#realistically we probably will get both but over 2 months

[abbey-rae]

I doubt it would happen but what if we get TWO bonus audios after the wedding? One for each of the couples night after/honeymoon period?

[project-sekai-facts]

What’s your opinion on the recent discussion popping up about possible n25 favoritism by the devs? Such as their world link cut ins compared to vbs’ or 2DMV amount over the past few months.

staff is not biased towards N25 like, why would they be biased? here's the thing: Twilight Light had a lot of sybolism connecting with their story/individual character arcs/etc - just look at the 2DMV! It's not surprising that their another cuts referenced past material, like Kanade's fes card, Mafuyu's recurring marionette symbolism, and the IDSMILE 3DMV (also toa produced both songs). However, despite the fact that Beyond the way also had plot-relevant lyrics, VBS as a unit has a very different image to N25.

N25 has always had lots of symbolism and their stories are very focused on character struggles and healing, like that's their main goal compared to every other unit that has an end goal of some sort of music or performance related thing. Their another cuts fit them very well.

VBS is the cool street music unit, their 3DMVs are dance focused more than anything and are probably some of the most complex dance routines in the game, their cards are almost always street fashion or adjacent, with only 2 or 3 exceptions not counting mixed events, and their songs aren't really going to fit the slow-paced, melancholic and reflective vibes that the Niigo another cuts were going for. Yeah sure they could've done a lot better than what we were given, but I genuinely think that staff just thought what we got looks cool and fits their image. They definitely could've added fes card/3dmv/other symbolism references, but it's definitely not favoritism towards Niigo. Also like compare the Beyond the way and Twilight Light 2DMVs and then look at their another cuts. It's very much an image thing.

I say this in a joking manner but realistically shouldn't we say VBS is moreso staff's favorite? They got VBS archives which meant they could cover vsinger only songs (and songs which already had a cover), before 3rd anni they were the only unit to get a comm released with both MV types, and they got an event commission as part of a collab (Cinema / Ayase). Niigo didn't get full unit covers regularly until after the 2nd anniversary, they went almost a year without getting a 2DMV in 2022, and they used to always be behind on lims. Maybe this is compensation lol

[cottoncloud0]

i fucking love hereditary dude it’s definitely 100% in my top 2 favourite horror movies maybe even my favourite behind saw 3. Peter is such a well written character and his attitude and personality throughout the whole movie reflecting on what has happened so far and what’s happened in his past is done so beautifully and realistically. he is just such a sympathetic character and i really felt for him. don’t even get me started on when he cried oh my god it’s so sad, he reverts into this child-like, crying shell of his former ‘broody teenager’ self e.g. ‼️ SPOILERS ‼️ when Annie is possessed by paimon and is chasing Peter through the house and he locks himself in the attic with Ellen’s body and Annie/paimon is trying to break in by repeatedly violently banging her head against the attic door and Peter is just this husk of what he was, crying out fruitlessly for his ‘mommy’ begging her to stop. it just makes me so sad.

On top of all of that, we have to bear in mind that peter has never referred to annie as ‘mommy’ throughout the entire film, he barely even talks to her not out of fear. which just makes everything in the final act so much more impactful after everything peter has taken from his mother, ‼️SPOILERS‼️ like when while him and Charlie were still sharing a room annie drenched both children and herself with paint thinner and was holding a lit match. trying to light her and her kids on fire. but with this particular scene you always have to remember that annie sleepwalks. she was not fully conscious during this incident. on the contrary, this absolutely does not override what happened and the trauma it most likely left peter and charlie with. in addition to peters trauma, intentional or unintentional, it is so significant to his character and his relationships and i just love that that it isn’t just forgotten half-way through the movie or that he ‘got over it’ because I don’t imagine someone could get over something like your mother trying to kill you while she was sleepwalking or you accidentally killing your sister.

don’t even get me started on that deleted scene with peter and steve, it actually made me cry. if you don’t know what it is it’s basically after charlie died, I don’t know exactly when I think it’s when he and annie fought at the table, and steve comes into peters room while peter is sitting on his bed and steve says ‘i know it wasn’t your fault, your mothers grieving too’ or something like that and peter just breaks down sputtering things like ‘she could draw (charlie) she could make things, i just do nothing I’m useless’ and then steve starts consoling peter and trying to comfort him while peter is saying’ it should’ve been me, i want to die’

heres the full scene

:0

I do wish they kept it in as it’s really adds depth to steve and peters relationship but I also do imagine they had there reasons to leave it out but that doesn’t shy away from the fact that it’s such a beautiful scene and I just love peter graham man

i think that’s all i have to say so far, in short i love this movie and how intricate it is. SIDE NOTE there’s and absolutely incredible video on YouTube by novum which is a complete guide to hereditary and it’s 4 and half hours long it’s amazing

ill see if I disappear again and if I do then I will post something in a couple months lmao if not I will probably post in around a week or so

619 words ‼️💪

[astrosxxz]

xiao x reader fluff NOW!!! (jk. Plsplsplsplspls make it ill be so happy trust)

A/N : sigh. You’re fuckin’ lucky i’m in a good mood today mate😭

Also, its gonna be one of those... boyfriend!xiao.. cuz i have no ideas for fluff w/o angst, alongside some fluff scenes mixed in ig.. :3

(guys i swear usually im nicer they're my friend.. kinda, more like not friend but friend)

TW: NONE

CW: He calls you dove, you call him love, [e/c] mentioned like once, some parts that are written specifically for females at birth, but can be read as any gender, zhongli & ganyu mentioned once

Before we begin. may seem ooc, realistically, xiao probably wouldn't be open with having a mortal relationship so.

𝐗𝐈𝐀𝐎 𝐗 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐋𝐔𝐅𝐅.

Boyfriend!xiao who at first avoided you, simply because he didn't appreciate falling in love with a 'mortal'.

Boyfriend!xiao who would leave small home-made butterfly, made of leaves, on your window-seal whenever you left it open

Boyfriend!xiao who doesn't like PDA, but is open to physical attention alone in your home

Boyfriend!xiao who would come within an instant of you calling out his name, even if its for matters he deems stupid

"Xiao!" Your voice shouted out in a loud tone, calling out for your beloved boyfriend,

In an instant he appeared with arms crossed over his chest, his eyes narrowed slightly as they dart around to make sure you aren't in any danger, before long they land on you, and his tense stance relaxed as he blinked.

He was entranced at the gorgeous view, your [e/c] eyes shining with excitement despite your skin being covered with some flour and other ingredients, such as sugar, as you held out some almond tofu alongside other things to eat,

'A picnic?'

His yellow eyes sparked with slight interest as he voiced his question, "A picnic, dove? At this time?"

Your smile widened slightly, letting out a quiet, excited hum,

"Mh! Yea, I know usually at this time you're not really busy... is that okay love?"

He blinks, before he silently nods, walking closer to you to grab the treats,

"Yes, dove."

Boyfriend!xiao who can and will fight for you

Boyfriend!xiao who barely knows anything of the female body, especially when its that time of the month, but will still at least try

Boyfriend!xiao who likes to ask zhongli & ganyu for relationship advice whenever they all have daily meet ups

Boyfriend!xiao who tries to make his love for you a secret from a lot of people, but its SO obvious

Boyfriend!xiao who sometimes will get a random feeling in his chest and teleport to you, only to find you either crying, upset, sick, or all of the above

Boyfriend!xiao whos awkward but also not awkward, (idek how to explain this one.)

Boyfriend!xiao who is ABSOLUTELY smitten with you .

Xiao and you laid on your couch, simply enjoying eachothers company as you both stayed silent,

He hadn't noticed how your eyes had closed, your breathing steadied even more, and you had fallen asleep,

"Dove, what do you-"

He turns his head to you, expecting to see you staring at him, awaiting him to continue, but instead he finds you sitting there, curled into yourself in a comfortable position, fast asleep,

He blinked once, then twice, before he brought his hand up and slowly slid it through your hair, his eyes softening slightly as he did so,

'I love you.'

Was his last thought before he got a sense of danger, already off to fight monsters, with one last gentle kiss to the head.

A/n: it was very, VERY fast-paced tbh, i forgot about this.. it was in my draft these past 1-2 days

[starzzach]

this is probably chronologically the third part. and by probably i mean i don't know :)

part 1 here, 2 here, 3(?) here!

Charles has some doubts. Carlos is the answer.

—

Some days are good days.

Today, however, is decidedly a very shit day. In all fairness, it's another shit day in a never-ending saga of shit days. Charles wishes he could say he's surprised.

And, look, Charles knows. Of course he knows. The team had been understandably concerned after practice, worrying over him like a group of annoying mother-hens, asking him if he was sure he wanted to continue, over and over and over again.

Most annoyingly might have been Carlos, pelting reason after reason at him until Charles had nearly shouted him out of his room. Really, he hadn't meant to curse him into not being able to race, but at least then he had a reason to continue.

A little selfish, a little mean. "Ferrari needs to enter a car," he'd said.

Carlos' face had been unreadable. "Of course we do."

