#in fact you need to put more effort into NOT having these textures

[crazysodomite]

i consider traditional art to be much harder than digital (not to mention more expensive) but onw thing im jealous of is the possibility of effortlessly creating texture

[spitdrunken]

i am absolutely insane about your headcanons with the vee's, my mind is so full now... this is exactly what i was hoping to find when searching through the hazbin x reader tag after watching the episodes 👁️🙏🏻 please i'm so!! the being a writer for the vee's imagine is such a good idea, val and his.. comment especially got to me..

also, for your consideration:

Val — or all of the Vee's, really —, but, in the beginning, he's really not convinced about the quality of your dialogues, despite all the lines he's read (or, well, has had Vox read to him), so naturally you have to read your previous stories out loud to him, cheeks flushing and squirming when it gets to particularly graphic scenes and his gaze on you is so very heavy, smoke caressing your jaw while you stumble over your words.. It's worse if you've written about them and a character who resembles you, and Val's smile widens when you skip from story to story, mentioning the character — definitely not you — sucking Vox off, bending over willingly for Val and begging for Velvette to touch her, or even take all three of them at once, greedy...

Also the. love potions Velvette makes have me feeling things.. Her or Vox but they might end up putting a drop or four into your glass — purely accidentally, of course! —, and...

this is terrible.. my mind is too full now... i might have to post writing for hazbin now and it is your fault alone.. (affectionate; truly, I've enjoyed your thoughts so very much!! thank you for sharing!)

I'm glad you enjoyed it so much :D!! I had an absolute blast writing it myself, and I've been thinking about it lots!! Your ask made it even Worse (/pos) and I simply had to write more!! Please please please let me know if you write something for Hazbin, I can tell from your ask already that it'll be wonderful! And if you ever wanna chat about these guys, feel free to message me again, haha.

Notes: power imbalance, sexual harassment, heavily dubious/noncon due to love potion usage.

The fact Vox even bothers at all to take the time to sit Valentino down and read to him is already a show of your quality— He really wouldn’t go through wrangling him like that for just anyone, especially not with Val getting a bit pissy when being reminded your works were being compared to his. He needs to be told that, obviously, Val, some mere written words are never going to compare, especially not in earnings, to his creations. This placates Valentino. But all Vox gets for his efforts are a lazy flick of one of Valentino’s four wrists, his eyes not even looking at him. “Look, I still think it fucking sucks. But if you wanna hire them so badly, whatever. I’ve got better shit to do than listen to daddy’s horny story-time.” Suffice it to say, he becomes a lot more… Amiable (poor you) once you’re actually working there, and he has a face to attach to the stories. He can tell upon first glance that you’re one of those pathetic little hermits, too scared to leave your own shitty apartment, barely scraping by— He’s recruited plenty of those types as whores, after all. So easily pushed around that it shouldn’t give him nearly as much satisfaction as it does.

When Valentino practically demands you join him in his room and read your previous work to him, you sputter out protests, heart skipping a beat. Every employee in the company has something bad to say about this man, and so he’s about the last person you want to be caught alone in a room with. Especially not his bedroom.

“Ah, sir, I’m not really sure—“ But he’s already wrapping one of his arms around your shoulders, pulling you flush against his side as he drags you through the halls. The first thing that strikes you is how different the texture of coat is than you were expecting. It doesn’t even feel like anything at all. “Oh, sweetheart, call me Valentino. No need to be so unfamiliar with each other.” He practically purrs, a single finger tracing up the contours of your chest. “I feel like we’re going to get quite familiar.” If all the alarms weren’t ringing in your head before, they most definitely are now. But there’s nothing you can do. His grip on you is tight and, underneath his red coat, you can feel the hard metal of a pistol pressing against you.

He takes you to his room, walls covered with posters featuring himself, and you hardly have the time to look around before he sits you down on one of his red couches, still caught underneath one of his arms. It’s hard to think, much less speak, as Valentino starts to prod you to pull out your phone and start reading. “No need to be shy. You’re such an artista, aren’t you? Don’t keep me waiting.” It’s easy, at first. When the scene hasn’t grown explicit yet, and you can pretend you’re only reading the text out loud to yourself like you always do, making sure the sentences sound right. But Valentino makes it hard for you to distract yourself entirely. He rubs circles on the skin of your thigh, and the smoke from his pipe has long since been the only thing you can smell. The red smoke makes your head a little hazier, tongue a little looser— Though that all just might be because you’re not getting enough oxygen. Your every muscle is tense and, you think, this is what being a prey animal must feel like. The first time you stutter out the word ‘cock’, Valentino barks out a laugh, loud and sudden, entirely contrasting with the sultry demeanour he’s been putting on the whole time. You jump, gaze flickering from the screen to his face, before continuing. It gets worse when you realise exactly what story you’re reading out loud to him, one of the ones you’d never even posted anywhere, so utterly self-indulgent and poorly thought out that you regret it with every ounce of your being. (Unbeknownst to you, Vox has already read every draft you’ve ever typed up, but that’s neither here nor there.)

“Sorry, can I maybe, um, read a different one?” You practically squeak out. “I realised I have some better drafts, and…” “No,” Valentino shuts you down, tone temporarily harsh. “Don’t get too fucking cocky now, you’re already taking up enough time as it is. Shit’s about to get interesting, finally.” He’s saying all of this as if he wasn’t the one to drag you there in the first place.

So you trudge onward, reading as fast as you possible can, just trying to tough it out. As you read about a scared, unaccomplished demonic main character catching the eye of a trio of some of the most famous demons in town—through entirely unrealistic circumstances—you can see his grin grow wider from the corner of your eye. His nails dig into the flesh of your thigh, the smoke surrounding your face turning to caress your cheeks.

“So, let me gets this straight… You wrote about a trio of powerful demons with matching names, taking turns fucking an absolute nobody silly. One of them’s a pimp, the other a fashion designer, and the other a business man.” Valentino doesn’t give you the chance to respond. “Greedy little slut. You even chose this one specifically to read out to me, huh? Seems I got you all wrong,” he hisses out. “This must be a dream come true for you, isn’t it?”

Let’s just say that you got enough ‘material’ to write another four or so stories, just from that line alone.

----- A drop of love potion, and models always behave the absolute best, or so Velvette thinks! (As long as you don’t put in too much. It’s very hard to take good pictures when the girls keep trying to kiss you.) No bitching, no whining, only an easy to pose, cute demon to work with. And if she dresses you up in clothes that reveal more than they obscure, purely for her own enjoyment and usage, who’s going to blame her?

Certainly not you. You won’t remember a single damn thing. Not even the parts where you babble on about how pretty and gorgeous and cool she is, and how you’ve admired her for so long— All things she’s heard a million times before. Normally, she wouldn’t care less about it, but such words coming from someone with only a drop of her potion in her system means they’re all the absolute truth. She thinks it’s almost cute when it’s coming from you, really. ------------ Vox, on the other hand, would be more likely to use his hypnosis on you than a love potion. Just to have a few minutes in the middle of a meeting where you’re practically putty in his hands, all of your usual anxiety and shame having slid right off of your shoulders. He doesn’t feel any guilt about it whatsoever. Having read all of your works, he finds it safe to say that this is the exact kind of scenario you would enjoy…

And even if you didn’t, he still would. He gets a bit of a thrill out of the loopy, relaxed smile on your face as you nuzzles your cheeks against his arm, professing all of the thoughts you had about him before working at VoxTech, and the ones you still have today. It’s during one of these exact moments, that he’d likely find out that Valentino had fucked you already, something he hadn’t found necessary to mention. They’ll have a bit of a discussion about that later!

[cillyscribbles]

making toilette and taking repose ft. victoria and mr mistoffelees :)

“Can you tie a bow on my tail, please?” Victoria asked, loudly, and took special care to draw out the please. She put both her paws to her chin and chopped them down as though she meant it more that way. “I have a very special ribbon for tonight; look, look – it’s pink!”

‘Can’t you do it yourself?’ Mistoffelees asked her in turn, small in his annoyance – as if he hadn’t things to do in preparation!

But Victoria, who was clever in all manners of ways she hid by just being that much sweeter, had already stood on her tiptoes and was mid-way through pulling her leg upward and bending the knee over her own head.

“I’m stretching,” she said, even louder, though perhaps without catching on to the fact there was not a sign of effort in her voice. “Can’t you see? Oh, Mistoffelees, if I don’t stretch enough I’ll sprain something in the Ball!”

And then she would insist on him sitting down with her and wiping her tears and fixing her ankles, because such was a magician’s fate once he decided to associate with a kitten quicker than a cards-dealer. Woe was he!

“Besides,” Victoria continued, unbothered by the ridiculous shape into which she’d contorted her legs, “you need practice anyway, don’t you?”

That was true. Or so he said, on occasion, when he needed a moment away and alone. It would do him no good to denounce it now, he found, and so was resigned to his fate.

‘Fine,’ he told her, with no great joy about it, though the ribbon which she presented him – bright, and even pinker than reported – was a very pleasant texture between the paws. Still; he was being cajoled and bamboozled into this, and she would carry the weight of her crimes of persuasion for many moons to come, he would make sure of it.

It need not be said that the reason to this was not that Victoria was particularly averse to tying her own bows, or that Mistoffelees was all that hesitant to help her. The reason was, of course, that the pair were both cats. No cats, magical or otherwise, knew how to tie a bow, and, by virtue of being cats, would never admit to it either.

