#d&d choices pb

[hotchocolatelovesyou]

Duke Richards and Sir Gideon are gonna hate fuck and then friendly fuck and then make love in that cell, I'm telling you right now.

Also, Gideon was in love with our brother Harry fr fr

No, you can't convince me otherwise

[uselessgay10101]

Bitch you ASKED-

[masked-alien-lesbian]

Not that I want to marry Duke Richards or Sir Gideon Payne by any means, but rereading Desire & Decorum has made me wonder what it would be like to play a more morally darker mc that gets married to someone who is trying to overthrow the king or queen. Something like TC&TF but instead of fighting to get your throne back, usurping the throne. Watching the world burn for you obtain power...

[qprpbj]

ik u posted ab this like a million and one years ago but ur pb&j runaway au literally haunts me. like literally stare up at my ceiling at night thinking about how fcking upset soda and darry would be haunts me. so i must know how do u think that went down 😣 like who brought up running away who actually brought it up as a Serious Thing They Could Do was it impulsive or heavily premeditated did they have a very solid plan HOW DO THE GANG REACT TO ITTTT omg this au haunts me SO BAD u have no idea 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ in my head i envisioned it as like they have a plan and a set day but then darry does smth that Really pisses pony off and he’s like “johnny 😐😐 idc we were meant to go in two weeks we’re going NOW i fcking #hate my brother” SO I NEED TO KNOW HOW U ENVISIONED IT i’m dying dead no matter what btw i love ur mind about the outsiders

stop bc i thought i elaborated more on that but when i scrolled down my account i literally made one half assed post and that IT oh that is so insane. i literally think about them on the daily though it’s not even funnyyyy so this ask made me so happy 🙇🙇 (just so you know these are basically all just messages of mine copy pasted from chats with @girlishwhimsies bc i’m too lazy to write it all out in diff words and bc the lore for this au still EATSSSS but id be SOOO happy to elaborate more on anything :D)

- i’m imagining some universe where like. the slap and everything never happens but that also means pony never really has a reason to bond with darrel so it just stays tense and weird for years and eventually he’s like. 16/17 and johnnys 18/19 and everything’s just gotten worse and both of them are so tired of their lives here. pony sees some obscure movie at the theatre and/or reads a new age book that’s set in new york about queerness in some way (idk what movie and/or book. will have to research) a la i’ve seen it in the movies and in the books i’ve read, this place is real, it’s not just in my head btw. and pony brings this to johnny and excitedly tells him this plan he has to just. up and run away to new york. he can drop out and change his name and get new ids (it was the 60s tbf) and say he’s a year or two older and he’ll get a job too with johnny. that they don’t have to just dream about being far away from tulsa, so to speak, they can just. do it. the only thing stopping them is themselves and their fears

-pony going to the library and stealing maps and checking out like 10 books about travelling and saving money and about new york and. maybe one or two he hides about queerness

-them asking dally what new york is like and dally getting all pissed but not thinking much of it. then suddenly they’re vanished with all their belongings overnight and dally knows Exactly where they’d have gone. the gang has to follow them but they never catch up

-dally shooting up in bed one night like a week later at like 3am rushing over to the brothers house all i know where they are. they asked me about. about new york the other day. oh my fucking god and darrel’s all just??? new y— NEW YORK?? what the hell did you SAY TO THEM??

-frankly i think they’d wanna go and look after them but they’re poor and darry has a job so. they just put out missing persons requests and have no choice but to call it a day. darry feels guilty but they were never that close but. but soda??? soda knowing pony ran away from him??

-i think pony would leave some cryptic message in a copy of gone with the wind (ironic) addressed to soda in the cover before he leaves but soda literally doesn’t read so he probably doesn’t find it it for ages. something about how you were the only thing keeping me alive in tulsa but i gotta go be my own person now, get away from all of this shit

-darry turns what remains of pony’s room upside down inside out looking for anything but. there’s absolutely nothing left for him

-pony sends a letter back to soda a couple months later all were safe and sound in new york and we really miss you, sodapop, every day. tell dally new york ain’t as bad as he thought…he oughta give it another shot someday. maybe you too, soda. tulsa ain’t home to people like us, soda, you’ve gotta understand why we had to leave

-he sends his first letter without a return address yet bc he’s not ready for soda to know where he is but the next one!!!

-by then it’s been like six months and pony’s hair is bleach blond (smiles) and he looks healthy for maybe the first time really ever. pony sheepishly coming out from behind his friend in some goofy totally-not-pony outfit (bc he’s fallen in loveeee with fashion. btw.) and soda hugs him so fucking tight he swears he stops breathing for a minute

-you know…darry’s been real choked up since you left. you know he…he gets it, right? he’s like you. n’he’s real torn up you left when he couldn’t, honey.

-maybe you…could bring him here, too. there’s family here for him if..he wants it. he’s just gotta get brave like i did.

[the-unconquered-queen]

🗣️ Calling non-VIP Choices Tumblr

Ever since PB started the VIP system in 2019/20, we know that spoilers are everywhere. Even before that, people with access to assets had been pretty careless about sharing them. And now every book is early release, so suffice it to say, it's rough out here being a non-VIP and skirting spoilers.

So I'm taking Tumblr up on its new communities feature to start Playchoices non-VIPs, a space for us to talk about books at the pace of wide releases :D

So, for example, say you want to see content for your favorite Immortal Desires LI, but know that if you go into their tags, you'll just find early release spoilers? I know that happens to me, all the time (😭), so with a community for us, those spoilers are OUT of the equation.

Two things to be clear about:

Despite the name, the community is NOT exclusive to non-VIPs, and VIPs are more than welcome; that just reflects that it's about matching non-VIPs' pace and that they're the ones who benefit from the spoiler-free space.

