#Spring Anime Catalog

[aeth-eris]

★ the physical essence of venus ★

★  aries  venus  ★ the  scarred  helmet  hanging  on  the  back  of  your  door  that  you  won’t  replace,  even  though  it’s  scratched  beyond  repair,  because  it’s  been  with  you  through  every  wild  decision  you’ve  made.  the  sneakers  at  your  front  door,  caked  with  mud  from  an  impulsive  hike  you  dragged  your  friends  on  last  spring—still  laced  tightly,  ready  to  go  at  a  moment’s  notice.  your  jacket  pockets  always  seem  to  hold  something  random—keys,  an  old  receipt,  or  a  coin  you  found  that  felt  like  it  could  bring  good  luck,  though  you’d  never  admit  it.  even  your  wallet  looks  battle-worn,  stuffed  with  notes  you’ll  never  throw  out  because  they’re  pieces  of  a  past  that  make  you  feel  alive  when  you  touch  them.

 ★  taurus  venus  ★ the  candle  on  your  bedside  table,  burned  just  enough  to  release  the  scent  of  wildflowers  but  still  pristine,  because  you’re  saving  it  for  “when  it  feels  right.”  the  blanket  on  your  couch  is  perfectly  folded,  even  though  you  use  it  every  day,  its  edges  slightly  frayed  because  it’s  older  than  you’d  care  to  admit.  your  collection  of  tea  blends  isn’t  about  drinking  them—it’s  about  the  ritual  of  opening  the  tin,  inhaling  the  scent,  and  deciding  what  fits  your  mood  that  day.  even  the  wooden  cutting  board  in  your  kitchen  feels  sacred,  smoothed  from  years  of  careful  use,  holding  the  quiet  memories  of  meals  shared  with  people  who  make  your  world  feel  steady.

 ★  gemini  venus  ★ the  pen  you  always  lose  but  somehow  manage  to  find  at  the  exact  moment  you  need  it,  its  cap  chewed  and  its  ink  running  dry  because  you  use  it  for  everything—doodles,  random  notes,  grocery  lists,  and  the  occasional  half-baked  love  letter.  your  phone  case  has  a  faint  crack  from  being  tossed  on  a  table  during  an  animated  conversation,  and  there’s  a  tiny  keychain  charm  dangling  from  it  that  you  picked  up  during  a  trip  you  can  barely  remember.  your  desk  is  a  mess  of  brightly  colored  sticky  notes,  most  of  which  have  cryptic  one-liners  that  no  longer  make  sense,  but  you  refuse  to  throw  them  away  because  they  “might  mean  something  someday.”

 ★  cancer  venus  ★ the  slightly  faded  Polaroid  stuck  to  your  fridge  of  a  moment  you’ll  never  stop  replaying  in  your  mind,  its  corners  curling  just  enough  to  show  its  age.  the  quilt  on  your  bed,  soft  with  time,  smells  faintly  of  lavender  and  home,  even  when  you’ve  been  away  for  too  long.  your  jewelry  box  holds  treasures  you  don’t  wear  but  can’t  let  go  of—a  broken  bracelet,  a  ring  from  someone  you  loved,  or  a  single  earring  that’s  lost  its  match  but  not  its  meaning.  there’s  a  jar  of  seashells  on  your  windowsill,  each  one  tied  to  a  memory  you  can’t  explain  but  would  defend  if  anyone  tried  to  move  it.

 ★  leo  venus  ★ the  golden  compact  mirror  in  your  bag  that  you  flip  open  with  a  dramatic  flourish,  even  when  you  don’t  need  to  use  it.  your  favorite  jacket,  velvet  or  sequined,  hangs  at  the  front  of  your  closet,  waiting  for  its  next  moment  in  the  spotlight,  no  matter  how  rare.  you  keep  a  framed  photo  of  yourself  from  that  one  perfect  night,  sitting  prominently  where  you  can  see  it  and  be  reminded  of  your  glow.  even  your  perfume  bottle  looks  like  art—half-full  because  you  save  it  for  moments  when  you  want  the  world  to  remember  you  by  its  scent.

 ★  virgo  venus  ★ the  planner  on  your  desk  is  immaculate,  with  color-coded  tabs  and  neat  handwriting  that  looks  like  it  belongs  in  a  design  catalog.  your  favorite  pen  is  a  gel  pen  with  just  the  right  flow—you  buy  them  in  bulk  because  losing  one  feels  like  losing  a  limb.  your  kitchen  has  a  perfectly  organized  spice  rack,  alphabetized  not  out  of  compulsion  but  because  it  just  makes  sense.  even  your  plants  thrive  in  an  oddly  perfect  way;  they’re  pruned  regularly,  sitting  in  matching  pots,  as  if  they’ve  agreed  to  reflect  your  careful  attention  to  detail.

 ★  libra  venus  ★ the  antique  hand  mirror  on  your  vanity,  slightly  tarnished  but  impossibly  elegant,  next  to  a  bottle  of  rose-scented  perfume  that’s  more  art  than  utility.  your  coffee  table  has  a  stack  of  perfectly  arranged  art  books  that  you  flip  through  during  lazy  afternoons,  marveling  at  the  balance  of  beauty  and  creativity.  your  wardrobe  holds  a  silk  scarf  or  pair  of  perfectly  pointed  flats  that  you  wear  when  you  want  to  feel  effortlessly  polished.  even  your  favorite  mug  has  an  air  of  charm—delicate,  with  a  tiny  chip  that  only  makes  it  more  perfect  in  your  eyes.

 ★  scorpio  venus  ★ the  leather-bound  journal  hidden  in  a  drawer,  its  pages  filled  with  raw,  unfiltered  emotions  you  wouldn’t  dare  share  aloud.  the  black  candle  on  your  nightstand,  burned  down  just  enough  to  release  its  smoky,  mysterious  scent,  but  not  finished,  as  if  waiting  for  the  right  moment.  your  ring  drawer  holds  a  piece  you  never  wear  anymore,  but  every  time  you  pick  it  up,  the  memories  it  holds  flood  back  so  vividly  it  takes  your  breath  away.  even  your  favorite  book  has  underlined  passages  that  feel  like  secrets  only  you  could  understand,  the  kind  you  re-read  when  you  need  to  feel  seen.

 ★  sagittarius  venus  ★ the  worn  leather  backpack  leaning  by  your  door,  its  zippers  jingling  faintly  every  time  you  grab  it  to  head  out.  your  passport  is  scuffed,  its  pages  stamped  with  memories  that  still  bring  a  grin  to  your  face  when  you  flip  through  them.  you  keep  a  jar  of  foreign  coins  from  places  you’ve  been,  not  for  their  value  but  because  they  remind  you  of  café  conversations,  train  rides,  and  sunsets  you  swore  you’d  never  forget.  even  your  favorite  shoes  are  battered  from  countless  adventures,  soles  worn  thin  but  still  too  full  of  life  to  be  replaced.

 ★  capricorn  venus  ★ your  desk  holds  a  fountain  pen,  heavy  in  your  hand,  its  ink  flowing  with  precision  as  you  jot  down  plans  that  matter.  the  watch  on  your  wrist  is  timeless—its  leather  strap  softened  with  wear,  a  quiet  symbol  of  discipline  and  style.  your  planner  is  sleek,  every  page  carefully  filled  with  tasks  and  goals,  because  each  moment  of  time  feels  like  an  investment.  even  your  scarf  is  understated  and  elegant,  folded  neatly  by  the  door,  ready  to  shield  you  from  the  chill  as  you  head  out  into  the  world  you’re  steadily  building.

