#i also rarely roped like Tons of people in or anything i think it was mostly just me and my best friend (she would be tails)

[crimeboys]

saw that poll that asks what you pretended to be as a little girl and it didnt have what i used to do which was roleplay sonic the hedgehog and force everyone around me to also roleplay sonic the hedgehog characters but i NEVER let anyone else be sonic I was sonic. i always made my brother be snively LMAO

[lotties-ashwagandha]

Hey! Can you please do where somebody is acting violent and aggressive at Lottie's compound towards her, and maybe she is just stunt to do anything because of trauma when Shauna beat her, but female reader (Lottie's girlfriend) is immediately there and she shields Lottie with her body and protects?

NEW ARRIVALS

pairing: lottie matthews x fem!reader

word count: 1174

notes and warnings: ok so hot take i feel like adult lottie would be more apt to smack a bitch that went after her (thinking of that scene w travis where she got rlly triggered and shoved his ass against a wall lmao) so i deviated from the original request a little but we still get tons of drama and big strong reader ok ,,, also this is not proofread

You loved running the wellness center with Lottie. It was fulfilling to help other people heal, to see them blossom in a way they only could in trusting themselves, trusting you.

But new arrivals to the compound, more often than not, caused more trouble than they were worth. Even though their arrivals were usually voluntary, the new residents always carried the same suspicions, the same emotional guards. It was more difficult than you would’ve liked to get them settled in, get them to trust you, especially with what was known of Lottie’s past.

Sooner or later, however, all of them submitted — almost all of them.

There was one woman, in her early 20s, you thought, who simply wouldn’t relent. She had been pressured into joining the wellness center by her sister, and ever since you’d taken away her phone and her belongings she had spiraled. She was erratic in her behavior and moods, and you never knew what to expect from her. One day she would be making progress, the next she would be worse than when she came to the compound.

Lottie had placed her in a meditation class that she taught, and at the end of the class was a healing circle, a place where those who wished to could talk about their struggles, about conflicts they were having with others inside or outside the compound, and could resolve them.

To put it lightly, the woman in question, Dana, never did well with healing circles.

In any case, you thought you were making progress with her — you had a private session scheduled with her every Tuesday after her meditation class, and you usually showed up five or ten minutes early to watch the healing circle. You needed to see what mood she was in that day, and besides that, you wouldn’t give up an opportunity to see Lottie.

But that day, everything had gone awry. You and Lottie had woken up late, both a bit hungover from the night before, one of the rare occasions the two of you had broken and allowed yourselves some fun. You’d been half an hour late to teach a yoga class, and Lottie had been meant to teach a seminar that had to be canceled and rescheduled.

The whole day had put both of you in an exceedingly irritable mood, and when the time came for the meditation class’s healing circle, everything escalated.

Dana — the new, ill-tempered arrival — was in one of her moods. She hardly complied with anything Lottie was teaching, and every time someone in the healing circle would share something vulnerable she would interrupt them with some crude or hostile remark.

Lottie was reaching the end of her rope, you could sense it. The looks she gave the woman, daggers sharpening her gaze, was tell enough. But you knew her, knew that despite how much she wanted to, she would never act on the urges unless she was provoked.

At last, it was Dana’s turn in the healing circle.

“Dana,” Lottie asked, “is there anything you would like to share? You’ve been quite active today in the stories of others.”

“Sure,” she said, perking up, and you dreaded whatever would come next. “I think this place is a piece of shit, and all of you sitting here listening to this bullshit are fucking stupid.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way, but you voluntarily signed yourself up for four months here.”

Dana stood, gesturing to Lottie as she addressed the rest of the compound. “I don’t think all of you fully understand that this bitch is clinically insane! She spent fucking years in Switzerland traumatized from shit she did with her team out in the wilderness! Haven’t you heard the theories, what everyone’s saying? They think this bitch fucking ate people!”

Dana lunged forward, and before you could stop her she had shoved Lottie, and the whole compound was engulfed in silence.

You reached to stop her but in the speed of a moment Lottie was on top of the woman, slamming her into the wall. A look of terror overcame Dana’s features, and though you couldn’t hear her exact words you could hear Lottie whispering to her, justifications of her actions, threats you knew she would deliver on if given the opportunity.

You rushed towards the two of them, weaving your way in between them. “Lottie,” you hissed, “back up.”

“Did you hear-?”

“I know what she said, but you have to back up.”

After a moment she relented, backing away. Her expression was oddly blank as she watched the woman still against the wall.

Dana moved to rush towards her again, but you stopped her, slamming her back. “Get the fuck out. We’ll have your shit sent to you, but if we ever see you again, we’ll have you fucking arrested.”

She nodded, slightly stunned, and you let her go.

The whole room was silent, every set of eyes plastered to the three of you.

Calmly, though a bit angrily, you dismissed the meditation class.

Once you were alone, Lottie began to pace, and you allowed yourself your anger.

“Lottie, you can’t do that shit!” You half-shouted, the whole situation having shocked you. “I heard what she said and it was fucking terrible but all of these people look up to you, they’re paying you to make them as spiritual and leveled as you are.”

She only nodded, and while she was silent you could sense her becoming more and more frantic, her breathing becoming erratic.

You moved towards her, saw how she was near tears. You softened, sighing, thinking over everything Dana had said. It wasn’t often that Lottie chose to relive or talk about anything that happened out in the wilderness, or about any of her time in Switzerland — to have it all sprung on her at once in such a way, you supposed, she probably handled it better than most would have.

“Lottie,” you said softly, “come here.”

She let you pull her into you, her arms looping around you in an embrace, and finally her breathing became more level. Gently you ran your hands up and down her back, trying to comfort her as much as you could, though you knew most of your efforts would be in vain.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice hoarse, and you shook your head.

“It’s okay. I get it,” you promised. “But next time if you go off at someone, at least get in a good punch or two.”

She laughed softly, as you’d hoped, and you smiled. It was everything to you, just to know you could give her even the tiniest bit of joy when she needed it.

“We could teach a boxing class and use Dana as the punching bag.”

“I would definitely sign up for that,” you agreed, and to see her smile brought you the entirety of the heavens.

“Also… Are you going to ask me about what she said about the, uh, eating people?”

“Honestly, I don’t want to know.”

-

-

-

Taglist: @cartoonpeoples @thedeconstructionist @traumatisedfangirl @cordeliass @christies-fleur @paulsonsratched @goodeday2u

[theboywithburninghands]

So I finally got it done, yet another Funnybunny piece. the longest one I think. But I have to confess that this one is a little bit lighter on the romance, since I worry a bit about the formula getting stale. But the upside to this is that I actually got to include all six performers this time. This one is more of my own personal headcanons about what kind of music the cast enjoys, but the Funnybunny enthusiasts will get your food if you pay attention throughout and stick around 'til the end. Also it's semi-interactive; there's a ton of links to outside media in the text, and it's all links to music. If a line is underlined, it's a link to a song. Okay, shutting up now, enjoy. The Jitterbug

Dinner time after another adventure. The Performers were all gathered at the table, picking at their food. It was one of the rare moments of awkward silence between the six of them. The adventure that day hadn’t been anything particularly noteworthy… well, for Caine anyway. It was music themed, a romp through a lush theater populated by anthropomorphic instruments. The goal was to track down the six missing members of the grand orchestra and bring them to the stage within an hour long time limit. The intention was to have the group split up and find each band member individually, a plan which would have gone swimmingly if Gangle had been able to persuade her target to return. She found herself too meek to tell the guy to come with her, which, if it hadn’t been for some timely intervention from Jax, may have cost them the adventure. They were “treated” to a performance by the grand orchestra of instrument people, which consisted mostly of improv and a few subpar renditions of classical pieces. They played Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, although they only managed to pull off “Spring” before scrapping the rest for being “too boring” and moving onto an improv piece. Said piece sounded like someone instructed the orchestra to play The William Tell Overture before putting said orchestra on a bus and driving it off a cliff. The performers’ ears were still ringing after the cacophony of noise, and thus weren’t particularly in a conversational mood. 

Gangle: Mmmgh… eh- Gangle appeared to be struggling to hold her fork. There was a crude double knot in her ribbon right about where her hand would be, and it prevented her from gripping her fork hard enough to stab into her digital pot roast. She managed to spear one prong onto a piece of meat, but it fell with an almost comical plop onto the edge of the table before dropping out of sight beneath her chair. Gangle: *whine of defeat* 

Pomni looked at Jax, who was watching Gangle struggle with minor amusement. The purple rabbit met her gaze and his faint smirk disappeared. 

Jax: What?

Pomni: You know what. *she points at him, then at Gangle with her fork*

Jax gave an exaggerated sigh and got out of his chair, slinking to Gangle’s side and taking her ribbon with the knot in it. 

Jax: Hold still, Crybaby. *he takes the knot between his fingers and undoes it*

Gangle: …Uh… thank you, Jax. *she experimentally curls the ribbon around, it’s undamaged*

Pomni: Is there anything else you wanted to say to Gangle?  

Jax: Wanted to say? No. 

Pomni shot him an exasperated glare. Jax sighed and turned back to Gangle without looking her in the eyes. 

Jax: *speaking rapidly and insincerely* Gangle, I’m sorry I used you as rope to tie up the last band member. *looks at Pomni* There, we happy? 

Pomni: Are you okay, Gangle? Gangle: Oh… um… yeah! I’m okay, uh… I-I’ve been in worse… binds. Eheheh… uh… I’m okay. 

Pomni motions Jax back to his seat. The rabbit plods back to his spot at the table and sits, resting his cheek on his hand sullenly and poking at his food. 

Ragatha: Wow… I never thought I’d see the day! Jax actually said sorry! Jax: Yeah, whatever, toots. I save our butts with some quick thinking and I’m still the bad guy. 

Zooble: Don’t be an @$$. There were six of us and one of him. There could’ve been a way to get him back with the others without having to hurt Gangle. 

Jax: Oh really, and what bright idea did you have, Hodge-Podge? *in a babyish voice* Asking him nicewy? Zooble: You wanna lose an eye, limp&!$#?!  *holds up butter knife* 

Ragatha: Guys… *pinching the bridge of her nose*

Pomni: Alright, stop! Can we please just &%$#ing stop?! My ears hurt and I don’t need you two shouting! Just… sit down and shut up. Both of you. 

Zooble: …Tch. Fine. 

Jax: Yeah. White flag or whatever. You hear me? White Flag. *he waves a napkin around half-heartedly before tossing it over his shoulder*

The six performers continued eating in silence, everyone’s mood set right back to bad. However, one of Jax’s ears twitched and his pot roast froze halfway to his mouth. 

Jax: …What’s that? Ragatha: What’s what? 

Jax: Shh! Listen!

Everyone, sans Kinger, stopped eating and listened. There was a continuous but very faint sound coming from somewhere. 

Gangle: I-I hear it! It sounds like… music?

Zooble: Good music. Like an orchestra. 

Ragatha: Where’s it coming from?

The performers turned their heads to better locate where the pleasant song was coming from. After a couple of seconds of listening, their eyes all fell upon Kinger, who was still eating his dinner. He froze in the middle of cutting his pork chop and slowly looked up to meet everyone’s gaze.

Kinger: I’m being observed… 

Jax: It’s cuz you’re making music.

Kinger: I’m not making music. I’m eating dinner. 

Ragatha: No, Jax is right, Kinger. Do you have something in your robe? 

Kinger looked down at his robes and patted around inside them. He froze when he felt a foreign object clinging to the white inside and pulled it out. Inside his robes was a creature about the size of a baseball, that looked like a mix between a ladybug and the grille of a microphone. The orchestral score emanating from the creature reached a swell before suddenly-

Bug: LOOK! YO!-

Kinger yelped and dropped the creature as it suddenly exploded into a rap verse. It lands on the table and stands back up, bopping along to the rhythm of the song playing from its grille-like carapace. 

Zooble: What the #%!! is that thing? 

Kinger: Oh! I remember you! *reaches his hand out to pet the small creature* I put her in my robes back at the theater. 

Pomni: I guess Caine missed deleting it when he sent us back here for the night… 

Kinger: She’s not an it! Her name is… *there’s a drawn-out pause as Kinger struggles to remember what he called the creature* ...Layla!

Upon hearing this, the microphone-bug suddenly plays a guitar riff that makes everyone jump. Ragatha: I know that song… *beams* That’s a REAL song! From outside! It’s by uh- 

Zooble: Hang on. This thing plays-

Kinger: Layla.

Zooble: …Layla plays music? 

Pomni: That’s… I thought that was impossible… 

Gangle suddenly appeared beside Kinger, moving quicker than anyone had ever seen her move before. 

Gangle: Layla! Play uh, play… Play Melt by Hatsune Miku!

Jax: Play what by who?

The microphone-bug, which was apparently named Layla, began to play a sugary-sweet J-pop song, quiet at first before bursting to life. Gangle stood and watched the creature with a twinkle in the eyes of her mask, her mouth wide open in delight and her ribbon-hands on her cheeks. 

Ragatha: Oh, oh! Can I have a turn? Uh, Layla, play Respect by Aretha Franklin! 

Layla began to play a funky soul song, Ragatha giggling girlishly and beginning to dance along to the rhythm on the spot. Her energy was so infectious that the other performers couldn’t help but watch, especially as she began to lip-sync to the song with an invisible microphone. 

Gangle: giggles 

Jax: My turn. Layla! Play… Sandstorm by Darude. 

Everyone gave a collective groan as Layla began playing a familiar Finnish techno beat. 

Jax: Whaaat? I like this song! You guys have no taste. 

Ragatha: Well, you picked it! Now you gotta dance to it! Come on!

Jax: No I- HEY! 

Ragatha grabbed Jax’s hands and pulled him up onto his feet. 

Ragatha: Come on! Follow my lead! 

Ragatha began to dance along with the music, Jax scoffed and crossed his arms.

Pomni: *trying not to giggle* You made your bed Jax, time to lay in it.

Jax: Oh, have I? Layla, play Everywhere at The End of Time.

Zooble: Ew, Jax, what the h€!!? 

Kinger scooped Layla up before she could begin playing the six-hour depressing behemoth of an album Jax requested. 

Kinger: Everyone, stop! You’re going to make her overheat! *he pets the little microphone bug* There, there, you did good. 

Gangle: Aw, is it over..?

Zooble: Kinger’s got a point. We don’t want to push that thing’s-

Kinger: Layla.

Zooble: -Layla’s processing too hard. You know how weird NPC’s get when they’re overclocked. 

Pomni: Overclocked..? What does- Actually, I don’t want to know.

Kinger: Layla can stay in my room. I have other bugs in there so she won’t get lonely.

Jax: So Kinger just gets to keep the thing that plays real music in his room? 

Kinger: Layla.

Jax: Whatever.

Ragatha: Well, he did find her… and he did go through all the effort of sneaking her back to the tent. That would make her his.

Jax: So if I found a dozen donuts, I’d get to eat all of ‘em and not share, since they’re my donuts. 

Zooble: You’d probably do that anyway…

Jax: I’d share ‘em with everyone but you, Zooble.

Gangle: I’d get a donut, really? 

Pomni yanked on one of Jax’s shoulder straps, a sharp reminder to behave.

Pomni: I’m sure Kinger wouldn’t mind sharing Layla now and then. Is that okay with you, Kinger?

Kinger: Don’t eat her! *holds her away from Pomni*

Pomni: Wh- nobody is going to eat her!

Gangle: Layla isn’t a donut… 

Kinger: Oh. Well. Maybe. As long as you’re gentle with her and don’t let her overheat. 

Ragatha: We can all promise that, right everybody? 

There was a murmur of affirmation, but then everyone looked at Jax. 

Jax: Oh for- *sigh* fine. Yes. I won’t hurt the bug thing.

Kinger: Layla.

Jax: *deep breath, phony enthusiasm* LaYlA!

Ragatha: I’ve gotta say, that’s the most fun I’ve had in a while. Real fun, not Caine fun.

Zooble: I didn’t peg you for an Aretha Franklin fan, Rags.

Ragatha: Yeah? What kind of music did you think I liked? *smiles, amused*

Zooble: I dunno. Sara Bareilles or Taylor Swift. Maybe that song Wildfire. 

Ragatha: Oh, so horse girl stuff, huh? I see how it is, Zooble. *she’s still grinning playfully* 

Jax: We didn’t get to hear what you liked, Hodge-Podge. Who are you to judge? 

Zooble: Call me Hodge-Podge again, Jax, and I’ll tie your- 

Kinger: Frank Sinatra…

Zooble: Huh?

