#this has been so fun to organize and i'll make a proper post about it later once more fics have been submitted but!! so proud of everyone

[johnslittlespoon]

Only You Can Cool My Desire

[WC: 6K | Gale Cleven/John Egan, Tough And Sweet AU, Summer, Heatwaves, Ice Play, Blow Jobs, Light Dom/Sub, Teasing, Orgasm Delay]

“Gale,” John gets out, wriggling where he’s trapped beneath Gale’s arms. “I’m cooled down, please, can you–”

His plea breaks off into a curse when Gale lets the ice cube in his palm slide onto John’s stomach, watching as it settles in the dip of his belly button, John’s skin so fever–hot that Gale can immediately see the smallest pool of water beginning to form.

“You’ve been whining about being hot all week,” Gale says, pressing his lips to John’s thigh, feeling the muscle twitch at his touch. “I’m just helpin’ you out.”

[AO3 LINK]

[tinydefector]

Can we get a first contact au with Rodimus becoming increasingly possessive towards the human the lost light found.

My Human

Rodimus x Human First contact AU

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: none

Rodimus masterlist

Request are open, please go to pinned post to read rules.

Rules and Masterlist

Had a lot of fun writing this. I may have written him as more Protective Possessions than anything else, but all up, I'm very happy with how this turned out. But I've seen so where the human is distressed by Possesive Rodimus in First contact Aus so I wanted to go with them being just as distressed about being taken away from him.

________

Rodimus hated this, he hated being away from his little human. He paces back and forth in front of medlab, at this rate he would wear marks into the floor, he regretted that his little friend had been found out. It had resulted in Ratchet and Ultra Magnus taking them from his care. It had now been nearly three cycles since they had been taken from him and he didn't like when others were in charge of their care. 

Ratchet and Ultra Magnus believed he wasn't skilled enough to care for them. Yes there was a language barrier between them but they had been working on it with hand signals, nods and head shakes along with visual items. He was gentle with them, he did his best to make them comfortable and they didn't set off any signs that they felt uncomfortable or upset with him. 

Rodimus keeps his energy field taut with restraint, his optics flick to the door as he faces Ratchet, though his unrest is clear. "Look, I know you and Magnus think I'm not 'responsible' enough or whatever, but that's my little human! I've been taking good care of them since picking them up, You can't just keep me away from them!." His plating flares briefly. " you both swoop in, say I'm not 'qualified,' and carry them off for your tests and whatnot. Please just let me see them!" Rodimus remains poised, despite his clear frustration he tries to not let it show.

Ratchet isn't impressed by the situation, Rodimus had hidden the human for who knows how long before they found out about them and it was due to the fact Swerve had seen the human with Rodimus late one cycle. The medic had a hard time trusting Rodimus to be responsible for such a fragile being. 

The smaller beings' eyes light up the moment they see Rodimus, a small collection of thrills and vocal chirps falling from them as they see the Speedster finally being let into medical, they stand quickly moving to the edge of the table calling out to him eagerly.  

Ratchet huffs in exasperation as the human calls out so eagerly for the red mech. He grudgingly has to admit their attachment seems genuine. But that doesn't absolve proper procedure. Rodimus had withheld information, hidden an organic, he was lucky that they were in good health otherwise Ratchet wouldn't have let him within the radius of the lab. 

"Alright, alright, calm down, both of you." Ratchet levels a stern glare between them. "I'm letting you see each other as a trial, Rodimus. One slip-up and they go right back to my care, and you do not get to see them at all. got it?" 

Rodimus nods eagerly, and Ratchet steps aside with reluctance. The human chirps happily as he swiftly moves closer to the table they are stood on. "Be gentle, and watch your energy, you're lucky you haven't caused any medical problems" Ratchet grumbles. But his rebuke as he reads over the few tests he had run over them. 

Rodimus beams down at his human. "Missed you too. Don't listen to Ratch', okay? I'll always keep you safe." He directs the latter at Ratchet. The medic huffs but doesn't disagree. Seeing the human's contentment, maybe Rodimus has earned his chance after all. He'd be keeping a close optic on the two.

The human almost flings themself at Rodimus snuggling against his plating, had it been any other Mech their plating would have been cold but Rodimus ran hot due to his Outlier ability and they seemed to swarm to him for the heat. Their arms curl around his shoulder plating little thrills leaving them in delight to see him after not being able to see him for days now.

Eventually they pull away hands moving quickly as more noises leave them, trying to ask him questions he can't understand, giving a rather rude gesture towards Ratchet as they voice their displeasure over being stuck here. Ratchet isn't particularly happy but given the circumstances it was better than the human needing multiple injections and a drip. 

Rodimus chuckles at the rude gesture aimed at Ratchet. "Eheh, I'll let that one slide since I know he's been keeping you against your will." He hums softly while pulling them back into a hug which they eagerly accept. "But play nice," Rodimus whispers, directing a pointed look at Ratchet. "Don't want Ratch' banning me from visits, y'know?" 

Rodimus strokes their back gently, happy to finally have them back even if it was only for a little, he didn't like it but he would fight if it came down to that so they didn't have to stay in the Medlab. 

It's only when Ultra Magnus walks into the room does the human become rather vocal, seeming to scowl in displeasure, another flurry of noise coming from them as they clinging to Rodimus expecting the larger mech to take them again.

 After all this was a massive violation of ship conduct having a human on board and Rodimus had hidden them for who knows how long. Rodimus himself was still rather angry over the separation for cycles. Magnus' field bleeds disapproval as he notes the organics ferocity. " Rodimus, your failure to disclose finding an intelligent alien has compromised ship safety. That you concealed them speaks poorly of your leadership. Do you have any idea what could have happened if it was another species, think of the Viruses, and other contamination you could have brought onto this ship!"

Rodimus' plating flares indignantly. "They were scared! I was looking after them, making sure they had everything they needed, rather than dragging them in here for pit knows what kind of tests and dragged me to the brig!" 

"Enough, both of you!" Ratchet interjects sternly. "Arguing will solve nothing. Your disapproval is clear, Magnus, but separating them now could cause harm. For their sake, I advise they remain in Rodimus' care, But they are to be brought in Every Luna Cycle for check ups, do I make myself clear captain?."

Magnus' optics narrow, he goes to argue about the situation, But the sound of heavy foot fall makes them tense as Megatron stalks in, red optics lingering on the group. The co-captain looks to Rodimus with a raised brow before his optics flicker to the human in his arms. "What is the issue here?" He finally asked. Rodimus' fields blast protectiveness as Megatron's gaze settles on the human clinging to him. "There's no issue, Megatron. Just everyone freaking out that I took in a stray. As if providing refuge is a crime." 

Magnus stiffens. "Harbouring an unknown organism without informing command put the whole ship at risk. Repercussions must follow regulations."

Ratchet shoots him a glare. "Perhaps. But separating them now risks worse harm." He faces Megatron decisively. Megatron considers it thoughtfully. While Rodimus broke protocol. 

" they remain in Rodimus' care. But you will face consequences, Rodimus, for keeping them hidden, you should have come to one of us over this when you found them." His gaze levels on Magnus, daring dissent. Magnus' field churns discontent but he nods curtly. Rodimus flashes Megatron a covert grateful look. “Look I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone but I knew this was how Magnus was going to react, they needed help and I wasn't just going to leave them” 

The group continued talking about how things would proceed from there. It's only after the medical check is finished are the two finally allowed to leave, the human clinging to Rodimus as he walks with them. It catches many mechs, some doing double takes and others just blatantly staring at the human shocked over the strange organic. Rodimus did his best to shield the human from prying optics as he strode briskly down the corridor. He didn't want to deal with the rest of the mechs, or overstimulate his companion. 