The community isn't just for the books on ongoing wide release at any given point; you can post about any book/content that's available to non-VIPs. You wanna talk about a book that ended ages ago? Awesome! You wanna talk about the first book of a series that the VIPs are one installment ahead on? Go right ahead, the main tag is probably a minefield of spoilers.

Right now, Tumblr restricts communities to a max of 500 people, but I'm p sure Choices Tumblr isn't so big that that's an issue anymore, so while I'd love for members to be active in the community, so far there are no restrictions on who can join. As I mentioned in the past, communities are invite-only right now, but ask me for an invite and I'll send it your way :)

The community only has one rule: no spoilers. That's literally it. If the content in question is NOT wide release yet (i.e. is currently early access or unreleased assets), "no spoilers" includes depiction/discussion of:

Gameplay screenshots

Plot points/moments in the story

Assets—sprites, outfits, CGs, etc. (e.g., an edit featuring an unseen outfit)

Theories that incorporate such content (e.g., "I suspect X in TDG because I read a shady spoiler about them")

That's basically all there is to know! Hope to see you there :)

TL;DR: I started a spoiler-free Choices community; feel free to come chat about any wide release/non-early access content to your heart's content 🥰

UPDATE: Our community is now named Choices Wide Release 💙

[lovebugism]

would it be okay to ask punchy x steve babysitting the kids for an afternoon? love the trope so much!

ty for requesting anon :D i love writing for punchy and steve sm!! — steve struggles to manage a date with you while babysitting, but you take it all in stride (established relationship, fluff!, tw for mentions of minor injuries, 2.1k)

fictober (㇏(•̀ᵥᵥ•́)ノ)

You’re a messy eater just like Eddie’s a messy eater.

You get crumbs everywhere and smear everything all over your chin. You never notice that sauce is dripping out of the backs of your burgers until mustard plops into your lap, leaving a faint yellow stain on your black ripped jeans that you’ll never quite get out. 

You’re a tornado in the kitchen, a hurricane in restaurants — leaving messes you’ll inevitably clean up before you go because you refuse to be a burden with your chaos.

But your messiness is much more poetic than Eddie’s messiness. You’re wild and ravenous, gentle and violent. You’re a purple thunderstorm made of flesh. Everything you do feels magical.

It’s why Steve doesn’t care when you get bread crumbs all over his flannel that you stole. It’s why he smiles when you get peanut butter on your chin from a too big bite of the PB&J he made you (he cut off the crust and everything).

With your cheeks puffed like a chipmunk’s, Steve reaches across the quilt you sit on and swipes the cream from your chin. He licks it off the pad of his thumb a second later.

“Ew,” you giggle as you chew through the mouthful.

Steve smiles at the heavenly sound. It almost distracts him from the racket of the bustling park and the roughhousing teenagers behind him. Almost.

“You’re so pretty,” he observes quietly with a lopsidedly fond smile on his rosy mouth. No one should be looked at so softly, especially not when they look as messy as you do now.

“You’re disgusting,” you retort, muffled through the food in your mouth until you swallow it down.

Steve’s grin widens. “I know.”

He leans in again, this time to kiss you.

His deep cologne and floral hairspray pervade the grey autumn around you. His lips are pink and softly parted, pretty enough to melt in. 

It defies every human instinct to pull away from him.

“Kids are watching, Stevie,” you remind in a gentle murmur. 

Your eyes flit past him to Max, Lucas, and Dustin. They stand together on the concrete, watching the redheaded girl flip on her skateboard. She does a cool trick — a kick and a twist that looks too easy when she does it — and they applaud her with all their obnoxious boyishness. She pretends to be annoyed, but you can tell from here that she’s blushing.

Steve loses all his softness with a deep, annoyed huff. 

He gets so lost in you that he keeps forgetting they’re even there at all — totally ruining the picnic date he’d planned for you weeks ago.

A laugh tumbles from your mouth at your grumpy boy and his subtle pout. “You invited them, you know?”

“Not by choice,” he grouses, annoyed and unkissed.

He can say that all he wants, but it was sort of by choice. He didn’t have to answer when Dustin called him right before he left to pick you up. He didn’t have to say yes when the boy begged to be picked up with the rest of his friends — ‘cause his dad was back in town and Billy was being particularly dickish to the Mayfield-Sinclair duo.

But he did. Because he can’t ever say no to them. 

It’s in his blood to defend them now. Like he’s always been destined to protect a bunch of fourteen-year-old nerds. 

Steve glances over his shoulder with an attentive squint in his honey eyes. His heart drops when he sees Dustin shakingly balancing on Max’s skateboard. 

Lucas holds his arm to keep the curly-haired boy from toppling over. The redhead stands off the side with her arms crossed, visibly unamused but not intervening either way.

“Okay, if you idiots are gonna skateboard, can you at least put on knee pads or something?” he calls to the three of them. The boys, mostly.

Lucas scoffs out a laugh. “You think we’re just walking around carrying kneepads, Steve?”

The brunette rolls his eyes with a sigh only an annoyed older sibling could muster. The disgruntled scrunch on his face ebbs when he turns to you — the cure to all his problems.

“Just ignore them,” he assures with a tightlipped smile. “Pretend they aren’t here.”

You nod, lifting your hand to push a couple of rouge strands over his forehead. The cinnamon tresses feel like silk between your fingers. You smile when the tendrils flop back into place the second your hand is gone.

“Okay,” you tell him, knowing he’ll have a much harder time ignoring them than you will.

—————

Steve’s flannel is thick and warm, smelling of deep musk and the jelly you accidentally dripped on the collar. 

You got all flustered about it — promised him you’ll handwash it later while rubbing at the stain with a napkin, spreading it and making the whole thing worse. 

You do that a lot. You should probably be used to it now.

