#think i've touched on this before

[floweycidal]

i keep thinking about how flowey had to construct the very concept of cruelty from the ground up.

not from watching anyone else, not by osmosis, but by cobbling it together himself in the garden where he woke up. alone.

this was a child who fell asleep to his mother's stories, who knew every inflection of his father's laugh. who spent endless golden afternoons with his sibling, both of them doubled over with giggles as they filmed their silly videos, messing up on purpose just to hear each other laugh. again. and again. and again.

so warm. so safe. where the gravest offense imaginable was maybe tracking mud on the carpet.

the worst fear, disappointing people who would love you anyway.

where could he even begin?

save. say these words that once meant comfort, but twist them just so. watch their eyes dim as something inside them breaks. load.

save. make a promise—you remember those, how snug they once made you feel—then shatter it. document exactly how hope crumbles. load.

save. try another combination. another betrayal. watch what splinters differently this time. load.

the world's loneliest science experiment.

look at the cruelty he creates, it's all so personal, specific. so devastatingly asriel.

watch how often he comes back to the idea of being replaced. of being forgotten. how he taunts you with the possibility that none of your relationships matter, that everyone will move on without you. that none of your choices mean anything in the end.

your fault. your responsibility.

if only he you hadn't made anyone love him you. If only he you hadn't loved them back.

of course he'd fixate on all that. how could he not? his mother, who used to speak his name like it was sacred, those tender words she reserved for him—for THEM—are now handed out indiscriminately, like candy to anyone who asks.

all he can do is take note: see how easily love transfers? see how simple it is to fade away?

so, he sneers. taunts you with the thought that it's all dust. you're just another passing face in the crowd. nothing lasts. nothing is worth the weight of caring. but even as he pushes that narrative, as his voice drips with contempt, he is still out there. in the ruins. checking on her.

observing from a distance, like maybe if he watches long enough, his past will solidify into something he can hold again.

flowey develops his cruelty like he's trying to solve an equation. if this word plus this action equals pain, then surely there must be some formula that yields not caring anymore.

if he'd just gotten it right. if he'd just kept everyone at a distance. if he could just be flowey. save. load. the answer has to be here somewhere.

but how do you quantify the sting of hearing her say "my child" to someone else? how do you account for the absence left in the places where joy once thrived? how do you document, in clinical terms, why you keep watching over people you swear don't matter anymore?

you don't devote yourself to perfecting devastation unless you remember, with searing clarity, what it felt like to be whole.

you don't give so much of yourself mastering the art of ridiculing attachment unless you're terrified of how much you still have left to give.

unless every attempt to prove love meaningless just confirms how much meaning it still has for you.

...point IS! flowey did an interesting job creating his own idea of a bully. it's all pathological. so crudely stemmed from his own sorrows and fears. he's created his own textbook definition of meanness...but then every chapter's just him screaming in a mirror.

[crabsnpersimmons]

How would Sun from your have you eaten au feel about hugs? He seems like he's so reserved and you mentioned that because he knows he's a robot he isn't very indulgent

But would he like hugs? Or could he warm up to them eventually?

(was chatting with @inkydoughnut the other day and i realized i never posted this comic woops 😂)

well well! Sun is no stranger to hugs! he doesn't usually initiate hugs, but he's used to receiving them from when he was a daycare attendant. he's never really learned when is a good time to pull back tho, so he often stays put until you pull back first:

Eclipse: Sun, we have dishes to wash.

Sun: You have 4 hands. And Moon.