"It's alright,” he murmured soothingly. "Just ignore ee. They're not used to fleshies is all." He shot a warning glare at Swerve as the mini rolled by curiously. Relief washes over him as they reach his hab suite, Rodimus shut and locked the door behind them. "Whew, finally some peace! Nobody gonna bother us here, promise." 

He settled gently on his berth, cradling the human close. "I know it's all weird and scary dealing with bots as big as mechs. But you're safe with me" Rodimus' field radiated comfort as he chatted to help them relax, he knew full well they didn't understand him, but he knew the rumbles and vibrations from his chassis would calm them. He was careful not to let his distaste for how the others acted show - he knew he had messed up but it was worth it. 

They let out a soft noise as he finally laid down on his berth, it brought him comfort knowing he finally had them back safely. The human snuggles in to his plating, a hand coming up to his faceplate as they check him over as if he had been hurt. Rodimus' optics crinkled warmly at the human's gentle inspection of his faceplates. "Aww, you're checking me over now, huh? Making sure grumpy Ratch' didn't do anything to me?" 

He nuzzled their tiny hand affectionately with the tip of his nasal ridge. Primus, they were so tiny and fragile, but their caring touch warmed his spark. "Don't you worry about me, little bit. I'm tough, it'll take more than their glares to take me down." Rodimus chuckled softly. 

Turning serious, he added, "But it means a lot that you care. I'm here for you too." He let out a soft noise as they curl up against him, happy to finally have him back, it makes a smile etch into his lips as he covers them with one of his servos to make sure they don't fall off his chassis. “get some rest littlespark” he hums softly. 

_______

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[fountainpenguin]

i know youve mentioned that the dimmadomes have adhd but are there other characters in your fics that are neurodivergent? :0 if that makes sense

It's not usually mentioned in-story, but here are some that have shown up in my writing:

Humans

- You brought up the Dimmadomes having ADHD/OCD comorbidity. They're some of my favorites just in terms of me developing those headcanons somewhat separately for each one of them... starting with Dale, not Dev, actually. But Dev was a logical conclusion afterwards.

Detail I think is cute: Both Dale and Dev like Sims games because they like building nice, organized things that are under their control (Yes, Dev does have a computer in his bedroom and I imagine he uses it mostly for games). Dev likes cleaning and organizing simulators. Dale played a LOT of Sims during the 50 years of frozen time. I like to think Sims was an awakening for teen Dale in terms of same-sex relationships, but he will never, ever tell you that. Come to think of it, there's no way boy x boy manga-loving Dev is not also exploring same-sex relationships through his Sims world. Like father, like son?

Realizing how funny it would be if Doug had ADHD and OCD and that's why he jumps from one business to another and why his dream in "Mooooving Day" is a suburbia of people dressed in identical outfits living in identical houses in many identical rows still has me on the floor. I'm sorry, I just think my realization of that when I'd already headcanoned both Dale and Dev with ADHD/OCD was extremely funny. Big "Wait a minute" lightbulb moment.

Dale has several interesting things we could talk about, and they're discussed in detail in the character profile I'm posting for him next week. On his list are complex PTSD, hypervigilance, and dissociation. He also has misophonia as part of his OCD (and so does Dev).

- My OC Hadley Harrington also has ADHD/OCD comorbidity. Her big thing is hoarding OCD. I discussed it more in her character profile and we saw it in action in "50 Words of Dev and Hazel," where Dev dug through his mom's stuff to rescue an au pair that had been crushed under her hoard.

In that story, Dale told Dev he was allowed to go to a Christmas party with his peers as long as he brought back some of their wrapping paper so Dale could wrap Hadley's present. She actually likes her presents when they're made of scraps because the recycling helps her feel better than paper being wasted, plus she thinks it looks fun in videos, and Dale knows that. Just a little detail I thought was cute.

- Chloe has mild OCD. She sometimes has anxiety attacks and experiences dissociation.

- Timmy and Mikey Munroe are two other characters who have ADHD in my works and I LOVE playing them as foils for each other, with Timmy being less attentive and Mikey being more hyperactive.

- Mikey also has dyslexia (Heavily implied by canon where he struggles with the spelling bee), which is interesting. I am still obsessed that his crush (Sophie Sanders) seems to have dyscalculia. Boy who struggles with words, girl who struggles with numbers, what crimes will they commit?

- Peppy Happy Betty has severe anxiety. In the original version of "Solo" (which was posted and up for a while), she said Sanderson helped her through her self-harm struggles. I later tweaked it so she says she's been scratching herself as I didn't think the original phrasing fit with the rest of my T-rated content (and I didn't want to catch people off guard with it).

Pink and Gray is supposed to delve into her self-harm, which is part of why I plan to raise its rating when it comes off hiatus (and I'll update the tags accordingly). This is one of the stories that I expected to censor most from its original draft, but since I want to raise its rating for other reasons anyway, I'd like to explore her self-harm arc too. Carefully and with proper tags as mentioned. Betty gets into tattoos later as a way to redirect some of those feelings. I... think she has bat (Anti-Fairy) wings tattooed on her back, but I'll have to double check. Pretty sure it's bat wings.

- I'd also like to write Hazel as autistic- I've seen autistic writers talk about the many things they relate to with her and I like their portrayals.

- I've been waffling over making Kevin Crocker neurodivergent because it feels right to me, but I haven't nailed down exactly what I want to do with him. Open to suggestions, but still doing research and trying to find what feels right :)

Non-Humans

Disclaimer - My non-humans have non-human brains; I'm translating a few things from their in-universe diagnoses for clarity.

- Goldie has Harm OCD. Her species (will o' the wisps) are stereotyped as "damsels force drakes into harems" and she has a lot of paranoia regarding that.

Enter Goldie-Poof dubcon arc where Poof feels awful about expressing his relationship concerns to Goldie, knowing she'll panic about them, so he keeps hiding his feelings. "Watch and Learn" was a story where Poof broke up with Goldie, only to take her back almost immediately.

- Anti-Cosmo has bipolar disorder (hand in hand with mania, depression, dissociation, and hypersexuality). Specifically, he has a parallel of it that applies to his specific species- In-universe, he has multiple diagnoses for his condition.

Anti-Fairies refer to him as "having a lightning spirit in his head" (and those he grew up with used they/them pronouns for Anti-Cosmo in his youth because of this, in accordance with Anti-Fairy culture). Fairies diagnose him as "being a Fairy in an Anti-Fairy's body" since his mood changes are arguably similar to those of a drone without pheromone exposure.

In Fairy terms, Anti-Cosmo has divus displacement disorder, which is treated by rubbing pheromones on his face every day. This is referenced again in the sideblog post I'm putting up tomorrow (about pheromones), but Anti-Cosmo throws off a lot of people because he always smells different due to those pheromones. Fairies consider him to have a shifting identity and don't trust him.

- Anti-Cosmo's mother (Anti-Florensa) and brother (Anti-Robin Jr.) have a magical parallel of schizophrenia. His brother experiences hallucinations of the past while his mother has hallucinations about different future timelines.

Anti-Cosmo had a bad falling out with his brother around the time he figured out who he's a reincarnation of (Frayed Knots), as Anti-Robin's struggle to remember who Anti-Cosmo is in this lifetime (and react to him appropriately) strained their relationship.

