#i left my browser and the tag cut i ;-;

[phantomcodes]

ruellia | theme by sage

get the code: preview v1 / preview v2 personal version of my fansite theme abelia!

features (more info below the cut):

toggle: tags on click, explore popup, & updates box

choose between left or right sidebar

headerbar includes icon/blog title, home/ask/archive links, search bar or explore popup, scroll to top, day/night, & tumblr controls buttons

sidebar includes an uploadable image with a custom description, up to 6 links, & an updates box

customizable: colors, body & title fonts, and font size

npf supported, responsive design, 3 corner options, tabler icons

nothing needs to be changed in the code, everything can be changed in the customize panel!

terms:

reblog if using

do not touch the credit

all terms / faq

credits listed in the code / credits page

please consider supporting me ♡

blog name !! important

make sure you fill out the blog name field, this is what will show on the top of all your original posts. to clarify: your blog name is your blog’s url - for example: phantomcodes

responsive sidebar

when the browser window gets too small the sidebar will disappear and become toggleable, the sidebar toggle button will appear on the right side of the headerbar next to the day/night button

explore popup

the explore menu has a search bar, bio text section, up to 5 info stats, up to 4 blogs, up to 4 socials, and up to 8 extra links

the blogs, socials, and links are all optional! leave the first one blank if you don't want these

sidebar

the sidebar will stick to the top of the page, if you use the updates the sidebar will scroll and the updates box will stick to the top of the page

general notes

many things will not show up if they’re left empty, some examples: if you don’t want the sidebar links leave the sidebar link 1 field blank

reminders

remember tumblr’s customize panel is buggy, toggle the options on/off before saving

i’m still on a sort of semi-hiatus, i’ll be around for questions but please check my faq, answered asks, etc. before asking - i will not answer repeated questions!

[emmafrostdefender]

crush | logan howlett x female reader

hi everyone! i wrote this for fun. it'll probably turn into a series of small chapters while i write my more hefty logan fic. i hope you guys enjoy!

warnings: reader's kinda horny i guess, sexy man, based on crush by ethel cain, 1.5k words (i wrote this in like an hour)

You’d seen him around town. 

At the laundromat with the blinking fluorescent lights. At the dingy bar around the corner from the laundromat. At the gas station, filling up the tank of his red truck.

You never thought to say hi, never to engage with him in any way. 

He created such a stir when he first arrived. No one moved to your town unless something was truly wrong with them. Most of the men had leering gazes and dangerous intentions, but not him. Never him. You were in his vicinity frequently, but never once did he attempt what many others had. All failures, of course.

You lived contently in your grandmother’s old home, moving there after her cancer took a turn for the worst a few months ago. When she passed away quickly after that, she left the house to you and you decided to keep it. It still smelled like cigarettes, the stench burned into the walls and carpet, but the smell reminded you of childhood trips to Kansas. Those trips were scorched to the back of your eyelids, forever being replayed. Everything was the same as when you were a child; the small Mexican restaurant, the old movie theater, the arcade that closed seven years ago.

 Now, you sat behind the counter at the small antique shop you spent most of your days in. It was quaint, filled to the brim with every kind of knick-knack you could think of. There were crates filled with records and CDs, most scratched or completely unplayable. There were pieces of furniture, dusty mirrors, moth-eaten upholstery, chipped paint jobs, and broken hinges. The bookshelves that lined the walls of the store were stacked with books. You’d taken a few home in the past, knowing that they wouldn’t be missed.

And the clothes. There were racks on racks of vintage clothes. Most were out of fashion (even for the time they were made) or damaged. Still, you liked to play dress-up every so often. 

The job was boring and mundane, but it paid the bills. The family who owned the store didn’t seem to have time to keep up with the place, so you managed the inner-workings of it.

Today, you watched cars go by, wondering when would be the best time to cut your losses and close for the day. Some days you managed to get more than a few browsers, but today was not one of those days. You had one person come in around lunch, but they looked for about five minutes before heading out.

Your mind wandered as you watched people walk by the storefront.

You thought of him. The man you saw everywhere. The man who never spoke to you, not even to say, “Excuse me.”

The man that just walked through the front door.

Eyes widening, you sat up straighter and calmed your heartbeat that suddenly thundered in your ears. “Welcome in! Everything with a blue tag is sixty percent off today,” you said with a bright smile.

He simply looked over at you and then continued his perusal. 

You deflated. Harsh.

As he walked around the store, you felt like a live-wire. Every creak of the floorboards sent your heart spinning in your chest. You hadn’t felt like this about a man since you still called men boys. Being in your late twenties, that meant a very long time.

You grabbed a box of donations from the back room and moved to the floor to start stocking items on the shelves. You rationalized your decision to suddenly start restocking items after having a full day to do so by telling yourself that if you looked busy, he might feel inclined to buy something. You could nearly feel your nose growing by the second at that thought.

Moving through the rows of shelves and assorted items was second nature to you at this point, knowing where everything went in this mess of a store. You conveniently moved to the side of a shelf that viewed his aisle through gaps in the many items strung about. As you placed a silver mirror on the shelf, your gaze moved to watch his face on the other side of the rack. He was stunning.

You hadn’t had much time to analyze him; it was only small glances here and there in the time he’d been around. Now, you took your time. He was looking at an old book, bound in red fabric. It looked as if it had seen the bottom of a sewer. Luckily, he seemed to be making a careful inspection of the text, giving you enough time to look him over.

He was beautiful in a rugged kind of way. He looked like he worked with his hands; they were large and rough, with calluses around the fingers. His knuckles were prominent with sharp edges. You wondered what he did for a living. Did he move here to get away from city life? Was he a runaway circus performer? You internally smacked yourself in the head for the stupid thought. 

He’d probably make the circus look sexy, though.

He had a large figure hidden by a flannel and white t-shirt. His attire pointed to him being a worker of the land. A farmer, maybe. That would check out with the truck you'd seen him driving around in. Always covered in mud with logs of wood piled high in the back. 

His hair was a rich brown and you wanted to dig your fingers into it. You wanted to feel his beard against your skin.

What the hell is wrong with me?

You don’t have sex for so long that your brain goes fuzzy at the idea of a stranger’s beard scratching your neck. God. Get a grip.

You straighten your back and continue restocking things. Play it cool.

Soon, you fell into the rhythm of it, nearly forgetting the other person in the room. You moved to the bookshelves, loading more books onto the already strained wood. People really needed to stop donating things to you and start actually buying things. You’d be out of business by next summer. 

As soon as you realized you needed to go back to the stock room to grab another box, you heard a grunt behind you. You nearly jumped out of your skin. You dropped the box you were holding and faced the man. Your mystery man.

He was so close, you could smell him. He smelled like smoke and sweat. You felt yourself salivate.

You looked him in the eyes for the first time. “Do you need help?” You asked quietly, scared that he’d run off if you spoke too loud, like a wounded animal. 

“How much for this?” He asked, keeping your gaze. His voice was smooth.

You looked down to his hands, which were holding the book he had been examining earlier. “It doesn’t have a price tag?”

He shook his head. 

Now you felt like you were being held under a microscope. The way his eyes ran over your face made you go red; you hadn’t felt this flustered because of a man in a long time. 

“Okay, I can check at the front,” you said, keeping your quiet tone.

He just grunted again and followed as you led him to the register. You had a book of all the prices for things so that you could properly mark them. If you didn’t have the vague feeling that you were going to explode at any moment, you’d know off the top of your head the price of that tiny book. It was about the size of his hand, making you bite the inside of your cheek. 

You opened the book and searched for the page with book prices. When you found the page, you ran your finger down the list.

Small = $1.99

When you looked up at him, you jumped a little. He was looking at you with such intensity, you’d thought he was going to have an aneurysm. It made your cheeks flush again, but you cleared your throat and said, “It’s $1.99. With tax, it’ll be $2.30.”

He nodded, putting the book down on the counter as he reached for his wallet. You read the book title: Frankenstein. “I love Mary Shelley,” you said as you reached for a brown paper bag. 

He looked at you, his expression not revealing anything.

For some reason, you decided to keep talking. “It’s such a perfect analysis of ‘how far is too far’ in science and experimentation. I loved reading it in high school, I think you’ll really enjoy it,” you said, not particularly needing a response. 

He placed the exact change due on the counter and looked you in the eyes as he said, “Thank you.”

Your heart fluttered. “You’re welcome…” You trailed off, hoping to God that he’d tell you his name.

He thought about it for a moment. “It’s Logan.”

You smiled. “I’m glad you stopped by, Logan.” You introduced yourself. It would be nice to have another person to say ‘hi’ to on the street. And you imagined he was thinking the same thing.

His face didn’t jump into a smile, but it didn’t look as harsh as it did when he first walked in. 

And so began your crush on the stoic man who moved to town.

[skele-bunny]

A Gift From Papa. (No CW)

CW: NONE

Characters: Phantom, Papa Copia, Other Misc.

Based off this lovely idea by @damagedghoulette !

Read it under the cut or on AO3!

A soft bundle of knocks, “Papa? May I come in?”

Papa Emeritus looked up from his desk, smiling at the new summon that peeked his head in. “Phantom! Pipistrello! Come in, come in.”

The ghoul smiled, stepping in before closing the door, he quickly waddled up with a nervous smile, holding his phone tightly.

“Papa… I found something I'd like to spend my allowance and savings on, but it's online so Aether told me I had to come to you.”

“Oh?” Copia tilted his head and held out his hand. “May I see?”

Phantom's tail began to wag as he gave Papa the item, watching Copia hum and observe the listing. “A onesie?”

“Yes! Yes, I have the money, too!”

Reaching into his pocket, Phantom laid the crumbled wad of cash on the desk with some change, smiling wide as Papa began to count with ease. He looked over at Phantom's phone, the wad again, then back.

Copia frowned, “Little one, I apologize, but you don't have enough.”

An instant frown and Phantom's tail stopped wagging. “I don't…?”

“No, Pipistrello. You have 158 krona, you need 264.”

Phantom's tail went between his legs, slowly nodding as he gathered up his cash and change, mumbling a thanks to his master for his phone back. Phantom bowed, mumbling again with an apology before he turned and left the room. Copia eyed the bat until he left before sighing, turning back to his open computer to finish inputting the band's weekly expenses. However, the image of Phantom's defeat stayed adamant in his mind, Copia sighing before opening up his browser tab and going to the exact site Phantom found his onesie on.

…

“Phantom! You have mail!”

The Quintessence ghoul perked up, tilting his head as he jumped up from the couch in the common room to meet Cirrus half way. He eyed the tag and in return his tail began to wag with interest.

“To: Phantom, My Pipistrello.”

Cirrus looked over his shoulder, smile wide. “What is it?”

“M’ dunno!” Phantom chirped back, quickly hopping into the kitchen to place the box down and undo the ribbon.

Lifting the top, Phantom let out a loud squeak and gasp, wings expanding as pure excitement filled him. He grabbed the box and ran into his room, leaving the pack nearby utterly confused. It took a few minutes before Phantom came out again, holding a stuffed witch toy - but more importantly his pajamas changed. A bat onesie hugged his form, but customized slits for both his wings and tail. He began to jump up and down, running to the common room where his pack cooed over his attire.

“Aww, Tom'! That's adorable!” Swiss laughed, looking as Phantom turned to show off his backside.

“Isn't it?! I can't believe Papa got it for me! I-I totally thought I'd never be able to get it!”

Dew tilted his head, holding the plush as Phantom let him touch the hair. “That's really sweet. You know Papa loves letters, maybe you should write him a thank you letter.”

The newly gasped, flapping his hands with excitement. “I should! I should! Oh thank you Sodo, I'm gonna do it right now!”

He quickly hugged the fire ghoul, unable to contain his joy before grabbing the plushie back and running to his room once more. With Phantom gone, Cirrus was able to fist-bump Aether who sat next to Dew.

“Hell of a job on those slits, Cirrus.” He complimented.

The Ghoulette chuckled, “Nice job getting his measurements.”

[mcufandomhatespeopleofcolor]

Some Clarification

Hi so I'm mod ali (original blog here: @aliciadreams  and other newer blog is @aliciadreaming I'm also a mod on fhpoc, fhw and several other blogs)

I want to address the fact that a few weeks ago a follower khalifaziz reblogged something we had posted and pointed out that the op was a terf.  Self described lesbian terf. (post is here)

Now when I had replied to this I deleted the first reblog and just kept the one where I addressed khalifaziz.  Then I confronted mod palette who was the one who reblogged it.  I didn't think to take a screenshot but when I brought it up here was the conversation.  But I'll summarize the contents of the screenshots. 

First I asked mod palette to download shinigami eyes and she said she wasn't going to because it was made by a pedophile.  I consulted with other mods from the various blogs and we couldn't find any proof of that and mod palette never submitted proof of it either.  Then mod palette started talking about "her right to being able to reblog who and what she wanted to.”  I told her she she had a choice a) stop reblogging terfs or b) leave the blog. 

And then she doubled down and REALLY started sounding terfy. 

So I told her she sounded like a full blown terf and I wanted her gone. 

