about to stop,

the duo simultaneously reached out to you, trying to touch you, they seemed to have gotten distracted from their fight, however they were far from over,

“What the fuck do you think you are doing? Can’t you see she is scared? Tsk.. what a disgrace, to think you would care about a human being.. Touch her and I won’t hesitate to pull those cables out of your fucking head.” Kairo threatened, his hand balling into a fist

“…” the bot just stared at him, unresponsive.

This was your chance to book it out of here, a crowd of people were coming your way, you took advantage of their ‘moment’ to get away,

you blended into the streets, luckily you had a few silver coins on you, so you could hang out until Exo came to find you, which he always did,

you could apologize to Kairo later and spend some well deserved time with the ginger, not today though.

shit.. Did they team up to come after you? Because.. they aren’t where they were going when you looked back..

Is it just you or.. Are two people breathing down your neck?

[phoenix-creates]

Genshin Impact, Both the Game and the Community, Cannot Hide Their Colorism or Racism Anymore

This is going to be a long read. I refuse to stay silent.

I've played Genshin Impact on and off since 2021 when I was first introduced to it. I drew fanart but rarely participated in the fandom, as Genshin has one of the most toxic and racist fandoms that takes pleasure in driving off content creators of color, perpetuating racism within the communities, as well as harassing and threatening people who dare try to speak out about it. But, for as racist as the fandom is, what can I expect from them considering Hoyoverse as a whole has it's own set of racial problems.

It is clear from the release of Sumeru to the recent teasers of Natlan. Hoyoverse has colorism problems and racism problems and we're going to take a look at them here.

Before we begin, I want to take a moment to say that there will be a lot of information presented in this post. I ask that you read carefully and be considerate of every talking point presented.

Now, let's talk about Sumeru.

Sumeru, the fourth region released in Genshin Impact, draws a lot of real world inspiration from Middle Eastern culture, with even the geography mimicking the real world geography of China and India. The characters, music, food, and geography all draw inspiration from various different real world cultures, and just from a few glances, it is easy to see exactly where and what cultures they’re taking from.

Candace for instance, from name to appearance, draws inspiration from kandakes, which was the title of a queen mother in Nubian kingdoms. Even her accessories, her talents, and her weapon take pieces from other aspects of Egyptian culture.

Cyno, another character from Sumeru, is dressed in garb that mimics depictions of Anubis, the ancient Egyptian God of funerary rites and protector of graves. As with Candace, his talents and abilities reference Egypt.

Even Sethos, a newcomer to the game and also a Sumeru character, has clothes, skills, and a name that alludes to either the Egyptian God Set, the god of the desert and storms, the Egyptian pantheon in general, or the Ancient Egyptian King Seti/Sethos.

These three characters are tanned, anyone can see that, but if you take a closer look you'll notice that they're all around the same shade. Considering all three of them take inspiration from real world Egyptian culture, it is insane to me that they're all a similar shade of the same slightly tanned tone. It is unacceptable that they're all a shade or two away from white when all of them has some aspect of Egyptian culture in their character.

To further shed light on Sumeru's racist sins, there exists a long standing conflict in Sumeru regarding The Eremites, a race of people descended from the ancient, now-collapsed civilization who primarily live in the desert. These people are the enemies in the game. You read that right. The desert dwellers are the enemies and not only that, but unlike the treasure hoarders who disappear into smoke when defeated, the Eremites collapse to the ground like the Fatui.

Why do the Treasure Hoarders, a band of pale skinned thieves, get away but the Eremites, treated as if their culture is lesser, presumably die?

Worse than that, there is a long quest in Sumeru where a white academic from Sumeru spends nearly the entire length of the quest insulting an Eremite. The quest I'm referring to, Golden Slumber, is a multi part quest that has the Traveler accompanying a researcher named Tirzad who is exploring the ruins in the deserts of Sumeru. Throughout the quest, Tirzad spends most of his time complaining and insulting Jeht and Jebrael, calling the latter an uneducated brute whenever Jebrael tries to do anything. And the Traveler is no help, with dialogue options remaining neutral instead of rightfully telling Tirzad to stop.

What we have here is a white man stereotyping a man of color and assuming things about himself and his race due to his own racist biases.

Many players have called out the racism in Tirzad’s actions and this quest overall, but Tirzad at multiple times fails to see the error of his ways and leads the group into life threatening situations simply because he can’t believe an “uneducated desert brute” could possibly know more than him.

I could sit here and pick apart more aspects of Sumeru and it's failures to properly represent the culture it's using, but I want to get into the inciting incident of this entire post, which is Natlan.

When the teaser for Natlan was released, it was just another failure on Hoyoverse's part. To understand why, we can break it down into parts, starting with the character leaks:

Mavuika, presumably the pyro archon, with a name inspired by Māori fire deity Mahuika.

Ororon, a mispelling of the Yoruba god Ọlọrun, the creator deity in the Yoruban pantheon.

Kinich, named after the Mayan god of the sun.

Iansan, another character whose name comes from the Yoruba pantheon.

Xilonen, this name coming from one of the aspects of the Aztec goddess of maize and the goddess of sustenance.

Kachina, name inspiration directly lifted from the religious beliefs of the indigenous Pueblos people.

Chasca, name coming from the Incan goddess of dawn and twilight.

Citlali, a name derived from Nahuatl, which is a language from ancient Mexico.

Are you seeing something interesting with these characters?

Hoyoverse has shoved multiple different cultures under one region and whitewashed every character. They did the bare bones work of lifting names and small design inspirations from so many different cultures and using them in the laziest way possible. If not pale white, the few characters who are tanned are a mere shade darker than Cyno and almost the same shade as Kaeya. There is nothing darker in sight with any of these characters.

Cultural representation matters. If Hoyoverse can explore the cultures of Germany (Mondstadt), China (Liyue), Japan (Inazuma), and France (Fontaine), it is insane that the same sort of love couldn't be given to both Sumeru and Natlan, both nations where we should rightfully be seeing more people of color.

(Side note, we should be seeing more people of color in the previous regions as well, even as NPCs. Bi-racial people exist all over the world, not just in America. Quick google searches will show what I mean.)

I can already hear the arguments against me.

"But Hoyoverse is an East Asian company! They don't need to/don't care about representation!"