Such is the Law of the Cat; and there is hardly anything at all to be done about that!

[dumbass-tumbler-cryptid]

I often see people describe Spider as a neglected child. Do you think that is totally accurate? Would Norm and the other scientists have set rules and boundaries? If Lo’ak and Spider did something stupid together would Jake punish both of them? What would a scene like this look like?

Hello! I know you sent this question to other creators like a month ago. Sorry this took me so long to get to. I’ve been busy and I really wanted to give a detailed answer to this but I could just never make the time until now.

So short answer yes I definitely think Spider is a neglected child.

Long answer:

While I do believe some of his basic physical needs were met like food/water/shelter I don’t believe all his physical needs were met. First is just basic safety and while I don’t think his foster parents the McCosker’s physical beat him they definitely didn’t seem to care about him. From what we see in the comics and in the movie Spider was allowed to leave the base by himself at a very young age, like around 7-8 from the look of him. I personally take huge issue with this. I’d love to know how far away the village is from Hells Gate because maybe if it was super close, like you could see it from base kind of close, then I don’t think it’d be as bad but either way your letting a child, who is already super tiny compared to his huge surroundings loose in a jungle that we are told point blank from Jake’s narration is dangerous! Like it’s one thing to let your kid walk to a friends house to teach them independence but what parent would let their child do that if they could be potentially eaten by a tiger or trampled by a rhino. But that’s exactly what the scientist and the McCoskers are letting Spider do! That is just so negligent to me.

Next is Spider’s hair which I know we talk to death about for a lot of different reasons. So I actually have the exact same hair texture that we see baby Spider having so I can personally attest to it tangling easily when not properly maintained. After looking at 7-8 year old Spider i feel like I can pretty confidently say those aren’t dreads they’re mats. That’s what dry, unwashed, un brushed curly hair looks like after weeks.

From my research children typically need help with taking care of their hair until around age 12 and so the fact that his hair is matted tells me no body is helping him. And that could lead to issues down the line because matted hair can grow mold which will obviously make you sick. Even when we see Spider at 16 he hasn’t learned how to maintain his dreadlocks properly. They’re uneven, there’s unlocked hair sticking out all over the place. Really to me it looks more like he did his best to do something with his hair after all the childhood neglect. So yeah not putting in the effort to properly take care of a child’s hair when they’re to young to do it themselves is a form of physical neglect in my eyes

Now onto bigger issues.

We see from the comics that Spider’s foster parents just flat out don’t care about him. Other creators have gotten into that so I won’t go on about it. What I will go on about though is that I think it’s a failure of every adult that saw how neglectful and uncaring the McCosker’s where to Spider but did nothing. They did nothing because it was easier for them to do nothing. Sometimes foster placements don’t work out and when that happens you find an alternative until you find something that best fits the child. They didn’t do that! They did what was easiest for the adults and that was to turn a blind eye. I’m guessing after the events of the high ground comics that Spider didn’t even really have a guardian to answer to. He was basically just a ward of the rebels. I really do hope we get to see him interact with characters like Norm and Max post his kidnapping because from what we see in the movie Kiri was the only one worried about him. I think it would have been nice if during the scene where Jake and Norm are talking about Kiri’s seizer Jake asked if Norm had any new information about Spider, so we the audience would see that these adults do care about this kid. We don’t get that though.

And honestly I take huge issue with Jake’s treatment of Spider. I didn’t like it when I first watched the movie and never felt like he earned the “son for a son” line because again we never even saw him care about Spider aside from him asking Neytiri not to kill him which is beyond bare minimum. Reading the comics made me straight up appalled. My jaw hit the ground during the climax of the story when they are being chased by R.D.A, shot at, the forest is burning and Jake told Spider to turn himself in because he was slowing them down! And my poor boy just promised to keep up!

And I know Jake believes that they won’t hurt Spider because he’s just a kid but 1. Why would you even think that? Seriously what evidence do you have that the R.D.A wouldn’t hurt this kid. They are your enemy! They’re literally shooting at you as you speak! What makes you think they wouldn’t shoot Spider on site! Why would you even take that chance with a child’s life! Even if they do accept his surrender then what? Are you okay with this kid being sent back to Earth? Or being forced to live on the R.d.A’s base with little to no say of what happens to him? And 2. They do hurt him! A year later when Spider gets kidnapped Ardmore was willing to turn Spider into a vegetable to get the information she wanted! The only reason that didn’t happen was because Quaritch stopped him. This is just going to be an all me rant for a second but I could never leave a child behind like Jake did with Spider. I don’t care how tough you think he is he’s 16! And he was left in the enemies hands on an absolutely insane amount of good faith that they wouldn’t stoop low enough to hurt him. They fucking tortured him. And if Jake had at least payed lip service to being worried about Spider I’d be slightly more inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt and say there was nothing he could do to get Spider out of Bridgehead, he had to protect his others kids. But he doesn’t. He says that Spider’s a tough kid and that’s that.

So to wrap this up Spider was incredibly neglected. Based off of everything I said above it seems to me that the adults provided bare minimum necessities and then just let him run wild which is no way to treat a child especially when their young. We’d be here all day if I started up on the emotional neglect of this boy. I truly hope we get to see Jake treat Spider better in the next movie and that we get to see Spider interact with Norm and Max.

Those are my thoughts. If anyone disagrees I’d be happy to have a respectful conversation about it. I’m always curious to hear other people’s opinions. 💙

[fireflowersims]

So for clarification on pink flashing stuff

I've seen a masterpost by @dystopianam about pink flashing go around, and I feel it may need some clarification.

The conclusion drawn was largely "it's thumbnails" but well... It is not. Looking at a lot of thumbnails can be a factor, sure, but it is not the root cause.

So, allow me to illustrate:

Imagine you have a bucket. That's the texture memory. How big it is depends on both the game and your pc. Fact is: you have a bucket.

Now you start putting water in: it could be a tiny amount, it could be an entire pitcher. At some point, that bucket is gonna get full and if after that you add more water, it will overflow. This is your pink flashing.

Just as how adding large amounts of water, will make your bucket flood faster, so does loading in a large amount of (big) textures increase your game's chances of flashing pink.

A smaller texture takes up less space in your bucket, a large one will take up a lot of your space. This is why texture optimization can help quite a bit with pink flashing. It has nothing to do with hardware, it's just shrinking things down so your bucket fills up slower.

So, how does this relate to thumbnails? Well, thumbnails are indeed textures. Looking at a large amount of thumbnails, does fill up your bucket. But, here's the thing: thumbnails are generated. Generating a thumbnail of something with a large texture takes the game (and your pc) more effort than generating one for a lower resolution thing. Regenerating thumbnails can indeed cause crashing. The thumbnails themselves are tiny lil images. In the end, it still comes down to texture memory and how quickly you fill it up.

All the actions listed in the original post are ones that involve loading more textures into memory.

Tldr: thumbnails are not the issue. The issue is the amount and size of textures you're loading. Your texture memory can and will eventually get full and the game is not good at dealing with it.

If you'd like to know more about pink flashing, @anachronisims has been doing a lot of research on the topic and is working on a big report. Fascinating stuff, go check it out!

[feladi-fority]

haven't posted in a while, but I completed Undertale Yellow a while ago and none of my friends have and I need to scream into the void about it SOMEWHERE! Spoilers abound

So, Flowey. He's really well written in this. In Undertale proper we don't get to see much of him and what we do see is really 1 note. He scares you, tries to manipulate people, and tries to hurt people for his own amusement. In Undertale Yellow though we get to see how immature and impatient he is. Whenever Clover does something Flowey doesn't approve of he lashes out even when doing so directly impedes his ability to manipulate Clover, such as killing Marlet at the end of the neutral route. Flowey is a terrible manipulator, putting in absolutely zero effort to understand Clover, instead blaming them for his own plan not working. He talks about how much he hates Clover and relishes in their death but Flowey has done nothing to understand Clover, instead just viewing them as a problem to brute-force a solution to. All of this is, of course, consistent with who Flowey was in Undertale but it's so much more textured with how much screen-time Flowey gets.

Additionally, I find the implications of what I can only describe as Flowey's Blackspace. During the meta-Flowey fight his attacks are monstrous versions of himself, many of which are killed as part of his attacks. He pulls out his own pedals, cries to attack, and kills images of himself. Then there's the section where you walk through piles of Flowey corpses which call for help. The dialogue the later corpses give is ambiguous, but lines like "this must be it" in the context of the rest takes on a dark implication. Flowey seems to hate himself and view himself as a monster who deserves to be cut-down (he has that in common with his dad lol). Maybe then Flowey's plan to destroy the world via collecting the souls is ultimately self destructive, a way to go down with the world, and rid himself of the possibility of coming back, a true completion through obliteration.

Now I need to talk about Marlet. She's fucking great. She has this deep sense of maturity to her character which was really cool to see. It isn't all that clear in the pacifist route as there we mainly see her inability to get things done and her self-hate, but on the more violent routes we see her constantly trying to empathize and resolve conflict with Clover by understanding them. I think it's incredibly note-worthy that Marlet is the only character who recognizes Clover as a child who shouldn't be capable of committing such violence, and the implications of that fact. Marlet doesn't let her emotions stop her from understanding people and doing the right thing, and I really like how that was executed.