 ★  aquarius  venus  ★ the  slightly  offbeat  earrings  you  wear  almost  daily,  their  mismatched  charm  drawing  compliments  wherever  you  go.  your  favorite  gadget—a  smart  device,  a  quirky  invention,  or  something  DIY—sits  proudly  on  your  desk,  a  blend  of  utility  and  rebellion  against  the  ordinary.  your  coffee  table  holds  an  art  book  or  zine  from  an  obscure  creator  you  discovered  before  anyone  else  did.  even  your  favorite  lamp  is  asymmetrical  or  futuristic,  casting  light  in  ways  that  feel  just  unconventional  enough  to  reflect  your  unique  vision  of  the  world.

 ★  pisces  venus  ★ the  candle  on  your  desk  smells  like  sea  salt  and  mystery,  burned  down  to  a  waxy  puddle  but  kept  because  it  reminds  you  of  a  fleeting,  perfect  moment.  your  dream  journal  sits  beside  your  bed,  pages  filled  with  poetry  and  fragmented  thoughts  you’ve  scrawled  in  the  dark,  barely  legible  but  emotionally  potent.  you  keep  a  jar  of  glitter  on  your  shelf—not  for  any  practical  purpose,  but  because  it  catches  the  light  like  magic.  even  your  blanket,  impossibly  soft  and  slightly  worn  at  the  edges,  feels  like  a  portal  to  the  dreamscape  you  create  every  time  you  wrap  yourself  in  it.

★ book a reading ★ ★ masterlist 1 ★ ★ masterlist 2 ★

[spacebattleshippotemkin]

I can´t stop thinking about this:

(From the “Books Nippan 1987 Anime Manga Catalog”, which is very cool and can be viewed on the internet archive)

Why did they write it like that?

And then like that. On the same page:

But in the 1984 Spring Catalog (can also be viewed on the internet archive) it is written correctly?

[wistfulrat]

・❥・lesbian wangxian reccs ・❥・

ao3topships poll gate made me realize there are hundreds nay thousands of u who dont know abt lesbian wangxian ?? that’s so sad can i proselytize u real quick

mimilamp cinematic universe (the ppl’s mcu) sorry for starting this list with a whole author catalog. as if it's my fault!! these gave me covid. no listen mimilamp fics have feverish lesbian angst levels of hot horny despair that could paralyze a large forest animal. and on a sentence level it's just stunning. messy dykes fumbling toward love confessions while making emotionally insane choices and the sex scenes fuckn bang ??? god is real

good, good - 13.5k E Wei Ying has two broken wrists and now she needs Lan Zhan to help her do stuff (jerk off)

here’s a story - 46k E Wei Ying reluctantly joins her recently-dumped best friend, Lan Zhan, on a couples' holiday retreat. Snow! Drinks! Truth or dare! There's a s-s-s-single bed! You'll never guess what happens next.

out of your system - 20k E “Maybe you should get me out of your system,” Wei Ying blurts. “Maybe that’ll help.” // Wei Ying finds out her best friend Lan Zhan is in love with her and offers a really super solution.

exposure therapy - 14k E Wei Ying clambered up from the floor, put the joint on the corner of the night stand, announced, “Exposure therapy,” and got into Lan Zhan’s bed. // Lan Zhan doesn't like to be touched, Wei Ying likes to touch.

know no one else - 20k E Lan Zhan moves out, Wei Ying's boyfriend moves in. Six months later, Lan Zhan visits, they go to a party, and Wei Ying has something to tell her.

74243 this author should be studied in a lab bc these 2 fics ruined my life. a pulitzer prize short fic with immaculate tone followed by the fuck nastiest shit you will ever read. "wei ying swipes right" still a top 3 bar of all time re: fic summaries. like people died.

chef’s kiss - 6.5k E Wei Ying said, “You know, in some ways I’m kind of depressed. I took your biggest dick on my first try. Now I don’t have anything to build up to.” “There are bigger ones available,” Lan Zhan said lazily. “I can pay for express shipping.” // (Lan Zhan works the late shift.)

pull out game weak - 22.7k E Wei Ying swipes right.

plonk this is the only fic in many ways. dyke nmj's mustache academy award winning breakout role. possessive hot dyke lwj. the sentence "don't knot her you freak." have u ever seen a group chat get rabies in real time. the slut rot breached containment. it was a public health crisis. it brought back horny cinema. cultural reset.

good friends - 11.5k E “I could invite her over for when the game’s done,” Nie Mingjue offers. Lan Zhan hums, considering it. They do that sometimes. Take omegas down together.

occultings will i ever get tired of -wwx thinks she's straight and wants to practice being gay with sadsack lwj who is like sure im in love with u and this will cause me psychic damage but mayhaps that's the cost of being homiesexual--? no i dont get tired of the classics it's called taste

give me one good honest kiss - 25k E The text keeps flashing over and over in Lan Zhan's head like the bulb lights on a marquee. They’d been talking about homework directly before that, swapping notes on music theory in the baroque period. Then, like a fork of lightning out of a clear blue sky: wanna practice kissing? 😚 // Wei Ying suggests an arrangement. Lan Zhan, in love, deals.

saltyfeathers ok so like sure it's ill advised to get your cartilage pierced at claire's but if you wanted the experience of participating in deranged hysteric behavior that kinda bangs in a badgood way? well then.

the mall that has it all - 8k E She introduced herself in the food court, breathless after sprinting across it in Lan Zhan’s direction and vaulting over a table only to crash into the seat across from her, ask, “Can I have a sip?”, spring forward with both elbows on the table to wrap her burgundy lips around Lan Zhan’s smoothie straw, wrinkle her nose, and say, “What is that, kale? Not really my thing, as like, a mall goth. Oh!” A pleased, chaotic exhale. “My name’s Wei Ying.” Lan Zhan said, after taking a moment to fully process the last forty-five seconds, “What?” or; mall goth au

[manic-maniac-man]

HUgE Oct 2012

PHOTO SESSION with HYSTERIC GLAMOUR

Jack White

&

HYSTERIC D.C. goes to NASHVILLE for JACK WHITE.

Thee Hysteric XXX Shirt "reference item, Trygod for HYSTERIC GLAMOUR Ring ¥79,800 (HYSTERIC GLAMOUR)

Thee Hysteric XXX Cardigan ¥37,800, Slacks ¥33,600, Shirt

reference item (HYSTERIC GLAMOUR)

Thee Hysteric XXX Jacket ¥60,900, Slacks ¥33,600, Shirt *reference item (HYSTERIC GLAMOUR)

Thee Hysteric XXX Blouson ¥102,900, Slacks ¥33,600, Shirt *reference item (HYSTERIC GLAMOUR)

The seasonal catalogue for HYSTERIC GLAMOUR began in the spring of 2007. This series, which was derived from campaign visuals, continues to be recorded as a photo book every season. The director, Nobuhiko Kitamura, selected photographer WATARU and stylist Tsuyoshi Noguchi as the photography staff. The first season began in Coney Island, New York, and the photography crew later became demo shoots. After that, the setting for the shoot shifted to rock city Detroit, the birthplace of Iggy & the Stooges and MC5, whom Kitamura has admired since childhood. After meeting Niagara, the frontman of Destroy All Monsters, Jim Shaw, a Detroit rock mastermind who actively introduced the then unknown Goreys and White Stripes, supported Kitamura's photography and deepened his bonds with the people he met in Detroit with each shoot. Kitamura refers to this series of events as "HYSTERIC D.C. (DETROIT CONNECTION)."

With each passing season, the film crew becomes more and more united, holding sessions with the models and local artists they meet in each location. It is no exaggeration to say that the vivid visuals born from recording the atmosphere on location, as if cutting out a fragment of their own travels, have shaped the visuals of HYSTERIC GLAMOUR for the past five years.

This May, the brand chose New York, New Orleans, and Nashville as the locations for its seventh visual shoot. Starting with a shoot for the kids' line in New Jersey, a suburb of New York, the brand went on to a photoshoot for the women's line in New Orleans with top Texas model Ashley Smith and her three daughters, Camille and Zuzana.

