#howdy partner game

[howdypartner-game]

Howdy Partner, and welcome to the small town of Rusty Bellows! The residents have, mysteriously, lost their current postal worker and are in desperate need of an interim carrier while the Sheriff solves the missing case. That's why we need you—a renowned Fellow of The Stamp—to help! In Rusty Bellows you will meet seven (7) residents with unique mailing needs. You will have the distinct pleasure of helping and befriending... perhaps even fall in love... with a lucky local. It's up to you to decide if you'll help solve the mystery or just enjoy the town while you're here.

💌 7 unique romanceable options 💌 LGBT+ cast (including nonbinary, ace, and trans characters) 💌 SFW stories

[impossible-rat-babies]

actually no yeah I’m still bothered by The Things but several Other Things Aren’t Helping

[flarnador]

Imagine having your girl stolen by this fashion abomination

[angelfic]

Howdy! Could I request a Theodore Nott, secret relationship, “don’t leave me… please”. ❤️

here u go!! i actually really like this idea and kind of wanna recycle it for a longer fic maybe.. 🤔 thank u for the request! 💌

theodore nott x reader + secret relationship + “don’t leave me… please”

➺ part of my 2k milestone writing game

You’re stressfully stirring sugar into your tea in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place when Mattheo and Theodore turn up, bruised and bloody in the hands of Alastor Moody.

The Auror had sent a message in advance through his Patronus, alerting members of the Order that he was heading to headquarters with two death eater defectors. An hour of hoping it’s who you think, and three cups of tea later, you breathe a sigh of relief when you realise Mattheo and Theo are alive.

The way Theo is leaning his weight on Mattheo doesn’t slip past you, and as soon as he finds you among the others, you rush forward.

“Hi,” Theo whispers, the greeting reserved only for you despite the numerous others in the dining room. His eyes are drooping slightly as he sways on his feet. Nonetheless, he gives you a weak smile. “I’m okay. I promise.”

You nod slowly, brows furrowed in concern despite his reassurance. Ignoring Moody’s confused stares, along with the whispering happening behind you, you do a quick scan of Mattheo and find that he’s definitely had worse injuries from spontaneous fist fights during your years at Hogwarts.

“Are you okay?” you mouth at him, just in case. He winks at you in answer.

Moody, seemingly snapping out of his confusion, turns to you and raises a brow. “You know these two, then?” he asks gruffly, a hint of suspicion creeping into his voice.

“We all went to school together,” Dean Thomas pipes up, saving you from having to stumble over your words in an attempt to explain your relationship with Theo.

There’s no doubt in your mind that everyone in the room suspects you and Theo are more than just schoolmates, but you don’t move to address anything. The implications of you being in love with an ex-death eater aside, it’s none of their business. Moody doesn’t quite seem to accept this immediately.

”School,” he mutters, nodding begrudgingly. “And how well do you-”

“Alastor,” McGonagall cuts him off sharply. Peering at him over her spectacles, she purses her lips. “You can get to interrogating them about being Transfiguration partners after they’ve recovered. These boys need a healer. Now.”

“Yes, yes,” Moody replies grumpily, reluctantly letting them go to open the door to the hall. “We’ve got Poppy in the living room. She’ll fix them up, nice and quick.”

You step back to give the two boys space to make their way to the Healer, but Theo catches your hand and grips it tightly. “No. No, Y/N can do it. Just give her some of the medicine, I’m not seeing anyone else.”

You open your mouth to object, wanting Madame Pomfrey to assess him properly, but the pleading in his eyes has you hesitating.

“Don’t leave me…” Theo’s voice becomes lower, quieter and earnest. “Please.”

“Okay,” you exhale, cupping his face with your hand and stroking your thumb over his cheekbone. You look over at Professor McGonagall for confirmation and when she sighs and nods, you respond with a grateful smile before turning back to Theo. “I won’t leave you.”

Mattheo clears his throat, popping the little bubble you and Theo have found yourself in and making you look away, cheeks warm. Walking over to where Moody holds the door open, Mattheo gives you both a knowing look before speaking to the rest of the room. “I guess I‘ll be seeing dear, old Poppy alone then. Nothing she hasn’t fixed before.”

Taking this as your cue to leave, you wrap an arm around Theo’s waist to support him as you make your way out of the room and up the stairs to an empty room. You help him to sit on the bed and disentangle your hand from his, dropping a kiss to the inside of his palm. “I need to go get the stuff from Madame Promfrey, I won’t be a minute-”

“Not yet,” Theo pleads, hooking pinky finger around your own and tugging lightly. “I’m not that injured, just… come here for a second.”

Your resolve crumbles immediately due to not having seen Theo since school ended a month ago, during which he was trying to leave the other side of the war without getting himself killed. You sit next to him on the bed, but he immediately reaches over to manoeuvre you by the waist until your legs are wrapped around him in a straddling position. Theo presses a soft kiss to your lips and the pure love radiating from him makes your heart jump to your throat. When he pulls away, he looks more relaxed and content than he has in months.

“Hi,” he says, a gentle smile playing about his lips while he fingers the hem of your shirt where it sits at your back. Tingles run down your spine where his cold fingers brush against your skin and you end up leaning into his chest even more, causing his smile to deepen. “I missed you, darling.”

“What, Crabbe and Goyle weren’t good company?” you tease, tilting your head. Theo scoffs in disgust, lightly tugging on a lock of your hair and looking at you expectantly. “I missed you too, Theo. So, so much. I’m glad you got out.”

“Me too,” he sighs, dropping his head to rest on your shoulder. You both stay in silence for a few minutes and you bask in the warmth of Theo’s breaths fanning over your collarbone. He nestles his face into your neck and seems perfectly happy just to stay there when he speaks. “It was torture staying away, you know. I’m never leaving your side again.”

You run your fingers through Theo’s hair, lightly scratching at his scalp and biting back a smile when he lets out a sound halfway between a sigh and a groan. “You being glued to me is probably going to make it clear that we’re more than ex-Transfiguration partners, by the way.”

“I bet you anything they all already know,” Theo murmurs distractedly. You frown and sit up straighter to look at him, raising a curious brow in questioning. He looks at you like it’s obvious. “Mattheo is downstairs, unsupervised. If he hasn’t told everyone by now…”

You shake your head, shifting to move off Theo’s lap. A pout forms on his lips, but he reluctantly lets you stand. “I better go do some damage control while I go get the stuff from Pomfrey. Merlin knows what embarrassing things Mattheo is telling them right now.”

“I can think of a few things,” Theo says, his innocent voice contrasting with the devious smirk on his face. “Like the time we were in the Astronomy Tower and you were too loud, so-”

“Right, okay!” you interrupt loudly, screwing your eyes shut in embarrassment as you try your best not to relive that particular memory. Taking a deep breath and ignoring the way Theo is cracking up, you smile sweetly at him. “You haven’t had any injuries to the head, have you?”

“No, love,” he replies, grinning. “Why?”

You grab a pillow and swing it into Theo’s face, knocking him backwards on the bed. Crossing your arms in satisfaction, you falter when he stays laying down and moans in pain.

“What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?” you rush out, panicked as you move the pillow out of the way to climb onto the bed and hover over him. Theo cracks his eyes open slightly, his face scrunched up in discomfort and your stomach drops. “Theo, where does it hurt?”

“Here, come closer,” Theo winces, gesturing you forward, closer and closer and you furrow your brows in confusion. When you’re close enough, he snakes his hand around to the nape of your neck and pulls you into a deep kiss, burying his fingers in your hair. You don’t bother admonishing him, your head getting dizzy from the feel of his lips moving against your own. You only pull away when you hear sudden laughter coming from downstairs. Theo doesn’t look ashamed in the slightest when you do. “All better.”

“Not yet, you’re not,” you say, rolling your eyes and sitting up again. You make sure you put all of your weight on the mattress to do so, just in case you actually do end up hurting him. “I’m actually going downstairs now, okay? The idea of Mattheo talking to McGonagall is driving me crazier by the minute.”

“Come back quickly?” he asks lightly, but there’s a hint of pleading in the way his hand circles your wrist. You give him a reassuring smile and another quick peck on the lips.

“Always.”

[buckarooranch]

Howdy partner! 🤠

Saddle up and get ready to liven up your Western tack room with our brand spankin' new Western Tack Room set! This here collection comes packed with 8 downright fancy decorative pieces that'll turn your place into a genuine cowboy haven.

We're talkin' Western Boots, Western Hats, a sturdy Bulletin Board, a Hanging Western Saddle, a danglin' Western Pad, and to top it all off, a Hanging Western Bridle and a custom Saddle Stand. It's the whole shebang, and then some! 😎

Now, we gotta tip our hats to Sass and Freckles for rustlin' up that stunning hanging Bridle mesh. We took it and spun it into a Western Bridle, decked out with a jaw-droppin' Native American pattern. It's a real showstopper! ✨

And just so you know, each of these items comes in a bunch of colors, so you can pick and choose to match your style.

Details:

- Includes:

Western Boots (13 swatches)

Western Hat (12 swatches)

Hanging Western Hat (12 swatches)

Bulletin Board (8 swatches)

Hanging Western Saddle (18 swatches)

Hanging Western Pad (6 swatches)

Hanging Western Bridle (15 swatches)

Saddle stand (8 swatches).