In Anti-Fairy culture, they're also considered to have their souls entangled with nature spirits and are referred to as they/them by many people (though their enjoyment of being addressed that way fluctuates).

- Foop has dissociative identity disorder. I don't really have anything more to say about it. Lots of trauma going on there. Definitely some PTSD. And again, as an Anti-Fairy, his culture also diagnoses him as having a nature spirit tangled with his soul.

Unfortunately, Foop doesn't get a lot of the help he needs because Anti-Fairies tend to wave his situation off as a genetic condition rather than something trauma-related, seeing as several members of his family tree are also diagnosed with nature spirit conditions. This actually plays into why Foop connects with Fairy culture in a lot of ways (and why he has a pixie therapist, not an Anti-Fairy one).

- I think Poof has a little PTSD too and/or some anxiety, seeing as he had a panic attack at the end of "All I Ever Wanted" when talking about life with Goldie.

- Two characters of mine (a fairy named Rupert Roebeam and a pixie named Walter Keefe) have dysolfactya, which is a parallel of dyslexia I created for the inability to organize scents in your head (Not exactly the easiest thing to live with in a world that relies on pheromones to keep you from wandering into dangerous areas).

- I... usually refer to Longwood's and Poof's lack of interest in preening as a parallel of asexuality for a world where licking necks and faces is a big deal, but it's kind of interesting to think about. In-universe, they'd probably be diagnosed in some medical or psychological way.

Very pre-DSM update vibes, which absolutely fits the time period I have the cloudlands set in. Something akin to "diagnosed with critically low libido" for sure, but for licking.

- H.P. has OCD (Imo, this is implied by the song he sings in the Musical about how he doesn't hate the Fairies and doesn't want to take over, but can't stop himself from doing so because he "must cater" to his urge to be "the world's administrator," not to mention his insistence on 37-year plans).

He hates untidy notes- There are several scenes where he rewrites his entire note page because he doesn't like marks on his notes (including crossed-out words). He also has issues with lying and his athazagoraphobia (fear of being forgotten), leading to the winning combo of making it explicitly clear when he plans to enact a takeover plan. There's a whole thing about how he has to justify his takeovers in terms of "It's their fault for not stopping me; I warned them I'd do it."

H.P. also experienced zoochosis during his time at the Eros Nest (zoo run by Cupid's family), leading to repetitive behaviors with no clear end goal. That probably affects him even now in a PTSD-adjacent way.

There might be characters I didn't mention - I feel like I'm blanking on something Anti-Marigold experiences - but those are the ones that come to mind for FOP 'fics!

[bryce-bucher]

Midwest Lost Post #5

Stepfather:

For the past month I've been pretty busy, so I've mainly just been focusing on working on Midwest Lost whenever I have a chance. In this time I finally got the character model for the stepfather mostly complete and in the game. In this fight he is "unwinding" after work so he's ditched his pants and put on a bathrobe, but he was too dejected to change out of his work shirt. He's an abusive guy with a messy life, and he often takes his anger out on whoever he thinks he can have power over. Unlucky for the protagonist, this often means he's the target of his rage. Luckily for the protagonist, he has a big ass sword.

The Face:

For a while now I've been pretty concerned on how I am going to handle face textures in this game. I need the characters to be expressive for the various cinematics and for certain emotional beats to hit properly, but creating proper detailed faces is a bit of a wild west territory for me. Because of this, I decided to try an experiment. Recently I've been trying to learn how to paint properly using a VR painting tool called Vermillion, It's proven to be a really powerful and relaxing way to paint, so I was wondering if it would be feasible for me to paint character textures in it. At my current skill level I honestly thought it wouldn't work out at all, but surprisingly it did!

As you can see here, I spent a good 4-5 hours painting this face texture in VR. It looked pretty horrible until like the last 40 minutes of the process or so. I guess that's how its supposed to go, but it really surprised me that it came together at all.

After I got that base texture completed, I exported it and touched it up a bit to better fit the model. I then added a pair of eyes and eyebrows on top of the texture in Affinity Photo. They are a lot more cartoony / simplistic than the base texture so that I can change them out and create new expressions easily. I was honestly unsure if that would clash too hard with the painted face, but I think it looks pretty good. This was a really fun process, and It's got me excited for the amount of opportunities it has afforded me. Character creation is my favorite, but until now I really never thought I'd be able to paint the more detailed organic aspects of certain characters / animals. Oh yeah I also painted his knees in the same way lol, but I think going into detail about that would be redundant.

Heavy Attacks:

The last major thing I did recently was finally implement some heavy attacks. Rather than have separate inputs for light and heavy attacks, the attack button causes a light or heavy attack to occur based on whether or not you are currently holding the stance/strafe button. The heavy attacks I decided on are meant to be able to close in a considerable gap between you and the enemy, so that you can get in there more easily after slowly strafing around. Alternatively, you can just use heavy attacks whenever as long as you just press the strafe and attack buttons at the same time, so really they are for whenever you feel as though you can afford the wind up and cooldown of the animations. But yeah, as you can see in the gif above, the heavy attacks currently take the form of a two swing combo where you can lunge forward with the sword pointing outwards and then follow it up by swinging it back over your head and slamming it down. I think they are pretty satisfying to use as of now, but I might consider extending the combo in the future.

Conclusion:

That is all 4 today. I really want to get more work done on all of these games. I'm really tired of being stuck in the same debug scene in all of them. Hopefully this year I can dedicate more time to all this, and maybe I can make a second scene for one of them lol. Next time I post one of these it will probably be midwest lost again, but if not I'll be working on J(a)SON next. A big part of me being busy this month is that I'm actually attending GDC alongside Quinn K. If any of u mutuals out there want to meetup at GDC lmk.

[teadragondreams]

Thoughts on Nicole Maine's Secret Six (Organized [kinda])

Now that I've done some preliminary information gathering from stalking the appropriate tags and wiki articles, here are my thoughts on each member of the new Secret Six lineup! Keep in mind that I barely read the greater DC comics whatsoever.

Jay Nakamura (Gossamer)

Positive Asian representation in the Secret Six!? FUCKING FINALLY--Mostly with him and the other new members I'm anticipating some sort of soap opera style drama happening alongside the main plot-- and that isn't a detriment, it would be an active bonus.

Jon Kent

From what I've seen, much in the style of Dick Grayson temporarily taking on the Batman mantle, Jon *was* Superman for a while. Does he have a hero name specific to him or is he Superboy again? How many Superboys are there actually? (From what I've seen it seems to be just as complicated at the Batfamily-- but GOD am I SICK of the batfamily--) Anyway. I doubt they're going to have any continuity with the 2011 timeline but just imagining the interactions he could have with Black Alice or Catman if so--"Hey weren't you guys teammates with that guy that shattered my Dad's bones?!"

Dreamer (Nia Nal)

Read a part of that scene she has with Waller (I believe it was from Dream Team but not sure on that), but the fact that she actively scrambled Waller's memories and now this new series is in the aftermath of that ? Whoo boy is going to be fun! Especially becausefrom what I've gathered--Nicole Maines *is* Nia Nal, and probably has a clear direction with where she wants to take the character, right?

Black Alice (Lori Zechlin)

I love Lori! She's always been one of my favorites, especially because she is always accidently pushing the found family agenda with other members of the six. I know she'd made a few appearances around in other series like Suicide Squad and Night Force, and that's where her newer design comes from. But there are so many directions her characterization might go in this series that I'm just praying she doesn't get shoehorned into 'annoying kid member of team' because she's so much more than that! More of that "I feel tremendous guilt about possibly giving my dad cancer and purposely joined a team of mercenaries".