She tried to leave on her terms and even though I said i wasn't going to post this conversation I think I have to because of what's happened to our follower count.  We used to have over 2000 followers and now we have 54 followers.  I've tried searching for things tagged with our blogs url but can't find anything.  I know that the options for the blog were turned off here (another screenshot) I turned them on yesterday but it hasn't affected our activity at all. we've got like 0 notes for the past 6 days.  

I want to take this opportunity to reassert that I and mod Laina the only active mods left here are trans inclusive we use shinigami eyes when we're on desktop.  ��And we want to keep make this an inclusive blog 

[about 8 or 9 screenshots under the cut]

Below that there’s a partial transcription of the screenshots.

Aliciadreams:

hey how are you?

Um I noticed something troubling in our notes today.

there's a post that khalifaziz commented on https://www.tumblr.com/khalifaziz/761253014092873728?source=share

and I didn't reblog it you did. can you please do me a favor and like download shinigami eyes so this doesn't happen again?

Sep 11 9:53 PM

palettesofrenaissance-main:

No, I don't want to download that. And also that thing was made by a pedophile

Sep 12 1:11 AM

Aliciadreams:

I wasn't aware of that do you have proof?

Sep 12 4:53 AM

Heyyyy so how are we going to resolve this? you can't be reblogging terfs.

Sep 12 7:32 PM

palettesofrenaissance-main:

Don't know what happened to the previous DM. I have some time so here goes. About the creator of the browser extension being a pedophile, rapist, or whichever, that was years ago and I believe you can find it if you Google. You can decide on your own about if it's "evil" or not. It's crazy to give your info to one person. One single person

I don't waste energy worrying about posts or act like an obsessed creep looking back at every single thing before I reblog, especially if the post actually means something itself. I don't care about beef between users, whether someone says "I don't like what so and so thinks" That isn't the purpose of running a simple blog for no money that won't actually make any difference. No one's being paid, endorsed, jeopardized, saved, and there's truly no differences being made through this website anyway

What I'm going to do is continue living my life and coming online whenever I choose to, and reblog nice-looking posts just like literally a good sum of users are doing on here. I'm going to keep reblogging things about characters of color and actors of color, and if there's any posts about people of color, and that's it

Today 10:49 AM

Aliciadreams:

OK so we obviously are having a miscommunication here. I'm going to ask for you to choose: 1) you stop reblogging terfs to the blog 2) we part ways and you leave the blog now.

palettesofrenaissance-main:

That boogeyman word means something to you? I've seen it being thrown around at women and lesbians who don't do what you say or like, calling like a dogwhistle for conservative-thinking "liberals" and/or homophobic narcissists using social justice key words and therapy words to demonize. You say one "wrong" thing and now several cronically online users demonize, point fingers like 5 year olds and trying to rally for a women to wear a scarlet A and get a virtual stoning

Thinking back on it, that post was literally just about women in Afghanistan being oppressed as an effect of a political decision. That's something informative and worthwhile to share whether it comes from CNN, ABC, or someone you had beef with online. Thinking an article with valuable information is suddenly "bad" because it happened to be posted by someone on tumblr labeled "bad" is actually pretty telling about actual values and mindsets

And your priorities are to appear socially pure it's apparent

Today 4:40 PM

Aliciadreams:

I think you're talking like a full blown terf. If you really don't see the harm in terf rhetoric and why it's important to reject terfs and their rhetoric then there's nothing else to discuss. Trans women are women and you sound like jk Rowling. These blogs are unpaid you're right but our followers deserve to know who they're following. If you don't leave the blog within the next 48 hours I'm going to post this entire conversation on the blog complete with your username.

palettesofrenaissance-main:

So you're doing the scarlet letter thing too with no proof, trying to sick your dogs on me now because I said something you deem "bad?"

You're literally one of those online people whom others talk about shouting and whining about things that either aren't true or without proof. You've done it to the point it would be concerning if someone cared. I don't know what jk Rowling did or whatever this has to do with trans people, because it doesn't, but you're a heretic and there's something in your head that isn't right. By you sending this, you also show lack the maturity despite your body physically being grown, lack self reflection, and that you revolve yourself around how you appear online by riding whatever is currently being said, like what you accuse me of believing (without proof, albeit). Obviously I don't know what in the world you're on, but I don't want none of it. Therefore, you're only skin deep, a liar, and possibly a narcissist. And you take blogging WAY too seriously for a sane person

Aliciadreams:

I'm giving you the option to get out of this with no one knowing your url or your blatant disregard for spreading transmisogyny. Or are you having trouble reading that part? You have until Monday at 9pm pacific to leave the blog. If you don't leave I will release this entire exchange.

Today 9:56 PM

[end of transcription I didn't get the rest before she blocked me]

[auxiliarydetective]

↬ OC Verse Trading Cards

Here it is! The reason (well, one of the reasons) for why I've been so inactive lately. I saw this super cool trading card template by @squea and @buttertrait and thought it was super fun, so I wanted to make something similar for my mutuals and myself. And, as you can see, I rediscovered my love for art deco on the way, so it's very art deco lol

You can find the template to make your own cards here - and I explicitly encourage you to make your own, because I was kinda hoping I would get to see cards of you guys' OCs and we could collect them all in a binder like this one. It would be really fun! (The number next to the name is the power level btw - I wanted to imitate a set of Star Wars trading cards I used to collect as a kid) Make sure to @ me when you do and tag your post with #ocversetradingcards!

I tried to make the template as accessible as possible so that even beginners should be able to use it without any issues. So, I color-coded the layers!

The red layers are ones you shouldn't touch. They make up the main frame of the card. The orange layers are ones where you can play around with the colors, but that's for advanced photoshop/photopea users. The green ones are the ones where you put in text! Edit those freely. Blue ones are ones you have to select and move as a batch - if you don't know how to do that, check below the cut ^^

You'll need to download these fonts:

Park Lane (name & power level)

Market Deco (main text font)

Artisual Deco Black Italic (blog url)

Below the cut, you'll find a tutorial for the template and a list of the image resources I used - Quick info for everyone, including the more experienced Photopea users: Save your image at 50% quality. The template is a big file and the exported image will also be pretty big if you don’t save it at a lower quality. 50% is what you can see above and I think it's a nice size-quality ratio.

Tutorial Time

Opening the File

Step one: Get either Photoshop or Photopea. Photoshop costs money, Photopea is free and runs in your browser. Take three guesses which one I use. Yeah, it's Photopea. As such, this tutorial will be Photopea-centric, and I also have no clue what the Photoshop interface looks like, so I can't really help you if you work on Photoshop. But I'm told they're essentially the same, so...

Step two: Download the fonts listed above from the links in this post.

Step three: Click on the link above to go download the template. It's a bit of a big file, so I put it into a zip file for you. Don't worry, you don't need a special program to open it. Photopea will do that for you.

Step four: Open Photopea. Click on "File" -> "Open..." and select the "TradingCardTemplate" zip file.

Step five: Click "File" -> "Open..." again and select the zip files for the fonts. This will import them to Photopea. There are also preview images included in at least one of the zip files for the fonts, so just close the windows for those projects when they pop up by clicking on the little "x" next to their file name. You only need the "TradingCardTemplate.psd" tab to be open in your Photopea window.

Great! Now you're all set to edit!

Editing the name, power level and blog url

I decided to group these together because they function essentially the same way

Step one: Select the typing tool. It's the little "T" symbol in the toolbar on the left side of your screen.

Step two: Select the layer of the text you want to edit. The blog url one is in plain view. For the name and power ones, you need to open the corresponding folders first. They're the green layers in the folders!

Step three: Click on the text you want to edit. It's easiest to aim for the middle, that way you have the least chances of missing. The typing tool is a bit finicky with that sometimes, especially if the text is small.

Great! Now you can use your keyboard to delete the placeholder text and replace it with your own! The power level will only fit two digits and picking "00" will look bad. Your OC should have at least some power. They need it to breathe.

Changing the size of the name text

As you might be able to tell, the basic text size only works for fairly short names. So, you might have to make it smaller for your OC's name to fit

Step one: Enter your OC's name as described above.

Step two: Select the text as you would anywhere else in your browser.

Step three: Above the little tag where it says "TradingCardTemplate.psd", there's an options bar. You'll find a box there labelled "Size" with a box that says "150px" and a down arrow next to it. Click on the down arrow and a slider will pop up. Play around with that slider until your text has a good size. Then click on the checkmark.

Step four: Switch to the transformation tool. It's the cursor with the directional cross next to it, at the top of your left-hand tool bar. Move your text so that it aligns well with the left side of the frame but make sure it's below the middle.

Step five: You now have to select two layers at once. The text layer and the frame for the name tag. Do do that, either press and hold your control key on your keyboard while selecting the other layer or toggle the control key using the on-screen keyboard at the bottom left of the toolbar. If you use the toggle, don't forget to untoggle it after.

Step six: On your horizontal toolbar above your project window, click on the icon that's a horizontal line with two boxes centered on it.

Congrats, your text should now be centered!

Adding in your OC picture

Step one: Open the "Picture" folder and select the layer beneath "Add picture here". This will make sure your picture will be in the right spot. Also make sure to click on the eye next to the "Pattern" layer tag to make it go invisible.

Step two: Select "File" -> "Open & Place..." and pick a nice image.

Step three: Once the image has been imported, make sure you change the zoom percentage to 100%, that way the image doesn't look pixely or weird. Click on the checkmark.

Step four: Resize your image so your OC fits nicely into the frame. The image should fill the entire space inside the frame and can stick out as much as you want.

Step five: Right-click (or press and hold, if you're on mobile) your image' layer and select "Clipping Mask".

Perfect! Now your image should no longer stick out of the frame. Feel free to adjust your image's coloration, brightness etc. by selecting "Image" -> "Adjustments" and your preferred action.

Changing your stats bars

This works the same for each bar and I tried to make it as simple as possible.

Step one: Open the corresponding folder.

Step two: Select the set of three blue layers together. You can do this by selecting one layer normally, then selecting the other two while holding your control key or while having it toggled using the built-in on-screen mini keyboard at the bottom left of your screen. If you use the toggle, don't forget to untoggle it after.

Step three: Switch to the transformation tool (the one at the top of your left-hand toolbar, it's a cursor with a directional cross) and move your layers. By moving them to the right, you'll reveal more of the gold underneath the overlay. More gold = higher level of the corresponding stat.

Great job! Now adjust the bars to your liking.

Saving your project + card image

To save the project: Click on "File" -> "Save as PSD". This will download the current project under the same name as the file that you downloaded it as. So, it will be called "TradingCardTemplate (1)" or something similar. Make sure you change the name in your files so you know which is which. Alternatively, you can also change the name of the project by double-clicking the little square that currently says "TradingCardTemplate" and type in your new name. If you save again now, it will show the new project name! Make sure to save your project if you want to be able to recover it and/or work on it later!

To save the card image: Click on "File" -> "Export as >" and pick your preferred image file type. I suggest JPG for best results. Make sure to turn the quality slider to 50%, then hit the save button. This will download an image file of your chosen type, under the same name as the project name. To change that name, refer to the bullet point above or go to your files :)

Advanced: Changing the BG color of the pattern

Step one: Select the pattern background of either the name tag, power score or picture and turn it to 100% opacity.

Step two: Color-pick the current background color of the pattern.

Step three: Click "Image" -> "Adjustments" -> "Replace Color..." and click on the colored rectangle in the new pop-up. Replace the default color with your color-picked color. Now use the Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders to get a new color that you like. Note down your slider values for later so you have them for the other elements.

Step four: Color-pick your new color and select the corresponding solid background layer. For those layers, click "Edit" -> "Fill..." and make sure you have "Foreground" and "Normal" selected, your Opacity is 100% and you have "Preserve Transparency" checked.

Step five: Don't forget to turn the opacity of your pattern layers back down to 60%.

Congrats! You have your colors changed! Repeat this process for the other two patterned elements.

Extra advanced: Changing the card's background color

NOTE: I DON'T recommend this. You can do it, but it's a lot of work.

Step one: Select the background layer and change its color to the new color you want. You can do it with the "Hue/Saturation..." adjustment, with the "Fill" edit as described above, or whichever way you want. Color-pick your new color.

Step two: Open the smart object PSDs for the frames for the frames for the picture, the name tag, and the power counter by double-clicking on the preview image of the layer.

Step three: Select the lowest colored layer of each and change its color to the same as your new card background color. Click on "File" -> "Save (Smart Object)". Close the project windows.

Step four: Open the folders for the various stat bars and select the "Color Overlay" layers. Change their colors the same way you did for the other layers. Warm colors and high-saturation colors will most likely not look good here and you might need to find a different way of making the stat bars look good. Playing around with the "Brightness/Contrast" adjustment layers above might help, but I can't promise anything. This is the main reason why I don't recommend changing the card background color. The stats bars are adjusted to the background color.

There we are! Either your card looks very pretty now or you understand why I don't recommend this. Either way: Good job!