- Can be found in Decorations

🌻 ~ Howdy

Some of the in-game pictures:

Patreon (Free!) | Website

[theminecraftbee]

situation ask game: joe hills for 16?

16. Meeting past/future self

"Howdy!" Joe Hills says.

"Howdy!" Joe Hills says back. "This seems to be quite the predicament."

"Oh god, there are two of them," whispers Doc. He'd just wanted to check on the log shop, man. Joe had said something about fixing some redstone (inherently terrifying to hear), and he'd just wanted to come check on it and inevitably fix the fixed redstone, and now there are two of them.

"I have to say," the first Joe Hills--presumably, the original one, given that he's insisting on saying everything through that stupid hand puppet he made this season, although Doc couldn't tell you--says. "I'm fairly certain seeing my own ghostly visage is normally considered a bad sign in most literature. Luckily, this isn't literature, so I can ignore the ill portent."

"Alas, I am, in fact, a bad omen," the second Joe Hills says, all too cheerfully. The second Joe Hills does not have a hand puppet and appears by all measures to be a ghost. Doc would generally agree that's a bad sign too, except for the fact that the Joe he knows is a ghost about fifty percent of the time, and oh no, he's already confused. There are two of them and he's already confused.

Maybe he should go get some coffee. The cafe Cleo set up is supposed to be good, and if he's this confused, maybe he'll manage to get himself to walk past the cats before he remembers he's supposed to be scared.

"Oh no," Doc's Joe says. "I don't have time for bad omens. For one, I'm not any good at killing pillagers. For another thing, I'm busy. See I was trying to help and I accidentally broke Doc's redstone and I feel bad because I think he's like, actually for-real mad about it, not fake mad, and we're supposed to be business partners, right, so I thought I'd come here and fix the redstone. Except then when I was hanging out with Mumbo at the end of our setup confessional Mumbo mentioned something and I just now remembered it and I think I fixed it wrong, so I'm here to try to figure that out, and that means I really don't have time for a bad omen."

"We never do," the ghost Joe says, shaking his head.

Doc, weirdly, feels touched.

"So if you could go away and give me dire warnings later--"

"Sorry, I don't have time to be put off for later! If you put this off for future Joe, you're putting this off to me! Then I'll have to do this all over again, and it'll be a closed time loop. Or, I guess mostly closed, because I don't remember this. But maybe you hit your head and forget everything! I don't know! I don't know how time travel works, but closed time loops were always the really confusing ones because they try to make sense. If we don't try to make sense you might still be able to change things."

"Oh no. What if this is a self-fulfilling prophecy?"

"I hadn't considered that," the ghost Joe says.

"I mean, everything I've ever read says that in trying to avert catastrophe, I am likely to accidentally cause it!" Doc's Joe says.

"Maybe the solution is for you to not believe my warnings?" the ghost Joe says. "No, that always ends badly too. That means there's dramatic irony!"

"Right, right. Maybe you just have to be as clear as possible, so I can't misinterpret your words?"

"No, I think the solution is to be vague," the ghost Joe says. "Good prophecies are normally vague that way. I mean, I'm mostly just here to tell you how to avert the nasty end of the world that kills everyone super dead, not anything too complicated! If I put too many details in, I'll leave in a dramatically appropriate loophole by accident, and then you'll never manage it."

"True, but Cleo says that I should always be given exact instructions, or I'll do the wrong thing on purpose," Doc's Joe says.

"We do that even more with exact instructions."

"That is true! And I guess it's harder to remember exact instructions?"

"Maybe the solution, given that I am going to vanish back to the past in five minutes," the ghost Joe says, "is that I should simply write down my instructions. That will make them harder to misremember or misinterpret."

"I will lose those too! This is too much responsibility!"

"I know! That's what I said!" ghost Joe says. "I said, why are you asking me. I mean I know the ghost thing is the only reason I can do this, but I don't want this kind of responsibility! I am not trustworthy! You all have known this since, like, day one, stop putting this kind of stressful responsibility on me! I do weird things when I'm stressed! I mean, I'm always stressed--"

"That's true, we are," Doc's Joe interjects.

"--but this is even more stressful than that! If I thought anyone else could do it, I would have said no! And now I don't know how to--"

"Man, if the world is going to end and kill all of us, stop worrying and just say how," Doc says, stepping out of his hiding place and throwing up his hands. "You're wasting time!"

"Oh, you're right," ghost Joe says. "So, the world will end when--"

He vanishes.

Doc and Doc's Joe stare after ghost Joe into the distance. Finally, Joe, with the world's most betrayed expression, turns to Doc.

"You scared me off!" he says. "If you hadn't shown up I'm sure I would have explained eventually."

"WHAT," Doc says as calmly as possible back. It does not appear to appease the Joe he's left with at all.

[lostinforestbound]

Oh boy howdy I've been thinking about the wizard a lot so here we go! I'm aware this is out of nowhere but I got inspired after reading some of his dialogue in-game!

My General Rolan Headcanons

Touched-Starved. If you searched up the word touch-starved and look at the photos, it would be this man's face. He hasn't experienced a kind touch outside from his siblings in a very long time.

Rolan is a lip biter! When anxious or frustrated, he bites and chews at his own lips, sometimes to the point of bleeding. He never realizes it until he tastes blood on his tongue.

When Rolan isn't biting his lips, he's for sure biting his nails. It's mostly chewing, but if he's under a lot of stress, he'll bite them off.

He has chronic nightmares, specifically about Cal and Lia's his mother. It stems purely from his survival's guilt after she passed away, and he was left to take care of Cal and Lia by himself. The nightmares had a period of getting significantly worse during and after Lorroakan's abuse.

Speaking of their mother; they have miniature portraits of her. Cal gave him one a very long time ago, but he hasn't been able to look at it after her death. In his dreams, he never sees her face, but he sees her eyes. (I touched on what the nightmares would look like in my own fic)

His tiefling traits are very sensitive. His horns, upper tail, ears, everything. He allows no one to touch them at all (except a few trusted people, which includes Tav if they are together and his siblings)

To those who enjoy the headcannon of Tieflings purring: I would say Rolan's purr is pretty high in register, mostly noise than vibration. It's high in his throat rather than in his chest.

Tieflings run hot, but I would say Rolan runs a little colder than most tieflings. It's why he hates the cold so much, especially when it snows. He has to bundle up and it's incredibly irritating. Not to mention the cold already brings bad memories of he and his siblings struggles during the winter months.

He absolutely has a whole morning routine that he never changes after he gets settled in the tower. It's his one chance to pamper himself and feel good for a little bit. He'll clean his face, putting a form of moisturizer on and letting it sit as he brushes out his hair. He already has his outfit for the day set on the bed and waiting for when he gets out.

I definitely think Rolan developed some depression and/or a panic disorder after, well, everything he's been through (Or he's already had it and it got so much worse). At first he tries to get through it by himself, but unsurprisingly, it made it worse. After some stubbornness, he lets himself be helped by either Cal, Lia, or his partner.

The king of overworking. He'll wear himself down to the bone before he accepts going to bed and relaxing. He can't accept rest, not until he's done with this one last thing-

In general, Rolan loves fiercely. He loves Cal and Lia to death, and he would do anything for them. Gods forbid someone hurts them, the hells would rain fire that day. This goes the same for whoever his lucky partner is.

(If you have your own headcanons, please please please share them! I would love to hear them!)

[osleeplessflowero]

Oneshot Masterpost

A collection of my oneshots! Series gradually being updated. These links are specific to Tumblr, BUT I have also posted quite a few of these on my Ao3! I also have fics on there, which I will also be making a masterpost for + uploading the chapters to tumblr.

🏡Neighborhood Series🏡

A series of randomized oneshots that take place in the same universe, a timeline where the skeleton duos all live in their own houses in a singular neighborhood.

In order(with links attached):

{Lore Related v}

🌠Stargazing (Classic Sans! First oneshot I wrote.)🔭

✨Back To You (Also Classic Sans, takes place a little bit after the former.)💤

🎸Concert Night (Fell!Sans)🎵

{Out Of Order/Bonus Content v}

🏍Stress Relief (Fell/Red! I need to write him again..)💢

📻Close (Blue/Reader) [I don't really like this one that much anymore but I'll keep it up for any that do]🎵

🏖Beach Day (Swap Bros!)🌊

☕️Relax. (Fell Papyrus/Edge!)❄️

🌃Late Night Walk (Rus/Reader)🛹

🪓Scare Actor!Horror🎃

A series mainly themed for Halloween where Reader has a chance encounter with Horror while going to a Haunted House with their partner. Takes place in a Post-Pacifist Horrortale timeline, so Horror goes by Sans.

Part 1: Scares and a Sudden Friendship🎃🪓

Part 2: Coffee Hangout☕

Part 3: New Experiences // Meeting Papyrus!🥄

📖Fairytale Series🪄

A series of miscellaneous fairytale-based scenarios featuring your favorite skeletons. Some may have connections to others!

