#do you think the stuff just spawns in the shop or what

[nicholaes]

reading a book and one of the pov characters is British nobility and it's supposed to be like oh he can't understand these silly American commoners but it's so extreme it comes across like he's never interacted with another human being before 😭

[witherking001]

Mojang is NOT villainizing piglins.

I'm just gonna rant about this here since I keep seeing this take. I feel like a lot of you guys are taking too much of this piglin stuff at face value. Like, if you think Mojang is actively "demonizing" piglins or something, I straight up don't think you've been paying attention or looking at this with a critical eye. Piglins live in a cruel world. A harsh landscape which would obviously shape their societies to value strength and anything of the sort which would keep them alive. The Nether lacks certain resources, some of which is actually the fault of their ancestors.

Like, this is something we've known since the Nether Update came out.

I say this because there's actually reason for piglin society to be the way it is. It makes sense. Even so, piglins aren't inherently evil, even in the various games. Vanilla Minecraft is obvious. You can barter with them and hang around them if you wear gold. The piglin merchant from Minecraft Dungeons makes this point even more evident with the fact that they journeyed to the Overworld simply to set up shop.

They're completely passive to the player. They're not here to invade and they don't care if you wear gold or not.

In Minecraft Legends, it's a legend. A story passed down from generations. It doesn't necessarily reflect a full truth.

Even so, a lot of the piglins don't even seem to care about invading the Overworld too much. Two out of the three main piglin generals don't even actively participate in the invasion.

The boss known as the "Devourer," leader of the Horde of the Spore, doesn't do much besides send out additional forces to help with the invasion. They mainly just want to keep eating mushrooms.

The boss known as the "Beast," leader of the Horde of the Hunt, especially doesn't care for invading the Overworld. Throughout the cutscenes they appear in, they just want to hunt hoglins.

It straight up takes another piglin leader to step in before they actually do anything to help with the invasion.

Hell, these piglins get abused by their bosses for not complying or failing to accomplish what they must.

Even the bosses get abused by their bosses!

To think that they are all a truly malicious force is a gross generalization for you to take from all this. The truth is that it's complicated. The ones in power dictate what happens and that doesn't necessarily reflect the average piglin and what they want.

Ultimately, they comply out of fear. For their own security. And that's just what happens in a lot of empires with powerful leaders. Perhaps they don't even know better. The Nether is a tough place to live in. So, what's one more fight to them if they might have a chance to one day survive somewhere in a place without lava and ghasts everywhere. Especially if succeeding will also keep their bosses off their backs.

The piglins have a complicated past and that's fine and actually very realistic. If anything, I feel that Mojang has given the piglins the best kind of treatment, in this way. The most world building out of any Minecraft civilization. It just sucks to see when people don't realize that.

And with the movie, I feel it's largely the same as in Legends. Can you really tell me that piglins here are inherently an evil people? Look at this little guy.

Once again, it's the fault of their leadership and their cruel mentalities that have spawned and evolved long ago from living in a cruel world.

Yes, that piglin did just stab that child, btw.

Anyway, my point is that there's just so much more nuance to this than just taking away "piglins bad" from Minecraft media.

[cocodotgreen]

Today is a big day: I am sharing my first world – “Simynthos” – with all of you! I’m very nervous about it, actually. It’s the first world I ever finished!

So what kind of world is it? It's inspiration, the island of Corfu, is one of the more northern islands of Greece. It is greener than the southern islands, and the architectural style is a bit different. It has surprisingly high mountains and cute little villages with tiny orange houses and narrow roads and pathways. It has olive groves with trees more than a thousand years old, and it has beaches with some of the clearest water I ever swam in. I tried to capture Corfu's atmosphere in this little world, so that my simmies may enjoy it, too! And now I hope, your simmies will enjoy it as well :)

To make it a “quick” project (still took more than a year, though 😬) I used the existing world “Sa Pineda” by the amazing @nilxis as a base. The island itself was not created by me, I only created the houses/lots and made over the vegetation.

Even though it is on a tiny map, it is a full world with several houses. It has almost all rabbit holes, and a lot for your sims to do – well, at least considering the sizes of the place. It can be a home world as well as a vacation world with Nraas Traveler mod (can be found here).

Other than my previous builds it does contain some CC. Most of it comes with the download, but not all (you will find all links to additional CC below).

If you would like a (almost) CC-free version, please message me! I will gladly try to make it look good without CC, if I know that someone wants that! However, you will always need the rabbit hole rugs if you want the rabbit holes! But I could remove all decorative CC and try to decorate with non-cc items.

I had a lot of fun building on this little island. I also learned a lot and I hope to use all the experience I gathered from this first completed project for my next world!

Details:

tiny map (256x256)

contains CC (most of it is included in the download, but not all. Links are provided for the items not included, see below in the “Links to CC…” section.)

no Store content used

road-less

unpopulated

9 finished residential lots

17 community lots

3 dive lots

two empty lots, one community, one residential

contains most rabbit holes. The ferry provides room for additional rabbit hole rugs in case you want to place some that are not included.

Packs used: I have all expansion packs and all stuff packs installed, and have probably used items from almost all of them.

Packs you will definitely need for full functionality: Island Paradise (for the Dive Lots, the Ferry, and the All-in-One Bathrooms), Late Night for the Bars, Supernatural for the Elixir Shop, World Adventures for the Nectar Maker and the Nectar Racks, University Life for the Coffee Bar, and Ambitions for the Salon and Tattoo Studio, Showtime for the Karaoke Machine, on one lot I used the grill from Outdoor Living Stuff.

I used a lot of furniture from the Seasons and the Pets expansions. This is non-functional, but the world will look different if you do not have these expansion.

A word of warning (please read this!):

This world is TINY! But for its size I packed A LOT into it. This means, however, that lots and buildings are on the small to tiny side. So not all game options may be available on all lots.

The Weather-Stone may not spawn due to lack of a suitable location.

There is some kelp visible from map view next to one of the dive lots. I could not find a way to remove it, unfortunately, although I tried everything I could think of. If it bothers you the workaround is this: Go into edit town, select build on the dive lot. Without doing anything leave build mode and leave edit town. Now the kelp should not be visible anymore for this in-game-session. You will have to do it over again the next time you start up your save, though.

The proximity to community lots will mean that you can hear the noise from concerts, movies and sports events or even just music very loudly on some residential lots. I recommend you turn down the volume of music and effects in the game options to around ¼ of the bar. You will still hear the sounds on the residential lots, but not as loudly. Update: Follow these instructions to mute rabbit hole sounds if they bother you! 2nd Update: @ohrudi made a mod to mute all rabbit hole sounds completely! I highly recommend that mod for Simynthos! See recommended mods below for the link!

I advise against playing with horses on Simynthos due to the limited space and the lag they can cause. See recommended mods section below for more details.

Snow may look black in some places, mostly on or near the paths due to me having to paint under the walkways I placed. Sa Pineda already came with 8 terrain paints. I decided not to change the terrain paint, as it was very nicely done by the creator, and also snow is probably a rare occurrence on Corfu. If you want to, you can just disable snow/winter in the options.

Highly recommended mods for performance and functionality:

TheSweetSimmer’s Pick Up Toddler Fix: If you want to play with families you will absolutely need this mod! Without it you may not be able to pick up toddlers at all due to the limited space inside some of the houses.

OhRudi's Rabbit Holes Without Sounds Mod: This mod was inspired by the annoyance of the rabbit hole sounds in Simynthos. Thanks you so much @ohrudi for the amazing work! It will mute the rabbit hole sounds permanently and you will be able to enjoy the quiet island village life I intended for sims to experience on Simynthos!

OhRudi’s space saving mods: I recommend all of ohRudi’s space saving mods for this world:

“Fix: Pets need less space”

“Fix: Sims need less space”

“Fix: Guitar needs less space for playing”

“Fix: Bass needs less space for playing”

Nraas Register: Horses will cause lag on Simynthos due to the limited space on the island and the extensive space that horses need for routing (even with ohRudi’s mod), so I recommend disabling horses in the game options and using nraas Register mod to deactivate wild horses completely.

Nraas Debug Enabler: The dive lots on Simynthos have the same problem that all dive lots seem to have: If you want to explore the caves, you will need to reset them first. If you forget your sim will be reset to the beach. Best way to do this is using Nraas “Debug Enabler” mod (click on cave > Nraas > Debug Enabler > Options: Name of Cave > Object > Reset).

Nraas Go Here: I generally recommend Nraas Go Here mods “Teleport for everyone” option, just in case a sim or a pet gets stuck somewhere.

Other recommended mods (optional):

You can have functioning Greek restaurants on Simynthos if you use these two mods together:

icarus_allsorts’s “Eat Outside Restaurants”

Cinderellimouse’s “Cooking and Ingredients Overhaul”

Both mods combined will allow you to set the menu for the diner or bistro rabbit hole to Greek dishes (or any other dishes you prefer) and order these dishes from a waiter on the lot. How cool is that?!

Links to CC that’s not included in the download:

You will need these Jynx rabbit hole rugs (Pets Fix), from this thread on MTS:

Late Night rabbit hole rugs (Pets fix)

Base Game rabbit hole rugs (Pets fix)

You will need the Left and Right versions of this mattress for two sims to sleep in a double bed that is placed against a wall.

I recommend you use @nilxis beautiful “Mediterranian Day” lighting mod.

