#this took me so long bc i got so emotional thinking abt this is us and about time

[toppamplemousse]

rules: without naming them, post a gif from ten of your favorite films and then tag ten people to do the same

thanks for the tag @saiyanwitcher @starrwrrld @ericaisokay @mvpanda1. please enjoy em's and mine joint top 10 because we never have an original thought between us:

tagging @sediciii @wedriftlikelonelyplanets @ferrarisma @maaxverstappen @domistique @freechirliedelusion @charleslelurk

[vilevampirez]

long list of funny things abt my experience doing emote commissions for mike

first of all I wasn't expecting to get commissioned at all (my commissions weren't even open, I just made an exception for mike) let alone by MIKETHELINK of all fucking people, so I had nothing prepared. I had no portfolio, commission sheet, nothing. I had never made any twitch emotes, so I had no examples to show either. meaning that when barbmine showed up in my dms asking if I took emote commissions, first I lost my fucking shit, then I panicked and rushed to find the most recent emote-like illustrations I had, including animation, and the most recent animation I had on hand happened to be a viewtiful joe one lmao. the animation in question 👇

(the usernames on the watermark aren't even accurate anymore..)

I have some experience taking commissions but they'd always been for friends of mine, this was my first time getting commissioned by a real "client" and the client was fucking mikethelink tazercraft of all fucking people . I know he "found" me through Mine, she sent me a dm first asking for commission info, saying she would show it to mike later. the thing is that when she said that she also implied that she was in touch with other artists too, so I was like "oh ok I'll send my stuff but I probably won't get chosen lol" and then a few hours later I got two twitter notifs, one saying that mr. thelink tazercraft was now following me and another was his DM. to say I almost had a heart attack would be an understatement

later I found out Mine had made a tweet asking for artists to reach out/people to rec artists for mike's twitch emotes. that post had around 40 comments. many people had been recommended more than once. I wasn't mentioned by anyone once, and in fact, I had no fucking idea that post even EXISTED until way after the fact. I have no idea how I ended up getting this job

mike happened to contact me on a day where I was severely sleep deprived. our entire business conversation took place while I was half-panicking, half-almost-passing-out. I don't know how I survived

at many points during our conversation I gave a lot of leeway for mike to give up on commissioning me, implying multiple times that he would be better off commissioning a different artist. and it's not because I lacked confidence (though a bit of that too, of course), but because of my lack of experience. I was very open about that to him, so many times I expected him to second guess his decision to commission me. unexpectedly, he was really insistent. I think partially he didn't want to go through the trouble of finding and contacting a different artist, but also I guess he just liked my art that much (??!?)

I definitely undercharged him lol. it's not that I don't value my work, it's just that I was absolutely not prepared for any of this shit to happen and didn't have enough time to think

I use adobe after effects for animating mike's emotes. I already knew how to animate (though I had never animated anything big), but I had never used after effects before. I even told mike this before accepting the commission, but he just said it was easy and I could totally do it, and I was just like "fucking hell. fine". and look, I know my limits, I knew I'd be able to learn after effects with relative ease. if I thought it'be too much for me to handle, I wouldn't have accepted the commission. it just that to this day I'm still shocked that mike commissioned an artist who HAD NEVER USED THE TOOL NECESSARY FOR THE COMMISSION HE WANTED.

due to the point above I was pretty apprehensive about animating the emotes, but now I'm glad I got this opportunity bc it reignited my passion for animation that had been dwindling for a long time and I've been learning a lot while working. also with every new emote I figure out how to use a different feature of after effects and it makes the job a little bit easier

before giving my payment information I came out to him to avoid confusion with my legal name being different from the name on my socials. he was very chill about it and always used the right name and pronouns for me whenever he mentions me on stream

fun fact: I was reached out to by another big (brazilian, not in qsmp) youtuber for a commission but I had to refuse because I had too much on my plate already (still do..)

my favorite emotes are the devil one and the nerd one

I made his twitch avatar and banner too! I'm really proud of the avatar. the banner was absolute hell

I'm a lurker (and nowadays a vod watcher since I've been busy w/ uni work) but I do watch every single one of mike's streams, so just know that I'm always seeing you guys use the emotes :3

[mikakuna]

remembering that one time I came across some absolutely stunning poison ivy powered Jason art. and I was like oOh tell me MORE!

except more turned out to be a jaytim au which had me backing up, it’s just not my thing like genuinely I think Jason would never. Also Tim pisses me off 😭

but the Jason being poison ivy’d stuck with me cause I would like to give this baby girl all the parental figures.

he’s got Willis. he’s got Catherine. Nocturna. Talia. Ducra.

(Bruce. Who he loves despite it all? Sheila, who he also loved and tried to save despite it all? Ma Gunn, who is his grandma??)

Harvey, who I laugh bc I love the idea of Harvey being like “yeah okay FINE I guess this is my kid now” and Jason is like “this is Harvey my…work associate. Occasional uncle figure I GUESS”

But poison Ivy???? HELL YEAH. Harley wearing one of those “I’m not the step dad I’m the dad that stepped up” shirts and she’s crosses out dad in marker and wrote “parent”

can’t escape the thought of poison Ivy—like having occasionally run into Jason on the streets. Then as Robin. And then he’s dead, and she grieves. and then the UtRH thing happens and like, idk where she’s supposed to be when that goes down but for the sake of this, let’s say Arkham? And Jason dies again at the end of that warehouse scene excerpt no one knows for SURE right, cause Batman took joker and left.

But joker at Arkham laughs abt how the birdy died again. Batman slitting his sons throat to save HIM. Ivy overhears and rages and grieves all over again.

Only Jason is alive?? Ivy runs into him when he’s injured somehow on the verge of dying again and like, she doesn’t KNOW he can just come back? So she uses a small dose of her serum on him, and before she could administer more he wakes.

Jason with the ground talking to him constantly. Gotham always whispered in his ears but now her dirt and trees and daisies and weeds call to him too.

It’s a small scale of ivy’s powers. He can’t do what she can. But he can communicate with her via the Green. He can hear her call to him. 

-welcometothehouseofhades

(Id switch off anon but then it’d be from my main lolll)

i took too long to reply to this babe but OMGGG YES

i loveeeee ivy and her being another one of jason's parents is perf!!!! jason and his badass mother figures is top notch and not explored enough guys. LOLLL i love your harvey bit because it's so so true omg-- they are reluctant parent child !!!

just the idea of jason collecting gotham rogues as his parent figures and/or estranged aunts/uncles is one of my favourites because jason deserves to have parental adults in his life who hate batman. ivy being such a misunderstood rogue who ultimately just wanted to help the planet makes it so much better for jason.

your note about timjay is too real. a big part why i cant stand them is because jason is turned into this big scary dominant top so tim can be the baby in the relationship. hugeee turn off for me as both a bottom jason enjoyer and an extremely emotional but competent jason enjoyer

also i don't know if you already read this fic but i'll link it since it follows really closely to your premise about ivy finding out jason died!

