#just in case it wasn't received well y'know

[luvkyu]

and i ( zhang hao )

zhang hao x male reader

hao is slightly obsessed with another violinist

content : 1.7k words, fluff, violinist!hao x violinist!reader, music terms, v shy hao, mention of vom!t ( just used as exaggeration )

"make sure you go into a heavier crescendo here, okay? this is the biggest climax of the song."

zhang hao nodded sheepishly. it was hard to stay focused on his violin when his mentor was so attractive. especially while sitting right beside him.

"i think a little more vibrato here would be good too, but you can worry more about the actual notes for now if you like," y/n said with a soft smile as he pointed to the sheet music. he could tell hao was nervous, so he was trying his best to keep a light hearted atmosphere.

"it's okay, i can do the vibrato," hao assured.

y/n smiled and nodded. he liked how determined hao was.

"alright, let's run through it one more time and then we'll be done for the day," y/n said.

hao raised his violin back up, straight posture and impeccable bow hold. y/n smiled in approval before doing the same, the sounds of their strings soon filling the practice room.

hao was a second year in their performing arts college. y/n was a fourth year and a first chair violinist in the school's competitive chamber orchestra. the pair had met during hao's first year, but never exchanged more than a few words.

y/n spent a lot of his time helping struggling first and second years with adjusting to their harder music pieces, so when hao spoke up, y/n was happy to help. now they met about three times a week to practice, and hao just received new sheet music that was a complete eyesore.

"good, that was really good," y/n praised happily. "how're you feeling with this piece so far?"

"it's fun, it's just a lot.." hao replied while loosening his bow. y/n nodded.

"yeah, i know. at least we got through the whole first page today! we'll work on the second one next time."

hao nodded as he began putting his things away. y/n gazed at him for a second, admiring how soft his personality seemed.

"y'know, you're a really good violinist, hao."

hao looked up at him with wide eyes. y/n was standing up now, violin hanging from his fingers and a gentle smile resting on his lips. hao could feel his cheeks turning red.

"..thank you. i really like playing, so that means a lot."

y/n nodded in return. "are you gonna try out for the chamber orchestra next year? they let some third years in."

hao thought about it for a moment. he carefully closed his violin case and latched the locks.

"mm.. i'm not sure."

"well," y/n began, "i think you should. if you want to, of course."

hao blushed and nodded in response. he wasn't really sure how to talk to y/n. not when he had the biggest crush on him known to mankind. he could feel y/n's eyes still on him, and for just a second, he wondered if y/n possibly liked him back.

"anyway, i'll see you back here monday?" y/n asked brightly. hao nodded, trying to give his best smile.

y/n hung his violin case over his shoulder and gathered his sheet music before waving goodbye. hao followed his exit, beginning to walk the opposite way to his dorm.

after finally getting back home, zhang hao threw his bags aside with a sigh. he gave more care to his violin case, setting it down gently. taerae stood in the small corner kitchen with a bowl of food in his hands.

"hey, hao. you good?"

"mm," hao mumbled. he went into the kitchen with the other and took a water from their fridge.

"y/n again?" taerae asked with a small chuckle.

hao nodded, "i'm so into him. i hate it."

"i don't know why you won't just ask him out."

hao shrugged. taerae set his bowl down as he gazed at his roommate. hao was so down bad, and taerae hated that he refused to do anything about it. he rolled his eyes and lightly slapped his hand on the counter.

"alright," taerae declared, "you're coming with me tonight. i'm going to his concert to write a review piece for the school paper, so i can get you a ticket too."

"there's a concert tonight??" hao asked with wide eyes.

"yeah, with the chamber orchestra. how did you not know that?"

"i have no idea. i guess i've been too preoccupied."

"sure, preoccupied with y/n."

"..shut up."

zhang hao was shivering. not because it was cold, but because he was nervous. more nervous than he'd ever been, even on his first day of college. he had a small bouquet of flowers in one hand, and his phone in the other with a deathly tight grip. he stood frozen for a moment as he stared at the large theater in front of him.

"hey, relax," taerae's voice cut through his anxiety, "it'll be okay."

hao nodded, trying to let a smile curve on his lips. he could barely see y/n on the stage, as he and taerae were still by the entrance. the orchestra was tuning and warming up, but he could make out y/n's styled hair and pretty smile from far away. he seemed to be talking to the violinist beside him about the sheet music. hao felt his heart swell. seeing y/n in his formal concert attire was almost too much for him.

"c'mon, let's get to our seats," taerae said eagerly. hao nodded again and followed his friend to a pair of seats that were much closer to the stage than he thought.

"oh, he's right in front!" taerae exclaimed quietly, pointing to y/n.

"mhm, he's first chair."

taerae looked over at hao as he looked at y/n.

"taerae?"

"hm?"

"he looks so good i'm gonna throw up," hao muttered. taerae rolled his eyes with a small snicker.

zhang hao took a deep breath and looked down at his hands. he laid the flowers in his lap before rubbing his palms together.

"wait, i think he sees us!" taerae enthused.

hao's head shot back up to find his crush's eyes resting on him. a smile quickly sprouted on y/n's face, keeping his gaze set on hao.

"oh, i hate him.. why is he staring at me like that.."

"cause he likes you, dumb fuck."

hao looked over at taerae with wide eyes before going back to y/n.

"maybe he's just surprised to see me. he didn't know i was coming so.."

taerae rolled his eyes. he watched hao muster up the courage to wave at y/n, the male sending a tiny wave back with his violin bow.

the lights soon died down as the audience began clapping and the conductor made his way out to join the orchestra. hao loved watching y/n become all serious as he lifted his violin to his chin in sync with the others.

throughout the pieces of music, taerae took notes for the school paper, while hao simply sat in awe. he'd seen them perform before, but it was like a new experience every time. the group was so professional and well put together. hao hoped he could be at such a level soon.

by the time it was over, zhang hao was even more of a nervous wreck. he waited with taerae by their seats, pretending to talk until y/n made his way over to them. he was currently traveling through the theater to talk with different people. hao assumed he was thanking people for coming and receiving congratulatory words in return - the usual etiquette that hao found quite tiresome if he was honest.

"hey guys," hao felt his heart quicken as he recognized y/n's voice, "thanks for coming. i didn't expect to see you, but i'm happy you're here."

taerae could tell that was directed more at zhang hao, but he didn't mind a bit. he and y/n were more like acquaintances than friends anyways.

"of course! you guys did really great. the review in the paper will be nothing but good things, i promise," taerae assured.

"thank you, i'm really glad you liked it!"

taerae smiled before turning to hao, "i'm gonna go wait in the car, okay?"

hao nodded in response. he could feel a chill run down his spine as he now faced y/n alone. he felt like melting on the spot. seeing y/n up close in his suit and tie made him feel weak.

"i've never seen you so dressed up. you look really amazing," y/n complimented, as if reading hao's mind.

"thank you," hao blushed, "you do too. i like your suit a lot."

y/n smiled and looked down at the clean black fabric.

"yeah? i always feel kinda weird when i dress up this nicely, but i'm glad someone else enjoys it."

hao nodded. oh, how he really did enjoy it.

"ah- these are for you," hao spoke up as he reached to the seat behind him where he'd left the flowers. y/n's jaw fell open just a bit, blushing a little himself now.

"really? you got me flowers?"

hao smiled and nodded. "you deserve them. i knew you'd be great tonight."

y/n couldn't help but chuckle at how cute the other was. he took the bouquet happily, looking at the flowers before turning his attention back to zhang hao.

