#is the best jock villager ever thank you so much

[danitheibsdiva]

Teddy sleeping peacefully on his cardboard 🫶

I did delete this island… oops

[myherodreaming]

As soon as I saw the link to your new blog I had to ask for a request. Your writing makes beyond happy. Anyway I was thinking of a headcannon where Kirishima's or Bakugo's s/o got them into animal crossing? I think it would be hilarious knowing Bakugo had a town filled with cute little animals. Thank you and I can't want to see this blog take flight!

Ahh, hi bby, I’m really glad that my writing makes you happy :’) your support is so so appreciated! Also this ask is everything, animal crossing is my LIFE right now & I loved thinking about these! Theses are all based on New Horizons. Also get ready for more swearing than I’ve ever incorporated into my writing before.

-

KIRISHIMA

He’s really excited to try it! He always loves holding you on his lap and watching you play and he’s been secretly hoping you’ll let him give it a shot

He walks around the whole island just exploring until he finds one of the jock villagers working out on the beach, and he’s just like, “Yoooo!” he’s lowkey disappointed that he can’t work out with him

He makes a little garden of red flowers right next to his house

He goes around talking to all of the villagers and when he finds out he can give them gifts he goes to all of the shops trying to find the best gifts to give them all

He panics when he’s fishing and almost always reels in the line before the fish bites - eventually he just makes you catch a few fish for him

He makes a little Crimson Riot poster in the designer and hangs it up above his bed

He hides the screen from you and writes you a letter telling you how much he loves you and how cute you are and how glad he is that he’s your boyfriend and when you get it the next morning you almost cry

He enjoyed playing but he honestly thinks what he loves more is watching you play

BAKUGOU

It takes some real convincing from you for him to give it a try, even though he’s been trying to subtly watch you play over your shoulder for the last few weeks

“It could help you relax!”

“DO I LOOK LIKE I NEED TO RELAX??” 

After that you just kinda shove your switch into his hands and he just scowls at the title screen until he finally says, “Well are you gonna show me how this works or not??”

He runs everywhere - the walking speed is just Too Slow and will not be tolerated

“Who’s this ugly fuck?” He asks as he swats Beardo repeatedly over the head with a net

The egg event has his blood pressure through the roof

“GOD *incoherent muttering* fucKING *more muttering* DAMN ITTTT” he just wants to catch some damn fish

“Incinerate my Switch and by god I’ll find a way to incinerate you.”

He just scowls and gives up on fishing and decides to go around shaking fruit trees so he can give the fruit to all the animals except Beardo, he really hopes word gets around that they all got fruit but him

Mutters “you’re fucking welcome” every time one of the cuties thanks him for the gift

He still keeps talking to them, though

He ends up playing every once in a while when he’s especially moody and honestly it really does help bring his mood up just a little

[onestowatch]

Artists on Their Favorite and Least Favorite Animal Crossing Villagers

In the world of hard-hitting journalism, few topics are as divisive and polarizing as Animal Crossing, namely the subject of best and worst villagers. From tier lists to spending an obscene amount of Nook Miles tickets in the search of the “perfect” villager, the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons has brought with it a seedy blackmarket. Want a smug office working cat with heterochromia? Well, I hope you are prepared to shell out upwards of 20 million bells. 

From Queer Eye’s Bobby Berk critiquing players’ virtual homes to Elijah Wood sliding in your DMs to sell turnips, seemingly no one is safe from this newfound reality. So, as we navigate our way through a world in which Bobby isn’t pleased with my island home having a room dedicated solely to turnip storage, we posed one impossible question to a few of our favorite artist friends. “Who is your favorite and least favorite Animal Crossing villager?”

BENEE

"I don’t like Moose because he only ever wants to talk to me about working out, and I don’t like how he calls me shorty! Katt is probably my favourite because she seems interested in having a chat when I approach her."

Griffin McElroy

“Roald is my favorite Animal Crossing villager by an enormous margin, and was the first creature I tracked down once I got my hands on New Horizons. He’s a penguin who falls into the ‘jock’ category, despite the fact that he’s usually chilling in his igloo-house with a sandwich or a cold one in hand. He cares very much about my sick gains, and I appreciate it to no end.

My least favorite villager is Zucker, who is an octopus that most other players seem to love, but boy, he's challenging. His head resembles takoyaki, which is to say, a fried dough ball filled with minced octopus, impaled on a stick and drizzled with brown sauce. What dark magics breathed life into Zucker? Should I want to eat him? Because I kind of do, and I don't need that energy on my island, thanks.”

Dayglow

“Favorite has to be Sparro by far, like woah! He’s so freaking chill. Least favorite was easily Zipper— good riddance. He had such creepy unwelcome vibes.”

mxmtoon

"My favorite Animal Crossing Villager is Stitches because I think he looks like the funniest and he really likes bugs. He lives on a dirt floor, he's an airplane king, and, despite all odds, has flourished and thrived in his life. I don't even know if I have a least favorite but if I had to pick it would be Pate, she's a duck and just really rude. Her eyebrows also look like W's.”

Cavetown

“Villagers can be a very controversial topic in the Animal crossing community. There seems to be two types of people when it comes to villager preferences - the ones who just love them all equally, and the ones who unapologetically have an overwhelming hatred for specific animals in the game. I’m of course totally against bullying in most cases, but animal crossing villagers are the one exception. 

I won’t name names about the ones I hate in the game as not to hit any nerves for anyone reading, but for example there’s this one resident I have - let’s just say her name rhymes with Banberra - who has being going around pissing off all my best friends in town. She leaves my sweet Sydney and Marina walking around furious for no good reason. I’ve been trying to bully her out of my town but she’s been there since the beginning and seems adamant on staying. She’s my least favourite right now because of how she’s been treating my other villagers.

As for favourites, I could go on forever!! In my current town, Poncho was one of my first two villagers and I decided we’re best buds. He’s a jock villager so is always talking about pumping iron, and I love him so much that I built a whole outdoor gym for him in my town. I tend to unconditionally love the Octopus and Frog villagers. He doesn’t really count as a villager, but my favourite character in the whole game is Leif. I would literally put my life on the line if it meant his flowers would bloom perfectly.”

chloe moriondo

“Pietro is my favorite ACNH villager even though I don’t have him on my island (yet)!!!!!  I think he gets a lot of hatred thrown his way for being a clown, which I personally relate to, and he is colorful and cute and fun and sheepy and I would lay down my life for him. He is by far my favorite villager since I got him in my town in New Leaf.

My least favorite villager is Moose, even though I weirdly still respect him for being so ugly and notorious amongst the ACNH community. In fact, I would almost call myself a fan of him just because of how gross and hilarious I think his little manly mouse face is. I would not want him in my town ever, but I am an advocate of Ugly ACNH Villagers’ Rights so I wouldn’t hit him with a net or be mean to him if he were to visit. (Would NOT ask him to move in though.)”

Jorge (Peach Tree Rascals)

“My personal favorite character is (not surprisingly) K.K Slider. Any dog with that much swag and music playing ability deserves all the love and respect in the world. As for my least favorite it’d probably have to be Pietro. Something about a creepy clown like that just doesn’t sit right with me, It’s just so creepy looking. An honorable mention would be Papi the horse, simply because his name is Papi. Like c’mon that’s hilarious! Plus his dreams of being a comic book writer remind me of when I wanted to be a comic artist when I was much younger.”

Almondmilkhunni

“I like Goldie the most because she’s just super cute. And I dislike Moose, because I hate his eyebrows. He’s a little rat weirdo.”

khai dreams

“I love Roald. He is a weird little beady-eyed dude, but I adore him. He was one of the villagers in my town back when I played Animal Crossing on the GameCube. Penguins were my favorite animal at the time, so I was so happy when he moved in. He is just a dumb little baby and I love him for it. Bonus fav character is Coco. She is just so weird and creepy and cute. She is my wife. She will be my wife. 

My least favorite villager is Colton. F Colton!! He showed up in my camp and wouldn't leave until I let him live in my village. I report him every day to Isabelle, but it seems to make no difference. In his biography it says his skill is ‘Writing about pickles;’ what the hell? stfu Colton. Write about pickles in someone else's town!!!”

[mayorofcoolvile]

could you please do one with teddy? jock bear is pretty rad and i just wanna bust down n’ lift weights with him. i really love your writing!

Thank you! I’m really enjoying writing for all of you!

~

If there was one word you would use to describe Teddy it would be...big. Very big. A fully grown grizzly bear who has a passion for going to the gym. He stood a good foot above you with arms that looked like he could tear a house down with a blank expression that made him near impossible to read. There was a deep growl in his voice that reverberated in your chest whenever he spoke.

An intimidating man for sure.

Except he’s one of the sweetest people you have ever met. Kind to the other villagers, especially you; and very encouraging - even if he doesn’t understand anything outside of lifting weights or doing a few dozen sit ups.

Today you had some free time and decided to spend some time with Teddy, who was always happy to have your company; which led to the two of you enjoying some easy exercising. Well, you weren't really exercising - you were sitting on Teddy’s back while he did push ups. Easily lifting himself up and down even with your extra weight. You were also enjoying a nice conversation, just speaking about your days and whatever plans you may have.

It was nice.

Eventually you laid down, your head resting Teddy’s shoulder with your stomach against his back as he just kept on pushing the both of you up and down.