Credits:

Thanks to @nilxis, the creator of „Sa Pineda“, for the beautiful base to this world. The island on which Simynthos was build is entirely their creation. I did not change the island itself or the terrain painting outside the lots (except for some places where I placed the walkways/paths). All credit for that goes to them! You can find the original version here. Also make sure to check out their other worlds, while you‘ re at it. They are some of my favorite worlds!

Thanks also to @aroundthesims for their amazing CC! If you do not know their website yet, you should definitely check it out! They have a lot of really cool items!

Thanks to @nornities for their extremely helpful CAW guide here. Unfortunately I only found this guide when Simynthos was almost finished. I could have avoided some of the mistakes I made, had I found it sooner!

Some of you may know, that I am not the first to make a Greek version of Sa Pineda. Back in 2016 Vendela created Simtorini. This super cute world has the typical blue and white houses another Greek island, Santorini, is famous for. Go check it out here.

Download (SimFileShare)

Alternative Download (Dropbox)

[twistedteatime]

Sow Some Seeds

Pairing: Bucky x GenderNeutral!Reader

Summary: Due to a chance encounter Bucky has with you, a gardening shop owner, he starts taking up gardening. You start him off simple: With beans.

Warnings: Um...none that I can think of? It's Bucky and gardening and I think the most intense it gets this one is Reader expressing their dislike of Raynor, his therapist. More eventually will come as I do plan on some topics being discussed, but not this one. This one's just plant stuff unless I missed something. Maybe some minor language. Maybe.

Word Count: Almost 2.6k

A/N: Not much to say I haven't said yet. Part of a new series/collection of things. Not regularly updated ones but stuff spawned from my love of gardening. (I'm not an expert. I just like plants).

One at a Time AU Masterlist

Ao3 Link: Sow Some Seeds

Next Story: Plant Some Trees

*******

“Man…what are you doin’?”

Bucky froze as Sam looked at him across the breakfast table. He had a plant pot, a bag of dirt, and a packet of seeds in his hands. Bean seeds.

“What’s it look like?” he asked, trying to measure his tone as much as possible into something that wouldn’t garner more questions.

“You takin’ up gardening? Since when?” Sam asked and Bucky mentally sighed.

“This morning. My therapist said it might…be…relaxing or something. I gotta go.” He didn’t let Sam get another word in and just took off out of the room down to his apartment in the Avenger’s compound.

His therapist hadn’t said anything of the sort. No. His new hobby had come from a completely different source.

You.

He’d been on a walk and ducked into your shop purely to avoid his therapist walking down the same sidewalk up ahead.

Your voice greeting him had cut through the silent dread he felt when she stopped and looked at the door while he tried to appear preoccupied by the seed display.

“Lavender is good for anxiety, but it takes time to grow and bloom.”

Bucky jolted a bit, surprised, and looked over his shoulder at you. You smiled at him, warm, calm, and inviting even as your eyes flicked to the door suspiciously while introducing yourself.

“I-uh…I’ve never…” he started and watched you walk over, your eyes still glancing at the door occasionally.

Then you shocked him again when you spoke, quiet, low, and clearly only for him, “I am not Raynor’s biggest fan, so if she comes in here for any fucking reason you are just asking for help with a new hobby and I’m helping you. Okay?”

“Yeah.” He said with a smile and pointed to a seed packet, his blue eyes meeting yours, “What are these ones like?”

“They’re basically something you want to grow in a container and never let out of that container unless you want a whole yard of them.” You answered with a wide-eyed look and he shook his head.

“Yeah, no…I don’t want that. What’d you recommend for…someone that’s…y’know…cat friendly but maybe not people friendly?”

“You having a cat changes a lot. Cats like to eat plants they shouldn’t and you gotta be careful with what plants you get because they might be bad for your cat.” You explained and continued talking to him about plants long after Raynor had moved on, “For you I'd suggest something that you can focus on one plant at a time without worrying about it spreading like crazy because you can manage what it does. Beans. Beans are easy. Some can be upsetting to a cat, but if you can keep them somewhere kitty can’t get to it should be fine. They grow fast and make food. All they need is light and water and come in bush form or vine form. For you I’d recommend a bush bean. It’s more compact and you don’t have to worry about trellising.”

“So…just…pot, dirt, poke it in, water, and leave it alone?” he asked and you nodded.

“Yeah. Water it now and then. Don’t let the soil get too dry, but not soggy. If you need any help you know where to find me.” You said with a smile he returned after a moment.

It was unsure at first, different from the initial smile he had given you. That one had been both a cover and a plea for help. Spotting who was looking in the window, you quickly realized what he was hiding from and had decided to help.

Of course, it didn’t hurt he was easily the most gorgeous man you’d ever seen walk into your shop with eyes so blue you could swim in them for days and never grow tired of it. The smile he gave you now only added to that. Small, sweet, and timidly optimistic.

Then you saw what you had originally thought to be a glove was a metal hand. This man was Bucky Barnes. It short circuited your brain.

Everything you’d ever heard about anything to do with the man was everything that smile was not. It didn’t change much of your opinion about him. You just doubled down even as he realized you were looking at his hand.

He was gorgeous.

Beans were a good choice but there was potential with tomatoes and peppers. It was just late in the season for tomatoes. Still, it’d be best to start him off with something that had a fast reward rate.

“Anything you need help with. Anytime. No charge, Sarge. I…did not mean that to rhyme…” you said with an awkward laugh that shifted into a warm one when he chuckled.

“I…um…” he started and you just smiled.

“Thanks…and…thanks for the…y’know…” he said and you nodded.

“You ever need to dodge her, you can come right on in. My shop is a safe space.” You said with a warm smile he returned while nodding.

Bucky had gone straight back to the compound afterwards and, after his brief questioning by Sam, was now in his place following your instructions. All of them. Day after day until the first thick bean shaped seed leaves emerged from the soil.

Sitting at the table the pot was on outside; Bucky couldn’t stop staring at it. It was alive. Living. Growing. Good.

Fragile and precious.

He needed to protect it. He wanted to plant more. A lot more. So he did.

Looking over at the door when it opened you hummed appreciatively in your head at the sight of the super soldier walking into your shop. He was putting his sunglasses on the top of his head, blue eyes looking around curiously and eagerly. Then they lit up at the sight of you.

It was thrilling even if you knew he wanted something from you to do with planting, but you could dream he wanted other things. You’d already been doing just that since he left your shop several days ago. Every night.

“Good afternoon, Sargent Barnes.” You greeted while carrying a large bag of fertilizer.

“Here, let me get that.” he said and gently took the bag even as you just chuckled, then smiled more amusedly when he read the label, “Fertilizer. I thought this was s’posed to stink?”

“Trust me, you open that bag and it will.” You said with a smile and he nodded while following you to where it was going, “Customer returned that bag after opening the last one and realized it stunk like hell. How can I help you today?”

“It grew. Sprouted I mean.” Bucky answered and pulled his phone out, showing you the pictures he took of the seedling, all of them.

“I wanted to see if I could…get it to grow first. I’ve planted a lot more since and I’m…just realizing I may have gone a little overboard.” He said and you laughed sweetly.

“How are people afraid of him? He’s adorable.” You thought to yourself after the fifth photo, “Well, it looks healthy and like it’s getting adequate light. Those thick things are called cotyledons. They’re seed leaves and they’ll fall off after the true leaves start coming in. Those will be different in shape. You know you could have planted more than one, though, right?”

You just couldn’t help it. The look on his face was just too damn cute, sweet, and surprisingly innocent. Yet, you understood the thrill of it perfectly well.

Getting something to grow from a seed was always exciting and you found gardening to be wonderfully fulfilling. It was calming and you found it therapeutic. Knowing what Raynor was like you had hoped Bucky would find peace in it just like you did and it seemed like he was off to a good start.

“That’s perfectly normal. I did the same thing and then had to figure out where to put everything. Other’s do it, too. Is there space you can get at the compound?” You asked and he nodded yet it was a reluctant one, his expression shifting towards reluctance as well.

“Yeah…I could, but…with…everything that happened there after the battle with Thanos…uh…” he said and you nodded.

“Yeah…no…I get it. Hm…well you can try a community garden. There’s one nearby, but you have to act fast or it’ll fill up.” You said and he nodded, thanking you before he left.

He wasn’t gone long and when he returned you already knew what the outcome had been. It was easy to read on his face. Frustration and disappointment.

“I missed the last space by ten minutes.” He said and you shook your head, thinking.

You couldn’t help yourself. He looked so dejected it hurt your soul to see. So, you went for it.

“Well, I have plenty of space in my garden. If you wanted and promised to help me get it all ready you can have some space in it.” You offered and felt the warmth of his surprised smile light up through you and soothe the ache his previous dejection caused.

A couple of days later, as you stood out in the fenced in confines of your large garden, you heard the sound of a motorcycle heading up your drive. It was Bucky and despite your earlier upset mood you couldn’t keep the smile off your face as he waved to you once he parked. Waving back you beckoned him over and saw he was indeed ready for work.

Ready to work and understanding just what you’d roped him into.

The garden plot was huge.

You had learned a long time ago that you needed a lot of space to grow everything you wanted to grow. Once you had started you wanted to grow everything you could. Even though you weren’t always successful you tried to do just that.

It often resulted in a lot of work come spring and this spring there was even more work. Not that you had planned for it to be what he’d help with. All you wanted was some extra muscle moving some bags around and tending to the soil.

You did not intend for him to help you rebuild anything.

Especially the greenhouse that had been flattened from the previous night’s storm or the fence it had taken with it.

