#come siblings get your pixels

[smimon]

Would you believe that tv cameras caught the other moment when Jesse was on stage during YLE New Year and also one second backstage (45:44 and 00:28 in the Yle Areena recording)

[phoenixkaptain]

I love Stardew Valley and I love the community and I love how we all bond over pixelated chickens like we’re seventy-year-old women bonding over grandchildren- - -

But I get so annoyed with the character hate, like!!! All the characters are great!! All the romance-able characters are great!! I keep getting recommended videos about the bad parts of characters and I just want to scream!!

Penny: lovely. Charming. Kids are a big part of dating her because she teaches kids, of course she’s going to react a bit badly if you hate children. She is trying to teach kids so that they don’t have to have the same life she and her mother do, why do you hate this woman who is just anxious?

Shane: lovely. Charming. Perfect. “He still drinks after we get married, which ruins the whole story” NO. No. Shane is an alcoholic, and a severe one. If he quit cold-turkey, he would fucking die. “Harvey pumped his stomach” HE WOULD DIE. And I don’t care that my husband is messy, he has his own room and I don’t have to go over there!!

Maru: lovely. Charming. She hates working. She loves working on machines. She thinks about machines to build for you to make life easier. She’s adorable. She has a complicated relationship with her brother and I want to help them fix it goddangit because I love fictional siblings.

Elliott: lovely. Charming. An artist. He only leaves his home for like four hours a day. I can really relate to the desire to shave off all of one’s own hair. I feel that in my bones. Also, is friends with Willy and I fucking love Willy so A++

Leah: “she’s a lesbian” She’s fucking bi stop erasing bi rep in Bi Rep the Video Game

Sam: he’s a musician and a skater. This is what the perfect man looks like.

Emily: just the most charming. She has a complicated relationship with her sister because she takes care of her. She works at a saloon, how can someone not love a literal saloon worker? She’s crazy, she’s wild, she’s a flower child, I’m in love with her

Harvey: glasses. Doctor man. Occasionally puts on headphones to not so subtly hint that he doesn’t want to talk to you. This is what the perfect man looks lik-

Abigail: I don’t see a lot of people complain about Abigal, but I’ve seen a few and it just feels like- you guys love Sebastian so much but don’t like Abigail? What type of double standard is this?

Alex: everyone always says not to date him if your playing a female farmer, but honestly, his dialogue only cuts out parts if you play male. Like, he still says he felt different about you from day one even if you’re playing as a girl. The character affected the most by your gender choice in regards to dating Alex is George, and if you’ve already befriended George, he’ll apologize for being mean about your sexuality when he never even said anything mean about your sexuality, which is kind of funny

I never see people complain about Haley or Sebastian, which is fair, because Haley has a cute character arc and Sebastian loves frogs (this is what the perfect man lo-) My only problem is that people praise these two but rag on everyone else when I feel like all the characters are balanced pretty evenly in terms of good-bad traits.

Which trait is which is dependent on the person playing the game anyway, so when someone like me plays, I can’t help but find the characters perfect because I’m very forgiving when it comes to fictional characters’ undesirable traits. I mean, my favourite trait of all is stupidity, pure and unbridled, I’m talking facepalm-inducing, groan-worthy, the type of character people complain about the most; the type of stupid that makes people stop enjoying things. How can I dislike these characters who are cute and a bit awkward and so ready to bed the first hot farmer they come across even when that farmer sifts through their trash and passes out three steps away from their own house and drinks mayonnaise and would eat hay given half the chance. Like come on. They’re all moron-sexual. I can relate to that.

In conclusion: your favourite bachelor and/or bachelorette is as wonderful as you think they are and screw the people who try to tell you otherwise. The characters are great because they appeal to different people. Enjoy the game and enjoy the dating and I swear to God if I see another person say that certain farm layouts are bad because they don’t make enough money- the game doesn’t have a time limit! You can make as much money as you want! You could sell one sap everyday and nothing else and you would still be able to make it to however much money you desire to have. There’s not really a fast way to make ten billion gold, that doesn’t mean that the farm layouts you don’t like are bad and yes I’m ranting just because I love the slopes of the mining farm its layout is chamrjng and picturesque and provides a unique challenge to decorating and placing buildings and it’s actually the BEST farm layout because I just decided so and-!

Stardew Valley is a great game, 10/10 would recommend, and the new update is already great because I found carrot seeds and I like carrots :)

[pr0blematic-h0unds]

You are disgusting. Do you have any idea how harmful this is?? Do you have any idea how damaging this is?? You're targeting minors with this kind of content, and your damaging their minds! They'll grow up thinking that this kind of behavior is okay! And the world will be full of incestuous freaks like you! That is not a world I want to live in. I can't believe you people are okay with this. How many people. How many people are like you? How many people think this is okay? Be a normal person and go outside. I can't believe it. What would your parents think?? Would they be okay with you saying this is okay? Why do you even think this is okay? Don't fucking say the "Fiction doesn't affect reality." bullshit. You aren't using this to cope. You aren't using this to have fun. Your using this because your disgusting and want to do bad things to innocent people! Fuck you, unkindly.

Awhh guys look!!! Hosts first hate comment!!!! Lol, funny you think were gonna get affected by a coward who hides behind anon <33333333333

We know were disgusting lolllll, were a lil sociopathic rainbow fag dog who has thoughts that belong in the psych ward on the daily but wdc <3333333333

Also lol we are using this to cope??? Who are you to tell us how we cope with the absolute horrible shit we endured for fucking years. If it doesn't fit your morals womp fucking womp we literally could care less.

Yall think by sending us hate that were magically gonna 'see' how us abusing PIXELS is more wrong than REAL FUCKING VICTIMS LIKE US who survived literal hell when they were at their most vulnerable and unable to do shit but take it.

Yall say you're trying to protect real victims of this shit? Well guess what, most of yall are nothing but double standard assholes who are so stuck up your ass that you ignore the fact that you unapologetically treat us like we deserved that shit. NO ONE, DESERVES THAT SHIT. No matter what they are.

Also, the whole 'targeting kids' thing, im sorry but people tend to forget that fandom space was never intended to take care of kids and be their little safety haven to watch their stupid little pixels waddle around. That is up to their parents, we are not the kids babysitters here to watch them and cater to their young minds.

"It'll damage their minds!!!" Okay?????? Not my problem the fuck?? I could care less because again, NOT MY PLACE TO CATER TO KIDS!!! I'm not gonna drop to my knees infront of a fucking 12 year old and be all:* "OH MY GOD1!1!1 IM SOO SOWWY THAT I POSTED TWO SIBLING CHARACTERS HOLDING HANDS YOUR POOR MIND IS RUINED FORGIVE ME PLZZZZ!!!!!!!!" lmaooo yeah no id rather punch myself in the balls then do that xD

Suck my fat cock and choke on it babe because we cope how we want and little wimps like you are stuck behind your computer heaving and foaming at the mouth because were over here happy and alive just posting little doodles.

Come say this shit off of anon, you won't. If anything you wouldn't even have the balls to say this stuff to our face.

-

Also, we know that you're just copy pasting to other proship blogs ;)

You're not creative, hop off our dicks and take your own advice to touch some grass because it reallllly isn't a good look for you <3

[changingplumbob]

Glenn: Did you talk to your brother

Silver: About what

Glenn: About us finding a house, thinking of having kids

Silver: I mean... sort of

Glenn: Is that yes or no

Silver: *sighs* No

Glenn: Why not? I thought you said in your time it was fine for people to pair off with siblings

Silver: I mean yeah but... I still feel guilty about... not going to the wedding. How do I say, yeah I know you found the love of your life and had a big get together I was invited to but I couldn't come because I was busy seducing your ex

Glenn: Technically I'm not his ex because we were never official-

Looking at Silver, Glenn realised that was a line of argument that would get him nowhere.

Glenn: It's one of those things that's harder to say than think huh

Silver: Basically

Glenn: I mean... he knows you have trouble with people right? Sure you might have had the same upbringing but it changed when he was kicked out. You told him how your dad basically got tunnel vision trying to make you the greatest werewolf ever, didn't you?

Silver: *chuckles* That was the title?

Glenn: Yes. Greatest werewolf ever. Definitely not pack alpha

Silver: *sighs* It's fine. We're immortal. We'll have time to figure things out

Glenn: Right. Because it's not like we're going to be hunted and killed or anything

Silver: Considering we've both lost parents to human idiocy you would think you wouldn't joke about that

Glenn: I'm trying to make a point. He's your brother. He loves you, you love him, why aren't you trying to get back to being close

Silver: I'm more interested in being close to you

Glenn took that as his opportunity to move in for a kiss but he only got one before Silver playfully pushed him off.

Silver: I'm trying to focus so we can sort out moving

Glenn: I mean yes but... I also feel like you're trying to avoid talking about Grayson

Silver: I don't know what you mean

Glenn: Beefcake... talk to me. Something is up

Silver: Just your pixel parts

Glenn: Please Silver

Silver sighed and laid the pen down, taking a moment to rest his head in his hands.

Silver: If I tell you then you'll be ashamed of me

Glenn: No I won't. Unless you like slaughtered children

Silver: I didn't slaughter children

Glenn ran his hand slowly up and down Silver's side, waiting for him to talk.

Silver: Glenn, I saw him

Glenn: I already know you went to see him after the show

Silver: Yes but... I mean before that... after he got kicked out

Glenn: What?