"hey, are you doing anything else tonight?" y/n asked. hao's heart picked up once again. he shook his head while trying to hide his growing smile.

"then can i take you to dinner?"

hao almost couldn't believe it.

"really? you mean now?"

y/n nodded confidently, "we're already dressed up, i'm hungry, and i have the prettiest boy in the room to come with me. it's perfect."

hao looked down at his shoes, his smile too much for himself now.

"sure, i'd love to. let me just tell taerae?"

y/n nodded again, "of course. let's go." he offered his hand out, which hao took a bit shyly before he was led out of the theater.

[scenetocause]

This isn't a kiss prompt but I didn't know who else to send it to. Given you're into fisting would you ever write urethral play? Rule 63 pretty please and ignore this if it's not your thing!!!! Thank you for your service 💋

anon i need you to know this is the most horrifically targeted ask in history and i am found out. called out. seen. it's taken me days to respond because i'm having conniptions. let's all never meet at the satanic ritual again if you sent this no you didn't if you read this no you didn't i absolutely definitely didn't write it.

this seemed to fit very perfectly to pussy exploring champion genders maxy. warnings for what this is and inevitably a bit of piss.

Luisa says no straight away, tells Lando to watch more normal porn. He looks suitably ashamed of himself but also directly at Max, who hasn't replied yet.

"Err," she's not. Well she's seen it, obviously, back in the Formula Renault days when everyone was trying to one-up each other about what they'd whacked one out to. But she doesn't think about that type of thing too often, now. Doesn't exactly need to.

"You are not," Luisa looks scandalised. "No way."

"I dunno," Max argues. "It's - well. It's interesting, maybe?"

Luisa makes a very disgusted sound, like she's about to call them both idiot boys but doesn't want to offend Max. "Not when I'm here. Could you get back to-" she gestures between her own legs - "now, please?"

It's something Max is beyond happy to do, especially when Lando slides up behind where she's bent over, sticks his dick in Max's pussy while her tongue's up Luisa's, fitting perfectly between them.

It's a few weeks later when the opportunity presents itself. Luisa's away, Lando's received a few suspiciously plain parcels, Max is feeling restless and horny but doesn't want to give him the satisfaction of riding his dick for a second time in a day. Bloke wins one race and thinks he's got free use or something.

Max might let him. One day. For a weekend or something. If he wins a championship. For now, though, she's curious about this.

When Lando pushes her back into the duvet, one of his hands behind her waist to maneuver her so she's settled nicely against the pillows, it feels like the right time to ask. To shimmy her legs around his, so she can hook her ankles behind his thighs and hold him there, just in case actually saying it makes either of them nervous.

In the end she can't quite get it out, anyway. "Do you want to try - putting something up. You know?"

"Fuck." Lando clearly wasn't expecting her to ask that, has to collapse on her a bit. "Fuck, really? Yeah - yeah, if you want to."

"If it's shit we can do something else, yeah?" Everything on PornHub was a bit rancid, Max is pretty sure she's not going to be doing any of that. But it's nice when Lando tongues her there, sometimes. Weirdly soothing, if her cunt's a bit achey from fucking.

Lando moans into her collarbone, kisses her under the ear before a breathy confession. "I'm glad it's you - I knew she wouldn't really be, y'know."

There's a thing, with them. That they do stuff together, sometimes and it's different from with Luisa. When they're all fucking it's great, so good but sometimes Max and Lando almost try stuff on, before they take it to her. Just to get the knack first, really.

"Better get, y'know. And a towel." Kicking him off the bed to go and find everything feels a bit mean but also fuck is Max going to do it herself. It gives her time to kick off her own shorts, leave her in a soft, comfy crop top Lando can see her nipples through, anyway.

When he gets back he drops some stuff on the bed, kneels back to take his own shirt off. It's a nice view, lot of abs and shoulders and Lando's tight, dark nipples. He's so built now and Max can't really bring herself to get jealous about it, with her own body to explore, these days.

Lando wastes no time in pushing her thighs apart, big hands spanning them. His thumbs are massaging the crease, spreading the outer lips of her pussy immediately and she can feel where she's wet with anticipation, the slide easy.

"Towel." She can't be bothered to do laundry after this, is pretty sure she'll want Lando to hold her.

He shakes his head like he's trying to snap himself out of something. "Right, yeah."

Lando picks one of her thighs up, props it on his own hip while he's dipping his fingers beneath her hips, rubbing them over Max's arsehole. "I'm gonna start here."

"Well it's not there." Surely he knows that?

"Nope." Lando looks smug and ashamed at the same time. "I wanna fuck you here."

It punches the air out of her, sometimes. The way Lando wants her, wants Max. He's got a bit of a thing for anal anyway but because they did this before, when Max was a boy, it always feels natural with them.

"Ok, yeah."

It's so nice, wet fingers playing over her and dipping inside, she almost forgets they're not just doing that this afternoon. Feeling stretched around Lando's fingers isn't as good as his cock but it gets her in a relaxing kind of mood, concentrating on making the tension leave her body, letting the anticipation build.

"Your arse is so good." It's a bit embarrassing how basic compliments still get her - of course her arse is great, Lando's lucky he gets to do it but appreciation is always nice.

"C'mon," she wants her clit touched, feeling wet and swollen.

Lando doesn't do that, although he takes his fingers out of her arse, carefully wipes them on the towel underneath her, then frowns and gets up to go and wash them in the sink.

For a minute, she thinks maybe it was messy and wants to die a bit, making a questioning noise when he gets back.

"No - just. Should be sterile, innit?" Oh, yeah. Max doesn't really want to be pissing blood any time soon. It's nice, that Lando cares this much about her. Makes it easy to part her legs, wide and prop them a bit like an uncomfortable doctors appointment, much easier with Lando's thumb rubbing over her clit.

He wriggles down on his belly, disappearing from her view and Max closes her eyes, tries not to think too much about the view he's got. Her arse, glistening with lube and still twitching a bit from the intrusion. Her pussy, puffed up with how turned on she is and sopping wet where he's spreading her open, looking inside.

It makes her gasp, when she feels that he can see it, from the sudden air. It almost makes her want to pee but then Lando's mouth is there, wet and as soothing as she remembered it.

The catch of the tip of his tongue over it makes Max blush. It feels very possible, suddenly, that something could go up there. When Lando sucks on it a bit, gentle and warm, she wants to relax it, pee in his mouth just a tiny bit and it's a weird, mortifying thought that drags a harsh noise out of her, shocked at herself.

The exhale makes her let go, just a tiny bit and then nearly try to scramble off the bed, if Lando hadn't been there to hold her down with his hands round her hips.

He looks at her, aggrieved and with a wet face. "You know I am trying to make you do that?"

"Oh." She'd sort of known - you can't get round piss being a bit involved, can you? But not in his mouth, maybe. Should've know Lando's a fucking freak.

"Relax, Maxy." She settles back and he dives back in, licking her all over for a few minutes before getting back to sucking over her peehole, soft and warm.

This time it's more deliberate, when she relaxes. It's not a lot, not even a dribble, really, just a few drops from her opening up for him.

Lando grunts in satisfaction, stops sucking to lick over her, dipping his tongue further into her pussy. It feels a bit urgent, suddenly, to get attention there or to piss properly.

"C'mon, do the thing."

"Yeah?" Lando sounds a bit gargly, like he is on team radio sometimes. "Can I put it in you?"

He sounds so hopeful Max forces herself to stay relaxed, not tense up with anticipation. "You can try. Y'know, with lube."

