#for real though i did very much get more done the past week without also needing to do the comic update

[someone-always-cares]

[ID: a drawing of a computer popup style notifications titled "SAC BOOK" with a loading bar like 80-90% done with the description "book kickstarter preperation in progress!". below is is a traditionally drawn sketch that has been scanned and shaded digitally, of the artist holding a clipboard titled "burnout avoidance strategy" and staring at it with their tongue out. next to them is the words "we'll be right back!" end id]

okay so little better rested currently so brief update! so realised that there is still a fair bit that needs doing but making regular comic updates does take up about half or more of the time i have to work on art stuff, so i've made the decision to swap around kickstarter preperation and comic updates on my priority list!

unfortunatly the struggles of making comics while having a day job means that trying to do both will just make me burnt out and make both projects half assed so i'm pausing the regular comic updates to put my focus on preparing to print the comic. can't burn the candle at both ends, you'll just burn yourself and get wax all over the carpet

current (self imposed) timeline estimate: work on (and hopefully finish) preperations in july, have the kickstarter be live in time for august (so i can advertise it in the 3 conventions i have that month), resume comic updates in august also (hopefully. again, 3 conventions. will let you all know how it turns out) and print everything in september!

[cillianhead]

Hey hey, I just found your blog and I really like your writing - especially Sitting Pretty since I'm a sucker for those Crane fics. :3

Would you maybe be up for some kind of comfort/fluff fic with Crane?

I am always up for some comfort/fluff when it comes to Dr Jonathan Crane. He's so babygirl <3

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.... thank you so much for your request!

Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby || Jonathan Crane x Reader

warnings: none really, some brief mentions of violence, crying, angsty but also fluffy and comforting at the end, not really anything that bad to be honest, sort of non-canonical to anything that actually happened in the films.

It had been around a week since you had seen your boyfriend of three years. This was the longest you had gone without seeing Jonathan, without even hearing a peep from him. You even went to his work, he hadn't been there either. You knew what sort of dangerous work he did outside of Arkham and also within it, you knew the dangers and the risks he faced every time he left your apartment. You were still hopelessly devoted to him, despite the bad things that he has done and continues to do. You knew he would never hurt you. Him being gone felt like someone had ripped your heart out... like your soul was slowly being eaten away. Where was he? Was he even still alive? No. You mustn't think like that.

It was only a week, maybe he just needed some time away. Though he would've at least taken time off work, surely? His work told you he hadn't called in sick but he was supposed to be there. But he wasn't.

You hadn't cried. You found yourself growing more and more numb to the absence of Jonathan. It was like your body trying to reject a foreign object, trying to spit him out of your heart. It was painful and agonizingly slow, you knew you could never get over him, especially if you never got to say goodbye. His things lying around your apartment were a painful reminder of the fact he was gone. And he probably was never coming back.

You hadn't slept, at least not very well, in four days. You'd barely been eating either, maybe a stale cracker or two every now and then but you couldn't bring yourself to eat any proper meals. The best you could do was stare at the tiled wall as you stood in the scalding hot shower, trying to burn away the grief.

With the growing hunger and the fact you barely slept, paranoia was also sprouting within you, like some sort of sickly weed. You were worried that if Jonathan had been captured, whatever got him, was coming for you next. Every tiny little noise, every rumble, or car horn outside sent you running to the comfort of your shared bed. The one that smelt like him. You really couldn't sleep. Every shadow looked like some sort of evil horned figure ready to devour you whole, your eyes wide and frozen, helplessly full of fear. You thought about how Jonathan would assess this situation, how nerdy he got when you were afraid, in its own way you found it comforting the way he explained the body's reaction to fear and the way he explained the mind's power over the body.

The sleep you did get would be full of nightmares or vividly heartbreaking dreams. There was one you couldn't get over, a dream so sweet, more like a memory than anything else. Jonathan coming home from work, taking off his clothes and crawling into bed with you. His hands caressed your back softly, arms cradling you like you could shatter at any moment if he held you too tight. It felt so painfully real, that even when you began to wake up you could still feel him there. Still feeling his arms around you.

"Jonathan..." You whispered a sigh of relief, his arms pulled away from you as your heart raced with joy. Sitting up and looking around to find yourself just as alone as you had been for the past week. That's when you began to cry. "Jonathan..." You sobbed into your hands, you couldn't fall asleep after that. It was four in the morning, and the room was pretty much pitch black as you cried to yourself like a baby needing its mother.

Even more time passed. You were hysterical, you didn't pick up your phone when your friends called, you didn't leave the house, you didn't eat, and you most definitely didn't sleep. You were in bad shape, to say the least. It was that time of the year when the rain began to pour, your glass walls showed the bruised sky and the lightning it unleashed upon Gotham. You didn't work, Jonathan insisted on you staying at home, for him to provide for you. You were pretty happy staying at home and doing as you pleased. But now... it felt so different, there was no one to come home to you. You were pretty certain that the love of your life had died and you were going to spend the rest of your time alone. You knew you could never love again.

As if the sky knew how you felt, it only rained harder, it rained for days and it never stopped. You sat on the couch with a blanket draped over you as you lifelessly stared out at the dark sky. It was the middle of the night, and you thought about sweet nothings you and Jonathan shared. You thought about how lucky you were to see that side of him, so lucky you weren't on the other end, seeing the scarecrow, full of fear toxin. You thought about Jonathan humming while he made you pancakes, thought about the way he wrote you love letters almost every morning before he left for work, thought about the way you both were ready to get married soon. You remembered him holding your stomach while you brushed your teeth before bed and saying in that beautiful voice of his; "One day, you and I, are gonna have a bunch of beautiful babies and we'll live far far away from here. Everything will be perfect."

You sobbed and nothing brought you out of it. The pain in your chest was unbearable, no stupid fucking sad song or badly written poem could ever express it. There was no comprehensible word in any language that could truly explain away the agony you were in. You were no longer paranoid that something was going to come and hurt you, in fact, if there was someone or something out there coming to get you, you'd happily let it come in and put you out of your goddamn misery.

It was two soft raps on your bedroom window from the fire escape that caught your attention. You froze and stopped your crying, listening for it again, wondering if maybe you were just hearing things.

It's when you hear them again that you manage to stand up on shaky legs and wander into your bedroom that you see a shadow, leaning its weight against the window tiredly. It was him. With all the energy you could muster up, you ran to the window and slid it open before grabbing ahold of him and pulling him into your bedroom. You felt like you were going to have a heart attack.

"Y/N," Jonathan whispered. You didn't say a word, just turned on the lamp to light up the room. If this was a dream, you were going to try and enjoy every second of it. If this was the only way you could see your Jonny then you would take in every moment. "I... I missed you." And when you turned around, ready to scold him, ready to scream your lungs out at him for being gone, your heart broke all over again. His clothes were torn and covered in dried-up blood. Jonathan's neck was covered in bruises in the shape of handprints and his eyes were tired and void of any life. "Jonathan..." You whimpered, approaching him, he winced a bit as you placed your hands softly on his face. "Where have you been? What happened to you?" You were going to be angry at him before but now you understood... it wasn't his fault. He was soaking wet and you could see he had been crying too.

"I... I can't... really remember... I was drugged..." He mumbled, Jonathan's fingers curled around your waist and pulled you into a bone-crunching hug. He breathed you in, embracing you again was the only medicine he needed. Holding you was the only thing that could tell him was truly okay. "The Batman got me... I don't know how I managed to escape... just ended up here... I've been walking for days."

"Jonny..." You were crying as you sat him gently down on the bed. "I thought you..." You whispered. The strength was not in you to say it. "I thought you were..."

"Dead?" Jonathan croaked out, his voice was hoarse in a way that told you he had spent days on end screaming, from the torture he had been put through. "Yeah, me too." He said dryly.

You helped him undress. The clothes were pretty much useless so you tossed them on the floor in a pile to throw away later. "Let me clean you up..."

"No." He said. "Not right now..." Jonathan shook his head as he grabbed you and pulled you into his chest as you laid down in the bed with him again. "I just need to feel you..." His voice broke and in the process, your heart broke too. You could hear how defeated he was. "Need to feel you there." You understood, not saying another word as you clung to him. You listened to the sound of his heart, ear pressed right against his bare and bruised chest. You heard him sniffle, immediately causing you to pull away. "Oh, baby..." You cooed sadly, brushing a tear off his wounded cheek. The dam gates were open now as he began to cry, wincing at the salty tears mixing in with his busted face. "I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry that happened to you... I was so worried... you're here now... you're here with me... my baby."

"I thought about you every second," He sobbed. Jonathan looked like a helpless little child at that moment, his blue eyes were pitiful. "I thought I was going to die... thought I was never gonna get the chance to say goodbye to you..."

Together you sat crying, both with relief and sorrow as the rain poured outside, the heaven's crying with you. Everything felt okay again, for the both of you, now that you were with one another. "It's okay, Jonny." You tried to console him. Things had happened to him before, he'd been beaten up or caught in dangerous situations but he usually came home shrugging it off, this time you could tell he was severely traumatized, you could tell this was going to take a while for him to get over. Jonathan had that thousand-yard stare, that mischievous fire that usually lit up his eyes had been extinguished and now reflected the dreary weather outside. "I love you, baby, it's okay... nothing's ever going to hurt you again." You whispered, he leaned in, pressing a kiss to your lips. You kissed him as gently as you could, knowing his lip was swollen and split open, you could taste the metallic blood from his mouth and the saltiness of his tears.

"Y/N..." Jonathan wept, his face now buried in between your neck and your jaw. "It hurts." The tone of his voice was the most heart-shattering thing you'd ever heard.

"I know, my baby," You hushed as you laid back down again, caressing his hair that was still wet from the rain. "Nothing will ever hurt you again." You reassured once again. "Nothing's going to take you from my side."

You cried your own tears of sadness, relieved he was back in your arms, relieved that you were there to take care of him and nurse him back to health. The morning sun had begun to rise by the time you two had properly nestled into your bed, skin pressed together, legs intertwined. Jonathan slept in your arms, you held him like a baby, you couldn't sleep, too happy to have him in your arms again.

"As long as you're with me, you'll be just fine..." You whispered softly into his hair.

-

[kingofthering]

obsessed with the bodyswap you just wrote!! sooooo insane making it would LOVE to know where you think it goes from there… are the wounds healed with the tenth under vale’s name… or is it WORSE because vale knows that He was not actually the one to win it… do they fuck nasty about it (kidding. mostly)

Also going to include @moonshynecybin's tags here because they made me pause, especially the first one. Fic in question here for additional context.

So, I thought about this a lot because I feel like this touches the Rosquez thesis a lot, and the many ways you can interpret it.

The damage to their relationship was done before they even raced in Sepang (let alone before Jorge won the championship). They were doing better before it all crumbled down in 2018. And then they once again appeared friendly before divorcing again in Misano in 2019.

All that to say that if we're being real, they were probably doomed in the long run, no matter the outcome of 2015.

In this little universe, though, I do believe that end result of the championship and Marc fighting for him can alter the perception and the understanding Valentino has of Marc, which is key to a better development of their relationship, I think.

(That and better communication but let's not ask too much of them. Anyway.)

From Marc's side, I believe that things are pretty straight forward. Contrary to what Valentino wanted to believe, Marc genuinely didn't have any reason to make Jorge win (they didn't even start looking friendly until 2019, Valentino please, anyway I diverge) and while the press conference definitely annoyed him and made him want to have Valentino pay in some way (cue him being a little more of a nuisance than usual irl), I don't think that's his final mindset in the body swap universe (which is why I wrote things the way I did with him doing his best and getting Vale the tenth, duh).