"Will you stay?"

"Who else will make sure the strategy doesn't fuck up your race?" he'd said jokingly, but he didn't look very pleased about it. Charles understands too much to be angry at him for it.

Realistically, they could have never gotten away with swapping out the drivers anyway. But, for a few fleeting moments inside the car on the verge of total exhaustion, he'd wished they'd found a loophole of some sorts.

How he regrets it now (not really). He's not confident he'll be able to get up ever again. He's completely drained down to his bones.

"Brought your favourite," Carlos announces, padding into the room and joining Charles on the bed, sitting cross-legged next to him, poking his side. "Come on, you need to eat."

Charles deeply inhales – the smell of the pasta carbonara, not Carlos, of course not Carlos – and decides he hasn't committed enough fuckery yet today. He eyes the box in Carlos' hand. "'S not my favourite."

Maybe it's a little mean, a little selfish for him to want Carlos' stomach to drop at least once today to Charles' fifty – but his words have his intended effect, because Carlos does, in fact, look crestfallen. "But, you said..." he falters, trailing off.

"You are my favourite," he says, trying to grin teasingly, though he's hardly sure he even has the energy left. It probably comes out as a grimace but Carlos looks at him... he looks at him as if he's the most beautiful thing in the world.

It's dangerous, the game they play, he knows. It's dangerous, the way Charles' omega soars when Carlos' eyes light up. And, yet.

Yet. They will have a baby. Charles will have a baby that looks like Carlos. If he had any doubts about it all, the time to bring it up would have been at the start of this thing, when it started two years ago. It would have been then.

The time isn't now, when Carlos' fingers are twisting themselves in Charles' hair, petting him in a way Charles has a hard time letting even his mother do. It isn't now, Carlos dragging him into his lap and feeding him slowly, free hand inching up his shirt to trace comforting circles on his back.

It isn't now, Carlos whispering "Want to nest?" into his neck, and it slowly dawns on him that maybe they're both needing comfort and Charles hasn't nested in months and never with someone else outside of his heats, but Carlos is asking.

"No," Charles replies, and just like that, his fingers start to itch with the urge– the urge to build a nest and curl up in it, and worm his not-quite-boyfriend into cuddling him in it, the urge to do all of the stupidly domestic things Charles has sworn he hates, has sworn he would never do. Especially not with Carlos.

Carlos is asking, and Charles has never wanted like this.

The urge itches, like a rash Charles just can't seem to stop scratching at, despite his fingers being perfectly still. He's sure if he closes his eyes again he could paint a very pretty, very tempting picture. Carlos looks at him knowingly, and, pathetically, it's all it takes for Charles' normally iron-strong resolve to crumble. "No, sure," he amends, his voice on the edge of pleading.

"You have an appointment in two days," Carlos says later that night, a note of regret in his voice. "I have to be in Madrid."

Charles' nose scrunches in distaste. He doesn't like going to his appointments in general, let alone the ones when Carlos can't come, but it's important to know the baby's health or something. "Maybe it died after the race, and I don't need to go," he suggests. "I know I almost did."

Carlos' fingers still in his hair. "Don't say things like that," he says tensely. "It's not a joke."

"Bad things happen to me."

"The baby isn't a bad thing."

"Of course not," Charles mutters, but he feels uneasy, too. The miscarriage scare a few weeks ago hadn't exactly provided comfort to his doubts. The fact that he'd never wanted a baby before Carlos hadn't helped either.

But, before Carlos is key. Because Charles does want a baby now, with Carlos. He wants their baby. And maybe he's a little scared as to how much he wants their baby.

(How much he wants Carlos.)

Charles feels his face get hot, and reminds himself over and over again it's just the pregnancy, it's just the race, it's just the damn baby.

Tentatively, he covers Carlos' hand with his, guiding it lightly to his stomach. Carlos takes the hint, intertwining their hands and gently caressing the skin of his belly. Charles' whole body starts to relax, their bubble of safe away from the rest of the world.

Two days later, Charles gets the confirmation that the baby is, in fact, not dead. It's healthy. Healthier than most. "Little baby," Carlos murmurs over the phone, far, too far, sounding fond. "Our little baby."

Charles' omega sings a happy song, and if he was far along enough for the baby to be kicking he's sure he or she would have. Like parent, like baby, he thinks faintly, closing his eyes and imagining Carlos beside him.

Some days become good days.

[sunflowervoltwentyeight]

Hi! This is a fic rec of my favorite established relationship fics. These fics are organized by word count from longest to shortest. You can view my other fic recs here. Enjoy!

We Are Only Just the Beginning by afirecannotdie (129k)

In the dim light of a dorm kitchen, Harry Styles meets a boy who flips his life upside down. Three years later, he's a senior in college, ready to take on the world with the love of his life by his side. And then Louis Tomlinson admits he doesn't know what he wants to do after college after all, and Harry's world flips again, this time not so pleasantly. He can't imagine his life without Louis, but he's starting to worry he might have to.

A college AU featuring lots of domestic sappiness, waffles, tattoos, late nights and early mornings, and above all, Louis and Harry against the world.

Been Together Since Way Back When by alivingfire / @alivingfire (95k)

Louis Tomlinson is a law student with a simple but effective four step plan: 1. Finish law school. 2. Get hired somewhere awesome. 3. Marry his best friend and boyfriend of two years, Harry. 4. Live happily ever after.

Harry Styles doesn't know what he wants to do with his life, where he wants to go, who he wants to be, or if he even wants the college degree he's almost completed. All he does know is who he’ll be with forever, as long as Louis wants to keep him around.

Or: the painfully realistic college au where everyone's poor, lovesick, tired of school, terrified of the future, and still having the greatest times of their lives.

Such Good Luck by casuallyhl / @casuallyhl (66k)

Louis smiles at Harry’s words, leaning into his touch. “Tell me again.”

Smiling, Harry takes Louis into his arms. Pressing gentle kisses to his face, Harry murmurs, “In six months’ time, I will have my twenty-fifth birthday. On that day, my portion of the inheritance will become legally mine. And I plan that very day to announce to my family that I have found love.” Harry chuckles as he runs his lips lightly along Louis’ cheekbone. “That, in fact, I found love when I was twenty-one years old, and that I have loved and been loved every day since.”

Or, an Edwardian AU where Harry is a young aristocratic lord and Louis is a working class dairy farmer. Secrets are a necessary part of their relationship, but Louis has one that could topple their whole world.

The Dark and the Dentist by sunshiner (66k)

“I know this song,” Louis whispers, and Harry has to lean his ear toward him to pick up what he’s saying. “It was written for people to dance to it. We should be dancing.”

We can’t, Harry almost spits, but it’d be stupid of him. Louis knows they can’t. Even if he looks like any regular Parisian in their twenties, and Harry looks like any hipster Parisian in their twenties, they can’t anyway. To be fair, they probably wouldn’t do it even if they were out. But if they were two uni students, both in Paris for an exchange, meeting over fallen books at the library, or because of mutual friends, or watching Monet’s Water Lilies?

“How would we dance?” Harry murmurs, mouth almost pressed to Louis’ cheek, so close he can feel his warmth. What a picture they must make, two millionaires freezing in a park and dreaming of a different life.

An account of the events of November 2014. Canon-compliant.

Time Passed by coffinofachimera (66k)

Louis struggles with their relationship as Harry grows into his identity.

Hands Clasped Tight by afirethatcannotdie / @afirethatcannotdie (47k)

“What am I looking at here?” Harry asks.

“This, my friends, is a ‘proof’ Instagram account, run by your students,” Liam announces.

“It’s got all this stuff about how the two of you are together,” Niall adds.

“I heard about that,” says one of the math teachers. “Confiscated a kid’s phone today when they were looking at it. I have to say, the evidence that you’re dating is pretty damning.”

“Really,” Louis says dryly. “Do you think being married for three years might have something to do with it?”

Or the one where Harry and Louis are high school teachers and their students have been playing matchmaker for over a year. Little do they know, Harry and Louis are already married.

The Best Kind of Bad by wildestdreams / @thelavendrhaze (40k)

Nobody really understood Harry and Louis. Not even Louis. But for Louis, the world began and ended with Harry, and there were certain things he just wasn’t capable of explaining.

or Louis is the town troublemaker and everyone hates him except for Harry.

You Watched Me Sink by bananasandboots / @anylessreal (38k)

They’ve discussed it a few times - the boyfriend thing. It’s not like it’s some forbidden, horrific, abandon hope all ye who talk about furthering the relationship sort of subject. They’re mature adults. They’re in tune with their feelings, their hearts’ desires, the way those butterflies swoop in their bellies whenever they so much as hold each other’s hands. They like each other. A lot. It’s mutual, they know. But for now, they’re just content to enjoy the simplicity of what they have, and what they have is great.

When dating in secret stops being enough, then they’ll discuss that too.

Or, the one where Harry teaches Sex Ed and sneaks around with the drama teacher, and doesn’t realize how out of tune he is with his true feelings until everyone else figures it out for him.