Oh really? Because Lilithgames, the company behind Dislyte, is a company based in Shanghai, China. And when you compare the variety of skin tones of Dislyte to Genshin, you cannot make the argument that a company based in Asia doesn't care about diversity. Hoyoverse does not seem to care, but don't make it a blanket statement for all companies.

Still not convinced? Bluepoch, a small Chinese company behind Reverse:1999, is responsible for this character:

Smite, a game published by Hi-Rez Studios and Tencent Games (A Chinese publisher), has a character based on Olorun. And they did just fine in their depiction of him:

And the director behind Tekken 7, Katsuhiro Harad, shared concept art of an Arab fighter they want to add to the game. Why? Because he wanted to make sure he was respecting Middle Eastern culture and asked for feedback to see what can be improved. He posted this concept art and asked the community for input to make Shaheen as accurate as possible:

But sure. Asian companies don't care.

"It's a fantasy world! It doesn't have to 1-to-1 mimic the real world!"

Oh really? So why are characters named after real world cultural figures, why is the food based around real world food, why are outfits somewhat inspired by real world garbs then? If you're gonna draw inspiration from something and use the real world in your game, the world is a diverse place. It is not all white nor all slightly tanned.

"You can always stop playing the game."

I could, but that would mean letting them win and get away with their racism. It would mean letting Hoyoverse think this is the norm instead of the outlier. It would mean staying silent during injustice. I can do a lot of things, and exposing their issues is one of them.

"It could be difficult for them to implement dark-skinned characters."

It actually is not. Look at all the examples from other games and companies discussed previously. It's not hard. Plus, take a look at Wriothesley's concept art:

Originally, he had a different skin tone. So characters with different tones existed but got lightened and changed over time.

"I don't want [insert race here] in my fantasy game/it doesn't matter!"

Honey, you're just racist.

"Wow, I get it now. This is bad. What can I do to help?"

There are several ways:

Use Surveys and Feedback when you log into Hoyoverse games. This problem extends past Genshin, into HSR and ZZZ (a game whose ads promote itself with rap music and yet noticeably lack playable dark skinned characters so far). Use the platforms that they gave us in order to spread the word. Tell them that you're dissatisfied with the cultural appropriation and disappointed in Hoyoverse for taking certain cultures and whitewashing them. Email genshin_cs@hoyoverse.com if the feedback buttons aren't working for some reason.

Stop putting money into the game. A lot of companies listen when there's monetary loss involved. Show them that you mean business and stop supporting their business. You can also leave a one star and a review with your thoughts on their cultural appropriation.

Amplify the voices of those speaking out. There are plenty of posts out there better worded than mine that go in depth into a lot of these problems. Multiple voice actors of all ethnicities and backgrounds have spoken up about Hoyoverse’s injustices as well (many of the VAs from the game, including the voices of Albedo, Sucrose, Layla, Beidou, and even VAs for smaller NPCs have spoken out). When you see those posts, share them. Spread the word. Get those voices out there.

Shut down those silencing others. For as many posts out there trying to bring more light to this issue, there are others who try to shut us down. They continue to be racist and double down that nothing is wrong with Natlan. Do not let them get away with this. Show them this post or the myriad of other posts that exist. Tell them to shut the fuck up. Call them out. But don't let them silence anyone else.

If you've made it to the end and learned something, I'm glad. If you've made it to the end and want to further support me or anyone else in this fight, share this post and others like it.

Thank you for reading.

EDIT: As noted in this ask, the naming conventions of characters from other regions as opposed to Sumeru and Natlan. I’ll be adding a separate reblog to this post with a full list of naming conventions from each region.

[cumikering]

Ghost x asmr artist reader

2.2k | fluff Simon had a pepper problem and a pasta dilemma

Simon stilled when he heard it. In the middle of the deserted pasta aisle, his hand froze mid-air as he reached for a box.

That voice.

He threw the box into his basket and rounded the corner into the next aisle. The staff you thanked had walked away, leaving you to scan the wall of bottled spices.

He blinked. Could it really be, or was it another trick of his mind? What was the end game here anyway? He had no excuse to be staring for more than 5 seconds.

You turned to him. He noticed the little startle before you shoved your phone back in your pocket.

Was it scarier if he slipped away now? But curiosity got the best of him and he made his way to stand next to you. You took a step sideways, giving him space.

He needed to confirm he wasn’t imagining it.

He cleared his throat. “Sorry, which pepper would you recommend, white or black?”

You blinked up at him before answering. “It depends on what you’re cooking, but in general I’d rather white.”

It really was you, wasn’t it? That voice was unmistakeable, always soothing and sweet.

You pointed. “This is the brand I use. It smells better than the rest.”

He recognised your gentle hands, fingers nimble and nails neat as you completed tasks on camera. There was no denying it now.

Your quiet cooking videos were one of the only things left that offered him calmness, especially on those nights away on missions, giving him tingles in all the right places, and shamefully, the wrong ones too sometimes.

Simon wasn’t picky – he always appreciated any sort of warm food, but he especially loved women who cooked. But you and your voice? There was something so soft and domestic about you making these meals with care – a taste he craved.

Could you really blame a soldier with no one to come home to for having a little crush?

It was silly, he knew. But it didn’t stop him for commissioning you to cook his late mum’s recipes. Having you say his name always made his heart flutter.

“Thank you,” he grunted, dropping the item into his basket.

“You’re welcome.” You flashed him a smile before going back to the herbs in front of you. You took a bottle and turned away.

“Ah- I’m sorry,“ he managed, flustered by your sudden exit. “I didn’t want to be presumptuous, but you make those videos, don’t you? I recognised your voice.”

You grinned, turning to him.

“I just wanted to thank you,” he said. “Your videos comfort me a lot.”

“I’m happy to hear. Thank you for watching.”

Simon wanted to tug his beanie over his face because as you walked away, he was unmoving with a racing heart and a blush over his pale cheeks.

Life carried on. Deployments with the 141 occupied his mind most of the time, but if Simon was lucky, he’d hop online to a new video of yours. Despite the uncomfortable circumstances, your quiet yet crisp voice always sent him into a restful slumber.

The chance encounter only fuelled his attraction. Knowing the kind smile behind the sweetest voice felt like an intimate secret, one you shared with him and only him - not with the rest of your few thousand subscribers.

So months and a few more commissions later, when he saw you again at the same supermarket, he could only chew on his lip and turn away. He didn’t need to slip further into delusion. That, and he didn’t want to scare you with his staring problem. It was clear how ominous he was to strangers with his size and unsmiling face.

