#it's like too many of my favorite things

[moocowmoocow]

For the prompt ask - Margo takes Sergei to a basketball game as a “non-date” date. It can be NBA, WNBA, Harlem Globetrotters or college. 🏀🏀🏀

They had been friendly, professional since Sergei had started working at NASA after his defection. She had needed time to wrap her head around the fact that he was here and he was safe and he worked for her. And he had graciously given her the space to work her way through their new reality while keeping humans alive on another planet.

She knocked on the door to his office one Saturday morning. He was bent over the schematics for the next generation of engines to make the trip to Mars easier and less time consuming. When he saw her, he smiled.

“Aleida called me in a panic. Graciana is sick and Victor is currently stranded in a snowstorm in Chicago and Javi has a basketball game this afternoon. She can’t find anyone to take him, so she called me.” She shrugged and looked down. “I can’t promise fourth grade basketball will be exciting, but would you like to come with me?”

She was just asking him because she needed someone to keep her company. His face lit up. “Of course.”

“Like I said, I can’t promise anything, other than ice cream after the game.”

“I like ice cream. Very much.”

“Good.” She nodded. “Meet me in my office around one.”

They picked Javi up for the game. He was excited. He was regularly the first or second off the bench and the coach praised his improving defense. “I’m so glad you’re going to watch, Tía Margo!”

She didn’t know what she ever did to make this kid like her. But she liked that he did.

“Who did you bring along with you? Is he going to watch too?”

“This is my friend, Sergei.”

“Are you dating?”

She felt herself turning red. “No.”

“Oh. It’s just that Juan’s tía is dating someone his entire family hates. I don’t want that to happen to you.”

Sergei chuckled. “I do not want that to happen either.”

“You have an accent. Where are you from?”

“The Soviet Union.”

Javi’s eyes grew big. “Wow.”

Thoughts about the globe flew out of Javi’s head as Margo pulled into the parking lot and he saw several of his teammates. They followed him into the middle school gymnasium and he disappeared into the locker room.

“Come on, let’s get something to eat,” she said. “It’ll probably be a bag of 50 cent popcorn and a can of coke that we’ll have to sneak into the gym.”

“I wondered why you had such a large purse.”

She smiled and allowed him to put his hand on the small of her back as they climbed the bleachers with their contraband. They both knew the basics of the game - you put the ball in the basket. It turned out they did not need to know much more for the game at the fourth grade level. They clapped and cheered for Javi whenever he made a basket. She never wanted Javi to have to question whether adults in his life loved him and if that meant making noise at a basketball game, then she would do it.

Javi’s team ended up losing the game by ten. He was upset until Margo announced that they were going to get ice cream. After they finished their cones, he insisted that they get some for Graciana and Aleida. When they dropped him back home, Margo wondered if she had really done Aleida a favor returning an excited child filled with ice cream.

As they pulled away from Aleida’s, Margo thanked Sergei for coming.

“It was fun.”

“Really?”

“It was a side of you I’d never seen. I quite enjoyed it.”

She was silent for awhile. “We should do it again. Sometime.”

“I’d like that.”

[inkskinned]

the thing is there's like, a point of oversaturation for everything, and it's why so many things get dropped after a few minutes. and we act like millennials or gen z kids "have short attention spans" but... that's not quite it. it's more like - we did like it. you just ruined it.

capitalism sees product A having moderate success, and then everything has to come out with their "own version" of product A (which is often exactly the same). and they dump extreme amounts of money and environmental waste into each horrible simulacrum they trot out each season.

now it's not just tiktokkers making videos; it's that instagram and even fucking tumblr both think you want live feeds and video-first programming. and it helps them, because videos are easier to sneak native ads into. the books coming out all have to have 78 buzzwords in them for SEO, or otherwise they don't get published. they are making a live-action remake of moana. i haven't googled it, but there's probably another marvel or starwars something coming out, no matter when you're reading this post.

and we are like "hi, this clone of project A completely misses the point of the original. it is soulless and colorless and miserable." and the company nods and says "yes totally. here is a different clone, but special." and we look at clone 2 and we say "nope, this one is still flat and bad, y'all" and they're like "no, totally, we hear you," and then they make another clone but this time it's, like, a joyless prequel. and by the time they've successfully rolled out "clone 89", the market is incredibly oversaturated, and the consumer is blamed because the company isn't turning a profit.

and like - take even something digital like the tumblr "live streaming" function i just mentioned. that has to take up server space and some amount of carbon footprint; just so this brokenass blue hellsite can roll out a feature that literally none of its userbase actually wants. the thing that's the kicker here: even something that doesn't have a physical production plant still impacts the environment.

and it all just feels like it's rolling out of control because like, you watch companies pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into a remake of a remake of something nobody wants anymore and you're like, not able to afford eggs anymore. and you tell the company that really what you want is a good story about survival and they say "okay so you mean a YA white protagonist has some kind of 'spicy' love triangle" and you're like - hey man i think you're misunderstanding the point of storytelling but they've already printed 76 versions of "city of blood and magic" and "queen of diamond rule" and spent literally millions of dollars on the movie "Candy Crush Killer: Coming to Eat You".

it's like being stuck in a room with a clown that keeps telling the same joke over and over but it's worse every time. and that would be fine but he keeps fucking charging you 6.99. and you keep being like "no, i know it made me laugh the first time, but that's because it was different and new" and the clown is just aggressively sitting there saying "well! plenty of people like my jokes! the reason you're bored of this is because maybe there's something wrong with you!"

