#there's a lot of options for the both of them

[verdancy-hime]

Nah

This is how we do this

That man still sees you as a child.

He is fetishizing the fact that you are as close to a child as he can legally fuck.

Specifically he thinks you're stupid.

Once he finds out that you're not a blank slate that he can write his ideal fantasy girl onto because you have your own thoughts and opinions and ideas about the world he will become intolerable and sulky and annoying, like your parents but worse and also he will still expect you to have sex with him.

This is how a lot of relationships will go when you are older, too. This is just an unfortunate dynamic that crops up a lot in relationships. Most people wind up parentified or infantalized because most relationships replicate a parent child dynamic.

The other option is that he doesn't give a fuck about your body or your self at all, just your age and that he feels like he is getting away with something by having sex with you.

In that case, he will leave you for someone younger and "purer" at some point.

If you are of legal age and you want to have sex with an older man, that's okay.

But remember that he thinks it will be easy to scam you and don't fucking let him.

It will happen to a ton of your friends. Most women have at least one abusive relationship in their teens or early 20s. It's very very difficult not to let it happen to you. Even if you are smart and careful and confident and cool and well informed.

Most men are raised in a system where it is not considered wrong to lie to you to get what they want. Like even if the truth is still going to get him what he wants but he's not sure. He will not see it as wrong to lie to you.

A lot of men do not see women as human, just difficult challenges that they can solve if they work hard enough. A lot of those men find a specific joy in dating or having sex with younger women or being the first one to make her feel violated or taken advantage of by a man. The corruption of your innocence, including the destruction of your idea that love is real or the destruction of your faith that most people are basically rational and behave according to specific rules that you can learn and that bargaining is possible are both quite prized by such people. There are people who fetishize completely destroying a person, including the destruction of all their potential, and they specifically seek out talented and intelligent and attractive young people with a lot of potential to destroy.

Do not ever let a man fuck with your money, your scholarships or schooling, or your housing. Do not ever let a man isolate you from your friends. If you are really young, you might one day get away from your family after a strong inexplicable urge to do so and realize they were actually super fucked up. Do not let a man decide this for you.

Good men have no problem being used for sex, or even for fancy dates and sex. This is according to their ability, but don't let men tell you that you can't get that or don't deserve it or you're doing something wrong. Men rigged the entire economy so that women don't have money and men can throw it at us to impress us. Only bitter resentful men with something wrong with them object to this. If you want to have sex with some older man because he will take you to dinner or buy you art supplies or a fancy purse or whatever? Do it. But don't let him convince you that it's going to last or that it means something. He will try. Make it clear that you are using him for sex and fun. Don't let him push you or trick you out of that.

Most of all, don't quit school, quit a job, leave a friend group, give up something you love, etc. For a man.

That older man is going to see you as some kind of fucked up key to immortality. Like literally he is going to think if he traumatizes you hard enough you will hate the color combination he liked to wear or the smell of his cologne or the fact that you like to have sex a certain way for the rest of your life. He will think that if he instills his opinion in you, the next men you date will have sex the way he taught you to have sex or that you'll go tell everyone to like his favorite shitty movies. He is going to think that his penis gets credit for who you are as a person and everything you accomplish.

Don't let him do or be that.

You are free to make your own choices to have sex but that man is afraid of himself and how small he is and you are the future stretched out before him and he will project however he feels about you based on that. Remember.

You're not a person to him. You're a child. A child he is legally allowed to fuck. He is getting off on the idea that he is supposedly completing you or raising you or making you who you are going to be.

This man can't give you independence because he wants to cage you.

If you can scam him into paying for school books or taking you on a vacation somewhere you always wanted to go, do it.

But remember you decide who you are.

Okay, here's my criticism of this post I keep seeing -- and no, it's not what you think. I know, my longtime followers who know the kinds of things I post about a lot are probably thinking, "Oh, I know what their objection is going to be. It's going to be that 18-19 year olds are adults who can date older partners if they choose to." But no, that's not it this time! Yes, I do believe it's fine for young adults to date older adults if they choose to (and am accordingly rolling my eyes at all the "This should go up to 25!" comments in the notes), but. That's not my issue here. In fact, precisely because I believe that young adults dating older adults is morally neutral, I'm not at all concerned about the efficacy of the messaging against it. My concern is that underage minors being in sexual/romantic relationships with adults is actually harmful and dangerous, and therefore young people actually should be warned against it, and this is not an effective warning.

Fellow old people, do y'all remember being 14? At all? Would you have found this warning effective and compelling at that age?

I for sure would not! I did not! Quite the opposite!

Put yourself in the young person's position here. You have no rights. You're treated as someone with no agency. Your parents, teachers, government, and society as a whole treats you as some combination of "nuisance," "ticking time bomb," and "unthinking blob." Developmentally, you're at a phase of life when you should be transitioning to a more adult role, but everyone around you demonizes you for that desire. All your thoughts, feelings, and opinions are dismissed as the inconsequential ravings of Just A Dumb Kid Who Doesn't Know Any Better. You meet someone who treats you with basic human politeness, tells you that he likes you and that you're mature, actually treats you like you have two brain cells to rub together. Of course you're going to be drawn to him. And then when other adults warn you that obviously of course he doesn't really like you, that's impossible, of course you're not really mature, no one could possibly see you that way; actually you're naive and incapable of making your own decisions, and the way your parents/teachers/society treat you is completely justified. Are you going to heed those warnings?

Why are adults absolutely constitutionally incapable of giving good, necessary advice to teenagers without fucking insulting them in the process? Of course teenagers don't listen to it! Why would anyone??

"Oh, well, of course teenagers don't listen, because they're stubborn, and immature, and biologically determined to make bad decisions, which is all the more reason they need to be controlled," say adults, completely oblivious to the actual problem.

When I was a teenager, the big moral panic at the time was teen pregnancy, and we were all inundated with the least effective cautionary tales in the world: "If you get pregnant as a teen, you'll have to leave your parents' care and function as an adult!" Which left every girl who'd intentionally gotten pregnant for the explicit purpose of escaping her abusive parents saying "Yeah, that was the goal." And every girl who was looking for a way of escaping her abusive parents to think "What a great idea!" Today the big moral panic is older partners, but if the appeal of an older partner is that he treats you like someone capable of making your own decisions, why would you be persuaded by a counterargument of "Don't listen to him, of course you're not capable of making your own decisions!"?

Again. I'm saying this because I agree that adults dating minors is a bad thing and that minors should be warned against it. EFFECTIVELY.

That said, this is my advice to any 17-or-younger person being pursued by an 18+-year-old partner: Listen. You deserve so much better than the way society treats you. You deserve to be taken seriously. You deserve to make your own decisions in life. You have a mind of your own, and people should recognize that instead of treating your pesky "free will" as a personal affront or an inconvenient glitch. You can and should think for yourself. You deserve, and I hope you have, relationships with older people who validate those truths about you. However. You are still legally and materially powerless. I don't have to tell you that. You live it every day. Someone older than you -- and therefore, inherently, legally, more powerful than you -- should not be trying to extract things from you. Money, sex, unpaid labor, anything of value. Someone more powerful than you who truly values you, values your friendship, values you as a person, will be mindful of your status and not try to extract anything from you. Cross-age friendships are good. Older people can and should genuinely like and appreciate you, and you can and should genuinely like and appreciate them. But if they try to extract anything from you, run away.

[lcatala]

Inspired by this post by @thanergetic-hyperlinks, I present to you

Tessellations of the Nine Houses

(Or "I can't really draw figurative art so my Locked Tomb fanarts are geometrical vector drawings")

"A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps." — Wikipedia.

Making tilings themed after each necromantic House seems obvious: for each House you pick a tile with the same number of sides as the number of the House; but this does present some challenges for some of the Houses.

note 1: this might give the impression that I first decided on the symbols and then found patterns to match them in a very organized and motivated manner; in practice it was much more chaotic and multidirectional, the patterns informing the symbols as much as the symbols informed the patterns; this is fine since symbolism is entirely associative and arbitrary anyway

note 2: I added alt-texts for all the images, but I have no idea of how to properly describe abstract geometric art; if you feel you can do a better job than I did, feel free to put your fingers where your mouth is--wait, hang on-- I mean feel free to provide better descriptions if you can

note 3: looking forward to the geometry nerds explaining to me how I got basic geometric details wrong, friggin nerds

The First House

The First House seems obvious, as a shape with one side is an ellipse (of which the circle is a special case). There's just one problem: ellipses do not tile the plane. No matter how much you stretch them and deform them, the very nature of ellipses means you'll always have gaps or overlaps.

So we cheat and we work with overlaps: turns out there is a history of tilings that use circles as a construction pattern, then turn the overlapping sections into the actual tiles. Such patterns have been used extensively in European and Middle Eastern art, and have also been associated with the New Age movement, so it fits Jod's style perfectly. And so we get this:

The different cells correspond to different House colors, with the resulting gothic stained-glass appearance quite in line with the Roman Catholic Empire vibe Jod is going for. The overlapping circles convey the intricacy of the relation between the First House and the eight other, both autonomous from it yet intrinsically part of it.

The Second House

There's a variety of geometrical shapes that have two sides, but most of them don't tile the plane, altho there is one that does — if we take a crescent shape and slightly thicken it so that the inner and outer curves are identical, we can do this:

The waving pattern is of course evocative of the flag of conquest which the Cohorts of the Second House have planted on many worlds.

The Third House

With the Third House things get a lot easier, because equilateral triangles are one of the three regular polygons (where all sides are the same length and all angles are identical) that tile the plane all by themselves without needing any other shape! Which however doesn't mean we have to be boring; we can have a little bit of fun:

Flowers for the beauty and ionizing radiation warning signs for the rancid vibes.

The Fourth House

Squares are the second regular polygons that tile the plane by themselves, so again our job is easy here, altho we still want to not go for the easiest option in order to be able to work in some symbolism:

The four big navy squares with a small white square at the center of course evoke the number five and the shadow of the Fifth House's regency over the Fourth.