[anjasitdown]

Love how Denji's more self-aware than what we give him credit for

[daily-odile]

drew a scene from @dunkalfredo's modern/scifi au... it's so good

[sergle]

something weird going on right now vis a vis the depression, the suicidal ideation, and the heartbreak-- I can actually feel that I'm vaulting some of this stuff. like, my mind all but refusing to touch it. it's being put in the vault? I'm going numb a little bit

[canisalbus]

I really appriciate how often Machete is depicted struggling and feeling like a burden, while still being loved and supported by Vasco. It gives the top tier angst of "i'm not good enough, I'm not worth it" but you frame it in such a way where it's clear that's just how he *feels* and is not how things really are, but also it's so nice to see someone who struggles quite often in a loving and unique relationship that suits them. The narrative of not being able to love or be loved unless you're consistently healthy is really tiring lol.

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[skitskatdacat63]

2011 Monaco Grand Prix - Vettonso

[hero-of-the-wolf]

poke poke I’m poking you for your thougyts on the update in return 👀

-Sky floor

*is poked* oh!! sure thing >:3

this update got me literally VIBRATING in excitement I'm ngl skshsksvsksbks

So!!! We start out with Wild and Four chatting; it's been really lovely to see them growing closer over the last couple of chapters :)

And Wild immediately picks up on the fact that Four is worried!!!

Four expresses his concerns about Twi and we cut to this totally not ominous and significantly colored panel—

I don't think I've seen a lot of people talk about this part, but I really love this conversation in the beginning. Wild has so much faith in Twi, he's got his back, he even brings it up to Time!!!

Skipping around a little bit, look at these two nerds analyzing the architecture. They're so smart....

and yet so dumb at the same time 😭

(I love them sm)

.... I feel like this is more me pointing excitedly at the pretty pictures but !!!!!!!! We've been getting SO many good character interactions lately and I can't wait to see how Jojo handles the upcoming pairs going forwards :D

all pictures @/linkeduniverse

and tagging @skyward-floored as well :)

[kaiserouo]

can i get on his shoulder if im being annoying enough

[capesandshapes]

Some of the most disgusting and vile things I've ever heard said about women cis or trans has come from men in the gaming and nerd culture communities who feel an entitlement to female affection and sexuality due to grandiose fairytale bullshit that they're too stupid to realize was crafted by America's tech millionaires who were trying to foster a sense of a community and pacify underpaid workers with a promise of a greater tomorrow in which money and pussy would rain from the heavens as a reward for their suffering. Look to the great leader (whose parents are definitely only a little rich) as an example of what you the everyman whose overtime is paid in bottled waters can accomplish.

Like "I'm a nerd, not like other guys. Girls were really into the jocky ones growing up but little did they know I'm going to be rich and famous because I like computers and magic the gathering-- my computer science degree and superior intellect means I am entitled pussy from these feeble minded women. Watch me degrade the stupid sluts who don't want me."

Homie ur a weirdo. You can open Microsoft command prompt and build a rollercoaster in Minecraft. Maybe once or twice you've entered the BIOS menu via spamming the f key of your choosing. You're not breaking new pussy guaranteed 'how dare she not' ground here.

[castleinthemist]

kinda want to make a big organised by genre/type of play "recommended games" list but i also still don't feel i've actually played enough both in depth and bredth to really make something that doesn't feel trite or well trod.

[arttsuka]

I love it when a fandom randomly 'claims' a song. Yes bestie do it, make 1000 edits with that song please

[mars-ipan]

they're so GROSSSSSS (<- desperately wants what they have)

alt color under the cut:

[softquietsteadylove]

part 2:

thena being vulnerable about how much she enjoys physical touch (tyrant king/ice queen AU)

Thena inhaled as she woke up. She wasn't on Gil's office couch, or even her own. In a moment of weakness, she had allowed their affair to move to his apartment.

It wasn't good business to see each other's homes.

But, well, since he had stuck around for so long yesterday she had agreed to have dinner together. Then, after dinner, they had been a bit handsy in the car home. One thing led to another, and now...

The Ice Queen squeezed her eyes shut again. She was taking all this way too far. It was supposed to be a one-time thing, maybe a time or two more. Just an affair of the flesh, to settle the nerves and satiate a hunger.

