#i just want to make cute little sidebars...

[nyctoheart]

the universe.... is at my command....

sorry for the unconsensual genshin impact but I would love if Jiminy's Journal looked even slightly more like this

[shouyuus]

Hey! I absolutely LOVE you’re writing - a little thiught after that post, of popstar!reader and Vi, with the lipgloss

I’m genuinely curious, if they hosted a Tik tok/YouTube/switch (whichever) live, what would it look like??

You don’t have to do this, but if you do - I really appreciate it!, thank you again and you’re writing is always amazing 🫶🏻

i think it'd be really cute and wholesome tbh!!!! like they might do one of those "send us ur questions" lives where like popstar!reader collects questions on her socials and then answers some of them during the live (obviously, one of her pr/hr ppl goes through and takes out the really insane ones)

but i think vi would very much have you posted up in her lap and she's just grinning at you the whole time and everyone's just like "wow, get urself someone who looks at u like that" or "if she don't look at me like that, i don't want it"

and vi shrugging and being like "well, can you blame me?"

i just think it'd be very cute and silly! some of the questions would be pretty standard, like how did you guys meet or like tell us the meetcute story and vi would make you tell it bc she claims its better when you do.

another one might be like who fell first and who fell harder. vi laughs, puts a hand up like, "me for both, i think." but you pout at her, twisting in her lap like, "i actually think i fell harder in the beginning."

cue sidebar of the pair of you arguing and a slew of inside jokes that have the chat going nuts before vi rolls her eyes and looks back at the camera with an indulgent smile on her face like --

"fine, fine -- she fell harder in the beginning cause i was still... workin' through some stuff --" another eye roll, "but then i fell harder."

you smile, leaning back into her as she hooks her chin over your shoulder. "yeah, i can live with that."

it derails into vi just reading comments out loud -- some of them are sweet, some of them are racy and then her cutting off half-way like "oops -- can't say that on stream --"

and you giggling, swaying side to side in vi's arms. you might get a question asking how many of your love songs are about vi, and vi's like "yeah, how many are about me?"

you purse your lips, glancing at the camera before flashing a wicked smile at vi and batting your lashes.

"would you believe me if i said all of them?"

[fbfh]

wait ☝️ imagine this ☝️ leo valdez twin dad... i feel like he could match the energy of two hyper kids.

Actually SOBBING over this because you are SO RIGHT. In my little floating timeline canon of dad!leo so far we have Sophia your oldest (or Phia for short), then Donnie, then Lila. I think the last drabble I wrote about dad Leo was where you actually did find out you’re preggers with twins so this is SO on brand. 

However!! Let’s say you have your twins first. 

You and Leo might not even be married at this point, but your babies are SO excited to be with their mommy and daddy that they are not waiting any longer to show up lol. So when you find out you’re pregnant, you’re both OVER THE FUCKING MOON. Leo can’t get over how cute you look like this (Leo thirsting over his pregnant wife anon I see you and I'm coming for your ask too bitch <3) but what he really can’t get over is how cute your bump is. You’re both a little surprised at fast you start showing, and more surprised by how big your bump is getting. You look nearly a month ahead of how far along you are, but Leo just thinks it’s so fucking adorable and gorgeous that he’s totally obsessed. 

And when you find out it’s TWINS????? Yes. You know how some parents freak out or panic when they find out they’re having multiples? Not Leo. Nope. Leo spots it a second before the doctor does, then looks to him for confirmation. You’re totally shocked, not in a bad way, it’s just… a surprise. Even if multiples run in your family and you had a hunch this might happen, it’s just so wild to hear it out loud, to have it confirmed, to see the two little pixelated blobs that are going to turn into your babies. Your babies. Leo starts shaking a little then excuses himself for a moment. He returns a couple minutes later smelling like that fireproofing spray you drown all your flammables with has been activated, and you chuckle. Your suspicions are confirmed once you leave and he’s walking you back to your car with even more care and attention than usual, and you see the scorch marks all over the brick and concrete of the parking garage. Thank GOD it’s fireproof. You get a little misty eyed that Leo is SO STOAKED that you’re having not one but two babies right off the bat that he actually had to find a non flammable space to process that information. 

I could go on a lot about your first pregnancy being the twins, but that’s gonna have to turn into its own ask so lmk if you want more first time twin dad Leo during your pregnancy content. 

Also Esperanza is OVER-MOTHERFUCKING-JOYED. You get her t shirts that say stuff like coming soon: Abuela times two! And this grandma got a two for one deal on the CUTEST grandbabies in the world! And all this other cute cheesy shit you find on amazon or temu or whatever. ANYWAY. 

Once your babies are born, a healthy, happy little boy and girl pair aptly named Red and Iris (sidebar Red Valdez and Iris Valdez are SUCH PRETTY BADASS NAMES YOUR KIDS ARE GONNA KICK SO MUCH ASS. Leo might see if he can literally legally make their middle names Danger and Trouble. Maybe it happens maybe it doesn’t. Up to you on that one.) Moving on. 

You and Leo are a dynamic fuckin duo with these babies. You’re so in sync. You’re literally so in sync you could throw cheese puffs in each others mouths from across the room with a 100% success rate. Leo is not only delighted to go above and beyond to help you raise your sweet, creative, curious, adorable, brilliant babies, but he really does surprise you every day at just how good he is with them. Once they reach the cruising and toddling and walking stage, it takes two days before you start to get overwhelmed. But guess what? Leo’s I love my wife senses are tingling, and if he wasn’t working from home already he sure as shooting is now!! He will also delegate and streamline everything in his work and engineering so things are running butter smooth and he has a fuck ton more time to be with you and the babies. 

Leo really feels like he was born for this. He matches their energy perfectly, he sees himself in both your kids. And all the traits he was told were bad or too much or annoying, like his hyperactivity and constant jokes and humor are actually PERFECT for a setting like this. He can juggle two toddlers like it’s nothing, he always has them giggling and laughing, and when the occasional tantrum or meltdown does happen he has them smiling and giggling again within minutes. They’re both literally joined at his hip, always climbing all over him and babbling in a cute toddler version of spanglish and asking a million questions, and for the first time in his life he doesn’t feel anxious or understimulated. He feels… perfect. He finally gets it, all those people who say life made sense when their kids were born. He knows his technical grand divine purpose was to act as a catalyst to prevent the end of the world, but all that stuff from when you were teenagers feels so far away now. He doesn’t need gods or prophecies to tell him what’s so overwhelmingly, abundantly clear. 

Loving you, and loving Red and Iris and being there for all three of you is his reason for existing. They’re the greatest thing he’s ever created, his magnum opus. And he truly could not be more fulfilled.

(also: this is an average evening in your household. 1:12)

[rachaelthemes]

Ocular — Version 3

Preview // User Guide // More Info & Install

your favorite sidebar theme just got an upgrade, babeyyy

I went to update Ocular to make it NPF post-compliant and then my hand slipped and I redesigned the whole thing lmao. here's a brief update about Ocular 3; if you're looking for a full list of changes between versions 2 and 3, click the "Read More" below)

Ocular comes with the following features:

Colors: easily change the color scheme of your sidebar and posts using any colors you want

Post sizes: 400px, 500px, 540px, 600px, 700px

Sidebar: can be on the left, right, or above the posts. pick from a list of sidebar sizes, header image heights, and avatar shapes

Fonts: 20 different fonts, sizes 13px to 18px

Background: solid, gradient, full-size image or repeating image

Links: choose either regular navigation or drop-down navigation. unlimited custom links (visit the help desk FAQ for a tutorial) and ability to rename home, ask, submit, and archive links

Endless scroll, custom ask box text, Tumblr's full-width controls and search bar, optional header, avatar, and favicon images

if you already have Ocular installed, version 3 should be coming at you as soon as the update passes the theme garden. if you installed this theme with GitHub, you'll have to re-install manually.

now let's get to the fun stuff. what's new in version 3?

wow, do I have some updates for you!

1. goodbye color schemes, hello post background and text colors

you can now directly control the color of the posts rather than relying on color schemes to do it. want your posts to be a very specific shade of navy? all yours, buddy. go wild (make sure it's readable tho)

2. hello, color schemes! wait I thought we got rid of that guy

a lot of the color schemes I made became redundant now that the new post background/text color options exist. if you were married to the old color schemes, all of them can be recreated using those options. so the new color scheme options are as follows:

"My colors" — uses the colors you picked for post background/text

"Light preset" and "dark preset" — sets the posts to white with black text, or off-black with white text

"Translucent" — uses the colors you choose for post background/text, but makes the post backgrounds semi-transparent. there are NINE different translucent color schemes, ranging from 90% (only slightly see-through) to 10% (VERY see through)

3. navigation dropdown option

you can either use the sidebar links like they were before, or you can turn them into a cute little dropdown (helpful if you have lots of links or links with long titles!) you can enable this using the "use dropdown navigation" setting. you can also customize the label for the dropdown using the "dropdown menu label" setting. for instance, the dropdown on my blog currently says "oooh you wanna click me"

4. RIP google fonts I always hated your load times

decided to stop using Google Fonts and instead I'm providing the font files directly in the code. this will help speed up load times drastically when using custom fonts, plus I don't have to use Google. win-win! there's quite a bit of coverage overlap with the old fonts, but some of them that were too similar to each other got the ax. I also added all of the system fonts as options (hit classics like Arial, Georgia, and Comic Sans MS are now available TO YOU!)