Part 1 of You Watched Me Sink Verse

Swallow My Words by YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf (32k)

Senior year is stressful. On top of balancing school work, family, and friends, Harry's lacrosse team is vying to win the state championship, he's not sure where he's going to college yet, and he has a secret boyfriend that no one can know about.

Part 1 of Swallow My Words

Loved By Your Mother by superglass / @gaymoustache (31k)

Harry stretches out like Venus with her lover, growing sleepy in the late afternoon light with a baby growing inside her. Perhaps not literally, not physically. Not exactly.

or

Harry struggles to come to terms with wanting to have children, and what that means for their relationship. Canon compliant, set a few years into the future.

True Love’s Gold by alivingfire / @alivingfire (27k)

Gemma starts responding to every single one of Harry’s texts—regardless of subject—with i don’t care, talk to louis. Liam lets Harry complain to him for hours on Skype, pretending he’s not doing other things while Harry whines about his problems. Niall thinks the whole thing is hilarious, texting Harry links to articles titled So, you want your man to propose? and 15 ways to get him ready for the aisle! and follows each of these up with page upon page of laughing emojis. Harry tries everything, literally everything he can think of short of grabbing Louis by tattooed forearm and yelling, “PROPOSE TO ME BEFORE I COMBUST.”

Or, it takes a village to arrange a proposal, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to go as planned.

If You Asked Me If I Love Him (I'd Lie) by allyasavedtheday (26k)

So Harry and Louis might have fucked up.

The day of their wedding was the single most perfect moment of Louis’ life and every single day since where he’s been able to call Harry his husband has been nothing short of bliss. There’s just one teeny, tiny problem…

Their families don’t know they’re married.

*

Or the one where Harry and Louis eloped but neglected to mention it to anyone. Meanwhile Lottie is getting married and the only way for them to not steal her thunder is by pretending they're just friends for the weekend. Featuring Harry and Louis as terrible liars who don't know the meaning of the word platonic and some Tomlinsons and Styles's who definitely don't believe them.

Part 2 of A Long Way From The Playground

Being of the Jealous Kind by zita17 / @louisandtheaquarian (24k)

A-list actor Louis Tomlinson and his partner fashion photographer Harry Styles weather the storm that is Louis’ fake relationship with his costar in the lead up to this year’s Academy Awards.

Featuring a fluffy teenage meet-cute, an angsty wine drunk Harry melting down over pap pics, Louis habitually overusing the word “baby,” and cameos by a vintage Umbro sweatshirt, the peace ring, and one hell of a Larry hug.

Or the justice for To Be So Lonely fic. Based on the lyrics to TBSL and a prompt where “Louis has to fake date some celebrity, while his boyfriend Harry sits at home.”

You Turn Me On, Make You Radiate by ballsdeepinjesus (15k)

When he presses inside for the first time in weeks, he’s pretty sure he sees stars behind his eyes at the staggering sensation of Harry’s body squeezing every inch of him. When he bottoms out, he stays buried inside for a minute just to catch his bearings, listening as Harry takes sharp breaths beneath him. When he finally feels like he’s under control, he presses his lips against Harry’s ear and whispers, “Are you ready husband?“

Harry throws his head back and groans. “Call me your spouse.”

[…or, a self-indulgent snapshot of hl’s sex lives over the course of 10+ years]

Garden of Edenby superglass / @gaymoustache (6k)

Another soft, grainy laugh. A puff from the joint. Green smoke towards the ceiling. Then hazy blue eyes back on his. “Said you wanted to tell me something. Was really important.”

“Oh,” Harry says. There was a reason he came back, an excuse he made up to find Louis and sucker him into letting him sit on his lap even though his weight often puts those thighs to sleep. “Can’t— um. Let me try to remember.”

or

a snapshot of being high and in love in Jamaica.

I'll Breathe Your Air Into My Lungs by blizzies (5k)

five phases of their relationship in a world where harry smokes a lot and skips school and hates everyone except his boyfriend and louis is in plays and is loved by everyone and they work even though nobody gets how.

Mon Petit, Little One by publunchesownmyass (5k)

They smoke, talk shit about everyone besides each other, and Harry wears his Mon Petit sweater.

Brown Skin and Lemon Over Ice by penceypansy / @penceypansy (2k)

A short one shot of a reunion in Italy, around the time Harry filmed the Golden video.

- He should know with more certainty which one is their bedroom but he’s only been here twice, only once since their things had moved in, and come to think of it, he’s not sure this is the room they slept in last time.

Regardless, he’s got clothes he knows are his hanging in the wardrobe, sees his old Stone Roses shirt crumpled and worn on the unmade side of the bed. He drops his bag, rummages through the drawers for a pair of trunks, goes into the bathroom to change. It doesn’t feel like enough of a home yet for him to be totally comfortable, but that should change soon enough. He can’t help a spray of the cologne sat by the sink, vanilla and wood and comfort.

[the-heart-of-a-monster]

I’M BACK MUAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAAA COWER IN FEAR FOR I HAVE RETURNED ONCE MORE TO ONCE AGAIN SPEW THE OBVIOUS

Translation: I’m back and I’m making it everyone’s problem

So yes, I saw the new pages, and as it turns out I was right about Sonic! As suspected, he’s hiding how he really feels about his new bodily features, and I think he’ll continue to do so for the rest of the comic. The finale for this series is right around the corner, and this issue is gonna have a lot of Eggman fighting, so based on what we already know… Yeah. Unless Sonic’s development is intended to be kinda rushed or last-minute, I don’t think he’s going to stop faking his optimism. It also has to be remembered that Sonic doesn’t always have to fake said optimism because he is at heart a hero and a snarky little gremlin. During the earlier days of the comic, Sonic was seen being elated at the prospect of Shadow willingly keeping a secret for him. Bro danced and sang all the way home just because someone was being nice to him. But even still, he’ll most likely continue faking his true emotions at least until the very end of the comic when things go back to normal for him. Because at the end of the day, Sonic is a happy little guy who just does what’s best for him and his friends, and that is that.

About the secret base, I honestly find it so funny and so realistic that the Chaotix have to basically beg for new cases in order to pay for their home and the secret base. It’s like families who thought they’d have enough for two homes but then a year or two goes by and they’re like “Oh crap, we’re broke.” It makes so much sense and it’s so funny to me! Meanwhile the others just appreciate the fact that they have a secret base and not the fact that they pay for both homes. 🤣

Chaotix: 🥲 Yeah yeah we’re fine we’re not broke we’re totally alright 👍🥲

OH AND HERE IS SOMETHING I JUST THOUGHT OF. There is of course a reason why the Chaotix have a secret base, and I wondered for a second why they would need it in the first place. They’re detectives, journalists, problem-solvers. In their field of work, it doesn’t take too much effort to become targets of the government. So, in case they got noticed by either GUN or some other important people, they have a back-up place where they could continue their work in secret. I think they specifically anticipated GUN, because they make a point to mention them in their explanation in the newest page. Probably not something SuperEm thought too hard on, but uh. I did. So… Guess I did their job for them???? idk I thought it would be cool to flex my worldbuilding skillz

Now I wanna talk about Rouge here. She, along with Amy, know far more than they let on and I’m wondering if that will have a part to play in Sonic’s story moving forward. In the newest page, we see him standing awkwardly and trying to grasp the fact that his friends knew about him for a while! He figured Tails might have taken the hint a while ago because he knows Tails better than anyone, but Amy?? That’s a different story. The two haven’t properly interacted in a while, almost 2 years (Or maybe 1 year I’m terrible at this) in our time and a week or two in their time. Amy and Rouge have been investigating Dark Gaia and Sonic’s new form for probably a month or so, meaning that they’ve known for a long, long time! I think Knuckles and the Chaotix were the only ones left in the dark the longest. So if Sonic were to find out about this, how would he react?? I’m thinking it wouldn’t be too different to his reaction about Tails and everyone else knowing, but him and Amy have had a rocky relationship status over the years, so it could also be different. I doubt we’ll get to see anything since it doesn’t make much of a difference to the blue blur at this point in the comic, but if we do I’m excited to see how he’ll react!

Now I’m going back to Sonic for a bit because I noticed something intriguing about him in the newest page. In the first panel, we see him standing awkwardly with his hands tied behind his back, fidgeting with his fingers impatiently. Then we see him immediately walk over to Shadow, who’s waiting for him outside. When he opens the curtain, we see him squint upwards towards the sky, a warm light seeping onto his face and his whole stature seeming softer. (For lack of a better word) Thematically, this sequence of movement/expressions is used to indicate a character’s growth, or to just show that they are willing to become better. I mean, that’s my takeaway from that. I’m not a theatre/film professional. All I do is stare at animations and talk about each frame as if I know stuff. But for me that’s the kind of vibe I’m getting from this page, that Sonic is learning or growing, and that he’s willing to step out into the light and be fine with who he is. Earlier on in the comic, he would’ve requested for Shadow to come inside or for him to not be seen by others, but now that he’s been through quite a lot and after being appreciated by the small snowy village, he feels much better about himself and is thus willing to just. Walk outside for a bit and talk to someone. Sonic is learning how to be around people again, learning to trust others with his secrets, and I love that for him.