Steve kisses you anyway. He presses a big, smacking kiss to your rambling lips — uncaring of the teenagers standing some feet away who are bound to make fun of him for being so sweet on you. He doesn’t really care. He gets made fun of anyway, and he’s far too proud to love you.

A crooked smile tugs slow at his lips when he pulls away. Something warm and light swirls in his chest at the shocked, doe-eyed look on your face.

“God, I love you,” he mutters with a soft shake of his head, like his own adoration for you is profound to him.

You didn’t think you could be loved for your chaos. Not until now, anyway.

He cradles you against his chest with his arms around your front, pressing you and all your entropy to his heart. Sat between his legs and the cool autumn air, you curl into him like a cat — wrapping your hands around the wrists he clasps in front of you.

His exhale is warm against your shoulder when he presses his lips over the flannel in a lingering kiss. 

Your face scrunches as you shrug. Not because you didn’t like it, but because the feeling made your skin feel all sparkly, and you didn’t know how else to react.

Steve knows this. He pulls away and smiles at your profile. “Is this as weird as you thought it would be?”

Being openly affectionate in front of all the kids, he doesn’t say. Being Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington’s girlfriend in front of the rest of the world.

You decided to tell his friends that you were dating at summer’s end after several months of agonizing about the whole thing. Well, the friends who didn’t know anyway, ‘cause neither of you can get anything past Eddie and Robin.

Max — whom you felt the strange need to impress most for some reason — responded with a simple and mumbled “Cool.” Steve had been the most concerned about telling Dustin, though; said the boy never does well with not being told things.

The curly-haired boy’s reply was a terribly deadpanned, “How the hell did you manage to pull that off?” at Steve.

No one particularly cared. No one treated you any different, though they made fun of Steve a whole lot more than they used to. 

“It is weird!” he’d told you that summer night after you snuck away for a smoke break. “That’s what makes it so cool!” He was right. About all of it.

You shake your head as an answer to his question. “No. Not really. They’re all super nice.”

“Yeah,” Steve scoffs. “To you.”

You smile as you turn your head, tilting your chin to look up at his stubbly profile. “Well, you’re like their older brother. They annoy you because they love you.”

“No, they annoy me ‘cause they’re annoying,” the boy grouses, then cuts himself off to shout at the kids some feet away. Lucas is gliding on Max’s skateboard now, with all the finesse of a baby deer just learning to walk. The sight irks his babysitting senses. “Hey! Be careful on that thing! You guys literally have no clue what you’re doing!”

“Speak for yourself!” Lucas shouts back, then almost loses his balance. 

Dustin laughs in response, loud and high-pitched.

Steve turns to you with a tightlipped expression and wide eyes, motioning to the kids with his palm. “See? See what I mean?”

“They love you,” you answer fondly.

“Also, I’m not their brother, alright? I’m the babysitter. That’s totally different.”

You perk up at that. 

He never liked admitting to being an unofficial babysitter. 

You don’t think he ever has before now. 

“Well, babysitters get paid,” you remind him with a scrunched nose and glittering gaze. “And you’re just watching them ‘cause you love them, so…”

Steve’s face goes flat as he thinks on your words. 

You’re right. Because you’re always right. 

The realization makes him sigh.

A gasp sounds from the distance, floating on the wind. A gutwrenching clattering noise follows quickly after — chipped wood on hard pavement. A low groan of pain comes seconds later.

You and Steve look to the side quick enough to get whiplash. Max and Dustin stand on either side of Lucas, who’s now sitting on the sidewalk and clutching his knee with his face screwed with agony. 

The brunette boy reacts immediately. “Fuck. I knew it,” he mumbles, urging you to sit up with a gentle palm to your shoulder so he can stand. He abandons the picnic he set up and rushes to the ailing boy’s side. You follow quickly behind him.

“Are you okay? Did you break anything?” Steve blurts in one breath with his hands on his hips. His eyes are wide as they dart over Lucas’ form, looking for any other injuries besides the one he cups with his hand.

“No,” the boy answers with gritted teeth. “Just fucked up my knee…”

“Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Lucas forgets his pain for a moment, just to give Steve a dumbfounded stare. “What? No. It’s just a scrape, dude.”

Steve nods, pleased and smirking, as he crosses his arms over his chest. “Good. ‘Cause know I get to say I told you so.”

All three kids roll their eyes at that, accompanied by a chorus of groans.

You dig into the bag hanging on your shoulder, fingers ciphering blindly through miscellaneous junk for the mini first aid kit you always keep inside. You’re the clumsiest person you’ve ever met. It’s sorta compulsory at this point.

You pull out a bandaid and crouch at Lucas’s side, dropping your purse to the pavement. “Can I see?” you ask him.

Silently, he pulls his hand away. The scrape on his knee is gnarly looking — pink and bright red — but it’s just barely bleeding. He hisses through his teeth when you spread the bandage across it, using the gentlest touch you didn’t think you could muster.

“Clean it out when you get home, ‘kay? So it won’t get infected or whatever,” you tell him as you dab at the pale-colored plaster with your fingertips. “Then put another bandage on, and you’ll be good as new.”

Lucas shoots you a small smile, shy and grateful. “Thanks, Punchy,” he mumbles as Dustin and Max help him stand again.

“No worries—”

“And everyone stay off the skateboard, alright?” Steve commands from behind you when you rise to full height again. “Don’t make Punchy clean up any more scrapes. She doesn’t even like you guys that much.”

“That’s not true,” you retort with a snorted laugh.

There’s a silence and a bright blue glare from the redhead beside Lucas.

Steve caves with a sigh. “Everyone stay off the skateboard except the girl who actually knows what she’s doing.”

Max smiles in a Max sort of way. The expression barely hints at her lips. It mostly resides in her sparkling ocean eyes.

