#technically the first pic is a two in one for the categories

[bradshawed]

ahhhhh omg this is literally my favourite tag game i’ve done so far!!!! thank you sm for the tag mwahh xx

pinterest game

first.. character, real person, quote & outfit when you open pinterest is ur vibe

seven comfort movies (i love u all equally!!)

the holiday

top gun: maverick

national treasure

indiana jones and the crystal skull

speed

ocean’s 11

tangled

no pressure tags, @waklman @bcyhoods @bruisedboys @sematarygirls @cosmal @wolvisms @junekicks @sacharinee @sailor-aviator and anyone else who’d like to join in!

🍊— seven comfort movies + pinterest game!

first character, real person, quote, and outfit when you open pinterest is your vibe.

thanks for the tag @inklore ♡ 

howl’s moving castle

the gentlemen

la passion de dodin bouffant

ocean's eight

about time

ronja rövardotter

emma

no pressure tags: @chvoswxtch @fettuccin-e @ghostlyfleur @fxllfaiiry @midniteluv @fushic0re @chxrryhansen @slvttyfied @mystcldydrms @appocalipse @reidslovely @inkluvs @cosmal @oncasette @amorchai @venuslore @bruisedboys @bradshawed @bcyhoods

[onyourowndaisymae]

would i follow these obey me characters on social media? + social media headcanons

explanations + hcs below the cut:

content warnings: playful mentions of cyberbullying/death threats (reader's discretion advised)

post notifications on, loyal mutuals for life: thirteen, barbatos, mammon, satan

you cannot convince me thirteen does not have the funniest fucking twitter imaginable. she posts a lot of funny shit herself but also retweets a lot of good content too. she seems like the type to get in fights on social media and win by humiliating her opponent in the funniest way possible. probably makes a lot of jokes about fucking one or both of your parents

the barbatos one might be controversial but hear me out. i think that any account he'd run in association to his work would be dry as hell. but a personal, deeply private account? funny as FUCK. i think this man wouldn't post very often but when he does, it is quite literally some of the funniest shit you've ever seen. he's ancient, too, so i think he'd be persistent. just years of logging on to tell elon musk to k*ll himself (whiCH I AM NOT ENDORSING @ THE GOV IM JUST MAKING A JOKE OKAY WE'RE ALL LAUGHING HERE) in new and creative ways

mammon would probably post a lot about his shenanigans and that to me is worth tuning in to. i think his social media would consist of him posting about a new scheme/plan part of the way through (when things are most exciting) and then updating hours/days later with an "update: lucifer caught me and made me wear a dunce hat for a week straight" or something like that

satan would post the most normally in this category but i think he'd have some genuinely interesting stuff. he'd probably use a photo-based platform like instagram (technically devilgram but y'know what i mean) and his content would fall into two categories: cat pics and the most amazing, exclusive events you've ever seen. he'll post a photo dump of cats he feeds one week and then next is him at some gorgeous exclusive hot springs on a free trip one of his connections invited him on.

mutuals by choice <3: asmo, simeon, luke, levi

asmo posts a lot about himself, but like. c'mon. he's so pretty. and he also just posts a lot of pretty aesthetic influencer photos so it's nice to see him on your feed. he posts a lot, too, so your feed never quite runs dry when he's your mutual. he's also the type to hype your photos up in the comments like you're the only other person on the platform. lots of heart emojis and flirtatious comments on very mundane posts

simeon would be fun to follow in the way that old people are fun to follow on social media. long, sweet captions on his weekly post (that someone helped him post), cute but off-center selfies with the things he cares about, funny grandpa comments on your photos-- ex. "nice photo mc... 👍" without realizing how funny that comes off

luke is just cute and posts cute things. lots of stray animals, pretty sunsets, and cute baked goods. he's even got a few rare photos of barbatos on there looking slightly relaxed. levi made luke's accounts private when he first set them up bc he's been on too many weird corners of the internet to let that innocent angel be corrupted.

speaking of levi, he'd post a LOT about his dorky (affectionate) interests. he's one of the few that would post every day on multiple platforms. there's a pretty small chance you care about each and every thing he posts but regardless, it's nice to see him so enthused and happy.

mutuals bc i'd feel bad unfollowing: belphie, lucifer, diavolo, mephisto

belphie's accounts have all been inactive for YEARS, but if you unfollow him he does get offended. he found out asmo unfollowed him at some point and started an argument about it.

lucifer's social media is also rarely active, but anything he posts is usually at least a little important, so if you unfollow he'll know and get on you about missing it.

diavolo's account is quite literally all royal bullshit and official devildom information, but seeing as he doesn't have personal social media, he still values his friends following him. if you unfollow, his feelings will be hurt, but he'll stay quiet about it.

mephisto's account literally just posts the same lame shit that the RAD newspaper account does, word-for-word and post-for-post. unfollowing either of these accounts comes off as a slight from the feeble human that doesn't care about the devildom. his complaining is always so loud.

not following + no plans to follow: beel, raphael

beel posts exclusively about food. he doesn't run a food-themed account, that's literally all he finds interesting enough to post. he rates all of his meals after he finishes, too. fun, but not my type of content.

something in my heart of hearts tells me raphael's photos are all blurry. like he just thinks his D.D.D. camera is bad when really he won't focus the damn camera before taking a pic.

blocked, reported, cyberbullied for good measure: solomon

i KNOW this man is a menace on social media. he probably eggs on conspiracy theorists and purposely spreads misinformation. it's funny at first until following him starts filling your feed with the crazy bullshit he likes/retweets. he is playing devil's advocate on social media for the dumbest, most argumentative people online bc he thinks it's funny and it's quite literally going to drive you insane if you don't block him. when he's causing problems, he's posting stupid shit. he'd be the type to unironically post the "saw a snail today. effervescent" shit

[funakounasoul]

Fave Tsukutabe Fashions!

I got an ask earlier in the day asking for my personal fave fashions of the 4 gals, but it was asked when I was at work and couldn't provide good examples!

I'm home now, so I'm going to fix that. My answers under the cut!

First and foremost! I...am not good at talking fashion, but I do tend to scoop out characters' sense of fashion when I read/watch stuff (as well as making my own outfits for my OCs)! You won't find me going into detail as to why I like an outfit, but I will be providing examples! How many? I'm thinking 2 - One for the manga and one for the drama. Other than that, it looks like I can pull from whatever, especially within the manga category, though I pretty much picked stuff found in the manga anyway lol

Okay, we good? Good! Let's get this fashion train rolling!

Nomoto

I'm really fond of this particular loungewear. The "WARMTH" wordart gets to me in a silly way. It was neat to find a color ref from the official Twitter account recently!

Meanwhile, I have a fondness for the Valentine's Day outfit in the dramaverse. I've drawn it for two different illustrations! Nomoto was definitely dressing to impress that day~

Kasuga

...You know how hard it is to actually find unique Kasuga outfits? I love her penchant for simplicity, but it's like, okay, they all look the same except black or gray lmao

I will have to go with this one for the manga. It's REALLY adorable, from what little we do see of it (I don't think there was even a full-body pic of it) and the change in hairstyle really made a difference! I hope we get to see her in this, or other hairstyles, in the future!

Drama-wise? It's gotta be whenever she wears her jacket. As a fan of lightweight jackets, I give it two thumbs up in the Cool department~

Nagumo

It was technically an imagine spot, but I like Nagumo's camping outfit~

While Manga!Nagumo tends to go for hoodies, I really liked Drama!Nagumo's letter jacket. I love letter jackets in general. They're cool, and I think they shouldn't be confined to being just for your high school/college years :P (also the long sleeves omg)

Yako

...Yako goes all out when she attends the food parties! I love how unabashedly wine aunt-y she is when she's not lounging at home.

Like, you want to show people the defining Yako style? Bam, show them these 'fits

[wrencatte]

Okay, so my brain doesn't want to write, but it does want to do...whatever this is. These were all made in PowerPoint, built from scratch. The only thing I didn't make my own version of is the Cal picture on the last one.

This is the tab selection design. The one that says 'advanced' is taken in game. I was wondering what I could use this for, but then I realized it works well as a name plate! So my ao3 name and my tumblr name! this was the third thing I made

next are meditation circles! I couldn't decide which one I liked more. So first two are mine. The last is a reference I pulled from a search because I couldn't get a good angle in game. This was the fourth/last thing I made!

Next is the second thing I made! The data bank...cover cards? I don't know what to call them lol. There's another shape I'm tempted to try out, but I like these ones. First one is mine, second is taken in game.

Last but not least! the first thing I did. the tactical guide data cards. Technically the little icon on the right outside the card is supposed to be either an icon of the next entry or the cover icon for the next category so I didn't need it, but I couldn't resist. First pic is mine. second is taken in game.

[nixthelapin]

So I got an email from Pinterest notifying me that one of the pins I’d saved got deleted for violating Community Guidelines, or whatever, which I was going to ignore bc I usually don’t think it’s worth my time, but then I read what the violations were:

And I’m like… that’s weird. I don’t save any pins or even consume content that has anything sexual in it- I’m just not interested in that stuff, and it sometimes makes me uncomfortable, so I just try to avoid it (sometimes it will be hinted or reference, but it’s never anything explicit, and definitely never graphic).

So I’m wondering- what thing did they either accidentally flag or did I accidentally save that had anything sexual or fetish related?

The picture in question?

What. Even.

I don’t even know what the most baffling part of this is. Like, for one, these are literally screenshots from a kids show- the most “indecent” thing in here is Chat Noir being on top of Ladybug (which isn’t, and just mildly suggestive at best), but you can’t even see that in this image, just Chat’s huge smile [bottom left].

Is it the tongue pictures?? Do the Pinterest overlord bots think anything with tongue showing outside the mouth is implying a hot make out or oral? Are tongues indecent now?

Is it Chat Noir’s leather outfit? The cat ears and bell? The list did include fetishes, and we all know furies and BDSM exist, and plenty of people make jokes or legit posts putting Chat into both or either category(ies).

Is it the ones with their butts in the air?? [top two images] Do they think this is a sex position? Ready for the dirty? This stupid pose is a decently common gag in cartoons to make the character look ridiculous. I’ve only seen it sexualized in fan works and in anime/manga (which has its own reputation..)

I’m genuinely at a loss here. If any of the pics in the collage were interpreted as sexual, I’d lean towards the top row set, I pointed out the tongue one more as an exaggeration, and kind of on the cat costume, but like.. everything I can think of just seems like a huge stretch. I’m genuinely baffled. Especially since, like I already said- they are taken directly from a show made for literal children. How can anything from that get flagged as explicitly sexual??

It’s not worth it to appeal for, I really don’t care about losing a Pin I barely remember saving in the first place. I’m just so confused on how their flagging system caught this as “adult content.” I’m genuinely wondering on a technical level what it saw (beyond “bots are just bad at recognition), because it obviously saw something wrong, so what was it?? What was considered sexual in these pictures??

[saffronapplemanga]

Tenmaku no Jadoogar: A Witch’s Life in Mongol - 天幕のジャードゥーガル

HISTORICAL, DRAMA

Tenmaku no Jadoogar: A Witch’s Life in Mongol by Tomato Soup

(2 volumes, ongoing)

JP only. The first 5 chapters are up for free in JP here.

Links to my other manga posts here

Hi, Fatimah here to talk more about the story of Fatima >:)

Definitely check out my post for volume one because I worked really hard on that and there's lots of cool info there and I don't want to repeat myself here.

This post will be broken up into: Brief Volume Two Summary - My Thoughts - Let's Talk Religion (Again) - The "Middle East" Is Actually a Colonizer Term

Let's go!

Brief Volume Two Summary

***SPOILERS FOR VOLUME TWO***

*

*

*

8 years have passed since Fatima was taken by the Mongols. She has been unable to retrieve the book that was stolen even though she's had it in her hands over and over. Ögedei has been crowned the new Khan after the death of Ghengis Khan. Sorghaghtani has asked Fatima to go spy on Chagatai. While trying to get her to infiltrate, she ends up at Töregene's tent instead where Fatima is accused of stealing her "Jada Stone".

We learn about Töregene's back story and her forced integration into the Mongol Empire, losing those she loved, and her marriage to Ögedei. Töregene and Fatima bond over their shared trauma and hate towards their captures. They start working together on upending the empire.

And work together they are! Looks like they're gonna raise hell in the empire.

Töregene attends a meeting she normally skips, and there Ögedei Khan proposes that the nomadic Mongols build a city. Everyone is against the idea as they were expecting to discuss the invasion of the eastern country, Kin (also known as the Jin State). Ögedei says that he wants to use this new city for manufacturing, to gather craftsmen from around the world, and as a center for trade. They then discuss their war plans for the siege on the Jin State.

Töregene shares all the information she's learned at the meeting with Fatima, and they discuss potential weaknesses in the Mongol Empire that could cause its downfall.

*

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*

***END OF SPOILERS FOR VOLUME TWO***

My Thoughts

I'm excited to see what Fatima and Töregene do and what their dynamic is going to be like.

Small nitpick, I do wish that some info was incorporated a little more subtly. Author Tomato Soup clearly has put a lot of care into researching for this series, so I just wish they took that extra step to weave the information in more naturally. But still a solid volume!

They put a lot of care into the visual language, such as the shape of text bubbles (right pic), so seeing charts like this (left pic) feels visually inconsistent.

Let's Talk Religion (Again)

Once again, I want to put the disclaimer that I am NOT a scholar, this is just what I know and my understanding so please don’t quote me. I probably have to gloss over and simplify a lot because there’s… too much.

At the beginning of the volume, there is mention of Islamic meat slaughtering practices (halal meat) compared to the customs of the Mongols.

I think halal is a word a lot of people have heard, especially in recent years, but what does it even mean?

Halal is anything that is permissible in Islam. Haram is anything NOT permissible in Islam, or sins. There are also things that are makrooh (strongly discouraged but not a sin) and mustahab (recommended but not obligatory) and so on.

How does that translate to food?

Halal foods are foods that are permissible for Muslims to consume. Most things are okay for consumption, so it's easier to list what isn't allowed/haram. You might be familiar with the fact that Muslims do not drink alcohol or eat pork. There's a reason for all this, but I'll get to that later. Some other things that are haram to consume are the following:

Carnivorous/predatory animals (Pigs are omnivores, so they technically fall into this category as well. Only herbivores are permissible to consume.)

Animals that died from disease.

Incests, reptiles, and "pests" (such as mice/rats).

These next points are debated depending on what scholar you follow:

Some Muslims only eat fish that have scales, while some believe pretty much any seafood that doesn't fall into the previous categories is fair game (I call this The Great Muslim Seafood Debate loll).

Some Muslims believe you should avoid eating "beasts of burden" such as horses/mules.

Exceptions to these rules are if you are in a situation where you are left with no other choice but a haram food option, then you will not be guilty of sin for consuming. God never wants to place unreasonable burden on his creation. One of the most important things in Islam is intention, and God can see what's in your heart.

Okay, so you have something that clears these rules. But! That doesn't automatically make it halal. When it comes to consuming animals, the slaughtering of the animal has to be done in a specific way. Let's break it down:

Land animals -

When slaughtering a land animal, it must be done in a specific way so that it becomes halal meat:

The animal must be well-fed and given water before slaughter.

They must be soothed and calm. You cannot slaughter if the animal is fearful and agitated.

