#finally a campaign i can get my partner to watch with me

[wardensantoineandevka]

i haven't watched CR since CR1 - what's the status of the VM crew? Curious but i know in my heart im not watching another campaign to find out

So, I've summarized their epilogues as they play out in the finale of Campaign 3. I've tried to not editorialize and stick to facts, but as always I do recommend people check my work! You can read a transcript of the episode with this link starting at where the VM epilogues start.

Grog is an ambassador to the new Krevirian Republic on Ruidus. He and Gaz Tomo, one of the officials of the Republic and a former revolutionary who fought the prior imperial regime and who is not dissimilar in temperament to Grog, hit it off immediately. Grog has also taken to introducing himself as Grogory.

Scanlan and Cerkonos of the Fire Ashari (who was played by Robbie Daymond during C3) developed a really hilarious but actually fairly touching friendship over Cerkonos's attempts to woo Lieve'tel. Shortly after the events of C3, in the time where Pike has no duties to tend to, he asks her to spend some time adventuring with him again before they both have to hang it up for good. Pike wants to say no, but admits that she still loves him and loves spending time with him. He says they don't have to marry again, but they're probably going to get married again (again). For now, though, no labels. He also casts True Polymorph on her too, so they are both adventuring as centaurs.

Lieve'tel continues to serve as a high warden of the temple at Vasselheim. She is still out there gettin' it.

Percy, feeling that he is getting old, exacerbated by the fact that years have been very difficult and hard and stressful, and that retirement is fast approaching, has decided that he and Vex need to start thinking about preparing their children to take over some of their roles in Whitestone and the world at large. Percy wishes to try to locate the reincarnated gods before anyone, because he is paranoid about trouble starting, but Keyleth convinces him to allow this to be something the generation after him decides how best to approach and worry over. Whitestone is among those places that open themselves to Ruidian refugees, and it benefits from an increase in residuum trade in the aftermath of the shift of magic following the Rite of Catatheosis.

Vex eventually steps away from her duties alongside Percy as he gets older to spend time with him in their several vacation homes across Exandria and their cottage on Ruidus. They are mentioned to own both an Evil Babies painting by Braius and a Lavorre.

Keyleth is among the first, if not the first, to know when a god has been incarnated into the world by communing with the roots of the primordial trees throughout Exandria. She does not tell Percy.

Aside from and probably after her time with Scanlan, Pike for a long time feels a sense of loss and grief without the Everlight's presence and feels uncertain what to do with her life, so she continuously tends to the Everlight's temples until one day, fifteen years later, she receives news that the Everlight has been found.

Vax no longer carries out his duty as the Champion of Ravens alone, but now has a partner in Morrighan, perhaps with others to come in the future. Together, they are expected to eventually find and protect the incarnated Matron of Ravens. Thus, he returns to live in Exandria, with a little more vitality and color in him than before. He returns to Keyleth. She says that she has changed in the years since, and he asks to start over with no expectations. She agrees to another beginning, and they introduce themselves to one another again: "My name's Keyleth, and you're the love of my life." "If you will have me, I am yours, Keyleth of the Air Ashari."

[songofwizardry]

and that’s a wrap on campaign 3! emotions post incoming. yes, I did get a drink just to toast the end of it, and yes, that is a little crocheted Beau (I did not make her!) who kept me company through watching m9, and who I got out for the bell’s hells finale too.

like lots of folks, I’ve had my complaints about c3, and particularly in the last year, life’s been Difficult and I struggled to keep up the whole time, but—god, I love these characters (all of them), I love this stupid game, and even though I’ve not been watching from the very beginning, it’s still been a Journey.

I started watching critical role with m9 in 2019, which doesn’t feel like that long ago but was (apparently!) six years ago, in a terrible room in a pretty shitty living situation. I’d just moved away from all my friends, was getting my teaching qualification, and was tired and broke and lonely. in the intervening years, a tonne has happened: I’ve moved house a few times and now have a (much much nicer!) flat with my partner where I can regularly host people I love, I’ve gotten married, I’ve qualified and been teaching for five years, I’ve gotten a lot better at dealing with some bits of my brain and body and inevitably had more things come up, but that’s okay, I’ve come out-out (if you know what I mean). and I’ve met so many wonderful people both in and outside fandom, and gone to cons, and written fanfic, and participated in exchanges, and connected with critters in this community, and even attended the m9 London live show, which was incredible in so many ways. watching critical role in the stressful, lonely, busy year that was 2019 was what gave me the courage to start DMing, and I’ve been DMing for some of my best friends for the last five years. and that, in itself, is a wonderful thing to have, and I’m so grateful to all of it.

I’ve always been a fucking nerd, and I’ve been in fandoms for most of my life. but critical role has been a special one for me. I’ve found so much fan connection, so much inspiration and joy to create, so much comfort in this show over the last six years. it’s been there with me for so many hours over lockdowns and commutes and friday-evening-post-work watching and while I’m crying and while I’m happy and while I’m reading fanfic on my phone at work and while I’m singing “your turn to roll” with 12k people at wembley.

so yeah. it may not have been ten years for me, but god. it’s been such a wonderful journey. and watching the finale last night/today and getting to see those threads come together and to watch the cast tell ends to stories that have been in the making for ten years or more—it has been lovely, and very emotional. and again, for all my issues with c3—I have had a wonderful time, and it was a really enjoyable finale.

I don’t know what comes next for exandria and for longform critical role campaigns, but this *did* feel like a bit of an ending, and yknow what? no matter what comes next, I’m not mad about that. it’s been such a good ride, critters. I’m very grateful I got to be part of it along with you all. I cannot fucking wait for divergence.

or in other words: thanks for the good story, Matt (and everyone else!). let’s do it again?

[wangxianficfinder]

Fic Finder

Feb 6th

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1. Hi!

I've been watching your content for a while and I really liked it, so I would like you to please help me find a fic.

This fic is a One shot with a/b/o theme (wwx omega LWJ alpha) where wwx lived a "house" for omegas (where he is a friend of mm) and they "borrow" it for prince Lwj, Lxc ( alpha) is the emperor and JGY (omega) is his partner.

In Gusu, omegas are not considered for cultivation, however, wwx doesn't care much about that and there is a scene where he along with LWJ fight in a cave with a monster. The final scene of the one shot occurs when WWX runs away from Gusu to the beach, LWJ follows him because they promised to visit the sea one day together.

the wangxian relationship is slow and with lwj's problems to express his feelings 😓

I would appreciate your help, if you need more information, I will gladly try to remember more things😊 and sorry for the grammar, my native language is not English (google translator)

FOUND? Rattling our cages by danegen (E, 69k, wangxian, A/B/O, but like polite, Slow Burn, Pining while fucking, so much hair combing, WWX has a vagina, POV WWX, no yin iron or wars or plot really, Canon Era, spiders--see the notes, Spanish Translation Available)

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2. Heya! Can y'all help me find a fic?

The part of the plot i remember is that WWX uses an array to erase himself and the wens from the memory of the cultivation world. The array stops one day, and a bunch of people go to the burial mounds to see what's up. It was on ao3, probably.

and that's ~all i remember~

a nice fic but not the one i remember. pretty sure wwx was hiding in the burial mounds with the wens. thanks for this fic tho!

NOT FOUND! Second Summer by Anonymous (M, 152k, WangXian, canon, Post-Sunshot Campaign, Mystery, Amnesia, Memory Loss, Curses, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, somebody lives/somebody else dies, Golden Core Reveal, canon-typical lack of lube, Ambiguous/Open Ending)

NOT FOUND! you've heard that melody before by Stratisphyre (M, 66k, wangxian, JL & LSZ & LJY, JC/WQ, Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Memory Loss, POV Multiple, Multiple Canon Character Deaths, Depictions of depression, Light Dom/sub, Not Everyone Dies AU, Twin Prides of Yúnmèng Dynamics)

FOUND? Run Off The World by Sapphire_Roses (M, 271k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, SL/XXC, WIP, Not Everyone Dies AU, Canon Divergence, Wen Remnants Live, Flashbacks, YLLZ WWX, WWX Creates a Sect | Yiling Wei Sect, Sect Leader WWX, Married WangXian, OCs, POV Outsider, Morally Grey Characters, (Do Take That Tag Seriously), Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Developing Friendships, Fluff, Attempt at Humor, Yunmeng Siblings Feels, Gusu Siblings Feels, Sibling Bonding, Pining, Character Study, Tenderness, Mild Smut, POV Alternating, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Minor Character Death)

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3. Hi, i was looking for a fic i think i found in your blog? It was a wip and it was something along the line of wwx as yilling patriarch and the sects sent lan wangji for tribute. But they already knew each other.

I remember this one scene where lan wangji finds bunnies inside the burial mounds but wwx captures them to eat and lwj is sad.

I don't remember the title or anything because i think i directly clicked the link and started reading but then i forgot to bookmark it and lost the link.

Please help me find it, i really wanna know what happened next.🙏😔

FOUND? The Jade Bride by lanwangjibo (Not rated, 16k, wangxian, WIP, Pining LWJ, YLLZ WWX, Misunderstandings, POV WWX, POV LWJ, Fluff and Angst, WQ Lives, Wēn Remnants Live, LSZ is a Wēn, WWX is Bad at Feelings, LWJ is Bad at Communicating, SS Being an Asshole, Pining WWX, Hurt LWJ, BAMF WWX, Angst with a Happy Ending)

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4. fic finder request! looking for two fics that i can't seem to locate in my bookmarks - A) in the first one, sizhui (and the rest of the juniors?) somehow reach through time and rescue wwx (i think dead in present time), bringing him into their present! in the process they create a lot of trouble, due to the power expended and released, i believe they turned a mountain into a crater or something.

B) the second fic I'm looking for takes place during the sunshot campaign, when baoshan sanren decides to join the fight and intervenes. she restores both jc and wwx's cores, by reaching back into time and removing jc's core right before it's melted by wzl, she also returns wwx's core from jc's to wwx's body. she does this in her tent, which is also a dimension travel portal or something which iirc links back to her home on the mountain.

thank you very much!! @potatokunst

4A)

FOUND! Would You Come Home? by s6115 (Not rated, 46k, WangXian, Junior Quartet Centric, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, Junior Quartet Dynamics)

4B)

FOUND! Can't Tell Me Nothin by natacup82 (T, 35k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Everybody Lives, Family Feels, Communication, BAMF Women) Baoshan Sanren return Jiang Cheng's core from the past in chapter 4

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5. hi! gosh, i have had this fic stuck in my head for the past weeks but for the life of me, i just cannot remember the name. i really hope you can help me find it!

the fic is about how modern wei wuxian is a researcher/scientist and he got his hands on a shady book written by baoshan sanren, accidentally triggers a talisman/array and somehow being transported into the wuxia version and it involves the people who died coming back to life and they all watch/read the past and it just sort of becomes one big therapy session.

i think i remember there being a part in the fic where modern wei wuxian mentions transferring/donating his organ to modern jiang cheng in reference to how og wei wuxian transfered his gold core to og jiang cheng.

and also a part where it was mention that for modern wei wuxian, it was madam yu who found and brought him back to the jiang family to be raised and not sect leader jiang; also it was implied that the modern jiang family is actually a loving happy family in contrast to the sort of dysfunctional og one because modern wei wuxian address's madam yu and sect leader jiang as mother and father.

i wish i could remember more, i hope this would be enough to go on. please help me and thank you so much in advance! @lilith--14

I believe this fic has been deleted but please correct me if I'm wrong - Mod C

FOUND? Yes the fic was deleted. It's "Loving Future, Distant Past" by yareyarejojosan. Here is a link to a folder that contains all of the author's fics

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6. For a fic finder, there was this nsfw kinda darkji (probably pwp) fic that haunts me and might have been deleted, becaused i’ve searched in every way I know how: (post?)canon, wwx can’t get hard anymore for some reason. He is embarrassed to admit it to lwj, who then calms him and says it’s normal and that he doesn’t use it for much anyway. Turns out lwj was the one who started and keeps giving him the tea for impotence. The lan doctors are in on this(?) Thanks if anyone can identify this one!

