#grandpa slate

[renagaderex]

A crisp memory

Another (kinda) request that I couldn’t help but think when I saw the prompt. Fall and its leaves and crisp cool air always bring up good memories. And it certainly does for many- maybe even a family of purple beans. 💜💜💜

They need a happy ending.

thank you for viewing!

art is a © renagaderexrider

Indigo is an Among Us Fan character belonging to rodamrix

Among Us is a ©InnerSloth Games

do not repost without permission

[c0nnverse]

going back home tonight as my house is confirmed to have power, is still in a safe zone (above and behind are still under warning, however) and i'm slated to go back to school Monday

[aercnaut]

listen. the horrors are unrelenting and so is my draft count. would anyone be mad at me if i nuked my drafts and asks?

[kyoupann]

Orphaned a handful of my fics <3 Hope I don't regret it later haha. It's just that when i read the titles, nothing came to mind, not even what they were all about or how I felt about them. Truly, I had forgotten what I had written at some point.

[ehlnofaey]

so suddenly there's a slight (like. 90% slight) chance we will be moving to a bigger city three hours away somewhere between now and january and let me tell you idk how i feel

[tarisbackyard]

Finally got around to playing Heart of Winter, after uhhh... twenty years of me first playing Icewind Dale? For some reason I just always skipped this one during every playthrough.

[inzuinzudesu]

Post-war AU! (Yes, I'm trying to do more steamy drawings, more is coming) I imagine Obito to have mellowed out quite a bit after the war, with him atoning for his sins and everything?? He would be easier to bully at the very least haha Personally, I think Kakashi'd be the more proactive one of the two, since Obito'd be feeling guilty and wouldn't want happiness for himself? Then Kakashi has to try to get him to care more about his own live?? Obito'd be living on a cliff all alone, with Kakashi coming to visit every so often in between Hokage duties?? He's trying to migrate into society slowly but surely, helping out all the grandpas and grandmas out there. I wanted to draw him in white - just a blank slate, ready to be made anew, despite all the pain and suffering. Well actually he just looks really good in white, with that white hair?? Very elegant. I can't find much of this AU on ao3? There are quite a lot on pixiv though! https://www.pixiv.net/novel/show.php?id=9410739 This the first part of a whole series! It's finished too! I can only read a bit of japanese, so I mainly just used google translate haha! Really recommend it, if you can read japanese, or if you can bear the pain of reading some very broken english 😅 This author explored the AU in a very cute way that I love??? Overall it's just silly shenanigans with potent sexual tension disguised as friendship. Biggest plot point is that there's a rumor going around that Kakashi is gay, but he tries to deny it, thinking Obito would be weirded out?? There was a point where in his anbu days, Kakashi had a one-night stand that looks like Obito??? Not gonna spoil anymore, in case you plan to read it!

[thewertsearch]

Alright, there’s a lot going on in this room.

First of all, it’s clear that the Betty Crocker Corporation has supplanted more than just Skaianet. This woman's been stamping her name on chests, cutlery, computers, calendars, and even Fetch Modi, so her company is more like an unholy fusion of Skaianet, Google and Amazon.

I'd give it a week before she pulls a Musk, and rebrands this abomination as 'C' - assuming she hasn't already done so.

Second of all, I initially thought this wall of blue hunks was advertising Jane's tastes, but upon closer inspection, each of them bears a signature in the Pen-Pal's color.

His older self did have a strange fixation on blue women, and apparently it's etched into his DNA.

Your name is JANE. As was previously mentioned, you are poised for an ELITE OPPORTUNITY to test the SBURB ALPHA. It is so elite in fact, you are the only of your kind invited to playtest!

Jane is the only member of her 'kind' to be given a copy of Sburb, which implies that there are other kinds of people on this version of Earth. Crocker is confirmed to not be a human, so maybe the planet is also populated by whatever kind of creature she is.

Though you guess that probably comes with the territory of being the HEIRESS APPARENT TO A BAKED GOODS EMPIRE. You don't suppose it hurts that you are said empire's NUMBER ONE FANGIRL, either!

She practically worships the Crocker megacorporation - and even worse, she's being raised to lead the damn thing. Jane might actually be starting out as an antagonist to our original heroes, completely unaware that she's being shaped into a weapon against them.

In short: Jesus Christ, Jane. We need to get you out of here.

You fancy yourself a SKILLED PRANKSTRESS, if by no other measure than lineage.

I guess Nannasprite's mischievous nature wasn't derived solely from the jester doll.

It's sweet to imagine Jane learning the prankster's arts from her Grandpa John - but I am extremely worried for Grandpa John right now, so I can't even enjoy it.

You once dabbled in AMATEUR BOTANY but found it TOO FRUSTRATING, because your VEGETABLES KEPT DISAP-actually you know what, you DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.

Growing pumpkins is every horticulturist's first mistake.

You are also pleased to contemplate FRIGHTENING FAUNA, though saddened by their regrettable FAKENESS ATTRIBUTE.

Flora and fauna. I was waiting to see a little of each Player's personality before making Title guesses, and Jane's evoking Life to me, just as her pervious incarnation did.