Other animals must not witness the slaughter as it can frighten them.

The slaughter must be performed using a very sharp knife to cut the throat. Doing this will cause the animal to immediately lose consciousness and thus will not feel pain. It must be done as quickly, painlessly, and humanely as possible.

Do not allow the animal to see the knife as it can frighten them.

The slaughter must be performed by a Muslim. They must recite a prayer before cutting the throat and do so while facing Mecca.

The blood must be drained from the animal's body after the neck is cut as disease/toxins/etc. can live in the blood. This makes the meat cleaner and more sanitary.

You cannot stun an animal before slaughter (such as hitting it on the head or zapping it with electricity).

In cases where you are hunting, you can use arrows, guns, or hunting birds when hunting an animal that cannot easily be caught for traditional methods of slaughter.

Hunting is only allowed with the intention of hunting for food, not sport.

You must say a prayer when shooting.

If the animal does not die immediately during the hunt, you should slaughter them as quickly and painlessly as possible and not unnecessarily prolong any suffering.

"There's a reason for cutting the neck and slaughtering this way, you know..."

Animals of the sea -

The animal must die outside of the water (for example, using "blast fishing" or "fish bombing" is prohibited — it's horrible for the environment and does not discriminate on what fish are killed. Even animals like dolphins and turtles can get caught in the blast and die. Coral reefs and such can end up damaged as well. Also, according to Wikipedia "For every ten fish killed, only one or two float to the surface, due to damage caused to their otherwise buoyant internal air bladders. The rest sink to the bottom." This causes a lot of waste. Using this method, you also wouldn't know if a fish was dead from disease and was already floating around or if it was from the blast.)

They should not be descaled/skinned while still alive (this is the same for land animals).

I know this might seem like a long and tedious list, but there is a reason for these halal food guidelines. The purpose is to not cause any unnecessary pain to animals, be as humane as possible, and not consume anything that would be bad for your health. Health is of the utmost importance in Islam. I think we can all agree that alcohol is not great for you. There are studies being done about the effects of consuming carnivorous animal meat, pork, and so on not being the greatest for you either, etc. Again I want to reiterate, I'm not judging anyone. You do you, I literally don't care. I'm not saying you're wrong and terrible for consuming these things.

But yeah, I think that's everything for relevant religious stuff that came up in this volume.

I'd like to use the setting of the series as a springboard to discuss something I never see anyone talk about, and I think we should.

The "Middle East" Is Actually a Colonizer Term

Before you roll your eyes at me, just hear me out.

A while back, Drew Mackie, the guy behind Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games where I work as a translator/consultant, sent me an email with some questions for a post he was working on. Long story short, he wasn't sure how to refer to these Nintendo characters who looked stereotypically "Middle Eastern".

Big sigh... I am TIRED of seeing character designs like this... Check out Drew's post here! He writes lots of cool articles that are super interesting!

Luckily for him, this was VERY MUCH my lane. Please entertain my oncoming rant about the term "Middle East" guys. I swear I have a point to make.

When Drew sent me the picture of these Nintendo characters, I groaned. When I sent my brother the picture, he got real ticked off.

I don't know where it started exactly, but everyone just decided that this is what the "Middle-Eastern-look" is. To me, it just looks like Disney's Aladdin — in which what I mean is that this is what Westerners decided the whole region between the far East and far West looks like and everyone was like, "Yeah sure, okay." This look that is so prevalent looks like some bizarre mash-up of West Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, and North Africa to me. That's quite a range of regions to group together...

I always found it weird that this was the "Middle-Eastern-look" since it looked nothing like Kuwaiti traditional wear to me (or any other traditional clothing I'm familiar with tbh). And yet, it's like everyone was telling me, "Yes, this is what you wear. This is what you look like."

Some actual Kuwaiti traditional clothing. You can see a lot of influence from other regions due to trade. The headdresses remind me of the ones you see in Tenmaku no Jadoogar! Turkey has something similar as well! And idk about you guys, but it doesn't look like the aforementioned "Middle-Eastern-look". That is some unholy mishmash of "brown culture" from the perspective of those outside of said culture.

Bottom right pic is what ship builders and pearl divers wore. My grandpa was a pearl diver! The fabric tied around their waist that's different colors and patterns is called a wizar. Dishdasha (the men's robe) can come in various colors. White is worn in the summer and darker colors in the winter. The red qitra (the fabric on the head) is also for winter as it's thicker and warmer than the white one. You can mix and match, especially between seasons to suit you depending on the weather. The black and gold overcoat is a bisht and it's to dress up the dishdasha, usually for special occasions.

Honestly, I almost never use the term "Middle East" myself for a few reasons (and now that I think about it, most of my family and friends don't really either. Maybe that's just me and the people around me idk. I know some people from the region do use it but I'm talking about the people I personally know). Like, what does the term even mean? I mean, it's not a continent, but everyone seems to act like it's the eighth continent. I get that continents are usually further broken up into regions to help be more specific about similar groups since continents are, well, huge and cover a lot.

The problem is, the "Middle East" is wayyyy too big and broad, and it covers areas that often don't have as much in common as many would believe, and it spans multiple continents (Are there similarities? Yeah of course, but like...). It feels like they said, "All you guys talk Arabic so we'll group you. Oh, and throw Iran and Turkey in there because same thing, right?" But then what about Libya or Morroco, which are North African Arab countries? By some definitions, they're not considered to be in the Middle East even though they "fit" but Egypt, another North African Arab country is? I could go on, but idk it all seems very arbitrary.

Yes, these regions did have a lot of trade going on with the Silk Road so you'll see common things shared across various countries along this trade route, but many people have just mashed them together and decided it's all the same.

Which Middle East is the Middle East-est Middle East?

Where did the term come from? -

The term "Middle East" may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office. However, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to "designate the area between Arabia and India".

Which reads to me like, because some colonizers said so.

There's also a term that's worse I learned about called the "Greater Middle East" which Wikipedia describes as:

The Greater Middle East is a political term, introduced in March 2004 in a paper by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as a part of the U.S. administration's preparatory work for the Group of Eight summit of June 2004, denoting a vaguely defined region called the "Arab world" together with Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Turkey, and several other neighboring countries that have cultural ties.

I recommend reading the rest of the paragraph on Wikipedia for yourself. It comes off as incredibly nope. It's gross.

But even this description says, "denoting a vaguely defined region" which is what I mean when I say it's arbitrary. I feel like it's too often used as a blanket term with negative connotations.

Personally, if I'm talking about Arab countries, I say "Arab" but it also depends on what I'm talking about. If it's a shared Arab thing, then Arab is fine, but if it's a cultural thing that's unique to Sham Arabs for example, I don't use it as broadly. Arab countries vary A LOT. Many assume they're all the same, but truth be told, Arabs get culture shock from each other and have a lot that's different — including neighboring nations. Sometimes we don't even understand each other because of how different dialects can be across different regions.

Obviously, I don't expect everyone to know all this, but I think the way we divide up the region and how we refer to it could get a makeover.

The world seems to be okay with dividing up, for example, Europe into smaller sub-regions that make some kind of sense — like Northern Europe, Western Europe, etc. But we don't commonly do that for the "Middle East" —  nothing that makes any kind of sense. "Middle East" because it's halfway to East Asia in relation to the West? Because the colonizers said so?

Personally, I generally refer to myself as West Asian and I always check "Asian" on forms, even when they try to convince me Arabs are apparently white as if that makes sense (meanwhile my dad is perceived as being mixed race/black in the U.S. and he's not even close to being the darkest on his side of the family. While I am pale, no one would perceive me as white). Like I mentioned in my volume one post, I'm not only Kuwaiti Arab, I'm also Irani which is Persian/Turkmen and NOT Arab, plus some Turkish ancestry (also NOT Arab). Allllll of those countries are in West Asia. West Asia is already a term! Why don't we use it?????? We should all know why by now if you've gotten this far in the post.

Map of West Asia, which is already a thing. An actual geographical term. Wow. Too many people don't realize these countries are indeed in Asia. Crazy how Asia isn't just Japan, China, and Korea, huh.

I'm sure there are "Middle Easterners" who don't care, and I'm not here to tell those people how they should identify. That's up to them. DO NOT tell people how they should identify because that is deeply personal, and who the hell are you to tell them who they are?

But for the rest of you, consider adopting less colonizer vocabulary maybe? A lot of my family and friends find the term to have racist connotations since it's almost always used in a not-so-great context and it's from the view of the West. We HAVE other terms that we can use! Time to brush up on our geography and unlearn some nonsense kids.

I'm done. Thanks for coming to my TED talk❤️

✨And once again✨

I await your email publishers, my resume is ready… fatimahhajiasiri@gmail.com

🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿

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If there’s any Japanese-only manga you want me to check out, let me know! No promises, I’ll only read what I’m interested in, but I’ll take suggestions into consideration. Preferably, shorter manga or newer manga with a few volumes out since I like to take breaks from longer series I’m reading :)

[sshbpodcast]

Star Trek Parents Just Don’t Understand (Part 1)

By Ames

Who’s got the bigger daddy issues: kids from Disney movies or kids from Star Trek? Many writers’ cheat code to give a main character depth of any kind starts with killing off one or two parents, or perhaps giving them terrible parents that will scar them for life. The futuristic world of Trek is no different, featuring guff with one’s parental unit in so many characters that it makes being raised by the Borg seem like a luxury!

That’s not to say we don’t get some good ones, or ones that, at bare minimum, try a little bit. Break out the greeting cards and flowers this week as A Star to Steer Her By spends some quality time with the folks of many characters across the franchise up through all the classic series. Check out all the family trees below and listen to us rattle off a bunch of honorable mentions on this week’s podcast episode (discussion at 54:08). Some of these apples fall pretty far from their terrible trees.

[images © CBS/Paramount]

He’s my number one dad!

I’ll just go category by category and start out with the best of the best. The positive influences in our characters’ lives often made them more well rounded people, and frankly it’s always good to see moms and dads putting their kids’ interests over their own. There are some great examples in Beverly Crusher who’s just a straight-up solid mom to Wesley throughout TNG, supporting him even when he’s messing things up, and in Worf’s adoptive parents Sergey and Helena Rozhenko who took in not one, but two Klingon children, and raised them in what turned out to be a very balanced way. And I can’t praise Ishka enough for bringing up two relatively progressive Ferengi boys in a society that doesn’t put much value in their females.

Let’s hear it for these single dads who gave their kids the choice to do what they wanted with their lives and threw themselves behind them 100%: Rom whose development throughout DS9 grew in tandem with that of his son Nog, and Data who let his daughter Lal choose her own body to express herself just as she wanted. And don’t forget Joe Sisko, a classic sort of father role who is caring and comforting, and even willing to trek across a desert in his old age for his kid.

But the easy pic for best parent in Trek is obvious, so I’ll not spare you the suspense. Benjamin Sisko, yet another single father (and a single Black father, at that) because writers LOVE killing spouses, has the tenderest, sweetest, most loving relationship with Jake that it’s almost nauseating but you adore every minute of it. And when Kasidy and he are going to have a baby and the Prophets come calling, the very reason why it is such a debilitating sacrifice for him to abide by their plan is because of how much he loves his family, but we’ll touch on that again in a bit…

—

Technically good: the best kind of good

Moving on to a group of parents who we may not understand: we see a lot of aliens with different cultural norms but who are great for their kids in their own ways, literally. Who comes to mind specifically for this category is Endar from the TNG episode “Suddenly Human,” a Talarian who is raising a human child orphaned from the war. In his own culture, this is perfectly normal even though to us it might seem barbaric, but it’s clear he really loves Jono, so who are we to judge? Q, for that matter, is the first parent in all of the Continuum, so it’s hard to judge his parenting style save to say that he’s going about it in that specifically Q way of his, usually involving some kind of elaborate test. Similarly, I think of some Cardassian dads like Gul Madred and Tekeny Ghemor who might seem like hard asses in a fascist regime to us, but who are decent and doting fathers to their daughters in that lizardy way of theirs.

Speaking of lizards! While we’re here, let’s throw in some love for the seriously unhumanlike parents we meet who do exactly what they need to do because it’s their biological nature. I’d toss Mother Horta on this kind of list, along with Spot and her kittens, George and Gracie and their whale calf, and even Janeway and Paris when they’re in salamander form. I hope their lizard babies are okay.

But the more I think of it, the more I actually think the Borg might be some of the best parents on the list, but only if you consider this argument from the perspective of their own culture. Think about it: all their kids get just the right time in the maturation chamber as they need, they have the whole hive mind to support them, they’re never lonely because everyone’s voices are in their heads. Sure, if you’re not already in the Collective, getting assimilated is not pleasant (wait for our final category for more of this!), but when you’re assimilated, you’re family.

—

Everyone makes huge, huge mistakes

Most parents, however, make mistakes. Lots of ‘em. Some are bigger and harder to forgive than others, but these are the kinds of things that are understandable because their hearts are in the right place, right? Like, how easy is it to forgive Miles and Keiko O’Brien for literally sending their feral daughter to live in the woods? They meant well and it worked out, after all. Or to forgive Amsha and Richard Bashir for genetically augmenting their struggling son when they knew that the illegality of their actions was teeming? Or to forgive Kira Meru for bedding with the enemy to ensure subsistence for her family? Okay, that one she really had no ability to consent in, but it still messed Nerys up for quite a while.

Other parents in this clump just don’t gel with their progenies because their personalities clash. Odo’s parental figure Mora Pol is a proponent of using the stick over the carrot, especially if it’s a stick with some kind of shocking device built in. Tom’s got a big chip on his shoulder from his treatment growing up under Admiral Owen Paris, who is made out to be the kind of dad who just expects so much of his son that there’s no way anyone could possibly live up to it. And speaking of great expectations, Noonian Soong literally made his kids to be better than the sum of their parts and seemed way too hyperfixated on his own legacy to care about their individual needs. It doesn’t help matters that he built them to look just like him.

But let’s dig into our feature character in this category, Lwaxana Troi. She might be a fashion and feminist icon, but her relationship with Deanna is strained at best and insufferable at worst. For most of The Next Generation, she’s portrayed as just a busybody mom who butts into her daughter’s life all the time, constantly meddling and focused only on how it reflects on HER that her daughter not only left Betazed for Starfleet, but is still unmarried. Deanna chose her own life and Lwaxana just doesn’t get it. Luckily, we later get episodes like our Tops pick “Half a Life” and “Dark Page” that shine new light on their relationship and bring them closer together, but there are still many fans out there who detest the character because of these first impressions she made as a parent.

—

Where can I stow all this baggage?

So many of the main crew members have parents or ARE parents in this lowly category that it was probably the toughest one to make the cull for. These parents are the reasons so many characters are left with a foundation of mommy and/or daddy baggage that follows them around wherever they go. Look at Kyle Riker, a single father who Will has nothing but apprehension for, especially for cheating him at anbo-jyutsu all his life. Then there’s Miral Torres for whom her daughter B’Elanna was never Klingon enough, giving her a sense of racial dysphoria that formed the base of her character; and on the other hand John Torres for whom B’Elanna was TOO Klingon and he freakin’ left, giving her abandonment issues on top of that! Ezri’s mom Yanas Tigan falls into this category as well for how little she supported her daughter during her transition to joined Trill and also, ya know, for all the general crimes and shit. And let’s round this out with Chakotay’s dad Kolopak, who just didn’t listen to his son’s desire to not follow in his footsteps, and died never having made up – though I guess they also talk after death now sometimes, so who the hell knows with them?

