#but we ARE gonna make progress!!

[sochilll]

Work is over!!!!! It’s write a whole novel summer!!!!!!!!!

[themissingmango]

[cluescorner]

The Council of Optimuses: Pleasant, generally positive, they exiled Bayverse a while ago but they still check in once in a while to make sure he's ok/out of curiosity, Earthspark enables One's 'I can fix him' delusion to the point that Prime is falling into it too, IDW does NOT want to add to the delusion pile so he shuts up, Cyberverse kinda doesn't want to be at this meeting it feels too much like a party, IDW keeps making calls to somebody but he won't tell anyone who, they used to have 'bring your Bumblebee to work day' but Skybound had a breakdown over it so they can't do that anymore, everybody is suspicious of Skybound's new arm but the only person who actually brought it up was Bayverse whose solution was 'kill him' so now everybody thinks they are getting paranoid and should maybe start seeing a therapist (they should start seeing therapists, but they ARE right about the arm).

The Council of Megatrons: They are having a great time even if it looks horrible from the outside looking in, Prime constantly wants to fight IDW for his spot as the strongest Megatron but IDW is not about that, they tried to kick out Earthspark but he somehow keeps getting in (IDW leaves the door open), One has like 5 devils on his shoulder telling him to escalate and two fallen angels who are desperately trying to get across that maybe total destruction isn't the move, IDW is trying to hide his redemption arc in order to keep the situation under control (only Earthspark is aware of it, though Skybound has his suspicions), Cyberverse always tries to kill the others to take over their universes and it's the highlight of everybody's month, Bayverse is mocked for being killed by Optimus but secretly everybody is kinda jealous about it (Prime especially), one time an unidentified Starscream (it was Animated) broke in and it was on sight (he got away because every Megatron wanted to be the one who killed him and they fought each other over it), IDW keeps taking calls from somebody but he won't tell anyone who, Skybound can listen in on his Optimus's meetings due to being his arm and reports back, there is an ongoing debate about whether Galvatrons should be included.

Inspired by @jyang030107 's art of ES and IDW Megs advising their One counterpart.

[gurlgallade]

Hi! Haven't been able to do much progress on this because we fucked up our wrist a little, but there's embroidery and a presentable amount of Four's assets have color now!

[cradle-of-darkness]

What have you done?

based on an idea @username8746489 had where sylvie discovered nightmare fuel for the first time on accident while getting bullied by some older kids (and pushing him further into social isolation now that he's known as "that scary kid who could summon someone's worst fear")

[hplonesomeart]

Heyo I have come back from my animation hermit hole with some work to show. It was a blast to make and I think it turned out pretty nice! :33

This is an animation part for the Halloween MAP @the-lion-guard-88 is hosting by the way!! Make sure to stay tuned for the full release of it at the end of this month. And also if your willing, you could also check out the livestream on her channel happening on 26th I believe—should be fun 👍✨

Also I have to include this somewhere—it’s my civil duty as a Puzzle enjoyer. Behold the really poorly rushed Procreate photo mashup edits of Puzzles that I snuck into animation as a fun goofy Easteregg detail lol. Same thing with the SMG3 plushie in the corner—although he was included solely because I noticed other people had him in their MAP parts. So I wanted to keep a little continuity going to connect all parts together. We love sillies here <3

[cryptidclownz]

@urfriend567 is reading the rehabilitation of death rn

[usercelestial]

tbh i think a lot of the people saying "well both sides are wrong"/"bt stans are just as toxic" are just not exposed to other perspectives in this fandom. as a buddie fan who's been watching this show since s1, i can safely say that buddie fans have always been toxic. like as fact. to me, to say that bucktommy fans are just as harmful or just as annoying or just as bad as buddies consistently are is just. delusional. indicative of at worst a biased opinion and at best an uninformed one. buddie has been here since s2 and fans have ruthless ever since. bucktommy has been here for 3/4 of a season and for the most part, stay in their lane. i'm sure there are bucktommy fans who suck, like that's just being on the internet, but you have to be blind to ignore how insane buddie fans are and genuinely how much worse they are in comparison.

i don't want to generalize and i think constantly adding that disclaimer is annoying as hell bc obviously i'm not talking about everyone but because buddie has been here for so long and taken up so much mental space of very die-hard, passionate fans, you're going to see much more intensity on that side. after season 5, i had to step away from the fandom and the show because of how frustrating it got. it was annoying to see people swear up and down buddie will be canon by the end of s3-no wait s4-no wait s5-no wait- and ultimately it sucked my enjoyment out of a show i otherwise enjoyed because i got swept up in the Buddie Of It All and forget about why i watch the show to begin with. we've been left to stew in our theories and now we can't tell what canon and what's fanon anymore, and when the show reminds us, the disappointment and frustration kills our hopes.