Kinger: That’s my favorite. Frank Sinatra. *he sings a little to Layla* “I’ve got you… under my skin.”

Layla: *Playing a snippet from the real song* “I’ve got you… deep in the heart of me.”

Gangle: Awwww…

Zooble: *they get up* I’m tired. I’ll see you all in the morning. *they walk towards backstage before pausing for a moment* …I like Janelle Monáe by the way. 

Ragatha: G’night Zooble. It is getting pretty late… I’ll be right behind you. 

Steadily, the performers left the stage and headed back to their rooms. Pomni left not long after Ragatha, rubbing her eyes. It was weird how her eyelids still felt heavy despite her body being a bunch of pixels… 

She wished Ragatha good night as she passed her in the hallway, went into her bedroom and flopped onto the bed. It had been a pretty bad day, like most other days in this technicolor hell. But it had an okay conclusion. It was nice to hear real music again, but she wished she had gotten a turn. Although,  she did wonder a little… if that bug could play songs from the outside world, maybe there was a way to get out of here after all… 

There was a knock at the door. One thing at a time. Pomni rolled out of bed and shuffled to the door to open it. She smiled a little seeing Jax leaning against the doorframe, and the rabbit gave her a smarmy grin right back.

Jax: Leavin’ me behind, huh? Pretty cold, Pompom. 

Pomni: You’re a big boy. You can handle being alone for a little bit. Also, you’re knocking now. 

Jax: You should note the date and time. *he strolls into her room* So, what’s the plan tonight, Pomni? 

Pomni: I’m too tired for much of anything… you wanna just cuddle? 

Jax: Sure. But how about a little music? *he takes Layla out of the front pocket of his overalls*

Pomni: Jax! Where did you get- did you steal her from Kinger? 

Jax: You’ll be happy to know I asked before I took. *he sets Layla on top of one of the oversized building blocks in Pomni’s room* 

Pomni: R-Really? He actually let you borrow her? How did you convince him..?

Jax: You really think I can’t be charming? You fell for me, didn’t you?

Pomni: *blush* …Alright, alright. 

The two of them crawled into bed, climbing under the covers, Pomni scooting her smaller frame backwards into Jax’s arms. The rabbit held her close, resting his chin on top of her head.  

Jax: So. Whatcha wanna listen to?

Pomni: …You know what? You can go first. 

[theveryworstthing]

So over on patreon Trevor asked for my take on the Addams Family and I grew up LOVING the Addams family movies so here we are. Instead of doing a straight up style interpretation, I decided to do a full on design challenge, using the characters as bases to make a black southern gothic Addams au. I actually drew the kids first, using the character bases of Wednesday and Pugsley to create some delightful kiddos I'm calling Sunday and Blanche. I of course then redesigned Gomez and Morticia into Carlisle and Mortesha.

The Addams have a very specific high aristocratic goth aesthetic (they've got a butler and nobody really works among other things) so in this re-imagining I wanted to go with vibes that run a little more middle class/upper middle class.  I thought it would be interesting to think about what would be considered weird and off-putting in an entirely different culture, and how being a big ol' goth is way less controversial than it used to be.

I tried to keep this short (HAHAHAHAHAHA) so I didn't spin off into an essay about villain coded families, black people in the horror genre, and normalcy as it pertains to social survival, but just...bits of that are in these designs and lore. Keep that in mind.

Also I made the kids twins because they've flip flopped in age so much in different media and also twins run in my family (i'm the daughter of one). And let's face it, I'm pulling a lot of their southern gothic traits from living as a southern goth so *shrug*.

10 thousand pounds of lore incoming loooooooooool.

The Parents

From the moment he saw her he knew that there was a 50/50 chance of him either never making it out of that swamp alive or marrying the figure that was creeping out from under the distant willow tree in a black cocktail dress. The third time she found him trussed up in one of her traps, he complimented her rope work and asked if she'd like to go out sometime after his head wound stopped bleeding.

Or while it was still bleeding.

If she was into that.

Some kids and a mysteriously burnt down Piggly Wiggly later, their love is still as strong and inescapable as a bear trap in a sink hole.

Carlisle Guillermo (now Addams through marriage but I wanted to give him two first names for a name since Gomez has two last names) makes a vaguely described living practicing ‘law’ around town. A loophole king, people come to him from miles around with contracts signed in blood, fights over chunks of hair buried in their rivals’ yard, dehydrated primate hands, memories that seemed like dreams until the evidence of their happenings became too real, and other regular Legal Items asking for counsel which he is all too happy to give. For a price. Sometimes that price is a homemade pie and sometimes it’s a million dollars, depends on who you are. Whatever you’re asked to pay it’s worth that price, and if you try to scam him out of work or he just plain doesn’t like you? Well. He knows how to twist a contract better than anything at the crossroads.

And he always gets his due.

He doesn’t just serve the local (living)humans though, there are many things that need proper legal representation in this day and age. You wouldn’t believe how many city councils try to build on sacred burial grounds even after he lets them know that his ghostly clients are totally gonna haunt the FUCK out of the ensuing shitty condos and curse their families for all eternity. At least 50% of his energy goes towards dealing with real estate bullshit.

Carl is an excitable and good natured(?) man who loves his family, cigars, dancing, and his many knife-based hobbies. People find him very charming once they get past the feeling that they’re talking to a sultry gator badly disguising itself as a human. I didn’t put a ton of deep thought into designing him, mostly I wanted to make a middle aged dude who looked like he would have been voted ‘most likely to smooch the literal devil’ in high school. Tbh he probably has, but no demonic ex’s can compare to his lovely wife~

Mortesha Addams(her name was already perfect so I just tweaked it)is a woman of many talents. A self proclaimed homemaker, she prides herself on a greenhouse full of Concerning Foliage, a beautiful wasp apiary, and a coop full of what are probably chickens that she keeps for what are probably eggs. She’s also an avid creator of the outsider art that can be seen around the estate. She has taken on the family business of selling her homemade goods in a little stall by the road just outside the swamp with her mom, and makes pretty good money doing so. A surprising amount of poison gets bought in quaint southern towns.

Speaking of poison, people who come out to the edge of the swamp to buy it are usually carrying a lot of secrets around, and Mortesha knows most of them. It’s not like she pries the truth out of people, it just so happens that many nervous hellos eventually turn into the tragic backstory power hour if she’s alone with a client for long enough. She supposes that’s just how people are. Despite the fact that the Addams are very active in the community (whether the community likes it or not) she especially, as a direct descendant of the first Addams matriarch, is seen as…Well not an outsider because the community feels A Certain Way about outsiders and despite it all the Addams are their people, but maybe something like an exception. They feel like whatever weirdness they’re hiding can’t be weirder than any given Addams, so they get a little loose with their words.

This is amusing to her, since Addams’ don’t naturally keep the kind dramatic secrets that their surface level prim and proper neighbors do. It’s much more fun to openly talk about those things.

Do they have a sadly decrepit yet terrifying grandma up in the attic? Yeah, like three. They got a tv, all the creepy porcelain dolls they could want, and they’re close to family. Where do you keep your gram-grams?

Any bodies buried on the property? Yeah some, but most are thrown to the gators.

Any creeping through the balmy summer night with ill intentions? Yeah dude, everyone loves a nice family stroll.

What about dangerous forbidden love? If an adult Addams isn’t incorporeal then they’re either queer or in a torrid romance with some person/thing mysteriously drawn to that awful swamp. Sometimes both at the same time. Most times actually.

Mortesha would know.

The current head of the Addams family is just as outgoing as her husband but a lot quieter and harder to read. She never really seems to get mad about much and always has a genteel smile for everyone whether they deserve it or not. A seven foot tall human shaped “Oh, bless your heart”. A perfectly composed Lady even when she’s, oh I dunno, burning down a Piggly Wiggly. You know. A regular southern mom. Chat her up at the hair salon for 50% off a jar of wasp honey with your next purchase of a mysterious but foreboding packet of herbs.

Designing her was pretty easy because I just drew a lankier Grace Jones and called it a day. I had some problems with her outfit simply because if we were going HARD southern gothic then she’d probably be wearing a white/cream dress with a fuller skirt but I thought keeping the silhouette and the black was more important. She’s supposed to be an anti southern gothic southern gothic character anyway. A woman who looks like she has a million secrets who is actually the most open person you could meet. For better or worse. The red hair came from a coloring error that I really ended up liking (my mom had red hair her whole childhood that only darkened up in high school so I can buy that an Addams can be naturally fire engine red) and the veil was to get more of that classic Morticia silhouette in there.

The Children

Sunday and Blanche are the twin children of Carlisle and Mortesha Addams. Some say the Addams clan got their cursed homestead when a wealthy local businessman made a deal with the devil and lost, leaving his grand mansion to his least favorite maid and cutting his losses once he realized that the swamp would do everything it could to drag the house into the water and take what was owed with its horrible curse. Others say that the family has just always squatted there and no one really cares because man, fuck that particular swamp. Have you been in there? Absolute horror show.

Anyway.

Blanche is the more outgoing sibling and quite the engineer/mad scientist in the making. He started going grey at 2 weeks old but considering he was also rocking some extra fingers, toes, and a tiny tail (he takes after his dad), his parents just put it on the 'not life threatening' pile and decided not to worry about it. He's the kind of smart that teachers find utterly infuriating, less a dog eagerly learning and obeying commands and more a hyena who keeps teaching itself how to pick locks. He has a few friends in his school's robotics club (which they honestly allowed him to make so the school could contain his... creations) but mostly hangs out with his sister exploring the swamp. They find all sorts of neat things in there! wedding rings, suspiciously lumpy garbage bags, cloaked cultists who can't read private property signs, it's an adventure every day!

Blanche is all about experimentation with his creations, his look, and his tether to this mortal coil. Is lipstick a cool thing to try? Let's find out. Can he get out of a strait jacket fast enough after being pushed into the depths of the swamp by his sister? let's find out. He's not dead yet and confused local doctors can attest to the fact that he's rarely attained more than a bad bruise so he's pretty set on continuing to kiss rattlesnakes on their cute little heads and have his sister practice her knife throwing at him until that fact changes.

Blanche is very much a country goth. Cowboy boots (customized by his mom), knife, and lighter are daily accessories. He likes to wear the crusty swamp jewelry they find (the rust adds a splash of color!) and despite appearances he does try to keep himself neat. He's just got  natural Grunge Colors and a tendency to wear clothes he likes until they fall apart. Pugsley always seemed the most modernly styled to me (which might just be because little boys clothes have been the same for a long time) so I wanted Blanche to be the most purposely fashionable Addams. Everyone else is goth by nature, but he's the only one truly familiar with goth as an alternative fashion.

I got really into designing Blanche because honestly, I find Pugsley to be the most boring member of the family. And he was hard to design! I had to mess with his vibe a lot to get him looking how I wanted. I know he's supposed to evoke an " 'evil' little boy next door who's parents never reign him in", but that's just goth Dennis The Menace.  I's 2020. We can at least go queer goth Calvin.

Sunday was much easier to design. Wednesday was my favorite as a child (of course) and I really wanted to keep the spirit of her look while adding things like billowy sleeves (it gets HOT down here), big poofy twists instead of braids, and a nice tie. She's a professional after all, been running the local pet cemetery since she was 6 and the previous groundskeeper met with an unfortunate accident after telling her that tarantulas don't have souls. Her specialty is creating beautiful naturalistic animal funerals similar to those that Maquenda (https://linktr.ee/artofmaquenda) makes, and she takes pride in creating miniature dioramas of her subjects after each burial which she uses as a kind of 3D catalog for future clients.

She really wants to try out her skills on humans one day. Well. Publicly try out her skills. Lotta random bodies float into the swamp. None of them have turned down her requests for diorama models so far. Most seem downright flattered. Plus, she usually figures out which graveyard/crime scene they floated over from and gets her parents to give them a lift back. She'll even help enact terrifying revenge from beyond the grave on whoever put them there if she's not, y'know, busy.

Besides arts, crafts, and pet based funerary arrangements, Sunday is an avid lover of archery (any ranged weapon really), books where little fantasy adventure animals die dramatic deaths, and history. She is That Kid who eagerly raises her hand when asked who Christopher Columbus was and ends up being sent out of class after 15 minutes for making 'a scene'. Her favorite party trick is just picking an item in the room and talking about how it relates to either some obscure historical figure with a buck wild life or a horrible disaster. At least one charity pancake breakfast ended with children in tears after her vivid description of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919.

Social-wise, while Wednesday is the girl that people ask to smile because they think she'd, "look so pretty", Sunday is rarely asked anything at all. People just kind of assume from her quiet nature (in between horrible history facts) that she's angry all the time and that she hates everyone. This is untrue. She hates some people but she's ambivalent to most everyone else and even downright friendly if you bother to talk to her like a person instead of a terrifying cryptid. Like, she IS a terrifying cryptid but she's also a little girl.  

That’s about it for now. One day I might do the other family members but for now I’m happy with the four I’ve redesigned. Making an au! Lurch in a family that doesn’t do butlers could be interesting. Over on patreon I put forth that he could just be Motesha’s mute little brother (similar bone structure) but Amy Crook had the nice idea of quote: “ a mysterious "cousin" that "helps around the house" whose origins are both long in the past and faintly unsettling. He's good for lifting heavy things, like that tank of propane you're about to throw into the burning Piggly Wiggly... “ which i now consider canon. Who's kid is he? How old is he? Not important. Anyone willing to commit arson with you is family.

Annnnyway.  This challenge was a lot of fun! I love indulging in AU’s.

[bbybaku]

can you do more BNHA college boyfriend content? I really loved the Shigaraki one (sorry, english is not my first language)

anything for you anon

(also youre english is perfect and so are you)

def gonna make this 2 parts lolol

mha college bf head cannons

shinso

sfw 

probably majoring in something finance related 

wants to take care of you 

as in you two go shopping like every other weekend

has a ton of money from investing in crypto currency and getting lucky 

yall also go out to eat all the time 

and not like fast food like nice sit down places

you two spoon constantly 

like sleeping face to face limbs intertwined

he loves to sit with his head between your legs while watching tv

or when you two are laying down and you hold his head into your chest and hee holds your hips

you both have apartments but he likes yours because its better deccorated than his

has an amazing taste in music 

makes you playlists all the time 

uses old spice deodorant

mr hitoshi is a man who always smells good 

has amazing hygene 

you talked him into growing his hair out

now hes always asking you to play with it  

is very good at school without even trying

which drives you crazy because he always talks you out of studying 

scares off a lot of people with his scary features

which makes his insecure and needed a lot of reassureance at the start of your relationship. 

but these days he owns your ass 

nsfw 

tpyically a soft dom

is huge 

took you a while to get used to how big he is 

likes to put you in stressful situations just so he can reassure you

“shhhh hey its okay im here” 

“this will stop if you use the safe word, hmm oh whats that you want to keep going?” 