I don’t think 6 on the last fic finder was it (still a delishiously dark-ish rec, thank you!), it was (probably) a shorter pwp and not modern

NOT FOUND You Sing of Thanatos; I Hear Only Eros by kanonkita (E, 39k, WangXian, MIND THE TAGS, Modern AU, Extremely Dubious Consent, Dark!LWJ, Mild Horror, Omorashi, Tentacles, Rope Bondage, Shibari, Praise Kink, Breeding Kink, Oviposition, Non-Consensual Body Modification, soft pillow talk, Hurt/Comfort, non-consensual emotional healing, Panic Attacks, Wetting, Body Horror, Impotence, Magic, Anal Sex, PIV Sex, Mpreg, Mild Suicidal Ideation, Voyeurism, PWP, Angst, nonconsensual medical treatment)

FOUND? Succumbing to His unconditional love? by MurderRose (E, 2k, wangxian, mildly dom/sub, WWX's floppy little cock, the trials of being utterly loved, LWJ can be a tiny bit dark as a treat, opt in or opt out at your will, its almost invisibly mild, a lil bit of humiliation)

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7. Hello (✿◠‿◠) hope you having a good day! This is for the fic finder, I've been looking for this fic where after his death wwx comes back as a rabbit, it has a glossary at the start for words/terms the rabbits use, I think? I really hope this is enough to go form!

FOUND! Dignity and Animality by quick_cat_tl (G, 31k, WangXian, Watership Down, u know the one with the political/philosophical bunnies, Reincarnation, Lapine language, Rabbit!WWX, Sunny Angst, Pining) Hi, number 7 is probably „Dignity and Animality“ by Anielka. Unfortunately, it seems to be deleted on AO3. / For #7, I remember reading "Dignity and Animality!" When I click the link for it (from the wangxianficrecs tumblr), it redirects to Dignity and Animality by quick_cat_tl - maybe the author changed their AO3 handle? / The question about #7 - I copied the link for the current posting for that story and then took it into the wayback machine where that same link does pull up the story being underneath the original name mentioned back in 2021, so it was a name change and not a repost.

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8. I’m looking for a fic, one chapter, Lan Wangji is a teacher in Cloud Recesses. He takes Wei Wuxian to the Jingshi and it’s implied that he told Wei Wuxian he’d not tell anyone what Wei Wuxian had done so long as Wei Wuxian let him fuck him.

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9. Hi! I hope you can help me find this. All I can remember is that WWX fell asleep in the cold spring and I think Lwj or Lqr saw his body few hours later and wwx is cold as if he is already dead.

FOUND? 🔒 Warming up (to him) by barisan (T, 9k, LQR & WWX, WangXian, Hypothermia, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Temporary Character Death, Medical Inaccuracies, YZY Abuses WWX, JFM Bashing, pre-wangxian, Good Uncle LQR, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort)

FOUND? Warmth by Quiet_crash (G, 2k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Hypothermia, Fluff, Kinda, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm)

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10. Hi! Your work on this blog is absolutely amazing! For fic finder, I've been searching for a fic I read awhile ago. It's post-canon. WWX is traveling and writing to LWJ, but letters stop coming. LWJ searches and finds that to prevent a creature from preying on a local child, WWX took it on himself but to prevent the curse from hurting anyone else, he's hiding in a cave, constantly drinking to dull the effects.

FOUND? Fire in the Blood by Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle) (M, 20k, wangxian, First Time, Post-Canon, Angst with a Happy Ending, hurt/comfort themes)

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11. Hey I read a book recently, in there, there was a scene where, wwx was protecting someone? Or someone was protecting wwx? By standing on one side of fire and the attackers/i think it was jins or someone on the other side of fire. The scene was fierce. They were like us against the world type of scene. Do u know this fic? @constellationdks

#11 for recent fic finder here, thnx for the rec but it's not the one. The one I'm looking for is quite long, I think it was more than 30 or 40k. Also the scene wasn't with a yuan.

I know number 11 and I'm trying to search for it. It's wwx holding a-yuan in his arms in an alleyway when they are attacked by the jin. The premise has something to do with that strength parents get when defending their children? 🤔 let me get back to you!

NOT FOUND Hysterical Strength by covalentbonds (Not Rated, 3k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Parent WWX, Fix-It of Sorts, Everybody Lives/Nobody dies) Wwx is out one evening with a-yuan when he is ambushed by the jin.

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12. Fic finder please! 🙏

This would be a hybrid/warprize LWJ where he was a bunny hybrid and WWX was a snake. WRH has LWJ shipped off to WWX, who ends up helping him and eventually gets him reunited with LXC.

I remember there was art of LWJ and rabbits bc WWX was trying to help him calm down. I’ve read this sometime last year and can’t find it anywhere! 😭😭

FOUND! 山水盆景 (Shānshuǐ Pénjǐng) by meicairoubingfan (kiradyn) (M, 64k, WangXian, warprize AU warprize lwj, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, Vers WangXian, Top WWX, Top LWJ/Bottom WWX, Animal Traits, Non-ABO Universe, Snake Demon Lord WWX, Animal Traits, Hand Jobs, Seduction, Found Family, Wedding In The Cloud Recesses, Handfasting In The Cold Spring Cave, Alternate 3Zun, Alternative Sunshot Campaign, Hinted Future ChenLi, YZY is a better mother, JYL Is Not A Wilting Wallflower, empowerment, Side-Character Cameos, Rabbit Sanctuary In The Burial Mounds, Cutest Little Bun MXY, Accidental Child Acquisition, Child MXY)

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13. (First part added to itmf) But I’m looking for a modern au were even though jc’s family is rich they don’t give wwx and jc pocket money and they were hungry in front of a bakery? And wwx used the « orphan in the street card » and lwj bought him food

I don’t know if it’s the same one but I think at some point wwx bought lwj home while he was drunk and waited for lxc to come pick him up and jc saw them talking on the couch and he thought they were dating (they weren’t together yet)

ANYWAY thank you for everything ✨✨✨ @ihaveasoftspotfora-yuan

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14. Hi! for the fic finder please, there was a fic where lz read on a book abt the hannaki disease and he thought it beautiful so he started choking himself on gentian flowers to imitate the feeling @cocoaphil

FOUND? the sweet scent of their tragedy by HeavenlySkyfarer (E, 23k, WangXian, Angst, Cultivation Sect Politics, Depression, Hanahaki Disease, Language of Flowers, Love Confessions, Manipulation, Marriage, Mental Health Issues, Pining, Post-Sunshot Campaign, Rumors, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Whump, Self-Harm, Bittersweet, Self-Blame, Canon-Typical Violence, Blanket Permission, Morally Gray LWJ)

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15. Hello, I am looking for a fic I read some time ago (it could be a few years). I think it was post-canon, Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian were together. LWJ gets cursed and the only thing he has in mind is killing WWX (since he sees him only as the big bad Yiling Laozu). At the end, WWX pretends LWJ killed him and the curse is lifted. It was posted on ao3. Thank you for your hard work! And have a great day!

I think I remember this fic! It starts out with WWX accidentally cursing LWJ with a talisman while they were in the jingshi and ends with WWX running to the burial mounds, finding out there are people who worship him living there, and he uses the incense burner to trick LWJ into thinking he killed him to break the curse, right? I can't recall the name though - Mod C

FOUND? all the broken things that I made by ilip13 (E, 43k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Lovers To Enemies, (then back to lovers I'm not a monster), Dubcon Kissing, Dubious Consent, But mostly not in the way you might expect - see notes for details, Explicit Sexual Content, Bondage, Flirting, Competence Kink) might be this? I haven't read it yet, but the summary sounds like what they are looking for!

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16. Okay I could have easily dreamt this up but I could have sworn there was a fic where either LWJ or WWX was in a orchestra and his band mates thought he was married to wen qing because she was the one to always bring a Yuan to him after school or something only to think he was cheating when his actual husband comes by pls tell me I didn't dream this

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17. Hi! im sorry i lost a fic and i need help. It was an old wangxian fic, where LXC He's emperor (?) and LWJ is engaged to WWX, in this fic they get married and there are problems with the marriage because LWJ was a little bad during their engagement, since they were children. WWX was always trying to get his attention until one day he gave up. In the fic there is a part where Su She shoots WWX with an arrow and LWJ punishes him in some way.I remember it was also a Tumblr AU that later become a fic

NOT FOUND! rebuttable presumption by @sarah-yyy

NOT FOUND! Burning Bridges by Keysmashed (E, 12k, wangxian, arranged marriage, misunderstandings, pining, angst w/ happy ending, family drama, swordfighting, non-graphic smut, emotional rollercoaster, love confessions, everyone lives au) it’s probably not this one because su she is not in it and it’s not royalty but wx are engaged and wy does give up so even if it’s not you might like it

FOUND! permissive presumption by sarahyyy (G, 7k, WangXian, Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Pining, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings) could also be permissive presumption by sarahyyy, on AO3, which is an AU of the author's fic on tumblr

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18. Hi! This is for fic finder. WWX is killed by SMS in sunshot campaign. He then resurected years later by MXY in JGS order. WWX and LWJ fight together. WWX hand is blackened i think. JGS refused to tell WWX what is MXY wish is. In last chapter, JGS is killed by JGY or Madam Jin and WWX is free from the curse. I think JGS death is because of NHS plot i think. Thank you! @idontknowwhattowriteforusername

Hi! I'am #18 from the latests fic finder. I want to add some details. Not much but i hope someone can recognize it. Jin Ling and Lan Jingyi was sent to Qishan either as a hostage or indocrination. In there, everytime they are punished, Wen Ning and Wen Yuan help them to make the punishment lighter. Sometimes they warned Jin Ling, Lan Jingyi, and other junior everytime other wen sect member (the one that didnt hesitate to punush them harshly) nearby. I think Wen Qing too help everytime the punishment is so harsh that caused injury, she make them stay in infirmary where they are safe

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19. Hello! I’m looking for a fic where mxy and wwx are a couple who take lwj home for a night in a modern AU. The beginning talks about how mxy and wwx looked so similar that when they first met they were worried they were related. Lwj is on the verge of being in love w/ wwx, but he’s hesitant to act on it bc of the relationship between wwx & mxy. Once he’s in bed with them there’s a line about red satin sheets for special guests. It’s such a specific premise but I couldn’t find it on ao3😭

FOUND? you and me alone by plonk (Not rated, 6k, wangxian, MXY/LJW/WWX, modern)

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20. looking for a fic from a prev ff or itmf, modern au, college/research lab? setting, abo dynamics. wwx and lwj participate in some scientific research study and get together in the process. iirc they are not in the same yr at college. i didnt manage to save it then but really want to read it, please help!!

NOT FOUND Pairfire by PaidSubscription (E, 65k, wangxian, NMJ/LXC, JC/NHS, WQ/MM, JYL/JZX, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Fluff, Relationships 101, Getting Together, First Time, Explicit Consent, Bordering on Kink Levels of Communication, Elements of Assigned-ish Marriage-ish, Non-Traditional A/B/O Dynamics, A/B/O With a twist, Because Cultivators CHOOSE Their Gender During This Course, After Trying Out All Three, It’s a Three Course Meal and WangXian’s Gender Acceptance is the Dessert, But Horny Pining is the Main Meal and the Most of the Snacks, Bottom LWJ, Bossy Bottom/Henpecked Top Energy, Everyone is over 21, Gender Choice Raises Issues for Most But I Promise Happy Endings + Everyone Comfy in Their Own Skin, Side Couple Aro/Ace/Agender Storylines)

FOUND! 🔒 I is for Instinct by beeswaxing (E, 71k, wangxian, LXC/NMJ, JYL/JZX, hualian, A/B/O, Alpha WWX, Omega LWJ, Scenting, Possessive Behavior, Getting Together, First Time, First Kiss, Public Display of Affection, Public Claiming, Good Parent LQR, Alpha YZY, Good Parent YZY, Family Feels, Fluff, Romance, Aftermath of Violence, Slice of Life, Modern, College/University, BAMF WWX, Soft Wangxian, Barebacking, Knotting, Semi-Public Sex, Shameless, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg)

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[fangirlingfromdownunder]

#SavetheWinchesters pt.2

Summary - This is the long-time-coming sequel to my fic #SavetheWinchesters. After months of campaigning, they finally find out the network’s verdict.