Silver: My dad said Grayson wasn't part of the pack anymore but I didn't want to accept it. Those first few days I snuck out when I could, which was a bit because there were so many injuries. I wanted to find him... and I did

Glenn: Oh Silver

Silver: No, don't hug me I stuffed up

Silver: I found him and he was asleep. I wanted to go talk to him but i could hear my parents argument in my head

Glenn: And you thought if you took him back your dad would kill him

Silver: Yeah. I guess I hadn't thought my searching plan through. I just wanted to find him. But I could have gone to him. I could have stuck by him and we could have left the pack life together but I didn't. I ran back home

Glenn: You were only like... it was definitely a teen number

Silver: Fourteen

Glenn: Exactly. You still needed your mum

Silver: But so did Grayson. How can I tell him I just... left him

Glenn kissed Silver on the cheek and rested his head on his shoulder. It was hard talking to him about Grayson. Not because there were any feelings left but because Glenn didn't know what it was like to have a brother.

Glenn: Maybe you're right, we've got time

Silver: He did tell me... well, Clive's pregnant

Glenn: Oh. Well that's good right? I mean you said werewolves can get each other pregnant so it's... it's expected

Silver: True. I just, I mean part of me wishes it was me pregnant with your kid. I know it's stupid. Grayson's older than me so why shouldn't he have kids first? It's just...

Glenn: He can have biological ones

Silver: Yeah...

Glenn: *sadly* And we can't

Silver: No, it's only ever happened between male werewolves. But we can have a house, with a garden for you

Glenn: And somewhere near a river so you can fish

Silver: And if you really insist, a dragon

Glenn: *beaming* You mean it?

Silver: Just a small one though. I don't know where we're going to get a kid but I'd rather not have them eaten when we bring them home

Silver's secret about seeing Grayson brought to you by @cawthorntales

Previous ... Next

[thebibutterflyao3]

Day 12 - Prompt: Locket @jegulus-microfic December Daily Series - 585 words

<<<Previous Part OR Start Here

Regulus cringed when Pandora’s picture appeared on his phone screen. He had purposefully relied on texts to satisfy her curiosity thus far. If she asked the right questions, he would have to confess to his crush, but face to face, she would read him like a book. With a deep breath, he braced himself and accepted the call.

“Put it away, Evan,” Pandora said through clenched teeth. She was distracted.

Her brother retorted, “Where? I don’t have a frame yet.”

“I don’t care if you stick it in a locket or your pocket. I don’t want to see it.”

“Hey, that rhymed!”

“I swear to god, if-oh! Hi Reg.” Her voice changed so swiftly that Regulus was left stunned.

He shook himself clear, then offered a bewildered smile. “Hello to you too. What’s the problem?”

“My brother’s new boyfriend,” she said, blue eyes widening manically, “I’m sick of hearing about him.”

“He’s so fit, Reg. Look!” Evan insisted, shoving his hand in Pandora’s face.

The photo was a pixelated blur as Pandora swatted at his hand and shoved him away. For a few seconds, the screen went black. Pandora returned with a furious expression on her face. He forgot that the Rosiers were “sibling bonding” over winter hols too.

“I’m going to murder him, Reg. If you come home right now, you could save me from a homicide charge, but if you wait another week, I can’t guarantee anything.”

He chuckled as he settled against the pillows on his bed. “Don’t murder Evan, he’s fun at parties.”

“You don’t even go to parties! Why don’t I buy a train ticket and ship him to you?”

“No, thank you. He and Sirius are a little too similar.”

“True, but he would be out of my hair and your problem,” she said with a sigh, rubbing at her forehead. “I need a vacation from this vacation already.”

Regulus nodded. As pleased as he was to spend time with Sirius, he and James were driving him mad.

“So, how’s Sirius?”

“Fine. He’s still pushy, of course, but he’s making an effort.”

“Good. Speaking of Sirius…” Pandora leaned out of frame, then reappeared with her tablet. After a couple of taps at the screen, she held it up. “Who’s this bloke with you two?”

As soon as he saw the shot Effie had taken outside of the inn, he knew why she called. Regulus groaned, “How did you get that picture?”

“Your brother posted it yesterday.”

“Of course he did.”

“He’s fit. Is he taken, or can I have a crack at him?” she teased, clearly enjoying herself. “I assume he’s either straight or your brother already claimed him.”

“He’s Sirius’s best friend. All I know is I’ve heard him toss ‘bi’ around when they’re taunting each other.”

Pandora trilled excitedly. “Lucky you! Bi boys are fun.”

“Oh no, I’ve already alienated him.”

“Regulus…”

“I know, I know.”

She leaned closer with the phone in both hands as her voice went low and conspiratorial, “Listen. You be nice to bi-boy and get you a cheeky snog, or I’ll ship myself out there to sort you out.”

“I did try, but he’s…infuriating!”

“Try harder.”

“Panda, it’s a lost cause.”

“You’d better find it,” she said, then hung up.

Regulus threw his head back into the pillows. He could predict how badly this would go. Pandora wouldn’t let him get away with turning James into a puzzle to solve. She would definitely come out here and meddle. It was her specialty.

Next Part>>>

[yelow-heart]

Hey

Just because I love young love and coming-of-age stories and cute little stories about kids first crushes

Some things we know: The EGGs aren't related. Not all of them, at least. So it's not immediately weird if the CCs and fandom think their kid might be having a crush.

It has been confirmed many times now. Some of the more concrete ones being when Bagi asked Em when they met if the Egg Island trio were related to the dragon eggs. And she said no.

Weird would be if people shipped the ones that have very explicitly established some familial bond, like Chay and Tallulah for example, or the Breakfast triplets. Pomme and Dapper. They ARE siblings. They adopted eachother as so.

In the last Cucurucho live (Right after the prison escape and button-pressioning) is where we see the actual ralation of the EGGs

So, if we're looking for dna bond or something, the EGGs would be separated as such:

Dragon EGGs: Chayanne, Bobby, Trump, Tilín, Ramón, JuanaFlippa, Dapper and Leonarda

Wall EGGs: Tallulah, Pomme and Hope/Memories

Egg Island EGGs: Empanada, SunnySideUp and Pepito

Wildcard EGGs: Richarlyson and Chun-Sik

(Too lazy to look up the actual name of their departments kkkk)

So, if the admins would like to explore an Egg's romantic orientation and coming to terms with it, or having a crush on another Egg or so and so. It's A Ok. Like, I was pretty sure Leo was finding a crush on Em. And Pomme now being outed as lesbian. Dapper realizing he might not see anyone this way.

But it's ok to want these kids to find new things about themselves. It's okay to want to see your own younger self on them, struggling to make sense of new found feelings. If the admin hints that they want that, it's ok. Not to mention how important it would be for the kids that watch qsmp and might be feeling the same things as these pixel kids.

So yeah, let the young people find love.

P.s.: A1 could be either Memories or Chun-sik, we still need more clarification on that. My gut tells me that it was Memories, but 🤷‍♀️

Update: Don't go after the CC's that didn't know any better. The admins decide what direction their characters stories will go. The EGG experiment is divided by 4 groups. We're audience, not scripters. It's all.

And yes, I am also talking about Carre teasing Pepito saying he likes Pomme. From his view, they have no relation whatsoever. And it was also funny on his context, as we know Pomme has a "much older vibe" then Pepito, like teasing your younger brother about that pretty teen girl from church.

So don't go thinking "omg Carre is pro incest amongst children, GET HIM!!" That is not how we do things here.

I moved a paragraph higher up and added this disclaimer as I know that are a lot of twt immigrants on here now. And I know on Twitter is common to go typing away and marching against ur enemies without much reading necessary. But not here. We welcome u here. But, please, learn our ways.

Here we are big fans of text interpretation, believe it or not.

(And disabling the comments if u annoy me enough. I'm a big fan of different povs and opinions, but if u see the comments got turned down, know it was due to arrogance)

[zandlikething]

Perler bead qsmp eggs I made the same day they left

I haven't posted anything about it because I was still processing it. I thought Sense the eggs were coming back all the eggs would come back I was very sad to see them go but I understand why the admins left and respect their choice in leaving so please no one harass the admins

I have a message to the admins that played the eggs in the picture ( which I doubt they will see but I want to get it off my chest) so lots of rambling from this point on be warned.

Lullah: Lullah you were one of the first eggs I got really attached to and it was because of clips of you Chayanne and Philza that originally got me into the qsmp. Seeing how much you grew was so cool to see.

Seeing you go from a shy little egg who likes flowers and music to a bad ass egg who would do anything for her loved ones. An egg who survived so much and went through so much hurt but also a lot of joy.

Lullah you brought a lot of joy into people's life you certainly did mine and I can't wait to see what you do next.

Chayanne: Chayanne my first introduction to you was the clip of Max yelling at you cause you blew a hole on his property ( I know that was another admin this is for both) Chayanne you were always so chaotic and fun but so loving and protective of your siblings.

Your rivalry with Quackity was always so funny to see a grown man beffing with a pixel egg in Minecraft. You honestly remind me of my older brother which probably explains why I would relate to Lullah sometimes lol

I hope whatever you're doing you are doing great at it and I hope you know how much you did for this community

Pomme: Pomme I remember when you first arrived with the rest of the French I remember how sweet you were to everyone around you and how much fun you would have with all your parents. I would watch Bad pov a lot and the stream would always get brighter when you showed up.