5. more layout, sizing, and spacing options

the sidebar used to be either on the center-left, center-right, or above the posts; now it can go in the top-left or top-right! you can now control the border radius on the posts and sidebar. the header height, sidebar width, and post spacing all have additional options.

6. some options have been renamed for additional clarity

"background color 1" -> "background color"

"background color 2" -> "gradient background color"

"background" -> "background style"

"font override" -> "use body font everywhere"

"title" -> "sidebar title"

"description" -> "sidebar description"

"ask box text" -> "custom HTML above ask box"

7. removed some options

you win some, you lose some. I removed the uppercase sidebar links, theme credit, and inline media spacing options, mostly for redundancy reasons or because they produced unclear results.

8. as previously stated, now NPF-compliant

Ocular was ALMOST compliant with Tumblr's new post format, but had a few tweaks that needed to be ironed out. they're now ironed.

9: now user-friendly right out of the box

I updated the default color and content options, so new users installing this theme will have a much easier time using and customizing it immediately. no more ugly ass green background!

10. and finally, new JS

I had to rewrite some of the javascript for this theme, which turned into me rewriting ALL of the javascript. doing so meant that I could eliminate dependencies on third-party JS libraries and run the whole thing on plain JS. that should improve load times!!

bonus: custom CSS can do some nifty stuff now

want to change the size of your avatar? you can do that now! just do this to your Advanced > Add custom CSS section

super helpful if you're using the Avatar shape: Uncropped setting and you need your image to be a specific size (like a pixelated GIF)

for more info, check out the Ocular user guide. thanks for reading my updates!! hope you all have a fantastic start to your 2024 ❤️

[224bbaker]

So, hypothetically speaking, if someone had never been interested in Sherlock Holmes before but wanted to get into it because of Fawx & Stallion... Where should they start?

Oh my GOD, anon, so upset we didn't see this until now because what a great question and also, our show inspiring someone to go check out Sherlock Holmes?? Deeply upsetting for our characters but SO exciting for us!

Hopefully since you sent this you've just dived in to the stories--because, honestly, that's how both of our writers got into them as kids, and also because despite what roughly 40 contradicting scholars will try to tell you, the timeline is nonsense and Watson's continuity doesn't make sense (we have made our own peace with this and addressed it in-universe because we didn't want to go on deep-dives to decide what puns we were allowed to use for the place we're at in the timeline it's fine, we're fine).

However, just a quick sidebar before we jump into The Stories--if you would rather start with an adaptation than the original ACD stories themselves, there are two options we'd recommend as starting points that are pretty true to canon while remaining engaging in and of themselves:

The Granada TV series with Jeremy Brett and David Burke/Edward Hardwicke: It rules, and most of it's on YouTube! Highly recommend their Solitary Cyclist, Speckled Band, Scandal in Bohemia, and Blue Carbuncle (we may be biased towards the early, David-Burke-Watson entries). These actors and sets are what we picture when we read Holmes.

For an audio adaptation, the 1989 Bert Coules radio adaptation, which you can get for a single credit on Audible in full and has basically the whole canon! Incredible dramatization work that preserves the stories and really deepens the character work in a way that we're obsessed with. Big fans!

If you're liking the vibe of these, you'll probably like the stories themselves! In which case, there are also awesome online book clubs like Letters from Watson that have great communities here on Tumblr (just peruse the tag, it's super fun!), and also over on Discord.

SO. If you're still here and looking for our direction on the stories:

If you just want to start with what is/will be relevant to Fawx & Stallion, we recommend:

Our goal is that our audience doesn't NEED to have read any Sherlock Holmes to understand anything in F&S. We'll hopefully lay things out or give context clues. However, we do have little jokes for the fans, and in season 2, some subtext may be a bit clearer, or have a bit more weight, if you've read some of the stories.

A Study In Scarlet: I know, I know I know I know, Holmes fans, the Utah Mormon stuff, I get it, BUT. Holmes and Watson meet in this one, and it's incredible. The first few chapters of them meeting, starting to live together, going from roommates with a mutual fascination to, through Watson's unintentional insult of Holmes's writing and a fateful invitation to a crime scene, actual friends, are electric. It's a crime (pun intended) that we have so few dramatizations of this in the canon era (we're trying to fix that), we love it so so much. Sacrilege, but, wikipedia the stuff in the middle, enjoy the fantastic meet cute that bookends the thing.

Hound of the Baskervilles: Happening during the events of Fawx & Stallion season 1. I don't need to tell you this one is a banger, we all know this. Less Holmes content than you expect, but a GREAT setting, mood, and roster of suspects, and a thrilling, well-paced mystery with some great Watson.

The Final Problem: Occurs right before the events of season 2, and though you again don't need to have read it, some stuff might hit better if you have, particularly in the back half of the season. High recommend. On the same note, The Beryl Coronet is also mentioned a few times, which is the case right before this one.

Ok, with that out of the way, we highly recommend:

The "Jump Around To Whatever Short Story or Novel Sounds Cool" Approach

This is the move, in my opinion. As I've said before, the timelines are nonsense, you CAN try to get into the weeds of continuity as we have and there is delightful madness to that, but would I recommend it as an intro? No. They're short stories! They're serialized! Treat it like a TBS rerun series at 1 AM and just pick one that is on/sounds cool!

Now, if you want our PREFERENCE? There are different genres of Holmes mysteries, different types of mysteries for different preferences, but we're going to recommend one particular sub-genre of Holmes mysteries that we find particularly fun/unique: The "It's Not Necessarily A Crime Yet But the Vibes Are There" Mystery.

We love these. They're the best. Not depressing or gruesome off the bat, usually starting with some whimsy at Baker Street, these stories usually begin with a client coming to Holmes and the following interaction happens

CLIENT: Um, hi. Honestly it's pretty silly that i'm even here. It's probably just a Weird Thing, you probably don't-- HOLMES: No no no please tell me I love Weird Things. CLIENT: Ok. Well. My boss/guardian/brother/[insert-person-who-has-power-over-them] has been doing this Thing where he [insert extremely weird thing that again, is not a Crime, but the vibes are there]. It's kinda weird. HOLMES: Yeah, super fucking weird. CLIENT: I know! But it's not a crime, so I don't know, you're probably not interested, I'm just a [not rich not male not high class not privileged identity] so there's really no point in checking that out-- HOLMES: No girl (gn), we are DEFINITELY checking that shit out there's a crime in there somewhere and we're gonna find it!

And we're off! If this sounds interesting to you (and it SHOULD), check out: The Solitary Cyclist, The Red Headed League, The Copper Beeches, The Greek Interpreter, The Speckled Band, The Stockbroker's Clerk, The Musgrave Ritual, The Resident Patient, and honestly probably some others we're missing because it's REALLY common.

Other fun Holmes bangers:

Holmes overworks himself and Watson takes him to the country to rest, only to solve ANOTHER FUCKING MYSTERY: The Reigate Squires

The Christmas One!: The Blue Carbuncle

The Dancing Men: I don't have a fun little thing for this one it's just a banger and the Granada Adaptation rules!

The One Where Sherlock Holmes does NOT fall in love with Irene Adler but does get completely owned because 1) he thinks women don't get up early, and 2) he wanted to have a sleepover with Watson: A Scandal in Bohemia

There are a ton, and hopefully you'll find one that you like and just jump in!

[geeky-politics-46]

Kinktober 2023 - Day 6

Sex Tape with Doctor Stephen Strange

"A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words"

Smut - Explicit content - NSFW - 18+ only!

Summary: You are feeling self-concious & down on your appearance, but Stephen has an unconventional idea of how to make you realize how sexy & beautiful you really are.

Warnings: Smut (NSFW) - 18+ ONLY - body image issues, voyeurism & exhibitionism via photo & video, dirty talk, swearing, pet names, oral sex, creampie, vaginal sex, slight daddy kink, a bit of fluff & a little angst.

You weren't even sure what had triggered your self-image issues at the moment. Honest to God, you were just sitting in bed watching a YouTube video, pursuing the sidebar recommended videos when you started comparing yourself to other people.

It didn't matter if it was just a random ad or a promo for a TV show. You started sizing yourself up to all the actresses, models, and even some normal people. No matter who it was, you felt you couldn't compare.

Your stomach was too big. Your butt was too small. You were too short. Too plain looking. Hell, sometimes you weren't even sure how you compared to average. You didn't think you were hideous, but you forever felt like the ugly duckling. Like the potential to be beautiful was there. It just never blossomed. Or, like you sabotaged being pretty by not having enough restraint to eat better or lose weight. 

For once in your life, you wanted to be the bombshell. You were too weird to be the girl next door. You always fell into the quirky/cute and funny category. People fell for you once they got to know your personality, but you knew that never once had you stopped a guy dead in his tracks across the room. 

In an effort to make yourself feel smaller, you dug around for your massive old sweatshirt. The one you wore whenever you were feeling sad. The material had piled up in places, and it was starting to get holes in others, but the super stretchy material still felt just as big and cozy as if it was brand new. The dark eggplant purple color was also somehow soothing compared to the mostly blacks and grays of your daily wardrobe.

You had settled back in, deep in your own thoughts, when your partner entered the bedroom. You had been with Doctor Stephen Strange for a while now. Long enough that you had more or less informally moved into the Sanctum. You got to spend more time with Stephen and didn't have to pay rent. It was a win-win. The only downside was that you couldn't hide from him when your inner demons reared up. 