Now, that would break the apparent rule that Scratch-swapped Players preserve the session's original Aspects, but that rule hasn't been confirmed yet. Plus, Life might just be my Aspect, so I'd love to see it become more prominent in the story.

But none of that's on your mind now, because you are PSYCHED about this SPECIAL DATE, 11.11.11 [...] a date exhibiting just the sort of numerical gimmick corporations love to exploit for their big releases, or for launching MAJOR REBRANDING INITIATIVES. In the case of your CHERISHED MULTIGLOBAL EMPIRE, both such events are slated to happen today.

Wow, so Betty Crocker is already operating on multiple planets?

The more we see of this Earth, the more obvious it becomes that it's nothing like the world our heroes left behind. Everything has changed.

[stevesbipanic]

To my most lovely @undreaming-fanfiction Happy Valentine's Day love youuuu 💕💕💕 I hope I managed to do all three of your prompts justice (small routines, learning new things about each other, and ghosts of your past) ENJOY!!!!! And Ty @artbean for putting this together 💕💕💕

After five years together there's not a lot of things Eddie doesn't know about Steve.

He knows that Steve likes to colour co-ordinate the calendar on their fridge and that his favourite day of the month is the first since he gets to write out everything on a clean slate.

He also knows that Steve has a particular way he does his hair, and that it was a big deal just seeing it done let alone being taught how to do it, it helps he now knows Steve loves a good head scratch.

He knows that Steve is an early riser and always goes on a run, but will shower and curl back in bed with him if Eddie is still asleep.

He knows that there's an order to how and when he checks on their family. The Sinclairs are first, making sure he's waited until Lucas should be back from training and Erica back from Tracey's, calling there too if there's a sleepover. Next is the Wheelers, Nancy promising him they're all ok if they're visiting and Mike letting him know if she's available that night if she's at college. Then the Hendersons, Claudia inviting him to dinner in the background as Dustin regales his day. Max is next, letting Steve know if she wants to stay over that night. The Byers are the end of the kids, El and Will promising him it's really over. Wayne is near the end, back from his shift safe and sound. Before they dated Eddie was during this time too, helping him to sleep just hearing Steve's voice. Robin is last and she'll be on the line until they're both safely in dreamland.

Eddie loves learning new things about Steve, especially when now they're further and far between. It comes as a suprise when it's something as simple as tea that teaches him something new about his sweetheart.

They're visiting Steve's grandma, who was a lot cooler about the whole boyfriend thing than Steve's parents were.

"Your grandpa, Otis, had a friend, Freddie, who kept a picture of his boy in his pocket, would've gotten him in a lot of trouble back then but love like that was worth dying for."

She had been I'll lately so him and Steve had taken a drive up to visit her, now living in a retirement home in Indy. She was a riot in Eddie's opinion, and made a mental note to make sure they visited her more, he was happy to drive them, anything for Steve.

They were halfway through a game of Scrabble, where Eddie had successfully convinced Steve that Megadeth should be allowed (it shouldn't), when the question was raised.

Edith, yes Eddie also got a delight out of the fact that they shared a name, buzzed her nurse who popped her head in knowing there were visitors.

"Everything good, Eds?" Eddie's eyes twinkled in mischief, he was teasing Steve about the name similarities when they got home.

"A spot of tea, darling? I'm parched and I'm sure these lovely boys are too. Steve, sweetheart?"

"Oh yes, milk and two sugars please, but cubes on the side instead of scoops of it's not trouble."

Eddie's heart skipped a beat at his answer, "Eddie, you want a tea?"

"Oh um, yes, same as him, please ma'am."

"Such polite boys, we need more grandsons like you visiting," she laughed leaving to make the tea. It was surely just a coincidence that Steve took his tea like that, he's sure plenty of people do.

The real suprise came when the tea was set down, cubes on the side, and Steve picked one up and mixed it in, leaving the other alone. The game continued, Eddie eyeing that lone cube, a similar one on his own saucer. When Steve took his last sip of tea he picked up the cube and popped it into his mouth, crunching it. Eddie did the same.

"Done that since you were a kid, always a sweet tooth."

Steve laughed, "It's how my nanny did it when we played tea party with Carol."

Edith smiled, "She was a lovely woman, shamed they moved outta town."

Something settled deep in Eddie's heart. The rest of the afternoon it sat there, and through the goodbyes and hugs, all through the drive home too.

Eddie didn't mention it as they made dinner, Steve doing the chopping and as always Eddie dutifully stirring. The feeling sat there through the night as they watched tv, curled up in a blanket built for one not two. Nothing was brought up as they cleaned up, Steve washing, Eddie drying. It wasn't until bed, in the safety and quiet of their room that Eddie asked.

"Your nanny? What was she like?"

Steve's eyes lit up, "Oh she was the best, noone as good before her and no-one as good after. She loved taking me to the park, sometimes if his dad said it was ok her son would come too, he was fun, built the best sandcastles. She always baked me cookies too, especially if Carol was coming over for a tea party. And she would tell me the little extra sugar was a treat and that I should always have something a little sweet in life."

Eddie's eyes were tearing up by the time Steve finished, "Eds, baby are you ok?"