Again this most likely is not SuperEm’s intention and I highly doubt those were the actual the thematically correct rules, so if anyone is reading this and is a film/comic geek, please Please PLEASE correct me via a reblog or a comment. I need some correction desperately please. I don’t wanna spew incorrect information.

Now, I would go ahead and talk about Shadow because he clearly has a lot going on in his brain, but OH MY GOD THIS THING IS HUGE. PROBABLY THE BIGGEST ASK IVE EVER WRITTEN HERE ON THIS FINE WEBSITE CALLED TUMBLR. So please do yourself a favor and give your eyes a break because holy crap I did not skip any corners for this one. Your pupils will thank you later, I promise. Go read a real book or go outside or something, please.

Anywhizzle, thank you so so so much for reading this whole thing, and have a good day/night!

(Also SuperEmeralds, just know that I adore your outdoor backgrounds so so much and they are not being overlooked. Your background skills are amazing and I’m so hype for what you have in store for the next few pages)

i think it is interesting how split the opinions are on sonic having learned nothing throughout the story and sonic finally having accepted his flaw and adapting. the mirror snap has divided the thoam theory community like no other askfjhasjkfhajk

who says they're paying for that run down place though? trust me i think super hard about literally everything, im sometimes embarrased abt it bc literally no one ever points most of my little details out but it makes me happy to connect dots so i just keep doing it

though sonic already reacted in a way, he knows everyone knew. granted the explaination happened off screen because quite frankly i didnt want the same conversation to happen twice back to back with the end of issue 8 and the beginning of issue 9, its better to just fill in the blanks yourself with everything.

the way i wrote sonic's emotions after waking up hopefully convey everything going through his mind well. there's a whole lot more pages to this so rest assured it's not over! your interpretation definitely makes sense! though i'd def disagree with the idea that in an earlier state of the comic sonic would've called for shadow to come inside? if his secret came out earlier in the comic he would still have reacted similarly and learned his lesson equally. the difference with the way it is in the comic is that he learned more about himself, and shadow, by dragging out the resolution to his (non)problem

thanks btw i love drawing environments and ur gonna get a good view of some really cool stuff soon ^_^

btw i have a name.. u can call me talaka, it's a little awkward to be called by my @ lol

[korkiekenobiconfirmed]

I'm on a roll with the s/j/m hatred tn so I'm going to compile a masterlist of all her shitty lgbt/poc representation and why it sucks booty cheeks. it should be noted that none of this is meant as shade on any of the characters themselves... I actually happen to like quite a lot of them

EDIT: there are some nice additions to this post in the notes you can check out

LGBT rep

Aedion (Bi/Pan)

Literally known as “Adarlan’s Whore” (a nickname that references both his allegiance to the king and his tendency to sleep around)

His only same-sex relationship is with a vaguely-mentioned unnamed lover from the past (it’s not even said straight-up that they’re a man, but I’m assuming they are bc they’re mentioned to be a commander of the Bane)

He’s shown being attracted to women and only women for two and a half books. He’s a womanizer retconned into the slutty bisexual stereotype

His liking men & women is compared to prostitution

It’s insinuated in koa that he slept with an ex while he and Lysandra were fighting (because the cheating bisexual trope is such a new & creative one!)

Helion (Bi/Pan)

He’s always trying to have 4somes with three of the main characters

Realistically he’s probably one of the most powerful/interesting High Lords but this gets sidelined in favor of him flirting with eVeRyOnE

All we really know about him is his name and the fact that he’s a bit of a manwhore… very 2-dimensional

He has an affair & a child with a married woman… just the Slutty/Cheating Bisexual Trope (Volume 2) :/

Mor (Lesbian? Possibly bi?)

She’s never shown in any real relationships (with men or women)

She had tragic off-screen relationship with a mortal queen a few hundred years ago

We get literally no hints that she’s gay throughout the series, she just randomly mentions she likes women at the end of book 3

She gets no happy relationship, she stays closeted to spare Az’s feelings (as though he’s not a grown ass man), she’s retconned into her sexuality most of the way through the series… just shitty shitty rep all around

Hasar (Lesbian)

She’s a villain, and a shitty one at that

Lesbian rep from a side character in one novella that half the fandom didn’t read? What’s even the point?

Thesan (Gay)

A very minor character & his unnamed “lover” who serve no narrative purpose whatsoever… thanks for nothing sarah

Emrys & Malachai (Presumably gay)

Oh look! More minor, background mlm that might as well not exist for all they do for the story :/

They are cute though, I’ll give them that

POC rep

Nehemia

First (and only) black main in ToG

She dies to fuel the white protag’s character arc… a very tired trope

She was actually a pretty well-written, likable character up until her brutal murder, which made it that much worse to hear about her organs strewn all over the room

Sorscha 

Described as “plain” (particularly in contrast to the white women like Aelin & Lysandra)

We know she’s POC because of where she’s from, but the way her features are described suggest she could still be white

Dark hair, gold eyes, “tan” skin

She really just fawns over white-boy Dorian every 2 seconds before dying a violent death to fuel Dorian’s arc…

…Aaaand I’m sensing a pattern here

Nesryn

Much of her character (especially in QoS) is reduced to her beefing with Aelin (and thus being villanized by the narrative) because of jealousy over Chaol 

Simply described as having “tan” skin (again). I think sarah is allergic to calling people brown

She is also described as plain compared to white protagonist

She has a (presumably middle eastern) family that only wants her to stay home and be a baker/someone’s wife

Yrene 

Once again very racially ambiguous to the point where she could even be white, with “tan/golden” skin, golden hair, and golden eyes

She almost immediately ties her literal life force to a white man she hated like a month ago. Seriously, can WOC not fawn over a hunky white man for once?

She defeats erawan in the end — considering she’s been a character for such a short time, this just feels more like a deus ex machina the anything really set up by the plot

Helion 

Not going to fully rehash what I said above but generally… he has great potential, but is basically not a character

Tarquin 

He’s portrayed as very nice and reasonable, if young and naive, yet he literally only exists to get manipulated/robbed by the main characters

He seems like such a sweetheart. He deserved much better than Riceman and Feyrug doing him dirty like that

I’ve heard rumors of a High King/Queen F*ysand plotline in later books…if that happens, Tarquin will likely be bending the knee and forgiving the people who fucked him over just a short time ago

Lucien

He’s described as very caring and loyal (yay!) which seems to always get him taken advantage of (damn!)

He’s portrayed (especially in ACOWAR) as someone we’re supposed to dislike when all his actions are perfectly reasonable

He’s literally retconned out of being white when it’s revealed Helion is his father instead of Beron. I’ve seen ppl get mad at “white-washed” fan art but it’s hard to expect much else when his original character description was straight red hair, amber eyes,  and “tan” skin (holy shit agAIN)

The people of the White Fangs from TOG

They’re described as having black hair, black eyes, and “tan” skin

They live isolated in the mountains (away from civilization) and are described as “savage” and warlike, always raiding villages in the mountains and stealing women away from their homes… 

Cain, who’s from these people, dabbles in dark magic/religion nobody else understands

This is feeling, intentional or not, like a horrible Native American caricature. Idk maybe that’s just me

[drstonetrivia]

Chapter 13 Trivia

Extremely rare no-abs shirtless male character from Dr. Stone. Keep this picture safe, it's the only one of its kind…

This is the same location as Taiju passed through on his journey, but taken from an angle slightly further back. Some parts look a little different, but the same broken statues are present.

The monkeys that follow Senku around are Japanese macaques, which are a species of Old World monkey present across most of Japan. They are also the most northern-living primate (not counting humans), and as such are adapted to the colder Japanese climate in the year 5738.

Senku couldn't start a fire with this setup, but neither would Taiju or Yuzuriha. The wood is wrong: the bottom should be stable like a plank, with a divot and a notch in it for catching the embers. The drill part should be much thinner, without bark, and rounded at the end.

Chert is a 7 on the Mohs scale, so it's hard, but not "off the charts".

Senku uses two percussion techniques to shape the stone: hard-hammer and bipolar. The former is used more frequently as it is more precise, but the latter is used when the stone isn't good quality.

After the rough shaping, Senku grinds the stone to have a polished edge, which makes it more durable. Polishing flint/chert is one of the markers of the transition from the Mesolithic to Neolithic Stone Age, as polished axes were more efficient at clearing trees for farmland.

I spent some time testing how to make plant cord, and Senku's methods are correct. Scraping away at the plant removes the bark and non-fiber-y parts leaving the long strings behind. Flax, hemp, and nettles are good plant choices, as they have longer fibers for twisting.

Senku's rope looks like 1-ply, meaning only a single strand is being twisted. This seems to contradict his earlier hand motions, as twisting parts in both hands would result in 2-ply, but his inexperience may be the reason it didn't work correctly. More plys means stronger rope.

