#which unfortunately means helping you too'

[beef-brisket]

Emily cringed: Yeah, fair enough... well, let me know if you need a hand. I'll get started on some dinner.

Adam smiled at his sister. Once she left, he could finally breathe. He enjoyed the silence. And the air smelled normal. Not musty like old wood.

Thankfully, Adam didn't actually feel sore. He thought giving birth leaves you in pain for weeks after. But he felt fine. Like it never happened.

He ran his hands over his body. Nothing had really changed. He thankfully didn't have tits. Well, bigger tits- pecks. His hips were slightly wider, but nothing his usual baggy shirts wont fix.

The only thing that sucks is his dick being gone, which hurts Adam's soul as much as he thought it would. He's devastated. Maybe he can beat that short creep up, make him bring his dick back. Then Adam will kick him in the dick for BEING a dick.

Yeah. That's a good plan. Lots of dicks involved. Just how Adam likes it.

But Adam will focus on payback after doing a few paragraphs of his essay.

Nearly an hour later, Emily walks in with some food, he almost didn't realize because of how in the zone he was.

Emily: ...Addy?

Adam: mm?

Emily: Food.

Adam perked up and looked over at his sister. He eyed what seemed to be pasta.

Adam: Fuck yeah. Thanks sis.

She hands it to him, and he starts eating while reading over what he typed.

Emily: You've done a lot... how is it coming?

Adam: Just have two more bullshit paragraphs- then the conclusion.

Emily: Wow. I didn't think you'd be done so quick.

Adam: I did do some before we left, the car ride here AND the first night here. I know I look like a loser stoner, but I'm not. Sometimes~.

Emily sighs: Mom wants you off the weed, Adam.

Adam: Don't rat me out, man... hey, uh. Can you not tell her what happened? She already worries about me too much, and this will make her chain me up in the basement and never see light again.

Emily: I mean- you are always getting into trouble.

Adam: No, I'm not!

Emily: ...you got kidnapped by a dead witch that YOU woke up.

Adam: Okay, fair. But I didn't know that bullshit would work! It's a fucking candle! Any cunt could have lit it.

Emily: And unfortunately that cunt was my brother. We told you not to.

Adam: ...I'm a cunt. What can I say?

Emily: Just. Eat your pasta and finish your report then shower. You look like you've just been kidnapped by witch and put through a whole day of trauma.

Adam: Ha! Bitch, you don't know the half of it. And I'm not traumatized. I'm fine! I'm ready to go back and kick his little ass!

Emily: Don't you fucking dare. We talked about this. Tomorrow, we're going home.

Adam: Yeah, yeah, I was joking. I'll spend the next five years beefing up, THEN I'll go back and kick his ass!

Emily: ...make that ten years.

Adam: Rude!

Emily laughed and left Adam to it.

Oh, he was going back all right. Maybe not tomorrow or next week. But he will be back, and he'll fuck that dude up. Assuming he hasn't been burned alive again. Stupid bastard.

Adam looks down. He can't help but wonder about the baby. Charlotte. She seemed to be crying when she was born, Adam wasn't really focused on her at the time. But he hopes she's okay. This crazy shit wasn't her fault.

Hopefully, she's a better person than him.

Charlie: Say it.

Lucifer: eh...

Charlie: Dad. Say it.

Lucifer: I-Immm. I'm s... sssss...

Charlie: Say. It.

Lucifer: ssssssooo... sssssooorrrr... charlie! This is hard!

Charlie: DAD!

Lucifer: Agh! Fine! I'm sorry for kidnapping you-eventhoughyoulitthecandle- forcing you to be pregnant with my hundreds of years old daughter, forcing that pregnancy to happen in a day, forcing you to stay in one birthing position, not cleaning you up afterwards, taking your bodily autonomy away AND forcing you to marry me. I'm sorry... A... Aa... Aaron.

Charlie: Adam!

Lucifer: Adam! I'm sorry, Adam!

Charlie: Very good.

Lucifer: Fantastic! Can you tell me where he is, now?

Charlie: No... you've lessened his pull to us, right?

Lucifer: Yes, I have.

Charlie: Then he'll come when he's ready. No more forcing. He'll come to us eventually. But when is not your concern. Until we see him, you need to learn some basic human skills. I have a lot to catch up on to! But this will be a great time to learn! So, again! From the top!

Lucifer: AGGGHHHHHI wish I was dead!

Charlie: Well, you're not. AGAIN!

Lucifer: I'm sorry, Anthony.

Charlie: Adam!

Lucifer: Adam!

I know that Halloween is over but I still gotta talk about this Hocus Pocus au I thought up

(Human) Adam just moved to Salem, the witch capital of the U.S and the whole town is telling ghost stories of Lucifer Morningstar, the famous male witch who swore he’d be back to take revenge on the townspeople before he was hung by the neck until dead.

Adam thinks this is a crock of shit, so he and his new friend Lute and his sister Emily sneak into Lucifer��s house (which has since been turned into a small museum) legend tells that Lucifer can only return if a virgin lights the black flame candle and Adam is being less than honest about his sexual exploits to his new friend.