The Fifth House

Regular pentagons do not tile the plane, so we have to use a more unusual shape — there are many options, but obviously we want to again pick one that offers some interesting numerical symbolism:

The cross-like patterns of course bring up the number four and the hold of the Fifth House over the Fourth. As for the crosses themselves and the fact that they appear to be made of wooden stakes, well uh… Abigail Pent, Vampire Hunter??? She does have Van Helsing vibes.

The Sixth House

Hexagons are the third and last regular polygons that tile the plane on their own. But this is the Sixth House we're talking about, things need to look orderly but in a convoluted way. So how about multiple levels of recursion:

The apparent complexity of the pattern is created by different orientations of a small number of elements, either 3 irregular hexagons, or 1 patterned regular hexagonal tile, depending on how you look at it, in line with the kind of hermetic scientism one imagines the Sixth House indulges in. The result is those apparent three-dimensional elements and emerging higher-order patterns, including that of ꙮ, the Multiocular O found in exactly one word of one 15th century Old Church Slavonic translation of the Book of Psalms ("серафими многоꙮчитїй" many-eyed seraphim).

The Seventh House

Regular heptagons do not tile the plane, but they don't need much tweaking to work, which is fine since for the Seventh House we want something deceptive yet simple (deceptively simple? deceptive in its simplicity?):

Hearts for the beauty, snake scales for the poison [the Seventh House is on Venus, the planet named after the Roman Goddess of love, but etymologically "Venus" is actually the same root as "venom", and of course "Septimus" resembles "septic" — tho in that case there's no etymological connection, it's just a happy coincidence].

The Eighth House

Octagons do not tile the plane, but they come pretty close, so we can give the Eighth House a simple, stern, but slightly threatening pattern:

Boring sterile bleached temple mosaic, with just a little bit of passive-agression, a perfect fit for Evangelical Christians Tumblr puritans the Eighth House.

The Ninth House

And so we reach the Ninth House. Now the thing about the Ninth House is that, even by imperial standards, they're huge freaks, like they're completely unhinged heretical weirdoes. So, when it comes to their tiling, we need to get weird, like, a lot weirder than we've been so far, and this will require some context, so get ready because now we're officially going on a wild tangent.

So far all the tilings we've seen were periodic. That is, they were drawing a pattern that repeats itself indefinitely in all directions.

But starting in the 1960s, mathematicians began to study aperiodic tilings, tilings that don't repeat; you can keep expanding them forever and never exactly find back the original pattern you started with. The first mathematical proof of such a pattern was made in 1964 and theoretically required 20,426 distinct tile prototypes… This was soon refined to just 104 tile prototypes, then a mere 40. By 1971, it was mathematically demonstrated that you could make such a pattern with just 6 tile prototypes.

Except that was a lie.

Note that I said mathematically demonstrated. As it turns out there was an aperiodic pattern with just 5 tile prototypes, known as Girih, that had been used in Islamic art… since at least the 13th century — but it had historically been treated merely as an element of architectural design, and its mathematical properties weren't studied until 2007.

Then in 1973 this guy Penrose came along and demonstrated you could make an aperiodic tiling with just 2 tile prototypes. So now the goal was to find the ultimate aperiodic tiling, the one that would use only one tile prototype. Given how fast the field had progressed so far, it seemed that this discovery was imminent.

It took 50 years.

Not only that, but it was the work of amateur mathematician David Smith who accidentally discovered a 13-sided polygon that could make an aperiodic tiling all by itself (he then had his discovery checked by and co-authored a paper with a number of professional mathematicians).

EXCEPT THAT WAS A LIE AGAIN.

In turns out an aperiodic tiling using only one tile prototype had already been found… in 1936. But since the study of aperiodic tilings only started in the 60s, its significance in that domain wasn't understood at the time. It was seen as significant, but for an entirely unrelated reason: it was the first demonstration of a polygonal shape that needed only two copies of itself to completely enclose the original one — many mathematicians before that point thought the minimum possible was 3 (think of the Triforce from Zelda, with one equilateral triangle completely enclosed between three other identical triangles).

And coincidently, that shape happens to be a highly-irregular nonagon [yes "enneagon" is """technically""" more correct but "nonagon" has been used since the 17th century and is more common and it has Nona in it and Nona loves you]. So here it is, the Voderberg tiling, the freakish freakish tessellation of the Ninth House:

Like you see this and you're like "what is this, what is that thing, that's not a tiling, what the fuck is that" — but it is, it is a tiling, you can keep adding the freaky polygon and it keeps expanding outward forever, with no gap, no overlap, and with an ever-changing pattern. A double-spiral radiating outward, for Anastasia and Samael, Anastasia and Alecto, Alecto and Harrowhark, Harrowhark and Gideon.

And if you were thinking that this last one must have been significantly harder to draw than the other ones, you would be correct.

[simspaghetti]

SIMS 3: THE GLOBETROTTER CHALLENGE

Original Sims 4 Challenge here by moonfi - this is just an adaptation for TS3!

I love the idea of the original globetrotter challenge by @moonfi but the original rules are for TS4 and are specifically themed around those worlds, so I decided to make my own version adapted for the TS3 worlds / gameplay, ofc all credit goes to moonfi for the original idea :)

Credit also goes to @florydaax for the store world legacy & @horusmenhosetix for the HIX Completionist Challenge - I took some inspo from both of those to come up with the goals for each location

This is my first attempt at creating a challenge for public release so if anyone has any feedback / suggestions pls lmk

Feel free to tag me or use #TS3Globetrotter if you try this out I'd love to see how your gameplay goes - no obligation to do that though! I'm just curious lol :)

Your sim is an adventurer visiting many places around the globe… Begin your explorations in the challenge below…

[Google Docs Version HERE - I reccomend reading the challenge on there & making a personal copy for gameplay!]

There are two ways to play this challenge, the original way is intended to be played with one sim. If you're going this route it’s best to turn the aging off or set it to long - However, there is also an option to play this challenge generationally if you wish (just treat each ‘round’ as a new generation or span 2 rounds across each generation etc. It’s up to you how you want to work that out!)

The challenge is NOT about accumulating money, but enjoying the gameplay. Each round has its own main LTW and a few other goals to fulfil, but it rarely has a specific career your sim must follow - that’s because the focus should be on exploring the world around them rather than spending a lot of time in rabbitholes

This challenge uses a combination of store worlds & EP worlds, but I’ve also included few alternative custom worlds for each round you can use instead if you’d prefer - if you want to take creative liberty and choose your own world you’d rather use for a round that’s totally fine! Just make sure it fits in with the correct vibe & theme for that round / generation

You can play these rounds in whatever order you want to, but I’ve presented them in a similar order to the original challenge w. each backstory following on from the last - you can ignore or alter the backstories as you wish to suit your gamplay ofc!

THE RULES:

MOD RECCOMENDATIONS: This challenge can be played without mods, but it is definitely enhanced by their inclusion, so here are some suggestions… NRAAS Traveller will allow your sim to travel to any world you have installed, and retain relationships w. sims from previous trips once they move worlds NRAAS Tempest will allow you to take control over the world climate, which is recommended for full immersion - I also suggest checking out Pudding Parade’s Tempest project to find some premade settings for several types of different climates you can just place in your save! UPDATE: Pudding Parade has also made some preset suggestions for this challenge here! You might also want to check out my mod / CC reccomendation list for off-grid living :)

Create a sim (any age, but recommended to start with a YA), and once you move them to the first location give them a tent and set the funds to 0–50 simoleons (0 for a more challenging start)  Cheats bar: testingcheatsenabled TRUE // familyfunds [insert household name] 0

Main LTWs must be completed during their round, the other goals must be completed at least halfway before moving to a new location You have a choice of several LTWs to complete for each round - take your pick of one of these, it’s not expected for you to do more than one  If you’re only playing with one sim for the duration of the challenge, you can either buy a LTR to change your sims lifetime wish for each round, or go and change it manually in CAS through cheats

Your sim cannot travel to places outside the world you’re currently playing in (unless specified by that round)

They can apply for a job once they have: a tent (or a bed), a campfire (or a stove), a fridge, a toilet, a shower, a sink, a counter, a chair. they must quit their job when you move to the next location. your sim can make money by selling things they found and created from their family / personal inventory.

You can purchase (or ‘rent’ for the purposes of storytelling) a house in a world once you have the funds to do so - just know you’ll have to leave it behind when you move, so don’t get too invested!

When moving to a new location your sim can take one piece of furniture and their tent. you should sell the rest. all the collectibles or souvenirs your sim found and put in their inventory travel with them as well - just no big bits of furniture like sofas, beds etc.

In order to move worlds, your sim needs to have 20,000 simoleons in the bank - you can cheat this money if you need to, but you must reset your family funds back to normal once they’re in the next world. 

If your sim forms relationships or has kids in a previous world, they can either abandon / leave them behind completely or bring them along to the next world - it’s totally up to you!

As an additional challenge, aim to master the Photography skill & take scenic photos of every town your sim visits

NEW RULE: Your sim can swap out one of their traits each round to be better suited for the gameplay - I've included some trait suggestions, but it's up to you what you decide to go with

ROUND 1: THE ARCTIC ⛰️🌠

WORLD REC: Aurora Skies / Saaqartoq

Recently packing up all their belongings and hopping on a plane from their hometown of Sunset Valley, your sim wishes to explore the world. Their first stop is to experience the most unique wonderful natural anomalies to be found in the cold arctic ocean. Where better to start their adventures than in The Arctic at the very top of the world?