“What happened?” he asked after greeting you and you sighed.

“Well…that storm last night…it was pretty windy here and…yeah. I needed to redo the greenhouse, but I was hoping it’d last one more year. It’s just pvc and greenhouse sheeting but…yeah. It was strong enough to pull the chicken wire out on the fencing when it hit. That’s the last time I trust the weather people when they say it won’t do anything. If I knew it’d have been that bad I wouldn’t have taken the dirt out of the containers weighing the whole thing down.”

Bucky nodded. He could see you were upset and just holding it in. It was more work than you clearly intended, but he didn’t mind.

“Well…” you sighed, “Let’s get to it. First we dismantle what’s left and then we fix the fencing. I’ll have to get more sheeting to fix the greenhouse so that’ll have to wait until next time.”

“Sure. Let’s go.” He nodded.

You worked in silence for the first few minutes, getting the task of dislodging the remains of the greenhouse from the fence’s chicken wire siding. Eventually you broke the ice knowing he likely wouldn’t. Even though you caught him glancing at you several times you knew he wouldn’t be the first to speak.

So you started it off easy by asking how his seedlings were doing.

“They’re still alive. I…it feels so stupid to be so happy about that.” he said with a short laugh and a shake of his head that made you smile as you shook yours.

“No. Not really. I’m the same way. I’m not naturally green thumbed despite what my business is. I had to learn and…I had a lot of failures and still do.” You said as you pulled more of the shredded greenhouse sheeting free, folding up larger intact pieces for use on smaller projects, “Some things I still just cannot grow. It’s like they hate me.”

“Like what?”

“Beets. I just can’t get them to grow big roots. I get the tops, just not the big beet part you grow beets for. Watermelons, too. I just can’t get them to grow. I can do other melons, just not those.” You answered and continued chatting with him until you called it a day.

Bucky stopped by whenever you had a day off. The two of you would chat as you worked, mostly you answering his questions about what plots were for which plants, why they were for those plants, and how to grow the plants. Only occasionally did you talk about anything else, though when you did you found things in common.

Including Raynor when he asked how you knew of her.

“She was my friend’s therapist. He’s ex-SHIELD. He was at the Triskelion that particular day…” You answered and smiled calmly at him, reassuring as you handed him something to drink, “He was nowhere near where the Winter Soldier was. He knows about you coming here and feels sorry for you because of her. He also suggested tomato seeds for you until I reminded him it’s a bit late in the season for them.”

“Why tomatoes?” Bucky asked and took a sip of the water you’d supplied.

“Well, they’re pretty resilient and you get tomatoes. Nothing like a good garden tomato. It’s part of why I garden. The food just tastes better.” You answered and he nodded once he was finished with his water, “Let’s get back to work.”

It helped to have help. It helped a lot to have help in the form of a super soldier with a smile like illuminated sugar, sweet blue eyes, and an eagerness to help you do things. Things that included planting new blueberry bushes.

Not that you told him why you wanted more of them. It definitely didn’t have anything to do with his eyes, his sweetness, or anything of the sort. Nope.

Even when you saw his demeanor shift one day from sweet, helpful, light, and upbeat to annoyed, sighing, and grumpy your opinion didn’t change. You were only curious about what caused it. You didn’t have to wait long for answers either.

“Sam.” Bucky greeted with a tight smile as the smiling and amused Captain America walked up, pulling his sunglasses off as you blinked curiously, “What are you doing here?”

“You’ve been disappearing for hours at a time, not tellin’ anyone where you’re going, being all quiet about it…” Sam started and smiled, “Now I know why.”

“Since when do I need to announce where I’m going? I can’t go out?”

“That’s not what I said and you know that.” Sam replied while looking at him pointedly.

“You followed me out here, what you want me to say?”  Bucky asked and as the two started to bicker you listened, watched, and pieced things together.

“If you’re feelin’ left out, Cap, you can always…y’know…join the fun.” You said and they both looked at you, “Or if vegetables and fruit aren’t your thing you can always do flowers. Trees. World needs more trees. You could save the world one tree at a time.”

Sam looked at you, thinking, intrigued, “What kind you got?”

*******

One at a Time Masterlist

Ao3 Link: Sow Some Seeds

Next Story: Plant Some Trees

A/N: Short, but let me know what you think. Yes, Bucky's time as a goat farmer may come into play a bit. Maybe. What kind of trees do you think Sam would want to plant? Let me know! I love hearing from you all!

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

The Miraculous fandom has some of the most creative people I know in it. I mean this, positive sense.

However that same talent becomes a problem when people cannot distinguish between a narrative beat and their own post-hoc justification.

The second is useful now and again when any sort of media misses a beat or takes a leap. ML fans carry the narrative on their backs.

It's telling that you have so many fanworks out there that are equally or more valid readings of the canon when they were published that have been completely obliterated by future development.

I'm not talking the wild takes. I'm not talking ML suddenly turning shonen, or coffee shop AU. I'm not even talking 'Adrien gets equal screen time.' Just 'with what we know, what comes next?' type fanfiction.

It's like canon is deliberately trying to dodge anything remotely predictable... but narrative beats are predictable for a reason. They work. They're good storytelling. A twist can be good storytelling, but only if it is better in every way then the not-twist.

You combine the shock-at-all-costs mentality with ML fandoms devotion and creativity and you get leaps of logic that would make a crypto seller blush. It ends up going downright unhealthy places at times.

I know their hearts are in the right place. I know they just care about the show they've sunk time and self into, but there are times you have to step back.

It doesn't mean you have to give up or turn away from the media. You just need to be willing to admit 'This episode/throughline/season/beat sucked'.

Then you hope it gets better.

Not doing this now and then is engaging in cult behavior.

(Post that spawned this ask)

I fully agree. People liking "bad" media doesn't bother me. What gets under my skin is people defending bad media. I'm in a book club and we all own that we like books that are objectively bad. We don't defend them as good, we just like the good parts enough to drown out the bad stuff. That's normal and fine. You don't have to limit yourself to perfect and pure art if such a thing even exists. I can name flaws in most of the things I like, I just think the good far outweighs the bad.

Miraculous is not some deep and complicated show that requires you to watch every episode. The writers have flat out said it is supposed to make sense even if you miss seemingly vital episodes. This means that trying to go the deep and nuanced route to explain the flaws doesn't work. This is a show for young children. It is supposed to be easy to follow. If it's not, then it has failed at its job! Little kids have no expectations to subvert. Shows like Miraculous are supposed to teach them how stories work so they can go on and watch more complex stuff when they're older. (For us adults, shows like Miraculous are supposed to be cute escapism that lets us feel like kids again.) If no one can possibly predict where a story is going next at a high level, then it's probably a bad story.

To be clear, I don't mean that every plot beat should be obvious. It's just that the longer a story goes, the more obvious things should feel as all the little elements of the story build and come together. This allows the audience to get excited about what's going to happen next and keeps them engaged. Stories where literally anything can happen no matter how little sense it makes aren't fun because you can't get invested in anything. I'll take a predictable ending over an impossible one any day.

A perfect example is the season three final. That final was all about Gabriel winning because he knew Chloe's identity. This is spelled out in the episode and the episode setup.

Miraculer set up:

Gabriel: Chloé Bourgeois must become Queen Bee again! Nathalie: Are you still considering making her an ally? I'm afraid Ladybug has grown reluctant to giving Chloé the Bee Miraculous. She's being very careful. Gabriel: Then I will get Chloé to force Ladybug to give it to her. All I need is for her to lose all hope in Ladybug. To become angry enough so I can akumatize her. (smirks evilly)

Ladybug: I'm sorry, Chloé. I should've told you this a long time ago. I might never be able to let you be Queen Bee again. Queen Bee: What? But I did everything you asked me to. Ladybug: I know. But this is for your own safety. It's too dangerous for you and your loved ones because Hawk Moth knows that you're Queen Bee.

Final pay off:

Hawk Moth: Try it and see for yourself. You're Ladybug's greatest fan. You've helped her, you've trusted her. And what has she done for you in return? Chloé: (gets angry) Nothing! She couldn't care less about me! I'm done with her. She's irrelevant, utterly irrelevant! (reaches out to grap the Miraculous, stops) I want you to de-akumatize has my parents first! Hawk Moth: Whatever you say, my queen. (Chloé takes the comb and puts it in her hair, releasing Pollen)

Since the final also includes every other temp hero being outed this should mean that season four will go on to have Ladybug and Chat Noir starting from scratch, but is that what happens?

Nope! The mass identity reveal means nothing and everything is fine to keep going as is. Chloé's identity reveal being a problem was a one-off fluke we don't need to think about.

There is no justification for that. You can decide that you're willing to let the flaw slide and keep watching, but there is no way to make this a good choice for the story. It was the start of the secret identities holding less and less weight to the point where a lot of people no longer care about the love square reveal because it's been so incredibly cheapened. Marinette keeping her identity from Chat Noir no longer makes sense when it was once pretty reasonable.

[bloodsuckingfiends]

NSFW headcanon -- you might have written some stuff about this before and it's just been a while and I forgot, so I apologize if this accidentally duplicates anything you've already written.

In my mind, Astarion has a praise kink. I think our elf wants to be told how good he makes Tav feel/how good he's being for Tav, and I think that validation heightens his pleasure that much more.

I also think it takes him some time to get there. I think calling him "boy," whether good or bad, is always and forever off the table, and I think there are trigger words or phrases he doesn't even remember until Tav inadvertently uses one and then one particularly bad night comes back to him in a rush and he has to stop.