But when he was once again in the pasta aisle, torn between spaghetti and fettuccine, that voice blessed his ears.

“Hiya.”

He turned to you smiling up at him. “You remember me?” he asked incredulously.

“Hard to forget you.” Your face dropped. “Oh, no, I didn’t-  I meant you’re easy to remember. You’re tall-“

He gave you a crooked smile. He could only blame the weather for the heat rising up his neck. “I get that a lot.”

“Well, I wanted to ask how you liked the pepper.”

“It tasted like pepper.”

You laughed and he wanted to bite his lip. He felt like a schoolboy at a loss for words in front of a pretty girl.

His gaze dropped to your hefty basket. Minced meat, potatoes, carrots, a bag of peas… You nestled a box of pasta on one side.

“Making Shepherd’s pie tonight.”

He nodded. It was his favourite, especially his mum’s.

“Someone sent in a recipe for a video, and it’s absolutely delicious. I’ve been making it at least once a month ever since.”

“Simon?”

“Yes! You’ve seen it?”

More times that I’d like to admit. “It’s me. I sent you it.”

“Oh, I can’t believe it’s you! You’ve always been too generous with your tips.” You beamed. “The last recipe you sent, I promise I’ll get around to it next week. It’s just work has been ultra busy.”

“The brownies? Don’t worry about it. Take your time.”

“You know what, don’t tip me anymore. Send me a recipe whenever. You always have wonderful ones.”

He wasn’t going to stop, but he nodded anyway and the both of you lingered.

You averted your gaze. “Okay, I’ll leave you to it.”

“I’m done.” He popped both the spaghetti and fettuccine into his basket.

“Right. Well, I’m just heading to the check out now.”

“I can help you with that if you’d like.” He gestured at your shopping.

“Thank you so much.”

As he stood in the short queue (a respectful distance behind you of course), he tossed a few boxes of creme eggs into his basket.

“I haven’t had those in forever.”

“They’re decent.”

Who was he kidding. They were more than decent. He’d developed a terrible sweet tooth ever since he enlisted; always grateful of whatever he could get his hands on. But creme eggs? He had to grab them before they were gone.

You laughed. “I think it’s only fitting to top your brownies with something you like.” You popped a box into your basket.

Could he like you any more? He would die for a bite.

“Sounds lovely. I’m looking forward to it.”

Your smile lingered before turning to the cashier to settle your shopping. When it was his turn, you waited for him on the side. He hauled his bag over his shoulder, still insisting on carrying yours as you exited the supermarket.

“I’ll help you to your car.”

“I walked here. Unless you want to walk me back home?” you teased.

“I do, if you’d let me,” he deadpanned.

“You don’t even know if I live nearby.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

You smiled up at him a moment longer. “Would you like to stay for dinner? It should be done in about an hour, if you’ve got the time.”

Can’t say no to you. “I don’t have anywhere to be.”

You led the short walk to your flat as he tried to not gawk at the way breeze ran its fingers through your hair. While you put your belongings away, Simon took his grey hoodie and cap off, and draped them over the back of the dining chair. He combed his hair back with his fingers, hoping his hat hair wasn’t terrible. He caught the double take you did at his tattooed arm.

You put on instrumental music and pulled out a stack of recipes from the cabinet. Simon’s Shepherd’s pie, you’d scrawled onto the card.

“I can help with the mash.” He ripped open the bag of potatoes.

You simmered a pot of water as he peeled and cut the potatoes before you prepared the meat filling next to him.

It had been forever since he was in a kitchen with another soul. And although he wasn’t very sure of his own skills, watching your videos so much paid off.

In real life you were much quicker, but just as graceful and firm with your movements as you chopped and stirred. The rich scent of caramelised meat drifting in the room wrapped around him like a warm blanket.

“You’re definitely the better cook here.” You tipped the filling into a large baking dish.

He reloaded the steaming potato pieces into the ricer. “No, if I’m honest I’m pretty shit at it.”

You laughed. “But you’re really good with knives.”

Probably not the kitchen kind. “I was an apprentice butcher before I enlisted.” He pressed down on the ricer with ease.

“Huh.”

“Really, I’m lousy at best.” His lips curled into a fond smile. “My mum was fantastic though. The recipes were hers.”

There was a beat. “I’m sorry, Simon.”

“S’fine.” He glanced up at you before going back to his task. “She’s in a better place.”

While the pie baked, he helped clean up the kitchen and make tea. You set the table before putting away your shopping.

“I’m going to have one while we wait.” You turned to him, showing him a creme egg. “You want to share?”

Simon gave you a sheepish smile as he nodded.

Between sips of tea, you enjoyed your own halves of the chocolate wordlessly, the music melting into the background. He wished he had more to say, but the small smile you wore told him you didn’t mind the silence.

The savoury aroma glided past the thin gaps of the oven, swirling and dancing between you and him. His appetite was losing its patience. He let out a silent sigh, taking in your kitchen, your home, before it flattened once more into a mere video on his screen at the end of the night.

When the oven dinged, you promptly put on your mitts.

“It looks mint,” he said as you placed the dish in the middle of the table.

“Team effort. It took much less time with you helping.” You scooped a serving onto his plate. ”I know I’m supposed to wait for it cool down a bit, but I’m impatient.”

He chuckled. “Me too.”

He waited until you took a bite before taking his own, and his breath caught. His brows furrowed as lump formed in his throat.

Had the ground cracked and plunged him into a glitched universe? He was once more in Manchester, 10 years younger, finally home after a long day at the butcher, his mum and brother waiting at the table with the piping hot dish in the middle of it.

He placed his fork down, chills down his spine.

“Simon?” you asked quietly. “You alright?”

He pressed a palm over his eyes, but he couldn’t help the choke that followed as a tear slipped.

“I’m sorry,” he croaked. “It’s- it’s just like the one she made.”

You dragged your seat next to his and rubbed his shoulder.

The last thing he wanted to do in front of you was shed a tear, but there he was, some hulking stranger sobbing on your shoulder as nostalgia held him in a death grip.

It was humiliating to be seen like this – he didn’t remember the last time he cried from feelings, yet the tears wouldn’t cease despite his efforts. But you held him close, and his thick arms wrapped around you. He told himself if he pulled you close enough, it would hurt less.