Catman (Thomas Blake)

Gotta love the Tomcat. I love how his design skews him back into "batman impersonator" but gets rid of that stupid hole in his cowl for a bang they gave him in DC Pride. I liked that story with him and Ghostmaker but I couldn't get over that stupid bang!! Addtionaly because he has so much internal conflict about what the hell he wants to do with his career as a mercenary/anti-hero/vigilante. His underlying attempts to be *good* to be *better* makes me glad to follow what he does. But honestly, I'd be even more glad if he was more of a supporting role in this mini-series, because his presence as a father/older brother figure (mainly seen in the 2011 run) are just incredible. Also I hope they don't make him the butt of too many eg(g)regious jokes.

Deadshot (Floyd Lawton)

Twenty bucks says they'll be at least 3 panels with him and Thomas in the hit or kiss zone. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Honorable mention section for that one issue cover that shows some of the previous members of the Six.

Bane

HOLY SHIT IT'S BANE!!! I literally almost cried in joy when that one Christmas special issue came out at the very moment I was like "I need to calm down with my Secret Six obsession it's not like there's ever going to be any new official material with them" and now boom. making this post. Super excited to see the big guy on a team again.

Scandal & Knockout

RETURN OF THE POLYCULE??? Not much to say here, I'll lament Scandal once again not being on the team proper, but I guess they've ditched that "all eight of us in this commercial are apart of the Secret Six" idea and are keeping the team to actually Six.

Jeanette

So happy to have you back queen, wish it was you on the front lines instead of your crusty little bf but understandable. I hope it's brought up again that she's like a majorly successful entrepreneur because it's so funny that she chooses to associate with these weirdos.

Chesire

I hugely disliked how Cheshire was treated in the OG Villains United Run. I'm fine with her being an antagonist, Jade could be a great antagonist!-- but I sincerely hope they avoid the stereotypes used to previously characterize her.

Ragdoll

I love this little freak! I am one of the (2.5)frequenters of the peter merkel jr tag. As long as A) the stupid little clown ruff remains and B) they let her be as much of a weirdo as possible, I will probably not have *too* many complaints.

Mad Hatter

peter merkel jr for the second time in your life you have the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever.

[averageclawcodeenjoyer]

Alright so as far as introductions go, I guess I should probably make one before I get too far into this.

HERES MY ABOUT ME POST!

My name's Leonardo, and you can call me any version of that that you want (Leo, Leon, Leonard, Nardo[my favorite], either way, it's all the same to me.) My pronouns are He/Him. I am an artist, author, animator, and a DEDICATED CLAWCODE ENTHUSIST (Hence the name)

I am also VERY autistic and don't get tone a lot, so tone tags are very important to me, especially when there's joking or sarcasm involved.

Ahem.

I know the Spiderverse Fandom isn't particularly alive (SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP) but I will try to post often, even if it's just a shitpost here and there. I really want to help feed into the ClawCode brain rot since the content for these two is SEVERELY FUCKING LACKING. So. If you have requests for things, I will probably end up doing them! My asks are always open, and I'd love to hear from anybody. I don't have any friends that love them the way that I do 😔😔

I have not had Tumblr before! Which is a little insane, so I'm new to all of this and learning how everything works. Please forgive me if I don't know the proper etiquette on this app lmao. My friend has been guiding me through all of this and told me to make an About Me post, so that's what I'm doing.

Here are some tags that will frequent my posts!

Yapping Hour - Will either be used for headcanons, or short stories/ideas/other ClawCode related crap. It's just going to be a general tag that will probably go on most of my posts from here on out.

Slur Gallery - Will be of the art I post of them, be it ship art or other :3 because everybody deserves a gallery of slurs to look at. AND JUST LOOK AT THEM!

Earworm - Is the tag I'll use when there's music involved, like songs that remind me of them (and the heavy analysis that goes with it **COMING SOON**), or animatics that I'm working on, or just anything that has to do with a song. Edits, artworks, the whole shebang.

Talkaholic - This will ALSO be used for mini stories/facfics, but more often than the yapping hour. So if you wanna read my writing of them that's what you can find it under.

Offline - will be under posts like these, where it isn't directly related to anything, just random blocks of text or other art that I feel like posting.

Oil And Water - THIS tag will be about the fanfic I am currently (excruciatingly slowly) writing! It doesn't have a happy ending and is meant to be a HEAVY angst story, like hurt/no comfort or very little comfort. I have one chapter out currently but will be working on more soon (and will make a separate post about it! But I will link it here as well. MOTIVATE ME TO WRITE IT /HJ)

Prowler Party - Is what I'll put on ALL of my posts as an extra way to help find me if one so desires d=(^o^)=b

OOC - On the chance that I might make something intentionally out of character, I will put this beneath it. I know a lot of people don't like mischaracterization, or incorrect portrayal of a character, but sometimes it's really fun to write, so I will be including that was well.

I think that's all that I can think of right now (I'm running off of an hour and 40 minutes sleep), but things may change or be edited in the future. But for now, I'll be signing off.

Shipwrecked - THIS WILL BE ABOUT MY SELKIE/SIREN AU BECAUSE IM ACTUALLY NOT OKAY ABOUT IT AND NEED TO SHARE MY INSANITY

HELLO AND THANK YOU TO THE WARM WELCOME I'VE RECIEVED!!

MORE COMIGN SOON

[vodkacheesefries]

Thought it would be fun to do an intro post for each of the three households I'll be rotating through in my historic sims file. Also told my buddy @schitzophrenicrainbows I would make one of these. It'll also help me keep things organized as I play the challenge since I'm committing details to writing.

Up first and beneath the cut, we have a little history dump and our Gladiators.

Gladiators initially started out as poorer people and slaves who were inscribed to fight and train in the gladiator schools, Ludus Magnus. Over time as people began to see the fame and honor that could be won in the arena, though it was more rare, people did start to voluntarily join these gladiator schools.

Due to the popularity of gladiator fights, and how pricey it got to train and house them, not every single gladiator fight was to the death for its contestants. (For the purpose of Finn's story/challenge rules, his fights will be.)

There's debate whether the infamous "thumbs down" actually meant the opponent HAD to die or not. It could have just meant they were disgraced and couldn't compete anymore, but I can't find definitive answers one way or the other, and the opinions I found on this often contradicted each other. (I could probably text my sister with three degrees all about ancient to medieval Italian/Roman history, but how do I explain to her I need to know for my Sims game lmaooo) All that said, gladiators often didn't live past their mid-twenties given the hazards of the job.

Gladiators were also sex symbols (do yourself a favor and look up ancient Roman graffiti. Humans are the same now as they were then lmao). Idk how much that'll play into my game but Finn does have to find a partner and have kids so the legacy continues but we'll get there when we get there.

Rana

Rana is the gladiator who has been at the Ludus Magna the longest. Her traits: Creative, Self Assured, Loyal.

She came from a wealthy merchant family, but the family business didn't interest her much. She left home when she was young to find herself and ended up finding the arena. She picked up sword fighting quickly and proved her aptitude for not only fighting, but teaching others to fight as well. These days she only competes occasionally, as she has proven herself invaluable in creating more gladiators.

She's hitting a point where the losses of her pupils, and more importantly friends, are starting to weigh on her. She likely isn't going to just be allowed to retire, though, so she has to figure something else out.

