#so dream helps of course

[help-im-a-gay-fish]

Kidnap my heart

Happy anniversary to the Greek gods, au!!! 3rd anniversary woah...I love this au so much! It's so nice to draw with the new designs.

Hope you are all having a good day. When this que posts, I'll be at work, lol.

Original Dream and Nightmare by jokublog

Greek gods au by me!

[knifearo]

being aromantic is like. hey btw you're going to live a life that is the culmination of most of society's worst nightmares. sorry lol ✌️ but then you turn around and take a really good hard look at it and it turns out that living in that nightmare is fucking awesome and you get to wake up every day and take that fear that other people have and laugh and hold it close until it's a great joy for you instead. and being happy is a radical act that you define instead of someone else. and you're sexy as fuck that's just a fact of life i don't make the rules on that one

[fatedroses]

More than just the Demon.

[dragonnarrative-writes]

Part 10 - Blind Retrieve (Interlude)

Slasher Handler Masterlist

Read on AO3

Price calls Ghost for a job.

CW: Discussion of wounds, cannon adjacent discussions of terrorism and violence, Soap (the family dog)

Price calls Simon to work exactly four weeks after you puncture his lung. The wound is healed, with nothing but a bright pink line left behind. You’d gone into a bit of a fit when you’d finally seen it, helping him change the bandages. The drain hadn’t bothered you none, but the scar…

Ghost reports to the base at 2200, masked and kitted as usual. A bit of overkill, for a briefing, but he likes the routine of it. There’s a comfort in the distance it gives him. He doesn’t see many people, but the ones he does see avoid his eyes and find somewhere else to be.

He’s surprised, then, to see Soap pacing the length of the conference room when he arrives. More surprised at the warmth that blooms in his chest at the sight of him.

He’s a little skinny, Ghost observes, as blue eyes light up when they find his. Underfed and not as bulky as he usually likes, jeans and a tee sitting not quite loose on his frame. He lost his weight training privileges in prison, most likely. But his hair is shiny and his skin is clear. When he grins it looks like he has all of his teeth.

“There ye are, ye wee bonnie bastard,” Soap cries, dramatic, dancing forward for a clap on the shoulder. He’s away just as fast, laughing at the way Ghost’s knife barely misses him. “Miss me?”

“’Ardly noticed you was gone,” Ghost answers. “Gaz ‘ere?”

“That’s all I get?” Soap ducks close again, bats Ghost’s half-hearted swat away as he tries to shake Ghost by a vest strap. “Ten months away an’ yer done with me already.”

“Not really interested in ‘ow many dicks you sucked in prison,” Ghost says with a shrug. “Can’t imagine there’s much else that’s noteworthy.”

“Six,” Soap cackles.

A sour faced man, a general by insignia, clears his throat from the other end of the conference room. He visibly blanches when Ghost turns to look at him. The analyst next to him stares for a moment, then looks down at the legal pad in front of him like catching Ghost’s eye might kill him.

It might.

Putting a big hand on top of Soaps head, Ghost reels him in for a one armed embrace. It’s easy to tip forward to knock Soap’s skull against the one adorning his face.

“Good to ‘ave you back,” he mutters. “Been quiet.”

Soap nuzzles in and grins. “’Ardly any chips in this one. ‘S it new?”

“Mm. Gift from my new girl.”

Blue eyes go sharply interested. “Ye’ve a new bird?”

“Told you. Things ‘ve been quiet.”

Price arrives then, Gaz a step behind. They’re both dressed conservatively, jeans, tee, a light jacket. They don’t react to Soap’s presence, probably got their greetings out of the way. It doesn’t stop him from making Gaz put up with a full-body hug, though. Price rolls his eyes as he takes a seat, but he’s got a squirt to the side of his mouth that says he’s happy to have his men accounted for again.

Last to walk in are a couple of self-important looking uniforms who frown when they see Ghost standing in his customary corner. The colonels look sharp, for a late night meeting. Pressed and proper. They look slow. Ghost catalogs their lack of weapons as an afterthought. Ghost does not sit.