The sound Lando's got in his hand isn't big - probably the smallest he could order, with a safely rounded tip. Max is pretty sure that's her limit, isn't interested in anything that would stretch her out there, just something that will fit.

Lando sloshes so much lube it feels like her pussy is squelching and it takes him a moment to get a good enough grip to open her back up, with the forefinger and thumb of his left hand, while he's aiming.

Trying to relax, feeling the round tip of the sound against her, she feels the hot splash of some piss escape her and Lando uses all those F1 reaction times to push it forward, just inside.

It's. So weird. Nothing like her arse or her pussy, almost feels like she can feel it in her clit. Makes her wriggle down, get her legs further apart and-

"More." She sounds hoarse, embarrassed and Lando just hums like he's mesmerised, fucks the sound a little deeper.

She feels the moment when it's in, partly as relief that the ball part is past and only the smooth, silicone stick is being squeezed and partly as a rush of heat between her legs, leaking.

It must make her make a noise, although Max isn't sure she could've heard herself over the blood rushing through her ears. Still, Lando responds. "It's so hot. Fuck, Max, does it hurt?"

Sort of, would be her honest answer. It's not comfortable, at the same time as it feels incredible. Filthy, special, like she's going to come insanely hard as soon as Lando does anything else to her.

"Not really. Not, like, bad. I like it." It feels shocking admitting that, almost the same gut-punch as when she'd had to say the opposite about racing.

Lando tuts. "I'm going to-" he tugs on the sound, gentle. "Take it out. Want to get you off."

She doesn't have the words to say that'll probably do it. That she might come when he's pulling it slowly out. By some miracle, she doesn't because Lando's mouth is back there, suddenly. His right thumb, freed from holding the sound, is on her clit and she's definitely wetting, a little bit, when her thighs clamp around his head while she's shaking through it.

When she lets him go Lando drags himself up like he's just done a brutal workout. His face is red with heat or horny or both and his mouth is dripping, goatee soaked.

"Fuck, I'm not gonna be able to-" he's shoving his joggers off, cock springing free with a spider-web trail of precome to the fabric. "I'm - fuck, Max."

He's coming over her pussy, splattering her pubes, before he's even really got a hand on himself, fingertips loosely rubbing himself through it.

Lando moans, collapsing on the bed next to her. "I know we've got to - give me a minute."

She rolls over, pulls his face against her tits. "Thank you, buddy."

Lando makes a sort of affectionate noise, burrowing into her chest. "Can't believe - yeah, good. So good, actually."

He runs her a bath, when she gets up to pee. Sits behind her in it until they're both pruning and the water's getting cool, their bodies warmer than what's around them, pressed together.

[echo]

this is a response to @anarcho-yorpism's tag for me in this post. i'm not directly rbing bc that post is long and it has a lot going on in the notes.

anyway please note all of my responses here are my own, and not representative of Staff or tumblr. i am not T&S and have zero power to make any moderation decisions here.

with that disclaimer:

Predstrogen received a message from Tumblr saying she was banned for "sexual content". If she was not, why was she told this, why were her transition photos removed, and why has she still not been told the actual reason? (I understand not making it public, but it is your policy to tell the user) If she was, what was this sexual content, if not her transition timeline?

i can't really directly answer this for few reasons. firstly, i feel that staff shouldn't talk about her anymore bc i feel this continued controversy will only attract more harassment for her on other platforms.

secondly, as a low-level staffer talking about moderation decisions can get me, y'know, fired. i'd prefer not to do that.

also just like... i want to avoid getting into a narrative of "well she did bad things so she deserves it" or whatever. idc if she broke the rules or not, she didn't deserve what happened.

i know this isn't terribly satisfying to hear, but i'd like to be honest about why i'm not saying more at least.

If you can't answerblegal questions, ignore this question: The NYCLU settlement agreed that Tumblr would fix its moderation so it targeted transfem users less. Why has there been no comment on the settlement and actions taken since? There could genuinely be a large legal case against Tumblr after this, and I love this site and don't want that to happen. Also, wasn't it illegal under GDPR to release her usernames?

i'm not able to answer legal questions. i don't know the exact text of the agreement, but it mostly boiled down to some training and stuff from my personal experience there.

however not as a staffer but as NYC trans human: i would not put a ton of faith in the NYCCHR. they have some noble goals but they are a chronically underfunded city agency that in practice does very little to curb real-world violence against marginalized people. i tried to use them myself when my landlord was kicking me out right after i had surgery and they didn't even get back to me until months after everything resolved. nobody i know in the community out here has been helped by them off the top of my head.

i have sincere doubts in relying on the state to help people here.

A lot of transfem users don't like vague language like "prioritize", especially given point 2 and Matt's statement that improving moderation was not on the agenda. I understand you can't reveal company secrets in an already risky post, but we would like to see the specific actions taken after this, given a lot of broken trust by what @\photomatt has said. Are any of the trans women banned recently for "sexual content" going to have their accounts restored?

i don't know. i'm pushing internally for at least a review of everyone suspended to see if the less egregious stuff can be reversed. but like i said, i don't have a ton of power as i'm not in charge of anything.

and yeah, "prioritize" is vague corpo-speak. i know some stuff is shifting internally and what we said does match what is happening inside. but also... i've been disappointed before.

i can say i'm tentatively optimistic. people are responding seriously, and being asked our opinions for once is pretty nice. but also, systemic stuff is hard. i trust in my fellow workers and i'll continue to fight until i can't anymore.

so... yeah. i genuinely wish i can be more informative here, but what we wrote (and i want to emphasize we here, it was not just me by any stretch!!) is what we can say in an official capacity.

i'm just frustrated, tired, angry, depressed... and also weirdly hopeful?

[noblechaton]

gonna ramble a bit about the ml art style change bc ig I have more thoughts about it than I knew. tagging this as leaks but no like story stuff is gonna be mentioned bc I don't really know any lol

so going off what little we've seen of it (and in arguably the lowest possible quality at that) I think it's gonna make the show very visually pretty which isn't to say it couldn't be or wasn't in the older style(s) but that was def more inconsistent between studios and such so if this new style is the standard then like. yeah it's gonna look great

buuuuuuuut I also think it looks kinda. generic? like what's happened to a lotta brand logos that used to have personality but now all look super flat and simplified. like the Pepsi logo or whatever. it's a similar situation to the movie (I'll get into this in a bit) where like yes it looks pretty but it doesn't really look like Miraculous to me? like ik the style kinda varied somewhat between the studios but it was largely consistent enough and felt much more unique. like I could see a screencap from any timestamp of any episode and place it as Miraculous just bc of the visual style

now tho it looks less unique to me and more....like a mobile game ad? some kinda un-marketed direct to streaming movie? not trying to sound mean or anything but it just doesn't strike that same feeling the old style did for me as of yet. it feels more like an attempt to ape off a generic Pixar/Disney sorta style which the movie's style did too - and that ig is a good excuse for me to kinda dive into my thoughts there bc like. it looks way more like that movie now right? the y'know completely non-canon movie that to my knowledge wasn't received too terribly well lmao. I feel like this is on some level purposeful tho