With "OY" still in the background, the film crew headed to Nashville, where he currently resides, to meet Jack White.

In 2010, when Jack White came to Japan for a Dead Weather concert, he was introduced to Jack by his friend Alison Mosshart (who is a member of The Kills and is also a member of The Dead Weather, and whose mother is from Detroit and will soon be moving from London to Nashville), and Kitamura and photographer WATARU met Jack for the first time during an interview for HUGE issue 70. When they showed Jack, who is from Detroit, several seasonal catalogs that they had photographed in Detroit, they began talking about the elementary school he attended and the familiar diner that his family used to go to, which were in the background of the photos, and they hit it off despite it being their first meeting. The night after the concert, all the members hung out at the bar "Red Shoes" in Aoyama.

With this background, and with the help of Jack's nephew, Ben Blackwell, also from Detroit, the photo session introduced in this issue of HUGE was made possible in the studio of "Third Man Records," the independent label founded by Jack and run by Ben.

Just before noon on June 4th, the film crew departed by car from a hotel in Nashville. They arrived at Third Man Records, passing Hume-Fogg High School, the same school attended by Bettie Page, Kitamura's favorite and one of the icons of Hysteric Glamour. At the factory-like building's entrance is a small goods shop run by the label. We pass through a store packed with vinyl records released by Third Man Records and original turntables, and are shown to an office in the back yard. The spacious, high-ceilinged space has black-painted ceilings and walls, a kitchen with checkered tiles like a 50s diner, heavy leather sofas, and an array of stuffed animal specimens and bones.

*Looking down at downtown Nashville from the slope in front of Third Man Records. A recording studio is under construction in the building next to the studio, and you can sense Jack's determination to settle down and live here.

The drawing space where Jack exudes a strong presence and the staff workspace are neatly laid out. It's a shame that we can't show you anything here because photography is not allowed in the office, but in the center of the room is a vintage turntable and a giant speaker. Behind the scenes of using all vintage equipment to create his own music and producing his own records and turntables, you can feel Jack's strong will towards music, projecting the music and culture of the good old days of America onto himself.

At the back of the space, there is a fully equipped blue horizon studio and stage. This is the same place where the photo shoot for the record jacket released by Third Man Records was held.

There was a tense atmosphere while the crew waited for Jack to arrive at the studio. However, the female staff at Third Man Records were all very welcoming and made the atmosphere relaxed despite the tension.

At 1pm, Jack finally appears in the studio! After finishing his hair, makeup and styling, the photo session begins. Jack casually picks up his blue horizontal and his favorite acoustic guitar and begins to sing. His assistant Mindy drops the needle on the record for his solo album "Blunderbuss" on the DJ set placed on the stage inside the studio. Jack unconsciously begins to play the guitar along with the intro to "Missing Pieces." The only sounds echoing in the studio are his guitar, his singing voice and the click of photographer WATARU's camera. After shooting there for about an hour, WATARU asks Jack if they could take photos while walking around the neighborhood near the studio. Jack gladly agrees, and the film crew continue shooting as they stagger up the slope in front of the studio. Then, During the shoot, groupie girls waiting for Jack outside the label tried to take pictures of him with their cell phones, but Mindy quickly and smartly took care of them. Even in such small details, you can feel the stoic attitude that is consistent with Third Man Records' consistent sound and worldview. The peaceful atmosphere on set between Jack and the label staff, and the film crew also blended in with the atmosphere, and before you know it, three hours had passed and everything was finished.

After New York and New Orleans, the group finished their filming trip in Nashville. As they were shooting with Jack, who had just returned from a live tour and was extremely busy, the next day, which was meant to be a backup day for his shoot, was a brief day off. On the night of the shoot, they went to see a live performance by Ghost Wolves, a band from Austin, Texas, with Ben and the others at a local live house called "THE BASEMENT". The next day, Ben invited the filming staff to his home, and they relaxed in his garden under clear skies. Finally, Ben's wife Melissa took us to the bar "FAN'S EAST SIDE". The worn-out one-story store, located right next to the tracks where long-distance trains run, is decorated with paper decorations and neon beer signs, and local customers are relaxing while working on the jukebox and playing billiards. Ben and the others joined them after finishing work. In the store, where the setting sun shines in, the people who helped with the shoot are intoxicated with the music on the jukebox and the drinks. The film crew concluded their trip to Nashville in this place that could be described as a picture-perfect example of Nashville's pristine scenery.

Nashville is a city where music is always resonating somewhere, day or night, transcending races such as black or white, and genres such as country and rock. By interacting with people who are immersed in music and Tennessee whiskey and who live their lives in a localized way, Jack has come to live a life that is more intimately connected to music.

Perhaps we could sense at least a little of his feelings of choosing Nashville as the place to meet. Nashville is a city loved by many musicians such as Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, and is a mecca for music culture in America. After multiple shooting tours with people connected by the common language of "Detroit," Kitamura was able to meet Jack White, who lives here today, and this must have completed "HYSTERIC D.C." for him as a culmination. Hysteric Glamour will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2014. What is the vision that this brand has for the future? We can't help but look forward to the future.

The day after the shoot with Jack, my nephew Ben

Film crew relaxing in their garden

[thegreeks]

Part Two: A Most Unexpected Surprise

Read Part 1 Here

Warnings: pregnancy, birth (not descriptive), children

Synopsis: you and your husband Mr. Darcy prepare to be parents for a second time

Weeks passed, and the vibrant colors of spring began to manifest in full bloom around Pemberley. The gardens were awash with the lapis lazuli of bluebells mixed with the sunny yellows of daffodils, while the air carried the sweet fragrance of lilacs, a joy that seemed to echo the growing excitement within your family. Each morning, as the sun painted shades of gold across the estate, you marveled at Darcy's ever-evolving tenderness, especially as he prepared for his role as a father once more.

The news of the new addition to your family had filled Darcy with a newfound sense of purpose, and he often found moments to pause during his busy days to place a gentle hand over your growing belly, his quiet joy evident in the tenderness of the gesture.

Little Louisa, with her bright eyes and curious nature, filled the halls with laughter, chasing butterflies and babbling in delight as she ran to greet her father at the door each evening. Darcy had become her greatest source of wonder, and each time he swept her up in his arms, you saw the gentleness that lay beneath his composed exterior. The way he looked at her, as though she were the most precious treasure, made your heart swell with a love that only seemed to deepen with each passing day.

Your ever-loving husband had taken to visiting the nursery with a surprisingly earnest enthusiasm. Together, you chose the pale hues for the walls and decorated the space with delicate motifs of animals—lambs, bunnies, and thoughtful birds—that reminded you both of the miracle of life. Darcy would often stand back, admiring what you both had created as he envisioned the laughter of your children echoing in the halls.

One afternoon, while sitting in the drawing-room, you perused a nursery catalog while Louisa played at your feet with her dolls, oblivious to the wonders unfolding around her. You engaged in an animated conversation about what furnishings would best serve your growing family.

“Do you think we should choose a crib with intricate carvings or a simple design?” you asked, setting the catalog aside.

“Practicality, my dear—” he paused, “is the highest order of elegance. Our child will require something sturdy for those inevitable tumbles,” he said, a twinkle in his eye. “But perhaps a touch of artistry would not go amiss. Let’s combine both thought and beauty; our family deserves such.”

“Ah, Mr. Darcy.” You laughed light-heartedly, leaning toward him. “You would have the balance of aesthetic and utility in the very fabric of our lives.”

His fingers curled around yours, his touch warm and secure. “As it should be, my love,” he replied softly, his voice low, almost a whisper, as though the words were meant only for you. “You and our children are the very heart of my world. There is no balance I desire more than the one we have.”