I loved the themes of this game. I expected the game to tackle similar themes to Undertale, either just recreate theme entirely or at least tackle something similar to Undertale's very meta exploration about what it means to care about things. Instead this game goes for an old classic, the cycle of violence, and I think it executes it very well!

Throughout the game characters interact with this theme in different ways. Clover (on the vengeance route specifically), and Ceroba parallel each-other in this way. Ceroba objectifies humans due to her position as a monster separated from humanity and growing up with an adversarial relationship to them. Chujin finds it extremely easy to hate humanity for a slight against him and enacts violence on humanity due to perceiving them as inherently evil due to historical mistreatment by humans and personal experience. This violence horrifies him in the end, but still in his attempt to get vengeance he perpetuates the cycle, projecting his hate towards humanity onto Ceroba who goes onto hurt more people because of it. Clover on the vengeance route is in a similar position, objectifying monsters due to being a human separate from them and learning of slights against humanity by them. Clover finds out monsters killed 5 humans (either all children, or some of them children) and is able to easily objectify them for it due to their position. Clover enacts disproportionate violence in reaction to the violence monsters committed against humanity in reaction to the violence humanity enacted against monsters by sealing them underground. Asgore remarks at the end of the vengeance route that Clover's actions will result in many more deaths on both side's parts, and he's right, Clover provided more reason for another Chujin to come about and enact more violence on humanity which in turn would provoke a response. Violence creates violence creates violence.

Flowey, under this framing, becomes an embodiment of the cycle. The game cleverly uses the power of resetting as the mechanical manifestation of this cycle. Flowey continues to reset events over and over and over letting Clover get killed over and over and over, just as the cycle of violence repeats, so to does the game itself. The game resets, new runs provide new content, certain events are enshrined in this game's concept of fate. The fate here is just that things cannot change with more violent inputs, Flowey can never get what he wants because he's incapable of doing what Marlet could do. Flowey can't change fate because he's what's locking it in place, he's the logic of violence that forces the world to over and over again punish characters and kill them, but Marlet through her empathy and compassion at least tries to break the cycle, she tries to get Clover to stop hurting people and break this repeated cycle of violence, and she does the same for Ceroba and Chujin to less success. How fitting then that Flowey kills Marlet in the neutral route.

Pacifist Clover is the parallel to Marlet. They face the cycle of violence and chose to understand and help others despite it. The vision for breaking the cycle that Undertale Yellow provides is empathy and compassion, choosing to not give into anger at horrible things done to you as to not perpetuate that being done to more people in the future. It's a really well-executed theme, I love this game.

[guardian-of-time-if]

500 Followers Celebration: Q & A

Happy Saturday everyone! As I promised earlier this week, here is a Q&A. Some of the questions were a bit more serious than I remember, but it starts ridiculous and ends ridiculous.

What are the character's thoughts on socks?:

Lukyan: “I mean they make my boots much more comfortable, but they are way too fickle. They never shrink or discolor exactly the same way after you wash or wear them, and they always seem to go missing. All in all, more effort than they’re worth, and I often walk around the palace without them.”

Tzesar: “Have you ever been to the northern part of the Empire? It's way too cold to even think about not having fuzzy socks on you at all times. No matter how much my brother likes to make fun of me. I can assure you everyone is hiding at least two pairs of socks under their boots..”

Sentinel: “Am I really supposed to have an opinion about something so nonsensical?”

Naxok: *wrinkles his nose* “I actually don’t wear them. I spend too much time in the water, so they usually just end up soaked and wet plus freezing cold is terrible for you no matter how many layers of wet there are. Besides, I enjoy leaving my bare feet in water far too much to appreciate them.”

Albien: “Socks are an important part of keeping warm. I just wish they wouldn’t go missing so easily.”

Gaderous: “What a funny question. I suppose like most people I appreciate them keeping me warm, and get annoyed when they slip off my feet or get holes in them. Although, I will say that sock puppets freak me out a little.”

What would they say are the worst food crimes imaginable, both modern and setting accurate?:

Lukya: His are actually the same for both- eating raw meat or fish. Just if it had to be hunted it needs to be cooked. 

Tzesar: Setting accurate- cooking vegetables in stew. Vegetables are best appreciated as God intended, fresh and void of spice or sauce.

Modern- Salad dressing, and serving ranch on a veggie tray

Sentinel: Setting accurate- using any ingredient in food that has alternate uses in magic spells/rituals/potions (most of these can’t be eaten, but the few that can have lingering magic in them that Sentinel swears he can taste.)

Modern- Lattes (or any coffee fancier/further from basic black than that)

Naxok: Setting accurate- Sea monster is delicacy in some parts of the world… A fact that Nax likes to pretend does not exist because it makes him think of his precious pet Nellie.)

Modern-The concept of deep frying

Albien: Setting accurate- Its popular among House Phoenix (his mother’s family) to light food on fire before eating it, but the flame changes color based on the types of protein in the food, and makes everything smell and (to Albien) taste like smoke

Modern- There are too many to count, but the simplest way to cover everything is processed junk food that kids like (He’s basically like a health food parent when it comes to modern food) 

Gaderous: Setting accurate- It’s really popular where he grew up is to take roasted hazelnuts and  wrap them in a plant called Garensweed, which takes the shape of a leaf with the texture of cooked spinach, covered in a berry flavored jam. Then they smoke it over a fire. His dad commits the atrocity of putting pickles inside his, and dipping it in a cinnamon caramel sauce. Gaderous has been so traumatized by his dad’s version, that he always checks for pickles when he buys one from a bakery. 

Modern- I think he’d be open to trying pretty much anything in a modern setting, and would really only label something a food crime if it's so wrong it would make someone sick, or just can’t conceivably go together. 

How would they act in a hypothetical game of Catan?

Naxok and Lukyan would be treating it like its risk and over analyzing the best military strategy, despite the fact that you don’t actually have a military in Catan. They also both stubbornly refuse to trade with each other until they realize that one has no wheat and the other has no bricks, so they really should, but won’t until all other options have been exhausted. Sentinel is playing up both sides, and while trying to hide his competitive streak. The only thing he hates more than sharing, is losing, and it shows. Not only will he win, he will crush everyone. (And if he thought they’d give him an edge, would have no qualms about using his powers to win.) On the other hand, Tzesar is naturally the best at it, but he spends most of his time trying to get the two achievements, longest road, and largest army. Most of the guys assume that he’s not paying too much attention to the building aspect, and leave him be. He wins pretty quickly and everyone else is dumb founded, and Sentinel is pissed. Meanwhile, Albien is just really chill, and smiling even though he’s in last place and like Tzesar, is not really trying. He’s kind of like a dad who got sweet-talked into playing with the kids, and is letting them win because watching them get so invested in the game is more fun than winning. His intentionally bad trades are also the reason that Tzesar won so easily. Meanwhile Gaderous is making up rules to confuse people and spends most of his time making development cards, and convincing players to make weird trades with him. He’s not actually trying to win, he just wants to make Sentinel lose because he thinks it's funny to annoy the elf.

How would the guys react, after being in a relationship with the MC to being asked the question: Would you still love me if I was a worm?

Lukyan: Lukyan would be very confused by the question, and would stand there silently for long enough that the MC probably thinks he’s not going to answer her until he finally says, “I would still love *you*, but since worms don’t have consciousness, you wouldn’t be *you* if you were a worm.”

Tzesar: Depending on what he was doing when asked, he might stop listening after “would you still love me…” and just answer yes while finishing whatever he was doing. If the MC had his full attention he’d be academically intrigued by how it would work, but would try to avoid showing that and answer the question seriously with “If you had gotten turned into a worm then yes, I would, and I would stop at nothing to get you back. If you were born a worm then sadly probably not because we never would have met.”

Sentinel: If he had a more teasing/bickering relationship with the MC then he’d be like “Who says I love you now?” with a single eyebrow raised. If pressed he’d give her the same answer he’d give a more gentle/sensitive MC which is, “The only thing that could turn you into a worm is witchcraft, so I could undo it with a snap of the fingers, making the whole conversation moot.”

Naxok: The man lives on a boat (excuse me, ship) which is not the safest place for a worm, so he would just shrug, and tell her it wouldn’t really matter. “Nellie would probably eat you regardless, so I might be sad that you were gone, but there’d be nothing for it.”

Albien: He would take it as a frivolous way of demonstrating a real fear, and instead of answering the question would pull her into a hug (if standing) or into his lap (if he was sitting), and ask her if there was a reason she was afraid of being unloved. If it really was just a joke he would be unimpressed.

Gaderous: He laughs and turns the tables. “Would you still love me if I was a worm?”

How would they react to a surprise party?"

Luk: Does not like surprises in nearly any context, and has no friends, so a surprise party is basically his worst nightmare because he has no control over the situation and is surrounded by a bunch of people he probably doesn't like. He would probably be uncomfortable the whole time, and depending on who threw the surprise party might assume someone is trying to kill him. He probably only stays if there’s food, and leave as soon as he can.

Tzesar: Would handle it a lot better than Luk. He’d say hi to everyone invited, thank whoever threw the party, eat, and mingle with all the guests. If there’s courtiers invited then he’s a little thrown off because he likes to prepare before interacting with them. If the party is only with his friends, he just relaxes and enjoys the festivities.