I made a post the other day about how someone (especially the youngins) might go into season 6 thinking it's actually more of a season 1 only to presumably find that very much isn't the case pretty quick lmao - but that's still a new viewer, which makes number go up, which is a Good Thing. that s6 looks to be something of a fresh start given the whole Gabe in da Ground situation makes me believe this more since I'm pretty sure he got got in the movie too (<- does not remember the movie she saw twice) albeit in a different way. very real chance they view s6 as something of a soft launch pad with the hope of ppl who only saw the movie just jumping in without looking first. I also have an even more insane conspiracy theory that they're using movie assets at lower res for the sake of cost management but again. nutso hunch

regardless I'm kinda surprised they're changing it so drastically this deep into the series and I have no idea how the quality of animation is gonna hold up from episode to episode, season to season. presumably this is part'a why we haven't had s6 drop yet, that they've been working on it thoroughly, but it's been a good minute since s5 ended and I feel like the drought in content isn't really worth it?

like it's been so long that to me sometimes it's felt like the show straight up ended and while I don't mind a wait like this, the show then coming back looking entirely different to how it used to is gonna be jarring. I'm giving it a chance bc we haven't really seen it yet and that footage is very likely a wip of some sort but all the same I'm not terribly impressed? the emotions seem more stilted and flat, there's a few sorta redesigns that look....off (namely Adrichat, imo), and it feels too much like an attempt at cashing in on whatever success the movie might have had by bringing the look of the show more in line with it

think what gets me the most is that the style and animation of the show was one of the biggest things that drew me in beyond the bugcat of it all. it was the first CG animated show I'd seen where I felt as if the animation really worked; the world felt alive and vibrant, the city lived in and populated, but it didn't feel uncanny or like realistic in any sense, and there were plenty of gaffs and flaws throughout but I feel that only endeared the look of the show to me more - it had its own style that stood out for better or worse and I think that played more a role in the show's success than most have given credit for, and now that it's being entirely dropped in favor of a style that feels much more like some generic CG animation style I can't help but feel a bit disheartened and even nervous about the future of the series tbh

want to say that I'm not looking to hate it - I'm gonna give it a chance, and again I think it does visually look pretty, but I feel like it loses a lot of what made the show stand out to me and changes things I don't think really needed changed. time will tell but as of now I'm really not sold on it

also think having a special (or two? maybe?) in the old style just to drop us into the newer one presumably shortly after is kinda weird. wonder what happened there. bad timing? tbh using a special to introduce it mighta helped a bit but idk for sure

[yve-kae-nightfever]

y'know what? shush. i've been in an extreme lee mood

Yellow car, closed!

(Modern AU!Venti & G/N!Reader, platonic)

Summary: In italy there's this game where when you see a yellow car, you hit someone's shoulder and you say "yellow car, closed!" to specify that you're the one who saw it first and you can't be hit anymore. But, what if you hit your best friend's shoulder with your...foot? Oh, Venti for sure knows how to play.

Enjoy!

Ah, wasn't it just so nice to lay down and relax in the park.

Just you two, you and your best friend, Venti, sitting on a blanket and enjoying your time off school. Both of your shoes distractedly left in front of you, along with your backpacks.

The silence, just the sound of the cars passing by, maybe a group of kids far behind you, playing on the slide or the swing.

Then, you saw it coming. From afar, a yellow car.

Oh, it was the perfect opportunity to remember Venti how bad he hit your shoulder the last time he saw a yellow car before you.

You looked at him to see if he was paying attention to the road. Pff. His head was in the clouds.

Just one problem. You were a little bit too far for your fist to reach his shoulder. You'd make too much noise if you tried to move closer.

Oh, but your foot could. Everything was fair, as long as your target was hit...right? Of course it was fair!

So, as soon as the car was in full sight, you hit him with a push, helping yourself with your toes to effectively make it feel like a punch, or a kick in this case.

"Yellow car, closed!"

"Ah!" you had probably startled him, because he immediately whirled around and grabbed whatever had hit him.

"Hah! Got you! Who's the fastest one now huh?"

You gave Venti a moment to recover from the little scare you gave him. Man, what a terrible decision.

"Oh, for sure you're the fastest..."

It was in that exact moment that you wondered why he hadn't let go of your foot yet. And that you realized why, too.

"But rules are rules, right?"

Ah, another time where your mind convinced itself that everything was fair? No, that couldn't be possible.

"W-what do you mean?" you gently tugged at your now trapped ankle. No, oh no.

You saw Venti smirking. Oh. No.

"You must hit someone with your fist, not with you foot"

Within seconds, you found yourself squealing as soon as familiar fingers started scribbling along your foot.

"Wahaha-wahahahait! Vehehenti! Nooohoho!"

"Wait for what?" his fingers travelled up to your toes, and there, you lost it. "You broke the rules, now you get punishment!"

"I- I thought kihihicks wehehere valid! Plehehehease- nohohot theheHEHERE! AH- VEHEHENTI!"

At this point, when Venti started to tickle your toes and your heel at the same time, you couldn't even form full sentences.

"Well, maybe you should revise the rules a little bit, hehe. What if we do it now, mhh?~"

Your eyes snapped open and your hands flailed to stop him as you realized what he meant. And most of all, you got scared when he took off your sock. Ah, no, not that!

"First, you spot a yellow car" he scratched under your big toe, already sending you hysterics.

"Then, you select your target" he did the same with your second toe.

"V-VEHEHENTI! I knohohow how to plahahahay!" you begged, hoping to convince him.

"No you don't! Anyways, after that, you keep in mind that you have to hit your target with your fist, and not with anything else"

The fact that he made this whole sentence while he tickled your third toe made you want to kick his face, gosh, it tickled so bad!

"Then, you hit your target, possibly not strong enough to hurt them"

Well, at least he remembered the time he accidentally hit you a little bit too rough.

But for sure that didn't compensate with the tickle you were receiving.

"And finally, you scream -yellow car, closed!-" at that point, another yellow car passed, and not only he tickled your pinky toe, not only he reached out to hit your shoulder, but he also took advantage of it switched to tickle your neck.

"So, have you learnt the rules now?"

"Y-yehehes! Yes- now stohohohop! Plehehease!"

He chuckled as tears of joy pinched the corners of your eyes.

"Alright, alright, I trust you you'll remember the rules, hehe~"

"Next time I see a yellow car...I'm so going yo get you back for this..."

"Oh please, I don't break rules every now and then like a certain someone!~"

You glared at him playfully when he stuck his tongue out at you. "You-! Oh, that's it, come here!"

And you both knew that between yellow cars and tickle fights, your afternoon wasn't going to end soon.

[renaisguy]

Dashing, dashing... Off to find someone 'dashing.' The thought really messes with her as she prowls around the courtyard for anyone with a gift in their hands. To label them 'dashing'... Isn't that the same as admitting they're hot? No, no Larcei--chase those thoughts away! It's not someone attractive that she needs to find, but someone vain. She vigorously shakes her head as she continues, searching for some other way to psych herself out of playing into her gift-giver's hand.

She happens upon Forde.

And he doesn't look bad. Not good either, but maybe, kinda, sorta passable-by-her-standards? Enough to get her to stop walking, at least. And more importantly, he has the aura of one who would call themselves dashing. Not haughty enough to use another word, but cool and confident... And she hates him. She decides on the spot that she'd cut a circle around the path he had been walking, shoving her note in his face with a searing blush.

"Don't read into this, but was this you?" The tone of those words is a flying accusation tied down by gratitude and back-minded doubt. A thought lingers in her that wonders if she's wrong about this whole thing--and how catastrophic that would be--even if she kicks it to the sidelines. And there still stands the fact that he got her a gift. A real good one, too. She'll have to express her gratitude, if begrudgingly.

