#under a cut because it got LONG

[queerdiazs]

some of my personal fav eddie hcs 🫶🏼

he's the oldest cousin and only boy so he doesn't know what it's like to have any older siblings, but when he met hen and chimney, he felt for the first time what it was like to be taken care of as a younger brother and he's never ever going to take it for granted

it took him a while to grieve his wife, but eventually he brings shannon's things out of storage and puts them out all over the house. sometimes it hurts, but it's all worth it when he gets to answer his son's questions about where the eccentric iron armadillo came from

when shannon found out she was pregnant, she told eddie and they decided to run away. it was fun while it lasted, but eventually they ran out of money and had to return home. he'll forever treasure those few weeks they had together; it was their happiest time.

shannon loved music, so when he's missing her he'll put on the songs she liked and dance all over the house with christopher

he LOVES watching movies at the theater and often goes alone in the mornings after he drops chris off at school. he stops at the dollar store first and get snacks and puts them in his boots to sneak them in

he's queer (it's easier than explaining the complexities of being bi and on the ace spectrum) and he's known since he was 20 years old. it wasn't a sudden realization; it hit him slowly, like snow falling one by one. he's comfortable in his queerness and he has support from his family.

he wore his wedding ring even after shannon died. he lost it, though, and he went to a pawn shop to buy another one, and then buried it next to her grave when he finally felt ready to let her go

what sold him on the 118 after graduating the academy was how hard bobby fought for him without even knowing him. he didn't have to prove himself. it was nice.

he doesn't want anymore children. he didn't even want christopher, honestly, but it takes two to tango and shannon was excited and he was, too, even though it took him a while to wrap his head around the idea of being a dad.

bobby and buck are his emergency contacts.

he used to wear his abuelo's boots because the man was a real-life cowboy and eddie wanted to grow up to be just like him

he used to love thunderstorms but after buck's accident he doesn't like them much anymore + listens to music when it's late and the thunder's too loud

he has his childhood dog's name tattooed on his leg

his favorite flower is magnolias. he likes dark chocolate covered strawberries and buys two dozen for himself every valentine's day. he brews his own sweet tea. he leaves his tomatoes on the windowsill to sun and ripen further.

bobby's like a dad to him, the kind he deserved

he had a little crush on linda when he was at dispatch (and buck LOVED it)

he loves buck, like that, but his heart's big enough for more than buck buckley and he's enjoyed every relationship he's had that led him and buck to one another

when buck proposes and they start planning their wedding, he turns into bridezilla. groomzilla?

he is a sassy dude. his mouth gets him in trouble sometimes, but he says stuff so dryly and blandly people look over it. it drives chim up the wall.

he dances with maddie at her and chim's wedding, and jee-yun, too, who stands on his shoes

he tries really hard to be normal when christopher starts dating, but it's hard when it's the kid of abbie jean gentry, pta president and eddie's sworn enemy

he visits shannon's grave often and talks with her. she's dead but he isn't gone, not when he can see her in their son's smile and hear her in their son's laughter, and he likes to tell her what chris is up to even though he's pretty sure she's watching

he loves cartoons. LOVES them, i'm so serious. i can't stress enough how INTO cartoons he is, okay.

buck said kissed him first and decided they were going on a date. eddie went batshit, didn't go to the date because he was making a list of all the reasons why he and buck shouldn't be together, and buck finds him in his kitchen and he's pissy, and eddie shows him in the list, and on it there's 'buck keeps his loft on 68. cold.' and 'buck uses too much onion powder' and 'buck doesn't wear socks to bed and he sticks his cold feet on me' and buck just laughs and laughs and laughs because they're terrible for each other, kinda, but that's what makes them perfect for each other, too. losers.

his favorite color is green and when apple came out with a green iphone he was so excited he squealed

he's a fan of country music. not that new age, jason aldean, toby keith did to country music what pantyhose did to fingerfucking type shit, but the real country music, full of outlaws and rebels and rednecks. it's one of his roman empires.

his favorite movies are twister, titanic, without a paddle, dirty dancing, and dazed and confused

patrick swayze in roadhouse was his Awakening

he enjoys sex, even with the people he had one night stands with, and doesn't care whether he tops or bottoms because it feels good regardless. he does tend to lean toward the (soft) dominant side of things, which his partners respond to beautifully

he was born 31 october 1991

he was held back a grade in middle school to give him another year of eligibility of playing baseball in high school

he was a member of ffa, held office as sentinel all throughout high school, and supports the organization still. chris is in 4h, but the high school he wants to go to has an active ffa program and eddie's really excited about it

he's soft and so full of love he doesn't know what to do with it sometimes. it just spills out of him, splashing at his feet and flooding everybody around him. he doesn't hold it in anymore because he likes the way people respond to him when they realize he's sharing his love, all smiles and acceptance and unconditional love in response

[soulsxng]

Laisren Cynwrig Ris, life to current day, pt 1

Another fae born in the Unseelie, to two longtime advisors to the Queen-- a birth that coincided with that of the Queen's only child. Laisren grew up in a rather sheltered environment, with few peers his own age...aside from the young royal, that is, whom Laisren quickly grew rather fond of.

The two grew up closely with each other, and many thought that one day, when the young royal took the throne from their mother, that Laisren would come to be their top and most trusted advisor.

The young fae himself, however, dreamed differently. Having taken a rather grand admiration toward Bleddyn, his only dream was to one day become a royal knight. Someone that could stand by his best friend's side to protect him, as well as beside his longtime idol.