I've always tended to consider Marc has a person who doesn't hold a grudge (we have one point in common, yeah!) and to me it's always aligned with canon events and the way he's always talked about separating the on-track events from the off-track events. Of course there was some ignoring going on in the beginning of 2016 but then he was the one reaching out to him.

He's always cared about Valentino a lot and maybe he's turned a blind eye on things being a little weird in the months leading to Sepang while being just a little aware of them (like, they were still laughing together and holding hands two race weekends before Sepang, we've all seen the confused/lost expression on his face post press con, home boy did not see that one coming) but when he wakes up in Valentino's body that Sunday in Valencia? Yeah, deep down he still wants the best for Valentino. So he wins him the tenth.

On Valentino's side, though? Oh boy. He legitimately cannot understand Marc's brain process through this and it fucks him up a lot (story of his life, truly). And it's silly but his mind goes both "oh maybe he's not that evil after all" and "hm, he must have done that with an ulterior motive" (hashtag self sabotage). I don't think he believes in that second one much but it's hard to let go of it because it's also the train of thought that justifies his actions and words of the past weeks, so.

Anyway. Logistics now, because you all know I'm a very (too) practical person.

Valentino needs to be there for the celebrations of his title (watching Marc having to do the little gimmick they had prepared for the 10th after he crossed the finish line was painful enough) (I'm going to assume Marc got briefed / reminded about it by Uccio before the race, just in case) (I'm not gonna imagine what they could have prepared but it was definitely the most awkward moment of Marc's life).

If we keep going in the last scene of the first post, we can go like :

"You need to apologize for me, so we can be seen together without raising a billion questions."

"What?"

"We don't even need to organize anything because you'll have to talk to the press tomorrow after testing anyway. You can say that I got a little carried away because I'd been waiting on that title for a long time and I shouldn't have gone off on you like that. We talked and it's all fine now."

Marc's face is unreadable and it's disconcerting. Valentino has always been told that he wears all of his feelings on his sleeve and he very rarely sees himself on camera but being met with his face so guarded? It throws him off a lot.

When the silence stretches, Marc has a short laugh. "Oh you're serious? You want me to go out there and actually lie for you? Just so you can be there when all of Italy is at your feet again?"

On a corner of his mind, Valentino has to wonder if being in his body is giving Marc more confidence than usual because even Valentino can recognize that this is the most confrontational Marc has ever been with him. [which, this is just Marc fighting for himself because he's exhausted and he's in the wrong body —a stressful experience already— and he's just done the right thing and Valentino still isn't happy with him, he needs a break]

Marc's not looking at him. He's barely been doing so since they woke up that morning.

Valentino doesn't call him out on it.

"I think this would be good for you too. If you think about it."

And then Marc looks at him, murderous enough that Valentino feels uneasy and wraps his arms around himself. [How nice to finally worry about the influence of his words on the public's opinion of Marc, right?]

"No wonder you want me to do the apologizing for you considering how much you suck at it," Marc huffs. Valentino thinks he might see some tension releasing from his shoulders. [Because Marc, bless his poor 22 years-old soul, can recognize that this is actually good for him. Doesn't mean he can't give Valentino a hard time about it.] "You're sure you don't want to use my voice to make me apologize for things I didn't do? I'm sorry that my racing had an impact on the championship, I'm glad all ended as it should have."

Valentino can recognize the sarcasm dripping in Marc's voice. He still tells him to shut up but it doesn't sound mean. Not to his ears. Not to Marc's considering the half smile that pulls on his face for maybe one second.

The next day, testing happens (going relatively well considering the situation) and Marc apologizes on Valentino's behalf and he squeezes Valentino's shoulder when he passes by Valentino (while he's talking to the press) and both his words and the photo make rounds on Twitter and all over the Internet.

Then, Marc goes to Tavullia with Valentino. I don't care if that's too big and going to raise too many questions, it's happening.

Don't ask me more about that day but yes, of course they end up having sex about it. It's always sex fixing those situations, anyway. I'm not sure I can say much more about it because body swap sex fucks with my mind a little but yes to all the headcanons.

I do know that 22 years-old Marc exuding Valentino's confidence and boldness sure is a sight for sore eyes.

Okay and I just reread this original ask. I think that Valentino will forever feel a little weird about it but I don't think there is resentment, not really. Can he ever truly deconstruct the delusional thoughts he built in his head (with Uccio's help) in the second half of 2015? I don't know.

But I think he has enough clarity to know he wouldn't have achieved what needed to be achieved in Valencia without Marc's help, so there is that.

[futbol16]

As your Captain ・ Barcelona Femení

This one is for these two requests although I have slightly changed it, I might have forgotten what the original request was, but I hope you enjoy!

Requests: "Can we have some angst/hurt with Barcelona girls or lionesses?"

"Hopping in on the request because you are the best 🤩🤩🤩🤩 Would you write one where the girls wrongfully got the message that Y/N would move to Lyon or worse Real Madrid and the team gives her the cold shoulder and very angry training sessions, Y/N notices after a few days and every attempt of dialogue fails. Having enough Y/N lets all her frustration out when no one expected it, lots of tears and anger and most importantly disappointment. She disappears for hours and it's freezing cold and the girls in the meantime found it was a lie to jeopardize the time. They’re all frantically searching for her and trying to call, she comes to training the next morning, none of the girls sleeps, soaked in rain and not able to talk to her cold temperature and shivering.  She catches a intense flu and the team has absolutely never felt worse"

Word count: 1,9k

The final whistle of the match is blown and you excitedly run towards Mapi before jumping on her back and the two of you join the rest of the team celebrating.

Your team had won 5-0 to Real Madrid with you assisting a goal and scoring one of your own as well.

As you glance over to the other side of the field you take in the way Misa lazily picks up her goalie gloves she had previously thrown to the ground. A frown takes over your features when you see her try to wipe her tears away, tears that obviously weren’t anywhere near stopping.

You were always one to respect your opponents especially if they were on the same national team as you, you had seen the way Misa desperately tried to get her team together in the match. She was captain and truthfully she was the only one actually playing for Real Madrid today.

You don’t wait long as you make your way towards her and gently pull the taller girl into your arms, whispering praises into her ear as you try to comfort her.

Misa was your friend on the Spanish team and you knew she’d be more disappointed in her own performance than anyone else’s.

She holds onto you as well, burying her face into your shoulder, occasionally nodding at your words and she thanks you when you tell her you need to get back to your team.

Your actions didn’t go unnoticed by the Barca girls, or the cameras and fans at that and they all watched, confused. 

No one thinks about it for too long though as you and the girls get back to the locker room and celebrate the wonderful win.

A few days after the match you notice the sudden change in air from your teammates.

You feel their eyes on you, watching your every step, yet when you’d turn around they would already be busy with something.

They also haven’t said much, at least not to you which was very unusual as usually you and most of the younger girls would be joking around, loudly laughing at each other whenever you got the chance.

Not now though.

Training has been a bit different, your training partner, Patri had switched with someone else and now you had Marta.

It’s not that you didn’t like the girl, you really did, but you were used to training with Patri and her switching up without a word left you hurt and confused.

You knew the defenders on your team could be aggressive, but what you were experiencing right now was far from how teammates would challenge each other.

Their main target seemed to be you and you only. Tackles were sent your way left and right at every drill and you were sure that someone also tripped you up on purpose when you were walking to the back of the line.

It hurt. You didn’t know why they had been avoiding you and why so suddenly. You had thought over everything you had done in the past week that could have made 22 people have it out for you, but nothing came to mind.

Team chemistry was off. It was obvious to you, to your teammates and most importantly to the coach and staff members.

Jonatan had also taken notice of how you seemed to always end up on the ground in drills that on any other day you could have done in your sleep.

It isn’t until you’re clutching your ankle, laying on the turf as you try to breathe through the pain, that he actually intervenes.

As a medic makes his way over to you, Jonatan calls your name from not too far at the sidelines.

“Y/L/N, I want you in my office after practice!”

Your ankle had been fine after checking it out but you did have a small limp as you walked into the coach’s office, ready to talk with him.

As you take a seat in front of Jonatan, he doesn’t waste time as he gets right into it.

“Y/N I’ve noticed how the team isn’t connecting and I know you have too. As captain, and especially now since Alexia isn’t here, I need you to figure out what happened.

Whatever it is, you need to fix it, talk to them. We can’t go into a match like this.” you nod at his words and as you get excused, you immediately walk to the changing room where you knew the rest of the girls would be.

For the first time in a week they acknowledge your presence as you walk in and instantly take notice of the hard look on your face.

You looked mad, something that scared them since you rarely showed this side of you to them. The girls in the room freeze in their movements as they look up at you, silence overtaking the room and they watch as you slightly limp towards your bag.

Shoving your shin guards into it you also turn towards them. Your voice is cold and eerily emotionless as you start to speak.

“I have no idea what happened or if I’ve done something but it’s clearly affecting our performance as a team and I won’t have that. I’m telling you this as your captain, if you don’t get yourselves together and communicate what you’re feeling then I’ll gladly sit you out on our next game.

As captain it is my job to take care of the players but I can not do that if you guys ignore my existence. This is unacceptable and I don’t think I deserve this!”

The last part is spoken harshly and some of the girls visibly shiver at your tone.

Looking around the changing room most of your teammates’ heads are lowered, a guilty look on their faces, but Mapi, Patri and Mariona glare at you, a look you can only give back to them.

You leave the room at the silence you receive and make your way to one of the other offices.

Back in the changing-room Irene takes the team's silence as her chance to speak up, she had been one of the few who hadn’t totally ignored your presence after the ElClásico.

The barca team finds themselves in Jonatan’s office less than fifteen minutes after you’ve left and Jonatan looks at them panicked as he’s bombarded with questions.

“What? Repeat that question?” he asks as utter confusion and surprise is written all over his face.

“Has Y/N already signed with Real Madrid?” Aitana questions again, this time saying it slower, but the coach only stares at the group of football players standing in front of him.

They shuffle uncomfortably under the man’s gaze before he talks.

“Now where the hell did you hear that from?” it’s now the team’s turn to stare at him now as they take in what he’s saying.

“So wait, Y/N isn’t transferring to Real?” Patri is the one who voices her thoughts first.

“No, no of course not!” Jonatan laughs at the idea of you ever wearing the Real Madrid badge over your heart, you had made your distaste towards the club clear to him.

“But everyone keeps talking about it!” 

“Who’s everyone? Girls, don’t tell me you got this information from the internet, you didn’t believe another rumor now, did you?” the coach looks at them expectantly before sighing at their guilty faces and he rubs at his face for a second.

“It was only because of the whole Lyon thing from last time, people kept saying she’d transfer to them and well, yeah, we believed another rumor.” Pina admits, her voice growing quieter by the end.

“But we also discussed last time that it was only because she signed the contract extension with Barca late, right?” they nod at his words.

“Look, I understand that you misunderstood the situation and I now also know why you guys haven’t been doing too well in training, but this is very immature of you all.

No one is transferring anywhere unless your captain or I say so. And the way you’ve handled this is disappointing, Y/N is your teammate, she’s family and family shouldn't be treated like this.”

As he lectures the girls, they all nod along, admitting they’ve been wrong and that they’d like to fix it.

“Y/N is in another meeting right now, but I suggest you talk with her first thing tomorrow at training.”

When the team walks into the training center the next day they take notice of your bag already sitting in your cubby, or rather still sitting there.

Training soon starts and as they try to get a look at you they see the dark circles under your eyes and your somewhat puffy cheeks. You looked exhausted and you were barely halfway through training. 