[wordy-little-witch]

Hiiii thanks for answering my moment-of-weakness-at-2am-ish ask lmao

Sooo u said that u have lots of thoughts abt accidental rizz buggy,, and in p sure that the marines wer the tip of the iceberg... can we pls have more of ur ideas abt it?🥣😳🙏 im brainrotting but its vague scenarios that i cannot put into words aaaa writing is hard

Do u have ideas abt him rizzing the pirate populace? Or him doing circus tricks that are also hot,, like teaching some of his crew some acts while in a hot practice outfit,, like im talking about those tight but stretchy turtle necks and long gloves that almost reaches the shoulders also paired with loose pants but his ass still looks good in it, with them bare leg socks(the ones that show his toes n heel) and him taking his lectures seriously and oblivious to his crew just looking (dis)respectfully and having brain empty,, kinda like nightwing teaching gymnastics to women (i wish dat wer me)

Then croco and mihawk are also lowkey attending the lessons w an excuse

Or maybe abt his followers from the crew making buggy merch like pictures but they took some pics of buggy candid, pics that show more of his calmer side cuz I KNOW he pretty, he just emotes like a muppet lol,, which is then mass produced by his followers and them fanboying/girling over it, which then slowly spreads throughout the grandline n the 4 blues cuz ppl be curious abt who dat pretty blue haired pirate is then be shocked learning that its buggy the loud n flashy guy that could have a calm and soft side,,

and ppl demand more so his followers keep taking pictures of him, while buggy is oblivious to the fact that the pics are being distributed/selling,, then someone took notice of stonks rising that someone being crocodile and is somewhat surprised yet not surprised abt the public wanting more pics and then capitalized on this,, then croco is now making buggy have photoshoots but it gets thirst trappy, and now croco n the others in the set are also thirstier than the alabasta desert lollll, buggy still remains oblivious thinking that doing this for morale lolol

so now buggy has amassed a huge following by accident and the public gets even more thirstier because of the thirst trap photos,, and shanks be on his knees and jelly that so many ppl are thirsting after his buggy, and then ransacked a ship carrying the buggy pics n merch and had added it to his buggy room, which is a room full of buggy merch n pics lmao,, the red force r exasperated at first but then took a look at the pictures and they kinda understand their captain now lolll

And buggy still remains oblivious,, maybe until he decides to sail to an island and instead of ppl being kind of wary yet accepting due to his charisma,, he'll be bombarded with ppl carrying his (maybe thirsty) photos/posters asking for gis autograph,, and he be so shocked n confused but hes still a performer at heart so he fakes smiles thanks the crowd of ppl and signs the posters,,, Then suddenly he goes back to crossguild n asks them about it and is pissed at the fact that he couldve made more money in his knowledge lololol

dats all i have for now thank u for reading dis long ass ask :D

YES omfg just all the yes

Some general headcanons here on my end, but Buggy is STRONG okay, both bc of his circus skills, knife fighting and devil fruit. He just isn't Full Six Pack Washboard Abs. He's got a little curve. A layer of cuddly softness. HEALTHY muscle.

So he absolutely has a multi-faceted fan club of pirates, civilians, marines, alike. Some love the soft prettiness. Some like the fierce candid shots. Some are absolutely FERAL over casual competence.

Buggy regularly has cross training classes, I bet. He's a bit of a jack of all trades, and so he's got some skill in all sorts of topics that are useful. Piracy and circus performing are a lot more alike than a lot of people think, after all. He arranges classes and stuff to make sure everyone has some sort of transferable skill.

It's not HIS fault that he has his hair up for practicality, a sleeveless leotard and high waited capris. He's dressed for class, that's all.

If he does catch anyone staring, he bristles, taking it the wrong way.

Later on down the line, all of the sudden realizations that people are making MONEY, off of pictures from HIM hit him like a sack of bricks, and he rushes to his sassy besties, just "Gal, Vida. Am I pretty??? Like seriously, AM i????"

A: "No." / G: "Yes."

B: "................... a h."

The candid shots become photoshoots, become thirst traps, become eventual pin ups after Mihawk and Crocodile get Inspired. Buggy has the range to play the masc and femme with ease, and he's surprisingly photogenic.

Bonus: an entire line of Buggy Body Pillows with extra padding in the butt. ((Shanks owns several))

[mcytegg]

hihiii okay idk if you want a yap sesh in your askbox so PLEASE feel free to delete but roshambo hyperfixation is insane and i take every chance i can get to yap but . your post about how easily ro gets lonely made me jump up and down i was going to find smth you wrote to be like wow this was so right but the entire thing was so right i SCREAMED but . okay. im very big on personality types but im trying to avoid using any confusing enneagram-exclusive language but ro has always been the epitome of an enneagram 5 (specifically a sx/so 5w4) to me . copying this directly from the enneagram universe website but "Fives are alert, insightful, and curious. They are able to concentrate and focus on developing complex ideas and skills. Independent, innovative, and inventive, they can also become preoccupied with their thoughts and imaginary constructs. They become detached, yet high-strung and intense. They typically have problems with eccentricity, nihilism, and isolation." fives a lot of the time are very mental types which makes them especially hard to read at times since it doesn't matter what they want to do, it matters if they have the confidence to want to actually do it. i think with ro confidence is a big part of what he chooses to do, which is why he sticks by people who he's confident he knows (mapicc) . one thing I've noticed with ro is that he almost . grows into himself based off of how other people receive him which is why i think he's a sx5. again stealing a quote from the personality database bc wording is my greatest enemy but "Ichazo called the SX5 'Confidence' a need for someone to feel safe with, a person of refuge[1], an excessive demand for trust and to be able to trust and love" . sx5's are also often more intense than other 5s, and have a tendency to want to be more emotional than the typically reversed way 5s are portrayed . okay i am so sorry if this makes no sense im writing it in a daze of random confidence and a want to talk about this .... again feel free to delete and throw rocks at me if i got anything wrong okay tytyty

OKAY IM FINALLY ANSWERING THIS, i am so sorry it took me so long bc i am VERY happy to hear u yap i just keep forgetting to reply 😭😭😭 but tysm for sending this, i appreciate it a lot 🛐

i am actually actively listening to the song from the sleeping at last written abt 5s as i answer so i can Immerse myself AND YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!!

everytjing ur saying makes perfect sense dw like after watching bacons stream last night . rewatching zams castle buildimh stream where ro built the fuckass strip club . and then comparing it to how he acts in large groups and like one on ones w people he isnt as familiar w like jumper and rek, there IS a difference in how he behaves and interacts w certain people. he seems more withdrawn and almost more reserved/tame in larger groups and when interacting w people he doesnt typically interact w, whereas he is. like That w people he already knows he trusts and understand what hes like.

and like to me the difference boils down to how he seems to feel most confident and much more open in certain ways w mapicc and zam specifically. they are like.....of everyone in the server they know him the best and he knows they know what to expect from him. just like he knows what to expect from them which is def part of why no matter what hes just always the most openly "himself" w them.

it isnt that he dislikes the others or doesnt feel comfortable at all w everyone else in the server, he just seems to have a set few people who he feels more comfortable expressing himself in a more open way w. for better and for worse LOL.