...Unfortunately, his lessons had little focus on combat, and for a long time, the dream seemed so far out of reach that it would be better to let go of. For Laisren to move on from it. It was the young royal that changed his mind, and encouraged him to speak with Bleddyn about becoming a student under him.

Though he was promptly turned down (Bleddyn couldn't risk compromising his duties by trying to teach a completely green student, after all), Bleddyn too, encouraged him to "hone his craft", and-- should he still harbor the same goal later on-- to ask again at that point.

It was then that, against his parents' wishes, Laisren forwent the path that they had chosen for him, and began to study the path of the knight, instead. He flourished in this new environment, where he had once struggled to keep up with the lessons he had been given before. In this time, he was able to broaden his horizons. Visit new places and meet people that he never would have had the chance to encounter before.

Years later, when he decided it was time to make his request to Bleddyn again, it was with his head held high and a confidence in his voice that convinced the older knight that now, finally, he was ready.

Laisren proved to be a quick study-- hanging on every last word and every action. If there was something to be learned from his mentor, then Laisren would give the matter his entire focus.

And it very quickly paid off as, at nearly the same time that his best friend took the throne, he was made one of the youngest royal knights in the Unseelie. He was always proud that he was able to continue standing beside his friend, doing a job that he felt he was meant to do.

The days passed at leisure, and in that time, the relationship between Laisren and the young ruler blossomed into something more. Along with a third-- a dryad healer from near the Mortal Realm's entrance to the Unseelie, whom the two met by little more than chance-- they fell into a love that endured even in the hardship of the days to come.

It was the dryad whom the young ruler eventually married. Their relationship with Laisren remaining mostly a secret, so as to allow the royal knight to continue on in his duties without being constantly bothered with other matters. And it was because of the relationship remaining a secret that Laisren eventually came to be the one to discover the first seeds of the coup within the young royal's own trusted allies.

The two in question being his very own parents.

He never did come to know their reasoning for siding with the coup-- be it that they didn't agree with the direction the young ruler wished to take the Unseelie, or that they had been planning such a thing even during the Queen's rule. Perhaps they had simply been too afraid to act against her, but that wasn't the case with the young ruler?

Laisren couldn't say. And though it pained him greatly, he showed them no mercy when he learned of their transgressions-- it was by luck alone that his mother was able to flee, where his father was struck down.

At first, he expected to be viewed with scrutiny by his lovers and Bleddyn alike...but not once were his loyalties questioned. As always, he was met with the same acceptance that he had been before. Something that only served to further his loyalty, and the lengths that he was willing to go for them.

When his son was born-- when Oleander was born-- it was simultaneously one of the happiest, and most terrifying days of his life. For the more his family grew, the more fearful he grew that one day, something would come to take it all away.

...It took two decades, but the time finally came. Bleddyn was sent away to bring Oleander to safety, and Laisren remained.

The coup invaded the palace undetected, which left Laisren and some small few royal knights against a force that quickly saw them surrounded. For each opponent that fell, he saw his family that much closer to safety. He held nothing back, even as he was met with familiar faces standing against him, he would cut them down without the slightest hesitation.

Close...he had been so close, when he was run through. Having been met with a trap when they were mere feet from escaping, Laisren had leaped before his beloveds to protect against a blow that he otherwise would have had no hope of defending against. And just like that, he fell.

With the last shreds of his awareness, Laisren could hear them cry his name. With the last of his strength, he pleaded for them to run.

His last thought, a prayer that his family would be safe.

[front-facing-pokemon]

[tapestryundone]

constantly thinking abt the long quiet and the shifting mound and their relationship w humanity. because the two are very much not mortal and even in the what happens next ending its very ambiguous if they ever WILL be or Can be. but even still they have both felt what its like to be mortal

i feel like its vague if the entity the two used to be even percieved its own existence. the way the narrator talks about it makes it seem like the two only existed conceptually and as a result lacked a complete sense of identity, and didnt need to, and wouldnt want to. but in the same way a thought cannot be unthought, the narrator gave them a glimpse into what it felt like to be mortal and the two can never un-know it, even if it wasnt exactly the same

the long quiet in particular seems especially tied to humanity and in some aspects seems to want to BE human (which feels so potent given how decidedly Not human he is). the game tends to imply that every option you get is a thought he DOES have, and in the spaces between, the choices dont seem as influenced by a given voice, which highlights even more how much he feels conflicted on his own nature that he gets Multiple options to express discomfort with himself being a god

it just gets to me how one of the options during the fight is literally "appeal to your shared humanity". because even if the two are gods, their separation and reshaping has given them humanity that they can never un-feel. for how much the shifting mound grieves what she once was, she cannot will her humanity away. shes mourning what the two of them once was and is desperate to have it back at any cost, even though they can never be together how they once were.