Sentinel: Has somehow found out about the party and just doesn’t ever show up. Is then not seen for a week. 

Naxok: Is overjoyed, completely invested in the party and gives a bear hug to everyone involved.

Albien: Takes a moment to register what’s going on, but ultimately enjoys it, though much less enthusiastically than Nax. 

Gaderous: He’s extremely touched. He’s always wanted someone to throw him a surprise party, but has never told anyone because he thought it wouldn’t mean as much if he told someone he want a surprise party and they did versus coming to that conclusion themselves. 

How would they react to an unexpected kiss from MC?:

Lukyan: Still does not like surprises and goes stiff as a statue. If MC is sad/disappointed/worried/nervous/trying to apologize/ect. because he didn’t kiss back, then he’ll try to explain and do a really bad job of it, before realizing he’s only making it worse, grunting, turning around taking exactly three steps before it occurs to him that walking away would be even worse, turning back around to kiss her himself. If MC is amused/smug/flirty because she caught him off-guard then he’d just raise an eyebrow and be like I hope you're pleased with yourself, and walk away. 

Tzesar: Blinks a couple times before trying to return to whatever he was doing before only he seems to have forgotten, then asks MC what he was just doing. Does the same thing to her a couple days later.

Sentinel: Intentionally keeps his face as void of emotion as possible until MC moves away, then he just picks her up. Then he whispers in a low voice “You forgot two very important things, never start anything you can’t finish, and remember I always win.” while he carries her somewhere where A there’s privacy and B he’s got enough space to lay her flat on her back, where… tickles ensue (I bet that’s not where you thought this was going did you.)

Nax: Can’t stop himself from grinning. Somewhere between “what was that for?” and “I know this means you want something, but I’m too happy to care.” If there is in fact an ulterior motive, he gives MC a kiss on the head before doing what she wants, if there is nothing, then he pulls her into a hug, after kissing her head instead. 

Albien: Laughs a little bit. “I’m not sure I deserved that, but I’m pleased you thought so.”

Gaderous: Probably makes a stupid joke about how MC has fallen into his trap or if she’s not careful, then he’ll never leave. Then he’d give her another kiss after. 

How would they react to MC having a pat duck?:

(This one I saw on another Tumblr blog, and sent a screenshot to my friends because I thought it was funny. Since it was around the time we were doing this Q&A I decided to answer it myself because it was cute and funny.)

Lukyan: Would be confused about why she wanted a duck, and concerned about keeping it alive during the Nythrian winter, but ultimately put up with it because his family has spent way more money on way weirder things. He wouldn’t pet it though, and would draw the line at allowing it in bed with them. (He also has a pet polar bear, so no right to judge weird pets.)

Tzesar: Thinks it's cute, but will not touch it, and makes sure it stays outside. 

Sentinel: *face palms* “I can’t believe this is what my life has come to.” to MC, “You care about this thing? I guess we have a pet duck now.”

Nax: Feels he has no right to judge given his pet, but is nervous about allowing the duck near Nellie, fearing she’ll eat it. Jokes on him because Duck and Nellie are great friends.

Albien: Is wary of having it in the house, but he’s got a nice lake in the garden it can share with the swans and MC can visit whenever she wants.

Gaderous: He thinks it's cute, and thinks MC holding it is cute. Is more than willing to have it as a full member of the family.

How would each character react to The Last Stand by Sabaton blaring at full volume in the middle of the night?

Ignoring for a moment that the instruments required to play those songs don't exist in world and pretending it would be a recognizable song for them, 

Lukyan: This is me asking, but please don’t. Any time the man is woken up by a loud noise, he immediately assumes its because he’s under attack, so he would jump out of bed, grab his sword, forgoing armor, and run straight to where the MC is, if she’s living in the palace at this point or they’re on the road somewhere. If MC is nowhere near then he’s going straight to his younger sisters. Once he found out it was just a song he would be incredibly relieved, but unable to go back to sleep after. 

Tzesar: Would sleep through it unless he was already awake at which point everyone else grumpily waking up to it would make him realize how late it was, and he’d go to sleep as soon as the commotion was over.

Sentinel: Sentinel does not sleep often, so he’d likely still be awake. If it was a rare moment when he was sleeping, he’d be pissed, and just leave identifying the culprit. He might also assume the music was coming from his dragon companion trying to annoy him instead of being real music. 

Naxok: In all honesty, Nax is likely the one who is blasting Sabaton in the middle of the night. He also typically stays up late, and would likely be awake at whatever time someone plays said song. If it was a rare occasion he happened to be asleep, he would be extremely irritated, but otherwise he’d be jamming also and singing all the words. 

Albien: In true vein of being the only normal member of the cast, Albien would just groan, and pull a pillow over his head to go back to sleep.

Gaderous: Is used to being woken up in the middle of night for emergencies, but would be annoyed that there is not emergency. Also is not a metal fan, and wouldn’t enjoy anyone blaring the song during the day.

In a modern AU who would be offended that Pluto isn’t a planet anymore?

I don’t know why, but I feel like Sentinel would. He’s not someone who would bring it up, but if directly asked, he would defend Pluto’s right to be a planet.

Tzesar would stick with a scientific definition and not think beyond that. Nax would only care about astronomy as it pertains to sailing, and none of the others would care one way or another. Although if it was super important to someone he cared about Albien would champion the cause with them. 

Would they lie to get someone else out of trouble?

Yes: Lukyan, Sentinel, Gaderous, Naxok

No: Tzesar, Albien

How easily could they be convinced to do something that goes against their morals?

Luk: Short answer is hard. The longer answer is very hard, especially as he gets older. Young Luk doesn't really have a distinction between personal morality and his father's rules, but the more disillusioned he becomes with Emperor Konstantin the stronger moral stances he takes and the harder he walks the line. This is something MC can actually notice about the difference between 23-year-old Lukyan and 13-year-old Luk. 

Tzesar:Most of the time he does what he thinks is right, and is very strong willed, however, if you can present an intelligent argument about why his moral stance is wrong, it'll be fairly easier to change his mind about what is moral, so while it'll be hard to persuade him to act against his morals per say, you could easily convince him to change them.

Sentinel: Not a chance. The man has lived a long time and is very set in his ways.

Nax: Rarely has an issue sticking to his morals. He spends a lot of time with people his culture would consider to be living immoral lifestyles, yet he finds them to be good people, so he questions sometimes. He's more likely to allow others to do things that go against his morals without addressing it than to actually do something that goes against his morals. If actually was convinced to go against his morals it would likely be related to someone on his crew. 

Albien: Being a king has taught him a lot about the importance of having a backbone, especially where morality is concerned. While many kings routinely live amoral lives, Albien has spent a lot of time studying how this behavior impacts people living in the country, and has decided not to be like that. He’s also had some problems impulsively acting on his anger before, and the consequences of that made me a lot sterner about sticking to his morals, even when he’s angry. 

Gaderous: He can very easily be persuaded to act against his morals, and very often does. 

Would any of them perform a “Surprise adoption”?

I thought about taking this one out because the entire question is a reference to my unfinished, unpublic fantasy novel Treason Reassigned where the main character a younger woman who is the apprentice spymaster complains to her male best friend that her mother is pressuring her to quit, so she can get married. He says his mother is pressuring the same and jokingly suggests they get married to get their mothers to leave them alone since neither of them are interested in marriage (at the time of this particular scene.) Then they talk about their plan for what to do when their mothers pressure them to have children, and one of them suggests kidnapping an orphan. (the “surprise adoption” in the question). I’ll leave it in because it’s kind of a funny question. 

Lukyan: Well, kidnapping an orphan is basically what Emperor Konstantin did to MC (depending on how you look at it) so he'd probably be confused why MC wants to kidnap an orphan. He would be very cool about adoption in general, but would be adamantly opposed to the kidnapping aspect because he often felt like he never had a choice in a lot of his life, and would never do that to a child. 

Tzesar: He doesn't really understand the point. Why would you grab a random kid off the street instead of following the legal procedure. It's not that complicated and he has the money and political power to adopt legally and quickly.

Sentinel: His situation would more likely be, he attracted the attention of this kid, who followed him into a potentially dangerous situation that he now feels responsible for until the child is basically his. Or the kid just always wants to talk to him whenever he's in town until he develops an attachment.

Naxok and Albien: I put these two together because their culture has a unique situation as it applies to orphans, and I don’t think it would actually be possible for either of them to “kidnap” an orphan unless they took one from outside their own country, and I don’t see either of them doing that.

Gaderous: He’s be down, but not in an active kidnapping situation, more like I’m going to ignore proper legal procedure because this child needs a home and I can provide it kinda thing. 

How would they view time travel?

See this is such an interesting question because Tempurion actually can time travel, and give the person he’s bonded to that power. It won't come up in game, but it is actually possible. 

Lukyan: Luk would be very wary of it, and it kind of freaks him out a little. 

Tzesar: would think it's the coolest thing in the world, and keep very detailed notes about how it would work. 

Sentinel: Sentinel has seen a lot of harm caused by people trying to make-up for their bad decisions, so he would be alarmed by what people might do with time travel. 

Naxok: Nax lives so much in the moment, I'm not sure he'd care too much unless it was directly impacting him, and then he'd mostly be confused. 

