#why is 2020 so weird?

[taibhsearachd]

Boy I can't wait for another four years of being blamed for white women voting for Trump when like. It's cishet white Christian women. It is a specific demographic. We know this.

But yeah, let's shame your local white lesbians for not... somehow converting their homophobic transphobic moms. This will save democracy. I'm already exhausted.

[softpine]

i like how we all collectively agreed that covid does not exist in any of our sims stories

[oliviaischillin1204]

library (tickletober day 4- “hide and seek”)

word count: 2,402 words

i love these silly boys aksdfhghdj

Roman snapped up with a yelp. Something... just touched him.

He turned, but Logan wasn’t looking at him, his eyes focused on whatever he was working on at his own desk. Even in the gigantic library that existed within the Imagination, the two sides chose to work near each other, not close enough to get in each other’s way but still able to ask for suggestions or brainstorm sessions every now and then. Right now they were sitting at two large desks with their backs to each other. Logan’s pen was scratching away on his paper just like it had been this entire time, and aside from that brief movement of his hands, it didn’t look like he’d moved even once since he sat down.

Yet Roman knew, he knew, that he’d felt someone small jab into his back. Roman watched for a few seconds longer, before slowly turning back to his desk.

A long silence stretched, long enough that Roman wondered if nothing else was going to happen, long enough that he had nearly managed to immerse himself in his writing again.

Then--

“Ah!”

He whipped around yet again. He knew he’d felt something touch him-- it’d dug into the back of his ribs for less than a second before disappearing again. It didn’t hurt, it was too minor a touch to hurt him, which meant that ‘whatever’ was doing it wasn’t trying to hurt him. Nor did the person responsible seem to be trying to get his attention, given that Logan was still steadfastly ignoring any of Roman’s reactions.

Roman blinked, narrowing his eyes. Now Logan’s pen wasn’t even moving.

“You are playing a dangerous game,” he informed the other side’s back.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Logan replied, eyes down and voice flat.

The tick of the analog clock on the wall behind them seemed much louder as Roman turned around again, his hands back on his keyboard as he typed nonsense into the document.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick--

Roman was spinning around in his rolly chair the instant he felt his back being poked again. He forced himself to not flinch away from the sensation, instead darting forward to catch Logan by the wrist.

The logical side froze, arm outstretched with his criminal pen dangling from his fingers, inches away from Roman’s chest. He met Roman’s gaze, unflinching.

“Apologize.”

“No.”

A beat, and then Roman was yanking Logan out of his chair and pulling him towards him, but Logan was faster. He lunged forward and shot the fingers of his free hand underneath Roman’s arm, wiggling haphazardly. Roman snorted, loudly, and tried to curl his arm in without letting Logan go, but the logical side easily slipped his wrist out of Roman’s grip.

Without a moment’s hesitation Logan turned on his heel, darting around his desk and diving amongst the tall shelves. By the time Roman stood up, he had disappeared from sight.

Roman allowed himself one incredulous, delighted laugh. So that’s what Logan wanted?

Well. Two can play at that game.

~

The dull carpet muffled Logan’s steps as he traveled down another row of shelves. For a moment he’d considered taking off his shoes to step totally silently, but the thought quickly vanished into a flustered daze when he realized how much more vulnerable that would make him when-- if Roman caught him.

He had no doubt that Roman was after him-- aside from the fact that Roman hadn’t safe-worded, the creative side was absurdly competitive, and very vengeful. Logan’s little escape tactic was more than enough reason for Roman to get revenge.

Logan paused at the end of one row, ears straining for noise. The library was impressively large, but not limitless, and he and Roman were sure to find each other any moment now.

... Well. Roman would find him. That was his role, in this little game Logan had devised. Roman was the hunter. Logan was the prey.

A rush of air escaped Logan’s mouth, just this side of a whimper, and he slammed his hand over his mouth. No. He was not going to give himself up so easily.

But now that he’d started, it was so much harder to stop. Everywhere he turned, he was reminded of all the little fantasies he’d had about this library: Roman tazing his sides as he reached for a book on the highest shelf, Roman forcing him to read aloud as he tickled all over the soles of his feet, Roman pinning him against the wall and murmuring about how this is a library, Teach, so you better keep quiet no matter what--

No! Focus!