🗡️Assassin!Red/Mage!Reader🪄

⚔️Knight!Blue/Reader🎶

👑King!Nightmare/Ruler!Reader(Start of a Bad Sanses series)💢

🌹King!Dream/Ruler!Reader (An alternate timeline to the former concept)🪄

🤠Cowboy!Stretch🐎

An AU where Stretch and Blue live on a ranch and work as cowboys. The other skeletons ARE present in other areas, but this mainly just focuses on Stretch and his growing relationship with Reader. Could be considered Farmtale inspired.

🥃Part 1: howdy.🍯

🐴Part 2: Going for a ride🏇

💚Nightmare/Multiverse Traveler!Reader✨

An endless(?) game of Cat and Mouse, where Nightmare chases Reader across the Multiverse in order to finally be with them. Mutual pining, we love to see it!!

🎭Part 1: Chasing🌌

🌺Part 2: Blooms. (Angst)🥀

🖤Bad Sanses Shenanigans🔪

A collection of scenarios with everybody's favorite villains.

🎃Pumpkin Carving! (was originally a part of a now cancelled Halloween writing challenge series.)🔪

☃️Snow Day! (Christmas Special)🌨

🛌Sleepover!💕

🛝i'm here. (Dust Comfort)💜

🔪"Knife" To Meet'cha (Killer/Reader #1)🍻

🌹Falling For Ya (Killer/Reader #2(?) ) 🌃

🔒Cornered (Dust/Reader) (Kinda steamy)💜

🌌Alone With You (Dust/Reader)💕

AmalgaMATE

A scenario where Reader is an amalgamate of several different Reader souls, and is hopelessly in love with Science/Classic? Sans.

🧪Part 1: me and the amalgamate i pulled by being a punny guy 🔒

🤍Part 2: Soulmates?!🤍

Standalone Oneshots

Oneshots that haven't been made into series yet/are intended to be by themselves.

☔️Chance Encounter (Dream/Reader)🚍

🎶Dream/Fem Reader (Requested)🌳

💌Messages + Confessions (Error/Reader)📄

🛍First Meeting (Fell Papyrus/Edge!/Fem Reader)🐾 (Requested)

🫧Into The Sea (Merman!Blue/Reader)🌊

☕Home (Cross/Reader)🏠 (Requested)

Star Sanses HQ Shenanigans(Star Sanses & Reader [Platonic]) (Requested)

Flirting With Death (Reaper/Immune!Reader) (Requested)

🎡Carnival Date (Classic!Papyrus/Reader) (Requested)🧣

😱Frightening New Friend (Horror!Papyrus & Reader)🎃 [Halloween Special]

🌊A Light In The Depths (Mer!Nightmare/Reader)🤿

😳Crushing (Cross x Swap Universe!Reader) (Requested)💜

🛞Immune (Siren!Nightmare/Reader)⛵

🩹(Platonic)Fell Sans & Reader Hurt/Comfort (Requested)❤️‍🩹

🌑Bittersweet (Flirty Vampire!Nightmare x Vampire Hunter!Reader)🗡️

My oneshot requests ARE OPEN if you would like to submit one, you can check out my rules post here! (You can send requests via Ask(Preferred) or here in the comments if you'd like.) Happy reading!

[flanaganfilm]

Hello and Howdy Mr. Mike Flanagan! I'm excited to see you here on our humble hellsite. I have so much to say and ask about your netflix shows but for the moment, I want to ask about Doctor Sleep because I enjoyed that movie immensely - it filled me with a pleasant sense of dread, which possibly makes no sense, or a lot of sense.

What was that creative process like? Reconciling book and movie canons, following Kubrick's legacy, working with Ewan and Rebecca and Zahn and everyone else. I'm obsessed with King adaptations and I'm just fascinated with Doctor Sleep.

Alright! Buckle up for yet another long read.

Thank you for your question, and for this opportunity to go back and talk about DOCTOR SLEEP. It's a very special film to me, and a very special time in my life as well.

It all started with a general meeting with Jon Berg at Warner Bros.

The meeting itself started pretty wild - Adrien Brody walked out of the office as I was waiting to go in. Jon introduced us and we chatted for a few minutes, and I was a little out of whack for the rest of the meeting because I had a very potent "wow that was Adrien Brody" buzz going.

We were meant to talk about DC Comics and see if there was anything to do there. I was really hoping to chat about a horror-slanted Clayface movie, and about my favorite superhero: Superman.

Neither conversation went very far. I had just finished GERALD'S GAME, and Jon was a King fan, so he asked about the production. And then he asked if I'd ever read Warners' script for DOCTOR SLEEP.

I had. In fact, I had tried very hard to get a meeting at the studio when the book was first published. Warners owned the rights to DOCTOR SLEEP outright - it was part of their deal going all the way back to THE SHINING - so they immediately began looking into movie options when the book was published. Akiva Goldsman had written a script, and it was one of the first projects I asked about when I signed with WME as a client years before. "That isn't going anywhere," they told me. "I don't think that movie gets made."

They had tried to get me the meeting anyway, but no one at Warners responded. I never got in the room.

But now, here I was. What did I have to lose at this point?

"I did read it," I said. "I'd take a different approach." Jon sat back and smiled. "I love the book, Rose is one of the great villains of all time," he said. I agreed. He probed. "What's wrong with the script?"

"I don't think it follows the book closely enough."

"What would you do?"

"I'd do the book. Streamline it, combine some characters, and you'd have to rethink the True Knot a bit. But otherwise, just do the book. As long as it's a three-hander between Danny, Abra and Rose it'll work. With one big asterisk."

"What's that?"

"I think you have to bring back the hotel. Kubrick's hotel, I mean."

Jon smiled wider. "Yeah, it's a bummer the hotel burned down. King goes out of his way at the start of the book to emphasize that - no Overlook, look no further."

This was my biggest gripe with the book.

I said "When I read the book, all I could see was Kubrick's hotel. I think you do the book as close as you possibly can, until the big fight at the end. Instead of it taking place in an empty field, let it be in the hotel."

Jon: "Do you think King will be upset if you change his ending? You know how feels about THE SHINING, right?"

Me: "What if we gave him THAT ending? What if we let Danny have Jack's ending? Jack sacrificed himself to save his family and destroy the Overlook - why not let Danny do that? Change the ending, sure, but give him the ending Kubrick denied him."

We shook hands, and I called my producing partner Trevor Macy to tell him it was a good general, but nothing was coming out of my DC meeting. By the time I'd made it back to my car, though, Jon had reached out to Stephen King and asked if he'd be interested in me taking a swing at it. Steve, who had enjoyed GERALD'S GAME, said yes.

I was immediately petrified when the call came in that they might want to engage me on a rewrite of DOCTOR SLEEP, with a directorial attachment. I'd have to rewrite the script from scratch, and I kind of felt like they were calling my bluff. But the deal was made and quite suddenly I was adapting DOCTOR SLEEP.

First order of business was to make King aware of what I intended to do. I had just established a tentative relationship with my hero over GERALD'S GAME, and the last thing - the very last thing in the world I ever wanted - was to upset him. We weren't in direct communication, we spoke through agents and emails at this point - but I had to make him aware of the Overlook thing.

I put together a proposal that outlined what I wanted to do - use Kubrick's visual language, and keep the Overlook standing as a setting for the final battle. The initial feedback we got was "no." King really, really didn't like Kubrick's film, and his priority was to adapt DOCTOR SLEEP - not to revisit THE SHINING.

I told him that if he didn't want me to do it, I wouldn't - I'd walk away from the movie before I made something he hated. But as a last ditch effort, I said "imagine the Overlook, decrepit and rotten. And imagine Dan Torrance having walk in to 'wake it up,' the lights coming on above his head as he walks the halls. He finds his way to the Gold Room. To the familiar bar, where an empty glass is waiting for him. And we see a familiar bartender ready to pour for him, saying 'good evening Mister Torrance.' What if that bartender is his father?"

After a bit of a delay, King got back to us. "Do it," he said.

Writing the script was tough. I immediately felt like I had stepped into a very unsafe space. "This is going to piss everybody off," I figured. Kubrick fans would be livid that the movie was being made. King fans might be angry that Kubrick's imagery was being homaged. There was no way to please everyone, so I set about writing the movie I wanted to see most.

It was a slightly nauseous feeling that would stay with me until the movie came out.

I sat down to write with a hardcover copy of DOCTOR SLEEP to my right, and a hardcover copy of THE SHINING to my left. I read both cover to cover, sticking post-its throughout the pages with ideas, or flagging lines of dialogue (or even prose) that I wanted to protect. I managed to put together a basic outline for the movie, which was intimidating and sprawling.

I finally finished the draft and sent it off to Warner Bros. and King at the same time. I was shooting THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE at the time, and thought it would take a long while and a few more iterations before SLEEP would go anywhere, if it ever did.

Warner Bros. shocked us all by coming back with a green light. I've been told that it was one of the fastest green lights in the recent history of the studio, and I believe it.

It happened so fast, in fact, that Steve hadn't read the script yet. I got an email from him on a Friday saying "I read the first half, and I absolutely love it - my son's getting married, so I'll pick it up in a week or so and finish it, but great so far!" I was nauseous... because I knew everything that King was likely to hate was in the second half.