Your connection to all the eggs were super sweet and all your lore was so interesting. Seeing you bond with Bad and Dapper was so cute and then Bad becoming your Dad and Dapper your brother was so cute. It was never "official" but it didn't need to be it didn't matter all that matter was you guys were family

I like all the Pomme times we got and one of my favorite streams was just following the eggs around mainly you and Dapper. It was so interesting and cool to see what you guys did and say without your parents around. I also found it cool we had something in common because I love RWBY too in fact if you scroll down my Tumblr you'll see some post I did on RWBY a few years ago.

Thank you Pomme I'm happy to see you and Dapper in Bads chat sometimes I can't wait to see what projects you'll work on next

Richardson: My boi the most bold egg lol your antics would always make me laugh. All the pranks you pulled on Bad and all the times you teased him to get a reaction were so funny. You were by far the most chaotic egg you would just pop up out of nowhere in anyone's stream it would always get more chaotic even if just a little.

Honestly your goodbye and final words made me cry yup you not Chayanne and Lullah and Philza saying goodnight you who just walked into the sunset was the greatest thing ever. The memorial you made for you Dapper and Pomme was so good I love it and I want you to know that I learned a lot about Brazil because of you and your parents I want to go to Brazil one day now somewhere I've never thought about going.

Goodbye you little rascal I hope whatever you're doing your doing it with chaos

Dapper: Dapper you are my favorite I immediately was drawn to you and your top hat. I first saw you in a Philza stream protecting Lullah from Quackity and I started watching Bad ever since.

I remember when Quackity kidnapped you in a desert temple and how scared I and the rest of the chat was. Little did we know how common that would become lol how many times did you get kidnapped like 7.

You and Bad's lore was my favorite I loved your guys father and son connection. It was clear to see how much Bad cared about you and how you cared for him back. You guys made such a good team with all the stuff you made with the create mod.

I relate to you the most for a few reasons one being all the animals you had and collected. I am a big animal person so if I could actually have cool mythical and cool animals I would but also one of my favorite signs from you is "he can't handle the uber powers of my uber autism" This made me laugh so much I am on the spectrum so when I saw this clip I was Ohhhh that's probably why I relate to this Minecraft egg so much lol

Dapper thank you for really getting me into the qsmp there were some ruff patches and a little drama but through it all I had a good time

Thank you for introducing me to Badboyhalo I now have found one of my new favorite streamers

Thank you all of qsmp for helping me and many others through our days and for an amazing year I will still watch qsmp as long as Bad streams it but I have a feeling it's going to be time to say goodbye soon. So thank you qsmp I am sad not to have these streams in this next chapter of my life but I am happy for when you were you helped me get through.

But you know what they say everyone:

"Don't cry because it's over,smile because it" happened

[ryuichirou]

Replies

Talking about brocons, people being annoying and other stuff.

Anonymous asked:

I’m sorry when did someone call Idia a brocon in canon?!? 👀

Asking for reasons….

It happened in Book 5, Episode 5-13, near the end of the episode! As Cater and Lilia were explaining the Shrouds’ situation to Yuu and guys, Grim commented that Idia is a total brocon, or something among the lines lol

Anonymous asked:

Cater saying he wants to date Vil + Cater's union birthday saying he wants Vil as a brother = canon brocon Cater methinks

Oh my god… Cater really said “but what if Vil is my brother AND we’re dating”. This boy is either very confused or very kinky, probably both 😔

Anonymous asked:

the Asim siblings are so interesting, like, are they close to eachother? how can they keep track when there are so many of them? what do they think of Kalim, do some of them resent him? are some obsessed with him? the latter in particular gets funnier if you have other siblings that instead decided to follow in their big bro's footsteps and joined the Jamil fanclub. the two groups would argue endlessly about who's better. than add in a third group that just likes them both and might even ship kalijami...

now that I think about it, I've seen some fanworks where Kalim tries to convince Jamil to call him onichan. would that make him a brocon? I guess for Kalim it's less about the idea of having Jamil as a sibling, and more about him being someone that Jamil can rely on without needing too many formalities between them, and the first thing that comes to mind is an older brother... Keep dreaming Kalim, the dude literally sees you as a toddler to babysit!

Hmm, I think they aren’t super close, but those who are closer in age are more likely to be friendly with each other + those who have the same mom (let’s be honest, there is no way all of the Asim kids were born by one lady). And the younger ones probably love Kalim much more than the older ones, both because he is better at connecting with kids + because the older ones technically still have a chance to take Kalim’s place if they’re lucky. But they’re never openly antagonistic; the “default” state for all of them is that Kalim is their beloved older brother that is always playful, fun and kind.

There absolutely are some of the Asim siblings that are obsessed with Kalim and THERE ABSOLUTELY ARE some of the Asim siblings that are obsessed with Jamil!! Imagine looking at Jamil your whole life and not getting obsessed?? lol Jamil would probably think that his own little Asim fanclub is the worst thing to ever exist (having Kalim only is troublesome enough…), but wait until he learns about the KaliJami fanclub… Kalim’s little sisters watching these two always being together and being closer to each other than Kalim is to his actual real brothers? They absolutely ship them lol

Kalim really is such a toddler though… And while I don’t think his wish to see Jamil and himself “as brothers” is in any way related to anything brocon-like, I do think that he really wants to express that his bond with Jamil is special.

Alright, now we’re entering the people-are-annoying territory.

Anonymous asked:

Normally I'd ignore the "don't sexualize the underage pixels" crowd but I love overanalyzing things and could write a mini essay on them (It's weird but I might do that, could be fun).  The thing that stands out most is the obvious hypocrisy.                                                          Kids kids kids, if you play TWST you don't get to say this stuff.  Even if you don't know it's for adults or who Yana Toboso is, look at the cards!  The game itself sometimes sexualizes its own characters!  Even the first and second years!  You harass the fans but give the creators' a free pass?  You're not saying "it's wrong to sexualize fictional minors!" you're saying "it's wrong to not make money off of your thirst!" and "it's only wrong if I don't like the final product!"  You're not mad that adults are creeps, you're mad that they're not pimps!  If the developers ever publicly distance themselves from certain fans, you guys will be the ones called out, not the people who simp over Ortho and freely admit it

Yeah, Anon, this is one of the most annoying things. When they cancel a piece of media + an author + everyone who enjoys the same piece of media, at least it’s somewhat consistent. Still quite stupid, but it’s not trying to sit on two chairs at once. But when they harass artists and writers that are doing fan-content for a piece of media, but then completely ignore when the said piece of media does it… I always remember that twitter argument about how Ortho isn’t shota-bait and therefore the antis have all the rights to enjoy twst since they aren’t weirdos, plus all the endless talks about how Ciel isn’t at all sexualized in the manga and how there is nothing at all sensual in the way the official manga art for Kuroshitsuji is drawn… at times things that they say sound honestly quite concerning (i.e. things that they consider platonic or fatherly), and if I didn’t know for a fact that these people are just bluffing, I would’ve become worried about their own life experiences. But yeah, thankfully, this is just them trying to punish people for thirsting for twst characters and then somehow do it themselves without being called out for it. They enjoy that piece of media critically, which means they’re off the hook! Not like the “weirdos”!

I had a point to make, but I just got salty lol

Also yep, you’re completely right: the developers/the authors tend to distance themselves from the type of fans that ultimately negatively impact the enjoyment people get from their product, and it’s never the type of people who ship characters and draw smut with them. Really makes you think.

[daniclaytcn]

Hi! Do you have a tutorial about how to make gifs like this? https://www.tumblr.com/captain-hen/718203110790660096/911-under-pressure-lgbtqcreators-creator?source=share

Like making them with only one certain prominent colour if that makes sense? I'm not good at explaining tbh, i'm sorry! Your sets always look so amazing! Thanx for making them!

hi! thank you for your kind words! so, in this set, i used three different methods to get those results. the method i used for hen and maddie's gifs is already explained here. the method i used for the rest of yellow gifs, and the gif with Buck coming out of the swimming pool, was just highlighting and isolating colors that are already prominent in the image. i'll touch on that briefly, later, but i'll expand more on how i did the buddie and buckley siblings gifs, which is color manipulation. i'll be showing you how to get a gif that looks a bit like this:

so, before we begin, there are a couple things to be kept in mind

i'm going into this tutorial assuming you know the basics of gifmaking, coloring—particularly the selective color layers. i won't be explaining any of that.

scene selection is probably more important than the actual coloring process. if you don't have a scene that works, the methods i explain here will be completely useless.

with the above point in mind, i'll tell you which type of scenes work for the color manipulation method. you'll need a scene with a grayish, neutral kind of background. here are some scenes which more or less fit what i mean:

your scenes shouldn't have too much white in the background. a little white can be fixed, but too much will result in your coloring being pixelated. keeping all this in mind, choose a scene that has a background that looks like this, in terms of color palette. or just go with my example of the buddie one, and we can get started!

make your gif, sharpen it, and color it as you normally would. this is how my gif looked after the basic process:

for the purpose of this tutorial, we will be working entirely with selective color. i'm aware that other gifmakers use color balance, instead, for color manipulation, but that's not what we're doing here.

please keep in mind—whatever color you ultimately want your gif to be, we are gonna start by making it a bright blue. we can manipulate it from there to look like anything you want.

first, i want you to add a selective color layer and then go to the neutrals tab. in case you're not familiar, neutrals works a bit like color balance—it adds a tint that affects the entire image when you mess around with it. this feature is perfect for working with scenes like this one. right now, we'll only be touching the cyan slider. go ahead and slide it up a bit, but not too much, because then you'll affect the skin-tones of your characters in a way that won't be easy to fix.

