#i thought it looked easy but ITS NOT

[bradleysass]

Ice Skating - @noblehouseofgay - word count: 841 - 25 Days of Jegumas

James Potter had a lot of great ideas. He’d been told so many times—mostly by himself, sometimes by Sirius—but tonight, staring out at the shimmering ice rink in the heart of the snowy village, he wasn’t so sure this was one of them.

“Let me get this straight,” Regulus Black said, one brow arched as he tightened the laces on his skates. “You brought me here, to ice skate, because you thought it would be… romantic?”

“Yeah!” James said, though his voice cracked a little under the weight of his own bravado. “It’s festive! The lights, the snow, the hot chocolate—what’s not to love?”

Regulus’s gaze flickered to James’s feet. “You don’t know how to skate, do you?”

“What? Of course I—” James stopped mid-lie as Regulus raised both eyebrows, clearly unimpressed. “Alright, no, I don’t. But it can’t be that hard, right? You just… glide.”

Regulus exhaled through his nose, clearly amused. “You’re ridiculous.”

James grinned, leaning in closer. “Ridiculously charming, right?”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Regulus murmured, but there was a softness to his tone that James caught, even if Regulus would deny it.

The rink was busy but not crowded, twinkling fairy lights strung overhead casting a warm glow on the ice. Children zipped past, laughing, while couples skated hand in hand, looking effortlessly graceful. James, of course, was determined to join their ranks.

He stepped onto the ice with all the confidence of someone who didn’t fully understand what they were getting into. For a moment, it seemed fine—his skates slid forward, and he thought, This is easy.

Then his left foot wobbled. Then his right. Before he knew it, he was flailing wildly, grabbing onto the edge of the rink to avoid landing flat on his face.

“Gliding, huh?” Regulus said, skating up beside him with a grace that was, frankly, unfair.

James scowled, gripping the railing like it was the only thing keeping him alive. “Alright, maybe it’s harder than it looks.”

Regulus tilted his head, his lips twitching like he was trying not to laugh. “Do you want me to help, or should I just let you embarrass yourself?”

“I’ll have you know I’m perfectly capable of figuring this out on my own,” James said, attempting to push off from the railing. He managed all of three seconds before his feet betrayed him, sending him skidding forward with all the elegance of a baby deer.

Regulus caught him before he hit the ice, steadying him with firm hands on his arms. “You’re hopeless,” he muttered, though the small smile on his face betrayed his words.

“Hopelessly in love with you, maybe,” James quipped, grinning despite the heat creeping up his neck.

Regulus rolled his eyes but didn’t let go. “Come on,” he said, guiding James back to the edge. “Hold my hands.”

James blinked. “You’re just going to let me hold your hands? No sarcastic comments?”

“Would you prefer I let you fall?”

“Point taken.”

James took Regulus’s hands, their fingers lacing together, and immediately felt a little steadier. Regulus began skating backward, pulling James along slowly.

“Relax,” Regulus said as James stiffened, his legs wobbling dangerously.

“I am relaxed,” James lied, gripping Regulus’s hands like his life depended on it.

“You’re holding on like I’m about to vanish,” Regulus said, his lips twitching.

“Because I might die if I let go!”

“You’re being dramatic,” Regulus replied, though there was a warmth in his voice that made James’s chest tighten in a way that had nothing to do with fear.

They fell into a rhythm—or at least, Regulus did. James was more like a clumsy marionette being dragged across the ice, but with Regulus holding him steady, he managed to avoid catastrophe.

“See?” Regulus said after a while. “You’re getting the hang of it.”

James beamed. “I am, aren’t I?”

And then, in his excitement, he tried to skate faster. His feet slid out from under him, and this time, not even Regulus could save him. They both went down in a heap, landing in an unceremonious pile on the ice.

James groaned, rubbing the back of his head. “Well, that wasn’t very graceful.”

Regulus, who had somehow landed half on top of him, stared down at him, his cheeks flushed from the cold—and possibly something else. “You’re an idiot.”

“But I’m your idiot,” James said, grinning up at him.

Regulus rolled his eyes, but he didn’t move to get up. Instead, he leaned down, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to James’s lips.

When he pulled back, James was grinning even wider. “If that’s the reward for falling, I might just have to do it again.”

Regulus huffed, shaking his head. “If you think I’m going to kiss you every time you fall, you’ll be here all night.”

James laughed, pulling Regulus closer. “Worth it.”

The fairy lights above them twinkled, the laughter and music from the rink fading into the background as James decided that, skating skills or not, this was the perfect date night after all.

