#so certainly a challenge for me!!

[myloveforhergoeson]

ive been thinking about this for a while now, but why did dak zevon even pursue roxy? what was his goal? did he even like her or is he just a serial dater who needs to be liked at all times?? (maybe its clear and i just missed it lol)

hello! thank you for your question - i'm happy to clarify!! under the cut <3

the pg answer is yes, he's a serial dater! he thought she was pretty, he could tell she was a fan of his, and he wanted to have her around to boost up his ego while he went on "real" dates with other movie stars. i also imagine because of these tendencies he's dated many people his age in the business and he's bolstered up a reputation for being a two-timer, so he also knew because she was new to the area she wouldn't have had the time to discover that yet. it bugged him when she spent time hanging around the guys because she was giving them her attention, not him! (and i wanted there to be some jealous interactions with james....) he liked her enough to keep her around, but not enough to consider actually being with her until she brought it up in chapter 14. why did he agree? see the paragraph below lmao

the not so pg answer, which isn't as clear just from the text, or maybe not to anyone but me lol, is that he wanted to sleep with her. in chapter 13 he came over to her apartment because he knew she lived alone, pretty much toppled over her on her couch while they were kissing, then borderline erupted at her when the guys came running in for a) ruining the moment and b) learning she was spending so much time around them. there's a part where he begins to ask her something at the same time she begins to say something to him - he just lets her go first. he was going to ask if it was alright if he spent the night, but i didn't make that clear! i left it intentionally vague on purpose, so i apologize if it was confusing! the only real hint about it was camille making a comment about him 'spending the night alone together.' and in chapter 14 after they break up, he also makes a comment about hearing somewhere that 'minnesota girls were easy' as in... easy to get into bed. i think that's the only clear instance i made in allusion to this answer

they're all just teenagers and i felt uncomfortable making that non-pg answer abundantly clear because the rating on the fic is teen and also i'm an adult who personally doesn't feel comfortable writing scenes of that matter with minors. thinking back i should have just left it out; i just thought it was dramatic at the time and wanted logan to really have a reason to punch him in the face. sorry! i understand how that might not have been clear. we kind of lose the motivations of other characters by having the fic fully centered around roxy, and i recognize that.

i appreciate the question and i'm happy to clarify more if needed :) i've got quite the world built up in my head and i understand why other characters make their choices, but recognize it may be hard to see from the outside <3

[i-really-like-phrogs]

HAPPY PRIDE!!!!🗣️‼️‼️🥳🥳👏👏🪅🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🎉🎊🎁🎊🎈🎉🎊🎁🎊🎉🎂🎉 <33333333

hmm can you draw Beetlejuice and Lydia during that curtain call where they switched outfits (it doesn’t have to be musicaljuice)

Happy Pride to you too! Thank you so much for your ask!

This is very similar to a request I received from @herbie-observation, who’s been waiting very patiently since September 😂

I’ve struggled very hard with musical asks because I’m never quite sure what to do with these two. I know how important they are to so many people, and I worry about doing the justice they deserve.

That being said, it’ll never get easier unless I practice! So after quite a few attempts… here’s the most solid of them.

[mice-ducks-and-blots]

Fellas is it gay to plant a whole like REALLY HUGE road of flowers exclusively for your enemy. Flowers that, canonically, will wither and die if you don't tend to them for a SINGLE DAY. mAY I ADD that earlier in the story Blot states something like "the falls are ROMANTIC in a way, especially with a full moon in the sky >AND MY WORST ENEMY APPROACHING<"

Like I'm sorry I held it for too long and I need to say it. I am a firm believer that Mickey and Blot have the same as whatever it is that Basil and Ratigan got going on

[tblsomedoodles]

I thought i escaped sims 4 but it's dragged my dumbass back again.

