#get lucky balls

[hungharrington]

i’m almost 22 and have never even kissed a boy (which i’m chronically insecure about). it’s made me feel very nervous regarding intimacy or “doing it wrong”. i feel like steve would be great coach and reassure the reader it’s okay and that they’re doing great. nothing to embarrassed about. (my soul needs this so bad)

hi honey !! i think you r so right & steve would be the perfect guy to give all the assurances <3 i hope u know that kisses don’t matter too much til they’re with someone you’re rlly sweet on so i wouldn’t sweat it angel x this one is sfw! wowzer!

You’re on your couch and in Steve’s lap and worried about just about everything. 

Steve’s being sweet about it, his hands resting gently on either side of your waist, his thumbs swiping up and down to comfort you. He’s watching you closely, unaware he’s just taken your first, second, and third ever kisses. How could he know? you think, on the side of insecurity— it seems everybody else your age has already kissed someone. 

“You okay?” He asks, hazel eyes tracing over the soft features of your face. He loves your nose and the shape of your bottom lip— strange things to like perhaps, but Steve doesn’t care. 

You nod but don’t say anything. The motion is a bit jerky. Your hands are planted on his shoulders, holding them probably a bit too tight. Exhaling a breath, you nod again and pretend the fondness in his gaze isn’t making you shy.

“Yeah,” you finally speak, voice smaller than you intend. “Just- just wanna like—“ you swallow, eyes darting to the ceiling for a moment, if only to avoid his intense eyes. “I wanna get this right.” 

A car engine drones by outside in the dusky evening. Steve gives a little chuckle and his hands on your waist tug forward, pulling your attention down and your body an inch closer to his. It’s warm— every part of him is glowing warm. 

“I don’t think there’s any way you can get this wrong,” He admits, awfully sincere about it. 

It’s the truth. Steve likes you a lot. You could probably bite his lip too hard and make it bleed and he’d still find it pleasant. You have that effect on him. 

You don’t know that though. So, every stress seems very, very real. Are you kissing firm enough? Too firm? God, are your lips too dry? 

Your tongue flicks out to wet them, your hands giving his shoulders a nervous, minuscule squeeze. In your chest, your heart is torn between rabbiting in its anxiety or shrivelling in insecurity. 

“I mean,” you laugh a little, if only to cover your embarrassment. You duck your head to avoid his face, murmuring, “If there is, I’m sure I’ll find it. I haven’t, uh, exactly done this… too much.”

“That’s fine,” Steve says instantly. His warm, large hands give a tender squish on your waist, before sliding up and around to curl snugly around your body. He sits up a little straighter, his nose nudging against yours. 

“No, Steve,” you say, cheeks a touch heated. You count his eyelashes so you can avoid his eyes, you voice dropping volume towards the end of your sentence. “I mean, like… like ever.” 

Surprise flashes in his eyes for only a moment. His gaze darts down to your lips quickly but then he’s smiling, nudging closer, and stealing a quick kiss off your lips. Now he’s taken your fourth kiss too. 

You flush, something warm pinging its way up your spine. 

“That’s okay,” He murmurs, sounding like he really means it. 

“It is?” 

“It’s great. You’re great.” He kisses you again—your fifth— so sweet it tastes like sugar on your lips, his arms around you pulling you in closer. You drown in it, enamoured by how it feels to have his lips against yours. God, he makes you dizzy. 

Steve breaks the kiss but stays close, his arms pulling you closer still so you’re straddling him properly. He’s warm, so warm— and so freakin’ nice to you. 

“You don’t find it weird?” You can’t help but whisper. Your eyes crush closed, unable to face him. 

“Weird?” Steve echoes. “Are you kidding me? It’ll take more than that to freak me out.” 

One of his hands shifts up, moving up off your waist to cradle your jaw gently in his large palm. He peppers a string of kisses along your cheek and jaw, beginning to suck a sweet spot beneath your ear. Your hips shift before you realising, subtly grinding down into his. Flames begin to burn in your stomach. 

“It’s—I mean it’s kind of, like, a little embarrassing, don’t you think?” You continue, voice a little breathier than before. You’re not sure what you’re trying to convince of him of— you certainly don’t want him to stop. 

Steve’s lips brush over the barely forming bruise on your skin and your breath hitches. 

“Are you feeling embarrassed?” 

One slow kiss against your neck, his plush lips accompanied by the heat of his tongue. You squirm in his lap but don’t answer, fearful of being too truthful. You are and you aren’t. He isn’t making you embarrassed but you are, just a little. 

Your silence makes Steve pause, digging his face out of your neck to meet your eyes. “Hey. You shouldn’t be embarrassed- if you are for some other reason, we can— we can like stop—“ 

“No.” You cut in, God, now you’re seriously giving him the wrong idea. “No, oh my god, I sound so stupid- it’s not you— Steve—“ 

He cuts you off with another kiss, your sixth, and steals your runaway thoughts. It blissfully chases away your nerves for just a moment. 

“Great.” He smiles against your mouth, giving another squeeze of your waist. “Cos you don’t need to be.” He kisses your mouth again, seven. “All you need to be is enjoying yourself, okay? 

You like the sound of that— adore the way he’s so seamlessly finds the thing that sets your nerves alight and soothes it so easily. You whisper back, “Okay,” and gift him your eighth kiss, sweet and fierce. 