Albien: He'd be interested in the history he could experience, but not really interested in seeing the future. 

Gaderous: Gat... would actually enjoy it if it was more the adventuring type of time travel, but he wouldn't want to see his own future... or past.

If your characters were flavors of Jello, which flavors would they be? Pudding counts too.

Luk: Candy Cane pudding 

Tzesar: Piña Colada jello 

Sentinel: Black Cherry 

Nax: Mixchief Grape Color-Changing 

Albien: Classic Turtle 

Gat:Margarita (is apparently a real Jell-O flavor, who knew)

I looked up the official list of flavors of gelatin and pudding made by Jell-O. And no I will not elaborate.

[andr0nap]

just dropping in to say I absolute ADORE your art, your colors and backgrounds and everything is absolutely gorgeous and I was losing my mind a little at your entire "ice planet au". Like, the backgrounds?!?!?! The environments?!! I need to sit down with those for a few hours and study how you did them because !!!! its amazing?! Also the ptarmigan inspired Tomas are adorable and I wish to hug them. And!! Diversity in Tomas?!! YES! My biology heart is singing with joy

also. Also. Sea Slug Vash. The Design. Is. Impeccable. Deep sea inspirations are absolutely perfect for the whole multidimensional kind of eldritch thing and vibe he + the plants have going on and it is stupendous. I absolutely love it

Aaaand the centaur au, is just delightful and I love the designs and the details to their forms, from Vash and Knives having different biology that's distinctly different when you look at details but close enough that Vash can mimic being horse-ish. (The coat patterns are so pretty!)

And (mostly last thing) this piece: https://www.tumblr.com/andr0nap/723041602792210432/turn-your-gaze-upon-this-wretched-holy-thing?source=share

I am in awe. The lighting, the detail work?! It has the feathers of trimax but the plant patterning of stampede (and oh gods, the patterning, the detail, the glow--) and then Vash's damned hand?! You've got all the pieces plus the texture and I'm just staring. AND the symbolism! Like, you've got Wolfwood staring at Vash, though Vash himself is hidden from view, and I'm just ajkghdkghjkd

Thank you very much for sharing your art!!

BWAAA THANK YOU SM!!! youre so sweet aaaa 🥺🥺🥺💕

im so happy people like my little ice planet au!! im no storyteller but i love worldbuilding and biology and putting my faves in new environments!! i definitely want to get back to this au when i get past the fandom burnout bc i put a lot of thought into this and id hate for it to end up gathering dust

YEAHH!! you get me!! i love feathery angel vash with all my heart but theres something so charming about the naked slimy chicken slug (more of that coming soon in the backlog dump)

designing the unicorn twins was an interesting little challenge, trying to make them look horse enough to be able to blend in with the masses but also predatory enough to make you go hey wait Thats Not A Horse. vash needs to put more effort into making himself look harmless because A. he moves differently from an equine when he isnt putting up an act with his exaggerated gait and B. the prey part in my centaurs brains is alive and well and theyre a suspicious bunch by nature so seeing vash stalk towards them in his normal gait would set off a lot of alarm bells

and im happy you like that piece!! it was my proper full render for the fandom and im still very proud of it!!! (esp the prosthetic.. and the fact that i remembered to turn on the timelapse yippee)

thank you again for the sweet ask!!!

[hael987]

My dear friend Allie Mason has authored her first published book ‘The Autistic Guide to Adventure’ - Illustrated by Ella Willis, so I just want to take a minute to talk about it here.

It’s a fantastic book targeted towards autistic tweens and teens featuring a full of a variety of activities to do. Though targeted towards an 8+ younger audience, I’m sure adults could benefit from and enjoy the activity recommendations as well.

It’s exactly what it says it is — a helpful guide on how to get involved in these activities and how you can navigate them as an autistic person.

Each activity has its own section and features content like:

‘Sensory Expectations’ [e.g sounds, visuals, textures, movements etc. — things you may encounter and want to be aware of before starting].

tips on ‘How To Get Started’, so you get a clear plan of action on how you can begin your new activity and navigate the adventures!

‘Support Recommendations’ — tips and suggestions for accommodations or preparations that might make the activity safe, more accessible, or more suited to your needs.

It also features some really cool sections such as interesting facts or interviews/ profiles/ anecdotal experiences around the activities from people who are actually autistic. It’s a great way for autistic young people to be able to read about other people just like them who are doing and enjoying these activities and know how they can do it too.

The activities cover a really wide range, so even with varying mobility levels, support levels, other disabilities, or specific sensitivities I think there’ll be an adventure right for everyone [or one that can be adapted].

I think this would also be a great resource for allistic parents with autistic children, you could even read it together. Sometimes it’s hard for parents to know what activities to do together with their neurodivergent kids, or even know where to start to broaden their kids’ interests/horizons (in activities), so I think this book could also be a great starting point for parents. It’s full of ideas that parents can suggest to their kids and details what to expect (sensory experiences) so relevant plans, accommodations, and/or sensory aids can be planned beforehand.

All children deserve the chance to have fun, experience new things, and enjoy the benefits of the outdoors if they can — this book aims to make that possible, making outdoor activities more accessible.

It would have been great to have had something like this during my youth too. Wanting to take part in these activities but not being able to simply because of not having enough information, knowing how to, or knowing what to expect can be really disheartening. So to see what this guide aims to do — making activities more accessible by giving all that information as well as encouraging interest — really brings a smile to my face.

You can hear more from (and about) Allie and also where to buy her book on her Blog > Everything Page | Instagram | TikTok

It’s a project full of love from both Allie and Ella, so I’d encourage you to please check it out. You’d also be helping to support autistic creators.

If you don’t want to click the links above but still want to purchase the books you can do so here: [UK] [International]. As far as I’m aware the book is currently (21.03.23) only available in English.

I saw just how much effort Allie put into this book and just how much she wanted to create something that could benefit and help autistic youths. While I do not know Ella personally, it’s very clear they put equally as much effort into their lovely illustrations for this book.

[voidwhump]

“But now this room is spinning while I’m trying just to fill in all the gaps.”

Safety Net | Swooning | “How many fingers am I holding up?”

It begins. I can safely say be ready for a part two to this tomorrow because I already wrote it so it's definitely there!

Ingredients: Unspecified illness, vertigo, nausea mentioned, not expecting help, mostly comfy

They navigate mostly by muscle memory toward their room, drifting into the wall for support without really noticing. The texture of the paint absorbs their focus briefly, cool, slightly rough, before they’re pulled away from the wall to face someone. Do they know him? They squint, but even only a foot or so away from them their vision is blurred. He’s saying something, he’s already quite a ways into saying something in fact. They’ll catch up later, if it’s important he’ll follow up and they’ll deal with it then. They nod at the end of whatever question they were just asked, and their stomach drops as the world tilts abruptly to one side. He’s moved in to catch them, and they push him back, try to form some sort of reassurance. The words don’t come. Their vision goes staticy. 

The next thing they hear is a not so quiet conversation being had between the person who stopped them and someone who must be at the end of the hallway. The footsteps of the new person approach rapidly, the floor vibrating a little as they get close. The floor is nice. Lying down might be the only thing they’ll ever do again. 

“Have they been out long?” That’s the new one, her voice has body, like the has a cello in her throat. 

“Not really, not even thirty seconds I think.” 

They should do something, they don’t like that these two are worried about them. Fortunately, opening their eyes seems possible now. They blink, the ceiling coming into focus. That’s better, maybe all they needed was a reset. That thought is quickly proven wrong, though, as they roll their head to look at the two crouching next to them and their vision streaks and breaks as they move. They blink a few times, but the doubled edges of the two worriers don’t resolve. The floor seems to be back at its tilting again as well, despite them being plastered to it. They feel like they’re being pulled down, as if the wood wants to absorb them. 

“Hey, are you listening?”

Oh, did they miss something again? They mumble a yes that barely leaves their mouth, and close their eyes to focus on the words.

“I said, do you think you’ll pass out again if you stand up?”

They shrug. “I’ll deal.. With it. I think.” They can hear themself slurring the words and slow down in the middle, sacrificing a normal talking speed for clarity. They roll to get up, swallowing as the lurch the motion causes intensifies the vertigo into nausea. As they sway on their knees, the first person puts an arm around them. They flinch away at first, not expecting the gesture, and he pulls back as they do, but they start to slump back to the floor almost immediately and he moves back in. He’s warm. Just the heat from his arm is enough for their shoulders to relax. They’re standing, albeit with most of their weight on him and now the second person. They’re not sure when she joined him. Or that sure why. They’re up on their feet now. Walking might be challenging, but they’ll have to get back to their room somehow. They are moving though. Mostly being carried, but now that they’ve caught up to the situation they put in some effort, taking some of their weight back. They’re trying to only lean on the two when they lose their balance, but they’re off balance more often than they aren’t. They could use the wall for this, it would be slow but they’d get there. Maybe they come across as too disoriented to find their room, so the two would be walking them there anyway. That would make sense.

They’re still thinking about it when they reach their door. How do the worriers know?  Do they know the woman? Or were they guiding the two?

“Key?”