“..and then she told me that she thinks that Lucky has actual bodies buried in his house, which I quickly denied ‘cause I’m the one who set up his house and I didn’t bury anybody beneath the floorboards. She still didn't believe me though and was pretty insistent about it and wanted me to go to Isabelle about it. Now I wasn't about to kick out a friend just because he made someone uncomfortable, that’s just not fair. I mean it’s not his fault he’s different ya know?” Teddy huffed under his breath, feeling his arms begin to ache as he was reaching his limit, already breaking a sweat with that well known burn deep under his fur and skin.

“So instead I told Isabelle about when she said and this is, like, the third time I’ve complained about her so I’m considering making her move out.” Again Teddy huffed, laying on the ground for a moment, taking a deep breath every few seconds. He was so close to breaking his personal best he wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

“Maybe you should try to change her mind.” You looked at Teddy with a doubtful and confused expression.

“What, like set them up on a date?” There was no way you were doing that. Lucky wasn’t much for social interaction, a shy little dog and you weren’t going to force him to meet up with someone who clearly didn’t like him.

“No,” Teddy chuckled, gesturing for you to get off of his back while he stood with a small stretch and grabbed his water bottle to take a few sips. 115 push ups finished, whoo, and he can feel it too. “Just have them met. In the park or something, ya know? She could change her mind and apologize for being…”

“A bitch?” You crossed your arms with a small frown, Teddy chuckled at your blunt wording.

“Not what I would say but sure. You never know it could work.” It took everything for you not roll your eyes with a heavy sigh. He was just trying to help and you’ve ranted at him for a good while.

“Aren’t you s’possed to be a meathead? Jocks don’t give good advice.” Again Teddy laughed quietly, poking your side with a teasing smirk.

“That’s ‘cause I’m your friend grooof.”

[kurtsiehummel]

For the AU + Trope + Prompt game: 6 + 5 + 15 please? Thanks! C:

coffee shop!au, unrequited love, “i’m rambling again, aren’t i?”

@alphabees-writes thank you so much for the prompt! i hope you like :)

read on ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25377799

-

the exquisite pain

The Russian word toska roughly translates to a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without a specific cause; a longing with nothing to long for. It has no direct English translation.

Kurt discovered the word in a battered Lima Library dictionary during one of his more successful escapes from neanderthal jocks. I know what I long for, he told himself. To be somewhere free from small-minded morons, to have a loving partner, to have success under the bright lights - Kurt knew the shape of his dreams.

And now - now, he has it all. New York, Adam, Broadway. But then what is this ache in his chest?

“Maybe it’s indigestion,” his friend tells him.

The friend’s name is Sebastian, and he is an obnoxious, insufferable know-it-all. Case in point.

The two of them are holed up in a corner of a coffee shop, a routine they’ve kept up since high school in Ohio. Since moving to the West Village two years ago (Kurt with Adam and the Sebastian by himself), they’ve frequented The Elk. It’s a refreshing, cozy affair - neutral tones, wood-panelled furniture, and smiley baristas.

Being with Sebastian feels like that, Kurt thinks - refreshing, cozy, smiley.

Adam once asked him how his and Sebastian’s friendship lasted so long. “And we’re even moving into his neighbourhood!” Adam exclaimed, sounding impressed.

Kurt was impressed too. He thought about it.

“Coffee,” he said. “We both can’t live without it.”

Adam chuckled. He’d always been a tea drinker.

“Don’t you ever feel that there’s something missing in your life?” Kurt continues asking Sebastian. “Something that’s hovering there, just out of reach, and you could grasp it if only you knew how.”

Sebastian smirks. “Absolutely not. You’re thinking too hard. This is why I don’t believe in monogamy – it makes people no fun at all.”

Kurt rolls his eyes and sighs. “How was last night?”

Sebastian leers. “Fantastic. Went home with this blonde and he sure was freaky -“

Kurt holds up a hand before Sebastian can regale him with the graphic details. He’s not sure why that ache in his chest intensifies at the first mention of Sebastian’s escapades, and chalks it down to concern for his friend.

“So I’m guessing you’re still not any closer to settling down?”

Sebastian scoffs. “What did I just say about monogamy?”

Kurt purses his lips and drains the dregs of his mocha.

-

Later that evening, Kurt’s on the phone, sprawled on his bed with fingers pulling at loose threads on the duvet as his father’s voice washes over him like a warm bath. Burt's talking about Kurt’s stepmother with that soft, gruff tone he reserves specially for her.

“Carole tried this new recipe with the chicken today. Cock ah something?”

“Coq au vin.”

“Yeah, that. It was fantastic. She really outdid herself. I tell ya kid, marrying her was one of the best decisions of my life.”

Kurt smiles softly. “I can’t believe it’s your tenth anniversary,” he says, as he wonders what the best decision of his life was.

Burt Hummel has been married twice in his life. Both times, within a year of meeting. Kurt has been with Adam for six years.

On the day of his and Carole’s wedding, Burt pulled his son aside. As they stood under the glittering fairy lights and plucked glistening canapes off passing servers, Kurt would never forget how his father placed a hand on his shoulder, looked straight into his eyes, and said, “I’m so happy right now.”

Kurt had always dreamed of a fairy-tale wedding.

“Dad, how did you know when it was time to get married?”

One, two, three beats.

“Is this about Adam?”

“Maybe.”

Kurt hears a sigh.

“Life’s too short, kiddo. You and I both know that. And when you meet the right person, that’s rare, Kurt. Me and your mother - we were lucky enough to have the time we had, but I would trade anything for just ten minutes longer.”

Kurt’s throat tightens with longing, and Burt clears his throat.

“What I want to say is, don’t waste your time with indecision. Answer me this. When you imagine your life five years from now, is Adam in it? Ten years from now. Twenty. Can you picture a life with him?”

Kurt bites his lip. “Yes,” he whispers. Imagining life without Adam, without Sebastian, is piercing, exquisite pain. He pictures Sebastian always by his side, Adam always in his bed.

He wonders why he’s thinking about Sebastian when his father asked him about Adam, but he feels the ache in his chest easing. The shapeless discontent dispersing.

“Yes,” he says, more clearly now.

“Well,” says his father, “there’s only one thing left to do.”

-

Kurt’s fingering the petals of his bouquet as he makes his way to Sebastian’s. They’re daffodils – big, creamy white petals with a pastel yellow centre. In his mind, he’s already imagining lily-white accents, a cream pressed suit, golden-yellow boutonnieres –

“Good choice,” the florist had said when Kurt picked it up. “Rebirth, new beginnings, eternal life... unrequited love.”

Kurt laughed awkwardly. “New beginnings? This would make a good choice for a proposal then?”

The florist gave him a knowing look as she adjusted her cat-eye glasses. “Of course.”

Pre-empting Sebastian’s complaint about the god-awfully early wake up call, Kurt ducks into The Elk to grab a mocha for his friend. He needs him alert and ready in order to help plan the perfect proposal.

Kurt’s humming as he unlocks the door. He’s dreaming up potential speeches - from the moment I saw you, I knew you would be someone special? A bit contrived but it’s a start - as he walks deeper into the apartment. Then he hears it.

Moaning.

Kurt gasps, and in his hasty retreat, elbows a vase. It’s an intricately patterned affair - or it was. He vaguely registers that he’s spilled the coffee.

He cringes as the vase crashes down, and Sebastian slams open the bedroom door.

“Who’s there - Kurt?”

Sebastian’s clad in nothing but a sheet carelessly wrapped around his hips. As he bends down to check on Kurt it starts to slip and wow - Kurt averts his eyes.

He can’t help the way his eyes dart to the open bedroom door where he can see a sprawled out blonde figure, chest littered with bite marks and hickeys.

Kurt’s not sure why he’s suddenly feeling breathless – as Sebastian’s best friend he knows the variety and number of his sexual exploits, and he’s had the misfortune of walking in on them before - but the ache in his chest is back in full force.

It takes everything in him to just civilly take Sebastian’s hand to pull himself up, instead of not so civilly grabbing onto the man’s shoulders to shake the answers out of him. Why do I feel like this around you?

“What are you doing here? Are the flowers for me, babe?” Sebastian asks, and Kurt can’t find the words to reply. His head is spinning, his chest is aching, coffee is spattered on the plush carpet like blood, his daffodils have dropped to the floor, he’s rambling again isn’t he -

Oh shit.

Daffodils.

Oh shit.

That nameless longing, that pull in his heart - once again, Kurt’s sitting on that dusty library floor.

Toska, he reads. A longing with nothing to long for.

He picks up a second dictionary. La douleur exquise, he reads. The exquisite pain of wanting someone you cannot have.

Once again, he feels the dream taking shape. Once again, he knows exactly what he’s longing for – and it’s not the man waiting on him at home.

“Listen Kurt, can we continue this later? I’ve got a guest to entertain,” Sebastian says with a obnoxious, shit-eating grin, and oh. So the sweet, sharp ache, the thrumming, burning discontent -

This is la douleur exquise. This is the exquisite pain.

send me prompts!

[doubutsu-no-mori]

🍁 ~Harvest Festival letters from each personality type~ 💐

To my partyin' [name]!

Imagine my surprise, recieving a party invitation from you! I'm not complaining -- I like it! Party pals! Is this like a new-you kind of thing? If so, great first step. Snag some eyeliner and you're good to go! Lemme know if you need help prepping, I know how to party on a budget. Well, keep me in the loop. I'm lookin' forward to all the new party memories we'll be makin' together! I need more eyeliner I think...