Seasonal Recommendation: Set the town to a cold temperature climate using NRAAS Tempest OR disable Summer

Trait Rec: Eccentric / Computer Whiz / Handy / Loves the Cold / Genius

LTW: ‘The Tinkerer’ / ‘Become a Creature-Robot Cross-Breeder’ / ‘Scientific Specialist’ / ‘Master Forager’ (CUSTOM)

Other Goals:

Complete the following Skill Challenges:  Logic: ‘Celestial Explorer’ Collecting: ‘Metal Collector’ & ‘Gem Collector’ Science: ‘Experienced Experimentalist’ & ‘Free Range Scientist’

Create the ‘Forbidden Fruit’ and turn your sim into a plantsim (you can cure them afterwards) OR grow a plantsim baby

Master the ‘Logic’, ‘Science’ & ‘Handiness’ Skills

Reach level 3 of the ‘Fishing’ skill

Get the ‘My Best Friend’ Lifetime Reward

Swim in the hot springs / cold ocean for at least 1 hour

Go ice skating (on a rink OR on a natural body of water)

Take a romantic ride with another sim in a hot air balloon

Woohoo in the ‘science lab’ lot OR in a hot air balloon

Gain the ‘polar bear club’ moodlet from swimming in natural water during winter

‘Watch the stars’ or stargaze through a telescope for at least 2 hours during an aurora event (or between 12-4AM if you’re not playing in a world w. Auroras enabled)

ROUND 2: SLICE OF PARADISE 🛟🏝️

WORLD REC: Isla Paradiso / Sunlit Tides / Mariner's Reach / Isla Escudo

Having spent a good chunk of time immersing themselves in the scientific community, your sim feels like they’ve achieved enough to deserve a nice holiday. They set out to a warm island town to relax. They just want to chill, run away from the cold and sink their toes into the ocean. They’ve dipped their toes into fishing before, and would now like to fully immerse themselves in the deep blue sea and see what kind of things they can find.

Note: If your world doesn’t have dive lots or seashell spawners, I highly recommend placing some down so you can complete all the challenges for this round!

Seasonal Recommendation: Set the town to a hot temperature climate using NRAAS Tempest OR disable all seasons other than Summer

Trait Rec: Loves the Heat / Loves to Swim / Sailor / Angler

LTW: ‘Presenting the Perfect Private Aquarium’ / ‘Deep Sea Diver’ / ‘Pond Whisperer’ (CUSTOM)

Other Goals: 

Complete the following Skill Challenges:  Fishing: ‘Ametur Ichthyologist’ & ‘Commercial Fisherman’ Scuba Diving: ‘Pearl Diver’ & ‘Savvy Snorkeler’ 

Master the ‘Fishing’ & ‘Scuba Diving’ Skills

Meet & become friends (or lovers) with a mermaid

Get a sunburn & a suntan (the tan can be real or from a machine)

Get the ‘Immune to Heat’ Lifetime Reward

Dive in all your world’s dive lots

Buy a boat

Fight a shark

Collect all seashells

Sunbathe in one long session on the beach for 4 hours

Go scuba diving & swim in the ocean for at least 3 hours

Woohoo in an underwater cave

Obtain the 'Mr. Marnier' Gnome

ROUND 3: DEEP IN THE WOODS 🌲🦉

WORLD REC: Hidden Springs / Moonlight Falls / Great Bear / Ainali / Eriu Fe

Your sim has grown tired of the endless heat on the islands and wants to move somewhere cooler again. The smell of pine trees and a more rustic way of life has been calling their name for some time now. They wish to admire nature, sing with the birds, get their hands into the rich soil to grow some interesting plants and go hiking in the woods.

Seasonal Recommendation: Leave all seasons on default OR just disable snow

Trait Rec: Gatherer / Green Thumb / Loves the Outdoors / Night Owl / Vegetarian / Animal Lover

LTW: ‘The Perfect Garden’ / ‘The Zoologist’ / ‘Greener Gardens’ / ‘First Class Farmer’ / ‘Master Forager’ (CUSTOM)

Other Goals: 

Complete the following Skill Challenges:  Gardening: ‘Master Planter’ & ‘Botanical Boss’  Collecting: ‘Butterfly Collector’, ‘Firefly Collector’ & ‘Beetle Collector’ 

Get the ‘Super Green Thumb’ & ‘Collection Helper’ Lifetime Rewards (if you don’t have collection helper already)

Master the ‘Gardening’ Skill

Complete the ‘Omni Plant’ opportunity Chain (info here)

Own at least 2 minor pets (lizards, snakes, rodents or birds - or a combo of these)

Drink from the ‘fountain of youth’ & ‘wish for youth’ (you may need to place it down in edit town)

Plant every plant from the Grocery Store

Obtain all plants / seeds

Pick all the wildflower types

Observe all wild animals that come onto your home lot

Befriend a deer

Go hiking all day (walk to some community park lots, preferably up a mountain) and sleep out under the stars in a sleeping bag on a community lot at least 2x

Cook potatoes, garlic, onion, tomatoes, fish and roast marshmallows over a campfire at least once

Woohoo in a tent

Consume all the herb types (in whatever way you want) and feel their moodlet effects

ROUND 4: THE DAZZLING DESERT 🍸🌞

WORLD REC: Lucky Palms / Strangetown (V1) / Strangetown (V2) / Wild Wild West

Living in the woods was a great way for your sim to recharge their batteries and take it slow for a while, but now they’re ready for a bit more excitement! They find themselves among the vibrant desert sands, hoping to let loose, party a little bit, and also venture a little bit further out to do some archaeological exploration in a new landscape

Seasonal Recommendation: Set the town to a hot / desert temperature climate using NRAAS Tempest OR disable all seasons other than Summer

Trait Rec: Loves The Heat / Lucky / Party Animal / Daredevil / Adventurous

LTW: ‘Private Museum’ / ‘Master Romancer’ / ‘Lifestyle of the Rich & Famous’ / ‘Vocal Legend’

Other Goals: 

Complete the following Skill Challenges:  Charisma: ‘Celebrity’ Mixology: ‘Cool Creator’ 

Master the ‘Mixology’, ‘Gambling’ & ‘Charisma’ Skills

Go to the casino at least 10x

Make 3 wishes at the wishing well

Host 5 parties

Set off 10 fireworks

Visit & drink at bars on at least 10 different occasions 

Obtain a ‘Dusty old lamp’ and make a wish of your choosing

Get the ‘Learned Relic Hunter’ Lifetime Reward

Visit Al Simhara and get a maximum visa level for Egypt

Dig at 10 dig spots in Al Simhara

Find at least 30 relics

Analyse every relic your sim finds

Woohoo in a sarcophagus OR a hot tub

ROUND 5: STONE-BAKED SUMMER 🍕🍾

WORLD REC: Monte Vista / Veronese Island / Lago Simiore / Isla Escudo

All that partying has left your sim wanting to take it a bit more slowly and go back into nature. They’re feeling drawn to beautiful rolling hills, olive trees and cobblestoned streets. All this tasty produce the land is known for has made them want to try their hand at cooking and nectar making, after all, if they really want to experience the culture they need to learn to eat and drink like a local too! They’re also beginning to get inspired by the gorgeous scenery and want to try their hand at some art.

Seasonal Recommendation: Set the town to a warm / Mediterranean temperature climate using NRAAS Tempest OR disable Winter

Trait Rec: Artistic / Natural Cook / Savvy Sculptor / Virtuoso

LTW: ‘Culinary Librarian’ / ‘Celebrated 5-Star Chef’ / ‘Bottomless Nectar Cellar’ / ‘Master of The Arts’

Other Goals: 

Complete the following Skill Challenges:  Cooking: ‘Star Chef’, ‘World-Class Chef’ & ‘Menu Maven’ Painting: ‘Brushmaster’ Sculpting: ‘Chiselmaster’ & ‘Master Sculptor’ 

Master the Cooking, Nectar Making & Painting OR Sculpting Skills

Get the ‘Born to Cook’ Lifetime Reward

Obtain every type of grape from all the worlds

Collect and learn all the recipes

Travel to Champs Les Sims, learn the Nectar-Making Skill and purchase at least 1 Nectar Maker for your lot

Make every type of meal on the wood-fire oven

Purchase a wood-fire oven for your home lot

Create at least 1 perfect-quality nectar

Visit the ‘Art Gallery’ & ‘Museum’ lots in town

Sell §5000 worth of paintings &/ sculptures

Get up to level 5 in an instrument of your choice

‘Play for tips’ for at least 3 hours on a community lot

ROUND 6: SPOOKS IN THE SHADOWS 🕸️🪦

WORLD REC: Midnight Hollow / Moonlight Falls (if not used already in round 3) / Bridgeport / Halloween Hideaway / Haunted Valley II

All that cooking, nectar making and painting was very relaxing, but your sim is ready for one more final, exciting adventure now before settling down for good. They’ve been hearing rumours about strange supernatural happenings in a distant corner of the world, and they’re keen to check out what’s going on for themselves. They find themselves in a dark place where mysticism and strange happenings seem to lurk around every corner…

Seasonal Recommendation: Leave as is or use NRAAS Tempest to create a more rainy / foggy & slightly colder climate

Trait Rec: Neurotic / Perceptive / Coward / Brooding / Supernatural Fan / Supernatural Skeptic / Night Owl

LTW: ‘Paranormal Profiteer’ / ‘Alchemy Artisan’ / ‘Leader of the Pack’ / ‘Mystic Healer’ / ‘Turn The Town’ / ‘Zombie Master’

Other Goals: 

Complete the following Skill Challenges:  Alchemy: ‘Master Alchemist’ Collecting: ‘Mushroom Collector’

Master the ‘Alchemy’ Skill

Become a supernatural being of your choosing (fairy, werewolf, witch or vampire)

Get the ‘Alpha Wolf’ OR ‘Magic Hands’ OR ‘Immortal’ OR ‘King / Queen of the Fae’ Lifetime Reward depending on your supernatural type

Visit the ‘Graveyard’ lot and hang out / sleep there for at least 1x from 8pm-8am

Get into a fight with a supernatural being during a full moon

Donate plasma to a vampire

Turn 3 sims into supernatural beings (either your supernatural type by biting them or another type by using elixirs)

Woohoo in a fairy house OR magical wardrobe 

Create a playable ghost OR resurrect a ghost using Ambrosia

Have a child with said ghost or previously-a-ghost sim

ROUND 7: SETTLING IN THE COUNTRYSIDE 🌾🐮

WORLD REC: Appaloosa Plains / Dragon Valley / Riverview / Constant Springs / Winchester Farming Community / Country Love

After delving into just about every corner of simnation, your sim is beginning to feel like it’s time to hang up their walking boots and settle down in the good life with their family. But their work isn’t done just yet, they have grand aspirations of owning their very own farm, surrounded by a brood of animals and maybe even a few more kids. If they’re gonna plant roots somewhere, they’re gonna do it to the fullest extent!