Right, that. They fumble with their pocket and retrieve it. The keyhole proves evasive, the overlapping edges of everything they see combined with the constant dizziness making the small target impossible to hit. Eventually, one of the worriers places their hand over theirs and guides them, and finally they’re at home. This is the end of the line as well then. No reason to think they can’t figure out their own apartment. The man shifts their weight onto the woman and they prepare to be placed in their entryway. They can use the table by the door as support, but the more they think about it, the more it seems like they’ll end up crawling to bed. Maybe they’ll just sleep on the floor.

The world tilts again, but there’s something supporting their head and back. They’re in bed. Did they do that? They jump when the woman places a hand on their knee. She’s still here. She’s probably saying something too, but the bed is soft and they’re done thinking for the day. They’re asleep before she starts taking their shoes off.

[phregnancy]

I think phil mentioning the video in date night is enough acknowledgement lol

also I agree on the style thing like not to be a haterrr but dans sense of style does nothing for me even as someone who also wears all black. phil has got the whimsy factor and the fact he looks good in everything tbh. (especially w the blonde it absolutely amplifies his fits)

my issue with dan’s style is that he does not know how to Style. he buys pieces that are usually interesting and cool individually, but he does not know how to throw an outfit together. he doesn’t have a natural ability to style which it seems like phil does more so. you can wear all black and still know how to throw an outfit together

these pants are too long for those shoes. are they joggers? if so, the need to taper higher. if not then he needs to untuck whatever that mess is. the shoes and the hoodie could go together, the pants and the shoes could go together, and the pants and the hoodie could go together with some more effort - but all three of these things are an eyesore, it’s too much contrasting texture and the lines made throughout the outfit look like a mess. and generally i don’t like the fit of those pants but they Could be styled to work. but the outfit doesn’t work as is he really struggles putting outfits together.

[avelera]

Fic writers, I am begging you, stop mindlessly putting "beard burn" into all of your smut fics involving a bearded character

So a minor pet peeve of mine when reading smut fics that involve a bearded characters is how often they mention beard burn as if it's inevitable. Like, it's practically a staple at this point in what I've been reading and as a writer who believes in writing accurately from experience, lemme explain something to those of you who may not have actually lived such an experience below the cut:

1 ) I, personally, have received oral sex from bearded partners many times and never experienced beard burn down there. Now, to be clear, this could be a matter of how the legs are positioned. But I have very sensitive skin so this isn't simply a matter of me somehow doing it wrong when I say beard burn between the legs after oral has never happened to me.

If the legs are positioned wide, say over the shoulders, there's no reason that beard burn should occur unless the person deliberately rubs their face, hard against your inner thigh, which would involve them pausing in the actual giving of oral. Oral involves lips and tongue, the cheeks really don't get involved during concentrated efforts unless the legs are deliberately tightened around the face (say, from face sitting or some other position), which by the way, would also hamper the actual movement of giving oral and so would be unlikely to cause the friction of a beard burn. Maybe others have experienced it otherwise, I leave that possibility open, but I personally have never had that happen.

The same goes for a blow job here, by the way. Seriously, people, I want you to actually picture the mechanics of giving a blow job and tell me where exactly the cheeks of a bearded person would be rubbing against the skin of someone with an aroused, jutting cock, even if deep throating was involved, for goodness sake.

2 ) Beards actually tend to be quite soft, especially if they are grown out. What isn't soft is stubble. So a character who is normally clean shaven but has a five-o-clock shadow is more likely to cause some friction, more often during kissing or other activities that involve rubbing their cheeks against you deliberately, than a fully bearded person would cause it from giving oral sex. The stubble people are the problem, not the fully bearded people!!

3 ) Fluids. I love how people feel like they need to mention beard burn during oral for realism, somehow, but don't mention the fact that a beard is basically a sponge on someone's face and especially if they're going down on someone with a clit, there's going to be fluids involved if they're doing it right. Even whether it's male or female oral, there's going to be fluids involved because of their own spit, most likely. The fluids soak into the beard.

More to the point, regarding beard burn, the fluids reduce the likelihood of beard burn even if they're taking breaks to deliberately rub their bearded mouth against skin elsewhere, because the fluids soften the beard.

TL;DR Look, obviously someone with a beard, or a short bristly beard, or stubble, could choose to rub their cheeks against the inner thigh of someone they're giving oral to, deliberately, or against their face while kissing. Obviously there could be beard textures I haven't experienced where beard burn is somehow more common.

But this detail I'm seeing everywhere where a bearded guy going down on someone, especially if it's a fuller beard, automatically meaning beard burn is involved is just completely baffling to me and I'm pretty sure not based on people examining their own personal experience so even if I'm wrong in all cases for other people, for goodness sake, at least take an extra second to think about the mechanics of how exactly this beard burn is happening, especially when it's a blow job story, for goodness sake!

[secret-bug-pain-blog]

Febuwhump Day 15 - "Who did this to you?"

The We Forgot To Post Some Prompts Special, part two. We're linking the index here. This one's more Scarlet In The Worst Possible Situations.

"And what on the path could put in a state like that? I know I'm not an ant, but I don't think that a trip to see the queen is that treacherous."

"Ah, I appreciate your concern, but I'm not-" Scarlet cut himself off as the moth set a heavy paw on his shoulder, their scent shading to concern in what he was almost certain was a trained response by now. He could practically taste the sympathy in their scent, carefully laid to mask the trace scents he'd been following- they knew what they were doing, he was sure, and trying to work out what motive could possibly lead a bug to pretend at warmth like that made his wings itch for the safety of open air.

Scarlet quickly checked to make sure that his stress pheromones were still out of production. Something was giving him a very, very bad feeling about this.

"It was nothing," Scarlet said. "Just me getting a bit lost."

"So you've been saying," the moth agreed. They didn't move a muscle. He couldn't help but feel the slightest bit skittish at the clearly-trained scent they were still putting off. What were they playing a role for?

Scarlet racked his memory, trying to remember if he'd done anything to prompt it. His memories of the past week were entirely too blurry to parse, muddled in the haze of whatever substance he'd had to clear from his bloodstream- indistinct rivulets of thought that he hadn't the time or the presence of mind to parse. Everything was a mess of texture, the taste of rose tea, the distinct feeling that something had gone wrong, the presence of a bug he couldn't name melted into his side-

"I don't think that nothing breaks shell like that. I don't think that nothing splinters carapace, or layers a scarf to hide beetle-horn wounds, or drugs a bug to the gills on nectar that'd have to have been harvested during a festival that happened months ago. I especially don't think that nothing lands a bug on enough of something to have him cuddling up to my daughter like letting go for a split second will stop his heart dead."

The moth ruffled their wings, a faint steel underlining their voice. "Doing something like that needs intent. Needs effort. Needs a bug behind it - and I know for a fact that it's too far out of season to find Venus Bud nectar in the wild. Be honest with me. Who did this to you?"

[hnknafan2016]

Peter White Mr. Freeze AU where he’s a scientist and when Lorina falls terminally ill he kidnaps her from the hospital and starts stealing money to afford to build a cryogenic freezing tank and start working on a cure. Alice finds out that both her sister’s kidnapping and recent crimes have to do with a freeze gun, similar to Peter’s work, and finds him at their long abandoned elementary school (it’s where they met, he’s so flattered she figured out his hide-out) and asks exactly what the hell he’s doing, so he explains, and what can she do? Tell him to put Lorina back in the hospital so she can watch her slowly die? The crimes aren’t right, but thanks to him her sister is still alive, for now. He holds her as she cries. She doesn’t tell anyone what she knows. She grows distant from her family for her apparent lack of concern. She spends more time looking after Lorina and Peter. She visits every Sunday. She brings dinner for them to share, and drags him outside for short breaks. Despite the fervor he’s shown, she’s still shocked by his dedication towards their mission. They’ve been close friends for years, and she knows he has a…well, she thought it was a crush, but this is a little extreme. Thankfully, he has not framed his efforts as to be exchanged for romantic favors. 

******

One day Batman finds their hideout. She isn’t there when it happens. Her sister is fine. In fact, the Wayne foundation has very generously taken up cause to find her a cure. Until then, she will remain in her cryogenic coma. Peter, on the other hand, had an accident with his freezing chemicals. He can only survive in temperatures below zero, and has been taken to Arkham Asylum. The first time she sees him, she begins to weep. He frantically tries to assure her that everything will be ok. He swears to have his vengeance. She asks him not to. If he can be deemed sane and safe, he may one day be released, and they’ll figure it out from there. He stares. 

“We?” He echoes hollowly.

“Yes.” 

He stares dejectedly at his pale blue hands. “I do not expect you to—“ 

“I don’t care.” She insists. “I…we’re all we have left.” 

“Your family—“

“Doesn't know what happened and thinks I’m crazy. I’ll visit you. I promise. …I should probably be in there with you.”

 He swears to say whatever it takes to ensure that she isn’t. She comes at least twice a week. She loses contact with her family over it. That’s ok, because Lorina is safe. She tells him about her days, and what’s going on outside. Every so often, she does something new, just so she’ll have something novel to describe. No matter what, he always looks at her like she hung the moon. It’s a wonderful feeling, especially considering how lonely she’s gotten. 