Pairing - Jensen Ackles x reader

Masterlist | Part 1

A/N - We now all know the unfortunate fate that The Winchesters met with. So, thanks to a little reminder from @ozwriterchick (which was now ages ago…I’m so sorry this took so long!) of the original fic I wrote I’ve decided to finally follow it up. Sorry for the lengthy hiatus, life’s been hectic, plus I am working on something big that I’m hoping will be ready to share with you soon. Thank you for your patience and continued support, and welcome to anyone new! I love you all!!

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

You, Jensen and the rest of the cast of The Winchesters have been campaigning hard for weeks and now it’s finally time to find out the verdict. You have a video call scheduled with the executives later today. The anxiety for their decision and your husband’s reaction has had you tossing and turning all night. With the sun finally pouring through the windows you roll over and kiss his cheek as you wrap an arm over his chest and snuggle close. You feel him stir and wrap his arm around you as well. You hear a toilet flush down the hall, signaling that at least one of your kids is already awake. 

“That’s my sign to get up…” you sigh. 

“Or you could stay here a little longer. They won’t starve.”

“No, but I have to get them ready for school, otherwise they’ll be late because they’ll just watch TV or play with their toys instead of getting ready.”

“So responsible…”

“Someone has to keep this house running. You may pay the bills, but this place would be chaos without me.”

He leans over and kisses your lips softly, still half asleep. “And I hope you know how grateful I am for everything you do. There’s no way I could manage all this on my own, yet you make it seem so simple.”

“We do it together. Now come on, help me wrangle this lot and don’t forget you promised them you’d drive them to school. Plus, you’ve got that meeting later.”

You try to sit up but he wraps his arm tighter around you and holds you down to kiss you again. When he pulls away he asks, “About that…Will you do it with me? We are partners on this project after all.”

“Just on this project?” you tease playfully before pecking his lips. “Of course, I’ll do the meeting with you. We’re partners in every sense.” You peck his lips again and then get up. You throw on your robe, go downstairs to check on the kids and start getting them ready. You find them just as you expected, sitting in front of the TV watching the morning cartoons. “Alright, kiddos, who’s had breakfast?” As expected you don’t get a single response, they’re too engrossed in the Great Dane on the TV. You pour out a bowl of cereal for each of them and then let them eat in front of the TV. If nothing else, it provides a good distraction while you brush and style their hair neatly. 

Jensen finally comes downstairs, after showering and getting dressed for the day, and makes you both a coffee and toast while you make sandwiches and pack snacks for the kids’ lunches. You work together in perfect harmony. After years of not having him around often for these mundane mornings, you’re surprised at how well you fall into sync when he is. 

While he drives the kids to school you tidy up, get dressed, set a load of washing, and then set Jensen’s laptop on the kitchen counter for the meeting. Then, while you wait you scroll through your social media, checking on the status of the hashtag and retweeting some of your favourite posts despite knowing that the decision is already made, one way or the other. Still, you can hope. Also, it doesn’t hurt to boost the support for the show in case you have to start searching for a new home for it. 

You smile as you hear the alarm system beep off and on in time with the front door opening and closing. “How was traffic?” you call out as you listen to your husband’s footsteps getting closer.

“Busy…But I do enjoy that time with the kids. I missed it for so long” he says as he rattles the keys in the bowl.

“I know, but you’re home with us now. And even when you go again, we know you’ll always come back.”

Jensen sits on the couch beside you, wrapping one arm over your shoulders and kissing your temple. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He looks over at your phone. “I hope they say yes, today. I hope we convinced them…It’s such a good cast and crew and I have so many ideas.”

“I know. I hope so too…But even if they don’t, it was an amazing wild ride. They’ll all go far regardless. You know what the industry is like.”

“I know…Never get your hopes up. Everything is a blessing. Don’t put your fist through the drywall…blah blah blah…I just…”

You can feel him tensing up. You place a hand on his cheek softly, forcing him to look at you. You kiss his cheek, the tip of his nose and then his lips. You whisper against his lips, “I know. I love your passion and love for these people, but you need to calm down.” You feel him relax slightly as he kisses you back deeper.

“Thank you…”

When the alarm alerts you that it’s 10 minutes to your meeting with the network executives, you both get up and set yourselves up in front of the laptop. Your hand rests reassuringly on Jensen’s knee while his hand rests on yours. You wait in the video call lobby for them to join. Once they finally do, it’s a whirlwind; a rush of words that you can hardly process as you feel your husband tensing up and gripping your hand tightly to ground himself and likely stop his Dean from showing. Once you finally catch up, you try to save the meeting.

“Thank you for taking the time to consider us. We really appreciate this opportunity.”

Jensen gives them a polite nod before slamming the laptop shut and pacing around the kitchen. You give him a few minutes to walk off his frustration and calm down before you stand up and wrap your arms around him.

“I really thought we would’ve changed their mind. Did they not see? All the posts? All the support? How hard the actors worked?”

“I know…” You try to comfort him but he pulls away.

“I’m gonna go workout,” he says before storming down the hall towards your at-home gym. 

Your heartbreaks for him, you know how much he put into creating the story and world and how passionate he is about the up-and-coming actors. You text the main cast: Meg, Drake, Jojo and Nida to invite them to a video call in a couple of hours. You figure it’s best to give Jensen some time to work the frustration out of his system before talking to them. 

To keep yourself busy, you hang out the washing and start preparing dinner. When Jensen finally returns, he’s freshly showered and changed into a fresh outfit. He wraps his arms around you from behind and places his hands on yours to stop you from chopping the vegetables briefly. “I’m sorry…” He kisses the top of your head.

You turn around in his arms and wrap your arms around his neck, careful not to touch him with your dirty hands. “Did you apologise to the punching bag too?” you jest which causes a small smile to pull at the corner of his mouth. “It’s fine, Jens, really. I understand. I’m sorry about the show.”

“Me too. I guess I should call the others…let them know before they find out the hard way…”

“I’ve arranged a call in about…” You glance over at the clock. “Ten minutes now.”

He pulls you in for a soft kiss. “You’re so perfect.”

You do the call together, just like the disappointing one earlier, Jensen holds you tight for support. Once everyone comes online you and Jensen gently give them the bad news. You try to soften the blow by emphasising how well they did and that the cancellation is in no way their fault, but a disappointing result of budget cuts and the difficult times with the threats of industry strikes on the horizon. You both encourage them to keep auditioning and expanding their careers and skills. Then you finally finish by thanking them for their time and passion in helping bring your and Jensen’s vision to life and help with the campaign, even if it didn’t go the way you all hoped. 

After saying your goodbyes and shutting off the camera, Jensen kisses the top of your head and stands up. Then without a word, he slinks off down the hall. You shoot a sad smile at his back. Despite knowing the industry is rough, it’s been a long time since things haven’t gone his way. After 15 years of a guaranteed job and so much say in the character and direction, he’s not used to the pushback and being shut down. You know he’ll accept it and come back to his bubbly self in time, but it will take just that. So, in the meantime, you continue to do what you can; finish the laundry and dinner and pick up the kids from school to allow him some time alone to process everything.

When you get back home, the kids run outside to play. You cut up some fruits, put them on a plate with a few cookies and then wander out to the deck. You go to call the kids over to get some snacks but stop when you hear your husband’s soft voice and the perfect melody from his guitar. You smile and sit in the chair beside him enjoying the unexpected, accidental serenade. 

“She keeps on loving me

Loves me the way I am

She's not just along for the ride

She's my biggest fan

Lord, it's a little old piece of heaven

When we lay down at night

She keeps on loving me

And I keep on wondering why”

As he finishes the song he winks at you and you smile. “I stumbled on this song a while ago…it’s perfect for us…”

“Everything is gonna work out. It’ll be hard for a bit, sure. But there is an upside…” You look over at the kids playing on their swing set and then back at Jensen. “Until your next project, we can just enjoy a little time as a family without the looming thought of you having to leave for weeks or months at a time. I know they’ll be happy about that.”

“Yeah…That actually sounds really nice. Just us as a family, no looming deadlines or projects. We’ve never had that before.”

“New, unchartered territory. But I’m game if you are?”

He smiles at you and nods before calling out, “I’m gonna eat all these cookies!” He picks one up, opens his mouth wide and holds the cookie close to his lips teasingly. The kids sprint over and pout until he places it back on the plate. Once they sit down to eat, Jensen decides to share the news. “So, how would you guys feel about me being around a little more permanently for a while?”

[leidensygdom]

well @voidsteeth has given me the power to ramble a bit more. PLEASE ignore the cat in that picture, for some goddamn reason it's the only way tumblr let me post this goddamn picture. it's a nice kitty, mind you

Up above, some really loose logo/main pic ideas for it! Excuse my terrible handwriting. Let me do it bullet-point format since it helps my adhd pin down stuff

So, it's gonna be a RPG. I wanna figure some fun gimmick and I surprisingly have a bunch of that well fleshed out! (Part of it revolving the elemental system, concerning Flesh/Memory/Mind/Matter/Soul). I'm not a huge fan of the repetitive encounter "smash everything in front of you" format. I'm going to be using RPG Maker MZ. My partner has a lot of experience with that, which should help a lot!

Inspired by a bit of a mix of classic JRPGs and more recent indie RPGs, specially Rpg Maker stuff. I've been raised watching my dad play the old Final Fantasy games (which I love dearly, specially IX, X and VII), but I've ended up loving the more recent indie scene myself (OFF, Oneshot, Undertale/Deltarune, Everhood)

(I'm gonna be playing more RPG Maker games to help with inspiration and knowing how much I can bend the system- Please feel free to recommend me some!)

Set in a sort of high fantasy setting, and it takes a bunch of stuff from the one I run my current DnD campaign in. I think it will feel familiar to DnD/PF players, but I'm going all in with my own worldbuilding! I wanna set myself apart from these.

I want to have a sort of in-game illustrated encyclopedia because I really dig that. I liked the way OFF used images here and there to add to the lore. I just love the idea of being able to collect pages and learn more on the way. I've sketched the ones for the elements already!

Themes will spin around friendship and human connection, eldritch horror flavoured stuff, and some temporal shenanigans too. It will also tackle on the importance of understanding the past- The story will put some focus on how people are too busy pillaging a ruined city to understand what actually destroyed it in the first place. Which, well, it's the kinda thing to have consequences.

I'm planning to work on this on my free time, and once it has a nice shape (and perhaps a playable demo), I may consider having a Kickstarter to complete it. I'm fairly confident I can handle (with enough time) most of the parts of it. I just need to get a bit familiar with pixel art (for the maps). I used to do that ages ago! I'm also familiar enough with programming and have done small web-games in the past.

The one thing I am absolutely not qualified enough for is music. I wanna try honing my skills but- Oh boy. (on that note, if you know of small musicians that are open for commissions, do let me know! Just as a very preliminary view)

also you can bet this is gonna be really LGBTQ+ themed. I wanna also take the chance to maybe sprinkle in some of my heritage's stuff, I've wanted to do that for ages!

I'm of course always open for specific questions about this. I'm really excited to work on it and help my mental health on the way. I'll do my best to share some concept art, mock ups and such as I get it more fleshed out! I have some enemies pinned down and I think people will really enjoy these designs : )

[rosalesbeausderholle]

My first book of the year (well, almost, 50 pages to go!) has been Doppelganger by Naomi Klein, which is an absolutely amazing book about the way people get radicalized by alt-right grifters and how that radicalization is fueled subconsciously by very real fear, pain and paranoia fostered on regular people by our system of savage, predatory capitalism. They just don't know where to direct that fear to, so they end up in conspiracy anti-vaxx circles rather than becoming leftists.

I heartily recommend it to anyone. If you've read anything by Klein, you'll love it. She's a masterful writer and she addresses our current issues with incredible insight and in a thoroughly entertaining way. A solid 4.5/5 stars (and that's high praise, I hardly ever give 5 stars to anything). I'm putting the rest of this under a readmore because I need you guys to understand that I honestly really recommend this book:

That being said, I have one complaint:

And it's the way Klein is, not dismissive, just subconsciously doesn't realize or give enough importance to feminism to analyze the issues she's talking about through a feminist lenses. She talks about feminism and about abortion rights and about sexual violence and about women's issues and gender issues but it's all through the lenses of class and not feminism.

For example, she mentions people being marginalized, among other characteristics "because of their gender expression". Trans people are marginalized because of their gender expression, so are some gay people. Women though are marginalized BY gender. Gender expression is (one of) the means, not the motive.