"What was her name?"

Steve's eyebrows crinkled, "Sarah, why? Oh." He said, remembering the dark curls that surrounded her face, the ones on her son, the boy laying across from him.

"Your mum, oh Eds, so when the tea? I'm sorry." Steve knew about his mum and how when she died it left Eddie all alone.

"Can't believe in five years, we've never had tea," a wet chuckle followed Eddie's words.

A sad smile graced Steve's face, "We should have more, need a bit more sweetness in my life."

Eddie smiled at him, "Knew there was a reason I called you sweetheart, and I clearly won you over with my awesome sandcastles."

A laugh burst out of Steve and that sound was sweeter than any sugar Eddie could eat.

[the-light-finds-its-way]

So ok. I've been thinking all day. And to be honest?

Destiny is fantastic at making me love characters I initially HATE!!!

For example. I actually was introduced to Osiris in COO (I didn't get to play D1 so I wasn't familiar with him). My initial impression was he's a self-centered, egotistical dickweed who's full of himself. Then I played COO, I played more of the game, I came to knew Osiris and I was fucking HEAD OVER HEELS for this gay phoenix grandpa. Gods he's beautiful both in looks and in characterization. He's got heart, so SO much heart, that it HURTS!!

Then there's Uldren/Crow. As Uldren, I despised the fucker. He killed Cayde off. A bastard boy. Selfish and brash, full of himself, too. Then I got to the end of Forsaken. I learned his lore, and how he was a victim of the Black Garden. I learned the past of the Awoken, how he was manipulated by his sister in many ways into an unhealthy codependence. I felt bad. I wanted to save him and protect him. When he came back as Crow, I was SO relieved! He had a new chance and could do better!! And he has!! He's more independent and I get to see my favorite boy grow into himself!!

Additionally, Mara Sov. I met her, and she was a selfish manipulator who hoarded her people's realm, their secrets, and her brother. Then I learned her lore as the game continued. That she was afraid of loss. She lost everything so many times, and she hurt SO bad. Mara gave her heart to the woman she loved, and when Sjur died, Mara couldn't take it. Who could?! She lost her realm to the curse, her brother to death, her first life as a Human, everything. Mara is tragic, and I feel for her and I want to give her a big hug and just tell her it's ok to cry. I love Mara.

Lord Saladin, too. He's cruel, unrelenting, brutal, and a killer. He slew the thief after sparing her as a child because it was law to back then, he admits to his brutality, he was born of a different time and way when things were darker and more hopeless. He showed his selflessness, he lost so greatly, he lost Felwinter, and Shaxx turned his back on him, and Saladin just cares so greatly but he's trying. He truly is. He sacrifices so damn much for everyone, just like Mara though on a smaller scale, and it shows he has a heart through that thick iron exterior.

And Eramis. I thought she was corrupt, and horrible, selfishly leading the Eliksni revolution to make them into slaves of the Darkness. I had no idea she was a victim of it herself, and that she was a minion of the Witness, believing it would better her kind and save them. I felt so much for her as a result, and I just want her to be ok.

Like Destiny has given us so many characters that were unlikable, abhorrent, even, and they've made me love them in the end. For countless reasons.

A major theme of the game is loss, and that's so obvious because loss is a tragedy, and tragedy causes trauma which makes these characters as they are.

But all the same the game is about hope and reshaping our destiny into what we want the future to become. It's all about starting over, and doing better on a clean slate. That's why Guardians exist.

But even if not a Guardian, they exist to show the rest of the universe that change is possible, and being better is a choice to make, not a destiny given.

[lyndztanica]

the thrum of the machine sounds like a heart

The seconds creep like minutes, and the minutes like hours. Move, aim, fire, plod across this field until suddenly the entrance is there, a hair's breadth away. Until he’s standing outside of it, frozen in place. It’s the adrenaline, he thinks, grateful it’s detached him just enough from anger to be rational. Anger makes you stupid. He couldn’t afford that right now.

July doesn’t bother to ruminate – he just steadies his aim and fires, knocking another mech clinging to Baccara away.  

Shep was the adult in his life who taught him how to shoot. His grandpas taught him how to play games, how to look for tells and count cards. His father taught him it was a fool’s game to work for a company so large you didn’t have a face or a name to those who held your life in their hands. His uncles taught him to get the fuck out of dodge before he got too old to forget the previous lesson.

Shep had taught him how to aim because July at the time had been a snot-nosed kid barely out of his teens who was quick on his feet. But there would always be someone quicker, he advised. There almost always was.

So one early morning, when the arena was quiet before the evening’s lineup of Lancer fights, Shep set up a few targets, handed July his own handgun and got to work. 

Line Your Sight. 

Breathe. 

Fire.

Diamondback’s guns didn’t have a recoil he could feel – it was all automated, and when the Raleigh was fine-tuned the mechanized joints moved buttery smooth. Even as his fingers danced a nervous jitter on one button or another, inside all you’d generally feel was a little nudge, scarcely stronger than a shoulder tap. No real friction to it compared to a human body. 