Resources from Freepik:

Corners by tartila Power counter frame Picture frame by pch.vector Stats bar by tartila Pattern

Taglist (we're bringing out all fandoms today): @starcrossedjedis @oneirataxia-girl @daughter-of-melpomene @bravelittleflower @box-of-bats @fluffle-system @wheresmybloodynauglamir @nanukanal @supermarine-silvally @cody-helix02

[bluejaybytes]

@snowshinobi Hiiiii :3 I'm responding to your tags on a new post and not the original since the original was already somewhat lengthy, and I plan on being LONG and RAMBLY, but I have sooo many thoughts on what you said and I'm going to say them. Also my browser crashed TWICE (TWO TIMES. 2) when trying to write this post so I'm really fighting for my life out here to get my silly little OC posts done. Also it's under the cut because it's looooong as hell LMAO

Firstly, you're so nice to me forever <3 Secondly, I think you've basically hit the nail on the head. The majority of the issues Maggie has coming back from death and her 9 years gone are really tied almost exclusively to her close family, because she... never really had anyone else. While in-universe it's only 9 years, realistically the jump in technology and culture is around ~20-30 years (Maggie died in the 90s/early 2000s essentially, and wakes up in a just barely futuristic city), but... the most jarring thing to her in terms of what she missed out on is just. Flipphones are no longer popular. Other than her family, she's only close with one other person... who just so happens to be a ghost, and therefore both 1. Wouldn't change much over the timespan due to how long she's been a ghost and 2. Unlike her family, was aware that something happened, since she could see the ghost-of-a-ghost Maggie left behind (The ghosts name is Opal, she positions herself as a sort of "guardian angel" figure, though she's not actually, and serves as just another parental figure for Maggie while also getting after the ghosts that constantly harass her to pass on messages to the living). Maggie has no real relationships outside of her family, and while her relationships with her family are massively impacted by her unknowing death, other than that... the timeskip itself doesn't weigh on her because she had no one regardless. Her struggle to adjust to everything thats happened would've happened regardless of the timeskip for her, because she was such an isolated shut-in that it's the same whether it happened the next day, or nearly a full decade later

So another very interesting thing is that you've actually completely seen where I was going with everything, in spite of everything I said being very surface level and not actually delving into the plot at all. I completely skimmed over Jenna (She's very important to the plot, but she's by in large a regular person as opposed to Maggie's... everything), but for some additional context, Jenna has a horrendously shitty homelife, so her moving in with Maggie is both a gradual process (It goes from spending time there, to spending nights, to eventually just never going back home and moving in fully), and also serves as an escape for her. Part of that is also, so vitally, the food aspect. For some additional additional context, souls essentially serve as a persons lifeforce, practically every bodily function is improved by a soul that's stronger, though the "strength" of a soul is essentially entirely random, and not dependent on the individuals actions of any kind. Maggie had a generally weird soul before (Seeing ghosts inherently means she has to have something going on with her soul), but when she wakes up after her death, her soul is now even weirder, and part of that is that it essentially lets her get away with bad habits she absolutely should be seeing more consequences for. She barely eats, and when she does, it's basically exclusively crackers and whatever other safe foods she has around the house, because actually making food is a level of care and effort she just... doesn't give to herself in the slightest. Part of Jenna staying with her is that Jenna, without really discussing it, entirely takes up the mantle of caretaker of the apartment, with the biggest task being food prep, Jenna sees Maggie's unwillingness to take care of herself and silently steps up and starts making her actual meals so she's eating properly.

The problem is is that this also kinda... just straight up sucks? Jenna doesn't think much of it, it's something that needed to be done so she's doing it, she wants Maggie to be well fed even if she won't do it herself, and she's already been responsible for making all of her own meals for years prior anyways, so it's just another thing she does. Except that's shitty! Maggie's seen firsthand how terrible her homelife is, and it really weighs on her how even in her escape from that, Jenna's still being put in a position where she feels like she must care for her or else she just won't eat properly. So food is such a massively important thing to both of them, it's this symbol of love for both of them, it's love on the part of Jenna, for stepping in and taking care of Maggie when she can't do it herself, and it's love on the part of Maggie, for realizing how her own bad habits impact the people she cares about and wanting to lift that weight by taking care of herself better. It's also very vital for Maggie because she just... doesn't... have hobbies. Learning how to cook becomes really her only hobby and she puts all of her love and care into it, because for the first time in a long while she's actually passionate about something! ...Unfortunately she also is very very bad at it. She's inventing new dishes like "Burnt Salad" and "Please Help I Fucked Up Kraft Mac N Cheese" and still having to have Jenna come in and help her. But it's the thought that counts, and it'll only be a matter of time before she can make something vaguely edible.

And finally, the stuff about names! I didn't post it here, but while idly talking about her in a Discord server I'm in, I definitely think that had I made Maggie like even a few months later than I would've done she would've been nonbinary. As it stands right now though, I'm saying she's probably some form of genderweird but too busy trying not to die to think about it <3 Growing up knowing that ghosts are real and routinely being shut down by authority figures in her life about it has made her very aware of how bullshit a lot of things are and how the people who claim to be knowledgeable tend to not know what they're talking about (Beyond just the "people don't think ghosts are real", she's also got ghosts willing to tell her when people are lying because they've got nothing better to do than just gossip) , so if she spent even just a moment thinking about gender as a social construct she'd instantly recognize that and probably take up some form of genderweird label, but as it stands she's just too stressed with Being The Protagonist to think about that

Now, the thing with Margaret. I'm not even going to lie to you, I think you made a better connection to how a name connects with community in terms of the narrative themes than I did. The thing with Margaret denying the name "Maggie" existed for two reasons, the in-universe explanation is that, with the little scrap of soul Margaret has leftover from Maggie, it's essentially working overtime just to keep her vitals working, it can't dedicate time and energy to making her an individual with preferences and a personality, so part of that is that she doesn't respond to "Maggie" because ultimately, that is not her name. Her name is Margaret and she's not going to respond to "Maggie" because "Maggie" isn't her name. Of course, out of universe the reasoning is that I wanted an easy way to distinguish between Maggie as she is the protagonist, and the version of her that lived in the years she was gone, so different names makes the most sense.

I think your connection to how name relates to community genuinely works on a level I hadn't fully pieced together myself yet and I really love that because I think that absolutely works with everything. One of the main conflicts of the plot is how Maggie is entirely disconnected from her family thanks to the years she was gone, with Margaret having no priorities beyond "survive", she basically never spoke with her parents or brother for years. While her family tried to reach out to her repeatedly (Especially given that, while they're unaware the truth of what happened the night Maggie was murdered, they do know something happened, and they believe that whatever it was severely traumatized her, and that's where the sudden and drastic shift in personality came from), there's a point where they just... gave up. She wasn't trying to talk with them or contact them in the slightest, so around a year or two after Margaret moved out, her parents gave up on her. Her brother would still be there a bit, but he also didn't really... try... anymore.

When Maggie wakes up, she tries to call her parents... and they don't pick up. They'd grown resentful over the years, and now that Maggie wants to talk to them, they don't forgive her for the years of not speaking to them, and aren't interested in whatever she has to say after nearly a decade of trying to reconnect with her and being met with nothing. It's her insistence that she wants to be called Maggie that actually gets her brother to realize she's telling the truth and that something happened. She shows up at his door, already something that Margaret wouldn't have done, and that combined with her being visibly upset when he calls her Margaret and tells him that's not her and that she's Maggie, it signals to him that whatever's going on is real (...though he would've figured this out eventually, given that she also literally 17 again and not in her mid-20s, and has a giant glowing stab wound in her chest). I think it works absolutely perfectly as being a symbol of community, her disconnect from her community is what led to her being called Margaret, and her desperation to be returned to that community is when she's Maggie again. So uh. Congrats on getting the themes of my OCs better than I did <3

And uhhhh closing thoughts! I honestly did still skim over the majority of the plot (Literally never even mentioned Eli or what's going on with her stab wound </3), but I think you reeeeally hit the nail on the head with everything I'm kinda getting at with these OCs, which is... frankly wild given how little main plot I actually got at. Basically everything I mentioned in my original post was the setup, not the main plot. But waaaaugh thank you for being so niceys to me and also giving me another excuse to ramble endlessly <3

[seattlewa-hq]

An Introduction to the Beta Editor

Hello all! I’ve gotten some feedback that the tutorials on using the new Beta editor and xKit Rewritten has been confusing a few people, so I wanted to make my own! I’ll try to cover everything below, but if something isn’t clear or you need extra help, let me know please! This post is gonna be pretty long, but I sectioned it up so hopefully you can find what you need with ease.

Step 1. Switching to Beta

You very well may be able to skip this part, because all new blogs are automatically switched to the newer editor. But if you’re still using an older blog, don’t worry, it’s easy! There should be a big purple button in the corner, pretty hard to miss. Should look like this!

Go ahead and hit “Let’s go!” and, well... let’s go!

Step 2. Getting to Know Beta

The Beta editor is very, very different from what we’re all used to. But really, it’s kind of intuitive in a lot of ways. You have to know a lot less shortcuts. Whenever you highlight your text, you’ll see this little guy pop up:

Now, from left to right, here’s what we’re looking at: strikethrough, bold, italics, small text, link in text, and colored text. Most of your keyboard shortcuts should still work (I can’t speak for all computers, but the shortcut for small text no longer works for me with the Beta editor), but we also have handy-dandy buttons now, too! We also have the 'Regular' drop down menu, which opens this:

This one is pretty self explanatory, and it shows what the text will look like if you select that option. 

Step 3. Finer Details

I’m still personally getting used to a lot of the smaller details that come with the Beta editor, but here are some that I’ve learned! Hopefully I’ll be adding to this list when more troubleshooting comes into my realm of knowledge.

Auto-Readmores: For whatever reason, Tumblr has taken to cropping any posts over a certain length by itself? Annoying, but this is something you can toggle on/off in your Dashboard Settings!

Editing Tags: This isn’t something that needs to be fixed, but it was big news to me! Instead of having to delete your tag completely when you’ve made a typo, you can just edit your post and edit the tag! Handy!

Links on Gifs: This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just new, different, and weird. But if you dislike it, there is a way to stop it from happening! It’s just a manual task. When you copy and paste a gif into your reply, you’ll see three little images on it. We’re going to click on the circled one below.

That’ll open up a link box, with a link to your gif. Just backspace that, hit the ‘Done’ button, and boom! No more link at the bottom of your gif!

Step 4. xKit Rewritten

I know what a lot of people’s main concern is: cropping replies. This is how we get to that point. The first step is going to be to download the newest iteration of xKit. You do not have to uninstall your old one to do this, they coexist on purpose! New xKit and xKit Rewritten have different features, so I’ve found it best to have both and utilize all the features! 

xKit rewritten is a Chrome extension, and it can be found at this link! Just follow the instructions on that page to install it. Once it’s all good and installed, it’ll be found next to your other extensions, or by the URL bar on your browser window. Looks like this!

Now you have xKit Rewritten!

Step 5. Cropping Replies

Alright, this is where the money is. Just like with regular xKit, you have to toggle on the setting that allows you to cut replies down. Once you click on that purple X icon, you’ll see a drop down with lots of options. I’ve underlined the one we’re looking for right now, "Trim Reblogs."

Once you toggle that little switch on, you can go ahead and start replying. If you’re replying to a starter, then there is no need to worry about this feature. You have nothing to crop, so don’t worry! But if you’re replying to an active thread, here’s what you’re gonna do. Type out your reply, format it however you want, and then draft it. Then we’re gonna go into our drafts.

Here’s my thread with three tiers to it! The standard is two replies per post, and that’s what a lot of people like to stick to. So let’s make that happen! If you’ll notice at the bottom of that draft, there’s a scissor icon. I drew an arrow to it in the photo above. We’re gonna click on that.

And that icon brings this up! You’ll see it says “Select trail items to remove,” and it shows the trails separately. “Trails” are each individual reblog, and of course, we only want two of those, not three. This is really easy to fix! We’re just gonna select that top “trail,” aka the first reply in the thread, and hit the “Trim!” button.

And once we’ve done that, the first “trail” is gone! You just have the two more recent replies on the post, and you’re good to reblog it!

The one caveat of this is that you can no longer edit parts of other people’s replies, so you can’t format the posts to your heart’s content like we’re used to. A downside for sure, but so far, this isn’t something there’s a fix for. Hopefully in the future, xKit will figure that out for us!

Step 6. That’s All!

Once you have all that down, you’re a master of the Beta editor and a master of xKit Rewritten! Tumblr staff has mentioned phasing out the Legacy editor all together in the future, so it appears this will be our new reality. It is worth it to mention that the Beta editor is still, well, in beta, so it is subject to change. If it does and we get even more features or work-arounds, I’ll be sure to come back and edit this post! Until then, if you have any questions, please let me know! I am here to help!

xoxo, Kirby

[pith1a]

Hi, I noticed one of your bookmarks when I looked through the ones of a fic. I noticed that you have a very interesting way of doing those 🥰 mind sharing how you did this?? Or where I can DIY for dummies for me? Would be quite thankful 🙇‍♀️

Hi! Yeah I can explain the logic behind the tags, no problem :D Before I get into that though, some unasked for advice: Please add a profile pic and bio, there's too many bots in everyone's inbox these days so this ask was almost lost in a "report bot first, ask questions later" type rush, before I realized this was an actual question and not spam😂 So, the tags are a new thing for my ao3 account; I've been on ao3 since 2015 and the amount of fics I've read is ungodly- but I didn't have a decent way to go back and look through the fics I had saved (either in private bookmarks, marked for later fics, or spreadsheets even), so there's a small amount of fics publicly tagged compared to how many are actually saved, since I only really came up with this system like this past week. (There's a lot of information so I'm gonna cut the post here bc I probably went into too much detail)

The short Summary and Last Accessed section is from a browser script, it generates those automatically when I press "bookmark". You can find the script here (works with a simple browser add on like Tampermonkey, I use the script with Tampermonkey on both PC and Mobile on Firefox, not sure what other alternatives exist for other browsers).