As the days turned into weeks, you delighted in the preparations for the new arrival. However, just as the season cradled the promise of blooming flowers and new beginnings, it also bore the weight of uncertainty. The news of your impending arrival was more unpredictable than you wished—I had yet to fully grasp the depth of the maternal journey ahead. Memories of long nights spent soothing Louisa’s cries flooded your mind, and you felt a twinge of trepidation at the idea of adapting to the needs of two young children.

One evening, as the golden light dimmed to twilight, you confided in Darcy as you awaited his return from a visit to a neighboring estate. “I fear the challenge ahead may overwhelm me. How can I care for both Louisa and this new child?”

Darcy turned to you, his expression steady and assured. “You will do so with grace, as you have always done. It is in your nature to nurture, even amidst uncertainty. We are a family, and together we shall navigate whatever trials may come.”

His words wrapped around you like a warm embrace, reassuring you that you were never alone in this journey. As he drew closer, he took your hands in his own, sending ripples of calm through your anxious heart. “You are not just a mother; you are an extraordinary partner, and I shall support you every step of the way, just as you have supported me.”

Days turned into months, and as your due date approached, the atmosphere of anticipation transformed into a tangible pulse of excitement within Pemberley. In the last few weeks, Darcy seemed to carry an energetic aura, attending to your every whim with an endearing attentiveness that both amused and warmed you. He took pride in every small task, from recalling your favorite tea blend to learning soothing lullabies for late-night singing sessions.

On yet another bright morning, while sitting under the large oak tree near the lake—a favorite spot of yours—you felt a sudden rush of warmth envelop you, contrasting the cool spring air. It was a familiar sign, a sensation that brought both anxiety and joy as the moment you had been preparing for arrived. You glanced at Darcy, who had been skimming interesting articles from a newspaper, and your heartbeat quickened.

“Darcy… I believe it is time,” you said, your voice trembling slightly.

With astonishing composure, he closed the paper, setting it aside with deliberate care. “Then let us not waste another moment,” he replied firmly, yet his eyes sparkled with the same blend of excitement and apprehension that mirrored your own.

Through the ensuing hours, the world outside seemed to fade; time lost its grip as you found solace in each other’s presence. With every contraction, Darcy held your hand, whispering words of encouragement, each one a gentle thread stitching together the tapestry of your shared lives. In his strength, you found clarity; in your strength, he found solace.

As your little one arrived that evening, the room filled with a chorus of soft cries, evoking tears of joy. Looking into Darcy's eyes, you shared a silent moment of awe, both recognizing that this new life was a culmination of hopes, dreams, and unconditional love.

With the birth of your second child—his son—came renewed hope and laughter, chasing away the fears that had once clouded your heart. You watched as Darcy cradled the baby in his arms, his love for this new life as evident as his love for you. The tenderness in his gesture was a silent promise that this family would always come first, that together, you would face whatever came next.

Life expanded in ways that felt both exhilarating and familiar. You now had two beautiful children, each a thread woven into the grand tapestry of your family and the legacy of Pemberley. With Darcy by your side, you embraced the little adventures of parenthood—trips to the gardens, tea parties with burgeoning imaginations, and far more chaotic moments that blended love, laughter, and the delightful mischief of youth.

Walking through Pemberley’s lush gardens, hand in hand with both children and your beloved husband, you understood that love was indeed the powerful force that shaped your life. Every day was a blank canvas, an invitation for new adventures, blossoming within the cocoon of family. And as spring faded into summer, you welcomed the unknown, knowing that together, you would thrive, crafting the most extraordinary tale of all: your family’s story.

[starfieldcanvas]

You seem like the appropriate person to ask, so might as well. How do I read Scum Villain's Self Saving System? I'm an english only reader that's not very familiar with the danmei ecosystem.

It's been published in English! Big bookstores like Barnes & Noble are carrying Seven Seas danmei these days. My local indie carries them as well. And of course you can buy them on Bookshop or your preferred online retailer. There are four volumes in the English printing, which comprise the original chapters, a lot of illustrations, some translator notes on the basics of cultivation novels and Chinese forms of address, and the "extras", bonus chapters that are a fairly common addition to books that were originally published as pay-per-chapter webnovels.

My local library system has at least one copy of every volume. I do live in a large city (with a large Asian population to boot), but I don't know how relevant that is. The series was an NYT bestseller, so it's totally plausible that even a medium-size county system would have them too. And if you're very patient, you can always request the series be added to your local library catalog.

But the obvious easy answer is that the whole thing is (shh!) still online. 'Lily's BC translation' made it through the whole thing, and there are other slightly smoother fan translations that you can start off with before switching translations when you run out of chapters.

The issue with reading it online is that you're going to run into some odd mixes of preservation vs translation vs localization ('Shidi' sounds much nicer than 'Junior Apprentice-Brother', imo. but why is it always Regret of Chunshan and never Regret of Spring Mountain?) and some transplanted Mandarin dialogue formatting (often it's just [Charactername, "Dialogue"] with no dialogue tag at all) that will take a little getting used to. The translator notes are a lot more colorful, though!

Scum Villain is a fun trip to read knowing pretty much nothing going into it. It's a convergence (and parody) of four different genres: stallion novel, danmei, isekai/transmigration, and cultivation/xianxia. Stop here if you want to go in genre-blind!

Here are my random thoughts about what might be nice for new readers to know IF they don't feel like dropping themselves in the deep end and learning by osmosis:

Stallion novels:

This is the type of webnovel being parodied by Scum Villain's book-within-a-book Proud Immortal Demon Way. Kinda like a harem anime, but more focused on providing a satisfying male power fantasy. Though you can definitely get the gist of it just from the exposition in Scum Villain, there were a few misconceptions I walked away with at the end of the book. This rundown on AO3, Stallion Novels: A Guide, is a brief introduction to the genre and how it differs from or overlaps with other genres of Chinese webnovel.

Danmei:

The popular danmei that have made it the furthest into Western circulation don't necessarily give a representative sampling of common-denominator danmei tropes, precisely because the popular stuff is usually the memorable standouts rather than the generic pulp. So just keep in mind that the common gong (seme) archetype is the dangerous, demanding, quasi-rapist huge-dicked dom who magically makes dry pounding feel insanely pleasurable, and the shou (uke) archetype is the delicate virginal younger man who says no but means yes and cries prettily during sex. These traits WILL be thrown in a blender and parodied, lovingly.

Isekai/transmigration:

This is the trope where you die in real life and wake up in a fantasy world (typical isekai) or in an explicitly fictional setting you recognize from your real-world media consumption (fairly typical transmigration.) Especially in the Chinese webnovel side of the genre, there's often a lot of emphasis on 'leveling up', point farming, and getting 'achievements' like in a video game. Access to this game system typically gives the player advantages over the natural inhabitants of the new world. If there isn't a game system, the player usually still has some kind of magical specialness conferred by being from 'the real world', such as knowledge of how the plot will go. These things will, again, be parodied all to hell.

Cultivation/xianxia:

It's apparently pretty common for westerners ignorant of Daoism and new to xianxia ("immortal heroes") stories to assume cultivation stuff is unique to whatever cultivation-setting book they happened to pick up first. If you had never heard of vampires and then you watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you'd be forgiven for initially assuming that the show invented vampires, but you'd misunderstand its commentary on existing vampire lore, and it would probably be confusing how much vampire stuff it inexplicably expected you to already know. With that in mind, you can see why it might be helpful to have a vague awareness of what "cultivation" refers to in xianxia novels.