The briefing is uninteresting. There are terrorists, because there always are. The target is in London, because it always is. Red tape mans bombs have crossed international lines before anyone could do anything effective. There was an engagement in Bulgaria, and another in Czechia. Shipping containers made it to Lowestoft. Kortac was deployed. Kortac was eliminated. Terrorists are in the wind.

Typical.

“So instead of deploying us first, on our own turf,” Gaz says, tapping his pen on his notebook, “you let terrorists in, then threw a second rate team at the problem and made things worse.”

One of the colonels, the tall, fat one, bristled. “Now see here-”

“If you had this handled, you wouldn’t have called us,” Price interrupts. “So unless you’re paying all of this money to jerk yourselves off over a job well done, you need my men in the line of fire.”

“Easier ways to kill me” Soap chuckles.

“Apparently not,” Price mutters. Louder, he says, “Enough of the bullshit. Time for brass tacks. How many of the hostiles do you need alive?”

The sour faced general scowls, but says. “Two. They’re identified in the dossier.”

The little analyst pipes up. “That doesn’t mean you can just kill-”

“A bit too late for that,” Price rumbles. “If you wanted a low body count, you should have contained all of this before calling in the butchers. But if you’re too squeamish for this, perhaps you should leave before we talk civilian casualties.”

It becomes apparent that the rest of the conversation is just going to be a bunch of mewling around the realities of what they were called in to do. Ghost stops listening and half examines the briefing packet in his hands. He’s bored. Even thinking about the ways he would gut the little analyst after stalking him to his car is dull.

He wants to go home to you.

The thought makes him pause, and he pretends to reread the same line again.

He wants to go home to you. He looks forward to going home. He has a home, now, not just a flat. He has you.

The 141 is far from the suicide squad it was supposed to be. They’re too good, and unrestrained by the law and rules of engagement. They all fight to kill first and win second. Price runs a tight ship. Nothing escapes his scrutiny, Gaz’s perfect analysis. Soap is a wildcard. Ghost is the cold destruction extremists only aspire to. But shit happens when bullets fly. No one is immune to a hole in the neck or the brain.

He has a home to return to now.

“Price,” he says, ignoring the way eyes snap to the skull and away. His team looks at him without flinching. “Takin’ the dog on a walk.”

“No pissing on the carpet,” Price says, to the chagrin of the other colonel, who is stubbornly trying to explain unacceptable collateral to a group of men who kill for fun. Must be new to the game of hiring mercenaries. Gaz has a look in his eye that suggests he may not live to regret opening his mouth.

Soap, for his part, jumps out of his seat with palpable relief. The smile doesn’t leave his face when they leave the room, but the energy about him changes. The opportunity to move makes him sharp. From happy hound to a set of teeth with intent. Even so, he looks up with a sparkle to his eye. “Where to, Ghost?”

So goddamn charming. Ghost can’t help but smile under his mask. “Captain and Gaz got to meet the missus. Think you should, too.”

Soap is quiet for a long time, flipping a key card between his fingers that is certainly not his. Ghost can see his eyes flickering with his racing thoughts as they circle the floor. Eventually, he asks, “Ye think we’re ginnae die, then? Not like ye to phone it in.”

“Not fuckin’ likely,” Ghost snorts. “’S a waste of time, bringin’ oll of us in. Mace’d have it done in 48 hours if they’d called him in in Turkey. No, I jus’ want to introduce my pets to each other.”

“Oh aye?” Soap swipes them through a door and into a cubicle farm. He spots something - a candy bowl, apparently - and stalks forward to mess about at someone’s desk. Over his shoulder, he asks, “Gettin’ tired of ‘er?”

“Quite the opposite,” Ghost chuckles. “Wait til you meet her. I think you’ll get along.”