-[uchi villager]

***

Dear [name],

Oodles of thanks for inviting me to your party! I was just super duper happy about it. I had so much fun it was like magic! Wait… WAS IT MAGIC?! If you know magic, you have to tell me! That must be how you can get so much done around camp. It all makes sense now…

Anyway, whether or not you’re a secret sorcerer, I’d like to make lots more happy memories in the future.

Your bestest pal,

[lazy villager]

I’m writing to thank you again for inviting me to the party. Thanks for always thinking of me! When I think about you, my heart feels happy and warm and full. That probably sounds really cheesy, like a confession or something, hee hee. Well what I’m trying to say is that I hope our friendship lasts forever, [name].

Much love,

[normal villager]

***

My dear friend [name],

Words cannot express how pleased I was to receive your invitation. It’s so nice to be thought of! Truly, I’m ever so grateful to have your friendship. It means more to me than I can say. I hope we can be friends for a long time to come. I’m looking forward to lots of great parties in the future! So you’d better not disappoint me, all right?

With warmest regards,

[snooty villager].

***

My BFF [name],

I was so super thrilled to get your party invitation! Party of the year like, for sure! It’s important for pop stars to show their faces at big events, you know. That’s how you build your brand! So, thanks for helping me feel like a pop star. It means a lot to me. Let’s always make time to hang out, OK? Even when I’m famous, and you’re a super big camp manager!

You’re bestest pal ever, [peppy villager]

My admirer [name],

Mere words cannot express the level of hype I experienced when you invited me to your soirée. Nary have I felt so pumped, except perhaps for that time I drank three cold brews in a single afternoon. But in this case, the feeling is much less fleeting, and is not followed by a grueling, hours-long headeache. I hope that we will continue to spend many momentous moments together.

Peace and muesli,

[smug villager]

***

My buddy [name],

I’m not usually much for parties, but it made me real happy to get an invitation from you. Thanks, kid! That’s what I like about you. You’re always thinking about folks...even the ones who keep to themselves. I don’t want to go on and on, so I’ll just say you’re great and I hope we can go on hanging out together.

-Your good friend [cranky villager]

***

My best bud [name],

You can tell how pumped I am by the fact that I’m writing a letter to you. I’m so excited, I can’t sit still! I just had to tell you how awesome it was that you invited me to come hang out at the Harvest Festival. It meant a lot to me, knowing you think of me as a friend and not just your awesome personal trainer. Even though I AM your awesome personal trainer.

Keep on keepin’ on.

-[jock villager]

[drinkingdeadpeopletea]

Prime numbers for the ask game!

THANK you ryn and yes i did have to look up a list of prime numbers to do this. funny story, 1 is not prime! and there’s lots of them so under the cut:

2. Who in the party would your character trust the most with their life?

Bird trusts Faeln, our cleric. Pretty sure every single person in the party would give the same answer. 

3. What are your character’s core moral beliefs?

Elodie believes first that people should help each other, and second that all tyrants should be dead. 

5. Does your character have any biases for or against certain races?

Bird really does not! She was raised in the very diverse Many Hosts of Igrathad in southern Xhorhas. She does have a particular fondness for orcs because the woman who (mostly) raised her is an orc. 

7. Describe your character’s current appearance: clothes, armor, scars they’ve picked up along the journey, etc.

Elodie’s got a cute yellow and brown dress that has her mithril armor under it, Frodo Baggins style. She’s wearing boots, leggings, her lute slung across her back and her holy symbol on a bracelet around her wrist. 

11. Describe your character’s current relationship with the player character sitting to your right.

We’ve been playing over zoom so I don’t have a “to the right” so I rolled a d4 to pick. Bird has a deep respect for our paladin, Tanvir--she felt a kinship with him ever since they both got knocked out right next to each other in the very first battle. He’s a little standoffish and clearly dealing with some shit, but when Bird lost control of her werewolf form, it was Tanvir who was holding her and making sure she was okay when she woke up, so at this point she’d pretty much die for him. (And Bird doesn’t know this yet, but I, Hannah, know that Tanvir is the only other person in the party who has been carefully tracking moon cycles.....the full moon is in two days and i am SO excited to see what Happens Next)

13. Does your character ever want to “settle down” with a spouse, children, house, etc.?

Sure, Elodie will gladly settle down! Once King Bertrand Dwendal is dead and Wildemount is free! 

17. What is your character’s favorite season?

Bird likes spring. The whole world waking up again :) Plus there’s big thunderstorms, which she loves. 

19. Where in the world does your character most want to visit?

Elodie would love to go to Tal’Dorei, she knows the Golden Grin is more connected and respected there and she would love to be in that environment.

23. If your character could go back in time and change one thing about their life, what would it be?

Bird would not get bit by the werewolf. But she’d still run in to try to help the man they were attacking, she’d just be...more careful about it. 

29. What are your character’s hobbies and interests outside of their class?

Elodie genuinely loves music, even beyond being a way to contact her secret society. She also is a very good cook and loves to make food for people.

31. what stereotypical group role does your character play in the party? (The Mom, the Mess, the Comic Relief, etc. Optionally: What role would your character play in the “Five Man Band” structure?)

Lately Bird has really been the Mess of the group because we’re dealing with her backstory shit first, apparently. In the five man band she’d probably be the Smart Guy, although it’s wisdom rather than intelligence. no high-int characters here!! 

37. What stereotypical role would your character play in a high school AU/if they attended a normal high school? (Nerd, jock, bully, goth, etc.)

Elodie would be the sweet but innocent religious girl with the secret wild side. (is that a common trope? or did I just know a whole bunch of them in real life?)

41. Does your character care about how they’re perceived by others? How do they change themselves to fit in with other people?

Bird really needs people to percieve her as “useful,” as pulling her own weight. And she needs to feel like she actually is doing that, as well. But she doesn’t really care if they like her--9 charisma at work, baby. 

43. What is your character’s scent? (Bonus points for a description that sounds like it could be from a bad [or awesome] fanfic.)

Elodie smells like vanilla and wide open spaces on warm summer days. :)

47. How did your character spend their childhood? Where did they grow up/who were their childhood friends?

Bird was a foundling, and raised communally, so she had many people protecting and caring for her, but she also always felt slightly on the outside, as the culture of her village isn’t big on overt expressions of love. But she has many good memories of running through forests and fields with the other kids around her age. 

53. What is your character’s favorite spell? If they don’t use spells: what is their favorite personal weapon/combat maneuver/skill/etc.?

Elodie’s been prepping Calm Emotions pretty much every day. She tries not to use it on people without their consent, but she loves being able to make people (herself included) feel better when they’re panicking or upset, and she likes the idea of being able to diffuse situations before they ever turn into combat, although that situation hasn’t arisen yet. 

59. Does your character value their own best interest more than the party’s?

For Bird, before the werewolf incident, yes. Now, she values her party members, although she doesn’t value their purpose of “elite Xhorhasian mission squad” like, at all. She doesn’t give a shit about the Dynasty, but she does give a shit about these people. 

61. How does your character imagine the way they will die?

Oh, boy. Elodie imagines it too often. Some sort of self-sacrifice--casting Warding Bond or using her Unity Domain Channel Divinity to take way too much damage. Alternatively, facing down a group of Righteous Brand in a hopeless situation and shouting “death to tyrants” in their faces. (god. i love this character.) 

67. What is your character the most envious about, regarding anyone in the party?

if my as-a-player theory that Tanvir is also a lycanthrope but has WAY more control over his condition than Bird does, that will immediately shoot to the top, but right now, she just envies Tatyan’s sense of direction and purpose. 

71. Describe how your character feels about the party’s current situation/objective/etc.

I’m not even going to TOUCH Everything That Happened Last Session because we still have no clue where we are, but before that, Elodie feels very good about reuniting Skala with their brother because she can see how important it is to Skala and she thinks Skala deserves a win, and she feels SO good about getting to Port Damali and connecting with the other Grinners to take down the Myriad. 

73. If your character knew that they were going to die in a month, how would they spend the rest of their life?

Bird would like....climb a mountain. Like, she would ditch everyone in her life and just go be in nature. It’s lonely and a little sad, but she’d be at peace. 

79.  What unusual talents does your character possess?

Elodie can play a handful of songs VERY well, and she can lie a lot better than people expect of her. 

83. How far is your character willing to go to pursue the “greater good”? Do they believe in a greater good at all?

Bird is much more neutral and less driven by goodness than most of my characters, but she does believe protecting and helping people is very important, and she’d go very far for that, even for strangers. Not big on Big Ideals, though.

89. What is your character’s relationship with magic? Are they scared of it, wish to know more about it, indifferent to it?

Elodie loves magic, but believes if you have access to power, you have a responsibility to be using it to help people rather than to suit your own gains or consolidate power.

97. What is most important to your character: health, wealth, or happiness?

For Bird, it’s health, which she connects with being powerful, being capable, being in-control. 