She looked over at him. The Tyrant King was a heavy sleeper, his arm thrown around her and slightly ragged breathing just short of snorting coming from him. He was beautiful, in his own kind of way.

Thena attempted to extricate herself, but his arm reflexively closed tighter around her. She huffed; what a terrible time for him to have a protective side. She scolded herself; it wasn't a lover being protective, it was...resource hoarding. Like trying to take a bone from a sleeping dog.

She looked around the room, although further to her distress there were only a few pieces of his suit strewn around on the dark tile floors of his bedroom. Then it occurred to her; her dress was down the hall. She tried to slip out of his grasp again.

"What do you think you're doing, Ice?"

Part of her didn't want to admit that he had deceived her. She wouldn't have been able to say the moment when he had gone from slumbering to dreary but awake. He pried one eye open to look at her.

She glared at him. "I have to go, Gilgamesh."

"Why," he grumbled, letting himself wake slowly. He pulled her even closer to him as he shifted in the bed. He had silk sheets, which was such a cliche move for a man in his position. Sexy, maybe, but not particularly breathable fabric. It would make more sense to have silk pillows and cotton sheets (like she did).

"Because," she argued weakly, finding herself pressed to his body, nestled against his side, their naked skin fighting for each other's warmth. She put her hands up between them, pushing on his flank. She couldn't let herself sink too deep into him, right now. Not if she wanted any hope of maintaining some willpower.

"S'not an answer," Gilgamesh rumbled. She could feel it in her palms on his ribs, and his voice was even deeper and more gravelly first thing in the morning. Not that it made a difference to her.

"Because I shouldn't have come here," she muttered, hoping perhaps her acerbic tone would convince him she was not the bedfellow type. They should have kept things to the office environment. They could walk away from the office, no strings attached.

She wouldn't have had dinner with him if they weren't in her office already. And if he had let his own car take him home, they wouldn't have been all over each other in the back of hers. And if they hadn't made it all the way to Koreatown and been in the middle of things...

"Hey."

Thena opened her eyes again. Very unfortunately, he was looking at her now. His head tilted to the side, just barely on his pillow at all, he gazed at her. Her eyes slid closed as he kissed her (even more unfortunate).

He kissed her more--deeper, and as he did, he rolled over onto his side to be closer to her. Both arms wrapped around her, his hands sliding up the smooth expanse of her back. Her hands were still pressed to his chest, although she wasn't doing much pushing.

He moaned, and it travelled from his tongue to hers. She whimpered in reflex, but she managed some strength to press against his chest harder. He pulled away, obeying her wishes, but she wouldn't have said he looked happy about it. "Okay, what's up?"

She avoided his eyes. She had to follow through with her plan, otherwise she would languish in his arms all day. "I told you. I have to leave."

"No, you don't," he argued with her, because he loved arguing with her. "You don't have any work, you don't have any meetings. And I'm sure as hell not kickin' you out, so why?"

Because she was lying in his bed, naked, after spending the night. After sleeping with him, and leaving herself so horrifyingly vulnerable she shrivelled at the thought, now. Because she was supposed to be the one in control of this - it wasn't a relationship - business agreement.

He didn't pull her closer but he gave her waist a squeeze in the crook of his elbow, making sure she knew he didn't want to let her go. "Thena?"

Calling her by her name was a low blow. She wanted to stay. She wanted to let him scoop her up in those arms of his as she burrowed into him like a cozy blanket. She wanted to let go of being the Ice Queen, even for a few hours.

But their lives didn't allow them respite like that.

"Hey," he whispered to her again, and so tenderly he was truly making her rethink everything. "Look, if you really wanna go, then okay. I'll get your clothes; I'll take you home myself, no drivers. Just tell me why you can't stay."

She finally looked at him, but what a mistake that was. He was looking at her so gently, eyes so soft, so brown, so sad. Perhaps her dog analogy had been more truthful than she initially thought. But she couldn't let his cute puppy-dog eyes sway her. She kept trying to put some distance between them, even just a breath of air between her skin and his. "I have to leave eventually."