i forgot to add it in the gif, but please keep in mind—when you mess around with neutrals, the skin color of your character gets invariably affected. you'll need to go back to reds in selective color and make the color look normal again, in this case, i decreased the cyans in the reds and upped the yellows.

now, our gif has a good amount of cyan in the background. this is enough for us to work with, you won't need to touch the neutrals tab again. add another selective color layer, this time, go to the cyans tab. while trying to turn cyan into true blue, you:

up the cyan slider to it's fullest

up the magenta slider—magenta cancels out green, so any greens that maybe present in your cyan will get killed

decrease the yellows, because yellow cancels out blue. this not only makes your cyan into true blue, it also makes the color bolder and brighter.

as you can see, i added two such cyan layers, with similar settings. the gif looks fairly blue, now, but it's still not enough. after adding a third cyan layer, i focused my attention on the blues in selective color. you'll probably need only one—two at most—of this layer.

here in the blues tab, you do essentially the same thing you did in cyan. essentially, what we want is—1) the scene to be true blue, no hints of cyan or green or anything else, and, 2) the blue to be as bright as possible.

let me explain why i wanted the background to be a bright blue first. blue is a cool and neutral color—any manipulation you do of it shouldn't affect the skin tone of your characters, which is the main thing we're trying to avoid here. even if you want your background to be, say, a bright red, i recommend starting with blue and working your way up from there. hope that makes sense!

if this is the color you're happy with for your background, that's well and good. if not, let me show you how to make it into other colors.

if you wanna make the background purple, you'll want to go into the blues tab in selective color and decrease the cyans, increase the magentas and yellows. then you should go into the cyans tab and do the same, like so:

now, if you want to make it green, instead, you'll need to increase the cyans in the blues tab, decrease the magenta and increase the yellow. rinse and repeat in the cyans tab.

by now you should have a pretty good idea of the process works, of which colors cancel each other out or compliment each other. using this method, with the correct type of scene, you can manipulate your background in almost any way you want! let me demonstrate with a few other scenes:

(sorry if these gifs look jerky—adding the fade in affect always messes with the frames 😔)

now that we're done with this, i'll touch briefly upon isolating colors that are already prominent in an image. i'll use the example of one of the gifs in this set.

as you can see, the original scene with no coloring already has a lot of yellow in it. we can work with that. after doing my normal coloring, i added a selective color layer, went to the neutral tab again, and this time, i upped the yellows all the way to 100. that gave me this result:

(again, i'm sorry this gif looks weird—i have no clue what happened)

there's still a lot of green in the trees, but that can be fixed. i went to the yellows in selective color, decreased the cyan completely, increased the magenta slightly and increased the yellows completely. that gave me this:

so that's how you do it! if the prominent color is blue, like the gif of buck in the swimming pool, all you have to do is use selective color to highlight the blues as much as possible—like i've already explained. using the same principles, you can do the same thing for pretty much any color that's already prominent in a gif.

a word of warning, though: while trying to highlight colors such as yellow, red and orange, take caution to do it only for scenes where the character's faces aren't really visible, like in overhead shots. this is because messing with these particular colors will definitely screw up their skin tones, which is not a good thing, especially for characters of color, it is easiest to go wrong with them. colors like blue, green, pink, purple are all fair game, but take the greatest caution with warmer colors.

i hope this helped you, and made sense! i know i rambled a lot, so i'm sorry about that. feel free to reach out if you have anymore questions!

[aewinning]

We’re nearly to the end of another creative year! Tell us about some of the favourite fics you’ve written this year and why :3 likewise, do you have any fics you really enjoyed reading and following this year? 🐾

Favorite fics I wrote in 2024

I didn't write a ton this year, but I'll pick my favorite I did for each fandom! (And that's a highlightable factoid while we're here - my first two Star Rail fics were published this year! Thank you Sunday for the inspiration, even if you bled me dry for E2S1. You were worth it, king.)

Fave Genshin fic I wrote this year was One Size Fits All - Wriothesley/Clorinde/Neuvillette kink exploration and friends with benefits (the benefits are fisting). I was happy with the laid-back, casual voice I developed for Wrio and I really love the visual of Clorinde methodically wrecking him while he clutches desperately onto Neuvillette, half-incoherent with overstimulation. (Which was the thought that inspired the fic in the first place.)

My favorite Star Rail fic of the two I've written is don't tell me it's wrong - Sunrobin with heavy religious imagery, Sunday smothering under his guilt, and Robin as his light in the dark, keeping him off the misguided path he takes in canon. It's not for everybody but it's certainly for me, and I think people can tell when you write something self-indulgent with your whole pussy, because I've gotten a surprising amount of love for it despite the darker topics and taboo nature. I've thought about and analyzed Sunday enough that I sink into his headspace terrifyingly easily at this point, and I feel like that translated into a very good Sunday voice and characterization. I was happier with this fic than I've been with a fic in years, probably, because despite the fact that it has so much porn in it I feel like it's also one hell of a character study.

2024 Fic Recs!

I'd be remiss not to include some of your fics and I think my faves this year were late night snack (Azhdaha/Xiao/Zhongli) which was itself a delightful sweet new year's snack of its own involving three characters I love and had never seen as a trio, and but first, coffee, which is a feast of delightful Kaveh and Alhaitham interaction. Alhaitham is such an asshole sometimes and Kaveh is so stubborn and such a good man and you write that so well ♥️

Lately I'm really enjoying the WIP (falling) feels like flying by notavodkashot, featuring ballet instructor Zhongli and caretaker-of-many-siblings Childe growing closer and entering a very sexy D/s relationship. Guizhong is also there with her very delightful polycule, forming a delightfully snarky peanut gallery.

A rare completely SFW pick is A Snail is "A Foot" by Lee_Outis, which is about Kaveh being chased by a very slow snail that can kill instantly on contact. It is very much worth the read even if you usually go for spicy fic.

An ongoing longer fic that I'm still reading and enjoying as it comes out is testing, testing by Lithopus. Kaveh finds Alhaitham reading a book about kinks and, in a fluster, Kaveh offers to help Alhaitham try various kinks. It's at 4/12 planned chapters and over 100k already, and absolutely packed with delightful dynamics, snark, relationship development, and blisteringly hot sex already.

Eggs? Eggs. I know everybody expects me to put an egg fic on the rec list. And this one doesn't technically have eggs, but it is heavily egg-centered regardless: a good servant shall lay eggs by cutieterrarium, featuring Ajaw fattening Kinich up in order to lay eggs in him (wait don't go! *drags you back*) Ajaw doesn't get to use his pixel dick and there are no actual eggs in the fic, but it did the impossible and made me view Ajaw as sexy which. Good fucking job. Plus I'm not usually into feederism but the way it was pulled off here as dragon courtship behavior was really fun and, dare I say it, even a bit cute.

The other Star Rail standouts that I can recall off the top of my head this year were all by DFP: - trick of the light, a Feixiao/Moze/Jiaoqiu OT3 fic where Feiqiu are established and they're feeling their way through adding Moze into the relationship in a way that keeps him comfortable. Fantastic Moze PoV. - All three Argenti/Boothill fics, which are absolute must-reads if you enjoy robofucking, wireplay, and miscellaneous other mechanical shenanigans. - The winner of my 'still re-reading' award, old fashioned lover boy, which was published last year but won't leave my mind. Caelus tries to seduce Welt, and poor Welt wallows in guilt, feeling like a dirty old man about it, before Himeko takes mercy on him and tells him he's allowed to just go for it if he wants to since they're both consenting adults. Caelus is the epitome of being horny about that old man, and grandpa gets ridden into the mattress as he deserves. Absolute peak.

There were lots of other fantastic fics I've read this year of course, but these are the first that came to mind.

TY for sending in the ask!

[toxicityatitsfinest]

As a teen, I was an anti. This was partially because I was working through new trauma at the time thanks to a proshipper that posted all her work for minors and encouraged them to engage with her work in a sexual manner and beg her to draw porn for them, which is super fucking bad.

Because of this mindset I believed that if you made something, it meant you supported it.

It was so bad, that I heard the song Love the Way You Lie by Eminem and Rihanna and was convinced they were both actively supporting and romanticizing domestic abuse, purely because the song was from the abuser’s perspective and no one said “this is terrible and gross” in the song. That’s how bad that mindset is.

To an anti, you’ll always be romanizing something just for making it at all. It doesn’t matter if the story is from the perspective of the victim or the abuser. If the story isn’t explicitly stating “this is bad” every other sentence, the anti will accuse you of being a pedophile, or being an incestuous freak who wants to fuck your siblings.

They then spread this, and it leaves anti spaces and enters the general public as “this person is a proven pedo/proven incest weirdo”

All because of a comic or a drawing or a fanfic. You can get labeled, forever, as a monster. For pixels on a screen.

I’m against antis because I was one. Because I was both a part of this mindset, and harmed by it. I’ve seen first hand how that way of thinking kills all nuanced thought, and how hypocritical it can be. I loved yandere content, I loved kidnapping and manipulation and murder in media and fanfics, but I never shared that with anyone. And then I turned around and labeled other people as terrible just because they were brave enough to be honest about liking the same stuff.

I was unhappy and miserable, walking on eggshells because I was so scared everyone would be cruel to me for my interests, for the things I made fake characters I made up in my head do.

Honestly I pity antis. The minors don’t understand, they can’t fully process the harm they’re doing or why it’s bad. The adults were raised to think this hatred is normal, that it was for their own good that their interests were bullied out of them, that it’s okay to bully harass and dox others just because of what they draw or write. They even teach each other that some people are inherently bad, and their traumatizing incidents were deserved, because how dare they make something so degenerate?