[hinamie]

alongside someone like you

[grayeet]

I love the pale garden and how it's like a parallel to dark forests. I love how the two divert expectations.

Dark forests, despite their name, are saturated and full of life. Even compared to regular forests, there's a lot more biodiversity than many of the "basic" biomes. There's three whole different trees found there, giant mushrooms, and plenty of flowers. They're one of the biomes capable of spawning a lush cave underneath it. It has its dangers just like any other overworld biome, obviously, but it's nothing overly more than anywhere else. Traversing it can be tricky sometimes and illagers may take residence in the biome's woodland mansions, but it's ultimately a very colorful and lively environment.

Opposing it is the new pale garden. Usually white and light colors are seen as pristine and good, but the pale garden takes it the opposite direction and goes right into uncanny valley territory. It has none of the color of dark forests, none of the biodiversity, none of the liveliness. It has trees and moss that look familiar, but something is off. It has a signature mob, but even the creaking is just a puppet of the trees, not really sentient, not really even plotting against anything. There's "life", but, once again, it's wrong.

I think the pale garden is a wonderful addition to Minecraft's world building as it is, but the deliberate parallel to dark forests? Delicious.

[melonsharks]

like a thing, make a character lineup to figure out how i would draw them. thats the way my brain works! you can find close-ups under the cut!

these were fun :] theres a lot of characters in this show that would be fun to draw, is there anyone you guys wanna see next? 🤔

[puppyeared]

wanna see a magic trick? 🪄🎩

[2fast4maws]

huevember #2, mercury and some fish for today 💥

[alt under cut]

[lemon-wedges]

an attempt to use a different kind of color pallete than im use to

[umblrspectrum]

hi heres my ramblings about a md rain world au i made up in like a day bye

[stardustedknuckles]

It's looking like there's a growing divide between Campaign watchers and Tlovm watchers in terms of like. We're here for the characters. 12-episode seasons aren't. They can't be. I'm already making peace with everything we'll lose in the Mighty Nein show, and I know I will enjoy it for what it is but I also know that almost nothing that made the story so special will translate to the screen, because turning it into a show automatically means (in this day and age) that plot must be the number one priority. They've already come out and told us it's going to be different, the characters we know and love but new stories.

Because that's how this has to work. And I feel bad for campaign one lovers, because while it is certainly the easier of the two to translate to a big, overarching story, even though it's a more "traditional" high fantasy story with easier archetypal characters, the archetypes and the plot aren't what cemented most people's love for the campaign. So much of the love for critical role is stored in the interpersonal dynamics and the payoff that comes from hundreds of hours of tiny interactions that one day become cornerstones of development and even affect or dictate the plot.

There's no room for that. There's no room for Bard's Lament in a story that cannot afford to remove and replace a main character. A lot of tlovm is for people who have been here for all of campaign one. Most of it, however, isn't. It's for a new crowd. While CR may have creative control, you can bet your ass that there were months and years devoted to figuring out how to map a character-focused love of the show into a plot that hits the right beats to be viable in the show market.

And it worked. Tlovm has consistently high viewing numbers, and its popularity has brought and will continue to bring new people into the universe who have never interacted with CR previously. That's not a bad thing - imagine finishing your favorite show and discovering it has another FIVE HUNDRED HOURS of the equivalent of behind the scenes content. That's incredible for these newcomers. But man, it is in many ways a loss for us.

[sammypog]

woah heres a collection of silly AM doodles

[just-null]

he wants kiss, but he doesnt out right ask for one. (he got one.)

[dykedvonte]

idk if you've written any head cannons about this before but i'm curious what your thoughts are on arcades previous relationships

I think this is a very interesting question because we can even know if he had previous relationships? I don't know if you want platonic or romantic, so I will answer vague enough to fit both.

Arcade is a man that wants to be reserved and self-assured. When he first vaguely tells you about his past you can 100% tell he is very mournful of something and I really think its partly him not knowing his place in the world and being incredibly lonely. One of the ways you can recruit him is literally just by being gay and showing interest. That's not someone who is used to having deep, long lasting relationships of any kind. He never mentions friends his age growing up or otherwise and he is honest (once he opens up) about how he is considred too young to be taken seriously by the older remanents when enlisting their help (Imagine like trying to be friends with your much older aunts and uncles who like wiped your ass).