A sloppy move from Lucy results in you sitting on the turf as you try to catch your breath and she is instantly standing in front of you, helping you up and apologizing.

You dismiss her and start towards the beginning of the drill when you stumble slightly. The brunette is there to catch you when your body decides to give up and you pass out.

The team runs over worriedly as the medics make space to get you off the field. They watch as you’re carried into the medical room before having to resume practice.

Thirty minutes later they’re all crowded in the unusually spacious medical room and Claudia takes a hold of your hand when she sees the state you’re in.

You have cooling rags placed all over your body and you look exhausted as you breathe slowly. The medic fills them in on the diagnosis, telling them that you’ve got a fever and have also overworked your body.

When some of the girls look at her weird she goes into detail.

“Y/N stays the night at the facility sometimes to get in extra training or work on something. Security has gotten used to her being here at this point and let her have the pitch to herself for the night.

Unfortunately Y/N over here has forgotten that temperatures have dropped during the night and she’s caught a cold now.” she tells them with an amused chuckle and the team looks at you sadly.

Mapi walks over, gently running her finger through your hair and she smiles when you lean into her touch slightly.

A sneeze breaks the team out of their trance and you reach for a tissue as you blow out your nose.

The room is immediately in chaos as everyone tries to apologize for their behavior and you smile up at them gently when both Pina and Mapi explain the situation.

As they calm down a bit they make a show of apologizing to you one by one before promising that they wouldn’t believe another rumor unless you’d tell them yourself.

You’re taken care of by your teammates for the next week until you get better and they shower you in love and small acts of kindness, still feeling incredibly bad for how they’ve treated you.

You soak up the love you’ve missed out on, but you still couldn’t have asked to be part of a better family.

Barcelona was your home and you wouldn’t trade it for any other team.

[xer-melody]

A Worshiper of Magic (For a Date) part 3

Wednesday Addams x male!witch!reader

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4

Warning: None.

Words: 1414

Summary: After looking through your surveillance archive you see someone that definitely shouldn't be on campus, instead of going to any official authorities, you go to Wednesday.

(a/n: idk if I really like this one, not much romance mostly just trying to move the plot along to get to the romance lol)

You didn't interact Wednesday for a few days after that. You've seen her around and she's seen you, but your maximum interaction has been a polite nod or wave. You'd also seen her on your surveillance system, but she probably didn't know that.

It had held strong and over the next week all the painful, bloody backlash it had caused faded. You were grateful, you didn't realize how difficult life could become with a giant gaping wound on your stomach until you actually had one.

You monitored your area regularly, having seen things that you'd rather not have but for the safety of the school you didn't mind.

Then, completely out of the blue, you see someone…unfamiliar sneaking onto campus. While you didn't know everyone personally, you knew who did and didn't go to your school. He definitely did not. A young man that you had a mild recollection of, hiding behind walls and running “sneakily” around before entering Ms. Thornhill’s office. You couldn't see into Thornhill’s office, but you could see her open the door for him. No threat, no force, just the simple opening and closing of the door. You could hear vague chatter behind it, but it wasn't fully legible.

You only caught a few words,

“Police.”

“Addams.”

And, “These monsters!” Thornhill practically shouted in an outraged voice.

The boy kept his voice quiet, you'd almost forgotten he was in the room with her until he walked back out the door a few minutes later. Looking just as pleased as she did.

One thing you knew you had to do was speak to Wednesday.

While she wasn't officially on the case, she was definitely making more progress than the real police had. You're sure she’d tell them about it eventually, but as far as you're concerned she was the only person who needed to know.

It wasn't hard to find Wednesday, you shared a class but didn't sit near each other. So as you past her on the way to your seat you leaned down and whispered,

“I need to show you something, meet me in my dorm later.”

She didn't say anything back, just giving you a look, but you figured she understood.

Almost three and a half hours worth of classes later, you sat in your dorm, waiting, you were done with your classes for the day and presumably, so should Wednesday. To pass the time you made a small little hex bag, nothing too severe, it only causes mild discomfort and a bit of insomnia. You just used it as practice, maybe you’d gift it to another witch…

A knock on the door pulled you away from your thoughts. Pushing yourself away from your desk and to the front door, opening it to see Wednesday, who had changed out of her school uniform and into a checkered sweater, long straight leg pants and a pair of slightly worn lace-up boots, all keeping her monochrome color scheme. You’ve never seen Wednesday out of her uniform, seeing her personal style was definitely a nice change. She looks good, but you're sure she already knew that as you moved to the side without a word, letting her in.

“Y/n..”

“Wednesday.”

“You said you had something to show me..”

“Oh, right. So do you remember the surveillance system I put up.”

“The one that nearly caused you to bleed out? Vaguely.”

You gave her a slightly amused look, “Ha, very funny. Anyways, I saw something, just wanted to see if you knew anything about it.”

“You saw something?”

You sighed, “Yes, well, someone. Some guy onto campus and to Thornhill’s office, the weirdest thing about it though was that Thornhill just let this guy in.”

Her face scrunched a bit, but she held her permanent glare on you, “Who? Who snuck into Thornhills office..”

You paused for a moment.

“Some normie, I don't know his name but I've seen him before.”

Wednesday's expression changed slightly, her brows turning slightly, taking a seat on your desk chair, “Show me.”

You almost laughed, not at her but at what you’d have to do next.

“It’s…not that easy..” You sighed, going over to your roommate's side of the room and stealing his desk chair, rolling it over to Wednesday before sitting in it. “Everything that happens in the surveillanced area goes straight to my brain, it’s a spell so there's no camera or screen I can show it to you on out here.”

“Out here?” She repeated.

“Yeah, well. Technically I can show it to you, it’s just… weird..”

“You’re a witch.”

You let out a short, awkward laugh, “True, but I’d literally have to take you into my mind palace in order for you to see it.”

The mind palace, one of the great overlaps of witches and psychics. It was quite a bit different from the normie concept of a mind palace, it was more of a mental pocket dimension for people like you and Wednesday. While mind palace development classes don’t start until next year it didn’t stop you from doing as much as you can to develop your own. Which is where you stored all the information from the surveillance spell.

Now, you liked Wednesday, she was kind in her own way, her humor amused you, and you could admit that you genuinely enjoyed being around her. But letting her into your mind palace was something you didn’t even consider before asking to come here. It was intimate to say the least, reserved for those that you held in the highest regard. While you didn’t have anybody like that, you did have a young detective in need of evidence. So you were going to throw tradition out the window for a few minutes in order to give it to her, while also attempting to not become extremely flustered in the process.

She seemingly understood this, her mother was a psychic after all, she must have at least mentioned it.

“Alright.” She said stiffly, “What do we do?”

You sighed at her, dragging your roommate's chair from across the room and taking a seat right in front of her. Your knees bumped hers.

“Ok just…put your hands out like this.” you turned your palms out to her, she copied you, her hands just above yours.

Clearing your throat, sitting up a bit straighter, and with a bit of hesitation, cupped her hands from underneath.

“I really have to do most of the work..” you said quietly, lit perfectly audible in the silent stillness of your room. “Just close your eyes, and clear your mind.”

She gave you a short, unreadable look before shutting her eyes.

“Okay…” you muttered, “just relax..”

After attempting to calm your rapidly beating heart, and sending another quick glance at Wednesday, you closed your eyes.

A moment later you felt like you were falling through the floor.

You stood in front of a door, dark wood as all the doors in Nevermore were, except this one wasn't in Nevermore, it wasn't anywhere. This one doesn't exist at all, not out there at least. It was the entrance to a room in your mind palace that didn't exist until very recently.

It was the direct feed from your area on campus, and you had something specific to show this detective.

Pushing the door open, you were greeted by the familiar halls that lead to Ms. Thornhill’s office, then the boy came, in plain clothes and a shady look about him.

Wednesday was frozen, watching as Thornhill let Tyler Galpin into her office. Indistinct words were exchanged behind the closed door.

You stood behind her, watching as her hand clenched into fist as the memory went on.

You let her sit and try to decipher their word for a few minutes before Tyler exited the office and disappeared around the corner.

Slowly, as though approaching a wild animal, or more accurately, a bomb, you walked up to her, gently as you could, placing a hand on her shoulder in a meek attempt at comfort.

“We should go..” you said, still attempting to calm the fury that clearly bubbled under her skin.

“Yes,” she practically hissed, “we should.”

And just like that it was over.

You felt like you were grabbed by the front of your shirt and dragged back to the real world.

The moment she opened her eyes, Wednesday snatched her hands from yours. Standing, she pushed her chair back and stormed out of the room.

Reblogs > likes

[theflyindutchwoman]

It's been a while without the rookie so between the fanfics, the wishes for chenford and the ideas of what chenford could be and others shows who focus more on relationships, maybe it got lost that the rookie isn't as angsty that what some peoples think it is right now. Angela/wesley for the past 3 seasons, nolan/bailey in s4 with the ex husband, they got their up and downs but they don't break up. Once they have their endgames the show don't throw breakups for the fun or angst of it. The show priorites isn't relationships dramas, if it was they could have done SO MUCH MORE in s4 with chris,ashley and chenford. This is also why I respectfully don't understand peoples who think a breakup would be fun for angst because the only angst you'll have is them looking at each other for 3 sec if we are lucky like in 5x3 and then they'd be off doing their cops things. Waiting week after weeks for this would be boring and annoying as hell after waiting 5 years. And I know some peoples are worried about it, but a breakup wouldn't be spoiled.

Honestly, I just think people were simply stating what they wished to see. Someone asked them a question and they answered. It was about their preferences… I know that when I received a similar ask in the past, the logistics of the show didn't necessarily factor in my reply.

I can't speak for anyone who would like to see a breakup - or anyone else for that matter - but I think it's pretty fair to assume that what they want is a separation that makes sense, that is properly developed, with decent screentime and a real storyline that involves far more than just 3 seconds of pining here and there. The same way I want to see Lucy and Tim face some ups and downs : it's under the assumption that it is going to be written in a beautiful way and not rushed. And it is technically doable. Take episodes 5.08 to 5.12 for instance : Tim and Lucy had a fair amount of screentime dedicated to their relationship. The writers could easily use that same amount for a more angsty storyline or a breakup. Especially if it's related to UC : it could be linked to a case. A bit like 5.20 and 5.21. Though a shorter season does present a bigger challenge, that's for sure.

And you're right, the show doesn't really do 'breakups/reconciliation' storylines. Actually, it doesn't really do 'breakups'… Rachel, Gino and Isaac are still waiting for one. Jokes aside, the show did have a storyline like this for Wesley/Angela, but that was at the very beginning… I don't know if Bailey/Nolan broke up once it was revealed she was still married, but since it was solved by the next episode, I guess it's a moot point. Same with Nyla/James. And with her sleeping with her ex-husband, there was a reason to go there (though I'm grateful we were spared a 'who's the father' storyline). All these arcs could have been much more dramatic, that's for sure. So far, the show hasn't really leaned into that side. That's why I'm a bit sceptical that they would do a plotline like this. On the other hand, Tim and Lucy's relationship has been far more developed… So it wouldn't be completely beyond the realms of possibility either.

I also doubt that Eric would spoil something like that. More than once. Then again, this is the same guy who made a video last year with his new uniform, spoiling his promotion in the process. So who knows?! I have to say though, the timing of this makes me curious. As far I can tell, he only started talking about breakups after he was directly asked about his opinion on the matter. Not before. I mean, I may be wrong on the timeline here since I don't check his cameos. But that's the way it appeared to me. It could be that he received more information in-between… In which case, talk about perfect timing. That said, I get why some would rather be prepared or are worried. That's not my place to judge them.