[glubbity]

i finally got my tenth villager in my new town, so here’s a little unorganized background on each of them:

my first villagers to move with me on the island were plucky and poncho, who are surprisingly very fitting friends! 

plucky to me has ‘lunch lady who tells you to grab a fruit and calls you baby’ vibes, and i love her! she’s very motherly and always naruto runs around poncho’s house for no particular reason. i love her light blue hair (headfeathers?) and think she’s very cute. she loves to flex her muumuu on a daily basis. if i decide to keep her, i’d love to make a little tiki bar to remind her of home, since she was originally a gamecube islander! overall: 8/10; plucky is my favorite chicken!

poncho is a bear that i never really considered to be anything special, but he’s growing on me HARD-- i think he’s one of the cutest jocks out there, and his blue coloring is so rich and nice to look at? he reminds me of one of my favorite animated shorts, bongo from fun and fancy free that i used to watch RELIGIOUSLY as a kid. poncho is always crafting diys, and i placed a barbell outside his house to honor that. poncho and plucky are very good friends, and he always works out in the plaza. another Poncho Specific Thing that he does is SITTING ON THINGS..... poncho sits on jeremiah’s swinging bench and all the stumps i forget to dig up all the time. overall: 9/10; love poncho!! i would love to have cheri in my town too if my ocd doesn’t act up.

my next three move ins were from the mystery islands! 

jeremiah was a villager i got on my second nmt and i talked to him, polevaulted around a bit pondering if i should take him, and finally ended up asking him to move in. i’m so glad i did!!! he’s so adorable, and compliments my player constantly. his house is so pretty, and i think his catchphrase is too cute (nee-deep!). i like jeremiah a lot, and he’s here to stay for now. :> overall: 10/10; excellent frog. 

merengue is next! when i found her, i audibly gasped because she’s too fucking cute. my irl friend and i both love merengue, and i’m glad she’s living on my island! she doesn’t seem that talkative and mostly keeps to herself, which is fine. i wish she’d open up a little more to me though! i think she’s one of the cutest villagers out there, and definitely my favorite rhino. overall: 9/10; merengue is adorable and i will refrain from eating her hair.

the last of the three is twiggy, who is a very sentimental villager to me. she was in my first ever animal crossing town when i was a kid, and she was one of my best friends along with buck, caroline, portia and kidd. twiggy was a no-brainer to pick up, and i gave her a little birdbath to decorate her house with. twiggy’s favorite activities are yoga and naruto running in the plaza with plucky. i hope twiggy will stay for a while on my island! overall: 9/10; love twiggy!!!!!!

my next villager i hate with a passion and i’m bitter that he forced his way into my town. klaus is an asshole who walks around with a donut every day and i can’t wait until this entitled asshole moves out. everything about him is stupid and pretentious!! overall: -15/10; hate klaus. he will be evicted!!!!

after klaus, i went islandhopping again to find a snooty or cranky villager. instead, i found THE BEST SHEEP IN THE GAME, MUFFY!!! i have ALWAYS wanted muffy even as a little kid, and i finally have her!! muffy’s favorite activities are sniffing red roses and losing items around town. i’ve already returned her book and purse to her ;; overall: 10/10; ADORE muffy.

i was on a call with my boyfriend when i found zell, and i had literally just said “i want either raymond, marshal or zell.” AND THERE ZELL WAS!!! zell lives next to a rock that is the money rock 99% of the time, and he’s usually always in his house. i think he and muffy are good friends, and bond over their goth solidarity. overall: 10/10; meeting zell was fate and he will stay for a long time.

yesterday night i found claudia, who perfectly fit my snooty criteria! i love her because she reminds me of the pink panther, and i love her twinkly eyes and beauty mark. i’m excited to see how she’ll fit the nevermind dynamic. overall: 9/10; claudia has so much potential!

and finally to cap things off, i just received bonbon for free off of r/acvillager from a very kind person. her house is ADORABLE and bonbon looks so good in new horizons. i’ve never had her, so i’m excited to see her interactions with twiggy and the gang! i’d really like to draw her as well. overall: ?/10; she’s on her way to nevermind!

thanks for listening to my ramble, my next goal is to evict klaus and get a cranky villager + get to that three star rating! <3

[rhimorechill]

1-30 can i just have your opinion on all of them please

KDHSKHFKFB whoever u are anon ur actually my only follower ever

1. are you of the “tom nook is a crook” or “tom nook is an honest businessman” opinion ?

HES AN HONEST BUSINESSMAN !!! ur loans have NO interest and he was handing out 100k interest/month for a good while there !!!!! the only reason it dropped to 10k is b/c i accidentally made a mil while tryna get dreamies ok. the whole "nook inc owns the entire island" thing is KINDA WEIRD but like ! i mean. its still a pretty sweet deal

2. do you play as yourself or a made up character ?

i play as me !! and then everyone tells me my character is cute which ROCKS

3. where is your house located ?

well CURRENTLY. its just at the center of the island. but once i get terraforming (which will be as soon as i get lolly, mitzi, and purrl) it will be on its own little island in the middle of the island

4. who were your first villagers ?

hamlet and renee ! and bea and agent s and broccolo. oh and quillson. theyre all gone now but i moved bea into a friends island so i can visit her later !!

5. preferable method of earning bells ?

turnip runs babey !!! srsly i will pay like 500k tips and make a million in PROFIT (per run !!) its fucking awesome. i never use turnip exchange tho that shit website always stops telling me where i am in the queue

6. what villager personalities do you typically get along best with ?

i love all of them. so much. normal and lazy villagers might take the cake, but ankha was on my island for 2 days and nearly stole my heart, so snooty villagers r up there too. smug villagers ? like i mostly have experience w raymond b/c i fucking HATED quillson and keaton n ed i barely paid attention to (ed gets points tho. he shares my bday) but that goddamn nerd has a war with slugs. we love to see it. peppy villagers rock (i have THREE on my island rn... but ugh i gotta kick out merry sometime..... i love her but i just !! have too many). i CANNOT hate jock villagers those guys just wanna work out !!! and talk abt working out !!!! theyve done nothing wrong in their whole lives. uchi villagers are great too and cranky villagers r trying their best !!! every villager is good is what im saying. even quillson (i guess)

7. who is your current best friend in the game ?

MGHGSHGD felicity or raymond !!! they send me mail all the time and also i really like raymond. b/c hes such a fucking NERD of an accountant. and felicity was the first of my dreamies to move in so im 💚 when it comes to her...... SOMEDAY. lolly will also be my bff. lolly come home

8. is there a villager you want to get rid of ?

MERRY WHITNEY VELMA. PLEASE GO AWAY. U R ALL SWEETIES BUT NONE OF U MADE THE CUT. ONLY ONE OF U IS EVEN A CAT. (if you want whitney or velma pls dm me !!! someone asked for merry already but id love for them to be on islands where ppl love em)

9. do you hoard a lot of items ?

YES. i did a purge the other day and laid a fuckton of items out to give away. it did not fit and i had to shove some on the cliffs. i still have a big pile waiting to be taken. meanwhile my storage gets new items added

10. take medicine or save & restart ?

medicine is for chumps.

11. where is your favorite spot in your village ?

HMMMM i rlly like my entrance !!!! its rlly neat and has green AND pink mums + trees..... and fencing and a path. IDK i worked hard on it and think it turned out rlly well !!!! other than that maybe my shopping area ? i dont have terraforming yet so theres a lot i Havent Gotten To wrt my island (like my cliffs are almost entirely undeveloped b/c i havent placed any inclines. so theres no pathing)

12. what achievement do you want to hit the most ? (ex: golden equipment, all fish / bugs, etc)

its not REALLY an achievement but i want all my dreamies real bad. after that i want a 5 star island !! i would like a lily of the valley. or 20.

13. do you know any secret tips ?

HMMM i dont think so ?? i dont really know any secrets. ive been trying out campsite cycling and it has Not been going well tho. if u need tips on tting to move villagers out or smthn i can help w that !! this is such a vague q that im like DO i know smthn ??? that is a secret ?????? i also vaguely know abt *m**b* sp**f*ng but im not allowed to do that soooo. thats a pipe dream. fun fact: its not a secret but gardening is SO fucking complicated theres genetics n shit. its wild. thank god someone straight up gave me blue roses so i dont have to go thru that shit. also do not tt backwards when dealing with turnips. not even 30 mins to save ur 600+ prices frm closing time. They Will Change

14. who are your dreamies ?

THESE CATS (i know major shocker from tumblr user pumakittycat. app is acnh life)

15. favorite furniture item ?

HMMMM THIS IS A TOUGH ONE. maybe mum cushions ? those r cute as fuck. i love every flower item, honestly, frm garden wagons to flower stands to pansy tables to hycanith lamps to. idk the bonsai shelf ? i have one of those. i also love my sea globe. its great. WAIT DO RUGS AND WALLS/FLOORS COUNT THERES NO QUESTIONS ABT THOSE i love so many FUCKING items. also autumn woods wall, if ur out there,

16. favorite clothing item / outfit ?

my green clover dress !!!! its the best thing EVER. my full outfit also consists of a silver tiara, a cherry blossom pouchette, white fishnets, and green rubbertoed sneakers. and, ofc, clover facepaint. ALSO FOR CONTEXT. my island is named clover bay thats why im like Clover Time. Theyre Important To The Aesthetic. im also an aro bitch who loves overall dresses. b/c they slap

17. favorite museum room ?

I LOVE THE LITTLE BUTTERFLY ROOM do not even TALK to me unless ur the butterfly room in the museum THERES SO MANY AT ALL TIMES ITS SO NICE

18. cedar, fruit, or palm tree ?

FRUIT. i literally chopped down every single hardwood tree on my island and replaced them w orange trees

19. favorite fruit ?

.......Oranges

20. favorite fish ?

HM. bitterling has a special place in my heart for being my Only fish model. whale sharks also rock tho. and thats only of the ones ive caught !!! i also love frogs, turtles, and obligatorily catfish. oh and seahorses and bettas

21. favorite bug ?

HM. ladybugs maybe. and both birdwings ! maybe also emperors butterflies. possibly others as well

22. favorite flower breed ?