“good girl” 

stressfull situations as in he over stimulates you every god dam time. 

nothing makes him harder than you crying from pleasure 

he spoils you

once spent $200 on toys just for you because he was going out of town for a week 

his gifts for you do come with a cost

shinso goes ferral for blowjobs

and he wants them all the time 

you have def given head in an alarming amount of public restrooms 

very into roleplay

almost jizzed his pants when you put on cat ears once 

same thing when you bought a maid outfit 

in case you were wondering, yes his pubes are purple too. 

sex playlist 

homeboy loves period sex

is very into aftercare

like reads womens magazines about it 

has a sexy voice and knows it

has a mirror in front of his bed because its all about eye contact 

definition of intamacy with this man 

knows how to treat his partner 

aizawa 

the thing about aizawa is he isnt your boyfriend he is your husband 

probaby in grad school for like english 

so a lil older 

but thats okay 

he makes up for it in being hot 

and he has cats 

with very obscure names like katsu and mochi 

since he was older he invited you to live with him 

you said yes of course 

the cats liked you right away 

apartment full of books and windows 

shouta drank wine almost every night 

would grade papers for the class he assisted in 

loved holding hands everywhere 

not the biggester spooner 

but would hold you really close on the couch while you two watched films while wine drunk 

he was an introvert so you two spent most nights in 

and when you two did go out it was always something interesting 

like trivia night, or seeing a band play, or going to a dinner party

was the kind of boyfriend who was really good at co existing with you 

like what is awkward silence 

the vibe is just so positive 

and you two are so comfortable with each other

nsfw 

mr aizawa is a kinky mf behind the scenes

he does not have sex he fucks

very good with ropes 

loved controlling you 

could fuck all day 

like man had stamina 

when you two went out to dinner he would push your underwear to the side finger you under the table 

and whisper other times hes humiliated you while you squirmed under his grip  

gotta call him daddy

or sir

or master

he is the type to tie you up with your arms behind your back and put a vibrator on your clit then just disappear for an hour

also big on choking

like real big on choking

he’ll just rest his hand on your throat while you two are doing mundane thing

also asserts dominance constantly

like holding your hips at the grocery store

kissing you in a crowded place

extremely possessive

probably has a few paddles

likes to spank

really likes to brat tame

you say “make me” and you are in for a wild night

man will wear rings when he fucks you

fingers you

and chokes you

you usually come first

unless you’ve been bad

then aizawa will edge you for hours

bakugou

sfw

the definition of “i hate everyone but you”

like once you figured out how to communicate with him

best bf ever

history major

lives in a house with like 6 of his friends

but don’t worry he has his own room

always at the gym

since he’s very muscular he rarely wears a shirt when you two hang out

and he always wants you to lay on top of him

like imagine him being the ceo of picking you up and throwing you on the bed

then jumping on you

kisses. bakugo would want to make out a lot

very temperamental

like if he’s hungry or sleepy or too hot he will snap at you

but you know by now not to take it personally

also would have a ton of funny nicknames for you

examples : headass, stinky, the first letter of your name or ugly

but he would say it in a loving way

❤️ hey ugly❤️

you loved his friends

didn’t know how he scored them with how mean he was

you two spent a ton of time just lounging in his bed

liked to play fight

and bicker

really liked deep convos too like he would push you to think harder and tell him more about yourself

he didn’t say it a lot but he really liked you

nsfw

katsuki bakugou is an ass man.

big dick energy

he’s the type who wanted you to ride him all the time

but he would be in control when you rode him like death grip on your hips

he also liked to hit if from the back

likes to slam into you

the way you jiggled made him harder

not the type to hold in his grunts and moans made a lot of noise during sex

his roomates hated you guys for how loud you were

def likes his girls a lil chubby

grabbed your ass every chance he had

found porn stars that look like yours make jerking off more fun

loves fingering you.

also big degrader

you two had a lot of angry sex and a lot of make up sex

got real cranky when he was horny and couldn’t have you

took videos of you during sex to rewatch later

you got so turned on when he snapped at you

it drove him nuts

basically you two fucked a lot lol

masterlist

[proserpina-magnus]

☘️ - NSFW alphabet

James Potter if haven't done one

This is a little choppy but I hope you enjoy it! Mwah.

James Potter NSFW Alphabet

Reader: tried to keep it as nb as possible )

Warning: pure smut and no editing

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Super comforting and he’s really affectionate. He loves to massage your back (which will probably lead to another round). And he does that cute thing where he’d rub his nose against yours. He’d cover you in blankets and literally would hand feed you if he could. He basically forces you to drink water as well.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

He loves your thighs, he likes placing his hands on them and laying in between them.

He likes his stomach since he’s worked really hard on it over the last couple of years with quidditch.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

He will wear a condom only if you want, but he’d much prefer to go without. He’s pull out game is strong as fuck and he usually cums over your ass or thighs, sometimes even stomach.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

James wants to do collaring and he’s been fascinated and keeps daydreaming about being your good boy or having the opposite and getting you a collar that says “daddy’s _____” (preferred nicknames like girl or boy, etc).

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

He’s pretty experienced without actually have experience, he wants first times to be important so he was actually waiting for the right one (which happened to be you). He can definitely find his way around your body with ease, who knows how he knows how to do it.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Missionary, he likes have your knees over his shoulders and takes his sweet time making the moment last as long as possible.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

He’s a sap so he try’s not to be humourus, he wants the sex to be romantic and he can’t risk turning you off with one of his lame dad jokes.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

It’s a mess, he’s tried to shave it, comb it, trim it, it’ll just grow back. It definitely matches his head hair.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Like said before, James wants the sex to be romantic. He likes holding your hand and kissing your shoulder’s and lips until they're rosy. He just wants to take care of you.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Pretty often, he gets stressed sometimes so he’ll just get out a quick wank before heading to class in the morning or late at night.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

He has a ton, d/s is very present and the roles switch between you both often. Power play is a must and he has a big thing for bondage, he loves all the different knots and shapes, he thinks the ropes look pretty against your skin. There’s others like makeup, he weirdly finds it attractive when mascara runs down your cheeks.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Usually in his dorm, he prefers to have his time and spend every second admiring and taking care of you. He rarely would want to do something out of order and he needs a quick notice before trying a new location. He usually promises you he’ll satisfy you later if you become needy during class or at hogsmeade.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Everything, fuck me eyes go along way for him. Sometimes you don’t even mean to get him going and he’s rushing you up to his dorm. He likes the uniforms too, he’d purposely mix up your robes or house ties just so people would know you’d belong to a certain wizard.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

He’d like spanking to a minimum, but the second he sees blood he freaks out. Even bruises make him worry and he’d begin to cry and kiss over it, promising you he’d never mean to hurt you and he’d be super careful next time.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

He prefers receiving it, since he likes the stability of cumming down your throat. But if he’s subby he’s prefer to give you pleasure, he just wants to please you.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Depends, sometimes after a quidditch game (depending if he won or lost) he’d take it out on you, rough and fast sex was a must so he could released all of his pent up tension. But then he’d get really soft and gentle to soothe over the rough behaviour. If he’s subby, he’ll let you control everything.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Personally he doesn’t like it, a quick blow job in between classes is alright with him or even a quick fuck in the showers in the changing rooms, but he prefers his time and he’d rather have you all to himself for a few hours.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Not necessarily, he likes boundaries so you both talk over them often and he’d just do whatever was in the green zone. Sometimes if he’s being a hard dom he’ll try a risky move, wait for you reaction and depending on that he’ll keep it up or drop it immediately.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Oh boy… he’s not the Gryffindor quidditch caption for nothing. He’s athletic, charming, and a golden retriever boyfriend. He definitely can go for 4 or 5, depending on his mood and on time, since it doesn’t take much to make him cum.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

He doesn’t, he’s a bit embarrassed but he definitely isn’t opposed to watching you play with yourself. He actually loves mutual masterbation and he enjoys watching you show him all the things that make you feel good.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He hates teasing you but loves when you tease him, every little look or if you grab his arm for protection, he’s creaming in his pants. Whenever you whisper in his ear, even if it isn’t sexual, he’s gulping and fixing his trousers.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Subby James moans a lot, he whines and whispers and he likes to talk. But more dominant James groans and whispers cusses (which is the only time he rarely swears because he hates cuss words).

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

He enjoys morning sex way to much, he likes the sunlight beaming in and the slow and groggy movements due to being sleepy, he loves the little whines and enjoys the cold air from the morning cooling off his hot skin.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

A solid nine inches, come on he’s James Potter. He’s quite proud of it too, smirking whenever he see’s a tummy bulge or even when you have trouble standing after sex.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

It’s high to the extreme, he never knew how horny he truly was until he began to date you. Every day he wanted to take you to his dorm and try new things, he wanted to be cocooned in between your legs.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

If he’s had a long day, it doesn’t take long. He’s a gentleman so he’ll kill you to sleep before he passes out, but sometimes you’d get back from the bathroom and see him sprawled out, a big grin on his face.

--

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[mc-lukanette]

Ladybug had long since gotten used to the monotony of her superhero life, though perhaps it was more accurate to say that she'd gone numb to it. There were only so many akuma one could take without seeing it as something formulaic, and she'd seen more than she could count.

Even when she went out on patrol, she didn't think about it, merely hopping to wherever the next rooftop was and surveying the area. Thinking about the life she'd been roped into wasn't productive and only succeeded in making her imagine unnecessary what-ifs. Paris didn't need that kind of hero; they needed one devoid of attachment or longing.

And the more time passed, the more she tried to be exactly that.

In the midst of her patrol that particular day, late into the night as it always was, she stopped as she suddenly heard the sound of a guitar. Granted, it wasn't rare for her to hear someone blasting music or playing an instrument in the evening, but there was something inherently familiar about the way the guitar was being played.

Deep down, she knew that there was only one person who could play guitar like that.

Ladybug turned her head towards the source of the sound, her heart involuntarily skipping a beat when she saw him, sitting on the balcony of a house she didn't recognize.

Luka. He was just as she remembered: the highlights, the guitar, and the gentle blue eyes.

Ladybug sat on her heels, staring down at him curiously. How long had it been since she'd seen him? She knew it had to have been at least a few years, though she didn't know the exact amount.

She wondered if that was his house. She wondered if the guitar in his arms was brand new or was cared for with years of love and attention. She wondered if he chose the balcony because he was playing for the night itself.

She wondered how he'd been doing since she'd cut him and everyone else out of her life.

Almost as if he'd sensed her, Luka suddenly glanced up to the rooftop she was on, his fingers bringing the song to a sudden end. She stiffened, just as his eyebrows rose at the sight of her.

He glanced down at his guitar, seeming to make the connection, then smiled up at her. Raising the volume of his voice so she'd hear, he asked, "Do you want a front-row seat, Ladybug?"

She blushed lightly, standing up and waving her hands dismissively. "Uh—no, I'm just passing by!"

But she couldn't deny that he looked really inviting sitting there, and he had already noticed and spoken to her. She debated with herself for a good few seconds before deciding that a small conversation would be okay.

Patrols were supposed to be unpredictable in timing, after all, or else people could plan around them. Getting a little side-tracked helped with that, she supposed.

She took a few steps back, then took a running leap onto the balcony that Luka was seated at, just barely missing the table and chairs next to her. Glancing over at his welcoming smile, she put on her best superhero demeanor and simply asked, "Have you seen anything strange going on recently?"

He shook his head, though his expression didn't change. "I haven't." He looked down at the neck of his guitar, running his hand along it. "Sorry I can't be of more help."

"Oh! No, it's okay!" She frowned. She knew he meant patrol, but she couldn't help thinking of when his identity had been compromised. "...It's Viperion, right?"

He seemed pleasantly surprised. "I'm glad you remember."

She bit back the ’of course I do’ and opted for a more formal, "It's part of the job. Even if I can't call on certain heroes anymore, I always remember them." She glanced at his guitar. "It's the same with your music, isn't it?"

He chuckled. "You could say that."

He played a quick melody that she recognized but didn't dare put a name to. She'd only arrived to talk, not to be reminded of the past, so she averted her gaze to the fence around the balcony, idling running her fingers along the railing.

Reminded of one of her earlier musings, she commented, "This is a nice place. Is it yours?"

He hummed with a nod. "I bought it a few weeks ago."

That explained why she'd never heard him play there before. "And the balcony?" She paused in thought, realizing after a moment, "I guess it's no replacement for playing on a deck, but it's the closest you can get to it?"

"Mm." He leaned his chair back, propping his feet up on the railing. "It's something. Nothing will ever beat the Liberty though."

She understood to some degree. She'd moved out of the bakery as soon as she could and it took time to stop missing the warmth and scents. "But you're happy at least?"

"Yeah," he replied, though the look on his face was less "happy" than she would've expected from him. She supposed it was her memory failing her, given all their time away from each other.

"What about you?"

Her shoulder went stiff. "W-what?" Did he really just ask her for personal—

"Are you happy too?" he clarified, offering her a smile. "You deserve to be."

She relaxed, though turned back to the fence to look at the night sky instead of him. It might've been a long time since they'd seen each other, but she was afraid that he'd read her somehow.

Happy. She supposed that it depended on the definition one might use for it.

"...I'm happy that Paris is happy under my watch," she finally answered. Eyes giving off a hint of a sparkle, she added, "I'm happy that it's safe enough for musicians like you to stay up past their bedtime to play me songs."

That earned her a chuckle, and she couldn't help turning back to him to see what his face looked like. If it made her feel happy at all, she didn't acknowledge it, the only hint being the wide smile on her face.

Luka had always been a special case. He was so unlike everyone else she knew, not only in the way he acted, but how he treated her. While she was never able to figure out how she felt about him, there was a gentle tug he had on her that she couldn't deny.

Not that she missed him though. She didn't, and she wasn't lonely either.

She wasn't lonely at all.

After his brief giggling fit was over, Luka dropped his feet from the railing, settling his chair back down before getting up. He turned, walking to the sliding glass door and pushing it open. "Do you want a drink before you go?"

She tilted her head at him. "A drink? Are you sure?"

In response, he slipped inside, the gentle tug urging her to follow after him. She was hesitant, but supposed it'd be rude to refuse him, so she walked into his house and closed the glass door behind her.

She couldn't help smiling at the casual way he'd simply invited a superhero into his house.

The living room and kitchen weren't separated by any wall, Luka heading towards the latter from the former after setting his guitar back on its stand. Ladybug took a look at her surroundings, noting that it wasn't unlike his room on the Liberty. Anarka was messy, Juleka was more controlled, and Luka himself was cleanest just out of not having a ton of belongings.

There were a few instruments, of course, but she also noticed the same Jagged Stone poster from back in the day. In addition, there were two pictures hanging on the wall, one of his family and one of the time she'd taken a photo of Kitty Section for their contest entry. The family picture seemed to be from a time she wasn't around him for, as he looked older than how she'd remembered.

Luka called from the kitchen, "What do you like?"

She turned to him. "Oh, tea's fine, thank you." Then, approaching the photos, she observed aloud, "You must be really close to your family and friends."

"I am," he replied, a smile in his voice. "Are you? You care so much about Paris that—"

"No," she cut in. "I don't have anyone like that." She could tell that Luka was thrown off and continued, "It's for the best."

Luka didn't reply, an awkward silence stretching on. She looked over at him, wondering if maybe he was pitying her, but he was occupying himself with making her tea. She turned away, walking over to his couch and taking a seat on it.

A few minutes passed. Luka returned to her with two mugs and offered her one. She took it, giving him a grateful nod, but waited until he sat down next to her to say, "You think it's strange."

"No," Luka assured. "I'm just surprised. I've never been alone, so I don't know how it must be for you." He took a sip of his drink, then stared thoughtfully into the mug. "...And everyone already knows about Chat Noir having a girlfriend."

She shrugged. "Chat Noir can afford to blurt out those kinds of things; to have those kinds of things. He doesn't have the responsibilities that I do."

On a basic level, she knew that she should've left it there. She'd held everything in for so long that she could do it for a few minutes longer, at least as long as she was staying there.

But it was always different with Luka. With Luka, all of her secrets and pent-up emotion grew wings and fluttered around her stomach like a swarm of her magical ladybugs, begging to come out and heal some unknown damage. Any attempt to drown them by sipping Luka's tea just made them fly faster.

"...It was too exhausting," she finally admitted.

Luka glanced over, giving her his attention.

She continued, "I used to have them, but it drained me. It was too much and I couldn't balance it with my hero life. It felt like I was always doing something for someone and I couldn't do it anymore without risking Paris."

He didn't respond verbally at first, but let out a sympathetic hum. He took another, much longer sip of his drink, and all Ladybug could think was, Not you though. You weren't that way.

"I wish it hadn't been like that for you," he told her, setting his drink down. "That's not how it's supposed to be, and it's never been that way for me."

She went to reply - to tell him it was okay and he shouldn't worry - when she noticed a somber expression wash over his face. He averted his gaze from her, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone.

Ladybug breathed up when she noticed his phone's wallpaper: it was her, in civilian form, next to him, back when they were teenagers. She swallowed, seeing the soft look in his eyes even as he frowned, and wondered what exactly they'd talked about that made him think to pull out the image of her on his phone.

She'd tried not to think about it when she saw the pictures earlier, but apparently he still thought about her after all.

"Ah—" She leaned over, trying not to be obvious about what she was feeling. "Is that... your girlfriend?"

He glanced over at her, brows raised, then relaxed and shook his head. Managing a sad smile, he replied, "No. She knew I was interested in her, but I never got a reply; I never asked for one. I haven't talked to her for years either. She just left one day."

She stared down at her lap, running her free hand along her leg. "She—um—sounds unreliable. It was cruel of her to abandon you. Didn't that hurt?"

He looked at his phone a moment longer, then set it down on the table. Leaning back, he tilted his head up at the ceiling and replied, "Not like that. Marinette doesn't do anything without a reason, and I trust her. I—" He sighed. "—I was hurt because I wished that she would've relied on me."

Ladybug gaped, blurting out, "You wanted her to rely on you more?" She covered her mouth as she realized what she'd said. "I-I mean, ah..." She tried to figure out a way to salvage it, but curiosity won over. "Why?"

"I wanted to see her happy," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "and I was happy to be the one she went to. It meant that she trusted me more than anyone else."