(I won't take the risk of tagging anyone here, not in this volatile atmosphere, but feel free to pitch in or correct me).

[toastytrusty]

if u have any more romelukas headcanons to share I would love to hear them 👀 this ship is so underrated

oooooo okokok omg

to #me they started getting close before the gojo deal, with rome kinda seeking lukas out now and then when he needed to get away from Family Drama (tm), and lukas always let him because at least with roman around things are a little less boring. personality wise they keep each other in check really well, roman having a kind of delusional manic optimism towards the world and lukas having a much more nihilistic realistic worldview. they balance each other out yk. i think lukas probably had a thing for rome pretty early on but rome is so oblivious to both lukas' feelings and his own and also is on the aroace spectrum (ace panaroflux) and just. does Not pick up on Anyyything so they suffer the necessary queer situationship for like a year. rome is also probably very flippant and dismissive of lukas trying to connect, because he is just. so scared of attatchment and being genuine. but they'd do mundane shit like watch movies and play video games and go boating on that bigass lake. lukas would try to get rome to open up to him but he never would, not yet at least.

i think romes explosion on the mountain started a kind of a temporary fall out period; lukas realized rome was not like. in a good enough mental place or situation with his family to persue any real relationship so they both kinda back off but but it also makes lukas want the company even more bc he realizes how badly rome needs out of it.

after the gojo deal i think rome takes a lot of time away from the company and his family and everyone he knows in general, maybe for about a year, just kinda traveling the world and learning how to be a person without anyone else's influence, because he needs that. get a dog, eat some steak, yk. not talking to anyone, just off on his own. i think what would eventually draw him back is shiv's baby; it would probably take him a few months to actually see them, but once he did he would realize how badly he missed having people around him, and even though he didn’t regret his journey of self discovery, he knew he was done with it. after spending a few weeks with shiv and baby, he would find himself reaching back out to lukas, and eventually make his way to wherever tf lukas lives in sweden, and kinda just. never leaves.

i imagine roman would move in without ever really making it a thing? he would just show up one day and follow lukas around, and lukas would never really comment on it or ask where he was or why he suddenly wanted to stay. maybe he had a guest house or guest room waiting, hoping that rome would come back eventually. rome never reapplies for waystar or any of lukas' various assets, he is chronically unemployed and just. hangs out. they give each other something to do; hiking and late night campfires and general company through all things. it's like a petty unspoken challenge to see how long they can go without either of them acknowledging that there is anything past Pals going on. like gay chicken except they are actually gay. i see them as endgame in the way that they never really. Acknowledge? anything between them? they just kiss and hold hands and sleep in the same bed every night. but like, in a bro way. totally. don't think too hard about it. over time they come to understand each other better than anyone else and spend like all their time together.

i can totally see roman spontaneously proposing out of the blue one day, in the way he did with both tabitha and gerri, a kind of insecure need to be reassured that he isn't going to be abandoned, as well as having this kind of transactional perspective on relationships and being deserving of love. i feel like they could adopt a kid at some point, and compete to see who could be the better parent. roman would try sooooo hard to be a better dad than logan was and end up being really indulgent, and lukas would have to be the voice of reason. while roman would go for overcorrection to try and make up for his shitty childhood, i feel like lukas would be a lot more timid to be super involved, but would ease into it and do a really good job.

[servin-up-surveys]

survey #223

Are any of your friendships on a fine line? Nope! Very grateful for that.

If I search your room, will I find birth control? No. My pills are in the kitchen with my other meds.

Have you ever witnessed a birth? Only cats personally, other animals through videos that would circulate. I NEVER want to see a human birth, I don't even like seeing animals do it.

Are you often the last one to understand a joke? Yes, honestly. I wouldn't say always, but it definitely happens.

Have you ever slept in a tent, indoors or out? Yes to both. Never beyond my own yard though, haha. As kids, Dad would sometimes do it with us kids.

Are you mad right now? No.

Have you ever been on a farm? I have, briefly. We were picking up my sister from her friend's house, and she lived on a farm.

What are you listening to? I'm watching an episode of John Wolfe's Still Wakes the Deep LP.

Would you rather date someone five years older or five years younger than you? Older.

If you had to live off one type of fruit, which would you pick? Probably apples. I prefer strawberries and kiwi, but I more consistently enjoy apples.

How often do you drink Monster? I hate Monster. To be fair though, I'm not much better health-wise than Monster enjoyers, because after all, I fucking love Mountain Dew. So unhealthy it's not produced in I think the UK.

Are you short? I'm average height for a North American woman my age.

Can you ever get enough of mac ‘n’ cheese? I'm certain I could.

Are you allergic to nuts or dairy products? No.

Do you have trust issues? Yes, but they're not as bad as they were in the past. I also know that I tend to be maybe overly trusting towards women that appear motherly and very empathetic.

Do you think age matters in relationships? If a minor is involved, it absofuckinglutely does. Relationships with considerably large age gaps aren't for me personally, but adults can do what adults want in their own consenting relationships.

Has anyone ever called the cops on you? No.

Is the last person of the opposite sex you texted single? My dad is remarried.

Could you go a week without brushing your teeth? ... This is fucking humiliating, but I've done this. Executive dysfunction and debilitating depression. I paid for this though, I've had intense teeth work after this neglect, and it taught me good. I'm still not where I should be in caring for myself, but by god have I made progress.

Are you usually awake at midnight? Not usually, no.

Have you ever been peer pressured to smoke pot? No. I've never really been peer pressured, but even then, I've always been very good at sticking to my guns with this kinda stuff.

Do you ever actually drink milk alone? Yes, I love milk.

If you don’t have one already, would you consider getting an iPhone? No; I prefer Androids between the two.

What year were you born in? 1996.

Do you get jealous easily? Nah. I'm more prone to envy.

Have you ever done anything illegal? I've always been a person downloading shit illegally.

Do you use Twitter? No.

Who was the last person you hugged? My mom.

Do you listen to All Time Low? No.

Do you get leg cramps often? I've had a tendency lately of waking up and getting leg cramps? Especially if I stretch my leg even a smidge. It's not fun.

Have you ever met a celebrity? No.

Who was your first kiss? Jason, my first "real" boyfriend when I was 16.

What is your favourite food? I could say chocolate lmao, but that certainly doesn't count as like, real "food." My favorite *real* food is cheeseburgers, then I also like boneless hot wings and pizza and other unhealthy shit I shouldn't touch lol.

Do you use Skype? No.

Does it bother you when people have a collar turned up? The fuck should I care what people wear and how they wear it

As a kid did you like Barney, Baby Bop, or DJ more? Barney. I don't know what the other two are.

Have you been to the Bzoink Forums yet? I never had an account there, but I understand it shut down.

Have you ever pet a monkey? No.

Have you ever ridden a camel? No.

Do you like cupcakes? I do. I never knew I couldn't like cupcakes until my sister's husband made them for the kids, his are inedible to me.

Orange or lemon flavoring? Lemon.

Have you ever been to a Disney theme park? Disney World in Orlando.

Do you watch or listen to the news? No, shit's depressing.

What world issues concern you the most? A fucking lot, I don't even want to think of this right now.

Do you think that a woman can be an effective president? What a dumb fucking question.

Do you feel differently about love and sex now than you did at 17? OH YES

Would you ever join the military? Why or why not? lmfao hell no. Even if I was mentally well enough to join, I would never be fodder for the rich man's wars. They can solve their own goddamn problems without bringing violence into it. Maybe one day people in power will act like goddamn adults.

Do you or anyone you know play the violin? Not that I know of.

What is one of your favorite breakup songs? Maybe "If You Can't Hang" by Sleeping With Sirens, idk.

Are you someone who gets easily agitated by hearing someone chewing? Only if it's extremely obnoxious. Otherwise I don't tend to notice.

What's your favorite kind of oatmeal/porridge? Cinnamon apple. And it HAS to be cooked with milk, water is awful.

Have you ever ate a whole pizza in one sitting? No, at least, not a normal pizza. Maybe one of those smaller personal-sized pizzas you can get at the store.

What's something that always makes you cringe? Musicals. I wish I didn't have a cringe reaction to anything, cringe culture is so dumb.

What's something that always makes you emotional? Actually good dads. I didn't exactly get a great one.

What's your favorite pasta? Just normal spaghetti with tomato sauce and meatballs.

What's a social media site you have no interest in? Twitter.

Are you afraid of the dark? No.

Do you watch American Horror Story? No, I haven't for many years. I did enjoy the first season, though. Season two didn't do it for me (but I didn't finish it) and then I just didn't watch it after that.

Does your hometown have any urban legends/scary stories? My hometown is probably way too small for that.

What’s the scariest nightmare you remember having? I have some sort of condition where I have nightmares/terrors chronically so I could list plenty, but I don't want to. I just had one a few days ago that left me bawling to my mom.

Are you medicated? I've been bouncing between psych meds since fucking middle school.

Does your family/friends have a nickname for you? I mean, "Britt," but that's my nickname from everyone. My mom always gave her kids sweets nicknames though, and mine was "Twinkie." She still uses it occasionally lol.

Who’s some of your favorite YouTubers? I don't really watch Mark anymore, but Markiplier is still my favorite of all-time, I was fucking obsessed and he's still one of my biggest inspirations as a person. I love and respect him immensely. Some that are more relevant to me today include (in no real order) Game Grumps, Snake Discovery, John Wolfe, jacksepticeye, tarantula kat, NKFherping, Gab Smolders, others.

Do you have any phobias? Pregnancy, parasites (especially internal), vomit, general social phobia, whale sharks, slugs, heights (conditional), and I'm certain there's more I'm forgetting in the moment.

Are there any scented candles in the room you’re in? No.

Pancakes or French toast? Hmmm... I love both. I certainly eat more pancakes, though. I guess it depends on what I'm feeling at the time and how well they're prepared.

Did you have anything for breakfast today? Uh... what did I eat? Cereal, I think?

Are there any apps you’re addicted to? Not addicted, no. I have apps I like, but certainly no addictions to them. I know what addictions feel like, I'd know.

Did you have a favorite stuffed animal as a child? Yes, a moose I got from a Cabela's store in Ohio that I named Brownie. I still have him and as I redecorate my room, I think I'm gonna sit him on my bedside table since it's kinda bare right now.

Do you still collect stuffed animals? Not so much anymore, but I CERTAINLY did growing up.

How do you feel about Spongebob? I love Spongebob, it has no reason to be as funny as it is for all ages imo lol. I don't seek out watching it, but it's on sometimes when Mom and I watch my sister's kids, and I enjoy it just fine. I watched it regularly growing up.

Do you have any nervous habits? Most prominently, I wring and knead my hands together. I avoid eye contact. I stutter. I sometimes even cry just because I'm uncomfortable. After getting gauges in my ears, me tampering with these became as common as messing with my hands.

Do you shape/fill in your eyebrows? No.

What’s your favorite comfort food to eat? Comfort food, ice cream. But my true comfort edible... thing is a drink, Mountain Dew Voltage.

What’s the last movie you watched in theaters? I literally have not been to the theater since I tried watching The Black Phone. I WANT to, badly, I was desperate to see the Barbie movie but didn't get to, and now I really wanna see Inside Out 2. We're just extremely in the hole money-wise right now, going to the theater isn't on our table right now.

Do you/did you ever have a Neopets account? Yes, I fucking loved Neopets growing up. I still love the art style and even tried making an account this past year, the naming system just annoyed me too much lmao, I gave up. I don't like adding numbers n shit to character names, it's just a pet peeve.

When’s the last time you were camping? I've never actually been camping.

Have you ever had eggs cooked over a campfire? No.