You stroked his wide back until his breathing eventually evened out. His arms loosened around you.

“I’m so sorry,” he said again, wiping his drying tears away. “I’ll just finish this and go.”

“Please, have as much as you’d like. In fact, it would be an honour if you want to take the rest home.”

“Thank you,” he muttered, not meeting your eyes.

You dragged your seat back across him and dinner resumed. Simon savoured each bite with a small smile, chest glowing with the tender memories of Manchester – when it was still more than just a city on the map.

You scooped him another serving. “I mean it. You’re very much welcome to send me more recipes.”

He finally met your gaze, and he held it. “She would have loved you.”

His heart stopped as soon as the words unwittingly rolled off his tongue. Who was he to say that out loud? How dare he have the audacity to even entertain the idea.

A bright smile bloomed on your beautiful face. “Yeah? I think I’d have loved her too.”

Simon’s heart fluttered. Why did you keep doing this to him?

“If you’ve got another hour to spare, would you like to bake brownies with me?”

It was his turn to smile. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.

Neighbour Simon if he still had his family Ghost gave you a piggy back ride Masterlist

@tiredmetalenthusiast @sofasoap @keegansshark @astraluminaaa @eve-lie

[ffsg0jo]

"She asked for no pickles" with the JJK men if you would like?

characters (all written separately): nanami x reader ; gojo x reader ; choso x reader

warnings: fem!reader , mentions of food , pickles , swearing , gojo being weird , light angst (choso)

w/c: 1.5k (roughly 500-600 words each character)

a/n: this was really fun to write, so thank you sm for sending a request in !! i kinda deviated from the brief a little, so i hope you don't mind too much :)) i hope you all enjoy it and let me know what you think !! ive also decided to split it into 2 parts since it was getting really long.

part 1 (nanami ; gojo ; choso) ; part 2 (toji ; geto ; sukuna)

𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐈. 𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐎 ::

"sweetheart what's wrong? why aren't you eating?"

your husband’s concerned voice pulled you out of your reverie. you sighed, weighing up your options, trying to decide whether it was worth telling kento your problem or not.

it was supposed to be a cute day out for you both, first going to an art museum which had a special exhibition you were both dying to see. then deciding to visit a nearby park with freshly baked bread, feeding your beloved husband a bite, and then the ducks.

now you were both currently sitting at a restaurant, and the sight before your eyes was enough to ruin your mood.

your husband reaches out and holds your hand from across the table, eyebrows furrowing further as he sees the despair on your face. you refuse to look at him, and kento starts to worry even more.

"my sweet girl, please tell me what's wrong," he urges, lightly squeezing your hand.

you sigh once more, and he follows where your eyes are pointedly staring the burger on your plate. immediately, he sees pickles sticking out from the edges, cemented into the melted cheese, and everything clicks.

"i asked for no pickles ken, but i don't want to be rude and send it back."

kento rubs your hand with his fingers and asks if you want him to take pickles off for you.

"i'll still be able to taste them though because i know they were there," you slightly pouted.

you looked so upset, and your husband hated that. you were really looking forward to trying this restaurant's burger due to all the good reviews you've heard. and as a fellow foodie, he can empathise and share your massive disappointment.

that won't do, kento thinks. his dear heart asked for no pickles, so she'll get a burger with no pickles.

kento spots a waiter nearby and makes eye contact, politely smiling and lifting his hand up. the waiter comes over immediately and asks if everything's okay.

"my beautiful wife here asked for no pickles on her burger, but there seems to be pickles," he looks at you and sees the slight embarrassment on your face and reassuringly rubs your hand. "would it be possible to send this one back and get one without pickles, please?"

you looked up at the waiter in hope with a bashful look on your face.

"absolutely sir," the waiter smiles at your husband and moves to take away the plate from in front of you. he turns to you and dips his head. "i apologise for any inconvenience caused, ma'am. i'll get that to you as soon as possible, alongside a desert of your choice, on the house."

you thank the waiter profusely, and once he's gone, you turn to your husband with the biggest smile on your face. you bring your joined hands up to lips and press kisses on the back of his hand.

"i love you so much kento, thank you!"

your husband smiles with a light blush adorning his cheeks. he leans over the table and presses his lips softly against yours.

"anything for you my sweetheart, i love you too." he whispers softly, with his lips still pressed against yours.

𝐆𝐎𝐉𝐎. 𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐔 ::

“satoru, my darling, my honeybun sweetie pie, did you put pickles in my fucking pastry?”

your boyfriend, who is sitting next to you, freezes at your tone, with his thumb pressed onto his lips to lick away cream from his cake that had gotten onto it. he turns to you with an incredulous look on his face, hand slowly falling back down to his lap. everything’s silent for a moment as he just blinks at you.

“pickles? did you say pickles babe?”

seeing the visible confusion on satoru’s face, you move the plate in your hands closer to him and pout.

“there’s pickles in my pastry.”

he looks down, and you’re right. for some reason, alongside the cream and the strawberries, there were two small slices of pickles half hidden underneath the strawberries. satoru’s confusion doubles, but then he remembers your accusation and how you looked like you were contemplating murder.

“that wasn’t me babe, i promise, scout’s honour!”

“don’t disrespect scouts toru,” you whine. “i was really looking forward to it you know.” you place the plate down on the tea table in front of you and huff, falling back and sinking into the sofa.

the only thing that got you through the long, hard day was the prospect of feasting on the pastry you bought and cuddling up to your lover. and now it was all ruined. what kind of sicko jokes around and puts pickles on perfectly delicious pastries, actively working to ruin people’s days.

seeing your lover’s shock, you’re inclined to believe him. out of everyone, satoru knew not to mess with people’s food, especially sweet treats. but you could’ve sworn putting it in the fridge with no pickles on it. so what happened?

satoru looks at you all upset, and he loses his appetite. don’t get him wrong, he would die for cake. but seeing you so distraught, he could not, in good conscience, enjoy his slice without you. he looks down at the slice of cake in his hand and decides to make a compromise.

“here, my love,” he says with a sweet smile on his face, handing you his plate. “you can have my slice.”

you look up at him, with your mouth slightly open in disbelief. no way, satoru just offered his cake. you never thought you’d live to see the day. looking at his plate, it does look delicious and pickle-less, but you shake your head. he deserves his sweet treat.

“s’fine baby, thank you though.”