More damningly, in this book she mentions Naomi Wolf a lot (hence the title). Author of The Beauty Myth, now turned conspiracy right-wing, COVID denialist, anti-vaxx grifter. About Wolf's book, Klein claims that she was engaged in conspirational thinking when she claimed that marketing agencies where purposefully keeping women insecure and down so that we were thinking about our bodies and not our power. According to Klein, that's just how capitalism works. And yes, it is but you, Naomi Klein, also go on to claim several paragraphs later that capitalism does indeed function as a conspiracy. And also, the way women and men are marketed to differently, for us emphasizing our powerlessness; for men, their power, is not just a quirk of capitalism. It's a gendered issue. It's MISOGYNY. It's not conspiratorial thinking to watch how misogyny works and how it affects women. It's just watching reality through feminist lenses. Yes, Wolf did wrong in her book by not acknowledging capitalism much, but Klein not acknowledging the misogyny/patriarchy aspect of it (and dismissing the idea as just Naomi Wolf being crazy again, lol) is not much better (and is misogynistic in and of itself). Both of their analyses are tables standing only on two legs.

The next part is just... absolutely bizarre but it really jumped out at me, and it's really an example about what non-feminist sexual "liberation" politics do your brain, even when you're Naomi fucking Klein. When talking about people feeling disempowered and helpless in the face of injustice, oligarchies and reckless capitalism, she goes: "Knowing that this kind of unmasked plutocracy can take root in democratic societies without so much as an effort to hide it is like being forced to watch your spouse cheat on you when that is not your kink"

Like hello, WHAT. What is the need? Why is that disclaimer there? Is this a Twitter thread about problematic shipping? Is this Klein revealing her own kinks? (No one asked!). She's a damn good writer, she knows what sentences are impactful and hit. She KNOWS that putting that disclaimer there at the end inherently makes the statement less impactful. Why would you add it? I cannot wrap my head around it.

Finally, there's the way she off-handedly mentions how her partner was campaigning for a political party and how she took him to look into the way even left wing people were being drawn into conspiracies and how to appeal to them. And the guy just, dismissed her. Like, imagine that, you're THE Naomi Klein, one of the best investigative journalist there are and your partner of however many years dismisses your advice about an issue you have been investigating for years when you're over 20 years into your career producing hit after hit of investigative journalism and books. Just like that. Eventually, he listens to her because he runs into some nut jobs, but like, hello? I wouldn't have put that in the book for the sheer humiliation of it (unless that is your kink, I guess 😭) but a feminist writer MIGHT have had something to say about how this is an example of men never taking women seriously, no matter how much expertise they have.

It's just... Tiny things like this, or not analyzing through a feminist lenses why women so easily fall into wellness conspiracies, or why the cancellation of Wolf which led her to her current grift (which Klein acknowledges) was also made worse because mobs rising up against women online are ALWAYS worse, that let me know that feminism is just not a lenses through which she was analyzing these issues at all. And it's very subtle throughout the book but very much There if you're like me who's a feminist first and foremost. And it's disappointing.

The book is still very much great and I do recommend it though.

[fullofgutsndopamine]

bruised knuckles brought me here

or, three truths and a lie: hasan is drunk and an idiot and she promised herself she’d stop adopting strays at frat parties. one of these is a lie.

tw: drinking (to excess),hockey!hasan (mentioned), hasan is a drunk idiot,cursing, mention of puking, not finished another one of the: 'fics i'll never finish'

the funny thing is, she wouldn't even know about his existence if it weren't for the chanting coming from his corner.

look, she made a promise to herself to stop fucking rescuing strays and yes that especially includes frat brothers, for the love of god.

her new resolution was to mind her business, drink her lemonade in the corner of the party, wait until an acceptable amount of time has passed and then leave.

it's the cheering.

it's always the god damn cheering.

her head perks up, thinking maybe it's someone from class she knows, a friendly face to make this party tolerable-

instead it's the one constant in her life she can't get rid of.

hasan is drunk.

this is obvious, even from as far away as she is. drinks always get passed to him the second he walks through the door, claps on the back, greetings.

hasan is fucking everyone's best friend, a party is political campaign and he's not leaving until he finds out how your mother is doing (after you mentioned her once, sobbing and drunk) or how the other frat brother is holding up in his math class.

she imagines it's exhausting for him, but she refuse to let herself linger on it to long or to feel any kind of guilt towards him-

and she had disappeared the second she saw him staggering around, one of those blue plastic baby pools in front of him.

"fucking idiots I swear-" she mumbles, shift her weight from one foot to the other, debating on interrupting him.

she don't know hasan. that's obvious. she knows of him but who doesn't, really.

everyone's friend, star right winger for the colleges hockey team (with a team like hers, at a college like this, it isn't hard to be the star, but she’s seen how hard he works, so she can't really deny it) and seeing him, clearly drunk out of his mind, is hard to watch.

deciding she can't be an accomplice to whatever bullshit is about to happen, she angles her body away-

it's the way the entire crowd all flinches, "Oohs" being yelled out, that finally makes her turn around.

hasan lays on his back in the empty kiddie pool.

For a second, she thinks he's dead, that she’s an accomplice to murder-

until he groans, a loud "Fuuuck" is yelled out as he holds his shoulder and rolls back and forth.

"Idiot-"

"Yo!" One of his friends fell out, "Can we get some fuckin' help?"

no more adopting strays- you tell yourself gently-especially not frat brothers-

"no but like," he's hiccuping, crying fat tears, "I think i hurt my shoulder."

"Fucking idiot." she chugs what's left in the cup, throws it onto a table, and beelines for the corner.

"what did you idiots get into this time?" she groans as she kneel down, offering her hand to hasan.

"Our guardian angel!" one of them yells out, clearly drunk, "Yeah-I remember you! You got Sam when he ran through that fence!"

she remembers this guy; Clay, she think it is, he's nice enough for the most part, sometimes walks with her to class and has these elaborate stories that make her laugh, a good enough lab partner-

"Guys."

hasan groans from the inside of the pool, rolling around, holding his shoulder, and she resists the urge to roll her eyes as she and Clay lift him up slowly, ignoring his whimpering.

he looks at her, glassy eyed, sniffles, rubbing at his eyes, "C-Can you grab my other arm?" he hiccups, "I think i fucked this arm up."

understatement of the year but she rolls her eyes as she obeys, switching over to the other side,

"You got him?" Clay says gently, seems sober

"We'll be okay. Gonna get the idiot some water." she groans-and he gasps from your side-

"Idiot?" mock horror, “how dare you-“ he stops.

"hasan." she says, watching him carefully.

"Think i'm gonna be sick." he whimpers.

"Oh, my god." she groans, picking up speed. she only made it to the kitchen, have him kneel on the cold floor, his head buried in the trash as he pukes.

she rubs his back, hating that this is becoming a normal Saturday her you now-

he pulls his head out and she offers him water, which he takes, sitting with his back against the wall.

he looks bad, is all pale, "My Ma use to make me soup when i'm sick," he whimpers, "Will you make me some soup?"

she bites her tongue from saying that he's sick because of his own stupidity, looks so pathetic suddenly-

and that's how she finds herself standing on her tip toes, digging through cabinets in this frat house, looking for any discarded metal cans of soup, standing at the stove as you stir carefully, hasan’s voice is low, as he tells elaborate stories he made up, but she’s giggling, and he takes that as a win.

[whomadewaffles]

So.. I know this is a new fandom for me to post about, but I've had bottoms (2023) brainrott for the past month. I just had to put an idea out there for an AU:

School election au!

-I want to preface this by saying I am from the uk and we don't really do the school election thing over here... At least my school didn't.. but most of this runs on like.. movie logic anyway so..hopefully it's understandable, oh and they're still like.the same age as the film since let's say election process probably only takes like 2 months then whoever wins is president for the rest of the year until graduation-

This got kinda long, so details below the read more.

Instead of starting a fight club to get laid, they hear that isabel is running for class president this year (Brittany as her campaign partner). And pj convinces josie to run against her (with pj as her campaign partner, of course), hoping that the rivalry will spark something between and like... how hard can it be!?. Turns out out very, which leads to Hazel helping out being the long-suffering friend and the unsung actual driving force behind their campaign. its actuly her idea to focus their whole campaign around improving equality and female empowerment at the school, which gets them the support of Annie, sylvie, Stella-Rebecca, etc.

It works well and Isabel and josie actuly do get to talk to each other betweeen all the debates and campaigning (isabel likes that they are standing for such good causes..thinking josie is completely genuine in her good intentions) leading to them sleeping together and their campaign also leads to gettin the 2 ugly untalented gay losers a boost in social standing.

But of course, things go wrong.

The increase in popularity (and the fear of losing it) and Brittany's rejection goes to pj's head and she lashes out at Hazel especially harshly causing her to leave and then egged on my the jocks (who are not as important here..just assholes) reveals the actual intentions behind their run for class president to the whole school (and by extention the fact that josie and isabel got together on the basis of a lie) Hazel also announces her run for class president. against them, a betrayed an hurt isabel pulls out of the race, but a stubborn and still mad pj wants to keep running so Hazel doesn't win (she does feel guilty because Hazel genraly had good intentions but will not admit it yet) but josie dosent agree and wants to back out so they fight and stop talking for a bit.

Until the big final debate were the 2 front runners for Rockbridge falls class president have to go up against the school president candidates of a the rival school huntington in a chance to shine in front of both schools (its not like a competative thing against the 2 schools but try telling huntington that..pretty much all of both schools come to watch, its a big deal).

Pj isn't even sure if she should show up without josie there and almost chickens out and goes home, but josie rushes to find pj because she heard a rumor that huntington plans foul play but isn't sure how. Josie does her speech pj to try and stop them and save Hazel, who has no idea.

(Turns out they plan on dropping a whole lot of pineapple juice onto the Rockbridge candidates.. no one is allergic in this au. it's just gross)

They find hazel and the other girls (who all switched candidates once hazel started her own campaign obviously even isabel and Britney support her now) and apologies are made (pj admiting that hazel did practically run their campaign and generally did change the school for the better). And josie goes off alone to snoop out huntungtons plan while the others try desperately to think of menthods of distraction delay the debate happening but the thing pj comes up with is to kiss (French style, because duh) hazel just as the event starts (if you asked pj later she would say only to distract people and sell the lie) and anouncing her and josie's withdrawal due to her and Hazel now being in love it doesn't feel right to keep running on the aposinng team (this gives josie enough time to find the pineapple juice and dump it)

So it ends up being hazel running unopposed (so she's going to win the school election any how cos let's be real she would make the best class president) and even though its 2 against 1 she realy shines during the debate with Huntington now that any foul play is delt with, she dosen't bullshit like most politicians do, which makes having counter arguments for her points difficult and she's just very likeable and even brings up the charity work she dose in the most humble way so like even if she wasn't running unopposed for her school she still probably would have won.

During everyone celebrating Hazel's great preformece and and upcoming victory, josie gets to apologise to and make up with (and make out with) isabel with josie saying she only did it because she was to nervous to talk to her otherwise.

And pj has to know deal with the fact that everyone who watched now believes that she and the future class president are dating and how she kinda doesn't hate the idea.. and how good at kissing Hazel is...

While Hazel is just so overwhelmed with everything that just happened (in a good way) to really process the distraction kiss, for now, she just feels happy.

[authormars]

I know I'm late to the character ask game, but how about 1, 12, 13, 21 and 25 for Vex, and 2, 4, 7, 12 and 22 for Scanlan?

Vex'ahlia

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

I honestly love the twin's backstory, plus their relationship is so great. Liam and Laura really cooked. Vex's obsession with gold and her need to be approved of by her father in the first two seasons were relatable and her current character, especially with (Campaign 3 spoilers!!!) her reaction to Vax's return ("Pretend everything is normal for one night") is just so interesting. I love Laura Bailey and all her PCs though

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

She and Vax used to wear their hair the exact same way, all the time, until they were older and she started wearing hers in a braid so it wouldn't get in the way. Also, sometimes when she looks in the mirror before she's put her hair up, she sees Vax and not her because they're nearly identical.