You didn't even realize he had been talking to you as he changed out of his sorcerer's robes and into his sweats for bed. It wasn't until he sat down in front of you and lifted your chin up to look directly at him that you realized you weren't paying any attention to a thing he was saying. 

"What's wrong, sweetie?"

You hated the genuine concern on his face. He spent his days literally saving the universe, and here you were trapped inside your own spiraling thoughts. 

"Nothing is wrong."

You said it while staring down at your hands. You were never good at hiding things from Stephen when you were face to face.

"Even if I wasn't a brilliant doctor, MD, and PhD, I know that's your 'I'm sad' sweatshirt. So something is definitely wrong." 

You closed your eyes and shook your head, trying to jiggle loose the thoughts that were waying you down. Not wanting to waste Stephen's time with your shallow worries. Yeah, he was your boyfriend, but he had plenty more vastly important things to do than talk you off a self-image cliff.

"It's stupid, Stephen."

"Don't care. You've listened to me say stupid stuff plenty of times. This just makes us one closer to even."

You rolled your eyes at him, and you knew he wasn't about to give up. Stephen was the most stubborn person you had ever met. In fact, his stubbornness was part of why he pursued you for so long before you finally agreed to go out with him. If he was set on finding out what was bothering you, nothing would stop him until you told him.

So after another moment of trying to get him off the topic, you finally relented and told him what had you feeling down. Shrinking down farther into your sweatshirt as you spoke, fumbling for the right words. Letting the cozy fabric serve as its own kind of armor.

"I don't even know what got me thinking it, but I'm just feeling down on myself. That there just isn't anything about me physically that is special. I don't think I'm ugly, I just don't get why you bothered to even give me a second glance. Let alone what keeps you interested. You are the great Doctor Strange. You are so hot, Stephen, and I'm just me. I'm just plain. I'm chubby with stretch marks. You are gorgeous. You could literally be with the most beautiful women in the world."

You could see him almost flinch when you called yourself plain and that you doubted how enamored he was with you. Even if he knew it was only a passing thought, he never wanted you to question his love for you. Ever.

When it took a few moments for him to say anything in response, you immediately started to take it all back. Not wanting to drag him down into your funk with you.

"See, I shouldn't have said anything, I'm just having a bad night and -" 

Stephen cut you off with a passionate kiss. The kind of kiss that could make you forget your own name. Cupping your face in both of his hands before pulling away from your lips to place several more small kisses on your forehead and in your hairline. Gradually adjusting so he could pull you closer and wrap his arms tighter around you.

"First of all, I love you so much you don't even know. So don't think for one second I would rather be with anyone else. Second of all, I know that you don't necessarily see what I see when you look in the mirror, and you don't even have to believe me, but you are gorgeous. Do you not see that half the other guys practically trail you around like puppies? Rogers turns bright red when you smile at him, and it's a wonder Barnes and Wilson haven't followed you home like strays yet."

That made you laugh. You did know Steve had harbored a crush on you before you started dating Stephen. Tony had let that spill one night after a party. Both Sam and Bucky were such flirts all the time with everyone. Of course, they always acted sweet on you. You assumed it was just them or their way of being nice. You would have to pay better attention next time you saw them, though. Just to see. 

"If one of them does follow me home, can I keep him?" 

You squinted your eyes and pouted your lips at Stephen. You loved giving him a hard time, and he loved giving you one right back.

"Absolutely not. Even if they scratch and howl at the door all night long. I'm the only one who gets to keep strays, and that only applies to America. On a good day, maybe Parker."

You giggled and shook your head in agreement. America was definitely a great addition to your little family. It did lift your spirits a little thinking about all of that, but it still didn't leave you feeling better about yourself. 

Stephen could see the way you were picking at the skin on your hands. Like you were trying to pick away the self-consciousness or what you felt were imperfections. It was a habit he noticed you fell into when you were extra hard on yourself. So, in an effort to distract you and stop you from picking at your skin, he took one of your hands in both of his.

"Do you remember the day you held my hand the first time? Do you have any idea how terrified I was? I was terrified that you were suddenly going to realize how broken and ugly my hands are. How damaged I am, and realize just how below your own league you were dating. Still are, by the way, so maybe I shouldn't say anything. You are the sexiest most beautiful woman I have ever met, inside and out. Every inch of you is incredible and perfect to me. I thought that before you even said a word to me, and getting to know you, and falling in love with you has only made me more sure. There is no one in this universe I could ever find sexier or more special."

"Tell you what, I have an idea..." 

Stephen stood up from the bed, moving over to shut the bedroom door. Throwing the lock, too. Now that you had a teenager running about the Sanctum, it was better safe than sorry. Then, he pulled his phone from his pocket. Setting it on airplane mode as he walked back over to you.

"How about I show you what I see? Give you some actual physical proof of how beautiful you are? A picture is worth a thousand words. I imagine some more revealing, naughty photos would be worth even more."

You chuffed at him and raised a questioning brow at his suggestion. 

"Stephen, are you seriously suggesting that I let you take naked photos of me as a way of making me feel better about myself? Are you sure that isn't just gonna make you feel better?" 

His signature cheeky grin was plastered on his face, and his bright blue eyes were twinkling with mischief.

"Can't it do both? Besides, you know I've asked before for something I can enjoy when I can't have you with me, and I think you look perfect right now. Already in our bed. Already cozy and dressed for bed. Few layers to take off. This is the you I want to see when I'm not here with you."

He came over to where you were still sitting on the bed. An extra swagger in his step and a grin because of the blush you were now sporting. He started to pull teasingly at the hem of your sweatshirt with the hand he didn't have his phone in.

"Come on, take this off. I want you to see how sexy you are. I promise I will let you delete them if you want, although I certainly wouldn't mind keeping a couple for myself, but I want you to see how you look when it's just you and me. Right here, in this bed. The version of you that only I get to see, at least I do hope it's only me. A woman who puts all those supermodels and Playmates to shame. Even first thing in the morning. A goddess if one ever existed, even with bedhead and morning breath." 

Layer by layer, you let Stephen slowly strip off your clothes and arrange you on the bed. His fingers and lips adoring every new inch of skin that he exposed before proceeding to take picture after picture. Lovingly caressing every spot you deemed less than perfect. Letting him talk you through pose after pose. Some were simple and basic, normal poses. Some a bit more sultry with little left to imagine. The less clothing remained, the more bold he got with your poses. 

As your impromptu photoshoot went on, he also tried to distract you from feeling self-conscious about your body coming into view. Sometimes, by making you laugh. Sometimes, by getting a goofy look on his face as he just kind of stared at you. Almost awestruck. 

"You really have no idea how much I fantasize about you, do you? How much of my day I spend trying not to think about you? How when we first started dating, I felt like a teenager trying to control his raging hormones because all I could think of was this. What it would be like if I got the privilege to get this beautiful, incredible woman naked in my bed. That I swore if I got you here, I would never let you leave. I hate that someone ever made you feel like you are anything less than gorgeous, whether in your ratty sad sweatshirt or all dressed up. Although, this, no clothes at all, is definitely my personal favorite."

You tried not to tear up at his genuine sweetness. You could feel your cheeks blushing at his statement, too. You buried your face into the pillow you were holding before softly turning and peeking out at him from the side. Only to find him waiting for the moment you locked eyes with him to take a photo. 

In a sudden burst of confidence, you bit your bottom lip and rolled onto your back. Letting the entirety of your body be on display. Laying back and resting your head on the pillow and stretching your arms up overhead, your legs spreading on their own. You closed your eyes and arched your back as you inhaled deeply. Like you were a cat basking in the warmth of the sun. 

Your mind was completely clear of all thought until you heard a stuttered breath from your lover. It was a sound you had never heard Stephen make before. It sounded like he was looking at a priceless piece of art or one of the seven wonders. He sounded like he was in awe. Like he was in awe at the sight of your body and your beauty.

You were about to dismiss his, what you were sure had to be, over embellished praise, but then you opened your eyes. You were rendered speechless by the look of utter wonder on his face as he let his cerulean blue eyes wash over every inch of you. For possibly the first time, you saw him really seeing you, and it melted any remaining self-doubt you had in that moment.

You immediately reached out to pull Stephen to you. Wrapping your arms around his neck and kissing him sweetly. Rubbing your nose against his and whispering loving thanks against his lips.

"Thank you, Stephen. I love you, and even though I don't necessarily see what you see, you always make me feel beautiful. Why don't we take a few pictures together, or maybe a video or two? Maybe I want something for when you aren't here too." 

Stephen's eyes darkened at the suggestion. You had your suspicion that Stephen had a bit of an exhibition kink. You had sent each other pics before, a short video clip or two, and sexted all the time. You knew the idea of filming the two of you fucking would intrigue him. A wicked smile found it's way to his face. 

"Oh sweetheart, you have no idea how many times I've thought of you asking that or that I've thought of asking. Are you really okay with filming us fucking? Of course it's just for the two of us. Sorcerer's honor. " 

Stephen started trying to fiddle with the phone, trying to figure out the best way to set it up to film the two of you. Finding it hard to concentrate after you started leaving kisses on his neck. Stopping to bite and suck at the spot just below his earlobe before continuing to whisper his darkest desires in his ear.

"Well, Stephen, actually the idea does get me a little hot. Maybe if the video turns out really good, a few seconds or minutes can get leaked to a naughty site or two. Anonymously, of course. I don't want to share you with any other woman, but I wouldn't mind showing off all the ways I worship you. Let everyone see how lucky I am. Maybe get some outside opinions of how we look together." 