“no, honestly, i don’t mind something savoury with my sweets,” he pushes the plate into your hands and grabs the pastry from the table. satoru makes a show of picking a pickle slice off the pastry and licking the cream off. “see it’s delicious,” he smiles brightly, seemingly enjoying it?

“i love you, but you’re a freak,” you grimace burrowing yourself into satoru’s side.

he only chuckles in response, munching on the pickle. he absolutely hates it. he’s a brilliant actor, but you can see it in his eyes, yet he still swallows it. you lift your hand up to his cheek, holding it gently and pressing kisses to every single bit of skin you can reach. your lover only gives you a cheesy smile in return, popping another cream covered pickle into his mouth.

“you don’t have to eat that love, we can just share your cake.”

satoru shakes his head, adamantly refusing. instead choosing to take a massive bite of your pastry covered in pickle juices. it’s disgusting, and he’ll probably cry in the shower before bed at the horrifying taste, but he could handle a couple of pickles if it ensured your happiness.

𝐊𝐀𝐌𝐎. 𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐎 ::

“baby it’s fine, i promise”

“no it’s not choso, first they made fun of you, and then they messed up your order on purpose,” you spluttered in pure disbelief. “it’s disrespectful and rude, i’m not letting them get away with it!”

how dare they, you thought as you sped back to the fast-food chain choso had gotten food for you both from. your husband is the sweetest and most respectful soul to have ever graced this earth. how dare they make fun of his facial marks and hair. you wanted to hug and kiss him all over, but first, you had some strong words for the workers at the food shop.  

to say you were fuming was the absolute least of it. you know for a fact that choso probably just awkwardly stood there, hearing their remarks and silently accepted his order whilst they laughed at his buns. picturing it only made you angrier, fists balling and blood rushing through your ears.

“baby, please calm down,” your husband called, hot on your heels. you were only a couple of shops away, and he absolutely did not want to make a scene. he took hold of your arm and gently pulled you towards him, grabbing your other hand in his too.

“my love, it’s okay, just let it go,” he urged. you looked at his face and you saw the slight shine in his eyes, and you were about to turn to straight back around. choso only tightens his hold on you and his hand moves up to hold your face.

“they’re just miserable people, not worth wasting your time on them baby.”

“you would do the same for me cho, i’m not hearing it!”

“i absolutely would, but the workers were young, and i don’t want you getting in trouble for fighting a bunch of kids,” he stressed. “let’s just go home and cuddle, and order takeout or something. please.”

the discomfort of going back inside the shop was written all over his face, and you really didn’t want to make choso’s day harder or worse than it already was. your husband deserved the world, and it made your heart break, knowing that there were people being mean to him. sighing, you lean up and press a soft kiss to the bridge of choso’s nose, right where his mark is.

“okay,” you relent. “let’s go home.”

choso kisses your hand and smiles at you, relief written all over his face.

“you didn’t deserve that choso, i’m really sorry they said all those horrible things to you.”

“’s fine,” he says dismissing it. “my wonderful wife did my hair and tells me how gorgeous she thinks i am every minute of the day. some silly teenager’s words won’t affect me.”

it was easy to see the words had affected him more than he let on, but for now, you decided to let it go. tomorrow you’d talk to him and offer reassurance properly and make his day extra special, but for now you’d let it go, seeing how clearly he wanted to leave it behind.

holding onto his hand, you both turned around and started making your way back home, discussing what you guys should order, already feeling lighter.

“oh babe, let’s invite yuuji over, we could have a family dinner,” you suggested, knowing if there was one thing that would cheer him up, it would be his brother. your husband’s face immediately lights up and he beams at you, nodding his head enthusiastically and agreeing.

it’s sorted then, cuddles with you, then takeout as a family, and then some more cuddles with you both whilst watching a movie.

extra note : geto put pickles on your pastry thinking it was gojo's when he came over the day before. gojo had been annoying him all week, so he decided to hit him where it hurt. when he found out it was yours, he felt terrible and brought extra pastries for you when he next came round.

© ffsg0jo 2024 — do not plagiarise, repost, modify, or translate any of my work, in any way shape or form; i will piss in your cereal if you do. all work belongs to me and me only.

[gremlingottoosilly]

lunchbox anon here!!!! :D

i wanna add that i can also see König showing off his lunch? like there’s this one video of a boyfriend showing off to his coworkers what his girlfriend made for him, and like he pulls out two packs of gummies or something and everyone is like “WOAH” “OOOOO” “NO WAY TWO??!?!??? 🤯 “ and more

and i see König doing the same thing, and officers are too scared NOT to react, and if anyone doesn’t react, König stares at them menacingly until they do :))))

Yes!! I love you, lunchbox anon!! Honestly, Konig has too much sass and reasons to brag about his wife for someone who hated socializing with his coworkers before. He can't help it though, his soldiers and officers alike are swarming around his giant lunchbox every time he tries to just have a nice meal on base while not out on the missions. He is the only high-positioned member of KorTac to not indulge in horrifying cafeteria food, and everyone is jealous because he literally has an omelet in a pinwheel shape, carrots cut out like little stars, and meat cooked with the perfect amount of spices and some flavored oil.

Everyone is begging him for a bite, and he had to shout at everyone to leave him alone because it's his meal!! He has a big appetite, he needs his giant portions and cute little deserts cooked by his precious wifey( sometimes she slips her scandalous polaroids into the box and Konig has to train the rookies while having a raging boner which makes everyone Terrified.

Of course, he still expects everyone to adore his wife when you bring him food!! He is so silly, forgot his lunch at home(( Definitely didn't do it on purpose just because he wanted everyone to see you again. The problem is, that a lot of more courageous soldiers are asking you to cook for them too...and you're too nice to say no( Konig drags too many boxes next time, with all of those cute foods for his fellow officers, and he stopped asking you to come to the base because he is jealous you're cutting fruits in funny shapes for someone else!!

[spaghettioverdose]

This discourse around americans benefitting from US imperialism has really made a lot of morons on here show their asses.

It's really not a hard fucking concept to understand. Someone who is white but also queer and disabled is opressed for being queer and disabled but still benefits from white privilege and white supremacy. Someone who is otherwise opressed in the US still benefits from US imperialism. It's that fucking simple. You can be opressed in one way and privileged in another. You don't need to live in a utopia and experience 0 problems in order to be privileged or benefit from a system of opression.