When he finally did finish reading it, about a week later, he reached out and said:

"I think it's really good. In my experience, this is the kind of script studios don't make, because it's TOO good. Hopefully I'm wrong. But no matter how it turns out, thanks for treating me so well. - Steve"

I had the distinct pleasure of being able to write him back and tell him that Warner Bros. had just greenlit the movie. And we were off to the races.

The pressure was enormous. They were spending a lot of money on this movie, and because of the insane box office success of IT: CHAPTER ONE, expectations were very high.

We were given access to Kubrick's blueprints for the Overlook hotel set, which were still held at Warner Bros. While we set about rebuilding the sets, our attention turned to casting.

For Dan, we met with a handful of actors: Dan Stevens, Chris Evans, Matt Smith, and Jeremy Renner all came in to chat about the movie. But Ewan McGregor, who himself was eight years sober (just like Dan), was the obvious choice. "Let's not talk about the Shining yet," he said. "I want to talk about recovery." He was the guy.

For Rose the Hat, we talked with several actresses, including Anne Hathaway, Nicole Kidman, and my dear friend Karen Gillan - but Rebecca Ferguson knocked our socks off on a 90-minute zoom meeting, and the part was hers.

Finding Abra Stone was more difficult - we auditioned more than 900 girls for the part. We'd narrowed it down to a half-dozen very promising and successful young actresses, including Lulu Wilson (who I'd worked with several times before and adore), but Kyliegh Curran's self-tape audition rose to the very top of the pile. Ewan flew to Atlanta to read with our final picks, and when Kyliegh - who lived 15 minutes from our office, was local casting, and had never booked a job before - finished reading, he turned to us and said "I mean it's her, right?" It absolutely was.

When we cast her, we invited her back to the office after school one day to get oriented. The crew was so excited for her that they decorated the production office in her honor.

As the rest of the cast fell in, we started doing our camera tests and getting excited about what we were putting together. My feeling over overwhelming nausea only got stronger.

We started shooting in September of 2018. The shoot was long, but never exhausting. The cast and crew were uniformly pleasant and happy to be there, and after the soul-crushing slog that had been THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, it was a relief to enjoy working again.

Kate was pregnant with our daughter Theo at the time. She visited as much as she could, but finally couldn't travel any more. Being away from Kate and our son Cody was hard, but I'm so grateful that we got to share some time on set together.

All things considered, this was a smooth shoot. But something happened for me while we were making it that would change the course of my life forever.

See, THE SHINING is about alcoholism. King wrote it while in the throes of his own addiction, and it is a novel about the anxiety he felt about what he could potentially do to his family if left unchecked. It's one of the reasons he was so upset with Kubrick's adaptation - all of that was taken away. This is a profoundly personal story for King.

When he wrote DOCTOR SLEEP, he was decades sober. The story of DOCTOR SLEEP is the story of recovery. This was something that Ewan knew very well, and why he was perfect for the part. He knew what the journey felt like. He wasn't alone - there were a number of cast and crew members on this shoot that were sober. In fact, just about all of the actors who played main characters were sober. I was still drinking at the time, though it had already become obviously problematic in my life, I hadn't taken any meaningful steps to change it.

This photograph was taken on 10/12/2018. This was taken on the day I got sober. I quit cold turkey, in the middle of production. I was clinging to vices at the time. Note not only the cigarette in my hand (I was smoking almost 2 packs a day), but the ash tray that had been rigged to the top of my viewfinder by the camera department. (I don't smoke anymore either, just about four years without cigs as well... and I still miss them.)

I had been writing about addiction for a decade. It was all over my work, going all the way back to ABSENTIA. I didn't realize just how much I was writing about myself, and I still can't believe it took me this long.

I vividly recall writing the scene between Dan and Jack at the bar. My wife pointed out to me after the fact that she could see it then, that something was changing in me when it came to drinking. Something was waking up, and I was processing a desperate need to sober up. That scene represents an internal conversation that is profoundly personal to me. It's still my favorite scene of the movie.

I've been sober now for over 4 years. DOCTOR SLEEP helped me finally make that decision. I finished the shoot sober, and came home to my life with a lot of uncertainty and insecurity. But with the unflinching support of my incredible wife, and some amazing friends, my life started to really blossom. It was pretty immediately evident that this was one of the best decisions I'll ever make.

Meanwhile, though, I had to finish DOCTOR SLEEP.

I LOVED the movie we'd made, but I was still terrified of what King would think of it - not to mention Kubrick's estate.

When we finished the cut, I flew to Bangor to screen the finished film for Steve. It was the first I'd meet him in person, and one of the most insanely exciting and humbling days of my life.

We watched the movie together, and I was acutely aware of each and every little reaction he had throughout.

(With Trevor Macy, my producing partner at Intrepid)

When the show as over, Steve turned to me and said "You did a beautiful job." And ultimately, he added that this film had made him warm up to the Kubrick movie as well.

A week later, we heard from Kubrick's estate that they had also loved the movie.

With King's blessing, and Kubrick's family, I felt that nausea finally subside. I said to Kate, "that's it. That's all that matters. Doesn't matter if the movie crashes and burns - we already won the important battle."

And then, the movie crashed and burned.

A group of us went to see it opening night at Arclight Hollywood (my favorite theater). We were just about the only people there. And I knew immediately that we were going to have a bad weekend.

The movie didn't perform very well. Warner Bros. was disappointed, and ended up scrapping the Dick Hallorann movie we were planning, as well as the Overlook Hotel prequel.

I was pretty crest-fallen. I'd spent years tossing and turning over whether audiences would be divided between the King and Kubrick camps. I'd been petrified that they'd be furious, venomous, run me out on a rail... I'd never considered that they'd be utterly disinterested. Apathy wasn't even on my radar.

Steve called me the Monday after opening weekend with some words of encouragement. "I remember when THE SHINING bombed," he said. "And SHAWSHANK. Give it some time. It'll find its audience. It's a really good movie."

That has turned out to be true. While it didn't set the world on fire theatrically, the movie has over-performed on VOD and streaming. And when Warner Bros. released the Directors Cut (I'm still so grateful that they did that), it popped even more.

So yes, to answer your question - the pressures were enormous. I hope this paints a little picture of what it was like. The biggest gift I got out of it, though, was sobriety.

I reached out to King a year later, on my first sober birthday. I hadn't told him I was sober, but it felt like time to do it. I got to thank him. "I never told you this, but I sobered up while we were shooting DOCTOR SLEEP, and I don't think I would have done it without your words. Living in that story, and marinading in the concepts of recovery and redemption made it possible. I just want to thank you."

He wrote back his congratulations, and then mentioned "as it happens, I'm off to celebrate 30 years myself. It only gets better and better."

And he is absolutely right.

DOCTOR SLEEP was the perfect project for me after the nightmare that was HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE. I fell in love with making movies again. And I found a new and wonderful gear for my life. It has only made everything better - my marriage, my work, my experience walking around on planet earth. I'm so grateful for it.

When I think of DOCTOR SLEEP, I think of Ewan sitting at the bar and looking at the glass in his hand. "Man takes a drink, drink takes a drink... and then the drink takes the man. Ain't it so, dad."

Ewan understood those words better than I did when I typed them into the script. I understand them much better now.

There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not profoundly grateful for my time at the Overlook. And for myriad of ways my life has been changed because of it.

[howdypartner-game]

Valko and his character inspiration! 🐺

[willalove75]

Being Rebecca's partner /gf ( younger like Keeley ) and some of the boys flirt with reader. Both remain professional and hide their relationship but there's just something about a possessive strict rebbeca ...

Loveeee thisss!! Thank you so much for the request!💕💕

Warnings: Smuttt (idk how to write a possessive Rebecca without it tbh LOL)

18+ only Minors DNI

Tension was at an all-time high. Sitting next to Rebecca, you can feel the stress radiating off of her. All you want to do is wrap your arms around her, kiss her on the head and whisper words of comfort into her ear. When she glances over at you, you know that's all she wants too. But the two of you were in public and you haven't told a soul about your relationship yet, both of you agreed to keep it under wraps for the time being. Plus the season was almost over, neither of you felt the need to make the end of the season more chaotic than it was already about to be.

What was not helping the tension, or Rebecca's stress, was the fact that you were at an away game at West Ham. The team Rupert recently purchased.

Laying in your arms last night, Rebecca told you how nervous she was to go to the game, that she was anxious about seeing her piece of shit ex-husband again. Running your fingers through her soft blond hair, you reassured her that everything was going to be fine, and that you would be by her side, no matter what.

"Howdy boss, y/n!" Ted pulls both you and Rebecca out of your spiraling thoughts.

"Hello Ted." Rebecca says.

"Hey!"

"How 'bout the two of ya'll come in for the team mixer, West Ham and the boys are all getting acquainted with one another before the big showdown."

Exchanging glances, Rebecca reluctantly stands up and you follow the two of them inside.

It was noisy and pretty crowded, also unusual for the two teams to be getting together like this before a match, but you decided to not think much of it and followed Ted and Rebecca to the bar. Just before you reach your destination, someone pulls Rebecca away to introduce her to some people. She shoots an apologetic look your way and you softly smile back at her, letting her know it's fine.

Walking up to the bar, you notice a couple of West Ham players make their way up to you. You do your best to not pay them any mind, but they make it impossible when they try and talk to you.