Stephen's eyes practically rolled back in his head at the thought. He never would suggest it himself, but he kind of loved the sound of that. Of the world getting to see how good the two of you looked together. Of seeing how well you both fit together. How your bodies were made for each other.

He scrambled off the bed using the pile of books on the dresser to create a tripod to set up the phone. Hitting record and making sure the bed was centered in the frame before coming back to join you in the sheets again. He used his magic to strip himself of his clothes. If you two were going to make a sex tape, he was gonna put some extra showmanship in it.

You couldn't help but giggle as you reach your arms out towards him. Stepben didn't waste a minute before he started crawling up your body. Teasing and nipping at your bare skin and making sure to snuggle and rub his goatee against you. Your hands immediately grabbed in his dark brown hair, loving how soft and full it felt in your fingers. 

As your lips connected, you both groaned in pleasure. Your bodies grinding and rubbing. Letting your hands roam all over Stephen's body now that you had plenty of him to touch. You could feel Stephen's cock already erect between you. Truth be told, taking those photos of you had essentially acted as foreplay for him. He was ready to go by the time he was setting up the camera. 

You moaned when you felt his hard shaft slide against the crease of your hip, so close to your sex that was starting to ache for him. Your legs reflexively spread even more on the large bed, and your nails scraped down Stephen's sides. 

"Is there something you want, baby? Tell Daddy what you need."

A sly smile on his face as he spoke. Loud enough to make sure the camera heard. Descending back on you and starting to kiss your neck. Sucking a patch or skin into his mouth hard enough to ensure you would bear a mark the next day.

Your brain finally coming back into focus when he playfully bit the same sensitive spot. His bright blue eyes met yours, and he gave you a cheeky wink. 

"Come on, pretty baby. Don't get all shy on me now. Not after you let me take all those naughty pictures of you. Plus, this part was your idea, after all. So you better speak up."

A soft groan pulled from your throat as you arched your back and ran your hands up his strong arms. Letting your fingernails scrape along his shoulders. Leaving little red scratches marking him as yours. 

"Want you, Stephen. Want you to fuck me. Pretty please, Stephen. Fuck me like only you can, baby."

He rewarded you with a deep kiss, letting his teeth nip at your bottom lip before he started working his way down your neck. Stopping to whisper a "that's my good girl" in your ear before continuing down to your collarbones. Raising his voice once again so it would be audible on the video when he started speaking again.

"You know you are the only one I want to fuck right? This is the only body that gets me this fucking hard. Your's is the only pretty little pussy I dream about filling up every chance I get. Want you full of my cum all the time. Want everyone to know you're mine." 

You felt over the moon as Stephen started to kiss his way down your body. Stopping and spending a little bit of extra attention every time he hit a spot that elicited a gasp or moan. Making you arch your back to give him access to every inch of bare skin you could.

He momentarily popped back up to kiss your lips. Suddenly taking your hand in his and lowering it so you were cupping his hard length. Letting his hips rut forward as you started to eagerly massage his hard cock. Already moving to sit up, anticipating taking him in your mouth, only for him to push you back down on the bed.

"Nope, I'm not done with you, baby, lay back. Just wanted you to feel how hard you got me. Feel how much taking those naughty photos of you turned me on? And they are all mine to enjoy, just like my cock is all yours to enjoy."

With that, he promptly began working his way back down your body. Coming to rest between your thighs, pulling your legs up over his shoulders. Leaving small nips on the sensitive flesh of your inner thigh and rubbing his facial hair against your skin to tease you.

A soft "Stephen, please!" escaped from your lips as you impatiently waited for his lips and tongue to work their magic on you. Feeling your hips thrust on their own when you felt him blow against your wet cunt. Making your sex flutter and clench. One of his favorite sights. 

"Make sure you don't hold back any of those pretty noises darling, want to make sure everyone can hear. Look at the camera as I eat you out, baby." 

You followed his instructions and let your head turn to the side. Keeping your eyes open as you stared into the lens. Trying to fight the inkling of self-consciousness tugging at the back of your mind. 

Those thoughts vanished completely the moment you felt Stephen's warm tongue make its first pass through your folds. All you could focus on was the feeling of his mouth on you. The scratch of his goatee against your most sensitive spots. He was taking his time. Lavishing your cunt with long licks and sucking kisses.

Stephen was a perfectionist, and that translated into every aspect of his life. Including sex. His photographic memory helping to make sure he knew exactly what way to lick and suck at your pussy to bring you to climax in record time. Only using his fingers on occasion. He could get you there with his mouth alone. Tonight was clearly going to be one of those nights.

Your back arched as he suckled on your clit. Keeping your gaze locked on the camera lens. Making sure to give Stephen the sights and sounds he wanted for your video. A long moan falling when you felt his tongue thrusting in and out of you. Hitching your legs up higher and farther apart so he could go deeper while letting your hips start to rut against his face.

As soon as he could feel you getting close to orgasm, Stephen pulled away and pounced on you once again. Wasting no time before he started to slowly thrust his hard cock into you. His lips biting at your neck.

He growled when you whimpered at the feeling of his cock bottoming out inside you. Holding perfectly still and letting you start to squirm beneath him. Wanting you to beg him to move. 

"Tell me what you want. Want you to say it again. Say it to the camera, sweetheart. Tell them why you're whimpering."

Your face now contorted into a pout as you tried so hard to get any sort of friction. Stephen's hips pushed flush to yours, holding you firmly in place.

"Want you to fuck me, Stephen. Need you to fuck me hard. Make me feel good, daddy. Please make me cum. Please."

He smiled and kissed you deeply. Bringing his hands to cup your face and giving you another moment of sweet intimacy before he gave you what you wanted. Pulling away and pulling your legs up over his shoulders. Scooting you just a little so the camera would be able to see his cock stretching and filling you. Once he had you right where he wanted you he began thrusting. 

"You asked for it, sweetheart. You turn me on so fucking much. This is just gonna be the first time I make you cum tonight. I'm not gonna stop until you feel like a goddess. My goddess." 

You reached up to intertwine you fingers with his as he started fucking you harder. Leaning forward so your ass was slightly lifted up off of the bed and his tip was pummeling that sweet spongy spot on your front wall. Making you clench around him each time he hit it. Your voice coming out in little squeaks and the sound of skin slapping punctuating Stephen's movements. 

You could already feel your orgasm building when Stephen moved to bring one hand down to begin rubbing at your clit. Pulling his cock out long enough to smear some of your wetness on the swollen bundle of nerves. Your cunt immediately clenching around him as he started tracing small circles there with his thumb. 

"That's it, my love. Can feel you getting close. You better cum soon because I'm not gonna be able to hold on much longer. Wanna fill you up every day. Mark you as mine. Inside and out. Fuck, baby, I'm gonna cum."

Stephen's own dirty talk getting the best of him. His head dropping down to watch his cock slamming in and out of your drenched cunt. Your pussy gripping tight around him sending him over the edge. His thrusts getting faster and his fingers on your clit mirroring his hips.

He let out a deep groan as he started cumming inside you. The feeling of his warm thick cum filling you triggering your own orgasm. Your cunt drenching his cock and his cum filling you completely. Your moans mingling in harmony with Stephen's. Your hands that were still clasped gripping each other tighter. 

Stephen's body falling onto yours and your lips meeting for slow, sweet kisses as your highs continued to ebb and flow. The sensations slowly fading as you came back down together. The feeling of Stephen's weight on top of you lulling you closer to sleep. All worries and neuroses disappearing and receding back into the depths of your mind. 

You were with Stephen, and Stephen loved you exactly as you were. He only had eyes for you, and he would love you no matter what. Even on days when you couldn't see your beauty, you knew he would help you to see it. Even when you didn't love yourself, he would give you enough love for both of you.

Eventually, Stephen rolled to the side and pulled you with him. Settling you under the covers and holding you close. Pressing kisses all over your face as you floated in the twilight space between waking and sleep. Not moving or pulling away until your breath settled into a steady rhythm that told him you were close to sleep.

Then Stephen stood up and went over to the phone. Stopping the recording and bringing the phone back over to the bed. Setting it down on his nightstand and purposely not setting his usual morning alarm. He wanted to sleep in with you tomorrow. He would deal with Wong later.

You were too exhausted to review the products of your photoshoot right now, but the next time you were feeling down or self-conscious, Stephen would be ready to show you just how beautiful you really were. If you still didn't believe him, maybe he would bring up the idea of an outside opinion like you suggested. You would have the world drooling over you, and he would get to gloat that you were all his.

--------------------------------

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[taki118]

IruClarAzz Master Post Part 15

Just collecting all of the cuteness of the Love Trio and adding my commentary. Spoilers ahead very current with the manga. (Also warning I may make jabs at the IruAmeri ship here and there just small comparisons showing why I don’t like it as much, no hate but if you don’t like your ship being talked about even slightly negatively probably look away.)

If you didn’t see it Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 here Part 4 here  Part 5 here Part 6 here Part 7 here Part 8 here Bonus here Part 9 here Part 10 here Part 11 here Part 12 here Part 13 here Part 14 here

So Irumas making a weird face as Clara signs her um property

I think a Lot of kinks are getting unlocked for Iruma in this arc. Um anyway Clara leaves to do school stuff. So they escape.