If you do drink, what’s your favorite alcoholic beverage? Sangrias. I only really like fruity stuff.

Are there any songs you’ve been listening to repetitively lately? I haven't been doing this too much lately, but the two I've been doing this most with lately is "Zwitter" and the full band version of "Los," both by Rammstein.

Do you have social anxiety? Severely. Severely. It's a lot more prominent offline than online, though. It is still very present online too though, especially when I'm dealing with unfamiliar people.

Have you ever had fried pickles? I have, but I don't think I've had good ones. To my memory, I wasn't impressed, and I know these are typically super adored.

Where’s your favorite place to go out to eat? Meh, depends on my mood. Most often I simply want McDonald's (I feel like I'm the only adult alive that genuinely enjoys McD's lmao), other times Bojangle's, but my favorite fast food place is actually Sonic, I'm just less often in the mood for it.

Cereal, granola, or oatmeal? I like all of these, but I definitely eat cereal the most.

[blackberrysummerblog]

Six Sentence Sunday

Thanks for the tag @captain-aralias! And thank you so much @aristocratic-otter, @shrekgogurt and @thehoneyedhufflepuff for tagging me on Wednesday. I’ve been a little down on myself this week for not getting more writing done, and I hate that I haven’t completed anything in a good month and a half. I guess that’s not true, I did manage to get my erotic gropefest entry in under the wire, I just haven’t been able to look at it since, lol. Anyway, no one wants to hear me whine.

I’d kind of like to talk about the crucible-marriage AU I keep posting bits from, but I doubt anyone needs to hear about my struggles with that either. The process has been very different from how I usually write, so maybe thinking out loud about it would help get me past the couple of issues I’m having and/or help me finish it, but I don’t know. I’ll hold off on unloading about it for now. In the meantime, so. No new writing to speak of, so I’m posting a little bit from earlier in the fic. It’s more than six sentences, sorry 😑 Simon discovered the Pitch’s pool and is gung-ho to get in, even though he can’t swim.

It’s true, the pool is well hidden, even from most of the house. You’d have to be looking out from the upstairs windows to make it out at all, and even then it’s fairly well obscured. It would be impossible to see if someone were skinny-dipping late at night, with the lights out…I cough, adjusting myself in my trunks. That line of thinking can only make things worse. I emerge from my own stall at the same moment that Simon thunders out of his, head and wings trapped inside his t-shirt. “Fucking hell!” he exclaims furiously.

I bite my lip. His legs and chest aren’t as pale as mine, but they’re a few shades lighter than his golden face and forearms. Simon’s thighs are thick and muscular, his shoulders and chest broad, but there’s just the faintest hint of pudge above the waistband of his trunks; Crowley, I would die for him. His curls are bouncing wildly over the top of the shirt’s neckhole as he careens from one side of the changing room to the next. Laughing, I grab him by the waist. “Snow! Breathe.”

He lifts his arms up and growls at me through thin white cotton. I pat where I think his cheek is and then stroke his shoulders. “Surely you get out of your shirts every night without help,” I say.

He struggles a moment, then stops once more. “I got overexcited,” he mumbles in an embarrassed voice. “I think one of my spikes is hooked in the cloth.”

“Let me check.” Fuck me, Simon Snow’s arse should be illegal. Not only is his decidedly bubble-shaped backside done every favor in the world by snug swim trunks, but said trunks are also resting low on his hips to let his tail swing loose. It coils firmly around my calf as I begin inspecting the lumpy, spiky heap of rucked-up cotton on his back. “Yes…here. I think I have it. Calm down and stay still, please.” Against my expectations, Snow actually does as I ask, though his tail does tighten its grip while I pick his wings free from the t-shirt. “There we go!”

Simon glances back at me sheepishly after pulling the shirt off. “Thanks, Baz.”

“Mm.” I rest my palm between his wings, feeling the taut muscles he must need to achieve flight. “You’re welcome, Snow.”

He turns toward me, close enough that I can feel the heat radiating off him as though he were made of fire. At this angle, he has to tip his chin up to look into my face, and I trace the underside of his lower lip with the pad of my thumb. His eyes flutter closed. ‘Baz…” he whispers.

“So,” I say, breaking away and digging through a bin by the door. “Water wings.” Snow recoils when I hold up a pair of bright yellow arm bands. I’m certain the vests we have wouldn’t fit his broad shoulders, never mind his very real wings. “Don’t give me that face; I’ll teach you how to swim!”

He fights me, and in the end the water wings prove sized only for the spindly arms of my young sisters, so Simon escapes through the poolhouse door, brimming with laughter and ready to sink.

Edited: I have literally no idea why tumblr keeps cutting off the parts of my posts where I write something after the snippet. I’m sorry I didn’t tag anyone, but I really do love reading/seeing everything you all post! It’s a bright spot in my day ❤️

[otakween]

Digital Monsters Card Game Ver. WonderSwan Color

Another stupidly named Digimon game. This one was so fun!! I technically started it exactly a month ago, but there was also a week break in there, so it took me around 3 weeks to finish.

Difficulty-wise this game was kind of strange. I feel like it was like 40% strategy and 60% luck. I guess a lot of card games are like that. I will admit, I did use some save state trickery to get through a few battles, but only because each one took like 20 minutes (real time) to beat and having to start from scratch because of one stupid move was devastating at times. In the end though, I got pretty darn good at the game and could hold my own without relying too much on emulator tricks.

Notes:

I'm totally not a TCG person IRL, so it's such a pleasant surprise to me that I'm loving these card-based video games! Of course they're not going to win in terms of things like story or visuals, but the gameplay is so satisfying! Most games let me zone out, but these really require focus and brain power.

Not a lot of people are talking about this game, but the gamefaqs are still really good, so kudos to the people on there. I also watched a bit of a German let's play lol

Not gonna lie, this game has a VERY steep learning curve at the start. It was my first vertical Wonderswan game so just figuring out the controls was tricky. I then had to learn a whole new TCG system because this Digimon game is different from past digimon games. I think I was most confused with what to do with the cards that assist in digivolving, even now I don't fully get them. I basically lost a lot at first while I was figuring things out. No perfect score for me!

You get a decent starter deck at the start of the game and you can auto-build decks which helps things be less overwhelming. I chose Terriermon because I love him. He served me well.

The UI for this game was really nice once I got the hang of things. I felt that decks were a lot easier to edit than past games and the cards were organized very nicely. I loved being able to pull up the card art which perfectly fit the vertical Wonderswan and the holo-cards were also a nice touch.

I never ended up beating Impmon...oops. This game has a lot of "optional" battles. There's one you can only beat after you've beat 80 battles but like...I have a life, so no thanks (I left the game at 25 battles).

Takeru was randomly the hardest opponent in the game and he was like...very early in the game. He was the one I had to use save states on the most I think. Tricky bastard.

You can obtain cards via passwords found on the actual IRL cards themselves and I think that's pretty genius. Of course, I just pulled the cards up online lol.

The option cards in this game allowed for a lot of interesting strategies. I liked that I could beat an ultimate at champion level by playing my cards right. It was also satisfying that if you beat a digimon of a higher level, their "loss points" would go down faster.

I think I'm done with the Wonderswan games, woohoo!! It will be interesting to see what other card games are out there on more modern systems. I give this one (not typing that name out again lol) a 7 out of 10!

[harrypotterfuryroad]

fjakdsfjkl they're checking children's genitals in Ohio & florida and y'all radfems totally sided with them to get it done, much like your calls for censorship silenced lesbian authors in the nineties (see the feminist sex wars/porn wars and/or struggles of the little sisters canadian bookshop).

wow, amazing. you STILL, even after fucking LINKING it, very obviously failed to read the whole thing. she absolutely described radical feminist ideology. and being well-read is something you guys pride yourselves on...that's pretty sad. i'm not even saying this is a premier source against your crock of shit ideology; i frequently cite many others. yet you failed--multiple times, now--to properly read the one single tumblr post i brought to your attention.

by far the most obnoxious conversation to have with you people is the "sex is binary" conversation. it's so eerily like talking to the scientologist freaks i grew up around, it's like a deja vu nightmare. biology is complex. also, it doesn't care. not "it doesn't care and that's why women are fucked by it!" no, it just doesn't fucking care. period. it's neutral. why in hell are you treating biological sex like it's spiritual...oh, that's right, because of your incessant and childish need to feel like a victim, which matters more than other people and certainly more than the truth. intersex people exist. you guys deny it alot, but they do. they're about as common as redheads. are redheads fucking fictitious, "harrypotterfuryroad"?

i am a cis woman, and i'm annoyed with what influence (feeble though it is, it's still important because you quite literally endanger lives) you've managed to have over the very important, real conversation about systemic misogyny. the irony is that you have made it harder to talk about. you have hindered progress. by oppressing women you have *omg you'll never guess, cue drumroll* fucking oppressed women.

as that post said, you don't own the definition of womanhood. society does. and it and i (hello, a cis woman born with your same genitals and born into the same oppression you've faced, not that it matters!) don't agree with you. get the fuck over yourself and grow up.

name one radfem that supported genital checks and follow that up by explaining why men belong in women's sports in the first place

and am i supposed to be shocked that anti-porn feminists were anti-porn regardless of who was producing it? are you shocked? did you think you had some kind of gotcha by saying that anti-porn arguments were coopted by homophobes? that horse is long past dead

she described it, sure, but she didn't define it. and a lot of those descriptive statements were total asspulls anyway. like, imagine you ask me what a square is, and i give you "it isn't a circle," "sometimes they're blue," and "they're related to trapezoids" as descriptive statements. all of these can be true, but they're not useful in gauging if i actually know what makes a square a square. so yeah i'm gonna go ahead and reject a pile of descriptive and spuriously ascriptive statements as a coherent definition, thanks. throwing out things like "TERFs think they're leftists" and "TERFs are inherently fascist" doesn't give any clear picture of what (again) a radfem is, especially with the implicit split between radfems and "TERFs"

and likewise i'll breeze right past your attention-grabbing link to scientology, i posted a few weeks ago about why that isn't productive without much more detail. i'm not treating biology like it's spiritual; i'm treating sex like it's binary. you're the one taking that spiritually by acting like i'm making some kind of individual moral judgment based on it. the redhead frequency thing is fucking stupid, because just like redheads still have hair, intersex people are still male or female (and they're also not there to be used as pawns by you)

also please tell me how it's been made harder to talk about systemic misogyny with specific examples because i'm curious about that

and finally the womanhood thing was the exact line that made it clear that the writer of that post had no idea what she was talking about. the boundaries that feminists have drawn around womanhood are really lenient and really broad. nothing about behavior or dress or class or race disqualifies you from "womanhood." there's no wrong way to be a woman except by being male, and there's no point in taking that personally

[auriel187]

The More Things Change (S1 E5)

Word Count: 3142

Series Masterlist

A/N: If anyone doesn't like the fact that the oc is black, go away.

Sitting in Mr. Feeny's classroom, I had been sketching for the past ten minutes while Shawn was using my class notes to do the worksheets. "I have graded last week's geography examination... and the highest score was achieved by..." but he was interrupted by Cory.

"Minkus. Was it achieved by Minkus? Does it go to Minkus? Minkus, right?" The curly haired boy exclaimed and Shawn looked over at him and turned back to my notes. "Mr. Minkus." Mr. Feeny confirmed my crazy friend's theory.

"That's a shock." Cory rolled his eyes as Shawn took my sketchbook off my desk and stared at the unfinished images. He smiled at them even though they weren't that good. He pinched my cheek when he handed it back to me.