"This game was going to be a breeze, but knowing there's gonna be such a gorgeous woman in the stands, I think I'm gonna have a hard time focusing." One of the players says, flashing you a million dollar smile.

"If you get distracted that easily, you're gonna have more problems than the match." You retort.

"Pretty and quick, that's a rare combination."

"It's only rare when you give off the energy of an entitled football player."

The boys around him erupt in a chorus of "ohhhh shitt!" and you laugh, making the football player talking to you laugh as well.

Rebecca hears the commotion and looks over, immediately spotting you in the middle of a group of footballers. Her eyes are locked on you, there's a bubbling of, something, in her chest that feels foreign to her. Anger? Stress? Jealousy? That last one resonated more than she expected, what she jeal-

"Earth to boss, come in boss!" Ted says, pulling her back to reality.

"My apologies Ted, what was that again?"

Surrounded by the boys, you had no idea that Rebecca spotted the interaction. The player talking to you leans in a little more.

"May I buy you a drink gorgeous?"

"You're literally about to go play football, you're gonna drink?"

"Of course not, I have morals!" He says with a laugh and you shoot him a look, eliciting another laugh from the group. "I will be drinking water, what will you have?"

"I'm flattered, but no thank you."

"Please," he says, taking your hand into his. "I insist." He lightly kisses your knuckles and you stand there in shock for a second, never expecting him to be that bold.

Hearing laughter erupt, Rebecca looks over towards you again and see's the footballer lean in. Her eyes narrow when she see's him take your hand and place a kiss on it. Never in her life has Rebecca's body tensed up so much, seeing someone else's lips on your skin set something off in her that she's never felt before. Looking at your face, she knows immediately that you're uncomfortable. Even though she was in the middle of a conversation, before her brain can catch up with her legs, she's walking over towards you.

Walking straight through the group of guys, she stands next to you, an intense glare in her eyes directed at the player that was flirting with you.

"Don't you have a match to warm up for?" She says, her tone is cold and icy. It's taking every ounce of self control she has to not wrap her arm around your hip and pull you into a deep kiss, claiming you as hers.

With fear in his eyes, the guy mutters "oh right, yeah we gotta go." and walks away, the rest of the players following close behind him.

You let out a sigh of relief and turn towards Rebecca, you're surprised to see the intense look that's lingering in her eyes.

"Thank you- are you okay?"

She takes a deep breath and tried to ground herself.

"Yes, are you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just the usual footballers acting like dogs. You sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I promise." She says, leaning into your ear. "Although it took ever ounce of self control I had to not show all of them that you're mine." She says with a low voice.

Your heart skips a beat and you feel your cheeks blush a bit.

"Well, that certainly would have been interesting, wouldn't it?" You joke.

"You have no idea."

"Rebecca Welton, I didn't know you were the jealous type."

"Neither did I, I suppose it's only when someone tries to take what's mine."

"Fuck." You whisper, your eyes meet hers. Her pupils are dilated just enough to know how sincere, and turned on, she is.

"I'm walking away now before I do something stupid." She says with a mischievous look in her eyes. She gives you a wink and walks back towards the group she was talking to before.

The players slowly leave and prepare for the match, leaving the room much emptier than before, although there's still a lot of people left. Walking around with a drink in your hand, you wander aimlessly, eventually landing by one of the windows and looking out onto the pitch.

Rebecca spots you from across the room and can't help but smile as she watches you gaze out the window. Her attention is pulled back into the conversation she was in and she turns back to the group.

You're not sure how much time had passed, since you ended up spacing out looking outside, but you're sure the match is going to start soon. Just as you're about to walk away you feel a hand wrap gently around your arm. Turning around, you find yourself face-to-face with no one other than Rupert Mannion, Rebecca's ex-husband. For a second you freeze, you can't stand this man. You're convinced that he's dedicated at least 75% of his life to trying to ruin Rebecca's - for whatever sick reason. Trying to keep your scowl at bay, you try and smile at him, hiding your distain.

"You must be from Richmond, there's no way someone so beautiful could be working at West Ham and get by me." He says, laying the charm on thick.

"Yes, I am from Richmond." You say, ignoring the last half of what he said.

"My name is Rupert Mannion, please, take a seat." He gestures to the two chairs near the window.

"Oh, that's okay-"

"I insist." He has a look in his eye that's telling you he isn't asking.

To avoid any more confrontation, you sit, trying to see if you spot Rebecca anywhere.

"I'm sorry, what was your name again?" He asks.

"Y/n."

"Oh yes, I've heard of you. You're one of the newer additions to the fine staff over at Richmond."

"Uh, yeah."

"So, y/n, tell me, what is it that you do?"

You begin to describe your job and what you do on a daily basis. The more you speak, the further Rupert leans in. If you didn't know any better, you would be smitten by his charm. He may be a bastard, but he's certainly a charming one.

"What a coincidence, we recently lost someone in a similar position here. You wouldn't be interested in it, would you? I can guarantee you a much higher salary here than you would be making over at Richmond."

"Uh, I appreciate the offer, but no thanks, I really like it over there."

Rupert lets out an obnoxiously fake laugh.

"Oh you're a funny one. Well at least think about it, for me." He says, practically batting his eyelashes.

"Uh-" The words suddenly disappear from your lips when he puts his hand on your knee, slowly sliding it up to the middle of your thigh. You freeze, not having any idea of what to do. Well, you want to scream at him to get off of you and run into Rebecca's arms, but that's not an option for a plethora of reasons.

"I would love to have someone as gorgeous as you in my office every day, y/n." He says, leaning in.

As if she has a sixth sense for trouble, Rebecca turns back to look at you and see's you with Rupert. Her jaw clenches when she see's him talking to you. Shifting her eyes down, she see's his hand on your thigh, coupled with the look on your face, she feels like every cell in her body is bursting with anger.

Walking away from the group, Rebecca makes it over to you in an instant. You're pulled from your frozen state when you feel a hand wrap around your wrist, pulling you up.

"Get your hands off of her." Rebecca snaps at Rupert.

"Rebecca, dear, how are you?" He says, glaring at her.

"Keep your hands off of my staff Rupert." She growls, pulling you behind her.

"Ah, always the protective one, must be that maternal instinct kicking in, isn't it?"

Rebecca's hand tightens around your wrist, that one had to have hurt, even if it was a little. She glares at him with an anger you've never seen before and Rupert puts his hands out in front of him, signaling he means no harm.

"Alright, alright, I was only getting acquainted with your new staff member, no need to get angry dear."

Rupert stands up and begins to walk away.

"It was so lovely meeting you, y/n."

Rupert walks out to the stands and Rebecca pulls you out of the room. Down the hall, she opens a random door and finds a supply closet, pulling you in, she closes the door and pins you up against it.

With her hot breath against your skin, your knees almost give out underneath you. Her pupils are completely blown as she stares down at you, a hungry look in her eyes.

"Rebecca-"

"Sh," she says, putting a finger over your lips. "those stupid football players I can deal with, but him, that fucking asshole, absolutely not."

"I didn't-"

"I know, trust me I know that was all him, but even still. You are mine."

Before you can even agree to her statement her lips are on yours, her tongue pushing it's way into your mouth. She kisses you rough and passionately, as if she'd die if she ever stopped. Her hands pull at the fabric on your body, pressing you into her as hard as possible.

"How I would love you take you bent over his desk right now." She pants as she kisses you hard. "But this will have to do."

Her hands travel to the waistline of your pants and she unbuttons them and pulls them down to your ankles along with your underwear.

Seeing her like this, so possessive, so protective, so hot for you, she didn't even need to touch you for the wetness between your legs to threaten to leak down your thighs.

Slender fingers find their way between your folds and you moan into her mouth as they circle your clit. Once you're stimulated even further and Rebecca's fingers are coated in your arousal, she slides two fingers into you effortlessly until she's knuckle deep. Your eyes roll to the back of your head and you bite down on your lip to suppress the moan.

Rebecca begins to pump her fingers in and out of you, you know this is going to be fast and rough and the thought is only making your center drip even more.

"You are mine. All mine." She says as she fucks you. "Mine to do whatever I please with, mine to fuck wherever and whenever I want to."

Your nails begin to dig into her skin as she rushes you towards the edge, you won't last long, not with how she's fucking you and talking to you. She knows what gets you going and today she's pulling out every trick in her book.

"Say it, tell me you're all mine." She growls in your ear.

"I'm- fuck- I'm all yours, only yours, yours to do whatever you- ah! want with."

She picks up the pace and presses the base of her hand against your clit, grinding into it with every thrust of her wrist.

"You're such a good girl, letting me take you wherever I want. Watching those boys flirt with you, god I wanted to take you right then and there."

"Yeah?" You whine.

"Yeah, bend you over that bar and fuck you senseless."

"Oh fuck, Rebecca, I'm gonna-"

"Good girl, that's it, cum for me, I want you to cum all over my fingers."

She thrusts harder and curls into you, driving you right to the edge. You bite down on the collar of her blazer to keep your moans from ringing out into the building. Grinding down on her you clench and she shoves you over the edge into bliss.

Your eyes roll to the back of your head and your vision goes white. Your legs tremble underneath you, gripping onto Rebecca for dear life. She pulls the orgasm out of you for as long as possible before finally pulling her fingers out.