As a joke to freak them both out he lights the candle. Unfortunately for him, it works and the witch appears in a violent gust of wind

That’s all I got but I just like the idea of Adam trying to escape from witch Lucifer

MY DUDE I LOVE THIS!!! @fanofstuff01 @beef-brisket

And I'm going to have him and Lute be like freshmen in college so Adams like 19-20 and Emily is like say a senior in high school her and Adam are a year apart.

And yes they had Emily out trick or treating because she's short en to get away with it and said "teenagers are allowed candy too".

-

Lute: Adam come on this isn't funny, the curse is real.

Adam: It's not real because witches and magic aren't real. The trails were just so they could hang a bunch of people who didn't agree with their beliefs.

They looked around the museum house and at night it's creepy especially being in the woods. Emily turned on a light so they could see.

Emily: Can we go?

Adam: No look at all this cool stuff! And that book? Says it's bound in real human flesh...... Gross.

Lute watched as Adam went over to the black candle.

Lute: Don't light that! If a virgin lights the candle it's said that Lucifer Morningstar will come back from the dead.

Adam burst out laughing: Good thing I'm not a virgin then.

Emily raised a brow: You only dated Eve for like a week.

Adam: You can have sex in a week!

The truth was they only made out a little bit and then her folks didn't want her having a boyfriend until after she graduated from high school.

So yes, Adam is a virgin. But his fucking sister doesn't need to know that!

He pulled out his lighter and smirked, curses and magic what a load of shit.

Lute: Adam no!

Adam lit the candle: See, nothing to-.....

The house started to violently shake, the floorboards glowed underneath and a laughter could be heard.

Lute: The fuck!?

Emily glared at Adam: A virgin lit the candle.

Adam: W-what!? It's okay! I'll just blow it out!

He blew out the candle but the flame came back.

Lute and Emily's eyes went wide when they saw a man that matches Lucifer's picture come out from the back room.

Lucifer: And who do I owe the pleasure to? Hmm? Oh, you.~

Adam turned around and jumped, what the fuck!?

Lute: We should go.

Adam: Good idea.

They all turn to run out the door, Emily and Lute make it out but the door slams in Adams face locking him in.

Adam: Fuck!

Emily bangs on the door: Adam!!

Adam tried pulling on the door but it was no use. Chills crept up his spine when a low laugh echoed in the room. He turned to see Lucifer standing there with his book now in hand.

Lucifer: Oh, you weren't leaving already were you?~

[kingofthering]

how to make a gif : the very basic steps

Hello, I've been asked about advice on giffing lately and I am by no mean a Photoshop expert but I think I can still show the basic steps I go through every single time I make a very basic gif (essentially, everything I create throughout a race weekend).

I am using Photoshop 2024 and unfortunately for the non-French speaking people, the texts in the screenshots are in French. However, I have translated everything in text so you should be fine. I decided to still include the screenshots because no matter the language of your Photoshop, things should be in the same place.

Overall, giffing is very much a trial & error activity, in my experience. There are several ways to go about things and with practice and fiddling around with options, you will figure out what works best for you.

This will be our end product today :

I'm going to start this tutorial assuming you already have a video to use. When I do MotoGP gifs I end up with .mov videos from screen grabbing and when I download tiktoks and reels, I end up with .mp4 videos, which work just as well.

We're going to go File > Import > Video Frame to Layers. You pick your video and then use the sliders to pick the moment you want to gif. Don't worry, you don't have to be extra precise as you will be able to trim that later (obviously your life later will be easier if you get it right the first time but it's not a big deal, better to take more just in case if you're unsure).

That last line is asking you if you want to import one in every two (or more) frames. I tend to not do it but it's honestly a preference thing. I will say, it can help when you're trying to gif a long moment (less frames for the same length of video treated).

The next three steps (choosing the frames, setting the speed, cropping) can be done in any order. I myself sometimes change things around depending on what I'm doing. The way I'm going to present is the one I use most often.

Now that the frames are here, you're going to play the gif to make sure you got the exact moment you wanted to gif.

[OPTIONAL] This is also the moment to delete frames if :

You don't want the first/last frames (can easily happen with longer videos because obviously it makes the sliders less precise),

There are frames you simply don't want in your gif (for example, I dislike seeing the flashes from camera when I gif press conferences so I tend to get rid of those),

Your have too many frames.

There is no absolute rules about that last one. As of now, you need to keep your gif under 10 Mb for tumblr to accept it. Obviously, the number of frames and the size (in pixels) of your gif are two factors that will largely impact the size (weight) of your gif.

This might be the biggest thing where experience and trial & error will help you. With my 540x386 gifs, I tend to be able to keep around 80 to 100 frames. When I do the 268x268 square ones, I'm more easily in the 200-250 range.

Once you're happy with your frames, you can set the speed of the gif (essentially how much time there will be between each frame).

To do so, you need to select all of your frames (select your first one, hold shift and select your last one) and then click on any of the current speed, if you choose Other, a window will pop up and you can choose the speed you want.

Again, very much an appreciation/try and see what you prefer thing. I tend to just double the length I was given when I imported my frames (so in that case I went up from 0.03 to 0.06).

For some reason, the speed when you play the gif in Photoshop is always slower than it ends up in real life (or it's just mine but I'm just saying you can't always exactly trust that to make your choice).

Once I'm done with that, I tend to take care of cropping next. Technically, this is something that you can still do at a later time.

Cropping is where you decide which physical part of the video you actually want in your gif.