Seasonal Recommendation: Leave as is

Trait Rec: Nurturing / Hopeless Romantic / Animal Lover / Cat Person / Dog Person / Equestrian / Family-Oriented / Loves the Outdoors

LTW: ‘The Animal Rescuer’ / ‘The Fairy Tale Finder’ / ‘The Ark Builder’ / ‘The Jockey’ /  ‘Surrounded by Family’ / ‘Country Caretaker’ (CUSTOM)

Other Goals: 

Complete the following Skill Challenges:  Riding: ‘Equestrian Champion’ (HORSE) Racing: ‘Endurance Equine’

Master the ‘Horse Riding’ Skill

Own a horse who masters the ‘Jumping’ & ‘Racing’ Skills

Get the ‘Raised by Wolves’ Lifetime Reward

Own a cat OR dog who masters the ‘Hunting’ Skill

Own at least 4 animals total (at least 1 of each type)

Woohoo in a haystack 

Get married

Have at least 3 children total

Teach children all their toddler skills

Do homework with children at least 1x per child

Be ‘best friends’ with all of your children

(OPTIONAL) ROUND 8: TO THE MOON 🌜🛸

WORLD REC: Lunar Lakes / Moon Base Delta / Cronor / Mermaidia

Your sim thought their adventures were over now that they’ve explored everything this planet has to offer… That was until they were given the opportunity to be one of the first colonisers of a brand-new civilisation on a planet in outer-space. They’ll have to do their fair share of mucking-in, helping the community create new inventions or assisting in the town’s military force to defend from space-invader attacks, but it’s a brand new frontier, and your sim definitely aims to be at the front of it!

Seasonal Recommendation: Use NRAAS Tempest to create a climate where it is usually always the same weather but with more fog & hail OR disable all seasons other than Spring & disable rain (treat hail like meteor showers)

Trait Rec: Eccentric / Handy / Athletic / Brave / Bot Fan / Perfectionist / Workaholic

LTW: ‘Monster Maker’ / ‘Leader of the Free World’ / ‘Perfect Mind, Perfect Body’ / ‘Become an Astronaut’ Other Goals: 

Complete the following Skill Challenges:  Collecting: ‘Amateur Rock Finder’ & ‘Awesomest Rock Collector in the Universe’ Handiness: ‘Electrician’, ‘Plumber’ & ‘Tinkerer’  Inventing: ‘Scrap Collector’

Master the ‘Inventing’ & ‘Athletic’ Skills

Invent at least 1 simbot

Get the ‘Teleportation Pad’ & ‘Climation Control Unit’ Lifetime Rewards

Get abducted by an alien

Befriend an alien

Have an alien baby OR move in with an alien (you can send the baby back to its homeworld once its born if you want) 

Woohoo in a bot workshop, time machine OR jetpack

That's the challenge done! Have fun :D

[vonclosen]

My personal favorites for when I don’t have a lot of energy:

Rice & beans & corn: Just make rice with a little bit of butter, get some canned kidney beans and corn (rinsed thoroughly), sprinkle a little salt. Very good and filling

Cabbage, carrots and rice: Cabbage and carrots both keep well under the right conditions. Sautee the cabbage and carrots in sesame oil, sprinkle with soy sauce. For a protein, sautee tofu (separately) until crispy; or crack 1-2 eggs into the cabbage/carrots while still over heat, let them cook up and serve over rice. I like to add some kewpie and sriracha over it. You can add things to taste as you like! I personally like adding umami mushroom powder lately.

My family chili recipe:

(It’s a little long, under a cut)

- Ground meat of your choice (turkey, beef, moose or deer, whatever you have on hand and prefer— I like moose because it’s very lean and flavorful!)

- Canned diced tomato

- Canned kidney beans (dark and light)

- Tomato paste

- 1 onion

- Chili powder

Optional:

- Garlic (pre-cut)

- Saltine crackers

- Cheese of your choice (I like sharp vermont cheddar)

Directions:

Dice or slice onions. In a big pot, start browning the meat along with the onions and garlic. Once browned, add in diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir. Rinse out beans and add them in. Add chili powder. I like to use both dark chili powder and Penzey’s regular chili powder (a gift I got once and have been splurging on when I can!)

Serve with saltines and cheese, I like to put a little chili on the saltine and eat it that way. You can also just sprinkle shredded cheese on top and it’s quite good :]

Do any of u have decent recipes that are like 5 ingredients (not including spices) and take 45 mins or less to prepare i gotta stop eating sandwiches for dinner

[dcxdpdabbles]

Do you have any rules for requests?

Thank you for asking and respecting my boundaries!

I do have some that I've started over the course of running this and other writing blogs:

1. I will not write overly Gore, Yandere, or Rape. I might have implied it or have it offscreen in a quick one sentence passage, but these themes make me uncomfortable, so I don't make them main topics. If you send in a request, I'll likely post it with a rejection notice so that others who see it might be willing to pick it up. The only time I won't is if the ask is rude/too detailed.

2. As a personal choice, I don't really enjoy writing multiple crossovers. This means I like to stick to the DC or DP universe's for this blog. Occasionally, I might use elements of a third option, but it's really hard for me to make it work since I'm not putting in an honest effort.

3. My blog has blanket permission on all prompts/chats/requests as long as I'm credited for the original. If you want to reblog and add more, you can. If you want to write an extended fic on another website, you can. If you want to draw based on something I wrote, you can. If you want to post it on tick tok with a voice reader, you can. If you would link me so I can geek out about it, please do so.

4. I don't do tag lists because they are too much of a hassel to keep an eye on. I also don't like seeing such a big wall of usernames. I try to keep my master post organized with the latest updated date on there if you would like to follow the Aus and find all the parts. The index will show you where each Au is organized.

5. I'm twenty-seven years old (I have no money, no prospects, I'm a burn to my parents, and im frighten). This means that while I don't mind getting NSFW asks or implied NSFW jokes/writes, I ask that if your underage DO NOT send them in. It's for both your safety and mine that you don't interact with that material until you're older. (I think I'll post the NSFW stuff on Ao3 as suggested)

6. I'm a multi-shipper. Since none of these charaters are real, I am known for moving them around and changing their circumstances to make pairs. My favorite genres in writing is fantasy and romance, so if you don't like a ship, please understand that it won't stop me from writing it. Unless requested for a gen fic in the ask, I will change almost all prompts into romance because I like reading/writing that kind of stuff.

That's all I can think of on the top of my head. If you sent in an ask and haven't seen it yet, it's because I haven't gotten the time to answer it.

Currently, I am behind by a lot in my inbox but that's mostly due to my final for my 16 week course, my work's audit and end of the fiscal year budget, I have five close family graduations, two weddings and one baby shower all crammed into the same month of May.

I'm also suffering from a bit of writer's blog on some aus.

But I swear I will get to your asks as soon as I can I'll jump around some to try to get pass the writer's blog, but once things calm down I'll go back to the order in which I receive the ask.

[sunshine-jesse]

Hey there! I wanted to get your take on something I saw in another post, where in the Shots ending Andrew took advantage of Ashley while she was in a drunken state and she had a meltdown over it, implying it was very noncon on her part. Like... For me the Shots ending is so viscerally uncomfortable because it's just devolved into a relationship fraut with abuse, violence, and SA. And it's worrying to me that some people have stated unironically that it's 'hot'.

I have very complicated feelings about this, and by "complicated" I mean "I get very upset and it's hard to be nice about it." But I will try, as to not alienate any of my followers who have this, uh, difficult opinion.

Andrew begged to stop the whole time and made his discontent known at every opportunity. He was pushed into it and guilt-tripped into thinking that sex was the only option he had at that point.

Meanwhile, Ashley was strongly implied to have initiated the sexual encounter while drunk. As far as we know, it's not something she was coerced into doing. I also think it's safe to assume that Andrew was drunk too, given he was an alcoholic by that point.

Like, the whole problem with having sex while drunk is that it becomes a lot easier to coerce someone into it while under the influence. That coercion is precisely what makes it rape. And without evidence of said coercion, there's no good reason to claim it's rape.

Ashley enthusiastically initiated multiple times while drunk.

Andrew was led to believe he could not refuse and encouraged to drink more every time he resisted.

There is no intellectually honest way that someone can equate the two.

I wish people would stop trying to paint Andrew as worse than he is. He already does enough shit that hurts himself and Ashley that's worth analyzing and criticizing. We don't need to pretend he's a sexual predator when his on-screen displays have shown that he never once gave into the urge to be one.

In the most honest look we ever got into his personality, he briefly considered sexual violence against Ashley and then immediately pulled back on it. Not even out of guilt or shame, but because that's not what he wants. He wants something that's good for both of them. He's not just in it for sexual pleasure (or to exert control over Ashley like she did to him).

Andrew's attitudes towards sex are dysfunctional for many reasons. Being a rapist is not one of them.

If people find it hot then that's on them. Far be it from me to criticize what makes people horny, as long as it doesn't translate to real-life actions.