It’s pathetic.

It’s sad.

It’s cruel.

I promised myself I’d never go back to that sad, pathetic, cruel person. I’ll never be truly public about my interests. About what I write or draw or daydream about. I’m terrified it’ll come back to bite me. I’m too scared to be truly myself online. And that’s also sad. But I’ll never pretend to be okay with antis. To be okay with abuse of real people for the sake of fake people.

I wanna be the same kind of rock for someone else. Some other 20 something or older who is unlearning cruelty, who needs reassurance that they aren’t dangerous or evil. That they aren’t a monster.

No one deserves to feel like a monster. Not when they haven’t done anything wrong. Not when some of them are the victims of real monsters, their abusers.

I have a loving community who is kind to me, I have amazing friends who make sure I’m not hating myself for stuff outside of my control. Antis made me miserable, scared, and angry. Proshippers make me happy, loving, and understanding.

I’ll let you guess which group was better for me.

[solalunar-eclipse]

Sonic Boom - S3E18

Chapter title: Co-op Mode

Summary: Nominatus returns, team-building ensues, and the author jams as many references into a single chapter as possible.

AO3 Link

First | Previous | Next

[Episode opens on our six heroes all gathered together in Tails’s house. Sonic and Amy are playing a fighting game, while the other four watch from various positions around the room.] 

“You’re up against a champion of Ultimate Smackdown Siblings, Amy, so get ready to get smacked down!” Sonic cried, pressing buttons on his controller as quickly as he could.

“Psh. Please!” Amy scoffed, rolling her eyes. “You’re just button-mashing! It takes a master of strategy to win this game.” With that, she dealt Sonic’s character a particularly brutal combo, prompting a chorus of “Ooh”s from Tails and Sticks. 

“Excellent move.” Shadow commented, currently leaning against the back of the couch. Sonic pouted in protest, somehow managing to direct his expression towards Shadow despite never allowing his eyes to leave the screen.

“Aw, come on, why’re you siding with Amy?” he protested, his voice pitching up into whining indignance. “I thought you said you were gonna be a neutral party!”

“I am,” Shadow maintained a tone somewhere between infuriatingly calm and effortlessly smug—somehow both an improvement from and yet also worse than the tone that had so easily aggravated Sonic back when they were rivals. “I’m just enjoying the entertainment, no matter whose side it comes from.”

Unfortunately for Sonic, he was just distracted enough by this opportunity for some of their usual banter that he didn’t see Amy’s Terminal Smack activating…and then was promptly forced to watch as his character got blown across the screen and disintegrated in a blast of light.

“No!” he wailed, sliding off the couch and onto his knees. “How could this be? Betrayed, by my very own friend!”

Shadow hid a far-too-fond smile at being called Sonic’s friend. Thankfully for his pride, the hedgehog was far too caught up in his own lamentations to notice…but both of them were soon interrupted when the TV screen began to crackle with static.

“Tails, what’s going on?” Amy leaned forward to eye the screen suspiciously, her hands opening and closing in preparation to summon her hammer.

Before the fox could speak up, the connection suddenly resolved, revealing a black-and-red demon with four horns and an arrow on his forehead. 

“Nominatus?!” Tails cried. “I thought you were trapped in Eggman’s lab!”

The demon folded his arms, scowling out from the screen. “What, you assumed I’d just stay there once my episode feature ended? As if! That man was far too busy with his robots to pay attention to us, so it was almost insultingly easy to escape.”

Shadow had been watching the entire scene with increasing confusion, and took this opportunity to speak up. “Who is this, exactly?”

“Oh, he’s just some sort of evil computer guy!” Knuckles explained.

“Just—wh—” Nominatus sputtered. “I am not ‘some sort of evil computer guy’! I am Nominatus! Viral sensation! Trending on every platform where there are trends to be had!”

Sonic and Tails shared an extremely skeptical Look, and that was the final straw. “You think you can mock me, hm? Well then! I’ve faced you twice in your own realm, but no more fooling around!” the demon barked. “This time…you’re coming to me.”

And with that, he snapped his fingers, causing everyone to vanish into thin air.

The controller that Amy had been holding clattered to the floor as the television shut off abruptly, its screen cutting to black. The house was eerily silent, every hint of life within its walls having been rudely blinked out of existence.

…and then the energetic music of the introduction kicked in, utterly shattering the mood.

[The intro sequence goes off without a hitch…but this time, the characters are drawn in pixel art for their signature poses, with an 8-bit version of the theme tune to boot. Otherwise, the individual character introductions and team shot all stay the same.]

[Nominatus takes the villain position this time, tossing various ‘like button’ symbols  back and forth between his hands in a manner reminiscent of a certain ‘bad ending’ from a specific game released back in 1991.]

[The intro then continues on, before ending with the title of this week’s episode.]

In a blinding flash of light, the six heroes appeared in a white shopping mall filled with neon store signs and decorations everywhere. Above, an unmistakably vaporwave—inspired purple sky, complete with pink-yellow sun, was visible through the glass ceiling. 

Each of them also carried their own personalized weapon, styled in silver with neon accents in their specific color. Amy had her usual hammer, while Sticks held a high-tech bow and arrow. Knuckles wore reinforcements for his hands (and a pair of angular blue sunglasses atop his head, for some reason), and Tails carried—of all the things—dual handguns. Sonic, of course, had a one-handed sword, which was currently attached to a white belt around his waist. Shadow, on the other hand, had an odd sort of pole with an octagon and the word “STOP” at one end strapped to his back, which he immediately removed and stared at with a distinct amount of bewilderment.

Just as the six of them had finished recovering from the shock of being in a totally new world, a projection of Nominatus appeared in front of them. “Welcome to the Mall of Metalloid Madness!” he announced, proudly spreading his arms wide. “This is the lobby for a new game I’ve invented called…the Labyrinth Zone!” 

(Curiously, while no one else reacted to this, Sonic shivered for reasons even he couldn’t quite explain.)

“Once you all declare you’re ready, you’ll be dropped in teams of two into my carefully constructed labyrinth! It’s your job to find your way out without using all three of your lives, or else…” The demon smiled wickedly. “You’ll lose a lot more than just the game.”

“And what if we don’t want to?” Tails gave him a look so flat it could’ve had a job as a cardboard cutout. “What if we just find you and blast you until you put us back?”

Nominatus frowned. “Well, you wouldn’t want to disappoint my millions of followers, would you?”

Nobody said even a single word of agreement. The crickets remained silent in solidarity.

The demon sighed. “Fine, then, if you don’t do it I’ll never let you go and your island will fall prey to my inevitable conquering forces, blah blah blah, you know the rest.”

Sonic sighed unhappily. “Okay, guys, I guess we gotta do this.”

Tails shrugged. “At least I’ll probably get to blow some stuff up.”

“Nice positive thinking…I suppose?” Amy said hesitantly, but with a faintly resigned smile. 

Nominatus perked up considerably at this, regaining his previous energy. “Well then, when you’re ready to proceed, press the button with your color.” Behind him, six pedestals rose from the ground, each with a lit-up button on top in blue, yellow, red, pink, orange, and black.

Before he could switch off his hologram, the team rushed directly through him, making him glitch out and yell after them, “Hey! Show some respect for the villain who’s holding you hostage, maybe?!”

Of course, none of them did this, instead opting to all hit their buttons (Knuckles even doing so with such force that the pedestal nearly crumpled). Instantly, they all vanished in a burst of light, teleporting into the referentially named Labyrinth Zone.

[We cut to Sonic and Amy, who are together in the maze.] 

“Huh.” Sonic muttered, taking in his surroundings. They largely consisted of tall, black-and-grey gradient walls, contrasting with a blinding white sky.

“It seems like we really do get to work in pairs—that’s nice, at least!” Amy said brightly. 

Sonic shot her a grin paired with a thumbs-up. “Sure is! You mind whacking me up high so I can get a good look at the layout, Ames?”

She pulled out her hammer, but then hesitated, squinting upwards. “Hold on a minute, let me try something first.” Abruptly, she hurled her hammer straight up…only for it to smash into a force field right above the walls and crash right back down.

“Ah.” Sonic stared upwards. “Thanks for saving me…a lot of broken bones, apparently.”

“I wouldn’t want to mess up your handsome face, now would I?” Amy asked, in a manner that was only half joking.

The hero abruptly choked on his spit and began coughing vigorously, before stumbling after Amy as she walked forward to enter the maze. “Hey hey hey, you’re not supposed to be the one who’s leaving me behind!”

The two of them rounded the corner and came face-to-face with a series of platforms and badniks (obviously just Nominatus-themed recolors of Eggman robots), an obstacle that was more than manageable. Sonic tore through the high route immediately, bouncing between badniks like the showboater he was. Meanwhile, Amy trawled the lower route at an admittedly slower speed, with the trade-off being that not a single robot escaped her wrath.

As she progressed onward, she found herself having to dodge several spike traps, before leaping onto a moving platform. Unlike her speedy friend, she preferred to handle these platforms with care, making sure she knew exactly when they’d be closest before using her hammer to launch herself into the air for a bit of extra leeway. 

Amy jumped to another platform, this one moving up and down instead of side to side. Carefully, she focused on the feeling of it climbing beneath her feet, until—“Hyah!”—she slammed her hammer down just as it stopped its ascent. 