[turtletoads]

digital coloring and some doodles

[classicjdiesandgoestohell]

welcome to my diner ☺️ we have burger, tuna, omelette and fishstick! order when you're ready :)

[azuronel]

I can’t draw backgrounds. anyway I saw this image (below the cut) and was struck with infernal inspiration:

[myballsitchaurghouchie]

Oh to live in a country where Halloween is a big event

[deedala]

Timestamp Gif Roulette ⇆ 09x01: Are You There Shim? It's Me, Ian. ↳Violet + 1 for @sickness-health-all-that-shit

[serysem]

I LOVE the Ball & Chain and it is a great item!!! 🗣️

Truly one of the most underrated items ever and here is why:

Ball & Chain = basically free bombs!

Actually deals HUGE damage!! Honestly, this baby SHREDS a lot of enemies and is actually very good vs. Redeads!

Cool design! Cool sounds!

and most importantly... carrying this bad boy shows how BUFF our boy Link is!!!

[cr0wc0rpse]

Angel girl and Demon girl yuri is Real

[a-noodle-named-daemon]

He shed and immediately started begging for food

He’s due to it Wednesday; something tells me he’ll eat that rat no problem 💛😅

[divinelasso]

what was that about transgender rabbits yesterday

[lacnunga]

In the wake of the IA situation, I've seen a lot more posts circulating about using your local library and I just. Sigh

[uncanny-tranny]

I think a lot of people are frustrated sometimes when somebody expresses that therapy just "doesn't work" for them, and I used to feel that way, too, until I realized that the therapy that I was doing just wasn't right for me.

When people think therapy, I think many just assume it's all cognitive behavioural therapy and that that is the only kind of therapy out there. However, this isn't true, and CBT can absolutely be ineffective for certain situations. If you are confused by this idea, here's an example: when I was in the midst of my most recent abusive circumstance, not only was my therapy weaponized against me by my abuser, but also, the therapists I had were ill-prepared to treat ongoing abuse. They had the tools common for CBT, but there is only so much a victim can do before their circumstances are completely out of their control. In a case like this, CBT can be an unhelpful tool alone, which is why you have people who blanket statement say that all therapy is unhelpful (understandable why one would say that if they haven't had any helpful/good experiences).

It seems like people see this idea that "therapy doesn't work" as an automatic red flag, and certainly, I can imagine why one would think that. However, in a healthcare system that generally prioritizes CBT therapy as the "only therapy," it's helpful to remember that CBT isn't always the best option or the best option alone.

[nugatorysheep]

love confusing cis people with my gender. it's my favorite activity

[halseygray]

And I’ll do it again when merch drops

[nanmo-wakaran]

own recording!!!!!!!!!!!!! (<-delighted)

[ilovedthestars]

my thoughts on the nimona movie (no spoilers)

I literally just finished watching the nimona movie. It is SO good. I liked the graphic novel and the trailers looked incredibly promising and it absolutely lived up to my expectations. It is so queer, and so trans, and knowing that ND Stevenson wrote Nimona years before coming out gave me a lot of emotions about the way this was realized on screen. I don’t know how much he was involved in the adaptation, but it’s absolutely something he should be proud of.

I wondered how Nimona would work as a movie, knowing that Hollywood is sometimes bad about book adaptations. But the trailers gave me the impression that they were changing some things but keeping the spirit of the graphic novel alive, and after seeing the movie I think that’s 100% true. They mixed things up quite a bit—there are a few scenes that are straight out of the graphic novel, but most of the events of the plot were new or reworked in a different way from the original. But the original themes underlying Nimona are not only still there, they’re made even more big and bold and obvious by the changes.

And let’s talk about the animation for a second!! Nimona might not quite be as flashy as spiderverse, but the animators were absolutely still doing groundbreaking things with the animation. It’s 3D animated, but rendered in a way that’s designed to look more like 2D animation. Instead of hyperrealism they went for stylization, but still with the super dynamic motion of 3D models. This article [https://mashable.com/article/nimona-animation-style] talks a little bit about the artistic choices that went into it, and how they were going for the vibe of "graphic novel come to life." (I still have no idea how they pulled off cel shading on 3D models, but I’m so impressed.) The lighting in particular stood out to me as very cool, and the transitions when Nimona shape shifts were absolutely seamless. The whole movie just looked incredibly cool.

Speaking of the artistic skill that went into this film, two of the three main characters (Ballister and Ambrosius) were drawn as white in the graphic novel, and were changed to people of color in the movie, with such skill that when I went back to reread the original to prepare for the movie I had a genuine moment of “wait, they were white?” Their character designs were adapted so perfectly as to be instantly recognizable, while also fitting their style into the updated aesthetic of the movie. (Which has a super cool medieval/futuristic thing going on, expanded from what we see in the graphic novel.) Nimona is also, I cannot overstate, so perfectly Nimona. It’s clear that a lot of effort went into capturing the essence of ND Stevenson’s drawings.

The plot of the movie was not anything particularly new—“maybe the monsters aren’t monsters after all” is an oldie but a goodie—but it was done very well. Even though I’d just reread the graphic novel, there were enough changes that there were plenty of surprises. Also, did I mention how funny it is? There are so many hilarious lines & visual gags that don’t veer into the awkward place that animated movies aimed at a young audience sometimes land. And again, I cannot emphasize enough that it is even more explicitly queer than original, and they leaned into the trans vibes of Nimona very hard. Props to Stevenson and everyone else who worked on this movie.