You fall into her arms, your body almost completely limp. She catches you and holds you tight, licking her fingers clean. Resting your head against her chest, you lay there for a minute as you catch your breath and come back down to Earth. Rebecca runs her fingers through your hair and kisses you on the top of your head.

"You were so good for me, thank you my love." She whispers into your hair, pressing another kiss into it.

Standing up straight, she holds onto your waist until she's sure you're steady on your feet. She pulls your underwear and pants back up, buttoning and zippering them again. Cupping your face, she brings her lips to yours and kisses you. This kiss is nothing like the last one, this one is soft, tender, filled with love. You kiss her back and wrap your arms around her neck, pulling her close into you.

When your lips part she fixes the collar on your shirt and you fix her blazer and wipe away the smeared lipstick from her lip.

"I should get you jealous more often, holy shit Rebecca." You say with a giggle.

"Don't play with fire my love, you'll get burnt." She says, placing one last kiss on your lips.

The match started by the time you got back to your seats, you got a few questioning looks from Higgins and Keeley but you both ignored them and sat down and watched the game.

Richmond ended up losing, pretty badly at that. Even though the match was lost, both you and Rebecca left the match satisfied in a much different way.

[storiesbyjes2g]

Hey Jess! I had a question that I figured other people might want to know as well. I'm always amused at how your game matches sims up to marry or have children. I was wondering, what are your MCCC settings that make it happen so well? I have sims sitting in my 'manage households' and none of them have married or moved out with the 'in game' story progression. What's the secret sauce? 🤣

Howdy, partner! 🤭 It's funny you should ask me this because on my seven mile long list of video ideas I have is a short series about MCCC settings, and this is one subject I wanted to cover. But who knows when I'll get it together and actually record those videos lol. As you could imagine, the secret sauce has many ingredients, so I'll put the rest of this under the cut because it's a lot. Here we go!

Even though I said this is a multipart answer--and it is--I'm gonna split this up into two sections because marriages and pregnancies are two separate entities. Many of the settings are the same, and they both fall under the MC Pregnancy module, but they're still separate, and I think of them differently.

Marriages

Marriage Sim Selection

The first thing you should consider is who you want marrying and if your sims should be included in the process. As you've seen, I like seeing the other sims' lives progress, even if it's messy AF LOL. I especially love this happening in the aDOLTing save because I'm technically not allowed to play with anyone else but Luca right now. BUT, I don't want every single sim there is to get married, leaving no single sims for my sims to date. That's what happened in Emmy's generation and why I added Ali into the world because there were exactly TWO eligible males in the entire world, and I knew one of them would definitely not work out. In the Marriage Sim Selection part of MC Pregnancy, you can specify who can and cannot get married. I'm not gonna through each setting, but here are a few that are important enough to note.

Allow homeless marriage: Unless you regularly add your own sims to the world, I would enable this. Otherwise you probably won't have any marriages happening. This is disabled by default. Yes, you run the risk of your unplayable sims marrying someone hideous, but it's better than them dying alone, right? Plus you can always make them over. Your sim doesn't know the difference anyway lol.

Bypass dorm residents: If you don't enable this, your university students will be eligible for marriages!

Bypass played households: IF you want to be the matchmaker for your sims (the playable ones), turn this on! If you're flexible and don't mind surprises, turn it off.

Bypass active sim romances: This one needs to be in red lol. TURN THIS ON! If your sim is dating an NPC, and you don't want that sim to suddenly turn up married (I'm giggling...you know why), you need this on. I think it's on by default though. The only "gotcha" with this setting is that the relationship has to be significant. Lovebirds status isn't strong enough to prevent a marriage. I usually get my sims into an official relationship as soon as possible to prevent this.

Other Marriage

In the Other Marriage section (MC Pregnancy), there are settings for renaming, moving, etc. after marriage. You should definitely check out the settings to tailor it to how you want your world to be, but I want to call out Use Traits for Marriage. This is a newer setting that I enabled as soon as it launched. It doesn't make sense for Don Lothario to get married in every single save. He has the noncommittal trait! Turning this on will take a sim's traits into consideration before determining if they are eligible for random marriages.

Spouse Sim Selection

In this section, you can do things like allow polygamy and inter-family marrying, specify what % of marriages should be same sex, allow teen marriages, etc. Here are just a few settings I want to call out.

Occupancy Preference: It took me some years to figure this out, but this is honestly the key to my entire setup. This determines which group of NPCs are candidates for marriages and pregnancies by where they live. The choices are homeless only, prefer home sims, living in homes only, and none. I have prefer home sims on. I like neighbors dropping by and seeing them walking around, so I tend to put my sims' friends and sims I like into homes. This setting says when it's time for random marriages and pregnancies to occur, sims living in homes get first dibs. If none of them are eligible, then everyone else will have a chance. I used to have this on none, and I was experiencing waaaaaay too many random marriages. Like, good on the homeless sims for having lives lol, but they were snatching up every single eligible sim and I was like this has to stop lol.

Use Same Age-Group: I've gone back and forth about enabling or disabling this one and finally decided to enable it. This will keep your fresh from high school babies from getting married to someone with one foot in the grave! Sims will only marry other sims in the same age group as them. Back in the day I felt sorry for the elders because they're always single when they die. But I also felt sorry for the baby they married lol. True, when they croak, the kid can find new love, but they've wasted so much time being married to the old sim. So with this on, elders aren't completely out of luck. They can just only marry each other.

Pregnancies

Okay! Now that we know how to let sims get married, let's learn how to knock some up! 😂

I would check out the Offspring section of MC Pregnancy on your own just to get familiar with how you can shape your sims' families and even the children to a certain extent, but let's get to the important stuff.

Other Pregnancy

There's really good stuff in here like allow pregnancy aging, pregnancy duration, and random moods, but the only thing I want to call out is Use Traits for Pregnancy. This will take into account sims traits before they are marked as candidates. It won't prevent sims with the hates children trait from getting knocked up, but it will lower the percentage (which you can specify in another section, I think).

Partner Sim Selection

This is similar to marriage sim selection, and in here I also prefer home sims in the occupancy preferences. I also allow a veeeery tiny percentage for allow affairs. I like tea, what can I say? LOL Not everyone is faithful!

Pregnant Sim Selection

This is similar to spouse selection, and I do not allow homeless pregnancies for the same reasons I don't allow homeless marriages. I have all the same settings enabled from spouse selection, so revisit the above. Additionally, I use days until max age. This prevents a sim from getting pregnant X number of days from the end of whatever lifespan you specify is the oldest to be pregnant. I don't allow elder pregnancies, so this stops my adult sims from getting pregnancy X days from their elder birthday. My number is 10, but you pick whatever makes sense for your lifespans. I do this because I've had waaaaaaay too many sims get pregnant and have babies like the day before their elder birthday, and then they die before the kid is a teenager. I don't want orphans in my game! They make me sad. Besides, in real life, at a certain point women can't have children anymore, so I want my game to be the same.

Days to Run Checks: By default, MCCC will go through this process of marrying and knocking up sims 3 nights a week at midnight, but you can change that to whatever you like here. I thought 3 nights a week was WAY too often, so I only have it run once a week on Fridays.

Pregnancy Percentage: Just because the check runs every week doesn't mean I want someone getting pregnant every week. I'm not trying to create a baby boom. I cut the pregnancy percentage for young adults by half and adults by 75% (since IRL it's harder to get pregnant the older you get). I'm not afraid of a teen pregnancy story, so I do have teen pregnancies on and reduced their percentage by 85%. Even though I wouldn't mind telling that story, I don't want a teen pregnancy epidemic lol. I've had this enabled, but I've yet to have MCCC knock up a teen.

I think I skipped over Marriage Percentage but I use the same logic and similar percentages there too.

Valid Target Ages: HA! I see why I've never had a teen pregnancy lol. Even though I have it on, I never marked it as a valid target age. For whatever reason I only have YA selected. Not sure why. Probably for the best. If a teen pregnancy happens, I'd prefer it be my own sims.

Bonus

I love a little risk and challenge and surprise in my game. This is why I love using lumpinou's mods. I not a micromanager and prefer some things be left to chance. I like being able to try for a baby and it maybe not work that time. I don't like how predictable the game is. So, if you're feeling froggy, here are a few more settings for ya!

MC Woohoo - Woohoo Pregnancy

Risky Woohoo Percent: I used to have YA on 3%, but lumpinou has intergrated her mod with MCCC more, so I don't have this enabled anymore here. (it's controlled by her mod now and I think it's at 5% now). 3% might sound low, but MAN I've had so many oopsie babies on that little 3% lol.

Try for Baby Percent: I lowered mine to 65% just to add some variety and give my sims something to work toward. (No, this is not what caused Luca and Sophia's problem LOL).

MCCC Settings - Relationship Settings

I'm highlighting this because, even though I placed it in the bonus section, I highly recommend you check this out. These are the settings that control if/when sims move in together or break up!

Auto-Relationship Settings

Breakup Settings: You can specify which sim will move out and who the children will live with. Couple relationship change percentage applies a modifier that will make a couple's relationship (dating, not married) increase or decrease over time. I increased mine to 20%. Same thing with spouse relationship change except I only did 10% there.