Here's my stab at it: "cultivation" means something like "increasing one's spiritual energy reserves and improving one's control over spiritual energy (qi) through meditation, study, and physical discipline, in order to develop a powerful core of spiritual energy that can heal wounds, enable powerful martial techniques, slow visible aging or stop aging entirely, and allow a person to forgo food and sleep indefinitely as they transcend the limitations of their physical body and become immortal, maybe even ascending to godhood."

Usually cultivators practice cultivation in cultivation sects - these sects are typically depicted as a cross between a temple, a boot camp, a university campus, and a small independent political entity

Everyone in the same sect ("martial family") refers to each other using sect-flavored family terms. Two people of the same generation are sect-siblings and will use sibling suffixes with the "shi-" prefix to indicate it's a sect relationship. Your sect mentor is your shizun/shifu ("honored teacher-mentor-master"/"teacher-mentor-master"). Someone in your mentor's generation is your sect-uncle or sect-aunt; they'll refer to you as their sect-niece or sect-nephew.

Similar to how Chinese family name suffixes differ by age order, sect-family suffixes differ depending on seniority (i.e. when your master took you as a disciple, relative to the other disciples.) But different novels play with these seniority rules differently and may assign suffixes by age alone or by some other ranking system.

Westerners occasionally get freaked out when people in the same sect generation fall in love because the characters are sect siblings. But there's no incest implied at all—it's nothing more than two people being in the same boarding school or church congregation.

If a cultivator is not in a sect, they're called a rogue cultivator ; this confers less stability and political prestige, but despite the name, rogue cultivators are not outlaws or apostates. It just means "independent."

Cultivators will often accept requests from civilians to deal with marauding monsters and mysterious ghost-related deaths. How much money they expect for their services is generally tied to how righteous they are.

Depending on their chosen cultivation path, they may be more martial or less martial. Cultivators of the sword path use spiritual swords that can (1) work like a regular sword but better, (2) project power at range in a glowing beam called a sword glare, or (3) be directed remotely in battle using hand seals (adopted into Daoism from Buddhism, known elsewhere as mudras) or wordless telepathy. Some cultivators of the sword path will nevertheless have non-sword spiritual weapons or favor other qi-powered martial techniques.

Cultivators make use of talismans (spells written in red cinnabar ink on strips of paper and then activated, often used like throwable magic stickers) and arrays (more powerful, longer-lasting spells painted or carved into locations or objects.)

Various stages of core formation may be referenced to indicate power levels. Reaching a new stage may involve some kind of tribulation, health risk, or grueling purification process (e.g. expelling all your body's impurities out through your pores as black goo.)

Spiritual energy is channelled through pathways in your body called spirit veins to key points called meridians. Different people may be said to have different types of spirit veins typed according to the five elements. A trained cultivator can examine someone's meridians to check their spiritual health or cultivation aptitude.

Strain on your psyche or your spiritual energy can lead to what's called a qi deviation, where the spiritual energy circulating through you gets fucked up and you have the spiritual equivalent of a stroke. Sufferers may bleed from all their face holes, lash out mindlessly at anyone who comes near them, hallucinate, straight-up die, or endure wacky shenanigans like temporarily reverting to childhood.

Cultivators may use external alchemy to create power-boosting pills in small alchemical cauldrons.

Dual cultivation is exchanging energy through sex in order to aid in spiritual regulation or to mutually increase power levels. It can be done in a one-sided way to steal spiritual energy, which is known as making a human cauldron. In the real religious practice on which the fantasy version is based, dual cultivation relies on the exchange of men's yang and women's yin, but somehow in danmei xianxia the m/m couples seem to manage it just fine...

Different Chinese novels and shows do different variations on cultivation (the same way Western shows do variations on vampires/angels/demons/etc) but they're all ultimately drawing on the same Daoist tradition of internal alchemy (also called The Way of the Golden Elixir) with bits of Buddhism and Chinese folk religion mixed in. (Chinese folk religion is usually where the monster/ghost/demon stuff comes from.)

Other stuff:

Scum Villain is peppered with a bunch of trope references that will be largely unfamiliar to most western readers, like "white lotus"/"black lotus", "blackened", "black belly", and so on. It also borrows a few Japanese archetype references here and there. "Cannon fodder" is fairly self-explanatory at least.

It's fun to look these up, but it's equally fun to just figure them out from context.

Hope this helps! Enjoy your reading!

[thesims3help]

Masterlist - Gameplay enhancing mods pt 2. [100+ Sims 3 mods!]

Part 1 || This is everything that didn't fit in part 1.

Celebrity:

Testers Wanted: Harder Celebrity Difficulty & More (Late Night)

Food/Cooking/Eating/Drinking:

Cooking and Ingredients Overhaul + More Nectar Ingredients

Let them eat cake! - Non-Birthday Birthday Cakes

Toddler Food Bowl

Quicker Cooking & Eating OverRide

Breakfast At Twinsimming's (Update 7/8/23) - No Cooking Overhaul Version

Baby Food Default Replacement

Pasteurize Milk Mod (Update 7/18/23) - Tunable Hunger Motive Delta

Buy Takeout And Order Food At Restaurants

Nectar Combinatorics

No More Acrobatics! - bartending animations tweaks

Better Bartending!

Eat & Put Away Your Leftovers

Coffee Ingredients Made Choosable

Gain Cooking Skill Faster At Work!

Winter Holiday Cookies

Quicker Cooking & Eating OverRide

Pets:

Pets Don't Eat Plants

Bathe Animals Correctly

[Pets] Improved Beloved Pet, and other Animal-Related Traits - 1.63 - 1.67 by Nona Mena (simlogical.com)

[Pets] Improved Relationship Gain with Pets by Nona Mena (simlogical.com)

New Pet Genetics - No More Skinny Clones

Minor Pets Won't Run Away

Dogs collecting shinies fills Destruction motive

Cats stalking for crawlies fills Scratch motive

University:

Lost & Found: Honors Scholarship (Plus Other Aptitude Test Tweaks)

Write Scholarships for Money

New Scholarships (Update 10/26/23) - Talent Scholarships & No Store Version

Attend University Online (Update 10/26/23) - Wish Fix

University Life Visual Fixes (Send Insulting Text, Texting Idle, Heat of the Moment Kiss)

Studying Tweaks

Jobs/skills:

Check For Work In Rabbitholes

Observatory Assistant -- Part-Time Astronomy Job

Flower Arranging - Interaction and Skill

Knitting for TS3 - Interaction and Skill

Writing, Painting, Gardening, Tinkering More Fun

Study Skills Online V37

Yoga Mod (Update 3/1/23) - New Features!

Scribbling Pad + Buzzler's Scribbling Pad - Fixed

TS2 > TS3 Functional Sewing table [BETA V2.0.0]

Programming Skill

Investment Mod (Update 9/3/23) - MultiTab Compatible

Lost&Found: Stock Market

Sim State - The Sims 3 Open For Business Mini Expansion v1.4

Layoff Mod

Ultimate Careers (Version 4.3)

Objects:

Functional Washboard - Sims 4 Conversion

Harvestable Tree Default Replacement

Same Energy Gain For Every Bed

Super Hampers -- Automatic Laundry Pick Up (Plus Bigger Hampers) by Nona Mena (simlogical.com)

Spring Harvest And CookBook

Harvestable Flowers

Better Hoverboards

Canning Station Overhaul

Build/Buy:

One More Slot Please! (with vertical shifting)

[TS3] Catalog Search Mod | Patreon

Add Any Lot Size

TS3 HD Textures Series - Terrain Pack [UPDATE: Fixed road tiling]

No more ugly snowprints

Builder Stuff

Reworked & Improved EA Lights

More Light Coming Through Windows

Other:

Write Thank You Notes Fix

Futuristic Transportation Charge

Advice Social Interactions

Have Sim Arrested Mod

No (or fewer) automatic memories (with custom tool to make your own mod) Edited 01/16/2014

nraas - OnceRead

nraas - Woohooer

Retuned Attraction System

More Traits for All Ages

Lot Population Mod

No Social Groups

Random Sim Fixes 2.0

SetHour Cheat

Let Me Take a Selfie (Update 9/3/23) - Pets Fix

Sunscreen

Burglars Steal Simoleons Too

Tooth Fairy Mod

Dirty Laundry Mod (Update 8/8/23) - Maid & Butler Tweaks

Acne Mod (Update 7/22/23) - Version 2.2

Enhanced Hospitals(Updated 30/1/23)

More Senarios Upon Moving

The Journal Mod

[Public Beta] The Randomizer Mod - REWORKED!