He is desperately trying to find a place and I feel like that applies to being among people as well, I mean he does hide himself in a tent with the followers. When I think of his past relationships I think of fleeting hook-ups or abrupt endings with him often being the one to do the skedaddling or walk of shame to wherever he was residing at the time. I say shame becasue I know he'd want to stay and get close but he's just too scared. It's understandable when 75% of the factions would want you dead due to your family lineage... even if you had no part of their actions. He has so much baggage and hang-ups I don't think he thinks it'd be worth it to unpack that with a friend or lover.

But since your asking what I personally think his fleeting, wasteland relationships were like here's my thoughts:

Most of his relationships (friendships and otherwise) started occurring later in his like, likely his early to mid-twenties. He had seen Enclave remnants be hunted and those who survived did so by staying alone...

His first friend was a wasteland girl who liked how well-read he was. It wasn't so much a traditional friendship but like two people who frequent the same places a lot. He provided the closest thing she was getting to an education and she provided pleasant conversation.

They barely knew anything deeper than each other's names or the topics they discussed but Arcade had never had a non-enclave friend before so it meant everything to him.

She was inspired to get a formal education and do something with her life and thanked Arcade before leaving to go do that. Arcade liked the feeling of helping and sought out ways to do that.

His first kiss is actually how he got into the followers in my head. It was the first chance he took to form a relationship outside the remnants and he wanted to follow him (him as in his lover). He wanted to join a diplomatic Follower group in the NCR and Arcade was terrified of being that close.

Following the last point it was a big blowout fight because Arcade refused to explain why he didn't beyond "Aren't we fine here?" and received a very harsh reading about his inability to open up.

His first actual boyfriend was a king gang member that liked to brag about how he was dating the smartest follower on this side of the wasteland. Arcade felt bad cause he knew he was only dating the guy cause he was crushing on The King at the time and the guy made him feel good with all the praise.

He broke it off under the guise that his work made him feel like he was being neglectful to their relationship and due to the kings' strong sense of duty/principles he understood

Gave Arcade his fav hair comb as a token of no hard feelings and Arcade felt extra bad cause it was like the one real and safe feeling relationship he had and he hated it was built on lies and half-truths.

Hence why he only tells the Courier half-truths, both is too much

After that he made a rule to only have FWBs and casual friends.

This worked as well as you think it did for a man like Arcade.

Most of the people he "dated" (weird coy flirting until he shut them out when they asked something deeper) were all people who wanted to go somewhere with him. He has a deep desire to live, experience and find himself but never has the courage to commit

This explains why you can so easily recruit him with flirting and promising to whisk him away into adventure. (Daddy issues much?)

All his "friends" were either the socially weird Followers who never asked much or people who were passing through and wouldn't question the random guy they hung out with for a bit knows too much about energy weapons or power armor or that old defunct faction that almost killed everyone with evil water... twice.

Silly Headcanons is he loves to rag and joke and is a little shit. He has a chip on his shoulder about how smart he is but he's never a direct jerk about

Not a touchy friend but he clings and hovers around partners and people he has a romantic interest in. Hand brushes, pats, standing close, and wanting to be very involved. Sad but he really wants a connection and even a small sign is enough to make him lose his sensibilities.

He hates it but he knows he's touch and emotionally starved so sometimes he allows himself to get a little lost in the love sauce.

Prefers friends and partners that are a little dumber than him. This has nothing to do with anything, dude is just attracted to idiots platonically or romantically.

This post is long just because I need to explain just how I think these characters think. Arcade is a guy who wants to be gay and own a garden and drink a glass of non-irrated wine with his friends while snarking to his partner. But he's also affliated with violent war crimminals and genocidal factins and settles for just trying to give that life to someone else.

[hinamie]

binding vow

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Bestie Deficiency

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[megacarapa]

i found this post and had to make it with them immediately

[thebestusernamepossible]

I think a really underrated character duo in gravity falls is Dipper and Stan. Like one, I think they are way more similar than people give them credit for. Like Dipper is definitely the one who feels like the ‘inferior’ twin (internally on his part), something reflected in Stan. Also Dipper is generally pretty cunning and willing to throw punches in a Stan-way, you can see Stan rubbing off on him as the show progresses. Dipper in the Stan costume, and that one scene where Stan and Dipper both cross their fingers at the same time for the same promise, both live in my head rent free. In my heart of hearts I think Dipper picks up a bit of Stans con-man tricks in the future (and Mabel goes on some bonding missions w/ Ford, but this post isn’t abt them). Also I just want to say I bet Dipper reminded Stan of a young Ford and that informed some of their early dynamic. Anyway bye just needed this brainworm out