Azz makes an interesting note and this is true, this isnt really what she wants.

Iruma recalls how Ameri's personality change was stuck due to her own desires so they start going deeper into Clara's mind to figure it out. And this is so Clara love that both are not allowed.

They know Clara too well they know its real.

So while they go further in Clara's mind we get another Irumas Army mentioned

Side note Clara's appeal in her evil cycle gets to her classmates too. But again she wants all three to be together no matter what.

Anyway back to Clara's space, they have to answer a Clara quiz to move forward. I love that they answer at the same time.

They are brought into a room of her favorite tings. It's filled with things they did together. Also Iruma and Azz are on the same level as her family.

More questions and again same time.

This room is filled with her regrets and guilt. and the two are so embarrassed.

Side note I am trying to do my best to not put the entire chapters cause dear god.

Anyway this room is filled with memories, meeting iruma and azz is one of her most important. The two are very touched.

I love how they look to each other cause they know. But also I don't think its an accident that for the first time Iruma and Azz are separated in clara's mind. You can't say she just associates Azz with Iruma he has is own place in her mind/heart.

I am dying so sweet.

Awww the softness of this chapter page, Azz's hand on her head so cute.

So they make it to the end, theres two albums and they open the first. Its filled with events from the series from Clara's POV. Primarily about the two. (I wonder what Clara would think of Azz's evil cycle?)

They get a little shy about it but are also happy to read the praise.

As you can see the second book has the same images but is filled with her negative thoughts on the situations.

I feel like this arc is really about the people who think Clara is just an idiot, she's not she just's afraid to express her negative thoughts.

And before they can really think Clara comes back. She starts to freak out over them escaping and going here. She reveals shes afraid to show this part of herself to them and think the two will hate her now.

Iruma tries to end her negative thinking but well

That kinda back fires.

Clara decides she has to trap him even further inside her psyche. Which sidebar again but these chapters really show how terrifying her powers can be if she applied them.

Azz rushes in to stop her and this looks so like romantic

Its' Azz time to save Clara from herself and just look at their faces so good. And this is where i will end this post. don't worry I'll post the rest soon cause they really arent beating the polyship allegations.

[greenerteacups]

Thoughts on sydcarmy? (figured i’d ask since you mentioned the bear in one of your asks.)

[normal person voice] THOUGHTS ON SYDCARMY? YEAH I GOT A FEW

To start from the beginning, I've been watching the Bear IRL as it airs, so I've been through all the hiatuses between seasons. And in season 1, I was the conductor of this ship. I was on the train basically from the minute they have that first bit of cooking synchrony in like episode 2 and my obsession with the coworkers-to-lovers trope perked its nose up, but I was promoted to captain when I saw the scene at the end where he grounds himself through a panic attack by thinking about her. Which — hey, by the way, sidebar? Directed to the writers of The Bear? I'm totally on board with the 'let's have more platonic bonds between men and women' stuff, I get why you like that story and want to write it, and seriously, platonic sydcarm, that's cool. That's awesome. But also: visualizing someone's face to anchor you through a panic attack — while in real life not at all inconsistent with platonic friendship — is an extremely loaded scene to drop in the middle of a narrative where the two characters in question have demonstrable chemistry and an intense but ill-defined bond, and your audience, which has been trained to close-read male-female relationships for signs of romantic interest, is going to read that scene as romantically intimate, if not sexual in nature. And they're not, like, ship-obsessed or whatever for thinking that. The visual language of your product does not exist outside of the cultural lexicon where it is being presented, regardless of your intentions. Anyway. [Sidebar over.]

Season 2, and especially the introduction of Claire, seemed to me like a Doylist way to address the SydCarmy train. The upshot to this is they do use this to talk about Sydney and Carmy being Weirdly Intimate Business Partners, and you get a lot of references to Sydney's jealousy, her disgruntlement with Claire, and Carmy's struggle to fuse the two worlds. The downside is that Sydney and Carmy no longer feel like the epic power chord at the center of the show, because Carmy's been shifted into this internal battle between Claire (who in many ways represents being Out of the industry) and Sydney (who, whatever else you can say about her, is very much In). And unfortunately for Claire, Sydney is just way better written. Like, I really did try to be fair to Claire, but it's not even close — and man, I didn't even feel like the writers were trying. Claire and Carmy's crush on Claire are introduced to the audience at the same time, and from there, she has zero scenes without Carm being either present or the subject of conversation. And like, that's so weird, on a show where almost everyone is rich and well-developed, and even the extended family in Fishes get little nods to their internal life. And I — I'm rambling. Point being, I think Season 2 took the wind out of SydCarmy's sails by making their dynamic antagonistic and strained by Carmy's obvious romantic interest in someone else, so I went into S3 with guarded optimism.

And then, like... okay. I'm a Sydney fan before I'm a SydCarmy fan, right? That man's cute and all, but she's the protagonist of this show for me. And at this point, I really do think the best thing for Syd is to get out of Carmy's orbit and go do her own thing. I don't believe in people being "too traumatized" for relationships to work, so I think a lot of the people blowing off Carmy as being "not ready" for love this season are full of hot air — but I do believe that Carmy's trauma is specifically impairing his ability to empathize with and care for Sydney, a fellow restauranteur and subordinate chef/protege, in a way that would make any iteration of their relationship satisfying to me. Getting him to that point would require the writers to dedicate a lot of storytelling and character development in a creative direction that they don't seem to be interested in. They are clearly interested in other things — worthy things! Cool things! Things that can make for a good plot! — but at this point, I was only interested in a version of SydCarmy that existed for about five minutes in the first 1/3 of the show, and it's time for me to face the music. I'm really excited to see where they take Sydney, though. I still trust the writers to do her justice, because they clearly know what a rare thing they have in her.

[rc-catalog]

love the new creator of the month banner design! how did you come up with it? *takes out a notepad*

hi !! it was me, @webanglikethat, who came up with the idea and I'm really grateful for your kind words <3

TLDR: when I joined this account, I really wanted to lean into the CATALOG part of our name, so I took inspiration from magazines to create something that felt curated and tactile. the banner’s styled like a two-page magazine spread, complete with headlines, cutouts, quotes, and even a QR code — I wanted it to feel like you were flipping through a real publication!

long story?

*ahem* when I joined this account, I had a mission (well not really, but it developed): lay it thick on the CATALOG part of the username. I kept thinking about what a catalog really is — not just a list, but a curated, visual, sometimes tactile experience. that idea really stuck with me, and the OG mod (vee) liked it. we wanted the entire look and feel of the account to carry that vibe — not just through the content we post, but through the way it looks.

that’s where the new banner design came in! we went from more minimal and simple banners to something a little more textured and collage-like. the new banners feature paper cutouts, a design that calls back to things like scrapbooks, zines, and even old newspaper spreads. like you’re flipping through a collection someone lovingly put together by hand!

we’ve been playing with this aesthetic more broadly, too. the way we tag our asks as “archived letters” is part of that same worldbuilding — turning our inbox into something like a letterbox! I thought it was really cute <3

the "Creator of the Month" banner, specifically, was my chance to really bring that energy forward. I wanted it to feel like it belonged in a catalog — like you’re flipping through an issue of something, with creators spotlighted the way a magazine might showcase people doing something special. the idea was also further influenced by @/ratanslily's magazine edits, and I have previously helped her come up with some ideas on what to write on them, so I thought, why not do that? I will also be honest and say I didn’t quite like the previous banner lmao you must know, I am a maximalist, so I immediately opened canva and told vee to give me permission to be annoying about this 😭 (bless her for saying yes). the process was quite simply; I gathered CGs and looked through the magazines that I own to see what kind of things they write on the front page, how they organize the page and etc. I even googled what fonts are commonly used in magazines and which ones give that “editorial” feel.

if you look closely at the banner, you’ll see that it’s built like a two-page magazine spread. that was very intentional! I wanted it to feel like you were opening a real publication — with big, bold headlines, pulled quotes, and a spotlight section. the left side introduces the featured creator with an “issue date,” (you'll see it says First Issue / Volume 1 and while yes, I was the first winner, this is the first post that featured this kind of edit yk?) title, and profile. there’s also a side panel with her words of advice, styled almost like the sidebar tips you’d find in a print magazine. I removed the background out of the CGs and screenshots and added them! that was all very easy. on the right, you get that classic “breaking news” with the headline “NEWSFLASH: Aditi’s pen hits again!” — inspired by dramatic taglines you’d find on gossip or entertainment covers. there's a featured quote from her writing that takes up space like the back of a book yk? that is what I was going for! and there's the QR code, just like you'd scan in a real catalog! I was very proud of that <3 when you scan it, it brings you to her masterlist.

so yeah, this whole design style came from a mix of personal taste (maximalist forever), inspiration from magazines, and a mission to make everything feel like it belongs in an actual archive. I’m so glad you noticed — I really poured my heart into it, and I’m grateful it came across <3