The tags are all based around being able to look for fics to re-read later; so every tag serves the purpose of letting me know few key things about the fic and also to let me filter works based on niche things.

There's a few "Utility tags" for lack of better word, that I use for things like marking the pov character ("X-Character centric"), and if they're AUs the character or event that the AU is centred around: so "Jon Snow Variant" for Game of Thrones fics where his character is different and "Red Wedding Variant" for fics where the Red Wedding goes differently and the divergence from canon starts there. Some fandoms also get custom tags for the Event Variant tag (because I think I'm funny).

Similarly I might tag the type of AU or content: "Time Travel", crack and crack-ish fics, crack treated seriously, angst, different types of AUs as I come across them.

I'm personally a big Crossover reader, so you'll see a lot of "X Fandom Crossover" in the tags or "Into X Fandom Crossover" (the second version used to signify what canon/world the fic is in). I also use "Get Isekai-ed" for fics where a character gets... Iseakai-ed or transmigrates or gets reborn into another fandom basically. And lastly there's tags I'd categorize as "The impression the fic left me" so if a fic made me cry irl (see: "I'm not crying there's just something in eye I swear"), if I really like the world-building and original characters, if i thought the fic was all around really well developed ("Excellence 🤌" or "5⭐️" the difference here is vibe based, I can't explain it any better), if I was going feral while reading, if I thought a relationship was really well written, so on and so forth.

Really, if you want to start tagging your bookmarks the thing I'd recommend is just not putting too much thought into it. You want your tags to be simple in a way you'd understand while looking through them (or alternatively just use them as comments for the fic, that's how my tag system started).

tl;dr -Use tags you don't need to think about for more than 2 seconds to know what they are -Tag based on what feels right for you and customize your use of bookmarks as you see fit -Have fun with it

I hope this helped :D

[sopeecoffee]

Dial me up

Yoongi was diligently working at his studio when he got a phone call from an unknown number.

On the other end of the line? A not-so-truthful telemarketer trying to scam him.

pairing: sope genre: pwp, modern au tags and warnings: explicit 🔞 bttm!yoongi, top!hoseok, arguing, phone sex, masturbation, dirty talk word count: 5k

Read on AO3 ♡

Read under the cut ⬎

•

Yoongi had been struggling with a particular song all afternoon.

Sometimes inspiration hit him suddenly, like a truck. It winded him and pushed him to pour it all into something before it seeped between your fingers and escaped his grasp… But then he was left the next day with a demo so messy he had no idea where to even begin with remastering.

That's where he was, where he'd been for the past five fucking hours, staring into his computer screen until he went cross-eyed and felt like he bordered on insane.

That's also when his phone made the unfortunate decision to ring.

He felt frustration bubbling under the surface of his skin, crawling from just beneath his shoulders and slowly up his neck. He didn't think, brain too fried to even read the unknown caller ID displayed on screen before swiping the green circle.

“Yes, hello?”

“Good afternoon," a chirpy voice he couldn't recognise spoke against his ear. "I’m Jung with Venture Life. How are you doing today, Mister Min?”

What the fuck was Venture Life?

“Uuuuuh good?” He said cautiously.

“That’s great to hear! I’m contacting you regarding your car insurance. It says here your contract with your current provider is about to expire and we wanted to walk you through our service package. Do you have the time right now?”

Something itched in Yoongi's mind. It was either the way those words were spoken, or the way they didn't watch up. He quickly opened his browser and typed the company's name in the search bar. Many results, to be sure. None of them positive.

Interesting.

“Time? Sure, I've got time,” he replied coolly.

“Great, so-”

“Just not for scam calls.”

“W-what? Sir, please, this is very serious!” The man sounded agitated. It gave Yoongi a sick sense of satisfaction. You fuck around, you find out, right?

“Yeah and so are the articles on my computer screen right now. Two million Won per customer on average, huh? How do you sleep at night.” Righteous indignation tasted good, especially after a shit day. And when he heard the man sigh on the other end of the call, Yoongi smiled cheekily to himself.

“Damn, you’re quick with it, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know Mr. Scammer, it seems pretty basic to me.”

“I’m not a-”

“Not a what, Mr. Scammer?”

The man was getting impatient, clicking his tongue and huffing in frustration.

“Listen, we practically only have old people on our database. They don’t know how to operate a computer.”

Database? Where did a company even find a database as specific as that? Social media? No, that had too widespread of an age-range, and much less an abundance of the elderly.

“Where’d you get it from?”

The man sighed. Yoongi could almost envision him rubbing his face with his free hand as he leaned back on his desk chair.

“Online pawnshop. Grimey looking website. You’d have to be sixty-five years-old to put your personal information into that thing.”

Oh.

“Or maybe a twenty-two year-old dumpster diver," he admitted. "What about you, though? Surely you’re old enough to know that the elderly deserve better than some smooth-talking prick stealing their retirement money.”

“This smooth-talking prick is just trying to put food on the table. At least I’m not… Diving in dumpsters.”

Yoongi cringed.

“That was weak, man.” 

“Fuck you," he said, exhasperated. "Those old men put anything interesting up for sale for it to be worth putting your phone number in it, Min?”

“Yeah, they did. Though I only expected to receive a cassette player and a CRT television, not some-”

“Sweet-talking prick,” the man offered, a bitter grin evident in his tone.

“Wow how self-aware," Yoongi commented sarcastically. "How’d you know?”

When the man replied, he was quieter, something particular in his voice lingering in the air and making stomach flip.

“Y’know your voice isn’t half bad, either.”

“I-I," he found himself stuttering, taken aback. "I wasn’t flattering you.”

“Too bad, I took it as such.” He sounded almost casual in his cockiness. Yoongi couldn't help but let his aggravation rise up once more.

“How big is that damn head of yours?”

“Just big enough.”

Yoongi sat quietly for a few seconds, blood rushing in his ears as his cheeks grew red. Was this guy for real right now? And why did it sound so tantalising when he spoke in that tone, darker and more playful than before...

No, he had to play it cool. There was absolutely no way he could let this complete stranger take a hold of him, especially after trying to scam him and worse yet, interrupt his precious work. 

Yes, he had his priorities in order.

“... Right," he drawled. "Is that what the ladies tell you to make you feel better?”

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t take girls home." He spoke confidently, but Yoongi couldn't understand why. Who would admit to something so brazenly? But he kept going, sure he would reach him if he prodded enough.

“Yeah, I gather they run away from you before you get the chance.”

But no, it didn't touch him. Instead, he scoffed.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you-” Something clicked in his mind suddenly. “Oh.”

He was gay.

Like Yoongi.

“Mhmm,” he confirmed, just as laid back as before.

Well, this was just as much Yoongi's territory as it was the guy's. He could go all day.

“Well, in that case is that what the boys tell you to make you feel better about your totally very big enough head of yours?”

He clicked his tongue, growing frustrated.

“Why are you so difficult?”

“Why’d you call me in the middle of my fucking work?”

“For someone who’s so busy, you sure talk a lot. If I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re enjoying yourself.”

“Yeah, I sure love having my money stolen,” he rolled his eyes.

But he was right. Sure, Yoongi now had a personal vendetta against the guy and wanted to piss him off just as much as the man had pissed him off. Sure, he wanted to hear the man ripping his hair out for trying to get the better of him just because the shitty website he used sold his data to the highest bidder. It wasn't his fault the specific brand of cassette player he needed for one of his experiments was completely out of commission and impossible to find, save for one fifty-something old man on that vintage marketplace.

It was, however, completely this Jung guy's fault for getting him riled up and ready to fire.

And he seemed just as riled up, though. It was exactly what Yoongi wanted.

“Oh, your money, of course," he replied just as sarcastically as Yoongi. "I haven’t mentioned your car insurance in quite a while, have I? Would you like me to go back? We have many services you can choose from, but we suggest the premium package.”

Yoongi grinned to himself.

“How fascinating," he mocked. "I gather it costs two million Won?”

“Wow! I see you’re already familiar with the wonderful services our company offers! I love a man who comes prepared…”

Yoongi bit his lip, trying to contain his smile. He hated to admit it but the guy was a lot of fun.

“I’m sure you do, Mr. Scammer.”

He was quiet for a second. Then-

“Has anyone ever told you you sound like a car purring?”

Yoongi stilled, heart beating rapidly in his chest. He tried to sound aloof when he replied, but his voice wavered at the end.

“Not you too…”

“Not me what?”

“I get the cat thing often,” he mumbled, tracing the inseam of his jeans as though the strange man over the phone wasn't seeing right through him.

“People call you a cat?”

“Mhmm.”

“Well," he laughed. "You sure are feisty like one.”

“Bite me.” He rolled his eyes. And the stranger chuckled again, more muted and seductive.

“Maybe I will.”

Yoongi sat up a little straighter, face going red.

“Excuse me?”

“Too much?” The edge in his voice was then subdued, kinder and more patient. Yoongi licked his lips and considered the absurd, albeit not unwelcome situation. He hated to admit it, but the stranger was affecting him. There was no doubt about it. Be it the tone of his honey voice or the cocky confidence of someone who knew how to unravel another man with practised ease, it made Yoongi melt little by little. Which frustrated him, quite frankly. It should not be possible for someone so infuriating to be capable of making him blush so deeply.

Too much? the question echoed between his ears, laid back but careful. It wasn't too much, not at all. If anything he wanted more.

So he followed his instincts and let the man continue.

“... What do you want.”

He shrugged.

“I don’t know what you look like, but you sound hot. I’d definitely take a bite out of you.”

Yoongi felt his stomach flutter. He ran a hand through his hair nervously. You sound hot? Could the man hear how ridiculous he sounded?

“You’d go that far for someone from their voice alone? A little pathetic don’t you think?” Posturing was all Yoongi could do to save face after so openly allowing the man to continue his antics.

“You say it’s pathetic but you’re thinking it’s actually kinda charming,” he smiled through the receiver.

“Don’t you have other people to scam?" Yoongi pushed. "Isn't that what you're getting paid to do? Because you're definitely not getting paid to hit on people, that's for sure.”

The man sighed dramatically.

“Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that’s why I fuck pretty twinks on company time. Isn’t that how the saying goes?”

Yoongi's jaw was slack as he digested those words, at the way he turned the slogan into something so raunchy and uncomfortably close to the truth.

“You’re so brave, Mr. Scammer," he kept pestering despite the spark growing between them. "Is that the best line you and your scammer co-workers could come up with for your union?”

“Nah, this is all me. Wanna hear more?”

Yoongi closed his eyes and imagined for a brief moment the man was speaking close to him, against his ear. The way his voice was so warm, the way it rasped when he was playful, the way it would slide from high to low in an instant. It sent a shiver down his spine.

“I’d really rather not, for my own sanity.”

He hummed.

“Your claws are really sharp, Min.”

He clenched his fist, feeling his blunt nails raking over his skin.

“I get that often, too.���

“Oh, you do?" There was a mean edge to the man's voice. God, he loved a mean man. "For you to be so pissy I can’t imagine you getting much action lately.”

Yoongi tutted. 

“You some kind of expert on how much dick pretty twinks get?”

“Just a lucky guess.”

The smile in his voice was so sexy, made Yoongi want him so badly.

So he decided to open the proverbial door just a tad, in hopes the man would continue until he saw stars.

“Tragically you are lucky indeed, Mr. Scammer,” he pouted as he admitted.

“I did give you my name, you know?" He said softly once more. "You can use it.”

“Oh, you actually gave me your real name? And you criticise me for putting my phone number into a shady website, Jung.”

“It’s technically a real company, Min," he kept smiling, unaffected by his taunting. "I have to give you my real name.”

“Technically," Yoongi scoffed. "You lecture me over my online safety practice but you work on the frontlines for a company getting sued for fraud." Then, more sardonically, "crazy how it’s still running at this very moment. You'd swear they'd be trying to cover their tracks.”

The man laughed.

“Crazier than the way you keep dodging me?”

Yoongi bit his lip, smile spreading too wide, cheeks burning too red.

“Absolutely, Jung.”

“Sure sounds nice coming from those lips.”

Yoongi imagined the stranger – Jung – lazing back in his desk chair with a lazy smile on his lips, legs spread just enough for them to look supple and mouth-watering. He imagined him resting his palm on his stomach, then running it slowly down to his crotch. He imagined the edges of his lips curling up at Yoongi voicing out his name in his deep baritone. The run-around was enticing, making his heart race.