Apollo

Apollo named himself after a Greek God because he thinks he's hilarious. (This is debatable if you ask anyone who has spoken with him for more than five minutes.) He ended up at the Ludus Magnus due to his sense of humor; turns out a Senator doesn't like it when you make jokes about their philosophical ideas, even if they are stupid.

He doesn't enjoy the gladiator lifestyle much if he's being honest, and is counting down the days until his "voluntary" contract with the school is over so he can use what money he's won and travel the world like he's always wanted to. His self absorption is part him being young, and part it being a front for the fear he has of not living out his dreams and he wears it like a protective front. His friends know better, though.

(He also thinks Spartacus is cute, but he's certain Spartacus is going to stay a gladiator till he dies and that doesn't work with what he wants in the long run.)

His traits are: Loves the Outdoors, Self Absorbed, and Outgoing.

Spartacus

Disclaimer: I did not make Spartacus lmao. I was hitting create-a-sim burnout so I hit up the gallery to find someone else's Roman themed sim. Although I did make some minor changes to his wardrobe, added scars and swapped out a couple of his traits, which are: Athletic, Proper, Loner. I ended up keeping his name because while it's on the nose for a gladiator, it fits.

Spartacus is a former member of the Roman Legionnaires. He was released from his service due to an injury he sustained abroad. Once he had healed, he found civilian life to be difficult to adjust to, so he signed a contract with the Ludus Magnus. He's here for a good time, not a long time.

But lately, he's been spending more time with Apollo, and he's starting to change his mind. But surely someone as handsome as Apollo wouldn't be interested in someone who'd rather spend his time meditating than socializing at a party...

Finn

Finn's traits are: Athletic, Loyal, Ambitious

Finn knew the risks he was taking when he killed Antonius, but he doesn't regret it. He's now plotting his escape, and if his new found friends can survive, he'll bring them with him if they like. He really just wants to get back to Britain to what's left of his family and help them take back what is rightfully theirs and drive the Romans out.

By challenge rules, he has 10 fights to get through first. I also have to receive a silver medal or higher on at least 50 events, and I'll probably use his fights to accomplish at least 10 of those. (I've done six so far).

Will probably go over Laelius' household next along with the parts of the challenge they'll be completing, followed by his daughter's. Who I don't think I've posted so far.

Other households:

The Emperor's Family

The Frugi Household

[fox0war]

Okay pspsps come one come all I finally m going to make a proper intro for some of my cerifikn characters so y'all can meet them!! ------------ Also please consider joining the group! It's an ARPG (Art Role Playing Game) with several species, easy to aquire MYOs, a Semi-Open species for any and all newbies, and great community! Plus various other things I love! It is 16+ to join though so keep that in mind ------------ Anyways, now that we're done with that lil bit, are you ready to meet my lil cast? ;D (all refs here will be the most recent as of posting! Some may need to be updated in the future do to lore or just being outdated lol)

First off: My first character! It feels only appropriate to shine a light on her! Say a proper hello to Moss! She is a Smog-Imp! A type of Abyss demon which is also a very large single cell organism! She, in particular, is a 'Tundra' form one! Which means she's quite fluffy, has teeth on her mask (the bird skull looking thing), and unlike other Smog-Imps can consume meat! Though, she tends to stick to the standard plant diet anyway. She's also a serial adopter! She has much too many kids for me to list ATM but who knows, maybe she could adopt you too!

She's also in a relationship with the mysterious NPC named Vlad! Who while technically an NPC, is also a character owned by @pikku-peruna! A good friend of mine who is also the group's owner! (Say a friendly hello to them for me!) Moss was gotten through a 2021 MYO event! She's one of my most used characters :D ------------ Now you all, if you've been following me, have met Pho'Bous before via his stories! And while his ref is somewhat out of date, he is also quite darling to me! Also gained through that 2021 MYO event (Which is what spurred me to join in the first place, fun fact!) it took me ages to get his design down on paper (or well, screen?) in a way I enjoyed! His design only being fully settled a year and a few months later! Fun fact, this sad little man was originally going to be a dragon themed guitar player, but I like this sad little we cat way better XD

He is also one of my most used characters! If that wasn't already evident in how many posts I've made writing stories for him lol. He's currently on track to become a necromancer but shhh.. nobody tell him that <3 ------------ Ah yes a more recent one! Pri'tas was designed in 2023 as part of one of the group's design challenges! (Yet another free way to gain characters) Blessed with all of the "Master's Traits", mysterious features gained from an even more mysterious and unknown "Master". Pri'tas, himself, never met him, the Master just owed his parents a favor, but Pri'tas is now very dedicated to him. The Master didn't know what he was signing up for I guess, eh?

The government is currently looking for him too, no not because of all the murder, silly! But because having all of the Master's traits gives you mysterious powers, powers that they want to research. So uh, maybe don't tell anyone you saw him here, k'ay? (; ------------ I have tons of other characters too! Such as a traveling trader, a harpy-like Smog-Imp trying to escape the same cult Pho'Bous loves so very much, and did I mention the several demigods? Well, I have those too! Feel free to ask about them or any of these characters! but the best place to ask is in the group, where I post about all my characters much more often! ------------ One more time, credit to @pikku-peruna! Owner of the group and species here! Go say hi to her for me <3 (And respect their pronouns or else I'll punt you)

[memento-morianon]

Happy STS! Who is your favorite antagonist to write? What makes them so special? (Also, bonus question, would you give them a Disney villain song? Which one?)

aha, see thing is, I don't actually have any proper antagonists/villains in my stories. there are some vague figures who have done or are doing bad things. Morianon's abusive parental figure from early childhood, who died in the hurricane. some terrible politicians in another country neighboring the main setting country. that sort of thing. I haven't had a chance to write any of them yet and flesh out who they are and what they're doing. (the terrible politicians will be important for book 3, so i ought to flesh them out)

the closest thing I have to an antagonist in the first book is actually the personification of Death itself. I wouldn't call them a villain, but they are the source of some very big struggles for Morianon and he is justifiably angry and annoyed at them for it. Death is fun to write as a character, though it will be a while before they actually show up on page!

I'm kinda keeping their presence a secret until the climax of book 1, having Morianon finally tell his wife Evarin about them and the problems he has because of them. It's not easy to tell other people your soul is all tangled up with Death, who is an immortal being but not any of the particular deities your local cultures view as death gods.

and since I'm still working on and posting my WIP draft, I'll just put the extra details under a cut for spoiler reasons.

I don't think I would give Death a villain song, but I could see them having some solo numbers if this was a musical. maybe have a leitmotif for them anytime they're secretly present in a scene (like when the old orc He-esh dies, Death's leitmotif would be there quietly beneath Evarin's song)

they could have a solo number after their reveal, explaining their identity to the audience. and an argument duet with Morianon. that would be a lot of fun.

Death has been around so long, they often try to tell jokes that no longer make sense. they're socially awkward, moody, and a little pathetic. Morianon owes his very life to them, but he hates them for it. He's alive, sure, and he loves the life he has gained as a result. but Death only prevented him from dying, they're not the rescuers and doctors and adoption organizers who ensured his full recovery and placed him with a good family. Death's manner of saving his life also did irreparable harm to his soul. he can't interact with magic the way most people do. and the reason Death saved him was a petty, selfish, impulsive action done with no thought for the future of the poor dying half-quetzalin boy.

though the offer Death has made him in their attempt to right things without killing him is certainly a tempting one. (it's not great to deny a dying child the mercy of release, tangling their soul in a power they can't handle. but it would be undeniably worse to then correct the matter by murdering the child after you prevented their death.)

unfortunately, the nature of the spell Death used (forbidden and lost to mortal memory) means Morianon's soul is stuck to Death's and cannot be released unless Death personally kills him. the most normal option he has is just to live to old age and then let Death finish him off so he might have a chance at a normal afterlife. if he dies by any other means before that, even Death doesn't know what would happen to his soul.