Suddenly, Ladybug recognized the look in his eyes. It was the same look he gave her when he held her hands while they were ice skating together, and the same look he had on when he confessed. She didn't understand it.

"But," she began, trying to pull herself out of her speechless stupor, "you thought she didn't return your feelings? Wasn't it a bother?"

The soft gaze gone, he jolted up, looking at her like she'd offended him. "Marinette didn't owe me anything, and her happiness doesn't mean less to me because she didn't feel the way I did. She didn't take advantage of me and her relying on me isn't suddenly a bother because we never dated. I cared about her, and I didn't need anything else out of making her feel better."

She blushed, both from the intensity of his words and the embarrassment from feeling as though she was being scolded. Unable to meet his eyes anymore, she stared down at her tea, drinking it slowly at first and then scarfing it down when she realized that it'd gone cold.

She wondered how many times he'd had to tell people that, given the way he so actively jumped on what she'd said. It wasn't that he sounded wrong, but...

wow.

"I-I'm sorry," she managed. "I didn't mean to make it seem like..." She trailed off, biting her bottom lip.

Luka breathed out, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's okay." He averted his gaze, meaning neither of them were looking at each other anymore. "Marinette had a lot to deal with. She cared about everything and had so much talent. I can't imagine how suffocating it was to be known by so many celebrities and have so many expectations put on her." His hand twitched, then curled into a fist. "That's why it puts me so out of tune when I see people talking about us like I was doing all the work or that I shouldn't care as much because she might love someone else."

Ladybug always thought that relationships were a give-and-take, and they were, but it hadn't occurred to her that maybe she'd misconstrued what the "taking" part entailed. When she'd initially decided to cut off everyone, including Luka, it was because she wanted a completely clean break; to be separated from every person she'd put time into so she could focus on being Ladybug. It'd hurt, of course, but she'd gotten over it, hoping to put Paris as her top priority.

Luka had been an afterthought in a way, because she'd presumed that he would've done so much better without her there. She honestly believed that she was doing what was best for both herself and him, since everything she'd been taught implied that she was only troubling him.

Perhaps there was such a thing as "foolish selflessness" then, where she'd focused so much on what she thought might be best for him without actually confirming it. She thought she could be sure based on what she'd experienced before, but she couldn't.

There was no one else quite like Luka, it seemed.

"...How did you know?" she asked, peeking up at him.

Luka looked over, blinking at her. "Know what?"

"That—" She took a breath, knowing that she was in too deep to back out now. "That you were in love with her?"

His eyes went wide. She grew sheepish, pulling her empty mug closer to her face like she was ready to hide behind it.

"If it's too personal, that's okay. I've just—never seen someone as sure as you are."

After a few seconds, Luka calmed, his expression turning thoughtful. He stared straight ahead of him, looking at nothing in particular, then finally smiled.

"Maybe it's because I didn't grow up with a normal family," he mused, "but I've always thought about love differently."

She tilted her head at him. "How so?" Then, hesitantly, she suggested, "Do you mean you're not really in love with her romantically?"

"No, I am," he stated, and so bluntly that she started blushing again, "but it was never about that for me."

He eyed his phone, though it'd already gone dark from being idle. "Dating, marriage... those aren't things I think about when I see Marinette." He smiled, the softness in his eyes coming back. "Of course I'd be happy going however far she wanted with those, but I don't think loving someone should be about worrying about things like that."

"Really?" She leaned towards him. "Then, what do you think when you see her?"

He met her gaze, accidentally directing that softness her way. For a moment, it was like she was her civilian self, and it was impossible not to feel loved.

"That I want to be with her," Luka answered, "forever, if she'd let me. Whether we're friends or lovers, I want to be able to make her happy and let her rely on me. If there's something bothering her, I want her to know that I'll listen, no matter what it's about. I want her to be comfortable and not worry about what I'll think, because she knows I won't judge her." He placed a hand to his heart, gaze dropping to the couch. "That's love to me."

Ladybug absorbed that, but was unable to say anything coherent outside of, "Oh," her heart doing a flip in her chest.

He chuckled. "I know it might sound weird. You don't have to—"

"No," she cut in, voice softer than intended. She swallowed, her tone returning to normal as she assured, "I think it's really sweet. I wish that I—I mean, I wish that more people could hear that sort of thing. It's touching."

He hummed, staring at her with a look of content. "Thank you." Eyes drifting downwards, he held his hand out and asked, "Do you want me to take that?"

"What?" She looked, only now remembering her empty mug. "Oh, yeah, thanks."

She handed it to him, and Luka took both mugs back to the kitchen to put them in the sink. She watched him, feeling all too much and once and not knowing how to process it.

The idea of it being so simple had never occurred to her; that things like rejection or marriage or children suddenly wouldn't matter, and being content just loving and being with a person was where true happiness lied. She was used to being dragged around towards someone, insisting that her love from long ago had to be a certain way, and that any exceptions would make it imperfect.

The force of it caused her nothing but pain and anxiety, and the "love" she felt was all the more fake for it.

What she had for - with - Luka wasn't like that though. She knew it from the start, but didn't know what it meant.

Luka's wasn't forceful; it was the gentle tug she'd felt and needed all along. Suddenly, everything made sense.

"...I should probably go," she admitted, glancing over at the window. "I need to get back to patrol."

The wind in her face would probably do her good. She had a lot to think about.

Luka came back from the kitchen, heading for the sliding glass doors and picking up his guitar on the way. "You probably should. Thanks for coming in for a while though." He was apologetic as he added, "You deserved the break, but I'm sorry if things got a little heavy for you."

"Not at all," she assured, pushing herself up and walking to stand next to him. She smiled at him, acknowledging, "I think it was just heavy enough, actually."

It was Luka, so of course he didn't prod or ask questions; he just returned her smile with his own.

She passed him, partway into the doorframe before something occurred to her. She glanced back at him, his smile turning into a lopsided frown as he didn't seem to know what she was thinking. Placing a hand on the frame of the glass door, close to where his hand still was, she leaned towards him and kissed his cheek.

She grinned as she pulled away, admiring the way his brows rose in surprise. Giggling, she whispered, "For good luck," promptly turning away and hopping onto the fence.

She then leapt away, continuing the patrol that she'd put on hold. Even though she hadn't looked back at him when she left, his face was vivid in her mind as she beamed, the adrenaline from patrol unable to compete with the way her heart had already been pounding.

I want to be with you.

—————

Marinette

Luka?

...Please tell me you didn't change your number. I might die of embarrassment if you did.

Luka

Marinette?

Marinette

Luka!

Thank goodness.

Luka

Did something happen?

Marinette

No!

Yes?

...Look, I know this probably sounds really out of nowhere and it won't make a lot of sense, but I was thinking about you.

I have been for a while.

I know I have a lot of explaining to do, but can I take you out somewhere? Not as an apology, even though I'm really sorry, but because I want to.

You don't have to say "yes."

You don't have to want to talk to me ever again either.

Luka

...What if I want to do all of those?

Marinette

Oh.

Then... I guess it'd be a date?

Luka

Just me and you?

Marinette

Yeah. Just you and me.

Mostly me.

Because I'll be paying and I don't want to hear one word of complaint out of you.

Alright?

Luka

Ha. Alright.

It's a date.

Marinette

Yes!

Luka

I have to warn you though, Marinette.

Marinette

About what?

Luka

I'm going to be smiling a lot when we meet up. I hope that's okay.

Marinette

That's what you're worried about??

Don't.

I will be too.

[derivativealigner]

Well I haven’t watched sp all the way through for about a decade now, so I thought it was time

Sometimes I wonder how accurate the fandom is when it comes to how we interpret the characters. Like, why is Stan a football star so often in fanfic and why’s Kyle always the smart one? So I thought I’d rewatch the show and make notes along the way to see where the source of all these interpretations is. I also wanted to see if I could get some fun info to analyze, but season 1 is pretty sparse in that regard so there’s not too much of that in this post, but I’ll make a post for all the other seasons too as I watch them

In summary, it’s established in season 1 already that Stan’s a star quarterback and an animal lover, Kyle’s an A+ student, and Kenny is poor and knows a lot about sex and doesn’t have many qualms about doing crazy shit. Cartman is a bit weird since he’s mostly just a naive brat in this season, but he and Kyle have a mildly antagonistic friendship already

I have all my notes under this cut. They include a bunch of small details and other observations. I also listed every Kenny death just because

Ike has freckles

Cartman says “Weak!” and “You guys” and “Seriously” a lot from the start, also “Kickass!” He doesn’t say weak or kickass much in the later seasons iirc

Stan says “Dude, this is pretty fucked up right here” three times in this season but they dropped that catchphrase pretty quickly

Bebe got named in episode 2

Stan’s been an animal lover since s01e03 Volcano since he won’t shoot a bunny or anything else. He does shoot Scuzzlebutt at the end though

Cartman’s a pathological liar but in a childish way

Randy got named in s01e03 Volcano (and it only got worse from there)

The mayor went to Princeton

South Park is next to Mt. Evanson

Kenny will literally drink gasoline

Stan’s a star quarterback in 3rd grade

Clyde’s voice is wrong as hell in S01E04 Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Ride and he has a dog, Rex

Garrison says Kyle is an A+ kid

Shelly seriously abuses Stan, punching him, throwing him, maiming him with a lawnmower

Cartman had a pot-bellied pig called Fluffy

Cartman’s mom smokes crack and has sex with strange men

Dr. Mephesto is probably a Buddhist since he says “Thank Buddha” instead of “Thank God”

Clyde’s voice gets kind of fixed in S01E06

A guy called Mr. McCormick is killed in a protest, launched and splattered against a network building. He doesn’t look like Kenny’s dad though

Zombie Clyde attacks Bebe, rude

Wendy gave her costume contest prize (2 tons of candy) to hungry children in Nairobi

Cartman’s mom is on the cover of Crack Whore magazine. “Back do’ ho… Five on one action!” is the headline

Cartman genuinely cries at Kenny’s grave after the whole zombie thing but gets over it because of candy

Stan knows his mom’s credit card number and has no problem using it to adopt an Ethiopian child (the boys wanted a watch that came with the adoption, they weren’t doing it to be nice)

Cartman calls Stan a vas deference, Stan doesn’t know what that is so Kenny says “Dude, it’s a pipe for your peepee” (according to a transcript). Kenny sure knows male anatomy

Kyle sniffs Kenny after Cartman asks why poor people smell like sour milk and Garrison says “idk eric they just do”

Cartman thinks poor people should die and decrease the surplus population

When the boys get Starvin’ Marvin delivered to them, Cartman says “Hey mom, we found an Ethiopian, can we keep him?” and his mom says “Sure, hun.” She rarely says no to Cartman

Kenny’s dad is an alcoholic who drinks scotch according to Cartman. I mean, Mr. McCormick is seen drinking in multiple episodes and has a hat that says SCOTCH so it’s probably true

Kenny’s family says grace

Craig’s first appearance is S01E09. Also, S01E09 is the first time Kenny doesn’t die (Coincidence? I THINK yeah but it’s still fun)

Clyde got named in S01E10

Clyde and Bebe both spit on Pip’s face, friendship goals <3

Cartman and Kyle have their first fight at Cartman’s birthday party because Kyle didn’t give the right gift. Cartman slaps his face and  screams “I hate you! I want you to die! Die!” while on top of Kyle who’s not really fighting back

Satan throws a fight with Jesus after everyone except Satan bet that Jesus would lose, which leads to Satan winning everyone’s money. Mr. Garrison says “What a mean thing to do!” and Jimbo says “He is a jerk!” and I thought it was quite a laugh so I wrote it down

In S01E11 Tom’s Rhinoplasty Bebe and Wendy are sitting in the swings together and generally appear together throughout the episode, then Bebe gives Wendy a makeover so they’re bffs obviously <3

Craig first appears in the classroom, though not sitting down, in S01E11

Wendy’s not happy about Ms. Ellen taking Stan away from her, she says “Don’t fuck with me! Stay away from my man, bitch, or I’ll whoop your sorry ho ass back to last year!”

Kenny gives Ms. Ellen a scrumptious looking sausage as a valentine’s gift and giggles deviously. Wendy’s gift to Ms. Ellen is a dead animal

Even Kenny doesn’t know what a lesbian is

Wendy’s grandma died in S01E11

Wendy gets Ms. Ellen killed by hiring the Iraqi government (?) to put her in a rocket and shoot it into the sun, then she and Bebe have a pool party (very cool, they wear sunglasses 😎) and watch the rocket hit the sun

Cartman and Pip play a game of kicking each other in the nuts until someone falls. Cartman calls it “Roshambo”

Kenny has a sack of marbles

The boys aren’t fans of Barbra Streisand, but Stan is a fan of the Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway (he’s not a quarterback anymore, he’s an American football executive and the president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the NFL according to wikipedia.)

Officer Barbrady is a fan of Fiona Apple (who was 20 at the time and had only one album released called Tidal)

Ned knows how to pilot a helicopter

Kyle’s mom is a fan of Streisand unlike literally everyone else, she even gets an autograph from Mecha Streisand

The boys are fans of Robert Smith, the lead singer of The Cure. Stan says “Robert Smith is the greatest person that ever lived!” and Kyle says “Disintegration is the best album ever!” and Cartman says “Robert Smith kicks ass!” and Kenny’s dead so he doesn’t get to have an opinion

Cartman has tea parties with his toys: Polly Prissypants, Clyde frog, Peter Panda, and a dragon called Rumpertumskin

Kyle wants to make fun of Cartman for the tea party but Stan stops him because he’s concerned that Cartman needs help

Craig is in front of the school counselor’s office in S01E13

A young miss Cartman drinks like a motherfucker at the 12th annual drunken barn dance where Cartman was supposedly conceived

Stan lets Cartman borrow his bike like a good friend

Garrison wanted to have a threesome with Chef and Cartman’s mom. I don’t know why I’m making a note of this but uh… yeah.

Cartman’s mom has had sex with everyone at this bar that Garrison’s drinking at, including principle Victoria, the mayor, Father Maxi, and Jesus (and maybe Kenny’s dad since he’s at the bar but the camera doesn’t pan to him when Garrison says they’ve all slept with Liane). Later Gerald Broflovski is a possible father to Eric, so he fucked her too. Also Mr. Mephesto and his friend Kevin, that little guy, are candidates along with a lot of other people, including the 1989 Denver Broncos (and Mr. Tenorman is included in that later)

Cartman doesn’t make fun of Kyle for being Jewish much at all in this season even though the Christmas episode is all about Kyle not celebrating

Clyde and Token appear very early on and Clyde has always been in the classroom (along with Bebe, Red, Kevin Stoley, Wendy, and Pip and uhh DogPoo too I think). Craig appears later in the season and Tweek’s not in season 1 at all, so Craig’s gang isn’t really a thing yet

And here’s a list of the ways Kenny died in this season. He dies in every episode except episode 9, and he dies twice in episodes 2 and 3. Altogether he dies 14 times

S01E01 Killed after alien shoots him, cows stampede over him, then cop runs him over which finally actually kills him

S01E02 Killed in a play by a falling teepee, then a second time shot by Garrison which sends him in the air and he gets impaled on a flagpole on the way down

S01E03 Killed by a volcano rock that burns him then rolls on him but he’s alive again in the end but gets shot by Ned’s gun that he drops and it accidentally goes off

S01E04 Gets his arms and head torn off in an American football game

S01E05 Stan’s clone punches Kenny into a microwave where he gets cooked alive

S01E06 Death touches Kenny

S01E07 Kenny gets crushed by a Russian space station and turns into a zombie because he gets Worcestershire sauce in his veins, then Kyle chainsaws zombie Kenny in half, then zombie Kenny rises from his grave and is crushed by a statue and a plane

S01E08 Kenny is killed by a bunch of turkeys. His eye gets plucked out. It’s dark blue

S01E10 After Kenny gets turned into a duck-billed platypus, Jimbo and Ned shoot him

S01E11 Ms. Ellen throws a sword through Kenny’s face

S01E12 While Mecha Streisand and a giant robot Leonard Maltin fight, Kenny plays with a tetherball and gets the rope wrapped around his neck and it strangles him

S01E13 Kenny gets stuck on a go kart and it drags him around but stops and he’s still alive! Too bad the go kart stops on train tracks and a train runs him over. Stan’s grandpa sends a video of the event to America’s Stupidest Home Videos and wins $10,000

If you read all that, first of all hello. I’m not new to the fandom even though this is the first thing I’ve posted on this tumblr blog. I’ve been writing a fanfic called Caffetamine though so I’m not a complete non-entity. Anyway, I’ll watch season 2 soon and post my notes on that too probably.