Moar Interactions

DouglasVeiga's Dancer Service

Aging Manager

No Car Relationships

Lightning Enhanced Mod (Lightning in the Sky and Strikes)

Realistically Slower Cars, Taxis, and Bikes

Take Sims To Court - Sue Sims, Become a Lawyer, Have Court Weddings and More!

Social Clubs Mod (+ banking) - Grow Memberships, Push Activities, Make Bank Accounts and More!

Deep Conversations

Sleep on the couch, new interaction

o violet on Tumblr - Pure CAS lighting mod

Reduce/Remove Lag caused by Houseboats

[digitalworldbound]

the chosen playing stardew valley headcanons

listen, im obsessed atm. please ignore this incredibly specific headcanon post okay love u

taichi - he only started playing bc hikari insisted. idk he likes the fishing, tho!! he eventually marries abigail bc she, like agumon, will eat most anything.

yamato - he plays a bit in between his classes and thinks that the farming is really relaxing. he eventually marries penny bc he thinks she is sweet. (his character coincidentally looks like sam)

sora - she is gradually getting addicted to stardew valley and spends waaay too long picking out names for her farm animals. she initially tried to romance sam, but switched to shane bc she felt bad and wanted to help him!!! (her blue chicken is named “frosty”)

koushiro - koushiro knows of stardew valley, but he definitely doesn’t have time to play it. plus, watching his friends develop parasocial relationships with pixels is a little concerning. he does help miyako create mods for it, tho!!

mimi - she is obsessed!! she wishes the flower dance were every month and that the pretty colors of spring and summer could last forever. every festival, she spends all of her money on decorations. as soon as possible, she bought the furniture catalog at robin’s and spent HOURSS decorating her farm, house, AND the town. (linus has a little sitting area now!! the mines have flowers all in the entrance!!) she will marry haley every single time. they have two beautiful kids!!

jou - he literally has no idea what the hype around stardew valley is about, but he has seen the harvey thirst traps on tiktok and is happy the public are appreciating healthcare workers!!

takeru - npc interactions are his favorite, tbh. he does his best to give everyone gifts they like, except demetrius. he doesn’t like workaholic fathers for some reason. also, he wishes he could talk like elliott in real life without sounding like a sociopath.

hikari - she has played for over 300 hours. she has a fully functioning farmstead on ginger island and explores skull cavern for FUN. she has well over twelve save files- one for each bachelor and bachelorette she wants to romance. (elliott has been her fav so far - his poetry!!! his rizz!!!)

daisuke - he yearns for the mines.

ken - ken enjoys stardew valley, but only plays casually. (he just wants to have something in common with the others so that they can all talk about it.) he likes maru so far and has formed an attachment to his in-game cat named “miso”.

iori -he likes watching over daisuke’s shoulder as he plays, laughing whever a slime kills him in the mines.

miyako - a leah stan for life. the only thing she loves more than her wife is the DRAMMMAAAA and LORE these characters drop on a random tuesday afternoon. abigail’s heritage?? miyako is SCANDALIZED. alex’s entire exsistence? she is SAT, tissues in hand.

[telluricdog]

people who hate on pixar's cars are weird to me.

"the incredibles came out a year before and it was almost a perfect movie" ok well pretty much anything in their catalog would have an impossible task following that one up. anything else would've also been called low stakes and boring compared to a former superhero breaking free from the motions and trying to keep his family together, it just happened to be the slow paced love letter to americana, car culture and sports that was next in line so it took a lot of shit

"the logic of a car world doesn't make sense" can you point to a part of ratatouille that does that too or are you still too blinded by the critic's monologue at the end to realize how absurd the events of the movie are when you parse them out and you excuse them because it's people and sentient rats doing it this time

"just made to sell toys" i mean have you seen the main cast. the three main racers have one thing in common and that's tires. radiator springs crew is a far cry from cut from the same die mold. if they were going for easy to sell toys they had one thing right with them being cars but three things wrong with a wide range of character designs imo. anyways hate on that point all you want but if you're a fan of transformers then lmao. lmao.

anyways the soundtrack still fucks and the animation still is gorgeous, cars negativity era is joever

[therandomtapes]

Last week, in the middle of a pretty trash week in general we learned that Sakurai Atsushi, lead singer of legendary Japanese rock band Buck-Tick passed away on Saturday October 16th.

I'm not sure how much I've spoken about them on here.

I found them in late 1998. When I got that X/1999 fansub in Brooklyn where I first heard X-Japan, it sent me down a rabbit hole. I would find out the fandom and the country were reeling from the passing of X's guitarist hide earlier that year, in Spring, and I would find a stream of a tribute album. Hide tribute spirits.

This is where I first heard Buck-Tick. Their cover of "doubt" left me wanting more.

I would then learn that they had been around since 1983 (i was 3).

(this is from 87)

They evolved through many eras, from new wave to goth (?) to cyberpunk to rock'n'roll to a combination of all eras. Their influence can be felt even in modern visual kei. They are probably the band that made everyone in that scene wanna have at least one jazzy swing type song on their albums. Hell, Acchan's the reason Kyo is Kyo. Sakurai's look inspired many anime character designs (and I'm pretty sure Benimaru Nikaido from King of Fighters is based on 80s Buck-Tick....yes...they ALL had that hair).

In fact, a lot of their music was in anime (especially if said anime was about vampires. It always amused me that during the era where Acchan looked like a vampire, B-T were the band you called if you needed a theme song for your vampire anime.) Nightwalker, XXXHolic, Trinity Blood, and the very best one, the one that is actually scary, SHIKI!!

If you're not up on vis kei, you probably still have heard of him since he and Imai were in SCHWEIN with Raymond Watts from Pig and Sacha Konietzko from KMFDM.

He also had a band called The Mortal which did a pretty amazing Siouxsie cover.

I recommend Buck-Tick and the Mortal's entire catalog, most of which is on streaming now. I should make a bloody playlist.

I will add the playlist to this post later.

R.I.P. Sakurai Atsushi

one of the greatest vocalists ever, and condolences to the band.

I cannot stress enough how awful I feel for those guys.

This band was together for THREE FUCKING DECADES. No lineup changes.

Atsushi and Imai had the kind of vocal interplay you only get if you're basically best friends.

It's a terrible loss.

. . . and, . . . . no.

I can't end the post like this.

It's too sad.

This band brought too much joy to end the post like this.

I am leaving you with the saga of the paper mache head people.

in the 80s, for the album Seventh Heaven (an album I might actually like better than Sexual XXXX, I can't decide), B-T did videos for quite a few songs (they did PVs for pretty much every song on Sexual XXXX), and 3 of them feature Atsushi having nightmares about/seeing people with large fake paper mache heads. Then in the video for In Heaven they are playing a show for them.

They had something I think is crucial to every band now and forever: WEIRD ASS MUSIC VIDEOS.

You think it was jus the 80s?

no no no

check out UTA

Just your average performance video? No. They dressed up like rock icons, with ridiculous wigs.

This is what I'm talking about. Joy, kids.

Atsushi and Buck-Tick brought JOY, dammit.

enjoy.

I'll post a playlist later, I guess.