Rubbing sticks raises the heat of the wood through friction, but the goal is to get the wood hot enough to decompose into what's known as pyrolysis products. Those products burn in oxygen, which then raises the heat more and creates a chain reaction, setting the wood on fire.

Assuming this deer is an adult Japanese sika deer, it weighs around 40-70kg. Senku at this point probably weighs under 61kg. In order to confidently lift a deer, Senku needs to have a counterweight of at least 70kg.

In this case, he bends a small tree using his own weight (one handed, even), but the chance of this tree being that elastic and capable of lifting over 60kg without simply breaking is almost impossible.

The more realistic option would have been using a counterweight such as a large log or stone, so that when the trap is activated, the counterweight falls and the trapped animal goes up.

However, that requires Senku to be able to lift something that heavy above his head.

Making leather requires several steps that can take several weeks to several months to complete. The hides need to be scraped and soaked in special solutions, have tannins added, and other processes.

The gnawing Senku is doing happens after the tanning, and is used to soften the leather. The modern way to do it is to rub it across a smooth/rounded surface, such as a sawhorse or metal pipe. The bending will make it more supple and won't destroy your jaw.

We see that one of the snow monkeys has a baby on their back. Snow monkey babies are normally born from April to June. Four months after birth, the babies are too big to hang from their mother's underside, so they move to her back.

The earliest this time scene could be is therefore August, which is about 2 months before Taiju depetrified. Any of Senku's experiments or builds likely happened in those last 2 months, since we don't see him progress with anything else before then.

I know this chapter took a while, but the topics were too interesting and also testable so I went a little overboard with how hard I was looking things up haha!

[secretlythepits]

4 Months or 2 Years

When my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer, she was told she had 4 months to live. She had 11 masses in her brain. She tried full brain radiation but it didn’t have much of an effect. When we saw her oncologist, we expected a transfer to hospice.

Instead she threw out chemo and said maybe Mom could live for 2 more years. Mom never wanted chemo because she had witnessed its brutality on her brother and sister. We questioned quality of life and her oncologist spoke about her patient who just called her from a trip to California.

We left the appointment dumbfounded and went to a cafe to discuss it over sale and Nanaimo bars. We had already literally settled everything up with the funeral parlor. We had accepted the hard truth. At lunch Mom decided to try chemo, but her heart wasn’t in it. I think she felt like she had to for her girls. It just didn’t feel right, but what do you do with that information? You can’t crumple 2 years into a ball and make a basket in the trash can.

She did one round. It was awful. That’s not what this post is about. She died 4 months from her diagnosis. I think the 2 years was never really on the table. Don’t let anyone tell you hope is always a good thing. It can wield tremendous cruelty through delusion.

My mother died 7 hours before I was getting on a plane to take over her care. There are more than medical decisions that get made based on what an oncologist says. For 4 months, I could stay the whole time. I wanted to. I planned to. But 2 years was a different story. My kids couldn’t be away from their dad for that long. My sister had to work and care for her family too. My sister and I decided to rotate care. I started homeschooling my kids so we could be wherever whenever.

4 months or 2 years?

You make different decisions. Financial decisions. Logistical decisions. Communication decisions.

I have an idea of my husband’s timeline, but nothing definitive. There’s a giant question mark about immunotherapy that is unknowable from the onset. There are strong statistical probabilities.

This is what I’m wresting with now and I’ll use my mother’s timelines for a framework. To be clear, these are not my husband’s timeline projections, but the idea is the same. Is the end sooner or later?

Do I speak up about issues in our marriage and push for my needs?

4 Months:

No. Forgive and let go. Focus on the fundamental love and don’t add an emotional burden to him. I could do this easily in this time frame.

2 Years:

Yes. That’s too long to let hurt fester. It will bubble up anyway. There’s also a real possibility of resolving some or all of it, which would be amazing. I cannot suppress my feelings for years. I would be consumed with anger and resentment.

Do I put my goals on the back burner to prioritize his?

4 Months:

Yes. I will have more time and his is finite. Also, I’d want to maximize our time together.

2 Years:

No. I can give up some but not all. What if 2 years is 3 years or 4? I am coming off of a 3 1/2 year brain infection. I lost so much time. Then I immediately had to support his first cancer journey. And before all that, it was my mom dying. I’ve had nonstop emergencies for 6 years and I clawed my way from the edge of death. I can’t just turn over all my next years. My time is finite too.

But here’s the tricky part. He will only get worse. So, although it makes sense to be tending to him now as this is new and we are figuring things out, I might miss the only realistic opportunity I have to keep my life from being swallowed up by caregiving. The only certainty I know is that later will be worse.

How much time do I devote to building my finances?

Ah, maybe these are the same for both timelines. I’m struggling with being present to the moments and bucking down to focus on providing. Do I continue building my business, the dream I worked so hard for, that got dashed so many times these last 6 years? Or do I chuck it, take some classes to get a certification that would lead to a job I would hate, but would provide a stable income? He could have an emergency and no longer work at any moment. But, that’s also unlikely. Arg!

I hate that I am back in this 4 months or 2 years place. It was torture for me. I remember people telling me I couldn’t make a wrong choice.

I felt like I couldn’t make a right one and it paralyzed me.

Now that I think about it, in the end, I decided to make the choice that was best for me. The toxicity of extended family dynamics was too much for me. I decided mom made her choices (smoking) and I had an equal right to make mine (removing myself from a situation that unhinged me). Mom also wanted space to process after the onslaught of visitors. She needed some solitude. So I left and went home to calm down and recenter myself in my life and in the family I created. Rotating her care was practical but also gave me breathing room that I needed. I could have and would have stayed if we knew it was just 4 months, but I can’t deny that something really important happened to me when I took that break. I think I would have broken without it.

This is stream of consciousness so I didn’t know I’d land on the paragraph above. I just wanted to say what I was trying to figure out, what was hurting my heart. But now I think I landed on a compass. And it rings true because I feel my North Star blinking.

I have to continue to live my own life.

I always knew that. Always know that. The reason that truth felt out of reach is all the social conditioning around being a support. Women are expected to give up everything to be a caregiver, while one of the predictors of imminent divorce is a wife’s serious diagnosis. I am experiencing a personal crisis that exists within the context of our societal dynamic and it would be disingenuous to pretend I was immune to the influences of the patriarchy. And the thing is, I know what to do. It’s more of fear of judgement for doing what I know is right.

Two truths exist simultaneously:

I want to take care of him. I really, really do.

I want to take care of myself. I really, really do.

Why does one of those feel like a mandate and the other a source of guilt? Why the dichotomy?

Why is love for myself always supposed to be second place?

One thing is for sure: with 2 dead parents, a dying spouse, and kids to look after, nobody is going to take care of me

but me.

[drdemonprince]

hey!! i've been watching your amazing top surgery recovery on insta and i'm wondering if you have any tips/secrets to recovering so quickly??! i've been looking into top surgery but have been so intimidated because everything i've read about the recovery process makes it seem like it'll take months and that's something that's not realistic for me with my limited support system + limited time off work but goddamn i would love to get my tits chopped off asap. i read something about how you gotta b

continued: be prepared to not physically be able walk around or lift more than a jug of apple juice for like two months post-op and that's been scaring me off top surgery cuz that's just not sustainable for me!!

Yeah, so I do think some people are really really overstating how incapacitating the procedure has to be, and that some of that is a holdover of doctor's historical approaches to treating patients.

Like historically, wealthy pregnant women were sometimes in bed nearly the full duration of their pregnancies, and just in general medicine used to believe that the best way for a patient to heal was for them to be lying down doing as little as possible (and being as compliant and inobtrusive as possible), and I believe that might still color some surgeon's recommendations today. Even though we know that gentle movement and maintaining function where one can is good for healing!

Now, my experience with surgery has been far and away better than that of anyone I've heard of so far for a couple of reasons, some that are within a patient's control, some that are not.

The first thing is that I have a high pain tolerance and love moving around, I need to move around to feel good, it's just very helpful for my mental health and sensory regulation. Even when I have the flu or COVID, I still tend to lift weights and take walks -- maybe at a slightly diminished capacity, maybe taking a day off if I feel incapable, but I generally want to move and find it easy to start moving quickly even when I'm sick or in pain.

2. The second piece is, you guessed it, my activity level. Before surgery, I was lifting weights for a half hour each day, five days per week. I'd been doing roughly that amount for a couple of years. I also live in a city and don't have a car so I walk a lot, take the stairs when I can, go out dancing sometimes, and just generally stay pretty active. We could chalk this up as a "choice" but that would be to ignore the fact that I'm capable of doing that much activity and I enjoy it. If I had kids, a 9-5 office job, physical disabilities that impacted my ability to exercise, elder care responsibilities, or anything else, I couldn't work out five days per week. But I personally can. And that has either been good for my health, or is just a signal of the fact that I am in good health.