MUMS !!!!!

23. favorite crossbred rare flower breed + color ?

GREEN MUMS.

24. favorite villager personality ?

havent we been over this ? im a dumb bitch who likes all of them way too much

25. favorite time of day to play ?

i uh. play. all the time. i tt a Lot tho so i like setting my time to 1pm ? idk it Feels like a good time

26. favorite special visitor event or reward ? (ex: selecting an art piece from redd, aiding guliver and getting a special item, etc)

SAHARAH. im obsessed w the fucking rugs and the tickets and the lottery. i also love celeste, and gulliver has a spot on the faves list for providing lucky cats sometimes (also a fave item) and for having been to space

27. favorite kk song ?

call me basic, but bubblegum kk plays at all times in my living room

28. favorite animal crossing game ?

ACNH lmao. i never really sat down and got Dedicated to city folk, which is the only other game ive played

29. if you’ve played animal crossing before, are there any animals you’re nostalgic for ? if this is your first game, has any animal in particular left some effect on you ?

ROVERRRRR come home :( also harriet.... i Miss Her. and resetti (i REFUSE to use rescue services dont @ me). and also the bus driver guy who took u to the city. If You Were An NPC In City Folk I Miss You Now

30. share a story from your gameplay

SO. i love the little alien easter egg. i set up a photoshoot and made like a little storyline abt the aliens and stuff. i even got a flying saucer and put that down and used it. and every fucking time !!!! i do shit with aliens !!!!!!! gulliver shows up on my beach. i know he went to space in cf n stuff (I GOT FLAVOR TEXT ONE TIME-- DURING NH-- ABT HIM NOT WANTING TO GO BACK EVEN) so i think its fucking hilarious that the aliens show up.... so does he

[omenapologist-moved]

As someone who has played New Horizons a lot, I have some things to say about the game.

I’ve played every Animal Crossing game since the original on Gamecube, with the exception of City Folk because I did not have access to a Wii. I am a veteran of this title, and it is one that I have loved since I was a child. Everything I say in this post I say not just to complain, but to constructively criticize, because I want New Horizons to be the best it can be. 

What we have been sold is an unfinished and empty game. It has been 7 years since the last title came out, and they have been working on New Horizons since 2012. Time crunch and lack of resources/funding are no excuses for this. New Horizons has no new personality types, no new species. It hardly has any furniture. We have a lot of different colors of the same furniture, sure, but so many sets are entirely missing in the game. There is a serious lack of tables. I have all these cool things, these knick-knacks, and I am forced to either put them on the ground or put them in storage because I don’t have a table to put them on. 

The crafting system and new currency of Nook Miles grew on me, but it felt a little forced. Just about every game seems to have a crafting system now, and so it felt shoehorned in to appeal to a new playerbase. The fact that we have to craft items one by one, even things that stack such as bait, is ridiculous. Not to mention the excessively long crafting and customizing animations. I do enjoy how much you can customize your town, but having to pay 50k bells just to move things around is a bit ridiculous. Placement of these buildings is everything but intuitive, and while sure, you were able to choose the placement of virtually every building when you were just starting out, a lot of your options were limited due to the fact that you weren’t able to explore most of your island until later on, not to mention how you can’t unlock terraforming until what is currently the end of the game. In all odds you’ll have to relocate everything you placed anyway, and such a steep price (as well as, again, the finicky placement system) seems like a way to artificially slow your progress. 

While in all odds, more content will be released in future (hopefully free) updates, it once again feels like a way to slow the player’s progress, as well as keep interest in the game alive. This is another feature of a lot of other modern games that it seems Nintendo is attempting to capitalize on. Constant updates, seasonal events, etc. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think a game should be completed out of the box. Updates, while fun, should be optional and not necessary. Also, as someone who grew up in the rural South without internet for a long time, it seems unfair to me that people without internet access won’t be able to enjoy these events because they’re added in through updates rather than naturally being in the game like they were with every other title in this game series so far.

Until now, every Animal Crossing game added onto the series and made the world feel bigger, more fleshed out, and with more things to do. New Horizons seriously feels like a step back. As an AC veteran, it felt really weird to have to build Nook’s Cranny myself. I understand you’re meant to be settling this island, but still. It was even stranger that there wasn’t a clothing shop on day 1 either. It took quite some time for it to be built on my island. While on the subject of shops, I cannot believe there are no further upgrades for Nook’s and the Able Sister’s. 

A lot of NPCs are outright gone. You can’t even have villagers over to your house anymore! The interactions you do have with your villagers quickly become very repetitive and stale, they don’t feel as lively as they did in prior games such as New Leaf despite the fact that they actually interact with the world around them much more in NH. It almost feels like once you’ve interacted with one Jock villager, you’ve interacted with every Jock villager. 

My biggest grievance overall is that it seriously feels like they are punishing you and throttling your progress in the game for no reason but to extend your playtime and hide the lack of content. You have to interact with trees more than ever now thanks to the crafting system, and now not only are there five wasp nests that spawn in a random tree per day, if you are stung more than once in a row without using medicine you pass out and are placed back in front of your house. What does this teach the player? What benefit does this provide? What does it do, other than eat up your time for no reason? 

The durability system is the worst sin of this game, I feel. What does my tools breaking so frequently when I am doing daily, necessary tasks add to the game? How does it make my experience better? Plainly, it does not. It slows me down. I have to stop whatever it is that I’m doing, run back to my house, pull the required materials out of storage, craft the tool I need, put the items back into storage, and then return to what I was doing before. In addition, the fact that you have to remove the crafting materials from storage when you are using a crafting table in your house that the storage is in is a seriously huge oversight on behalf of the developers. It’s another thing that eats up time for no reason. I feel like I am being punished for playing the game. It’s ridiculous.

Yes, improvements were made, but they’re for the most part improvements that were entirely unnecessary. I’d trade them for an actually finished game with a decent amount of content in it any day of the week. Multiplayer is better now, sure, but there’s certainly not a lot to do aside from walk around your island and trade items. What about the island minigames that were present in New Leaf? Why is New Horizons such a massive step back for this series?

So anyway, that’s my incomplete list of grievances for ACNH. I like this game, I’m having a lot of fun with it, but we all need to stop worshiping Nintendo for half a second and realize that we were sold an unfinished and empty game. A lot of people who are new to the games don’t realize this stuff, but it is glaringly obvious to me.

[gimmedafood]

Alternate Zoyalai Olympic AU

So, this is just a variation of the Olympic AU/headcanons that @wafflesandkruge came up with, so I hope you enjoy.

FYI: Zoya attended her first Olympic Games when she was 16. The year is 2022. Zoya is 24 years old, Nikolai is 25. Zoya has been to 3 Olympic Games, and this is Nikolai’s first.

Chamonix Winter Olympics 2022: Events to Watch

Return of the Little Dragon

All eyes will be on the return of Zoya Nazyalensky (RUS), this year. Nicknamed the ‘Little Dragon’ by her fans, Nazyalensky became a sporting legend after her spectacular wins in Sochi, 2014, and Pyongchang, 2018.

Unfortunately, her competitive career was sidelined following a car accident nearly two years ago, an event that also caused the tragic death of her fellow Team Russia figure skater, Alina Starkov. Nazyalensky spent a year recuperating from her injuries, during which she was rarely seen in the public eye.

Nazyalensky’s return to competition at the National Championships resulted in a close win, and it is yet unclear how she will fare against international rivals. Will we witness another magnificent flight of the Little Dragon, or is this comeback doomed to disappoint?

Ice Hockey: Men’s Competition

A Sibling Rivalry

Fun fact: Nikolai Lanstov, newly crowned captain of the French Men’s Ice Hockey Team, is not the only one in his family making headlines. His half brother Vasily has been stirring up trouble at home, claiming Nikolai to be a fraud.

The brothers are known for their strained relationship, but rumor has it that Vasily may be present in the audience during his brother’s gold medal match. Will Vasily’s presence be a thorn in Lanstov’s side, or will these Winter Games lead to reconciliation? Either way, keep your eyes on the crowd!

-‘-‘-

Zoya stamped the snow off of her boots before the entrance of the Athlete’s Village cafeteria. The building itself was uninspiring, but it served food that catered to the Olympian’s strict training diets and anything more appetizing was too far away to venture without security. At least the guards kept the press and fans away from their homes for the month.

She was taking a moment to breathe on her cold hands when she become aware of someone standing beside her.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” a deep, clearly male voice said.

Zoya turned to see a tall, blonde man with a child-like smile on his face, one gloved hand pointed at the Olympic torch across the square.

She glanced over him quickly, taking in his appearance like she’d been taught to size up competition.

He was just over six foot in height, defined muscles under his Team France jacket, even though he was covered in an assortment of scarves and hats. Messy, coppery-gold hair, chocolatey hazel eyes, and a strangely familiar face. He was about her age, and he was not bad, not bad at all.

“Let me guess,” she said, smirking underneath her scarf. “This is your first Olympics?”

The man went slightly pink, “Uh, yeah.”

“You get used to it, newbie.”

The man blushed harder still, his stance shifting slightly. Zoya ignored him as she continued to slip out of her outer layers. The combination of insulated jackets and overcrowded, overheated cafeteria would result in an uncomfortable personal sauna if she wasn’t careful.

She pushed her deep blue scarf down from her face and the man’s eyes widened.

“You’re the Little Dragon!” he gasped, his tone filled with admiration. “I watched you win gold in Pyongchang. That last jump series was sensational! Almost as good as your routine in Sochi. I watched that with my roommates in college!”