[mayhemspreadingguy]

@magnusbae you inspired me to experiment with the textures and brushes. Ngl it was very fun so thank you XD

[timethehobo]

//Aggressively squeezes him for stress relief.

[hydrossity-zone]

Neo Metal Sonic refs I made for myself but figured would post for other people to use! :]

(click for better quality ofc)

alt + random closeups under the cut!

[fernlessbastard]

hot take moment cwilbur is literally just psychotic as all hell and i think people got way too comfortable villianizing the shit out of a man who was clearly portraying signs of severe mental illness. cwilbur was like im so fucking paranoid and scared and i think everyone is out to get me and hurt me and ive spiralled to the point i cant reach out to the people closest to me because im so afraid and lost in this spiral and im having constant panic attacks and hurting myself because i dong know what to do with myself and the only way out for me is to die. and everybody was like EVIL MAN WHO ENJOYS HURTING OTHERS AND IS ABUSIVE ON PURPOSE AND A VILLAIN AND SHOULD NEVER BE TRUSTED AGAIN. and then he came back and was like im still deeply troubled and afraid but im desperately trying to make up for the wrongs i did in the past and the people i hurt in my own way and communication is really hard for me but i hope people know that im truely sorry and i love them. im going to try my hardest to fix this in the only way i know how and then respectfully remove myself from the situation because i feel thats the kindest thing i can do to the people ive hurt. and people were like ABUSER ABUSER ABUSER EVIL MAN ABUSER. like girl

Yeah no based true real no questions asked

I'd hope I manage to portray Wilbur the way he deserves in my content, cause that man is heavily bpd coded and he just needs therapy and someone who genuinely loves him but also can handle his bullshit (which has exclusively and reliably been Quackity like, canonically)

But yeah no completely agreed. The man has issues and has definitely fucked up a lot but at the end of the day he really does need love and care and patience, but also boundaries (and therapy and meds, obviously)

[ropebunnykant]

i feel like people forget that characters don’t always just like. fall in love instantly. like they can have genuine feelings and not be IN LOVE yet. like there are layers. no, neither kant or bison are IN LOVE with each other yet. that doesn’t make the feelings they do have any less real? it doesn’t make it less painful for kant to realize he’s actively falling for someone he also has to betray or for bison to know how suspicious kant is and also be actively falling for him. same goes for style and fadel, like no i don’t think either of them are IN LOVE yet… it doesn’t mean they’re not still interested? it doesn’t mean their feelings aren’t genuine, that they aren’t enjoying each others company? there IS a middle ground believe it or not. you have to fall in order to be in love - these characters are still in the falling stage

[sanasanakun]

Jimithon Mouthwashing is such a good representation of untreated, enabled NPD like it makes me want to squeeze the life out of him. I'm endlessly fascinated when watching him interact with his crew, surroundings, and himself because he's so fucking lost in his own sauce. It's insane. If I'm being real, it makes him my favorite character in the game.

It's a little scary to say, but watching Jimmy is like seeing a mirrored version of myself two years ago before I truly committed to treatment for my NPD. He's like a shadow. The opening line "I hope this hurts," which I believe comes from Jimmy right before the crash, is such a poignant statement. It's a simple line, but I can tell you from experience that the desire to hurt others when in a narcissistic rage is overwhelming. It's such a good line to sum up Jimmy's character in that moment. Luckily, in the real world, I had my friends and family there to catch me when I hit my lowest, even though I'd hurt them so many times. Jimmy probably could've used friends to force him into therapy (cough cough Curly cough cough)

[ilkkawhat]

ilkka villi. that's all.

[catz4ever]

***POSSIBLE EPISODE FOUR SPOILERS FOR RINGS OF POWER***

Uhhhh...I just saw the short episode 4 teaser and...I was NOT prepared for how it ended....

Actual footage of me being VERY pleasantly surprised:

[rigelmejo]

Something that always annoys me is the idea only 1 language learning method works. Which is not true. While it may be possible that, for a particular individual, only a few out of many study methods may work well enough for That Individual to make progress and stay motivated... that doesn't mean all the other study methods won't work for anyone else out there, or that those few methods will work for every other given person.