But all in all, I think he enjoys being told that he's doing a good job no matter what the situation -- sex, relationship, whatever he decides to do after they save the Gate, whether that's going down into the Underdark to help the spawn or opening up his own tailoring/alterations place. Whatever it is. So that's why I think he has a praise kink.

Oh I totally agree, he definitely has a praise kink! After centuries of being belittled and abused, I think that giving him praise, both sexual and otherwise, is one of the highest and purest forms of love for him.

Sexually, I think it especially heightens his pleasure when it's praising him for doing so well in regards to his own pleasure rather than his partners. That's not to say he doesn't also enjoy being praised for pleasing his partner, but he went so long focusing on other's pleasure, that it's nice to be told how well he's doing focusing on his own for a change.

I am guilty of using the praise of "good boy" in some of my writing, but I really like the perspective you gave on it! I could 110% see why that would be a trigger phrase for him

Also, Astarion having his own tailor/alterations shop after the brain is one of my absolute favorite headcanons <3

[theramblergal]

Just a random tag game I wanna do because I feel like we need to talk about our fics more and encourage each other more.

What are your fic ideas? Ongoing, something you plan on writing in the future, just a thought/half-formed concept, multifandom, anything! Let's list them out and hype up our lovely mutuals <3

Here's mine:

Prayana: an Abhimanyu x Uttaraa fic that spans the year between the Pandavas' exile and the war. Deals with their burgeoning relationship under increasingly adverse circumstances as the war builds up in the background. (Mahabharata)

matrdayahara: a one-shot on Nakula struggling with his mother's legacy of beauty and his position in the family. (Mahabharata)

pashyati: a fix it fic! Gandhari chooses not to blindfold herself. I have massive plans for this work, it spans literal generations xD (Mahabharata)

an iyashikei/slice-of-life (+Irondad!) work where Peter Parker deals with the woes of senior year in high school. College apps, being Spider-Man, maintaining a relationship with fiesty MJ - all at once! (MCU)

a coffee shop + Cold War AU of the Avengers. I really just wanted a lot of ballerina!Natasha, so it spawned from there. (MCU)

a canon-compliant longfic of Sherlock pining after John when they're making the wedding preparations for John and Mary. (BBC Sherlock)

a post-S4 take on John and Sherlock's issues with a healthy dose of Parentlock and admitting their love for each other. There's a bazillion fics out there already with this exact premise but I want more. (BBC Sherlock)

Okay, I think that's it.

No-pressure tags: @krsnaradhika, @krishna-priyatama (talk about your stuff Sakhi I really wanna know!), @desigurlie, @vishnavishivaa, @stxrrynxghts, @friend-shaped-but, and anyone else interested in sharing their fics!

[germhammy]

(Mis)Adventures of Little Wednesday-aka Wednesday’s mirror image niece

“Jekyll Hyde Coffee”

In the car with her niece and nephew, Wednesday drove across town. She parked her car and spotted a familiar face. GomezJr and Little Wednesday followed their aunt as she approached the man who seemed to be in charge

Wednesday: hello, Tyler

The man turned around

Tyler: Wednesday? What are you doing here? Look. My mother and I don’t want any trouble. But it’s nice I hope that we have someone in town who knows us?

Wednesday: Your mother is with you? What about your father?

Tyler: touchy subject. Don’t ask

Wednesday: question rescinded. As for what I am doing here, born and raised in Westfield. My brother and I still live in the family mansion with our parents and our spouses. These are my brother Pugsley’s spawn. GomezJr and Wednesday

Tyler: -chuckled- your niece looks just like you. Your spouse? Enid? And that hand?

Wednesday: yes. Enid and I are married. Thing is off currently with my Uncle Fester. Devil knows where.

Tyler: still hooked on espresso? I learned to read and speak Italian while I was locked up but I still might need some help with the actual hands on stuff

Wednesday: GJ might be able to help you with that stuff. You think I’m good at that stuff? My brother is a master. GJ takes after his father in that respect

Tyler: what does your brother do?

Wednesday: he is an attorney. His wife is my literary agent and PR manager. Enid makes YouTube content

A beautiful older lady who looked a lot like Tyler walked up

Françoise: Tyler? Who is this?

Tyler: a future customer? I hope? Mom. This is Wednesday Addams.

Françoise: Addams? Are Gomez Addams and Morticia Frump your parents?

Wednesday: they are.

Françoise: how are they? I haven’t seen them since my Nevermore days. Morticia warned me about entering a relationship with a normie boy. Not just any normie that particular one. Her mother told her to give me that warning

Little Wednesday: is she talking about Great Granny Frump, Auntie Weenie?

Wednesday: yes, Wenny. She didn’t have visions like your Grandma and me. She was more a fortune teller of sorts

Tyler: Auntie Weenie? That’s cute. Please don’t hurt me for saying that, Wednesday

Wednesday: finger is still on the trigger these days. I am just not as quick to pull it. They call Enid Auntie Eenie. And Eugene, Unca Eugee

Tyler: Eugene? Refresh my memory?

Wednesday: the bee boy. Eugene Ottinger. He owns a farm in Westfield now. If your shop is in need of honey? Or perhaps snacks.

Tyler: you’d put in a good word for me? I didn’t know there were that many outcasts from Nevermore here. It just seemed like such a nice town

Wednesday: it is. My family has lived in Westfield for several generations

Tyler: I’m not going to say I have my Hyde’s in under complete control, Wednesday. But I can say that my mother and I have put our past aside. If I can ask you out for dinner and talk about things? Enid is welcome as well

Wednesday: Enid is still a bit bitter. But I would be willing. We Addams are always open to learning about potential enemies or potential new allies and/or friends. I can not say I have completely forgotten what you did to me or forgiven you

Tyler: I understand. But I want you to know I am no longer your enemy at least.

Wednesday: fair enough. I do not care for Ajax but Enid still considers him a friend. As for my attitude? I have learned to be “pleasant” towards my fans. And for my niece and nephew and their friends. The Misfits as they are known

[theeeveetamer]

Fields of Mistria initial thoughts

As you may or may not know I am a total sucker for farming simulator games. I don't usually go for Early Access games, but Fields of Mistria seemed extremely promising even though it's just launched into Early Access. So I want to talk about a few of the things I really like about it (and maybe a few that I don't). I will probably be drawing comparisons to Stardew Valley since it's the current preeminent Farming Sim of our time (but I'm not dissing it I love Stardew Valley as well. I think Fields of Mistria does a good job of taking what worked about Stardew and tweaking some things to improve even further)

But the tl;dr if you want it: I think this game is worth the money even in its current state

Trying to keep things as spoiler-free as possible, not that it's hard since the story isn't really too far yet in early access

Things that I like:

1 There is a wide range of cosmetics! Also, you don't have to store them anywhere. You "unlock" them, and then you can change your clothes, hair, skin tone, etc. at any time from the character customization menu. I'd have to check because I don't have the game right in front of me atm, but I think you can even change your name and the name of your farm at any time as well?

2) You don't actually need to have materials on hand to construct farm buildings, nor do you need to pre-clear the space! You buy the blueprint from the carpenter shop, which goes to your inventory. You take it back to your farm yourself and lay it down. Once you lay it down it spawns a drop box for materials, and you can put the materials in at your own pace. This makes it super easy to just drop a couple of wood in at the end of every day until it's done. This is a godsend for me especially, since I never remember to bring all the materials with me when I want to build things in Stardew

3) Speaking of convenience: you don't need to have any materials on hand when you're crafting! This is a godsend because when you initially start the game, all the crafting stations are in town and you have like no bag space. It'll just automatically withdraw things from your chest

The downside is, if you were trying to save stuff you have to be careful (the game will indicate when it starts drawing from your chests to craft the next item though, which is nice!)

4) Also speaking of convenience: shops are open and unlocked 24/7, and you don't have to have someone working there to buy things! This means if you realize you forgot to re-plant your crops at 10 pm you can still pop up to the general store to buy more seeds before the day is done

5) The romance events are all interesting and done well so far! I've only seen a couple though. It also appears that triggering them is based on completing a request on the community board, so you can't miss them like you might in Stardew

The downside is that there's so many community board quests that it's easy for these to get buried. I'm sure I've picked up half a dozen that I just haven't done yet because I haven't gotten around to knocking out some of these requests

6) I like that progressing in the mines requires you to collect items from the previous set of floors in the mines. It's good incentive to go back and collect more resources while still feeling like you're advancing

7) Dropping stuff on the ground and leaving it there won't de-spawn it. That means you can go around and "collect" resources, leave them there, and then circle back in a few hours or even a few days!

8) There's at least one older bachelor and bachelorette option! For the guys you have fellow farmer Hayden (who has a bit of a dad bod build) and the town's doctor Valen (she's a bit more masc looking). I'll take it

9) You can bang a dragon. They haven't completed the story enough to get events with him yet in Early Access, but he's a dragon. nuff said

10) You don't have to upgrade your tools in sequence, and equipment is separate from your cosmetics. This means you can skip straight from the worn pickaxe to the silver one!

Things I don't like (honestly most of these are minor nitpicks that can/might be improved upon):

1 I do wish there was some more body diversity, especially among the women. With the exception of Hayden pretty much all the romance options are pretty/handsome and slender (with pretty decently sized chests in the case of the women and pretty decently sized muscles in the case of the men)

I know they can design different body types because one of the Saturday Market vendors is a bit bigger (but she's not a romance option obviously), so why not?