[byrdiboo]

What Colossal did is actually really fucking cool, and I'm tired of pretending it isn't. I'm also pissed because I can't just be excited about it, because they insist on doing such Corporate Bullshit about it. They didn't just "edit some genes", hell they didn't even just splice some genes in from a relative, they spliced in MULTIPLE PHENOTYPE-ALTERING GENES from a species that has been extinct for 10,000 years. THAT IS FUCKING COOL YES Science and conservation cost a lot of money in a world (or at least country) that is openly hostile to both. So, ok, they gotta pretend they're "totally real direwolves guys" to the public. Obvs people are going to get more excited to see "WOOLY MAMMOTH MICE" than "we identified the grow-hair-short gene in mice and edited it to be grow-hair-long." But seeing that they're not only sticking to the story, but actively doubling down on it even amongst the scientific peers that are calling them out is...sketchy. Based on some obscure generalized interpretation of "de-extinction" and wibbly wobbly species definition they're convinced they de-extincted direwolves. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what people call them, what matters is, as said above, what they want to do with them. And it sounds like they are, at least outwardly, committed to "rewilding" them. WHY I guess they just wanted something flashy and attention grabbing that they could slot in wherever the base creature currently resides? There's still better options but at least a "really big wolf" isn't gonna be as out of place as a mammoth. Idk I'm just so tired of things that should be Very Cool and Very Good and Very Exciting getting eaten up by the hubris machine.

This is pretty much the new crap with the "dire wolves"

[vintagerpg]

What a monster of a first product. This is Outcast Silver Raiders (2023), the Kickstarter first edition that boasts a box 3.75 inches deep (the trade edition, from Exalted Funeral, is in a slipcase and lacks some of the ephemera and bits that are in this, which makes sense considering what the cost-per-unit of this thing must have been). It’s the deepest RPG box on my shelves [er, it was, until Land of Eem showed up]. And what depths!

Map, standees, dungeon flashcards. The Player’s Guide lays out the core rules. Three classes — rouge, sorcerer, warrior. They work mostly the way you expect, though there are surprises. Rogues get a pool of luck points, sorcerers have a set of blood magic abilities rather than traditional spells and warriors get special combat maneuvers. It feels a little Black Hack, a little OSE. The Referee’s Compendium contains advice on how to run the game and its world. One of the longest sections is on ritual magic which A. Presents horrible magical options for players to seek out and B. Roots the game setting to a kind of fantasy occultism that I find extremely appealing. Nearly every ritual is a devil’s bargain. There’s also a lengthy section with expanded character options that basically aligns with the OSE standard. They’re there for completion’s sake, but I agree with Isaac that the game feels better without them.

The real star is the third, and longest, book, The Mythic North, which present a grim world that kinda sorta aligns with medieval Scotland. There is a central church and feudal lords and no lack of corruption, both terrestrial and spiritual. The book is basically split between encounters for hex crawling and dungeons for exploring. Both have threads of narrative that players can pick up and then referees can expound upon. The variety here is pretty awe-inspiring. I particularly enjoy the hex encounters, every one of which offers a unique event, NPC or situation. There is a lot of creativity poured into this thing.

It’s all written by Isaac Vanduyn. All the illustrations are by Kim Diaz Holm, all the maps are by Lex Rocket. Everything adheres to a palette of white, black and red, giving the game a cohesive sense of danger and violence. If I weren’t running my own thing right now, I’d be running this.

[multiheadcanons]

I AM STILL FERAL. LET’S FALL ASLEEP WITH THE MERCS.

scout: regardless of who actively goes to the bed first, it is never a normal sleeping position. firstly, he will take up three quarters of the bed. this already does not leave you many options. you can take the meager edge of the bed, or you can move him over. scout is a heavy… enough sleeper. this is a pretty easy task to accomplish. but even if you push him to the side, or take the edge, you will not wake up in this position. it’s not happening. there are times you are halfway off the bed. he is halfway off the bed. you’re curled up at the end of the bed like a dog. he’s under the bed. you’re leaned against the wall. sometimes he’s just standing?? but sometimes you wake up and he’s holding you in both arms, softly snoring into the back of your head and preemptively mumbling “five more minutes”. legs messily interlocked at a joint currently unknown to you. if you looked, you would figure it out. but you don’t want to. these moments are so rare. you feel like if you don’t cherish it he’s gonna start standing over you again in his sleep, mumbling about fish pâté and chicken gizzards. or sleeping bent over the foot of the bed, gasping for air.

soldier: you’re not beating soldier to bed unless you’re an old lady. and if you do beat him to bed, he will contort himself around you. he won’t even move you. but, if you go to bed at the same time, he’s holding you in one arm, occasionally switching you from side to side in his sleep. he almost has you by your neck. his other hand holding you by your thigh, keeping it firmly on his stomach. it’s like his own weighted blanket, and it keeps him from hogging the covers. sometimes he just holds your body against himself. that’s like the premium weighted blanket. and depending on what he needs (and how cold he is) will determine how you both fall asleep. being the last to bed is a little harder, because soldier is such a light sleeper. but he’s never seemed to mistake you for anyone else. he’s always known it’s you. he throws the covers back and mumbles a quick “get in”. as you get comfortable, he covers you both back up, and his arms snake around you to pull you close. he presses an inaccurate kiss to the nape of your neck, usually landing somewhere in your hair, mumbles another good night, and continues to quietly sleep.

pyro: pyro doesn’t share the bed very often. they are much more likely to happily offer you their bed and sleep on the floor if you’re insistent on sleeping with them. and it’s odd the first few times, as you climb into the bed, that they climb out. but if you want to have a slumber party with pyro this is how it has to happen. and don’t feel bad about it, because pyro doesn’t feel bad about this, at all. you are not annexing the bed. they want you there. and you can never seem to catch pyro off guard. mainly because they keep their door locked if you don’t let them know you’re feeling a little cuddly. so you can’t sneak in. and even if you try to join them, wherever they elect to sleep on the floor; you will always wake up not only back in the bed, but with a gas mask staring at you as you slept. as you either startle to a seated position, or freeze, or smile, or try to go back to sleep, they will tentatively reach out and gently cup your cheek, letting out a low hum. who knows how long they've been awake. who knows when they moved you back to the bed. but they seem very pleased with the end results, either way! the more you press to actually sleep with pyro, the more they are willing to acquiesce and sleep with you. but they have no idea what the process of cuddling someone to sleep is like. prefers to be the little spoon. they'll get the hang of it!

demo: arms wide open, ready even in sleep to catch you. one of two mercs of whom you are actually a needed and wanted presence in the bed. demo is a turbulent sleeper. demo tosses and turns and talks. a lot. when you go to sleep with demo, you better be ready to crash in four minutes or you better have a hell of a noise and jostling tolerance, because demo's crashing in five. it's almost better to sleep with demo in a group of others. the less space he has to move around, the more peaceful of sleep everyone gets. including him! but if it's just you two, your new spot on the bed is on top of him. you're the perfect weighted blanket. but he's got some push to him. he's not the worst bed in the world to sleep on. and demo talks in his sleep. so if you have issues sleeping, you are always guaranteed one humorous, if not incredibly confusing conversation in the witching hours of the night. usually they are humorous! but sometimes, he's uttering... what you can only hope is nonsense. but his face is contorted in such a.... ghastly way. then he clings to you. and as he breathes you in, he relaxes. though he truly never stops talking. you get him better sleep! it wouldn't kill him to also get a weighted blanket. demo is much more situated for quick nap sessions. where you both fall on the bed, get your snores in, and get back about your day. those become some of the best forty five minutes of your life. of warm arms pulling your body into the curvature of his own. you can get up later. you're much too comfortable now.

heavy: it’s always easier to follow heavy to bed after he’s already taken the space he needs. from there, wherever you want to go is free game to him. just, if you want to sleep with him, let him take his spot first so you can move around him. he’s not gonna wake up until he has to. and if you want to sleep on top of him, beside him, at his feet, you can because he won’t move around. but if you fall asleep first, he will feel so bad to have to move you to take his own space on his own bed that he just won’t sleep there. but, you can always go find him in the middle of the night and sleep with him wherever he decides to post up for the night. this is only marginally difficult in the infirmary. the operating table isn’t big enough for two… of any size. except maybe children. the doctor has tried. it doesn’t really matter where heavy holds you because unless you are gargantuan his handspan alone takes up the entirety of your back. so he can just tuck you into the crook of his arm, half asleep, and continue his rest. fidgets with the hems of your clothes as he sleeps. best for winter naps, because he’s a heat pool. nobody within two feet of him should be cold. but if it’s that cold, he’s more than likely up and moving around, if only to enjoy the brisk weather. but if you’re insistent and can do so, he’ll toss you over his shoulder while he’s up and about for you to sleep.

engineer: the second of two mercs in which your presence is needed and wanted, sleeping with engineer is a prime excuse for the texan to actually go to bed. he's more than happy to go to bed if he knows it's already gonna be warmed for him. and he does prefer to wait for you to go to bed first. firstly, you're just a pretty little sight there, curled under the covers, or sprawled out above them. either way, he gets great enjoyment from watching you sleep. or, even if you're not asleep. it's almost better when you're awake to complain at him to get his ass to sleep from the dingy bed located in his workshop. it's the only one he really uses, anyway. but if he's getting company... he's gonna keep it much more orderly! it truly stokes a fire in him to see you just laying in the bed, whether you are asleep or awake, and he is ecstatic to join you. wrapping his arms around you, and pulling you close by your waist, feeling what he can only describe as bodies clicking into place. he's dead and gone in about ten minutes, so maybe don't expect too much fluff with him. but, with you in the bed, he's also not nearly as chaotic in his own bed. hell, he might even get out of bed normally and not stub his toe in the process!

medic: you have to live with the fact that you will probably never get herbert ludwig to willingly leave his work. you have to hold him at gunpoint. literal gunpoint to get him to leave the infirmary. no piddly ass pistol, either. he’s not scared of those. and don’t think he won’t leave you in the room the second he can. but he would’ve been this way regardless. the man could’ve been a plumber and would still bring work home with him. he’s just manufactured that way. but. there is a time. and it’s a very rare time, it’s a time that you have to make sure you catch because he only does it once a month. there’s a time… that he uses his desk, i know! he uses his desk. sometimes. rarely. however often he fills out paperwork. so hardly ever. but the closest thing you can get to sleeping with him is begging to crawl under that desk, if only to rest your head in his lap and fall asleep. and he will laugh at you. be prepared to hear him laugh and mock you. but he’ll let you with a stern warning. don’t get overzealous. but that is the last thing on your mind. his lap is warm, you can feel the heat through the fabric of his pants. and if you lie to yourself enough, he’s almost soft. and it’s dark. and when you close your eyes, you feel like you’re a kid hiding under the bed again. he’ll stroke your hair, or your cheek as he continues to do his required paperwork. you both end up asleep in uncomfortable positions. but you both wake rested.