"Thank you, Mr. Feeny. Your bonus question was a real stumper." I heard Minkus say and I rolled my eyes. Shawn threw a rolled up piece of paper at the shorter blonde's head.

"Miss Owens, excellent. Mr. Baker, very nice. Mr. Matthews... Well, there it is." Mr. Feeny said as he continued passing the tests around. Shawn didn't even care when he got his test back. "Miss Archer, remarkable work." My teacher said to me as he placed my test over my sketch book. A large A marked the top of my paper.

"A "C"? But I actually studied for this test. Why did I get a "C"?" Cory asked exhaustedly. "Let's see. Where to begin. Well, for one thing, Mr. Matthews... this section of the map is not East Germany." I kept drawing, my little sketch turning into a super heroine with a glamorous dress. She kind of looked like Storm.

"It's not?" Cory sounded baffled.

"Perhaps you heard of a little incident... with the Berlin Wall?" I looked over at Cory as he pondered the answer. "Was that during baseball season?" I rolled my neck before I leaned forward.

"There is no East Germany anymore, Cory." I whispered. That did absolutely nothing to ease his confusion.

"But the textbook says it's right next to West Germany." He looked between our teacher and myself.

"Yes, well, the textbook also says that Alaska and Hawaii... will make fine states someday. Things change, Mr. Matthews. Unfortunately, the Board of Education... doesn't have the funds to keep up." Mr. Feeny explained as he continued handing out the tests.

"Then how am I supposed to keep up?" Cory asked. "Watch the news. Pay attention in class. Look at the mimeographs I give you... before you turn them into paper airplanes." Just as he said that, Shawn took his now folded test and had it glide into Minkus's head.

"Ow." The scrawny blonde muttered monotonously.

"What good would it do? They keep changing geography. Why can't it be like all the other subjects? Math... 2 plus 2 is always 4. Uh, science... the Earth always goes around the Sun. History... Lincoln always gets shot in the head." Cory finished his monologue by throwing his hands in the air.

"Lincoln got off easy." I chuckled.

"You'd be surprised what people used to think about the earth." I laughed to myself, I could feel a few eyes turn to me.

The day went on without much chaos but I suppose that was wishful thinking, when I started packing up the last of my stuff when Mr. Feeny stood in the middle of the class. "All right, heads up. In these last few moments of class... I want to make an announcement... about this year's regional geography tournament. As some of you may know, for the past five years... I have always fielded a champion... and I expect to do the same this year. So, based on his outstanding scholastic achievement... I have selected as this year's entrant..." But Cory interrupted him similar to how he'd done earlier.

"Minkus. Have you selected Minkus?"

"Isn't Sunshine smarter than Minkus?" Shawn whispered to Cory who just shrugged and looked over at me.

"Mr. Minkus. And this year's first prize will be..." This time Minkus interrupted.

"A Mercator projection pull-down wall map?"

"No. Uh... This year's winner will be bat boy... at the opening game of the World Series."

I looked up at Mr. Feeny then at my boys. "Did you hear that?" Cory asked Shawn and I.

"Yeah. So?" Shawn looked completely unbothered. I had given him my sketch book and now he was colouring in all the stupid ugly little things I had drawn.

"So I'm seeing my dream come true here." Cory pleaded his case and I tried to suppress my smile at his enthusiasm as I looked over Shawn's shoulder to see how he was colouring it in. He cheekily pushed me away, attempting to keep it secret.

"Oh, right. Like Feeny's going to take you... to the geography tournament. You didn't even know... they tore down the Berlitz Wall." Shawn mumbled still colouring.

"Berlin wall, Shawnie." I mutter.

He didn't look up at me when he said "You did it again, Sunshine." I could hear the smile in his voice. Cory gagged.

+=+=+=+=+

Shawn had his arm over my shoulders as we as a group essentially kidnapped Minkus and brought him to Cory's house.

"Mom, have you met my good friend Minkus?" Cory hollered as he entered the kitchen. Everyone aside from Minkus had a fake smile plastered on our faces.

"It's nice to meet you, Minkus?" She smiled down at the blonde boy.

"Call my mother." Minkus says fearfully.

"What?" Mrs. Matthews looked at the rest of us. Shawn looked down at me. He gave me a little shove and I looked at Amy.

"He's a little nervous, Mrs. Matthews. We're gonna take him upstairs now." I say quickly. The boys led Minkus upstairs as I slowly walked up with the seven books they had me carrying.

"I'm glad you could come over, Minkus." I heard Cory say as I huffed into the room.

"Real nice to be here. Can I go now?" Minkus pleaded.

"Chill." ELlis said to Minkus, pushing him onto Cory's bed.

"I don't understand what that means." Minkus looked around the room but I was too busy trying to place the books on the desk Cory and Eric had in the back of the room.

"It means that out of every four people is a nerd. So when you look around this room... and you don't see one, you're it." Shawn responded. Just as I toppled over with the books. I looked over to see all four boys looking at me. "Or you're the embodiment of pure Sunshine." Shawn told Minkus before picking up the books for me.

"Thanks, Pup." I thanked him as I went and sat down on Eric's bed.

"But we can help you change." Ellis said as he shook his head to continue the conversation.

"Maybe I like how I am." Minkus tried to reason.

"You like everyone always making fun of you?" Ellis asked, to which Minkus said no.

"You like always being the last one picked for teams?" Cory asked and again, Mikus said no.

"You like everyone pulling your underwear up your butt all the time?" Shawn asked and Minkus replied with "It's not so bad." Everyone groaned in disgust.

"Minkus, let us help you." Shawn added a fake sincerity to his voice, I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"We're here for you, man." Ellis encouraged...or discouraged based on which way you look at it.

"It's early in the year. You can still change your image." Cory spoke calmly. These guys were starting to remind me of the guy from those infomercials. The ones that try to get you to be strange things you don't really need.

"What do I do?" Minkus looked over at me.

"The geography tournament... you don't want to do it. It'll brand you for life." I leaned forward on the bed to face the blond.

"But I love geography, my Ethiopian queen. I'm drawn by the adventure and exoticism of it. Hey. Perhaps you fellows would like to join... the Future Cartographers of America Club with me." He looked right at me as I leaned further back on the bed, shaking my head.

"Let it go, man." Ellis pleaded.

"If I don't do the tournament, will you guys like me?" Minkus asked.

"No." We all said unanimously.

"Then I don't see what's in it for me." Minkus crossed his arms over his chest.

"All right, name your price, you little creep." Shawn leered threateningly over the desk.

"I want a kiss from Raven-Anniya." Minkus said simply. I moved further away from him.

"Not happening." Shawn moved to stand beside me. Ready to attack in my honour, hence why I call him puppy. Well one of the many.

"Let the lady decide for herself." Minkus replied, confident in his charm.

"Not in a million years." I spoke plainly. Shawn squeezed my shoulder before he turned to Minkus.

"When you guys play Bombardment... could you not aim the ball at my head anymore?" Minkus negotiated, we all turned to Cory.

"Deal." The curly haired boy nodded. Shawn laid down on Eric's bed alongside me.

"What's the point of playing if we can't throw the ball at his head?" Ellis whined.

+=+=+=+=+

The boys and I were watching as Minkus walked over to our teacher. Shawn was sitting on my desk, trying to solve my Rubik's cube. Cory gagged when we smiled at each other when he got it. I told him he could.

"Mr. Feeny, I'm afraid I must tender my resignation from the geography tournament." Minkus excitedly said to Mr. Feeny.

"Mr. Minkus, I'm aware that the changing geopolitical face of the globe offers a difficult challenge." Mr. Feeny conceded as Shawn and I started to slowly slip out of the classroom. We were at the door just out of sight so we could still hear everything. Not that we were listening.

"You have dance class later, Sunshine?" He was twirling the end of my hair. I look over at him and he's leaning against the wall. I chuckled.

"Yes, Shawnie." I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Am I walking you there?" He asked, looking at my hair as he continued twisting it around his fingers.

"Depends on if you want to. You could have dinner with us. We might have tacos tonight." I replied.

"I'm not sure, I wouldn't want to disturb you guys." He was still playing with my hair. He's so weird.

"I mean, if you want to come for dinner I'm sure Brianna would be happy to let you have dinner with us." I said with a smile.

"What dance class do you have tonight?" He looked at me.

"I have hip hop, Pup." I elbowed him on the ribs.

"Why do you call me pup?" Shawn pondered out loud, my hair curling at the end of his finger. I looked at him oddly.

"You're loyal, you're playful and you have puppy eyes." I poked him on the forehead between his eyes. He smiled and pushed his forehead forward. We stayed silent. I peered into the classroom to see Feeny and Minkus just at the door.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. Minkus. You were the only student I ever had who could locate Thrace on a map of the ancient world." Mr. Feeny said openly. He was baiting Minkus, I knew it.

Ah, that's easy. Just go north from the Aegean and... I know what you're doing, Mr. Feeny and it isn't going to... ain't going to work." Minkus concluded and walked out the door colliding with Shawn and I.

"I shall miss you, Mr. Minkus. I only wish I knew... how I was going to replace you." We waited a few minutes before walking away. If Mr. Feeny didn't throw Cory out immediately, the plan was a success.

"So...Home for tacos, Pup?" I adjusted my books in my hand before Shawn took them from me.

"Sure thing...Princess?" He tried testing a new nickname, but I hate it!

"No!" I shook my head. "If you ever call me that again, I will never talk to you ever!" He held his hands up in surrender.

"Deal...I didn't like it either. I'm just trying to even us out." I just poked him and we went to my house.

+=+=+=+=+

We walked up to the door and I immediately started taking off my shoes. "I like that you take off your shoes." Shawn said as he copied me, careful not to drop my books that he was still holding. I chuckled.

"Thanks, Pup." I replied and he smiled and followed me in. We went to the kitchen, immediately placing our bags on the floor and our books on the table. I caught Shawn observing little things I did on the daily. I don't know why he did it but I think it's funny.

"What are you going to do first?" Shawn asked, looking at all the books I had on the table. I looked at all of them before choosing math. "Aww math. I hate math!" The blue eyed boy whined.

"Why?" I asked.

"It's boring. I don't like being bored." He answered, scratching at something in his book. I laughed about it for a second before my brain started doing that thing it does that I hate. I must've looked nuts, jumping from the table and running to my room and returning with my DSM-III and a stopwatch.

"I want to do some tests." I exclaimed. Moving my chair to sit directly in front of him.

"On me?" He asked fearfully. I nodded. I wasn't easing his anxiety at all.

"You'll be fine. Just look at me." I squeezed his face. When our eyes locked, I started the stopwatch. He kept eye contact for a few seconds before he started to drift away temporarily. He was still technically looking at me but he easily turned his focus on something else. I stopped the stopwatch when he looked at the table.

One minute, thirty six seconds.

"What was the test for?" He asked, frantically looking for something under his books.

"I'll tell you when I'm done, what are you looking for?" I asked.

"My button." He crawled under the table.

"The button that popped off your shirt earlier?" I asked.

"Yeah, I was gonna ask if my mom could sew it back on." He was now on the other side of the table.

"Pup, come here." And he did. I reached into the pocket of his shirt and pulled out his button. "You put it there so you wouldn't forget about it."

"Oh..." He lowered his head sheepishly.

He jumped away from me when the front door opened, Brianna and Jazmyne entering the house.

"Hi, Raven. How was your day?" Brianna asked, not fully paying attention as she headed to the fridge to get dinner started.

"It was okay. Cory's being weird and I'm trying to see if Shawn has ADD/H. Speaking of which, can he stay for tacos?" I said quickly.

"Sure. Just as long as his parents say it's okay." Jazmyne mocked her mother only to receive one of Brianna's deadly glares.