When he won his first license in a card game it was Shep’s idea to join the bouts. Why not have some fun, he’d said, Crowds love a scrappy underdog story. July took to it – the betting payout was always bigger than counting cards. The thrum of the machinery, the cheers, having to study his opponent to outwit them.

Fuck, how old was he then? Twenty-three? Twenty-five? Nah, maybe not that old. Still, shit.

The situation is getting worse, not better. More targets appear, Feren shouts something about Halcyon panicking that sets off his worst suspicions but they’re too high up and she’s in rodeo. ERIS births a star on the field that’s set to go nova – and maybe it did when his view of the world became a black void empty of everything. 

No visuals, no outside sound. Just him, the glow of monitors and the duet of his own breathing with a recurrent beep warning him of heat levels. Did the Toku have one of these things? Or did JW just uninstall it. Either way they seem pointless in a Harrison, and in the Raleigh it’s drilling into his skull to take the place of everything. Minutes feel like hours, too long for him to sit with nothing. Nothing to line his sight, breathe, and fire at.

What are we doing? Trying not to die before we enter uncertain death, he thinks. He reaches for a cigarette he knows isn’t there; the pack sits empty in his pocket.

Before he can feel angry again the void recedes; he can see the newly made wasteland. Frames reduced to slag. The few who aren’t he helps eliminate until his weapons jam. More and more mechs crawl out of the woodwork and towards the hole in the wall. Nowhere left to go but inside.

Is this why he’s thinking on all this now? No light at the end of a tunnel, no life flashing before your eyes. Just ruminating on memories that come to mind, people who come to mind. Mercedes would make a good arena fighter, he thinks. Maybe Shep would pitch it to her when July was gone. Maybe he should have pitched it before now, in a time and place he’s pretty sure his slate doesn’t work correctly outside the immediate area.

None of his life lessons, from Shep or anyone else have prepped him for this. He wasn’t a man for metavaults, for the paracausal. There was already enough ‘-causal’ bullshit to deal with out there. That was still true. Nobody could have prepared him for this.

He didn’t know what to do when you gave too much of a shit the idea of being left behind chafes more than leaving. Of having to deliver bad news. Of surviving something alone, left to fend for himself. After all those insistences and overtures. Especially when they were the type to throw themselves into a fire. For what? A cause? A belief? A misplaced sense of duty? This wasn’t an adventure – if it was more people would respond to metavaults with excitement. At least his parents did it for something that made sense. At least they left him to fend for himself for something he could understand.

Instead he’s here. Outside a doorway to hell with a binary choice. Hang back and go it alone or throw himself after someone else. The seconds creep like hours. The thrum of the frame sounds like a heart against the metavault’s ribs.

[chipistotallysane]

I wrote a bit for what I am now dubbing my Forever Trapped AU! This is when Ben meets Rook and how Rook finds out about the trauma Ben went through because of the Forever Knights :3

-------

It was going so good.

When Ben had met Rook, he was expecting him to know what happened all those years ago. The issues he faced because of the Forever Knights were still present after all, no matter how much time had passed. He thought Gwen would’ve at least told him a little bit.

The thing was, Rook didn’t know a single thing. He only knew the Forever Knights as some villain of the week. A menial foe the (in)famous Ben Tennyson left for his partners to deal with. Rook was a clean slate, he wasn’t going to act all weird around him (except for the small idolization he had, but that would fade fast). In the eyes of Rook, Ben would be… as close to normal as he ever could be.

That fact alone made him want to cry happy tears and hug the living daylights out of him. That wasn’t very normal though, so he played it cool. Rook was a bit strange sometimes, but hey so was Ben. He was funny (in a deadpan-sarcasm sorta way, which Ben had too!), and an amazing fighter, and they got along great! Rook was basically his best friend at this point, and they teased and laughed at each other just like best friends do. He couldn’t be more happy, and he must’ve texted Gwen at least a hundred thank you’s and another two hundred for Grandpa Max and Kevin for this. He was slightly nervous to be without them at first, but with Rook and his newfound normalcy he felt like he could take on anything that came his way.

Unfortunately, nothing good lasts forever. Especially with Ben Tennyson.

The day had started normal as ever, deceptively normal. Ben woke up, brushed his teeth, took a shower, ate breakfast. Then he got an alert about some goons or whatever trying to infiltrate a local museum. Seemed like a typical villain of the week, some easy shit for Rook and him to wipe the floor with. He was dead wrong, of course.

That’s where he was now, at the museum; locking eyes with the leader of the Forever Knights (what was left of them) and feeling so, so impossibly small. If he could go back and do something different he might’ve rather crashed the prototruck than be here, now. It was already bad enough that his vision was blurring because he was holding his breath again, but Rook was here. He could see his blurry shape to the side of him, probably confused as to why he was frozen in place. He wasn’t supposed to know. They were supposed to be normal friends. It had been going so well.

“It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen my most informational experiment after it escaped, I almost couldn’t recognize its human disguise.” the knight said, not to Ben but to his followers. Ben tensed up bad at the way he talked, it’d been so long since he last heard himself talked about like that. Six years, six years had passed and here he was; frozen in place like the terrified kid he was when it first happened. He hated how they didn’t even address him. He hated himself for being so scared, for almost believing he could be normal. He hated how Rook was standing there, probably looking at him all concerned and wondering why his normally cocky and semi-reckless partner was acting like this.