There's so many dipshit who feel like they can talk down to latin american leftists over this like "actually ummm bad things also happen to US citizens there's food deserts" like 1) Food deserts and other problems the US has are almost never unique and in fact they tend to be worse in imperialised nations and 2) everyone fucking knows about the US problems. Most leftists on this website (very much including leftists from countries that most yanks could not point to on a map) are at this point deeply familiar with the US political system and all the problems the US has.

I've seen some additions to a post that were from fucking anarcblr and some white pagan trying to be all snarky and claiming OP doesn't know how bad things can be in the US when OP is not only from the US but also indigenous.

[runawaycarouselhorse]

Okay, now, you're just being rude and mocking. They've always acknowledged the harms and taught about it, they will not halt it because it's what the economy largely relies on. The tourism thing has only begun rather recently as an alternative source of income, but the main thing has always been oil exports.

A country can both acknowledge what they're relying on is harmful to the environment and that other alternatives are needed and make steps to use more green energy, using more solar power, planting a lot of trees and plants (most of the country is now a lot greener, especially the urban areas.)

"SGI supports Saudi Arabia’s ambition to reach net zero emissions by 2060 through the Circular Carbon Economy approach and is also accelerating the country’s transition to a green economy. Three overarching targets guide SGI’s work - emissions reduction, afforestation, and land and sea protection.

Since SGI’s inauguration, 77 initiatives corresponding to the three targets have been activated, representing an investment of more than $186bn and helping to drive sustainable growth. By bringing together the government and private sector, and fostering collaboration and innovation, the Kingdom’s commitments have been turned into tangible action, whilst supporting global goals."

Friends and family searched for missing hajj pilgrims on Wednesday as the death toll at the annual rituals, which were carried out in scorching heat, surged past 900.

[that-weird-thing-in-the-woods]

:) Heyyy you gremlins of the Forest, seas and alleyways! I have sustenance for you

🌊💧🐚 Siren Everlasting trio + Dan and Ellie 🐚💧🌊

So now on to the plot! Danny with Sam and Tucker [+ fetus Dan and Ellie] have to leave their world and before they can get out the GIW got Danny by being turned over by his parents and in clear Dc X Dp fashion we traumatize the fuck out of this boy and after the traumatizing Sam and Tucker break into the GIW base and ‘Take care of’ ( Kinda Yandere Sam and Tucker let’s go! ) and they take him ( he already has Ellie and dans core in him so….three for one deal ) and they head to clockworks place and explains the problem and what do they do now???

And for clockworks side of this he knows they can’t stay in the ghost zone because even if Sam and Tucker are extremely practically ghost at this point and will most definitely be ghost when they die ( but that in the FAR future because ✨ecto-contamination✨ ) but they are still considered human enough to the point they can’t stay in the ghost zone so they can’t stay with here but there is a deserted mostly water planet where the inhabitants ( this is where the presume aliens come in) are like the sea animals that live there but more alien and stuff and due to the ecto their body can adapt to the environment and with his powers he can make it almost instantly so that would work { sorry if this is a bit of word vomit I don’t know what do word it }

And Sam and Tucker are chill with plan because they get everything they want with this

They get

To stay with the love of their lives (and afterlives)

get to have their children (yes they have already claimed Ellie and Dan as their children and NO ONE can stop them) safe and cared for

Have their Love heal and be safe

And with the added bonus with beatass new siren like forms that they can use to protect their love

So their good with this plan and Danny just wants him and his family ( Sam and Tucker his Lovers and Ellie and Dan his children) to be safe and happy so he’s also chill with this and they tell clockwork as much he opens a portal to said planet and as soon as Sam, Tucker and Danny step into the water they turn into their more siren/mermaid like form

Danny’s form is a lot more white beta fish

Tucker’s is more shark like 

Sam’s form looks more like a eels

They all are pretty big compared to humans or well normal humans, Now onto their home/cave it is in the more deep part of waters and Danny spends a lot of time in the cave due to being pregnant with Ellie and Dan + Sam and Tucker protectiveness, well Sam and Tucker are hanging around him or are getting food….and that’s all I can I think of for now but probably going to add more after post

Now onto the DC part of this so someone or something alerts the JL about a planet that is not supposed to have sentient life so a team ( Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, aqua man) go to check it out and they end up in a submarine and are trying to find where that sentient life is so this can go two ways for how The everlasting trio and the JL meet

The FIRST way that the team is in the submarine and get a little bit to close to the cave for Sam’s and tuckers likings ( which is no where near Danny and the baby’s did I mention that in these forms that their instincts kick into overdrive and add that with pregnant Lover not a good combo ) and so Sam and Tucker take the only option in is situation which is slap it around enough so what’s in side of it to drown *Cue Instincts yelling for them to take the body’s and feed them to pregnant mate* and for the JL point of view in this their just waving their way through the water trying to find what is making the sensor go off and all the sudden their being beating around the water by the looks of it two giant alien mer-people that are clearly pissed off about something and this goes on for a few minutes and the submarine is about to start taking on water if the mer-Aliens don’t stop hitting the sub!!! And while this was happening Danny is taking a nap ( which Sam and Tucker were to before the JL showed up ) and Danny wakes up because he hears….yelling??? So still a bit tired he gets out from the cave to find where they are and he finds them beating a sub around like their playing catch so of course he interrupts and now back to the JL view point they see a third mer-alien and it seems to be upset about something and almost immediately the other two stop hitting the sub to go comfort the third one….that is showing and they all have this collective thought “So that why they were so upset! We got to close to the baby’s!” And that’s about it for the first way this could go

The SECOND way is that Danny just swimming outside the cave ( Sam and Tucker are doing…something ) and he comes across this sub and of course he’s curious about it so he goes to check it out and for the JL this showing mer-alien just comes up to the sub and starts to swim around it and seems curious about it while letting out chips and hums ( in these forms talking sounds like chips/hums/growl ) and when they try to make contact they seem to understand what their trying to convey until their mates show up and their very upset…

And now time for the details of design for Danny I’m thinking this

But instead of legs because you know… mer person ( and the jewelry is given to him by Sam and Tucker instincts go brrr)

And this is is the kinda fish I’m thinking Danny’s form takes after

For Sam I’m thinking but just get rid of the bag and lantern and cling the dress around her hips and make it shorter and that really what I’m thinking