(I LOVE THE TRAGEDY OF THE TWINS AAAAAAAA)

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

( ˶˘ ³˘)♡

I will not explain

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

I've only written Vex once in an actual context that wasn't a chatfic, which was in my sickfic. But when I do write her, I love to write her dialogue and her insulting, snarky comments to people. And how quickly she'll turn it into flirting to get what she wants

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

I'm going to be honest, when I first watched TLOVM season one (how I got into CR) I thought Vex was a bit annoying. Her and Percy felt a bit forced and in general she didn't do much that was very interesting to me (she was bumped up in my ranking because she's hot). But now? She's my third favorite! (Percy and Vax take first and second if you couldn't tell with all my Perc'ildan)

Scanlan

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

His struggle with Kaylie and him feeling like he isn't valued by Vox Machina. Nothing made me more sad than Bard's Lament and the season finale of TLOVM S3. Every time I want to grab him by his face and go "THEY LOVE YOU ASSHOLE THEY'RE JUST TERRIBLE AT SHOWING IT HAVE YOU SEEN THE TRAINWRECK THAT WAS PERC'AHLIA GETTING TOGETHER?!"

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

I think Scanlan fits his own medium just fine, but he'd do great at those competition singing shows. Like, Dancing With The Stars or whatever tf it's called. Also, I think he'd be a great guest judge on Drag Race

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I'm going to be honest. Scanlan isn't one of my favorites, so I don't pay much attention to him. But I don't like whenever he's the one giving relationship advice and he's actually good at it. In my chatfic, he basically tells Vax "wait until Percy has a fight with his bf and have revenge sex with him" which, if you didn't know, is terrible advice. Idk, little pet peeve

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

This comes to you courtesy of my girlfriend, because I said "I don't have any headcanons for Scanlan I can think of" and she came up with one on the spot. Love you C! Even though you don't check my Tumblr and you'll never see this.

Scanlan keeps a journal of everyone he's ever had sex with, how good it was, the date, how old he was, and a brief description of his partner/the sex. Sometimes certain parts are missing because he doesn't ask for names or forgets, but the journal is pretty filled out

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

I love when he gets to be the disaster in real relationships that he is. Him and Pike have been divorced 17 thousand times, he's not good at romantic relationships man. I don't know if there is a thing I don't like. I don't really read Scanlan fics lmao

Thanks for your question!! I always love to answer them, so feel free to send in things like this about whoever

[rifki16]

At 25:00, in Akasaka Pilot Episode

Photo credit: At 25:00, in Akasaka Twitter Promotional Account | https://twitter.com/25ji_akasakade/status/1781276637855883719?s=12

A very sweet vanilla cake with strawberries

Okay, so, the long anticipated live-action adaptation of the manga is finally here. And I’m absolutely here for it. I was very pissed off that when GagaOOLala said that the episode would air on April 18, they didn’t say that it would air on that date in Japan. Hence, now every Fridays, we will have a grand feast of TWO Japanese BL LA shows, instead of only one.

I have A LOT of thoughts about the Pilot Episode, so let’s get right to it !

Of course, SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!!

Make it for Vanilla Audience

As I have said in the last section of the manga review, I do not expect anything at all from the live-action show, in terms of how the hot scenes can be adapted. My beloved Tokyo in April is… is so far from being hot and sexy from which they originated, yet I still love them dearly. This pilot episode really set the tone, as to what I will expect from the series.

They did not have the scene where Asamiya and Shirasaki went out with the whole cast and had a Japanese-style afterwork hang after which one of the coworkers became black out drunk and needed to be escorted by one of the attendees. After which, Asamiya had a non-penetrative sex with Shirasaki at Shirasaki-san house, with no consent from Shirasaki. I think by not having this scene it’s very funny to me. Based on A Man Who Defies the World of BL, it’s a very common trope in BL that this black out drunk afterwork hang is used, hence kudos to the LA screenwriter and showrunners to have avoided that trope. This is also what’s bugging me. I think the LA show really wants to avoid a lot of unnecessary discussions about their work. In Living with Him, Kazuhito’s life altering, and according to the manga, disability-affecting injury was a cause of a sore subject and Kazuhito was not seen playing baseball at all afterwards. It seems like the production team doesn’t want to talk at all about disability in their main character. In this show, it was all dandy. Nothing of taboo happened. It was just Asami offering to be Shirasaki’s sex partner, and that’s it. I’m not advocating for a sexual assault scene, but what happened in Shirasaki’s apartment was quintessentially a way for us to know how “wild” Asami is and knowing his boundaries. Asami’s portrayal in the show was almost like an aloof cool guy. He seemed not to be involved at all with the cast or the production crew. The afterwork hang established that, how sociable Asami is. Asami seemed to play it cool with Shirasaki, despite the supposed burning ember that he has with Shirasaki. I’m not trying to tell people how to act with their love. My understanding of the plot logic from the manga is, Shirasaki found out that Asami liked him  Shirasaki needed a pointer on how to be a gay lover  Asami offered to be his lover, but Shirasaki refused because, one of the reasons is, he knew how Asami felt about him. I guess making it more vanilla gave them more options as to how to approach the Shirasaki asking Asami to be his sex partner.

When I watched Milk, after many attempts, and finally could watch the film fully. There was a scene where Harvey Milk was confronting the No campaigners for the Briggs’ initiative about the pamphlet that the campaigners were sending out to the voters. The pamphlet overly emphasized how the Briggs’ initiative intruded the privacy and human rights of the voters. Milk was, rightly imo, angry that the pamphlet did not mention at all whom the initiative was impacting most severely, the homosexuals. That’s what I felt the second most in the pilot episode. The reason why Shirasaki went to a gay bar, specifically, was because he did not know how gay men fall in love, have sex. The pilot episode really did not mention at all about gay love or gay sex. When Shirasaki eventually went to the gay bar, it was about how he doesn’t know how falling in love is in general. Asami never really teased Shirasaki about Shirasaki-san’s sex history with women, a scene which in my opinion really affirmed Shirasaki-san’s very apparent queerness and his internalized homophobia which made him unable to admit his joy in having sex with a man, with Asami. The omittance of the scene in the show really made me felt like the show was just about an actor really trying to method-act, whereas the manga is about an actor method-act while figuring himself out sexual-orientation wise.

They made the bar a popular gay bar, compared it to the quiet and almost very intimate one in the manga. I’ve never been to a gay bar, not even the one in Singapore, but I really thought that an intimate and quite gay bar would be a better venue for you to find an NSA sex partner, no? Knowing that the popular gay bar is filled with mostly popular cliques and usual customers. Wouldn’t a quiet gay bar be a more suited place for two celebrities to be undercover and method-act? Again, I’ve never been to a gay bar, but I just don’t think making Shota’s bar a popular gay bar is the right choice. It seems like the show just wanted some stereotypical image of a gay bar and plastered it in the show. Side note: Shota is not that androgynous in the show, not that I’m saying that I’m entitled to Shota’s androgyny, I just had hoped to see a gender nonconforming character in a Japanese BL show, besides the one in The End of the World with You. Also, Shota is nice in the show, compared to the one in the manga.

Shirasaki’s dignity.

I really love that the show actually has a class-struggle perspective. Shirasaki needed to be a server, because he had never got a gig in acting. This made it easier for the TV show to make Shirasaki to go to the gay bar because Shirasaki really doesn’t want to mess up his first ever TV gig, a big budget one, nonetheless. However, the problem with this characterization is that Shirasaki made really vulnerable to Asami. It seemed like Asami is high up in the clouds and Shirasaki is just some dirt particles that the clouds never bother to notice. I understand that the show wanted to make it vanilla, hence, why Asami actually asked first before their first sexual encounter. Hence, why Asami and Shirasaki were seen in the teaser for the second episode to go ON DATES? GO ON DATES? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This show is about a TV show production, probably very crunched on time and budget. WHERE ON GODS GREEN EARTH DID THEY FIND THE TIME TO GO ON DATES? You know what, sure, they become lovey-dovey lovers, go on dates and fall in love first even before they share a bed together, but it really shifts the dignity of Shirasaki.

It was such fun seeing Shirasaki demanding sex from Asami to make sure that Shirasaki-san’s acting prowess is bettered, the reason why the scene made sense in the manga is because Shirasaki had played in plays, smaller roles in TV shows, he knew what appreciation from the director meant. He had a standing in asking for sex because he’s not some amateur actor, he had done the job before, and having sex with Asami was the only way he knew that he can better his acting. Now that Shirasaki’s motivation became only not to be poor, his actions in asking sex from Asami from this point on becomes nothing more but desperation, however it’s just my opinion.

I really like it when Shirasaki acts not out of desperation but to actually horn his craft. The way the show portrayed Shirasaki really made me angry. He’s a proud man, with high dignity, hence why having sex with Asami really felt and seen really out of place for him. Maybe, I’m just down bad for Shirasaki so much.

Despite it all, I really enjoyed the pilot episode. The show was really easy to follow with their vanilla shift. It didn’t really have plot holes, despite making it vanilla. I’m glad that the managers of both Shirasaki and Asami were really present, unlike in the manga where they only emerge after the joint show of the two has become popular. If the show really wants to slow walk the pace, despite making the third volume a part of the show, they better make it right. I swear to Ra, I will metaphorically burn something if they don’t make the show a proper 12-episode-run show.

[mxdoomedbythenarative]

Alright, I know the C3 ending happened a while ago, but I still wanna talk about it so here we go.

As someone who started watching Critical Role after their month break during the outbreak, I liked the ending. They got what they came for, but not really. They got the body of Molly back, but Molly himself wasn’t there. It felt like a good balance between good and bad, no matter if it was planned that when the circus weirdo came back it would be a blank slate. It felt fair, but it doesn’t feel entirety like a happy ending. We didn’t get Mollymauk, we just got a new person inhabiting his body.

In campaign 1, because I did watch it don’t worry, it ends in a tragedy. The end of the first campaign was probably one of the most interesting but predictable ways to end the campaign. We all knew that Vax’ildan would leave, but it still felt sad. We knew that they couldn’t do anything to stop it, which is why Scanlan planned to use the wish spell. There was an option to save him. It would be a simple spell, and they would have their friend, brother, and partner back. Yet, he used the spell slot to stop Vecna, so when we learn of his plan to save him, it only eats to the stab in the gut when he disappears. This finally is a great example of how an expected event can still pull the heartstrings of the audience.

Campaign one’s finally is better, but I feel content with the ending in both of them.

So imagine if they took all the purpose and emotion from both of the campaigns, smashed it against the wall, and threw glitter on it. That’s what the ending of Campaign 3 felt like. 

I never really paid much attention to the campaign after the split of the party, because it just felt like filler. I don’t even know if they explain why the gang teleported, why they went to those specific locations, and why the party was split, to begin with. I did chime in on the final episode for obvious reasons, and I was disappointed. 

Sure there were things I liked, I liked Ashton’s sacrifice and the motive behind it at the moment, I liked how they brought guests back to play their characters, and the Mighty Nein was great. Robbie was great, but it was mostly because, in my opinion, Dorian was probably the best character in the group. I’m not gonna get into why, but that’s for a different post. 

I think the thing with Ashton is a good place to start on what didn’t work for me in this campaign in general. It felt soft. The ending felt soft. Of course, there were times when there were high stakes, but because of the characters' choices, I didn’t feel it. When Ashton did indeed fall, everyone tried to save them, but Essek vipped in and saved them. Even if Ashton, who’s been a jerk for most of the campaign, tried to do a selfless act, it doesn’t feel like it mattered in the end. He got saved and is still alive and that act meant nothing. When the dynasty forgot about what Essek did, it didn’t make much sense to me. Essek Thyless was a WAR CRIMINAL, and they are suddenly chill now. Even if they just ignored him, I feel like that isn’t supposed to be something they push under the rug. The ending was so forced to give everyone a happy ending that a fourth campaign didn’t even feel right. 

Matt seemed to wrap everything up nicely, so a next campaign set in Exandria makes no sense to me. Vax is fine now, Ludinus lives his dream of owning the cottage-core lift-style, and the gods are gone. 

Also, how the hell did all the gods agree to do this? This included Vecna, who was sealed by Vox Machina, and Asmodious, who was D&D satan was like, “Yeah sure, why not”. I know it was a Nat 20. I know for a fact that Nat 20 is a critical success, but it still doesn’t make sense. If I controlled the outcome, I would have a good chunk of them agree. Maybe even a betrayal god or two, and the others to consider it. It’s a thought that they’d have, but they wouldn’t truly go for it. 