Photoshop has some basic ratios registered but you can also set up your own preferences, which will make your life easier/faster. My usual race weekends gifs are 7:5 but sometimes when I want zooms/bigger gifs I go 540:442 or 540:415, I also have a special ratio for my cards series.

Next step : click on the three little lines above your line of frames and then click Convert to Video Timeline.

If you have deleted frames before turning your frames into a video timeline, this is the moment to be careful.

You will go check all your layers (on the bottom right of your screen) and you'll see that every deleted frame (turned layer) is missing the eye symbol (which make them easy to find). You're going to delete all of those layers.

Then, select all of your layers, right click > Convert to Smart Object.

And now we move onto the fun part, I named : coloring.

I will honestly be the worst at giving you advices on that because I am still very much learning and not exactly always understanding what I do to get the results I get. Every coloring tutorial I have saved can be found here.

The one thing that matters is to make sure your adjustments (coloring) layers are above your smart object.

If you hadn't cropped your video before, now is the last time to do it. Or, well, I've seen people do it after sharpening their gifs but I always have doubts about whether or not it has an impact on the quality of the gif. Anyway, this is the last moment where I would do it personally.

Note : if you are happy with the size of your gif but want the video to be a little more to the right/left/top/bottom, select your smart object and use Move to move your video around (quick Marc apparition because I thought of this when writing the tutorial).

I personally have an action set up for the next steps. I click on one button and it takes care of resizing my gifs and sharpening it. I will go into the detailed version of things (how to do it without an action) below. A bunch of people have also made actions ready to use downloadable. You can find some in my big everything photoshop related tag and a tutorial on how to build your own here.

If we want to post this on tumblr, we're usually going to want this gif to be 540px wide or 268px (two gifs side to side).

Let's go to Image > Image Size.

For sharpening, I'll admit that it should depend on the quality of your video but I always do the same things. Here is a tutorial on sharpening if you want to understand how things work better.

Make sure to have your Smart Object selected and go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen.

And we're finally done. Time to export this bad boy.

To do that, we're going to hit File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy).

Here, there are a couple of things you can touch, a couple you shouldn't (compared to the image below).

The main one is going to be the number of colors you will accept on your gifs. 256 is your maximum and the lower you go, the more the quality of your gif will decrease but so will its size. This is where you can spend time trying to find a compromise to get under 10 Mb (a second solution to diminishing the number of frames, often times those two options go hand in hand).

This is a great post to explain the different options of the other settings.

And were we go, a pretty decent gif :)

If I didn't make sense at all and think you need a tutorial by another person, you can find a bunch of resources here and I personally (re)learned with this one. I've already link my general photoshop & coloring tags but I also have some dedicated to : typography & blending.

[reason-with-the-underdog]

so it's a situationship (ND version)

ok but imagine if alhaitham had in his youth dismissed romance novels as "silly" and only as an adult (post-breakup) did alhaitham start finding value in reading them

so kaveh's very much unprepared for haitham bringing a new romantic male lead energy to their "friendship"

alhaitham, in the days and months after their breakup, starts to read romance novels and character-focused fiction as a way to figure out went wrong in their final confrontation & to understand why kaveh cared so deeply for the feelings of other people to his own detriment

meanwhile, kaveh taped together the torn up thesis and then buried himself with work so he could graduate on time, establish his career, build the palace, etc

which is how we get to where alhaitham seems to have grown a lot since their fight (which was his "rock bottom")

while kaveh's been so busy, he never had time to reflect deeply on the fight

...not until he became bankrupt and homeless & alhaitham was suddenly right there holding out a helping hand

which is why we see kaveh's growth in real time!

kaveh needed a more stable and supportive environment to finally realize the changes in alhaitham and in himself and what that means for how they can relate to each other...!

notice how kaveh's always taken aback when alhaitham suddenly behaves differently than expected

backing down instead of continuing to argue over philosophies

overthrowing the government (!!!)

practically begging to be thanked

the thing is: kaveh is so used to his akademiya-era understanding of alhaitham that its startling when alhaitham has in fact grown up from that unsociable little junior who scoffed a little at his senior when kaveh was distraught over the MC's heartbreak in a novel he was reading

because now apparently alhaitham not only reads that same novel series, he has a personally signed copy of the sequel! and has the next book on pre-order! kaveh hasn't even had the time to read the last three volumes he's been so busy

what is this!! when did alhaitham change??

(what else has kaveh missed in those missing years when they didnt talk to each other)

anyways so nowadays you'll find them curled up on the couch together reading two books from the same romance novel series and kaveh is elbowing alhaitham bc "no spoilers!! you know i haven't had time to catch up until now!"

also consider that the focus on all the nonverbal cues of attraction in these romance novels that alhaitham read finally clued him into the fact that kaveh prob was attracted to him back then

and that their "friendship" may have been seen as something deeper by everyone else...

basically:

kaveh liked alhaitham in their akademiya days, and he figured he was SUPER obvious about his crush and pretty much did everything besides straight up confessing "i like you in a way that's more than friends. lets date"

but alhaitham never picked up on the signs.... so kaveh figures that there's no interest on alhaitham's part.

and kaveh would never outright say "i want to date you romantically" to alhaitham bc of his own experiences with feeling pressured after someone asks him out