even if the long quiet goes with her, theyre still apart and lack balance, because the two once just Were and werent two parts. they werent both halves, they werent two concepts, they were just one concept that happened to, by human eyes, consist of two halves. and the narrators insertion of humanity into the mix in order to separate them, separating them into concepts that humans understood, manually put into existence a struggle for equilibrium where that balance had simply Existed

but theyve already perceived what felt like reality and can never un-see it. they were separated and Need the other to feel whole and for reality to BE whole but the moment that either of them realized their own free will, the moment the two fully came to feel like people, they could never be together the same way once again

im struggling to come up with a metaphor that isnt silly but its like if you took a piece of fabric and cut it in two and made them both into shirts. youve added a piece of humanity into them and doing so cost its original form. to take them apart and try to put them back together would never get you the original, whole piece of fabric back, because theyve been completely changed by their own unique destruction and reconstruction

they were separated in a way that gave them humanity that they have such conflicting feelings on. both seem to have a deep love of humanity but vastly different ideas on what humanity needs to thrive, because its in their natures

in order to get one to kill the other the narrator let the long quiet interpret the both of them as mortal. and for a being of perception and an god thats being lied to, this became part of their limited view of the world, on top of all the other reasons that the two gained humanity. the long quiet couldnt be told what to do if he didnt have the ability to potentially act on the narrators desires, and the shifting mound could never die if the long quiet didnt believe her to be capable of death

the narrator gave the two humanity and the shifting mound is very reasonably distressed by this. because the two of them never asked for this but they cant undo it. it is her OWN subtle desire for things to be the same as they used to be, her own piece of that stagnation that also led to her experiencing humanity, that makes her so adamant during the fight. she misses the long quiet and wants to undo a change that cannot be undone in search of a constant state of being that was taken from her

and the long quiet felt so closely tied to mortality, both its existence and absence, that no matter what, he wants to aid humanity. but hes been lied to and denied autonomy to the point where he doesnt know what that entails. but he wants to be a part of it. he was given fake mortality and cant seem to figure out how he feels

the shifting mound is set in how she feels it best to aid in the existence of life. she is stagnant in her feelings because its all that feels right to her. the long quiet is ever-shifting in how he feels it best to aid in the existence of life. he is changing in his feelings because its all that feels right to him

getting to the heart of the shifting mound allows them a moment to discuss it as the closest they can get to mortals. the two care about their impact on life and what it means to be alive and what better way for the two of them to truly decide what they want to do about it, outside of the conflict thats been forced between them, than as the mortals they never were?

[sunnydayaoe]

hi i'm the anon that asked about npd mind and i am So Excited for the comic :D just wanted to say that

Sorry I lost motivation pretty intensely halfway though... I hope you still like this haha

Erm put a lot in tags if you want more... actual thoughts on mind instead of tiny bite sized 1-2 panels

[serpentface]

Cold sores are thought to be best addressed by lancing the sore to remove polluted blood, washing with vinegar, applying a paste of honey + tansy + horsefat. In frequently recurring cases, it's considered best practice to also shave the face to eliminate any lingering traces of infection. This is the most psychologically devastating thing that Brakul has ever experienced in his life.

[cait-sith]

Day 19: Glass

Background details hidden by the bottle under the cut.

[tenderhooked]

🌼🌹🌹🌹🌻

using yet another long-hoarded rose ask for my own evil purposes (talking about my new fic AJKLSDFJLKJ). another snip from slow foal, now that lamb has finally arrived to take river back to slough house:

“Where the fuck is she?” “Jesus—” River startled so badly that he leapt out of his chair, fear spiking hot and keen behind his ribs. Then, heart swollen to twice its size, he pivoted on his heel to meet the gaze of who he figured must have been Jackson Lamb. He was taller than River had been expecting, and broader across the shoulders, which was terrifying in its own special way. If he were to get River in his grip, River was sure it would take a miracle for him to break free. Skull to the coffee table all over again. Though, Jackson Lamb didn’t much look like the sort to get his enemies in his grip. He looked more like the sort to tail them slowly, persistently, until they tired and couldn’t run any farther. That was a little better. River was good at running.  It was at this moment that he realized Jackson Lamb was talking to him. “I’m—sorry, Mr. Lamb, sir, what was that?” Oh, no. His voice cracked on the ‘sir’. He was going to die. “I wasn’t—um, listening.” Jackson Lamb gave him a look that River couldn’t decipher, and then shut his mouth, and then gave him another, more scrutinizing look that River truly couldn’t decipher. He held his breath and hoped that he wasn’t about to be hit already. “You know,” said Jackson Lamb, “I was just about to go murder Diana Taverner for pulling my damn leg hard enough she got me here in under fifteen minutes during my midday nap time, but you’ve managed to convince me. The real River Cartwright never listens to me worth a damn, neither.”

“I am the real River Cartwright,” said River, bristling. Stupid. But he couldn’t help it; he wouldn’t let his adult self claim all rights to being River Cartwright when he was the one standing here. “Mr. Lamb, sir.” “Mm.” Jackson Lamb regarded him with a distinct spark in his eye. “Nah, I don’t much care for that.” “W-what?” “The—” Jackson Lamb waved a careless hand. “The sirs and the Mr. Lambs. The real River Cartwright would sooner brain himself on a brick wall than show a… a fucking modicum of respect for me. Christ.” “Oh.” River twisted his hands together. That… that didn’t seem right, but he didn’t know enough about the real River Cartwright to argue. “Sorry.” They stood there in an uncomfortable silence for a long moment, until finally Jackson Lamb—Lamb, maybe, just Lamb—cleared his throat and seemed to return to his own body. “Right, then. You brought any shit with you? No? That’s a shame, we haven’t got any clothes in your size, and I don’t think you should trust Ho to do your shopping for you. Now let’s get out of here before the Iron Lady comes back.”