[mintenochian]

what other people want added to Minecraft: g u n s

what I want added to Minecraft

•Birds

-For multiple biomes, but mainly for the forests.

-Songbirds would add SO MUCH life to the otherwise quiet areas of the game

-Ravens and crows would be awesome and could use some of the parrot mimicking AI

-Cardinals in the snow biomes would bring a GORGEOUS pop of colour into the white atmosphere

-Seriously we need something to populate the sky, parrots do NOT fly like they should

-nests in trees, can find eggs in them

-doesn't really add a use but fun new feather types would be cool

•Owls

-technically still a bird but would go really well in covered rooftop forests and snow biomes

-we're already getting larger avians added in the form of vultures so why not more large birds?

•Mice and / or rats

-absolute precious babies

-sadly would go well with owls :(

-with cave update coming we need adorable rodents scurrying around

-lil bastards could make mouseholes inside of blocks

-will they be tameable? idk.

-adds the necessity for cheese

•Deer

-MOJANG this is a MUST, this is a NEED

-You literally have pigs, chickens, cows, and sheep spawning in forests what the fuck

-Deer with spotty baby fawns??? Yes

-Young bucks with different stages of antler growth? Yes

-Fawns frolicking in flower forests bc they feel safe

-Stripped wood appearing on trees where bucks scrape velvet off their antlers

-Being able to collect sets of antlers when they fall off periodically (would NOT be attainable by killing the deer, you have to wait for them to shed)

•Elk and Moose

-Same vein as deer

-Bigger, much bigger, neutral instead of passive, less shy

-Snowy biomes

-Better additions than fucking llamas tyvm

-Sidenote but savannahs could also really use some endangered deer-like species to help raise awareness for their status

•Squirrels

-Mojang plz

-Adds nuts to Minecraft ;)

-Black, grey, red, and mixed colour squirrels and breeding

-Brings life to forests like songbirds and deer

•Bears

-Mojang bby you literally already have a neutral bear in Minecraft why have you not reskinned it for grizzly/brown/black bears?

-Bear caves

-Hibernating mobs

-Brings more use to the beehives and bees, bears could be attracted to any area that has more than one bee hive with honey

•WOLVES AND DOGS

-They NEED the ocelots and cats update

-More wolf types (red, timber, snow, black, etc)

-Actual wolf packs (the AI would be difficult to program but the doges are worth it)

-Please let the howl at the moon, if foxes get to say ringdingding all night long wolves deserve to be allowed to howl

-More dog breeds (I know that there's no reason for domesticated dog breeds in Minecraft but ACTUALLY THERE IS)

-Hunting dogs like springers that can jump and run faster

-Foxhounds :D

-Most Important Goodest Boy: Herding dogs like collies and sheepdogs

-Herding dogs could be found in plains where cows and sheep spawn and create herds

-LET DOGS LAY DOWN FOR FUCKS SAKE

•Herding

-Instead of having to pen up and enclose your livestock you could form herds of cows and sheep

-Your Goodest Boi herding dog would protect them and move around with them when they graze

-Just soft peaceful minecraft tingz

•Salt licks

-Something SO SMALL but would make SO MUCH HAPPINESS

-Drawing new cows into your herd by putting up a salt lick

-I'm soft

-I guess salt would be a new ore???

•Bird feeders

-idk I think it would be cool

-excess seeds used for SOMETHING

•Raccoons

-The coolness of wolves, the chaos of foxes, the cunning of cats

-thumbs

-be gay do crimes

-can open chests (trigger trap chests to catch them?)

-Fantastic little shits

-Not tameable but will trust players like foxes do

•Snakes

-I know it's a lot to ask and it would be hard to make them look good

-But??? Imagine a tiny lil garter snake in your garden

-unlikely but would be so fantastic

•Rope

-climeable

-please Mojang we need this so badly

-imagine the ships? The bridges? The bell towers and everything?

-super easy to add, just reskin vines and add a string crafting recipie

•Butterflies and Moths

-Bflies could be a unique mob to flower forests and friends with bees

-if moobloom is added they would all be BEST BUDS

-get it "buds" ahahaha

-help with flower polination but just gives a TON of life to flower forests

-We literally have lanterns in minecraft why do we NOT have moths? Such a cool aesthetic addition.

-helps fill both the daytime and nighttime sky

•Hummingbirds

-fourth member of BEST BUDS

-just soft baby

-i love birbs okay

-the only avian who does not work for the bourgeoisie

•Fireflies

-10 million of them please

-they give great hugs

-adds so much atmosphere to the night world

•Cheese

-We have milk

-We have, presumably, goat milk

-Quit being cowards and add butter and cheese

-Butter churn job block for villagers

-V funny bc they have no arms to churn with?? Oh well

•Seashells

-Something decorative and beautiful that could 1) liven up beaches and 2) have snails and crabs inside!

-Mojang plz do not add sand dollars to the game people already don't know how to tell if they're still alive before trying to take them home

•Whales

-WHALES.

-Imagine something as massive as the ender dragon but peaceful. Allows you to stand on them (idk how but make it happen Jeb)

-WHALE SONGS.

-Being so deep and far out into the ocean, and when the moon is high in the sky and you're sitting in your boat, you just hear the beautiful melancholy sounds of the whales in the distance

•Jellyfish

-Idk if y'all know this but the glow squid is a bad idea

-Dream buddy you fucked up, please use your influence to get in contact with Mojang and have them redo the vote. People would have so much regained respect for you if you tried to fix your mistake.

-Also why does a speedrunner get to tell millions of people what mob would bring more life to Minecraft? He's only playing the game for 5 minutes smh

-aNYWAYS

-Jellyfish could literally do everything the glow squid is going to and look better for it AND possibly be neutral instead of peaceful

•Orcas

-Not much to say but it would liven up the frozen water biomes a bit

•Penguins

-You already know why

-Imagine giving a new home to all the Club Penguin players? Legendary.

-Gender doesn't exist in Minecraft but we all know penguins would be hella gay

•Lobsters

-I think they would be cute

-You would NOT BE ABLE TO BOIL THEM ALIVE THANK YOU VERY MUCH

•Mermaids

-Never going to happen since passive mobs are generally real life animals but it would be so cool

•Otters

-they can hold hands

-brings life to the rivers

-super cute

•Frogs and possibly toads

-Swamp gods

-Absolute mad lads

-maybe grow from tadpoles

-wouldn't do much but needed

•Fairy Forests

-NOT Twilight Forests. Not a new dimension.

-Just gentle hidden groves in forests

-ADD FAIRY RING GENERATION TO MINECRAFT.

•Big cats

-Tigers, lions, bobcats, panthers

-Literally anything that could finally add a strong predator possibility to savannahs and jungles

•Zebras and Giraffes

-Shy and skittish

-cannot ride (their skeletal structure is NOT MADE FOR CARRYING HUMANS)

-Super cute tho, brings much needed life to savannahs

•Camels

-The better llama

-Can honestly just be a reskin

-brings much needed life to the desert

-spits and wears carpet and forms caravans like llamas

•Lemurs

-Easier to add to "jungles" than monkeys

-it would be really cool if we could just get a Rainforest biome

-King Julian stans awaken

•Red pandas

-we need them

-cuter than normal pandas and you can @ me

-better idea than sloths or koalas

•More Eldritch Horror Hostile Mobs

-Fun fact time

-The enchanting table language already has Lovecraftian references

-"phnglui mglwnafh cthulhu rlyeh wgahnagl fhtagn" is literally a quote from the enchanting table

-translates to "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."

-Bet you didn't know that fun fact

-aNYWAYS add the Kraken to Minecraft instead of the shitty guardians. Thanks.

-imagine how cool it would be to see lights slowly extinguish as something terrifying and dangerous slowly moves in for the kill

-torches get extinguished and can get relit

-if not relit fast enough Something will be waiting

•Ice statues

-We have giant fossils and ship wrecks and cool stuff like that but please imagine finding a GIANT humanoid ice sculpture in an ice spikes biome

-maybe bones inside to show you that... That wasn't carved or naturally generated.

•Skeletons

-Not a mob but a decoration block

-Found in temples, mineshafts, and caves

-implied to be the remains of miners and explorers

-rare

-also implies that every skeleton you kill has some backstory since they look the same

•Constellations

-Not real world star maps but completely unique to Minecraft

-chance for LOTS of fun references

-The stars are your only companions in an apocalyptic world where you are the last of your kind

-Space is gay minecraft is gay thus minecraft space is gay

•Corn

-we have butter in this list

-we have salt in this list

-popcorn. That is all.

And finally

•Leeks

-mostly a joke but would be a cool crop

-100% a reference to Hatsune Miku the creator of Minecraft

DISCLAIMER: I recognize that mobs are added to Minecraft to serve a purpose within the game and that many of these mobs would be better in mods and such, but I also feel like many of these suggestions would really bring so much more life to parts of the game that really need it. Even if they don't serve a huge purpose, they would still be really amazing additions imo.

I would love to see the ideas and suggestions that other people have for what they want added to Minecraft, please TAG ME if you make a post like this, I wanna hear and read it!

[cquiazon]

JJK OC

Here’s the first rough planning of my jjk OC. A ton of stuff is not filled out yet and I’m struggling, STRUGGLING to grasp cursed energy and technique but here we go:

Her name is Kaiya, her mother never told her of their descent even after passing away.

16 (Grade 2)

5’1

125 lbs

Appearance:

Pale skin, 1c light burgundy hair, two beauty marks on both cheeks, the palest of lilac irises (cus those are fuckin pretty).

(Inspired by Geto saving those two girls in that one chapter)

The clothes she is wearing asides from her uniform is the robe from her deceased mother, hoop earrings which I’m planning to add gemstones on, rope, a thick waist ribbon, bandages, and a worn out jumpsuit.

History:

She lived around the Totsukawa village in Nara, except in the forest and waterfalls with her mother. Inspite of the kind villagers, they do not take lightly to shamans. Her father is unknown, that fact causing more controversy among people in the village.

They lived a more primitive life, growing, hunting and mercy killing, harvesting herbs, and practicing medicine. Her mother also taught her the knowledge she was given from her time, especially the ongoing reversed caused technique that has been perfected from their bloodlines. These are the only remnants of what she knows of her ancestors: they were healers. There were many times she felt unwelcomed from the village no matter how many times her mother and her provided medicine, helped their crops, or exorcise cursed spirits. Though there were a small few who were exceptions, especially most of the youth there. Kaiya struggled to push her caring efforts. Her mother was always there, urging her to hold no malice and stay selfless. So she kept that promise, and it only grew stronger the day she died. Her mother then took a form of a spirit guide, which are entities that help serve as a guide and protector for people, usually for their family members. She’s shaped as a butterfly and only occurs in important situations. Kaiya calls her ‘Shiori’.

She was enrolled in Jujutsu tech after being found battered from a grade 1 cursed spirit by the first years. Only came because her spirit guide urged her to.

Personality:

Caring, resilient, selfless, shy, stubborn, reserved. Due to living in nature all of her life with almost all of her communication being from her mother, this girl is socially inept to the point it’s sad. She has this resting scowl on her face, her eyebrows look angry all the time. There are rare occurrences where her face softens up but that’s just when eating food or thinking of people close to her like her mother. Once someone actually approaches her she turns into a blabbering flustered mess. She feels so overwhelmed from the lack of knowledge and experience in literally EVERYTHING, she will stare at a street lamp or a microwave heating up a meal for quite a while and still be at awe. When it comes to being social or adjusting to her new and much more modernized environment she is a dumpster fire, her reactions are either pure childlike wonder or a failure at covering up her emotions. With this she prefers to express herself through actions. Once she is assigned with dirty work her brain does a 180 and now has the mentality of a hunter that she was raised on at Nara.

For abilities as of now I only have:

Refined reversed cursed technique: just like the normal one but perfected so that it heals substantially with cursed energy

Karma: Transfers injuries or effects to another desired body, 10% of it distributed to hers. (Requires barely any cursed energy)

Agility: legwork is much more efficient when channeled with constant cursed energy (duh)

Offense:

Uses a bow to fire arrows, be it poison arrows, ones charged with cursed energy or pure cursed energy.

Overall she lacks endurance, shes like squishy as fuck but has some lean muscles that she trained from hopping, running, doing Tarzan shit yadda yadda

Alone she’s quite weak against grade 2 alone but a great buff when paired with someone even against a cursed spirit slightly stronger than grade 1.

More stuff:

Wears leg binds for swiftness 100

I should have given her sport shoes instead 🤔

Is sometimes saddened by the fact she looks unapproachable

Fears that her village would be in danger while she’s gone

Shows her gratitude through making delicious meals with the knowledge she was given, especially for nobara and yuuji. “Oh you made this? It tastes wonderful!....you got the meat from what.....listen just tell gojo to buy the meats instead of getting the squirrels from the parks .”

Can’t handle having makeup on for a minute without wiping it off her face, nobara a n g e r e d

Geeks out with megumi in animal documentaries

When hanging with Nobara she is forced to try out outfits picked by her.

Often too literal for her own good, yuuji once told her to “break a leg” and she...yeah.

No knowledge of ANYTHING, she’s a caveman people and it’s FUCKING FUNNY

Loves poetry though

Doesn’t like staying in her dorm the whole day, inspite being introverted she will just go out and look around with what the new world had to offer.

[obeymeluv]

The Bros and School Headcanons

I have other stuff in mind but this is something short I can put out for now.

It’s my headcanon on the types of school/college people the bros are. I guess you can consider it college AU?

Lucifer

The Type-A asshole everyone probably hates

Doesn’t originally start out that way, doesn’t mean for people to hate him. Soon LIVES for it. Seriously, it’s like his coffee.

Prideful AF. MUST be top of the class!

His motto: “Do it right, do it once.”

Runs on an insane amount of coffee and just as insane (read: little) amount of sleep

The type to remind the teacher about assignments that were due in class if it seems like they’re going to forget about it

Asks about extra credit on day one

If people ask repeat questions that were LITERALLY just answered, he gets pissy and silently suffers

Ends up a little sad and burnt out, wondering if the grade was worth skipping out on other opportunities

Says he’s not going to do it next semester, but gets addicted to that grade high

The “friends” he makes in class are usually fellow rivals and they have a hot and cold relationship that somehow works really well

When he drops the grade-chaser stuff, he’s actually really nice to be around. He has really deep, interesting conversations that are between philosophical and educational (you just have to pull his head out of his ass first)

Mammon

Some people wonder how he got into the class, some people wonder how he’s passing it

Mammon is the dude who looks like he doesn’t know about the subject but is an absolute FOUNTAIN of knowledge

Always has sunglasses on and has some kind of drink within arm’s reach. Usually a very big coffee with lots of espresso

Constant bedhead (even if he says he fixed his hair)

Tried sitting in the front row the first week, kept getting sleepy. Now sits in the back row towards the doors.

He’s either early or late. Never on time.

The one that brings a notebook and a pen to class. Nothing extra.

Usually falls asleep or cat naps. Says he learns through osmosis

This asshole is really good at auditory learning and gets by recording the lectures

Blows through exams like they’re nothing. He’s a good BS’er and gets C’s, minimum. Usually low B’s.

This guy laughs at the Type-A stresser’s and enjoys his minimum studying

Can be suckered into group studying fairly easily but most people won’t study with him because he turns study sessions into anything BUT studying

Knows people who know people. Could probably get his hands on old tests and stuff. If he can, it’ll cost you. A lot.

Levi

This poor baby has testing anxiety hella bad when it comes to subjects he’s not super interested in or that he’s already struggling in

If he likes the subject and feels confident in it, there’s no testing anxiety.

Also brings a drink to class. It’s an energy drink.

Always comes to class early and is usually in a pair of wireless headphones, browsing on his phone

A great visual learner.

His notes are written sloppily and kind of sporadically but they’re decently organized with notes in the margin and things like that

Doesn’t like asking questions out loud. Will either email the teacher, ask after class, or make a friend that isn’t afraid to ask them for him.

If he’s having a good day, he’ll try to make jokes that only make a few people laugh. It’s usually bad timing and he’s a little sad.

MUCH BETTER AT DRAGGING PEOPLE! It’s not something he thinks about. It just slips out! Before his face can overheat, he realizes people are laughing and he kind of basks in it for a while.

Has coordinated stationary; is probably animes he’s into or colors he likes

If he has a laptop, it’s absolutely smothered in stickers

The BEST guy to have a study session with. Something about being in a library or quiet area ramps up his focus and he’s like a second-hand teacher.

Very different from his in-class persona, but is often spot on with ‘If I were the teacher, I’d put this on the exam.’