2) Pretty much every item sells for less than it would if you were to craft it into something else. E.g. Iron ore sells for less than iron bars, and iron bars sell for less than an iron pickaxe

This is kind of half positive, half negative. It's good incentive to craft stuff! On the other hand, I'm a massive video-game hoarder so if I know I might be able to craft something that's worth more down the line I'll just save the item. This has turned my organization into a nightmare, and because I sell almost nothing money is much harder to come by

3) Backpack and storage management is. Woof. You start out with only ten item slots, and if you're like me and you carry all your tools all the time then that's going to fill up fast. At the start you'll only have ~2 slots to actually carry things other than tools. I think it only goes up in increments of 10 too, so even with the third bag upgrade you have about 30 slots (for reference, Stardew starts you with 12 and goes up in increments of 12 before capping out at 36)

I don't think this would be a problem if they just gave you a separate "tool bag" inventory where you could keep all your tools all the time, that didn't also take up bag space. Tools taking up bag space is honestly one of those "we should be over this by now" things in farming sims, IMO

4) Speaking of the bag... this is probably only a consideration if you play on controller, but the controls for swapping between items could use some work

If you've played Stardew with a controller then you know how it works. The left and right bumpers will swap between bag "tabs" and the triggers will move you between items in the currently selected tab. I haven't played around with trying to remap it, but by default Mistria doesn't do this.

Instead one of the triggers is to use a magic spell, the other is to throw items, and the bumpers are to swap between items in your bag. This means if you're on tab "A" and you need an item in tab "C" you need to manually press the bumper 10+ times until it scrolls aaaaaaaaaaaaaaall the way around to tab "C"

I think if you play with keyboard and mouse then you can just tap the different tabs so it's less of a problem

5) Minor nitpick, but when I play with a controller it doesn't get rid of the cursor. The cursor is pretty big and chunky so this is pretty distracting (I play on a dual monitor setup so I just move the mouse to the other monitor while I play, but it'd be nice if the cursor stayed gone while I played

6) So far the magic is a bit underutilized. I think I've only used the restore spell a handful of times when I was deep in the mines or fishing (fishing takes SO much energy). You have VERY limited magical stamina so you're probably not going to be using spells too much

I'll try to add to this if I think of more, but this is the stuff that's sticking out to me right now!

[mrs-nightshade]

Rusty again Okay... so, I'm sharing the fan-child. First I wanna paint the picture behind this fan-child and why I see this toon-ship. (admittedly, might be difficult to really see it with Gavin. But I can still see it because it is... pretty one sided in how I paint it.) You ever read those stories where a werewolf-like monster wants to be stopped but they can't stop themselves? How a self-loathing beast waits for the day the brave hero stops them? Well... I kinda imagine Dandy in that case... He is hiding TONS of stuff from the toons. And we don't know how far his tunnel of secrets reach. We don't know how intentional it was when he caused the ichor operation or if he even caused it, by all accounts he could be framed and trying to pick up the pieces the best he can. So... I decided to put myself into the shoes of Dandy. I twist temporary if they ignore my shop for long enough, I have self control as I don't just twist right away when they hit my limit. I can hold back until I can't. (To explain how he just had a ever increasing likihood of spawning during a dandy run) these are my friends. I sell what I can to help. I wish to speak openly but would they be friends with a monster? Would them trying to help me hurt them? ... Long ramble short. I imagine Dandy in a sort of 'masked-depression'. He puts on a face that all is well, he does his best to stay cheery and do his own thing. But... he isn't well. He blames himself for the twisteds, he blames himself for the shutdown (theory for another time) and he blames himself for BEING a twisted. When we don't even know if he can control it. ... Now that I painted this idea of Dandy... entering center stage is the knight. Suitor. A hero everyone loves, the shining knight of Gardenview. The... okay I struggle to think of more titles but you get the point. I imagine that... at least this image of Dandy... couldn't help but fall a little in love with Suitor as a idea. And seeing him save their friends every run? Seeing him put in the work to keep them safe the best he can? Seeing him be the hero he is? ... well. I can't help but picture little intrusive thinking. Slowly worming its way to the center of his head. Making it hard to think of all the things he has to do. Onto the final act. The child. Now, I'm VERY HAPPY you believe I'm a genius for the idea of my last rambling ask. So... playing onto that... Dandy is just one toon. Who does things by himself because of reasons, who hides stuff he does because of reasons. And even with Astro. Who he still talks to a times. He hides things from his best friend, his first friend. ... So... why not have a little mistake... a little train of thought... he doodles. Doodles, and doodles some more. At first, a way to stave off boredom while waiting for the toons with the machines while he is in the elevator. But it slowly grows until he decides to let the intrusive thoughts win and prints a toon egg. "Briar" the name he paints onto the egg. And... like how he did with the last batch... he delivers it. He doesn't quite place it at Suitors' door but he puts it where he knows suitor, or at least someone would find it. The child won't know him. It may be obvious to those who pay attention but... He needed to do something to get this idea out of his head. Briar post hatching is based off two things. A Venus flytrap and a serpentine-like dragon. A long body of slithering vines, a pair of leaf-like wings, and two front legs/arms. Ending in a pair of bush-like paws/hands. Their head is a simple flytrap, with two roses for eyes. Briar. Personality wise. I'm not sure what to really say here... compassionate yet foolhardy. Bit of a airhead but loyal to a fault. Due to his strength, he adopts... a oversized executioners' sword prop as his 'family weapon'. A giant foam sword for Suitors' floor and medieval event. Used in some kind of foam weapon arena for kids and those who love to larp/hit other people with foam weapons. Sorry for the word wall, gonna hit ask now.

Rusty, how are you cooking SO MUCH, this is amazing, I LOVE it.

Just, one sided Dandy loving and idolizing Suitor while also hating him, he made Briar on a whim, maybe right after twisting and not in his right mind.

To make a proper child toon that's genetically related to two others you need to mix their ichor, Dandy wipes Suitor's off his claws...

Suitor keeps Briar's egg a well hidden secret, he knows what it is, knows it could be dangerous to let hatch, but he is not the kind of person to do that, this child has done nothing wrong except exist, it doesn't deserve that fate simply because of who fathered it...

In the Classic timeline Briar is unaware of their parentage other than Suitor and the Council.

In the Spooky Siblings timeline however, it's much harder to hide... They look much more like Dandicus...

I have some roughs I'm not going to finish any time soon;

"Classic" Briar, Dandy was in a right enough mind to properly mold them into something (a Venus fly trap)

And "SS" Briar... Dandy was quite well out of his mind while making them, making a carbon copy of himself...

Also I keep mentally assigning Briar she/her pronouns in my head even though you refered to them as "him" so... ATAC (Assigned Trans At Concept) /hj

[soliarus]

imma need a part 2 of that kindergartener teacher sana x reader 😭 i love all your works btw!!

*sigh* A Coffee Date

-fluff, part 2 of teacher!sana, reader's job is revealed?? 😱

: taking your niece’s teacher out for a coffee date is crazy

words 1.2k

teacher!sana x fem!reader

part 1

────────────────────

“No way you actually thought I gave birth to that little devil?” You walk up to Sana, amused at the blush that coats her cheeks when she notices you. 

"Well, hello to you as well," Sana mumbles, glancing away. You and she planned to go on a date at the small coffee shop after you messaged her a few nights earlier. You sit opposite one another at a cute small table with a vase of flowers in the center, near a window.

“You know,” Sana leans on the table, “You actually kind of do look like her.” 

“Really how so?” You mirror her, leaning in. 

“I mean you have the same hair and eye color…” Sana wanted to say more, like how you both have the same nose and how you both seem to unconsciously twirl a piece of hair around your finger, but that would be too weird. “...and some other similar features. I was surprised you weren’t her mom”

“Actually, her mom says the same thing,” you lightly chuckle, “she’s been my best friend since high school, and well her dad is my older brother.” You shrug. “Eun and I have spent a lot of time together since her parents is always busy going on business trips and stuff, she might have even stolen her mom’s title of being my best friend” 

Sana grins, she can tell how close you are with Eun, the way your eyes light up when she is mentioned, and oh my- you also scrunch your nose like her. Sana is torn between admiring your closeness to her pupil, who happens to be your niece, or being slightly jealous.

“But enough about that little cutie, she already gets enough attention as it is,” you roll your eyes, knowing that you almost started ranting about the little wingwoman, “what’s it like taking care of thirty kids everyday?” 

Sana hums at the question, “well i’ve always wanted to be a teacher, for as long as I could remember, so honestly, for me it’s a dream come true. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows but I don’t regret my decision. Kids are just so much better than adults sometimes, they’re more honest and straightforward, if they want something they ask for it, they don’t beat around the bush. But then again that could be debatable cuz some kids are shy- ”  

Sana rambles on and on about her job, you lay your head on the palm of your hand as you stare at her talk on and on about how teaching the actual spawn of satan is literally the best. I wanna marry her. You think about times where you could walk into the classroom when Sana is teaching and give her flowers, drop off her lunch if she ever forgot at home. Your thoughts turn domestic really quickly, well that’s lesbianism for ya– and suddenly a waiter comes over asking for your order. 

“Oh can I have Grapefruit Green Tea Ade, 30% sugar, and two servings of coconut jelly please!” Sana is quick to order, knowing what she wants right away. Must be a favorite drink of hers, Quick Y/N memorize it! 