Move-in Settings: I allow homeless romance move in and kept the romance level to the default. (sweethearts) I also increased the romance move-in percent to 25%.

Bypass Played Household: It should go without saying, but just in case it's not clear, I always want my playable households bypassed because I want to maintain control over what happens to them. About this, I have other households that I don't actually play (in the Pierson save) that I have as playable just to preserve them and prevent anything from happening. So to be clear, unless a household is marked as played, they will be subjected to the random marriages, pregnancies, and relationships.

A few months ago, I FINALLY decided to mark Emmy and Ali as unplayed, hoping that Ali would find love again and that Emmy and Dwayne would move in together. Instead, Alessia got knocked up, and Dwayne put his foot down LOL. Sorry dude. Wish I could help! Well, I could just move her in, but it actually doesn't feel right for the story...but that's an entirely different conversation lol.

Anyhoo...I hope you found something in this novel that helps to spice up your game! Thanks for asking!

[bouncingbluebeast]

Howdy Hank! I'm loving your plumper look and I was wondering how your change in appearance has impacted your romantic encounters. Have you had any new admirers since gaining weight and has gaining led to new opportunities with your romantic partners?

"Oh boy, has it!"

Hank seems a little sheepish for a moment, rubbing his thick neck in recollection,

"Well, you can imagine the initial scandal of the tabloids posting headlines about 'The Bouncing Blue Blubber'. Trish seemed to have fun with that one....Anyway, going out to my usual stomping grounds went from challenging to impossible.

That being said...perhaps I didn't know where to look. Bobby and Morph were kind enough to invite me out on 'Bear Night' at a bar they liked.

I was blindsided by the attention after months of cold shoulders and turned noses. Imagine a fat furry professor being fondled and flirted with by a whole room of men. While the festivities were delightful, it didn't have the deeper connection I'd come to appreciate.

Then I'd received confessions from three of my dear friends over the course of as many years.

First there was Kurt Wagner; as bold and tender as ever, seizing the initiative gambit during our bi-weekly laser obstacle chess game. I'd been trying to shed some 'winter weight' at the time and he'd...been very direct about how much he cared for me at any size. I suppose that was the start of it...and around the time I'd discovered my new mutation surfacing.

Then came along Simon Williams. We'd been away for so long - and yet one drink after nearly a decade - it was like we were right back where we were...he'd fallen out of the press' favour due to old skeletons dug back up, I'd fallen further from my tenuous grace with my rounded reputation - it was refreshing to get close with someone else and not care what anyone thought. A best friend really can help you take on the world.

Finally, there was Bobby Drake. My brother-in-arms from the early days...he'd been over in Los Angeles sorting his own things out, and I could hardly blame him. And wouldn't you know it? He was incredulous when he'd found out I was not only bi but dating TWO men. The look on his face when I'd asked if he'd like to be the third...I think he thawed out of that chilly isolation after that. I was always the one he'd come to when he needed cheering up~

Of course, Kurt is ever the beating-heart romantic with his emotional cactus, Wolverine. Logan doesn't like to admit it but I've caught him more than once staring at my form. I'm more than happy to include our common curmudgeon in our cuddle-time..."

[hoesoflamentation]

𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐞 | 𝐟!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐱 𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐢 𝐤𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧 (𝟏𝟖+ 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲)

SUMMARY !! can the new girl in town play volleyball as well as the karasuno neighborhood volleyball association? coach ukai keishin doesn't seem to think so... but you're out to prove otherwise. what begins with your victory on the court, ends with him on top of you after a drink.

WARNINGS !! implied sexism, playboy!keishin, rivals-to-lovers, (legal) drinking, unprotected casual s3x, fingering/handjob, penetrative s3x, strong language, praise/degradation, use of 'c*msl*t,' marking/biting, he spits in your mouth

A/N !! howdy friends! just popping by to say that this fic isn't meant to condone or recommend unprotected s3x! irl, you should always use a barrier, especially if you don't know your partner's sti status... but in smut, a little danger can be fun >:)

𝟏𝟖+ 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 (𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐃𝐍𝐈)

Jogging onto the community court, you reached out to tap the tall blonde on the shoulder. “Hey, got room for one more?”

He flashed you a smirk over his shoulder.

“That depends if you’re any good,” he quipped.

You narrowed your eyes but were unaffected. In athletic circles, you were used to being viewed with suspicion.

Before you could say anything, a lanky brunette sidled up beside the blonde and clapped him fondly on the shoulder.

“Why so serious, Keishin?” the chestnut-haired man teased with a grin. “It’s only a pick-up match!”

The blonde, Keishin, replied through gritted teeth, “I’m just trying to make sure she can keep up.”

Keishin shrugged off his friend’s grip and stalked away to the rest of his encircled teammates. You let out an indignant scoff.

The brunette laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. “Hey, don’t mind him. He’s just a little…”

You raised your eyebrows. “Rude?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “I was going to say ‘competitive.’” The brunette reached out to shake your hand. “My name’s Mori Yukinari. And you?”

“I’m Y/N.”

“Good to meet you. You ever play before?”

You nodded in assent.

“What position?”

“Libero,” you replied without missing a beat.

“Nice! I’m a middle blocker.” Yukinari jabbed a thumb in Keishin’s direction. “And Keishin over there is the best setter we’ve got.”

You smirked. “Good to know he’s done something to earn that ego of his.”

Yukinari laughed, looking uncomfortable. But before either of you could say anything else, Keishin called over his shoulder, “You both coming or what?”

“We better get going,” Yukinari said sheepishly. “Keishin doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

Of course he doesn’t, you thought, shooting Keishin your best dagger eyes.

. . .

The score was 10-10, match point. It was Keishin’s serve when you rotated back into the game, replacing Yukinari.

Yukinari patted you on the back as he subbed out. “You got this, Y/N!”

You smiled and nodded, grateful for the encouragement. Leaving your half-guzzled water bottle forgotten courtside, you took your place in the back row, relaxing into the familiar stance.

As Keishin’s eyes scanned your side of the net, you swore you saw him crack a smirk as his gaze lingered on you for a moment too long. You furrowed your brow, refusing to let his amber irises throw you off your game.

Frowning, Keishin tossed the ball and slammed it across the net. His serve was unassuming but accurate, the same as it’s been all game; despite his extended efforts, Keishin showed no signs of tiring…

But then again, neither did you. As one of your teammates – a dark-haired man with glasses – closed in to receive, the ball hit his thumb at the wrong angle.

His call of “my bad!” sounded so faraway, it may as well have been underwater. You’d already locked eyes on your target, watching as the ball rocketed across the net off-kilter.

The other team’s wing spiker leapt to take advantage of the botched hit, but you saw him coming. You pivoted to the left, predicting the arc of his spike before the player’s palm even made contact.

In a split second, you dove. The ball hit your hand exactly how you anticipated it would. You smiled in relief as your team’s setter closed in on the saved pass. Fast as lightning, the setter tossed the ball to the middle blocker, who smacked it across the court in an unexpected attack.

Keishin’s face fell as the ball hits his side of the court, just inside the line. As you picked yourself up and dusted yourself off, Yukinari ran over and ruffled your hair affectionately.

“Hey, great work out there, champ! Mind if I get your number so we can play again sometime?”

You nodded, accepting his proffered cell phone to type in your number. But your fingers punched the buttons on autopilot, because you were only looking at Keishin.

. . .

You and Keishin were the last two players left on the court.

You’d already bid Yukinari and the rest of the Volleyball Association goodbye, only staying behind to pack up your bag and change your shoes for the walk home. Meanwhile, you had overheard Keishin mutter something about staying behind to practice his serve.

Quickly, you gathered that he had no intention of doing so. Instead, Keishin approached you, his broad build looming overhead as you slipped into your favorite pair of sneakers.

“You’ve been playing a long time.” Keishin phrased it as a statement, rather than a question.

“Since middle school.” You sprung to your feet, slinging your bag over your shoulder. “Much like you, I imagine.”

Keishin merely grunted, avoiding your gaze. He spoke so quietly, you weren’t sure you heard him correctly: “I’m sorry I underestimated you.”

You smirked. “I wouldn’t be a libero if I wasn’t used to being underestimated.”

“Can I buy you a drink?” he spilled out.

Keishin’s words took you by surprise, but the even bigger surprise was that they weren’t at all unwelcome.

“Loser buys,” you answered coyly, already making your way off the court.

. . .

Keishin used his keychain to open the glass bottle, then slid you the beer across the counter.

Your eyes scan the convenience shop aisles, cluttered with half-unpacked boxes. “You know, when you said you wanted to buy me a drink, this wasn’t what I had in mind.”

Keishin smirked. “And when I showed up to scrimmage today, you weren’t what I had in mind.”

You raised your beer as if to say ‘touché,’ then took a hearty sip. The hoppy taste coated your tongue, hitting all the right spots on the way down.

“Does it run in the family, then?” Keishin asked, nursing his own bottle. “Your love of volleyball?”

“What makes you think I love volleyball?”

Keishin rolled his eyes. “A coach can always tell.”

“You coach?” You cocked an eyebrow. “Not for the girls’ team, I hope?”