Want to be friends? Comment on his merch. He’ll start a conversation if he sees a shirt/pin/bag/pencil or anything he likes. It helps if you offer Starbucks or snacks in exchange for being tutored

Satan

Takes pride in his grades but doesn’t go out of his way to make people hate him

Will casually drop his grades when asked, but won’t own up to being the top grade. Very vague (”I did okay. Just like I expected.”)

He more or less enjoys the satisfaction of seeing a good grade come back to him after all that studying

Prone to over-thinking

Probably the first one done, but he’ll do 2 or 3 look overs to check everything before turning it in

Low-key exhausts his professors with written assignments because he gives them a fucking book. It’s all technical and correct but, really, it was only supposed to be three pages!

The one that will yell at the obnoxious people interrupting lecture. Will throw things at them if they’re in reach.

Super protective of his books and class materials. Has a hoarding/scooping reflex when messy people spread out their stuff or unwrap food. The books are not to be desecrated!

If an obnoxious eater/drinker is beside him, he thinks about strangling them to the point where it distracts him from lecture

Usually reads ahead and works ahead

If he gets points off of something, he’ll want an explanation. If he feels the points were taken away unnecessarily, there will be words

If he gets too overstimulated with noises or just hits a point of being fed up, he’ll leave lecture

Rarely brings food or drink to class but can be found at the Starbucks on campus before class. Maybe after. Some days it’s both.

Best notes around. Very technical and perfectly organized. Not colorful or anything, but definitely the envy of people.

Sells his notes/study guides each semester for money

Asmo

That guy who can slide into any friend group

Socially sharp. Can tell who the most prepared are and has an instinct for who the strongest class partners will be

Makes friends with the TA’s before the professors.

Totally convinces that TA to give him hints about the upcoming exams

People either love him or hate him. Most people love him, some people hate them because they can’t be him.

Almost always has a drink and it’s rarely the same. Usually a healthy smoothie or one of the cute juice drinks from Starbucks.

The type to bring in outside food and pick at it while he listens to lecture. Tries to listen, anyways.

Really easily distracted. Gets bored with monotonous voices and HATES teachers who just read off of a powerpoint.

His notes are very colorful and aesthetic but may not be the most informative

Does his best to stay on top of assignments but usually has 2 or 3 big screw ups a semester

Somehow always gets his ass saved. Boy has good karma in stock

This is the guy that things ALWAYS seem to work out for, and they fall in his lap

Proposes cute/semi-extravagant study dates. They are rare and exclusive. Extended to a few choice people (no, it’s not to sucker anyone into giving him class notes.)

Aim’s for C’s because anything more is just a bonus. D’s and F’s are unacceptable.

Will drag a bad partner in a heartbeat. If they didn’t help in the group project, their name isn’t going on it.

Beel

Also one of the types that doesn’t look like he belongs, but he does

Is a fountain of random knowledge

Very strong memory, but not perfect. The type that needs a little push before the absolute WALL of information comes out.

Really strong test taker

Brings tons of snacks to class

Once brought a whole-ass meal to class. He ate it one-handed and took notes with the other.

The guy that somehow gets roped into favors by other people. It’s usually quick stuff and he’s good about setting boundaries to make time for himself and his studies

Want him to study with you? Mention about splitting a pizza or something.

Your hype man. Good guy to reassure you before tests if you get test anxiety

Sick and skip class? He’ll check in on you AND send copies of his notes

Doesn’t always get assignments in on time. Only late once or twice a semester. Either eats the point difference or convinces the teacher to give him an extension.

Will take you out for post-test fun errands

Belphie

Does he exist? You won’t find out until it’s time to take an exam.

Belphie does a lot of research before he signs up for a class. Would like to go 100% online but knows that isn’t realistic, so he combs teacher reviews to get nice, easygoing professors

Has a photographic memory, so all he really needs are the powerpoints and to check out reference copies of the textbooks from the libraries

Tries to take the same classes as his brothers so he can swipe the textbook for a bit

If his only option is a morning class, he DEFINITELY picks the same one as one of his bros to make sure he gets up and goes

More of a night owl

The one that’s addicted to caffeine, stays up all night, and somehow gets 7 assignments done. Has periods of intense focus then it’s back to not knowing what day it is. He just wants sleep.

Usually seen with Beel or Satan. Tends to show up at events with free food.

Loves finals week when they bring in dogs and pets.

Has wireless earbuds and is always listening to a podcast, Tedtalk, or something soothing

Catnaps through class. Even if he’s woken up from a dead sleep, he can answer whatever snarky question someone asked

Takes advantage of the meditation classes and alternative therapy walk-ins promoted by the Mental Health Clinic. He really likes guided meditation with singing bowls.

[aiden-png]

to celebrate the end of 2020, I’ve decided to share the highlights of the writing I did this year! I’m going to share a few of my favorite snippets from 2020, and I think this could be a fun tag meme to invite friends to join in on so they can appreciate their progress and hard work too! I couldn’t have written so much if it wasn’t for the great online community supporting me and all my wonderfully talented friends!!

I’m gonna tag @freshie-writes @silverdragon-imagines-blog @st0rmy-writes @fuckit-hero-of-trains @no-themes-just-memes @timeturner-jay and anyone else who wants to join in, feel free! you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, but you all wrote amazing things this year and I’m gonna appreciate you for them!!

snippets below the cut (please do this or make a new post if you wanna join, just so we don’t flood everyone’s dashboard lol!)

it’s difficult to count for certain, but across 7 google docs from April to December 2020, I wrote 324,782 words just of Legend of Zelda fanfic! it’s been a crazy fun year and I think my writing has improved a ton since I started writing fic again in April! thank you all for supporting me through the last 9 months!! <3

here’s a highlight of some of my favorite excerpts from fics I wrote this year! Smoke on the Wind and Dream With Me are two of my favorite pieces I wrote this year for angst, while Four Feet of Pure Flirtation and Lessons in Love are my favorites for crack/fluff :D the other snippets are featured bc I’m proud of how the fics turned out !

Dream With Me: June 28, 2020 Legend and Hyrule sat on the beach, a mere two feet separating them. It felt like much more. Farther than they’d ever been apart before. The other heroes stumbled onto the sand, frozen in shock as they took in the scene before them. Legend, knife drawn and hands shaking dangerously. Hyrule, knees buried in the sand and hands held over his chest, trying desperately not to reach out again. The sun was rising, pinks disappearing into vibrant gold and crushed purple and bright blue. As dawn broke, their vision wavered. Hyrule gasped, Legend blurring before him, the sand beneath him fading, the roar of the waves diminishing. Magic hour was ending. “This isn’t a dream,” Hyrule whispered, and Legend’s shoulders shook with silent sobs. “I’m real. I’m here. Legend, come with me.” Hyrule stretched out his arm, fingers splayed, eyes begging. Legend flinched back, dagger slipping from shaking fingers. He stared, disbelieving. Vertigo consumed Hyrule’s senses, his vision clouding with black dots. “Take my hand, Legend!” Hyrule cried, and Legend jumped. He sprung forward, hand grasping. Hyrule felt nothing as Legend’s hand passed through his. “Hyrule!” He blinked, and found himself in an unfamiliar field, reaching towards sunrise.

Smoke on the Wind: August 7, 2020 Wind hadn’t always had this ability, but before his second adventure, before the ghosts became tangible to his skin and visible to his eyes, he still had a sixth sense of sorts to rely on. Back then he’d called it instinct, but now he called it a curse. It never helped him do better on his adventure, never showed him the way, never allowed him to prevent someone’s demise--only forced him to bear witness to it in all its excruciatingly gory detail. Some spoke of death like a mercy, others like a boon. Wind knew death like an old friend and he despised it with all the rage contained in his tiny body. Some feared death, some prayed for its delay. Wind feared no man, god, or figment of imagination. There was no reason to fear something he couldn’t prevent, there was no reason to pray to something that would never hear or listen. Some ran from death, some hid. Wind stared death in the eye and spat in its face. He thrust a magical fucking sword through its head and banished it to a watery grave.

Four Feet of Pure Flirtation: June 26, 2020 Maybe he should have shared just a tad bit more with them, but that was a regret for future Four to deal with. And really, he hadn’t been expecting it himself, so they couldn’t exactly blame him when Dark Link materialized in their camp one morning and sent Four’s heart racing in an unfamiliar-familiar way. Four felt the heat crawl up his chest, felt his tongue loosen, felt his eyes trail over Dark’s lithe form just a bit too slow to be innocent. No one had told him Dark was attractive. Although, Vio reminded him, we are the only ones attracted to villains. We are most decidedly not! Four shot back. The denial was empty. They most decidedly were.

Hero Through the Ages: June 19, 2020 Wild sighed, chin resting on his knees. He glanced over at Sky, feeling anxiety buzz within him as a question pushed at the back of his mind. “Hey, Sky… does the sword still recognize me?” Sky froze at the unexpected question, eyes searching Wild’s carefully schooled expression. Wild felt his anxiety rise but he held his ground as the older hero tentatively reached back and unsheathed the Master Sword. He closed his eyes for a moment, and Wild tried hard not to notice the new eyes on them as he waited for Sky’s response. He knew what the answer should be, but when the other slowly opened his eyes and held the sword out for Wild, it was still conflicting to feel the familiar weight of it in his hands. Not too heavy. Not burning. Perfectly at home, as if he’d just begun his adventure and still had many years left before the Calamity struck. Wild felt a pit in his stomach as he handed the sword back, Sky’s concerned gaze not helping. “How old were you when you pulled the sword?” Sky asked quietly, and Wild stared at his hands as they trembled slightly in his lap. “Too young.”

A Shower to Remember: July 4, 2020 Enter Twilight and Wild. TWILIGHT     I can see thee up th’re.     Come hither.     I simply wish to speak with thee.

Enter Legend to Shower Crashers. LEGEND     all’s well that ends well, I believe our plan hath been a success. cheers to thee all. FOUR     didst thou not see     Wild running     for his life not     a minute past? LEGEND     that is’t his problem, not mine.

Lessons in Love: July 9, 2020 The offer though, that’s what truly made Legend pause. Show you the ropes, he’d said. He should be insulted that Ravio thought he was that hopeless, but the man wasn’t wrong. Legend was absolutely, positively hopeless, evidenced by the situation he now found himself in. Should he say no and move on? Should he accept--and then what? Maybe he should laugh it off, say he was joking, or perhaps he should come clean now and tell Ravio how he felt? But he still didn’t know if Ravio felt the same, those dark eyes betraying nothing in the fading light of sunset. So, naturally, Legend continued to panic. “What do you mean by ‘show me the ropes’?” Legend asked, quick, defensive enough to pass as insulted. Ravio snorted, tasting the hot chocolate, and Legend’s eyes were drawn to his lips once more as if under a spell. “I mean no offense, Link,” Ravio laughed, seeming not to catch the blush on Legend’s face as Ravio used his name. “I just figured you might want some pointers. Flirting, hand holding, relationship advice, y’know? You don’t have to accept the offer by any means!” Flirting? Hand holding? Legend gulped. He was already an idiot. Maybe he could play dumb for a little while longer…

Scars: June 2, 2020 “I used to try and cover myself in public--I didn’t like the way people would whisper or stare when they saw. But eventually I came to accept the scars as part of me. I remembered how I got them, and I realized I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the journey that led to me getting these scars. And I like who I am…” Wild trailed off, sifting sand through his fingers as Warriors listened. “I’ve come to love my scars, because they hold such important memories for me. Even if some of the memories aren’t so great, I wouldn’t be who I am today without them, you know? And I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

Beneath the Surface: July 13, 2020 For the first few months he had lied to himself, blaming the others or the weather or Shadow or Vaati or anything rather than admitting he had a problem. But Blue did, in fact, have a problem, and fighting and yelling it out wasn’t the healthiest solution. For the others it was easy. Green had Vio, for Wind could rarely move Earth, and Red got along with everyone he was so full of love to give. But Blue wasn’t good at teamwork, he wasn’t good at strategizing, and he wasn’t good at showing affection--he was good at being angry, and that was it. He was the protector, the toughest of them all in strength and will; but when you’re always protecting others, no one protects you. Not like Blue made it easy for the others to approach him, and he didn’t blame them for giving up. They were all struggling, they all had their own issues, and while Wind was a gentle breeze and Fire a warming comfort and Earth a steady rock--Water was impossible to hold down. He was forever changing, flowing, and while it meant that he could adapt well to new situations, it also meant that every time he felt close to getting a handle on his emotions they would slip from his grasp once more. His magic ebbed and swayed and his emotions followed their tide, not his, and so he pushed others away rather than admit he couldn’t handle himself. If protecting them meant distancing himself, then so be it.

The Point of No Return: June 19, 2020 He turned back to Four, brushing the back of his hand across his cheek. He’d wanted to share a meal with his partner. He’d wanted to see Four’s small smile--just for him--as he tried Hylian food for the first, second, hundredth time. Long ago, they’d promised to travel the world together. Four wanted to share everything with him; wanted to show him the forge, wanted him to meet his Grandfather, wanted to take him to see the Minish. After the adventure, Four had promised. He’d be free to go and do whatever he wanted, right by Four’s side. Well, he was at his side now. And this was not what they’d promised each other.

A Major Test of Strength: May 7, 2020 Even being worthy of the Triforce of Courage didn’t mean he was brave enough to act on, or even think, about how he felt about Sidon. He reasoned it was better not to say anything, especially now. He was going off to a battle he may not return from. Even if he burned to know if Sidon felt the same, it would be selfish to ask knowing he may be leaving for the last time. Link would rather go to the grave with his feelings then leave Sidon alone with them. At least if he died before confessing, Sidon would be able to move on, he hoped. Sidon was his best friend, and that was enough for now.

[littleballofwhitemage]

Prompt: Ferality

Well I’ve been sitting on this one since the middle of January and it’s still a WIP but lemme slide it in at the last minute. 👈🏽👈🏽

The day was going great till some Temple Knight’s came and carried me away from camp Dragonhead. I was literally about to go report to Lord Haurchefant when apprehended. I’m scared now, I hope I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m not aware of any laws I’ve broken. “I’m afraid I don’t understand gentleman what’s the problem.” They yelled at me to do something but won’t let me use my hands to explain that I’m deaf. This went on for the longest time then they shoved a picture in my face of Rielle. What do they want with her? She’s just a sweet little girl. They kept gesturing to the picture angrily and getting more agitated that I wasn’t responding to anything. Well good sirs if you could please unbind my hands, I will answer your questions and we can all go on our merry ways. But they didn’t. why are they treating me like a criminal? They don’t even seem to be trying to understand why I keep staring at them wide eyed and terrified. I just wanna go home to my friends.

6 hours. They fruitlessly interrogated me for 6 hours. Then they left me in the room typed up to the chair. These are expertly tied knots I can’t feel my hands anymore and know I have serious rope burns on my wrists. I never did get them to understand I couldn’t hear them or why they want Rielle for something. The man himself finally came sniffing around for me and burst through the doors. His expression was one of indignation as he rushed over and cut my restrains. I cradled my hands to my chest getting blood on my shirt and just cried. He took me to his home in Ishgard and hurried me into a room, ignoring everyone who acknowledged us. “What happened Shirojishi?” he asked me after bandaging up my wrists and I could feel my fingers again.

“I don’t know. They just came outta nowhere and dragged me into a building. I tried to ask them if I had done something wrong but they didn’t seem to understand or didn’t care and bound me. Then for 6 hours did nothing but yell at me for something. I don’t even know what. Maybe that I wasn’t answering them.”

“They? Whos they?” he wiped at some tears with a silky handkerchief. His other arm was around me tryna comfort me in a hug.

“Some Temple Knights. Atleast I think they were Knights they had similar armor.”

“I’ll be sure to get a word to Ser Aymeric about this. You’re more then welcome to stay here and recover.” I want to go back to Mor Dhona and be with them if they are really after Rielle but if they are tracking me I don’t wanna lead them straight to her. So I asked instead if he could see a letter delivered to Mor Dhona; the least I can do is warn them and tell them that I’m staying here a few days. Fray will try to rush here also filled with indignation and that unholy rage of his, but I must persuade him to stay with the Scions. For Rielle’s sake. And mine.