The three of them saunter off again, totally unfazed, with the sort of resilience you only have when you’re a teenager.

“Little shits,” Steve mumbles, shaking his head.

You nudge him with your shoulder, still smiling. “Be nice.”

He tries to keep his grumpy disposition when he looks down at you. He quickly finds that it’s virtually impossible. He looks at you and he’s smiling before he even realizes it.

“You’re really good with them, you know?” he observes, fond and honeyed again.

“Well, that’s ‘cause you’re so good with them,” you retort with another nudge to his shoulder, utterly unable to take any compliment ever given to you. “I learned all my babysitting techniques from Indiana’s best, Stevie.”

“Well, I’m flattered,” he grins and leans down to kiss you.

You try to kiss him back. It’s hard when you’re smiling so wide.

[mariacallous]

lmao @ someone on my dashboard upset that Cori Bush lost. Ok even if you want to put her antisemitism aside, which is a big freaking thing to put aside, this is the same weirdo lady who claimed to catch a baby like a football and that she helped heal a random lady's tumors just through the power of prayer.

https://nbcmontana.com/news/nation-world/squad-member-claimed-womans-tumors-disappeared-when-she-touched-them-rep-cori-bush-d-mo-democrat-missouri-congress-politics-pbs-firing-line-rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-r-ga

The woman is a weirdo and the left can try putting forth serious candidates for a change if they don't want to be successfully primaried

She's just made so many bad and weird political choices and she almost always doubles-down, like I'm not going to be that sympathetic for her losing her primary.

[the-possum-writes]

a finn nsfw alphabet please :)

(I don't speak English that's why so sharp) no se si se entendio

Finn Mertens NS/FW Alphabet

A/n: No te preocupes también hablo español nvn Yippi my first alphabet!

Taglist: @watchingfromthefloorboards @foxpearlwilder

A = Aftercare

He's very affectionate and somewhat clingy, Finn would lay with you for a while before getting you a towel or something to eat/drink.

B = Body part

Finn likes his arms and hands even though they're calloused or riddled with tiny scars, because they remind him that he's strong enough to protect you from many evildoers.

As for his partner's, I'd say he isn't picky but he does like any part of you he can grab a handful and squeeze when cuddling (boobs, tummy, thigh)

C = Cum

It's kinda bitter to the taste because he really likes junk food, but beside that, it's usually a healthy creamy color and a jelly like consistency. He likes cumming inside and over you but would wear condoms if you ask him to, is particularly fond of dirtying your chest and/or face.

D = Dirty Secret

Back during his younger years he'd have this one fantasy about saving someone and they'd give their thanks via a favor of the oral kind. Maybe someday he'll tell you about it for a role play session.

E = Experience

Quite experienced. Finn is well liked, popular, has the confidence and carisma to smooch princesses during the breezy episode so that leads me to think he's gonna get around more often once he's older.

F = Favourite Position

Depending on his mood. If Finn has been out adventuring and hasn't seen you in a while he'd be all over you and would want to be as close to you as possible, like spooning behind you or simplistic missionary. But if he just came back from fighting a monster you know it still has his his blood pumping, he'd wanna take you down to pound town either doggy style or mating press.

G = Goofy

Finn is a silly guy, he'd say a pun or two if he's feeling inspired in the moment. He would also start chuckling if your body makes flatulent-like noises (when a little of air gets trapped in between thrusts and sounds like a gas because of the lube/sweat) during a heated session.

H = Hair

Doesn't usually groom himself downstairs so it's kinda bushy, like sometimes he'll trim it if he's in the shower and notices it's getting out of hand but most of the time Finn doesn't really care that much. You can sorta tell when was the last time he groomed himself (without seeing him naked) by measuring the hair length on his face and head. The color is a bit darker than the blond ones on his head, but still fairly similar.

I = Intimacy

Finn is very romantic, he's one to take things slow and enjoy the moment. He's attentive to your needs and a general sweetheart overall but he can also get overexcited at times and drives you to tears with pleasure, he would make sure you feel loved afterwards, spewing compliments and how much he loves you.

J = Jack Off

Finn didn't really jack off that often before meeting you since he shared a room with his bro but he would occasionally rub one off in the bathroom if he was in the mood. After meeting you though, he'd much rather satisfy that urge with you than alone, but if he's far away during a mission for PB he'd choose to wait it out until he got back to you.

L = Location

There's always the comfort and familiarity of your bedroom but another top contender would be the outdoors, he travels alot so camping in a tent in the middle of nowhere can be very relaxing for him, especially with no one around so he can have you as noisy as he wants.

M = Motivation

Anything you do has his neurons activate no matter if you're dancing, bending over the shelves or wearing that cute new outfit you bought the other day. But if you really wanna push all his buttons at once you just need to grab your weapon of choice and go adventuring with him, the moment he sees you fighting off monsters he'll be all over you like a bee on a flower.

N = NO

Finn doesn't like seeing you hurt, so anything with sharp objects or degrading vocabulary isn't on the table for him.

O = Oral

Prefers to be on the receiving end. Isn't that good at giving cause he gets sloppy lost in it and doesn't coordinate his hands when added to the mix.

P = Pace

Depending on his mood. But most of the time, rough and enthusiastic.

Q = Quickie

Isn't against the idea of lazy sex in the morning, but he'd rather do things properly to savor you instead of rushing it.

R = Risk

Doesn't take risks regarding public locations. Finn is resilient to most pains so he's willing to try out new things like impact play or wax play on himself, kinda unsure about bondage on himself but is interested in seeing you tied up.

S = Stamina

Impecable stamia. You'll never be able to outlast him and if you dare challenge him you can bet you'll be sore for days.

T = Toy

Wouldn't mind the occasional vibrator to tease and prepare you with, though that's about it cause the dildos makes him a teeny bit jealous (he wishes it was him instead) .