[acrobattack]

bliss redesign based off one I made in my teens

thought process + various other bits and bobs under the cut

I was 15 and annoyed by everything that moved when this character first came out, so in my own head I was very much making a Point with this redesign. Hence, I made very minimal changes. I wanted to work with what was already there and basically just make the existing design more thought-through. Little breakdown ahead (keeping in mind i myself am very much An Amateur who doesn’t know shit and am just ranting about my opinions and i also haven’t seen a single second of the 2016 reboot so i don’t know much about Bliss to begin with)

1. one of my Biggest pet peeves with Bliss is that the powerpuff girls each have bangs that are simple, memorable, and iconic while also being unique from each other and being reminiscent of irl little girls hairstyles. It’s very neat and clever and I like it a lot

and then Bliss has this confusing jumble of shapes that looks like it changes in style halfway across her forehead

i have absolutely no idea what the intent is here. My only guess is maybe it’s meant to look weird on purpose like she was trying to cut it herself or something (I suspect it’s something like that since she seems to have normal looking bangs as a little kid from what I can see) but it doesn’t really come off that way if that’s the case. It just looks like baby’s first PPG OC where you Understand that it’s meant to be hair and that it is made out of shapes but have 0 understanding of hairstyle or character design in general. Heck I might have put this exact hairline on a character in the past at the age of like 8

So in my redesign she’s got 5 even notches across her bangs, not thee most exciting change but it does the job I think. It is pretty reminiscent of Blossom but they look different enough from each other that I wasn’t too worried about it

2. low-hanging fruit time, Bliss’s hair color is horrible on the eyes. I’m bewildered at the decision to do this, especially since there is just so much of it, I struggle to think of how she could exist in any scene without hogging all the viewer’s attention constantly. That said, I understand they wanted her to have an unnatural hair color to really signal that she is a Fresh new Teen character from the late 2010’s, which is. Whatever, that’s fine, so she gets purple hair now. I kept the streak for the same reason, especially since she’s got a lot of hair, so no harm in a little extra interest in there.

I also learned recently that her hair glows sometimes? which i did Not know when first drawing her but well i think the darker color helps anyway. It adds some contrast for when she’s normal vs when she’s glowing and makes the latter appear more,, idk threatening or powerful or whatever the mood generally is when she’s doing that.

I did re-add that toothpaste blue to her eyelids though. I like to think it’s also the color of her lasers. It’s a cute color, just not as like 70% of this character’s palette

3. real talk I was drawing this from memory and didn’t mean to change the way her hair flares out from her head. realistically I think the original is fine, maybe just a little boring but fine, so that part of the redesign was an accident. Only thing is, it’s in the exact same position in every screenshot I’ve seen? It doesn’t seem to whip around when she’s flying or anything which looks weird and probably looks weirder in motion, especially since it takes up so much space onscreen. Idk it’s a strange decision, esp since the original show liked to use the ppg’s hair to emphasize their movement, so I’d just bring more movement into her hair. I mean if nothing else it’d make her look cooler.

very very rough little visual of what I mean

I also ended up making it shorter in my redesign—again, not really intentional, but I think it’s better that it eats up a little less of her silhouette

4. Her headband is largely the same, I didn’t hate the idea of her having an accessory, so I just toned down the colors. I’m not personally a fan of the powder blue and that pink heart is very bright and just doesn’t go with the rest of her (once again the color of her hair is doing it no favors). I also moved the heart over. Not necessarily needed I think, but I feel like it reads quicker as a headband and not a weird crown that way+introduces some asymmetry into her design that I think is nice.

5. my biggest gripe other than her bangs are her hips. I’m not against adding anatomy to this character design to make her read visually as older than the girls, but it’s so awkwardly done and distracting. I feel like it even interferes with her line of action more often than not (which is not helped by her unmoving hair).

Part of the issue is she still has the teeny tiny torso, just… with those square-ish hips slapped on, which makes her legs look all gangly and stretched out. I tried to balance out the proportions more in my redesign, as well as change the hips to a flared skirt. I think it helps differentiate her from the girls and still implies hips underneath, it just also functions as a less clunky transition from her torso to her legs.

Lengthening her torso also allows the stripe to look more like a belt above the skirt, which I think helps to sell her as “similar, but not the same” from the ppg

6. Her leggings(? Idk Im not a fashion person) aren’t a bad idea I think. like a more mature version of the girls’ stockings, but I think the white makes them look really distracting. It would help to make them a darker color I think, but since I wanted to keep them reminiscent of the girls’ socks I kept them white and just shortened them.

7. Not really sure what Bliss is wearing on her feet. I think they’re Mary Janes, but they’re drawn a bit different from the girls’ and I honestly think it’s too babyish a shoe for her to wear. I’m not sure what she’s actually wearing in my redesign either honestly, but the goal was just to make them look like the girls’ Mary Janes while clearly being something different.

8. Uh her signature color is something I’ve contemplated changing a lot but to be real I think it’s fine. I feel it was a very bad idea from a marketing standpoint because people were hype about Bunny and would obviously be mad they didn’t get her once the character actually dropped (and in the long-run she would just end up being overshadowed by the character everyone has already assigned that color to) but I’m personally not bugged by her being purple beyond that. If I were to draw them together though I think Bunny would have a more pinky shade of purple and Bliss leans more blue.