(image description: an entity whose body resembles a heavy cloak of fur and feathers, with a gold collar at the top. Above the collar, a canine skull is floating. There are ragged lines etched beneath its eye socket, and a few smaller decorative lines along the top of the skull. it is also wearing a plume of feathers attached to the back of the skull. end description.)

[autumnwyvern]

Autumn's cool general inkfish biology hc post that is more up to date than the drawn one and is being made mostly for faer's own reference but you can read it too if you want

Okay so to make a lot of this make sense you have to flip your thinking a bit. The swim form is actually the "true" form while the more humanoid form is exactly that, a mimic form of a long-extinct species. This is most clearly seen in how the mimic form develops over time after birth, and how easy form switching is. The mimic form is simply seen as the default because, well, having hands is extremely convenient! Furthermore, it is worth noting that one, if they so choose, can continue to hone their skill in mimicry (for lack of better term) and be able to make changes in their physical appearance more readily and with equally minimal effort. Think about how in game you can go back and change your gender and eye color and such, like that but a bit more restricted unless the inkfish is REALLY good at controlling the appearance of their mimic form. However, most commonly one decides on how they will present at a young age and stick with that for most if not all of their life. This does also extend to sex organs with anyone having the potential to produce either sperm or eggs (or both or none, if they REALLY wanted to no judgement here) this is something that does take a bit more effort to change due to being more directly part of a biological process but not prohibitively so. Also what an inkfish chooses in this manner has little bearing on what gender they present as just like real life :)

Water! Water in either small amounts (such as a light rain or using the shower) is perfectly fine, inkfish can also drink water. Though even in a small amount of water things could get a bit dangerous if you aren't careful! We may get prune-y but inkfish will start to "leak" ink in areas that have been submerged the longest. Being suddenly dunked in water or drenched will completely destabilize their out membrane (skin) and cause them to pop, as we see in game. There is minor variations in resistance to how long one can last and youths can be seen comparing it like how we would compare how long we can hold our breath underwater. Water CAN be treated to essentially create an isotonic solution, allowing inkfish to bathe or hang out in a pool freely. This is generally not used in inksports stages as having untreated water makes for a great "out of bounds" marker.

Which I suppose brings us to respawning. Any creature that is able to submerge and essentially become one with its own ink/ooze can respawn so this includes salmonids but we are just gonna focus on inkfish for now. What we see as the little ghostie in game is less of a spirit and more of a "core" of the person, carrying just the most basic information necessary for continued survival, and is ejected from where the body is gravely harmed in an attempt to launch it towards a place with safe ink so one can reform. If no such thing is around the little packet of cells will shrivel up and die for good. In the case of inksports its basically super jumping back to base where the pressurized ink of the respawner speeds up the reformation process dramatically. Technology! In cases of extreme emergency the core can be put in a container full of the proper ink to keep it hydrated until a place with respawn technology is reached. This is not fun for the inkfish.

My thoughts on how octoling tentacles work hasn't changed since my last post about it but I'll talk about it here to just so everything is together. Under most normal circumstances a cut tentacle would just helplessly wriggle about for some time and then stop, like what happens when a lizard loses its tail. If the conditions are JUST RIGHT it may become a little guy, and if conditions are even more just right would grow into a full octoling. Although this is a rare occurrence, some people are more superstitious about it than others and will take (sometimes delicious) steps to prevent it from ever happening. On the other hand the octarian army has developed ways into forcing this to happen and tentacle folk and clone octolings are fairly common among the general domes population. This came about while developing technology to extend the lifespan of severed tentacles in order to create automatons and has developed to the point of where octarian scientists can deliberately grow a cloned octoling with a high probability of success. Tentacles cut from tentacle folk or cloned octolings have a much reduced lifespan and can't really produce even more tentacle folk because of it. Furthermore cloned octolings are sterile and if an individual can even form any gametes they'd all be duds. So it goes.

Thats it for now okay byeee

[autistic-autumn]

Music Ramblings #1

Decided to start doing these every now and again. Will tag all posts with music I've found and my thoughts on it with '#Autumn's Music Ramblings'. My inbox is always open if you want to send music in and I love people doing that. Will sort out exactly what's happening later but for now I just have this. If you want to send me music then feel free. Always like people sending in whatever. I'll probably respond to ask and then later give more rambling though. If you want me to give you music then you can also ask and I can find you something. I mostly just like rambling about music a lot.

Capital Punishment by Abuse Ken This one was suggested by @aroace-poly-show (sorry marlo for ping, didn't get chance to respond earlier when you shared). This isn't a style I tend to listen to very often but was very cool. The way the piece constantly plays with shifting the rhythm in the sections is very cool and gives a lot of drive between sections. I quite like how the chorus is effectively just pedaling the high G while shifting chords underneath. The leaps here are nice. Makes for a very strong sound compared to the more melodic verses. Do enjoy a nice modulation during final chorus. Overall very cool piece and will likely continue to listen to in future. Used to listen to a fair bit more vocaloid but never got that far into finding new stuff.

Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 This is honestly one of the best pieces I've found recently. It's so sublime and beautiful. I personally prefer the 1960 version Barber wrote for choir. Something about closely set voices that is particularly pleasing. It's just a little softer and smoother than the string. I'm pretty sure there's some psychological reason why critical bandwidth doesn't really apply so much to human voices. I've been listening to this almost on loop recently. Was particularly nice while walking in the rain yesterday while it was a bit dark and kind of cold. Hearing this live in a venue like a church with all that resonance would be incredible and I hope to be able to see a performance one day.

Samuel Barber, Toccata Festiva, Op. 36 Been on a bit of a Samuel Barber roll recently and just picked a bunch of his stuff out of the library. Did not realize this one was an organ concertina really. Very exciting and organs are such cool instruments that really don't have enough soloist + orchestra repertoire. I actually posted a video of this one after listening to it with just the organ pedal cadenza because that thing is wild to watch someone play. You never really know what you're getting with Samuel Barber and this was certainly a fun and dynamic piece.

Tchaikovsky Symphony No.4 in F minor, Op. 36 Generally a very nice symphony but that's sort of expected with Tchaikovsky. A bit frilly at times but that is also just how Tchaikovsky is. Not much really stood out to me as particularly notable in this but was generally nice enough. The third movement however is extremely cool and the high speed pizz reminds me a lot of the second movement from the Ravel string quartet. Certainly a lot of a fun with that movement and was quite interesting. Not my favourite Tchaikovsky symphony but nice enough.

Gustav Holst Op.3 Quintet in A minor This is quite a nice short set of four movement for Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon and Piano. I do like wind ensembles particularly so this was nice. It's from Holst's student years and never got performed till after his death in 1989. Likely written around the turn of the century. Does sound like a late romantic piece rather than the later Holst works. I personally thing the first and second movements are the best. The first has some very nice melodies and is smooth and elegant. The second movement is highly paced and neat but nothing hugely notable I don't think. Third movement is pretty interesting and the B section is particularly pleasing, although doesn't last very long. This is admittedly the first time I have seen a proper score use quadruple dotted notes, normally you only ever get a double if you're lucky. Fourth movement is quite nice too although nothing really stands out to me other than the cadence at the end which is quite interesting and is certainly hinting towards Holst's later harmonic development.