*****

Eventually, after many years, he is released. She’s waiting for him at the gates. She throws her arms around him. He expects her to let go just as quickly, when it hits her how icy he is. If anything, she only grips him tighter. They plan to move to an isolated village somewhere very, very cold. He checks at least a dozen times over if she’s sure about her decision to join him. To leave everything behind for a frozen, sparse new life. She’s the first one on the plane. He tries to be polite and helpful to their neighbors, knowing it’s the only community Alice has. They often make dinner together. His food is frozen. Alice takes the time to try and make a sort of ice cream out of some things, in hopes of improving the texture. They stand in the same room, him in shorts and a t-shirt, her bundled up as though expecting a blizzard. She has a chair by the fire. His is halfway across the room. She uses a thermal blanket, he uses a thin sheet. He collects books for her. She wears gloves to hold his hand, but she does so, all the same. When he first brings up physical intimacy, it’s meant as a deterrent, when they are still planning to leave, and she can still change her mind. 

“It is of little consequence to me, but how am I to attend to your needs?!” He demands. Wordlessly, she leaves their frosty hideout, and returns an hour later with a hot pink sex toy in hand, her deadpan expression barely taming the blush across her cheeks. 

“…Ah.” He utters awkwardly, and that is quite the end of that.

*******

He wakes some nights, certain it has all been a dream, he is still in Arkham, Alice has lost her sister, Alice has left him altogether—of course she has she has her whole life ahead of her and you are inhuman with your body as frozen as your heart—nottohernevertoher—she deserves better you’ve ruined her life you dragged her to a frigid wasteland away from her sister look at what you’ve done to her— 

“Alice?” He calls out feebly, ashamed of how hoarse his voice sounds. 

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” She answers sleepily from her own bed an insurmountable 3 feet away. 

I am sorry? I love you? Thank you for staying? Please do not leave? “…”

“Peter?” She’s awake now. He hears her push her blanket back, feet gently landing on the floor, cushioned by thick, woolen stockings. She’s coming over. Quickly he begins to sit up, hoping to wave her off before she gets too close. 

“It is nothing.” He supplies hurriedly. “I…goodnight.” She stares at him, disbelieving, and reaches out to flick his forehead. 

“Idiot.” She huffs as she moves to grab her blankets. “Now scooch over.” She instructs far too firmly for argument. He does as she asks. They lay together, side by side. She bunches the blanket around her into a makeshift glove before shifting to take his hand. He wants to cry. 

“…You should be able to hold your husband.” He whispers into the dark. (He could not bring himself to propose. To chain her to him anymore than he has. Finally she got tired of waiting and asked him to marry her. As though he could refuse her anything. It was a modest affair, with paperwork filled out, a quiet celebratory dinner after. No one else was invited. The witness was an office worker. She looked ethereal in her wedding dress. She deserved so much more than he could ever give.) He can feel her rolling her eyes. 

“What the hell do you call this?” She inquires, lifting their joined limbs. “Look, no one’s marriage is perfect, but everyone tries to make it work.” She shrugs. “That’s all.” 

“That’s all?” He repeats faintly, as though she can minimize everything that has happened with two simple words. 

“Yeah, now get over here.” She leans forward to press a dry kiss against his lips. All their kisses are dry, least some errant moisture render her stuck to him. Still, it is tender, and the loveliest thing he can imagine. 

“I love you.” She finishes. “Now go to sleep.” Still swathed within her cocoon, she tucks herself close to his chest, so he can play at being the big spoon. 

“…I love you too.”

*****

One day news reaches them of Lorina’s recovery. She has been freed from her icy tomb, and is alive and well. 

“…Do you wish to see her?” Peter hears someone say, though he does not recognize the voice as his. Alice stares distantly at the newspaper lying on their kitchen table. 

“…No.” She answers after a silent eternity. “I…I want her to move on. I don’t want…I haven’t seen my family in years. I mean���it’s not that I don’t want to see her, I love her, I mean yes I do want to see her alive, I just—“

“Alice.” He interrupts, shocking her when he places his frosty hand over hers. “You do not need to explain yourself to me.” She nods slowly, and takes a deep breath. 

“…I think we’d better not.” Which is tough, because Lorina finds them anyway. One perfectly ordinary evening while her husband is out for groceries, she hears a knock at the door and suddenly her older sister is there. 

“Hello, Alice.” She greets gently. “May I come in?” Mrs. White stumbles back, which Ms. Liddell takes to be as good an invitation as any. She examines her little sister. “You look well.” She notes carefully. “I’m glad. When Edith and father told me you ran away, I was worried.” 

Alice can only stare open mouthed in disbelief. When she imagined seeing her sister again, she expected shouting, accusations. You left me. You abandoned our family. Lorina would not have. Lorina, who had sacrificed so much for them when their mother died, would never. Alice knew exactly what she deserved, and yet, here her sister was, holding her, hugging her like she had not ignored her miraculous recovery. Like she wasn’t—Peter thinks he’s a monster? If he only knew how well we suit each other. 

“Alice?” Ms. Liddell starts. “Are you ok?” 

“…I knew you were better.” She forces out. “I chose not to come.”

“…May I ask why?”

“I married Peter.” She states numbly, avoiding the question. “He kidnapped you. And did some major bank robberies. And hurt people. He can only live in places like this now.”

“…He always has been mad about you.”

“How can you be so calm about this?!” Alice finally explodes. “I left you! I left our family! And when you miraculously got better, I didn’t come to see you! Why don’t you hate me?!” She sobs, crumpling in on herself. She feels Lorina’s arms wrapping around her in support. They stumble over to the kitchen table, where her sister helps her into a chair before taking a seat. She can’t look at her. Her head is all but buried in her arms. 

“Do you want some tea?” Ms. Liddell inquires cautiously. “I expect you must keep some.”

“Why don’t you hate me?” Alice whispers brokenly. 

“Well, for starters,” Lorina begins reasonably, “you’re a grown woman Alice, and if you want to move away, it is your right to do so. Now, about your husband, are you happy with him?” Alice sits up, surprised by the question. 

“Yes.” She answers once she has her bearings. “I mean, it’s not perfect, but…yeah, I’m happy.” 

“Good.” Her sister agrees. “When I heard that his technology helped save my life, I had no question as to why, my only fear was that his reasons were…less than altruistic.” 

“I proposed to him, actually.” Alice recounts. “He’s always felt bad about…how everything turned out.” 

“Yes, how did everything turn out?” Lorina asks, scrutinizing Mrs. White. She explains what she can, confessing her role in Peter’s crimes. 

“I think he would have stopped, if I had told him to.” She admits. “But I didn’t. I couldn’t just let you die.” 

“…And yet you did not visit.” Lorina observes, somehow managing to sound impartial. 

“…I thought you’d be better off living your life, not stuck in…everything anymore. I thought you could have a fresh start.” 

“Well…I missed you.” Lorina says quietly, hand slowly gliding across the table. They embrace, this time with Alice squeezing her back. Ms. Liddell tears up, while Mrs. White trembles, sobbing. 

“I missed you too. So much.” 

******

Peter has fought Batman. Peter has survived Arkham. Peter has faced the challenges of his inhuman condition. And yet, he has never known such terror as the moment he walks through his front door to find Lorina Liddell serenely drinking tea in his living room. 

“Hello, Peter.” She greets mildly. He wants to claw his way out of the house. 

Where is Alice? Where is she? He imagines some get-away plane waiting as she hurriedly packs, ready to leave with her sister and have the life she always—

“We have company for dinner tonight.” His wife calls softly, padding out from the kitchen. She doesn’t appear prepared for travel. Perhaps she is waiting until tonight when he is asleep, to be sure he can’t try to stop her. He will not. If she truly wishes to leave, she may. Whatever it takes to make her happy. It is all he has ever wanted.

“...I can help.” He offers hoarsely. 

“There’s no need.” Ms. Liddell tells him lightly. Her voice makes him shiver. “We have a stew on the stove; it will be done soon.”  

“I can…set the table.” He suggests weakly. 

“It’s been taken care of.” Lorina answers delicately. “Alice, would you be a dear and put the groceries away? I’d like to catch up with your husband.” 

Alice suffering harm is easily Peter White’s greatest nightmare; but meeting her sister again is surprisingly a close second. As Mrs. White carefully relieves him of his purchases, she reaches out and gives his hand a firm but tender squeeze, before gently brushing the pad of her thumb over his knuckles. 

“It’s going to be ok.” She whispers, giving an encouraging smile. Is this her goodbye? It’s admittedly very warm. As she exits the room, their guest turns to face him. 

“Why don’t you have a seat?” She gestures to the chair across from her. This feels like a nightmare. His legs move of their own accord, dragging him to his directed destination. As he sits, waiting, she takes another leisurely sip of tea, before carefully setting down the cup. Slowly, she lifts her head, striking him with sharp, scrutinizing eyes, haunting in how much they resemble his wife’s. 

“I suppose I should thank you for your role in my recovery.” She says at length. “But I doubt my gratitude would be of any interest to you, seeing how my wellbeing was never your concern.”

“…I took no pleasure from your illness.” He responded honestly. 

“But you only intervened on Alice’s behalf, correct?” She prompted.

“…Yes.”

“Peter, do you know why I am here?” She questioned frankly. 

“...To bring Alice home.” He whispers roughly, fighting back screams that this is their home, they live here, quite happily he might add, but he won’t, he can’t, because he loves her, and every time she reaches out to him, he imagines her hand in hand with someone she can touch freely, someone she need not protect herself against. Lorina must know this, and has come to do what he never had the strength to. She will take her, his beloved wife, and together they will brave their new lives together, a fresh start for them both. Perhaps she shall even reconnect with the rest of her family. He wishes to loathe Ms. Liddell, but can only find shame at his own weakness. 