3. That brings us to the third piece: I don't really have any health issues that get in the way of healing. I get over colds relatively quickly, and aside from a bout of anemia and severe burnout in my mid 20s and some knee pain that I gave myself from using a standing desk for two long that seems to never go away, I've made it to 35 without too many scratches on the vehicle.

Right now I'm probably in the best health of my life, both because of my activity levels and just really finally getting on top of cooking myself meals most days of the week, lots of like fish and veggies and rice and quinoa and shit (I used to survive on power bars far too often. they're still nice. but cooking dinner regularly has made me feel more nourished and strong). Again a lot of that is being lucky enough to have time to do the things that help me feel good.

4. Before surgery, I was hydrating and fibering like a mother fucker, up until midnight the night before my operation, when I was supposed to begin fasting. I also went two weeks without any alcohol, weed, cigarettes, delta 8, or any other substances, and no medications other than my testosterone. I also quit caffeine several months ago which has had a DRAMATIC impact on my mental health and improved my eating and hydration as well. Three hours before surgery I took a prescribed anti-nausea pill, and a celebrex (a prescribed anti-inflammatory, basically it dulls nerve pain a bit) as advised by my doctor.

5. I chose to work with a surgeon who does not use narcotics -- this is a huge one. Opioid pain medications pack a whallop, and if you need them, you need them, there's no shame in that -- but I think the American medical system is still skewed towards using them too willy nilly compared to most other parts of the world. They make you groggy, slow down your digestion, can make you depressed, make you nauseated, and just generally keep you from moving around and eating, and you really do want your physical system to be moving and metabolizing so it can heal you.

I would not have been up and walking around the day of my surgery if I was on opioids. The day after surgery I was able to stream for three hours, ride the train to my post-op appointment, and walk to a restaurant a few blocks away for dinner because I wasn't loopy or medicated at all. And I truly did not need them. Because I wasn't on opioids I was also able to shit the same day I had surgery instead of battling bloating and constipation for days, which most guys describe having.

Rather than giving any hard core pain meds to me, my doctor used numbing injections during surgery, which blunted the pain for the first 48 hours post-op, which is the worst period healing wise. Beyond that, he put me on antibiotics and a celebrex in the morning and at night. I've never felt much pain at all.

At this point, my pain is like.. less than a period cramp? Similar to muscle soreness from working out? I feel fragile because my skin is stitched together, so it's not like I could run a marathon or climb a rock wall, and I can't cook or carry anything over a milk jug. but I can walk around, shower, take the train, open light doors, get dressed, feed my chinchilla, stuff like that.

6. My surgeon encouraged movement. Many surgeons tell you not to lift your arms above your head for weeks, but this can result in you needing physical therapy afterward and losing mobility in general. Now if that's what your doctor tells you to do, you should listen to them, but my doctor told me he wanted me to maintain range of motion. I am allowed to open cabinets, shampoo my hair, and reach above my head to grab things -- GENTLY and SLOWLY -- and i do very very light stretches. In the weeks to come I'll need to weigh two competing concerns against one another: the desire to maintain mobility, and the desire to have thin scar lines. I'm still being very delicate but I am using my arms all day and sometimes raising them.

Now, I can't promise you that any of this will happen for you. And since you mentioned wanting to be as independent as possible, let me tell you: do not push it! you will need help! Not getting enough help will dramatically increase your risk of complications! I have someone with me to lift heavy objects, cook, wash the dishes, help me shower, open heavy doors, and to tell me to slow down when i'm going too hard.

The people i know who did have complications got to that point because they didn't ask for enough help. You will need to take time off of any labor intensive job, and you wont be able to move furniture, make your bed, do your laundry, cook a meal, carry groceries, or do other intensive things for a while. I understand the motivation to get back to 'independence' as quickly as possible, but you can't guarantee that will happen.

This week, I will be doing some light work (grading and reading copy edits) because I am able to, and because I'm high energy enough to be getting bored. But I couldn't count on that. I told my boss and my editor I'd be offline for at least two weeks, more if I had complications. Since I didn't, I'm bouncing back way sooner, but it would not have been healthy for me to set out with that as the expectation. I needed to mentally offload the stress of having a job or I wouldnt have healed as well as I have.

[sarroora]

So we know about the darker, realistic parts of your fic, but how about the softer, more loving parts? As in, what parts do you like, and what parts do you want to see more of?

ASFFHJKLFKHLDKL I could go on and on about this, but I had to cut the monologue short(er) bc it's 2:30am and I gotta go to bed lol

Let me preface by saying some of my own favorite moments between the characters haven't been published yet.. 🔥👀 So stay tuned~

As for the General stuff:

The main thing I love about the series in general, and bake into CGaL is how much those cats love each other but not only that, they're loved by many in their neighborhood as well.

People can sigh and moan about their antics all day, but there's a sense of community amongst the residents of Precinct 13. And they ain't gonna take some punkass criminals harming their communal cats lyin' down.

I have a lotta fun reading old articles and interviews on TC because everyone always agrees on how soft-hearted T.C. remains in spite of everything. Of course I think everyone’s entitled to write these characters in their stories however they interpret them but like, I'll admit there’ll be this part of me who’ll side-eye anyone who writes T.C. as 'mean' by default because I have no idea where they got that from lol XD The gang owns him. And Benny's the best one at approaching him especially with the Big Asks that they know he'll keep rejecting until he eventually cracks.

T.C.'s both intelligent and likable, a deadly combo if he was THAT kinda guy. And unlike many other cats in the city, he can survive on his own. He technically doesn’t really need other cats on the long run. But that’s not what the gang’s about for him. He’d probably get things done a lot faster by himself and he'd be super light but he’s ridiculously soft for his boys. They make plans more complex and they're literally dependent on him but they're everything to him.

(Side note, it’s both extremely funny and extremely endearing to me how the first thing T.C. will do for anyone joining the group is to feed them. Literally. He’ll make a fine Italian grandma one day )

In spite of everything, T.C. genuinely likes Dibble and considers him a part of their lives, and someone ‘replacing’ him is out of the question, like the situation with Prowler. Anyone badmouthing Dibble is a walking red flag and is immediately on T.C.'s list of 'snakes'.

It's what Dibble does and represents that complicates things. T.C. flouts the law and sees it as a blind tool that only makes some people stronger and others more invisible and forgotten. Dibble has to be professional, unbiased and do his job with integrity, but boy, is it hard sometimes. He can't help but love the gang almost to the point of irrationality and it's thanks to his great reputation that his more astute colleagues don't hold this over his head or take advantage of it.

Needless to say, Dibble doesn't have the same hang-ups as T.C., and is much more open with his emotions.

As the story progresses, it'll become clearer that life on the streets shaped T.C. and G.P. very differently. One’s greatest desire is to have a close family and live freely, and the other’s is to never have to feel invisible and powerless again

Some Specific moments:

G.P. didn't truly get it, what it does to T.C. when he threatened Spook's life. Happened in Chapter 6, will probably happen again later at a worse scale, because by then he knows how much it affects him

T.C. and Benny's closeness, physically and emotionally especially during the hospital stay

Although not mentioned outright in the story, T.C. absolutely loves Tony's elderly parents. Staying with the man at the family home for a month also just massively grew his affection for Tony

Tony's photo of the gang

Dibble and T.C. on the bridge. Dibble growing even more fond of T.C. and genuinely wanting to understand where he comes from

T.C. absolutely NOT having it when Saber tried to drag Spook's name into a murder he didn't commit. He was pissed, knowing a dozen cops were listening in on the other side of the window

With both Spook and Choo Choo gone, and him blowing up at Fancy, T.C. feels an obligation to keep it together, for Benny and Brain, but the stress and the feeling of powerlessness was becoming debilitating. Dibble had to hold up a mirror to his face metaphorically speaking to show him how he was cracking under the pressure and not really helping anyone. T.C. couldn’t deny it any longer and had to accept his help

And you Anon, what parts do you like or want to see more of?

[aylacavebear]

Stockroom Antics - Chapter 2

Maria had changed jobs numerous times over the last five years, more to keep herself safe than anything else. Her mother had told her she was a fairy but she thought it was just her mom being weird. Honestly, though, she had no other way of explaining what had happened to her that stormy day before she'd gone into a coma for two weeks.

Please don't take my work. I'll post warnings for each chapter. Will probably be 18+ I haven't decided yet!

Word Count: 2163

Pairing eventually Dean Winchester x OC

Warnings: None that I noticed

A/N: This one's written a little differently than my last one. Let me know what you think. It's the first time I've tried this type of writing. Chapters will alternate viewpoints as well. I also looked into an actual area so this one could feel more realistic.

----------------------------------------- Stockroom Antics Chapter 2

“Dude, I think I found something,” Sam said, staring at his laptop at one of the library tables.

Dean came over and sat across from him, “What’d you find?” he asked, watching his younger brother.

Sam is silent for a moment, reading over something, “Weird weather patterns in Southern Arizona,” he replied, still reading.

Dean thinks for a moment, then leans back in his chair, “Weren’t we in that area about six months ago?” he asks, thinking back.