I could probably go on and add more red pen marks to the final, but I’m getting tired so I will leave you all with this. I love it when people have different opinions of pieces of media I like or like. I can see why some people would think that Vax coming back, Ashton being saved, and Essek not seeming to matter to the Dynasty, make people happy. I will admit, I did get a bit excited knowing that Vax would come back when I saw it happen live. With time I did change my mind, but I do indeed get where people are coming from and I’ve seen pieces of media where I don’t see that at all. I may have my issues with the campaign, but I am still happy people enjoy it.

Also, I didn’t see nor understand the symbolism of capitalism at all. I may just be dumb or something, but I didn’t see that at all. I got a vibe of “religious trauma” but that was kinda it.

[scooptroopfanfic]

Cas with a C CH 8

Note: Please go to the Cas with a C Chapter Select to see previous chapters and story warnings. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Summary: The beginning of Cassie's life post Starcourt Mall

For the next week or so after the Starcourt Mall incident, people started to slowly let their guard down again around Cassie. For the most part, they kept her on bed rest and away from people. Well according to them. During that time Cassie kept Eddie tucked away and out of sight when he visited. He was planning for the final session of the summer campaign he ran for his friends who stayed in town. Cassie goes through all the lines he wants her to say and acts to make sure it is perfect.

“So you railroaded them into this type of ending��huh?” Cassie says with a hint of sadness in her voice. She is going to be playing a long-lost wife of the main ally of the story who thought after the amount of time she was missing that she died. Turns out she was held hostage elsewhere, cursed, and will unfortunately only reunite with him in either his death or her death. Eddie looks offended.

“No. They just failed all the rolls they needed to piece things together. You watched sweetheart.” He says as their hands locked together as they lean in the same direction as Eddie’s notebook. At this, Cassie turns a bit red and Eddie looks away. “Sorry. I guess the whole acting as a couple thing kind of slipped through there for a second.”

“No. I mean I don’t mind.” Cassie says with a laugh. She can hear his thoughts going everywhere even without having to focus on racing.

He makes an odd noise out of his mouth, but it seems pretty happy and normal for the guy according to Cassie. “Well in my opinion they still get three chances. One before the fight, one at the beginning of the fight, and one right before the end of the fight. Some people may think to do checks then especially if you play up being my dear and loving partner well enough darling.” She says with a wink. Eddie laughs at this as he writes in his notebook he uses for DM ideas. “If only you were this devoted to your studies.”

“Then we wouldn’t be graduating together Harrington.” At this Cassie gags.

“I’m not my father or my brother. I’m Cassie. The last time I was called Harrington was by Hargrove. If you want to go for something people find odd just call me Cas. I used to beat the snot out of people who did in elementary school.”

“I forgot about the pigtailed terror! That was you!”

“Yup! Never lost a fight. Never have and never will.” She says as she does her best impression of Rosie the Riveter. 

“How did I forget about that?” He seems genuinely shocked.

“Because King Steve was more of a terror and made me look like a saint. Hairspray flamethrowers and all went away when big brother Steve came knocking. Sometimes with a bat.”

“Jesus I forgot about Chrissy’s hair. How were you not expelled for that?”

“Harrington money.” She says with a dry laugh. 

“Remind me not to anger either of you two fluffy-haired people.”

“You mean majestic maned? I mean he uses the same brands I do to keep his style and shape.” 

“Wait what?!”

“Eddie!” Cassie hears the thundering of footsteps coming up the stairs as she quickly shoves him into the closet and uses her powers to hide all signs of him. Suddenly Robin busts in with a frying pan at the ready and gives out her best battle cry.

“Robin! All good. No code reds.” 

“But I heard a noise in here.” At this point, Nancy walks in and notices the stacks of movies and books that Cassie didn’t think to hide.

“Robin, I'll handle this.”

“But what if she-“ Nancy gives her a look and Robin who doesn’t know any better scampers off.

“Look. We don’t really know each other really well Cassie but if you want to have a boy over you have to hide it better. Steve would have noticed immediately. Like seriously who leaves out the books and movies you guys are watching.” She then looks over the pile. “Seems like you Harrington’s have a type and that is brainy,” Nancy says as she grabs a Lord of the Rings book which has a ton of little post-it notes sticking out of it. Cassie opens her mouth to protest but Nancy continues as she looks under the bed. “I mean I find it cute that he decided to visit you after the fire. I mean really. It shows he cares.” 

“He is a friend.” Cassie then blocks the closet door with her body as Nancy tries to open it.

“Jonathan and I were “just friends” after me and your brother broke up and now look at where we are. He was a sweet awkward guy who worked his way into my heart. While I may no longer be in a relationship with your brother I still have a vested interest in seeing who finally got past the icy exterior.” Cassie is only so good at playing defense on the door and eventually, Nancy breaks through and spots the terrified Eddie Munson who is trying to make himself as small as possible. He then gives the most unsure and awkward wave imaginable as he slowly walks out.

“Surprise…. Please do not tell my brother. He already knows someone drops me off from work sometimes but nothing more. If he found out more I would have iron bars on my window.” She says as she grabs his hand as she stands next to him. Nancy still seems to be processing the fact that the town’s princess is at least friends with the town freak. 

“Steve is going to kill you.”

“More accurately him but thank you for that Nancy. Now please do me and Eddie here a favor and don’t let Steve know. Please.” Cassie puts on her best pleading face and Eddie looks very confused and concerned.

“Fine. I won’t tell them, but if they ask I am not going to lie about it.”

“Deal,” Cassie says as she rests her head on Eddie’s shoulder. “Now can we please get back to planning our nerdy stuff? Eddie here has a reputation to uphold.”

“Ok.” She says a bit drawn out still weirded out as she shuts the door and Cassie immediately locks it.

“Thank god it was Nancy and not Steve.” 

“Why is this a good thing?” Eddie asks, a bit skittish and heading closer to the window.

“Because Nancy will keep our secret. Not like she can post things like that to her paper. She is more into exciting stories anyway. Things with real weight. We are just two nerds.” Eddie opens his mouth to protest as he gets in his DM voice but Cassie proceeds to point to the game he was planning, the books and movies he bought, and the character sheets for her character and Eddie’s. “Two nerds. Your ‘freak’ persona doesn’t erase that.” 

“Fine. I guess you win.” He keeps the DM voice as he says this. 

“Like I said. Never. Lost. A. Fight.” Cassie says with a smirk as she pats where he is sitting next to her on her bed which the boy immediately flops down on and they continue to work out the encounter.

Eventually, Steve couldn’t come up with any more excuses to keep her inside on bed rest after two weeks in her room so Cassie was finally allowed to leave on the condition that she take it easy. Cassie rolls her eyes as she loads up her backpack with her notebooks, snacks, and when Steve isn’t looking, drinks. She slightly sticks out her tongue in concentration as she remembers where Steve hides his stash of beer and grabs a pack.

“Hey!” Steve comes barreling around the corner as Cassie zips up her backpack and hauls it out of the house. In the driveway is one of Eddie’s DND buddies and he waves as she runs out, but his eyes go wide as he sees Steve Harrington running out after her. She quickly throws herself through the open car window and screams at him to drive. The dude quickly hits it in reverse and takes off as Cassie pulls herself fully into the car as they see Steve get smaller and smaller.

“I thought I was going to die.”

“Oh, you were if he caught us,” Cassie says with a laugh. “So you know how Eddie claims he has to fight a dragon every time he needs his princess voice. Well, you have met the dragon.”

“Jesus.”

“Tell me about it. A bit of an overkill for a six-pack.” Cassie says as she sighs in relief that the beers didn’t burst in her bag. 

“We did all of that for beer???”

“Better than stealing it from someone who actually cares. Steve is just upset that I did what he never had the guts to do.”

“And what’s that?”

“Swipe it right in front of someone and get away.” She says with a laugh as she places it next to her as she buckles up. She pats the shoulder of the kid she would later learn is named Gareth.

When Cassie and Gareth get to Jeff's basement Eddie laughs as he sees Gareth looking like he is crapping his pants as Cassie plops down her share of snacks and beers.

“I see you met the ferocious dragon,” Eddie says as he tries to make himself look beastly.

“Yep.” Cassie says popping the p. “And he was breathing fire this time.”

“Ooh. Nice one Gareth. Thank you for picking up the princess for me.”

“Never again.”

“Fair enough brave knight. It is not a journey for the weak of heart.” Cassie says, trying to imitate Eddie. Eddie seems to appreciate it as he laughs at Gareth’s confused look. 

“I’d say. Last time I went there the dragon took flight for many miles and we had to lose him on the roads near Lovers Lake.”

“I never thought the King would be…”

“Like that? Welcome to having a big brother.” Cassie says with a sigh but claps her hands together as she plops herself down on the bean bag next to Eddie’s DM chair and sets up. “But let’s move on and actually make this worth it and play. I want to see how this finally ends.”

After Gareth has had enough time and a beer to shake off the rest of the boys gather around the table each with their beers in hand. Jeff offers her one and Eddie almost objects until Cassie reaches out and grabs it taking a swig. Eddie seems shocked as the rest of the boys cheer. Cassie is trying not to cough.

“Relax Eds. I’ve had a beer before. We talked about this.” 

“I thought you were a little Miss Goody Two Shoes.”

“Pigtailed terror.”

“But all those words back at the bookstore-“

“Quite simply I thought you were an ass and I just wanted to prove you wrong.” Eddie looks offended. “Hey, you thought I was pretty little princess Harrington who was one of the popular kids who didn’t give a crap about any of this.” He then reluctantly nods at the statement and gestures to her to take a drink which she takes a smaller one this time. Just because she has drank in the past doesn’t mean she can handle the fizz. She winces a bit as she settles back. “Now let’s play some D&D.” The boys cheer as Eddie stands up menacingly.

And it seems to be with good reason. Cassie has remained silent but is a looming threat to the other players as they try and figure out what role she has to play in the web of the story that Eddie is weaving. Eddie leads forward the charge toward the final boss encounter with his NPC.

“The monster who killed my wife is just past this corridor and-“ At this point, Cassie places a hand on Eddie’s mouth with a glint in her eyes. The other members of Hellfire look terrified at the girl who silenced their leader.

“And up ahead in the dark, you can feel something. Lurking. You then hear the slow scraping of the claws of the beast on the ground. As you and your companions look around, that is when you see the monstrous beast in front of you!” Cassie then slams down her character on the table as Eddie sets up the other enemies. “Welcome to your final test. Don’t die too quickly.” She says in a lower tone that even causes Eddie to pause in his movements. At this point, everyone rolls and it is game on.

You would think with this being Cassie’s first time actually having a character on the board she would be timid and die off pretty quickly, but as she takes out Jeff the others start to panic. “And as she-beast launches for you, it takes a large bite out of you and-“ Eddie and her eyes go wide as they see her crit behind the DM screen. “And you feel your life force suddenly sucked out of your body and you are down.”

“WHAT?! What is this thing?” Doug freaked out as Cassie recovered and smirked. 

“As you watch your friend drop, the creature shifts forms.” At this point, Cassie switches out her figure to something slowly becoming humanoid. “But it still hungers.”

“We have to kill this thing quickly before it kills again.” Eddie cries as his character charges up to grapple with the creature. Gareth then looks at Cassie and Eddie for a second like he is trying to read them. 

“Is there any way I could roll to figure out the identity of the creature?” This causes Eddie to do a few long blinks. 

“Intelligence check. Just going to let you know this will be a difficult roll to succeed.” Eddie says with a poker face, but Cassie looks excited. Cassie gets a look in her eyes and as the dice start to roll the lights flicker for a second and Cassie’s nose bleeds causing her to reach for the tissues Eddie put by her. The die begins to slow down until it softly lands on the 20 which causes Eddie and Cassie to look at each other in amazement as the other boys look on in excitement. 

“Well. I didn’t see this one coming.” Eddie says as he looks down at the dice. He then sees the bloody nose and looks at her in suspicion.

“Suddenly as you look at the new form it seems to remind you of a portrait you have seen before. The one in the household of your dear new companion the monster hunter.” Cassie improvises and hopes Eddie will approve/go along.

“Oh shit it is the wife.”

“What are you talking about? This monster killed my wife.”

“No, this monster is your wife.”