"So?"

"Why not now?"

"Because I was enjoying holding you."

She looked away, hoping he would think she was rolling her eyes at him. His finger was toying with her hair, twirling it, tracing little circles on her back through its shroud. "I didn't take you for a cuddler, Tyrant."

But he didn't take her bait. He wasn't riled in the slightest. But he was becoming more alert, and his eyes continued to sharpen, if only to gaze at her. "I could say the same to you."

Her temper spiked in an instant; how could she forget she was the more snappy of the two of them? "I am not-!"

Gilgamesh took the opportunity to kiss her again, and it was like smothering a candle with a pinch of his fingers. He extinguished her in seconds, kissing her like it was their last. Even when they parted, he hovered close, their breath inhabiting the same space. "Is it so bad--if I wanna hold the woman I made love to?"

She squirmed. She hated that he called it that. And he had from the outset of their 'agreement'. It was ridiculous, because there was no need for him to act the romantic when he knew just as well as she did that they had to conduct themselves with discretion.

She hated that he called it that, because she felt loved. It felt beautiful when they were intimate. In all her attempts to keep things sterile and physical and without the veil of romance, Gilgamesh seemed determined. And, while she blamed it on the chemistry of her hormone-addled brain, she was...happy.

She liked having him around, even after they were done being positively carnal with each other. She enjoyed exercising her power and control, and yet she wouldn't let him sleep on her couch or stay for lunch if she truly wanted to be rid of him. Likewise, she didn't have to ride with him, and she didn't have to let him put his hand on her knee or wrap his arm around her shoulders when she did.

Especially because those simple touches usually led to something else happening.

"Thena," he called out to her, breaking through the glacial wall of thoughts consuming her at the moment. "You with me?"

She huffed at him, as if she were not the one who had completely tuned out of their current predicament. She forced herself to focus her eyes on him again. "Unfortunately."

He just grinned, like he liked her distaste for being with him. It made her feel as if he could see a part of her she was trying desperately to hide away from him.

His arms wound around her again, his leg dragged down hers, tickling her with its hair. He pulled her closer, burying her face in his chest. There was hair there too, but she didn't mind it. His arms blurred in her periphery, but she could make out some colour, there. His tattoos were still coloured from when she had decided he was a good art therapy for her after a long day.

"If you wanna go, then okay," he whispered to her, cradling her against him like he was truly afraid of that possibility. "But I'm asking, Ice. No teasing, no jokes, tell me for real: do you want to leave, or are you just scared to let me hold you like this?"

She was terrified of it. Because every time he got close to holding her, she caved. She crumbled like freshly fallen snow, because oh, how she loved to be held. Every time his hand held hers in greeting or touched her back or her knee, it was bliss.

She straightened her spine, which she had kept arched so she wouldn't have to let her front be too closely pressed to his. She untangled her knees to allow him more room. Instead of pushing back on his chest she let her hands relax. She could feel his heart beating, steady and strong. It was intoxicating.

Gilgamesh felt her relax in his embrace. He relaxed, too. And now he was just holding her, enjoying her mere presence in the morning warmth. He pressed a kiss to her temple.

She sighed at it. This was the weakness she was more determined than anything not to allow. Because if she started letting him hold her then what if he got other ideas, and what if she was too infatuated with his touch to protect herself?

"I do."

With some grace, he kept quiet, even as she snuck her arms around him. She slid her hands up his back, clutching at his lower shoulder. His back was so wide, shoulders so thickly muscled. He was so warm.

"Like it," she admitted directly into his chest, unable to look at him as she confessed her sin. She inhaled, taking in the scent of him, the warmth of him, even the lingering scent they left on the sheets.

He inhaled, kissing her forehead and re-situating them again. He had no intention of letting go of her, did he? "Was that so hard?"