This time Sam looked up at him, “Yeah but it was more like four months ago,” he replied, a bit of teasing at his brother's memory.

Dean rolled his eyes, “Whatever. Don’t they have weird weather anyway?” he asked.

“Not like this. Tempts went down into the twenties this week. That’s normal for the higher elevations, but not near Tucson. Don’t you remember the snow they got last year, three different times,” Sam explained.

“What is going on down there and why is it like it’s a demon hotspot over the last five years?” Dean questions.

“Not sure. Maybe we missed something,” Sam suggests, “It wouldn’t hurt to check it out before it gets that bad again.”

They’d been to Tucson, more the small town just north of it, Marana, almost fifteen times in the last five years due to demonic activity. Sometimes it was just one, at others, there were up to five. The brothers still hadn’t figured out why the demons were so interested in that particular area though. They had questioned witnesses, and local authorities, and even tortured the few demons they had managed to capture. The demons didn’t give up anything though. They all chose death over what would have happened had they squealed.

Dean rubbed his face with his hand before he stood up, “Looks like a road trip. We leave in twenty,” he told his brother. Sam nodded and then closed his laptop.

The Winchester brothers lived in a bunker, built by the Men of Letters in the fifties. It was their home, their sanctuary, and it held more information than either of them could read in one lifetime. Most hunters never worked the same town twice. It was one of the unwritten rules of hunting. However, this case was one they had gotten invested in.

It had started five years ago. There was a monsoon but it ended up being a massive storm. Marana had even gotten an F0 tornado, yeah, that’s a thing. It didn’t do much damage but the storm had also affected areas of Tucson. It made the boys finding any sort of epicenter almost impossible. They spent most of their time driving around and looking at the damage, which was widespread. There was a single demon in the area, out in Avra Valley. It wasn’t the actual name of the area, but it was what the locals called it. The small gas station, a place called Speedway, was where they had found it. The demon had been around the back of the store when the brothers grabbed him, taking him somewhere to question him. Well, more like torturing the information out of him, but the demon didn’t give them anything.

These things went through both the brother’s minds as they drove from Lebanon Kansas to Marana Arizona. There were several hotels in a cluster off a road called Cortaro, which was where they had stayed before. It would take them about a day to get there and would end up sharing the drive time so the other could sleep. There were also numerous other businesses off that same road, places they’d been before and questioned people.

“Agents Frehley and Criss. Nice to see you two again,” the male clerk behind the hotel desk told them, “How long will you be staying?”

“We’ll pay for two weeks, at least. We’ve got a lot of digging to do,” Agent Frehley, Sam, told him.

Both of them were in their suits, to sell it again. They weren’t surprised that the man had recognized them. Once they got settled into their room, which had easy access to the parking lot, they decided to head out and start asking questions. There were too many places to take on in one day so the two split up, covering more ground. Sam took the businesses on the side with the hotels while Dean headed across the street to the larger businesses.

The place hadn’t changed since they had been there four months prior. Dean started with the largest business, a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Questioning the employees took the better part of the day, especially when shifts ended and others began, giving him a whole new set of employees to question. By the time he was done, it was almost five in the evening. Since there wasn’t a bar nearby, he bought a couple of bottles of whiskey and a twenty-four-pack of beer before he began the short walk back to the hotel.

As he stopped at the light, he noticed a truck. It looked somewhat familiar but at the moment, he couldn’t place where he’d seen it. The woman driving didn’t look familiar at all either but he found her kinda hot. She was smiling, comfortably sitting behind the wheel of that large truck. When the light turned green, he began through the crosswalk as the woman drove through and across the street, disappearing down the road behind the businesses. 

“Find anything?” Dean asked his brother as he set the alcohol down on the counter in their room.

Sam sighed, exhausted, “Nothing. Everyone said this happens every so many years, the cold snap.”

Dean chuckled, “If only they knew why.” He then handed his brother a beer while he poured himself a whiskey.

The brothers had brought the case files from the last fifteen or twenty times they’d been to the area. Tonight though, they just wanted a decent night's sleep after the drive and the dead-end interviews they’d had that day. The two took turns showering before having a few more drinks and turning in for the night, deciding to get an early start the following morning.

When morning did come, it was cold again, the thermostat for outside reading twenty-six at seven in the morning. Dean groaned as he saw that. Neither of them was looking forward to being out in this chill. It wasn’t like where it snowed. That cold was tolerable. The cold here though, was bone-chilling, sinking right through your skin, into your muscles, and it felt as though it was trying to freeze your bones. They both knew their suits weren’t going to keep them warm enough but had to keep up appearances, at least for now.

Sam continued on his side of the road while Dean went back across the street. He hit the store next to Wal-Mart and sighed at another dead-end. Then he hit the smaller businesses in the plaza. He grabbed himself another cup of hot coffee before he headed across the street around one. Dean decided to hit the biggest store there first, a Ross. He put on his professional smile as he headed inside, then up to the cashier.

“Agent Criss, FBI. May I speak with your manager please?” he asked the woman, who wasn’t bad looking, so smiling came easy for Dean.

The cashier spoke into the headset she was wearing asking Tay to come to the front of the store while Dean stood there and surveyed the place. There weren’t many customers, probably less than fifteen at the moment. Some with kids, some without. He remembered being here, questioning the employees four months ago, finding nothing then. He was pulled out of his thoughts when a woman approached him.

“Agent Criss. Nice to see you again, I think,” Tay told him, smiling.

He smirked down at her. She was attractive, nicely built, well proportioned with black wavey hair just past her shoulders, dark skin, and very kissable lips, “Didn’t think you’d remember me,” he replies.

She chuckled, “It’s not like we get a lot of FBI in here, especially one as good-looking as you,” she teased him. She was married but still complimented him, “What can I help you with?”

Dean’s smirk only grew but he decided to keep it professional, at least for now, “I just need to talk to your employees.”

“Alright. Do you want to use the office again? Or… can you do that while they’re on the floor?” Tay asked him, wondering if she’d have to supervise moving people around.

“Na. I think they can keep working. They’re just routine questions,” he replies.

“Well, if you need anything, just have one of the cashiers call for me. I have to help with unloading the truck we just got,” she tells him before heading to the back stockroom.

The employee roaster consisted of mostly women, which Dean found interesting. He started with the cashier since she didn’t have any customers, asking if she felt cold patches in the store, saw flickering lights, or smelled sulfur. She answered no to all of those so he headed further into the store.

When he got past the clothing racks he stopped though, watching something rather interesting happening with what looked like four employees. All he could do was attempt to keep from laughing at the antics taking place. One woman was holding a phone, seeming to be filming the other three. Another woman, tiny in frame was laying on a small sitting sofa, posing like a royal woman or something completely opposite that. Then there was the woman and the young man at either end of the small sofa, carrying it as if they were her servants.

“And here we have the amazing Sarah, modeling just how comfortable this beauty is as her servants obediently carry her through the store. Not only is it lightweight, but will give you the feeling of royalty, even if you don’t have servants to carry you around on it,” the woman holding the phone said in an almost infomercial tone.

The two carrying it were doing their best to keep straight faces, as was the woman lying on the thing. Dean couldn’t contain the small bit of laughter as he watched them. They had almost made it to where the other larger store items belonged on the floor before the four erupted in laughter.

“That will do servants,” Sarah said as royally as she could, before the two set her down, now laughing so hard they could barely stand. Now all four of them were laughing. 

He cleared his throat as he approached them, watching as they attempted to look professional. The one holding the camera quickly saved the video and passed it to Sarah, who turned it off and pocketed it. 

“Excuse me. I just have a few questions, if you’re not too busy,” Dean told them, barely able to keep from chuckling at them. They looked like kids who’d been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

“We’re not gonna get fired for that, are we?” The male asked him.

Dean laughed a little, “I’m not here about your antics, if that’s what you're asking,” he replied. The four of them let out a sigh of relief at that, relaxing a little. “Have any of you felt any cold spots, seen lights flickering, or smelled any sulfur?” he asked them.

The girl, whom Dean learned by her nametag, that was holding the phone was Kendel, the one on the sofa was Sarah, the other Maria, and the male was Angel. All of them said no to his questions. It was the way Maria had said no, as well as her demeanor change, even if it was slight, that caught his attention. Not a single person out of all the times they’d been to the area had even flinched oddly at their questions. 

He fixed his gaze on her, a knowing in his eyes, “You sure?” he asked again, raising an eyebrow.

She smiled a bit, more like smirked, “Yup,” she popped the ‘p’, “Things are pretty plain around here, unless its monsoon season. That’s about the only time we get flickering lights, but that’s just a power thing, due to the electricity in the air.”

“Uh-huh,” was all he said, deciding he wanted to keep more of an eye on her, perhaps even follow her. He’d been reading people his whole life, and he knew she was hiding something, he just wasn’t sure what. It was a gut feeling he couldn’t ignore, as they hadn’t steered him wrong in the past.

The four of them headed back to the stockroom, and Dean questioned the other employees, no luck with any of them. Then he called his brother, “You busy?” he asked as he headed out of the store.