Astoundingly, her hammer launched her into the air, complete with a spray of hearts where she had previously stood. So we get bonuses for perfect moves. Noted. she thought to herself, quite pleased, even as she stuck the landing.

The pink hedgehog scanned the sky for her friend, watching as he revved up a spindash and launched himself across a particularly massive gap ahead of her. She hesitated to say this too often, lest it become ego-stroking instead of a compliment, but his speed really was quite impressive—

—at which point she watched in horror as his jump fell just ever so slightly short—

—and he slammed into the edge of the other side, uncurling in shock just in time to plummet into the pit below.

Amy raced forward, heedless of the careful tactics she’d previously used as she skidded to a stop, throwing herself to her hands and knees by the void below. The darkness seemed endless, with no speck of blue to be found in sight.

“SONIC!!”

xxx

Tails and Knuckles blinked into existence next to each other, looking around themselves in surprise. “Hey Tails!” the echidna cheered, waving happily at his friend. “I’m glad we got put together.”

Tails beamed up at him. “I’m glad too! Between the two of us, we should be able to get through this place no problem!”

They fist-bumped lightly, Knuckles taking care not to break his friend’s hand in the process. “So, where do we start?”

Tails frowned, staring up at the sky. “I think I see a distortion up there…maybe there’s some kind of invisible ceiling keeping me from flying? Let me check…”

The fox flew carefully upwards to the top of the wall, reaching out a single finger to touch the force field above—

—and promptly exploded.

“Tails?!” Knuckles yelped, stumbling forward and staring upwards wildly, as though his friend would reappear at any moment.

As a matter of fact, Tails did reappear right next to Knuckles, with a sound straight out of a 16-bit game and several flashing invulnerability frames. A ring of repeating, glowing text surrounded his middle briefly, reading: TWO LIVES REMAINING.

“O-kay.” the engineer remarked. “No touching the weird barrier. Honestly, I probably should've used a wrench, but oh well. We get it now.”

Of course, the next room they entered then proved to contain platforms that would slowly rise towards the ceiling, before abruptly dropping back down once they had successfully crushed any occupants into the deadly force field. 

Tails instantly facepalmed, but then narrowed his eyes at the puzzle, thinking carefully. “So, we’re going to need to time this really carefully, Knuckles. It’ll be tough to get over these platforms, and we only have five lives between us. I know I’ve got my tails, but are you gonna be okay moving that quickly while also staying low so you don’t get zapped?”

“I could also stay even lower,” Knuckles remarked glibly, without any further elaboration.

“…what do you mean by that?” Tails tilted his head, his brow furrowed.

“What if we just went under the platforms?”

Tails turned to look back at the puzzle, and immediately facepalmed again.

xxx

Shadow and Sticks appeared together, in the third and final starting area of the labyrinth. 

“Fancy seeing you here.” Shadow remarked, half to himself.

“Huh?” Sticks blinked at him, clearly confused.

“It’s just a joke—obviously you were brought here with the rest of us and are now visibly partnered with me, so a comment that implies surprise is meant to be sarcastic.”

Sticks stared for another moment…and then actually snickered. “You’ve got a good sense of humor,” they said casually, as though they were discussing the weather instead of dropping a massive compliment bomb directly on Shadow’s head.

The android’s eyes immediately dropped to the floor. “Ah. Thank you.”

“Just telling the truth,” Sticks said, taking a couple of steps forward before glancing over their shoulder to see Shadow properly. “I don’t get why people bother with saying anything but what they mean.”

“I know why they do it, but I don’t necessarily enjoy it.” Shadow explained sympathetically.

While he had been speaking, Sticks had already peered suspiciously around the nearest corner to see what Nominatus had in store for them. Abruptly, their eyes widened, and they shot back around the corner as quickly as possible. “Shadow?” they said, looking over at him warily. “Can ya use this—” they held out a leather hair tie—“and tie up your quills real quick?”

“Certainly.” Shadow began to put up his quills without complaint. “I don’t doubt your judgment, but might I ask why?”

Sticks frowned. “I think you probably need to see for yourself, but I just have one other question first, while we wait for their backs to turn around again.” One of their ears twitched, signaling that they were listening to something. Indeed, when Shadow focused on his own auditory receptors, he could hear the slow, methodical pace of feet drawing nearer. Metal feet, to be exact.

“What is it?”

“The parts and schematics used to make you, they’re the only ones that exist in the world, right?” They rubbed their upper arm uncomfortably.

Shadow frowned, baring his fangs ever so slightly.“Yes. I have the only set of blueprints, and spares for almost everything. It’s enough to do patch jobs, but not enough to build another android.

“Sticks…what exactly did you see?” 

“Something that shouldn’t exist.” they muttered, their ears flicking back briefly against their head. They gestured to the corner, letting Shadow know that it was safe to take a look.

He walked up to the edge of the wall, looked around it, and saw…himself.

Copies of him.

Walking right there.

In the hallway.

xxx

Amy still knelt at the edge of the pit, staring down into the darkness. By now, she had begun to scan the interior of the abyss, searching for any type of foothold that could be used to scale its sheer sides. So far, she wasn’t having much luck, but if there was one thing that she made sure everyone knew about Amy Rose, it was that she did not quit.

Suddenly, she was startled out of her intense focus by a chiptuned sound behind her.

She whirled around, lunging forward and swinging her hammer as hard as she could at the threat—

—and blinked, wide-eyed, as it passed right through Sonic’s flashing body and the “TWO LIVES” message.

“Huh. Respawn invincibility, that’s helpful.” he remarked, before shaking his head (and rustling his quills in the process) as he came back to reality.

“Hey, wait, what was that for?! You were gonna hit me!” Sonic complained.

Amy huffed unhappily. “I thought you were down in that pit! I was just about to climb down there and look for you!”

Sonic grimaced. “Yeah, no, probably don’t do that one. I…don’t think it has a bottom.”

“…what.”

“I didn’t hit anything, I was just falling, and then all of a sudden I reappeared back here.” he explained, making Amy glance back over her shoulder and shudder.

“Alright, so how are we getting over it?” she asked.

Sonic shrugged. “I dunno, maybe you could just hit me over or something?”

“…how would I get over after doing that?” Amy gave him a decidedly unimpressed look.

“Ah. Yeah. Right.” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I could run along the wall and take you with me?”

Amy smiled confidently at him. “Now that sounds like a plan.”

“Alright, lemme just—” Sonic stretched out both of his arms, did a couple of quick side-lunges, and then shot her one of his trademark grins. “You ready?”

“Of course I am.” she said proudly, tossing her quills.

Moments later, a blue blur had grabbed her and was already racing across the wall, moving so quickly that gravity didn’t even have time to consider dragging them both down into the pit. (Gravity might have been tempted to post an incensed rant on the internet about this lack of respect for established institutions, namely laws of physics, were it capable of doing so.) Somehow, they even managed to tear back down the wall on the other side, before skidding to a stop safely on the other side of the pit.

It was at this point when Amy noticed that Sonic had taken her hand to pull her across. Coincidentally, it was also exactly this moment when Sonic realized just what he had done. He immediately pulled his hand away with such speed it’d have given her friction burn had she not worn gloves, and refused to meet her eyes.

Amy, meanwhile, smiled quietly to herself. She understood.

“So, how about we finally get out of this maze?” she asked, granting him freedom from his own internal embarrassment.

Sonic perked up immediately, his energy fully restored. “I thought you’d never ask!”

xxx

“Alright, Knuckles, are you ready for this?” Tails asked, once again. “We’ll need to move quickly under these platforms if we want to make it before they drop back down.”

“I was born ready!” the echidna insisted, cracking his knuckles and beaming confidently. “Literally—echidnas are meant to dig in enclosed spaces anyway, that’s why I’ve got these bad boys!” He dropped into a boxing stance easily, showing off the newly-reinforced spikes on his hands.

Tails smiled, shaking his head and running a hand through his bangs. “Okay, just promise me you won’t try to dig through solid steel.”

“Pinkie promise!” Knuckles replied cheerfully, holding out his hand with little finger stuck out and all.

The fox snickered, but held out his own hand and linked their fingers, as requested. Then, he turned to the platforms, flicking his tails a few times in an effort to warm them up somewhat. “All set?” he asked his friend.

Knuckles shifted into a stance that was even closer to the ground, letting more of his innate instincts take over as he prepared to power through the obstacle ahead. He flexed his fingers, curling them into fists once more, before giving Tails a thumbs-up.

Tails gave him one back (along with a smile that looked astonishingly like Sonic’s) and then, sucking in the biggest breath he could, yelled “GO!”

Immediately, Tails tore off, blasting forward and around obstacles with a speed cultivated from following his older brother around for years on end. Knuckles was no slouch himself, however, able to squeeze into unexpected places while the platforms were low from his lifetime of practice digging tunnels. His sense of direction was second to none as well, helping him avoid obstacles even when they didn’t register consciously in his mind.

He did almost try to dig once or twice in an effort to stay down, especially as the ceiling began to rise, but he thankfully remembered his promise to Tails each time and didn’t do more than push off a little awkwardly from the ground as a result. Meanwhile, the engineer had pulled out his dual pistols and was firing off shots at the platform mechanics ahead, trying to at least get one or two of them to slow down without actually compromising his own speed.

However, as they pushed themselves further along the course, the tangle of uneven machinery posed more of a threat than they would have liked. Tails struggled to maintain his top speed while dodging pistons, and Knuckles nearly got his spikes snagged on wiring a number of times.