(he says yes out of pity and then it ends after the first few dates at longest)

...kaveh didn't want a pity date from alhaitham. so no confession, and he buries those feelings deep down because friendship is good, too

meanwhile alhaitham has no idea what normal platonic friendships are like vs romantic friendships vs romantic relationships (also they're literally teenagers here, being geniuses only makes them worse at figuring this stuff out honestly)

it's only after alhaitham reads several romance novels that he figures out kaveh's feelings post-breakup... unfortunately kaveh is no longer talking to him at that point so......

alhaitham spends the breakup period coming to terms with his feelings & accepting that yeah he loves kaveh

its actually fun for him in an intellectual way how his heartrate will accelerate upon seeing that kaveh's published a response to his latest paper or message board note

plus, kaveh is a public figure so its easy enough to keep tabs on his general well being. even thought kaveh avoids seeing alhaitham in person, they are still communicating over text in an academic way so that's good enough

alhaitham at that fateful tavern meeting never expected anything more, but one thing after another and now they're living together

and oh this is so much better.

and worse.

romance novels never include that the love interest hogs the bathroom for hour-long showers. and those love interests also don't start hammering away at models at 3 am

but alhaitham now gets to see kaveh wide-eyed with excitement over his epiphany (even if its at 11 at night), and he's the first one kaveh tells when he discovers a new blend of coffee he likes or when the bazaar vendors give him a special deal on his favorite fruits

it's funny, kaveh complains constantly about all the books alhaitham leaves scattered throughout the house, but he fails to notice that there are quite a few romance novels incorporated into alhaitham's daily readings

now, as an adult who's done his research (so many novels!) alhaitham's more prepared to notice the signs of romantic interest!

...unfortunately he can see that kaveh acts similarly to how they were in akademiya except with more distance...

which means.... kaveh's not interested anymore

& alhaitham can see how kaveh's still led by his guilty conscience, which is why kaveh goes out of his way to do kind things for alhaitham in return

so: kaveh no longer returns his feelings.

it's ok. there's still value in observing his own emotional responses around someone he loves, even if those feelings are not returned in the same way

[happymeishappylife]

Like many of you are, waking up to the news this morning was shocking, saddening, and worrying. And while I am a believer of getting every last count, the numbers don't look strong enough to flip these results, as unfortunate as that is. But unlike 8 years ago where I felt miserable, lost, and unable to focus, I don't feel that way this time. Maybe thats because I got ready for work, just like I always do. Maybe thats because I know I will be talking to people who voted for this today, even a couple who didn't like the guy.

But overall, I am ready to keep fighting. And what this election has shown me more clearly is that we have to fight, but we also have a lot of work to do. The polarization in this country is ripping us apart and we need to fix that before we can fix the country. And to do that we need to do 3 things:

1. We need to build our communities back.

We are at a point with politics that people have made them their entire identities and thats all they consume, feel, and react to. We need to instead find a way to connect people to people. And we need to find the things we enjoy so we can get to know our neighbors as people with interests and not just people living on our streets. We need to raise each other up, help where we can, and we need to celebrate others achievements. That will help in this scary time and hopefully bring us back to a civility to discuss the heavier topics without making it feel like we need to attack each other or rip each others throats out.

And how do we do that?

2. We need to get people offline.

The 24 hour news cycle, political podcast and constant commentary is not healthy for anybody. Not only because it keeps everyone in a constant state of anxiety, but also because it traps people in their echo chambers and lets propaganda and radicalization breed into minds of otherwise normal people. And we are all susceptible to propaganda, don't think you are immune because you are on the other side. Its also getting worse by the spread of misinformation, AI, and bad actors who want to divide us and make us hate each other.

Now of course, we should be paying attention to what our leaders are doing, but we don't need to read every tweet or hear every soundbite. Instead, pick two times a day where you are ready to consume the news for 30 minutes or an hour. And don't take one source as gospel. Hear the news event, and double check other outlets to see how they are reporting it. Find the actual recordings and not just the clips. Because sadly, there is not a reputable news source anymore. And after that time, go do something else you love so you can start connecting to people in real life and relax which help the mental stress.

And yes, being online helps organize these events, but in person events will benfit us so much more. So please, find a way to disconnect from the virtual world and find a way to connect to real people again.

3. We must engage people to do their civic duty.

And no, I don't mean converting them to your side because everyone gets hostile about that. I am talking about, getting them engaged in the process at all because I have a sneaking suspicion that like 2016, a majority of Americans didn't vote at all this time.

But how do we do that?

We don't wait four years. In fact, this goes for people who are politically active too because we keep turning out every four years, but ignoring the elections where our votes really matter and affect the most change which can help make all of us feel like our vote does matter.

So start with your Town/City council. You don't have to watch the hearings/meetings (because they are arduous, trust me, I attend them), but read the news the day after, find out what they discussed, voted on, rezoned. Do you like it? Great, vote to keep those people on the councils. Don't? Vote them out. These elections happen every year and also involve ballot measures that affect your taxes and community. Understand the process and get involved here first, then your county, state, and them the federal. Then it won't be intimidating to get into and it won't be as polarizing.