“If that is her intention.” Lorina answers, composed. “Although, it does not seem to be.” Peter involuntarily starts at this slight and selfish glimmer of hope, while their guest leans forward, her stern gaze monopolizing his. “Peter White, when I speak to you, I will accept nothing less than the truth.” She quietly thunders. “Now, did you leverage my health to obtain my sister’s affections?” 

“No.” He growls, nails digging into the arms of his chair.

“Did you guilt or otherwise coerce her to leave Gotham?” She demands in a clipped tone. 

“No.” He hisses through gritted teeth. She gives no acknowledgment to the manner with which he speaks, instead fixing him with a piercing stare, seeming to scour the air between them for lies. Finally, her posture relaxes, and she slumps back in her chair, as though the conviction has all at once flooded out of her.

“Good.” She breathes, seemingly satisfied. “Alice said as much, but I wanted to be sure.” Then she rose, slowly extending her hand. “Congratulations are in order, I suppose. You always did seem to care for little else besides her.” As they shake, he notes she does not flinch at his touch. 

Dinner is an odd yet simple affair, with Mrs. White and her sister chatting about everyday things. Alice describes their routine, while Lorina discusses her plans now that she is healthy. Peter sits frozen in silence, barely eating, yet consuming enough to avoid unwanted attention. Eventually, Lorina departs, with her and her sister promising to write to each other. The second she is out the door Alice all but falls into a nearby chair. 

“I can’t believe that happened.” She marvels incredulously. “If it weren’t for the third bowl on the table, I’d think I dreamed it all up.” Silently, Peter walks over, and wraps his arms around his wife. He pulls her into his lap, curling tightly around her. “…You ok?” She asks from her frosty flesh prison. 

“I love you so very much, Alice.” He murmurs. 

She snorts, gently placing a hand over his. “Trust me, I know.”  They live well. Alice ages, while Peter looks relatively unchanged since his transformation. One day, many decades later, he is the first to wake. He glances over towards his beloved, and finds her still asleep. Good. She needs her rest. As he moves to get started on breakfast, he notes her to be still. Unnaturally so. His heart is hammering. He isn’t truly looking but he cannot tear his eyes away. The need to know outways the horror he feels, so slowly, painfully, he extends his hand, and weakly tries to shake his wife awake. She does not stir. Nor will she ever again. He does not feel. He cannot feel. He is a man made of snow and ice who only knew warmth by her touch and her laugh and her smile and now she is—carefully, he scoops her up, and carries her away in his arms. He continues walking. He does not stop. Eighty-three miles from their home, in a notably warmer region, the bodies of an elderly woman and a young man are found. He is wrapped around her, in what could be described as a protective embrace. Their corpses are never identified. Anyone who knew them from their old lives is either unaware or has already passed. They are buried together in unmarked graves. Perhaps the next time they meet, they will be able to walk hand in hand on a hot summer day. But if not, all the same, it was quite a life they shared. Peter’s last hope is that she treasured it as much as he did.

[enchanted-lightning-aes]

On the Set

A/N: here’s a short after a hiatus of not posting. just some shenanigans happenin’ on a movie set.^^

Word Count: 646

TW: None

***

A row of spotlights lowered onto the group of people present on a set. It resembled a small town from the late 19th century, consisting of buildings of a wooden texture. The background featured an afternoon horizon, blurry and sunny.

The actors dressed up in clothing appropriate to the era. In hats and in dresses in brown and beige hues. They stood at the center of the setting, squaring off.

"This town ain't big enough for any of us," an actress declared, tipping her hat. "So, we gotta settle this."

The other actress scoffed. "Oh, yeah? And what are you gonna do about it, lil missy? Scare me off? Ha! You got no weapon to defend yourself. And you got no connections too! This town will be mine!"

"Ah, I don't need a weapon for that." The actress grinned, propping her hands at her sides. "In fact, I know. . . I know just the thing to stop ya!"

Just the actors could have proceeded with the next scene, the first actress flourished. She moved aside and another actress popped up,

A director in her seat jumped out and sliced her arms in the air.

"Cut!" Reanna commended.

"Hey, I worked hard on that!" The third actress pouted, crossing her arm. "I took effort to make those dance moves decent!"

"What is this?" Reanna demanded. "Some sort of dance number? I thought we're filming an action movie, not a musical! Cut it out, Miss Devon!"

Miss Devon skidded to a halt, looking sheepish. "Just doing some improvision, boss!"

"Improvision that I didn't allow," Reanna grumbled. "I get it, you're the star. But you don't get to do things just because you can."

"Don't be so rude!" Vasia, her assistant, pipped up. "I'm sure they're just kidding."

Reanna scowled. "This is meant to be a western action flick! Not some damn dance dance revolution compilation."

And honestly, she didn't envision this upon reading the script sent to her.

Vasia winced and turned away. The second actress glanced around as if looking for her agent. Katalia whistled to a tune similar to 'Pink Panther.' And Miss Devon approached Reanna, clasping her hands together.

"C'mon, this can be added into the bloopers!" Miss Devon pointed out. "Pretty please? Katalia just wanted to have a moment to shine! It isn't a bad thing!"

"But it'll interfere with what we have to film."

"Just five minutes tops? That's it, no more after that. It's a guarantee!"

Why did she had to cast someone persistent and perky? Miss Feye Devon had what it took to request for what she wanted. She could exude an imposing screen presence, gaining an audience's attention. Get them to pay heed to what she said or did.

Yet she doesn't. Instead she employed an earnest demeanor for a simple task. To put an entire production at a halt. But she wanted this for a co-star, who had been assigned to play the part of a supporting role.

Then again, she could finish filming once they were done with this. And Miss Devon was right: they could feature this at the bloopers.

Reanna huffed and plopped back into her seat. "Fine. We can do that. But we have to film the confrontation again. When the cameras start rolling again, stick to what's on the script. We can't be in the studio all day, you know."

Miss Devon clapped, grinning. "Got it, Ma'am!"

As Reanna whistled and called for other actors to join, she pressed a hand over her forehead. Katalina tilted her head to the side, angling an arm over her stomach. Mimicking klutzy robot dance moves.

Perhaps, in her next film, she could cast Katalina as a lead. A plucky protagonist with tons of spunk and will. Once she had a full script, she could hire her by then.

"Get into places everyone!" Reanna called briskly. "Lights, camera, action!"

***

[varnaedhar]

@sunguns: hair, eyes, build, and because i know damn well the feral woods lady isn't wearing heels at all times, feet.

Oftentimes, the first thing a person notices about Raven is going to be her hair.

Kept long and always worn loose, her hair is a dark black with hints of silver beginning to show themselves. Her hair is remarkably thick, and has a coarser texture than one might expect -- dry, due to lack of upkeep, and often with split ends. It has always been unmanageable, and without anyone to assist her with it, Raven gave up any attempt at styling it.

If her hair has undergone the same transformation as her brother's, she certainly hasn't mentioned as much. Though it would be easily hidden beneath her headdress, the mass of feathers worn at the back of her head. The decoration is used primarily as a status symbol within the tribe, and very few people will ever see her without it.

As for hair on the rest of her body, Raven tends to have a small amount of body hair, not particularly concerned with shaving herself to the point of hairlessness. The hair that does grow on her arms, underarms, and legs tends to be lighter and thinner than the rest of her hair.

Raven's eyes are a deep red color -- how they are described tends to change depending on the person, from murmurs of blood red to simple crimson. Her eyes are quite angular, and on the rare occasion that Raven wears eye makeup, she usually will put most of her focus into a sharp winged eyeliner -- which only further emphasises this fact.

While Raven's facial expressions don't tend to be particularly emotive, you can always tell how she is feeling if you look at her eyes -- they give away far more than the rest of her will. Her mouth can spit venom, but her eyes will always reflect how she truly feels. They hide nothing.

A closer look will show that the majority of Raven's age is showing around her eyes, the crow's feet and dark circles that she makes no effort to hide.

Get ready for my canon divergence because Raven's body build is not based on her build in the show... Okay? Okay.

Raven may not have gotten as tall as her brother, but she got close. At 6'0", she's a tall lady, and built like she could absolutely fucking end you and not think twice about it. It may come as a surprise to those who place judgements based on how she seems upon a first meeting: she does not make a point of showing how strong she is without reason.

Seeing her out of the outfit she most often wears, however, will reveal the truth: while certainly not a body builder by any means, Raven has well-defined muscle that has been built up over years of fighting to survive.

She is a bit broader than one might expect from how she holds herself, keeping most of her muscle in her arms and shoulders. She has to have good arms, in order to properly wield the beast that is Omen.

If her allusion ties to Norse mythology, I can make her a viking woman, god damn it.

You are correct: she most certainly does not wear heels that often. While Raven's boots do have a slight heel, they don't add much to her height and are more closely related to work boots than the heeled shoes that seem common with younger huntresses these days...

While perfectly capable of walking silently when the need presents itself, a more casual step from Raven is a heavy one. She walks with purpose and intent, and you will know she is there. Her steps tend to be rather flat-footed, not wasting time with the usual toe-heel step, which only adds to the heaviness of her stride.

let's get physical ( features )