Atsushi Sakurai, rest in power you legend!

[luthsthings]

A Sims 4 Horse Ranch* review, by a Simmer who's not all that into horses

* Software not final. Sponsored by EA.

First, many thanks to EA/Maxis for the early access! This was a treat for me, to get access to an early build to try out for a while, as I'm not exactly a high-profile streamer. Or a streamer at all. Or even a creator (though I'll upload a household I came to love to the Gallery when I get a chance!). But I do love this game! And I love that I can help more of you play it the way you want to. Anyway, the review…

What I liked!

The great range of build/buy! I'll get LOTS of use out of this. It complements some other packs well too.

There are lots of helpful rooms in build mode for fast stables and nectar-related spaces! As a non-builder who sometimes tries to build, I was really happy to have a premade horse stall for my lot.

[image: a pre-built stable room in Build mode]

There's lots of Teen–Elder clothing and hair, and I love the dirty clothes swatches. I'll get LOTS of use out of this pack's CAS! And it will go well with styles from some other packs, too.

The new Afro-textured hairs are a welcome recognition that the cowboy culture of the Old West was not a White culture — there were lots of Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous cowboys and entrepreneurial women in the Old West!

I deeply appreciate the Indigenous content in build/buy, recipes, and CAS — I could see lots there in CAS, for example, that the Navajo people I saw and met in Utah and northern New Mexico (which is a part of the world I really want to go back to) wore IRL.

Lots range from fairly small (15 x 20) to quite large. I appreciate the range as someone who isn't a fan of building on large lots when I do build. There are horse practice areas in the land around some small lots, so you can still keep a horse there.

For Strangerville owners who love that landscape (which I do!), there's now somewhere for that valley, with its smaller population, to be "near". I can imagine that you'd drive up into a range from the new world and drop down into hidden Strangerville. Driving the other direction might take you to Oasis Springs.

The horse-riding and other horse animations are really detailed and fluid. They interact a lot with each other, too. I felt like parent and child horses recognized their relationship even.

[image: a mare lovingly nuzzling her foal]

The sheep and goats are endlessly adorable. Plus profitable! :D And they can sleep in your house!

The rabbithole adventure location out in the countryside has a very different gameplay than previous ones! And it has great sound effects -- play it with the volume up! It's hard to find, though. But it was nice to not need other tricks to get access. (I still have not done the secret places in Oasis Springs or the Outdoor Retreat pack!)

What I didn't like:

No new fridge, stove, bathtub, or toilet (I do like getting more of those!)

Very little boys' children's clothes. And no chaps for Children, even though they can ride and even though Toddlers got some

I would have liked a higher-tech/automated version of a nectar maker. However, this isn't a feature I care about much anyway.

You can't breed the mini goats and sheep, and there aren't even smaller baby ones. I'd have liked to have a full-on sheep farm. I like sheep. (I can practically see my husband glaring about how much I like sheep, even though he's waaaaay far away at the office right now.)

[image: a smiling, leaping mini-sheep, with a spotted goat behind it]

I definitely would never have found the countryside rabbithole without help, but maybe you will? If I could figure out how to do spoilers here, I would...

The horse-toy balls are a little… glowy? for my taste. They also weren't where I looked for them in the catalog, so you'll want to use search for them.

Cross-pack things?

I'd have liked to check out these before now, but with the pre-patch builds, that's not an option, and I'm always kind of busy when patches come out! For example ...

How do cats and dogs interact with horses, sheep, and goats?

Can horses be familiars for spellcasters?

Are there new Milestones?

Are there new Lifestyles?

Are there new Club rules, and are there enough of those?

This Simmer needs to know! (And eventually will.)

Neat things to know!

There's a rabbithole building in town where you can change or plan outfits like a dresser! And just off the main road in town there's a rabbithole building where you can buy goats, sheep, and groceries and other useful things, like horse age-up treats. I liked having an alternative way to buy these things and a whole new way to plan outfits. I'd be happy for more of that. If I can't go into a building, I might as well at least be able to pretend I can. As long as they don't end up being worlds stuffed with rabbitholes in place of gameplay (actually watching horse competition would have been nice!).

You can use a Community Board in town (or from B/B if you want one on your lot) to take local one-off jobs for money. Most need you to own a Horse or some sheep or goats. There are lots of ways to make money as a rancher without needing someone in the household to have a job. My relatives who are farmers will be seriously jealous.

Get to know that Crinkletop guy! He's very useful.

Bugs? Bugs!

Things to watch out for that were issues for me in the early-access build, which is NOT the release build, so hopefully it's a bit better:

Ranch dancing is EXTREMELY popular. You might want to not keep a radio at home until the new dancing has a mod to … moderate it. Or is tuned down by the devs. But I do like it when I'm in control!

[image: five Sims ranch dancing (line dancing) as a group, including two Don Lothario and Eliza Pancakes]

The beautiful stone fireplace was also very, very popular, and of course potentially deadly. Watch out for that.

Ranch hands are NOT reliable. They might stay really, really late. They might stop showing up after a couple days. They might forget the things you instructed them NOT to do the day before. They might be super into kicking the garbage bin over. Keep an eye on your ranch hand. At least until the day, someday, when they get fixed. I'm hoping this is also moddable for those of us on PC.

At one point I had a weird bug where my Sim decided she would NOT eat. The rest of the household could eat. Guests could eat. They could eat HER food. It was fixed by going to the world map and back into the household, so I didn't find out if she was going to just starve to death.

I couldn't find some of the new CAS at first because some men's outfits were under "jumpsuit" for no apparent reason. So, if you're looking for some cool outerwear, try "jumpsuits." Hopefully it was recategorized for the release build!

And that's it! I'm happy to answer questions!

[icon-cloud]

Mountainous thoughts

I have honestly, and truly just experienced the absolute worst and dog shit weekend. So, I decided to write a gender-neutral Mountain in roughly 15 minutes. I haven't slept at all tonight, and I don't plan to have any naps today, because I would like to sleep tonight. This isn't proofread, but I hope someone is able to enjoy this.

Warings: None

Spring was always their favorite time of the year. Don’t get them wrong, they would always appreciate and respect the necessity of winter. The need to cull the weak, to feed the stronger ones in order to maintain a balance.

But they hated how tired the earth felt in its frozen state. The usual constant thrum of the earth, a heartbeat if you will, slowing. Until they could barely feel it. The lack of movement, the deafening silence, often filled them with worry. What would happen to the others if the world truly stopped? What would happen to Dew, Rora, Aether. What would happen to their family?

Despite their worry, and anxiety riddled winter months, the earth never stopped. The beats were sometimes faint and far in between, but they never stopped.

Soon there was someone complaining of pollen, the next of the bi polar weather. But with these complaints, they felt the anxiety melt away as the frost recided. Soon the birds returned and they would begin hearing the soft chittering of new animals, full of curiosity. 

The trees they so loved, no longer allowed the grand skeletons they possess to be viewed. No, instead the trees grew new dressings faint and brilliant green. The winds brought forth the warmth they so desperately missed.  And the best part of it all? Blooms of purple appeared.

Spread throughout the bushes, climbing high into the trees, vines began producing delicate purple blooms and with it, soft hints of vanilla jasmine mixed with sweet pea. Truly a glorious sight to behold, and an even more magnificent smell and wonder over.

Mountains eyes were closed as they reveled in the warm breeze in an attempt to catalog the smells of spring, and smiled gently when they opened their eyes to the green view, full of bloom that greeted them. Softly they tilted their head at the distant call of their name, before shaking their head gently and went to find who was calling. Today would be a good day, for the wisteria has come to greet them and welcome spring as it returned once more. The rebirth of the wild and the blessings it has to offer.