And you may think 'but why should I vote for the superintendent when I don't have kids in school or the agricultural commissioner when I am not a farmer?' Do you want our society to be taught well or poorly? Do you want our food to be ethically produced or make us sick? You don't need to know the ins and outs for every issue or position but you can at least make sure qualified people are in those roles to make those decisions and not just people hoping for a platform.

So don't despair. I know thats hard today. I know it will feel desperate right now, but we can't give in. We can't give up. And we can survive this.

[sugar-soda]

Shiva Eyes are similar to Pearls but are much more common, so they fill many different roles to whoever they are assigned to serve (normally higher ranked gems, but never high enough that they get a pearl). Servant, scribe, bodyguard, jester, engineer, you name it, a Shiva Eye has to do it. As such, our Shiva struggles with who she is and what she wants to do. She wants to do everything one day and nothing the next. A life of people changing you to suit their needs doesn't make one confident in oneself, so she latches on to anyone who just lets her be as she decides. She'll try anything once, and has found a few things she likes for herself, like cuddling and the soft, squishy things humans call plushies.

Her weapon is a set of small, twin shields she can use as both gauntlets to punch things and as protection. 

While old by human standards, she is a bit on the younger side for a gem, so she doesn’t remember much of the Diamonds, just the Gem she served until they were shattered. Now she happily does whatever Ilux and Noi ask her to, because they are so much nicer to her. She’s a bit gullible on some things, but as long as it's nothing harmful, she’s willing to forgive. 

Noi (Nacre) and Ilux (Pale Pearl) are her favorite gems. They just let her be Shiva Eye, and she likes that they explain things to her.

She would love to hear Noi sing again, no matter if its distorted or underwater. She'll gladly remove any crabs from the area for them, but they got to help when she needs to reach the top shelf for any of her hobby stuff.

Noi has tried to teach her how to play guitar (it hasn’t gone well, Ilux's ears are bleeding, Noi has the earth strength of a thousand suns) but she’ll play the drums, while Ilux plays the harp and Noi plays the guitar. 

She learned to sew blankets because of how cold the planet they are. She made a rainbow blanket for Ilux since they aren't that colorful themselves (not that she has room to talk). Noi got an blue and gray one to match their colors.

She is aware she must belong to some Diamond, but she isn't sure which, nor does she care enough to find out. If you were to ask her to name the Diamonds, she couldn't tell you. If you ask who is in charge of her, she'll probably point to Noi and Ilux. She technically belongs to Blue Diamond (Scott) now, though she used to belong to a Diamond thats been away for a while now....

Some one (likely an ammonite or ammolite guard who didn't know any better) told her about fusion and how it works. She isn't too keen on the idea of sharing her body with someone.

She was taken to the Reef after the…unfortunate incident with the last Gem she served. She does any odd jobs no one else does. Cleaning, studying and keeping local wild life away, entertainment, inventory, ice breaking when it gets too cold, sparing partner and anything else that gets overlooked. She has been found in a few vents, but she got herself out.

The three of them make plushies of each other. They got a few extra that look like the guards, corals, and a made-up Diamond. Shi made a random misshapen one that doesn't really look like any Gem and is really large. She uses it as a punching bag for practice.

Has asked Ilux to thow their spear at her for dodging practice. They have not agreed so far.

She will be very confused when the others show up. What do you mean we have to leave the Reef?....

So I have been talking to @honey-minded-hivemind about a Steven Universe/ X-men Au using Ocs of ours. If you want to hear more about it go check them out! @thewickedweiner is also making an oc for it, so check them out too!

It is a platonic yandere au, so if that isn't your thing, you likely won't like this au.

Here is my oc: Shiva Eye (Shiva or Shi)

(She's a bit more red than she is supposed to be but I'm tired of fighting the website.

https://www.dolldivine.com/classic-games/gemsona-maker )

[mettywiththenotes]

It's weird how Hawks went straight from "Dabi" to "Touya", like they are on a first name basis or something. Like I know the whole analysis of it is probably that using his real name is to show that he sees him as more than a villain now because of Dabi's ties with Endeavor

But I'm just thinking, specifically, what does this mean for if Dabi and Hawks ever interact again? Is Hawks just going to call him Touya now?

[xxplastic-cubexx]

what is your favorite thing about charles and your favorite thing about erik? separately, as in what you like most about their characters :]

a devious question this one is, my friend!!! it's hard enough for me to explain my thoughts cohesively, but having to pick ONE thing i particularly love is difficult. with characters like charles and erik, theres been so much done with their characters over the decades and so they have so many components to them that make them so interesting and fun to observe. BUT I TRY FOR YOU TODAY. under the cut i kinda ramble and the size of this text box makin me anxious

i think if i were to be simple and broad, what i enjoy most about charles is his determination to help others, even if he isn't really thanked and/or if people don't even like him. ofc, this isn't to say he hasn't done wrong- to be honest, the fact he does wrong/questionable things at times is another aspect of him i really enjoy, maybe because- broadly speaking- he's meant to be altruistic (intent vs outcome and all that). i don't know if that's super exciting to most people, but it is for me

as for erik, my reason for liking him is easier to explain tbh. To Be Simple And Broad, his progression from villain to antihero over the decades has been fun to observe (as much as i have so far anyhow) and analyze. i think to be a bit more specific, him using his rage and pain as justifications for his villainous actions is definitely what compels me the most: hurt people hurt and the sort, an idea i've always found interesting (something something vicious cycles and the like). yet now, he recognizes this wasn't really. A Just Thing To Do and is beginning to change that, which i enjoy

[doubledyke]

it doesn't really make sense in the logic (lol) of the show but part of me loves the idea that edd is being raised by his grandparents.... kids who are raised by grandparents tend to be overly mature and a little uhhhhh off-beat. i feel like it could explain a lot.