[death4myluv]

no 1 asked but tess death4myluv dating lore:

1. B! sm1 I've been friends w since 3rd grade. summer 2023. I rushed into smth I didn't rlly have feelings 4 bc I had no idea any1 could ever like me like that. got together over tik tok dms bc I reposted a vid abt wanting a queer summer fling and she responded saying I'm here. the relationship lasted js under a month before I ended it bc I realized we didn't rlly go well together. pretty messy on my end, b didn't deserve that. but we r still rlly close friends tdy and neither of us see eachother as exs!!

2. Z. tdlr: I realized I was all the way gay by dating him. met in seg 2 drivers ed end of Aug 2023. talked 4 a long time. he was so nice and kind. a yr older than me. we got together nov 2023 and dated until the beginning of Jan 2024. was rlly rough 4 me. constant panic attacks b4 every date. dissociated while kissing and touching. wanted out sb. very very messy breakup that I have emotional trauma from I think. my mom got rlly involved, she was pissed at me. home was not great the beginning of this yr. it got sb I felt like the only way to fix it would be to cut him off completely even after we broke up. I still feel terrible.

3. N. lordddd. may 2024. a friend I've known since 9th grade, but was never that close to. started to get a big crush on them. we hung out a few times b4 I told them I liked them, they liked me back. or so they said. we dated 4 only less than a month, and thru that entire time i felt neglected. we kissed mb 4 times, yet they said they wanted to. once I leaned against them and they recoiled, yet they insisted they wanted physical touch. I left a few dates crying bc it didn't feel like a date, and I was so confused bc they insisted they wanted a typical relationship, even when I told them I would be happy to work thru any problems they had with affection, or if they didn't want it in the first place. but they insisted they did, and then I found out they were writing a song abt physical intimacy so I started to feel like they js didn't want it w me. the final straw was when I took them to prom. they were vv disconnected, I felt like I was forcing them to do anything, which I would never of wanted to do. they didn't say I looked pretty. they left in a hurry and treated me like an afterthought, when i was under the impression i would drive them home. and when I got back to my car, alone, I saw they completely forgot abt the flowers I got them. I decided to wait a day to see if they would realize, and that turned into 3. they didn't even think of it. so, I broke up w them. i rlly did love them, I think the most genuinely in the romantic sense out of any1 here. we don't talk anymore and they never made any move to continue to be friends after saying they wanted to.

[panoffrying]

okok so ummmmm ,,, this took me a while to write down bc i fucking SUCK at writing down my thoughts in actually coherent ways so i hope this all makes sense:

i think sozo's sorta the black sheep where he comes from . a lot of stuff abt ants is usually abt how BRUTAL they are toward other ant colonies , literally ripping each other apart an kidnapping babies n shit . so i think sozo's colony was sort of like that—very warrior-oriented with not much space for anything else . then there was sozo , who didn't have Any interest in fighting or anything to do with battle , instead WAY more interested in fungi an stuff

in his colony (and in others) fungi r generally treated as life-threatening pests , since EVERY ant ever knows tha horrifying tale of cordyceps an how they'll rip apart a colony from tha inside out n whatnot . most of sozo's colony just thinks his fascination with fungi is simply a childhood phase , that he'll get over it n realize how dangerous they are , but he doesn't because it's NOT A PHASE , MOM !!!!!!!! he wants to be a MYCOLOGIST , not a WARRIOR !!!!!!

(his colony is also in silk cradle . i forgot to mention that so i'm putting that here)

so sozo ends up leaving his home as a young adult after growing up as a social outcast , wanting to pursue his own dreams instead of just listening to whatever his queen wanted . he eventually Does become a mycologist an one day , ends up at shamura's grand temple to add his knowledge of fungi to their great library , which is when they first officially meet each other . at first it's a fairly generic follower meeting his god type thing , but after a while of talking their conversations slowly get more casual an they begin regarding each other as friends , an then eventually Close friends . maybe they could've become more if sozo hadn't gone off to anura , discovered those mushroomos, and ,,, well . you know what happens to him .

eventually shamura forgets about sozo (since this all takes place After narinder's betrayal) but they occasionally get a strange , yearning feeling ,,, like someone used to come to them everyday to talk about ,,, something. they can't quite remember what , though ...

it's only after the lamb takes over , when shamura is indoctrinated and sozo gets brought back from the dead (then promptly goes through rehab) that they meet again . shamura doesn't quite recall sozo an he only vaguely remembers them , but they still like to hang out together , especially as shamura's head injury slowly stabilizes into something more manageable for them . shamura likes to hear him talk abt his studies , and sozo likes having an attentive audience . they're really good friends who also maybe wanna kiss (but shamura isn't willing to unpack THOSE emotions yet bc they have weird feelings abt romantic relationships after that whole fiasco with their ex a few millennia ago but sssshhhhhh)

anyway that's abt it :3 i'm just realizing it kinda dipped into sozura toward the end there but ehhhhh that's still TECHNICALLY a sozo headcanon if u squint so

SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO ANSWER THIS MY LIFE GOT A BIT CHAOTIC BUT YOOOOOOOOO OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH EEEEEEE I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS!

It’s very different from other sozo headcanons and I like that a lot. I like to imagine for your headcanons sozonius is literally like hiccup from how to train your dragon lmao. To be fair he might know some self defense based on how he was raised.

I like the idea that sozonius colony was in silk cradle in which I have it in my headcanons that after Narinders banishment silk cradle becomes the most dangerous land of war, just killing without thinking. God bless Sozonius for making it through their bro💀🙏

AND YOU KNOW ME IM ALWAYS A SUCKER FOR THAT SOZURA FOOD. I really like the idea of sozonius meeting Shamura before sozonius went to Anura. THE BUGS ARE BESTIES a bishop and a mortal ant.