He'd think the fact Jung was a complete stranger, someone he didn't even know the appearance of, would be enough of a reason for him to be put off by their predicament. But if he thought hard enough, he could see the faults in his rationale. Sure, he didn't know what Jung looked like, but they knew more about each other than his one night stands ever did. And he had a better grasp on Jung's spunky attitude than he did of any person he'd made out with at the club.

Not to mention the fact Jung was on the job. That only made it hotter.

“What do you want,” Yoongi asked once more. No more playing. He wanted to hear it from Jung's mouth.

“What do you look like?” Jung retorted instead.

Yoongi didn't know what to say at first. Where could he even begin?

“Hum... Black hair?" He tried. Jung hummed, guiding him to continue.

"It's a little overgrown, covers my eyes. Thinking of letting it grow out like those movie stars in the west.”

It felt a little vulnerable, saying something so menial to a stranger who wanted him, something he'd only conversationally mention to his friends over take-out dinner after one of them asked why he let it fall over his vision.

Jung didn't hesitate.

“I bet you’d look real pretty. And already do.”

It couldn't be true, because Jung didn't know him, but it made Yoongi blush just the same. He tried deflecting with a laugh.

“Sure.”

“What else?” He asked curiously. Yoongi looked down to himself, trying to find something to describe.

“Dark eyes, I guess. Dark brown. And my skin’s pretty pale, too, since I don’t really leave the house or my studio much.”

He sounded small to his own ears, the embarrassment getting the better of him, but making him smile regardless.

“Studio?” He seemed to have perked up.

“Yeah, I make music.”

“Oh, that’s awesome. I dance.”

Yoongi grinned.

“Really? What type?”

“Hip hop. Street dance.”

“Shit. Me too,” he said enthusiastically. “Music wise, I mean.”

The excitement in both their voices was palpable, Yoongi's chest swelling at their mutual closeness with a subject so personal to him. 

“We have a lot in common,” Jung mused.

Yoongi couldn't agree more as he tried and failed to calm the fluttering of his heart.

“Your turn,” he changed the subject, placing the spotlight on his flirty counterpart. “What do you look like? Aside from probably being ripped from b-boying.”

Jung laughed.

“I’m not ripped.”

Yoongi hummed, unconvinced.

“Sounds like something someone ripped would say.”

Still giggling, Jung continued.

“Anyways- I dyed my hair a medium brown recently. I think it looks pretty nice. Compliments my skin, I've been told.”

Yoongi couldn't deny how appetising that sounded.

“Tan? You sound like you’re out a lot.”

“You bet.”

“They make you do laps around campus like in highschool?”

“Pff. Hell no. I’m not in college for dance anyways.”

“Oh, what for, then.”

“Physiotherapy.”

Yoongi frowned, but it made a lot more sense. A dancer studying physiotherapy who worked at a scam company, the only place that would likely hire him. Heck, it was probably the only place with a flexible schedule.

“That’s really cool.”

Jung sighed.

“It’s for my parents more than myself, but I made sure I picked something useful for my dancing.”

He sounded tense, like the subject stressed him. Yoongi couldn't blame him - he knew that pressure first-hand.

Perhaps he should lighten the mood.

“Hmm. Sounds like you should be using company time to study, then. Medicine is no joke.”

Would he find it amusing? Or was it too sensitive of a subject, Yoongi wondered.

The lighthearted chuckle on the other end of the receiver made him smile in relief.

“You sure love bringing back comments about my dick, Min," he teased. "Just say the word.”

His heart raced.

“What word?”

“Say you want it," he stated. It wasn't the playful and excited tone it was mere moments ago. No, it was darker again, more promising, more dangerous and inviting. "I promise I’ll be nice... If you want me to.”

“You think you’re hot shit, huh?” Yoongi couldn't help but provoke despite the thrill that ran up his spine.

“You like it?” It was almost rhetorical, spoken with a grin that Yoongi mimicked.

“What do you think, Jung?”

"...You want to know what I think?"

Electricity sparked through his limbs, his core. The question was so honest in what it was, what it promised to become. Yoongi was in it now, and he knew it. And God, it was embarrassing how simple words and a teasing tone could affect him.

"I do," he took the bait, bracing himself for the words Jung had in store for him.

He made a little sound of approval over the phone and then proceeded.

“I think you’re a brat. I think you like riling guys up and frustrating them until they crack and fuck their frustration out on you senselessly. I think you pretend to be uninterested because you’re shy and feel the need to act tough to cover it up. I think you want someone to see through it and reach out, to push you until you admit how desperate you are to get fucked." 

Then, like he hadn't just dismantled him completely and left him bare, he asked with feigned innocence.

"Did I get that all right, Min Yoongi?”

Yoongi shivered at the words, felt his cock swell at the raw, unfiltered way Jung delivered his eerily accurate dissection of how he behaved with men he wanted. He felt naked, so exposed and god, if it wasn't the hottest thing he'd ever been told.

His ears burnt, his heart hammered against his ribcage and the throbbing between his legs had grown with every word that had been uttered. His thighs quivered from the way his growing arousal sent sparks that radiated throughout his limbs and the hand he'd left on his thigh travelled slowly up. His fingers grazed bleached denim until he felt the tough sewn fabric over his crotch. He pressed down to alleviate some pressure, hearing the way that sweet, devilish voice took him apart in a tone so mean, yet so comforting.

Did I get that all right, Min Yoongi?

"Y-yeah." He breathed, a little too vulnerable.

Jung chuckled.

“You’re already touching yourself?”

Shit.

“Maybe," he replied bashfully. His hand rubbed over himself again and he felt his toes curl at the sensation. It almost felt like an act of defiance, like he wasn't supposed to touch himself until he was given permission. But perhaps that was merely the type of power Jung had over people.

“Are you sitting right now?" He asked calmly, smiling as though he didn't have Yoongi under the palm of his hand. "At a desk?"

“Y-yes," He looked to the side. "I have a sofa, though.”

Jung laughed.

“Fancy. That’s good. Lie down on the sofa for me, if you can?”

It was framed as a question, allowing Yoongi as much leeway as he needed for his comfort. It was endearing.

He stood up and quietly cursed as he quickly adjusted the uncomfortable, tight state of the front of his jeans. He took off his slides, set his pillows against the arm rest and got himself comfortable.

“Okay. I’m lying down,” he spoke up.

Jung was quick to respond.

“Take your pants off.”

“Completely?”

“Yes.”

He unbuttoned and zipped down, breath faltering as it dragged over the sensitive, swollen flesh of his dick. Then, he lifted his butt off the couch and dragged his pants off his legs, together with his briefs. He dropped the items on the floor and looked down at his own state of undress.

He wore a black hoodie with minimalistic red text over the front, a few sizes too large so it covered the tops of his legs. It contrasted starkly against his pale, flushed thighs, and especially with his quickly hardening cock.

“Done,” he announced with anticipation.

“What’s your cock like? Pretty like the rest of you?”

Yoongi flushed further, huffing in disbelief.

“You don’t know if I’m pretty.”

“I’m sure you are,” he replied confidently. Yoongi didn't know if it was frustrating or captivating. Probably both.

“Sure… My cock’s normal I guess," he offered. "A little on the shorter side, maybe? It’s a bit thick though, I think…”

Jung chuckled.

“You think?”

Yoongi frowned, feeling embarrassed.

“S-shut up.”

“Don’t worry, it’s cute," he said with a wide grin. It was driving Yoongi crazy how he could hear it so clearly and yet couldn't catch a glimpse of it. He was a sucker for a nice smile, especially when attached to someone as magnetic as Jung.

"I wish I could suck you off," the man continued. "Wish I could feel your thighs tremble under my hands.”

“Too bad,” Yoongi said in an act of rebellion. He couldn't help it, it was too easy.

Jung clicked his tongue.

“Be careful…”

His tone had gotten darker again, sharp and ready to fire.

Yoongi pressed his thighs together, gently squeezed the pink head of his cock.

“Oh yeah? Or what.”

He heard Jung exhale.

“I’ll shove my cock down your throat and keep it there until you can’t breathe.”

Yoongi bucked into his own fist unconsciously and gasped. The thought was so dizzying, as was the build-up. He truly wanted nothing more than this stranger's cock in his mouth as he held onto his hair tightly and made Yoongi take all of him. All because he misbehaved. He deserved it.

“Fuck,” he whined, easing his grip on his dick and feeling precum dribble onto his fingers.

“Touch yourself slowly," Jung assured, contrasting his previous bite. "Don’t rush.”

“What about you?” He asked a little too eagerly.

“I’m doing the same.” Yoongi wished he could see it. He thought of this stranger with golden skin stroking his cock languidly, athletic body making his stomach and thighs slim and wiry. He wondered how Jung imagined him, too. Did he picture his overgrown dark hair fanning over his eyes messily? Did he picture his pale fingers wrapped around dark pink flesh? Could he guess his cherry lips were pretty and parted as his breathing stuttered with every stroke?

“What are you gonna do to me?” He almost pleaded.

“I want you to finger yourself a bit," Jung instructed. "Want you to feel a little full, pretend it’s me. That okay, Min?”

Yoongi shook his head despite nobody being there to see it.

“Yoongi. Call me Yoongi. Please.”

“Okay Yoongi." He bit his lip. It sounded so good coming from those lips. "I want you to wet your fingers real good. Use as many as you usually do.”

“How would you know if I did this to myself often?”

He couldn't help but smile to himself as he bent his knees and lathered his fingers in saliva.

“You don’t?” The question was genuine, confusion etched clearly in his voice. It made Yoongi giggle.

“I have toys to do it for me," he explained, the pad of his middle finger circling his entrance. "Better angle.”

“Naughty,” Jung said playfully.

“More like resourceful.”

And with that, Yoongi plunged in, body accepting the intrusion easily. He thrust it in and out gently, acclimatising himself to the sensation before adding his ring finger as well.

Meanwhile, Jung hummed to himself, considering what Yoongi had said.

“How big are the things you fuck yourself with?”

“Big enough,” he said confidently, albeit a bit strained. He thrust both fingers eagerly, quicker, loving the way his sensitive hole fluttered around his digits. Still, the angle wasn't the best, and Yoongi wished the other was there to do a better job of reaching that lovely spot in his body.

“Not ambitious?" Jung teased. "What if I’m bigger than the stuff you have at home?”

“Cocky bastard,” he bit back, as if it didn't turn him on further.

“You have quite a mouth on you.”

“Too bad you’re not here to keep it busy.”

“Shit," he gritted out, just as strained as Yoongi was. "You can go faster, baby.”

He obeyed, fisting his cock once more and shoving his fingers faster into himself.

“Aah- Shit.”

“Are you thinking about my fingers in you?" Jung asked, a little out of breath. "I could fill you up nicely. They’re pretty slim but they could still fill you up and stretch you nice and good. Can reach where you might be struggling to right now.”

As his hole stretched around his fingers, cock sensitive and leaking, Yoongi whined. He pictured Jung's faceless body between his open legs, fingerfucking him until he was open and wet and ready for him. He'd curl his fingers deep inside of him and make him see stars until he was left shivering on the couch. He didn't care if they weren't as thick as his own, that really didn't matter, but it was a great visual to add into his mental folder.

“Pretty fingers are good too,” he sighed, breath growing heavier as his pleasure escalated.

“Hm. Glad to know. My cock’s fuller though. Might hurt a little bit going in if I don’t prep you well enough.”

Yoongi's head was swimming, hips stuttering into his fist once more. He sounded so reassuring and kind, but he was a menace, purposefully riling him up. Jung understood just exactly what he liked and how he wanted it, and was teasingly dropping those breadcrumbs in front of him.

He wanted the man in him right then, splitting him in half in the cock he promised to give. He didn't care if he was playing it up for the fantasy, anything would make him feel good and full compared to his own fingers in his lonely studio.

“Hurting can be good too," he said, voice small and needy. "Just a little is good.”

“Yeah? Want me to stuff you until you’re at your limit?”

Yoongi wanted to know what he was feeling, how close to climaxing he was, how affected by Yoongi he was. His voice was growing raspy and airy, exerted from his effort. Yoongi moaned, wishing the proposition to be true, picturing it as he fucked himself.

“Please, Jung,” he whined, heat pooling low in his gut as his climax neared.

“Hoseok,” the man offered. "My name is Hoseok."

Yoongi didn't think twice.

“Please, Hoseok. I want you so bad...”

“You beg so nicely... Do you also get on your knees or would I have to push you a little?”

“Push," he groaned, tightening his fist around his cock. "I bite.”

Hoseok laughed lightheartedly.

“Hopefully not there.”

“N-no!" Yoongi stammered. "No, I just meant-”

“I know, I know, it’s okay," he reassured gently. "Would you like me to bite you too? For real though?”

“Hng- yeah. I love it.”

“Bet you taste so good. Neck, shoulders, even your thighs.”

Yoongi was growing incoherent the closer and closer he reached his orgasm. Hoseok's words were striking him deep, as did his own fingers working their way in his body. The picture of the dancer between his legs grew more vivid as he imagined him leaning down and tasting his skin. It set a flame alight in his body, moans filling up the room.