The characters with the biggest chips on their shoulders can also have just plain absent parents, who messed up their upbringing by just never being there. I can give James Kirk a little bit of a pass since Carol Marcus asked him to not be in their son’s David’s life (which is a little iffy on its own, Carol), but how much anger David harbors for him just proves this was a bad move. A super tenuous relationship is also on full display across several series between Spock and Sarek because daddy Vulcan judges Spock for being half-human when he’s the one who bred with a human in the first place! We’ll see more of Sarek next week when we see how good he does in nu Trek too.

Of course, the poster boy for shittiest parent in Trek tends to be Worf, and though that’s partly a joke among fans, there’re also some sound reasons. K’Ehleyr was rocking it as a single badass mom when certain Duras things happened and put Worf into the role of deadbeat who pawns his offspring off on his own parents (already mentioned above!) when he can’t handle it. Which is understandable; he didn’t sign on for this, but every interaction between father and son is begrudging, Worf does nothing but try to jam Alexander into a Klingon mold that he so clearly doesn’t fit, and he never listens to what the kid wants or needs. It’s no wonder Alex is so bitter towards him when he returns in Deep Space Nine!

—

Creatures who eat their babies

Terrible, terrible parents in Trek are easier to spot because they’re ones who really just don’t care if their kid gets harmed, killed, assimilated by Borg, etc. Or even try to do it themselves! A pretty big example of this is Gul Dukat who fully intended to murder his bastard daughter Ziyal to cover his lizard ass. And then he does it again in “Covenant” when he has another half-Bajoran kid! How many more of these Dukat babies are there? More bad Cardassian parenting comes from Enabran Tain who nearly gets Garak killed so many times it’s no wonder the poor guy has so much trauma. And who can forget Eleen from the TOS episode “Friday’s Child” who was straight up going to kill her newborn once she got it out of her belly until McCoy talked/slapped her out of it?

Not much better were parents who are just cool with sacrificing their children for whatever reason. We see this in the TOS episode “The Mark of Gideon” when Hodin volunteers his daughter Odona to contract Kirk’s Vegan choriomeningitis to thin the herd of her people, or on the podcast this week where we featured “Child’s Play,” in which we learn Icheb’s parents Leucon and Yifay whelped him specifically to get him assimilated and infect the Borg with a virus. In that same vein, Magnus and Erin Hansen were negligent and downright careless enough to bring their tiny daughter with them on a Borg observation survey, getting all their asses assimilated.

But you know what? I’m gonna give the worst of the worst to the Prophets, specifically that absolute weirdo who possessed Sarah Sisko just to get impregnated and create our boy Space Jesus, I mean Benjamin, knowing full well it would be torturous to him throughout his life until he ultimately threw himself into the fire caves for whatever weird wormhole alien, nonlinear shenanigans they were pulling. Was it all just Sarah knowing it was fate? Screw that. You’re the worst, Prophets, and you should be ashamed of yourselves in whatever nonlinear way works best.

—

Come back for seconds next week when we see if parents in newer Trek movies and series are any better than their predecessors. Also, come back for more Voyager in our full series rewatch over on SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also give us your alien parenting tips over on Facebook and Twitter. And parents, heed this lesson: keep your children away from the Borg. You know, unless it’s futile.

[ao3feed-ineffablehusbandz]

two mistakes make a... quickie?

two mistakes make a... quickie?

by revelations_chapter_six

Aziraphale really hadn't meant to send Crowley that dick pic.

But, fucking him up against the wall of the men's restroom, he's certainly not sorry he did it.

Words: 6078, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Good Omens (TV)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale (Good Omens)

Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Human, Wet & Messy, Grinding, Frottage, Desperation, Begging, Getting Together, First Time, Anal Sex, Strong Aziraphale (Good Omens), Strength Kink, Praise Kink, Crowley Has a Praise Kink (Good Omens), Crowley Has a Penis (Good Omens), Aziraphale Has a Penis (Good Omens), Rimming, Top Aziraphale (Good Omens), Bottom Crowley (Good Omens), accidental dick pic, Accidental AirDrop, Meet-Cute, Bathroom Sex, Wall Sex, author knows you can't just switch from hand drawing to tech drawing, but for fic purposes you CAN, author has an android and has never used AirDrop, we'll pretend airdrop works this way, it's not technically airdrop anyway, Felching, Crowley faces the terrifying ordeal of being pinned against the wall and unable to reach the ground, lap grinding, Embarrassment, Creampie, Overstimulation, one hell of a first time, listening to your partner is sexy, Size Kink, Size Queen Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale Has a Big Dick, Hair-pulling, Biting, Neck Kissing, Service Top, Service Top Aziraphale (Good Omens)

From https://ift.tt/3yOGg4C https://archiveofourown.org/works/45584686

[shadow-laviko]

Maaan That's shit My parents are pressuring me to work (fairly okay), but at the same time, I can only work ONE SINGLE month total on the WHOLE year (otherwise I'd pay taxes because I "gain" too much money between work and what my parents give me for my rent, charges and groceries, etc...) I barely ever buy anything for myself. No games no cheap silly little things, I try to save up with the financial help of the state...

But, well, the problem is not that I don't want to work. Quite the opposite, because damn, I want to buy myself some games and merch from things I like Like, please, let me have a bit of joy in my friendless loser fucking life But I can't find a job, because, given I can only work one month on the whole year, it has to be consecutive (because I doubt anyone would employ me for just one fucking hour of work per week...) So, I can only work during the summer And, again, no probs with me But first one, it's already fucking hard to find a summer job for two months (I've tried to give CVs to retail jobs, fast foods, restaurants, campings... Basically everywhere I could give a CV, I did About half of the places I went to did not take my CV because they were "Not looking for employees/workers" And in the remaining half, ONE or TWO told me they would call be back... They never did. So now, imagine what the fuck would happen if I told them "Oh yeah, by the way, I can only work for one month, lol" Like, heck, I want to work. I genuinely do. But, nobody wants me?? And, fortunately I know I'm not the only one But with the parents who keep pressuring me to find a job... I don't know what to do Like. I can only work during summer, and even then, nobody wnats to employ me. I can't really do much better than trying and being refused. (I mean, technically speaking, I could threaten them, but, you know, that's not a thing you do...)

So like What the fuck do they want me to do (more) about it?? I don't even have any marketable skills like drawing or painting or something

Maybe I should really stick to eating salty pastas, that would reduce the grocery costs... But maaaan... Unless it's in my "favourite food" category, I can't fucking eat the same thing over and over every single day... I'd rather not eat *sigh* I really don't know what to do

Maybe I should do like some friends (jokingly?) said they were doing and sell foot pics lmao ... What's the market price for those? :thinking:

No but really I'm just I'm just gonna lay down like a stickman and stare at the ceiling. Maybe some fucking cosmic shit will invade my thoughts and give me an answer

[notebookmusical]

Hi! How are you? Are you feeling any better? I hope so. I'm mostly fine..it's just a few things from last month kinda carried over to this month and it's more an ongoing thing so that's why. It will be most likely the rest of the month so i'm just letting you know if I don't reply. You can still share your book or regular goals for the year though.

Ya I decided to wait until I watch the movie since I think that's the best way to judge it anyway. I think the premiere was last the other night and I saw a few people say they liked it. Maybe they knew it was a musical already or maybe they didn't, but I'm sure I'm going to like it anyway. I think someone said the girl playing Cady..i forgot her name, was the weakest part in the movie and also she couldn't sing the best so maybe that's why. I find the song pretty meh as a song but I agree about the character development and also haven't heard it in a while. I feel like they are just trying to give it a more modern or realistic high school vibe than the original movie lol so maybe it can be totally different and it's own thing too..even from the original musical. I think Renee will be the standout. I like Not My Fault, but I don't think it's in the movie or anything.

I'm pretty excited for it! I always like her writing and I'm thinking those will be my favorites too since I haven't read People We Meet or Happy Place for a while. That's good to know..I also technically never finished New Girl but I do like it a lot. I am the worst with finishing things clearly lol. Oh okay..I might read a snippet of the Starless Sea soon and I'll tell you if I like it but I'm sure I will. I was wondering why you weren't putting ratings in your reading updates but it's fine if you don't want to. I don't think I will be able to finish any books this month but that just means I'll have to read more than two a different month to reach my goal.

Brand New Eyes is so good! I'm glad you liked it. But it makes sense to take a break to listen to Fall Out Boy. I actually haven't ever listened to all of their songs and albums so if you do, tell me if I should. I am familiar with the Maine and they had an album in August last year so maybe listen to that. I enjoyed it and am pretty familiar with their last few albums mostly. My favorite song by them is called Black Butterflies and Deja Vu. I forgot the other openers. When is your show? I think they do something similar to Taylor and perform a different song every night which makes it fun. I hope you have a great time! I know that might have been a lot so there's no pressure to listen to everything and especially if you don't like something. I can also always give my favorite song recs to start with when you're ready. Call your mom was one of my songs of the year.

So Taylor showed up to the Golden Globes and looked so amazing! I looooved her dress so much! I'm pretty sure i am making it my new lockscreen on my phone haha..something for the new year. She never really wears green or that bright color and it's my favorite. Recently I can only think of the green folklore dress which I also love. At first I thought of green for debut but then everyone was saying green is rep..like a snake duh. I don't really read into outfit theories as much but it made me notice both rerecordings can be green apparently..but Rep is black and debut can also be blue so idk. Unfortunately she didn't win..but I thought Barbie deserved it also. So far, Barbie is the only oscar movie I have seen actually. I will probably watch Saltburn soon though. I also really wanna finish the Bear, which won and the actors won their categories. . Emma Stone also looked amazing and she won her category too, but I haven't watched the movie yet. Unfortunately, we did not get another pic of my queens..but Emma got asked a question about Taylors standing ovation for her and jokingly called her an asshole lol..I just love them so much. She was also there with Selena.

Ooh I really enjoyed Troye's album but do not know any of the stories. I wonder how he explained them since to me the album seems more like a vibe. I think it's interesting you say that though cuz that is exactly how Taylor describes Midnights..as 13 stories throughout my life. So idk if you mean more like that or more like Folklore. I'm not sure Midnights was totally that and it's more like a feeling, and that's how Folklore is to me too. Actually, I think Evermore has more songs that seem like stories than Folklore, and I don't know if I always like that when listening the first time lol. Like it seems like it comes from nowhere almost at first for some reason. It's hard cuz before I always liked hearing about her life, but maybe I would prefer a mix..which I think Folklore mostly is. I do think her next album will be more about her life though after this year she had and I think everyone will want to hear it lol. But we also don't know how it will be either. I do know what you mean and also miss Taylor talking about the music.

So I forgot to mention that a lyric from Electric Touch could be my resolution..just breathe, just relax..it'll be okay lol. I also noticed I see many similarities with Taylor and Paramores albums too. All we know is debut, Riot was their Fearless...they were both nominated for Best New Artist at those Grammys where they met! Brand New Eyes and Speak Now are similar to me or I just played them around the same time. I used to think the instrumental of All I wanted and If This was a Movie is sooo similar with the sound of the guitar and still do. That was before she put it on Fearless and took out most of the guitar though. It's one of the few rerecordings I hear a noticeable difference cuz of that. Paramore, also a self titled album..haha, but it matches with Red. After Laughter has an 80s sound and more poppy like 1989. When I first heard This is Why..it also reminded me of rep..cuz all the loud media/the world songs are near the beginning but then gets softer as it goes on. Hayleys solo albums match up with Folklore and Evermore but I can't really choose which is which. Also I forgot to say that back in 2021, Mr Perfectly Fine and Shy Away from top was released the same day which was a big deal cuz we weren't expecting it. like Taylor released the song on a Wednesday when she would never do that and usually alternative singles release on a Wednesday. I am hoping something like that happens again haha. Anyway for top I forgot to mention that their songs have to do with mental health, especially their older music, just so you're aware and could be another reason I like them so much. I became a fan with the Vessel album in 2012 though. Have a great week! 🩷

hello friend!!! i'm feeling much better, thank you for asking 🥺 🤍 answering under the cut because this got long xx

i'm trying to take things slower book wise, and focus more on quality over quantity / not getting overwhelmed with committed books (arcs/gifted reads) to the point where i'm not having fun reading anymore (which is what happened last year)! those are really the big goals, but i'm also just really trying to read things i already have access to (arcs, gifted reads i've let pile up for far too long, my physical tbr, etc). i do have a numerical goal (100) but i'll adjust it as needed throughout the year! and i didn't realize someone would notice i edited my reading tracker — i ended up changing my reading tracker on tumblr because i always end up adjusting the star ratings after — sometimes i'll update the tracker and then i'll go wait ... i feel like that book wasn't as good as i thought it was or i'll be like "i have not been able to stop thinking about this book, it's definitely more of a four or five star", so i figured i'd just do dates that i read a particular book instead! i hope you like your reads; keep me posted!!!

a friend of mine saw the mean girls movie last night, and so they told me their thoughts on it — i probably won't see it anytime soon, but i did spend a bit of time last night relistening to the cast recording and i forgot that i genuinely do like the score! i wish it was wittier, or even like ... better (?) like legally blonde, but i do enjoy it a lot. i've been in a musical theatre mood in the last 2 days; i've been listening to hadestown off-broadway, mean girls, amelie, alice by heart, spring awakening, and then just my favorites playlist on repeat. i also listened to the shucked cast recording today, which was my album of the day! and yes, definitely think that renee will be the standout for the mean girls movie musical, although have also been hearing really good things about auli'i, and jaquel too!

i listened to this is why again, and i think after laughter is still my favorite of the paramore albums (which apparently is not a surprise — i asked a few of my friends who love paramore what they thought my favorite album would be and they were all like "after laughter, hands down", which i found funny). i hope you saw my post about the new paramore song too! my concert is march 1st! so i have some time, but it'll take me a couple listens to actually memorize lyrics, so i should reallllly get on it! ugh call your mom is so good; i just love noah kahan. i can't wait to see what he has next in store; it looks like he's been teasing another collab (i think it's with sam fender), and i'd love to see him collab with maisie or olivia too!

taylor's been wearing a lot of green lately! i did see a lot of theories about green / reputation — especially with the snake print boots she wore yesterday, so i'm assuming rep is next! i hope you like the bear; i really loved it! and i was surprised barbie didn't win anything, although i haven't seen most of the other movies, so maybe i'm just saying things haha!

i think a mix between folklore, evermore, and midnights in concept would be cool? i always forget that midnights is "13 sleepness nights", but would also just like to see taylor write more fictional/storytelling things! i was thinking about how detached i feel from taylor for many reasons lately, but also just because i'm someone who loves to go down a rabbit hole and read as much about someone's creative process as i can. i really really wish that we'd gotten more insights about the inner-workings of the eras tour; the choreography, the staging, the set, how they came up with the projections, the lighting, etc. and i think i feel that way about a lot of her projects post-folklore (including the rerecordings).

i appreciate the warning for TOP! and your similarities are always so fun to read about! here's a little text that i sent to my friend about after laughter — so i definitely agree with you with the 1989 vibes haha. i still haven't listened to hayley's solo albums, but will do so soooooon !!

hope you're having a good week! have a good weekend 🤍

[araliestrange]

TS4 Custom Fireplace Tutorial

Do you struggle to find a fireplace that actually matches the aesthetic of your sims' homes? Yeah, me too. So I figured out how to make my own.