 The waiter looks at you, “And for you ma’am?” 

“Oh uhh… a vanilla milkshake please?” You mumble, your order seems childish compared to Sana’s, the pretty girl in front of you giggles as the waiter walks away. 

“A vanilla shake? That’s cute” Sana can’t hide her smile, your face flushes as you look away. Now it’s your turn to be flustered. Sana can’t help it, she finds you cute, a full grown adult and you order a vanilla milkshake, god that’s just so adorable. Her eyes roam your attire, you’re dressed casually, and you’re wearing a couple pieces of jewelry. They seem familiar. She looks at your necklace, and then your earrings, and finally your rings. Oh that’s right, they’re all from the same brand and a designer one at that. The price of your jewelry combined is pretty much what she earns in a year. Wait– she doesn’t even know your job, what if you’re a doctor, or a lawyer I mean you gotta be something big to afford jewelry like that. 

“Soooo, Ms. Y/N” Sana starts off, her voice dropping slightly, you feel the hair on your neck stand up. 

“Y-yes Sana” You don’t know if you’re trembling from fear or anticipation, maybe both. 

“Now, what is it that you do? I mean we basically met at my job but what do you do?” Sana swirls the plastic cup in her hand, and takes a sip of her drink. You anxiously fiddle with your hands on your lap, god she’s just so attractive. 

“O-oh! I’m a business owner. It began as a homemade organization. I started it myself actually, and it’s slowly growing day by day. I graduated with a business degree so I decided to do something with it. I think it’s pretty successful but more can always be done” You chuckle nervously, scratching the back of your neck, as Sana looks at you. 

“Oh? A business owner?” Sana looks surprised, “Well it must be doing really well then! I was just wondering because your clothes are designer and your jewelry is all from the same brand and it all looks super expensive, I’ve always wanted a Magical Diamond necklace and yours looks so pretty” 

“I actually have more, if you’d like I can give you some! As a gift.” You were happy Sana didn’t feel weirded out about being on a date with a literal CEO. Sana blushed at your offer, 

“No no, I shouldn't, they're yours and super expensive. I’ll get my own really.” Sana doesn’t want to take advantage of you, I mean yeah you’re a business owner, but she doesn’t know if you two have the same definition of successful. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I get all my Magical Diamond jewelry for free”

Sana’s jaw fell when she heard that, “for free?” Thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and for free–

You shrug your shoulders, “Yup for free, I made the brand after all.” You take a sip of your vanilla shake. Sana feels the circuit in her brain explode, no way, absolutely no way, you weren’t rich, you were Rich. Bold font with a capital ‘r’, type of rich. 

────────────────────

“Right after this turn, yup there it is, you can stop just at that curb over there” Sana instructed as you pulled up to her apartment complex. You pulled your car on park, and waited for Sana to leave, but she didn’t get out, instead she turns to you, 

“Thanks so much for the date, Y/N” She smiles as she holds your hand. 

“I should be thanking you for coming, Sana” You say bashfully, happy that she enjoyed your time together. 

“Of course! I loved it, see you next time, Y/N!” And the next thing you know she’s leaving your car and jogging on over to her apartment, next time. OH MY GOSH SHE SAID NEXT TIME!

You squeal in your car, your hands covering your face as you blush, kicking your legs as best you can before your knee hits the steering wheel. “Ow–” 

Sana rushes in and closes the door before leaning against the wall, and this time she’s the one squealing, sliding down to the floor and kicking her feet. 

[ctommyisnt]

@tpucs secoND FIC REQUEST IVE COMPLETED I got super excited when I saw this because um. Hermitcraft tommy fics??? Those were my lifeline for a solid month I think I read every fic in the tag.

This is not technically finished it’s like. The beginning of what might turn into a long fic if I get the time but I also had this in my drafts for two weeks and didn’t want to leave it sitting. It’s mostly exposition bc I love exposition a lot please enjoy (if anyone wants me to add trigger warnings I can but I don’t think anything applies here????) also if anyone has any ideas on what scenes. Of continue this that would be great bc I have no idea what the next part should be

Anyway

The newest player to join hermitcraft came as a shock. In a lot of different ways, for a lot of different reasons.

To start, it was well off from the beginning of the series. In fact they were well into season 10, and even the new hermits had settled in comfortably.

Secondly, and more concerningly, nobody knew the kid.

Tommyinnit joined the game.

Xisuma shot up sharply the moment he got the ping. That is incredibly odd and he needed to check on that immediately. He equipped his elytra quickly, grateful it was in his inventory, and took off to spawn.

It didn’t take long, though he wasn’t the first there. Gem was running over from the direction of the shopping district, and Keralis was talking to… a teenager?

“-how did you get here?” Keralis was saying, standing a wary distance from what looked to be a very disgruntled kid who flinched harshly as Xisuma landed near the two.

“Who are you?” Gen shouted, pulling out her sword. The teen breathed in sharply, arms moving up to tug at the sleeves of his rather burnt winter coat. His hair was so dirty that Xisuma could hardly tell it was blonde, and the rest of his outfit wasn’t that much better.

“Hey, hey,” he rasped, standing up taller, which didn’t seem to hide his trembling as much as he liked, “I don’t mean any harm I just- I don’t really fucking know how I got here either.” He said quickly. Gem lowered her sword slightly but Xisuma was still wary.

“How did you get through the code, that should’ve been impossible, this is a whitelist only server.”

The boy raised his hands, and his eyes flickered to Gem with a pinched grimace, “if you just want to- point me in the right direction I’ll go- I’ll get back to, uh,” he seemed to falter, “I’ll get going.”

Xisuma bit his lip, “it’s not going to be that simple, this server is locked up pretty tight. Especially since you broke in.”

“How do we know you didn’t break in on purpose,” Gen pushed.

“Gem, look at him,” Keralis drawled, “he’s a kid there must be an explanation.

“I’m not a kid!” The teen barked out sharply. He cowed sheepishly to Gem when she raised her weapon again in warning, “I don’t know how I got here, I swear.”

Xisuma sighed, and motioned to Gem to back down. She bristled at the thought but in all honestly, the kid looked… pretty harmless. He’d still have to be careful though, which means…

“I’m going to get Grian over here,” he started pulling out his comm as he continued, “and you need to come with me where we can keep an eye on you.”

/msg Grian: just a kid. Not them. Need your helping getting this mess cleaned up

“I’m not going to be fucking watched,” the kid spit out, “I’m not fucking going with you.”

Keralis stepped closer, though he had to put his hands up when the kid flinched again to show no harm, “it’s okay dude, Xisuma and Grian just need to make sure your code isn’t all tangled, and all that doohickey admin stuff so you don’t get hurt.”

Xisuma nodded, “if I just ban you now whatever glitch happened to get you here might hurt you permanently. It’s for your benefit as much as ours.”

“Wait, you’re the admin,” he asked, “I don’t want you digging through my code that’s a- that’s a violation of my personal boundaries.”

Xisuma opened and closed his mouth, not sure how to respond to that. Which, thank god, Grian took that moment to fly in and land just next to him, red yellow and blue feathers poofing off of his wings with the landing and drifting down.

“I’m Grian, nice to meet you,” Grian said, reaching out his hand but keeping his face alarmingly neutral. The boy didn’t take it, which didn’t deter him, “why is your code like that?”

He balked, wrapping his arms around his torso, “you went through my code?”

Grian nodded, “I’m not the first, your code has been modified a lot. Did you not know this?”

“Modified? Like how?” Xisuma asked, concern levels raising considerable. And probably also his blood pressure.

“Like tangling it up with enough restrictions and mods that it’s no wonder you glitched like that.” He continued. “this could be dangerous, especially if you keep server hopping. Someone needs to fix this, because if you don’t you might not survive the next jump. If we can’t, do you know any admins or server moderators that can?” He pushed.

The teen’s breath quickened, and keralis looked rather worried. This probably wasn’t best done in front of everyone, especially since the more nosy or concerned hermits were bound to show up as well. Grian was not one to avoid speaking his mind, though.

“Are you- are you an admin too?”

Grian tilted his head, confused, “not for this server. Though I have before. I’m help Xisuma out with this one.

He took a few breaths, making sharp looks at everyone surrounding him. Keralis looked ready to say something else before the teen collapsed in on himself in defeat. “Fucking- fine. But you’re going to tell me fucking everything you’re doing. And the admin isn’t touching anything.” He demanded.

Grian huffed, “but he-“ but Xisuma elbowed him.

“Of course we will. It’s your code, we just want to help you get to… wherever you meant to go safely. What’s your name?”

“Tommy.” He grumbled. He shoved his hands in his pockets and raised his eyebrow as if to say ‘well, let’s go.’

—

“So this,” Grian waved his arms so the lines of code could appear close to the wall where Tommy could see from the sofa, “-is your code. It is, essentially, you.”

Tommy narrowed his eyes,grimacing at the unintelligible language.

They were in one of Xisuma’s labs at his base, one of the ones near the top with big windows and wooden desks and soft furniture. It wasn’t as crazy as his more experimental laboratories, which were mostly in his basement and probably would freak Tommy out more than they should.

“Some people are naturally able to read and access the code, and they usually end up becoming admins or server moderators. Some people, like me, either learn it, which is very hard to do, or are ‘given’ the ability to read it.”

“Given?” Tommy asked, “is that something anyone can do?”

He shook his head, “no, it’s a rather dangerous and traumatic process. Wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, but now I can tell you that your code is really bad.”