I hate this game. I need so many mods just to be able to just to fix it so i can play without being frustrated. but no matter how frustrated i get, i keep coming back : /

Anyways! Like my new little me? (i forgot what they're called. Avatar? *Shrug*) I'll put some more stuff (and doodles) about them under the cut

They're a candle! The body and oversize hoodie are all the wax and the undercut ponytail is the little flame (like Ember from Danny Phantom lol). Her feet are kinda goopy and her hands never show b/c the sleeves of the hoodie drip over them (sometimes driping off completely.)

i got kinda bored with my old one (drawing me but purple) so they got a little upgrade for my silly little personal doodles.

That is all : )

[daisybell-on-a-carousel]

It had started because some people had misheard something Phantom said. One singular letter was responsible for the mess he was in right now.

They thought Phantom had said "Dad"

He had not, not this time at least, he was, admittedly, rather prone to accidentally calling Jack "Dad" because the man actually was. Though those moments were nothing compared to this.

It had spread like wildfire throughout the school, and then the city as a whole. Phantom had a dad, a dad who was visiting next week. That's what they knew, and theories and questions were already abound. Was Phantom's dad alive? Or dead too? What was their relationship like? Was this mysterious dad Phantom's blood (ectoplasm?) father? Or was Phantom adopted? How similar were they?

Dan just laughed at Danny over the phone when he tried explaining the situation to his older self before he came by to visit.

[dykedvonte]

thinking abt what you said with house viewing Benny as a son and I’m obsessed. Like. The man spent most of his life before the war presumably alone, and then after the bombs fell he was alone again, save for AI he himself devised. Then he decides to pull in some Tribes, and one kid shows promise! So sure, treat him well, train him, groom him to be his protege, then next thing you know UH OH he’s got developing paternal feelings towards this guy. Wanting some semblance of a family when the time has long since passed, yet fostering that feeling all the same seems so accurate for him. Benny meanwhile only views him as a boss, and not a particularly good one at that. makes me wonder how House must’ve felt when he found out about Bennys plans

I view it as House blames only himself for this, cause he kind of does in canon (strap in this is a long one).

When reflecting on the issue of Benny, House chastises himself first and foremost for not acting quickly enough when it comes to priming Benny. He describes Benny as being ambitious, ruthless and capable; compliments coming from a man like House. House has an ego and while he is logical enough to understand there was never any evidence Benny saw him as a father-figure, he lacks the humility to admit he let his own views on his relationship with Benny blind him to the activities happening behind the scenes.

I doubt that House was as aware as he makes out about what Benny was doing, he knew early on but certainly not early enough to stop Benny from hacking and obtaining a securitron along with getting the chip in the first place. I take it he was distracted by all the possibilities he was calculating of Vegas' success and growth with him steering and Benny as the new figure head, not because of any normal affection for Benny but the admiration of his capabilities. It's to be noted that House believed menial incentives (likely caps, booze, basic needs, etc..) were enough to keep Benny tame like the other Chairmen but, as evidenced by the Omertas and Mortimer in the WGS, this is not enough when it comes to more driven Vegas citizens. This implies he still undervalued Benny and created a space in which Benny felt the need to rebel.

House in my eyes is not sentimental in the traditional sense. I can imagine his pride was severely scorned as someone he certainly deemed dumber than him was, albeit only for a little, able to out-gambit him. It would definitely hit home seeing how his brother also betrayed him but I feel like that's why he's so apathetic when he tells the Courier to do as they see fit with Benny. I doubt the way he terrorized his brother brought him any emotional satisfaction other than a "Now who's in charge!" ego boost. Putting that same emotional intensity towards Benny isn't worth it because who does it benefit? Wasted time, wasted planning, and most importantly wasted potential are all he gets from continuing to be hands-on with Benny. I say the closest example is not being able to throw out old toys due to the memories attached but knowing it's necessary as they are broken or just taking up space for new ones, and then asking someone else to do it so you don't need to get caught up in the feelings of throwing something you put so much effort into. It's not Benny House cares about in my mind, not in a way that sounds healthy to any non-emotionally constipated individual, but what he could've represented for him, which is why he so quickly offers the same position to the Courier.