For the top {I really can’t find anything for tucker and Sam that I’m thinking for this so..} and this is the pic for the tail but of course make it purple and black…yes I know there are pics of purple and black eels this one is the search that looks like it’s not going to steal my soul 

And for tucker….I really can’t find what I’m thinking about so you just get words this time so his just shirtless that’s it maybe he has a few arm bands and some fabric around his waist but that really it for his thought process

Oh and here’s the pic that I’m thinking his mer half takes after

And that’s about it for my thoughts hope you gremlins like it byeeee

[wolvietxt]

𝓭ay 𝓼eventeen.

daryl dixon and protective.

it was supposed to be a routine supply run. the group needed food, water, and a few extra supplies, so you, daryl, and shane headed out to a nearby town to see what you could scavenge. things had gone sideways fast when a horde of walkers had emerged from an alley, forcing everyone to split up. you’d managed to find cover and fire off a few shots to keep them at bay while daryl and shane took out the rest.

by the time the three of you regrouped, you were shaken and exhausted, but you’d made it out alive. however, it was clear from the second shane’s eyes landed on you that he was far from happy.

“what the hell were you doin’ back there?” shane’s voice cut through the air, loud and furious. he stalked towards you, his eyes blazing with anger. “you were supposed to cover our flank, not go runnin’ off on your own!”

“i didn’t - ” you started, but he cut you off before you could explain.

“yeah, you did!” he snapped, jabbing a finger in your direction. “if daryl and i hadn’t been there to pick up the slack, you’d be walker bait right now. you put us all in danger, runnin’ around like a damn headless chicken!”

“shane, i was trying to help,” you protested, your voice breaking as you took a step back. “the walkers came outta nowhere, and i thought - ”

“thought what? that you’d play hero?” shane’s words dripped with venom as he took a step closer, his chest almost bumping into yours. “you ain’t got the skills to be out there tryin’ to save anyone’s ass, includin’ your own. all you did was get in the way.”

your breath hitched, and you felt your throat tighten as tears stung your eyes. you blinked rapidly, trying to keep them at bay, but the pressure kept building. “i was doing my best, shane,” you said quietly, struggling to keep your voice steady. “i didn’t mean for - ”

“oh, here we go,” shane scoffed, rolling his eyes. “gonna start cryin’ now? what are you, a damn crybaby?” his voice rose again, echoing across the deserted street. “grow up. you wanna be out here with the rest of us, you better toughen up and stop actin’ like some scared little girl.”

the harshness of his words felt like a slap, and you couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. they spilled over, trailing down your cheeks as you stood there, frozen and humiliated. shane’s anger didn’t waver; if anything, it seemed to flare hotter at the sight of your tears. he shook his head in disgust, his voice a low growl. “unbelievable,” he muttered, stepping even closer so that you had no choice but to back up again.

daryl’s presence was suddenly there between you and shane, pushing shane back with a firm shove to the chest. his expression was deadly calm, but there was a fire in his eyes that you’d rarely seen before. he turned his back slightly to shield you, his broad shoulders blocking shane’s line of sight.

“what’s your problem, man?” shane barked, shoving daryl right back, his jaw tightening. “this ain’t got nothin’ to do with you.”

“it does when you’re standin’ here screamin’ in her face and pushin’ her around,” daryl shot back, his voice a low growl. “she did what she could out there, same as the rest of us. don’t make it her fault ‘cause shit went sideways.”

shane’s face twisted in anger, and he took a step forward, pointing an accusing finger at daryl. “you think you’re some kinda hero now, huh? stickin’ up for her ‘cause she’s cryin’? she’s a damn liability, and you know it. coulda gotten us all killed out there!”

“bullshit,” daryl snapped, his voice rising as he moved closer to shane, not backing down an inch. “we all took risks, and it coulda happened to any of us. but you don’t get to stand here and blame her just ‘cause you’re pissed. now, get the hell back.”

shane’s gaze flickered between you and daryl, and for a second, it looked like he might actually swing at him. but something in daryl’s stance, the unflinching intensity in his eyes, seemed to give shane pause. he took a step back, though his expression stayed hard. “whatever,” he muttered, turning away and spitting on the ground. “just don’t come cryin’ to me when she screws up again.”

as shane stalked off, daryl turned back to you, his expression softening as he saw the tears still on your cheeks. “you alright?” he asked, his voice gentler now, but the tension in his jaw remained, his hand twitching like he was fighting the urge to go after shane again.

you nodded, but a fresh wave of tears escaped, and you quickly wiped them away with the back of your hand. “i’m fine,” you whispered, though your voice was shaky. “just didn’t expect him to… i don’t know, freak out like that.”

“ain’t your fault,” daryl said firmly, his voice steady as he took a step closer. “he’s just lookin’ for someone to blame ‘cause he’s got his own shit he don’t wanna deal with.” his gaze flicked over your face, taking in the redness around your eyes, the way you were still trembling slightly. “c’mon,” he murmured, his hand reaching out to rest on your shoulder, his thumb brushing against your collarbone in a comforting gesture. “let’s get outta here. ain’t no point stickin’ around when he’s all riled up.”

you nodded again, still processing the fact that daryl had jumped to your defense so quickly, so fiercely. “thanks,” you said, your voice small as you glanced up at him. “for stepping in like that. you didn’t have to.”

he grunted, his gaze flicking away like he was uncomfortable with the gratitude. “didn’t do it for you to thank me,” he mumbled, his hand slipping from your shoulder as he turned to lead you away. “just don’t like seein’ him treatin’ you like that.”

his protectiveness left a warm, confusing feeling in your chest. it wasn’t often daryl showed that side of himself - he usually kept his emotions locked down tight, rarely letting anyone get a glimpse of what was going on behind those stormy eyes. but in that moment, he’d been so unwavering, like there was no question that he would put himself between you and shane’s anger.

“still,” you murmured as you fell into step beside him, “it means a lot. i don’t know what i would’ve done if you hadn’t been there.”

he huffed, a faint smirk pulling at his lips. “woulda been just fine,” he said, glancing over at you. “you’re tougher than you think.”

“well, guess you’re my knight in shining armor now,” you teased, trying to lighten the mood.

daryl shook his head with a gruff chuckle. “don’t start with that shit,” he grumbled, but the small, rare smile on his lips took the edge off his words. “just lookin’ out for ya, that’s all.”