Loosely on the same topic, because of Bliss I’ve had a running headcanon that “only child” types of powerpuffs tend to come out purple. Kind of like how trios tend to have a red, blue, and green. It’s a fun little piece of fake lore to rotate around in my brain

Anyway with all that out of the way, here’s some redesigns I decided to have some fun with. Wasn’t being too precious about recognizability or simplicity or anything like that, but I did run out of steam partway through. There’s also one based off Whoopass Bell bc idk, why not

Finally, here’s some OCs I only ever drew once before out of a desire to give Bliss her own teen girl archetypes to form a team with. This is Bee and Beetle, who I’ll probably definitely forget about again immediately after posting this

[moonfromearth]

On Repeat - an oc tag by @elderwisp

"rules are pretty simple, pick as many (or as little) oc's as you'd like and find a song that you relate to them the most! feel free to mention why too! o and tag some more ppl too! that would be cool!"

I may have gone a little overboard 😅 To be honest this tag came around at just the right time! I'd just gotten a new song association and have been working on schoolwork so much that I really needed to do something creative 😆

Originally these were all going to be in similar editing styles (more like Corey's) but somewhere along the way that stopped because I had different ideas that I really wanted to do. Also I cheated a little and a few got more than one song... 🤫

I'm really proud with all of these in the end, and if you want to read more about the stories behind them you can check below the cut! ❤️

I know I'm pretty late to the party now buuut I'll tag: @igglemouse @swiftviolets @stargazer-sims @auspexsims and @seniorpollinationtechnician. Feel free to ignore though if you've already done it/don't want to! 😁

[deep dive under cut!]

COREY ALTMAN

"Holiday" - Green Day:

This song being here is random song association at its finest. The trail pretty much goes "Holiday" by Green Day > Surf's Up > Beach Vibes > Sulani > Globetrotter Challenge > Corey Song. If that makes sense... 😂 Pretty much, you can blame the Sulani round of the Globetrotter Challenge for it, plus the fact that I feel like it's the type of song/genre Corey would use in his own music.

"Catch Me If You Can" - Set It Off:

Now, it would be a crime to talk about songs and Corey without a song by Set It Off. Corey was created when I was listening to their songs a lot, and it definitely rubbed off on him. From his aesthetic to the songs I imagine him playing, a lot of it came from Set It Off. Even his name was derived from the band's lead singer (although changed from Cody to Corey because that's the route my mind took with it idk). So, this song in particular specifically reminds me of Corey for... Honestly probably obvious reasons 😆 "Catch Me If You Can" was pretty much the theme of his Globetrotter Challenge, where he was constantly moving on the run from the law. A line I really like though for him is the part that says, "I only feel at home when I'm on the run," because I feel like that leads into the deeper aspects of Corey. He really isn't at home anywhere, he's always on the move, even when he's not evading capture anymore. There's a certain non-permanence to everything he does. Something funny about the image itself is that it originally wasn't going to be edited to look like the back cover of a CD. When I took the picture of Corey with the guitar I kind of thought "this looks like the back cover of a CD" and when editing I just needed a way to fill the space at the bottom and it turned into a CD back cover edit 🤣 It actually kind of fits though since both of these songs are the sound I associate with Corey's own music so it worked out in the end.

LIZZY ALTMAN

"Unopened Windows" - Set It Off:

So this one is the context behind this post lol. It's been like two years since I started working on this plotline I have to finish it eventually 😆 Anyway, Lizzy's been teased in many tag games so far, but without a name or much information (note: and this name's not final I'm not sure yet). Here you can probably guess based on the song choice how her story goes 😅 Going back to the epilogue of the Globetrotter Challenge, we see that something is going on, and it leads to Lizzy and her dad being separated. So, the entire song lyrically I really felt spoke to them and their situation (more in a future gameplay 😉). Bonus points for it being a Set It Off song, who I associate with Corey, and thought music could have been something that they bonded over and enjoyed together. I have a few things to say about the image itself because it was a struggle but I looooove how it turned out! It turned out essentially how I imagined it with Lizzy playing guitar in the foreground with a sort of memory of her time with her dad in the background. I probably had about five or six different poses that I put in the background because I couldn't decide which one I liked the best 😆 This was the last image I had to work on out of the four, and I was having trouble with how I wanted the song title to look. While I was browsing for overlays and stuff I came across a lot of cutout style poems and ended up adding in some of the lyrics because I thought it would help explain the concept behind the image. In the end this one is one of my favorites which is unbelievable considering how much I thought it was not going to turn out like I imagined 🥰

*UNNAMED*

(Sorry I don't have a name for her yet and don't want to commit to a temporary one 😭)

"Little Chaos" - Orla Gartland:

In a wonderfully serendipitous coincidence, this was the song association I was very into when getting tagged, and was already planning what became this edit! I rarely have song associations for sims/sims stories (despite how many ended up coming together here) so that's why I'll never get over how well timed this all was (thanks again elderwisp!!) On to the song, it has to do with my upcoming gameplay story centered around the For Rent game pack, and starring the pictured sim (who doesn't have a name yet sorry! 😅). She's going through a bit of a tough time where she's very lost and I thought the lines, "And it's a good day for a meltdown. All my thoughts getting too loud," fit really where she's at, especially at the start. Plus, the vibes are perfect. The image itself was inspired by the song's MV and one part in particular, but it looks a lot different now (I was limited by the poses I could find because I refuse to sit down and learn to make my own yet). I liked this idea of the torn pages framing the image, especially because it plays into the plot, which sees the main character do a lot of journaling throughout the story. So, the lined paper had to do with that, and it doubled as being good for making the letters stand out, which I wanted to be big and misaligned to be more "chaotic," though I think that could have been done more/better. Aaaaand the background is a picture of Tomarang, where the story takes place. To be honest this will probably be the cover image once I finalize a name and get started on playing it 😉

GHOST COWBOY

(no he also doesn't have a name yet same as above 😆)

"Ferryman" - Schafer James and Will Wood:

I've actually been having a lot of fun with this character since initially creating him back before the Horse Ranch pack came out (more on him coming out in a few days for the outlaw challenge 😉). So this song.... The entire concept of our ghost cowboy is that he, being somewhat half dead and half alive, winds up being a good source of convincing "unwilling souls" to cross over, and works with the character Death to do so in exchange for finding out why he's not entirely dead. I'll explain it better another time, but I also really love this song and just thought that the concept of the ferryman and the ghost cowboy as ferriers of the dead.