“Yes, please. God, so good...”

“You like how it hurts?" He mocked. "I’m sensing a pattern.”

“Please, Hoseok…”

“I wish I could," he pressed. "I’d make it so obvious you were with someone. Mark you all purple and red. Would make you feel so good, just the way you want it.”

He hastened his pace, treading right on the edge with his jaw hanging open.

“Hoseok, I’m, I’m-”

“Go ahead, cum for me," Hoseok told him, breathing heavily and struggling to keep his voice even. "Cum around my cock. You feel so good around me too, Yoongi...”

He came with a gasp, shuddering violently as cum spurted all over the pale skin of his thighs.

On the other end of the receiver, he heard Hoseok grunt an expletive under his breath before moaning long and drawn-out, no doubt imagining he was deep in Yoongi's tight body. And Yoongi kept pumping his cock with a loose fist as he heard him climax, eyes closed, picturing Hoseok over him, bodies close as he groaned in Yoongi's ear. The remaining bits of cum dripped down his hand before it came to a stop, but he barely paid it any mind. He was panting, as was Hoseok over the phone, both quiet as they caught their breath.

“Wow,” Yoongi broke the silence, limbs feeling like jelly.

“Yeah,” Hoseok agreed, a winded little laugh mingling with his words.

“Hoseok.”

“Yoongi.”

They tasted each other's name on their tongue.

“You do this with all your unsuspecting customers?”

Hoseok snickered.

“My elderly gullible customers? No thanks.”

Yoongi pressed his lips in a pout.

“Maybe you do, though. I'll have you know my friends call me grandpa to clown on me.”

“So I fucked both a cat and a grandpa?" He feigned shock. Yoongi rolled his eyes. "A grandpa cat? How crazy is that?”

“You’re so silly.”

“You haven’t hung up though.”

He fought back a smile.

“I almost did. So many times.”

“And yet here we are. My killer charm never fails me.”

“Look at that, the urge to hang up has returned! Funny how that works.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“You like it.”

Hoseok laughed brightly. Yoongi wanted more of it.

“I really do," he admitted. "So, Yoongi, wanna give your phone number to another unreliable source?”

He laughed, forearm coming up to cover his eyes in disbelief. At the man he spoke to. At the situation he was in.

Still, the answer was as obvious as it was easy to confess.

“Maybe I do.”

•

I hope you enjoyed! 💗

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[spiritpraiseandbeautifulhumanity]

Apologies for this but this is the most sick to my stomach, angry, distressed -and I don’t even know what other words to use it’s just a mix of negative emotions- that I’ve ever felt regarding certain things/people I’ve come across in a long time. TW for abuse, incest, and just general venting under the cut.

So I made the mistake of looking through some of the latest posts under one of the tags for Sister, and came across this post discussing someone’s take on me regarding chapter 3 and whatnot. That post was generally okay except for the end where they briefly mention ideas related to how things would be if I left Sister. But besides that final section, everything else in the post was mostly alright. However, I then noticed how at the bottom of the post someone had reblogged it and added onto what was said. I was already getting red flags from the fact I’m blocked by them, but didn’t think too much of it initially and just pulled up the post on my browser so I could read the rest of it. But then I started to get curious about why they may have blocked me and wanted to check their profile, so I did. The profile itself isn’t too bad, just mainly reblogs of fanart, but it was the pinned post that led to my despair. A carrd was linked and naturally I clicked on the link to read it. Pretty generic stuff and then, immediately one section made me extremely uncomfortable and instantly I knew why I was blocked and the realization of it all just hit me. Besides the fact they heavily ship something I’m personally uncomfortable with due to it having been associated with an ex of mine, the specific carrd dni was just the horrific cherry on top. Now generally I’m uncomfortable by these sorts of people but they don’t tend to affect me all that much usually. But when I saw this it just made me absolutely sick to my stomach what with the hypocrisy of it and the detached way they blocked me. I’m sorry my words aren’t describing it well enough but it just, how they claim to like me so much and are passionate about me and stuff and then their dni is literally in a way just “Korekiyo DNI and stay as far away from me as possible” plus how they blocked me like I’m just disgusted(if that’s even the right word to use) and tired of people who don’t want anything to do with me liking Sister, our canon relationship, and the way I am about her and yet still claim to love and understand me and accept me for who I am, like no you don’t. People like this are why I try to avoid the Danganronpa fandom because people can rarely ever seem to treat me right no matter what their personal stance on me is. Like if they truly liked me they wouldn’t want to hate on and paint sister as this terrible horrific demonic monster without holding any regard for my feelings of her and wouldn’t try to imagine situations where I’ve separated from her. They wouldn’t if they truly liked me, but they do. They do, and because of that I can’t trust majority of those who claim to be my “fans”. So I avoid them unless they find me because most that do are the ones who actually do like me. But I’m just tired of those who are like “dni if you like Sister” and that all the tumblr tags are mainly just hate, I’m just so sick and tired of those who claim to like me and then deny and hate the fact of my intense unchanging feelings towards Sister. It sickens me. Ugh I’m getting like no sleep because of this why can’t I just be normal why do I have to be affected so negatively by things like this. I just wish people could be more respectful when it comes to our relationship. Like, I don’t care what she did in the past or whatever she makes me happy and we’re happy together and that’s all that matters. And people need to stop acting like I don’t feel that way or try to destroy what makes me happy. Idk I’ve said too much sorry I’m too weird and obsessed and I care too much about what others think and shouldn’t even really be saying anything so I’m sorry, I wish I was normal but I’m not. At least I’m happy though even if people can’t accept the ways in which I’m happy. Okay sorry I know I’ve said too much I’ll shut up now, and I’ll try to never do something like this again.

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[danniluisee]

~just passing through~

~.*Sakuatsu Fic Masterlist *.~

[for my personal use to keep track and close tabs from my browser. But, feel free to read them as well ( ^ω^ ) Contains my fave lines or quotes from the fic, will update regularly hehe ★〜]

Legend:

♡彡 ~ Timeless Personal Favorite

★彡 ~ Favorite

★彡 play me like a movie (that you’ve never seen) by lunarins (G, 13.2k, 1 ch, entertainment industry au)

Blurb: It’s not that Atsumu doesn’t get along with Sakusa Kiyoomi. Miya Atsumu is someone who gets along with everyone. He’s an idol, after all. They just…well, they just don’t really get along.

Fave Quote: “Sakusa Kiyoomi and I are very good friends,,

Personal Note: Okie, paying homage to the first Sakuatsu fic I have read. Cut to me not knowing how to navigate AO3 that much and just looking up the haikyuu tag and coming across this fic *wheeze*. It was really cute and I was hooked, led me to the rest of these fics and I’m never looking back. Really cute, fluff and all (*´꒳`*).

♡彡 Four Vlogs and a Wedding by lettersinpetals (T, 15.6k, 4 ch, canon, pt 3 of this love isn’t crazy series)

Blurb: Sakusa and Atsumu go road tripping in California. What could go wrong?

Fave Quote: (Atsumu, ch 2) “When I say I cried, I mean I f*cking cried. And then...I fell to my knees and practically begged him to marry me,, (Kiyoomi, ch 3) “To those who are inevitably going to ask, ‘Have you gone insane? Were you two drunk?’ I want you to know that I made this decision with eyes wide open,,

Personal Note: Alright this fic— I advise that you read the series in order to get the full effect. This is pt 3 out of 4 in the series [link with title]— this fic has and still remains my favorite Sakuatsu fic I have read, ever. When I think of them, I think of this. I have cried reading almost every chapter. No regrets (*´∀｀*). CHAPTER 3, GUYS CHAPTER 3, I swear I cried the most there. The writer, lettersinpetals, if u have tumblr pls I want to send u my regards <33, you have every right when being that good AAAA kudos kudos!! PLS, I WANT WHAT THEY HAVE >_< Though shorter, this barred a little bit higher than my other timeless fave “ATSU101: how to fall in love with your fake boyfriend”. For the quote, I couldn’t pick just one. But, the ones above really just sunk to me. Luv luv luv this fic, could and would read it anytime, how many number of times, and it wouldn’t get old. Pls send it and the author some love (*^ω^*).

♡彡 ATSU101: how to fall in love with your fake boyfriend by solyn (M, 110.6k, 11 ch, university au)

Blurb: Atsumu needs a fake date. Sakusa needs a fake boyfriend. What could possibly go wrong?

Fave Quote: “Kyoomi, d’ya trust me?,, “Yes,,

Personal Note: This fic *clap* I just can’t— omg. Though it is a (very) slow burn, it was very enjoyable to read. It was really hard choosing my fave quote cause there are a LOT. But, I think what I have chosen encapsulated the fic as a whole (to me). Definite must read!

The Story of Us by thesweetestners (M, 98.2k, 11 ch, canon)

Blurb: Atsumu has spent the last year falling in love with Sakusa Kiyoomi, but it's a secret they've never told anybody else. When a car accident snatches Omi's memories from the past two years away, Atsumu is left as the only one in the world who ever knew their relationship existed.

Fave Quote: “Ya remember my team motto, right? I don’t need the memories,,

Personal Note: I AM DECEASED. I— i cried a lot. It actually took me a while to get to this for fear of the plot, like the blurb sounds so good but idk there was a fear of me reading it. Actually, as i look back, its probably the angst tag that scared me HAHAAHHA but im so glad i did read it. Would recommend if you want to cry. Especially the last 2 chapters \(//∇//)\

The MSBY Black Jackals Read Thirst Tweets by isaksara (syailendra) (M, 11.4k, 2 ch, canon)

Blurb: In which Atsumu realizes that he is attracted to Sakusa Kiyoomi in the most inconvenient way possible.

Fave Quote: “What is wrong with people,,

★彡 The MSBY Black Jackals Take a Lie Detector Test by sifuhotman (T, 12.4k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: The MSBY Black Jackals test their friendship as they probe deep into each others' personal lives.

Unfortunately for Sakusa, that means confessing to a number of accusations: who he thinks is currently the best V. League player, if he thinks he'll make the Olympic Volleyball team, and whether or not he has feelings for Miya Atsumu.

Fave Quote: “It’s you, it’s always been you,,

every action has an equal and opposite reaction by akanemnida (T, 10.4k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: Miya Atsumu gets a modeling contract with Calvin Klein, which sets Kiyoomi's heart in motion.

Fave Quote: “But why is it that I don’t give more than two f*cks about your advertisements, or the fact that you give me the best tosses, or that you’ve perfected three serves, but I can’t stop thinking of the day you gave me onigiri?,,

Take Me Home by thesweetestnerd (T, 4.1k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: Atsumu and Kiyoomi decide to keep their relationship a secret from the team, but when Kiyoomi gets drunk, he might blow their whole cover.

Fave Quote: “Don’t answer that, Omi,, “Yes,, “Ah, damn it,,

Clipped to You by littleboat (T, 8.1k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: Sakusa starts wearing hair clips and Atsumu is more than a little obsessed

Fave Quote: “Can I put one in your hair?,,

all my life, been wanting this forever by comfortcharacters (T, 1.0k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: Nothing seemed to be out of place. Except, of course, for the small fact of Atsumu facing his own personal hell come to life, taking the form of one Sakusa Kiyoomi perched happily in his lap.

Fave Quote: “Atsumu, does it look like I care?,,

Call Me Maybe by kitkatwrites (T, 1.8k, 1 ch, ER visit au)

Blurb: “What caused your nosebleed?” Dr. Sakusa asks, typing something into a computer next to him.

“M’ brother smacked me in the face with a Wii controller,” Atsumu tells him. “We were playing Just Dance 4,” he adds.

Dr. Sakusa raises an eyebrow. “What song?” He asks, and suddenly Atsumu feels very awkward.

“Call Me Maybe,” he mumbles.

Fave Quote: “Call me maybe,, “No thank you,,

The Wisdom Tooth Incident™ by allinadayofiwaoi (G, 4.8k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: “I dun think ma boyfriend will ‘preciate ya touchin’ me like that,” he whispered, dead-serious. “ ‘m not a cheater.”

Fave Quote: “And you call me Omi,, “Omi! Thank ya omi. Omi-Omi-Omi-Omi,,

have my heart, my love by samugiiri (1.7k, 1 ch, canon songfic)

Blurb: “Mm, Omi?” The setter’s voice is muffled by the spiker’s shirt as the former buries his head into the latter’s chest. Kiyoomi gives a soft hum in reply and Atsumu continues speaking.

“This song reminds me of us.”

“How so?”

“Listen ta the lyrics, Omi!”

Fave Line: “I love you because you have those Polaroids of me inside your nightstand,,

★彡 Last One to Midnight Loses! by evelynwrites (T, 14.9k, 2 ch, canon)

Blurb: The year may be new, but this love story was many in the making. Miya Atsumu vs His New Year's Resolutions: Speedrun Edition

Fave Quote: “What would you want to have if it didn’t cost you a damn thing?,, (wait,,, i ask myself the same thing (＞人＜;) )

tooru talks by floatyyourself (T, 5.5k, 1 ch, alternate profession au)

Blurb: Sakusa Kiyoomi, best-selling author of the Memento Mori series, has been confirmed to be making an appearance on late-night show Tooru Talks, staring Oikawa Tooru. The news has been confirmed by Sakusa's agency Itachiyama, who had just recently released a schedule of the author's promotional schedule.