As for Benny's view on all of this, it was a long time coming. Benny didn't and doesn't believe House is a completely shitty boss. He admires what he's been shown and admits House knows how to run the strip, but disagrees with the directions. Ideologically, House is an anarcho-capitalist while Benny is just an anarchist. House wants to run the strip to profit, though money is not what he's concerned with being rich with anymore. Benny wants a free state that he wishes to become a place for the people, except for the Chairmen who would be on top (I like to remind people that Benny's motives were selfish but not for personal gain/power as was it for the people he actually saw as family). Benny was never looking for a father but a future. He was not interested in being adopted, or having the chairmen adopted, as bigger names still overshadowed in House's legacy.

Truly, it's easiest to summarize as House feeling strongly and thinking positively enough of Benny to start incorporating him into the future of Vegas (a huge honor actually) while Benny was so disillusioned by House's ego and indifference that he thought the only way Vegas could be the future is with House gone.

[spotaus]

Coda and Ichor! (Catacombtale Style!)

These two don't have a *ton* of interaction in the Main story, but since Ichor and Balance are the only two characters I've fully designed, Coda gets stuck next to him, haha!

BONUS art jumpscare:

These two actually exist in another project I'm working on too called Codex, which is basically just removing the UT aspects of Catacombtale and doing a lot more worldbuilding and character design!

Coda is older in Codex and is marked by an old God (which should get him jailed or killed, as it means for everyone else) but he hides it for years and years before he finally flees the complex he's living in to go confront the gods and stop their destructive path. Meanwhile Ichor is much the same, only he's much more ready and willing to help Coda without much prompting. Here he's also sort of a Koi Fish! (His brother is a Betta Fish)

[merklins]

SKITTERS LIKE A CRITTER AT MACH SPEEDS. Hey. >:3

Since you mentioned wanting to try your hand at the drawing challenge... may I request VRV Hypnos (ep2) in "Crying Lightning"?

A Hypnos request in my inbox? HEHEHE why you shouldn't have (:

[aliciabell]

🌟 Simeon, the Guilty Angel 🌟

I'm so late to this trend wwwww, NSFW version in the next post >:3c

[astrojulia]

Oceanic Empowerment

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷Finding Your Way in the Mermaid's Realm

Self-confidence and self-esteem are essential parts of witchcraft that are often overlooked or not emphasized enough. No matter how skilled you are in making potions, performing rituals, or casting spells, if you don't believe in yourself, your efforts will not yield the desired results.

As a witch, you work with energies and entities that surround you, and while you may seek support from deities, ancestors, or the universe, ultimately, you are the source of your power. The more self-assured and strong you are, the more effective your practice will be.

You may wonder, "How can I be powerful if I don't have access to these energies?" The answer is that you already possess the energy within you; you just need to tap into it. By cultivating self-confidence and self-esteem, you can unlock your innate power and channel it towards your goals.

Consider this: do you admire those who appear stronger or weaker than you? Do you seek friendships that enrich you or drain you? Do you want to give and receive energy, or do you prefer to be passive? These questions can help you reflect on your values and priorities.

I am not complaining about the magic works, but I carry two points with me by making these posts:

1st I respect and a lot my divinities and I know that if I ask for help they will support me in some way (which in fact already support me all the time), that’s why if I know that I can do this with my own effort and hard work and not want to make it all easier, I will have a lot more rewards for myself and my generations and respect those who work with me.

2nd life is magic in itself, being alive at this moment in history, being born at an exact time is already magical, taking apart what life gives us is also using the minute details of magic.

Now that you have announced this beautiful introduction, just follow the step by step that I separated to have a better self esteem and be able to be a powerful witch that you want and deserve to be, it will separated in lessons so you and me can improve as the time pass by:

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Step 1 - Tides of Responsibility: Navigating Your Path in the Ocean of Existence

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Step 2 - Mermaid Magic: Unlocking Transformational Thinking for a Better World

[wonder-worker]

J.L. Laynesmith taking the 'Buckingham Did It™' route for the murder of the Princes in the Tower AND the rumors of Edward IV's bastardy ... I have to laugh