Warmth rose in her cheeks and she quickly frowned to cover it. “Wow, that doesn’t make me feel old at all.”

“I didn’t mean to imply...” the man’s expression immediately shifted from awe to horror; and Zoya decided to take pity on him. It was clear that he was puppy, innocent and sweet.

“Don’t sweat it, newbie.”

The man inclined his head. “Even so, I apologize.”

His apology seemed genuine, at least. Maybe he wasn’t just another beefcake jock boy. Interesting...

“You’re from France, da?“ Her accent made the word sound more like ‘vour’ than ‘you’re.’

The question seemed to let the man bounce back from his clear embarrassment. “Yes. I’m Nikolai, Nikolai Lanstov. I’m in Men’s Hockey. It’s such an honor to meet you.”

He held out his hand to her and Zoya accepted, gently laying her small hand in his as she tried not to smile at his polite manners. Now she remembered where she had seen him before. His face was on all of the Chobani commercials she’d seen since arriving in the Olympic City.

“Zoya Nazyalensky, Figure Skating. But you already knew that, clearly.”

Nikolai chuckled at that. It was a very warm sound, happy and clear. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I was a fan.”

She couldn’t help smiling back at him. “This must be a big Games for you.”

Nikolai winced. “You don’t know the half of it. I was born in Chamonix, you know, got my start playing for the local team before I moved to America for a while. There’s a lot of expectations, even before I was made captain.”

He glanced down at the ground, letting out a long, slow breath. “Sorry, I don’t mean to sound like I’m bragging.”

“Brag away. Being Captain is a huge honor for someone as young as you and I.”

He looked up sharply, his ears turning pink in the chilly air. Really, he was too fun to tease.

“Cheer up, newbie. So you got a big break. That’s what happens in sports.”

Nikolai’s pretty face flickered between apologetic and defensive. “I just don’t want to let anyone down.”

Zoya bit her lip against the cold, the shift in the conversation making her uncomfortable. “Yeah, I know the feeling.”

Nikolai murmured something in reply that she didn’t catch, and the silence stretched between them, broken only by the muffled chatter inside the cafeteria.

“Your accent isn’t very French.” Zoya said, the silence making her blurt out the first thing that came to mind.

“I spent a lot of time in America as a kid,” he replied, seeming grateful for the distraction. “When I returned to France, I spoke English with the most New Yorker accent imaginable. My teachers hated it.”

Zoya couldn’t help it, the image of an awkward teenage Nikolai sitting in a French classroom and being scolded by his teacher made her huff out a laugh. “That’s adorable.”

His eyes crinkled, every inch of him a cute, golden retriever puppy. “I try my best.”

Zoya swallowed hard, instantly reminded of another pair of warm brown eyes and spun-gold hair. Her heart clenched.

“I’ll see you around, Nikolai.” She tried her best to keep her voice light and polite, but could hear the tremor that crept into the end.

She was turning for the doors when his voice stopped her again.

“I thought it was very brave of you to come back to competition. You know, after what happened. It must have been very hard.”

“Thanks,” She said, but she did not look back.

The Chamonix Winter Olympics Sum Up : Day Five

Nazyalensky ‘Proud’ of her result.

After months of rehabilitation and hard work, Zoya Nazyalensky (RUS) was crowned gold in the women’s figure skating finals, finishing just above newcomer Inej Ghafa (ENG) in her first Olympics.

Ghafa transitioned from gymnastics to figure skating only two years ago, after a shoulder injury rendered her incapable of competing.

When asked about the result at a post-event press conference, the ever-competitive Nazyalensky surprised onlookers by congratulating and thanking each of her competitors and coaches profoundly, something rarely seen from the notoriously cold skater. She said she was ‘happy with my result and my performance.’

When questioned further on her emotional state during the competition, Nazyalensky admitted that her late teammate and close friend, Alina Starkov, was frequently on her mind.

“Honestly, I cannot think of a day during this Games that Alina hasn’t been on my mind. Her passing inspired my routine for the finals and this medal is dedicated to her.”

‘Teammate.’ ‘Close friend.’

Zoya closed the news sight in disgust. It was true that she and Alina had always acted platonic and playfully competitive in public, and it was also true that they had never really publicized their relationship, but the ability of the press to completely miss the obvious always astounded her.

Still, at least the madness of the press conferences and interviews were mostly over with, leaving her free to enjoy the beauty of Chamonix’s many bars and frozen lakes and ponds in the lead up to the Closing Ceremony.

She was pulling on her gloves outside of the Athlete’s Village when she spotted Nikolai standing on the sidewalk, surrounded by a gaggle of chattering teenagers that she vaguely recognized as the American Figure Skating Team. They seemed to be asking him for autographs, which he was supplying readily, if a bit in surprise.

She only really recognized one of them, a tiny blonde girl who had taken bronze in the Finals, just below Zoya and Inej.

Zoya hung back, not wanting to interrupt, but then Nikolai spotted her standing in the shadow and waved cheerily, his handsome face splitting into a wide smile.

The team turned to see who he was waving at, and the tiny blonde one let out a shriek, one that Zoya didn’t understand, try as she might. Suddenly, she was surrounded by noisy teenage girls, each eagerly asking for her autograph in varying levels of Russian.

She scribbled something on each of the scraps of paper thrust at her, and even remembered to thank the pint-sized medalist for competing. As quickly as they had surrounded her, the girls ran off in a happy rabble.

Nikolai came striding over to her, his hands thrust into his pockets and a big grin splashed across his face.

“They seem to admire you.” She murmured as he drew near.

“Not nearly as much as they admire you.” His grin widened. Zoya finally finished pulling on her gloves. Contrary to rumor, she did not actually enjoy the cold in real life.

“Want to bet they have posters of you on their walls?” She jibed, smirking slightly.

“Right next to posters of you, I’m sure. They only like me for my looks.”

Zoya rolled her eyes, but she could not help the grin spreading across her face. She had forgotten what it felt like to be a role model. The thought was equally as terrifying as it was flattering.

“Congrats on your gold,” She said, nudging Nikolai with her elbow.

As predicted, Nikolai blushed a brilliant pink. “Thanks. Congrats on your gold, I- uh, I saw your interview.”

Of course he had.

“How does it feel? Being the favorite son of France?”

Nikolai let out a long breath. “It’s a relief more than anything else. It was such a close game.”

“Which you deserved to win.”

“As did you.” Nikolai seemed to lean down towards her, then pulled back as if second guessing himself. “The way you told your story was...truly magnificent.”

Oh, the man did know how to charm. Zoya gave him another once over, assessing him again. Looks like a god, probably fucks like a god too.

“So, Sobachka,” Zoya remarked, too casually as she used the new nickname she’d come up with. Puppy. “I’m sure you’ve heard how wild the post-medal parties can get?”

Nikolai blinked, confusion flickering across his face before he caught her meaning. “I did hear something to that effect.”

“Well...” she let her voice drag, an unspoken promise lingering. “I can’t say how wild things could be, but would you like to grab a drink?”

Nikolai closed his mouth then reopened it, suddenly bearing a strong resemblance to a stunned haddock. “With you?”

“No, genius, with the woman standing behind me.”

He actually looked over her head, and Zoya was about to give the suggestion up as a lost cause when Nikolai came back to his senses. “Sorry, it’s just. You were my hero. You are my hero. I may have to hit myself.”

“You mean pinch yourself?”

Nikolai nodded vigorously. “That too.”

She rolled her eyes but took his arm all the same. “C’mon, Sobachka. Let’s get us some liquor.”

Rinkside Gossip

Nikolai Lanstov: Following His Heart?

French captain Nikolai Lantsov has announced that he will be accepting a contract in the ICFR this upcoming season. While this will certainly come as a blow to France and his home team, Chamonix Foxes, it could be that Lanstov has more than a fat paycheck on his mind. Our sources have spotted him several times, sharing drinks with a certain Russian figure skater...

[euphoriacrossing]

It took a minute but things are kind of as I had hoped.

I know I made a lot of posts before the game came out talking about how I hoped I would be more social due to it and I would play more with friends and for a few days I was worried it wouldn't make a difference. But now I am sure that it is one of many differences it IS making. I have made friends due to it, and I am happy about that.

Spent hours this morning playing with a friend from a small Animal Crossing discord, and even got @dizzimulation to drop by, though he was reluctant, I think or at least hope he got something out of it. But he didn't get his fruit because he didn't leave through the airport, so he has to come back sometime, and I'm almost glad he has a reason to come back because I want to enjoy this game more with him.

(I didn't get enough pictures because I was busy having fun but hopefully next time I'll get more. Better ones than this at least, lol, but this was the one I looked best in... obviously I am in the pineapple dress.)

And so that makes four different people I've had on my island now this week not including my sister who I play with almost constantly as well. (I feel the game has also made our relationship better.) I want to host a bunch of people at once sometime though, and I also want my sister to play with us so she can be in on all the fun as well but she's SUPER shy so we'll see how things go sometime.

Today I also got to go to my friend from the discord's island too. It was really nice, I think it was cuter than mine, but I still think Euphoria needs a lot of work I plan to put in. But it was cool seeing an island other than mine or my sister's... because i don't have much stuff I've run across to put out and beautify my town in thought my island might have a generic look, but in reality our two islands couldn't have been more different. And hers was really nice, but just so different it's hard to make a comparison. I was a bit jealous, well, not jealous really, because I am really happy for her, but just little things like how lucky she got with her map and how she's already about to get the Able Sisters shop already... but I am happy about that one both for her and me because she said she would let me come over once construction is done. So yeah, it was just nice to get a peek at a friend's island and see how differently things can be done in this game.