According to Oikawa, Sakusa will also be joined by another guest but the identity of the guest will remain a secret. "The guest is someone we're all big fans of," the talk show host reveals. "But that's all I'm going to be saying about the topic because I don't want to spoil the fun."

Tooru Talks airs live nightly every weekend.

Fave Quote: “Who would want to listen to love songs over and over?,, “You talk a lot for someone who just published a romance story for the twentieth time,,

Champagne Problems by TwilaFrost (T, 3.0k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: Atsumu struggles with depression and how it affects his self-worth in the eyes of others, especially his boyfriend who he thinks deserves so much more.

Fave Quote: “Share your burdens with me, I’ll take them. I’ll hold them all,, (pls get me someone like sakusa kiyoomi T^T)

Yours if You Want It by keenbean (G, 2.4k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: Sakusa asks Atsumu out. Naturally, Atsumu panics.

Fave Quote: “Then tell me. What do you want?,, “You,,

One Time Thing by awkwardedgeworth (G, 1.6k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: "Hey. Is your face okay?" Atsumu leans back slightly, brows pulled together in concern, "You look like you're emotionally constipated."

"Shut up."

Then Sakusa leans forward, closes his eyes and presses his lips against something cool.

Fave Quote: “Remember, Omi? Just like old times,, “Idiot,,

atsumu and his love for kisses by sakusakym (T, 1.5k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: “Absolutely insufferable. But, you’re also absolutely beautiful, Miya.”

Fave Quote: “Have I told you how much I love you, Omi-kun?,, “You have, multiple times.,, “I know,,

you stole my heart (with just one look) by yearningbi (T, 2.3k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: Kiyoomi proposes, accidentally. Title from 'stole my heart' by one direction

Fave Quote: “Good, because I have a no-return policy,, “I wouldn't give you up for anything in the whole world,,

penny for your thoughts (dollar for your smile) by blulights (T, 3.3k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: Their nightly outings have taught Atsumu three things. 1. Bokuto Koutarou has a liver of steel and trying to outdrink him will result in alcohol poisoning (see subject no. 1, Hinata Shoyo, for proof). 2. Meian Shugo is a highly coordinated volleyball player but can’t get his head out of his ass long enough to actually land a shot in pool. 3. Sakusa Kiyoomi is a happy drunk.

Or: Atsumu learns that Sakusa has dimples

Fave Quote: “Thank you Bokkun for sendin’ me into the early stages of liver failure.” ( it’s not sappy, but this one is just hilarious XD )

Curiousity killed the Jackal by yamaguchis_ahoge (T, 2.6k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: “Oh sh*t.” Atsumu exclaims, panicked look on his face. Bokuto cocks his head to the side,

“What?” Atsumu pulls at the ring on his finger, it doesn’t budge.

“I can’t take it off!” He whispers, though there’s no one to reprimand them. Hinata’s eyes widen,

“Take it off.” He says, unhelpfully. Atsumu scowls,

“I can’t! I just told ya! It’s stuck.” He whines.

Fave Quote: “Marry me?,, “Yeah, I think I will,,

hands that heal by n33ks (G, 1.5k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: Sakusa somehow sprains his wrist during practice. Atsumu is the first to notice something is wrong and offers to help.

Fave Line: “And dimples. He has dimples,,

Your b*stard by TroglodyteMonologue (T, 6.9k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: Atsumu has asked Sakusa Kiyoomi to marry him three times. The fourth time, Kiyoomi beats him to the punch.

Fave Quote: “You’re not the only one scared of being vulnerable,,

Read the Receipt by hhhhhhhappycow (G, 6.6k, 1 ch, canon)

Blurb: “I think we’re done here, thank you, Osamu. If we could just have the bill?”

As though waiting for those words, Osamu removed a small square of paper from his pocket.

And leaned over to slam the paper down on the table in front of Sakusa. “You’re paying tonight.”

“What?”, Atsumu squawked, his eyebrows traveling further up his forehead. “Why?”

“He knows why.”

Fave Quote: “Maybe they’re involved in something shady. You know, like the mafia,,

[a-s-levynn]

Okay so the tags all day under my high water small offering genuinly made me super emotional..

I don't know if anyone would be interested in it seeing almost step by step while i ramble about it a bit? But i did it anyway. I'm missing a lot of stages because i wasn't planning to do something like this. I'm not even completely sure why i scanned some of the steps to be honest. But at least you can see some of the progression of it?

Anyway if any of you is interested in it i put a rundown under the cut. Also the obligatory measuring tape/ruler shots at the end of it, because yes i've seen those tags as well. Spoiler for those who understandably do not want to chew through my pointless ramblings: yes, it is fairly small.

Disclaimer: It's long and rambly, you have been warned

Just to preface this: this is not advice on art because i can't give you that. If you ask me how i do stuff i can tell you but beyond that i'm useless. This is just for funzies.

Okay so i don't have the step with sketching Vessel, but you still can see some of what is left from his torso and head and spine-line under the cloack. Maybe even traces of the right arm connecting to the torso.

When i draw figures, i usually start out with a line for a spine and then build it outwards. And i always draw them semi-naked first. It's so much easier for me to dress them, rather than go for the clothed version immediately. Helps me a lot with the fold placement.

Also for pose references i use a free browser app. I certainly can't draw human figures from scratch if the pose is more dynamic or the angle is something more complicated, but i'm decent at eyeballing what i can see. This one didn't really needed that 'cause Vessel does this a lot and i looked at the man's pictures and videos so much at this point, i can kinda mock it up. And like.. i usually draw up a standard male figure and just.. make it slightly skinnier and bam. Vessel proportions. Or something close enough to pass for it. But in general i look up a lot of reference photos for stuff because it is easier to understand something you see rather than something you imagine. At least for me.

Initially i was planning to add tendrils into the waves to indicate that those are raising the water around Vessel. That pulling himself beneth the waves maybe not so much just his own decision he just can't fully see the outside force hiding inside the water or something something i don't know i'm not smart for stuff like this.

What you can't see is that i was thinking about putting a faint silhouette of the tmbte moon behind the clouds but i quickly forgone that, because it was just not dark enough visually that way and also felt far too busy.

So i laid out a rough shading idea for where i want stuff to sit tonally and was like, nope, still not dark enough.

And so darker it got. But the sky felt flat, it needed something. So i was like, okay i have no moon or anything but like i could warp the clouds towards Vessel. Like as if the sky is collapsing into him or sending him a sign or maybe it's just in his head or whatever? I'm still not smart enough for concepts.

Also rain had to be added, because "wash me clean again before..." you know. To stick to the prompt.

It's almost there at this point but the waves look so sad and got smaller than the initial sketch. But i knew there is going to be froth on top of them so it was not a big deal. I knew they would be a sorry sight if i only do it with pencil anyway. It was never an option. So the trusty gel pen came out and it is such a drastic difference:

It also gave Vessel and the stone he stands on a sharp edgelight which is super dramatic looking. Also lifts him out from the background a bit more so he doesn't fully disappear into it. And the waves actually started to look like waves insted of weird grey cones.

And here again the finished version:

There is not much thought or like amazing skill that goes into these, i'm just trying to hide what i can't do and lean into what i can. And what i can do is shading. Someone told me close to two decades ago now that "don't rely on the outlines, shade behind the things to create depth" and that is something that my brain just latched onto and wanted to do that. And so i did. Or at least tried. Didn't took long for me to really start to enjoy shading and got fairly good at it, because i did that most of the time. And that's it, i guess.

Also yes it is small-ish. I'm using two relatively small sketchbooks, the "larger" one (with the ecru/yellowish paper, which i use for the small offerings <- this is where tha name came from originally) is 15x10,5 cm, and a slightly smaller one (with the grey-ish reused paper, which i use for everything else currently) which is 14,5x9,5cm. The card i did Ash's ballpoint pen iii is 16,5x11,4cm.

Basically everything i do is kind of small. I don't know how to draw large anymore to be honest. If i can't see the entire piece properly in one i mess up proportions big time. And i love detailwork and if i draw small the less detail i have to put into it. Because i'm also lazy.

So Vessel is about 4,5cm tall here... which is only a cm taller than the average height of Tiny Token.

[aldrendaux]

Just realized queuing up my fic recs has some sort of struggle no matter which device I do it on, come to think of it.

I read all these fics on my iPad. My iPad refuses to launch Tumblr in any capacity, whether it's the app or the site, so I straight-up cannot use it to spread my love of these works (sad 😢)

So I'm left with my phone or my laptop.

When I created this account, I plugged in and charged my laptop, waited 30 minutes for updates to download and install (it was off for like a year lol), and then I queued up over 100 fix recs spanning at least four fandoms.

The struggle with my laptop is: I don't really use it, so I have to dig it up and usually have to charge it. But I'd take that over my stupid phone any day lol.

I have the app on my phone, but my phone's kinda dumb and won't let me open Tumblr website links in the app, but specifically only if I'm sharing something 🤷. For some reason. Putting the hell I experience on mobile below the cut

So I have to use the mobile website.

I tag my fic recs so that they'll show up on people's dashes. This is what my phone does:

It starts out innocuous enough, adding an extra "f" after I typed "f" and followed it with the next letter "u", a bug easily fixed by backspacing back to the first "f" no biggie.

Attempted "fi"

This is supposed to be "fm"

... I typed an "m"

"ro"

I just want to spell darius why are you like this

"ho" I'm crying

Why does it do this??

This doesn't happen on my laptop, yet I use the same site and browser as on my phone.

[pingnova]

Make a work skin on ao3, when you publish there is a spot to specify which work skin to apply.

You define different "elements" with CSS - CSS options are easy to look up.

To change how body text is displayed (the <p> tag in the ao3 html editor), in the work skin editor you type "#workskin p {" and everything after the brackets is a list of the changes you want. You can see below the cut for examples.

For font, you use "font". In my example workskin I use "font-family" which is just a way to make it very safe across browsers, but you don't have to do that. Look up "web safe fonts" to find ones that are likely to translate across devices well.

You close the list with another bracket "}".

If all you want to do is change the font then that's it!

If you want multiple fonts, you'll have to define a "class", which just assigns even more specific changes. You'd append any tag like <p> <img> or <div> with "class="different"", like <p class="different">. You define "different" in the CSS workskin. Here's a link for this: https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_classes.asp

Feel free to ask, really the best way is to just try and fail until you get what you want. Once you understand how CSS styling works, you can infer from there. W3Schools is a good website for CSS questions.

This looks complicated, but it's basically the ao3 html box next to the workskin css box. It updates in live time when you make changes. It's a good way to fiddle with the css until you get it looking how you want. Just copy paste your fic in html into the right side, and work on #workskin p { font: Georgia } on the other side. https://jsfiddle.net/

Here is my full example work skin - you don't need all of this, an example just may be helpful.

#workskin {

background-color: #333;

}

#workskin body {

text-align: justify;

background: #333;

color: #eee;

font-family: Georgia,Times,Times New Roman,serif;

font-size: 1.05em;

max-width: 800px;

margin: auto;

}

#workskin p {

padding: 10px 10px 10px 10px;

font-family: Georgia,Times,Times New Roman,serif;

text-align: justify;

background: #333;

color: #eee;

font-size: 1.05em;

max-width: 800px;

margin: auto;

}

#workskin i {

font-style: italic;

}

#workskin a:link {

color: #f2d285;

}

#workskin a:hover {

color: #f2d285;

text-decoration: underline;

}

#workskin a:active {

color: #f2d285;

text-decoration: underline;

}

#workskin a:visited {

color: #f2d285;

}

#workskin img {

max-width: 800px;

width: 70%;

padding: 1.5em;

border: 3px solid #f2d285;

font-size: .8em;

display: block;

margin-left: auto;

margin-right: auto;

}

#workskin h1 {

color: #f2d285;

font-family: Georgia,Times,Times New Roman,serif;

border: 0px;

}

#workskin h2 {

color: #f2d285;

font-family: Georgia,Times,Times New Roman,serif;

border: 0px;

}

#workskin h2.title.heading {

color: #f2d285;

font-family: Georgia,Times,Times New Roman,serif;

border: 0px;

text-align: center;

}

#workskin h3 {

color: #f2d285;

font-family: Georgia,Times,Times New Roman,serif;

border: 0px;

}

#workskin h3.heading {

color: #f2d285;

font-family: Georgia,Times,Times New Roman,serif;

border: 0px;

text-align: center;

}

#workskin div.preface.group {

background-color: #333 !important;

}

#workskin div#work_endnotes.end.notes.module {

background-color: #333 !important;

}

#workskin blockquote {

min-width: 200px;

max-width: 400px;

width: 50%;

padding: 1.5em;

border: 3px solid #f2d285;

font-size: .8em;

margin: 2.5em auto;

font-style: italic;

color: #eee;

}

#workskin .section {

max-width: 800px;

padding: 10px 10px 10px 10px 1.5em;

border: 3px solid #f2d285;

margin-top: 70px;

margin-right: 2.5em auto;

margin-left: 2.5em auto;

margin-bottom: 2.5em auto;

font-weight: 700;

font-variant: small-caps;

text-align: center;

background-color: #333;

color: #f2d285;

}

#workskin .firstcharacter {

color: #f2d285;

float: left;

font-family: Georgia;

font-size: 40px;

line-height: 35px;

padding-top: 4px;

padding-right: 8px;

padding-left: 3px;

}

#workskin .script {

font-family: Edwardian Script ITC, Zapfino, Georgia,Times,Times New Roman,serif;

color: #f2d285;

font-size: 1.8em;

text-align: left;

}

Hey @ao3commentoftheday and anybody else who might know, is there a way to use different fonts in the body of a work on AO3 (and how much HTML do you have to know to make it work)?