"Yes, Shawn can stay. But stop treating the boy like a lab rat." I shook my head.

"I'm trying to help. Maybe I can find a way to make learning fun and help bring up his grades." I say before seeing Shawn looking at my riddle problem sheets with genuine intrigue. He's a lot smarter than he gives himself credit for. "Math time, Hunter."

He groaned, throwing his head back. "I don't wanna."

"I'll make it fun, I promise." He rolled his eyes.

"Okay, close your eyes." I say. As he does, I grab some cake. We were learning about measurements, fractions and geometric shapes...also it's Shawn and he responds well to cake.

"Okay, Shawnie. I have a cake with a radius of 4.5 inches. What's the diameter?"

He looked at the cake for a few seconds. "Is the diameter the half line or the around line?" He asked.

"The diameter is the line that would cut the cake in half, the circumference is the outline of the cake." I explained and he read my math notes.

"Nine inches?" He didn't sound sure but he was putting in an honest effort.

"Correct!" I say, cutting the cake. It came out in a nice neat triangular slice. "Now, if the entire cake is 360 degrees and this slice is 30...ish degrees, how many even slices can we make?"

+=+=+=+=+

"I thought we were going to the park?" Shawn whined, clutching an old basketball.

"Come on, man, you're studying too much. The teachers are starting to notice." Ellis said in a judgmental tone.

"Yeah, they're calling you a good student. They're saying you have potential." I said sarcastically. Not sarcastic in regards to what they said but in regards to the fact that it's a bad thing. Not that Cory was listening.

"Wow! The highest and lowest points in the continental United States are only miles apart... Death Valley and Mount Whitney. I find that extraordinary." Cory stated, clutching a magnifying glass and sniffling.

"Extraordinary?" I said in shock. The last time I heard Cory say a word that long was when we tried to sing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

"He's mutating, man." Ellis turned to Shawn and I. I could see the little gears in Shawn's head turning as he picked up a pine cone and threw it at Cory's head.

"Ow." Cory sounded like Minkus. I jumped back quickly. Oh, that's terrifying. I grabbed Shawn's hand to head to the park when I saw Minkus walking into Cory's backyard wearing a horrendous pair of giant yellow pants.

"Hey, dudes. What's up?" He asked and Ellis decided that it wasn't worth losing his sanity to stay here.

"Too Weird for me. I'm out of here." Shawn pulled with him as he headed to our park.

When we got there we noticed that there were a few people here with their young children. We walked to the basketball net. "Is there a reason why you told me to bring this?" Holding his basketball.

"We're going to work on spelling today." I say and he groans but tosses me the ball. "Lucrative. L-U-C-R-A-T-I-V-E." for every letter I dribbled the ball. I toss the ball back to Shawn. "You got this, Pup. Lucrative. Spell it or shoot it." I pointed to the net.

We stayed out here for hours and to no one's surprise, Shawn took shots more than he spelled the words but again, he tried. That's all that mattered to me.

He may not win an international spelling bee, but he did the best he could.

[my-time-at-brainrot]

my sandrock ocs and their pairings  :)

also a wip doodle of sonia and fang lmao

(current patch spoilers under cut)

Sonia and Fang, main save and also the one I care the most about lmao

Completely opposite personalities: Sonia has pretty much limitless energy, can talk for hours off of one tangent, very extroverted, just really excited to be around people and likes getting to know all sorts of folks, while Fang is... not any of that.

Both are the type to get absorbed into their work, but Fang gets in his own head over whether or not he's done something wrong to make Sonia stay away, but in reality Sonia kinda just forgot that she existed for a week lol

Tangentially related to the above: Sonia is so incredibly clumsy in day to day life. She trips over her own feet, falls out of chairs, stumbles when she stands in the same spot for too long, walks into walls, stubs her toes, etc. Fang first saw this after Sonia fell off of the observation table at his clinic, and thought that she had some type of balancing issue, but in actuality she just doesn't pay attention when she feels comfortable.

Because of this Fang is understandably Very Anxious about Sonia being involved with the Civil Corps, even though she is very much capable of keeping herself alive in combat situations

Sonia is usually the one making date plans, which both parties are happy about, though Sonia would like Fang to be more open about his needs.

sonia, preparing for a dangerous event: "nah dude, dude, dude i'm fine, i have hella plot armor i'm aight dude trust me"  

fang, remembering their last date at the saloon where sonia dunked her hand into blazing hot coffee after being warned that it was in fact boiling hot not once, not twice, but five times by owen: "...no."

As far as Fang's canon romance storyline goes: Fang slowly comes out of his shell over the course of Sonia's time at Sandrock, and their friendship (and eventual romance) is a very slow burn (that I still have to outline but I'll get to it when I get to it)

Sonia could not cook at all before coming to Sandrock. She ate raw potatoes out of the ground, dirt and all, "that's where the REAL nutrients are!" she would say. It was really only after Arvio's comedic failure with the Spicy Bean Paste that she gave cooking a genuine try. 

Fang was not aware of this until Juno joked about it during their first wedding anniversary. Something about Sonia putting in the time to develop a completely new skill on the off chance it could make him happy... made him emotional for a bit.  

There's one particular line from "Words to Betray the Heart" that say something about the Builder being so perfect and how Fang would be a burden on someone like that etc etc etc, and uh. Man. Can't really articulate it rn but in short it's rather important of a trigger for Sonia, so there's absolutely self esteem issues in both parties that have to get ironed out if this relationship can be healthy

Sonia did do the medical trials, and it went something like:

sonia: hm.

fang: ...

sonia: hey.

fang: ...?

sonia: i'm gonna drink all three of these at once.

fang: ?!?! 

sonia: *devours all contents of the bottles faster than lightning and passes out immediately*

fang: ?????????????? 

^ repeated for a comical amount of time until Fang finally bans her from FREE MED WEDNESDAY/FRIDAYS (TM)

Juno and Logan, the secondary save and heavily dependent on main story updates AND romance update in june/may :))))) so this is going to be rewritten without a question when the proper romance quests come out

so how normal are we about logan :)

Surface level: Juno is a Civil Corps monster hunter, Logan’s Pa was a monster hunter (and Logan is too lol) so they bond over sharing knowledge of the desert’s beasties and train together in remote areas of the desert.

Very early on, Juno develops a keen sense of... secrecy around Logan and the real nature of his departure and relationship to Sandrock as a whole, and ends up confiding in Elsie about his suspicions, but not much is really going on until Water Tower Moment (Gone Wrong)

Juno is, in short, the truest definition of orphan you can get. There is no one that ever knew his family, nor his parents’ names, or if he had any siblings. His memory only really starts around the time that he met Sonia, and being in Sandrock is only distressing him further about his lack of memories

That’s part of the reason that Juno is so drawn to Logan. The plot just doesn’t make sense to him. 

Can someone really love their Pa so much that the grief destroys everything they once loved? Can Juno ever know that type of love? (and other hurty questions)

Logan is tied to Sandrock, and keeps his hometown so near and dear to his heart. Juno... doesn’t have anything like that. If he died tomorrow, only Sonia would notice and care. No one else would even bat an eye. 

During the Duvos invasion, Juno goes missing. Logan is concerned, but quickly realizes that his concern is based in something more than simple comradery, and makes the super duper mega healthy decision to suppress his feelings. 

oh what’s this? oh boy oh boy! work in progress ocs!

Lily and Mi-an, the planned save for full release and a Builder power couple (and admittedly Mi-an the one I know the least about romance wise, but builder power couple cute)

With Yan arrested and awaiting trial in Atara, Sandrock is down a Workshop and Builder, which is especially bad news for the more remote villages around Sandrock. Sonia writes to her old friend Lily (her godparents’ daughter) and invites her to fill the position on behalf of City Hall. Lily is ecstatic and jumps on the opportunity.

Lily and Mi-an immediately hit it off and spend hours talking about various builder nerd stuff.

Out of the relationships I’m writing, this one is definitely the most casually, normally paced. 

Romance wise, they present a Heart Knot to each other at the same time, so they are on the same wavelength most of the time.

Mi-an has bouts of self confidence issues, but Lily is rather quick to hype her up and comfort her if needed

Similarly, Lily sometimes needs scheduling help, so Mi-an is happy to help coordinate commissions for Ultimate Productivity (So We Have Time To Watch Old World Romance Movies)

Armaros (they/she) and Owen, Schrodinger’s save (as in I have renamed this oc like 7 times and will probably rename her another 5 times) as well as the bachelor that I am going to take the most creative liberties with edit 4/23: mhm, i did in fact change their name an eighth time lmaoooo

Rose is completely, totally mute. They never spoken a word and never will, as it is physiologically impossible for them to verbalize their thoughts. No amount of “encouragement” will change this and they are very exhausted arguing this. 

Rose visited Sonia (former coworkers) in Sandrock about a couple months or so into her contract, and stayed at the Blue Moon during her week long visit.

Owen and Rose’s initial meeting is, well, awkward to say the least. It took Owen a little bit to catch on to why the blond wasn’t saying anything in response to him and only pointing to menu items, and he was very apologetic once Rose passed a note to him explaining themself.

Owen wouldn’t exactly admit that it was immediate love, but he was captivated by their general vibe and wanted to get to know them better

Of course, Rose did go back home to Highwind, but the two stayed in contact via letters. Owen writes very kind, cordial letters, and Rose writes in an elegant, poetic style. Soon the content of their letters would turn more romantic and emotional.

Rose has the special, unparalleled ability to quickly get people comfortable with them. Owen and Rose have similar warm vibes, but accomplish this through different ways. Owen talks to you like you’ve known each other forever, and Rose is a gentle attentive listener that takes her time responding/giving advice to someone.

Rose is pretty Church of Light religious in comparison to other ocs, so they do utilize some scripture and similar sentiments in their letters to Owen.

Until there is more Owen content, there’s not much else canon I can play with, so I will probably rewrite portions, but the general idea is going to be the same.

Bonus: a Rose and Fang interaction

Rose: :)

fang: ...Have needs, query X.

Rose: :|

fang: ...

Rose, holding up her notepad: (I’m mute. Please be patient with me. -w-)

fang: ...oh. (internally: thank you, peach...)

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

I saw your reblog And took that personally more COURIER SIX PL E ASE

What's his favorite thing, does he loot the random things

Most importantly; did he get the winning lottery ticket

Mirek my beloved

I haven't got much for his pre-game backstory, but he probably hasn't been Courier for super long, but he's very dedicated to the job. After shit starts getting real, his identity as a Courier becomes sort of an anchor to cling to for at least some tiny sense of normalcy.

He is not having a good time out there.

The gunshot to his head took his left eye and caused a fracture to the supraorbital bone and the bullet got stuck somewhere in the back of the brain. It missed the most important brain parts only by sheer luck. Weeks after recovery he still has quite some struggle with memory (both remembering pre-injury events and forming new memories, the pip-boy comes really handy as a notepad) and the lack of depth perception and issues with fine motor function in his fingers makes him a less than decent shooter. But he's managing.

The near-death experience also left him deeply shaken and a lot more sensitive about death than he remembers being before. Seeing his own grave empty like it's waiting for him was less than comforting.

In general, he tries to avoid violence as much as possible. Back in the before times as a courier he was quite good at sneaking past potentially dangerous people without being noticed. This is now harder since he stumbles more and can't keep as quiet as before. When he has to fight, he tries to go only as far as injuring and forcing the enemy to disengage. He would rather run than engage in a fight even if he could win. The only people he's killed were powder gangers that absolutely would not have let him live.