His vision was going dark, he needed to breathe he needed to BREATHE-

He felt a hand on his shoulder and immediately shoved whoever it was as hard as he could away. The sudden action caused him to start breathing again, faster than usual but at least he was breathing. He blinked a couple times, his chest heaving and he realized he shoved Rook. He hadn’t expected the reaction and fell onto a glass casing, which was now broken. If he hadn’t had his protoarmor, if he had landed wrong-

The Knights took this opportunity to grab both him and Rook, using some strange device they had found to open up what looked to be a large steel box, and locked them inside. Ben scrambled to get to the door before it shut but to no avail. He was stuck here, he was too scared to do anything so now both him AND Rook were getting kidnapped and Ben didn’t know if he could do that again. He definitely couldn’t let Rook go through that. He should’ve done something, anything. His nails scraped the metal of the floor as his breathing quickened, his chest getting tight and his eyes burning.

“Ben? What is going on, what is wrong..?”

He tensed, shoulders going stiff as he watched Rook cautiously make his way over to where Ben was sitting. He was trying desperately not to make that stupid gasping noise you do when you hold back a sob. He couldn’t even respond to him, he couldn’t say anything because it was all happening over again.

He noticed Rook’s expression, it wasn’t fear like Ben’s was, it was confusion, and concern. Like he dreaded. It caused a pain in his chest, because he just wanted to be normal with him. He didn’t want Rook to have to see this ugly side of him. Before he knew it, he choked on a sob and then all the tears started to flow out of him like a river. He tried to bury his head between his knees, keeping his face out of sight. Rook would know why he had those perma-eyebags now. He would know everything and all his normal would be gone. Rook would hate him for lying, for pretending he could be just like how people saw him. The hero, Ben 10 who was brave and cocky and never backed down.

“...Ben, may I touch you? I do not want to scare you like last time.”

He lifted his head up a bit to respond, but no words came out. It was like they were all stuck in his throat, turning to air as soon as they were about to be spoken. He looked at Rook again, thinking about it. He nodded very slowly, lowering his head again. He wouldn’t hurt him. He wouldn’t.

Rook wrapped an arm around him, making Ben hold his breath for a second, but starting to breathe again shortly after. The touch was distracting him, making him focus on something else. Rook rested his head on Ben’s shoulder. His hair was soft, he could feel some of it. Slowly but surely he got used to his hold, his tense shoulders relaxing. His breathing was mostly normal except for the occasional hiccup, and he was still crying. He didn’t want to be different, he didn’t want their friendship to change. He just wanted to be his best friend, his normal alien fighting best friend.

“Are you feeling better?” Rook asked, barely a whisper. Ben nodded, faster this time. He did feel better than earlier, at least a little bit. Rook seemed content with this information, humming.

And then, Rook started to purr.

Ben barely noticed at first, it was so soft. But gradually it got stronger, and Ben’s eyes went wide. He didn’t know Rook could purr, he knew he was cat-like but this was full-on cat behavior. He looked at Rook, who looked at him back.

“Cat purrs provide many health benefits… one of which is to lower stress. Mine may not be exactly the same, but I thought it could help until you wish to talk.”

It did, it did help a lot. He still felt a nagging dread but it was easier to manage now. It wasn’t all consuming and trying to destroy him from the inside out anymore. He swallowed, opening his mouth to respond.

“...Thanks, partner…” his voice was scratchy from crying, and he could barely talk above a whisper. He was close enough to Rook where he didn’t have to, however. He breathed deeply, trying to calm himself more.

“Of course,” he said gently, sickeningly sweet and it did something to Ben that he really didn’t want to unpack now. “Does this count on our tally of me saving you?” Rook asked, lightheartedly.

Ben let out a short, raspy laugh, “you wish, Blonko.” He felt the other’s purr get slightly stronger at him saying his chosen name, and he smiled a bit. This was a good distraction.

They stayed like that for a while, probably 20 or so minutes before Rook spoke up again.

“Do you wish to talk about it now?”

Ben hesitated, it was… a lot to talk about. Especially while he was here in this… containment cell…? He wasn’t sure. He eventually nodded his head, deciding it was better to just get it over with.

“When I was young, like- a couple weeks after I had gotten the omnitrix… I busted it. I got turned into Grey Matter and couldn’t turn back. This… guy found me and kidnapped me, and for a while it was just some villain of the week type shit… until it wasn’t.” he paused for a second, taking a breath. “Grandpa Max and Gwen didn’t find me in time, I got sent to this castle-type place, run by the Forever Knights… they don’t like aliens. They uhm…” his breath hitched a bit, recounting what had happened, “they did a lot of… experimenting. I was there for a month before I escaped…”

He took a deep breath, finishing his recount of events. He didn’t tell Rook everything, but he didn’t need to, he got the gist. He didn’t need Rook to know about the dissections, the lobotomy thing, any of the details.