“well, whatever the reason, i’m glad you did,” you replied, reaching out to squeeze his arm. “because i sure wasn’t winning that argument.”

he glanced down at your hand on his arm, then back up to meet your gaze. “don’t worry ‘bout him,” he said, his voice low and reassuring. “he’ll get over it. and if he don’t, i’ll make sure he does.”

the quiet promise in his words sent a shiver down your spine, but not from fear. it was a different kind of feeling entirely, a mix of gratitude and something deeper, something you hadn’t quite let yourself acknowledge before now.

as you continued walking together, you realized that shane’s words, harsh as they’d been, were fading into the background. all that mattered was the man beside you. the one who had stood up for you without hesitation, who had shown you a side of himself you hadn’t expected but were grateful for all the same.

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[obitos-whore]

Naruto men taking care of their s/o when they're sick

I'm currently dealing with a cold and really shitty stomach problems, probably due to food poisoning. So, I present you this. Apologies if it's not good or your faves aren't in it. Also, shout-out to everyone who's currently sick. We're in this together and we'll get through it.

(Includes: Obito, Gaara, Shisui, Itachi and Kakashi)

Tw: Mention of sickness, throwing up and medicine

────────────────────────────────────

Obito

He was woken up by the sound retching coming from the bathroom

After noticing that you weren't in bed, he immediately went to check on you in the bathroom, calling out your name softly to make his presence known and to not startle you

When another wave of nausea washes over you, he kneels down beside you and gently rubs your back in circular motions

"It's okay, love. It's okay. Let it out, I'm here for you."

Once you're done regurgitating your dinner, he hands you some water to rinse your mouth with

And in case you accidentally made a mess, don't worry, Obito will reassure you with a kiss on the top of your head and a soft "Don't worry, honey, I got this" and clean it up while you brush your teeth

When everything is nice and clean again, he will help you back to your shared bedroom and offer to make you some tea and prepare a hot water bottle for your upset tummy

Since he knows how draining and strenuous throwing up can be, Obito makes sure you're nice and comfy, with a bucket in reach and a box of tissues to wipe your mouth and tears with, before heading to the kitchen to prepare that tea and hot water bottle

Back in bed, he will hold you tight and cuddle you, peppering your head with affectionate kisses and whispering words of encouragement

Gaara

He noticed something was up when he came back home and you weren't there to greet him like you always do

After a quick search, he found you laying in bed, wrapped in two blankets and shivering, teeth practically clattering

His protective instincts kicked in immediately at the sight of you and without wasting any time, Gaara began to tend to you, pushing aside his own fatigue

He checked your temperature, fluffed up your pillows, turned up the heat in the room and brought you an extra blanket. He even gave you one of his sweaters for extra warmth and comfort

"Don't worry my little desert flower, I'm going to take care of you."

Gaara practically raids the medicine cabinet and insists that you take some of everything

Despite his usually stoic and calm demeanor, Gaara tends to turn into a bit of a helicopter parent partner when it comes to you. (And he's not ashamed of it)

He also doesn't care that he might get sick as well by being so close to you. He just wants to be there for you and nurse you back to health like a good spouse should. Plus, he can handle a bit of a runny nose and some coughing

Shisui

It was actually him who got you sick in the first place

He insisted that he could take care of himself and that you should stay away until he was no longer infectious. But you didn't listen and that's how you two ended up being sick together

Feeling guilty, Shisui tries to make it up by tending to you to his best of ability. Which sounds as strenuous and tedious as it actually is, with each of you insisting that the other should rest and let them do all the work

To no one's surprise, neither of you actually gets much done and instead spends the majority of the day sleeping

Your diet for that time consists of mostly medicine and teas and some instant ramen. Maybe some fruits or home cooked meals if someone was so kind to bring you some

Despite both of you feeling like absolute ass, you do appreciate the chance to spend some 'quality' time together. Even if that mostly consists of coughing up a lung and trumpeting like a herd of elephants while blowing your noses

Regardless of which of you is the worst off, Shisui will be the one to go to the pharmacy and the grocery store to get medicine, food and a few other things, such as flowers, a "Get well soon" card, a cute little plushie and your favourite snacks

The poor guy is being eaten alive by guilt and his unwavering love for you is what gives him the strength to actually leave the bed and function somehow. Even if it's for your sake only. So you better appreciate his efforts

Itachi

Itachi had come over to your place, to spend the few days he had off with you

Wanting to surprise you, he used the spare key you gave him to access the apartment and prepare a cute little dinner date a la stay at home. That was, until he heard noises coming from the bathroom

He decided to investigate and that's when he found you, hung over the toilet, hair and clothes a total mess and face almost as white as the toilet you were hugging

His previous plans now forgotten, he dutifully takes it upon himself to care for you, starting with comforting you and carefully getting you back to bed once your stomach has been emptied

Knowing that tea, warmth and bed rest are the best way to soothe an upset stomach, Itachi doesn't shy away from becoming your personal nurse/butler during that time

He will make you homemade ginger tea, cook easily digestible meals for you, prepare as many hot water bottles as you need and want and even take care of the chores around the apartment without you even having to ask him to

And on top of that, he still takes the time to cuddle with you and rub your stomach to alleviate the pain and discomfort you're in

He'd even request to have a few more days off, in case you're not feeling better by the time he has to be back on duty

Kakashi

When you and Kakashi met up for one of your rare dates, the silver haired Jonin immediately noticed your ailing state and advised you to take it easy

He even offered to reschedule your date so that you could take the time to rest. But after you stubbornly insisted that you were fine, he eventually gave in, albeit reluctantly

The next day, he decided to pay you a brief visit and check on you

Of course, he wasn't surprised when he saw your pale face sheepishly peeking out from behind the blanket as you tried to stifle a cough

"So much for "I'm fine", huh?"

Pretends to be smug and smart-assy about being right and takes the opportunity to gently scold you for being stubborn and reckless with your health. Look, he cares a lot about you but doesn't know how to say or show it properly, so he acts like an all-knowing, wannabe doctor to get the message across

Signs himself up for the role of your caretaker, because obviously you suck at doing it yourself and he is the only responsible adult here. Basically the pinnacle of self-care. Lol

Expect to be served healthy, home cooked meals and lots of fresh vegetables and fruits to help boost that immune system of yours and get you back to health

May or may not coax you to take your medication by promising you extra cuddles and affection