She gave his side a pinch, but it only made him chuckle. "What happened to keeping things professional?"

"Your rules, Ice," he reminded her. Because he was the romantic one. "I think it's okay if we break 'em every once in a while. Don't you?"

She was breaking all of them, lounging in his bed with him like this.

His hand trailed over her back again, as if the smoothness of her skin was just too much to resist. "Anything else you don't want me to know?"

She gave him a withering look as he pulled away just enough to grin at her. He pried her hand off his back, just so he could intertwine their fingers. "Not on your life."

He brought her hand to his lips, gleeful to express his affections so simply. "Fine, I'll ask you later."

She rolled her eyes; this was exactly her fear. She let him hold her one morning and now he was going to be like an insipid young lover, giddy at the thought of wooing her.

"Hey," he nudged her face, kissing her cheek and then nuzzling under her jaw. "Much as I wanna lie around here with your sweet ass all morning-"

"Gilgamesh," she chided.

"I'm starving," he whimpered, still having a little too much fun. He planted a tender kiss at the base of her neck. "All that business we did last night, huh?"

Thena blushed, but only while he wasn't looking at her to see it.

"What do you want? I'll make you anything your heart desires, Princess," he promised eagerly, practically wagging his tail.

She groaned faintly, both at the idea of getting up, of trying to locate her dress from last night, of sitting around his flat in yesterday's clothes like some tawdry-

"Here!"

Gil left her with one more kiss before rolling out of his side of the bed. He hunted around the room a little, examining what clothes of his were at hand.

Thena averted her eyes. Seeing him...bouncing...in the light of day was too much.

"Ha!" Gilgamesh declared his victory, retrieving the rumpled black shirt he had shed last night in the heat of their activities. He brought it back to her, eyes bright, tail wagging. "You can wear this."

She sighed, clutching his sheets to her. He wasn't going to give this up. And he had so eagerly retrieved something for her to shield some modesty for herself. And he was a good cook (she already knew that). And she was hungry.

Gil bent his head, dragging his lips down her wrist as she accepted the shirt from him.

And she had to force herself to pull away from it. "It's not exactly my colour."

But even as she pulled the shirt on and buttoned it, he leaned over her shoulder. He pulled her hair out of his way to kiss her cheek again. "You look good in every colour."

Her eyes closed as he tipped her chin up to kiss her properly. His lips really did feel like they were made for hers. This just kept getting worse and worse.

He kept her chin in his grasp, as if admiring her just for the pleasure of it. She pouted at him and he swiped his thumb over her lip. "Especially in mine."

Thena averted her eyes again as Gilgamesh went looking for some pants. No matter what concessions she was making to stay here - and just for the morning, she told herself - she was not going to parade herself around naked! How he was comfortable doing so was beyond her.

"Ready?" he turned back to her as he secured some sweatpants around his hips. They weren't pulled up particularly high, she noted, eyeing the bend of his hips and the trail of hair promising more just behind the drawstrings of its waist. But she nodded.

"Gil!" she chastised him more firmly as he scooped her up out of the bed and into his arms. At least she wasn't completely uncovered for it, but this wasn't some romantic comedy. "Stop it! I can walk just fine!"

"Come on, Princess," he chuckled, letting her snarl and hiss at him all she wanted. His only reply was to look down at her with pure, unmitigated adoration. "It's called the 'royal treatment' for a reason."

She huffed, letting him carry her to the kitchen because what was she to do?--throw herself to the ground? And somewhere along the way, she did relax into his embrace more. And somewhere deep down, she found it just a little charming that he was such a romantic.

And even deeper down, she liked that even when he put her down, he kept her hand in his unless it was otherwise occupied.

[fidgetspringer]

I knew my old place of work treated us like dogshit. I knew England treated minimum wage workers like they're less than human.

But nothing has driven that fact home more than telling my new coworkers about what Tesco was like and having them look at me in absolute horror.

[kaikamahine]

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