This tutorial requires at least a basic knowledge of build mode, the platform tool, and how to install and use custom content.

First up, this tutorial uses a few pieces of CC. I'm sure someone more creative than me could find a way around that, but for the sake of simplicity, you'll need to grab the following items:

Peacemaker - Lofte Living Decor Brick Arch Pieces

Ravasheen - Feel the Burn Fireplace Inserts (specifically the standalone firewood, but the rest are equally useful for making cool custom fireplaces).

Got everything? Good. Open your game and pick a lot. If you want to actually light your fireplace to test it out, you'll need a sim too.

Step One: Build a box. You you can build whatever size box and wall height you want. This is the box where the fire will live. I'm just using a short wall with a little 2x1 box, but you can use a 2x2 or even just a tiny 1 tile. It just has to fit whatever fireplace insert you're using. We will be using the Standalone Firewood, which has a half-tile footprint.

Step Two: Locate the decor brick pieces. These can be found in wall decorations or by searching "lofte".

Place the decor brick pieces against your wall box, starting with the top which uses the 1x1 segments. Next place the side pieces according to your chosen wall height. Here I've placed the short 1 tile pieces. Last, fill in the corners using the outer corner pieces. You'll end up with the picture above or something similar if you got creative.

Step Three: Delete the walls and place the standalone firewood. It's located in the fireplaces category.

*Note: At this point if you would like your fireplace lit, have your sim light it. Once it is raised up sims cannot interact with it unless you lower the platform. It's kind of a pain but unavoidable unless you want to have a ground level fireplace, which you can totally do too. For this tutorial I'm going over a few other customization options which involve using the platform tool.

Step Four: Click the box and raise your platform to the desired height. We're just going up on click for now.

Step Five: Add a small fence to the front. Choose walls and floors to match or whatever you want. Some of the wall pieces have matching floors too, which I think looks great for realistic brick fireplaces. I'm using The Brickery here. Customize to your heart's content.

Other Options:

Adjust the platforms and use other wall pieces from the set to make all sorts of different fireplaces. There are really tons of ways to do this. In the first pic I used the short 1x1 segments on the top and the bottom and raised the platform accordingly. In the second I used the 1 tile arch piece and placed the short 1x1 segments below to make a brick oven looking thing.

Here's a thing you could do if you want an open-sided fireplace in the middle of a room or something.

You can use the other wall pieces, windows, fences, and platform trims to customize it however you want. Lots of options!

Just remember that sims need a clear path and the fireplace on ground level to interact with it. This is more for decoration than anything, but it technically will function you just have to hop into build mode and lower the platform before sims can light it or put it out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I hope someone finds this helpful. Feel free to show me what kinds of cool things you come up with! :)

[yet-another-fan-girl9]

Blackouts at the Bank

Summary: You get locked into a bank along with Captain America during a city-wide blackout.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Warnings: Language

Word Count: 1348

Square Filled: Locked In with a Cute Stranger

A/N: This *is* a F.R.I.E.N.D.S. plot, buuuut it’s not an AU and therefore this will fill another square.

For @star-spangled-bingo​ 2021.

Star Spangled Bingo 2021 Masterlist

The bank sucked. Well, you weren’t even really in the bank, just the ATM room. Was there a better name for it? Probably. Your mind drifted off while you waited for the grey haired woman in front of you to withdraw some cash. Did people really use cash anymore? You were only here because you had to pay your grandmother back, and God forbid that she learns how to use Venmo or PayPal.

A glance around the room told you that the majority of the five people, the woman ahead of you and a couple at the ATM next to the right, were at least fifty or older. The only outliers were you and a tall man in the back, his cap casting a shadow over his face, his jacket collar pulled up as well. Oh, God, you hoped he didn’t have any malicious intentions. Tall, broad shouldered, good posture (albeit his efforts to make himself smaller), he, most likely, did not fall into the category of the others in the room.

He shifted and you realized that you may have been staring at him for a bit too long. You turned your gaze back to the woman in front of you and then to the window. It was already getting dark outside, the New York City lights flashing along with the chorus of cars honking.

The grey haired woman finished her withdrawal and you stepped up to the machine. Now, the problem with not using cash is that you don’t really know what you’re doing. Sure, the ATM gives you instructions, but you took your time. By the time you finished, the couple had left and the tall man was reading the directions on his ATM. You had gotten used to his presence and was pretty sure that he wasn’t going to cause any trouble, but you sure as hell weren’t going to be left alone with a strange man.

You walked to the exit, but the moment before you touched the door, the lights went out and you heard the bank’s locks engage. Oh, shit. You pushed on the door, just in case, but it didn’t budge. Great. This was fan-fucking-tastic.

The man you were trapped with was silent, save for the soft muttering. Your eyes adjusted to the dim room and you saw the man leaning against a wall. You moved over to the opposite wall and busied yourself with fishing your phone out of your pocket. You kept glancing at the man. Should you say something? Neither of you knew how long you were going to be trapped in here. Would it make things more or less awkward if you spoke? Luckily you didn’t have to make that decision.

“I guess we’re stuck, huh?” the man said. He had taken off his hat and it took you a moment to place his face, but when the realization hit, you almost evaporated. You were stuck in a goddamned ATM room with Captain fucking America.

“Yep,” you replied after enough seconds to make it weird and nodded. “Stuck.” Why did you have to be so fucking awkward? You fiddled with your jewelry and looked around the room, anywhere except directly at the Avenger.

The sound of a phone ringing startled you and you hoped the Captain didn’t notice. He answered and in an attempt to not eavesdrop, you looked at a poster hanging on the wall next to you. Unfortunately, it was too dark to actually make out the words, but you kept staring at it.

“Yes, I’m okay. I’m just trapped in an ATM vestibule.”

Vestibule. Was that a word? If Captain America said so, then yes. You brought your attention back to your phone when it vibrated in your hand.

Thing 1: u good?

You: yes. just trapped at the bank

Thing 2: We got lots of candles lit. Might cast a funky little spell

A photo of your two roommates with a shit ton of candles followed.

“No, I’m not alone, there’s a girl here,” you heard Captain America say. It was hard to not eavesdrop. “No, Buck, I can’t just break out, it’s a bank. Yeah, okay, bye.”

You: im not alone tho. im stuck with captain america

Thing 2: oMG really?

Thing 1: pics plz

Thing 2: That’s so lucky.

Thing 1: get his #

Thing 2: We’ll cast a spell to help you get his number.

Thing 1: im calling u

You: oh no

“Hello?” you answered your phone ready for the onslaught of questions from your roommates.

“We need proof,” they yelled through the phone. “Talk to him! Get a pic!”

Even though you were on the other side of the vestibule and your volume was relatively low, the Captain glanced at you. Doesn’t he have enhanced hearing or something? Ah, fuck.

“I’m ignoring you now, bye,” you said into the phone before hanging up, completely shutting it off, and shoving it into your pocket.

“So do you want a photo?” He grinned.

“Oh, no, I don’t need a photo,” you chuckled and looked at your feet.

You absolute fucking idiot. Of course you need a photo. You would die for a photo. If Captain fucking America offers you a photo, you say yes, goddamn it. But, of course, you said no. You could always change your mind. If you came out of this without even a photo, no one would believe you.

“Actually, a photo would be wonder-awe-great. A photo would be great, please.” Fuck, fuck, fuck. Stop being so awkward. Please.

He walked over to your side of the room and you heard your rapid heartbeats in your ears. You hoped you looked okay. It’s not like you dressed up to withdraw some cash.

“Uh, sorry, I turned off my phone because, roomies, you know,” you explained and rubbed your palms on your jeans.

“That’s alright. I can always send them to you.”

You nodded and smiled for the photo, trying to not focus on his close proximity.

“Where am I sending the picture?” You gave him your number and began to fidget with your jewelry again. “You know,” he said with a smile. “One would think this was an elaborate way to get my number.”

“What? Oh, no, I-I’m not,” you stopped yourself with a sigh.

“Don’t worry about it,” the Captain laughed. “So,” he paused for your name and you quickly gave it to him. “What brought you here?”

“I needed some cash for something completely legal.”

“Cash is kinda going out of fashion, isn’t it?”

You shrugged and leaned against the wall. “I need to pay my grandmother back, hence the cash.”

Captain America was, what? Technically in his nineties? Older? He would still be used to cash right? But why did he have to come out here? Didn’t Tony Stark have plenty of resources at the Avengers Tower?

“Well, Tony’s birthday is coming up,” he explained when you asked. “And he’s actually quite good at figuring out what you got for him. We all have to be sneaky, some of us have even gotten decoy gifts.”

***

“My aim sucks,” you laugh at yourself and go to retrieve the hair tie that you had flicked at a poster.

“Well,” the Captain, or as he repeatedly told you to call him Steve, said, drawing out the word.

“It’s fine.”

“Here, let me show you.”

He moved behind you and put his arms around you to help you position the hair tie.

“See, if you place the band higher up, it flies off easier,” he whispered, his breath tickling your neck. “So we aim and we release.”

As the band flew off your finger, the lights flickered back on.

“Oh, well I guess we’re free to go,” you sighed. “I hope we see each other again.”

Steve opened the door, the crisp spring air washing over you. “I have your number anyway.”

He waved as he walked the other way. You got your phone out and turned it back on. The first thing you did was update your phone’s wallpaper to the picture with a giddy smile.

[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

2021 Megaman Valentine’s Day Contest Results

Among the many things this past year or so has tested us with is delays, and I apologize that this year’s Valentine’s Day contest results are included in that. I certainly did not plan on this taking until March to get completed, and I am sincerely sorry to have kept you all waiting. But hopefully it is all worth the wait!!

Thanks once again to every single one of you who participated! I will be contacting the winners soon enough. Work will probably keep me from replying to everyone immediately, but I will send a message about prizes hopefully within 24 hours.

Also, my thanks to @subzeroiceskater​ for helping out with judging this year. Not to mention the promo pic above and other assorted bonuses that always bring me a big smile. I might say this seemingly every year, but you all made judging this VERY hard. It might have something to do with the themes as well, but I think both of us flipped and rearranged our rankings repeatedly, and even then, it was hard to decide on who would place. XD Each one of you did an amazing job!

After the break, you’ll see the winners for both categories, along with all of the entries. Raffle prize winners will be noted below by their alias, as well.

Category 1: Kiss From a Rosered (Talent)

For our talent category this year, the theme focused on your favorite Megaman characters giving roses to their special someone, along with incorporating the symbolism of specific rose colors within the piece. That rose color was also to be the predominant color within the piece, to the best of your ability.

A grand total of 9 entries were submitted for this category. You can see the full gallery of all entries at full-size [HERE]. Each entrant’s name will also link to their individual pieces at full-size.

1.) Sapphire: *$100 prize*

Subzeroiceskater said:

Oooooh, this is so cute and pink! Piiink~ Ehem. I love the depth, angle, and color grading of these—notice how Roll’s black linework is at the forefront of the pic but colors mixes with the lights and colors from the sun further along the pic. There’s a lot to admire about how everything easy to read with so many competing elements like the similar hues and bright lighting.

Pink roses usually mean a gentler sort of love but did you know that different shades of pink could signify different things as well? A darker shade may mean gratitude; medium shade could be about a first love or congratulations while a light shade may mean admiration. Tron holding a singular pink rose with varying shades of pink while literally tripping over herself and a Servbot could only mean—that this is hilarious.

Miyabi said:

From a technical standpoint, I think your piece clearly felt the most polished, crisp and virtually professional of the bunch. But more than that, I felt it also best gave off the vibe of the rose color dominating the piece, but in very subtle, beautiful ways. Where as the pink sunset causes many of the normally white areas, like Roll’s collar/sleeves, parts of Gustaff, and more, to ooze that pink lighting. Even with her klutziness, you still also portrayed the feeling of sweetness, admiration and appreciation that a pink rose conveys. Just so pretty, calming, and joyful to look at!

2.) Forceway: *$75 prize*

Subzeroiceskater said:

There is a sort of gentle irony with how Skull Man and Shade Man are both robots modeled after horror symbols—skulls and vampires—but are here surrounded by a soft sea of pink roses. The dark night is often depicted as a primal fear because it hides our deepest fears but here—illuminated by the bright shining moon—the night is transformed into a scene of love—perhaps devotion, with how Shade is gently cradling Skull, as well with the church bell in the background. This is a very tender piece mixing the shadows and the sweet.

Miyabi said:

I know most digital art programs have the brushes and shortcuts to make detailing things like roses a lot easier, but your bed of roses certainly look all done by hand on your own, and that alone impressed me a ton! Based off of the Ariga Megamix tale of Skull Man not feeling appreciated or having a family after Cossack stored him away, I felt the pink roses and Shade showing him that he is actually appreciated here was a fantastic conceptual choice. Purples in the sky and Shade’s body split the canvas and contrast with the pink well, including how you used the pink for some of the stars in the sky. Beautiful job!

3.) DigitallyFanged: *$50 prize*

Subzeroiceskater said:

Yellow is a bright color, often evoking the sun, warmth, light, joy and hope. With roses, its positive connotations continue with possible meanings of friendship, care and remembrance. Tabby’s piece seems to evoke the last one the strongest—with Zero, broken and forgotten in a lab—but, not entirely, because of a bond that is stronger than apparent death lives on—even if in this moment, it’s only a memory. Even the roses are not real—just projections of what was once alive. This is fantastic use contrast with the dark, moody blues against the vivid, almost defiant yellows; and the repeated little motifs such as X crying and the water drops falling all over Zero. It stands out from the rest of happy entries with how sad it is but it still manages to be hopeful.

Miyabi said:

Zero’s blonde locks certainly are an iconic part of his design, so playing off of that and focusing on yellow as your rose color fit perfectly. You definitely made this a very emotive piece considering technically, neither of these two are even alive and moving here! As mentioned above, the little details like the water droplets balancing against Cyber Elf X’s tears, the digital lines to make it appear like X has created the cyber-roses for Zero, and Zero’s battle damage caught my eye immediately. You certainly captured the yellow rose symbolism of remembrance and friendly affection beautifully!!

And the rest of the wonderful entries, in alphabetical order by alias:

AbilityField: [Page 1] [Page 2] [Page 3] [Page 4]

*Raffle Prize Winner* Captain N Mega Man Cel

Subzeroiceskater said:

It’s so poetic about how this contest theme is about how the language of flowers is used to communicate feelings beyond just using words; and so, the comic is completely silent, relying on actions to convey its meaning. Yellow roses could mean friendship, care and affection; and it’s shown wonderfully with how Iris and Lan are so thoughtful with one another. It’s so cute how Iris missed Lan only because he was already out buying roses for her. Given how hard comics are to make and how this is fully colored, I really wanted to give this first place—however I felt the color usage of yellow could have been stronger, especially with the last page, where it would have had the most impact. I had to squint and zoom out to even see if the lighting had changed. Still, it’s such a very warm and lovely work.