“Just finished here, why?” Sam replied.

“Meet me back at the hotel. I think I have a lead. It’s weak, but it’s something,” Dean explained, walking quickly.

----------------------------------------- Chapter 3

Link to the series Master List

[bisluthq]

you have such a weird approach to taylor and travis’ relationship. it’s so interesting to me that you base their level of knowledge about each other on how much you see them out in public - like if they’re not together, you immediately assume they don’t communicate, therefore they cannot know each other. meanwhile, you were writing borderline fanfiction about joe and taylor, despite them never being seen together. i’m well aware that they spent more time with each other as far as we knew but there was zero indication that joe one year in knew more about taylor than travis does now…

to insinuate that he’s with her for that 8 figure deal but then 2 asks later say that you’re rooting for them is just comical lmao

yes we all know you liked her better with joe but times change, PEOPLE change. idk it’s just super obvious to me that taylor is happy and content in this relationship - to question that and imply that she’s still hung up on her fuckass exes is just very strange. it’s her life, if she truly isn’t happy then we’ll find it eventually but there’s no need to speculate about her being miserable.

can you imagine finally getting to a place where you can enjoy your life, feel like you have your shit figured out only to have your fans be obsessed with the idea that you’re faking your happiness? i’d go absolutely insane - you guys are not better than the gaylor who are convinced that her entire life is just performance art…you’re essentially doing the exact same thing - she says something, you say she’s lying, she seems happy, she must be faking it, she has a man love her, he must be in it for the money like……..just stop

bruv I never ONCE said she’s hung up on an ex and have actively said I don’t think she is. I’ve actively said so when people have implied surprise songs are about an ex because that’s an insane thing to think. I don’t think she’s hung up on any ex and I would judge the absolute fuck out of her if she got back together with either of those guys. That’d be a terrible fucking idea.

but like the cupcakeing here is unreal. “Finally”? My sibling in christ, this woman has been single for like 6-9 weeks over the period of the last ten years. She left Calvin for Hiddles (while also lusting after Joe), she left Hiddles for Joe, she left Joe for Matty (who she’d been fucking when she’d met Calvin lol) and Matty left her. After which she was single for like 7 weeks and then she started dating Travis. She dated Travis for about a month before they went super public together and NEITHER of them have had a chance to fucking breathe because this has been an extremely busy time for them.

this has fuck all to do with Joe lol and it’s reminding me of whenever I’d say her and Joe don’t seem perfectly happy in every way, I’d have people say it’s because I’m a miserable Gaylor. Now apparently because I don’t think her and Travis have EVEN HAD A CHANCE TO DECIDE EITHER WAY, it’s because I’m a widow.

have you thought, just maybe, that I… am just quite realistic and know cognitively that she’s a real person and real people don’t get happily ever afters lmao, they just get more fucking life?? Come on.

I also think it’s fuck naive not to see that they’re both mining this relationship for money and positive publicity. Doesn’t make it fake or bad or mean that they’re miserable but totally utterly delusional to somehow claim they aren’t. Doesn’t mean they’re not happy! In fact it’s probably one of the things that makes them happy like it makes sense and it’s constructive to both of them.

I’m just not into cupcake takes, which this is, and if you want a source that deepthroats whichever guy she’s with rn that’s totally fair - that’s your preference - but then go follow those girls? Block and unfollow?

Come on. I don’t like acting like real people can ever be perfectly perfect in every way, because it’s silly - escapist and perhaps enjoyable for you and that’s SUPER FAIR, but ultimately quite silly.

also no I don’t think she’s lying and I don’t think she was lying the last fifty times she said she’s never been happier only to say that was in fact a miserable time. I think that makes her perfectly imperfect and human 🤷🏻‍♀️😘

[fantasticcloudcreation]

July 9 - Updates from Miami:

I wore my short work shorts today and they were comfy, fit perfect, not riding up which is great news haha. Also a loose crop tank top, I felt self-conscious the last time I wore it to work, but overall felt skinny and fit today :) No one commented on losing weight though which is reasonable bc I don't think it's noticeable to anyone but me lol. Also no one commented on my haircut but it was tied up in pigtail buns and a bandana today, honestly not sure how else to contain it during hot work days... It's funny that I wanted to cut my hair bc I was always wearing it in braids on work days but realistically it's too hot to leave it down most days and now idk how to put it up when it has all these layers... The next 2 gigs should have some cooler weather so I'll get to leave it down but for now it's kind of annoying haha. I guess I need to learn some new hairstyles.

Had a Celsius and 2 granola bars for breakfast, one propel pack, an entire subway veggie sub for lunch with sweet tea, yikes at the sugar content but it is what it is, and I ate almost the entire sub in like 10 minutes lol I was so hungry (didn't end up finishing it, but almost). Was planning on eating the sun chips that came with it during break but then we were on code red for like at least an hour so break was cancelled and I didn't feel like eating lol so I'll save them for tomorrow.

Nice to see my work friends, I won't be at the next gig with them so it's good to see them now :) Mostly chill day of work, a lot of walking, some lifting (big lights, awkward angles /down stairs, around seats, up onto the truss) but there were so many people on our team and we had to wait for the riggers to hang the truss first so it was a lot of sitting around. Felt like I didn't really do much today, there was a lot of waiting and a lot of people jumping on every task we were assigned, but I'll take an easy first day back. Sounds like we might have some long days ahead of us so that'll be fun haha.

Now I'm back at the hotel, R is still at work, I had a poke bowl last night that I'd been craving forever from my favorite place when I used to live here, it really hit the spot lol I ate all the veggies/tofu yesterday but had some rice left over so I saved it in the fridge, might eat that now and call that dinner 🙃 also 2 beers so far tonight. Will probably smoke a joint later and eat a bunch of snacks. 5 cigs so far today but who's counting!

Overall, good day! Feeling good, having fun, I love my life! I'm glad I came here and didn't back out when I wanted to :)

Other notes about my body bc I just want to share them lol:

- my wrists/hands are looking really skinny these days, I noticed while driving down here (hands on the steering wheel) all the little bones in my hands, wrists looking thin, yet very firm strong forearm muscles?

- my shoulders have been looking/feeling very bony lately which I enjoy but I had to carry a 50ft feeder cable today which isn't that heavy and should've been easy, but I have lil bruises on my shoulders from it... I made a joke about having a month off work and my shoulders got soft but fr lol like that shouldn't have caused a bruise and I even switched sides halfway and both sides have lil tender spots like it's bruising. Not sure if that's a muscle thing or an iron deficiency or just like toughen up and get used to it?

- my thighs are definitely thinner than 2 months ago however I would feel a lot better about them if I could lose like another 5-10 pounds over the next few months... At the same time, hipbones are starting to pop out too and unfortunately if they get too prominent they get really bruised when carrying things at work so its like a balance of, lose weight so my thighs look great vs lose weight and get bruises on my hipbones lol, who will win ? only time will tell....

[pastballads]

2. Are there any plot tropes you are sick of/refuse to RP? If so, what are they and why?

Questions Often Left Unanswered: Mun Edition. | Accepting. | @dcviated

Oh, there's plenty of plot tropes out there that I'm tired of.

"Character A stumbles/bumps into/crosses paths randomly with Character B".

After countless fandoms and partners who were always just winging it, I'm beyond tired of that specific plot idea. Writing Tino back in the RWBY fandom really put that plot trope in the grave. Surprise surprise, it's hard to write a workaholic who literally lives at work doing anything else.

Then there's always the classic "Both characters immediately get all buddy-buddy" trope.

It's boring. It skips out on all the juicy development. Realistically, the chances of you meeting a stranger one single time and becoming friends are slim. Even if you do get along, you're probably not gonna remember their name the next time you see them, or remember who they are. There's a reason why acquaintances are a thing. The only exception I'd make for this trope is if the characters are drunk— I've been around bars a lot, as my mother has been a bartender my entire life, and I've seen total strangers do dumb shit and talk like they've been friends forever.

If you want a real example, about two months ago I went with her to one of her old works, and a gal who's acquaintances with her— this gal being a medical professional, no less— motorboated her boobs not even ten seconds after an overenthusiastic greeting. People are wild when they're drunk.

And by extension, "OC meets MC/Canon Character and become instant friends".

Like, I get it. You like that character. It's just... done to death. It's the only trope I actively avoid like the plague, so much so that you can see it reflected in my writing and who I write with. Nine times out of ten, I go straight for OC muses over canon ones, putting all my ideas into what they can do. In those occasions where it is Canon meets OC, you'll always see me drifting toward more neutral or antagonistic threads. Case in point, Chantelle and Samus, Harima and Claudius, Malkuth and Leon, and plenty of others.

I'm not counting Raguna and Izren though— those two are farming sim/RPG protags. Of course their friendship would level up quick.

I could go on about all the plot tropes I don't like, but I don't enjoy complaining about a hobby we all share. I've been on this hellsite so long I've seen it all. I'm just tired of beating dead horses, that's all.