He doesn't own any toys himself since he doesn't jack it on his own, nor would he be interested in any on him. (might be open to you wearing a strap on if you ask enough)

U = Unfair

Fair. Finn enjoys teasing as long as it's in the bedroom like when you point out how badly he's spilling precum, however he's not a fan of it in public cause it's very obvious when he gets flustered since his face turns all shades of red. Just be warned, if you do tease him he'll return it once you two get some alone time.

V = Volume

Learned to be quiet back at the tree house but when you get him alone he can get unabashedly loud. Can go from desperate whimpers to legitimate growling.

W = Wild Card

Is most likely a switch, leans more to a sub role cause he likes being told what to do (Bubblegum sending him out to missions, and being Marceline's henchman awoke something in him)

X = X-Ray

Average size, roughly around 8 inches, he's a grower. Uncut, shaft is a bit darker than his usual skin tone with a bright tip.

Y = Yearning

Moderately high, like even when he's not a young man anymore with his hormones all over the place he still get riled up pretty easily.

Z = ZZZ

It takes a while for him to go to sleep, mainly because he waits until you're out first.

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

I want to start by saying thank you so much for running this blog! Also I'm writing this after an all-nighter so my apologies if it's not very comprehensible.

Just noticed something interesting I haven't seen anyone discuss but may be some good fodder for further speculation (one might even say a clue) - One of the early scenes in Season 2 Episode 1 Aziraphale takes a few records he says he requested from Maggie's store, apparently they're all by Dmitri Shostakovich, and the camera focuses on the top one which is "Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op 47". Apparently it's pretty famous since Wikipedia has an extensive article on it, as does PBS ( http://www.pbs.org/keepingscore/shostakovich-symphony-5.html )

Not to speculate too much, I'll leave that to someone who's more willing to dive down a rabbit hole, but I do think there was an intentional choice to bring attention to this piece (especially since even the CC somehow managed to get the name right).

Shostakovich was persecuted by the Soviet Government for his work, and it seems he was deeply conflicted between helping others and keeping his loved ones safe throughout his life. there seems to be a widespread belief that this piece in particular is intended to covertly convey false praises to a tyrannical government while in actually experiencing profound suffering. Maybe that is the connections Mr. Gaiman was going for?

Hope some folks (who are hopefully less sleep deprived then I am) will speculate further on this now that it's being brought to their attention, and or at least get someone to listen to some fantastic music.

Hiya! Oh? 👀

[icebluecyanide]

Rider family + languages

I've been going through the first seven Alex Rider books looking for references to what languages Alex and his family know, so I thought I might share my findings.

Alex: Is consistently said to speak French, German, and Spanish, although his proficiency level varies. John: Is said to be fluent in seven languages, one of which is French. Helen: Enjoyed foreign films and planned to move to France with John, likely spoke French. Ian: Taught Alex French, German, and Spanish, and talked about Latin and etymology with Alex.

Evidence/quotes given under the cut.

The Evidence

I mean, [Alex]’s lived abroad, so he now speaks French, German and Spanish. (SB, p.78)

But Ian Rider had made certain that his nephew spoke French almost as soon as he spoke English. Not to mention German and Spanish as well. (PB, p.122)

Then [Garcia] had spoken at length, in Spanish, with Turner. Alex had spent the best part of a year in Barcelona with his uncle and understood enough of the language to follow what they were saying. (SK, p.183)

The older of the two called himself Hunter. He was English, although he spoke seven languages so fluently that he could pass himself off as a native of many of the countries he found himself in. (ES, p.10)

[Alex's] French was almost as good as Jack’s, but then he had started learning when he was three years old. (ES, p.135)

Italian was one language Ian Rider hadn't taught him. (S, p.16)

“Funambulism,” Ian Rider said. “What's that?” “It’s Latin, Alex. Funis means rope. And ambulare is to walk. Funambulism is the art of tightrope walking.” (AA, p.82)

[Alex] is known to be fluent in two languages - French and Spanish - and is also proficient in German. (SH, p.35)

[Helen] went to the cinema a lot - she preferred foreign films if she had a choice. (SH, p.190)

[John]’d start a new life in France with you and your mum. I should have mentioned that he spoke fluent French, by the way. If things had gone the way they'd planned, you'd be speaking French now. You'd be in a lycée in Marseilles or somewhere and you wouldn’t know anything about all this. (SH, p.194)

+ Bonus Yassen:

Because he's part of the family in my heart. And because he's noteworthy for speaking nine different languages, including English (with no or only a very faint Russian accent), French, and Japanese.

On this night [Yassen] had been working with a tape recorder and a well-thumbed exercise book. He was teaching himself Japanese, one of the nine languages he had made it his business to learn. (ES, p.204)

[deconstructthesoup]

Some Adventure Time characters in D&D, 'cause why not:

Finn: I think he would start out as a Champion fighter, but then eventually switch to a College of Valor bard---fitting his more musical side while also keeping in line with his desire to be a hero and not making it all about violence---and maybe take a few levels of a Monster Slayer ranger for good measure. That last one is mostly due to the growth he goes through in Hall of Egress and him learning from Huntress Wizard, but I think it works. Also, he's still obviously a human.

Jake: Astral Self monk, Swashbuckler rogue. His whole deal as a stretchy, half-alien dog is very difficult to translate into D&D terms, but I think it'd make sense for him to be a changeling and a werewolf, keeping the whole canine aspect while also adding in the shapeshifting and the, uh... well, the whole "we have a kid who is definitely from somewhere else but we're keeping him anyway" thing.