Vaguely, out of the corner of his eye, the echidna registered some of the pistons beginning to extend to their fullest heights, even as the end was in sight, and so—

—launching himself off the ground with all fours, he hurled himself towards Tails and curled around the fox with just enough momentum to get them clear of the platforms right before they crashed down.

After a moment of silence, Knuckles uncurled, to reveal a perfectly unharmed and extremely delighted Tails. “We made it!” he cheered, holding up a hand that Knuckles had no hesitation in high-fiving right back.

[Camera gives a close shot of the high-five, before cutting to the next and final group.]

xxx

Shadow felt a prickle of cold run down his back and lodge itself right in what passed, in him, for a stomach. “Those…what are they?”

Sticks jumped on his shoulders, making him nearly overbalance and grip the corner of the wall in an effort to prevent them both attracting the attention of the things. “Fakes,” she said simply, distracting him from any ire he might have felt towards her. “They’re walking weirdly, nothing like how you do. They don’t even seem to know how to use those skates they’re wearing.”

Shadow tensed further. “They shouldn’t know much of anything, since they’re not made by the Ancients or the doctor.”

“Do ya wanna smash ‘em?” Sticks asked eagerly, but seemed to hesitate when he couldn’t think of a reply. Sure, he didn’t want them to continue existing, but it felt a little strange to smash things with his face on them…especially so soon after this little group had convinced him that maybe his face didn’t deserve to be smashed.

She hopped off his shoulders, pulling him back behind the wall. “…do you want me to smash ‘em while you wait here?”

Shadow shook his head. “I don’t want you to get hurt. I just don’t really like the thought of hitting a bunch of weird robots that someone’s made to look like me…” he muttered.

“Well, how about this? You go out there and Chaos Blast them, then just hang back and cover me!” Sticks offered, grinning in a distinctly feral manner and slamming one fist into an open palm.

“You’re okay with beating up a bunch of other Shadows?” he asked, frowning.

Sticks shook her head hard. “No, I’m okay with beating up a bunch of robot imposters trying to impersonate my friend! This is my dream!!”

[Camera shows a close-up shot of the lower part of Shadow’s face, as well as the top of his chest. His mouth has a small, yet very genuine smile.]

“Well then, let’s not waste any time, shall we?” he said, activating his skates and blazing around the corner.

“CHAOS BLAST!”

xxx

Not long after their scrape with the bottomless pit, Amy and Sonic found their way into the center of the labyrinth. Before either of them even had a chance to consider any of the other pathways, Knuckles and Tails came running out of one of them, seemingly in high spirits. It only took the two teams a second to register the sight in front of them, before the four were practically crashing into each other with excitement at finally being reunited.

They didn’t have long to wait before Shadow and Sticks arrived, moving at a much slower pace. Shadow’s legs, skates, and gloves were smeared with a strange black substance, but he was otherwise clean—in stark contrast to Sticks, who looked like they’d just been through about fifteen oil changes. There was hardly a body part that wasn’t splattered with the stuff, not to mention their bow and quiver, which were practically dripping.

“Are you alright?!” Amy cried, rushing over immediately and pulling out a spare glove in an effort to help Sticks tidy up somewhat. “Oh my goodness, what happened to you?”

Sticks, meanwhile, folded their arms triumphantly. “We fought a bunch of fake Shadows! I got most of them, but Shadow hit a lot with his Chaos Blast powers.”

Shadow sighed, nearly going to rub his face but then looking at his glove and reconsidering. “It certainly was an experience.” he muttered.

Sonic made a move towards him, but just as he did, the ground began to shake. The six heroes wobbled briefly, stabilizing each other just in time to register that the labyrinth’s center circle they stood on was actually a platform—one that was slowly rising towards the final level. But after the strangeness of the labyrinth, there was no real way for any of them to guess what might be coming next.

The platform delivered them into a dark room, marked only by a dome of red cross-hatching that gave off a faint glow. Automatically, they all grouped into a tight circle, watching each others’ backs carefully.

With a flash of light, the dome lit up around them, showing hundreds of thousands of message bubbles winking in and out of existence each moment. 

ohc nominatus streams never disappoint

stacicoot just subscribed!

GET THIS BREAD!!!

I mean, it’s not like we wanted to watch this, but nobody else could be bothered to spend any time with us…

Suddenly, Nominatus dropped from the ceiling, landing in a surprisingly striking pose as his cape billowed behind him. “Welcome…” he bellowed, “to the final boss!

“You’ve done very well so far, and I honestly do appreciate it.” he continued, striding towards the team. “It’s been a while since I had a big event, and I needed something like this to boost my ratings in the algorithm. You all definitely delivered! I haven’t had this many viewers in a while! But I’m afraid…these people certainly aren’t here to watch you win.”

He smirked. “They’re here for me. So while you may have survived this far—

“—I suspect you’re about to break that streak.”

“Oh, no way!” 

Sticks pushed to the front of the group, her teeth bared. “I just hit my personal best in ‘number of enemies defeated in solo combat’, and I plan on living to beat that another day, gamer boy!”

All five of her teammates burst into various degrees of laughter behind her at the name she’d chosen for Nominatus. Bolstered by their support, she continued: “Nobody else might want us to win, but we want us to win! And guess what? That’s enough for me!”

Around her, the others burst into cheers, drawing their cool cyber-weapons. And then, they charged.

[For the rest of the fight scene, the animation kicks up a notch. It starts with a fast circle pan around Nominatus as all of the heroes attack him in their own unique ways, from a whack that only a quick forearm block kept from hitting him in the face (complete with comical CLANG sound effect) from Shadow to an earth-shattering ground slam delivered by Knuckles. 

However, the camera then reveals that this has done absolutely nothing to significantly damage the digital demon…

Then, the team begins to work together in similar ways to what they did during their time in the labyrinth, and nearly every strike hits perfectly. Nominatus hits back with lasers and harsh swipes with his claws, now finding himself struggling to even the odds. It becomes clear quickly that teamwork, as it often proves to be, is what helps the heroes succeed in their battles.]

When he saw an opportunity left by a successful hit from Shadow and Sticks, Sonic raised his sword, dropping into a fighting stance. He shot a wink over at Amy, smirking. “Hey Ames, you ready to see my Terminal Smack?”

The hero revved up his legs, faster and faster, until they formed a figure eight—and then he shot forward, leaping into the air, and slashed his sword downwards. 

Nominatus went flying backwards, skidding across the ground. As he came to a stop, the various messages began to flicker out, one by one, becoming more sparse as time ticked by.

The demon struggled to push himself upright, his arms shaking. “No…no! Wait, chat! Chat, I can still win this! No!!”

Sonic grinned, pointing his sword down at Nominatus. “You want us to keep kicking your butt on livestream? Or are ya gonna let us go?”

“Ugh…fine!” the demon snapped. “Just go! I’ll find other ways to diversify my content!”

And with that, the world broke down around them, becoming more and more pixelated…

…until then they were back in Tails’s living room.

“Aw yeah!” Sonic cheered. “Did you guys see me with that sword? I was all like hah—hyah—” he continued, mimicking his movements from the fight moments prior.

“Yes, Sonic, we were all there. We definitely saw it.” Shadow replied, voice drier than a Meh Burger bun.

All of a sudden, the TV blinked on behind them, their game of Ultimate Sibling Smackdown still loaded. “Ready for another round?” the announcer asked, cycling through one of its preset voice lines.

All six heroes either screamed, jumped, or did some combination of the two. Tails even ended up in Knuckles’s arms.

“Uh…maybe we should hang out on the beach for a while. Far away from any video games.” the fox suggested, after an awkwardly silent moment.

The rest of the team, still in varying states of sheepishness, wholeheartedly agreed with that particular statement.

[roll credits]

[yunhsuanhuang]

SIX OBSERVATIONS ON VISION / YH HUANG

 1. I've always had bad eyesight. That’s just how it is. My mom and my siblings are shortsighted too, but mine has always been the worst. I was the first kid in my kindergarten class to get glasses--and the only one, for a minute, but that didn't last long. By the time I was sixteen, there were only a handful of kids I knew who didn't wear them. I read this article once that said that one in every three children in this country develops myopia. It's genetic. Inherited. We can't help it. Or so it said.

2. Lately I've been thinking about inherited things: what’s our fault, what isn’t, what can and can’t be changed. Lately it feels like everything I touch I change for the worse. Lately I've been holding my screens too closely to my face, squinting to make out the signs on the train, unable to make out the leaves on each tree. Lately it feels like I'm blurring out of my own grasp. 

3. Your eyesight is supposed to stop declining when you’re sixteen. But that's not really true, not for me. A lot of things that were supposed to get better from sixteen didn't, and anyway I've never gone six months without my prescription increasing. When I was a kid I used to stare out the window as my mom drove back home from the eye clinic, wallet a hundred dollars lighter and disappointment so thick that even I could see it. Too much phone, she'd mutter to herself. Too much device. I'd try to apologise, but she'd always keep her eyes on the road. For what? she'd say. It's not my problem. Be sorry for yourself. 

4. So Father, forgive me, I've sinned again: my phone’s a square in the darkness an inch from my face. My glasses are somewhere on the floor, collecting dust. In time I'd come to regret this, but that’s no matter: here you are, painted in cubist smears and squares, boy crowned with bokeh like a Hollywood flick. Untouchable, lovely boy-- not in spite of, but because: lovely like the far-off blue shadows of the hills, lovely like street lamps stretching into starlight, lovely like an old film movie, the floating dust shifting and changing when the light hits your skin.