sniper: to sleep with sniper, you have to be prepared to sleep anywhere. you gotta be able to sleep in a bed, on the floor, in a chair, tucked into a closet, crouching, standing, rolled up like a yoga mat. sleeping with sniper always begins with a game of find the australian. is he in the van? is he laid in a chair in a room nobody’s been in for the last 36 hours? did he find a cave somewhere? did he dig a hole and crawl into it? did he walk to the bottom of the lake? that’s for me to humorously muse about and you to find out. and he will always catch you before you catch him. there is no sneaking up on the aussie, and that’s for the best. because it means if you call for him enough times, he’ll crawl out from wherever he is to come fetch you! then take you back to whatever crevice he dripped out of to go back to sleep. he will normally sleep on top of you, pinning you to whatever surface you are pressed against, using you as his pillow. if you don’t care, he doesn’t either. he’s not got any meat on his bones, but surely he’s got some cushion somewhere for you to use as a flesh pillow. and if you can’t get comfortable, he’ll put his hat over your eyes and tell you to go to bed. it’s a lot easier to fall asleep, contorted and mashed together, than you would think it is. it’s almost… comfortable.

spy: so technically, if you both fall unconscious, it’s still sleeping with spy, right? in the bathroom, in the dead of night (or the asscrack of morning, depending on when you rise) spy goes to take his daily bath. and you can decide, if he happens to wake you, or you happen to be up, to join him. he will not usually let you join, but sometimes he will! and it’s hot. the water burns to step into, it’s so hot that your skin doesn’t get used to the feeling. it’s just burning. the steam fills your lungs. it becomes a fever dream as you both lay in the tub. but spy doesn’t seem bothered. he plays in your hair and trails his fingers down your stomach absently as you attempt to regain homeostasis while you are boiling alive. and there comes a point where you feel him slump behind you. and at that point you are the only weight stopping his head from slipping underwater. but it’s so hard to breathe. and it’s fucked up to mess with his water heat, it’s obvious he likes it this way. you get stuck there. between the steam hitting your face, and the inability to sweat to lower your body temperature, and your lungs filling with steam, there comes a point where all you can do is close your eyes and hope the water goes cold before permanent damage is done to your body. but you’ll wake up again, exhausted, tired, skin notably raw, to the feeling of boiling water hitting your feet. as spy refills the tub, this is your best chance to get out. but at that point, the feeling of your skin, red-raw and wet and stuck together, striking enough nerves in your skin that the shock of the cold air wasn’t worth giving up the sting of being skin to skin in silence. it’s worth becoming a frenchman’s boil. hopefully someone will fish you both out before you both become corpse chowder.

[gwenie-clorrisan]

Prime Problem (and fixing it)

One thing that makes me kind of upset is that Sonic Prime is, in fact, cannon. There's nothing wrong with it, per say... don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it. But one fact alone is enough to irk me... The fact that Rouge is apparently closer to Sonic than she is to Shadow now.

For a while now, Sega has had an urge to make the main cast a group of five. It's happened for both Boom and Prime now, with the fifth character being exchangeable (either Stix or Rouge). Stix I was fine with; she fit the narrative, had great chemistry with the cast, and was just an enjoyable character to watch. Rouge on the other hand I've never been a big fan of in the first place. I know people do love her, but most of her charm from the very beginning was based on her chemistry with dark characters. Case in point, Team Dark (Sonic Heroes), where she's definitely closer to Shadow than she is to anyone on Team Sonic (including even Knuckles). While she was great in Prime and I loved all of her variants, I think there's definitely a better candidate for the fifth character. A much better one, who needed more time in the spotlight, desperately more. I'm talking about Cream the Rabbit.

No, this isn't only about the fact Cream will forever be my favorite character. It seems that Sega (along with most fans) have forgotten that Cream was designed to be the fifth main character of the cast. She was around for SO MANY GAMES, until she abruptly vanished after Heroes. She wasn't seen for years until reemerging in obscure places (like the olympics as a judge), or Generations (where everyone was). I hear excuses like "Oh, she's only six, they can't have her in something like Forces, that's a literal war." Dude. Charmy was there. He's six. And what, did Sega retcon the ages of every character EXCEPT for Cream? She's literally only two years younger than Tails, people! And if Big can be in Prime, why couldn't they just complete Team Rose? I WANT TEAM ROSE DYNAMICS!!!!!

Anyway, with that out of the way, let's address the real issue: How Prime would have affected Cream. (I'm mainly going to put her in places replacing Rouge, but I can also see her and Rouge being side-by-side in the shatter verse as well, take your pick) She'd get quite a bit of character development, like how the rest of the characters did, with her own special twist (yes, Cheese would also be here... for most things)

First up, No Place. This is the easiest one. Have her as part of the crew, not too much happens. She can have a small job and be a bit of the peacemaker among the group of pirates. When it comes down to it, she and Cheese can both throw a pretty good punch. (I wanna see Cheese in an eyepatch)

Next is Boscage Maze. This ones a bit more tricky, because it's a bit harder to replace Rouge. She could definitely be the voice of reason of the tree dwellers, helping them steal whatever food they can from the forest... or, she could be something of a mediator between them and Thorn Rose, since she could have some sort of closer relationship to the Amy variant. I think that if she does live strictly with the tree dwellers, that would be because something happened to Cheese when the Thorn turned on them, and she couldn't really forgive her. They would probably be reunited in the end.

Finally, New Yoke. There are two possible ways this one could play out. One, Cream plays the role as "little leader", an unexpected leader in a rebellion against the Chaos Council, with an army of chao behind her that she's raised in hopes of a better future. Or two, she discovered Nine a while back, and is determined to follow him everywhere (he possibly accidentally saved her from some sort of bullying, and she just attached herself to him). For the first option, she'd have a lot more cheery, positive attitude, yet would be able to snap at people who get out of line. For two, she'd be quiet and apathetic, and probably even more distrusting of Sonic than Nine was. If we go the second option, we'd see her standing by Nine even as he goes insane, and she could possibly turn on him for his own good. (I personally like the second option better) For either one, Cheese is no where in sight, probably because of some disaster that befell him.

Anyway, this has gotten really long, but it was fun to come up with possibilities! Which ones do you like, you guys? If there's ever a continuation, I hope they include my girl <3

[yallemagne]

I’m thinking. A dangerous pastime, I know, but I’ve been reminded yet again at how fandom “fixes” characters to fit into their own sensibilities, and I realized a parallel. 

DISCLAIMER: this is not an academic paper, I wrote this in one sitting after a day of eating nothing but cookies. Too long to read? The gist is that society is very fucking uncomfortable with accepting people for how they actually are outside of predetermined roles, and so they try to rework people’s images to be more palatable at the expense of authenticity... and this applies to how we treat characters in fandom.

I will never stop being upset at fandom for girlbossifying Mina Harker: for denying her flaws, values, weaknesses, and even some of her strengths because they don’t identify with those, and they have to rework her in order to even halfway tolerate her as a character. AND THEN THEY CLAIM TO LOVE HER. And it just made me think “how can they claim to love her if they hate everything about her?” And I realized that a lot of the people who talk up Mina and build her up as a paragon of girlbossery ignore and/or devalue her words while mythologizing her actions. Like “this is the woman who did this this and this, she’s a girlboss feminist queen” while conveniently leaving out her perspective on the matter. 

So many people like to reframe her tangent about how silly and gauche she views New Women as her being sarcastic or ironic. “It’s just a joke! She actually thinks feminism is great!” they say. But she is not a sarcastic or ironic person. She’s very witty, but she’s not snarky or irreverent. This is a case of people projecting traits onto her that they like while erasing the ones she actually displays. They like their women to be disingenuous and wisecracking because insincerity is a way of taking control, but Mina is earnest and honest about her beliefs and feelings, and they don’t like that because honesty is a form of emotional vulnerability, and a woman being emotionally vulnerable is “playing into the stereotypes”. 

Now, what’s the parallel? 

It made me think of how Seward views Jonathan after reading his journal in the novel. Jonathan was so honest about his fear and uncertainty in his journal that a wide-sweeping interpretation of that part of the novel in academic spaces is that Jonathan was just a yellow-bellied coward. Seward does not have this interpretation at all, in fact, he is shocked to meet Jonathan because he had been picturing a mythic figure of perfect chiselled masculinity like Hercules! And instead he is met with a quiet, mild-mannered solicitor?

Why does Seward make this mistake? We all joke that it’s because he’s not incredibly bright, which he isn’t, and he’s super gay, which he is — but the crux of it is that he is not receptive to the idea of people who don’t fit into his worldview. He is very particular about how he believes men and women behave. Men are rock solid and strong both physically and mentally whereas women are as delicate as cotton candy. He meets Mina and decides that she must be the ideal woman. So, he simply ignores all the ways her husband doesn’t conform with his ideal man. Jonathan being bedridden from mental trauma he faced in the castle? Psh. Might as well have never happened. But we all know that, had he met Jonathan before his recovery, his impression would have been way less charitable. Why? Because we all know that, as Mina gets sick and Seward is primed by an authority figure to distrust her intentions, things he admired about her (like her acts of service) get reframed as potentially nefarious. 

It is so easy to ignore everything that is true about a person and frame your perception of them in a completely dishonest way because that’s just the most comfortable option! 