"Y'know, this is a lotta hot air to be blowin' at a gift exchange. Did you think you were makin' a match just because you drew a girl's name!?" She huffs, pulling back with stamping feet. Her arms cross over her chest. The answer is a loud and clear 'no'. Now with this done, she sighs--the next part doesn't come out so easily.

"Well, you're not, but I'm here to say thanks. Despite it all, I think you've knocked me dead with this. What's your name?"

Forde was simply going about his day when a girl he'd never met started yelling at him, and chucked a letter at him. 'To: Larcei. From: Your dashing Winter Envoy'. Hang on a moment...

"Um, sorry, but I'm not Larcei. You must have the wrong person." Never mind the fact he'd already received his gift, and the woman handing them out had been far less rude than-

Oh she was Larcei.

He looked at the note again, now things were sliding into place. She thought he had sent her this note as part of his gift... She thought he was dashing? Her current attitude suggested otherwise, but maybe she was one of those girls who pretended to hate you while secretly adoring you...

He was getting off-topic. Whether or not she thought he was dashing was secondary to the fact she thought he would describe himself as 'A dashing Winter Envoy'. And regardless of whether he would, he hadn't in this case.

"Sorry, you've definitely got the wrong person." He felt bad pointing this out now, after she'd gone through all that sincere stuff at the end. "I didn't even write a note, unless..." Perhaps Lady Rhea had written the note for him, was it lady Rhea who found him dashing?

Wait a second, her name was Larcei. He was being an idiot, he knew the name of his giftee. This girl was unrelated.

"Nope, definitely definitely the wrong person. I appreciate it though." He flashes her the most charming smile he can muster. Yeah, he was pretty dashing, wasn't he?

[mad-hunts]

-knocking on the door, politely waits-

This is a positivity boost. You are a wonderful human being and a stellar creator, and I love all of your muses so much. The character studies, the headcanons, your random musings. It all never ceases to amaze me how you can not only be so versatile with your different blogs, but each of your muses so consecutively feel like completely different characters (which they are, really, but you get what I mean?) even though you’re the mind behind all of them.

I am so proud and happy to see you on my dash. You never cease to brighten my day. 🥰

- @divingdownthehole

AHHH, i know i am a billion years late to answering this, but i honestly kind of wanted to hoard it for a little bit because this is just SUCH a freaking nice message 😭 like i don't even know what to say to this besides THANK YOU SM!!! i feel so honored to hear that you not only like my characters, but love them. like if i'm being honest... i wasn't sure what to expect whenever i joined tumblr and became a part of the RPC. but you were one of the people on here that i feel really kind of helped me come out of my shell a little bit, and you were also my first friend on tumblr, so i just want you to know that i am very grateful to have met you + to have your continued support here as well as on my other accounts!!!!

it absolutely means the world to me that you love the stuff that i put out, as well as my characters as i mentioned earlier. and the fact that you think i'm versatile with them is just... GAHHH, you're gonna make me happy cry over here!! THANK YOU SOOOO much again for all of your kind words, as they really uplifted me when i received them and they still do, y'know that? i mean i have always felt a little bit insecure about my characters in the way that i might not be making them different enough from each other. but the fact that you think that i have been able to achieve writing different voices for all of them makes me feel reassured that that might not actually be the case, after all.

but okay, i'm officially crying now 🥹 i always feel so delighted to see you on my dash, too, and proud! and i'm so glad to hear that i've been able to make you feel happier with our interactions - even if it's just a little bit. but thank you, THANK YOU for everything once more, and i am currently sending you all of the hugs!! because i love you and i appreciate you even more than words can express 🫂

[that-left-turn]

I don't get your last anon. I thought this is shipping? Well, we're shipping Caryl, right?! Hardly a ship goes canon. My ships never went canon. Why aren't we allowed to whine about it for years and years?

We start to ship someone, we're searching other shippers, enjoy fanart, fanfiction and whine when they won't get canon etc.

My oldest ship started mid 90s when I was barely a teenager.

Let people enjoy and love whomever they want. No matter if they're going canon or not.

We saw, not long ago, how ridiculous it can get when when a couple is canon. (Cringefest at its finest)

So it doesn't matter that they haven't been together until now. It might not matter if they go canon S2. As long as people ship them, great. (BTW, my first ships fanfiction is still getting updated almost daily 🤗)

Agreed, shipping isn’t related to whether a couple has gone canon or not. It doesn’t even matter if the ship is a popular one because the important part is that it resonates with the viewer. It’s just common to seek confirmation for your observations—we all wanna know we’re not “out there” for thinking something, right? I think the previous anon was simply frustrated and wanted to know why I didn’t seem to share those concerns. I get that 🫠 I can sympathize with the feeling.

My point about the fandom dying wasn't about canon at all. Like you said, there are fandoms where the shows ended decades ago that are still going strong 😊 It feels like there's too much in-fighting between different factions of Caryl fans for this fandom to be healthy. How someone ships is individual: some fans want to remain in their happy bubble and enjoy the fandom spoils without engaging with TPTB, others want to advocate for their ship to go canon. Live and let live, y'know? I don't have the right to tell another person how to enjoy their hobby.

As to whether Caryl would turn into “a cringefest” if they were to go canon depends on how well the showrunner writes old married couple a mature middle-aged relationship, what tone is set for that arc (if it runs counter to the external plot or harmonizes with it), whether there’s studio interference and if the NW EPs have agendas of their own.

AMC (and Norman) like ambiguity to the point of plausible deniability. Caryl will in all likelihood reunite in the last two episodes, unless the block shooting was completely wild (in which case the script supervisor and line producer were the two worst jobs of the entire production). There won’t be time to explore an emotional arc—the reunion would be the denouement of the first two seasons’ B plot: seeing each other again. If there’s canon, it might be the case of acknowledging it having happened at some point offscreen (before the spinoff) and then the show proceeds with “business as usual.”

Based on what little promotion AMC/TWDU have done so far, they’re aiming to draw in all factions of viewers (including those who hate watch) rather than to build anticipation for the core demographic. That usually means a studio is nervous about how the season will be received, but we’re still in standby mode and I don’t want to make blind predictions because AMC has never acted the way other studios would in similar situations.

[cantbelieveyouregone]

Level 65 - 5 Years, 5 Months On Testosterone

Well, it's been a hell of a long time since I last did this. Almost like a pandemic happened and made me forget because there were slightly more pressing matters at hand. But it's just past trans day of visibility, so figured I should provide some sort of update here.

First big change since you last saw me do this is that I got top surgery. I'm now about two and a bit years past when it happened, and it wasn't completely smooth sailing. Surgery itself went fine, but I ended up having some of my stitching come out during recovery. That's, like, a whole other story, though. It could take up several paragraphs here. I got the periareolar one done, with my chest being just on the borderline of being too big for it, but I begged them to let me have that one, as it'd always been my preferred one if possible.

I'm still trying to get on the waiting list for bottom surgery, but even trying to get through to the GIC to make progress is a nightmare right now. I don't help my case by being someone who absolutely despises making phone calls, so I only try getting in touch by email. I've asked to be put on the list, twice, but I have not received any confirmation if it's happened. Really wish that I wasn't dependent on this whole GIC system, but here we are.

Besides that, in terms of testosterone changes, things have been pretty stable for a while now. My voice hasn't gotten much deeper for like a good couple years. I am a hairy boy - saw it coming, thanks to having beheld my dad swimming, and seeing that we were three for three in having facial hair among my grandfathers and dad as well.