5. I don't know how to look at you without seeing myself. I don't know how to look at the world without seeing you. Maybe that means the two of us are what's left of the world: brains in neighbouring jars, sharing the same fluid. Or maybe that just means that I've been selfish all my life-- that this is just, has always been, me finding my reflection in the angles of your face. Boy in pixels, boy in frames, boy sharper on screen than in real life: everything beyond you’s a blur. When I try to look out the window, all I see staring back is me, me, me. I'm sorry I love you. I'm sorry I don't. I've never loved a thing that wasn't bad for me. That’s just how it is.

6. So my prescription's increased again. I'll have to get it checked.

[tossawary]

On the subject of Dracula Daily starting again (link to sign up for the emails) (link to the Re: Dracula audio version happening this year), I've been playing some Vampire Survivors lately and it's quite fun (link to the Steam Store). Sharing bc I just like the game a lot.

You play as a little pixelated sprite moving around these endless maps as hordes of pixelated monsters come at you from all directions. You collect XP from the monsters you kill that allows you to buy weapons and upgrades, but all of your weapons are on automatic timers, so the only thing you can really do is run around going, "Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" and try to point your weapons in vaguely the right direction. By the end of a level, if you survive that long, you become a little whirlwind of death as layers upon layers your overpowered magic whip around you against waves of cartoony monsters so thick that you can barely see the screen.

Note: the game does come with a photosentivity warning at the beginning. But it's very cheap (with no microtransactions) and quite charming, with some cute designs and humor, and makes me nostalgic for all sorts of old arcade games and also reminds me of stuff like Castlevania. And there's no intense or complicated story happening so it's easy to jump in and out of playing.

The only thing I can think of that's missing for me right now is a multiplayer mode so that I can bring my sibling (also an adult) over to play with me, so we can frustratedly yell at each other for going the wrong way on our shared screen like we're 12 again.

And right now, I would LOVE (and would honestly pay money for, devs, pls) a mod or a DLC where I could play as the cast of Dracula, especially if there was a Dracula's castle level where I could fight him and his brides. I want to play as little pixelated Jonathan or Mina Harker running around shooting fireballs and throwing daggers at hordes of monsters. Get a little Van Helsing and a cowboy Quincey with a whip and a Lucy with that flower power in there.

MISS MINA has arrived at DRACULA'S CASTLE to get her FUTURE HUSBAND back. She has a WHIP in one hand and CROSS that can be thrown like a boomerang in the other, and her DEATH COUNT is going to be in the THOUSANDS by the time she's done.

[doodleiscomingforu]

hi hi!! So I’ve made a fanfic and I want ur guys Opinion!!

Tw: attempted suicide, od and that’s it, contains lava, and rgb siblings :) also later in the story it’ll be way more calm, but it’s only chapter 1

——————

No one's pov.

Another day on the bounty, Kai was, of course, sitting on his ass. Cole was laying in his bed, while Jay and the others were training. Cole got up, thinking to himself, ' Should I go train?...nah, i'll go visit kai instead, i mean it's not gonna be awkward or anything? Right? '

He gets up, then knocks on his door. " Kai? Ya in there buddy? " Cole kept knocking on his door. "One sec! " Kai said, you can hear his laptop going off, and possibly him cleaning.. "Okay, I'm here! What ya need cole? " Kai said, leaning on his door frame.

" Nya was telling me about you being more cooped up lately, I also heard you cleaning your room, and it's usually always clean, are you okay? " Cole raised an eyebrow. Kai then would stand up straight, making a more serious face. " Are you serious? That's what you bothered me about? whatever. " Kai slammed the door on Cole's face, " What? Kai let me in dude. " " Fine, be stubborn. I'm going to bed, " Cole walked away, mad at Kai for being a hotheaded bitch, but also mad at himself for not being able to help kai.

Kai's pov

" Why did I push him away? " Kai thought, he slid down on the wall into a sitting position with his face buried into his knees. Kai would take his phone out, and read his timer on how long he's been without almost overdosing,

" 4 days, 7 hours and 9 minutes, " Kai would then reset the timer, he sets his phone down, his background him and Cole, " I'm sorry cole. "Kai would then open his drawer in his right bedside table, taking out an orange pill bottle, taking the whole thing...without water " my throat.. " Kai said to himself. He fell on his bed, passed out.

No one's pov.

Kai wakes up, sweating. " Is this a dream? " He walked around, the ground clear, the sky filled with white fluffy clouds. "Hello? Anyone here? Am I dead? " Kai would turn around seeing...Garmadon?.. Kai pulls out his sword, about to fight him,

Garmadon then grabs him, " nuh uh uh, not so fast fire ninja. "" I have a deal for you, " Garmadon was still holding Kai with one of his four arms. "I  would never take a deal from you, you monster! " Kai said, trying to free himself. "Just listen to me first, you could wake up, dead. Or i can give you oni power, and survive, now what it'll be Kai? Lose yourself, your friends and your sister? Or accept my offer, and become oni. " Garmadon let go of kai, he laid there thinking,

" i..i accept your offer Garmadon. " Kai says, getting up. " Great. I'll see you when you wake up, Kai smith. " Garmadon says, before Kai wakes up

Cole's pov

" Hey Nya? I wasn't able to get to him. When I asked, he slammed the door in my face, are you guys able to come back to the monastery? I need all the help I can get, he locked his door too, I need help opening it. " Cole said, on the phone with Nya " alright, i'm heading home with jay and lloyd right now, think you can get zane and pixel? " She says. shortly before Cole could answer,

she hangs up. Classic Nya, Cole calls up zane who's at the mall with pixel " Yes cole? " he says.

" Hey zane, i need you and pixel at the monastery. Kais locked himself in his room, and i can't get him to open it, think you can get over here fast enough?

" Yes, I'll be there in approximately 2 minutes and 21 seconds. "" thanks zane, i'll see you soon. " Cole put his phone down, and sighed.

No one's pov

Soon, Nya and the others soon arrived at the monastery, " so, why'd you call us here again? " Jay said, putting his hands on his hips. " Kai slammed the door on my face while I was trying to ask if he was okay, I had called you guys cause I felt something was odd, very odd, so? Can you break his door down or not, " Cole asked

impatiently.

" the group fell silent for a moment, before Zane sped walked down the hall way, freezing Kai's door with ice, " now you can break it down Cole. " Zane said, backing up. Cole then kicked the door down, to reveal that Kai was passed out on his bed.

" oh my god..KAI! " Nya ran past Cole grabbing her brother " WAKE UP! PLEASE.." she shook him, " Zane analyzed the room, then walked over to this dresser, " hey look at this! " he held up the bottle of pills, " Thier pain killers, didn't he get those after our mission where he broke his leg? " Zane said, looking at them. " IS HE GONNA DIE? KAI WAKE UP PLEASE.." Nya shook him even more, before being pulled away by Jay and Cole.

Kai then suddenly woke up, sweating and breathing heavily. " g-guys..? why are you in my room.. " Nya escaped cole and jays grip, pulling Kai into a hug, " KAI! YOUR ALIVE " she said, tightening her grip. " what even happened..? " Kai said, confused. " you overdosed Kai, and somehow didn't die. " Zane said with the bottle still in his hand.

" NEVER DO THAT AGAIN KAI- " Nya paused, taking a good look at him. " your eye..it's purple, dark purple. "

———-

Tbc!!!

[fe-sibling-duo-tournament]

Fire Emblem Sibling Duo Tournament: Winners Round 3 - Match 1

Propaganda under cut:

Mercedes & Emile:

Their story is so sad. They survived a horrid man together, but were separated. Mercedes lives with guilt and a desire to have her brother return(I'd even argue that the reason Mercie acts as such a doting big sister figure for most people is because she misses Emile so much and wants to recreate that bond with someone!), but Emile is swamped with demons. On so many paths, they long to have their sibling bond restored, but Emile fears the Death Knight too much to reciprocate and often dies as a result, leaving Mercie to mourn him. On Crimson Flower, Mercedes can wind up betraying her Faerghus friends, but at least they reunite, and yet… even here, Emile has built up walls. Even if they're paired together, Emile leaves for years and only returns once his penance is paid. They have to spend so much of their lives apart.

It might be a bit cliche, but the yin yang dynamic is everything to me here. Mercedes representing healing and warmth, growing from your pains into someone kind, vs. Emile who embodies mental anguish, stagnation, violence and pain while still having the potential to grow is still interesting and cool. You also have the sacrifices Emile made, Mercedes remembering his favourite sweets even a decade after they parted, etc. Their supports are bittersweet but end on a promising note. I care too much about 3d pixel people.

Ike & Mist:

Classic sibling duo! Big bro who will do anything to protect little sis, except little sis wants to prove she can protect big bro too! But it goes deeper than just that. I really love the insight into their dynamic after Greil's death. The basic traits of their dynamic are amped up because they're afraid, afraid of losing each other after they're the only thing the other has left. Ike has to get stronger, stronger than Greil, stronger than the Black Knight - because he can't die and leave Mist. He can't be that cruel. And Mist needs to find any excuse to still stand next to him. She'll never be as strong as Ike, that she knows, but if she can heal him when he's injured, if she can make him safe with her own two hands, that is enough. She cannot sit in wait, cannot live in fear that he will be there one day and gone the next, just like Greil. And these reactions to grief are basically the same thing - a desire for power so tragedy doesn't need to repeat itself. How they come about power is different, but they're the same at their core. Sibwings.