Logan dragged his hands down his face as if to wipe away the stray giggles bubbling in his chest. He would not lose. He’d started this tickle fight, and he was determined to finish it.

~

Roman prided himself of being fairly light of foot, but it was hard to avoid making noise in the dead silent library. His ears kept tricking him into thinking he was hearing footsteps, but it just as easily could’ve been the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears.

He loved this. Logan was so rarely in a mood to play. No wonder he’d asked Roman to join him in the library today. How long had he been planning this?

Another sound came from behind him, and Roman whipped around before standing stock-still.

“Logan...”

He took a moment to pat himself on the back for the acoustics in the room; his voice seemed to echo and carry, the deep timbre reverberating as his taunting tone rose and fell.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are...”

He began walking again, slowly. Picked up a book and flipped through it casually before putting it back on the shelf. Humming lowly and letting out little vocal stims, singing sweetly through the aisles. Oh, he wasn’t worried about finding Logan quickly. In fact, he hoped he took his time. He was quite enjoying the hunt.

~

Damn Roman, for real. Damn him for being so nonchalant about the game they were playing, strolling through the aisles with barely a look cast to either side of him. Damn his for going no further than singing sweet teases that echoed around the whole room, leaving Logan to feel phantom tingles against his ears each time. Damn him for not even hurrying to find Logan, as if he were waiting for the logical side to, what, tire himself out?

Or turn myself in, Logan’s brain supplied unhelpfully. No! He wouldn’t think like that.

Logan straightened himself up. He started this game, yes, but he wasn’t going to make it easy. He was just as competitive as Roman, and Logan wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

And without another thought, Logan grabbed a book from a nearby shelf and launched it in the air, listening with satisfaction as it slammed down halfway across the library.

~

Immediately Roman was running towards the sound. His mind was spinning, and his eyes darted around for even a glimpse of a black polo shirt or the glint of Logan’s glasses lens.

He entered an area with lots of sofas and armchairs, but no Logan. Nothing was out of place, except--

His vision narrowed on a book on the floor. Logan would never let something stay out of place, which means he must’ve done it on purpose. He bent over, picked it up, and burst out laughing.

“‘Catch Me If You Can’, huh?” he muttered to himself. Logan’s subconscious clearly couldn’t hide itself from picking up just the right book for how he felt right now. What’s more, he knew this book, knew it was semi-autobiographical. He spun on his heel and hurried away, heading straight towards the nonfiction section.

~

Logan moved into the next aisle. Idly, he looked to the side-- at the exact moment Roman’s face appeared in a gap through the shelf.

They both froze.

Until Logan sprinted back the way he’d come in his own aisle, and Roman turned heel and followed along.

“Logan!” Roman sang as they darted through the stacks. “I think I found you, my little bib-lee-ophile! Don’t you want to come out and play?”

Logan didn’t answer; Roman thought he could hear stray giggles escaping in between his breaths. He ducked around the end of the next aisle and found himself and Logan face to face, with only a large round table in between them.

Roman went left. So did Logan. Roman went right, and Logan followed. They bobbed back and forth, staying on opposite sides of the table the whole time.

“Ha!” Roman said. “What’s wrong, Teach? Didn’t think about finding an escape route? You must really want me to catch you, huh?”

Logan clamped his lips shut and tried to put on a brave face. “I think you shouldn’t be so cocky, Roman. I know things you don’t about this library.”

��Oh, yeah?” Roman asked. He continued circling, smiling as he saw how Logan was now blocked in next to another bookshelf. “And what might that be?”

But he got no response. Instead, Logan whipped around, yanked a book out of its place on the shelf, and-- disappeared?

Roman froze. “What?”

He moved closer, just in time to see a panel on the back of the bookshelf slide back into place. His jaw dropped.

“Oh, you sneaky little scholar,” he muttered. “Why didn’t I think of secret doors?!”