Miyabi said:

I always appreciate the effort people put into making multiple-page comics for these contests, and this is no exception! Even without dialogue, you did a great job at conveying your story through your art in each panel and it was easily understandable. Another utilizing the yellow rose, I certainly felt the friendship and warmth in your tale. As Subzero mentioned, the only thing keeping it from placing was that the yellow colors weren’t as dominant in other areas of the pic, besides the panel by Sal. Still, your coloring was very crisp and vibrant throughout each page, and it was an awesome submission!

aw-colorcat:

Subzeroiceskater said:

With the red for Metal Man, orange for Cut Man and the explosion of yellow flowers, that’s the trifecta of warm colors. Yellow roses could mean delight and this pic is delightful in all ways. Cut looks so cute practically swimming in the sea of flowers and greenery, as does Metal’s adorable expression—which is a feat since he only shows his eyes. I also really like the juxtaposition and balance of this piece from: the rust-brown car against green-yellow nature running wild, and Metal holding a bouquet meanwhile Cut’s covered with plants. It makes me want to get some fresh air myself!

Miyabi said:

Cut Man looks grateful for being able to ride in that pickup bed of flowers, and I have a feeling the two of them had a wonderful time just snipping and sawing away at all the stems to gather them all. XD Love how the yellow and oranges play off of both character’s color schemes nicely. The subtlety of the yellow flowers in the foreground, along with the sun and tree in the background all play off each other well, too! Just an absolutely cute pic!

Dark-Dullahan: 

Subzeroiceskater said: 

What a fantastic composition. Dark-Dullahan does away with most color, leaving the colors of the mixed-bouquet roses as the main focal point. Classic red for romance, a gentler pink for affection, mixed yellow roses to signify caring and probably so much more—seems like Nana can’t contain her feelings for Massimo. I love how the close up of the bouquet doesn’t just form a kind of heart at the top but serves as the divider between the two, like a diptych. With such a wonderful offering, Massimo would surely accept her feelings.

Miyabi said: 

As you brought to my attention, your mixed bouquet had a few different meanings, such as the dark pink representing thanks to Massimo for saving Nana from Silver Horn, and the red tips on the yellow roses to symbolize falling in love. Certainly got those vibes from her shy demeanor, as she sheepishly tries to hand them to him. Also agree with Subzero that the line from the bouquet nicely works as a way to separate them uniquely with the background. Sorry you weren’t able to complete it as fully as you had hoped, but the concept behind it certainly was strong!

Donnie:

Donnie also sent in an alternate version made during the creative process, in a different artistic style, that I still feel needs to be shared, as well. Fun to see the contrast, yet still have the same feeling and mood to the piece. 

Subzeroiceskater said:

Oh, I adore this one. It reminds me of a movie poster with the tagline. I love the extra PINK flourishes of the letterings like with the Mega Man logo color change and cute pixelated font and heart. Both Rock and Roll’s expressions are so cute, too—with his more subdued smile contrasted with her exuberant grin. Much like how the pink rose could mean many things like thoughtfulness, cheer or as a show of appreciation, this piece is positively sparkling with affection, hearts and all. It’s clever how the sunset is giving the picture an overall pinkish-red hue while having the yellow light as an outline. A darling piece.

Miyabi said:

With pink roses again, I truly liked the additional hue adjustments where you can feel the warmth and see the lighter pink mixed into their skintone, or areas normally of white - from eyes to teeth to the Megaman logo - that have taken on the pink in it’s place. With the painterly watercolor style you used, it all blends in nicely. Even in your earlier version, I feel you brought a strong game with the hues, but toned down the red from that version to make it feel much stronger towards pink, with a tighter crop of your canvas. It was fun to see how it evolved, and strengthened your piece in doing so! Fabulous job!

DragonMarquise:

Subzeroiceskater said:

No better way to show how madly in love you are than a bouquet of roses that run the gamut of—I can’t call these warm colors because these passions are running hot. Orange seems to be the dominant color here—which in roses could symbolize a love that’s passionate, fierce and deep. It’s also expressed nicely with the two lovers embracing, engaged in mid kiss, their bodies also forming a subtle heart shape, to emphasize the flurry of hearts around them. The bouquet is not just orange roses, however, but a mixed bouquet of the classic romantic red and the more affectionate pink—it’s a piece that’s bursting with all degrees of love.

Miyabi said:

You also certainly mastered the limited color pallette challenge as you tackled this piece! Orange, the color of passion, is certainly felt in their deep kiss and embrace. I too caught the heart shape their heads essentially form, which is then further enforced with the heart of hearts behind them. I thought that concept was pulled off very well. Perfect for the fiery intensity of Match, this turned out to be a very hot pic!

Mattasaurs:

Subzeroiceskater said:

This one has a very clever framing (eh? EH?). The color white is often associated with purity, innocence and hope, and with white roses—weddings and marriage. Sonia dons the classic white wedding dress which has a très élégante design—and the little Lyra on her belt is very cute. The pink background is also very romantic and a nice way to tie in with her theme colors. I dig the lovey-dovey feel of Geo doing the classic bridal carry while clasping a single white rose...but seeing the thorns, I think he better watch his hand!

Miyabi said:

For a theme emphasizing color within the pic, I salute you for taking the biggest challenge in choosing white. In many ways, it could have been the hardest to keep as a predominant color, but still make the pic interesting and visually appealing. Choosing to have the petals all around the frame, with the bouquet nearby was a clever touch. With white often used for weddings and new beginnings, I think the concept of your piece worked just right, where it was subtle, but still incorporated enough other color to give the piece some life. 

Category 2: Kawaii-rimi (Humor)

For our humor category this year, the theme focused on your favorite Megaman character gifting the plush form of another Megaman character to their crush, instantly created by a ninja-like character, to play off of the Kawarimi concept from the EXE series. 

With just 3 entries in our humor category this time around, every entrant placed. You can see the full gallery of all entries at full-size [HERE].  Each entrant’s name will also link to their individual pieces at full-size.

1.) Mattasaurs: *$100 prize*

Subzeroiceskater said: 

Y’know how blocks of wood are sometimes used by ninjas when they do that whole body switching thing? I think it’s clever how this pic has Sal—Woodman.exe’s operator—conjuring the doll. Everything about the pic is so fun and colorful: from Sal’s mischievous grin of accomplishment, Miyu being completely shocked by her chibi doppelganger (check out that body language!) and Masa’s confused expression.

Miyabi said:

Yes, while to some, Sal might not be the first one they think of when they think ninja in the Megaman Universe, but I certainly thought she still fits the bill in her design. Usually we don’t see this much emotion or shock out of Miyu, so seeing her torque her body, taken aback at a doll of herself, is amusing in it’s own right. Meanwhile, nothing fazes Masa. And a bit of randomness: oh man, seeing Masa’s head in profile, with his bandana...wow, I never realized how much his head shape with the bandana looks like a fish’s. I can’t unsee it now. Anyways, I also agree that the color, polish, and fun vibe made this a worthy winner!

2.) ColeManX: *$75 prize*

*Raffle Prize Winner* Captain N Cutsman Cel

Subzeroiceskater said:

E-Eyes? What did you mean by that, Mr. RT-55J?  Although judging from the sparkle on those booblights… I understand, Cinnamon—if that happened to me, I’d be making asides to the camera, like I was in “The Office”, too. Cinnamon’s enthusiastic smile with this whole bizarre scene really sells it for me but shoutout to Marino’s smug satisfaction in the background.

Miyabi said:

🎵 I kind of liked it your way How you shyly placed your eyes on me Did you ever know That I had mine on you?🎵

RT says it only has eyes for Cinny right now, but it’s also known to be a little grabby hands, so I don’t know if I’d fully trust it...but good thing this is just a plush version. Time for the tables to be turned, and Cinnamon to get her claws and paws on it, instead. Very cute, although after the DiVE V-Day event, we all know this is a ruse and your pal boobeyes only belongs to the Ferham Fanclub. XD

3.) Ronin-Apprentice: *$50 prize*

Subzeroiceskater said: 

This whole comic is so sweet and fluffy, nya!  ~(=^‥^)ノ☆ It’s adorable how Proto brings up his gift first and the surprise is how Shadow handmade his gift. The little cat-eared Blues design is so darling--almost as cute as him fussing how totally NOT a cat he is. “Did you steal my cat.” had me snorting. Now I’m wondering where Tango went off to…

Miyabi said:

FU-SION-HA! 

Aside from getting his own Super Adaptor, this is probably the closest we’ve got to seeing Tango and Blues merged as one. LOL I’m sure that plush would have a ton of fans wishing it actually existed. The panels where Blues embarrassingly hides behind his scarf and gets pet like a cat had me laughing! Very cute and adorable comic, that certainly had the most depth in terms of the theme of this category!

[i-just-love-spop]

8, 40, 48 and 78 for Scorfuma kids, please? :D sorry if it's too much tho :( (I love your oc's they're so cute 😔💖)

@leiazh Awww, thank you for loving my characters so much, that you do makes me so happy 😢💖

And it’s fine, always feel free to ask as many questions about them as you want, I had a lot of fun answering this one, so thank you! Just... be warned that the answer might take a while and also possibly be... really long 😅🤣

This whole thing is about 4.2k words long... whoops.

I answered the questions in order, the kids are sorted from oldest to youngest for each question (except for the twins who are the same age, nobody really knows who‘s older since they were born via c-section and their parents either didn’t ask or at least didn’t tell them [the kids don’t know which one of these is true], although Kohana does insist she’s the older twin).

I also didn’t include Frosta as a character in the ask for this one despite her being the oldest Scorfuma-kid, since she’s not my character and most of these questions wouldn’t have made much sense to answer for her anyway, since they get answered in the show, so it’s just the five kids that are actually my own characters.

Frosta does show up in some of the answers, though, obviously, along with Scorpia and Perfuma.

Also, please don’t take the way I sorted the “good” and “bad” traits too seriously – some of these would definitely be considered good or bad by most people, but other things like shyness aren’t really good or bad, they just can make your life more difficult in certain situations (which I say as a shy person) and I had to sort them into one of the categories somehow so I could include them at all.

I hope you have fun reading!

8. What are their good and bad traits?

Clover

Good traits

He tries to help his moms any way he can, both around the house and in the garden, and will do so without being asked to do it. He’s a very caring older brother that will gladly get up in the middle of the night if one of his younger siblings is upset and needs him, and he’ll also stay up late and read them to sleep when their moms are preoccupied. He’s really good at cooking and often does it for the whole family, and he’s also very creative and makes really beautiful flower arrangements. He rarely has any trouble focusing on what’s important, and he’s very enthusiastic about the things he loves, so much that it’s infectious.

Bad traits

He has trouble dealing with some of his insecurities and will lash out at others when he doesn’t know how else to handle them. He also worried about being a bother to other people when he’s upset and will often keep quiet about what’s making him sad or angry or scared rather than opening up about his emotions. He often comes off as cold to people that don’t know him very well because of this.

He also has a bit of an attitude around people he doesn’t like.

Thorn

Good traits

She always tries to take care of her friends and family and, if possible, keep them out of trouble, and she’d never say no if someone needs her help. For most people, it’s really hard to dislike her because she’s always friendly and polite and cares a lot about others, always tries to give the best advice she can and brings fresh food from the family garden everywhere. She’s really outgoing and has a relatively large friend group because of that.

Bad traits

She’s kind of naive, to a point where her desire to help others lands her in trouble every now and again because she ends up being exploited in one way or another – she doesn’t have a very good judge of character, and because of this, she has “friends” that just befriend her because she’s the crown princess, and she’s so excited to be making new friends that she doesn’t question their intentions very often, especially when she’s still a child.

It’s especially bad with a person she meets when she’s about ten, who she likes a lot, but who her parents are always kind of wary around – whenever that particular kid shows up around their house, things start disappearing, especially Thorn’s favorite toys.They eventually ask her about it, and she just says that her friend liked them so much that she gave them to the other kid, but the way she says it makes it pretty clear that she’s actually really unhappy about it and really misses her toys.

She’s actually kind of like Adora to a certain degree – she doesn’t take her own happiness into account that much and rather makes sure everyone else is happy first... but her family and her real friends always have her back and make sure she’s also having fun and feeling happy. Messing with her is not a very good idea, and if only for the relatively large Thorn-protect-squad.

Willow

Good traits

They’re really smart and pretty patient when it comes to learning new things, and they like trying out stuff they’ve never done before.

When it comes to their friends and loved ones, they show affection openly and often and even get pretty bubbly despite usually being so shy.

They’re also a really good listener and don’t back down when it comes to speaking up against someone who’s being mean to other people – they’re also extremely loyal. Their friend group isn’t huge, but if they befriend someone and that person makes them happy, they’ll go to the ends of the world for them, are extremely supportive of their goals and help them achieve them if they can.

Bad traits

They’re a... bit forgetful when it comes to certain stuff – especially things like watering plants, but also where they last put their things – including the tracker pad that’s literally in their hands when they start looking for it. They probably have the tidiest room in the entire house, and they still never freaking find anything.

They’re also really shy, so they don’t make friends very easily, and they also take criticism very personal despite not openly showing it a lot of times because they’re too embarrassed to – when someone tells them they think Willow is annoying or weird, they’re just going to keep quiet about it and then crawl into bed to cry when they get back home. They’re confident when it comes to protecting others, but they’re also really insecure when it comes to being criticized themselves.

If they’re genuinely hurt by someone, they can’t just laugh it off two days later... they take a long time to forgive others, especially if it’s people that know what they’re insecure about and still push their buttons anyway.

Aster

Good traits

He cares a lot about his family, and always knows how to cheer his siblings and especially his twin up when they’re upset. He’s also not afraid to make mistakes and doesn’t get very nervous about giving a wrong answer when he’s asked things because for him, wrong answers only mean that you learn new things you didn’t know before. If he’s good at something that his friends can’t do, he often offers to teach them and would never brag about it. He’s also really good at playing the drums.

Bad traits

He’s extremely chaotic and can also get pretty loud. He also likes fighting – sometimes it’s just friendly wrestling with his sister, and that’s fine, but they might end up breaking some stuff when they wrestle, and after he connects to the Heart Blossom, he often underestimates his powers or uses them accidentally, which results in both huge chaos and often at least smaller injuries. After he learns to control his powers better, the number of injuries decreases, but the chaos remains, especially when he and Kohana start deliberate making their powers a part of their friendly but heated competitions. They once tore half of Catradora’s living room apart on semi-accident – Finn was very excited. He’s also not good at listening when people tell him what to do – his parents sometimes get through to him, and Frosta often does, but most people out of his family don’t.

Kohana

Good traits

She’s open-minded, more likely to listen to others than her brother is, and she has a pretty healthy sense of humor. She’s also the best fighter out of all the kids – she’s been taking lessons from Frosta, Lonnie and Catra respectively since she was about ten. She’s courageous and creative and if she’s certain someone’s apology is sincere, she’s pretty forgiving, even to people who have hurt her in the past and maybe don’t deserve it. She’s also trustworthy – if you tell her a secret, she’s going to take it to her grave. She also always takes her time to pick out heartfelt birthday gifts for the people she loves because while she’s not that good with words, she still likes finding ways to make their day.

Bad traits

She’s really, really impatient and gets bored and frustrated easily – if she doesn’t manage to succeed at something during the first or at least second attempt, she just gives up frustratedly and goes on to punch something to let out her frustration. She also gets jealous really easily, especially if people learn the things she can’t do really quickly.