“I just… I didn’t want you to know. You were the first person I got close to who didn’t, and I really liked being normal friends with you. I didn’t want that to change because of my dumb issues…”

Rook squeezed him a bit, gently, “your issues are not ‘dumb’, nor will they change the way I view you. You are still my friend, and my partner.” he said simply.

Ben felt his eyes well up a bit, but grinned and wiped them away. He said it like it was obvious, and it had been. It had been obvious, Ben could just be a little dense. That was okay though, it was all okay right now.

“Thanks dude,” Ben said, lightly punching Rook’s chest affectionately, “wanna get out of here? I think these Knights are about to get a visit from my good friend Way Big.” he grinned widely, nerves still all shaken up, but he could deal with it now.

Rook smiled, “I thought you would never ask.”

[flightfoot]

I have scattered thoughts about Nino, Alya, and the intersection of racism/misogyny.For example, Alya may receive more criticism not only for racism but also for misogyny. We support women's mistakes! Except not and especially not if it's a black woman.

(And I can't help but notice how many of those criticisms are aimed at Alya not fitting the Good Black Friend™ trope )

But now, with what you said about how Nino's criticism in that episode isn't that harsh, I'm VERY curious about the amount of Adrino vs alyanette fics taking into account the main focus.By that I mean that both couples, if they appear in the same fic, are treated equally and not that it is one of the cases of "we went back to lesbian women because I want to see two men kissing." (This is a VERY common problem in several fandoms where the misogyny that many m/m fics usually imply and the erasure and reduction of F/f couples have been pointed out)

Oh yeah, most of the heavy criticism and outright demonization of Alya comes down to her supposedly being a "bad friend" to Marinette... because she dares to "ask why Marinette doesn't like someone" and "asks for evidence that the person is really as bad as her friend thinks" instead of immediately believing that her friend is 100% correct in her assessment on nothing but her word and committing herself to doing whatever her friend wants in order to take down the other person.

There's this expectation that "being a good friend" when it comes to Alya means that she has to give up all notion of personal judgement or perspective. Heck, looking at the uproar over Rocketear when Alya told Nino that she's still helping Ladybug, or even earlier with Optigami when she decided to get the Turtle Miraculous for Nino because she thought it might be useful, she gets hefty criticism anytime she does anything without Marinette's express approval, no matter what her personal issues or perspective.

Actually the babysitting issue is probably the most clear-cut illustration of this. Alya volunteers to babysit Manon multiple times so that her friend can spend time with her crush, with Marinette even tricking Alya into babysitting Manon for her once so she could do an interview? Barely a peep of criticism against Marinette. Marinette babysits Chris ONE TIME so Alya and Nino can go on a date? Alya pressuring Marinette to babysit for her without pay and behind her parents' back becomes a common recurring trope.

(Note: I'm aware that Marinette's slated to babysit two more times for Alya during the series, in Timetagger and Simple Man. But in the first instance she cancels because she's busy, and in the second one she dumps the kids on her grandpa so she can help with Adrien's photoshoot, so I'm not counting them).

If Marinette needs someone to cover for her babysitting duty, then Alya's merely doing the duty of a good friend by taking on the responsibility for her. While if Marinette ever covers for Alya, she's being taken advantage of by a toxic friend.

Considering that the main criticisms of the "Black Best Friend" trope boil down to how it makes the black character an accessory to the white (well, in this case Marinette's only half-white) character, whose main purpose is to serve and support the other character, without having any internal world of their own? Yeah, I'd say that Alya's major demonization almost always comes down to her violating that role, even slightly.

Oh yeah, Adrino vs. Alyanette fics. Weirdly enough, there appear to be more fics tagged with Alyanette than Adrino (note: I'm gonna keep on all my usual filters for this search, I ain't seeing saltfics if I can help it). I've got 360 Adrino fics, but 560 Alyanette fics.

Now, in my personal experience, very few fics have equal focus for both pairings when they're together. They normally favor one or the other, with one being the main focus, and the other being more of a "pair the spares" situation. I'm also gonna skip the ones where it's one happy poly pile.

So here's the tag I ended up with, when I factored in all my usual exclusions and also included Adrino and Alyanette and excluded Alya/Nino/Marinette/Adrien and Lovesquare.

Of these 33 fics, 11 appear to be Adrino-centric, 6 appear to be Alyanette centric, and the rest I dunno. So I'd say Adrino gets a little more attention, especially since its fics tend to be a lot longer than the Alyanette ones.

Honestly though, I will TAKE Alyanette being "pair the spares" for Adrino a lot of the time, it's a heck of a lot better to make Alyanette and Adrino Ship Mates than to inflict Die For Our Ship on one of the pairs.

[mariacallous]

Full American democracy is barely 60 years old, yet seems to be in an advanced state of cognitive decline. At his inauguration yesterday, Donald Trump seated the tech bosses, his nerd broligarchy, in front of his supposed cabinet. Needless to say, it was all a hopelessly overstimulating day for Elon Musk, whose double salute on stage later was a pure Dr Strangelove spasm, generously described by the Anti-Defamation league as “an awkward gesture”. Listen, if your friends won’t tell you, then who will?