[morganbritton132]

More Steve Has Older Siblings AU melodrama:

1. Steve didn’t know that he was getting rejected from the colleges he applied to because his dad was taking his mail. He thought that because it was taking a while that maybe it meant good news, but no. His dad stood up during their monthly family dinner hell and flung eight rejection letter across the table, announcing to all of them that Steve couldn’t even get into Tech.

2. Steve was convinced that his dad was allergic to peppermint because he made a big fuss about it being in the house all the time (he doesn’t like the smell.) One time when Steve was mad at him for breaking his toy, he broke off a piece of a candy cane and dropped it into his dad’s travel mug. He spent the whole day at school convinced that he killed his dad and was so relieved when he came home from work that Steve burst into tears.

3. Richie has been mistaken for Steve’s dad more times than his own kids.

4. When Jason was twenty-three, he got caught with cocaine on him and their dad had to pull strings to get him out of trouble. This has been Steve’s problem ever since.

5. Anytime his family made plans to do things together, Steve was never included so it’s kind of a shock when he’s woken up from a midday nap to Dustin pounding on his front door, shouting MAYDAY MAYDAY CODE RED CODE- “What the hell, man?”

Dustin doesn’t even answer him, just shoved inside like, “Are you hurt? Dying? Are you a force ghost right now?”

“Huh?” Steve is just baffled, even more so when Dustin fixed him with a look and brings up the plans the party made to meet at the arcade before having a monster movie marathon at the Wheelers. He asks why Steve didn’t show up and he answers with the obvious, “I wasn’t invited?”

“You were invited! We made the plans with you. You were right there!”

“Yeah, but…” Steve says a little confused but finds a warmth washing over him. “No one invited me.”

“Steve, you’re in the party. You’re always invited!” Dustin exclaims, throwing his hands up like it’s that easy. “You’re basically family.”

[turtleblogatlast]

I love Raph and haven’t said that enough so to be more specific I love that Raph is a soft boy who loves bear plushies, a gross boy who eats an assortment of things that are definitely better left alone, a smart boy who is more than capable of taking down villains through planning and fortitude alike, a strong boy who is dedicated to training his muscles and fighting prowess, a teenage boy who loves his brothers but is more than happy to tease and roughhouse with them, an angry boy who sometimes lets his anger take a hold of him to cover the fear, a gentle boy who is generous with hugs and affirmations to those he loves, a capable boy who takes on more than should ever be expected of a teenager, a good boy who just wants to be a hero and slowly comes to realize the cost of that duty, a good boy who has no reservations about putting himself in the way of harm coming to his family, a good boy who’s a great brother and son and person and deserves only the best the world has to offer.

[jadecantcreate]

creeping shadows, rising smoke

the kremy wallpaper is done! @szaryherbatnik gave me the idea in the first place <33 (like. a month ago….better late than never?) click for higher quality; speedpaint beneath the cut

[lemongogo]

they should get to kill each other at least twice .i think

[wigglebox]

Suptober - Day 14 | Favorite Episode

[icewindandboringhorror]

I made a few new wax seal stamps out of clay (like the ones I did for my worldbuilding stuff forever ago), this time just of random symbols that I thought might look good done in the style of painting over the raised part of the wax or etc. :0c Some of them aren't carved deep enough to really show up that well, but overall they worked okay for being clay lol

[parasolladyansy]

VS Larry

(Best viewed with the Paldean Elite 4 theme 🎧)

Real quick before the next DxP REWRITE update - I realized I never shared this one here! Larry, as I’ve said in that last post about hairlines lol, is my all-time favorite Elite 4 member. I was surprised to see him at his second job, but I was NOT surprised by his type switch - as an owner of many cloudy clothes myself, I immediately zeroed in on his cloudy tie (even if he wears a gray one in his Gym). ☁️

I felt bad for him at the Elite 4, as I noticed he had a team of these really flashy Flying types (including his own Altaria!), the exact opposite of his preference: simple, ordinary, & neutral. I have a feeling that his boss made him change it up. His Gym ace, Staraptor gave Ansy some trouble, but by the time she & Ikrit reached the Elite 4, she & Skye were more ready for his simple yet effective battling style!

PS: as a small tie-in to DxP, my headcanon is that Larry is originally from Sinnoh - Staraptor ace, is based on the stereotypical Japanese saLARRYman who loves onigiri, etc. 🍙 Maybe 25 years ago he got a League job offer in Paldea, where he went on to double shift as an Elite 4 member, too.

[auriidae]

gently slides you two silly scar headcanons..