Like her twin brother, she’s really into fighting for fun, and she also doesn’t really learn how to pick her fights for a while. Since she’s connected to the Black Garnet rather than the Heart Blossom, she also causes destruction way more easily than Aster does. She’s also more scary than her brother if she wants to be – think chipped-Scorpia level scary.

40. If I wanted to draw them, what would be distinct physical features that I would have to know to draw them correctly?

Clover

He has yellow skin, short teal hair that’s a bit curly, pink eyes, cyan wings – the left one is torn slightly at about 3/4 of the wing which is why that one is harder to move for him – and regular elven ears that are his skin color yellow outside and a darker yellow inside.

He’s the shortest Scorfuma-child except for Frosta, about one head shorter than Willow.

Also technically not a physical feature, but he rarely ever wears formfitting clothes.

Thorn

I posted a princess maker pic of her a while back (along with pics of some of my other next gen kids), but most distinctive physical features would be: Short curly white hair (about chin-length) with flowers in it, a red scorpion tail – which is actually her only Scorpioni-trait –, dark brown eyes and Perfuma’s skin-tone.

As an adult, she’s actually the second tallest of the kids, about as tall as Scorpia.

She’s the one that’s based off of Rae’s Scorfuma-child.

Willow

I also posted a princess maker pic of them when I made their bullet point list, but most distinctive physical features would be:

They have dark skin and dark brown eyes, freckles, curly black hair that almost reaches their shoulders, and their Scorpioni parts are black rather than red like Scorpia’s. They’re kind of short as a kid, but pretty tall as an adult – not quite as tall as Scorpia, but almost that tall, and also at least somewhat buff.

Also, I know this isn’t a physical feature, but they always walk around with that little flower trinket in their chest – Sagi has a similar one. He found it in a box when he was little and when Willow saw him with it, they promptly decided they wanted the same one, so their parents got them the same one. Neither Willow nor Sagi take them off very often, they actually still wear them well into adulthood.

Aster

He has freckles, dark brown eyes and extremely short white hair which you can see would probably be a lot more curly should he choose to grow it out. His skin-tone is somewhere in between Scorpia’s and Perfuma’s. He also has some red Scorpioni-features – the shoulders, the tail and the waist-parts.

He’s shorter than his twin sister Kohana for most of their childhood, but eventually outgrows her by about five inches when they‘re in their teens.

He’s also the only one of the kids that actually ends up being taller than Scorpia when he’s fully grown.

Kohana

She has dark brown eyes, Scorpia’s skin-tone and freckles, also long straight blond hair that she usually grows out to about waist-length and then wears in really any kind of plait, but most often a ponytail, but she cuts it off almost completely on a couple of different occasions throughout her life, mostly because it sometimes if it gets in her way or on her nerves all of a sudden.

She has pincers, as well as the knee and waist-Scorpioni-features.

She also has her ears pierced and likes wearing different kinds of colorful earrings from a pretty early age on, often even mismatching ones.

She’s relatively tall, give or take about as tall as Willow, maybe slightly taller, which makes her almost as tall as Scorpia.

And, again not a physical feature, but she also has either flowers or grass or both either on her clothes or in her hair at all possible times, varying from stuff like flower crowns and actual jewelry to just a grassy reminder on her shirt that she had another wrestling match with Aster in the garden.

48. What does their room look like?

Clover

His room is pretty tidy for the most part.

He has shelves filled with astronomy, gardening and cooking books that his siblings often lend and that are then never returned to him again – except for the cooking books because he’s made it very clear that he can’t cook as well as he usually does without them when too many of them disappeared that one time.

He also has a bunch of different CDs because he’s really into music – he can’t play any, but he really likes listening to it –, and he also has a couple really terrible old movies that he likes to make fun of with his parents and siblings, especially if one of them is having a bad day, as well as some children’s books that he often read to Willow and the twins when they were little and then kept because of the good memories.

He has a photo album where he keeps pictures of all his loved ones that he always keeps somewhere close to his bed, and an old baby blanket that he brought from the orphanage, which was the only memento he actually wanted to keep when it became clear that Scorpia and Perfuma would stay his moms for the rest of his life.

Thorn

Her room is very flowery, different potted plants standing on most of her wooden furniture as well as embroidered flowers on her white curtains.

The room is kind of tidy, but there’s a lot of notebooks and pens scattered all over it – she started keeping a diary pretty much since she first learned how to write, and she keeps all of them so she can look at her memories whenever she wants. When she’s a teen, she also picks up a habit of writing – sometimes stories, but more often, poems, which she keeps locked up in a treasure chest because she’s too shy to show them to anyone.

There’s a bunch of different genre novels on her shelf – she’s mostly into RomComs, stories about friendship and horror –, she also has a bright pink meditation mat that’s always lying on the floor in front of her bed for when she needs to relax, along with a tea set that her parents gifted her.

She also has a secret stash of sweets to make herself feel better whenever she’s upset that she keeps in a jewelry case with a false bottom in a drawer in her bedside table.

Willow

They have a bunch of cacti in their room, because they’re the only plant that Willow can actually have that they don’t accidentally end up killing after, like, a week of constantly forgetting to water them. Most of them are on their window sill. Their room is probably the tidiest in the entire house, including their parents’ bedroom. They have a calendar over their bed, a bunch of fluffy pillows and a mint-green blanket on their relatively large bed. They’re also the one that got to keep Scorpia’s little scorpion plushie – Frosta had it for a while after she was adopted, then Thorn until Scorpia and Perfuma adopted Clover, and then Willow got it. The twins each got their own separate plushie, so Willow ended up keeping this one, and it’s been sitting on top of their science book shelf since they turned twelve.

There’s a fluffy colorful carpet on the floor, and some equally colorful curtains to fit the picture, and a really bright nightlight on their bedside table that they‘re allowed to leave on day an night if they want to.

Willow also always has their swim gear somewhere in reach, which is probably the only thing in the room that they never end up searching for.

There’s also a bunch of different photos all around their room – family photos, and of their friends, mostly photos of Willow and Sagi and also some of them with Angie.

Aster and Kohana

They share a room for most of their childhood, so I’m going to do them together.

The fact that they share a room is mostly because it was just easier that way when they were little – they were offered to get separate rooms when they grew older, but they didn’t want to, and only actually end up getting separate rooms when they’re around fifteen years old.

These two are chaos incarnate, and so is their room. There’s books and toys all over the place, but despite that, both of them always know where everything is, surprisingly – and if one of them asks the other to hand them something, the other does it immediately without ever searching before. Their parents sometimes joke about how that’s their real magic skill rather than their connection to the Runestones.

There’s also a sword somewhere amidst the chaos that’s hopefully but probably not a toy that Frosta got them for one of their birthdays, as well as Aster’s ice skates and aways at least one canvas that Kohana starts painting on and then gives up on at least three times a week until she’s eventually satisfied and it gets hung up on the wall in the hallway or the dining room. Because of this, there’s also tons of art supplies scattered everywhere, and a huge red stain on the otherwise light brown carpet where she accidentally knocked over a cup of paint, tried to clean it up and just made everything worse. They sometimes joke about how someone that got on their nerves was murdered there.

There’s also a bunch of pictures on their wall.

They’re often just standing in the middle of their mess, painting and drumming, respectively.

78. If they had a nightmare, who would they run to?

Honestly, that really depends on who’s around in the scenario with most of them, but I’m just going to go with “if they could pick literally anyone”.

Clover

Perfuma, that’s not even a question. He’s thirteen when he’s adopted, so it’s not the kind of “mommy there’s a monster under my bed”-nightmares, but he does have some bad dreams about more serious topics – he doesn’t remember much about his biological parents, but sometimes he hears shouting at the back of his mind when he closes his eyes and wonders if it’s them, and sometimes he has dreams about being back at the orphanage with that one kid that bullied him.

He then knocks at his mothers’ bedroom door softly, enters and wakes Perfuma – she told him very early on that she doesn’t care how late it is, he’s always allowed to wake her or Scorpia if he needs them –, and when he wakes her up, the first time she does is leave the room with him to talk to him alone for a moment. She always asks if he wants her to wake up her other mom as well, and sometimes he does because sometimes the only thing he needs is to cuddle with his moms on the couch in peace until he calms down...

But especially shortly after the adoption, he don’t want to feel like a burden to his new adoptive parents, and it’s worse enough that he’s annoying one of them – he’s pretty afraid they’re just going to decide they don’t want him after all if he turns out to be too difficult of a child, because he has friends and acquaintances that were adopted and eventually cane back to the orphanage because the adoption didn’t work out –, and despite Scorpia being the softest, friendliest person he has ever met, he’s also kind of intimidated by her at first because she’s so tall and buff and he is a really short forest elf, which is why it’s a little easier for him to talk to just Perfuma about his nightmares at first. ...and he also gets a little overwhelmed with multiple people questioning why he’s feeling bad sometimes, even if they mean well, so sometimes one person works better for him.

Scorpia sometimes feels insecure about this, but really, she just wants her kid to be happy, and if her wife can help him more than she can, that’s fine, and she’s obviously not going to blame him for it or make him feel bad about it.

Perfuma always makes him tea if he wants one, and then they’ll just cuddle under a blanket on the couch, and if he wants to talk, she’s going to let him talk, but she’s also not going to force him to speak to her about things he’s not ready to talk about. Sometimes, she tells him stories from her childhood to show him he isn’t alone with at least some of his fears, but of course only if he wants her to. Sometimes she’ll just take him outside into the garden so he can get some fresh air and lay down in the grass to look up into the sky and at the stars – he’s really into astronomy, and if he can’t talk about what’s bothering him, telling her stories about different constellations always calms him down and makes him feel better, so she will gladly listen to that for several hours if that’s what he needs.

...that, and also sometimes he just needs to hear that mom will kick someone’s ass with flowers if they bother him again.

Clover and Perfuma grow really close pretty quickly if you couldn’t tell.

Thorn

When Thorn has a nightmares, she usually just wakes both of her moms when she’s little – this changes a bit as she grows older and realizes there’s different kinds of help she needs depending on how upset she is and what kind of nightmare she had. Sometimes meditating with Perfuma helps her calm down and feel better, sometimes she just need Scorpia’s hugs and some hot cocoa – but honestly, this can be applied to most situations when she’s upset, not necessarily just nightmares.

Sometimes, also just she really needs someone to talk to, and, depending on the topic, it’s easier to just talk to one of them instead of both because she knows which one of her moms will understand her fears better, but sometimes she also just needs both of them.

She rarely ever goes back to her own bed after a nightmare and instead just climbs into bed with her parents.

Sometimes, when they stay over at Bright Moon, she also goes to cuddle with Arrow when she’s scared because Arrow glows and that calms her down – and also, Arrow will absolutely stage a kitchen robbery for some sweets in the middle of the night just to cheer her up.

Willow

They connect with Scorpia very well very quickly, so usually it’s Scorpia that they run to after a nightmare for some late-night cuddling and the best, most beautiful singing in the world to put them back to sleep.

Willow rarely ever has any nightmares that they can put into words – they wake up terrified and shaking, but without an actual memory of what they’re so afraid of, so there’s usually not a lot of talking involved. Scorpia usually makes them some tea, then sings to them and leaves the lights on when her child falls back asleep so that they’re not as scared anymore when they wake up again. After particularly bad nightmares when Willow doesn’t want to sleep again at all, Scorpia usually just puts on a movie or two until eventually, their tiredness catches up to them and then Scorpia sleeps on the couch with her kid sleeping on her chest.

They also often wake up Thorn who allows them to sleep in her bed and then reads to Willow until they fall asleep. When it’s especially bad, she hands out some of her precious emergency candy to make them feel better.

Aster and Kohana

Since Aster and Kohana share a room, the first person they usually wake is each other – sometimes deliberately, and sometimes accidentally, either by waking up screaming or by turning on the light.

After that, who they run to depends which one of them had the nightmare – if possible, they both like to wake Frosta who will definitely beat up any possible monster under their beds.

Other than that, Aster usually wakes Clover who takes their minds off things by either going downstate with them for a midnight snack that they prepare together, or by reading funny stories to them where the hero always wins and defeats the bad guys – he then convinces them that the stories about the good guys winning are way too scary for any possible monsters in their room and that they’ve long fled by the time the story ends, but also offers to read another one, then another and another of they’re not completely convinced. This goes on until they fall asleep, and sometimes Clover doesn’t even make it back to bed and just falls asleep in a chair in between their beds while he’s reading.

Kohana on the other hand usually wakes Scorpia, especially after she’s learned to control her magic more, so her mom can help her practice her magic outside to take her mind off things and help her feel stronger. Aster often joins in on the training as well, and then they end up being so exhausted that not only do they fall back asleep when Scorpia puts them back to bed afterwards and sings them to sleep, but they also sleep in in the morning – which rarely ever happens to any of the kids, but especially not to those two with their seemingly endless amount of energy.

—

Here are the questions again if anyone wants to ask anything else.

[merinnan]

DMBJ Ep 5

We start episode 5 with the Xiaoge Rescue Count at 6 for Wu Xie, and 7 total.

- Pangzi just sitting there eating while they go to dig an evil bug out of A-Ning 

- A-Ning is luckier than Pan Zi, though, having it in her leg rather than in her gut 

- Should I consider this part of the Xiaoge Rescue Count? Technically he is saving A-Ning here, but does she count?

- Fuck it. There's now 3 Xiaoge Rescue Count categories: Wu Xie, the protagonists as a whole, and everyone 

- So the count is now 6 for Wu Xie, 7 for the protagonists, and 8 for everyone 

- That was a relatively painless bug removal. Probably helped that A-Ning was unconscious 

  - That's a large hole left in her thigh. Speaking from experience, standing & walking are not going to be fun for her for a LONG time. 

- But this is a cdrama, so she'll be fine within an ep or two 

- lol, I've never seen an unconscious person with this level of muscle control

- Wu Xie, you don't just wrap a bandage around a wound like that! Dress it first! 

- But, again, it's a TV show, so a bandage will be fine 

- JESUS CHRIST PANGZI 

- LOL, yes, shhhh, Pangzi. Shhhh. 

 - Pan Zi's looking a lot better this ep 

- ...what's wrong, Wu Xie?

- Aaaand he just passed out. 

- Xiaoge actually looks mildly disturbed. I think this is the second most amount of emotion we've seen from him so far 

- That looks like a nasty bite 

- Oh, we're just gonna...feed him blood. That's what we're going. 

- And it woke him up

- Okay, so Xiaoge Rescue Count is now 7 for Wu Xie, 8 for the protagonists, and 9 for everyone 

- Fortunately, Xiaoge hasn't lost as much blood as he did last time he used it for magic rescue purposes. Last thing they'd want is a comatose Xiaoge down here

- Everyone is just so chill whenever Xiaoge does weird stuff, it's great 

- Aaah, I was wondering how he'd been bitten, since I didn't remember a bug biting him. I forgot that A-Ning did 

- That's some odd poison if it got into her saliva just because she had a bug in her leg

- GDI Pangzi 

 - Of course the cure is in the tomb, and of course Xiaoge knows about it 

- LOL, there's a vaccine against the poison gas 

- Oooh, I was wondering when the dudes in the trees were gonna make their move. Poor Wu Xie's friend. He really would have been safer in the tomb, huh

- Hahah, why are the bad guys treating Wu Xie like the leader when he's just a uni student? 

- Ooh, who did that? 

 - Oh, Wu Xie's friend. Good boy. I mean, it was dumb, but brave. Now they can't use you against your friends. 