i was also active in the dan and phil fandom and supernatural fandom, like ik why people think we're annoying and it's because we are. we make everything about the one thing we like, we comment on every post begging for it to become canon, we're violently disappointed when the show doesn't play into our fan theories because we've convinced ourselves buddie is going to happen by the end of the next episode or actually the end of this season or actually maybe the end of the next season. we've torn a part every female love interest, either making them boring or making them unlikeable in our fanon. all that to say is that when people call us annoying, they're telling the truth and when bucktommy fans say buddie fans are toxic, they're coming from a sincere place. i mean we can't even enjoy our own ship because we're so quick to get our hopes up and be let down about something as stupid it becoming canon. who cares if it becomes canon, just like it to like it.

and it makes sense why there's perceived "toxicity" on the bucktommy side. our energy is being matched; the obsession, the passion, the surge in fandom. if you don't like it or even just find it annoying, i suggest you guys look back on your own posts and comments and behaviors towards other people in the fandom and other characters and unbiasedly compare it to the Toxic Bucktommy Shippers you're claiming you hate. if bucktommy fans are obsessive, it's because we've set the stage for that. if bucktommy fans are getting aggro and defensive, it's because buddie fans have been on the opposition and don't know how to turn it off. we've gone from underdog to bully somewhere in the last 6 seasons.

[fluffypotatey]

To be honest I am a huge Nalu shipper. But the thing is I want to know the difference between the way Natsu cares about his guildmates and Lucy. Like what is the obvious difference since that boy sees every as Nakama so how can we say that the wag he cares about Lucy is different?

Like even when Erza passed away? (All the way back in first season there was a segment where the guild was gathered at her grave and all) Natsu was still very reactive. Plus he was also said to be depressed even when Lisanna passed.

What's the difference between all of them and Lucy?

the fact that he stayed. the fact that before he met Lucy, Natsu wasn't one to stay in a group or even want to work with anyone besides Happy at the start of the story. hell, he was ready to just file Lucy down as "New Guildmate" once they reached Fairy Tail

but then, Lucy doesn't leave. she follows him on his mission to save Macao despite her not needing to or even really understanding everything about it. she stays and then fights with him and saves him. it's no secret that Natsu is strong and can take care of himself really well. he's been going on solo missions for years now, and no one has really stopped him, but that means he's been in a lot of sticky situations where he and Happy are on their own and have no backup. and yet, without asking, Lucy offers it

and i think this is the moment when Natsu considers that maybe it's okay to have someone there to have his back (sans Happy)

"but Natsu only needed Lucy for the next quest because of the requirements," well, Natsu also wouldn't have taken or even considered that quest if it weren't for Lucy, yeah? he was not a team player (in the picking job's sense) or really wanted other people to help him on his quests sans Happy. and then he goes and picks a job that caters to their team whilst ensuring that Lucy can't say no

or maybe i'm reading too much into it 🤷🏻‍♀️

or maybe Natsu's got horrible abandonment issues that he will latch onto people so fast (Igneel & Lisanna) but also cause him to distance himself so far when left behind (his 1st time at the guild, Lisanna's death). Erza and Gray are Natsu's closet friends after Lisanna and yet they cannot reach him when he closes himself off. and then we have Lucy, who stuck by and had his back, so who is to say Natsu didn't make some contingencies to ensure whether or not she'd join him?

but maybe it's the rose, colored ship glasses i have on

because yeah, Natsu cares for all of his guildmates. the power of friendship is his biggest motivator. when we meet Natsu, our first introductions of him is defending his guild's reputation from Bora (who was using it as a guise for human trafficking) and saving Macao. and our 1st big arc (Galuna Island), where Natsu adamantly refuses to allow Gray to use Ice Shell and sacrifice himself despite how antagonistic they've been to each other. we get Natsu 100% at Erza's defense throughout the Tower of Heaven and he is even ready to defend Wendy though they only met hours ago

Natsu is a character with a bleeding heart and cannot help but wear it on his sleeve, but we don't really see him allow others to fight his battles or have his back until Lucy comes in. to be honest, i don't even think he had his heart on his sleeve until Lucy. he still has a bleeding heart (i don't think anything could stop that), but he was not ready to be open in receiving company because he was so used to it being ripped away from him

that being said: of all the characters he interacts with, he finds Lucy to be someone compatible enough for him to start going on team missions and inviting her on them (for example, his 1st S-class mission, which he stole, he went to her house to show it to her. the fact that part of the reward was a celestial key might be a coincidence, but i wouldn't doubt it as Natsu and Happy's trump card in case she refused)

but yeah, the difference is that he stayed and didn't push her away at the beginning, but instead continued to invite her along with him to the point that doing a mission without Lucy wasn't his regular anymore. compared to the rest of the guild, of whom he spent most of his childhood with, even if he spoke to no one, they would still be around and talk to him anyway. he might not invite them on job and only challenge them to fights, but the guild is his home and a constant in his life, a constant he needs (bc heavy abandonment issues).