Bonnie: I think her whole deal speaks to her being a textbook Alchemist artificer, and her princess nature, long lifespan, and a somewhat loose grasp on the concept of morality absolutely reminds me of high elves (no shade meant to PB, I love her and her emotional growth). However, just making her a high elf isn't enough---the fact that she was literally born from a mutagenic gum formed in the wreckage of a ruined world can easily translate to her also being a Reborn. Fitting, for a mad scientist.

Marceline: She's quite clearly a bard, and I think College of Spirits suits her the best---she's got a lot of connections to ghosts and undead things in AT canon, after all, and seeing as she survived an apocalypse, I think it's fitting that her college of choice would be one that's all about singing the songs of the departed. And, well... tiefling vampires are probably a thing in D&D, so. Yep.

BMO: He's an Inquisitor rogue and a lil' autognome. 'Nuff said.

Flame Princess: Circle of Wildfire druid, for reasons that are kind of obvious. And a Fire genasi. For reasons that are... also obvious.

Huntress Wizard: Um... a Hunter ranger. Probably an Eladrin due to the forest-like appearance, though I have no idea what her season is.

The Ice King/The Ice Thing/Simon: So, the Ice King, to me, is an eeeeeeeexcellent portrayal of a Great Old One warlock---specifically, a Pact of the Talisman warlock---gone horribly wrong. While the crown might not seem very classic GOO at first, the fact that using it literally gambles away your sanity is pretty in-line with the risks of that patron.

Gunther, pre-fusing with the crown, is really just a Great Old One on his own, albeit one that's been stuffed into a safe and squishy container. After fusing with the crown, and likely losing his memories of his time as Orgalorg for good, I think he probably became a Storm Sorcerer, as what powered his ice magic was now (almost) irremovable.

And Simon... honestly, between his nerdiness and his low constitution, he's just your classic wizard, really. Probably Chronomancy, due to his penchant for bouncing through time and multiverses.

Betty/Magic Betty/Golbetty: Order of Scribes wizard, who eventually became a Wild Magic sorcerer, who eventually became the Greatest Great Old One that there ever is. And yes, that makes Magic Man a Wild Magic sorcerer, because of course he is.

[hotchocolatelovesyou]

Shipwrecked is low-key one of the best smutty books that they have published, but NOT because of the smut

[masked-alien-lesbian]

Honestly? PB can't even make an enjoyable smut book. Take Surrender for example, it honestly doesn't even need Reagan or a LI at all. Take out the icky toxic power imbalance between a sheltered emotionally abused divorcee and her lawyer and just have MC go to court, take Pat for all they're worth so she's financially stable and THEN have her discover the world of BDSM.

Sloan could have been our teacher of BDSM and we could have had the choice of either falling in love with Sloan and starting an open or closed relationship with them or stay single and live a sexually free lifestyle with plenty of steamy fun for the horny readers. Instead we got....Reagan...

Shoutout to @kamilah-sayeeds-loyal-alien for shooting this idea to me in my dm and allowing me to post it. You're a true king!

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- My Two First Loves

Welcome to the twenty-seventh official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about My Two First Loves, which I have ranked on the "Rotting Flesh Tier" at 2 stars out of a possible 10. My last and only playthrough of this was back in April-June 2021.

Oh boy! Oh boy oh boy oh boy! I could write a whole essay on everything wrong with this…  

So I will. 

To put it briefly: this story feels like it was adapted from a Wattpad story that was written by a 12-year-old whose only ever exposure to high school media and depictions of teenage sexuality was Glee, and then had serious queer and mature themes slapped onto it in order to make it seem better. Y’know, the equivalent of trying to polish a turd.

Or, heck, it’s probably PB’s attempt at ripping off “The Kissing Booth”, seeing as both have a MC in a love triangle between her childhood best friend and a bad boy named Noah, after all. Which, funnily enough, was also originally adapted from some tween’s Wattpad story. That’s about the equivalent to a dog eating some rotten food, shitting it out, then another dog finds it, eats it, and then shits it right out again. And THEN that second dog’s owner comes along to try to polish that double-toured turd. 

Number 1: The LGBTQ+ tag is clearly an attempt to appease the queer players that they probably think are being whiny. 

Ava’s arc about realizing she’s a lesbian who had been experiencing compulsory heterosexuality is pretty solid in a vacuum. But her being an LI was so blatantly only a last-minute decision PB made during the writing process, and it shows because Ava’s CG just uses her game sprite while Mason’s and Noah’s are fresh art. 

MC starts to fall for Ava sometime around at least 30 chapters in, but we don’t get to officially pursue her as a romance option until about 70 chapters in. I get delaying her as a love interest a bit because of the whole thing with MC realizing she’s bi, but even then, there’s just so few opportunities for building any kind of relationship with her that it hardly feels authentic. 

Speaking of, MC’s supposed bi awakening is completely rushed and treated with about as much value as a Family Guy cutaway gag, even outside of Ava being sidelined. As someone who realized I wasn’t straight three years ago and is still questioning if I’m bi or straight, I understand that people take different amounts of time to figure out their sexuality. But this MC does not spend any period of time figuring out her bisexuality. She basically just goes “Welp, guess I’m bi now”, and then it’s back to being indecisive as per usual except now there’s a female love interest in the mix too.

To add insult to injury, "discussions of sexuality" is placed in a "player discretion" warning, alongside "racial tensions" and "occasionally violence" to boot. How the fuck is discussion of sexuality even remotely on the same level as either of those? If they meant discussions or depictions of homophobia then maybe I could understand… but I don’t even recall seeing any depictions of homophobia in the book, so including this in the freaking warning tags is pointless at best and kind of insulting at worst. 