- Poor Wu Xie is so woozy he's not sure what happened

- Yeah, figured it was some more of A-Ning's friends 

- YOU LOSE CONTACT, & YOU LOSE CONTACT, & EVERYONE LOSES CONTACT! YAAAAY! 

- Get out before nightfall. Isn't that what Xiaoge said, too? 

- Yeah, abandoned in a forest at night doesn't sound like fun

- She should NOT be walking that well, although at least it is showing her limping and in pain instead of just okay 

- God, Pangzi, that was a dick move 

- And that was even more of one 

- Wow. I...don't really like this Pangzi. Those things he just did were actively cruel, even if she is an antagonist

- It's blocked? Yeah, ya think? 

- Oh, STFU Pangzi 

- Pan Zi looking at him like "I really regret not shooting you properly when I had the chance" 

- Xiaoge doing this "stab fingers STRAIGHT INTO MORTAR and remove the brick" trick again 

- The look on Pangzi's face is pure gold

- Had to pause watching for a sec to think about why I'm so mad at this Pangzi and more forgiving of Liu Sang in Chongqi. I think it's because Liu Sang intended to pull a prank. A mean prank, but he lacked the experience to understand that it was actively harmful and dangerous. It went wrong, and then he freaked because of that lack of experience and didn't know what to do/say until Xiaoge pushed him. And then he tried to help make up for it. Whereas this Pangzi did things that he knew would cause real physical pain to A-Ning and potentially worsen her injury just because he doesn't like her, and he doesn't seem to care or even give that a second thought, let alone look like he's going to apologise or try to make up for it. 

- OK, mini-rant over, back to the episode.

- Gratuitous Xiaoge side-profile pic just because

- And now Pangzi is gonna embarrass himself by trying & failing to be Xiaoge 

- YEAH CHENGCHENG I WONDER HOW THEY KNOW YOUR NAMES 

- Okay, I gotta stop to look up his name. I can't keep calling him Wu Xie's friend all the time

- High Shao. There we go

- High Shao is a good kid 

- A-Ning's eyeroll at Pangzi is my entire mood with his antics right now 

- Eyeroll from Wu Xie 

- Can't see Pan Zi's face, but his whole posture is basically an eye roll 

- Oh. Well. Huh. I did not expect Pangzi to actually manage to break the wall

- Judging by everyone's expressions, no-one else did, either 

- Oooh, something bad must be coming, Xiaoge is going on guard 

- Yep. Zombie dude is on his way 

- Yes, send the woman with the serious leg injury to go crawling through a tiny cave tunnel first. Brilliant idea, Wu Xie

- OK, I should stop being so hard on bb!Wu Xie, this is his first time in a tomb after all 

- Y'know, guys, I really think it would have been a better idea to let Pan Zi go before Pangzi, given that he's also injured and all. Get your most injured people to safety first.

- How the fuck is that zombie deflecting Xiaoge's sword with his HAND?! 

- WHY IS IT MAKING TINGING NOISES AS IF IT'S METAL HITTING METAL?! 

- Oh, NICE, Xiaoge! 

- I am very disappointed that I could not get a good screencap of that awesome, smooth, and effortless slide he did through the tunnel

- Things I discovered when I went to YouTube to see if I could get a good screencap of it by slowing down the playback (which I can't do on Viki) 

- the eps on YT and the eps on Viki are edited differently. I'm gonna have to watch this again on YT once I'm done with the Viki one

- At a guess, the YT ones have a bunch of stuff cut, because where I'm up to in ep 5 on Viki is in ep 4 on YT 

- For instance, XIAOGE'S AWESOME SLIDE THROUGH THE TUNNEL JUST THEN is not in the YT one?! 

- Wow, I'm going on a lot of tangents tonight. OK, back to the ep.

- Xiaoge holding the zombie at swordpoint until it gives up and backs away 

- So these zombies have some intelligence 

- ngl, though, if I was on my hands and knees in front of a hot guy holding a sword on me, backing away would be like the last thing I would be doing

- Why the fuck is there a giant, chained up tree deep in the middle of an underground tomb? 

- And ivy all over the cave walls? 

- WHERE ARE YOU GETTING SUNLIGHT FROM DOWN HERE?! HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?! 

- I'm glad you're just as confused as I am, Pan Zi

- OK, some sunlight is getting in, since there are two bodies laying in a conveniently positioned sunbeam 

- Sure, what the fuck are you gonna do to him, Pangzi? He's dead. He doesn't care. 

- Unless he's another zombie who's gonna rise from the grave, but still don't think he cares

- Yes, Pangzi, tomb robbers don't end well 

- Love Wu Xie's cute suspicious face 

- Lucky grab there 

- Oh, there you are, Sanshu 

- Do all the tunnels in this place empty out at this tree? 

- LOL, I love that Sanshu immediately doesn't take any of Pangzi's shit

- That was a bad place to faint 

- Good thing Xiaoge is right there! 

- Xiaoge Rescue Count: 8 for Wu Xie, 9 for the protagonists, 10 for everyone 

- I love how often Wu Xie is the damsel in distress

- Don't worry, Sanshu, Xiaoge will definitely look after his future bf

- Looks like Pangzi is about to fall. Again 

- Pangzi, if you had HELD ON to that vine, it wouldn't have been as bad 

- Wait for him to realise he's laying between two corpses in 3, 2, 1... 

- Uh...I hope they're just stuck to him and not actually sitting up under their own power

- These are remarkably well-preserved corpses 

- THERE'S that realisation 

- And there's the freakout 

 - They did get just get caught 

- They're not gonna have kids, Pangzi, they're dead 

- Pangzi, what are you doing? Leave the corpses alone now

- Wake them? I don't like the sound of that, Sanshu 

- Also, how do you know that? 

- Cute pingxie shots just because 

- In her mouth? 

- Oh, a key, thank goodness. I thought it was gonna be an evil bug 

- Pangzi, stop appraising her necklace, didn't you say you're not a tomb robber? 

- There's fucking what now? 

- HOW?! 

- THERE'S A WHAT IN HER ASS?! 

- Hahah, well that certainly stopped Pangzi from checking out the valuables on her 

- JFC 

- That got Xiaoge's attention 

- Oooh, he's noticed something in the tree 

- Sorry not sorry for more gratuitous Xiaoge shots

- That's a pretty looking key 

- ...and now her corpse is undergoing rapid decay? How the fuck was the key preventing the corpse from decaying? 

- That explanation makes no logical sense, Sanshu 

- Maybe that box the other corpse is holding, Wu Xie? 

- Pangzi thought of that, too

- What were those flashes? Were those just for the viewer, or was one of the characters getting them? 

- That seemed to be the unnaturally bright green-eyed man from the opening credits 

- Leave the sword alone, Pangzi 

- Although I do understand the desire to pick it up

- Uh...what 

- No shadow is NEVER a good thing 

- WTF? 

- Sanshu, I never wanna play poker with you 

- This doppelganger has done a damn good job of acting like Pangzi this whole time 

- When did it replace him? 

- Maybe it was the doppelganger who was so cruel to A-Ning? We'll see.

- That's a very solid ghost 

- And that's kinda creepy 

- Uh...isn't she already dead? 

- Sanshu just going straight for the tackle 

- Clever boy, Wu Xie 

- Though, Xiaoge, where were you? Were you just gonna let Pangzi strangle Sanshu, or did you figure Sanshu had it handled?

- (he did not have it handled) 

- (pretty sure if that had been Wu Xie you'd've jumped in the moment Pangzi's hands went around his throat, if not before) 

- *sigh* Pangzi, pls 

- The Green Eyed Fox? 

- Was that the dude in the fox mask? 

- Probably (also?) the opening credits guy

- How the fuck has it taken me 3 hours to get through half an ep? 

- Oh yeah, I keep going off on tangents and pausing to take pretty screenshots of Xiaoge 

- So we're doing fox demons, are we? 

- Don't touch anything. Yeah, like that sword you had casually slung over your shoulder.

- Storytime! 

- Suuure, Pangzi 

- Xiaoge really seems to know everything 

- Don't rattle it, Wu Xie 

- Oh, that interested A-Ning 

- I wonder if this is the thing that's supposed to cure Wu Xie 

- Sanshu thinks it's a bad idea, but doesn't want anyone other than Wu Xie to know

- Or, more to the point, doesn't want Pangzi and A-Ning to know 

- Good excuse, Wu Xie 

- I wonder if Pangzi is still supposed to be a doppelganger, or if that was part of the hallucination 

- Yeah, suuure you're not going to steal relics, Liu Tai

- Have they set up a new camp at the digsite, or did they take Chengcheng and High Shao back to their original camp? 

- I think he does legit want A-Ning to be ok, though 

- Looks like I was right, all the tunnels lead to the tree 

- Which means I expect zombie guy to show up any minute

- Don't think A-Ning will be happy they kept what happened to her friend from her when that happens 

- Xiaoge back into 'something is coming' mode 

- Oh, how was that for timing? Less than a minute after I said it, zombie dude is on his way 

  - And it goes straight for Pangzi 

- Maybe he knew Pangzi was a dick to his friend 

- GDI A-Ning 

- That's a strong zombie 

- XIAOGEEEEEEE! 

- Xiaoge Rescue Count: 8 for Wu Xie, 10 for the protagonists, 11 for everyone

- Yes, Pangzi, Xiaoge IS amazing

- lol, Pangzi making so much noise cheering for Xiaoge that he got the zombie's attention back 

- Xiaoge Rescue Count: 8 for Wu Xie, 11 for the protagonists, 12 for everyone

- This is apparently the Xiaoge Rescues EVERYONE ep 

- I'm not surprised you fell, A-Ning, with that wound

- That was a heavy fall. Ouch 

- Come on, A-Ning, you seemed more level headed than this so far 

- And the zombie knocks away the easier/closer target, Wu Xie, to target A-Ning 

- Wonder if there's a reason for it, or just dramatics

- And then he stops trying to bite her to kick her away & go back to fighting Xiaoge? 

- Those are some very nice moves from Xiaoge 

- And now the zombie is...launching himself at Wu Xie and the others? 

- Wu Xie being the hero and pushing everyone else out the way

- Pangzi to the rescue? 

- No - A-Ning!

- Poor A-Ning 

- Oh yeah, better pull Pangzi out the tree 

- Zombie spitting up blood as he's dying 

- No, Pangzi, he's not gonna be fine. A-Ning shot him like 4 or 5 times in the chest 

- Aaah, zombie is lucid now

- Wu Xie ain't doing too good right now 

- Those are some nasty bruises. Caused by the poison gas/blood, I'm guessing 

- WTF made you think drinking the water in a tomb chamber was a good idea? 

- Xiaoge's shown emotion a total of 3 times in 5 eps, and 2 of those have been worry for Wu Xie

- Whatcha looking for, Xiaoge? 

- Huh, no-one even thought to look under there, just assumed the box was all that was interesting 

- Kirin blood?!  

- And how did A-Ning know what it was, esp from that distance? 

- Pan Zi, you are like the second most badass person here next to Xiaoge

- Also, I am no longer feeling sorry for A-Ning 

- You owe these people your life, A-Ning, and this is how you repay them? 

- Xiaoge isn't too impressed. After all Pan Zi ain't Wu Xie 

- Oh, that seems like a fair deal. 

- I am pleased with the amount of Xiaoge in this ep

- Xiaoge Rescue Count: 9 for Wu Xie, 12 for the protagonists, 13 for everyone

- Not gonna count his offer to A-Ning as a rescue, since he didn't bother waiting to see if she'd accept before he went ahead and saved his future bf 

- This is the softest I've seen him look all show

- Pan Zi is much nicer than I would have been. I would have probably punched her 

- Then again, they've made a fuss a few times about treating her differently because she's a woman, ugh

- Hahah, Xiaoge just getting up and walking off without any explanation for poor Wu Xie

- Wu Xie seemed so concerned, like he thought he'd done something wrong 

- Then all worried, aww 

- Hahah, Xiaoge not even gonna wait for A-Ning, just gonna go find her guys all by himself 

- Several *thousand*? No wonder Wu Xie's gagging

- Oh, eating super old kirin blood is what made Xiaoge's blood magical? Does that mean Wu Xie's blood is also magic now? 

- Just Chengcheng in danger, Sanshu? What about High Shao? 

- What about climbing the tree? 

- XD XD XD

 - Sanshu saying exactly what I just did

- There's sunlight already coming through, will you even need to dig a hole? That sunbeam on the corpses was pretty big 

- Pan Zi like "of course I can climb all the way up there with a hole in my gut and several other injuries"

- Of course Wu Xie is gonna worry about A-Ning getting out as well. He wouldn't be Wu Xie if he didn't 

- Wu Xie is such a nice boy 

- Pan Zi is also pretty forgiving 

- Pangzi, you just can't take people being sincere with you yet, can you? 

- That's some depressed fatalism there

- Sanshu now doing his part to convince A-Ning by appealing to her sense of responsibility for her men 

 And there we go for ep 5! It only took me...5 hours for a 40 minute ep 

We end with Xiaoge Rescue Count at 9 for Wu Xie, 12 for the protagonists, 13 for everyone

[ghostofviperwrites]

Revelation

Not a request.  This is another one that has been sitting for a while.  Not sure if I should do a continuation or not.

Pairing:  Marty Scurll/FC, mentions of Kenny Omega

Category:   Smut

Warnings: Oral sex, interrupted sex, mentions of m/m sex

“Is that true?”  You asked as you walked into the apartment you shared with your semi-serious fuck buddy Marty Scurll.   You had been seeing each other since he moved in about seven months ago.  You weren’t technically committed or labeled, but when you were together in the same town, you were together.  Each of you understood that you both traveled a lot for your respective jobs and things got lonely on the road, so if there was an itch that needed to be scratched you both were free to hook up.   As you had walked in Marty had just divulged a very interesting tidbit and you were curious.

“Uh, we’ve got to go.”   Nick Jackson said jumping to his feet and pulling his brother Matt up and pushing him towards the door.  The two brothers made up the tag team The Young Bucks and were two of Marty’s closest friends and traveling partners.  

“Yeah, um, we have a thing.  Have to go right now.”  Matt seconded not meeting your eyes as they shuffled out the door with a hurried goodbye.

“So?”  You arched your eyebrow expectantly, your face not betraying any emotion or giving Marty the slightest hint of what you were thinking.  

He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.  Marty didn’t want to lie to you, he liked and respected you too much for that, but he was hesitant to confirm what you had overheard.   He wasn’t ashamed of it, but wasn’t sure what you would think. It wasn’t anything the two of you had ever discussed and he didn’t know your views on the subject.  

“Yes it’s true.”  He finally confirmed with a nod meeting your gaze.  He watched as you put your bags on the dining table before moving to sit next to him on the couch.  

“So you’ve gotten a blowjob from a guy before?”  You double checked that you had heard correctly, seeing Marty nodding his confirmation from the corner of your eye.  “Recently?”  You asked.

“Depends what you consider recent.”  Marty said still trying to get a feel on the situation.  

“Since we met?”  You responded.

“Once” Marty answered nervously.  He drummed his fingers on his thighs impatiently as the silence dragged on. “C’mon Y/N you gotta give me something, I’m drowning here.  What are you thinking?”  He finally blurted out.  