[experimentalfma]

"Right," Alfons replied slowly, managing to do a surprisingly convincing job of keeping the doubt from creeping into his voice. He had essentially agreed to help figure out how to create a portal, after all, so he he may as well just go along with it now. "We need to figure out where we're really going with this before investing too deeply into one theory." Even though that starting point looked a bit daunting, if they were going to basically start from scratch, it at least gave Alfons the opportunity a chance to catch up with his roommate. Whatever that would mean in terms of finding a working theory in the first place.

A flicker of interest flashed in blue eyes at Ed's offer. "You have coffee?" Maybe Ed had had it for a while and Alfons had been out of the house too much to notice, but it had been a long time since he'd had the luxury of drinking any himself. He normally just stuck to tea since he found it more soothing on his throat and lungs, anyway, but if they were going to have a late night, that extra caffeine boost did have its appeal.

Unfortunately, however, Ed was right that Alfons had no concept of the trust an alchemist decoding their notes for someone implied. Considering equivalent exchange was essentially the law of conservation of mass, that was a concept he would be able to grasp intuitively, but the rest of the laws and customs regarding alchemy would require a more in-depth explanation.

"We can start there," he agreed despite having very little concept of what arrays really were. "Will those need to be translated, too? I think I remember you saying those were part of the basics of alchemy, so it would make sense to start from the beginning." For whatever good that would actually do them. It still made very little sense to Alfons, but with no other starting point thus far, it might at least help a little to have more background on where Ed was coming from on this.

He glanced over his shoulder towards Ed's room then turned back with a curious smile. If nothing else, it would be an interesting night. "It's alright. I can put the water on while you get your notes. Which cabinet do you keep the coffee in?"

Then a sudden thought occurred to him. "Wait, one other thing." And he stepped away toward his work bag, crouching down in front of it and rummaging through for a small bit of folded paper with something inside. He returned to Ed's side, his smile widening a little, as he held out the package and unfolded the paper on top, revealing two small squares of chocolate. "My boss brought these in for us as a thank you for our hard work, but he said I could take a second one to bring back to you. I'm not really sure how he got them. I was going to find some sort of occasion to bring them out, but I think starting on a sort of project together again counts, right?"

Ed truly didn't mind getting the tea for Alfons, but he knew better than to argue about it so he would leave it at. "Okay, if you insist," he said with a smile. He was actually looking forward to picking out some tea now. He hoped Alfons liked whatever he got him. It occurred to him that he had never gotten Alfons anything before, and that thought didn't set well with him. Ed wondered how Alfons would react if he did get him a gift other than tea. He needed to mull over that idea more, later when he was alone.

"Yeah, right now I'm not sure what I need since I haven't figured out how to open a portal to my world up. Maybe if I had enough information for it, I could figure something out." He knew that wouldn't be what Alfons wanted to hear but given that he agreed to help out, Ed didn't see a way to avoid bringing it up. At least now maybe he would be able to convince Alfons he was telling the truth. If they were going to work closely together on this project, he hoped he'd have a chance to do just that. He didn't like the idea of Alfons either believing he was lying or even worse, that he was delusional.

"Alright, then I'll show you notes if you wanna take a look at them." Ed already knew he would need to translate them, and he was kicking himself now for not thinking about that in the first place, but he hadn't though he'd be getting help with his research, and writing in Amestrian was a lot easier for him than writing his notes in German. He also didn't like the idea of their place being searched and someone finding his notes and being able to see what was in them. There was always the possibility, though he knew Alfons' job had kept that from happening so far.

"Why don't i start some tea or coffee for us and we can look them over. I can at least explain the alchemic arrays to you tonight if you're interested in learning more about them." Ed was proud of his work and while some of it was coded in Amestrian, he'd be willing to explain it to Alfons. Ed knew what they discussed would be kept between them. The significance of this would likely be lost on Alfons since he didn't realize how most Alchemists kept their works encoded so that other people wouldn't steal their ideas.

Something like that hardly mattered in this world considering that alchemy didn't exist here. That made Ed feel a little sad. This world could benefit from alchemy in so many ways, though considering their was a world war happening, maybe it was for the best people couldn't use alchemy to hurt others. His world had that problem given the Ishvalan war. Even still, he liked the idea that alchemy was for the people and its use was originally intended for good and not evil.

"I think if we set up at the kitchen table that would be best." He had some lose papers of arrays that he could lay out on the table. "I have a lot of notes, but we don't have to go through it all tonight. Maybe we can start with the basics and go from there and see what we're up for tonight." He didn't want Alfons to feel like he was in a hurry. He had waited this long so waiting a bit longer to figure it out wouldn't hurt. "Let me get something started for us to drink. Did you want me to make us some tea or coffee? Then I'll grab all of my notes for us to look over."