As for the staging of the inauguration, which was moved indoors several days earlier, it was an occasion devoid of a sense of occasion. I would honestly have preferred Trump to ride in on the QAnon shaman. Instead, and not to get all British about state events, the world was forced to watch a quite staggeringly inept and lo-fi ceremony. You constantly expected someone to grab the mic and say: “Could the owner of a red Honda Civic please move your car as it’s blocking in the burger van.” Or maybe, as viewers round the globe sat waiting in mortified vain for singer Carrie Underwood’s basic backing track to kick in, to announce: “Apologies, ladies and gents, we have a tech fail. Is there anyone who knows about tech in the house?”

In a manner befitting a modern and correctly prioritised new era, a vast amount of comment was expended on female attenders’ clothes choices, with Jeff Bezos’s fiancee’s outfit coming in for more heat than the decision to summarily rename bits of the world and to annex others. That could be fun to look back on. “Grandpa, what did you say when he said he wanted to retake the Panama Canal, considering the horrifying chain of events that ended up sparking?” “Ah, well now … I think I said something like, ‘Jeez woman can you just put them away for ONE day.’” Having said that, I had a huge amount of time for Melania’s sartorial defensiveness (tailoring by Adam Lippes, millinery by Iron Dome).

The day marked a personal tipping point for Trump, who has now pulled out of more international agreements than Playmates. Among his withdrawals on Monday were the Paris climate agreement, and the World Health Organization, a body that seems to have been about as prepared for this news as it was for the Covid pandemic. Over in the Oval Office, meanwhile, the Diet Coke button has been restored – the least imaginative red button ever to grace a strongman’s desk – along with busts and paintings of admired politicians who are too dead to be able to tell Trump precisely how much they’d have hated him.

By way of background music that actually functioned, there seemed to be a competition between the incoming and outgoing presidents to determine who could issue the most disgraceful pardons, with Trump gifting exoneration to 1,500 of the January 6 rioters like some sort of insurrection Wonka. Meanwhile, Joe Biden took the moment of the inauguration ceremony itself to sneak out pre-emptive pardons for most of his family, an act of such craven shamefulness that the kindest response was to think: you’d better be completely, dribblingly gaga by now because that is seriously the only excuse.

Other corruption news? Well, last Friday, Trump launched a meme coin that reached a market capitalisation of $4.8bn inside of four hours. A former Obama administration ethics adviser assured the Washington Post that “this may represent the single worst conflict of interest in the history of the modern presidency” – ironically, a statement only ever likely to hold its value for the seconds it took to say it. Indeed, by Sunday, Melania had launched her own meme coin too.

But on to Musk, slated to head up the new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which was sued no fewer than four times within its first hours of the Trump administration’s existence, perhaps to be expected in a country where there are far more lawyers than physicians. (Admittedly, several of the latter should be facing lawsuits for some of the plastic surgery on show in the Rotunda good seats.) At the Trump supporters rally after the inauguration, where he unleashed those two eye-catching diagonal arm salutes, Musk promised: “We’re going to take Doge to Mars!” Interesting. Space travel is maybe the least efficient thing humans can do, but perhaps spending potentially trillions to get somewhere that looks like Earth’s most boring disused quarry is the value proposition that Americans concerned over inflated food prices have been looking for.

Other genre-clashing vignettes from the day are too numerous to detail, although special mention might be made of the spectacle of YouTuber brothers Jake and Logan Paul laughing it up with mad-eyed OpenAI boss Sam Altman. We keep hearing that AI can take over all the time-sucking and unpleasant tasks in life, and yet there is not even the slimmest suggestion it can endure this presidency on our behalf. Thus far, the sole thing technology advances have assisted with is making it easier for those of us screenshotting people’s foolhardy appreciations of Trump’s way of doing business, to remind them of when it all goes tits up.

One thing I can already live without is a rapidly decomposing banquet of the world’s politicians droning on about “reality” and declaring reedily that they are “ready to work with Trump”. The intimation that this is the only “grownup” position doesn’t really account for what many people believe is the most salient fact: that Trump is not a brash but necessary guy, but a serious pox on humanity. Maybe we should substitute the word Trump for a harmful affliction, and see if that feels clarifying in terms of the futility of appeasing him. “I don’t agree with everything smallpox does, but I am willing to work with it.” Actually, having typed that I realise that working with smallpox might genuinely be one of health secretary Robert F Kennedy’s policies. His lawyer has certainly already asked the Food and Drug Administration to revoke approval of the polio vaccine. But remember, if you don’t act like these are people to do business with, you aren’t a serious person.

All in all, vibes-wise, the current moment reminds me of the time I went to London’s Winter Wonderland Christmas fairground, and somehow found myself strapped into a rollercoaster called the Wilde Maus with one of my children, who was four at the time. As we began the creaking, rickety climb up the rails before the first G-force plunge, he said: “Oh. I THINK I would actually like to get off.” “Unfortunately,” I had to reply, “that won’t now be possible.” Ditto this Trump term, and the possibilities of current disembarkation. Of course, this is politics and not a metaphor, so we’re not about to set off on some grim Mitteleuropean switchback ride. Then again …

[candywife333]

Better Have My Money

[TEASER]

-SLATED TO RELEASE IN DECEMBER

chubby caretaker reader x CEO jungkook

"You gold digger, how dare you seduce my grandfather with your feminine wiles? How did you do it with that fat ass? Must've blindfolded my poor grandpa".