Bro my heart of thinking of Shamura remembering sozo in random moments and wondering where he is, then having to be explained to that Sozonius went missing years ago, before forgetting him again AGH MY SOUL!!! THE POTENTIAL HERE

I ADORE THIS SO MUCH THANK YOU FOR TELLING ME ABOUT YOUR HEADCANONS! Seeing this stuff inspires me and I love being able to interact with yall💜

[aesrot]

Feel free to delete this, but I remember you saying that you liked Sonadow (I think that’s the ship name?). Anyway this is your invitation to infodump about them as much as you want. Also if you want to give fanfic recommendations I just might read them <3.

GIGGLES you shouldnt have said this >:3

idek what i could talk abt bc at the same times theres a LOT but also, despite me being mostly caught up game lore wise, i still dont feel like i have a good enough understanding of the characters, i'll probably only feel that when im caught up w the comics. which,,, will take me a good while to get through (just the archie comics are like over 500 issues long lol)

BUT. hmm what could i say that doesnt really require much prior knowledge...

ig, as every ship i ever ship, i see them more as queer platonic, sonic gives me the strongest aroace vibes, so i feel like his love for shadow wouldnt take a much different shape than his love for his other friends. but their connection goes a lil further to me, bc, when it comes to certain stuff, i feel like they're the only ones who can understand each other. and shadow... my dearest little guy... he represses a lot. his life experience wasnt. the best. i dont think he got that many opportunities to explore his own emotions, he probably cant even name a bunch of his emotions, its just easier to lash out, thats smth he's used to. he knows violence, it feels safer, he knows that dance.

and its because sonic has his fair share of violent background (aka, took up the role of a hero since he was way too young) that i feel like he is one of the few who can read shadow much easier than anyone else. hell, sonic himself is kinda knee deep in some repression (in my own understanding of his character). obvs most of this is bc its a franchise that targets kids, they wont get wild w the angst, but my boy sonic be out there fighting all the time and takes on a responsibility that shouldnt be his, the consequences of his actions can be catastrophic sometimes (once again asking everyone to watch sonic prime <3333 so much angst potential, im not normal abt it), and even when things go wrong, he jut smiles and powers through it. just think this for a second. god. imagine the amount of times he pushed himself beyond his limitations for the sake of others, how many times he pretended to be fine....

and yet. despite all that, they are terrible with communicating to each other, so things get physical often (as in fighting, not sexual, which makes it even gayer to me <3), and sigh. not surprising. put two stupid traumatised hogs in the same room and they'll either zoom around trying to race each other or they'll try to tear each others throat bc they just cant be normal together. ig thats how they communicate, go figures lol

my thoughts are all over the place atm so its hard to make this coherent <- my thoughts abt them are usually just violently screaming and sobbing. im sooo normal abt them. cant get much deeper than this without getting into the Lore, but yeah, ig this is smth

and oh, abt fanfics, hmmm i dont have that many that you could read without any background, but i did just finish this one shots collection thats very sweet and pretty chill to read without much prior knowledge, its mostly just a bunch of fluffy sick fics and them exploring their own feelings.

[petrichorium]

hiyaaaa c: for the selfship asks!! (I usually default to Shanks with you but i'd love to hear about literally any of your selfships, anyone you wanna talk about!)

mocha, moonlight, mango, vanilla (+ bonus if there's one on there you're specifically dyin to talk about!)

i will happily do shanks ty av 👉🏻👈🏻

mocha — what was your first kiss like?

its like two yrs after we meet n during that time we've been growing closer but im def still like. super anxious hes just gonna get bored of me and move on. like every time he leaves theres a part of me thats like yep this is it theyre not coming back. as time has gone on their visits have gotten longer + more frequent but then this Specific time they r stalled and it takes much much longer for them to return like they r gone for a good 3-4 months which is the longest its ever been. so when shanks Does show up at the top of my lighthouse where im working on the light i have this very intense mix of feelings (relief bc i was ofc worried, anger at him bc i felt abandoned, anger at myself for feeling abandoned when i shouldnt even care) but most of all i see him and its just so clear how eager he is to see me that i have Such a palpable reaction to seeing him in turn and it def terrifies me. hes gotten used to me just letting him in or even coming out to hang w him so when i tell him im not hes like. very kicked puppy LMFAOOOOO its also raining and windy and hes very like. mr darcy in the rain coded yk JSHBFJBHS but not abt to leave or force the door open obvi so instead he just stands there tapping at the window while i hover too..... eventually i do open it and he gets up close to say hes sorry he took so long and tell me he missed me so much.......... n now i feel So silly and upset w myself i fear JHSDFJHB just a mess but all those emotions come out in me impulsively lunging forward n kissing him through the window...... and its so wet rip and cold and so fast bc he does Not anticipate it hes left all dumbfounded. and in a panic i slam the window closed on him again LOL and thats when he like. bashes through the door like a maniac i fear just on complete accident neither of us realizes hes busted the latch until way later on but hes just very giddy and wants 2 hold me Right Then which i do allow him to do....... N E WAY THERE WE GO SDUFHBVHBH so long im sorry pfft

moonlight — what does a perfect friday night look like for the two of you?

bold to assume the red-haired pirates have weekdays JHBSDFJH but i will attempt to maintain the spirit of the question...... perfect night before a few "days off" wld start w me actually joining everyone for a few drinks which is admittedly a bit rare so it always puts shanks in a good mood. i always peel off a bit early and he probs follows quickly behind, n we spend the rest of the night lounging around our quarters w him reading whatever book im in the middle of over my shoulder/from my lap. we'll make out a lil too but thats a given

mango — do you and your lover like to dance?

DOES MR HOPELESS ROMANTIC LIKE TO DANCE yes ofc ofc 🫣 he will mostly drag me into v playful high energy dances while everyones partying (& honestly the other officers will too i think) but he does like to slow it down sometimes.... occasionally in a quiet lil corner of whatever bar we've taken over for the night but often just in our quarters 🥺 ive talked abt for the dancing and the dreaming but he'll tend to hum that on those occasions 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

vanilla — what do they keep on their nightstand? what do you keep on yours?

i feel like we share a nightstand somehow idk just vibes so its always got. a bunch of books (i rlly do read a LOT on the red force ik im always talking abt it but like. once i join up i suddenly have access to all kinds of banned books that i read like crazy so) honestly one or two half-empty bottles of booze which i am always trying to toss out but another will magically appear..... a pistol JKHBSDJHFB a mini den-den, a good bundle of various letters and documents, a pair of seastone cuffs

send in some selfship questions!

[the-bren-system]

Neurodivergent households are great when everyone's brain worms move in sync but if they're not it's difficult. BUT it's still worth it.