[hunxi-after-hours]

danmei reading challenge 1.0

I had so much fun coming up with these discussion questions in this post that I thought I’d make a more streamlined post for folks to make it easier to track! it is however a very long post so I shall throw the discussion questions under the cut. here are the challenges:

read works by three (or more!) danmei authors

read two different danmei novels by the same author (if you can wrangle it, try to read novels in different genres)

read a danmei novel that is not wuxia, xianxia, or xuanhuan

read a danmei novel set in modern day China

read a webnovel that was not serialized on JJWXC

read a webnovel by a danmei author that is not danmei (e.g. 言情 / heterosexual romance, 无CP / no romance)

read a danmei novel with 2+ adaptations into other forms of media (e.g. audiodrama, donghua, manhua, live action)

read a danmei novel with no adaptations in other forms of media

read a traditionally published work of Chinese speculative fiction

read a novel written by a Chinese diaspora author

(also I did some math and if you read for maximum overlap you can do this challenge in just seven books ;)

read works by three (or more!) danmei authors

what recurring themes, character traits, narrative tropes, or cultural aspects to you observe across works by different authors? what differences do you notice? do you think these similarities/differences are hallmarks of the genre, coincidental stylistic choices, authorial interests, or wider cultural trends? how do different authors address certain issues, or avoid them altogether? how do these choices affect the content and style of the text, as well as your perception of and/or response to these texts?

read two different danmei novels by the same author (if you can wrangle it, try to read novels in different genres)

what recurring themes, character traits, narrative tropes, or thematic commonalities do you observe across an author’s works? how do the different narrative or genre contexts of each novel affect characters and themes in each work? do you observe changes in an author’s perspective, views, or opinions on common themes and/or social issues from novel to novel?

read a danmei novel that is not wuxia, xianxia, or xuanhuan

how do aspects of worldbuilding differ across genres? what new aspects of culture, character, or language do you observe in a different genre setting? how much character or worldbuilding do you think is attributable to genre convention, and how much isn’t? what do you think readers find attractive about wuxia/xianxia/xuanhuan settings? what do you think readers find attractive about other genres?

read a danmei novel set in modern day China

how do the emotional and narrative stakes of novels change depending on time period? what were you surprised by? what similarities or resonances did you recognize between the text and your own life? how does the fabric of the setting in this novel differ from novels set in other time periods and settings? in what ways do class and power factor into character conflicts and relationships? how do these differ from the way class and power are addressed in historical novels? what is the role of tradition and history in this novel? do you find the text more realistic because it’s set in modern day? why or why not? how important do you think “realism” is to the text and the readers? why might this be? how important is “realism” to your reading experience? why might this be?

read a webnovel that was not serialized on JJWXC

there are many other Chinese internet literature platforms, such as 长佩文学 and 奇点文学网. explore one (or more!) of these literature platforms and note any observations about differences, similarities, or things you’re surprised by. how does this inform your understanding of the larger scope of Chinese web literature? in what ways are literature and genre organized differently from what you’re familiar with? compare and contrast your experience reading a non-JJWXC novel with a JJWXC novel. what was the same? what was different? do you think these similarities/differences are influenced by the different audiences of these websites or larger societal trends in media and culture, or something else entirely?

read a webnovel by a danmei author that is not danmei (e.g. 言情 / heterosexual romance, 无CP / no romance)

what similarities do you observe between this novel and a danmei novel written by the same author? what differences do you observe? how do narrative reflections of gender and character dynamics differ? what other themes, issues, or narrative aspects do you notice coming to the forefront when the focus has shifted away from male/male romance? what were you surprised by? what weren’t you surprised by? has your perception of the author’s views on gender/gender dynamics changed? if so, how? if not, why do you think this is?

read a danmei novel with 2+ adaptations into other forms of media (e.g. audiodrama, donghua, manhua, live action)

what do you think about this novel generates wider media attention and interest? how do the characters and narrative change from text to adaptation? why do you think this happened? how did the popularization via adaptation affect the original text, if at all? how did you come to discover this text, and how many platforms did it have to jump to get to you? why do you think this text received attention on the platform you first heard of it? in what ways beyond the content of the text itself did this novel draw wider attention?