"Toss A Coin To Your Witcher (Epic Version)" - Samuel Kim and Black Gryph0n:

Liiiiisten... My family made me watch three seasons of The Witcher I had to get something out of it 😆 I joke a lot that this character gives off Geralt vibes but honestly they are definitely super similar just based on their overall aesthetic and horse companions. I wanted to be special though and chose this epic cover instead of the original... Just for fun 😁 There were some cool piano covers too that almost made the cut. This is probably a good place to talk about the actual image (yay!). I hope the visibility on it isn't too bad because it ended up waaaay more cluttered than I originally intended, plus the mist effect definitely makes it harder to see the characters. I made his (also unnamed) horse a little more transparent to try and give off this ghostly see through effect so I hope that comes through. The font isn't the kind of "wild west wanted sign" font that I wanted, but I think it's close enough lol.

Credits:

Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

[game-weaver]

Unraveling

Yugi didn't often use his sleep dust on himself, he usually could fall asleep relatively easily, and since he lucid dreamed more often than not, he didn't need help much with that. But sometimes when he needed a deeper sleep, something to bypass even his own mind, he would sprinkle the dust into his tea and wait for it to drag him under.

It was like sinking in quicksand for him. Laying there, the sleep curling around him and slowly pulling him down, down, down into the dark. Drifting to realms only he would see, places he was looking for.

One place he wanted to return to.

Within minutes or hours, he was sitting on the edge of the bed in silence. There was no gentle breeze through the trees this time, no soft grass underfoot, there wasn't even a window for that warm sunlight to filter through. Sitting in the dark, eyes lowered, he just slowly took in the feeling of the room. There was a familiarity to it, and it wasn't entirely from the dream he confirmed with Atem he had had.

It was different now. The floor was now hardwood, old and creaky. The bed with its moldering blankets was dull under the layer of dust. Even in the dark, he could see the shapes of games scattered on the floor, a chess board with pieces knocked about. Shards of a broken mirror were scattered on one side of the room, glinting in the shadows. He could almost hear the cricking of the wallpaper peeling as time and pain took its course.

His eyes flicked up, the light turning on as he did so despite Yugi still not having moved. He stared it down, the door still partially covered in a sheet, as if it were a beast that could attack at any moment. More time passed, seconds, minutes, days, just staring at the door, contemplating. Slowly, he touched his feet to the floor, eyes never leaving the door, gaze unblinking. His footsteps were soft, gracefully stepping over what toys or items might be in his path as if it were a practiced motion.

Grasping the sheet, he pulled it off the door, the chewed and decaying fabric billowing and fluttering to the floor, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake. Yugi stared at it. At the hammer dented boards, thick nails, some flush to the wood, others bent and twisted as if he had been in a hurry to get the boards in place. The rusted chains were thick and heavy, smelling of oxidation and iron.

He could almost hear it. The screams of agony, the broken sobs, could almost feel the bite of the splinters. Echoes of the grief and bitterness it took to weave these kinds of barricades. To not just lock a door, but try to be entirely rid of it. Of building walls, burying the pain so it can be pushed away.

A desperate attempt at self preservation.

That weight crushed his chest again, like red hot fingers closing around his heart, threatening to strangle the life out of him. But he clenched his jaw, staring the beast of his creation down, despite the way his heart began to beat rapidly, despite how it felt like the room was closing in, making it hard to breathe. It felt like everything was spinning, waiting for what might happen. What was going to happen.

Kneeling, he picked up a hammer and lodged it under a nail. Pulling and prying, he started to creak loose the rusted metal. At first, he was methodical, just thinking about it one nail at a time, one board. The only sound was the hammer sliding into place and the creak and groan of the nails and wood as he pried them apart, nails falling to the ground with thuds as if far too heavy for their size.

But his movements quickened, faster and faster, spurred by the first board falling heavily to the ground. Tears began to fall down his face, emotions overflowing as he piece by piece undid the past mistake made out of heartbreak. Emotions that were too strong, too much as with a great heave about halfway through, the handle of the hammer snapped and with it…

It was like the final thread fraying after spiraling too long, too tightly.

Yugi just discarded it with an angry cry and instead continued with his hands. Tearing, yanking, the wood planks seemed to groan and keen with his own cries as he put all his strength into tearing them from the wall.

Bit by bit, he tore at the barricade. He didn't care that fingernails were broken, that splinters buried themselves deep in his skin. The pain just fueled his rage as he threw shards of wood out of his way, kicking the debris out from underfoot until all that was left was the great looping chain.

Grasping the linked metal with bloodied hands, he pulled and yanked, the only sound was his own grunting, cursing and screaming in frustration. Heaving with all his might, he twisted and put his whole weight into it, the most anguish filled scream tearing from his throat until… Rust crumbled and broke.