“Charisma roll… this will be an easy roll,” Eddie says as he passes a paper to Cassie. Her eyes scan over the paper and she blushes a bit but nods subtly.  Doug rolls for it and when the die clanks onto the wooden table it reveals an 11. Cassie looks at Eddie with confusion but he nods to her. 

“As the hunter slowly scans the face of the creature a flicker of recognition shows in his eyes as they look down to notice familiar markings that can be found on his wife.” 

“Eliza! Eliza, can you hear me? You need to fight this!” Eddie exclaims as he shifts the mock grapple he had earlier to Cassie’s shoulders to try and shake her awake. Cassie hesitates for a second before she slams down a pretty feminine figure onto the board.

“After a few moments, the creature shifts again. This time to the familiar face of the wife.” Cassie says in her narrator's voice before she keys in her vocal cords again. “Hello? Who’s there?” Cassie asks.

“Can you not see that it is I, my dear?” Eddie asks.

“No. I can’t see. I can only smell the gore. Your pleasant smell. It’s gone.” Eliza says as she wanders around blind. Eddie then rolls his eyes before grabbing her hand.

“Well then let me guide you out of here.” At this point, the other members of the party look into the scene in shock. Eddie then takes over as he guides the boys back to the manor of his character. They start tying up loose ends in the campaign and Eddie continues with his condescending tone of a noble that he adopted for his character. Cassie and Eddie are still holding hands as the evening draws to a close. 

Eddie offhandedly mentions that the husband and wife kiss and Jeff laughs.

“So that’s the one line huh?” At this Cassie and Eddie look at each other. Cassie’s heart races a bit and she can feel her cheeks redden. Cassie then shrugs as Eddie goes wide-eyed as she quickly and gently gives him a peck on the cheek. Eddie seems to just go off into his own mental headspace and stare intensely at the wall across from him. She can hear his thoughts going wild.

“Nope. The line is much further than that.” Cassie says with a smirk as Eddie seems to be processing. The other boys are laughing at Eddie’s reaction while Cassie’s heart rate speeds up. At this point, the duo notices they are still holding hands and violently/dramatically separate causing the boys to laugh more. 

For the next hour or so between cleaning up from the session, the boys goof around as Cassie chimes in every now and then.

“So we still have that gig for this week right?” 

“Bev said we should be good to go. It’s one of her fifty-cent beer nights so be ready.” Eddie says as he lays across the couch just out of reach from Cassie who is still sitting tall.

“You guys are playing at the Hideout this weekend?” Cassie squints as she faintly remembers the name Bev from her time in Eddie’s memories. 

“You know about Corroded Coffin?” Doug seems shocked.

“Oh! I forgot to tell you guys. Remember the Ellen Ripley?” Eddie then reaches over to ruffle Cassie’s hair up to match how it looked that night. Of course, Cassie tries to block him as he does so trying to protect her precious hair. 

“Stop it, Eddie! Don’t touch my baby!” Cassie cries out as they tumble off of the couch. Cassie ends up landing on top of Eddie. Her eyes widen in surprise from the sudden rush and then the feeling of his hand ruffling her hair.

“Oh shit! You were the Alien fan?”

“Why is everyone so surprised?” Cassie whines as she tries to fix her hair. As revenge, she decides to use Eddie’s stomach as a seat looking around at the others as she plants her feet on the ground. Eddie seems content and even adjusts himself to get comfortable, with his legs still on the couch. 

“You don’t seem the type.” Jeff awkwardly smiles as he watches his leader accept his fate. Cassie leans back and plants her arms on the carpet floor. 

“Your friend’s female Dungeon Master voice who also is now your illustrator apparently doesn’t do nerdy shit?”

“Ok fair.” Gareth seems to get on board with nerdy Cassie quicker than the others. Probably due to the dungeon escape pre-session. 

“Anywho let me know when you guys are going. I may want to listen for a bit. Seems pretty cool.” 

Cassie can feel the surface emotions of the group throughout the afternoon and evening slowly turn from suspicion to a reluctant acceptance. She is relieved as she feels this and the slight tension she is keeping in her shoulders. For the first time in a while, she feels at peace. She doesn’t always have to use her powers to listen in. She can finally turn it off. For the first time in a long while she can think without hearing anyone else do the same. How is this happening? Cassie must have been making a face because Eddie quirks an eyebrow at her as he reaches onto the counter for some chips to shovel into his mouth. 

Cassie was planning on leaving soon after the DND session ended, but plans changed, and early into the morning where she ended up curled up on the couch sharing a blanket with Eddie. At this point her brain is dead and she can’t process much beyond pretty colors and people on the screen. It feels nice. Not constantly on alert. She smiles to herself as she sinks into the couch and blankets, taking more for herself.

“Hey blanket hog. I want some too.” Eddie grumbles trying to steal some back.

“But I’m cold…” She mumbles sadly as she tugs at the blanket trying to keep the icy feeling away. She hasn’t felt warmth for a while and she is not going to let noodle arms take it from her. She looks at him with pleading eyes. “Please…”

“I’ll fold just this once.” Eddie then tugs at the blankets causing her to scoot closer. “Sike.” 

“Ass.” She mumbles as she goes and leans on his shoulder. At least if she has to share a blanket she may as well get a pillow out of it too. She can feel nerves coming from him as he taps to an unknown rhythm with his left hand which is the one on the opposite side of her. Cassie smiles to herself as she gets cozy on his shoulder and pretends to watch the movie. In reality, she uses this first sense of peace in a while to get some proper sleep.

“Hey, Mr. Peter!” A young Cassie cries out as she runs over to the man. He has his back turned to her. His burned and tattered white outfit has slowly started to wear away. Underneath it is more corrupted-looking flesh making him look less and less human each time she visits her friend.

When she gets to the other side of him she can see his face display a look of horror.

“Mr. Peter! Wake up! The Spider put you in a nightmare again.” Cassie says as she gently shakes Peter. When she sees that isn’t working she turns around to the giant shadows in the form similar to a spider.

“Spider! Can you please let Mr. Peter out?” All she gets in response is the sound of swirling wind and particles whipping around. “I really don’t want to do that.” The particles get excited as she says this. Cassie sighs as she holds up her right hand in a sort of crushing motion towards Peter. 

At first, nothing happens. She then feels a rush of power through her as she sees a few particles fly out of Peter and into her outstretched hand. They slowly start gathering and forming the cluster of a small dog. Cassie uses her other hand to keep its shape as she continues to gather more. While the rush feels amazing there is also a twinge of something… wrong.

Eventually, Cassie can draw enough away that Peter forces the rest of it out.

“Thank you, Cassandra.”

“No problem Mr. Peter.” He looks annoyed at this name but then sighs.

“What are you doing here? Don’t you have school?”

“Yes, but I felt your fear and got worried. I know the Spider and you sometimes get into fights.” He then looks confused.

“You can feel that from our dimension?”

“Yeah! I mean I can kind of feel… everyone. It really hurts my head and it won’t turn off. That includes you.” Peter then looks at her for a second.

“So you lied about the reason for your arrival.”

“Not fully. I did feel your fear Mr. Peter, but sometimes the noises of people’s thoughts can be a lot so-”

“You come here for a break.” He looks at her with pity as he gently taps her head. “But that doesn’t explain how you can still be aware of me even in another dimension.”

“I think it is the Spider. I can feel things through it. Like another set of eyes and hands.” Cassie says as she gently touches what is currently a compass hidden away in her jacket. She then feels a cold knife in her brain. She sees a flash of her father appear and fear grips her heart for a moment, but then she thinks about her brother and the two of them playing basketball together while listening to music and it goes away. “Spider I am not falling for that one again.”

Younger Cassie does not see Peter wipe his nose or the scowl on his face. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cassie wakes up to the sound of chirping birds and snoring. When she does she jumps up, or rather attempts to before she is stopped by something. She feels a weight on her shoulder and a slight wet spot on her head as she identifies the location of her binds. 

Eddie Munson. Apparently, he fell asleep during the movie too, and thought her head was the perfect little place to nap. And slightly drool on. When Cassie tries to move the deadweight stops her altogether from being able to lift her head or wiggle out. She continues to try and struggle but each time she does it feels like a boa constrictor around her tightening down on her. Eddie grumbles as she tries to move.

“Five more minutes.”

“My brother is going to kill me for staying out. He already was going to kill me for the six-pack.” She harshly whispers back. As he hears her voice he makes a panicked noise as he scrambles back trying to give her space but just ends up tumbling over the side of the couch with a soft thud.

“Shit! We gotta go!” He whispers loudly as he grabs her hand and guides them out with minimal effort, but not without a few stumbles over some randomly placed garbage on the ground making him twist around. Somehow the two succeed at not waking up the others as they creep out the door. 

As Cassie and Eddie speed through Hawkins, they blast music and try to wake up.

“Is he really that bad?”

“Not if you are me, Batman.” She says as she notices the bat tattoos. She didn’t really notice before. Probably because she thought she was going to die all summer but now she can see. Like really seeing everything around her. “But for you yeah…” Cassie then looks at her shoes that she shuffles around. “Our dad kinda told us to stay away from people like you.” 

“What?”

“Yeah. Not sure if it is the poor thing or…” Cassie contemplates her next word. “Family stuff, but yeah.” Cassie then sighs. “Our dad is an ass though so fuck him.” She leans over to him and puts an elbow on his shoulder. “If I would have followed that advice I would have missed out on hanging around the coolest guy ever.” 

“You’re gonna make me blush Sweetheart.” He is clearly trying not to look over at her and focus on the road. “You are going to be ok right?”

“Yeah. Steve likes to sleep in late, especially when those things can’t get you in the sun easily.” She cuts herself off. “You know what. You already know that and more so.”

“I wasn’t talking about that. I was talking about you and the weird magic shit.” Eddie gives a look of suspicion. “And if you are going to use it to game the system again.”

“Oh.” Cassie then laughs. “All good up here. In fact better than ever.” She then notices something. The feeling sensor she couldn’t turn off is silent again. “I don’t constantly hear thoughts and feelings anymore.”

“Did you lose your powers when they closed the gate?” Eddie says the word gate unsure. She told him things secondhand during their time together in her recovery.

“No, but I think the constant on powers may have been due to something beyond that thing. Maybe the Mind Flayer wanted to see how good my powers were or something?” Cassie shrugs as she changes the station with her powers due to the slight static. “But I don’t know and I don’t care. I’m free!’ She then leans out the window next to her and laughs as they race through Hawkins.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When they arrive Cassie has Eddie drop her off a street away. Cassie gives a mock salute as Eddie guns it away like a bat out of hell. Cassie smiles to herself for a few moments, but as she gets closer to her house her stomach starts to twist into knots. The air around it is suffocating with fear making her queasy and almost double over. After holding her head for a few moments standing still and getting her bearing she marches on to the back of the house. 

As she scrambles up to her window to open it her eyes soften as she sees her brother asleep. He has set up a corner in the room on one of the chairs she uses at her desk to study. He has his arms crossed in the usual disapproving look but his features were soft as he slept away. Tucked away next to him is his infamous bat somewhat ready to go. 

Cassie uses her powers to slowly open the window and climb inside to muffle most of the sound that the break-in would cause. Unfortunately, that is not enough as she lands with a thud. Quickly Steve shoots awake and grabs the bat, trying to locate the source of the noise.  When he sees his sister he gives a frustrated sigh and puts down the bat

“Jesus Christ I could have hit you with this thing Cassie! Where the hell have you been?”

“Out.”

“Out where? I called everyone and no one threw a party where there was beer last night.”

“Eww. You sound like Mom.” Cassie throws her backpack next to her bed and sits down in it. 

“That didn’t answer my question.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does. What if there is another weird thing happening and I don’t know where you are.”

“I’ll be fine. I can handle myself, Steve.” She puts her hands on her hips in a sort of power pose. “Besides, while you were dealing with Russians my friends and I were handling the weird ass possessed people.”

“What?” Steve looks at her shocked as she realizes she didn’t actually talk about her experiences over the summer with him.

“Shit, I really didn’t want to go into this Steve.” She sighs like she is letting out a breath of air she had been holding in. “But you forced my hand. That night my friend and I went to the movies we got jumped. By the hoard. If I didn’t get the knife and cut us free we could have been one of those things, Steve. When I say I get it trust me when I say I do. I can handle myself.” She digs into her bag and fishes out the switchblade she used to cut her and Eddie free. “But we got nothing to worry about Steve. The gate is closed. That thing is gone. We can just move on. I can be a normal-ass high school and when I graduate I can get the two of us out of Hawkins. Away from our parents.” 