read a danmei novel with no adaptations in other forms of media

why do you think this novel hasn’t been chosen for adaptation yet? in what ways would this novel be challenging to adapt? what medium do you think this novel would be best suited for? how would an adaptation of this novel change your perspective and experience of this text? what would you hope to see in an adaptation of this novel?

read a traditionally published work of Chinese speculative fiction

how does a traditionally published work of Chinese fiction differ  stylistically and narratively from the web literature you’ve read? what  does the wider field of Chinese speculative fiction look like? how do  the imaginations and concerns of Chinese authors manifest in their  worldbuilding, setting, characters, themes, and conflicts? how do  subgenres of Chinese speculative fiction resemble and differ from genres  you’re more familiar with? what did you like about this work? what puts  you off about this work? did this work raise any questions or themes  that you haven’t thought about before? what aspects of the novel seem  rooted in contemporary Chinese society, and which themes seem more  universal? if reading in translation, did you identify any moments where  context was lost between languages? were there footnotes in the  translation, and if so, how did they affect your reading experience? if  not, did you ever wish there were footnotes? what kind of additional  context did you wish you had? how do you think the translation  influenced your reading experience? how high-profile is this work of  Chinese speculative fiction, and why do you think this is?

read a novel written by a Chinese diaspora author

how do characters, themes, settings, and worldbuilding differ from the perspective of a diaspora writer? what aspects feel the same? how does translation on linguistic, cultural, or metafictional levels factor into the text? what is the role of tradition and reception in the narrative? what other influences can you spot in the text? what Chinese work would you put this text in conversation with, and why? how are different cultures portrayed in diaspora works vs. non-diaspora works? based on this text, have cultural values shifted in diasporic reception? what is the relationship presented in the text between identity and nationhood, tradition and ownership?

[girlwiththegreenhat]

MAPLESTORY MENTIONED!!!!!

Gods I'm a fucking old-ass veteran of that game. I began playing in 2009 and I actually quit in like 2019 iirc. Few years ago I got a private server, and I was playing up until this year and then just fell out of favor. But damn that game is nostalgic af!!! It's awesome!!! <3 I'm genuinely SO glad to see others who played it!!!!

RIP Lionheart Castle to the Kaiser hackers, and the Demon Slayer spammers. XD

MAPLESTORY MENTIONED <3 i played from 2008 until .... gosh, i don't even remember when i stopped, it sort of fizzled out for me as the game got less fun and more pay to win. the last couple of times i launched it even the biggest hubs were completely empty, no heneseys hoes to be seen even in channel 1 u _ u absolute ghost town. and all my characters are on windia, which used to be one of the most popular servers! Not Anymore I Guess

it's the kind of game that i feel like... even if you're in a popular server or something, even if you're in a private server, it just takes too much dedication to play anymore. it's not really for casual people anymore, the whole community and culture is totally different now and it makes me sad. i feel like 2008 ~ 2014 was Peak and then it started to fall apart after that, too much grinding and not enough fun anymore.

LF > LPQ 😭

[unproduciblesmackdown]

(genderly) chill as hell if i was only ever glimpsed / detected like this

[yuriyuruandyuraart]

going on a walk <3

[mariocki]

All Passion Spent: Episode 3 (1.3, BBC, 1986)

"I realise that he wanted me to enjoy all his beautiful things, but what did he imagine I could do with so much money? I can't believe, Mr. Bucktrout, that he knew what he was doing when he left all this to me."

"In the eyes of the world he has conferred a great benefit on you, Lady Slane."

"I know. I know, but I never wanted anything but to stand aside. Something, it seems, that this world of ours won't allow even at the age of eighty-five."

"Well, even the smallest planet is compelled to circle round the sun."

"Yes, but does that mean that we must all, willy-nilly, circle round wealth, position, possessions? I thought that I had escaped from all those things, Mr. Bucktrout, and now Mr. Fitz... of all people... he pushes me back into the middle of them. What am I to do? What am I to do? I always preferred the works of God to the works of man, because they're given - freely - to anyone who can appreciate them, pauper or millionaire. Does that make sense?"

"It makes perfect sense."