Since recently, he makes an exception though. Seeing what the Legion has done in Nipton, he still does not seek out violence but he feels absolutely zero guilt if a legion soldier dies by his hand. After all that Vulpes Inculta said, after seeing the still living people on the crosses, the burnt and beheaded corpses, the bodies in the town hall that he spent so much time lining up to give them at least the bare minimum respect in death instead of lying scattered in piles, something broke in him. He promised himself he would pull that dog hoodie off of that man's corpse himself if he gets the chance.

Overall, he tries his best to be polite and has trouble saying no to requests for help. For some reason he has a strong liking to robots, unlike most people who seem to distrust them, he feels an odd comfort when meeting one. Possibly for the fact that robots are simpler to understand and deal with, since one can typically know what to expect.

He vibes with the music played on Radio New Vegas, but when things get very, very bad (like when he walked out of the ruins of Nipton completely broken), his go-to comfort is to switch to Mojave Music Radio. Usually the music lets him keep The Horrors at bay long enough to reach the nearest place with alcohol.

As for clothes he generally just wears whatever is the most practical, and is constantly on the lookout for some good headwear that would somewhat cover his missing eye. Thinks he looks good in pre-war clothes.

His ancestors came to America in the 2050s during the European-Middle Eastern War. He does not speak their language and knows pretty much nothing about where his family came from. All he has left from that is his name suggested by his grandparents, and the melody of a lullaby, the lyrics of which have been lost to time generations ago, but Mirek could remember that melody even if Benny's bullet took every other memory he has.

Considering making this his theme song

[faultychips]

Back to Indies With Tidings and Tides

Hey there, and happy holidays! Breaks are always a bit more busy than would be ideal but I’ve gotten a couple good indies in during the past week. Stuff on the more emotional and personal side, though certainly in their own fairly different ways. Without further ado…

This first game is one I’ve been really itching to play for a while; There Swings a Skull: Grim Tidings. I got the first iteration of this game (now technically a demo) in some itch.io bundle a long time ago. It immediately caught my eye when I first saw it, but it fell into the category of “things I want to save for when I’m ready and in the right mood” which unfortunately caused me to procrastinate on it for longer than I really needed to. But fortunately for me, when I finally wrapped back around to it, it had gotten a full release!! Lucky me

I guessed that the demo was probably a little too long to get into and I would be annoyed to get that far in the game and then have to start over with the full release. As far as I can tell, I was right, though I think if you want to pick this game up for yourself, the demo can be useful for playing exactly how much of the game you need to in order to decide if you want to buy the whole thing. Personally I liked what I saw in trailers enough to just grab it outright, and I’m really happy I did. Grim Tidings feels like the rare kind of personal gem only indie RPGs can provide. The atmosphere is impeccable. Set in a town surrounded by dirt for miles, where everything is slowly burning under a malevolent sun, you play as married couple Anatoli and Pyotr as they try to keep themselves and their relationship together as the world falls apart around them. It’s a wonderfully done fictional setting and circumstance (the atmosphere almost reminds me of Welcome to Nightvale?) but it taps into real life sentiments of stress, despair, and in my opinion most importantly, love and connection. It’s hard to think of a more thoughtful way to say “god as a guy who likes guys, I love a good story about gay married men, and I love how this one feels so genuine, it really speaks to my own experience”, but just so you know. I’m also thinking about that too.

Grim Tidings really encapsulates the feeling of trying to face the weight of the world alongside your significant other, who you want to always protect, but aren’t always sure you can. This game says, to me at least, that no matter what happens, you can at least be there for each other, and sometimes that’s the best and most important thing you can do. That really spoke to me. I would be lying if I said I didn’t choke up at the end. Also, interactions between Anatoli and Pyotr (which make up most of this game) are so sweet, funny, heartfelt and emotional. Even in the sad and tense moments, their connection struck me. Generally everything about this one hits an RPG Maker game sweet spot. The dialogue flows nicely and I love when it gets especially moody and poetic. The art is also fantastic and really sets the tone, and the music is extremely RPGMaker styled and extremely good as well. Just on all artful fronts, this game is unambiguously quality.

If there’s anything I would say that surprised me, it would be the “true” ending. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t go into detail, but I felt the twist it pulls was a little jarring. I wouldn’t say I didn’t like it, but it was a shame to see some of the tone that was building up get tossed a little near the end. But ah well. The rest of the game is rich with it anyhow, especially right up before said twist. Also, there are multiple endings, but it will probably be very obvious what the “correct” choices are. Make sure to save often if you aren’t sure though! The “incorrect” choices will end up exactly how you expect, so unless you’re dead-set on *seeing everything* I don’t think there’s much use in checking them out. Even the game tells you as much if you boot it up again afterwards: most people don’t return to Pareildas (and you can rest now).

Basically, I really really really liked it. It feels more like a compliment than a complaint to say that I wish I could spend a little longer in this kind of game. Luckily for me, the dev of Grim Tidings also made An Outcry, which is *another* RPGMaker game with a nice looking aesthetic that’s been on my radar for a good little while now… hopefully sometime I’ll come around to playing it and reviewing it on here as well ... >:-] !

The second and decently longer of the two games I played this week was Perfect Tides, which I think describes itself quite well as “a point and click adventure game about the agony and anticipation of being a teen”. While it’s set in the year 2000, I find that (assuming a lot of this game is based off of personal experience) a lot of what being a 16 year old is like has not changed much in the almost-two-decades between then and when I was at that age. Especially the experience of building relationships online! Mara is in many ways a mirror back into the past, to a time of knowing fairly little and assuming you know everything. There’s an almost nostalgic feeling to seeing her make various mistakes and assumptions and thinking “Yeah, I remember thinking that way too”, but it also leaves a poignant sadness. She doesn’t get it, but you didn’t get it either. The game follows Mara around for around a year’s time, as she struggles with life in general, and relationships to the people around her in specific. It seems like the *point * of the game is to place you there beside her, and experience that with her, and I think the game generally does a wonderful job with that. There are really only two things that may get in the way of that weighing on my mind, so I’ll punch them out of the way real quick:

Firstly, the UI is…kind of painful sometimes. I wasn’t really tuned into the height of the 2000s point and click adventure game scene, so I can’t speak to how authentic it is, but boy it can be hard to figure out what the game wants from you sometimes! A quick few tips: save often and in many slots, the little different colored pixel on your hand cursor is usually where you are *actually* clicking on things from, you can use the right-click mouse button to switch through interaction options when you can’t open the toolbar at the top, and if you ever get stuck for more than a few minutes, just use a guide (like this in depth one I used for basically my whole playthrough; many thanks to Mason Blue!). These should make your game experience flow much easier and lead to less frustration.

Secondly, there are some parts of Perfect Tides that are obviously, pointedly, gross and/or uncomfortable, sometimes so much so that they tread into agonizing and painful territory. When these moments have service to the story and Mara’s feelings and thoughts, I feel like they are fine and pointed, but sometimes scenes like these (just a few in particular stand out in my mind) just feel like they’re there to make the viewer harrowingly disturbed, and they don’t seem to have a bearing on the story or Mara at all as they never really are brought up again after. I don’t want to say they have absolutely no place or purpose, and it’s not like they were “unrealistic”, but personally I don’t think I ever felt their necessity beyond their shock value. BUT! They’re not a dealbreaker for this game, not at all; just something I feel is worth mentioning, especially to people interested in playing themselves.

The reason I got this game in the first place is because it was sold to me as an incredibly emotional and honest story about being a teen, and I can confirm it absolutely sells on this premise. There are many and plenty of moments that tug on your heart, especially the ending (as long as you got the best one like I did; don't forget to develop your photos!) that owe much of their success to charming artwork and dialogue full of personality, especially the inner monologues. Like I mentioned before, you’re always right there with Mara. The experience is certainly not always a fun romp, especially not from her perspective, but it’s a very intimate one, both very unique and very familiar. I’m happy I got to participate in it, for both of those aspects, and I feel like there’s a lot of value in it that easily makes it worth recommending. If you’ll play it yourself, take note of what I’ve mentioned here, and most importantly: have a favorite song of yours as an .mp3 on your computer. Trust me on this. You’re gonna need it!

Annnd that's all I have for this week! Two decently sized games; not too short but not too crazy long! I hope to finish another switch title soon, but you'll find out if I have by the next blog post, heheh. I'll admit it...my dusty itch.io collections call me evermore...so see you next time!!

FINALLY, THE GAMES:

There Swings a Skull: Grim Tidings is available for $6.98 on: Itchio, Steam (+ EasyRPG non-Windows support!)

Perfect Tides is available for $14.99 on: Itchio, Steam

Thanks for reading, and see you next week!

[pbandjesse]

My post isn't going to be very exciting. Because I didn't feel great and slept a lot of the day. I would like to go back to sleep now. I honestly just feel very bad.

Last night the wedding was so fun. Like it took forever to get anyone to come back but once they did they were all so lovely and had amazing questions and it was a lot of fun!! When I was leaning on the banister looking over where the bar was, the car was down there too and I kept jokingly telling people who were taking pictures sitting in it that they can't drink and drive. Which I thought was hilarious.

I helped Angie move some tables. And then I went home.

On my drive back home I saw a guy laying on the side of the road and I stopped to ask the homeless guy if he was okay and he said he thought so. I was surprised that a cop just drove past and said as much and he was like the cops don't care about us and I was like. You are so right. I hope they are both okay.

I got home and was able to fall apart again. And I did. I would start to feel like I had a fever again. Without having the fever. My whole body ached and was tender and I just wanted to lay there and be held for a while.

I would eat a little but it still made me feel terrible. Everything I've eaten since Thursday has made me feel terrible. I hate it.

Sleeping helped a bit. I would struggle to fall asleep but would sleep deeply after that. I barely remember James leaving.

I woke up at 9 and would just lay in bed until almost 10. I finally got up. Made the bed. And opened the back door. While we did sleep with the AC in it would be really cool today and I didn't need that at all.

I would get washed and dressed. This is the first time I've worn this jumpsuit and it's great. Nice and flowy. Though the buttons are real and I think I'll sew them down to avoid gaps. But I felt cute. I decided not to do my eyeliner. Since it's almost camp and I don't wear eyeliner at camp. Have to get used to my face again.

I would have a little breakfast of angel food cake. And got right into working on my Native American feild trip proposal. I would spend the next two hours working on that. And it's not done but I made great progress. I'm like half way done I think. But it took a lot out of me. I have more research to do for sure. But I think my basic outline is there and that feels like huge progress.

It was right before 1 at this point. And I was just. Done. I felt exhausted. I didn't want to do anything. I also didn't want to feel guilty about it. So I just went and got in bed. I watched videos for a while. I asked James if we could have pizza for dinner. And then at some point I fell asleep.

I woke up and Jess told me she drove past the two houses she wants to buy. She got pre-approved for her loans this week and the one house I love. She's going to go see it later this week. I am going to be so excited for her if it works out. And she will have more info to help me and James when we start actually getting into trying to buy somewhere as well.

James would get home and start laundry and then went to pick up pizza. And while at the time it wasn't hurting, almost as soon as dinner was done I felt terrible and swollen. I don't know what is up with me. But it makes me want to cry.

James would also bring me a gift from our friend Lane, a Polly pocket set! With the Polly's!! I told them to text her that I "love these little blonde bitches." And she said it wouldn't be Polly pocket without the little blonde bitches and she's so real for that.

James held me on the couch for a little. And then I took a hot bath which helped a little bit I mostly just want to go to sleep.

James made a plan for us to go to a far away state park tomorrow. I am looking forward to being outside with them. I hope my body isn't stupid and doesn't act like it has the last couple days.

I hope you all have a great night. I hope you all feel good. Sleep well everyone!