I am still a very physically weak man. Exercise took a backseat for a lot of the lockdown period of the pandemic, as well as me doing very little exercise post-surgery on surgeon's orders. I've really only started picking it up again relatively recently, after moving out of the house I always take these selfies in (my old room - now my dad's work from home office - still has a mirror in it). I can do only about 15 push-ups before I have to stop for a breather, as my endurance has remained atrocious. I managed to do ten bicep curls in a row per arm with dumbbells weighing 8.5kg each, but I truly just reached that point. I can do like 100 sit ups on a workout bench or 50 on the floor in mostly one go, though. And I can do a plank for like two and a half minutes on a good day. So, y'know, I'm not in terrible shape, but I could be better. I want to do bouldering more regularly, but that requires breaking my existing routine to do so, so I find it hard to go very often. At least me and my flatmate walk in to work some days.

I have gained a noticeable amount of weight, compared to my last update, but that's honestly more to do with the fact that I moved out and got a job. My flatmate works at the same place I do, so we go to work at the same time. So I actually eat breakfast every day because they'd quickly notice if I didn't. Lunch is covered by our work, but it's Deliveroo from select places, so it's not the healthiest stuff we have as options. And dinner, again, flatmate and I get back at the same time and make dinner together most nights. Might not seem like a big deal, but before I had a job and moved out, I regularly slept in and didn't have a proper meal until dinner time. So funnily enough, I'm not surprised jumping from one meal a day to three has caused weight gain.

My mental health is an open question as always. I've described myself as "one thing going wrong away from a mental breakdown", and I still think that's accurate. I'm still on meds for anxiety and depression, and I still feel noticeable effects when I forget to take them. I don't think they're going away any time soon. Top surgery has helped with some of the mental health stuff, since it's one less thing for me to worry about on a daily basis, but... y'know, bottom dysphoria still exists, and it's bad. I did make some friends during university which helped to make things tolerable when I definitely otherwise would've been alone, since I pushed a lot of my high school friends away after I dropped out. I'm not in a relationship, and not only do I have limited desire to be until I learn how to take care of myself better, but I still have no idea what anyone would see in me.

I never know how to end these things. I don't know when I'll next remember to actually do one of these, because it's been a long-ass time since I did it before. Maybe I'll do a more detailed update about my top surgery experience. Maybe the folks that follow me ain't here for this, but if my post makes it across the dashboard or in the search of another person going through it, maybe it'll be helpful.

It's kind of why I started doing this in the first place.

[bhxiaolin]

◎﹑ ⵌpoetic justice

@bhjuyeon at the crocus festival

ㅤㅤjoint performances was something that xiaolin was used to. in most cases, she would sing with a band, or have dancers accompany her on stage at the orchid opera house. so, when she was asked to perform at the crocus festival in order to raise money for charities, she wasn't exactly surprised when she was told that it would be a performance with someone else. the who, however, is what had surprised her.

his name was kang juyeon, a master of instruments which had been the talk of the orchid opera house for quite a while. apparently, attending his performances was viewed as an honor, and he rarely, if ever, performed with someone else. so, of course, it was a bit of a shock to hear that he had agreed to it. perhaps it was because they were giving money to charity. for whatever the reason was, xiaolin just hoped that he wasn't mean. she couldn't deal with a rude man tonight. well, she could -- she just didn't feel like it.

so, once xiaolin had received the news, her curiosity (and general nosiness) caused her to go up to him for the first time. "so .. i didn't know you performed with other people." is all xiaolin should've said, but she always had a way of not being able to stop talking. "thought you were kind of like .. y'know, a lone-wolf type of guy. which is kind of a cliché -- not that you're a cliché, but, you just don't talk much- or maybe it's because we've just never talked-." xiaolin cut herself off at that point, taking a breath and putting a warm smile on her face.

"anyway, i'm xiaolin. i'll be singing with you tonight."

[its-hai-time]

I'm back again for more! off-anon this time time because i feel like my sister would already recognize me by this point (tibb if you see this no you didn't, i'm pretty sure you're not on this side of tumblr but just in case) I'm genderfluid, so i'm yesn't a man, but my weird feelings about dreams in which i was a dude did clue me in a little bit, I had a dream in which i was an anthropomorphic cat knight who had adoptive anthro crocodile parents once though.

Also i had a dream in which i crocheted a sweater for Klavier because i felt bad for him, i also had a dream in which i was a mixture of myself and Apollo? or something? i both was and wasn't Apollo? And myself? Dreams are weird that way, and Klavier was my boyfriend obvs, and also weird creature things that were doppelgangers of my family were holding me and my family captive and Klav was on trial for something and i ended up getting saved with the power of milk but y'know Just Dream Things

.....I'll stop now, maybe, well i have to go to sleep in twenty minutes so

Keep a healthy supply of milk in your life I guess.

Also surprisingly despite the amount of art I make about ace attorney I've received minimal dreams about them. I think I've dreamt that I was Apollo once but other than that I haven't seen anything. Like what the fuck I want the wack ass adventures y'all are having.

[selene-tarot]

I know you are focused on paid V-Day readings but whenever you have time or if you can do readings on Normani and Chloe Bailey. Why is or does Normani seem kinda lazy with her music? And how is Chloe's album gonna do?

DISCLAIMER: This is all ALLEGED, please take this reading with a grain of salt, the reading may not be a 100% correct and just know this is tarot, don't take it super seriously. This is for entertainment purposes only.

Normani

Sooo I know y'all wondering if Normani is worried for her career, the answer is yes, and especially long term. Right now I see her making couple of appearances in the pubilc eye to let y'all know she's still there. I do hear the most of her troubles seems to be behind the scenes, and most of my cards seem to point to that. For some reason I feel she regrets the contract she signed with her label. Like y'know when you're a young artist with no knowledge of shit and you sign with not reading anything? To me it seems to be that case where she's binded and it'll be hard for her to detach from the company. There's also something with either her or her management/ turning down opportunities for as well. Though to me I'm leaning towards her management doing this because based on what I received from my cards it looks like she thinks she's doing fine, but could be doing better than where she's at. Overall this scraps up to mismanagement. The next projects/appearances she will be presenting to the public will seem random and will not present her in a good light. She wants to speak out but there's something preventing her or just in general feeling like she can't.

Chloe

Chloe's album rollout will be disorganized. She'll be proud of the album itself though! I see the phrase "it will be the first of many". General public's view will be somewhat mixed but I'm also getting her main fanbase will have really mixed views. One side will really enjoy what she'll show in this album, but the other side will dislike it; They will keep refering back to the music she made with Halle, or how the music she's making now "is not the real her". I want to get back to what I said earlier with the album rollout being disorganized. What I mean by that is it may be delayed, minor setbacks, controversies may happen before it's released but I'm mainly getting lack of attention. It may not do as well because it seems like it's not the overall focus for the label at the moment to get the push it needs. There's also something here with her having problems getting on the same page with label about the songs she creates. Like she may have wanted a different song on the album that wasn't accepted so she had to go back to the drawing board many times, which is why it also could've taken so long for the album to be released in the first place.

Finally, I do think there will be a song on the album that would've been a better suit to be the lead single than what she put up now as the lead. It will be pointed out when the album officially comes out.

[iron-touch]

Author's Notes: Chapter 32 (The Man in the Picture)

Yay, another chapter with a short turnaround! Don't expect this trend to continue, as I have just enrolled in full time college again and am still getting used to it.

I was very cautious with the opening of Michelle in the changing room. That scene could get very, very creepy with the wrong prose, but I think I managed to make it more endearing than "male gazey."