When you looked up at him, your full bottom lip snagged between your teeth, he saw a familiar fire lighting in your eyes.  “What am I thinking?”  You murmured. “I’m thinking that is so fucking hot.” You growled launching yourself into his lap and straddling him before slamming your lips to his.   Despite his surprise Marty reacted quickly his large hands coming to grip your ass in the tiny cut off jean shorts you were wearing, pulling you tighter into his quickly hardening groin.  

“If I had known I’d get this reaction I woulda mentioned it sooner.” Marty said as your kiss broke, his hands moving to pull off the black tank top you were wearing leaving you in a lacy half cup pink bra, the tops of your breasts almost spilling over the cups.  Marty kissed down your neck, placing small bites along the way as he made his way to the swell of your breasts.  You moaned as he bit down hard and pressed yourself down trying to gain some friction from the bulge in Marty’s jeans.   He repeated the action on the opposite breast before yanking the bra off with a loud rip.   Each hand cupped a breast lifting them to his lips as he took turns flicking his tongue over the hardened nipples before sucking it into his mouth and scraping his teeth along them.   As you writhed and whimpered against him he laved attention on your breasts, teasing and biting them into swollen pink tips before he guided you off of his lap.

“Get ‘em off.”  He commanded unbuttoning his own jeans and sliding them off onto the floor, quickly followed by his boxers.  Marty stroked his cock as he watched you shimmy out of your little shorts and panties until you was standing bare before him.   With a crook of his finger he motioned you to get back on his lap, keeping you kneeling over him and not sitting flush to his body.  With a smirk on his lips Marty slid his fingers between your thighs ghosting over your dripping cunt, chuckling when you whimpered in protest when he barely grazed you.   A few more ghost like grazes of his fingers where you needed him most had you a trembling mess before him.

“Please Marty…” you begged trying to arch your hips into his fingers. “Please stop teasing me, I need you so bad.”  A loud moan escaped when his thick digits finally came contact with your clit, rubbing circles on the bundle of nerves, only to turn into a whine when they withdrew much too fast for your liking.   A pout formed on your lips as you looked down into the amused eyes of your lover. “Please?”  You said again jutting out your lip as you begged.  

“Alright. Since you asked so nicely I’ll stop teasing you.”  He chuckled.  A startled yelp flew from your lips as Marty manhandled you so you were squatting over his face while he lay flat on the couch.  “Give me that pussy sweetheart. Sit on my face.”   He punctuated the sentence with a firm slap to your ass cheek making you hurry to position yourself as requested.   You quivered with the first swipe of his tongue through your folds, hands flying to grip the arm of the couch to steady yourself over him.   You were already so worked up, it wasn’t going to take much to make you cum.  Just the thought of a guy on his knees in front of Marty made you weak.  

You moaned as Marty inserted two fingers into your hole while flicking his tongue over your clit before capturing it in his teeth and nibbling on the sensitive nub.  Detaching his mouth Marty worked your pussy with his fingers, thumb pressing on your clit as he added a third finger to your hole, stretching you as you pressed down into his hand.  

“So fucking wet, you’re dripping.”  Marty commented looking up at you from between your legs.  He always thought you never looked more beautiful than when your face was flushed with pleasure and on the brink of orgasm.  “You gonna come all over my face just thinking about some guy sucking my cock?”  

“Fuck, yes.”   You whimpered eyes slamming shut as the pressure from Marty’s fingers increased and he gave another lick across your folds.  

“What if I told you it was someone you know?”  He smirked against your folds as he heard your breath catch and your movements stuttered.  

“Who?”  You asked breathlessly eyes popping open to stare down at the man between your thighs. Your mind began racing through the possibilities.  You had met so many of Marty’s friends and you tried desperately to imagine which one had sucked off Marty.

“Kenny” Marty finally revealed burying his face in your pussy and lapping at your cunt.  

Your mind immediately filled with images of the very handsome and sexy Kenny Omega on his knees before Marty, with Marty’s thick cock in his mouth and you couldn’t hold back, coming with a scream as Marty ate you out, happily sucking on your clit and licking up the juices as you frantically rode his face.   You barely had time to recover before Marty had you on your knees, head bent back onto the couch cushions as he knelt over your face, rubbing the head of his dick along your lips.  

“Return the favor.”  He told you sliding past your lips as you opened for him.   You gagged as Marty thrust into back of your throat and harshly fucked your face, keeping you pinned to the couch as his hips pistoled in and out of your mouth, using you without care.   After several moments of intense action Marty’s hand gripped your hair wrapping it around his fist.  “Swallow” he commanded as he gave a final thrust, keeping himself buried to the hilt as he felt your throat reflexively swallowing against him.  With a content groan he pulled from your throat, leaning down to pick you up easily and carrying you into his bedroom.   Before long the two of you were cuddled up under his blankets and fast asleep for an afternoon nap.

A few hours later when they woke you idly traced your fingers across Marty’s chest, leg thrown over his thighs as your head rested on his shoulder.   Marty’s arm was wrapped around your waist holding you securely to his side.  

“So Kenny, huh?  Just Kenny?” You asked curiously. At his confirming nod you continued your questions.  “How many times?”  

“A couple.” Marty shrugged.  

“Details Marty.  I require details.”  You said playfully digging your finger into his side.  

“Yeah?  I give you details what do I get?”  He asked, the corner of his mouth upturning into a small smirk.  

“You saw how hot I got earlier at just the thought.   Imagine if I actually have a story.”  You responded shifting yourself so you were straddling his lap.  “I’ll do anything you want.”  You promised smirking as Marty nodded in agreement.

“Well, the first time was after a hardcore match at PWG.  Kenny was there with the Bucks, just hanging out watching matches.   I was sharing a hotel room with Kenny.  We were all planning on going out to a club after, but I was hurting.  Horny, but hurting.   Took a bad bump and I could barely lift my arms.   So they dropped me off at the hotel and went out.  Assholes that they are, they kept sending me pics of all the hot chicks they were scoring, girls flashing their tits and ass for the camera.  And I can’t do shit about it cause my arms are all fucked and now I have a hard-on that just will not go away.  No matter what I thought about it just would not go down.” Marty laughed ruefully before he gasped as you reached between them positioning his cock between your pussy lips and sliding his dick along them.  

“At some point I drifted off, but woke when Kenny returned to the room.  I’d known Kenny was bisexual Kenny and knew he found me attractive, but he had never made a real move so it was just kind of an unspoken thing.   I still had that damn hard on and his eyes zeroed in on it and he offered to take care of it for me.”  Marty continued his story, pushing down on your hips so you were putting pressure on his cock.

“And…”  You prompted increasing the speed of your movements slightly.  “You just told him to go to town?”

“Not right away.  I actually turned him down.  Told him I didn’t feel right him doing that when I didn’t know if I would ever return the favor.”   Marty admitted.  “Anyways he laughed and looked me dead in the eye and said ‘Marty…do you know how many times I’ve dreamed about going down on you?  I don’t want anything in return; just let me suck your dick.’  So I’m sitting there tired, hurt and horny with an attractive guy offering to suck my dick.  So I let him.  And damn if it didn’t feel good. The man is magic with his mouth.  So every now and again he’ll make the move and offer to go down on me.   Mostly in our hotel rooms.  Once in the car.  Once in the locker room.”    

“Have you ever done anything to him?” You asked receiving a negative head shake from Marty.  “Would you?”

“I might.”  Marty smirked.  “Now, about that promise you made earlier.”  He said, flipping you over intent on making you honor that promise in some very creative ways.  

A few months went by in your arrangement.   It had been over month since you and Marty had even been in the same state, let alone same room.   Marty was currently in Japan on a talent share between New Japan and Ring of Honor and was working tag matches with various Bullet Club members.  

You had been on the west coast for work.   You were one of the most highly sought after security consultants around and had flown around the globe throughout your career.   You had just wrapped up your work and returned home to the apartment when you received a call from Nippon a major corporation near Tokyo who wanted to fly you out to revamp their security measures.   After you hung up you checked the time, seeing it was early enough that Marty should still be awake.

“Hey beautiful.”  Marty answered seeing you were calling.  

“Hey Marty” you replied.   “So I won’t keep you long, I know it’s late, but I just got a job out in Tokyo and was wondering if you wanted some company?”  You asked.

“Hell yeah!”  Marty enthusiastically agreed.  

“Alright then. I’ll call you in a few days when I’m settled.”  You said before disconnecting the call.  After landing in Japan and spending a few days diving into your new job, you were in a position to have a free night to spend with Marty.   You were somewhat nervous, as it was a completely different culture from what you were used to and you had never met most of these guys before.   You were also going to be introduced to the remaining members of the Bullet Club you had yet to meet as they mainly wrestled overseas.  Checking in with the front personnel you received your pass and began following the attendants directions back to the Bullet Club locker room.  You had made it about halfway by your estimations when a man stepped in front of your and blocked the way.  

“Well look at this sexy thing wandering around by herself. “  He said stepping into your personal space.  “I can give you a tour darling, show you a real good time.”  You scrunched up your nose in disgust only to startle when a heavy arm draped across your shoulder.  From your peripheral vision you saw Matt Jackson glaring at the man and Nick moving to your opposite shoulder.  Coming up behind the man were two other men you didn’t know, wearing black and white face paint and bullet club t-shirts.  

“Back off Davey.”   Matt warned.  Davey Boy Smith glanced nervously at the Young Bucks before quickly taking a step backwards.  He paled when he bumped into a solid chest and looked over his shoulder to see Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa standing behind him arms crossed over their thick chests.   As his eyes darted around he saw Cody Rhodes heading across the room towards the group as well.  

“She belongs to Marty, which means she belongs to the Bullet Club.”   Nick warned the man.  “Don’t make us tell you again.”   Holding his hands up in a placating gesture Davey slowly backed away from the group, muttering apologies as he went.  When he was clear you were escorted the rest of the way under the watchful eyes of the Bullet Club until their locker room door shut firmly behind them.

“Tama, Tanga…this is Y/N, Marty’s girl.” Matt introduced you to the two men in black and white paint.  “Y/N, meet Tama Tonga and his brother Tanga Loa, the Guerrillas of Destiny.”   You nodded your head in greeting to the men who looked you up and down in appreciation.

“Marty o se tagata laki”  Tama said to his brother with with a smirk “I te faapa’o le shit outta e pussy.”   Tanga nodded in agreement.   (Marty is a lucky man.  I’d bang the shit outta that pussy).

With a smirk you arched an eyebrow before responding. “E te laki te le o faigoofie ona faatiga.  Ma ioe o ia o se tagata laki.”  (You’re lucky I’m not easily offended.  And yes he is a lucky man.)   You chuckled as identical shocked looks fell across the faces of everyone in the locker room.  

“Sorry” Tama apologized with a shrug.  “I didn’t think you would understand that.   Very rare to meet someone who speaks Tongan who is not from the islands.”

“No harm done.”   You replied.  “As I said, I’m not easily offended.  Would’ve been more shocked if you said you didn’t want to fuck me.”  

“You speak Tongan?”  Nick asked surprised.  “That’s awesome.”

“I speak a lot of languages.  Comes in handy in my line of work.”  You said with a shrug, not really wanting to get into your work.  “So where is Marty?”

“He’s finishing up a photoshoot.  Should be along in a few.”  Cody spoke up.  “Which reminds me, I better go before they come looking for me.”   Giving you a hug goodbye Cody exited the room exchanging greetings with the man that was just entering.    

“Y/N!”  Kenny Omega yelled spotting you.  You laughed as Kenny picked you up and spun you around.   “Marty didn’t tell me you were coming today!”  

“Well, I haven’t yet.”  You deadpanned. There was a moment of silence before the room erupted in laughter.  

“I like this girl.”  Tanga said walking over to his bag.  Him and Tama had a match in a few minutes and it was time for them to head out to gorilla position.   “We’ll see you later sweetheart.”  He called as he exited with his brother.  

You were left in the locker room with Kenny, Matt and Nick. Collectively they worked as a group known as The Elite, a self-proclaimed title that they kind of lived up to.   They shot the shit, making light conversation.  You were having a blast.  You always liked hanging with the Bucks.  They were a trip.  You were always surprised to see them like they were earlier, serious and ready to throw down representing the Bullet Club.   Most of the time they were so funloving that it was sometimes hard reconciling the two different personas they presented.   This was also the first time you had seen the Bucks since they had hightailed it from your apartment after Marty’s revelation.   You could tell they were being a bit gun shy with you and assumed Marty hadn’t advised them of your very favorable reaction. But as the conversation carried on they relaxed a bit, figuring everything must be okay since you was here to see Marty and didn’t seem the slightest bit uncomfortable.  

Then the Bucks and Kenny were called away to shoot some pre-tapes of their own, leaving you alone in the locker room.   You weren’t alone for too long, as after only a few minutes Marty pushed through the locker room door.   He was fully decked out in his gear from the photo shoot, complete with his new floor length Bullet Club jacket and umbrella.  And fuck if you didn’t find it sexy as hell. 

“Hey villain.”  You purred rising to your feet and stalking across the room to him. Placing your hand on his bare chest you pushed him lightly until his back came to a rest on the brick wall next to the door.  You danced your fingers down his abdomen, playfully dragging them across the band of his wrestling briefs.  

“Princess.”  He said pulling back on your hair to tilt your head towards him.  Marty pressed his lips to yours in a searing kiss, slipping his tongue into your mouth and stroking it along yours as you moaned into the kiss.  

“I missed this” You said as the kiss broke, your hand reaching down to cup his semi hard dick.  “May I get on my knees and show you how much?”  

“You may.”  He smirked, granting his permission as you sunk to your knees before him.  You wasted no time in freeing his cock from the confines of his trunks, sliding the black briefs down his thick muscular thighs and reaching to grab his dick in your hands, stroking along the velvety length to bring him to full hardness.   Marty groaned as you flicked your tongue over his tip and circled it around before placing light kisses around the head.   Your warm breath was ghosting over him, making his dick bounce in your hand. After a couple more minutes of this torture Marty had enough.  

“Quit fucking around and suck it.”  He growled, gripping your hair and painfully tightening it in his grasp.  

“Yes sir.”  You said flippantly, quickly opening your mouth when he pushed himself against your lips.   Marty never was one for teasing.  He was an action kind of guy.  You hummed around him as he filled your mouth, stroking your tongue along him as he thrust in and out of your throat.  

Marty was buried deep in your throat, holding your firm against his hipbones when the door flew open, Kenny and the Young Bucks arriving in their usual loud fashion.  

“Oh shit!”  Matt yelped, the first to realize what was going on, throwing his hands over his eyes in mock horror.

“What the fuck lads?”  Marty yelled as he released you, quickly tucking himself back into his shorts as the Guerrillas of Destiny came in behind

“What’s going on?” Tama asked curiously, a grin forming on his lips as he took in your position on your knees in front of Marty.  “Nevermind, I got it.”  

“Why not let the whole locker room see me give you head?”  You grumbled rising to your feet and glaring at the intruders.  

“Well, technically it’s your guys’ fault.”  Nick tried to point out reasonably.  “You should have locked the door.”  

“Yeah, Y/N, this is the Bullet Club locker room.  Not just Marty’s locker room.”  Matt chuckled as he plopped down on the couch against the wall.  

“Fuck you all.”  Marty said starting to strip off his gear.  “Let me get changed and we’ll head back to my hotel room. Then you can finish what was so rudely interrupted.”