He was thrown to his knees in the woodrot and decayed iron strewn around the floor when the chain suddenly shattered, the metal crashing down all around him. Panting, he sat there on fall fours for a moment, body trembling from the effort and adrenaline it took to get to this point. The taste of copper was on his tongue as he finally lifted his head to see the door that had been beneath the planks.

Exhaustion was starting to settle into his bones as the adrenaline started to fade, but he pulled himself shakily to his feet. He couldn't rest yet, he still had one thing to do before he could leave this place again. Taking a breath, a quivering, blood-slick hand grasped the door handle…

And he threw it open.

[dravidious]

After beating Trauma Team I was kinda disappointed with Twisted Rosalia because like that's it? That's the final boss? I beat it first try, no problem! Come on, give me a final boss like savato!

I just got to Aletheia in Under the Knife 2 and uh. Wish granted. This thing kicked my ass

[castlebyersafterdark]

There's a lot in fic as well that I think only works in fic. Certain phrases are fine on paper and get a pass but if I ever heard in real life I'd bust out laughing or cringe really hard.

now THIS interests me. cos i definitely read all written fiction as if it's happening in real life or visually happening in my brain including sound, setting, etc. unless its a book that feels very theatrical, then i'll imagine it all on a stage and sort of design the set and lighting etc too.

its why i started writing fic, cos lots of what i read didnt feel like the show and i wanted something that tricked me into thinking i was watching stranger things in my mind's eye lol. when i started writing i wasnt really inventing what they were saying, but just listening to the characters going about being people in my head and transcribing what they said and did. the characters feel real to me so picturing what they do in between seasons and episodes is so fun to imagine.

but yeah... with smutfic, i dont know, i think praise could be realistically written for me. i like what you said about combining physicala and emotional feelings. depends on the compliment maybe. sometimes you can tell someone is just praising you in bed so they can get the pleasure they want from the situation. so i'm always a bit distrustful of whether its honest praise or manipulative praise i guess. but one of the best compliments ever is "youve got the nicest touch i've ever felt" - how sexy is that????

(and maybe because we've heard so few direct compliments from mike to will in the show, i think im waiting to hear him compliment will in s5 and see how he frames it! i think he might just go all out, having realised what will means to him, and start being more accepting and overt, wanting to finally get things going with will because theyve waited long enough and now the world is literally ending lol)

Gathering this theme together! Now, in reverse order. To non-plussed: I think the thing with it being a praise kink specifically, instead of just reacting to praise and compliments and feedback in general - it's all about the context, the person delivering it, the situation. Personal and slightly graphic, but where are we: if I did a really good job at work on my assignments and my boss called me in to praise me and let me know I did a good job, I'm probably not gonna blush and get turned on (I mean, unless you're attracted and into your boss - but my boss is a 50 something year old woman sooo not my type haha). But If I'm in bed with my man and I'm doing something he likes and he starts giving me really detailed, complimentary feedback, talking sweet in particular reference to myself and/or what I'm doing to him - yeah, that'll do it for me. That's kind of what I want, what I'm into. Sure, there's an element of give and take, action and reaction, it's definitely in a sexual context - but that doesn't also mean it's insincere.

Continued:

Not all conversation exchanged during sexual/aroused situations is manipulative, even if the goal is to to elicit a reaction or get something. Can it be disingenuous or manipulative - sure, anything can be!! But, not in the instances I'm describing.

But to that point - I think the best demonstration of praise kink that I want to read/write/engage with, switching here specifically to fic writing rather than real life (which is even more nuanced and complicated, so I will more focus on fiction), is when it is more sincere. Certain tropes are typical to classic erotica and smut writing technique. I recognize the style but I personally avoid it and don't write that way. A lot of praise and feedback based dialog in fic sounds out of character because it's very stock phrase for generic sex cliche situations, watered down sometimes. Like the master, servant dynamic. Where one party is giving and serving and obeying commands, a goal might be receiving praise and compliments over how good a job they are doing, what a good boy, look how well you suck cock, look how well you take it, etc. - and this dialog doesn't always match the character. Takes me out of it dependingon situation. It's less praise kink and more dom/sub and I've made it known time and time again (not an invitation to reignite this in my inbox ssshhh sorry) that it's not my jam. So, that's where the insincere angle might come in? Tropes rather than molded to specific character?Often times it's just a line or a phrase that does it, not the entire dynamic, so the entire fic is fine, but I might be scrunching my face at a line of dialog that I think was going for really sexy and to me - not so much.

"You've got the nicest touch I've ever felt" - ooooh that's a good one! See, these are the types I think work really well. Specific rather than generic. Good boy/girl is the most generic. I also don't think it sounds like something a teenage boy would say, you're right. I write all ages Byler and I probably wouldn't write the good boy dynamic for any age, but that's also a taste thing. Not my writing dynamic. There's nothing wrong if someone writes it or likes it - as I've said, what's hot for me might not be for you, vice versa. I'm just giving the background to my mindset. Never want to alienate anyone!!

I think one of my recent drabbles could be traced back all the way to a praise kink kinda thing, or at least what spawned Will to react the way he did, where thinking about Mike admitting he "could kiss him forever" was the thing he fixated on and what ultimately took him over the edge. That's physically reacting to a compliment. I explore a decent amount of what could qualify as praise kink in my early relationship exploration "staying at the Wheeler's" fic (always comes back to this one, doesn't it? But so much that I'm interested in can fall under a new relationship and also it's a long chaptered fic so it's gonna cover a lot) because that deals a lot with body image and self esteem and that early on stage where you and your reciprocated crush are shy and bold and fluctuating between both, learning how sex works (in general and with each other) - so the praise and feedback is actually really important.