So Logan wanted to play dirty, huh? Well, two could play at that game. He rubbed his hands together, conjuring some sparkles as he did just for panache. He clapped once, loud, and everything went dark.

~

Logan had only just climbed out of the trap door when the room went dark with a loud clunk. He froze, off balance and disorientated. Roman had shut off the lights? How would that help anything?

He strained his eyes, trying to make out any shapes in the dark. Luckily, the library had a fail safe for this kind of thing-- it was a clever little system that Logan had created to limit the amount of energy being used, by utilizing motion sensor lights that only illuminated whatever aisle the person is standing in--

It clicked. Logan’s eyes widened, but before he could do anything his vision was flooded by a sterile white light. He shielded his eyes and looked up; above him one row of lights were on, while the rest of the library was dark.

... The rest of the library except for a row near the nonfiction sectioned, where Logan had just come from. Where Roman still was.

He couldn’t look away from that distant light until it abruptly shut off-- and then another light turned on, one row closer.

Then another. And another.

Logan’s stomach dipped with panicked delight. He turned, ran, but with every new aisle he ran down, the light overhead turned on, creating a perfect map of his location throughout the entire library. His ears were filled with the clunk, clunk, clunk of the lights, creating a staccato rhythm that joined the rapid beating of his heart.

He looked over his shoulder. The lights turning off and on in the distance were getting closer. He could feel the giggles rising in his chest.

Clunk, clunk. Clunk, clunk. Clunk--

Logan barely looked up in time to realize he’d reached the end of the aisle. As in, the only thing in front of him was a wall. He skidded to a stop, bracing his hands on the wall to catch him. He looked around, scanning the ceiling, but couldn’t find any other lights. Only the aisle he stood in was illuminated.

It clicked, and his stomach dropped. As if the world were in slow motion, Logan turned and lowered his gaze to the end of the aisle.

“Found you,” Roman said sweetly. He took a step closer.

“Wait.” Logan backed against the wall.

“Hm?” Roman continued, unfettered. “Wait for what?”

Logan couldn’t think; his brain was already fuzzy. “Wait!”

“You said that already, Teach,” Roman replied. Slowly, like he had all the time in the world, he moved closer and closer. “No more trap doors, huh? I’m surprised you let yourself get stuck like this. Unless you wanna trying scaling the bookshelf.”

Logan’s eyes darted between the two tall shelves on either side of the aisle, and Roman laughed.

“No, I don’t think you’re gonna do that.” Finally he stepped close enough to pin his hands on the wall, boxing Logan in. The logical side bit his lip; Roman’s breath on his neck sent heat rushing to his face.

“You’re very silly, you know that?” Roman said. He leaned closer, letting his mouth graze delicately over Logan’s throat and collarbone. “Starting a game just so you can lose it. Knowing I was always going to catch you.”

His lips trailed up to Logan’s ear, startling a high pitched whine out of him. Roman laughed, stepping even closer to press his chest against Logan’s.

“Any last words?”

Logan opened his mouth at the exact moment Roman latched his hands onto his sides and squeezed.

“Sorry, didn’t catch that,” Roman said cheerfully after Logan stopped screaming. “Say it again?” He poked rapidly up and down Logan’s sides, migrating over to his ribs and down his tummy. “Jeez, Teach, what happened to all those big words? Do we need to grab you a dictionary?”

“Roman-- Romahan-- Roman!” Every poke and squeeze sent Logan into further giggles; he could do nothing but say Roman’s name. Finally his knees gave out, and he slid down helplessly to the floor, Roman guiding him and tickling him the whole way.

“Is this what you wanted?” Roman asked. He was so smug Logan could’ve hit him, if his hands were able to do anything other than weakly grab at Roman’s wrists. “I mean, if you want to play again later, we can, but I think I deserve a prize for winning, don’t I?”

He paused, leaning closer with a devilish grin. “Logan?”

His hands stilled, just resting on Logan’s belly, but giggles still fell freely from his lips. He cracked open an eye, already teary from the giddy tickles.

Roman’s grin softened just slightly. “You are an excellent prize.”

Logan couldn’t respond with Roman’s fingers already digging back into his tummy, but if he could, he just might agree.