Not to mention, plenty of other Choices books like MOTY, ILS, D&D, etc. have had discussions about sexuality/LGBTQ+ stuff before, and didn't have to warn us about it. Not even MAH, a later book which had discussions about freaking conversion therapy for Christ’s sake. Sure, some of those books did have content warnings, but they were generally vague and/or mainly warned for violence, and didn’t warn specifically for depictions of queerphobia or discussions of sexuality. Yet for some reason, MTFL feels the need to include a player discretion warning for sexuality discussions, even though it contains far less harsher queer themes. 

Number 2: The portrayal of teen sexuality in this does not feel earnest. 

Let me just say, I found it very jarring how this one was much more sexually charged compared to PB’s other high school books. PB is usually way more “safe” and PG-13 at most when writing high school characters. Even in books like ROD and WEH, where the characters are 18+ and do have smutty scenes, it’s clear that those books are a lot more restricted compared to the adult cast books.  

I mean, with WEH, the safeness makes sense– it was meant to be a serious and tender story from the start, and it does actually follow through on those themes. But ROD feels like it could have easily been as horny with its writing as MTFL was, what with being about a studious “good girl” who goes rebellious. In fact, the story’s loading screen was pretty infamous at first for looking “steamier” than other covers and loading screens.

In actuality though, ROD had only, what, one smut scene? And despite a lot of MC’s outfits being revealing or arguably sensual, there are practically no moments where MC fawned over how “sexy” a revealing diamond outfit looked. Like, I’m pretty sure there were just little to no sexually charged scenes in general. 

My point is, whatever compelled PB to make MTFL *this* sexualized is beyond me. My guess is the fact that PB called this one a story about “navigating sexuality” and thus wanted to focus more on the aspects of sexuality, but if that’s the case… hoo boy, did they do a terrible job at it. 

I don’t really care about the hypersexualized writing of the teenage characters on its own, or how the characters were initially not confirmed 18+ when the earlier smut scenes were written. What I find far more important is the fact that this sort of cliche and formulaic hypersexualized writing is in a book that markets itself as being about “a young woman navigating love and sexuality for the first time”.

Teens do indeed have sex and can be all over the place with their hormones and sexuality. A lot of us have been there in some way, myself included. And there are ways to talk about that type of stuff in a manner that is silly and/or exaggerated, but still earnest and respectful. But the particular way that MTFL handles super-horny teen sexuality, specifically while claiming to be a coming-of-age story, is neither earnest nor respectful. 

The way this story handles these sorts of topics is the writing equivalent to doing a surgery with Fisher-Price toy surgery tools. It’s genuinely difficult to take MC “navigating her sexuality for the first time” seriously when has to constantly blubber about how Mason and Noah are so muscular or how a diamond outfit has “naughty little thigh highs” or how she wants to do a “down and dirty” cheer routine with Ava for Mason and Noah. 

That last one especially feels like the kind of stuff we’d see more in a campy chick flick that doesn’t take itself seriously. Honestly, if this was a more campy high school book with the tone of DLS or the 2023 movie “Bottoms”, it probably wouldn’t be as glaring. But in a book that markets itself as a coming-of-age story, the tone feels completely off and the whole book honestly felt like it couldn't decide what it wanted to be. 

(Also, while we’re on this topic of MC’s premium outfits, I really fucking despise how MC gets so upset about wearing "mom clothes" if you choose to wear the free modest clothing instead of the revealing diamond outfit in Chapter 2. Ugh. Yes, the dad was being shitty about not letting MC dress how she likes, but all it does is it just makes you feel like shit for not wanting to dress in more revealing clothes. Stop making me feel bad for wanting to wear simple non-revealing clothing. Same goes for you, Chris Romantic Getaway story with your “the regular jerseys aren’t cute enough for girls to wear, we have to cut one up into a cleavage crop top in order to make it good for us girls to wear” bullshit.) 

And it just slaps you in the face with these sexual moments too, placing them in frequently whenever it feels like it, and the amount of it that actually contributed to any coming-of-age navigating-sexuality are few and far between. Honestly, it felt like it was trying way too hard to look "mature" with how it handled sexuality (as well as some of the other stuff like them drinking alcohol). Like it maybe was trying to portray teens realistically, but it only does so at a very shallow level. 

It's literally just "Look at the teens that talk about sex and like doing sexy things and having sex and doing grown-up stuff like drinking alcohol, see how MATUUURRREEE they are!" and they don't do anything more with it. It's just tacked on so they can pretend their book is a realistic story about maturing/being mature, when it fails at actually doing so.

I mean, I guess you could argue that the MC is meant to be seen as more messy and hormonal. And in that case, I could give it a pass. But, again, MC’s supposed arc of “navigating sexuality” never goes anywhere from that until the very last few chapters where you choose which LI she ends up with. It’s pretty much the same crap all throughout the book. MC doesn’t navigate sexuality, she just runs around aimlessly in it like a chicken with its head cut off.

Number 3: All the serious themes they try to have in the story are overshadowed by MC’s stupid indecisiveness plot. 

I’ve already said MTFL tries way too hard to make its story seem “mature” with the trashy way it sexualizes its characters. I’ve said it feels like it doesn’t know what it wants to be. Honestly though, this just sums up MTFL’s writing in general. 

MTFL has quite a handful of subplots, and I will admit, all of them are pretty compelling. You have Ava figuring out she’s lesbian, Mack dealing with gang drama, and Mason and Noah dealing with their past and Mason’s dad’s abusive behaviors. And an admittedly decent arc about MC discovering her love for photography instead of cheerleading. 

And then you have MC going on about how she can’t decide between her love interests, which is just the bad apple of the bunch that ruins the rest. It just makes it very hard to take everything else seriously. You ever seen that one meme where the Power Rangers put their hands in a circle but then a Teletubbie tries to join in? It’s the writing-equivalent to that, and MC’s indecisiveness plot is the Teletubbie. 

And maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if MC’s indecisiveness wasn’t the main focus plot of the whole book. I want to take these other storylines seriously. I want to take this story as a whole seriously. But how can I when the main focus of the story is so god damn shallow? No matter how many "soft positive heartfelt" piano tracks and “so sad and tragic sad” piano tracks from WEH they try put over it, it doesn't change the fact that the focus is MC going on and on about being unable to choose between Mason, Noah, and Ava. 

I get teens are shallow and can have shallow issues, but did we really need it to be that big of a focus of the story? Especially when the way it handles it is completely empty? Something like OG HSS was great because even though a lot of the issues the characters had were seemingly shallow and basic (such as the band fighting over which song to play), they do give a little more depth to it and reason to care about it (ie. Aiden starts to feel like a failure at music because of the band infighting). MTFL just throws MC’s indecisiveness at you for 95 chapters and expects you to take it seriously with nothing else surrounding it. 

And they try to pull the twist on the title at the end where it’s all like “LI and photography, the two greatest loves of MC’s life”. Which is an interesting idea in concept, except it feels so artificial and non-earned when MC’s romance plot was spending 95 chapters being unable to decide between the LIs. 

Number 4: It reuses way too much from HSS. 

I know this is a less severe issue, but I just can’t get past it. Sprites, backgrounds, school colors… even plot points like the corrupt principal embezzling from the school, or MC and LI(s) being locked in a large school room (remember when HSS:CA MC and Ajay were locked in the auditorium?). Heck, even MC having lost her mom and having a photography passion connected to that, rings way too similar to one of Autumn’s arcs from the freaking HSS PRIME GAME! Oh yeah, and both of those characters have a love triangle with a golden boy and a bad boy. Holy hell. 

Easily the most noticeable part is the sprites. In my playthrough, I counted 7 whole HSS sprites that were used in MTFL: Sydney became Iris, Payton became Toni, Frank became this random kid in a flashback for Mason and Noah's past, Morgan became a kid in Elijah's gang named Lucy, Lorenzo became Chad, Aiden's mom became Asian Noah's mom, Skye's dad became White Mason's dad (PB really said use that sprite for abusive dads huh). And there’s probably more, I’m sure. 

And the worst offense? They even reuse the iconic bird's-eye view of Berry High in MTFL. Call me petty if you must, but that's just criminal. It's one thing to reuse and alter a bunch of the sprites, uniforms, and backgrounds from the series but to reuse another book series' iconic background like that? Honestly, it feels rather insulting. They couldn't even be arsed to change the "Go Tigers!" on the football field, that’s how little sense it makes to use that background outside of HSS. Fuck’s sake.

I know it’s kind of the norm for Choices to reuse assets throughout different series, but the fact that they do it so much here and majority of it is from HSS just rubs me the wrong way. At best, it’s jarring and lazy. And at worst, it comes off as trying way too hard to be a “more mature” version of HSS. When in reality, it makes HSS:CA’s side characters look like Citizen Kane in comparison. I mean, at least Clint and Natalie and MC stopped whinging about Rory ⅓rd of the way through the series. 

At least when other high-school-setting books like ROD, WEH, and ILITW were made, they at least somewhat bothered to change up a few things and make it feel like an actually different school. They changed up the backgrounds a bit, used different school colors and uniforms, and didn’t reuse nearly as many sprites from HSS.  

In MTFL, all they did was make new cheer uniforms for the non-reused sprites and remove the Berry High logos from everything HSS that they used. Yeah they made some changes, but it’s clear that they didn’t put nearly the same amount of effort into it as they did in the other high school setting books. 

All it does is just make me miss HSS. Like, stop toying with my heart by piggybacking off of a better series (that has better queer rep too) so much. It’s to the point where it feels like they should have just used the time making this book to instead make a HSS senior year (Which, y’know, would be nice, especially since the sendoff we got in HSS:CA 3 was absolute flaming fucking garbage). 

So… in all honesty, I don’t hate this book. But it had a lot of things that annoyed me to no end and it sure as fuck is disappointing wasted potential. It had a great opportunity to be a nice queer coming-of-age story. But instead it felt like a Kissing Booth rip-off with serious themes only hamfisted in order to make it seem more “mature”.

[90percentstudios]

hi denny!!! i was wondering, how do you decide on shifts in hue for people who transform between cool kids and losers? like, i understand that cool kids are brighter and losers are duller, but is there a process to deciding the specifics? such as cody's purple-y skin tone turning more of a dark brown when losered/averaged.

it can differ based on the character, but usually i want some commonalities between a character's cool kid and loser color palettes. for example, i tried to make it so cody's cool kid and loser forms had some things in common:

as for how i specifically choose colors, i'll eyedrop from a pre-made color palette here and tweak the colors if needed:

so if i'm designing a god, i'll eyedrop from the top row, for cool kids i'll eyedrop from the second and so on.

i'll usually figure out the outfit first and pick a skin-tone that looks natural with it. sometimes that means fiddling with the hue/saturation controls in photoshop until i get something that looks right. for example, cody's purple-y skintone is shifted so it appears warmer (more yellow/orange) and more desaturated as a loser.

in this case i tried to adjust the skin-tones so they'd harmonize with the muted yellow on his loser outfit, or the bright purple on his cool kid outfit.

i don't do the exact same thing for all characters though. this is a pretty subtle example but pb's skin-tone as a loser is more pink.

anyway i could go on and on about the color choices for each character but hopefully that gives you an idea on where to start! thanks for the interesting question, i love color theory :D

[vivalgi]

Seriously, will there be any other romantic choices than asking for kisses? This is getting weird already. It seems that PB's written so much shallow smut in recent years that the writers have forgotten there's so much more to romance than satisfying one's carnal desires. MC's girlfriend has turned into a shadowy d*ckhead ffs, the last thing he should be thinking about right now is pushing his tongue in her mouth!