Rambling rambling rambling

Like... One of our housemates has a strong comorbidity between OCD and ADHD that causes her to live in a cycle of impulse and self-abuse and it took about 7 months of weekly conversations for us to convince her to get herself a bed frame. But it's taking even longer to convince her to get a rail for her clothing. (her clothes are in piles in the living room which is horribly overwhelming and causes things to get lost constantly)

And the thing is, you can't just confront someone abt self-sabotage or they'll double down on it. So we have to use more subtle methods to teach her how to allow herself basic comforts in life.

And we know enough abt her traumas to understand where it all comes from. It's difficult stuff that isn't her fault.

On one hand, it drives us insane bc her bad habits are extremely triggering. On the other, every time she makes a change for the better we feel proud of her.

Still, it's shocking how much help she needs. She's got a degree and a good job in her field, but still struggles to take care of herself. The amount of neglect that someone has to grow up with to end up like this... It actually is draining to think about.

The fact she got through University with these kinds of mental health struggles is impressive. The fact she landed a good ecologist job is impressive. I just wish she would let herself live in comfort instead of ruining her own life in small but severe ways twice a week.

Especially because it means the house is left in a state that triggers horrible emotional flashbacks in me. The last time I was living in a house that was this messy was when I was in a domestically abusive relationship, trapped in lockdown with an aspiring serial killer who used to make threats with knives and once gave me a serious ribcage injury. I don't need to be reminded of that situation 6 times a week. I don't need to feel deeply vigilant and angry every time I go downstairs to make a meal or something.

We're still focused on helping her bc being constructive is more practical. It's better in the long run to be helpful and to not get too angry. (we make an effort to manage our anger so we don't end up triggering more self-sabotaging from her, because if we act scary or whatever she will take it out on herself)

It's a delicate balance, you know, but when someone else is suffering really badly that means both of us have to adjust to each other's needs. She has to learn to stop sabotaging the household, we have to be patient in our approach so she can learn that.

We're learning to better help people who have grown up neglected, whole she's learning to understand and respect people who have been abused. We're building bridges, really, and building takes effort. She works on herself, finds more comfort with herself and also learns some perspective. We get to understand her, help her, and feel somewhat fulfilled about that.

People like me are naturally inclined to be more aloof and unserious and detached, people like her are more inclined to be self-deprecating and reckless, but we can both help each other to grow in different ways. Sometimes sitting down with her to give an emotional debrief and help her understand her own emotions and needs is enriching for us - it's an opportunity to use our analytical thinking in a helpful way and I'm glad we have the chance to help out.

I won't choose to blame her for the issues she's got; I'll sure as hell give her the advice and the tools she needs to get out of the mess she's in. I'll pass on the things I've learned the hard way so she doesn't have to learn them painfully. That's what found family means for traumatised people.

- Toby

[igbylicious]

im so sorry im late ozr I read the new chapter as soon as I saw the notification but it was such a hectic week I couldn't get my thoughts in order (not like I am about to make any sense lol). Whichever way has become such a safe space for me tbh icb we only got 2 chapters left T_T

the intro of woo and reader's setting up the new boundaries was honestly delightful to read like things aren't just magically hunky dory now that he moved in w/ san but they talk about things and compromise and it's honestly an estimate to your ability to write about the little moments so well too. I swear I can read a whole book of just those little moments!!! maybe if you're up to it we can get more spin offs in this universe (can you notice me clinging to this fic??)

I love instigator Woo bless him for noticing reader's hesitancy and understanding her concerns while still pushing her to see past it. PUSSY DRUNK WOO MY BELOVED IS BAAAAACK!! honestly felt my stomach flutter reading that part and I just (,,♡ᵕ♡,,)

BUT OH GOD SAN??????????? this might have reawakened a part of me I thought was long gone because wth bro. he was in his element and THRIVING!! using reader's panties as a gag for woo was too hot i don't think i can be normal about this im afraid. the degradation, the overstimulation the POSSESSIVENESS???? do you want me dead???????

AND OF COURSE THE AFTERCARE AND THE WINDDOWN AFTER! *chef's kiss* i wanna hug them all they're just the most precious babies!! the san video might have broken my brain but I am so glad reader got her wish.

Another great chapter as always igby!! truly can't wait to read what you write next! I hope you're feeling better!

asdjhasdjhasdhj ahhhhhh i am meltinngggggggggg at this ask ;;♡ you’re always so generous w/ your thoughts, i appreciate you taking the time SO much!!! (and pls don’t worry abt being ‘late’, there is no such thing! you could show up in my inbox two years after an update and i’d be hecken THRILLED to see your name pop up! your asks always make my day, but i’m the last person who’s gonna judge others for being too busy or not having the spare batteries asdskjasdjk i understand the struggle :’) )

i’m really happy you enjoyed the lil moments hehe i love putting those in! i want to be careful abt making hard promises bc there are other projects i’m also excited abt, but i’m also super attached to these lil guys so there totally is a chance i’ll write more for this au after the fic is done ^^ i even got some notes jotted down for drabble ideas that don’t fit into the main fic (♡ ˙ ︶ ˙ ♡)

Wooyoung multi-tasking his emotional intelligence w/ his horny appetites is what we’re here for hehe <3 and asdjhdasjh ngl i’m p sure the demon that possesses San on stage took a bite out of me for this one @_@

FOR REAL I ALWAYS GET SO GIDDY AT YOUR COMMENTS ASKDJASKJDSAJK BUT PLS TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF TOO (◕‿◕)♡ hope your days are less hectic!!!

[sapphicdib]

r u willing to give us some info abt the streamer au? You’ve mentioned it before but I’m just curious abt it tbh :D

oh I AM MORE THAN WILLING. PREPARE URSELF

so: what happens when you put the physical manifestation of ADHD into an apartment with 3 different flavors of autism, give her a successful twitch career, and blast all of them with Beam Of Insufferably Horny?

the streamer au LMFAO (putting this under a cut bc it got. INSANELY long omfg)

normally i dont rlly like human aus (they’re just not my thing) but this stupid au wormed it’s way into my heart and now i cherish it lmfao. there’s no real set plot, there’s just Situations these lil guys get into. some are soft and adorable (ie. pebbles’ first kiss with sig) or hilarious (sig’s ridiculous amount of flirting with his own chat) or just fuckin stupid (their halloween stream where they do a whole production where chat has to figure out who “killed” sig and it’s just chaos). tbh ive found myself accidentally focusing on the ragequit aspect of the au despite the entire polycule being a thing (lilypad, sunstone, traffic light, ragequit, and hurricane all happen)

i think the Main Things that sum up the au are:

Sig punched Pebbles’ transphobic (now ex) boyfriend in the face and spent a night in jail bc of it LMFAO

Pebbles and Suns meet after Sig drags Pebbles to a party at the college he attends (and Sig attended for a single semester before the whole streamer thing took off). Suns went to catholic school and is incredibly repressed and hesitant with Pebbles and Sig ends up having to instigate a lot of shit to prevent them from just fuckin. never going past hand holding.