Speaking of male gaze, Boney! Boney's back. My original plan for Chapter 31 was to end on the scene of Michelle seeing Boney in One Size Fits All, but I decided to change it in order to avoid feeling too similar to Chapter 18 (where the chapter ends with Michelle finding Boney's dead body on the plane). That worked out for the best, too, considering Chapter 31's length.

Reread the phone call Boney has with the Grand Marshal in Chapter 30; this is where he was sent to go. I think you should have an easier time filling in the blanks now.

Michelle having a panic attack and running away was one of the easiest I've ever written in my two years of Iron Touch. I don't know what that says about me.

Midler's back! Remember, High Priestess' user? No? Too bad. My original original outline called for Mariah here instead of Midler, and she would've walked with a gimp as a result of permanent damage she received from her fight with Joseph and Avdol. I changed this for a couple reasons: first of all, I would have had to rework/add onto Bastet in order for her to work in this arc, which I didn't think a lot of people would like. Also, Demonic Heartbreak used her already, so. Y'know. I think Midler fits better in Chicago IX as a SEES member anyways.

With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that Cascada wasn't a part of the original outline, either. High Priestess was originally going to be the "main" enemy Stand of this arc, but I changed that. I cannot stress enough that readers from Fanworks have been really rallying for more original Stands in Iron Touch. This is the best of both worlds—I get my canon characters and you get your OC. Hooray! I like Cascada and Moon River's aesthetics, if nothing else.

I did look it up and yes, bees are native to Egypt.

I feel like it should be pretty obvious what SEES is and how it works by now. If not, please let me know in some way and I can give a more detailed explanation in a future chapter.

In case you didn't know: a green room is an area backstage where actors wait for their cues to go onstage. I've heard different reasons for why they're called that; sometimes it's a simplified English pronunciation of a foreign word, other times it's because actors would throw up there, and I don't know which is accurate. They're not actually green. In smaller theaters (like an amphitheater), green rooms can double as hair and makeup rooms, like what we see here.

I feel like giving Moon River a mermaid theme is a bit of a cop out, but @simpingforcreamsoda said he really liked the design, so I hope you guys do too.

Music references:

Ok so I didn't originally intend for this to be a music reference, but there is a song called The Man in the Picture by The Bobkatz. I chose the title just based on it being a double reference to both Polnareff and Boney. But I listened to the song and I think it fits pretty well so I'm adding it to the playlist. Why not.

Cascada is named after a German dance music act of the same name. (I actually didn't know Cascada was German until now, the more you know)

Cascada's beta name was Moon River at one point, but that honestly did not last long. I'm trying to avoid making OCs with two word names, because having them be one word names is so much easier to write.

Moon River gets its name from a song originally sung by Audrey Hepburn for the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. The song is so famous and has enough covers that I feel comfortable breaking my "no licensed music" rule (as in, no music originating from other media like video games or musicals) for it. The version I'm using on all the music reference playlists isn't the original Audrey Hepburn version, but rather the Andy Williams cover. I think that version specifically should give some insight as to why I chose this song. If you know, you know ;)

As a side note, "Tiffany Amphitheater" was named after Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Moon River's beta name was Hips Don't Lie, and the Stand's ability was going to be more tied to Cascada's dancing. As the ability changed, I changed the reference as well.

Not a music reference, but Midler's appearance here (specifically the buck teeth) were based off of Winifred Sanderson (played by Bette Midler) from the movie Hocus Pocus. IRL Midler has gone on record to say that this is her favorite film role of all time and she is the only reason that the sequel came out even remotely like it did, so I'm not just arbitrarily choosing a random movie reference here.

[starmagnets]

Spellcasting styles is such a fun thing to talk about when it comes to my headcanoning of characters because with some characters it's a really good window into how they were trained (or weren't, in Mags' case) and sometimes it's just like, wow, you literally have no idea the sort of power you wield do you.

So anyways I'd like to talk about spellcasting and how it affects my interpretations of some characters. This is a long one and delves into a lot of my personal headcanons involving both characters and how magic functions, so buckle up.

First of all, magic. It's something in the kirbyverse, which, in my interpretation, makes up souls and powers bodies, and the excess can be channeled into what is commonly known as magic or spells.

Everybody has some sort of magic in them. Some, like Magolor, have more than others. Some, like Susie or Bandee, have less and can only use it to channel elements into their weapons.

Depending on the amounts of energy one's soul generates, some may even let it off while they're sleeping if it goes unused, like how Magolor floats in his sleep if he doesn't cast a lot of spells in some of my writing.

Now that that's out of the way. Let's get into the character stuff.

Magolor, like most halcandrans and jambandrans, has a lot of magic in him. Practically overflowing with the energy it needs to make magic. And he's been pretty decent with it his whole life, having learned some of the simpler spells as early as seven despite being entirely self-taught since his father didn't know magic. His body was tough enough to keep up with it as far as non-offensive spells, but he's not properly trained. He doesn't know the technique or the form that goes with it. He only knows that rifts are a good hiding place and that he's got a surprisingly good handle on a number of elements. Not the strongest caster before the crown, well, y'know, but he's capable of holding his own in a fight and can fire off some pretty powerful spells before needing a break to recharge. A bit spammy with the magic orbs, but it's how he learned to fight and he's sticking to it.

Marx didn't know any spells outside of mirror tricks before he made his wish, though he, like Magolor, has quite a lot of magic in him, doubly so once he'd gotten some powerful magitech in him. He knew the basics of a healing spell, but when a dreamlander healing spell requires hands to cast, there's only so much he could do. Then he's got magic. Powerful stuff, too. He's on top of the world! Unfortunately, like Magolor, he has no idea where to start with form or technique. He'll spam the craziest spells he's got, along with some mirror tricks he'd picked up. He's just having the time of his life, man. He does get some sense of technique by the time Star Allies rolls around, but he's pretty similar to Mags in that he knows his way of fighting and he's gonna stick to his teleport spams and black holes, as sick as they make him feel.

Taranza, unlike Mags and Marx, was properly trained. He grew up learning the basics of puppetry and how that applied to his own magic, as well as knowing the basics of spellcraft itself (see: queen's phantom). He views casting similarly to swordfighting. Tactics and timing are key to winning, and spamming spells the way his friends do is not the way to win in the slightest, no matter how many times he might lose in practice matches. It's important to him that the art of magic is kept just that, an art. Even if he is a little envious of the way his friends can just whip spell after spell at enemies like it's nothing.

Zan Partizanne is an interesting case. She had a lot of magic in her, yes, but she didn't know how to control it, and her mother's way of teaching it wasn't exactly intuitive to Zan, either. This lead to her basically being a walking plasma ball. Touch her at this stage in her life and you'll receive an unintentional shock, at best. This lead to some... Disastrous consequences, and eventually to her discovering that she needed a spellcasting focus (which her partisan would become) to properly control her magic. She has a surprisingly similar casting style to Magolor once she can control her magic, though much more electricity-focused, rather than Magolor's rift and multi-element blasting "technique."

Francisca and Flamberge were also very much introduced to their magic via Hyness, but, unlike Zan, they didn't necessarily need a casting focus to control it. They just needed to learn the basics of magic and how to use it. Their focuses are more of a failsafe should anything go wrong. And wrong they go.

Hyness is similar to Magolor in that he was mostly self-taught post civilization split. He did learn quite a lot of basics and spellcraft as a young sorcerer, but beyond that? He taught himself the majority of the actual spells he knows and uses on a regular basis. He's a lot less spammy than Magolor, but definitely has a less careful fighting style than Taranza, acting as a sort of happy medium on the casting style spectrum.