It’s been a few months since the random abduction and as expected Fray was livid. It took Sidurgu practically sitting on him to keep him from running out that door. I tried to tell him I was recovered from it, but he just motioned to his wrists while staring at mine. I still had the bandages on cause I didn’t wanna look at the wound or if any scarring occurred. I got another surprise visit from Haurchefant today he’s been doing this for the past few months. I told him many times before the visits weren’t necessary, he had work just like I did. Surely, they didn’t like it when he kept dropping everything to come and see me. He insists it’s the least he could do I was kidnapped under his supervision. “The world may not care that the warrior of light is a child, but I certainly do. All the more reason I wish you wouldn’t charge headlong into every dangerous thing that you’re told to do.”

“But I'm helping people, Lord Haurchefant. That’s what I want to do with my life. That’s why im a white mage.” He stepped closer and grabbed my hands but was pulled away by Fray, I didn’t even see Sidurgu stand up. They exchanged a few words then Haurchefant turned back to me.

“I see why you travel alone now. You never mentioned your boyfriend was a Dark Knight.” And with that he was rather hastily shown this meeting was over cause Fray picked me up and walked off. I waved to him as we entered dawn’s respite.

“why are they after Rielle? They just kept shoving her photo in my face.” He explained it was a sins of the father ordeal and Rielle was being hunted for his act of heresy. But she shouldn’t be held accountable for him much less when she was born like this. I don’t like this feeling in my chest tryna digest this revelation. Fray took my hand and told me I was getting angry at this. That’s a new one. I rarely get more then upset at something. “no surely you’re mistaken Fray I’m just-” I cut off and slowly put my hands in my lap, tryna find the word for the emotion I was feeling. The silence stretched for a few minutes before I looked back up at him and he spelled out a single word. Anger. It’s not that that I don’t think Rielle deserves this or that I shouldn’t be getting emotional over it, I’m just having a tough time processing.

I have vague memories of that day. The day I finally got angry at something. Now it’s just a regular occurrence. I see Fray always looking at me warily and talking to Sidurgu in what looks like a private manner, probably about me. My vague memories usually come to me in daydreams. I just remember blood, and lots of it. Tons of bodies belonging to Temple Knights were scattered in the harsh snow. I think was covered in blood as well. Sidurgu was there and he looked a little shaken. Rielle was like cowering behind him. And they were looking at me. But I couldn’t tell you why. I still try to stubbornly cling to non-confrontational ways but it’s increasingly difficult given the circumstances of my predicament. Atleast I found all my friends again in this strange land. Today I had to go to some weird city with Alphinaud, so I was like sure. Gotta make sure he’s not getting into anymore trouble. Again. We got to the city after passing through a shanty town and it struck me as odd. This wasn’t like back home in Ul Dah. There was a different feel to this wealth, I don’t know how to explain it. It felt uneasy is what im gonna peg it down as. It has every other requirement for the comparison. Shabby underbelly? Check. Rich people flaunting their wealth? Check. Poor shaming? Big ol check again. I saw all this while Alphinaud was drawing the Miqote couple. I’m a little unnerved by it all like something’s definitely not right here. It’s too……...perfect.

There was a commotion in the uppermost level so we all piled into that room and there on the ground was our Miqote friend. The one that stole from us to get into this city. I rushed forward and Alphinaud followed. Hes bleeding badly from his forearm onto the floor. That’s a nasty gash I wanted to immediately kneel down and heal him but Alphinaud was one step ahead of me. There it is again. That feeling of anger bubbling up in my chest threatening to spill over. Then he went on a spill about how this man has wronged him and I blacked out again. When I had come to, he told me I had tried to lunge at Vauthry and attack him after blacking out. Not that he entirely blames for it. Fray would be yelling at me for getting so upset. He doesn’t like it when I mimic what he does with that sword. I made him swear not to tell Fray anything about these blackouts I keep having, I hate how worried he looks when I tell him. I can’t understand beyond the face value of why he gets so bent outta shape. Face value being attacking people is obviously wrong. On a visit back to the Source I knew what I had to do. I’m an adult now and most importantly this anger isn’t going away or subsiding. It’s only growing in intensity. So I independently picked up Dark Knight. He may hate me for this but I don’t know what else to do.

[strangergrove]

COLLEGE!AU TIPS/INFO

Hey everyone! I love college!AUs and know some people may want to write one but do not feel confident doing so because they haven't been to college, or maybe just want some more information. Now not all of this will apply to all colleges/universities of course, but I wanted to give as much as I could. (For reference, I went to the University of Minnesota) This is meant for giving an idea of general college life and things that might be fun to add to a story, so I haven't added the more technical things, but I can if you guys want that.

ORIENTATION WEEK

Freshman arrive a week before everyone else to get settled in and learn the ropes (no classes yet, just events)

You get a student ID that's required to enter the dorms and higher security classrooms (ones with expensive equipment) You can also put money on it and use that at cafeterias and campus stores

They took all the freshman to Target after-hours (so we were the only customers) so we could buy groceries and anything we forgot to bring before school started

They also brought us to the Mall of America (because it was five minutes away) so we could go on all the rides and visit Sealife for free (the shops were closed down, though, so no shopping) I think it was supposed to be a chance to make friends before classes started. I don't know, but it was fun

DORM LIFE

I didn't have a roommate so I can't comment on what that was like (when applying for dorm living, we were asked if we preferred to have a roommate or not. I didn't want one and therefore lived in a single-occupancy room)

I did, however, have a sink mate (our single-occupancy rooms had this weird thing where two of them were joined by a tiny room that had nothing but a sink and mirror in it. The doors locked from the outside so the other person couldn't get into your room if you had it locked. Some people left their doors open so they basically had a roommate while getting to have separate rooms) I know this is probably unique to my dorm (because it's really weird) but it's also fun and could make for interesting scenes

At the end of every year you had to reapply to live in the dorms and you were given the option to stay in your room, change rooms but keep the same roommate (you and your roommate both had to apply for this option, of course) or change rooms and roommates

Rooms with only 1-2 people did not have their own bathrooms. There were shower stalls in the bathrooms that you could use. This lead to a lot of people walking around in robes or towels in the halls.

The cafeteria food was not included in the price of the dorm. You either had to buy a meal plan (X number of meals a month) or pay per meal at the door. If you had the meal plan, they scanned your student ID. You were allowed like 5 guest passes or something

There was a computer lab in the dorm with printers you could use, but rarely anyone went there

There was a laundry room in the basement. You had to scan your student ID to pay for the washer and dryer (ours was broken and let you do it for free) If you weren't down there to transfer or collect your laundry as soon as it was done, some people would take all of your clothes and just throw them on the table (even if there was already a pile of clothes there) because washer and dryer space was limited. So laundry at 2 in the morning was usually safest

CLASSES

I biked everywhere because our campus was huge and it was like a 15 minute walk minimum between my classes (sometimes a half hour if I had to walk to the stadium downtown) so biking was a life saver (biking in the snow was hilarious and difficult)

Driving anywhere near campus was a nightmare. Therefore, there were free shuttle busses to take you to different parts of the campus (most of the campus was in Minneapolis but part was in St. Paul.)

I had classes start as early as 7am and run as late as 9pm. My longest classes were 4 hours. Most common length was 2 hours

Only some teachers took attendance (usually in small classes) others passed around a clipboard to sign your name and prove you were there

For each hour in-class you expect 2-4 hours of homework that day

Most of my classes were Monday/Wednesday/Friday for lectures and Tuesday/Thursday for other classes. Once-a-week classes could be any day (and were usually the really long classes)

In high school you can take Advanced Placement classes and test into higher class levels (and earn credits toward a certain subject) This means if you leave well, you can take fewer prerequisite classes and fewer classes that have nothing to do with your major. This also means you may be able to graduate early (I graduated a semester early from this and taking way too many credits per semester)

In our university, any credits above 15 each semester were free (I took 18-19 each semester to take advantage of this) The required amount of credits to be determined full time was either 12 or 13, but they recommended 15 to be in track to graduate in 4 years (assuming you were going for a bachelor's like I was)

FREE TIME

There are tons of student groups ranging from support for foreign students to writing clubs to learning a certain language to capture the flag (which we played at midnight) These groups are amazing and a great way of meeting like-minded people

We had an event every year called Spring Jam where they had all kinds of vendors come, they threw parties and events, and even a concert

Our dorm hosted events for every holiday (Yule ball, haunted house, etc.)

We had a student union center with all sorts of resources for students, but also a theatre, cafeteria, game room (with bowling alley, great food, video games and pool tables you could rent by the hour, and trivia night every Thursday) and great hall for concerts and events

There was a bar called The Library, so any time anyone said they were "going to the library" they got suspicious looks

There were also a ton of on-campus jobs specifically for students, so you could submit your class schedule to them and they would schedule your shifts around it

If you want more information on anything, please don't hesitate to leave a comment/ask/dm! Also, if you have anything you'd like to add, please feel free.

I will update this if I think of anything else, so please check the notes for mentions of updates.

[bearpillowmonster]

Horizon Zero Dawn Review

The game that critics have been raving about for years and I just haven't played. I heard a lot of people say "this needs a movie" but they say that about any game that dares to be a little bit cinematic because I personally disagree.

That first part is rough, the story seems so in your face, predictable and bland but I think the problem is that it didn't know how to put in its exposition. I think it naturally builds up as it goes on, getting bigger and broader, it's just those first experiences that can be a slog because you're pretty much learning what style you're going to play in.

I got more or less everything I expected, crafting, a skill tree, various weapons. What I didn't expect though are dialogue options. You can choose normally up to four paths, an intelligent one, a compassionate one, and a straightforward one. You don't have to worry about the stress of trying to reach a specific ending because there's really only one, the only thing that affects it is the amount of people that are in it. So does that make the choices irrelevant? Yes and no because there are different dialogue options and like I said, which means that you can get certain characters to like you more given the option you choose but not in the same way that relationship points work and I definitely felt the draw to do that whenever I came across my first side-quest.

Side-quests are interesting, I love tracking things in games, though it's rare that you actually get the chance to do it and here you have a good amount of opportunities. Is that all though? Far from it. I actually found myself searching for side-quests because the first two were so satisfying. It really only began to show its hand a bit more after those quests. As I mentioned, there are a lot more RPG elements than I first imagined but it starts to send you on scavenger hunts, especially that Dreamwillow one, that one I actually laughed out loud at every time I was turned away. It also starts to gatekeep to where it recommends that you be a certain level which is...odd? I mean at face value it looks like you could rock basically any combat situation that isn't context sensitive. Leveling up gives you abilities but they're more like Deus Ex on that front, where it's just for preference and upgrading, not necessarily strength. The only thing you improve on offense wise basically boils down to having the right materials or units to buy weapons then a matter of finding modifications. Other than that, leveling up seems to just increase your health. It really just depends on the quest too because I'll play one above my level and be fine then play another that's actually under my level and feel stuck.

Now I only played it on normal mode so something like "Ultra Hard" is bound to be more demanding but as far as actual side quest content, I feel like they have potential but just need tweaked, give me more stuff for major characters that affects their standing with me. Rather than having each quest be contained in its own story, have it affect you later in the game, let your actions be shown, give it rewards and consequences. There are some really great side-quests but there are also some crappy ones, it doesn't pass that threshold that most RPGs fall under or anything. However, I did find myself doing side-quests at my own free will and the ones that I didn't like or couldn't do at the time, I just skipped and focused on something else, I felt a lot more freedom with this game, like I didn't feel forced to grind or do a certain number of side-quests or really do anything. It encourages you to explore and play the way you want to play and I respect the heck out of that. Maybe it's different for other players though.

Perhaps my favorite actual side thing was the Cauldrons for those who actually played this, you'll know why. For those who didn't, just know that it's cool and let it be a surprise for when you go to one. You might expect these big set-pieces and bosses like Uncharted or GoW, but it's not really like that. I genuinely think that this is more video-gamey than it lets on which certainly takes up its runtime. One addition to side-quests that I would like to see is one where you don't know it's happening. For example, in this game, you'll come across random hunters who are attacking or being attacked by machines but rather than just going on about your day and them going on about their's, I want to fight off the machine and the person say "You saved my life, my name's Jara, I live in the town nearby and want to repay you." so you go there and there's trouble so it starts up a side-quest. Now don't get me wrong, there are PLENTY of instances of people getting attacked actually being a mission but most of the time someone in town will just tell you "I haven't seen this person in a while, can you go check on them for me?" It's the art of subtlety and also just doing a good deed and getting rewarded for it. It's a conscious choice and split decision rather than just another checkmark on your list to complete.

Now I won't bother listing the characters and rating them but there's a certain aspect that has me really enthused So, Aloy is an outcast and a lot of these side missions and scenarios reflect her, you'll see the way she can relate with other characters, making it almost poetic in a subliminal kind of way. Then they add this tribal and futuristic setting to it where Aloy acts as the medium, there are parts of the game where she questions the tribe because they cut themselves off from technology and just don't know any better and we as a viewer know that but having the main character view things in 'our' lens is pretty genius. To top that off, they give her enough personality to be her own character while giving us enough power to influence her so that we ourselves can REFLECT WITH HER. It's not her character that I'm impressed with, it's the layout of the story.

So, how is the main story? It's kind of like the Flood scenario in Halo if I'm being honest. I'm not going to spoil anything but it's passable, like I said, it's not like an Uncharted and it's not like a movie. The visuals just look good at times (I took all the pictures in this review myself and so much more!). I'd call it a futuristic/tribal mix between Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Skyrim but I see elements of a lot of things. (Also since it's post apoctalypic, you find items that we see in modern day, like how they call keys, "chimes"! They think they're windchimes because there are no more cars! I love that!)

It actually does a pretty good job at being an open world considering that there are tons of things to do on your routes as well as collect but it's not so much so that it seems unfeasible, as I said, I found myself doing a good chunk of the side stuff just because it was fun to do and I'm not even close to a completionist for any game. If you mess up, healing plants will still be there. As long as you save, enemy parts will still be there. A place can be cleared out and conquered so that enemies don't come back. The actual towns are peaceful so you can't get mangled by any bots outside of scripted instances.

The graphics are pretty good but I can see some error here and there, nothing necessarily game breaking but the animations and AI are definitely janky at times. It's pretty obvious from the get-go but I'll do my best to specify and give constructive criticism on what I found wrong with certain aspects of the game. Rost is slow, like slower than walking speed but that's not to speak for all NPCs, some run, some you don't need to follow, it was really just him. I've had NPCs who fight but miss every single time on simple enemies (that might not be a bug, that might just be a funny bit that someone decided to add in). Sabretooths have jumped through walls (granted the walls were kinda broken but I'm not sure if those big boys can fit when they can barely find the entrance) I found myself jumping to a ledge or on a rope but not land it and just drop (it really boils down to loosening the hit box for that). Which to add on to that, I would like more places to climb and jump to in general (other than stupid mountains). I felt like there wasn't really enough that I could climb and the places that I could, could've been a bit more obvious that I could, maybe even make it viewable with your focus if you don't want it to be visually outstanding. There's a day and night cycle and while I like that, I found some of the contrast to be annoying because I could be staring a ladder right in the face and not even know it sometimes because it would be so dark. I'm not going to complain too much about it because I didn't turn my brightness up, I just left it at default and I would assume the PS5 version fixes some of those little things.

Now, this one is kind of a gray area: Hiking up mountains. Skyrim, Fallout, and Death Stranding went too far and gave little to no barriers. They had you looking for sweet spots that weren't there in order to cheese your way through an area either on or off a beaten path. But I would compare this to something like GTA where it's not as bad and does have its limits but might need tightened up some more because I can certainly get to places that lead to nowhere.

I've made headshots that don't make contact or damage while using precision. Part of that problem was that they could be high up in a tower (which have spikes sticking out) and I would hit ABOVE the logs, to make a headshot but since it was in that vicinity, it registered that as the spikes' hitbox so it wouldn't cause any damage and just alert the enemy (same if I was in the tower, looking down). Input lag where I hit up button on the D-Pad to regain health and I have to keep pressing it. If I had to guess, you have to meet the requirements of not taking damage, staying still, etc in order for it to actually work but it doesn't really have a reason to do that and it doesn't "tell" you that those are the requirements (as far as I know).

During the final boss, one of the enemies hit me into a rock wall, trapping me inside of it and the boss was already half health so I really didn't want to have to restart (I also didn't know how far back the checkpoint was) so I kept shooting stuff and eventually the boss destroyed the wall, allowing me to get out (timed section, by the way). There have been a few times where a tree or leaf or something is obstructing a cutscene and sometimes there will be a mech in the background screaming over the NPC talking, which I'm sure is due to the cutscenes being real-time which is still pretty impressive. Now are these errors all the time? No, not at all, I'm just pointing out that some times these things happened and that I felt it needed ironed out but I wouldn't call this half baked or an unfinished product or anything, it's nowhere near that level. I get that there are so many NPCs that it's hard to account for them all with facial animations but whenever they're talking, it seems pretty static and sometimes the lips don't line up. There's this one guy who says that he got lost in a sandstorm but he's standing in snow. Again, little nitpicks in an otherwise great game.