Speaking of, Pebbs is an art major and drew all of Sig’s custom emotes. He also loves drawing everyone in the apartment, though usually keeps those drawings hidden from everyone in his sketchbooks

Wind and Sig being childhood best friends who are each others ride or die, they were each others first like, everything. The funniest one being where Wind is having a crisis bc he thinks he might be gay and Sig is just like “hm well I’m kinda a guy maybe kiss me and see if you like it?” And well. Wind has been kissing this fool for 7 years now and does not plan on stopping.

Moon is usually a moderator but does make appearances occasionally and chat loves her. Suns will not go on camera without a face mask. Pebbles was originally camerashy but ends up being in pretty much every stream after a while.

Sig refuses to tell chat his gender and thinks it’s funny watching everyone guess. If you ask/ask for pronouns he just replies with “whatever’s funniest” or “whatever makes this gay”, or if someone’s being rude about it, “whatever pisses you off most”

Sig is like. Insanely good at FPS games and holds multiple top rankings in competitive esports. Yui (Unparalleled Innocence) is one of her main rivals. It’s cute tho. They’re like. rivals who kiss.

Pebbles is Moon’s adopted brother, and has some pretty bad weakness in his hands/legs bc he had cancer as a child. They all support him a lot (Pebbles is rlly stubborn about “being okay”) and Sig does a lot of charity streams for things like forgiving medical debt and cancer research. Sig and Moon bought a huge thing of stickers to help decorate Pebbles’ crutches so he’d like them more.

Pebbles’ name is Pebbles because Moon came up with it as a nickname when they were kids, and when Pebbles came out he chose that as his name. Moon cried about it. Also I just like the whole “transmasc w a silly name” thing bc I feel like it fits him.

Sig helps Pebbles dye his hair (emo mf) but requires that if he helps she gets to put streaks of color in his bangs. It’s usually pink but sometimes she chooses a different color. Sig has the underside of his hair dyed purple. Pebbles’ natural hair color is a pretty light brown.

They all have their cats ofc!! Messenger, Hunter, Arti, and Ruffles!! They were all either strays they found or adopted from a shelter.

That’s all I can think of rn! I wanna draw their designs eventually (and I have but I don’t rlly like them anymore bc OUGHHH I haven’t drawn people in for-goddamn-ever) but yeah!! Damn this got long LMFAO

[clowncloud]

AHAHHAHA remember when jan last year? or year b4? mother my hair was getting long n mother tried to twist it she literally came up to me while i was sitting embroiderying or whatever n put her hand in it n i hate having my hair combed like plaits n stuff n i told her no n moved away n she got so mad i think she took away my laptop n then i was pretty angry but also chill went inside to continue embroidery n then i came out my room n her phone was just there as it usually is so i hid it n put it on silence as a spur impulse n then i realized quickly tht i had fucked up this was a sunday she's getting ready to pack her stuff for work the night cant find her phone not worrying at first but then it's obvi i did i refused to back down whatever whatever i went to shower or she locked me in the shower cant remember but me locked in the shower so i took her razor n cut my hair lmao tht was actually my first attempting at cutting my hair myself eheheh ofc i fucked it up badly but truly not as bad as the second time bc i wasnt trying to cut it all off just cut it lower so she cldnt hold it to twist it aljkflkdsjflksd n then it was i think weeks b4 she realized what i had done my gm realized n kept saying she was going to tell her but she didnt i think until weeks after i dont remember but tht was so lmao i think tht was truly one of the last lack of emotional regulation n intelligence outbreaks i had also funny story years b4 we were going w/ her to work n same thing istg this woman is obsessed w/ my hair tht was when it was relaxed i asked her in advance if i cld style my hair x way she said yes in advance i asked in advance bc she's finnicky like tht n she used to like to curl it n i wasnt too fond of tht all the time so yh the night b4 she insists on curling it n im trying to make my point tht i asked in advance she doesnt care whatever makes me bring the curlers n in a moment of teen stupidity i threw the bag at her ... while she was holding n drink a cup of hot tea so yeah ..... i mean thankfully it wasnt like boiling to burn her .... i mean i got to wear my hair how i wanted ajfldsjf;lksdjf i love tht outfit to this day i looked so cute ugh but then i cldnt get pics bc everyone was mad at me lmao but whatever i got the prettiest selfie ever i still hv it it survived the delete all my photos anyways MOST importantly tht day she really only carried me still bc i had a dentist appt at her dentist in the city so yh n on the way she was like she's sorry for what she did n smth abt how she knows she willingly provokes me for ??? fun???? n she shld stop doing tht too lmaooooo psychopaths istg anyways yh im a bad girl ehehehehhehe

[drifloonz]

btw i never posted this but conceptual pokemon teams for steven. one is mainly pre-incident while the one after is After The Incident ( since yk he canonically releases all his pokemon and goes willingly broke after miki dies. )

pre incident team ( he released like all of these. except miki obviously ):

post incident:

reasonings below ( its long i apologize )

PRE-INCIDENT TEAM ; here's a discord screenshot i put for general info lol anyways suicide cw in the screenshot ( just a mention though but yk. heavy shit )

miki - its miki. do you need me to give explanation. part of me just kind of took a few strangled red fics interpretation of why/how steven has miki ( aka he found her in the rain in pallet town and he didnt even wanna be a trainer - inspired by faulty on ao3 )

pidgeot - first pokemon caught other than miki for probably obvious reasons. he also needed a pokemon to use fly - a lot of his pre incident team is just for tms or for backup but he used like almost exclusively miki bc mikis OVERPOWERED

haunter - steven doesnt go into pokemon tower until after the incident, but i like to think somehow he met a gastly and it just kept following him until he caught it. ( im too lazy to remake the team but bc of this it prob should b a gastly in this image )

Fun fact; Personally i think the gastly in Strangled that lets you into his house is his gastly. why the fuck else would it be there. after steven releases all his mons it still follows him around and tries to get people to help them by moving the stones that block his house, but accidentally makes it worse bc steven just attacks people who come into his home at that time. oopsy.

sandshrew - i dont have a lot to say abt this one it just kinda fits + for tms probably ( sandshrew. learns a lot of tms. )

lapras - likely just for surf but theres probably more i could add to this my brains just not thinking

chansey - gifted by daisy! either as a happiny or just. as a chansey. it's honestly more of an emotional support mon than it is an actual battling mon