[thedisablednaturalist]

If you need insurance anytime within the next year and are thinking about applying for medicaid, open enrollment on healthcare.gov went live Nov 1st! I would heavily recommend applying asap instead of procrastinating like I did. Your state may also have specific health insurance coverage plans. If you are losing your insurance after December 15th, you will probably apply for special enrollment and can apply if you are within a month of losing your insurance (I applied through special enrollment bc my insurance grace period ends on Nov 16th). Medicaid can take as long as 90 days to approve/deny you. Because I procrastinated I'll probably have to get interim insurance which can be expensive especially if you have high medical costs like me.

[hermitsdump]

I wish all jujutsu kaisen fans a very media literacy and manga reread

[bisexualmaedhros]

transfem furries hornyposting online about the relatively niche/"out there" things they're into have inadvertently helped me accept myself more than the body positivity movement of the 2010s ever did

[aeide-thea]

thinking abt (1) that post abt how most censorship is preemptive self-censorship¹ (2) bras²

⸻ ¹ wow, tumblr search actually worked for once??? ² i do understand and respect that for many people bras serve an actual structural function wrt support/comfort! however, for many other people (hi!) they do not, at least in everyday non-sports contexts, and that's the set of concerns i'm speaking to here.

[nexus-nebulae]

I'm gonna fucking cry i finally got a doctor who will listen to me and actually understands my problems and explained things to me better than any other specialist I've seen and she gave me a list of ways to make laying down more comfortable and i can finally lay on my side again

[dadbots]

cold as shit & freezing my ass off in this winter (But at least we made it to December.)

[safyresky]

Crystal Springs Chapter 22 EXCERPT: Blinter my BELOVED

In HONOUR of uh, Welsh Valentine's Day today, and because I feel like TRASH and THRIVE on NICE THINGS and fucking. LOVE LOVE SO GODDAMN MUCH (the Dite just JUMPED OUT), please enjoy this lil sneaky peaky of Crystal Springs Chapter 22: Deck the Halls, featuring some soft (then saucy) Blinter post-nightmare (it's new to CS 202X Edition!) 🧡💙🧡💙😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰💥💥💥💥💥

---

“Blaise?!”

He shot up, breathing heavily. Something was burning.

He looked down.

Oh. That was his hands on the sheets. Whoops.

A cold touch on his face. His heart rate began to slow as the soft pad of Winter’s thumb rubbed gentle circles on his cheek.

“Winter,” he said, gruffly, relieved. His shoulders dropped; he reached out, pulling her onto his lap and holding her very, very close and tight.

“Oh thank the goddess,” she said, gently squeezing him back before pulling out of the embrace, caressing his face. “I was worried. You were near thrashing, dearest. Another nightmare?”

Blaise nodded, dragging her hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss on her knuckles. “Yeah. ‘M okay now that you’re here,” he said, pulling her back in and hugging her, so, so tightly, as though if he let go she would cease to exist, and he’d be falling through the days once again—

He cleared his throat. Squished her tighter.

“Did you just get back from work?”

“Oh yes,” Winter said, excitedly. “And Blaise, what a storm! The northeast isn’t going to know what hit them! Was it the schoolroom again?”

Blaise nodded, his head buried in her neck. “Yeah.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, dear. I’m here for you. It’s okay; it’s alright. That was long ago. You’re safe now. The kids are safe. We’re safe,” she whispered, kissing the top of his head.

“I know,” Blaise said, unburying himself from her neck and gazing at her soft face. He held her head in his hands, rubbing her cheek now. She smiled, warmly, pulling his forehead down to touch hers. “I know,” he repeated, with a soft smile full of love that was reserved just for her. “Do I have to go pick Jacqueline out of a snowbank?”

Winter laughed. “No, she’s awake. She’s been talking Jack’s ear off all night. She’s still going. I think he’s met his match! Listen closely,” Winter said, their foreheads still touching.

Straining his ears, Blaise made himself aware of the sounds surrounding them. The Twins were snoring. Soft footsteps were heading up to the next floor. The quietly animated voice of Jacqueline, talking about something called the Black Parade? It’s a classic by alternative and punk rock standards, completely revolutionary, she was saying, only to be cut off by Jack saying that’s not what I mean when I say CLASSICS, Jacqueline!

Blaise chuckled.

"This is almost a week straight of nightmares,” Winter said, concern lining her features.

Blaise sighed. “I can’t figure it out. It’s like my subconscious is trying to tell me something, but I can’t figure out what. I can’t remember; as soon as I wake up, the details are gone. Not that they’re there in the first place,” he said with a sigh, dropping his hands and closing his eyes. Feeling the cool touch of Winter’s forehead on his.

“Same progression, then?”

Blaise nodded against her forehead. “Yeah. Lessons. Fighting. Then too much power. Then the moment I quit,” he said with a sigh. “Though there were drinks this time," he added, brow furrowed. "I just can’t figure it out!”

“Oh, darling. I do think you need a break. You’re hard at work every day, and when you come home you have even more work to do. Have you had a moment to breath? To sit down and relax, in the last two weeks or so?”