Imagine two insecure boys who are wrapped up in their own personal issues, getting together, so into each other, how sexual situations would go with them. The shy compliments and guiding instruction as they try stuff, learn how different activities go, what they each learn they like. I'll be sure to include a lot of sincere dirty talk and more sweet talk, through that one. Demonstrating how a natural dialogue might go in the bedroom and not sound like it's cliche erotica or a prno. Also - very true, re: hopeful thinking in the show. Compliments between the two! Will gave Mike so many veiled ones in the van speech, and Mike is capable of giving Will so much in return. They always have these dreamy heart to hearts with sweet words - take it to the next step. It would make so much sense. Also, want to see either of them flustered around the other. Please.

[front-facing-pokemon]

[eowynstwin]

🎧 and 🍵

@dotcie's ask game

🎧 ⇢ what song (and lyrics) currently resonate with you?

sorry for being basic but Sun Bleached Flies "god loves you but not enough to save you" by Ethel Cain yoinked my soul from my body and continues to do so

🍵 ⇢ rant about anything that has been on your mind lately!

so i've been spending the past couple years trying my very best to give myself a comprehensive sex education because i grew up in an abstinence first red state in a baptist household raised by a mother ashamed of the fact that she had me out of wedlock.

overwhelmingly there is SUCH an emphasis on knowing and communicating exactly what it is you want out of any given sexual encounter in order to ensure that you get to have satisfying sex. above everything else, that seems to be THEE MOST IMPORTANT.

which is just utter bullshit to me and always has been because how can you know what you want when you don't even know what's available to you? how can you communicate what you want when your socialization as a female in a conservative culture has expressly trained you to be embarrassed and ashamed of what you want to the degree that to even say the word "sex" out loud feels punishable by divine law???

furthermore why is it that it's a woman's job to fully plan out any sexual encounter she might have to MAKE SURE it's a good one? why are we not interrogating the fact that the best sex advice people can give is to tell women they need to take on even more emotional labor in addition to all the other crap she/we have to figure out every single day?

that's not even touching the fact that communication for me, as an afab on the spectrum, is such a massive challenge because the way *I* want to communicate in order to preserve as many spoons as I can is so different from the limited way the rest of the neurotypical world is willing to understand me.

the only piece of literature that has ever resonated with these frustrations has been Tomorrow the Sex Will Be Good Again by Katherine Angel. I need every "sex ed" author who thinks they know shit to read that book and read it again.

[balladetto]

speculation about why aegis and the kids who were stolen away with him were so affected by their time in the still world despite surviving it, beyond just they spent a really long time in there, as well as the reason for his ability to sense rifts before they can actually manifest:

i'm basing this off a single playthrough of the game and so might adjust the concept as i consolidate my understanding, but i'm interpreting people fading away in the still world as null seeping its essence into them ( that void is their domain as much as it's their prison, so i don't believe this is too far-fetched ) and devouring them from the inside-out. like. breaking them down to reintegrate it all into itself

it's not a quick process, as shown ingame with zelda's ( and various npcs' ) experience with the rifts herself, and null probably consumes nonliving things faster than they do living beings

spending so much time on that plane without falling to that fate and most likely escaping without a prime tri's help might mean that though the children left the still world behind, remnants of null remained within them. not by way of sharing consciousnesses or anything, but more as a null has settled within all the spaces left by what they devoured kind of deal

"all of the kids [...] have lost something" and "[they] lost a lot in that ordeal" would be massive understatements. i think every one of them is grappling with that black-hole emptiness of having virtually Everything eaten away, in a sense ( a feeling that is at once because of and comes from null, though in their case it looks like it's manifested as Hunger and externalised as a need for fulfilment [i.e. restoring the 'order' of nothingness, revenge, etc.] ), aegis is just...further along the road to recovery

what i mean by that is i think he handled things about as well as the rest of the kids when they first returned, if only slightly better due to not having accumulated as big a share of null's Influence ( implied to be related to the reason why he can move in the still world ). he was completely withdrawn, barely reactive, and couldn't find the will to do/try to do much of anything now that the goal driving him forward at that point — get out of the rift with everyone else — was accomplished

aegis is doing a lot better since, ofc! with the support of his community and those who care about him, he's learnt to commit to crafted routines and re/formed his own daily habits over the years, such that he can manage everyday life without needing the same level of help he initially did post-first rift contact

cementing a new purpose to work towards — investigate rifts, defeat the monsters that come from them, make sure nobody is swallowed up — helped in getting him back on his feet, too! even if it kind of backfired once null was defeated because he was more or less left adrift again ( he gets nudged towards treading a healthier path of Living eventually, don't worry :'D )

went on a bit of a tangent, but! back on topic: i think what pieces of null are left behind in him and the others before the end of eow sort of like. resonate with the null in the still world, in that they can all feel* when and where null concentrates its power beneath hyrule's dimensional fabric for another breakout attempt — i.e. when and where a rift will form. aegis just happens to be the only one who can do something about it

( *to varying degrees. aegis probably has the most accurate sense for it, whereas the others might be more aware of when a rift will form rather than where. and even then, it's hard to say if they'd know what the feeling actually means or if they'd have the wherewithal to acknowledge it at all )