_______

POST INCIDENT TEAM ; ( once again discord screenshot w general info )

there's more post-incident teams, i made like 3, which is why it says he has pokemon that it doesnt seem like he has in the second images. few notable examples are zoroark, gallade, chandelure, hydreigon, gourgeist, and phantump ( ... the phantump is probably a kid he killed ( maybe in strangled ) that follows him arnd since he probably lives in a forest LOL )

miki - she's now fucked up and glitched since its post-incident. he technically has multiple fucked up missingno'd versions of her canonically. Do not ask why

mega absol - it's a disaster pokemon. it follows him arnd and doesn't leave him around bc he's constantly got disasters happening arnd him. he IS the disaster at this point. also i kind of stole this concept from a steven twitter rp account, iirc bc its a really good concept. i like to think he kind of resents it but he still technically Has it

mega houndoom - u can't tell me he wouldn't have a houndoom. steven HAS dog owner energy. also absol and houndoom r mega just bc i think they go hard and their designs fit better w steven. idk if steven would actually have mega evolution shit.

mawile - he would. idk why but he would

staraptor - he doesnt have pidgeot anymore so he got a staraptor, ig. i don't know why he'd have one it just fits

luxray - literally all of these last 3 boil down to "it just fits."

[idealspawn]

i think its probably good that he is on his 2 week europe trip. we made plans for after his trip so i feel secure. he told me he trusts me. i trust him too. i was afraid i dont trust myself not to disconnect w my feelings but i think its fine now. i therapized myself out of it :d. i think we both need breathing room. i also need to get sober for a while, fuck. that has def messed me up. we met up one last time before he left too and he took pics of me w his film camera. he is convinced that im photogenic though im not.... he taught me how to use the camera too! we also visited a local church and listened to the organ music there. it was beautiful. ive been massively inhaling therapy videos on how to self-regulate and allow breathing room in a relationship. also how to maintain a distinct identity whilst being together with someone. it has helped me immensely. i also have actually returned back to my hobbies and read diff essays abt my personal interests like philosophy and religion and the art of translating literature. i rediscovered old video games i used to play w my sister, that is insanely healing. ive drawn a lot and listened to lots of new music and made new cool playlists. i watched some anime too! ive met up w my friends that i havent seen in such a long time and ive been such a great host. i invited my 8 girl friend group over and we made spring rolls together and mojitos and got high and played cool board and card games. it was so refreshing. i also invited my closest friend over and we went riding w bikes at night and climbed on the walls surrounding a manor near my home. not sure if legal but we also jumped in their backyard and ran around. it was so beautiful. we also did lots of other fun stuff. i saw poppies! my fav flower. also bats!!! the reflection of the moon on a river was so beautiful. it was so nice that my sister came over for a day too. i saw two of her friends briefly too and they were so nice to me! today ill be going out of my comfort zone a fuck ton too. my friend is hosting her bday party in her countryside home that is far away and i havent even figured out my transportation back. i will stay there for 3 days. loose ends like that used to freak me the fuck out but i think ill be fine. its an old house so it doesnt really allow me to follow all my insane rituals but i think i need to train myself to be okay w it. most ppl are sleeping in tents but i can be in the house bc i literally dont have a tent but that also probably would make me panic a bit too much. too many new things at once isnt good either i think. im actually doing fine. its nice. surprising that ive done things and im doing things and i havent died although most of my life ive literally feared i would. like not yet discussing why i shut down when the guy im seeing tried to be intimate and postponing it for after his trip.. i used to NEVER be able to do that. like i couldnt for the life of me sit w the uncomfortable emotion. like my entire life used to stop until i could regulate through the other person and vocalize it. but now ive just like. organized my brain. and self-soothed myself and i feel safe that he wont immediately leave me just bc of one difficult situation with an ambiguous meaning. and that the issue can be put on pause and when he returns we can talk about it.

[technikki]

AAAA tell me about your post canon raydon hcs!! if you please!!

answering this a few days late bc my brain is full of bees but AWWWWW HELL YAH THANK YOU!! THEY MEAN THE WORLD TO ME so!!

fair warning this is really long. i don't know how this happened. what. <3

i like to think they start dating probably a few months after getting to the human world. they had developed romantic feelings for each other a while before that (likely sometime during the vol12 timeskip because they had a lot of time to grow closer while traveling <3) but it took them both a bit to realize those feelings especially due to being a bit preoccupied with. all the problems <3 they were obviously still really close and important to each other regardless

ray was probably the first to realize the way he loved don was different from the way he loved everyone else. he probably didn't really think much about the way he got butterflies whenever he was near don until he took a moment to be like oh. fuck. a more funny alternative to this is him offhandedly mentioning the way don makes him feel to emma and norman (i am looking away from emmas memory loss i do not see it <3) n being like 'yeah that's weird huh. anyway' and they just sit there like. i know what you are

it's not that don is oblivious, at least not to his own feelings. i think it might take him a bit longer to realize his feelings for ray because he's just. always allowed himself to love everyone so much more openly and freely than ray has. don has soo much love that he is constantly giving to others that he doesn't really. see his constant desire to be near ray as anything unusual for a while. he does notice how uncharacteristically shy he gets around ray, and his thought process was probably a gradual shift from 'well i didn't really get to have a bond with ray like everyone else growing up so i don't really know what he's okay with' to 'well of course i'm nervous. ray's so cool and smart and amazing so anyone would be nervous. this is true' he's a dork but he does figure it out eventually <3

after getting to the human world they naturally start hanging out with each other a lot more. once they both have some idea of their own feelings they take every chance they can to hang out together because being around each other just feels so nice. they're very sweet <3

i talked abt this in the tags of the post that prompted this ask hsfgfg but its really sweet to me so!! i think after ray's reaction to the hug in chapter 148 don makes sure to be more aware of and respectful of ray's boundaries regarding physical touch. he tries to make his intentions clear before hugging him and give ray a chance to say no if he doesn't want to be touched at the moment. the sheer amount of affection don had to give was really overwhelming for ray at first, but as they hang out more he slowly becomes more comfortable with don's touch and eventually builds up the confidence to start initiating contact himself as well <3

adding on to that last sentence, don has no idea how to react to this at first. he is so much more used to giving others affection than receiving it that when ray holds his hand for the first time his brain just factory resets. it's not like he's not used to receiving affection at all, but he's just. a very affectionate person so when someone, especially ray, initiates instead he just gets super emotional <3 it is not hard to make don emotional and ray is at least partially responsible for 3 separate instances of don crying happy tears in the manga so. he just loves him very much ok