“She needs our help, Winter. I can’t just. I can’t just let someone take advantage of our baby girl like that! I need to figure out who it is and what they’re doing and why they’re—”

“We,” Winter gently reminded him. “It’s not just you, darling. Jack’s been a big help, and I’ve been doing my fair share, too, when I can. Even the Twins have been helping! Fino brought home all those books on ancient liquids the other day. Fiera keeps thinking of other things to look into, and as wacky as some of them are, they’re not bad suggestions. We’ve been narrowing it down, together! You’re not alone in this. I know your shoulders are strong but darling, you need to stop carrying everything on them! I don’t like when they’re carrying the weight of the world. They sag. It makes it hard to spot you in a crowd,” she said, the corners of her lips twitching slightly.

"And it hurts my back something fierce,” Blaise joked, leaning back with a grin, his hair flickering to life.

Winter laughed, a delicate hand in front of her mouth. “You need to give yourself a break, dear. Cash in on your days off.”

“I can’t just take days off.”

“Yes you can. You’re the frostbitten governor of the entire country.”

“City, not country.”

“You keep telling yourself that, dear. Maybe one day someone will believe it.”

Blaise chuckled. “This week’s busy. Town Hall is coming up, and the fairies are at it again with the dryads, and there’s always so many requests and inquiries leading up to the holidays—”

“Just let Dave take care of it. I bet it’ll make his Christmas.”

Blaise laughed, thinking of his angry, no-nonsense, satyr-like secretary who would, indeed, love to tell people to buzz off on Blaise’s behalf.

“Besides, the Assembly can take care of things without you, Blaise. Mother has a handle on things, as do the other governors and their lieutenants. Things won’t fall apart here if you take some time to make sure you don’t fall apart,” she said, booping the tip of his nose.

He smiled. Tired. Soft. “Maybe you’re right.”

“I know I am, dear. The break will do you some good! Give yourself time to process everything. Focus on one job at a time. Spend some time with the kids. Seeing as how all four are home for Christmas. Perhaps it will give your subconscious some time to figure out why that dream. Why that memory, of all the ones to make a nightmare out of. All your hard work is important,” she said, caressing his face once more. “But feeling good is important, too. Giving yourself breaks. You can’t keep burning the candle at both ends, Blaise dear. At least, not this one,” she said, gently pushing back the light simmer that was his hair.

Blaise sighed, reaching over to the drawer in his night table. He pulled out a scrap of paper and a pencil, quickly wrote something down, and snapped, the note disappearing in a smattering of sparks. He smiled, a goofy little tired smile that reminded Winter of when they were both much, much younger. “Are you going to join me, or what? It’s been a rough night. I could use a cuddle or two.”

Winter laughed, sliding off of his lap. “Yes, yes. Let me get my jim-jams on,” she said, heading into the closet.

So many layers, Blaise thought to himself, as he watched her silhouette throw off the heavy fur cloak, an outer layer to her dress, the inner layer, and a third portion to her skirt that she tossed in a corner. He sighed, regretfully taking his eyes off of his wife and slumping back on the headboard, deep in thought.

The nightmares had started after they talked to Jacqueline. What she had told them, about the blackouts, had rung a bell. Blaise hadn’t stopped thinking about it; not even in his sleep. And as the nights passed, the shadowy dreams with wisps of chatter had slowly taken shape. He could make out figures; he could place where and when and who he was with. But the details got weirder and weirder. Drinks. What did drinks have to do with anything?! What couldn’t he remember?

“Perhaps a nice family outing is in order for tomorrow,” Winter said, sliding into the bed in a tiny pair of sleep shorts and one of Blaise’s rarely worn t-shirts. She pulled some ice out of her hair, smooshing it into a ball and throwing it into the washroom. It curved around the doorway, landing with a solid THUNK in the tub.

“Nice curveball,” Blaise said. “Nice curves,” he added with a growl, grabbing her around the waist and dragging them both up against the headboard.

Winter giggled, curling up against him and looking into his warm eyes. “I grew them myself,” she said with a silly little grin that reminded Blaise of when they were both much, much younger.

“Well you did a phenomenal job,” he said, dragging her right up against his chest, kissing the top of her head as he felt the tired creep back.

“As did you with this chest of yours,” she said, her fingertips gently trailing down his sternum.

Blaise laughed, tilting her head up and aiming for her lips.

“Mmm,” she said, mid kiss. He smiled against her lips; he felt her do the same. Regrettably pulling away, he rested the tip of his nose on hers.

“A nice family day, huh?”

“Mhmm,” Winter said, her fingers tracing his shoulder now. “We haven’t decorated yet, and December is flying by.”

“And the boys did bring back even more festive florals. That’s not a bad idea. What do you think? Should we decorate tomorrow?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Winter said, pulling him down for another kiss. She pulled away all too soon. “Those kids of ours have far too much energy; the tree farm is as good a place as any to let them burn some of it off. Or freeze it off.”

“And how about you, Winter? You seem very energetic tonight.”

“I am, and I happen to have a lovely idea to help with that,” she said, bringing him in closer. “Care to join me?” she asked Blaise, coyly.

His hair went from simmering to roaring in an instant. “Would I ever,” he said, closing the distance and pulling her in for the kiss she had been dangling in front of him for far too long, in his humble opinion.

“I love you so goddess damned much,” Blaise said, breathlessly, pulling away for the quickest of moments before swooping back in.

“Mmm, I know,” she replied between kisses, breathlessly, the two falling into the slightly singed sheets.

That was certainly one way to keep nightmares at bay.