"okay, but he still pushed her away after he watched Igneel die right in front of him. and he left the guild for a whole year, too. so what's the difference there?" you may ask.

so 1) Natsu never thought the guild would disband. he returns to Fiore after a year and is the last to know that they disbanded. he assumed, like all the other times before and while he and others were sealed for 7 years, that Fairy Tail would still be there when he returned. he assumed that his disappearance would not impact so hard because the guild would still be around and Lucy would have the others with her

which, did not happen :)

and like, so many guild members go off on jobs, quests, or even just leave for an indiscriminate amount of time (which i, personally, believe was his rationality for leaving), so him being gone for a year was nothing! right? no harm, eh? his plan was never to be gone forever :))))

2) he just watched his father die and lose any chance of having some semblance of a long term reunion with Igneel. he literally lost one of his main driving motivations for getting stronger and taking jobs. before Fairy Tail, before anyone, it was Igneel. and to learn that a) Igneel was always with him to begin with and b) he only got to see him for less than a day after 14 years of nothing......i would feel lost too ngl

man's needed space from everybody. and he also needed comfort, but Natsu has been shown not to really be the character who asks to receive comfort (and when he does receive it, it's usually when he's already emotionally compromised). he is in the habit of shutting people out after being abandoned or losing someone close to him, with his next rationale being to "get stronger" in order to prevent what happened in the past to ever happen in the future.

anyway

what makes this different? well for one, he sent the letter only to Lucy (or it's implied since no one else is shown getting one) because of how the two spend most of their time together. even the line that goes with the panel makes it sound like Natsu is unsure on how the note will be received (maybe even hesitant? but that could be my own hopes)

and one of the 1st people he reunites with after a year is Lucy and we get such a similar parallel to the first chapter of Fairy Tail between the two as if the narrative itself is slotting them together to say "ah yes, now everything is back to normal and new journeys can begin"

but yeah, this is just a long way of saying, that Natsu does love his friends and guildmates but even when he is close to them, he kept to himself (and Happy) and sort of stayed in their orbit but always with some emotional distance because of his fear of abandonment. and then you have Lucy where he will stay for and allow her to orbit around him and he will invite to new adventures no questions asked

that's the difference

[shootingstarpilot]

WIP Game

Rules: You will be given a word. Share one sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that starts with each letter of that word.

Thanks for the tag, @hawthornsword! My word is BOWL.

B

Ben says something might have gone wrong in the meantime. Helix suggests that Longshot could come to them instead. Ben says that Longshot shouldn’t be walking too much. Helix raises an eyebrow and lets the very loud silence speak for him. Ben scowls, looks down, and quietly promises to say something if he starts hurting. Helix sighs and gives in.

O

Obi-Wan breathes out. Long and slow and carefully controlled. “For staying away for as long as I did. It was poorly done of me. I can imagine–” Then he stops, eyeing with some confusion the gathering storm clouds. “Or… not?” Helix glares. Obi-Wan spreads his hands helplessly. “For however I have given you grief, then. I know you have no shortage of reasons.”

W

What had he needed, back then? Somewhere dry and warm and safe from drowning. (They can build him a new place to stand.)

L

“Lack of inclusion does not necessitate exclusion–” “Don’t,” Helix snaps. Something deep and bruised shudders through him, and Obi-Wan, regretting the attempt at flippancy immediately, steps forward and takes Helix’s hands in his. “I’m sorry,” he repeats. Quieter, this time. “You know I had no choice.” “You did!”

No-pressure tags for @drauthor, @themonopolyhat, @aquaticflames, @foreverchangingfandomsao3, @bumbledees, @merlyn-bane, and whoever else is interested can take this as an invitation! Your word is DISC.