Now, I got this game for free as a Playstation promotion but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be great, I played a little bit of that Ratchet & Clank reboot that was offered and I wasn't impressed, I quit after the first few worlds and was glad I didn't buy it at launch, (despite being a classic PS2 R&C fan) but we're not here to review that. I also played Abzu and loved it but it was short so it was definitely worth a play but maybe not 60$ (I actually think it's 20$ at this point though). With this game, it's the whole complete edition with DLC and everything, it has the length, so it really just boils down to "Would I have spent money on it otherwise?"

I think I would've if I knew more about it because I think it just got better and better after that first part of the game. It's marketed a bit differently than what I ended up getting but I found myself pouring hours into this game and loving it for one reason or another. I actually bought Shadow of the Colossus along with it (which is considered a cult classic) but I liked Horizon so much better, definitely worth its full price in my opinion. (So your promotion worked on me Sony, congrats) It has its problems but the potential is there and I feel like a sequel would probably iron out a lot of my troubles with it, so it's definitely a franchise worth investing into.

If you're interested in what I thought of the DLC alone (if you didn't get the Ultimate edition and are wondering if the extra content is worth it) I have a separate post that goes into that here.

[mtg-thrill-of-possibility]

A Reflection on Magic, the Pandemic, and the Dark Side of Arena

Hello to all the readers who may stumble upon this in the search for new Magic content. I wrote this mostly to fill a void in my life that has opened up over the last year and more of a mental health thing than some form of Magic related advice but since it is about that, I thought they’d go hand in hand. I love Magic. Or at least I have loved Magic? It’s hard to tell. Like nearly everyone on this planet, I’ve been shut off from in-person Magic and it had/has me left down. I normally volunteer at my LGS and help them organize their tournaments and judge the events and generally whatever else they ask me to do because I really love Magic. I love playing with my locals who don’t spend hundreds of dollars and craft GP/MF level decks. I love watching a group of people playing draft chaff and off beat home brews and where adults and teenagers can compete with one another on that level. I enjoy sitting off to the corner on the store’s EDH night and listening to games and drawing tokens for games in my own corner while I wait for my own games or sometimes my ow turns. I also love traveling with my wife to cities and go compete in GP/MFs where we usually both scrub out of the main event by round 3 or 4 and then hit the vendors and side events as well as explore the cities for new restaurants. I miss Welcome Days where adults bring in kids and I show them the ropes. I love meeting adults who poke their noses in and ask me “Magic is still a thing? I played that in high school�� and show them the changes. I can still remember the Theros Beyond Death prerelease last year and thought how much fun it was to not work the event for once and just play. And looking back, boy am I glad I entered the THB prerelease.

February was the start of the downturn. Our EDH night was slightly less full but I just figured it was due to the weather since the winter usually has a downturn in the attendance for every event. But then the rotating cast of 10-15 FNM players was 6; Pioneer on Saturday had 3. The next week, the EDH crowd was down to from the usual 6-8 pods to 2. FNM and Pioneer failed to fire. The news that COVID-19 was starting to creep into the Midwest prompted me to ask the store what precautions we wanted to take and when we were going to stop in general.

I work in chemical research and I have a background in pharmaceuticals and once (or twice) studied the MCATs and considered going to med school. I was definitely concerned but in February it hadn’t reached my state (yet) and I wanted the store to be ready for the imminent shutdown and continued downtick in participation (my LGS and I had been strategizing how to move up in events and the store ranking on the WPN). But it’s a red state. Science denial must be a recessive trait that the Midwest incorporated into its identity for a long time and I was told that I had some freedom but to not go crazy. I thought I’m a volunteer. I’m not spending what little money I have on stuff for you guys. So, I did the best thing I could think of for free, I started a Discord server. I was really excited at the prospect. I had just bought a webcam in case my workplace started working from home and thought how cool it would be to be able to organize events in Arena and talk through Discord when the store wasn’t available. I asked if we could hang up a flyer and tell all the Magic customers that they continue with tournaments and Magic if they joined the Discord I set up in the store’s name.

My LGS asked how much this was going to cost them and I said exactly as much as it costs them now if not a little less since we don’t need the store’s utilities or a cashier behind the counter in the after hours to work the tournament. They were happy and I got the greenlight. Things worked okay at first. Those with Arena accounts showed for a few weeks. Others I knew were interested were convinced that we were overly sensitive to the virus and FNMs continued to limp along with 4-6 people until everything ground down to a halt.

Come mid-March, COVID had finally reached the state and the city. Cases were light, a few hundred people tested each day, single digit cases detected but I again was worried. My workplace had already begun educating everyone on how to wash their hands properly and disinfect every surface and everyone was issued a bleach spray bottle with their name and a serial number on it. While the mayor and governor hadn’t ordered a shutdown yet, I advised strongly that the store go ahead and if they wanted to continue that I wouldn’t be there to assist until the curve was sufficiently flattened.

I’m not sure why but they trusted me and listened. I was glad and I pushed again for people to join the Discord server. Players were reluctant but I assured them that this may be the future for some time and if they get on now, they can still get the Ravnica intro quests and start building up their Arena collections. I got more on my side, we had 8-10 and got them all to try and hook anyone else they knew to join us. However, by the end of March, my workplace had moved to 100% virtual and with my extra time, I had begun to unwittingly shift the power dynamic in the store by accident. You see, I really love Magic. I was now working from home for a job that required me to have direct physical access to hundreds of thousands of dollars or sensitive equipment that need recertification when they get moved 12 inches down a work bench and dangerous chemicals I don’t want near me unless I know there’s an inspected chemical shower nearby. When the campus shut down, I got very bored. I did what research I could from my home portal, attended virtual conferences and webinars every day, but I had tons of down time. That meant watching my wife play Animal Crossing, playing with my dogs, marathon sessions of Civilization but most crucially, I also began grinding Arena.

My local meta had been defined by the understanding that none of us were really Arena players. I had played when the Kaladesh and Amonkhet closed betas were happening, but I was turned off by the fact that all my playing of those formats amounted to nothing when it launched with Ixalan and I would start from square one. Everyone in the group typically shied away from tier 1 tournament decks because to all of us, it was more fun to goof around with RG auras and Tilonalli’s Summoner decks than it was to grind Esper Hero or the new Uro decks. And the limitation that everyone didn’t have all the shocklands meant we were all playing on roughly the same card pools with some variation due to our play styles. So when I suggested we all start playing Arena to replace the tournaments, it worked because it meant we all played the same dumb decks we’d play in person with a few exceptions of having less than perfect mana bases.

But I would find myself grinding Arena everyday where my friends and locals were not. Even though I jumped into Arena at mid-March, I finished the Theros Beyond Death mastery at level 78 when Ikoria began to creep around the corner. I had just begun to get back into Magic when Fate Reforged hit and didn’t realize how much I love wedge color alignments over shards but boy did I love Abzan in Khans standard and now I was in love with Abzan again in Ikoria standard. Grinding the way I did meant I drafted most afternoons for the first month of Ikoria (and forced Temur every time) and started climbing the ranked ladder in the evenings. Ikoria would also mark the first time I spent money on Arena. I’m notoriously spend-thrift in video games and anything you can free-to-play I do religiously because you shouldn’t make a game grindable over the course of years if you give me that option. But drafting took gems and I really love drafting but most people at my LGS are too concerned about rares than learning to do it properly and a lot of younger players feel lost when I draft a zero rare deck and go 4-0 and collect my prizes. By the end of April, I would reach Platinum in constructed and Gold in limited. But now my LGS was far less inclined to play with me. I didn’t brag about any of my rankings but the skill disparity had begun to creep in as well as the difference in our collections. Having played so much Arena, I could see the tells the software gives away that paper Magic doesn’t. I learned to read when the game would hang up on the beginning of combat and end steps because they’re holding potential responses. I began to do the full control shortcut to bluff counter spells and removal. In paper Magic, if my opponent would sequence things wrong or tap their mana wrong, we’d make jokes and rewind it because it’s one of those human errors that we all make and redo it the right way.

But Arena was different; some learned the hard way to not trust the auto-tapper, some didn’t realize that the way they normally stack triggers in paper is backwards and too late to fix after a spell or ability resolved. And I couldn’t help them. And I let them make their mistakes because I can’t change Arena. If they use the auto-tapper and they realize that Arena doesn’t tap the Castle Vantress even though they couldn’t activate it anyway and they lose a dual source, I couldn’t help them. If they have the lethal Explosion in hand but forgot to hit Control in their second main so they can stack the Wilderness Reclamation triggers in their end step, I don’t concede out of pity.

In May, I try and keep the Magic going by suggesting that we shift the format to a draft limited but they’re unconvinced of the website that allows you to simulate an 8-person draft and then import the drafted card lists to Arena. Why? Because they don’t have the cards already and I’ve changed the dynamic. They know I’m much more skilled at Arena and Ikoria drafting. The news has also been reporting that the curve was flattening, and our state was lifting restrictions on gatherings. They want to play EDH and paper Magic, not this digital intangible game. I reluctantly agree but keep grinding on Arena anyway. My friends didn’t want to play Magic on Arena and I couldn’t understand why. I was getting burned out on drafting at this point and the drafts were harder to fire off a month and a half later, work was returning on a limited schedule where I was onsite 75% and virtual 25%, it really did seem like things were returning to normal.

In June I finish the Ikoria mastery and at this point my wife had begun to show more interest in playing on Arena and trying to get her account a little more stocked since our normal paper system is I aggregate everything we typically need and I make her desired deck and hand it off to her to wreck people on FNM but since I didn’t have to judge, I got to play and we couldn’t both play from my account at the same time. I casually start hers and I get the wild hair that maybe I should make a loaner account in the store’s name and if anyone says they don’t have the cards, they can borrow the store’s account for the tournament. I make the account but put the pipe dream on hold when Wizards announces that in-store play can resume with the Core 2021 prerelease. I could read between the lines and see that the curve was trending the wrong way and thought it was a bad idea but at my insistence, everyone would have to wear a mask at all times and hand sanitizer was available every 15 feet and the store had lots of space for players to spread out. The turnout was low which helped as well, and I had everyone who showed up at least aware that I was trying to keep the Discord going and that in case there’s another shutdown that there was another avenue for them.

Well, I got my wish because within a week of the launch of Core 2021, my state had regressed, and cases were exploding and gathering restrictions were sent back in place. Shortly after that, Wizards suspended in-store play again and with that I created the store’s Arena account. At the time, things were pretty good. The locals weren’t playing as much and my server was still fairly empty but most of the Magic Twitch community I interacted with had strongly adjusted to the new paradigm. EDH streaming was commonplace, I had my new Arena account to focus on building up as well as my own. Pro level events and Opens were being held on Arena and the expansion of Amonkhet Remastered gave me hope that Magic was on the mend. But I also think it was with Core 2021 that things started to slide into the negative for me. Grinding the second account was frustrating me a lot. The lack of human interaction was tilting me out for no reason. Some days the server would have me wait a whole minute (the horror?!) for a game and then my opponent would be the world’s slowest red player where everything seemed delayed. There would strings of games I would play where I couldn’t get a third land drop after a mull to 4 and other times where I’d flood out and would have won if it weren’t for generic whiny reason why everyone says they lose.

Maybe it was when I began to see that Arena is not Magic the Gathering as much as it is a video game that it began to really sour on me. For those of you who don’t play a lot of Arena and instead interact with humans over webcams is that Arena is designed for you to not play off beat home brews except in direct challenges with your friends. The game is meant for you to play the best combination of 75 cards and for you to help it machine learn through millions of matches what is and what is not the correct play pattern based on the available information you have. It wants you to play the very best decks in a format against the other best decks. I started to see this in Ikora standard when decks would scoop if you were on the play and went turn 2 Agonizing Remorse. Decks were and still are so linear that they can’t handle that kind of disruption or it’s a matter of the players know it’s faster to accumulate wins by scooping than grinding out a long game.

If you need evidence of whether or not this is true, you should play Arena now and see how often people scoop against the double Ruin Crab opener with a Fabled Passage back-to-back. Or if an opponent against your Lurrus Auras deck will time out when they know they can’t win. In paper Magic, when you drive 4 hours to a major venue, pay your entry fee, you never see your opponent rage scoop unless it’s Legacy and you know what your opponent’s on and you mull to zero so you can see what’s in their deck. You call a judge to your table if they start stalling. Nothing is more annoying that an opponent spamming “Good Game” at you through a match when it’s obvious that you’re not killing them that turn but they’re empty handed and have nothing relevant on board.

I’ll admit myself that what my wife calls “Wizard Chores” for the Daily quests, if I’m 1 red spell short of finishing a quest, I’ll log in for one more game and Boulder Dash my opponent’s creature or cast Shock to face and immediately scoop. Who is that helping? I’d spend the week at work in my down times thinking about what dumb cards I hadn’t played with from a set, start making a list, furiously find the cards on a Friday afternoon and grab dinner with the wife and then race to my LGS for FNM.  Magic used to be something I only got to do twice a week with people in a shared setting and we’d unroll our playmats, shuffle up our jank, and laugh and generally have a good time for three to four hours. With Magic at my fingertips, Arena is a distillation of efficiency at spell slinging combined with the minor rewards system we’ve come to recognize the free-to-play traps to “encourage” us to play different things. If I want to play 100 matches in a day, all I need to do is sit at my computer long enough. If I want to play my old jank on Arena, I can’t even count on the Casual play channel to help since it’s always filled with people with 55 of the 60 cards that make the best deck learning how to play before they commit the wild cards for the deck.

Zendikar Rising has been a pretty dark point for everyone on Arena I believe. It seems like a lifetime ago that Omnath was printed and that I had immediately cashed in four mythic rare wildcards for the deck I would get to play with on Arena for 2 weeks before Wizards realized their mistake. Honestly before I had started writing this in the week before Kaldheim will hit Arena, I forgot that Omnath was part of the most recent set as all I can remember Zendikar Rising giving us is the extremely irritating Ruin Crab and Soaring Thought Thief. The few locals I had left on my Discaord server when ZNR released had lost interest in Arena since they enjoyed the Ravnica standard that was rotating out and Pioneer was not yet available for Arena. I’ve encouraged nearly everyone I know from my LGS to buy webcams since October given that the current state of the COVID world is not likely to go away and the new culture and channels that have opened up in the world to fill the void of EDH has some level of benefit even when in-person play resumes. Not many people play and I’ll search for an occasional game on the official Discord when the craving strikes. Some of my friends have been taking advantage of the webcam world and started playing older formats with me over webcam such as Pioneer and Modern to rekindle their love for Magic and the hope that we can start playing tournaments over webcam. Finishing up the ZNR mastery passes on my two accounts and my wife’s account has been giving me a much-needed break from Arena and honestly, it’s probably done the most to lift my spirits.

I’ve been taking a lot more time to reflect on why I love Magic and I plan on doing in the future. The first thing I know I’m going to do and stick to is not get a Mastery Pass for mt LGS store’s account. They don’t pay for all the work I put into the one already grinding multiple accounts is not good for my mental well-being. The second thing I know I am going to do is relearn how to have fun in Magic again. Not really hinted at in this article so far is the fact I love the art in Magic and I’m often inspired by my own crazy mind to illustrate my own works or reimagine my favorite cards with my own art. Since the release of Rise of Skywalker, I had been working on a personal project of creating a second expansion to the largely underground Star Wars the Gathering card game and ended up making 200 unique, draftable cards. I wouldn’t call myself an artist because I’m still learning and I don’t necessarily aspire to an artist but I would love to improve my skills and one day make a piece that’s so good someone wants on a card. Over the last two years, I’ve been deeply jealous of how amazing and hard working the Magic cosplayers are and that I should put my art to good use and make my own cosplays. And then there’s the playing of Magic. I miss the Gathering part of Magic. So this brings us to the bedrock of this piece. I hope to continue this blog steadily as time moves forward. I’m rarely ever satisfied or have my attention on any one project for too long but 2021 is a new year. And I hope that the title is a hint to the future. Whatever it is; whether it’s deck construction, art alters, or Magic cosplay, story, general discussion, that’s what I’m here for. It’s the Thrill of what I might work on next and I promise because I’m terrible right now at doing so, I’ll be sure to take pictures and try and stream when I can to keep myself honest about the whole deal. I hope you’ll all join me or at least join the Discord to yell at me.