[letters-to-rosie]

for the fic writers ask (a bit late): 2, 3, 8, 9 and 41 please

it's not too late I like to talk lol

and I talked a lot so buckle in

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

my top 3 are "alternate universe - modern setting" (8/10), "alternate universe - college/university" (5/10), and "not beta read" (5/10, which is funny because 10/10 are not beta read lol)

and yeah, I can't say they don't represent me. when I was on ff.net I used a beta (my mom lmao) but now my grasp of English grammar is much better. I still miss stuff all the time (I found a word use error rereading something I'd published like a year and a half prior and wanted to scream lol), but it is what it is. even though I have professional editing credentials, it's really hard to edit your own stuff because your brain still fills in what it expects to see

re: modern setting and college setting, I started off my account publishing a couple college AU Fullmetal Alchemist one-shots; the only other college fic I had was my second prompt fill for the Arcane timebomb secret santa, where the prompt was to write in a modern setting. so that's all the college fics and 5/8 of the modern setting. another modern one is high school, since when I finished Arcane I felt a deep need to write Ekko in a high school setting because rarely had I felt so compelled by a single character. and the last two are the revolution universe, which is a funny story

idk how much I've mentioned this before, but the reason revolution is a modern setting is because I wanted to see if I could make an Ekko/Jinx roleswap work without the help of any of the story's magical elements. to restrict myself, I changed the setting. from there, developing modern Piltover/Zaun was just really fun. I took a lot of cues from the aforementioned high school setting fic I wrote and turned them up to 11. it has been and still is a fun ride, so I'm not mad about that choice at all

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

hmmmmmmm lol well line breaks! I like to make detailed little line breaks. some show up better on one platform than another (for example, the revolution telephone line breaks look WAY better on desktop imo), but I think they are cute

in terms of more trope-related things, I actually had a hard time for a moment. I went and looked at some fics of mine to try and find an answer

humor is one, for sure. big believer in laughing even on the worst day of your life. I think that's how I survived mine, and I think the characters I write about would be the same, finding something absurd or funny even when things are really bad

another one, I think, is attention to the mundane. I'm not a super detailed writer; purple prose isn't really my personal style. but I like writing about boring things. little things, you know?

the last one I'll bring up is setup and payoff. that's one of my personal favorite writing devices. I really enjoy putting the pieces in place and watching it all come together is always really satisfying. especially when combined with a focus on the mundane. like I have one story where Ekko's wearing a tie, and it matters.

8. What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)?

hmmmmm well I don't know if there are any I'd want to see just adapted straight into a fic, or nothing comes to mind directly. or maybe it's that the songs I am thinking of are more vibes than plot? well anyway, Willow's Symptom of Life is one I really like lately, as well as Sampha and Little Simz's Satellite Business 2.0, Kenny Mason's Firestarter (or Metal Wings tbh, or like the entirety of Angelic Hoodrat), and Isaiah Rashad's Headshots (4 Da Locals)

9. How do you find new fic to read?

scroll on a tag, or someone I know writes something and I go read it, and sometimes recs

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.”

honestly, I just want to write like myself, but the goal is to shoutout other people so I picked one from each other the fandoms I've read the most of on ao3

for Fullmetal, Swallows on the Beam is a long-time fave; the detail of the worldbuilding is really great, and I love the amount of thought put into a setting that isn't even seen in the canon material. the prose is just really lovely too. the author has done such an incredible job, and I need to go through and actually comment on all the chapters someday, but I have so much to say that I know it'll take me forever lol. but like how can a scene of a character touching another character's earring make me lose my shit? that is the magic of this fic lol. one of the most romantic things I have ever read

for Hunter x Hunter, I really love a thousand miles wandering; the Silk Road setting is just so unique! the prose is great, character work is great, setting is worked into the story in a great way. all feels like generic praise, but the whole thing is just so well-rounded in its excellence

for Arcane, my favorite has always been The Revolution Will Not Be Televised; just has such an infectious energy. it's fun, funny, and it takes this fantasy setting and makes it feel very real, which in turn helps the characters feel even more real than they do in the show, in some ways

[jadelotusflower]

Stargate rewatch: 1x20 Politics

We pick up right where the last episode left off, Daniel getting his shoulder wound treated and trying to explain the alternate reality to his sceptical team.

It’s funny to see the team not really believing Daniel because it’s still early in the run, whereas later on any of them could say the weirdest shit happened and the rest of them would just roll with it no questions asked.

Jack: “And you were there, and you were there, and there’s no place like home.” Daniel: “As a matter of fact, you were there.” Heh. Is Daniel just frustrated or did he not get the Wizard of Oz reference? Works either way.

I’m curious how the team thinks Daniel got shot by a staff weapon if it was all a dream though.

“Yes but the defining event, the death of Ra, took place in both worlds.” A bit of a logic leap by Daniel but hey, it’s what he does.

This is a clip show. I give SG-1 a lot of credit for actually making an effort with their clip shows, always building them around an in-universe plot to give context and cause. They’re still annoying to watch in these days of binging, but they’re as successful as they can be.

Written by Brad Wright (not including excerpts) and directed by Martin Wood.

“How’s our boy?” I find this very cute? Hammond really is the mama duck to SG-1’s ducklings, the epitome of restrained affection.

His absolute and obvious disdain for Samuels is also a real treat. He rolls his eyes!

Samuels is played by Robert Wisden, who was also briefly in Smallville as Chloe's father Gabe. Both shows were based in Vancouver, and both ran for ten seasons, so there's quite the guest star crossover.

In a private meeting with Jack, Hammond goes from “this is what I look like when I’m not laughing, Colonel” to almost laughing when Jack cracks another joke. I love Hammond so much.

I think Ronny Cox as Kinsey is actually the longest running villain in the entire show? Apophis finally bites it in season 5, but Kinsey makes it all the way to season 8.

“And this must be the drain through which the money flows” is such a great line for a pontificating blowhard politician, as is his hypocritical speech. You immediately know who Kinsey is, and you hate him even though he’s actually right about a lot of stuff.

“Oh you’re right, we’ll just upload a computer virus into the mothership.” lol, the shade at Devlin/Emmerich here.

We get a date for the Chulak mission - 10 February (presumably) 1997. The computer in the previous episode indicated it was December 1997 so assuming time was the same in the alternate universe, it's been approximately 11 months since the pilot which seems about right.

The purpose of the mission is described as “to rescue both Dr Jackson’s wife and her brother, and determine the Goa’uld threat” which is the first mention we’ve had of Sha’re and Skaara in a while.

lol, Jack looking to Sam to give the correct pronunciation of Goa’uld because he doesn’t want to.

Lt Colonel “secondary objective” Samuels being the one to read from Jack’s report about Skaara being chosen really twists the knife.

“Because what is right cannot be measured by strength.” Great Teal’c line.

Argos gets discussed and it’s mentioned that SG-2 made recent contact with them - a nice little background aspect of the show that they do check in on the worlds they’ve visited from time to time.

Much is made of the lack of benefit to the Stargate program - guess that wonder drug from Emancipation didn’t pan out? Or maybe everyone just wants to forget that episode happened.

Sidebar - with all the clips it’s obvious that Daniel’s hair has been getting longer throughout the season - irl because Michael Shanks’ hair was shorter and was growing it out as filming progressed to get that Daniel look, but my headcanon in universe is that Sha’re used to trim it for him on Abydos, and since her abduction he can’t bring himself to get it cut

There’s an ongoing metaphor by Kinsey for the Stargate being a Pandora’s Box that’s kind of apt, the box (jar) being a gift from the gods intended to punish mankind after Prometheus gifted them fire, with humanity as Pandora, eternally curious and unable to resist peeking inside.

The show never had a Goa’uld character who took on the persona of Prometheus, Epimetheus, or even Pandora, which was kind of a missed opportunity.

Samuels the slimeball is “sorry it had to end like this” and Hammond rightly tells him to gtfo.

Nice crossfade, Mr Wood.

The Stargate shut down, the threat of an imminent attack - all in all, a good setup going into the season finale!

[macethelaboratoryrat]

Finished Reading the Idiot

I'm not sure if I like it... but I also love it?? It's so interesting and complex, and I feel like even the stuff I dislike about it has a lot of meaning.

Below is a lot of rambling, so I feel like I need to put the cut here so that the post isn't too long. And since the cut is here, I can say: Spoilers for _The Idiot_ ahead!

First off: not enough Nastasya Fillipovna. It feels like she's described very frequently, by characters and the narrator in a way that demonstrates that she has a deep and interesting character. But her character choices after part one are repetitive and redundant, in a way that makes her character seem much more shallow than it was initially presented.

Secondly: Not enough Rogozhin. I love Rogozhin, he's my favorite character. He's so strange and interesting. I'm not sure I like how mysterious he is, like how he follows people around, but I think that's a personal opinion. (sidebar: everyone is taking the whole love question like it's life or death and I found that very silly *most of the time*) It seemed like he went to prison completely alone, which was really sad. There was something very lonesome about his sentence and him being sent off. There's something very lonesome about Rogozhin in general, despite his "band" of friends or whatever.

I suppose it was good for Dostoevsky to remind us that this whole time, Myshkin is not good nor morally righteous. I think him being "innocent", sickly and "cute" gave off the sense that he could do no wrong. And then he opened his mouth. First with the ranting about Catholics, which was hateful. And then he betrayed Aglaya. So it was a good reminder.