I turned around, almost wheezing with laughter still stuck in my lungs, "Hey, don't call me a gold digger dude. That is insulting to me. They say diamonds are a girl's best friend. Why would I settle for something as cheap as gold? And why do you think I seduced your grandpa. I was just his caretaker bro, that's it."

Jungkook bit out, enraged with his eyes blazing, "Then why the hell did he write you in the fucking will you bitch? He left half of his net worth to you"?!!! The dude grabbed the collar of my starch white Ralph Lauren polo, "Do you even comprehend what you have done"?!!

I pushed the dude's hand off , "Dude stop trying to choke me. This is a premium polo, do you know that? I have to return it back to the store next week. You intend on accusing me of things I didn't do and now you want me to have the misfortune of not getting a refund". My eyes got misty as I whimpered out," What type of demon are you? Trying to make the poor poorer I see. You utter rascal".

He looked like steam was coming out of his eyes as he shouted, "How dare you call me a rascal!!! You whorish vixen"!! I thought I would get offended but I was really impressed by his vocabulary. I shook his sleeve, "Dude, do you read historical romance or something? Like the Bridgertons or Outlander. Because your vocabulary is hella impressive. You must've memorized the entire SAT vocabulary list". I waved my hands to silence him. "Forget it. Just listen to me for a second. If you want to get me off this mythical will you speak of, you will have to silence me with either the power of your pocket or the power of the P".

He stared at me quizzically, as though he were confused. I smiled placatingly, "Look, it is very simple. Either you pay me a direct cash deposit of 75 percent of whatever I was promised by your grandfather, or you pay me in sex".

His jaw dropped open, so open that a few cockroaches could fly in if he let them. He seemed to choke on his own spit, coughing till he solemnly sputtered out, "Number one is not on the table. What the hell do you mean by sex"?!!!

I assessed him, with a twitch of one of my eyebrows, "It's an age old profession bro. If I really must explain it", I sat down on a bench and explained , "you must voraciously plunder my depths so to speak". He gulped as he gawked at me with something similar to disgust, "Plunder your depths? You mean that I am supposed to fuck your lardy ass to get rid of you".

I smiled , nodding enthusiastically ," I wouldn't put it in such an uncouth, uncultured manner. To put it in a more sophisticated manner, you must ravage me passionately". He continued to look more confused, so I sighed and clarified with gravity, "To put it more precisely, I want to rattle your snake, la chupa your cabra, or even better, hanky your panky". He gasped in horror, eyes widening as though he had seen a ghost. " But essentially, yes, you must tup me with your very long member for approximately a month". With an astonished face he menacingly bit out, "And how would you know that it is very long you trollop"?

My eyes glinted in the sun as I chirped out sunnily, "Those pants fit you very well Sir, if you must know. And after having consumed enough erotica for years, I can tell you one thing". I winked obnoxiously as I eyed his pants, " My estimation skills never have failed me".

[desertdollranch]

With Courtney joining the doll family, I had to make a place for her in the doll room, which is always a fun challenge to tackle. But I promised Caroline that the next AG doll to move in will take her place on the wall shelves. If that sounds like a punishment, I promise it isn't, because it's definitely an upgrade!

Caroline is one of four dolls who have their own little corner in my living room, furnished with their accessories and furniture. Josefina, Kaya, and Kirsten are the other three.

Longtime readers might remember when I built Caroline's parlor back in March of 2020. Newer readers will not, and maybe this is your first time seeing the parlor. It's modeled after the one in Caroline's original collection, only mine is bigger and more proportional, not to mention cheaper. I spent only about $10 on the supplies. Buying the real deal would cost at least $250.

I've furnished it with little bits and pieces I've either made or found secondhand. Nothing here is from her or any American Girl doll's actual collection.

This weekend I installed some new lace curtains on the window seat, seen at the right of the second picture. I previously had a single curtain with some pretty embroidery on it, but I love the romantic look of the lace and the tassels.

Because I have a bit of space left for it, I also brought in the clothes press!

This is also not AG brand, but a piece my grandpa built for me when I was 8 or 9. It's modeled after Felicity's clothes press from her retired collection. My mom always called it the tea cabinet because that's what she thought Felicity had in her collection, but I only ever used it to store the few doll clothes and accessories I had.

The top part is removable, and until now has been in Kirsten's room to hold her clothes. The bottom half with the drawers has held some of my Calico Critters extras. But with Caroline moving in, I really wanted her to have this gorgeous piece of furniture. Kirsten moved all her clothes into a new wooden trunk, which I'll show once I'm done painting it.

There's plenty of room for Caroline's dresses, even with the additional outfits I've sewn for her.

The top drawer holds her clothing accessories, like her shoes and bonnets. I made two pairs of her stockings and a pair of gloves. Her ice skates are also here. And the bottom drawer has her non-clothing accessories, all of which I've made, including her carpet bag, lantern, slate, lunch bag, and her father's ledger.