1) he has vex wings, same as cub, but thinks they're scary-looking so he keeps them folded up. they're pretty thin and only semi-corporeal so he can pull this off with minimal discomfort most of the time

2) he is a very subtle shapeshifter but just. has never noticed ghfsjf. (so things like hair color, body type, face shape, and the appearance of nonhuman traits like his ears + tail change gradually over time. scar is and has always been completely unaware of this) (this is partially an explanation for why i draw him looking completely differently depending on the series but also to account for his many characters + skins. plus it's hilarious)

[neolxzr]

hey you get it its an alien stage alien au—wait a minute... this is just invader zim !!!

some more random info abt this au under the read more ^_^ open at your own risk its a lot of yapping

till makes it his mission to expose the aliens (mostly ivan. he has personal beef with him) to the rest of humanity, but he's the boy who cried wolf. no one believes him because he's been talking about aliens and bigfoot and mothman and whatever nonstop all his life.

till loves the supernatural but also fears it. it consumes most of his waking thoughts. he doesn't like how quickly the aliens grow close to mizi out of a desire to protect her from the (presumed) threat. he's kinda like if dib invader zim was some gay art kid instead of like a supergenius

this threatening feeling comes from till assuming that ivan and sua are on earth for some kind of conquest and or abduction reasons. are they actually? who knows...

mizi is a bit of a hopeless romantic and finding out that sua was an alien only served to make her fall for her more. she could think of nothing more romantic than this scenario, actually. even till screaming danger at her cannot deter her from her love

ivan fights with till and riles him up because he finds how expressive he is utterly fascinating. he says its to "learn more about humans" but mostly he just wants till's attention. he himself doesn't know why he wants this attention, though.

sua and ivan experience a range of emotions in a similar way to humans, yet their species is discouraged from acting emotionally and isnt taught about what any of their feelings mean. all they know, at the start, is that these humans draw some kind of strange feelings out of them that they've never felt before.

(it sticks with the overall theming of alnst being about trying to understand exactly what love means.)

ivan and sua's earpieces are multipurpose tools. they're connected directly to the brain and can't be taken off. they can be used to generate their disguises (its a hologram type of thing), works as a translator so they can communicate with other alien species, etc.

what looks kind of like a nose on the aliens' faces is not a nose. their antennas are used as their olfactory system (they are also quite sensitive)

till is no longer crushing on mizi at this point in his life. sometime during middle school mizi came out to him as a lesbian and so he told her he liked her and it was a whole thing and they both cried. it ended up serving to strengthen their friendship. its been about 4 years-ish since then and theyre still inseparable

till works some kind of shitty service job part time, at which he met hyuna. she's like his cool older college friend and sort of older sister. he plays with her band sometimes

this takes place in who the fuck knows where midwest united states, and the humans are korean-american. till is first generation and usually speaks korean with his mom at home

it takes a while for till to first get a glimpse of ivan and sua's undisguised forms, though when he finally does something about them seems oddly familiar to him.

mizi sees sua's undisguised form long before till does. she does not tell him this

luka is an alien too. wonder what he's up to...

ok thats all love you bye ^_^

[knifefightandchill]

THE EVIL WITHIN

Loading Screens

[myokk]

For writers:

What’s your favorite piece of writing you’ve done, and why??

Idk I just woke up thinking about this & now I’m curious!!! & may or may not be compiling a tbr based on your responses since I really haven’t had the time to read any hl fics yet🫶🫶🫶

[abnormallyo-a-k]

I'm back pushing my terricky agenda onto you all- what do you know about them? what do you knOW about thEM?? anyway i love them with all my heart and here's my design notes on this -

so this is pre-betrayal. don't ask me the timeline, I may have the timeline but I'm not placing this anywhere First and foremost, on the left- it's not coloured and wont be because I'm lazy but Nicky is wearing Terry's purple sweater, and Terry is wearing a Glenn Close Trio shirt that Nicky has had for years at this point On one of Nicky's many necklaces is a guitar pick, one of the first ones Glenn gave him after he remembered both timelines. He turned it into a necklace to always keep on him, even when they fight and argue. Terry is wearing one of those tight-knit fishnet undershirts with an open chest (saw an image on Pinterest of it and went with it) with one of those sheer mesh cropped shirts over top. His big ass goth ass coat is lacking details again bc lazy but it definitely has a lot more pockets and buckles on it. And yes, Goth Terry is Canon to Me and he absolutely would do some really cool ass punk inspired makeup on Nicky or try out different trad goth makeup ideas on him for fun. Nicky, in turn, paints his nails. Typically they were always black, but occasionally they'd be red or purple or what have you if they felt a lil spicy. Terry also only wears upside down cross jewelry so that normal cross necklaces don't bother Nicky, because you know,,, demon

Also Nicky's tail is wrapped around Terry's leg because he's fruity I stand on the fact that Nicky crushed and fell first and Terry did not realize for a Very Long time because he's a fucking Dumbass and I love him for it

thank you for coming to my Ted (Terricky) Talk, I'll see you again another time when I crawl from the void

[s1lv3rp4w3dc4t]

shout out object shows with canon queer ships. I'm talking on screen kiss or even just verbal confirmation. all things considered it's a bit strange you don't really see them that much when you think about how gay everyone here is. I love you ii but c2bc did what you didn't and I think that's actually really nice.

[genericpuff]

vent post