I'm so sad about the Aglaya thing. I didn't think I liked her as a character. Unlike Nastasya Fillipovna, who is presented with depth and proves to be somewhat shallow, Aglaya Ivanovna is presented as a shallow character (the pretty one, without any other virtues) and proceeds to be a very deep and complex character. The point being, I love Aglaya and I feel like she was mistreated, not only by Myshkin, but by her family as well. I don't think this is the Epanchins' fault, I think they were just trying to help and support her. I know Myshkin had better intentions, and he tried to make amends, but he was so committed to her, and he promised he was committed to her, and then essentially abandoned her at a critical moment. This was especially hard for Aglaya because she struggled with her feelings so much-- we can see that by how aloof she is, and how she constantly denies him. I don't necessarily think they should have gotten married, but the way she was treated wasn't fair. I think if Myshkin really was the pathetic little sick boy, who was unrelentingly submitted and in love with her as he presented, and as everyone thought he was, they could have been good together. I feel like we are made to believe, and the characters suggest, that prince Myshkin is shallow, hollow, and childish. In a sense, his character is merely babyish and cute, and his only weaknesses are his stupidity and his illness. But that isn't true. I don't think saying Myshkin has "a dark side" is an accurate description, but he definitely in a grown man, and a realistic human, who is flawed just as an adult man is.

Everyone seems to be running around screaming and then we have Varya and Ptitsyn. I love the normal couple who just decided they were fine being a normal couple. They're just regular people and I love that for them. Varya has such a level head with all this madness.

I thought the hedgehog bit was so funny. Of course Kolya showed up with a hedgehog, that's such a Kolya thing to do. And it wasn't even theirs. What happened to it after everything blew over? I don't know. A hedgehog.

I love Alexandra Ivanovna. She's so funny to me. She doesn't even want to get married. She's just chilling and she's so cute.

Ippolit attempted suicide and everybody said he faked it and did it for attention. That hurt my feelings.

The meaning of life... anyway

I was surprised by the murder, which seems silly in hindsight, given there's always murder. I was actually slightly disinterested through most of the main conflict, because the "who marries who?" didn't interest me. Anyway, that was sad too.

Rogozhin and Myshkin. Their interactions are so interesting. The tension between them is always so high. I love when they interact. I'm struggling to find words to describe it.

Back to Nastasya Fillipovna, I feel like they dropped a lot of her character development after part one. Even Totsky disappeared like it wasn't important.

Why does Lebedev insist that his infant child was born in lawful wedlock? No one asked him. Now it's suspicious.

I'm not sure I know what a "fancier of the female sex" is. Is that a womanizer? A male slut as it were? Because they ask Myshkin if he is one, and he says "no", and I was thinking "haha gay" or whatever. (I know that's not what he was referring to). Anyway, I just shrugged it off until the gathering at the Epanchin's where one of the guests was "a fancier of the female sex". Just wondering the difference between that and a typical heterosexual. I assume it refers to the extent... anyway, small detail, not particularly important.

Again, I wasn't necessarily invested in the tension over their romantic relationships. I haven't made it over to _The Idiot_ tumblr yet (I had tags filtered to prevent spoilers), so what I'm about to suggest is probably already there, and already well tread upon: Nastasya Fillipovna x Rogozhin x Myshkin. Yes, the three of them. I think it would be better if Aglaya stayed out of it. The three of them are a mess and I think they should be contained.

Wild how they made General Ivolgin a tragic character. That was interesting.

This one felt personal, I will say that. It definitely had things to say and... it said them. I think it reads as being very sensationalist, which makes sense because it's a commentary on sensationalism. *my interpretation. The idea of appearances, and not wanting to be "ordinary", but not wanting to be "eccentric" either. I did appreciate the "people will go out of their way to be 'not like other girls', even when they are like other girls. Case in point: Ganya" (inaccurate quote). It was also really a call-out.

I appreciate _The Idiot_, I definitely find it interesting. None of this is meant to read as "this book is bad" or "this character is bad", but more to share my opinion on reading the work and what I gleaned from it. I'll probably read it again. While I was reading it, I was having trouble concentrating, which has nothing to do with the novel itself, just that I may have missed something. I still like TBK and C&P better, because I find the topics more interesting. But yeah, still a good one.

[paranormal-taters]

it's super slow at work so i'm gonna rant about dating and a dream i had last night.

i hate dating. my feelings are extremely unpredictable when it comes to romantic interest and that basically means that i'm super picky. the few times that i've gone out with guys, all of them have been very interested in me from the start while i'm in a place of being unsure how i feel about them, because i didn't know any of them beforehand. personally, i'm not willing to drag things out for a long time on the off chance that my feelings will change. if i don't feel "it" almost immediately, i won't force myself to stay in an unbalanced dynamic. i feel it's incredibly unfair to the other person, and it will only make breaking it off more painful for them if they've caught serious feelings and i haven't. i've been on the receiving end of rejection for letting my feelings build up longer than i should have, and i hate hate hate the thought of putting someone else through that. so i break it off quickly.

the most recent time i went out with a guy, which was a few months ago, he was very clearly catching feelings quickly. and he was very vocal about how much he liked me/enjoyed my company (but not in a creepy way). and unfortunately, i have so little experience with receiving so much words of affirmation that it scared the hell out of me. i never knew how to respond and i knew that i wasn't catching feelings, but sadly i think we could have been good friends in other circumstances.

he also made a few comments regarding my very visible adhd that made me feel . . . well, "fetishized" isn't the right word. but something akin to that. my various tics and adhd symptoms are pretty easy to spot if you know that i have adhd, and that did come up naturally in one of our earlier conversations. he made several comments about them along the lines of "that's so cute" and it never sat right with me. i don't think he had any malicious intent at all, he was always really sweet in our conversations and i think he just didn't know how it came across. unfortunately i wasn't brave enough to bring up how it made me feel; it was something else that i had never experienced before and i didn't know how to respond to it.

all that to say, for the short time that we went out together, our dynamic always felt deeply unbalanced. just like the last two times i'd gone out with someone. and i just couldn't stay in that with the vague hope that it would balance itself out.

it's made me realize that for me to actually get into a serious relationship one day, it's going to take a very specific kind of dynamic (and very specific kind of man) for me to really want to pursue that. it's almost certainly going to have to stem from a pre-existing friendship. platonic connections are so important to me and i need to have a very strong one in place before a romantic connection can start.

onto the dream that i had last night.

it was really vivid and unusual for me. it was one of those dreams that you wake up from and think "that's going to make me sad for the rest of the day." and it has.

i dreamed of a man asking me out. i can still picture what he looked like, slightly older than me with very dark hair but a few silvery streaks, like he was greying early (sidebar, i hope i go grey early because i always think it looks beautiful on others). he had soft blue eyes and a gentle voice and a very genuine smile. in the dream i had the feeling that i knew of him previously, but i didn't really know him. and that was a big deal, because when he asked me out i felt completely safe in saying yes. i think we went out to dinner and just spent the evening together. i can't really remember the details but i remember feeling safe and "perfectly, incandescently happy". it felt like we were balanced, equal. it felt like i'd found someone i'd been looking for for a long time. i even remember his name.

i woke up and felt that absence immediately.

stuff like that leaves me in such a place. because it helps to narrow down exactly what i hope to find in a future relationship, but it's also of course an aching reminder of what i haven't found yet, what i'm not sure i'll ever find.

anyways. the yearning levels are off the charts again today. and all i can do about it is overshare on tumblr dot com.

[yurisorcerer]

That was really good!

Gosh, I have many thoughts, but I'm not sure how well I'll be able to articulate them given that I'm kind of tired at the moment.

So, my main love here is for the characters. I think people tend to sell Dungeon Meshi on its worldbuilding and I do get that (it's very complex and is quite well thought-out), but the characters are what really grabbed me. I don't think there was a single member of the main cast I didn't love. Laios is such a delightfully weird monster manual fanboy and I 100% agree with the people who say he feels neurodivergent and that this feels intentional. Senshi is awesome and it's very funny how the manga is extremely horny for him. Chilchuk brings a profound Divorced Dad energy to the cast that I think is great for bouncing off of the other characters. Izutsumi is interesting by how she contrasts with the earlier party members, I want to think about her role in the story more. I think she was kind of meant to give us an "outcast's perspective" of sorts? I think she's good at being that, but I feel like having blown through most of the manga in a few days may have hampered my appreciation of some of the more subtle aspects of her character.

Marcille, though, is my favorite; as someone who is also a really fussy eater and just kind of tightly-wound in general I found her really relatable. She's also super, super, super pretty and cute but we don't need to get into that right now. I cannot be the first person to point out how, when she becomes the dungeon lord, her behavior starts feeling extremely manic, right? I suffer from delusional episodes that include very difficult to ignore intrusive thoughts, and I thought the whole bit she went into about how being the dungeon lord feels felt very familiar in that respect, and it really hit home for me.

(On the flip side, having your desires eaten by the demon seems similar to depression. I've been there, too.)

Other stuff! I like the whole overarching theme of eating both in the literal sense and as a general metaphor for going through one's life. In the very last chapter Marcille says something to the effect of, perhaps this journey was to teach us to accept death, and I don't think that's necessarily the entirety of what the series is going for, but that's part of it definitely. There's a whole circle of life thing going on here. The manga is very....sensory? Lots of focus on taste of course but also scent and feeling. Lots of really strong imagery along those lines throughout the entirety of it.

I set the worldbuilding aside earlier but it is super neat actually, also. I still don't love the general conceits of a western-style fantasy setup, but I think this is honestly about as well as it's possible to do this material. Everyone has a motivation for their actions that feels inspired by experience and history rather than just Dwarves Do X and Elves Do Y and so on. There's a LITTLE of that, but not nearly as much as is typical for this kind of thing. In particular, I liked the orcs. Their usage as a symbol is perhaps somewhat fraught (I'm not the person to make that call either way), but it felt like it was coming from a good place and they're just treated so much better here than comparable people in other media, idk. It felt nice to me.