[northern-passage]

i suppose i should do a little check in... i managed to finish ch3 of blood choke for nanowrimo (yay) but i'm still not where i want to be with tnp (boo)

it's been slow going... in general after the blood choke update my motivation kinda dropped more than i was expecting, which was foolish given the time of year. holidays are always a pain since i work retail....

anyways all that to say that i'm currently working on tnp. blood choke has shifted to the backburner - i'm still working on that, too, but my main focus now is to finish the ch2 blackwater route for tnp. i've also relegated my other projects to backburner as well. i really want to finish this damn tnp chapter before anything else at this point lmfao

i'm also going to be hosting a jam (which i'll announce tomorrow) along with some of my pals that will be through jan-feb, and i have a short game planned for that which i don't think will take up too much of my time.

thanks everyone for your patience and for sticking around as always 💗 i know it's been a long time and i appreciate the support you all still show me for this story.

[ask-indigo-park-swapped]

WELCOME TO THE TETHERED ISLES!!!

[a cluster of floating islands drifting above a valley. ropes connect the isles together and keeps them bound to the world - recently cleared to explore, the isles are full of mystery and adventure!]

<RAMBLEY is now unavailable for asks.> <LLOYD is now unavailable for asks.> <SALEM is now unavailable for asks.> <THE SERPENT is now unavailable for asks.>

MOLLIE arrives to the main island of the TETHERED ISLES. She looks around the TETHERED OUTPOST, watching merchants and explorers milling about and interested in a new location to explore. She sees RAMBLEY nearby, assisting in supplying the new Outpost. She spots the TRADER in the crowd; the enigmatic merchant that usually stays in the Snow Line seems to have followed the excitement to the Isles. She spots RUTA in the crowd; an experienced and respected explorer that freely offers ominous but helpful advice.

Clutching her bag of supplies, Mollie is struck by indecision.

==>

also, because i think its funny, heres the original sketch for one that cool sidescroller esque art up there:

its literally just blobshsjdghsd

[paperstorm]

Thank you for the tags @ironheartwriter @carlos-in-glasses and @heartstringsduet you're all cute and I love you

Have another seven sentences from the 2nd person Carlos fic that will be posting in about two weeks :)

As sudden as a clap of thunder, he snaps, “What about taking me to the bathroom? This isn’t a joke, Carlos, okay?”

Your name, spoken in his resonant voice, is so often the most beautiful cadence your ears can imagine. When he grumbles it first thing in the morning before he’s completely awake – Carlos, turn the damn alarm off – when he laughs it, bright and joyful, because you’re trying to convince him to try pickled beets again – Carlos, they’re disgusting! – when he whimpers it while you have his trembling body pinned beneath yours – Carlos, please, harder – when he sighs it and his breath paints warm patterns on your cheek because his forehead is pressed to yours – Carlos, I love you.

Bitten in anger, your name is nails on a chalkboard and the discomfort of it skips up your spine. You didn’t mean to make him angry. You wanted him to smile, you always just want him to smile.

Tags under the cut!

Tagging @theghostofashton @birdclowns @reyesstrand @strandnreyes @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut

@actual-sleeping-beauty @thisbuildinghasfeelings @herefortarlos

@tailoredshirt @goodways @alrightbuckaroo @lightningboltreader @freneticfloetry @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad

@liminalmemories21 @nancys-braids @chaotictarlos @lemonlyman-dotcom

@whatsintheboxmh @inkweedandlizards @bonheur-cafe @reasonandfaithinharmony @thebumblecee

@never-blooms @sanjuwrites @orchidscript @jesuisici33 @kiwichaeng

@fallout-mars @honeybee-taskforce @fifthrideroftheapocalypse @fitzherbertssmolder @safeashousespdf

@just-inside-her @firstprince-history-huh @captain-gillian @tellmegoodbye @anactualcaseofthetruth

Want to be added or removed from the list? Lmk

[danielnelsen]

well that's just a lie

[thevirgodoll]

i think the joy in being a child was that everyone allowed you to be delusional even when it didn’t make sense. adulthood sucks because you can’t have dreams and silly fun delusions without other people limiting it. how did we go from encouraging every kid to dream big to shitting all over those dreams once that kid gets older? that's why everyone's so depressed rn like we need to regress as a society idk

[solarpunkwarlock]

I'm no economist so take this with a grain of salt, but if we were really interested in making some kind of change for our communities: we could make a lot of progress by instituting a maximum wage and tying it to the minimum wage.

Like, truly extravagantly wealthy individuals (anyone who has more than say $20 million at any given time) are economic bottlenecks, and bottlenecks need to be removed to improve any system. So let's set a maximum wage where people can only earn lets say 15x that of the lowest paid worker in the same organization. Make it apply to private and public positions. A CEO can't make more than 15x what a temp makes, and a Senator or even the President of the United States can't make more than 15x a court clerk makes.

Let's drag everyone closer to an average wage where the lowest paid get to enjoy an actually humane life and the highest paid don't hoard more than they could ever possibly spend meaningfully.