Obviously if you've been studying a while, then you already figured out what kinds of things work for you and don't. If you're a beginner, just wading into studying?

I would suggest you simply look for study methods that: 1. Teach you new things regularly, 2. Review and practice things you've learned, 3. Include studying things you need for your particular goals (for example if your goal is to read X book then the study materials at some point should involve reading practice and some words the book contains, if your goal is to talk about Y then the study materials should include some information about pronunciation and words you'll need to be able to say).

As you can imagine, a TON of study materials will meet these requirements. And you can study a given skill in a LOT of ways.

(Reading is my focus lol so just for reading, a beginner might: do vocabulary study with lists or conversations with native speakers or watching shows and looking words up or listening to dialogues with a transcript like in a textbook or graded readers or a picture book with word labels in the target language or a video game with labelled objects in target language, all of those things as long as your vocabulary is improving or reading practice is happening would help you make progress). So to improve reading skill as a beginner: you could study with a textbook, a podcast with transcript, a classroom or tutor with words written down in target language (like TPRS), a video game, a TV show and a translate app on your phone, a friend you talk with (who either writes words down or you look up words you hear with a translate app), a friend you text with, srs flashcards like anki (provided there's text) etc. As long as there's new words, and/or you're practicing reading, the study method may work. If it works will come down to if you can stay motivated doing it regularly, and make sure you regularly learn some new things and review/practice things you've already studied.

So consider those things when you see people selling a study method as a product (especially when it's costing you money). Consider if it teaches you NEW things, and are those new things related to your goals, and how MUCH new stuff will it teach you before you finish it? Consider if it provides review or practice, or if you can use it's materials to review on your own making up your own method, or if you'll need to do separate review/practice.

So examples:

LingQ. Can it teach you many new words? Yes, thousands, since you can import any texts you want when you get done with their provided material (I have no idea how much their beginner material covers though in terms of words... I would hope 1000-3000 words but that can be researched). Is your goal reading? It's suited to reading, so you will practice and review often with it. Cost? I think it was $12 a month when I last had it, and the price may have increased. Is it worth it? Depends on a learner's needs. I found it was wasting my money, so I chose to use free tools like Pleco and Readibu apps - since those apps are suited for Chinese learners and have better translations, Pleco has better paid graded reader material if I was going to spend money, and both Pleco and Readibu let me import texts so I can learn thousands of new words just like LingQ but free. Now that I'm not a beginner, I often use Microsoft Edge to read chinese... since I can still click-translate words easily (all my web browsers have that tool free), and Edge's TTS voice is helpful for pronunciation and sounds quite good. I read webnovels online so Edge works well. But it's translations aren't as good as Pleco or Readibu, so if I still needed translations more I would use them. So... is LingQ a good study method? Its certainly a study method marketed to buy. Well... the method is suited to improving reading skill, at least. It costs money, which is a negative, but it does offer a lot. However: everything it does regarding reading can be done free with other apps or sites or web browsers on their own. So if paying money motivates you to read... sure. LingQ does have a few word tracking features a learner may find worth the money, keeping in mind the actual read-to-learn method can be done free without lingq. (Also... while LingQ is a valid option for improving reading, if the learners goal is speaking then it would be important to think of what study activities the learner will do OUTSIDE of LingQ to improve speaking... because I've seen how LingQ is marketed as "how to learn a language" but it's only focused on some skills. It has vocabulary and grammar in some sense, since you'll read a lot and encounter new words and structures. But it doesnt have speaking or writing practice at least last time I was on it. Those activities would need to be worked on, on your own).