The art! The art is fucking gorgeous, like, if I wanted to get someone to read this manga this is one of the things I'd mention. The entire dungeon feels so wonderfully lived-in and ancient. You can practically feel the stonework in some panels. (Sidebar here! The anime is really good at capturing this, do watch the anime it's fantastic.)

Some other random stray thoughts:

-The circumstances she gets it in obviously suck, but Marcille's dungeon lord outfit honestly serves hard and everyone should get off her case about it.

-I ended up liking the captain of the Canaries a lot more than I thought I would. He's just an interesting character all around.

-I also really love Sissel / Thistle / apparently how you romanize this is a source of some contention. I feel sooooo bad for the guy. He just wanted to keep everyone safe! It's not his fault that his idea of keeping everyone safe ended up being influenced by a lion-headed demon from outside of reality and corrupted into a suffocating hellscape for those same people! OK maybe it's a little his fault

-I like the diversity in appearances across the characters. This is a thing I wish more manga did this well.

-Laios' kingly titles in the final chapter, RANKED from MOST to LEAST badass: 1. Laios of the Three Heads (based as fuck, makes people ask questions when they hear about you in a history book several centuries down the line), 2. The Demon-Eater (badass and very specific) 3. The Vegetable-Armored (basically gets the same reaction as #1, but with a more comedic lean) 4. Demon King Laios (this honestly seems pretty disingenuous but it is dope) 5. The Dragon-Slayer (very generic, also not even the most impressive part of what he did) 6. The Lord of the Dungeon (Crusader Kings 2 auto-generated-ass name) 7. Pervy Tallman (this sounds like a bad comedian)

-I want to kiss Marcille on the lips

-who said that

-haha I wouldn't mind the Canaries coming to arrest me am I right fellow lesbians

-who said that (part 2)

anyway yeah really good manga highly recommended. I'm not sure if it's a (get out the scare quotes folks) "Personal Favorite" per se, but it might become one over time. Usually such things take a bit to settle with me. The fact that I have any interest in reading it again is a good sign, though. 90% of the time when I'm done with media I'm fine with never revisiting it again. Dungeon Meshi I would very much like to revisit, both in the form of the anime that's airing right now and also I think I'd like to re-read the manga in a few years when I'm at a different place in my life to see what I think of it a little farther down the line. I liked it a lot, and I think it will stick with me.

[unpopularvivian]

When You Show Memes To Your Partner (An Edward x Toby FanFic):

Toby was peacefully sipping his favorite cup of earl gray tea while silently humming to himself. The bright sunlight beamed through the windows while little songbirds softly chirped outside. The Fat Controller had decided to give him and his husband, Edward, a day off. No shunting trucks, no stress, just a relaxing day for the both of them. Toby happily sighed, it seemed like a long time that he was given a break for once. It’s not like he complained about doing work like James or sometimes Gordon, it's just that he didn’t get to spend time with Edward.

“Ahhh~ Such a lovely day… I wonder what should me and Eddie do? Maybe go to the beach? Take care of each others’ kids?” Toby chuckled to himself a little. No, of course not. Edward had Thomas while Toby and his wife, Henrietta, had Percy, Phillip and Pluto. All four of them were really crazy to handle in their own ways. Just as Toby was tentatively wondering to himself, Edward was walking down the staircase, wearing just a light blue shirt with blue jeans, looking very tired as usual. 

“Hello honey, did you have a decent sleep yesterday?” Toby quietly asked the blue tender engine.

Edward grumbled a bit before replying. “Well, I don’t think ‘decent’ is the right word to describe it…. More like, ‘strange’....”

Edward poured a coffee jug into his favorite mug that was written “Fuck Off, I’m Gay and I Have Insomnia” on it before drinking it like it was water. “Anyways, I was thinking I wanted to show you something today.”

“What is it?” asked Toby curiously. Edward then put down his coffee mug on the countertop and went to grab his laptop from the living room. After a few minutes, Edward then placed his laptop on the table and opened it. Toby leaned to see what his partner was doing while Edward was busy punching letters into the keyboard. 

“What are you typing?” questioned Toby with a raised eyebrow.

“My favorite memes.” Edward replied back.

“Memes? What are they?”

“Oh, they’re just amusing or interesting stuff online. They are quite hilarious. If you understand them.” Edward smiled with a cheeky grin on his face.

After Edward was done typing in the word ‘meme” in the search bar, he then went to the images section and started scrolling through the page. Toby had a very confused and judgemental face while his eyes followed on the sidebar. After a few minutes of scrolling through, Edward clicked on an image of the Peter Griffin Death Pose and showed it to Toby.

“What the heck is that?!?” Toby exclaimed in surprise. “Why is this guy on the ground while posing like that?!?!”

Edward started laughing his ass off as Toby continued to question the image in hand with a lot of judgment.

“O-Oh…. That’s the Dead Peter Griffin meme….” Edward snorted as he tried to contain his laughter. “D-Do you like it?....”

“No! Of course I don’t!!!” Toby slapped Edward on his arm with annoyment. “Why do you people think it’s funny to make a joke out of somebody lying on the ground while they’re clearly dying?!!?”

“Well, you can’t blame me!!!! It’s the internet who did all of this!!!” Edward retorted who was definitely trying not to piss himself due to laughter. He then scrolled through the page once more before landing on the Yippee Creature image.

“Well, that's a peculiar-Uhhhhh ...Creature right there….He looks kinda…Goofy? For some reason?” Toby stated as he examined the image. “Although, I think he looks quite cute though! What a nice-looking fella right here!”

“Yeah, he does. People call him the ‘Autism Creature’ for a reason.” Edward replied. “He reminds me like Gordon, doesn’t he?”

“Oh yeah!” Toby chortled. “Especially him sometimes staring into the distance like that! That’s the funniest thing about him.”

For 4 hours, Edward and Toby were scrolling through viral images and memes, commenting and reacting to them. Sometimes, the reactions were funny, sometimes, they weren’t. And some of them had the couple with confused faces just by looking at them. When dusk had finally fallen, the Steam Team were at Tidmouth Sheds, sharing stories with each other in the sheds. 

“Did you guys know that Thomas got into another crash today?” Percy requested.

“Hm! Really?” Gordon asked with a boastful face.

“PERCY!!!!!” Thomas retorted back with frustration. 

“Now, you two. Don’t fight or else we’ll have an argument in our hands.” Toby calmly consoled the two. 

“What did you and Edward do today?” Henry asked Toby with a curious look on his face. 

“Well, I showed Toby my favorite memes on my laptop. The whole experience was pretty interesting to say the least. We even got a few laughs out of it.” Edward answered back.

“Gordon, you remind me of the Yippee Creature image after Edward showed it to me now.” Toby said.

Gordon was utterly baffled, he was utmost embarrassed that his best friend has compared him to a viral meme.

“WHAT?!?!?!” Gordon shouted.

Everybody started chuckling as Gordon’s turned redder than James’ splendid paint. Toby and Edward were giggling while the others laughed at Gordon hysterically. They both looked at each other endearingly as the moon twinkled in the dark night sky. Today sure has been a good day….

[wild-aspen]

WordPress themes that are Tumblr-like

Ok, so you've decided to make a WordPress blog. Now you've got to decide how to theme it, and there are a LOT of choices. Unfortunately, a lot of them will shorten your posts and force them to be read-mores. Others will just use photo thumbnails, or just the titles of the posts. If that's your thing, great! There are a ton of choices out there.

But for those of us who want our WordPress blog to look like... a blog... I've gone through ALL of the blog-themed Free Themes, and I've compiled them into a master post right here. None of these blogs will cut off your posts or hide images or do weird things like that. The colors are customizable, the reblog buttons show up, tags show up, it's just so nice. You can do sticky posts! You can add widgets and really customize your blog super easily, all for free.

(If you see little blue circle icons in some of these images, ignore those - those only show up when you are previewing a theme)

In order of best to worst, in my opinion:

#1: Independent Publisher 2

I'm using their example screenshot for this to really showcase how nice this looks; you can change the colors and add side panels like in Wilson and it has extra controls for how the blog posts appear. It's very nice. The only reason I'm using Wilson instead is that I like how the sidebar in Wilson stands out a little bit.

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#2: Wilson

I love this theme. Simple, clean. I like that it has a side bar to add the widgets to built in. I added a search bar, as you can see. The only thing is, it DOESN'T show the tags on your posts, or reblog buttons. Other than that, it's perfect. But for those flaws, it gets second place.

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#3: Libre 2

This layout does different things if you include a header image. Colors are customizable etc.

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#4: Hexa

The Hexa theme is fun. It can do everything Wilson can do.

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#5: Twenty Sixteen

This is a nice clean blog with great sidebar content, if you like your sidebar on the right instead of the left.

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#6: Scrawl

This one has a nifty sidebar menu that pops out when you click on it.

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#7: Franklin

I like this one, it's simple and does what it needs to do without wasted space. This one comes with a huge banner you can turn off to make it usable.

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#8: Sobe

This one is really cute. Same customization as the others, with some cute icons. A bit of wasted space in the header, imo.

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#9: Tonal

Another highly customizable theme. Comes with all the same stuff, I just don't like it as much aesthetically.

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#10: Hew

This one is low on the list because it has a lot of wasted space, in my opinion. Still usable though.

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And that's it - the top 10 best Tumblr-like WordPress themes!