Steve looks surprised when she brings up her plans for the future. His nervous energy is still around, but it is no longer suffocating. 

“You would put up with me?”

“Fuck yeah, loser. Oh yeah. You would have to be able to deal with my friend too. He is coming with.”

“He?” Cassie curses to herself as she realizes her mistake. She sits down for what she imagines is going to be a long talk from her brother. Turns out she was right.

[jarita123]

I have been a part of MCU fandom since it started in 2008, watched comic book movies way before it (X-Men were kind of a thing), Keaton´s Batman is still my Batman (I know, DC, I had no idea in the early 90s there was such a thing :D ).

But I don´t remember it ever being so toxic as it is lately. Admittedly, I kind of started to "fan" Tom himself more past few years, I still love RDJ and all the original guys from Phase 1 but my God, people went insane with social media.

And what is going on in Loki fandom? Or around Tom personally? Like people don´t believe he is in a relationship, and I only wait for first crazy to say "It is not his baby!" like they keep doing with poor Benedict. So he found himself a partner, good for him and he is obviously happy!

I loved all the red carpet content we got, I love that he is *finally* getting out of his shell after years of random appearances (granted, we were robbed for red carpets for Loki, first because of Covid and second because of strikes) and The Essex Serpent had some but most interviews were done by video (still not enough of them). So he is going to conventions, which is a fantastic thing. He meets fans, he loves meeting fans and it is great that we are not just waiting for Bobby/baby walk pictures. He can do whatever the hell he wants. And getting paid for it? He is a performer and is paid to perform. It is simple as that.

He just wrapped a movie in October and had a highly successful show in November. And he is still praised for it, may get some more nominations, will campaign for Emmy. Yes, he can do other stuff and he does but it takes time to make something and get things into productions is not easy. He obviously loves Loki and what actor can say they still can work with a character this long and still find something new? He basically created the character on screen and now will be forever remembered and anybody coming after him will be compared to Tom. That is no small achievement.

When it happened that "fans" think they know what is the best for a person they don´t even know in person? Give the guy a break.

And don´t get me started with those crazy "shipping wars", which is something I had now idea existed before (yes, I am a boomer already). Loki even did not kiss or stayed with anybody at the end, so what is the deal? Stop insulting each other, and stop projecting Tom and Sophia as Loki and Sylvie. Yes, it was probably only one or two cases but it is not normal. Sorry.

*Rant over*

[igniting-quill]

6 10 and 16 for the oc ask game! any character

Great Questions! I’m going to switch up the characters for this one because some of them will be boring if I just stick with one.

6. Is there any significance behind their eye color?

I answer this question with Émilie Eye, my D&D character for @silly-goofy-mood‘s survival campaign.

For Émilie, not necessarily? She’s got brown eyes naturally, but because blue contacts exist, she wears those and presents as someone as blue eyes. So there’s a part of me being like NEARSIGHTEDNESS IN FANTASY MEDIA LETS GOOO, and c’mon Émilie, you really had to do us brown eyed people like that huh.

The Orange eye is that way because it’s the colors of her Patron, Chegg, which is based on the “educational” company behind many a college (and high school) plagiarism/cheating scandal LOL. I don’t think it’s orange most of the time,  just when she casts spells and uses aspects of her Warlock power.

I have yet to play this character. We’ll see if anything changes about this!

10. If they have an LI, how much of their character is tailored to be compatible to that person?

I answer this question with Luxury Quartz, my D&D character for @theccrowsnest‘s WAAX college campaign.

Lux had not just one, but two love interests in this campaign. One was the toxic abusive boyfriend, Vaughn Morelli, and one was the true end game lover, Angel.

I thought mostly about Lux’s relationship with Vaughn, so yes, she was incredibly tailored to Vaughn. The incredible emphasis Lux puts on looks/appearance (especially as someone who works and theater and wants to be a performer) and finding Vaughn hella attractive for example. Also, Lux kinda going hand in hand with being a performer as Vaughn’s significant other.

Also! I wanted to make a thing about beauty causing you to be doomed (especially if you’re fem presenting). I was watching D20′s Neverafter when I was creating Lux’s concept, and that was a huge thing that got me thinking about fairytales and how oftentimes the “pretty woman” is the one everyone is jealous of, pursued without concent, etc. etc.

Additionally, I researched a bit into some toxic couples in media so I based Lux a little off of Maddy from Euphoria: someone who seemingly has a lot of power and control while simultaneously being powerless to a toxic partner.

There’s more that’s all I remember off the top of my head.

16. What is something about your OC can make you cry?

This is gonna be weird, but I’m going to choose Damien Wang from the masks campaign. This character is heavily based off of Damian Wayne from DC, which I have never consumed any canon media of! I already pinged crow, same DM from the prev question.

I’m still crafting this characters backstory, but I have things I want to talk about!

The first thing: what does it mean to be a child assassin and brought out into the real world? You have been used to dehumanizing people your whole life, trusting only yourself and your crew. Now, you’re a kid that has to... socialize? Make friends? Behave “normally” while making references to things you’ve never known about until now? I had this idea for a fic I have yet to write of just... Damien playing Animal Crossing and learning about what it means to have neighbors and a community, especially in a scenario where those no game mechanic to kill any of them. Some people annoy him sure. But also, he’s just, sobbing when someone moves out for the first time.

The second thing, I wanted to talk about a story of loss: losing your heritage, losing your friends, and losing your purpose? These are things that happen when he leaves the cult, also known as the Assassin’s Secret Society.

Heritage: is on Damien losing his language, his culture, and his Chinese mother (who is still part of the cult-like society). Friends: is losing on all the fellow child assassins and members of this society. And finally purpose: when you’re in that mindset you have a goal, get the most kills. Now, what can Damien do? Homework? School? Games maybe, but it all feels aimless.

And maybe that’s why he’s so goddamn angry all the time, you little gremlin.

[zeico]

Long post request: how do you feel about BG3?

I didn't realize a new patch came out on final fantasy for about a week because Baldur Gate o Baldur Gate

currently in act 3 and trying to stock up on shit since I recently cleared out the bank. I'm TRYING to hold myself to not starting a new character until I finish this one but I see so many monk items and i want themmmmm (I have a half elf monk open in character creator right now)

Since I played a lotttt of dragon age origins, parts of the structure of bg3 felt very familiar to me like the camp itself and like how u interact with the companions. Like coming home in a way.

I'm also playing 5e a lot so that part of the structure of it was very easy to adapt to. I do still have trouble with like certain interface things like oh man gotta select the version of the spells BEFORE TARGETTING NO GALE WHY ARE YOU RUNNING TO THEM GET BACK HERE WHY ARE YOU HITTING THEM WITH YOUR 8 STRENGTH BACKED STICK

But its great and I do like the changes made to better facilitate it being a VIDEO GAME. Like I'm a Divination Wizard. My main Thing is portent dice. (There's also detect thoughtsing my way through all social encounters which is SO GREAT honestly scratches an itch I've always wanted to do but it would be such a pain in the ass for tabletop. Like first first ever dnd character I cooked up was an illiterate mind reading sorcerer that like got by through just that. But that would be so annoying to do with like.... PEOPLE AT THE TABLE of like 'so im just constantly getting ur surface thoughts...... i can't entirely control this... i'm sorry....' )

ANYWAY portent dice!!!!! in bg3 they have it at level 6 you fulfill little prophecies to get ur dice back to make the big boss miss their BIG attack or make SURE you hit (or my favorite, make the rogue crit on a sneak attack) instead of having it that when u cast a divination spell u get a spell slot back. since theres so few divination spells especially like using IN COMBAT so I understand the change.

I also like the variety of shit you can do. like my partner is one to summon 9 creatures btw the whole party so theres a small army of creatures following their main party. (also several buffed with mage armor and everyone has a higher level aid cast on them so they also have a decent amount of health its really funni to watch) I like wrote off the summon guys moves because I just dont like to have extra guys usually.

Something I wish I did on my first playthrough tho was simply long resting more I think I fucked myself out of a lot of social link scenes in act 1 bc I straight up didn't rest enough. The game is like 'oh no time is ticking' but things aren't REALLY like that (cept for like... 2 instances I can think of) bc its a videogame and thats fine.

It WANTS you to use all your abilities and not be dum like me and just cantrip my way through most the first act 'just in case i need my slots later' why am i like this. both short and lone rest more and just use all your moves its FINE

speaking of social links and companions theyre all great. I love them all. I DO wish some things weren't like... romance locked it feels??? well more like you HAVE to reject them???? idk I had a scene with gale when he's like 'but we're not THAT close tho' and i felt bad bc like... I want to be wizard friends with you. I'm SORRY I'm so weak to both vampires and elves.

heard some shit about astarion having like so much content compared to all the other companions and man imma feel so spoiled on my playthroughs where i dont smooch the vampire. I do wish everyone else had more scenes too its a shame.

something about bg3 thats HILARIOUS to me personally is that its all like 'recruit allies against the cult' and in another irl campaign im in thats been in hiatus for years but I still hope to come back its REALLY similiar. Oh no a huge looming death cult threat to the city. oh no the city has its own fuckmess of bullshit to deal with. OH NO a shapeshifting killer. Anytime theres strong parallels to that campaign it sparks joy.

A few technical problems I've had tho were around switching characters in and out of the party. like in a building and I wanna run back to camp to tag in someone. Wait why are they on the roof????

Or I tag in someone and WHY ARE YOU CLIPPING THROUGH THE FLOOR? Tbh the game is so enjoyable I just sigh and say "Video. Game." out loud and load a save. Like the last time that was REALLY frustrating is when it just would NOT let me out of a restricted area like please I persuaded u 3 times let me go I was on my way OUT.

Also why do all these 8 strength men have abs. This is Wrong. I'm bad with figuring out the technical shit of modding but holy shit I need them to not have abs.

Anyway I had this and the character creator open for like 2 hours now so Imma start that now.

[miqojak]

9 People I'd Like To Know Better

Tagged by: @iron-sparrow and @dragonsongmakhali

Tagging: The few people active in my orbit have seemingly all been tagged already...so do it if you want to and haven't, yet!

Last song: While it should be some classic crooner Christmas song...it's actually Doja's Paint the Town Red, because I finally have an ounce of inspiration and a moment's respite from being ill, and I'm working on something neat with XIV animation replacements and video editing. I've...had to hear this song on loop a lot, though, while figuring things out - and while I love it, it's about time to hop on that Spotify Christmas music playlist...

Favorite color: Technically, neon green (most shades of green tbh - I enjoy a nice, calming forest green, as well). But black and red are also favorites.

Last movie/TV show: Muppet Christmas Carol, because it's that time of year. (Next up is the movie that shaped my own preference for Christmas decorating: Rankin/Bass' Rudolph.)

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: No favorites, I like them all depending on my mood! I have a sweet tooth, but I also really like sweet + salty (catch me dipping salty fries into a frosty from Wendy's). I LIVE for spicy food...but beware...as you get older, your body hates spicy food and it will destroy parts of your insides you didn't know existed, so I've been suffering and learning the hard way lately how much spicy I can still have. Meaty/umami flavors are probably my least favorite - I actually dislike the texture/taste of red meat so much in general, I had to get iron supplements, lol.

Relationship status: Complicated to explain! I guess the best way to describe it is: I live with my queer platonic partner, whom I used to date/be romantic with. But...I'm the queer one, so...idk, I guess the term still applies!

Last thing I googled: I have no idea, most of my searches lately have been within various modding Discords. But my last online search was probably also in that same vein - looking for various XIV mods/animation mods, now that I've discovered those.

Current obsession: I've been far too ill of late to engage with much...uh, I got a bit obsessed with Adventure Time after finally watching all of it, and Fionna and Cake; I went hard on the Marceline merch. But I guess I'm also kinda obsessed with trying to find new hobbies, since there's been 0 interest in RP with my characters in a couple years now, and RP was my one big hobby for like...the last decade or more. Filling the time I would be RPing with is tough, when I don't know anyone local (and love tabletop and have a campaign world already made for Pathfinder...), and my health has bounced around, so I've gotten back into cross stitch (and I'm...trying needle-felting. It's...something.)