[keepthisholykiss]

Okay it's time, here's my gtfo of Tumblr post

Since Tumblr was previously my most active social media website I figure I will make a proper post to pin about my move off-site. By Jan 1 this blog will be deleted entirely. If you want to find me elsewhere now is the time. Here's the list of places to find me and how often I'll be around them!

My new website! - This is hands down the easiest place to find me. I am creating my website from the ground up so it's a mess but in an endearing way. I've even made my first blog post here. This website will essentially function how my Tumblr previously did. I will post blogs about random things, add updates on projects, create and publish free educational resources, and more! I do not have an RSS (yet?) so the easiest way to follow me is via a neocities account.

Cohost - Of the many twitter alts out there I like cohost the best. I have fun with it, I'm slowly finding my feet there, and I think the vibes are generally good. I do not follow nearly enough folks yet so if you follow me here please let's be mutuals there! I plan to use it much like twitter with lots of one-off thoughts. I am only still on twitter to stay up to date with activism stuff so it's really not worth plugging my twitter now.

Instagram - This is one of the only "big" socials I am active on. It's best to follow me here for activism stuff, cooking, and art as those are basically the only things I post there. If you want to follow me on IG please DM me because I am selective with who I trust to follow me there as I post more IRL things there.

...and that's it! Unless another weird niche semi-old-internet vibe type thing comes out I will only be in those three places from now on. I have been a tumblr user with few breaks since 2008 across a variety of accounts and niches. I don't know that I ever thought I would leave tumblr "for good" but it's way past time. My work in activism will continue offline largely or in ways I'm not talking about here.

Since I won't have time or space to post it in the new year (and like only 2 IRLs follow me here) we are relocating to Oregon next year for probably our last major move ever unless we end up needing (and having the means lol) to leave the country. I am also leaving 4-year institution work which is very exciting for me. Our journey in moving, my journey in finding my place in alternative educational lenses, and more will be covered largely on my blog and in other places I'm sure. So if any of that interests you feel free to follow me off this website. I also have heard something about tumblr dying (again) which lol, lmao even. I truly don't care how true or not that is, please know my intention in leaving has nothing to do with that and has everything to do with being a marketable number for them.

In closing, fuck tumblr, fuck staff, fuck specifically the bitch who runs emporium and tricked all these kids into dumping funds into a website that hates them. Fuck zionists, fuck transphobes, fuck racists, fuck neoliberal apologists, and fuck anyone who is trying to shame you into shutting up about the lives of people who deserve to live. Also organize within your communities and find ways to disengage from the economy and create a better future.

My wish is that every oppressed nation of beautiful people will be free now and forever, that land goes back to who it belongs to, and that some day capitalism will not ruin art, community, and love the way it has on this website and across the world.

[uncharismatic-fauna]

(Image: A follower count of 10,251)

Wow! It's crazy that I've gotten this far- I never expected this blog to grow as much as it has, and I'm so glad that I get to share this experience with y'all. Finding fun facts or interesting animals to write about is always the highlight of my day, and I love reading the comments and tags people leave!

I've been thinking a bit more about what I wanted to do to celebrate this milestone. Doing a proper giveaway is kind of hard since I don't have the funds to make or send anything physical, and besides I feel like introducing gimmicky stuff like that goes against this blogs main charter of free education for everyone forever. However, I did want to do something to mark the occasion.

If you've been following me for a while, you may have seen the (very occasional) art I do; namely abstract birds. If you're new here, here's some examples:

(In order: A violet eared waxwing, an american goldfinch, and Vogelkop's Superb bird of Paradise, and a section of a ploughshare tortoise shell)

If you send me proof that you've made a donation to an organization benefiting Palestinians, I'll make an abstract of any bird--or other animal-- of your choosing. You can do whatever you want with it: post it, put it on a t-shirt, print it out and eat it!

The donation can be in any amount, and to any organization (though my recommendation is UNWRA). Likewise, you can request any living (or recently extinct) animal- so long as I can find a photo of it, it's a-okay.

If you have any questions, or you'd like to make a request, my askbox and dms are open!

(Image: a follower count of 9,904)

Can't believe I've got nearly 10,000 followers now!!! I love that that many people (and probably a fair amount of bots) love all the crazy, wonderful critters I won't shut up about.

Feels like I should do some kind of celebratory post or giveaway once I hit 10,000. Anyone got any suggestions?

[pythonscrypt]

my favorite mcc moments i have watched live, from season 2

so, in honour of season 2 of mcc finally coming to an end, i really wanted to make a post highlighting some of my favorite moments i've seen live since i started watching in mcc 17. i love this silly block game tournament, i love tuning into it every month and cheering on my favorite players and teams, i love watching my favorite games, and i'm grateful for all the terrific players who put on such great performances and of course noxcrew for creating this whole event and scott for organizing it. so, without waffling about too much, here's some moments i watched live in mcc season 2 that made me absolutely lose my mind:

(note: split into two parts because otherwise it would be very long)

my first live mcc + first winner's pov: mcc 17 orange ocelots (false, grian, sb, pete)

orange17 was my first full live pov and my proper gateway into mcc and i'll never forget just how incredibly lucky i am for that - it's like if someone's first live mcc was pink22 and seeing the captain win. from start to finish it was just an epic, cinematic experience with all of them hitting homeruns on every single game while being extremely supportive of each other and having a really good time themselves. and this couldn't be better highlighted by how, with bated breath, they encouraged grian during his final 1v3 during dodgebolt. really such a fantastic team with an incredible ending that i think will go down as one of the most memorable teams of season 2. it's also through watching this team that i found out about pete, and he's since become my most watched streamer so i'm always gonna appreciate that. if i had to highlight further specific moments from them, i'd say grian's sky battle and their whole entire buildmart are pretty damn iconic

my second live winner's pov: mcc 26 violet vampires (fruit, oli, shelby, phil)

i haven't watched fruit live in mcc very much, but i decided to this time because i just really loved this team from the start and thought it was super fun. this was a really, really fun team with excellent vibes, that was really funny, and that also played competitively and put up an excellent performance. they just worked so well together - there were so many funny convos they had in the lobbies in between games. and that's not to mention that they, particularly oli, came prepared for the event, with all the optimal strats down. when it came down to it in dodgebolt, they popped all the way off: oli had the most insane anime moment in the final round when he stared down hbomb as he shot, then immediately took him out in one shot. fruit did so well with his shooting and dodging (after doing some dodgebolt practice beforehand with zeuz), and finally WON. after five losses over a course of two years! shelby also finally won again after 2.5 years! it was such a long awaited, well deserved win and i'm so happy i was there to witness it. my favorite moments from them would definitely be their meltdown and sky battle. (linking a fan-uploaded vod here because there isn't one uploaded by any of the creators)

mcc 24 cyan coyotes winning sot (pearl, jojo, hannah, aimsey)

oh cyan24. anyone that has ever been on this blog knows just how much i fucking adore this team. from the excitement of seeing it be announced, with hannah's mcc debut and pearl and jojo getting a round 2 after mcc 23, to all the vod reviewing and practice streams they did, where hannah painstakingly went over every single game and made google docs for ideal strats and where they also just chilled and chatted as they played (jojo and pearl talking about their cats will always be a fav moment), to event day when all their practice and hard work paid OFF. i could make a whole other post about them alone, but suffice it to say that them winning sands of time was such an electrifying moment because it's known to be the most intense and complex mcc game, both revered and feared by the playerbase. and for a team with a newcomer to win it was just so insanely exhilarating, especially since hannah was unsurprisingly the most nervous about it. cyan24's sot run has since become compulsory watching for anyone wishing to vod review to learn more about sands of time, simply because of how clean, efficient and what a masterclass in comms it is. in particular, aimsey's sandkeeping performance here was so strong, it got them labeled as one of the best sandkeepers in the event just off its sheer strength. xe had extremely clear, concise callouts, and on top of that the whole team went in knowing exactly what they were doing, so there was absolutely no time wasted and their run was very optimised. and their reaction upon seeing they came 1st will never not make me smile because they're all just so overjoyed and on cloud 9. highly, highly recommend going back to watch this if you haven't yet - it might not particularly flashy or spectacular, but it's just so well played, with a fantastic comeback story behind it (they were 7th overall before this game and 4th after, and were widely predicted to come 10th place by the reddit. because reddit.) it's also through this team that i got introduced to hannah and aimsey, who are both such incredibly lovely people and fun to watch not just in mcc but in general.