Right now I have the game open and it's a beautiful perfectly clear night, and the starry sky is so freakin' beautiful. This game is beautifully made, I truly have never seen a game's graphics that I love this much, because i have always loved the style of Animal Crossing but this game is on a new level for sure.

Anyway, i have the game open watching for shooting stars to try and make good use of my time in game while I write this and I've seen and wished on three, but I think it was the second night or something I saw dozens (but only bothered to wish on about a dozen myself), maybe it was a meteor shower or something, I'm not sure, but I would like to get more star fragments now that I have a couple of wand recipes (star and bamboo) because I like having extra wands to be able to gift them to friends who might not have them because I think they are such a fun little part of the game.

And gifting, that's the main reason I need to get all of my friends over for at least a minute or two. I mentioned how I loved the mailing system (ah just caught two more stars!) but I hate that your friends have to come over to be considered your friends in this game. Can't they just detect who is my nintendo switch friend, or ask for a code or something? I mean I guess it is reasonable enough, I am really glad we can do it at all now, but I want to send presents to all my friends. And while we're on what I dislike, I don't like that you can only send two letters a day to each friend. I want to send them something when it makes me think of them and that might be more often than that! But overall I guess my criticisms are just small ones, it's really a lot of fun to get to send my friends gifts and I am really glad it's not limited to best friends like I initially thought. And so I guess I have quite a few people to send to, and I'm not the best gift giver, I am actually hoping this will help with teaching me how to get what people like and such, so I suppose it's alright. I have just had moments when I saw something and thought of a friend I can't send to yet. Guess I'll just start saving those gifts until I can get that friend over for the first time. I have such cluttered storage though.

Well mostly cluttered with my clothes. My wardrobe is really coming along, in that I could actually make more outfits than what the wand holds (including what I wear underneath) so I have still been changing up my underneath outfit a lot as well as using the wand. I hit up three different Mabels today (mine, my friend's, and my sister's) and bought a good bit of what each one was selling. Plus villagers always give (five more shooting stars!) me clothing, I get it from the recycle box, and tons from balloons as well as ordering it from Nook Shopping when I find a piece I like. I try to only get things I like or think will be useful, and I DO sell clothes that i don't like. But there is a lot of cute stuff in this game, and I only hope it's more than I could ever possibly collect, because when I find a cute new piece of clothing I just melt. Like the blossom dress I think it's called, I'd never seen it before and I think it's super darling. (Four more stars!) The clothes are so special to me because in real life for a number of reasons (weight, money, pain and ability, etc) I can't dress in a way that helps me to express myself at all. My hair is similar because I overheat so easily I have to keep it as short as I can, and I can only style it the way my mom likes or she won't be seen with me and that matters as she is my driver and caretaker. (5 more stars). So to be able to express myself in game and look how I want really feels amazing, especially when that is a lot of what my friends will see of me since we're only online friends.

Anyway, tomorrow is Biff's birthday and I looked at New Leaf's guide of what to get him but I don't have any of the main things, and so I am just going to give him something random from my storage. I hope he will like it enough and that his birthday goes well. I dunno if I should invited my sister or people over or try before I go see him, or if I just go over on my own. Biff though has been a real unlikely buddy for me. Tammy and I have clashed since the beginning, which was kind of a bummer because I expected to like her most. And then there was this jock hippo, love hippos, hate jock personalities, so it could have gone either way. But he was funny, and cute, and endearing instead of coming off like an asshole so we were fast pals. He didn't even get a birthday announcement on the bulliten board from Tom Nook... Beau whose birthday is in April already got one, but Biff was maybe too close to the start of the game? Not sure. But maybe I'll draw him something on the board tomorrow. Or well it's technically today.

This has been long enough though. How many stars is that? I might go ahead and do some other stuff online while I look for more, it's a good way to multitask in my opinion. Because I personally never catch them if I'm not looking at the sky, but to sit for an hour or more just staring isn't a great use of time. So to have it open in the background while taking care of other things, that is the way to go! 😁 But yeah, I'll shut up now. Thanks for reading!

[eggstereo]

6, 7, 12, 14, 18 💕

wawawawawa thank you!!!

6. What villager personalities do you typically get along best with?

Hm...in game, I love crankies and snooties, especially in the earlier games! I like earning the affections of grumpy guys and ladies. <:D i love all personality types, though! in real life, I think...I’d probably get along best with normals, uchis, and lazy villagers!

7. Who is your current best friend in the game?

As of this moment in rainpuddle, I think my highest relationship stat is with Renee, who was a starting villager of mine! Ever since Renee debuted in New Leaf, I’ve loved her design and style so much. 

12.  What achievement do you want to hit the most? (Ex: Golden equipment, all fish/bugs, etc)

Hm...I’ve never filled up my encyclopedia or my museum to 100% before, so that’s my goal in New Horizons! Though the butterfly room is gorgeous, I’ve always loved having a relatively full aquarium. So I’ll probably start with completing my aquarium, then moving on to the insects!

14. Who are your dreamies? 

Hm. . . . . . That’s so hard! I had a list of villagers I wanted in my town and while I’ve achieved some of them (Mallary, Lobo, Jacques), I find that I’ve grown really attached to some that I’ve found surreptitiously (Skye, Sherb). I’m ordering some amiibo cards for villagers I really, really want (Mitzi, Katt, haven’t decided on a jock...) For New Leaf towns, I usually plan out who I want in advance to fit the aesthetic and also becase I love so many villagers, it’s hard to fit them in one town! So with New Horizons, I might end up “rotating” some of my favorites, like Population Growing! I’m sure I’ll settle into a town with the perfect balance of villagers, but for right now, I don’t really have a concrete lineup!

18.  Cedar, fruit, or palm tree?

Fruit trees! I love fruit trees so much!!! Banana palm trees get an additional shoutout. I hope they’re integrated into further game updates! Please! I love banana palm trees so much!

source: animal crossing ask game

[ereri-lost-and-found]

Hey ELF What fics do YOU recommend??

We currently have two mods here at “ELF” thanks we feel like fucking Christmas ereri elves now and we have wildly different tastes but below we made a little list for you and yes we checked it twice. Our top three wips and top three finished fics. Enjoy!

WIPs from B:

Satan Doesn’t Make Coffeeby Corporal_Levi_cleans_my_house (Rated M,80 736+ words, ongoing)

In which Levi works at a café and Eren is adamant that the surly, at times downright terrifying little man is actually Satan incarnate because how else could he send so many people running? And of course Levi is a complete shit about it.

Can we get any better than a coffee shop au?

Intro to Data Scienceby thisgirlsays22 (Rated E, 33 205+ words, ongoing)

“You’re probably just into him for the accent.”“It’s not that,” Eren argued. “It doesn’t hurt, but it’s so much more than that.”Mikasa rolled her eyes. “Sure.”

Hello? We’ve got British Levi! Banging his college student American Eren! Levi having an accent is enough to make me read this fic on it’s own.

Personal Tutorby Dressed_In_Darkness(Rated E, 56 377+words, ongoing)

Levi never thought he had a shot with Eren Jaeger, the boy of his dreams, but that all changes when Eren asks him to become his personal tutor.

I’m a huge fan of this writer to begin with, so once they started writing a hs au I was sold. Levi is adorable and shy in this fic where Eren is a jock that wants that dick.

Complete works from K:

Demons and Darkness by sciencefictioness (Rated E, 114 138words, ongoing)

Levi is a scout, and protects his village day and night from feral yokai, demon like creatures who feast on human flesh.  When the chieftan of his village is killed by the beasts, Levi’s father takes over, putting him next in line to lead his people.  All Levi wants to do is watch over Mitras with his blade, fighting along side his teacher, who he has been in love with all his life.  When he discovers that Erwin is getting married, he heads off into the woods alone to drink and slay demons, trying to forget.  He never expects to summon from the darkness a yokai of his own.After a few minutes everything went quiet, and then his yokai was before him, magnificent, covered in splashes of red. My yokai? He wore a maniacal grin , the joy of taking a life that deserved to be taken. Levi knew that joy, had worn that expression so much he could feel the ghost of it on his face. Then, the yokai spoke.“You were so damn slow, I thought I’d never meet you.” Levi felt his mouth gape open. Yokai couldn’t speak. They were like animals, beasts without souls.“Who are you? What are you?” That smile grew predatory, eyes slitting deviously.“I’m Eren, and I’m yours.”

Come on, no fic list is complete without sciencefictioness in there.

The 6th Ward by coldmackrel (Rated M, 93 897words, complete)

A comedy about being dead.Levi is finally returning to work as a nurse after recovering from a car crash that nearly killed him. Nothing says “welcome back” like realizing he’s lost his marbles and can see the disembodied spirits of the comatose patients in the 6th ward. He begrudgingly helps them learn how to be dead. Eren, the newest coma patient in the 6th ward, has six months to learn how to be dead. Good luck, kid.

This fic makes you laugh and cry and feel and there are some of the best quotes I’ve seen in fics ever. I just wish this talented authoor had more snk fics T_T

Do you want me, or do you want me dead? by fmaloser (Rated E, 82 345words, complete. Graphic depictions of violence.)