Seward fails to acknowledge the ways that Jonathan subverts his expectations because the people who don’t fit into his expectations are, to him, the dregs of society: people who belong in his asylum or in the ground. So, he juices up Jonathan. He’s like “he must be the most ripped flawless guy ever” because his brain doesn’t have much room for nuance. He’s uncomfortable with accepting that the men in his life who he idolizes aren’t paragons. He’s stiff and awkward while comforting his dear friend who just suffered the deaths of his father, his would-be mother-in-law, and his fiancée in such a short amount of time, only offering a stiff embrace with a couple back-pats and some words of affirmation thrown in and justifying that with “that’s all the comfort a man needs”. And hey, it’s not like he despises his friend for being able to cry, it’s that men have never really been taught how to reckon with their emotions. They see a woman being emotional, and shrug it off and say “psh typical hysterical woman”, but they see their fellow man struggling, and the only response they have is “hey… stop that. You clearly aren’t having a good time, and I don’t enjoy this either, so you should just… stop feeling and save us the trouble?” 

Likewise, people don’t want to acknowledge Mina’s internalized misogyny and deep self-hatred because they’re not comfortable with women having flaws. And hey, this is a VERY complex issue. It’s uncharitable to say it’s simply woman-hating. For women who have this way of treating female characters, it’s born from their identity as women and how they are expected to navigate the world. They see a woman who is anything less than a pure goddess and get upset because she’s supposedly making a fool of herself and bringing dishonour to them by association. “You’re setting a bad example for the rest of us! There is limited space for women in fiction/the workplace/the public eye, and you’re taking up space and fucking it up! Now everyone will think that women are emotional/stupid/slutty!” And for the men… they’re literally just the Van Helsings and the Sewards of the world. Either a woman is the perfect wife or she’s a voluptuous she-beast, and whichever one she is justifies how they treat her, and that solidifies their place in the world as men. 

My ultimate point is that we all acknowledge how silly it was when Seward got it in his head that Jonathan had to be a jock to have survived the things he did, and yet we let fandom treat Mina the exact same way?

[infinitegest]

Okay I’ve gotta jump on the bandwagon here. 5’1 tech lawyer here! I’m 98 pounds on a good day and still fit into all my old clothes from middle school, they literally don’t make pants that fit my tiny ass waist so I have to roll all my suit pants over multiple times to get them to stay up. Everything has to be tailored to fit me, luckily I make more than enough to do that but it’s a hassle

I work almost exclusively with gigantic guys quite literally twice my size who like to all call themselves my dad and pick me up at inopportune moments. I’ve never wanted kids and never will, but god the thought of you or someone else having your way with me has gotten me throbbing during boring meetings a few times. The thought of someone dragging me into a utility closet and pumping me full of kids is such a wet dream of mine, especially if every time they cum it adds another baby to my poor tiny tummy. Maybe I’m only 3 months along and already huge by the time I manage to waddle out of the closet, my suit pants snug around a swollen baby bump full of who knows how many babies!! And hey I’m not HUGE huge yet, what’s the harm in you or someone else having your way with me a few more times? Just until these pants actually fit correctly and I’m starting to wobble a bit in my heels

Another thought I’ve had is that every time a guy imagines fucking me it adds another baby to my belly. I get hit on a LOT during conferences and meetings with partners, so the thought of being up on stage and feeling my belly begin to swell behind the podium has almost made me excuse myself a few times to quiet down the throbbing in my pants

oh my godddddd both of these thoughts are incredible

you and your womb just become the office stress toy. it’s so easy to grab you and stuff you in the closet for a bit of private fun, and soon enough you’re weighed down with so many of your coworker’s big, heavy babies that it’s not even worth trying to get an accurate count with a scan. sure, those pants might fit correctly NOW, but by next week you’ll be outgrowing even your loosest-fitting options…

and oofffff when you get more pregnant when people imagine fucking you, it tends to have a bit of a compounding effect. the more you swell with babies, the more you catch people’s attention, so more people start imagining how good it would feel to fill you with *their* babies…. by the end of the conference you can barely walk on your own, and need significant help fitting through the door

[orion-my-rion]

hi!! this is suddenly getting a LOT of notes out of nowhere lol so i thought i would provide some updates and clarification now that it's been over a year since i made this post :)

for starters, i still highly recommend both of these programs for several reasons, one of the main ones being that duolingo is getting more and more useless every day, and outright paid alternatives aren't accessible to casual learners or people who simply can't afford a subscription like that.

let's start with mango :) i love mango! i have absolutely no issues with anything about mango. the one thing i did want to mention, bc someone had brought it up in the tags and i realized i may have mistakenly worded my original post, is that mango is Not provided by all libraries in the us/ca. just like any other service, libraries decide what to offer based on their population and funding. i've heard of some providing rosetta stone (which i have never used and know nothing about, but i'm pretty sure it's older than i am so it might be good haha), and some having no language services beyond some textbooks etc. so, be sure to use the link above to check if your library has it.

also, the reason i had said us/ca specifically is bc that's what their website said, but good news! someone said that their library in new zealand used to offer mango!! so, if you have a local public library in any country, look around on your library's website or ask your librarian to see if they offer it. you might be pleasantly surprised, so give it a shot! and remember, public libraries want to cater to you, so if you want something they don't have, ask for it! they might not even know about the program and would be happy to look into it for you :)

now for the other stuff. in the case of busuu, in the fall of 2024 (several months after i made this post), chegg (the owners of busuu since 2022) announced that busuu would introduce a "conversations" feature for english and spanish learners, which would use ai to allow learners to practice their target language with a chatbot. additionally, at some point in the summer of 2024 (again, months after this post was made), people started noticing ai-generated videos/audio in the later sections of the italian course. the explanation from busuu support was that the course designer had generated the content, and busuu was implementing it to see how users felt about it. i don't know if this is still in use as of now.

that all being said, busuu ads currently like to talk about their "ai-powered practice sets," which i'm fairly certain is just chegg trying to benefit from the word "ai" when it's really just a regular vocabulary study. in terms of the "conversations," i believe this is entirely optional and only available in the english and spanish courses. the only other "ai" i know of in the program is a relatively new "busuu bot" that will correct your open-ended exercises just like a native speaker would. i've only really seen it in the wild when correcting english-learners' exercises, so i don't think it's being used in most courses, and this still has the leeway of allowing a native speaker to still correct the exercise or even report the bot's answer if necessary.

that's just some stuff i wanted to bring up about busuu! if you know anything about the duolingo bullshit (which, if you don't, please please look into it and stop using duolingo Now.), you should notice that while there are a few areas where chegg is trying to implement ai to enhance the courses, i have Not heard of them firing translators in favor of making people correct ai slop. i cannot effectively emphasize how detrimental this has been to duolingo and its courses without turning this into a 20k essay, but yeah.

if i ever hear of something like that happening at busuu, i'll add to this post again, but as of right now, the original courses are intact and the chatbot is 100% optional (or nonexistent, depending on the target language). and, hey, remember i said they were looking to see how users felt about the ai stuff in the italian program? if you see any ai bullshit in a busuu course, send in feedback and explain Exactly why it upset you. the more data they have on unhappy users, the more likely they are to change their tune before chegg turns busuu into duolingo 2.

that's all :) tldr see if your library has mango, ask them about it if they don't; busuu seems to be tentatively moving towards ai but Only if their users let them get away with it, so don't let them! okay love you bye!!

i cannot keep quiet about this anymore.

if you're in the US or Canada and interested in learning a language using a free app please get a library card and download MANGO. it's very good and extremely free with a library card (there are many public libraries and universities using the service, so make an account and use the search feature here to find out if there's one near you).

mango currently has 72 available languages and dialects (that's right! different courses for french or canadian french! spanish or latam spanish!). it's set up basically like an audiobook with text. the idea is that the narrator explains the words while you read, and you repeat after them or say the translation out loud when prompted. there's a daily review where you go through flashcards. you can also use the flashcards at your leisure and create your own. at the end of each chapter there's a listening comprehension quiz and a reading comprehension quiz. i cannot emphasize how effective this all is. and it's free with a card.

if you're not in the US or Canada and/or looking for something more like duolingo (don't use duolingo btw tldr they fired translators and replaced them with "ai"), then try BUSUU! it only has 14 languages atm but the lessons are really descriptive and effective. it also has a feature where you can correct other people's open-ended speaking/typing exercises. you set your fluent languages, and exercises by people learning those languages will appear in your feed for you to correct. you can even add others as friends! and, much like duolingo, it has a streak and leaderboard system for you to strive for, minus the guilt-tripping owl.

busuu is free (you watch ads to unlock lessons and they're all skippable after like five seconds), although it also has paid premium/plus versions (i don't use the paid version—the language courses are available for free, and the ad system is Really unobtrusive).

so that's my wisdom for the day. mango and busuu. please check them out :)

[silvyysthings]

armie lies a lot about lizard and always try to save her no matter what and he lies Beautifully that any random internet person with little knowledge will belive him "aww such a good parents who are now friends for their kids" and I always felt he is so stupid to do that he should have had a sole custody but now I'm realizing it maybe was not possible with all the women coming forward and telling what monster he is. No court will give even joint custody to that person and even in impulse he would have told what his wife did to him and how she is a fraud, emotionally abusive and what not then maybe the custody of kids for any of them could be in danger because even if armie was cleared of charges he still had issues with dating/hooking up or drus or alcohol and everything he was not doing good mentally and he wouldn't have gotten custody. The only option was to play safe and say BOTH will take care of the kids. I think this is why he got custody by saving lizard's face. Remember she even tried to sell the story that how he is dangerous around kids.

Thank God she didn't get the sole custody now seeing him getting emotional and the way he talks about his kids is so heart warming. Love this father💙

agree anon 💙 he did everything for his children

[darth-mortem]

I brought you my new fanfiction about 09 Ghost and Soap.

Ghost is seriously injured and wants only one thing—to close his eyes and let the darkness engulf him. Captain MacTavish realizes that if he allows this to happen before help arrives, Riley will never wake up.

Injury, angst, hurt/comfort, no one die. 1752 words.

Ghost's entire body was shaking uncontrollably. It wasn't cold here, quite the opposite: the warm summer evening was slowly turning into night; the crowns of ancient trees rustled slightly in the barely perceptible breeze; wood crackled in an old but sturdy metal stove. It was hot in the small hut in the middle of the forest, but the cold was not coming from outside but from inside.