the entire second half of pete's mcc 25

this might just be the most insane individual performance i've ever seen, simply because of how wildly it swings to each extreme of the spectrum. i made another post highlighting this after mcc 25, but the first half of this mcc didn't go too well for pete or his team lime (with captain, antvenom and jimmy). they were in 10th place overall, with pete being 40th individual after survival games. and then, the second half, which consisted entirely of individual based movement games, came in. if you've ever watched or even just heard about pete in mcc, you'd know that he's known for being incredibly strong in all of the movement games, and i don't think there could be a better display of that than his four game run here which lifted him from 40th at the beginning to 8th at the end. just watching him get 1st in ace race was an insane moment, and from there he came 2nd in hole in the wall, 1st in tgttos and 3rd in parkour tag. what made this all the more fun was how casual he was throughout all of this - it's not like he knew he was dead last individually, and was tryharding as a result of that. he was just chilling and playing the games like he normally would anyways. in between games in the lobby he remarked "i think i might be good at the movement games, and bad at the pvp ones. i don't know, might need a few more events to test this out." i definitely recommend watching his ace race if nothing else - his commentary is super funny and his reaction at the end when he wins is just great.

mcc pride 22 yellow yaks buildmart (grian, scott, gem, shelby)

oh buildmart, buildmart, buildmart. i don't think even one post would be enough for me to fully cover and talk about my thoughts on the very tumultuous history this game has had throughout season 2, especially this year. which is why i feel that yellow pride 22, and the mind blowing dominance they showed in this game, is all the more important. it's four people who are extremely strong at buildmart, have incredible comms and coordination skills, and also happen to be damn good at building. they're all just on the same page the whole game, with grian as the manager helping steer them throughout. i'd like to note that shelby is normally known for being strong at buildmart particularly as a builder, but here, she acts as the floater responsible for gathering all the blocks and listening to grian's commands. a team would have to be extremely strong in buildmart to have shelby be their floater, and this one obviously was. if you include non canon events, this team actually holds the record for the highest scoring buildmart performance of the season, which was at one point also held by grian's team orange 17. in an era of mcc where buildmart has only gotten increasingly maligned and controversial, this performance just serves as a great reminder of all the merits of buildmart and of how the game is intended to be played at its finest.

[the---hermit]

Horror reading challenge

Second proper update of this challenge! Here's the link my first update. This is probably the challenge I have been most excited to complete, as you might know from my posts horror is one of my favourite genre in books, and I love how this challenge has been pushing me to look for such different versions of this genre. I feel like people talk about horror only during October, and the majority of the horror recommendations are either classics or Stephen King, nothing bad with either, but horror is not just that. Anyway what I want to say is that I am really glad how this challenge helps with experiment with such different sides of this genre.

Bunny by Mona Awad for the psycohological horror prompt

I'll be honest and say I hadn't realzed this could count as psychological horror until I saw it in the recommendations for this prompt. But it totally makes sense to have it in this category. This book is weird and not easy to describe, moreover I think it's one of those books that will pull you in even more if you know very little about it. It was really fun and entertaining, and it is indeed creepy on a psychological level, I definitely recommend it.

Something Is Killing The Children vol. 3 by James Tynion IV and Werther dell'Edera for the graphic novel prompt

What can I say? I am obsessed over this series, and I am not big on series usually. The base of the story is very simple and effective. In a world just like ours monsters exist, they are very dangerous, but only children can see them. There's also a secret organization that hunts them and tries to keep hidden their existence. This volume concludes the first "adventure" presented in the comics, so if you are curious the first three volumes will give you a great idea of how these gaphic novels are. Beware it's definitely gory, so keep that in mind if you decide to read these.

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers for the body horror prompt

This book has been all over the internet in the huge trend of unhinged women books. It's really interesting especially in the way it talks about femininity, and I really recommend it for that. I was not a fan of how much Italian there was in the text, because it was clearly not reviewed by an active speaker, and as one it was really annoying to see so many mistakes and sentences that were probably translated using google, but I complained enough in the review of the book.

Wyrd And Other Derelictions by Adam L. G. Nevill for the folk or cosmic horror prompt

I am not sure whether in the book review I mentioned I used this book for the challenge, but I did. I am not sure if this book fits perfectly the cosmic horror genre, but it's pretty close. It's a very peculiar type of horror that develops not with actions of characters, but with descriptions of places. The writing is a bit challenging, but stunning, and the idea at the base of the book is worth alone for this whole collection of short stories. It's absolutely amazing, and I'll definitely check out more stuff written by this author.

As usual the reviews of each book are linked in the titles above.

[benjimarii]

Bro I am so invested into all your aus? Would you say you have a favourite? And if you do why's it your fav

Thanks for the ask! Long post, so be advised!

I talk a lot more about my aus with friends and some people on discord, so it's cool to share them with other people finally haha.

I think my favorite one is my post OV au, that takes place during, after, and the following years of the space road trip. It's where my writing piece "an open book" comes from! I've been working on this au for years, back when I had no socials to share it on. But, I am gonna keep it on the down low until I get things organized. I feel like I lean more towards writing the later years instead of the road trip, so it definitely needs working on.

There's not a definitive name for the au yet, since it's still very much being worked on, but man, I have some very fun concepts for it. Especially villain concepts for reoccurring villains from the franchise. (Which would take a lot of explaining in this post, so I'll make a follow up if you're interested.)

It also contains almost all of my fan made aliens, and not just Omnitrix ones. Entire worlds full of lore, designs and characters, and even connecting story lines between the worlds.

The bulk of the writing for the au so far is during the road trip, and Ben's early 20's. I still need a proper timeline for the events leading into his 20's, but that's not to say I have nothing for those years. I just need to fill them up in the right order of events.

As for my more established au, it would have to be the Sci-Fantasy AU. There's three clear age related arcs, being early years of the Omnitrix, older years, and the corruption arc. By god, I adore the corruption arc. There's also more cemented lore and understanding for this au, so it's a close contender for my favorite. Here's a sneaky look at the design for Ben during the corruption arc, which has something to do with the Omnitrix being... Not so helpful 😉

Here are the titles of other aus I have been working on/worked on are:

Cowboys and Aliens

Raised by Azmuth (co creating with a friend)

Bad Dreams

Fused Destiny

Surrender!

In Plain Sight

Anodite Ben (my take on it, since it's a popular concept)

((I'm pretty sure that's all of them, but I might be missing a couple smaller ones))

If you want any info for any of the listed ones, or if one just sounds interesting, I'd love to elaborate!