don would probably be the one to confess his feelings! it was something he spent days hyping himself up for and then finally did on one of their hangouts. i can imagine don stumbling over his words even though he rehearsed them several times and ray doesn't know what he's talking about and he's trying not to laugh because man he's just so cute. and then don takes a breath and just gently takes ray's hands and says 'i like you, ray. i've liked you for a really long time.' and ray is just so taken aback he's just. absolutely speechless. and don asks if he'd like to go on a date sometime and ray just loses his composure completely and starts crying and all he can manage is a shaky 'yeah...' and don is a little shocked because its so rare to see ray cry like this but then he's just so overjoyed he hugs ray as tightly as he can and they both start laughing and AAAUGH. sorry what. my demons

it might take them a little bit after they first start dating to really 'act' like a couple? they're both new to the concept of dating as a whole and have no idea what they're doing but i don't think it'd take too long for them to sort of go back to the level of comfort and familiarity they had before. ray has some lingering feelings of self-doubt over whether he really 'deserves' someone as amazing as don but being around him just feels so right and don's affection is typically enough to reassure him at least a little. if he ever voiced these feelings to don i think don would go off on a massive tangent about everything he loves about ray and how he means the world to him and probably get a little too emotional and ray wouldn't really know how to react but he would be touched to say the least and he'd probably think about don's words a lot for. a very long time

while a lot of don's poor self-esteem is resolved over the course of the series, i think he might still experience some self-doubt on rare occasions as well, and he might have trouble opening up to ray about his problems at first. don has always been very open about his emotions, but when it comes to ray he knows all the shit he's been through and his own issues might seem. silly when compared to ray's? he isn't afraid ray would judge him, but he also doesn't really feel like he's 'justified' in causing ray to worry about him when he's been through so much already. but at this point ray knows don well enough to sense something is wrong and when he gets don to eventually tell him this he just explains that he never wants don to feel like his needs aren't as important as his own, and that he wants to be there for don the same way don's always there for him. then he pulls him close and softly says 'tell me what's wrong, don.' and don just breaks and ray just holds him and lets him get it out and its just. very very sweet jdastsadgdsghgdfggfdfghjg. i;m unwell

plagiarizing my tags from my most recent art of them but their first real kiss was initiated by ray! theyre probably cuddling a bit and just talking about whatever and he doesn't really realize what he's doing until he has don's face cupped in his hands and suddenly his heart is pounding and his hands are shaking and he can't even make eye contact and he just says really quietly, 'can i kiss you?' and don is so absolutely awestruck that all he can manage to do is pull ray closer and nod and its just so. it's about the little burst of confidence after a childhood of self-loathing its about the soft tenderness they both deserve so so much it's about [stares into the ocean

OKAY those were long (<- unwell) time for some more general hcs [strikes a pose]

ray is gay and don is bi! don's line about wanting to date a cute girl in s1 plays and then ray walks into the frame and don's like oh. a cute boy is also good

they're also t4t because all of my ships are t4t. you understand

while i mentioned him being more mindful of ray's boundaries, don is just soo physically affectionate that he doesn't even realize he's doing it sometimes and it makes ray's head spin. i can imagine them walking together and don just sort of grabbing ray's hand without really thinking about it and it taking him a good moment to notice 'hey ray's face looks a lot redder than usual wonder what's up with that' and then taking just a bit longer before being like OH. fool <3

MORE PHYSICAL AFFECTION YAYY anyway ithink they cuddle a lot. ray is 'i need to be swaddled and snug at all times' autism and don is 'if im not constantly holding or snuggling something i'll die' autism and thats why they are the perfect couple

once they do get more comfortable being a couple i think cheek kisses become a very common occurrence among the usual affection, especially from don. they both get flustered pretty easily, but when don kisses ray's cheek he just melts. this also creates a scenario where if don's on ray’s left he'll push ray's fringe to the side so he can kiss him. don did this once and whispered 'my emo boy <3' and ray almost died of laughter

adding onto that last scenario, don likes to think of the most unbearably cheesy pet names specifically to get ray's reaction. if it came to serious ones though i don't think don would use them that often if at all because he just really loves ray's name <3 ray lovingly calls don a dork all the time though

don really likes playing with ray's hair. goes with my hc that ray grows his hair out a bit and his hair is also probably really soft and don loves it. the feeling of don running his fingers through his hair is really calming and comforting to ray and don's probably the only one who could get away with touching it for any extended period of time

they have movie nights with emma, norman and gilda (because im weak for the 'group of best friends ends up living together' trope) and they all usually end up falling asleep in a big pile on the couch. ray usually snuggles up against don and ends up using him as a pillow <3

speaking of friends i have a really funny hc where it was very very common for ray to playfully tease norman when he had a crush on emma, so once he notices how hopelessly smitten ray is with don, norman is an absolute menace. they are the besties ever to me

don absolutely adores ray's singing. ray hums to himself while cooking and don will just come up behind him and wrap his arms around him and just listen to his voice, and sometimes he'll ask ray to sing for him and listen with this look of just. pure adoration <3 ray's not that confident in his singing and i think it's something that's very personal to him as he really only did it as a coping mechanism growing up, but seeing the way don lights up when he sings is really really special to him and i think it'd get him to appreciate his own voice more as well <3

on the other hand ray really loves don's laugh. it's just very loud and unrestrained and genuine like everything else don does and ray's heart absolutely melts when he hears it. ray will find any excuse to make don laugh <3

ray has come a long way with his healing in the years since the gracefield escape, but he still has lasting scars from that trauma that will never fully go away and don will drop everything to comfort him through his more emotional moments and the rare panic attack. it means a lot to ray that he's finally able to cry freely and openly and don will hold him as tight as he can and run his fingers through his hair and listen to him for as long as he needs. im very emotionally stable about this incase you were wondering

ray is a serial clothing thief. don's sweaters just feel warmer somehow <3 ray will walk into the room in the morning wearing a pink t-shirt with a bunny on it and the others instantly know it's not his HDSFG

don canonically gets warm really easily so i think if they were somewhere outdoors and ray got cold don would give him his jacket without question. ray felt bad leaving don without anything to keep himself warm and knew don wouldn't take no for an answer so he settled on giving don his scarf as a compromise. don got really really emotional over ray offering him such an important comfort item and tried to decline but ray also wouldnt take no for an answer so he ended up accepting it <3 it meant a lot to both of them

don is prone to going on long enthusiastic rants when he’s excited about something and his joy is so contagious for ray he just can't help but smile and laugh along with him. he can absolutely talk ray's ears off and ray adores every word and sometimes they might even start happy stimming together <3 autistic love its everything to me. you understand

OKAYTHATS. ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT FOR NOW <3<3<3 i definitely have more but i'd have to dig for them and i feel this post is really long so <3 but yeah they mean a lot to me. here's a kinda old little doodle i'm still really fond of as prize for reading this ridiculously self-indulgent rant