Tommy shouted incredulously, “my code is not shit, fuck you!”

Grian huffed, this kid, honestly. “I’m not saying this for fun. I’m telling you this because that is incredibly concerning. Here-“ he waved at the code again to scroll farther down, “this is how your code allows you to transport between dimensions. With the nether it’s mostly fine. I can tell it was erased and re-added here, though.” He pointed at another line of code that Tommy also could not read.

Xisuma had been banished to another room to start going through the server code. Tommy seemed to freak out at the very idea of the admin even getting too close to him. He couldn’t help but dread exactly why Tommy was freaked out about admins. He should probably be nicer to him, but Grian was still running on the sharp burst of terrifying adrenaline he received when he saw someone join the server.

There were a couple hermits that relied on the safety and security of the server, including him.

“If you scroll a bit further it looks like your access to the end has been completely restricted, if you jumped into an end portal it would probably instantly kill you.”

Grian sat down on a stool opposite Tommy, trying to figure out what on earth happened to this kid and what kind of server he was in last. Even as Grian had sat down the kid had tensed, almost leaning away from him as if it was physically painful to be near another human being.

“Tommy, that’s just one thing.” He sighed, “Your ability to fly with elytra’s, if you somehow managed to get one, has been tampered with, access to any of the worlds code, tracking devices on you and monitoring on your comm. Someone attempted to erase all of your hybrid traits, which thank god is almost impossible to do. Most concerning is your respawns, which have been locked at three lives completely. If you managed to permadie your code would be locked in the server and you’d be unable to come back. Even if you did decide to go through the process of leaving the server, I doubt you’d be been able to get out naturally. It’s a miracle you didn’t die getting here.”

Tommy’s hands were trembling, ans he clearly wasn’t taking this well. Which, to be fair, Grian didn’t expect him to in the first place. He put a hand on the boys leg, making him flinch, but making him just a bit more present.

“Your code has been mutilated, Tommy, but you’re still alive. We can fix your code, and if you want, transfer you safely to another server.” He told him.

Tommy opened his mouth, but nothing came out. His hands had been clenching at the sofa cushion hard enough to give him marks. Grian stood up and waved away the code screens so he could grab a cup of water they had prepared earlier. He gave it to Tommy, who managed to curb the shakiness to take a sip.

“You don’t have to make this decision now, but you are kinda locked in this server until something is fixed. The only other option would be to open the server publicly and open a hole wide enough for your code to do, but there are several people here that would be in danger, and who knows who would jump in after you.”

Tommy took a deep breath and reached into his shirt to grab what looked to be a compass that was attached to a chain around his neck. He squeezed it once and looked up at Grian.

“So even if I don’t want you to mess with my code, I’m stuck here forever?”

“Yep.”

“And if I stay like this i might die again.”

“Again?”

Tommy ignored his question and squeezed the compass again before shoving it back into his shirt. “Okay. I’ll let you fix my code but only fucking that. I don’t want to be sprouting wings like you just because you feel like it, bitch.”

God this kid was so annoying. Also- “um, you do know you’re a hybrid, right?”

“What?”

—

SO SORRY THIS DIDNT GET FINISHED??? I meant to do an part where Tommy was getting used to unlimited loves but I couldn’t figure out how to start it which meant I overthought it and now I have a whole headcannjned worldbuild in my head about the lore of servers and junk. This is mostly exposition. I love exposition. It’s my favorite thing to write. My bad yall. Enjoy 🫡

[thedomesticanthropologist]

Does anyone else over analyze the companions not just by their romance, but by what a life with them would really look like?

Not in context of the game, but just putting yourself in the fantasy of what a life with them would be.

Karlach for example, during the love test. If you say something like "ah she would love window shopping in the city" she gags. Shes a barbarian. She loves what she does. If you were her partner, even after the events of BG3 this woman would not be the settle down and go domestic type, nor should she be. (For the sake of this, I'm ignoring Avernus and Epiolgues it's just a fun character thing, so like assume her engine isn't a problem otherwise the only option is to fight in hell anyway)

But GALE! this man is already planning the wedding, he is housewife coded, he is cooking and cleaning and dreaming of dates with you out in the city. Surely he is also up for adventure, he says in Act 3 he has a taste for it now, and I think he'd honestly "make a home" out of *being with you* whether that is on the road cooking at camp or in his tower at Waterdeep. He's flexible.

Astarion (spawn) wants HIS freedom. Anyone who chooses Asty as a partner has to be willing to let him take the lead, and I firmly believe this. He's free for the first time, and now he's also free from all but the vampirism. It's hinted that pursuing a cure is likely his next step if Tav is with him, or that he'd follow on Tav's next adventure, (and like karlach im setting that hiccup aside for more personality based life choices instead of insurmountable hiccups) but I can see him eventually wanting to make choices like staying in fancy places, being in the upper cities, indulging. Insisting on stopping at the good taverns before going on adventures where "THIS TIME JUST FOR US, TAV. NOT SAVING THE WORLD FOR A GODS DAMN MINUTE" that's the vibe I get anyway

Wyll wants you by his side as Duke, so that could look like you settling into a life of nobility. Dances and functions, politics, schedules, meetings, large house. However he also could follow Karlach to Avernus, and he's always up for saving the world, so I feel like you guys COULD ditch at any moment to go do a Thing

Laezel... I don't know. I can't see her staying on Faerun. I think you'd have to follow her on her journey this time, and not the other way around. I haven't done her romance yet

Haven't done shadowhearts yet so I'll need ya'll to fill me in on your thoughts there too!

Halsin: nature. He can't do cities. If you are with him, visits to the city would be short together or you guys would spend time apart and then meet up later. He would be super chill with that. In fact, I feel like he'd support anything you choose to do and anywhere you choose to go and he'd just be thrilled to see you when you came back. He would not, however, change who or what he is to make himself fit into a life that doesn't suit him. He is too old for that stuff, he's got healthy boundaries, he knows what he likes and he's not ashamed to persue it. He is also polyamorous and if his heart stirs for another as it stirs for you which may or may not happen Tav would have to be prepared to recognize that polyamory goes both ways, but also he's a great communicator and would talk to you about it first and get your consent.

[thatpodcastkid]

Magnus Archives Relisten, MAG 4 Page Turner

Analysis of MAG 4, Page Turner. Spooky book time! Spoilers ahead.

Jurgen Leitner? Stupid idiot motherfucking Jurgen-

Sorry about that got possessed for a second. Anyway, first Leitner statement! Let's get into it while I try to control my rage.

Facts: Statement of Dominic Swain, regarding a book briefly in his possession in the winter of 2012.

Statement Notes: So much in this episode! First Gerry and Mary citing, first Leitner and Mike Crew mention. Crazy how relevant this episode was and we all had no way of knowing.

Starting simple, I would just like to say that as a theatre tech, Swain is so accurate and so real. "Doing a little bit of everything?" Real. Trying to see friends work but you also work at the same time? Real. Work place romance? Real. Not being able to relax when you see a play because you know all the tech stuff that can go wrong? Really real.

What I really loved about Dominic's statement though is the highlight of the ozone smell. He walks all around London with that book, shows it to Mary and Gerard, shows it to friends, and no one else mentions the smell. Yet, when he shows it to his ex Katherine Mendes, she said it "triggered her vertigo." This happens with a lot of the cursed items in the show: they don't have one general effect, but target the specific sources of fear and anxiety in the owner. Katherine apparently gets vertigo often, so The Vast would naturally trigger than height-based stressor. But Swain has a specific fear of lightning and the ozone smell because of what happened to Mike, so torturing him with that smell is the most effective way to cause fear in him.

There's also some really classic cursed object horror going on here that I love. Swain tries to sell the book the whole episode, but calls it "his book" fleeing Mary. Additionally, he says that he thought about giving it away, but felt that "wouldn't count." Very similar to Do Not Open here and a lot of cursed object horror in that there needs to be some kind of debt or reciprocity established rid one of the object.

I also just love the line "walking felt as natural as falling." It really conjures the idea that he can't control himself, that he's stumbling to Mary's shop uncontrollable just as he would fall through the sky: completely unable to stop.

Entity Alignment: Dominic translates "Ex Altiora" as "From Higher" or "Out of the Heights." That's just such insane Vast energy, the idea that whatever the book does to you will spawn from the open empty sky and you won't be able to stop it, just as you'd never be able to stop falling.

Obviously this episode is generally Vast aligned, but that painting of the Eye really freaked me out. "Grant us the sight that we may not know. Grant us the scent that we may not catch. Grant us the sound that we may not call.” This engraving very much encapsulates the point of the Eye and the Archive, and weirdly foreshadows what Jon goes through later. It is essentially saying, "Let me witness the fear and pain of others so that I don't have to experience it myself." Why would Gerry paint this? Especially given that a giant eye gives Elias direct view into his home. What is the goal?

Character Notes: Jurgen Leitner? Stupid idiot motherfucking Jurgen Leitner god damn fool book collecting dust eating-

Sorry what happened I blacked out.

Seriously though, my biggest takeaway about Leitner in this ep is that he doesn't spell his name with an umlaut like others. Why did Jonny include that detail. What does that do for me.

I do love that the only information Swain could find on him was that he lost a bidding war over a book to "GRbookworm1818" who is so obviously Gertrude it's hilarious.