You can do that kind of cost/benefit contemplating with any study method material you see being sold. Amother example: there's a beginner Mandarin course called Mandarin Blueprint. It teaches like 800 words. Thats all. It may be worthwhile for a beginner... who still needs to learn 800 common words. But if you already know a few hundred words, the benefit of the course is less, you'll need to find a new material to teach you more new stuff soon. And the price was like a few hundred for the course... which for me personally was too much to spend, when I had already learned 800 hanzi from a book that cost me 12 dollars and 2000 words from a free user made memrise deck. The course claimed to get a person speaking, competent, but anyone not a beginner would say speaking basically with 800 words is nowhere near the level of working in Chinese or just doing a lot of daily life stuff, or reading/listening to media. (Although for the motivated beginner if you're learning 800 words on your own like I was, its definitely close to the point of jumping to learn more words and start reading kids and teenager books, and watching easier shows if you're willing to look new words up). So to me... Mandarin Blueprint felt like overselling some basic beginner materials. (Again when I know several other things that teach beginner stuff either more in depth so HSK test prep classes, and college courses, or that teach beginner stuff to the same depth as Mandarin Blueprint but free).

Some study materials aren't going to act like they teach everything. I've seen chinese courses just for learning to speak tones better and general pronunciation - probably worthwhile if your goal is to improve speaking and a teacher could help improve the issues your having. But a learner needs to be aware for that course that they'll need to study vocabulary on their own, its JUST a pronunciation improvement course.

[donaviolet]

Friendship is the most special thing in the world because no award could be give me bigger happiness than jumping around in my room and smiling because my pookie asked me if I wanted to match pfps

[karaspal]

i don’t want to say my takes on supergirl are better than most people’s, but i did read most of new 52 supergirl without my only takeaway being “kara is angry and hates humans” so perhaps my takes are better than most people’s.

guys. friends. pals. i’m begging you. stop. kara cares about people. and anger is a normal part of grief. it was there. but it wasn’t her only personality trait. learn some literary understanding. the difference between her and clark isn’t that he cares and she doesn’t. enough with that!!! kara zor-el might be a lot of things, but one things she’ll never be is indifferent when it came to people’s suffering. humans included.

“kara doesn’t care about humans because they aren’t kryptonian” reads as elitism to me. and i know she grew up in the house of el where elitism was sometimes the case (depending on the era). BUT. she is better than this. that’s the point. she cares about everyone. kara and kal are the better future of the house of el. the difference between them isn’t that he cares and she doesn’t. so enough with that. the equivalent of “kara hates humans” is john byrne’s superman btw where clark didn’t care about krypton and only earth.

kara can miss krypton, her people and her culture without hating another. she can feel like an outsider on earth without hating its people. i mean, kara spent her entire new 52 run meeting and bonding with other people, most of them humans. so idk why people are so adamant she hated humans. i know people want to be a difference between kara and clark, but taking away kara’s compassion will never be the correct way to establish that difference.

[petorahs]

can i be toxic for a second i am so tired of people framing sunday and aventurine conflict as "sunday the mean homophobe who hates aventurine for that reason" and i wish that would go away because you can't object to this take without someone going "you're babying sunday too much" because i don't agree with him being given this ugly trait he doesn't have??

its ok anon u can vent in my inbox in good faith

its very frustrating isnt it... i agree. double indemnity trio have all moved on from this conflict the second Penacony arc ended, and yet it's the fandom that perpetuates these false narratives for... what? (i know the answer actually but heh keeping it to myself lest i be crucified). Ratio finds Sunday smart, Sunday finds Ratio pleasant, Aventurine thinks Sunday is handsome and is eager to watch him, Sunday has a crush on finds Aventurine a worthy rival. they're all amiable with eachother. not a single one of them "hold grudges" or "hate eachother" over this, frankly run-of-the-mill for them business trip. CAN WE MOVE ON COLLECTIVELY...!

we cant really change people's perceptions that easily though anon so all we can do are baby steps, one fanart or fic or project at a time :/// (still sucks tho when u just wanna enjoy these sillies in peace)

(PS Sunday is literally the LAST person to be homophobic this man would not be hateful towards any group of people whatsoever.)