Ghost was injured and had lost a lot of blood. He wanted to close his eyes and just fall asleep, but Soap, his captain, who had returned to rescue him, causing them both to miss the exfil, would not let him. He hugged Ghost, pressed him to his chest, talked to him and asked questions, forced him to pay attention and stay conscious.

“Come on, Riley, what would you choose?” Captain MacTavish asked.

“What...?” Ghost managed to squeeze out, realizing he had missed the first half of what was said.

You can keep reading here or on the Ao3

“Where would you like to go on vacation?” Soap repeated patiently, gently running his hand down Riley’s back. “To the sea, to the mountains, or maybe to a city?”

“I'd like to stay at the base.” Ghost replied in a weak voice and bowed his heavy head to the captain's chest.

“That's not an option.” He said sternly and shook the lieutenant gently so as not to cause him more pain. “After you're patched up, we're going on vacation, and that's final.”

“We?“ Ghost asked, trying to remember if Soap had mentioned this earlier.

“Yes, we.” He nodded. “Why not? Roach is injured too, and Price and I can't do all the work ourselves. We've needed a break for a long time.”

It was true. 141 had been working almost non-stop for the last two months, and perhaps if the soldiers had had even a few days' respite, things would have turned out differently today. They would have been more alert and focused and would have all come out solid. Instead, Roach hesitated and was shot in the leg, and Ghost, covering his retreat, noticed an enemy lurking behind a burning building too late. If the distance had been greater, his bulletproof vest would have saved him, but the shot was almost point-blank. The bullet entered somewhere under his ribs, and in the first few seconds, Riley felt no pain, only a weakness that suddenly fell upon him like a heavy weight, causing his fingers to unclench and drop his rifle. The next shot was supposed to be his last, and it rang out, but for some reason, instead of the lieutenant, an enemy fell, and he himself was picked up by someone's strong hands and dragged away from that cursed place. Of course, it was Soap; he had noticed that Ghost had fallen behind and returned for him, just as Riley himself would have done if they had switched places.

“Then let's go somewhere warm.” Riley said hoarsely, forcing his unresponsive lips and tongue to move. “I'm so cold...”

“I know, Riley, I know.” Soap pulled him closer and gently stroked the back of his head. “Hang in there a little longer, okay? The medevac will be here soon.”

Dragging Ghost to the exfil point, MacTavish didn't yet know how bad it was, although he had a pretty good idea. If the wound had been minor, Riley wouldn't have been hanging on his shoulder like a dead weight, barely able to move his legs, which were buckling from weakness and leaving a trail of blood behind him. Ghost himself couldn't see it, but there had to be a lot of blood. So much that the captain decided not to throw Riley over his shoulder and run to the helicopter but to lay him on the ground and start first aid immediately. In doing so, he probably saved Ghost's life. And then he did it again here, in the hut, when he pulled out the bullet, stopped the bleeding completely, and bandaged the wound so tightly that Riley had trouble breathing.

“Don't sleep!” Soap shouted sharply, shaking the lieutenant's shoulder again, and he groaned weakly and forced himself to lift his heavy eyelids. “You have to stay with me, Riley, do you copy?”

“Why?” Ghost asked, barely audibly.

He knew perfectly well that despite all his many skills and brilliant efficiency, he was the one who could be sacrificed in this team. He didn't wait for orders to go into the most dangerous areas, to cover the retreat of others, or to be the first to check rooms where the enemy might be hiding. He never hesitated to shield his comrades from bullets with his own body. Especially if Captain MacTavish was in danger.

“Why?!” Soap asked indignantly, and the lieutenant felt him tense up. “Are you serious, Riley? After I barely got you here, you ask me why?!”

“I'm sorry...” Ghost whispered and shuddered, as if waiting for a punch.

“No, no.” MacTavish immediately changed his tone. ”It's fine, Riley. Everything's fine, all right? You're just tired, and I shouldn't have yelled at you.”

His hand moved again, stroking Ghost's head and back until he slowly relaxed. It was pitiful how much he needed such simple affection, but he was truly exhausted and couldn't control himself. If anyone else had been there, he would never have allowed them to touch him any more than was necessary to help him, but Soap... Soap was different. With him, Riley always felt safe; he trusted him; he knew that the captain would never hurt him or allow anyone else to do so if he could help it.

“Riley.” MacTavish called again. ”Wake up, Riley. Can you hear me?”

Ghost didn't move or respond. His eyelids fell again, and he didn't have the strength to lift them. It felt so comfortable lying in MacTavish's arms, pressing his ear against his chest, and hearing his heart beating. For some reason, it began to beat faster, but the lieutenant couldn't understand why.

“Simon.” Soup said quietly, involuntarily squeezing him tighter in his arms. ”Please, Simon, don't leave me. I need you, you hear? You're the most precious thing I have.”

The captain's voice sounded as if from afar, and Ghost could barely make out individual words. It seemed like Soap was calling his name and asking him for something. His voice was soft, even tender; he was saying such nice things to Riley, things that would have made his scarred heart beat faster if he could have understood more than just a few words.

““Please, Simon.” Soap repeated, feeling his eyes begin to burn unbearably. ”You've held on so long, you can't leave me now. I still have so much to tell you...”

With a titanic effort of will, Riley forced himself to move, pushing away the sticky darkness that clouded his consciousness. He didn't understand the words directed at him, but he could hear the sadness in MacTavish's voice. And the last thing Ghost wanted in the world was to make the captain sad. He tried to say that he could hear him and to ask Soap to keep talking; it didn't matter what, just talk so that his voice would be an anchor keeping Riley from sinking deeper. He parted his lips, but only a quiet moan escaped his throat.

“Are you still with me, Simon?” Soap bowed his head, looking into his clouded eyes, and even through the half-wiped black combat paint, he could see him turn pale. ”Can you hear me? Do you understand me?”

Ghost thought about his questions for a moment, then nodded weakly. He really did begin to understand MacTavish's words again, as if death, which had already taken him by the hand, had briefly receded. Instead of its icy, bony fingers, Riley's hand was grasped by others, gentle and warm, and he made an effort to squeeze them weakly in response.

“Good.” Soap nodded, understanding the gesture as “yes,” and glanced at his watch. “Help is almost here, and you have to wait for it, because if you die here, in my arms, I...”

MacTavish faltered. It sounded so simple in his head, but how difficult it was to put it into words!

“I don't want to go on if you stay here.” Finally, Soap squeezed out. “Without you, it won't make any sense.”

“Why?” Riley's voice whispered in response, quiet, barely audible, almost unlike the voice of a living person.

“Because...” MacTavish closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath. ”Because I love you, you fucking idiot! Isn't that obvious?!”

A faint smile touched Riley's deathly pale lips, and then the sound of helicopter blades could be heard somewhere very close by.

***

Ghost slowly opened his eyes and immediately squinted against the bright white light that blinded him. He smelled the familiar, hateful scent of antiseptics, heard the steady electronic beeping, and realized he was in a hospital. He had survived, though he probably shouldn't have. After waiting a few seconds, maybe minutes, Riley opened first one eye, then the other. The light was still unpleasant, but at least he could now make out something other than it.

Next to his bed, hunched over an uncomfortable hard chair, sat MacTavish. His eyes were closed, but he could hardly have been sleeping in that position. With one hand he rested on his knee, and with the other he clutched Ghost's still cold hand, as if afraid that if he let go, it would be forever. Riley looked at his slumped shoulders, his tousled mohawk, and memories of what had happened began to surface from the medicated fog that enveloped his consciousness.

“You're the most precious thing I have.” MacTavish had said to him there in the hut.

“I don't want to go on if you stay here.”

“I love you.”

Riley tried to move his fingers, and, miraculously, he succeeded. He squeezed Soap's hand, who immediately woke up, raised his head, and looked anxiously at his face, now covered only by a thin medical mask.

“MacTavish.” Ghost croaked, tried to clear his throat, and grimaced, feeling the pain dulled by the anesthetics. “John.”

“Yes, Simon?” The captain replied in a nervous, alarmed voice.

“I love you too.” Said the lieutenant, smiling weakly.

John smiled back at him, then leaned down and gently touched the scar on his nose bridge with his lips. Things would be different now, but that didn't scare Simon at all. Ghost's mask had protected him all these years, but now it was no longer necessary.

[team7-headquarter]

If Minato had chosen to stay alive and Kushina had taken Kurama with her as she died, in which case Naruto wouldn't be a jinchuuriki...

How much do you think he would have paralleled Sakumo?

Because Minato and Sakumo were great ninjas, yet neither of them could bear their own sorrow enough to stay alive for their sons. They were too loyal to Konoha, they cared too much about what the village thought, they both abandoned their kids and gave in to the pressure of being a hero / a leader figure for Konoha.

Kakashi was assigned to Kushina, so how much of the dad's responsibility would have been passed to Kakashi since Minato was still Hokage? Minato loved Naruto, that's not to be argued. He wanted so badly to be a dad. It's just that when given the option to be a widower father and allow Kushina to see Naruto in the future, he judged the mother role to be more important. I didn't know how to be a dad without Kushina being a mother by his side, that's another fact.

Do you think Minato would have (at some point) looked at Kakashi and felt at least a bit guilty for almost leaving Naruto alone?

Do you think Minato would have looked at his last student differently if he had realized how Sakumo must have felt and what he did?

If Minato had stayed alive and if he had prevented the Uchiha massacre, do you think it would have been enough for him to realize just how rotten the heart of Konoha was? Enough for him to realize that Hiruzen had hidden a lot and failed a lot in his time as Hokage? That he's glad he stayed alive to stop it, because he doesn't know if Hiruzen would have greenlighted the massacre?

Just how much Minato would understand then, after trying to decide between saving his loved ones and fulfilling his duty to the village, after he had to balance being Hokage with being a dad...

If he would think of another genius Shinobi from a minor clan. If he would have remembered another clan massacred that ended with Kushina being all alone in Konoha, the family and the land she knew forever lost to her. If the memory of Sakumo and Kushina would have changed him.

If he had been brave enough to live, instead of trusting the weight of the world upon Naruto's shoulders because of a strange prophecy.