[ciderjacks]

ocd is weird bc I definitely still have it, I just got really good at identifying it and shutting it down. Like I was taking down a gross medical sticker on my wall that for some reason I stuck up there last year, and my brain was like “no don’t do it. You’ll die if you do that” so I put it back on and my brain was like “or…maybe life will get way better if you take if off. And if you leave it life will get worse. Want to make that choice” and I was like really stumped over it, then suddenly I was like ohhhhh ocd you tricky devil… and tore the sticker off. I go thru this exact experience about thrice a week.

[witchofthemidlands]

i am still battling through my young dracula hyper fixation so to anyone who even still thinks about young dracula have this balls to the wall unhinged thing my brain spawned that if i had the energy (& if i actually thought i could do a decent job of writing vlad) would butcher into a fanfic:

vlad goes back to the dreamworld except he gets yeeted through a dracula multiverse where he meets versions of count dracula from 1931-2023 & after being scarred for unlife & after realises just how good he's got it.

[sarumint]

pop!

[fuckdamn]

everytime i’m faced with wild overt misogyny that’s just platformed like it’s nothing i remind myself that people don’t actually have to feel this way about women. men are fully capable of treating women like human beings and viewing them as such. “but socialization but male fantasies but patriatchy speaks through us even when we don’t recognize it” sure but actually regardless there exist men who are fundamentally not raging misogynists and they generally seem happier and better adjusted. misogyny to me isn’t disappointing because “oh i can’t believe Men, as an essentialized category of person, are like this” it’s disappointing because people make the choice to be like this. “it’s my biological imperative as a man to dominate you” okay well it’s my biological imperative as a freaky bitch to dominate you so what now. what biological imperative is making you comment “onlyfans detected opinion rejected” on every picture of any attractive woman. i think i will always be understood by most people as a woman and i’m learning to accept that and trying to like it but misogyny makes me feel very trapped of course. but misogyny is a choice. which means some people make the choice to be misogynistic which is profoundly frustrating. but many other people choose not to be actively misogynistic and i believe anyone could choose not to be actively misogynistic if they wanted. so it’s a whole thing

[bunnyboy-juice]

spent the first hour and change at work deleting some old files and am having a grand ol time laughing at myself for not realizing i was a lesbian sooner

[lettersiarrange]

Has time always moved this fast? I'm genuinely asking. In 200 years we went from Bridgerton to AI. The everyday lives of people in each of these eras feel like universes apart. I'm no historian, but it seems like the everyday lives of people between 1500 and 1700 weren't that different.

Have humans throughout time immemorial reflected on life 30 years ago, 100 years ago and commented on how vastly different it was? It feels like we're running at a breakneck pace in the modern era. The It Gets Better project was founded in 2010 because gay people were so universally ostracized that lgbt teen suicide rates were off the charts. And while we're still pretty far from full LGBT equality, openly having a problem with gay people existing is a pretty fringe opinion now that's fairly universally frowned upon, even in the southern US.

I'm pretty sure the first time a woman wore pants in congress was in the 90s.

Culturally, technologically, resource-wise, it feels like every 5 years we leap 5 decades forward. Is it just our own preoccupation with the era we live in that makes this moment feel so significant? Or are we actually moving as quickly as it feels?

I know people have always laughed at the grandpa's who complain "when I was your age...", but has the gap ever been this wide? Or is there truly something special about now.

[korolation]

fuck it. troll betty

[someidiot-withadhd]

Trumpet is the most underrated egg :(

so I gave him a hatched form :D

[nerdybluephoenix]

Next Page (will come back to link it)

Short comic I'm working on

To manage your expectations, it's not a full story. It's really just a test comic. I originally made a sketch to practice comic-making. Then thought: "this isn't bad, I should see what this looks like cleaned up." I proceeded to make a 3D spaceship model for it so I didn't have to waste time agonizing over the ship's angles, chose a color scheme, cleaned up some sketches, and now we're here

[soobvape]

heol

[totallyawesome123]

rediscovering I have empathy? craaaazyyyyy

[aboutiroh]

do you draw? :‘D

No, I just admire people who do haha