Keishin glared at you across the countertop. “For the Karasuno boys’ team.”

“Impressive. I heard they’re on a fast track to nationals this year.” You took another sip. “Did you play for Karasuno, too?”

“I did.” Keishin took a drink. “But you didn’t.”

You tipped your head questioningly. “And how would you know that?”

Keishin smirked. “Because I would’ve remembered if the girls’ team had had a player who looked like you.”

You tried to convince yourself it was the alcohol flushing your cheeks.

“You’d better be talking about my form,” you joked with feigned indignance.

Coolly, Keishin gulped down the last of his beer, then chucked the empty bottle into a cardboard box beneath the cash register.

After a moment of silence, he met your gaze head-on and deadpanned, “I wasn’t.”

You held his amber stare for so long, it felt like time itself stood still. Scrambling for a volleyball was one thing, but it had been a long time since anyone left you scrambling for words like this.

Surely this can’t be happening, you thought. Surely a guy who looked like that – tall, blonde, athletic – couldn’t be hurting for a piece of ass… unless, of course, he had already burned all of his bridges in this small town. Maybe that’s why he was so eager to get his hands on someone new.

You knew you shouldn’t fall for his charming little act. You knew you should grab your keys, walk out that door, and go home like nothing had happened. But you were too dumbfounded to leave; too enchanted by his brash but earnest nature and his stupid bleached man-bun to do anything but watch as Keishin flipped the “Open” sign to “Closed.”

Keishin trapped you between his muscular forearms and leaned in, until you could taste the tobacco and malt on his breath.

“Tell me to stop and I’ll stop,” he murmured.

Your chest quivered with shallow breaths. The seconds stretched on like the last mile of a marathon.

“Please, god, don’t stop,” you exhaled, closing the distance between your lips.

You threw your arms around Keishin’s neck. He kissed like he played volleyball, anticipating your every move and somehow finding a way to surprise you anyways.

Keishin’s arms wrapped around the small of your back. You gasped as he lowered you onto the countertop, sweeping a pile of merchandise onto the floor with a single swipe of his arm. He slipped a knee between your legs to part them, and you arched eagerly into his kiss, feeling yourself become slick with yearning.

Keishin lifted up the hem of your shirt to leave marks on your stomach, growling with impatience. “I need you, now.”

Keishin rose to his knees to strip off his own shirt as you unbuckled his belt. You freed his cock and ran your hand along his impressive shaft with reverence; stroked the soft tufts of dark hair at its base; massaged his balls until you could feel his thighs shake.

“Enough.” Keishin bit down on your shoulder, pinning your hands overhead. “It’s my turn.”

Keishin yanked off your athletic skort and your panties, deftly curling two fingers inside of your aching cavity. He nipped lightly at your neck as you clung to him desperately, burying your face in his collarbone.

“K-Keishin!”

“That’s right, baby,” Keishin chuckled darkly, tipping your chin up so you were forced to meet his eyes. “Say my name.”

“Keishin, that’s-” you gasped obediently.

Before you could finish your sentence, he hooked your thigh around his forearm. Without pausing to undress either of you completely, he slid his rock-hard length into the crevice between your legs.

“A-ah!” you gasped, unprepared for the intimate way his bare cock caressed your walls.

You weren’t inexperienced at sex by any means, but this was the first time you had been so careless with a man; so desperate to have him, now, that you didn’t even pause to ponder the question of protection.

Fucking him this closely, without anything between you, felt dangerous; felt forbidden. You had always assumed that unprotected sex would make you too anxious to enjoy yourself, but you had assumed wrongly. Instead, the taboo only made this moment feel freer, leaving you uninhibited to reach your climax faster than you ever had with any other one-night stand.

“You gonna cum for me, baby?” Keishin teased in a syrupy tone. “You gonna make a mess all over this fucking cock?”

You nodded, eyes full of tears. You were so close to the edge that you could hardly speak.

“Hold still,” Keishin groaned, nails digging into your thighs as he tightened his grip on your body. “Hold still and take it, you little cumslut.”

You gasped, desperate tears rolling down your cheeks as he rammed his dick deeper into your sensitive cunt. Without ceasing the gyration of his hips, Keishin closed his hand around your neck with a firm, warning grip.

“Open,” he ordered, brushing your bottom lip with his thumb. You obliged.

Keishin spit. You expected to hate it, but it only made you want him more. He smiled at the sight of you, messy and ruined, beneath him and leaned in to kiss you again.

Attached to you at the lips, he pounded into your deepest-hidden spots until your toes curled, your entire body writhing beneath him.

[buckarooranch]

Howdy, partners! 🤠

We're thrilled to announce our latest release: the converted Short Paint Horse Mane + Frontmanes from SSO! We've been workin' our 'tails' off on this here project, and we're pleased to finally share it with y'all. This set comes in 27 different swatches that match right up with our previous release, which you can check out here. So go on, mix and match to your heart's content! 💖

We sure hope y'all enjoy what we've rustled up. Converting these ain't no easy task, but it's a real joy to share our creations with this fine community. We may not be able to upload as often, with our busy schedules and all, but we aim to bring y'all somethin' new at least once a month.

Thank y'all kindly for your patience and support! We're busy working on the next recolor, which will be solid colored as requested! Happy trails everyone, and enjoy the new mane and frontmanes! Feel free to reblog, share and tag! 🐴

Details:

- 27 Recolor swatches

- All the swatches are based off original EA colors

- For Adult/Elder horses

- Requires Horse Ranch DLC

🌻 ~ Howdy

Note: Because this is a conversion from another game and it’s still a ‘grey’ area all credit goes towards SSO and will always be available for free and they reserve all rights.

Some inspiration pictures:

Patreon (Free!) | Website

[writeroutoftime]

hi!! can i request a jamie one shot- with introducing the reader to the coaches and making it a big deal

words: 690

a/n: okay, I just love the idea of ted and all the coaches being such an important part of jamie's life that introducing his s/o to them is such a big step!! hopefully this is what you were looking for, sorry for the wait, but please enjoy!

oOoOo

"Babe, don't you think I should be the one who's more nervous here?" you teased, watching your boyfriend of two months psych himself up inside his car for the third time in the past ten minutes.

"I know, I know." Jamie tried to reassure himself. "You shouldn't be nervous at all. It's just their opinion means a lot to me."

Your heart melted slightly at Jamie's confession. Of course, this was an important step in your relationship to him. There weren't many positive, male figures in Jamie's life, and you were happy he had found some in his coaches.

"Well," you began slowly. "I'm really excited to meet them. And it means a lot to me that you even want to introduce me."

"'Course I wanna introduce you, babe. Gotta show everyone how lucky I am." Jamie smirked, coming back to his usual self.

A laugh bubbled past your lips, and you leaned over to interlock your fingers with Jamie's, pressing a reassuring kiss to his knuckles. "Lead the way, then."

oOoOo

Once you got Jamie out of the car, it didn't take him long to drag you through the dog track and towards the gaffer's office. From afar, you could see four men huddled together, and you suddenly felt your heart begin to race. If Jamie had been feeling nervous, you were ten times more nervous to meet some of his role models.

"Jamie Tartt!" Ted's voice called out, alerting everyone to your presence before you could run away. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Well, uh, just wanted to stop by and introduce my partner here." he said, gesturing towards you as if presenting an award.

Beard and Ted shared a knowing look before turning their attention back to you and Jamie. Ted reached forward, grinning from ear to ear with his arm outstretched. "Well, howdy there. It's a real pleasure to meet the person Jamie's been jabbering on about. I'm Ted."

"Oh, of course I know who you are, Coach Lasso. It's an honor to meet you, all of you, in fact." you admitted, slightly bashful.

"None of that Coach business. Just Ted is fine." he insisted. "And, uh, this here is Beard, Nate the Great, and I'm sure you also know Mr. Roy Kent himself." Ted explained, suddenly leaning in towards you. "I promise he ain't as scary as he looks."

You couldn't help but let out a giggle, suddenly feeling much more comfortable in Ted's presence. Eventually, you and Jamie leant against the wall, getting to know four of the people who inspired such positive change in your boyfriend.

At one point, Jamie left to take a call, leaving you alone with his coaches. A comfortable silence fell over the group before Ted looked up at you with a comforting smile, words of wisdom ready to pour from his lips.

"I gotta say, it's been real nice to meet ya, y/n. I wasn't joking when I said Jamie's always mentioning you. And, now I don't mean to lecture, and I'm sure it goes without saying, but Jamie's a really special person. I know his past might be a bit dicey, but he's really put in the work to be his authentic self. And I think I speak for all of us when I say to take care of him, okay?" Ted asked, with Bread, Nate, and Roy all nodding their heads in agreement.

Tears began to prick at your eyes, so you bit your lip and nodded your head in agreement. "I promise." you whispered, so happy to be apart of Jamie's team.

Seconds later, the man in question popped his head back in the office and took note of the change in tone. "Everything all good in here?" he questioned a bit wearily.

"It's perfect." you reassured, reaching out to grab his hand once more.

And so, you said your goodbyes, promised to stop by for the next home game, and walked out with Jamie the same way you walked in - hand in hand. This time, feeling a little closer to the man you loved and who you were grateful to know.