Susie, and other non-element granters (except DMK, more on him in a minute) do have magic. It's just that their souls don't generate the same amounts of energy as other characters do. This leads to them not being able to cast elaborate or wide-ranging spells. They can, however, elementally enchant weapons, such as swords, spears, even blasters and mechs if they know how! It's a process and a learning experience, but once they've got it down, it's easy to incorporate into one's fighting style.

Now onto Dark Meta Knight and other reflections of characters. Even generally "nonmagical" characters do have "magical" reflections. Mirror magic, while relatively uncommon in the non-mirror world, is something most, if not all, reflections at least are aware of, if not able to perform with relative ease. These tricks can be enhanced by elemental enchantments (see DMK's mirror-influenced moves), but they're also magical all on their own. Most reflections don't incorporate such magic into their fighting styles, but it is noteworthy nonetheless with characters such as DMK actively using mirror magic in his moveset.

Anyways that's all thank you for listening to my endless ramblings about magic and how training or lack thereof can affect how one uses it.

[chrysthemiss]

OH YO THAT'S ACTUALLY A GOOD IDEA UR SO SMART

It had only been a week since the love of his life Yor had given Loid the grips, and he adjusted well. They were a tad small for his large hands, but they did the job, and eased the pain while he cooked. He healed well, but after a nasty mission, the cramping returned, and he still had a massive pile of paperwork to wrap up.

When he arrived home that evening, Twilight was greeted once again, with a gift. "Yor.."

Twilight wouldn't lie, receiving gifts from Yor excited him, pleased him, really. He rarely recievied gifts, if you could even call the 'gift' of paperwork Handler always gave him. "I went into your room earlier--"

Loid tensed, standing upright, the thought of mistrust flashing through him. "I didn't want to pry through your drawers, so I left your clothes on your bed, if that's okay."

Ah. It was laundry day, wasn't it? Yor was just dropping off his laundry, not prying. 'But I'll do a small check just in case, I don't want her going through what I found about Yuri..' Loid nods. "That's quite alright, thank you for doing the laundry, Yor. You're always a great help around here, especially to Anya. We enjoy having you around."

Yor flushed red, waving the compliment away, "A-Anyways– I glanced to your desk, your work must really be piling patients onto you, huh?"

Loid sighs, "You have no idea.."

"But, Melinda, Damian's mother?"

"Your friend, yes, I know of her." Loid nods.

"She suggested a fountain pen."

"A..Fountain pen?"

"Apparently, they're more lighter on your hands. They require less effort to write, smooth, y'know?" Yor offered Loid the bag. "I didn't know which ink you used in your work, so I got you several..!"

Loid excitedly opened the bag, pulling out a black fountain pen with a gold tip, digging through the bag and pulling out three little containers of ink. Black, blue, and red. "Yor.."

"I-I'm sorry if I'm overstepping– It's just you're always doing so much for Anya and I– A-And I want you comfortable! The pen grips should fit onto the fountain pen-- And if not, I'm more than happy to find you a larger size. Do you- Do you..Like it..?"

Loid smiled warmly, "I love it. Thank you, Yor."

She beamed at him, "I-I'm glad! And don't mention it, it's my job as a wife--"

"You're very well exceeding a wifely role. I'm so glad you're my wife, Yor." Loid softened. "What can I make you for dinner? Dessert?"

Yor was about to decline, when Anya stepped in. She gazed up at Loid and Yor, then blinked, "Mama and Papa are flirting."

"No we are not!" The two adults shouted in unison, looking to eachother.

Loid cracked first, and began to laugh, Yor's heart swelling in her chest. 'He has..Such a wonderful laugh..' Yor smiles, and begins to laugh with him.

Anya grins, "Mama thinks Papa's laugh is nice! Anya does too! Papa, you should laugh more!" Anya jumps around them. "Papa!"

Loid wipes away a tear, smiling, "Yes, Anya?"

"Let's make dinner! I want hamburg steak!"

"That's sounds delicious!" Yor clasps her hands together. "We can watch Bondman after dinner, I heard the new season came out!"

Loid and Anya perk, "A new season?"

Yor giggles, "Yes, it's to start tonight at 7."

Loid, now determined, turned to the kitchen. "Let's get dinner going then! It's already 5:40 and if I want to shower before we watch it I must be ready! Anya, go shower while I prepare dinner. Yor? Would you like to help me tonight?"

Yor nods, "Hm!"

Loid watched Bondman with his family hours later, and then it was time to begin work after his family went to bed. Soon, he called Franky. "Twilight..? It's 2 in the morning.." Franky mumbled.

"How do I care for a fountain pen?" Loid asked, twirling the smooth pen in between his fingers.

"Care..? You mean..When you're done using it..?" Franky yawned. "I'll send over instructions.."

"Much obliged, Franky." Loid hung up, setting the phone back down and gazing at his papers.

Many of which had a carefully and beautifully written, Yor, on the sides in cursive. He would have to go over them later, of course. He wouldn't hear the end of it from Handler if he turned them in with his wife's name on it. For now, though, he would absent-mindedly write her name in the corner, til he was done with his work.

the mortifying ordeal of being known

--

I think with Yor being so perceptive, she picks up on little things often (like we saw in ch 103). i believe this would impact loid more so than the usual person, because he is a spy and fakes every part of himself, so to be seen is simultaneously desirable and horrifying. like, it makes him torn between wanting to accept and reciprocate the love, or distancing himself so that it doesn't happen again.

thats mostly what the last panel is about, that dichotomy between 'omg this person noticed this about me, is this love' and 'oh shit this person noticed this about me, is this Doom'

just some thoughts i had🤪

[sleepyselkiesims]

Part 7

First thing the next morning, Ariel contacted Apple and a housing agency.

She was moving up in the world!

Snow White stopped by the house to make Ariel some food to tide her over until she could figure out how to make some herself.

Ariel did her best to take notes on Snow White's cooking lesson.

However, they got derailed by Snow White having to explain that no, sims don't fill their hunger by biting other sims. Ariel's father and mother were a very special case.

That in turn led to Snow White explaining her Tragic Backstory. Ariel was just happy to have mama's homemade food again.

Or so she let her mama think. It was still the weekend, and she had nothing better to do...

Delana could sense the incoming headache of a sim. But how could Snow White dare come here??

Wait, this wasn't her step-daughter! She just shared plasma. What in the world was going on?

Whoever this random sim was, she sure didn't have Snow White's meekness! She made herself a nuisance on purpose!

Ariel hadn't quite gotten the gist of what vampirism was, but she knew it involved shooting some kind of occult magic at another sim. And she could certainly do that!

Uhhhhh, not right now, mama! Kinda busy!

She sang her sirens song to her evil step-grandmother, hoping to curse her to a deep sleep.

Alas, Delana's womanly wiles were unmatched, and Ariel's notes fell flat.

Whoops. No way in hell Delana was going to let that slide.

Time for plan B!

For once, Delana seemed genuinely afraid, even pleading.

Maybe it was the cold mischief of Ariel's smile.

Or, y'know, the cold of Ariel's freeze ray.

Sweet, sweet revenge.

I named the freeze ray Flounder, just for fun.

Well, there was still half of a Sunday to figure out what to do with! And Apple had given Ariel a hot tip about a secret location.

If she could handle some gardening, that is. But Ariel would do anything for adventure!

Unfortunately, just at that moment, Ariel received some sad news.

R.I.P. Snow jr. You were a very pretty and chill kitty. You put up with more kids than probably any other pet.