It’s decided that the school douchebag, Levi, needs a tutor to help get his grades back up. It’s also decided that high school senior, Eren, is perfect for the job.At first, the two hate each other. But after their pasts come back to bite them in the ass, they realize that maybe that’s not the case.

Because nothing says “true love” like brutal, graphic murder.

There is a tag limit on post so unfortunately, we can’t tag everything. We tried to pick out the most important ones but if you see we missed something big like a warning, please let us know!

[unseelie-siren]

i'm not familiar with any of your ocs i'm sorry ;_; so how about a short introduction of all of them? i'd love to see that ♥️

I would love to! Sadly I have waaaaay too many ocs to cover all of them here. I do want to introduce you to some ocs of my main stories though!

I’ll do this under the cut

Please feel free to ask me about any of them anytime! 

 Well start with the story that has less main characters, only two. Their names are Jonathan and Derek.They’re typical high school jocks and play baseball!

 Jonathan 

 …is called Jon by basically everyone. He is a bit of an asshole and he is definitely arrogant. He is intelligent and he is definitely aware of it. He knows what he is capable of and will take no shit from no one. He’s that person that speaks out against the racist teacher, he’s that person who lets everyone know his opinion. And he has a lot of opinions.He’s sweet, but rarely genuinely so. He’s very rational in his approach and that can lead to him being cold and calculating. He also is a major flirt. 

 Derek 

 …on the other hand is just a really soft teddy bear. He’s been childhood friends with Jon since he moved there. They live only a few streets away, it takes them only a few minutes to get to the others house. There’s a playground between their houses where they like to meet. He likes to just let Jon do the talking and be rather passive. He’s really supportive of him and will defend him fiercely. He’s the type of person that whenever Jon gets up to one of his shenigans (because Jon tends to be mischievous) just shakes his head at them, rolls his eyes and tells him exactly why it is a bad idea. He definitely tries to talk him out of it, but he never succeeds. There is usually a fond smile on his lips though and he secretly doesn’t mind playing along. But someone has to point out why that plan is a bad idea okay??? 

 They’re the two protagonists for a ya novel I’m going to write. It’s going to be fluffy and short with maybe a bit angst I’m still undecided on the exact plot line. I do have basic sketches of them but only idea sketches. As soon as I have actual proper sketches of them I’m going to upload them on my art account ( @zhadyrart that is finally going to be more active hopefully) 

 Then I think I mentioned at some point that I have a really big project that I’ve been working on since seventh grade. It’s going to be a triology that is called “ragnarok”. It’s set in another dimension where simply said every mythological being and every god that there is exists. All my main characters are “Xi” which are people who have been blessed by gods. I could go on and on about this world and everything behind the Xi but that would take even longer. 

Helija 

 …is the main character. shes human. She’s really sweet and strong but not really independent. She grew up with an abusive mother and without a father in the city of creators. Everyone there is destined to create something new and most people create smaller things. Helija hasn’t created anything yet which is unusual for her age. She is insecure in her abilities even tho she is not bad at most things. She’s rather held back and doesn’t speak much. This changes the more she gets involved with the other characters and establishes her relationships with them. 

Sam 

…is Helijas best friend and one of the fae. Those two are one heart and one soul and if you let them loose there is going to be a mess. Sam is Helijas enabler and he is one of the few people who actually can bring her out of her shell and can bring her to overcome her fears and anxiety. They have been friends since they turned six despite not meeting until they were sixteen. They exchanged letters because they lived in different parts of the continent. That was part of a program of their mentor ship (which I could also elaborate on) which encourages Xi to form connections with other Xi. He’s funny and kind of a go wild character. He’s always up for anything but definitely also always here for you if you have a problem. He’s stubborn and can be hot headed from time to time. But he just wants the best for everyone and cares like crazy for his friends and family. 

Elahir 

…is Sams best friend. They have been childhood friends since their birth. He’s also one of the fae. He’s kind of apathic or at least he seems like it. He’s very focused on his thoughts and tends to overthink. He is also extremely stubborn and will always follow his own moral code. If something doesn’t fit with his morals or beliefs he’s not going to do it, no matter what it does to him. Later on he’s going to be Sams boyfriend. He’s non binary and uses he/him and they/them pronouns. 

Helena 

…is your wonderful girl that you all love. She’s pretty (she and Helija look identical despite not being related) and just has a personality that everyone loves. She’s nice, genuinely so and she is very supportive. She has her shit together and if you need anything organised you go to her. She’s from the city of gods (again I could elaborate) and grew up without parents being taught to be humble. She is being trained to be a temple woman. She is basically your perfect girl™️.She does have a mischievous streak though and if you encourage her she will come up with the wildest things. Of course no one suspects her ever since she is well how she is. 

Hector 

 …is basically the perfect boyfriend to the perfect girl Helena. There is looooots of pining for her but he’s such a respectful golden retriever puppy he never acts on it, especially since when they meet she just has gotten out of her last relationship. I’m basically aiming for a lesbian icon character lmao. Hes a real feminist and hes just super super sweet. He has all those thoughts about romance and love and he really is a true romantic. His and Helena’s relationship is fluff pure. Everyone is just really happy for them bc they really are just do perfect for each other. He grew up in a small fishermen village in a part of the continent (I do have a map but…) where it basically has a climate like in the arctis. He has zero clue about modern things and will be confused. He’s just really really soft and sweet and I love him.

Leanca 

…is the girl that Helena just broke up with. They just hit it off after years of fr.iendship, but decided on good terms that it wasn’t working out. It kind of broke Helena’s heart bc she’s a romantic but it was better for their relationship. They are now really good ride or die friends. Leanca is Helena’s enabler. She’ll just be like “he looks like he’s sexist” in a deadpan voice and look at Helena. It doesn’t take long and shenigans ensue. She’s incredibly cool and kind of reeeeally fit. She doesn’t show much facial reactions. She has a flaming sense of justice and will argue with you. Don’t challenge her to a discussion. She will win. And she is right. You’ll question your entire beliefs after a while because wow her arguments make so much sense. Very independent, very strong.

Illaya/Ilaya (not sure yet) 

…is an ancient being. She’s not really a god but she’s also not really human. (I don’t 100% know yet what she is actually.) she was the wife of uh well the now bad guy? Her mind has been tainted for hundreds of years and she turned into a mermaid like creature that lived in a lake. She grew sea lily like plants with which she lured beings into the lake where she would devour them. Some eldritch shit. When our protagonists “cleanse” her she returns to her old self and well realised that basically over thousands of years have passed since the land became tainted and she with it. She realises what her husband has become and mourns him. At some point she falls in love with Leanca. But a relationship doesn’t develop really fast because well she is still mourning over her husband and also she has a general crisis going on with all the stuff that has been going on. 

 Jack 

…is a character from the feral lands. That’s basically another continent and not many people from there come over to the main continent. He came because he was “scouted” and saw a chance to help his family. He’s really motivated by family. He is laid back and cool. He takes things calm and rational. He’s good looking and that goddamn smirk. (He’s a little bit underdeveloped since he used to be a shared oc with my brother) 

Olivia

…is Helena’s childhood friend. They grew up together in the city of gods. She’s a punk, she’s freaky and she is always here for all the energetic stuff. She’s great at getting people fired up, at motivating people, but she also is good at listening, even tho she doesn’t give the best advise lol. She gets together with Jack real fast. They just hit it off and run with it. Her hair is purple. She’s wild. (I’m also currently looking into adhd symptoms that she might have.) 

 There are also cosmic beings that are going to be very important to the story and several other characters but I decided to leave it at those because….. they are already a lot lmao. I’m drawing them so as soon as that happens they’ll be on my artblog. 

 I also decided to leave the characters of my third main project for now because four more characters. Feel free to ask about them though. 

 And thank you for this lovely ask!

[gettingbackintoanimalcrossing]

Villagers on my island

Boone - My first villager, my OG. He’s a jock. Believes in muscles and flexing, especially the heart muscle. 

Hans - I like to imagine that Hans and Boone, my two gorilla villagers, are partners who own a farm together. I made them their own little plot of land. 

Dobie - When I first started ACNH, I wanted Dobie so bad. My favorite character in any type of content is the disgruntled old man; I think that their character growth is always the best, and they tend to have the best stories. I like to imagine that Dobie is a retired detective who does an odd job every now and then. 

Boomer - Boomer is a boomer. He’s an old man in the vessel of a penguin, and I love him very much. 

Cherry - Cherry is someone who autofilled a plot (when you don’t search for a villager so they pick a random villager) and honestly I was a little shocked. But to be honest, she’s really grown on me. Sisterly villagers are like the sister that I never got, she’s wonderful. 

Marshall - Marshall was one of the most popular villagers on ACNH at the game’s peak—you can imagine my surprise when he showed up in my campsite. Of course, I took him, and we’ve been best friends ever since. He is the island’s OG coffee extraordinaire, and I’ve given him a beautiful island cafe

Amelia - Amelia’s personality is snooty, which is not my favorite character type. But as an eagle who towers over my character in-game, she’s been more like a cool aunt to me.

Molly - Molly is a sweetheart, who I gave a garden to before gardens were even a part of the game. She was one of my first villagers, and is very calming to talk to. 

Stitches - Stitches is so funny to me, because he’s a lazy villager. As a certified try-hard, Stitches reminds me to take it easy sometimes. 

Maple - Maple and Molly are my local sweethearts, like a fresh glass of lemonade. 

It is so revitalizing to acknowledge and appreciate the people and things you have; it allows thankfulness to spread and burnout to decrease.