[29pageshomestuckeveryday]

Homestuck, page 1,358

[S] ACT 4 ==>

walkthrough: http://readmspa.org/transcripts/readmspa-transcript-6_003258_John_explores_LOWAS_with_help_from_Nannasprite_transcript_and_walkthrough.html

Song used: Doctor by Buzinkai

song commentary:

Clark Powell:

Doctor was originally by Buzinkai and then a now non-active member Michael Vallejo added a few bits of percussion to it. I then put together a larger mix of the tune with shinier production and a glockenspiel tag, and this was the version Andrew used in the end.

Buzinkai:

Doctor was written before Homestuck, actually. The only thing I can really remember was that Super Smash Bros Brawl came out right before I finished it. The original loop (which is not the one specifically heard in the comic, but was included in the album release) was directly inspired by music from Cave Story, and I was trying to at the time musically embody how I felt at the time, I think. Though it never seems to come out exactly as I plan it, I enjoyed the results. I will say that I cannot truly believe how many people have remixed it.

The arpeggio part at the end goes between the left, both, and right speakers sequentially. I was too lazy to set the channel settings manually, so I did each note on a different instrument, which is set to each speaker channel. Not many people know that, and I think it actually made it a living hell for remixers who got a hold of the original file.

Author commentary:

Welcome to Book 3, which obviously starts with Act 4, which obviously starts with Gate 1. I mean…obviously? Glad that's obvious to everyone. What's also PAINFULLY obvious to anyone looking at this page, no matter who they are, is that this [used to be] a loading screen. Hot Flash Content is being piped directly into your [browser], right now, at the speed of bullshit. We're off to a great start here in the author notes section. Hey remember Flash loading screens? Those were the days. You needed SOMETHING to look at while untold KILOBYTES were crawling through your ethernet cables. In this case, I chose to dazzle you with a hypnotically morphing spirograph. You quickly went into a trance of fascination. The suspense built. Cue the music. and then…….magic.

>1: Okay, no magic here. No music or movement, because it's [not Flash]! All you get is my goofs. Sorry, sucker. Let's talk about this animation. It's pretty damn enchanting, really. We finally get to see what's under those gray clouds. It's a bunch of fireflies, and a blue landscape with phosphorescent flora and black oily rivers. Act 4 marks the official beginning of the scenery porn era of Homestuck.

>2: Or "LOWAS," as becomes the model for further nomenclature in reference to Homestuck's lands. These "lands," of course, are fairly small planets. Hard to say how big exactly. I don't think I ever really did any due diligence on the cosmological scale of these bodies. They're big enough to explore and get lost in but not so huge as to be hopelessly unchartable. I guess I always pictured them being like a small state in the US. Like if Rhode Island or Connecticut were wrapped around a sphere. Literally doing so would make for a fairly lackluster land, suitable for a pretty bland player of Sburb. (I suppose such as…every resident of those particular states? Why…why am I alienating these people already? It's only the fourth page. Oh well, forty-eight states to go, I guess.)

>3: OKAY LET'S CUT THE SHIT AND TALK ABOUT THIS FLASH! It's a playable game. That turned out to be a thing in HS. As a Flash loaded, readers would wonder…is this going to be a GAME? (Virtually always: no. But sometimes…sometimes, yes!) This one is similar in style to the game when John first enters the Medium and can wander around his house, but this time there's ACTUAL battle mechanics.. You can bonk imps with a hammer, collect grist and items—all rather pointlessly, I should add. But you can do it, is the point. Why? I really couldn't fucking tell you, to this day. I think I was legitimately insane? This, with perfectly brutal honesty, I must admit now strikes me as something a crazy person would do.

>4: I suppose the upshot of the game format is that it lets the player wander around this fantastical new land and discover its mysteries just like John is doing. Actually, YOU don't get to. You get to [click] through this [set of images] with your grubby fingers while I struggle through a borderline state of dementia, heroically trying to remember what I was thinking when I made this. But some people sure did get to do that. Anyway, this is what happens when you click that icon in the upper right. John gets to talk to Nanna, like…there's some sort of comm system back to his sprite? Sprites technically can't go far from the house after their player enters the Medium. That's the strict rule of Sburb. Until much, much later, when it stops being all that strict, for reasons that are unlikely ever to be explained, even by the WISEST of sprites.

>7: Here's a little taste of the gameplay. You click on a thing and a menu pops up, which includes what is…technically a text command that is being entered by…the player of Homestuck? (Who has at this point been revealed to be any given exile, operating the post-apocalypse Sburb station.) It's pretty esoteric. But you don't need to think about any of this to play the game, get a sense of John's rad land, meet some scurrilous foes in need of a bashing, and feel like a cool hero.

>18: The ghost gauntlets holding that ridiculous paisley hammer are just a fixture of the environment in this game. I didn't want them to be an item you could use, because that would have been complicated to implement. It was a little attention to detail on my part, by which I mean my inclination to consider how John could wield this huge hammer in his inventory. Specific items that are accrued by the players become a lot less relevant much later in the story. Because it stops being a thing about a Guy In A Game You Are "Playing," and starts being more about a bunch of Characters In A Story You Are Reading, Who Are Sad All The Time.

>20/23: Here we meet a "consort." Or, a salamander, in the case of John's planet. All planets have consorts, usually a different kind of amphibian or reptile for each. Why amphibians or reptiles? Didn't I cover this already in another book note? Oh. You don't remember either? Well, guess we're in the same boat then. (Consorts have very short life spans, which is the joke here.) And a parcel pyxis is like a pipe mailbox they throw shit in to send places. They have a whole pipe-based civilization, but the pipes are all clogged with oil, and… You know, I did a much better job with this worldbuilding stuff by letting you understand it all in the game through exploration and inference. Too bad you're not playing it now, so you get remedial lore for boneheads down here.

>29: This salamander laments the desecration of a glorious village frog idol. (Frogs are sacred. This fact will be as important as it is frequently repeated.) He talks about the underling swarm dedicated to destroying and oiling up such idols as a "recent" event, as if this village has existed for hundreds of years and only now have the underlings emerged to wreak mischief. This is in keeping with the strange paradox of planets in the Medium: the fact that they were just created instantly through booting up the game, and yet have always existed with entire smorgasbords of ready-made lore and quests for the players to engage with.

>36: Here this sassy salamander alludes to an alliance that John's denizen seems to have formed with the agents of Derse. Those are the "terrible guys" who commissioned the underlings. The denizens aren't really the bad guys of this game. They're more like ornery yet neutral gods of these planets, who can help or harm depending on the circumstances. Derse agents are the formal bad guys, whose designated role is to obstruct the progress of the heroes, vandalize frog statues, antagonize frog enthusiasts, and dislike frogs in general.

>37/38/40: Are you thrilled about sifting through layers of worldbuilding as conveyed through the expository bubblings of enthusiastic amphibians? Then this is the page for you. It's a pretty straightforward outline of John's formal quest on this planet. Wake the monster, kill the monster. Clean the pipes, release the Breeze. The Breeze clears the clouds, the fireflies go free. That's the goal. What does it all MEAN? That is for YOU, the reader, to boggle over, forever. It's worth nothing that when John actually gets around to doing all this, the meaning of completing this quest and the thing that it actually accomplishes are radically different than what the present stakes of the story are understood to be at this point. There is, throughout this tale, an ever-present tension between the hero's quest as presented at face value and the hero's True Quest—the mysterious journey overlaying and superseding the shallow journey described by consorts, sprites, et al—which the kids must come to grips with. >41/43: This is a pretty good procession of salamanders talking about important stuff, which perhaps makes you think it's all leading up to an encounter with some sort of regal presence in the village. Perhaps a tribal leader. But no, it's just this fool, farming all these goddamn mushrooms. The Mushroom Farmer is just notable enough of a salamander to be known to fandom as the Mushroom Farmer, and would probably be credited that way in the end credits if this were a movie. Same goes for the fellow below wearing the hat. He's known as Crumplehat. Trust me on this. >45: See? I told you his name was Crumplehat. Maybe try to fucking believe me next time I tell you stuff. >51: There are two reasons why John can only say no to this offer. First, I would have had to program an alternate path where he gives up the suit, as well as change the sprite to reflect that, and permanently introduce a fork in the story where John either sells the suit or doesn't. The second reason is it's just a straight-up dogshit offer. Giving someone a boondollar for something is like offering them a penny you found in the toilet.

>58: Salamanders are pretty good at trolling, actually. So are lots of figures in Homestuck. Like John's nanna, his dad, John himself, all his friends, and also all the characters who are literally called trolls. I guess there are a lot of characters who like to troll each other because that is my forte, you could say, as a storyteller? This could also explain why characters who are actual trolls entered the story. They simply manifested as an extension of the story's nature.

>65: Oh Christ, the Secret Wizard. I forgot about him. Yeah, him too. He's also a really big-deal salamander. (Just joking, he's actually a small deal.) He's a simple man. All he really wants you to do is behold his robes. That's it.

>67: John's bedsheet will show up again later as well. It makes quite a trip through the story, actually, and appears in a surprising number of panels. Specifically, every single panel that WV appears in. Surprised? No? Oh. Well, let's just say you are, and move on. (Okay, wait, before we move on I should clarify something. WV's shroud is actually the dream version of John's bedsheet. The Secret Wizard just keeps this oily, shitty one forever, and then starts some sort of cult. Okay, NOW we can move on.)

>70-72: So in other words, their entire mail system revolves around putting shit in the pipes, having it sent to completely random places, and whoever gets it gets it. This sounds pretty stupid, but I guess it's part of their religion or something. So you have to respect it.

>78-84: When you're playing through this game, I guess one of the more low-key, gradually unfolding jokes is how it slowly becomes apparent that all the garbage from John's house that he carelessly launched out windows and fumbled over cliffs ended up down here to be scavenged by a bunch of enterprising salamanders who try to pawn all the items back on him. Or just keep them as incredible new accessories.

>81: Five million boonies really isn't all that much, huh.

>84: I'm glad we dedicated an entire page to the choice John makes in refusing to buy back his own shitty clown statue from this guy. Look. This is my ART, people. It needs room to BREATH.

>87/88: Maybe one of the strangest traits of salamanders is how acerbically self-deprecating they are. Maybe they just hate themselves? They'd be far from the only ones in this tale. Also, here's a nice, snap game-design thing I thought of on the fly, when this game was being "developed" over a span of literally about forty-eight hours. Just put a damn bubble with a telescope in it hovering at exactly the place where the player needs to use the scope. That way, they use the scope, and they don't NOT use the scope. So you can see what's in the scope, over there. Incredible.

>90-93: Here's what's in the scope: a view of John's house up on a tall rock-spire plateau, way off in the distance. This view gives you a sense of how far John traveled by going through his gate, the relative proximity of his house, and the fact that the house is inaccessible for a while at least. It also reveals a little more about gate logic and the distances they can send you, and helps you start to imagine hopping all around this world via gates to complete your quest. Oh, and I guess this is kind of a cool shot? Sure.

>94-100: And here Nanna basically explains some stuff I just explained on the previous page. The point, obviously, is to browbeat you with explanations of Sburb game logic fundamentals until you start crying. Here's another thing I guess I haven't mentioned yet: walking through this game gives you a pretty good appreciation of the variety of imps, now that there's been another pre-entry prototyping. Remember Rose entering the game just as John goes through his gate? Now we get to observe all these imps in princess gear, or with tentacles, or cat parts, or some permutation of all three.

>100:And once again Nanna steals my thunder by explaining a thing I just explained. Damn it, Nanna. I feel your pain, John. She's absolutely brutal.

>107: More sass from one of these bastards. I feel like I'm getting fucking roasted every time they open their mouths. I'd look up at the sky and ask "Why, God?" But it's not that mysterious. I'm getting roasted by my past self and his snarkyass writing. If he wasn't trapped back in 2010 or so, I'd ask him why he wrote these damn lizards to be a bunch of wiseasses. "That's just all I know," he would probably say. Yeah, I feel you man. I mean, don't get me wrong, they're funny as hell. But, why? I don't… Oh, never mind. Now I sound like a person who is insane. I'll try to do better.

>111: Oh, here's the end of the game. That game was a single panel of Homestuck. And here we are, on…page 30? Thirty pages' worth of annotations just to cover the first panel of Act 4. I think I need to lie down.