I think it's so weird that Swain couldn't find anything online about him, though. Leitners are clearly around, so wouldn't there be some kind of chat room or reddit post about one? Builds my theory that the Entities or at least the Web has some influence over internet content in this universe that it doesn't have in The Magnus Protocol universe. In TMAGP, the OIAR sorts through things found in databases and the internet, but in TMA the Archive seems to be the only source of real supernatural info, proving that Elias or someone else was controlling the stream of information in a way that the entities aren't able to (yet) in TMAGP.

Let's turn away from the most hated character on the internet to talk about the most loved: Gerard Keay.

Our first intro to Gerry is death metal music blasting from his bedroom at two am which is just, so on brand.

(Also want to point out that Dominic Swain didn't realize it was 2 am until he heard the music. Missing time is another motif that keeps coming up in this show.)

I also forgot that Gerry painted in this universe, so it's nice to see they kept that connection in Protocol.

The thing that's truly key (no pun intended) about this episode though is the ritual Mary performs, blaming Gerry for her fake murder. I believe this is the episode she binds herself to the Skin Book, but I can't figure out when/how she would attach Gerry. Also, the case against him was thrown out because a "key piece of evidence was deemed inadmissible." Was this Gertrude pulling strings, Mary using magic influence, or some other powerful eldritch bureaucrat pulling for our boy? Who's to say.

Mike Crew is really only mentioned in this episode, but it did get me thinking about the relevance of scars in the show. His Lichtenberg scar influences who he is and what he becomes as an Avatar. Very similar to Daisy naming herself after her scar and pursuing law--which would lead to her becoming an Avatar--because of the event and injury. Also, Jon's "markings" are what allow him to start the Eyepocalypse. Physical manifestations and reminders of trauma shaping who we become really is a theme in this show.

And of course, Jon. He is such a terrible liar yet him believing in the supernatural was still somehow a plot twist. Proves how good a writer Jonny is, honestly. He doesn't believe in the supernatural, but is absolutely terrified of Leitners and is working on an "institute project" to eradicate them? I would love to know how this project worked. Was it just research? Was there a team dedicated to finding and collecting Leitners? He also mentions "the incident in 1994," is that when the library was destroyed? Or is just another terrible Leitner incident.

Crazy ep, one of my favorites. Let me know what you think!

[thatcerealkiller]

“A good likeness. Though I prefer the real thing.”

Astarion & M!Tav

Words: 872

Summary: Post ending with Spawn Astarion. Based on this event in the Free the Artist quest where Astarion gets his portrait painted by Oskar Fevras.

CW: None, mostly sweet stuff.

Astarion follows the line that shapes a perfectly handsome jaw, chin tilted down just so with lips pursed suggesting a self-satisfied smile. It’s a masterpiece of his own making. Well, with some encouragement.

“One of us deserves to decorate the High Hall and the most beautiful of us are at Elfsong.”

“Darling, you are so very funny. They won’t get anything done with this stunning face watching over them.”

His words purred with confidence then, to quell his misgivings. A part of him feared being a stranger to what the world saw. What his companions saw. Still, he sat for the portrait and he maintained his posture like a consummate professional. When the artist unveiled his finished work, it left Astarion speechless, incapable of performative vanity. His partner on the other hand:

“A good likeness. Though I prefer the real thing.”

His love knew well to downplay the artwork, the effect it had on Astarion, and move on. After all, they had a Netherbrain to defeat and saving Oskar Fevras was such a fucking ordeal, he was glad for it to be over.

The pale elf focuses on red eyes shaded with such depth they feel alive. It is a good likeness, he can agree, and really every time he sees the portrait he’s further convinced of its stunning accuracy. It hangs in the reading room of their home, adjacent to the bedroom where they don’t keep mirrors. His love manages by catching his reflection in polished steel or shop windows. He doesn’t mind at all. Astarion’s heightened senses catch footsteps ascending followed by the click of pins in a set of locks he installed personally.

“I’m in the reading room,” Astarion calls out.

“Hello to you too,” Angelus calls back, “I have the lavender you asked for.”

“You are perfect,” the pale elf sighs, having perfected the art of the theatrical.

He stretches on their pillowed daybed, causing a low rumble to erupt from his lap. The cat hops to the open window facing a dusk sky and gives Astarion a condemning look before disappearing. “You’ll be back,” he says to the feline’s exit.

“Was it the gray one or the black one,” Angelus asks as he enters the room, catching only the tail end of the cat’s departure. He is carrying several stems of lavender.

“Not the gray one you’re thinking of.” Astarion stands to inspect the stems. They’re fresh and every bud is intact. “These will do nicely. Thank you, my sweet.”

He takes them and places the stems on the ledge just below the painting.

“Is that what it’s for?” Had the half-elf known he would have acquired two dozen pink and white ranunculus for Astarion. Yet he also recalls what Astarion has said about flowers before, something something overrated and they never make good poisons. What a contradiction.

“For now.” Astarion turns to him, arms spread and gesturing over the flowers. “I think it looks rather nice. Aesthetic and fragrant.”

This isn’t why he wanted the lavender, but it is funny.

His love tracks the journey from Astarion’s fingertips to the center of his chest. His muscularity is evident under the drape of his shirt, the pale elf selects fabric with purpose. From the center he draws his gaze upwards over fair skinned clavicle to his neck and its two subtle points of interest. The artist didn’t catch those details as Astarion had worn a high collar that day.

His eyes follow the lines that frame up a perfectly handsome face under thick moon white curls. His partner fixates on the pale elf’s mouth pulled into a satisfied smile.

“I think you look nice,” Angelus says casually, disarming Astarion with simple words. It leaves Astarion wanting more.

“Dear, don’t tell me. Show me.”

Astarion curls his fingers, beckoning his love to indulge him, and his love delivers with bridled passion. Angelus’ hands are on the other’s body, grip firm to pull them together. Their lips press in a solid kiss that seems to last an eternity. Curiously dark eyelashes drop as he embraces the gesture.

You are so beautiful.

Astarion imagines what they must look like, kissing under the very painting that informs his vision. He imagines the tilt of their chins when their mouths meet sweetly, their tongues exposed when they fuck ravenously, their expressions when the sun goes down and they’re still curled up in bed. It feels good, it feels good to have a face, to be seen. Not just by his love or by the world but by the one who should matter most.

I am so beautiful.

Finally they part but Astarion’s hand lingers on his partner’s face, cupping his cheek. He will never stop wanting this and this could never stop bringing him joy. His palm straightens to pat the other’s jaw.

“We should discuss our next contract over wine. There’s a lucrative opportunity headed towards Athkatla.”

“We’ll have to capture it before it sails away.”

As they leave the room Astarion glances at his portrait once more. The placement of flowers could suggest a grave but there’s nothing dead and buried here. He decides it’s more like a modest altar to his beauty in body, mind, and soul. Astarion smiles.

[averageartistamber]

Okay, so Sider Order.

Here's a few of my random observations and thoughts:

So here it looks like Pearl Drone is flying Eight in through a window? Ands it looks like some kind of factory or packaging plant. I've heard folks saying that the things being packed in boxes could be something akin to Mem Cakes from Octo Expansion...Perhaps and early sign that Kamabo.Co is involved.

FINALLY, ENEMIES THAT AREN'T OCTARIANS!

Well, these Goo-bers are interesting. Many have pointed out that they resemble fish species that feed on coral. But I also want to add that they have an "undead" aesthetic even more overt than they sanitised people. Someone on Tiktok pointed out that they look like fossils, and the "jelly" surrounding the bones (and what seems to be their ink) could be a visual pun on "fossil fuels". Note how the "bursts" of fluid don't look anything like the ink that other entities in the series use.

This basically confirms that we'll be playing as Agent Eight. After the first teaser I saw a lot of theories about being a clone floating around.

Now everyone's going crazy about DedF1sh (Or Acht, as they are referring to themselves here.) There's some interesting dialogue here. First of all, "another bystander who got suck in here", so, "another" in this context could be themselves since she's talking to Eight and Pearl, but there could be a chance that we could encounter more people who have ended up at the Spire of Order. Plus, she's most likely not here of her own accord, from the "bystander sucked in" part (assuming she's telling the truth). People are being brought here.

Secondly, Acht mentions knowing Marina from "way back", so we could be getting deeper into Marina's backstory (another common theme in the fan theories). Dedf1sh also introduces the player to the Chip and Palette system, which are a core part of the DLC's gameplay loop, since they appear to be going for a Rogue-like. Ther chips kind of remind me of the paint colour swatches you get at a hardware shop, combined with computer chips (that's not totally relevant, I'll admit).

More stuff to do with the gameplay. It looks like each floor has a few variants with different difficulties and objectives, which reward a currency, most likely used to buy chips and other upgrades. It's giving that impression almost that the Spire is another "testing facility", akin to the Deep Sea Metro. Hopefully this places doesn't contain any blenders.

Unusual way of spawning in, where you can see Eight's soul ghost...thing enter a polygonal model before fully forming. There does seem to be a lot of digital glitchy stuff going on. Maybe some virtual reality elements?

Finally, what I think looks like a boss arena (although some have suggested that this machine is the Big Bad itself). Upon close inspection, the "faces" scattered around it are covered in the oil and are moving around a bit. Looks kinda like Tartar during the final confrontation when he for some reason had a blob of sanitised goop on his face. I might be reading too much into this.

I mean, if they wanna bring Tartar back, he is an AI, so they could say a back-up copy of him was found somewhere. Like, a time capsule with the Professor's crappy spare USB or somethin' idk.

Anyway, that's all I got for know. Just gotta wait for Spring.