[mini-munchers]

Blood, Sweat, and Tears—To Love Someone

Chapter 5 of ?: Pique

Pairing: March x Non-Binary Farmer (Ari)

Words: 4080

Warnings: language, the author does not understand blacksmithing, verbal fighting

Summary: Mistria is in a dire state after the earthquake hit. Adeline has invited a new adventurer to town to help out. March knows they won't last. Adventurers never last in Mistria. He can't wait to see Ari fail.

Chapter Summary: March decides to do something about the adventurer. Ari gets a surprise.

(No beta, we die like Dragonsworn.)

----------

The sun rose high over Mistria, the late heat of spring beating down on the small town. Summer would be arriving all too soon. Juniper had said at the inn last night that there was no chance of clouds or rain for a few days. Sounded like good forging weather to March. If only it wasn’t so hot. The back of his shirt was already drenched as he worked at the forge.

March had been feeling a buzz of excitement all morning. He’d dropped the letter off in Ari’s mailbox early before the sun rose. He was baiting them into a trap, he knew, but it was time they got some honesty. He hadn’t seen them in a few days, but he heard the praises everyone was singing about them.

“Ari had that tea party with Maple! She enjoyed it so much,” Reina had said as she talked to him while making him a meal.

“Ari helped me round up the animals before that bad spring storm rolled in the other day,” Hayden commented as he’d helped March move some of Merri’s furniture with Olric.

“Oh Ari? You wouldn’t believe the amount of product they're shipping! We’re bursting with fresh produce,” Nora revealed, tapping her clipboard as March helped move stock around the store.

“The museum is getting off to a great start thanks to their donations!” Errol stated as he went over the museum’s catalog of exhibited species and specimens.

“They’re helping uncover the mystery that is Mistria” Eiland exclaimed one night at the inn.

“They frequent the bathhouse, it’s good for business,” March had heard Juniper mention to Josephine as he entered the bathhouse.

“I’ve never had such a full woodpile in all my years!” Landen laughed joyously as he clapped his nephew on the shoulder while taking the latest delivery of nails.

“They sword fighted with me! I won! And they even gave me a wooden sword!” Dell shouted, thrashing a small, craved wooden sword about.

“‘They had a sword fight with me,’” Celine corrected. “Use your inside voice, Dell.”

“The town coffers are filling up fast thanks to their help! We’ve never exported so much before!” Adeline said, sipping her tea at the inn.

“Luc loved the chickpeas they brought in during Spring. Reina roasted them up with some salt and they turn out so crunchy! Luc got so excited.” Hemlock commented as he poured March a beer. “You should try some next Spring.”

Ari this, Ari that. All the praise irked him. They didn’t deserve it. So what if they were bringing people stuff? So what if they were entertaining the kids? That just meant they were goofing around. They couldn’t last. They wouldn’t last. He would ensure it.

The idea to bait them into his trap had come to him yesterday while talking with Balor.

“I’m sorry March, I have to find a new supplier again” Balor sighed after March had asked about his latest shipment.

“What? Why?”

“The price the current supplier was charging was too high. Five hundred Tesserae for a single ingot? That’s ridiculous. So, I politely told him to go fuck himself.” Balor smirked. “He even sent me a letter yesterday telling me off!” Balor let out a snort as he adjusted the wares on his cart. “I have never seen someone so childish and petty in my life.”

“I have,” muttered March.

----------

“Hi March!” Ari walked into the shop, the door bell jingling behind them. March looked up from behind the counter only to be blinded by their bright, flowery smile. It looked like they were putting it on extra thick today. He studied them for a minute. They wore a pale yellow tank top, black miniskirt, and the white tights they always seemed to wear. They looked like a bee. March stopped as he saw the scar on their left arm. It ran from the inner wrist to the elbow. Long, jagged, dark, and ugly. Another one rose from their chest, stretching haphazardly to their shoulder. How did they get those? Never mind, it wasn’t important to him.

“I didn’t think you’d actually show.”

“What? Why not?” He noticed the eye bags under their eyes as they approached. More welts and bruises covered their arms. What had they been up to? It didn’t matter. Now was his time to finally shine. No one was around to chide him. No one was around to protect Ari from the truth. He was going to let loose on them at last.

“I just figured you’d be slacking off.” He let himself lean on the counter, crossing his arms on the cool granite, trying to add to the air of his nonchalance.

Ari laughed. “March, I haven’t slacked off a day since I have been here. I have a job to do.”

“Hmph,” he huffed, pushing himself off the counter and coming around to stand in front of it. “I hear you’ve been making yourself useful around town.”

“I try,” Ari replied. “It’s hard work, but it’s not too bad.”

“Everybody only has good things to say about you.”

“That’s so nice!” Their damn smile brightened even more. How annoying. “It’s been lots of fun helping out!”

“Fun? Ugh.” March rolled his eyes.

Ari blinked at him, smile faltering. “What? It is fun…”

“Come on, we both know what’s ACTUALLY going on here.” Finally. FINALLY. March knew his words were going to sting.  He knew they would get under Ari’s skin. And it brought him immense pleasure.

“I don’t know what you are talking about…” Ari’s eyebrows knit together, frown deepening. Their eyes were locked with his, confusion shooting out like an arrow and flying right at him. He was winning.

“Oh please,” he started. “ You’re in way over your head. You come out here, no money, no experience, and you think you can just fake your way through running a farm?”

“I-what?”

“And now everyone in town acts like it was YOU who won the first-place blacksmithing trophy three years running. It’s all fun and games now, but the second things actually get tough, I’m sure you’re going to ditch Mistria and its problems. Just like every other adventurer before you has.”

“I…” Ari paused for a moment before a bright burst of red took over their cheeks. “I’m not going anywhere!”

“We’ll see.”

Finally, after all this time, Ari cracked. Their anger showed through like a deep red moon in a clear night’s sky. Bright, direct, burning. Their mask had crumbled. He’d egged them on enough to see their true colors at last.

“Who the fuck do you think you are, March?” Ari approached him, anger clear in their voice. “I’m here, trying to help! And you’ve done nothing but be rude to me! I’m not expecting you to be grateful. I don’t care what people feel about me. I don’t demand respect. But at least be honest with me for fucks sake. What the hell are you trying to say?”

He’d broke Ari. He’d broke Ari. Glee pooled in his gut. He was getting a rise out of them at last.

“You want me to be honest? I know your game. You’re just here to take your stupid renown. You just want something to hold to your name. You’re just stupid capital scum, nothing more. Barely worthy of the title of adventurer.”

“You don’t know what I have been through, March.” Ari’s spat as their eyes narrowed. “You don’t know the pain and sacrifice it took to get here. Everything I have lost, you don’t know jack shit about it.” Ari approached and thrust a finger into March’s chest.” I am damn worthy of my title as an adventurer! But you wouldn’t know anything about that. I bet you’ve never even left this town!”

“Of course I’ve left Mistria.” March slapped their finger away. Ari stared up at him, seemingly begging him to go on. “I had to do my internship somewhere to be accepted to the blacksmithing guild! Cassius Smithy and Jewelry in the capital gladly took me on as an apprentice. I worked for two damn years in the hellhole. You don’t know shit, Ari.”

Ari looked like they had been stricken. They backed up slowly. “Cassius…? There is no way you got into Cassius’.”

“Heard of it? I’m sure you went there on daddy’s dime. Oh wait, they only service the highest of nobility. I don’t think you’re that important in the grand scheme of things.” March pointed to a certificate on the wall. 

‘Excellence in Craft - Cassius Smithy and Jewelry’

“Read it and weep, adventurer,” March sneered.

Ari paused, tears suddenly brimming around the edges of their eyes. “You’re the one who doesn’t know shit, March! You know absolutely nothing about me and dare to challenge who I am. You think a noble would be an adventurer? You think I chose this life? Well, think again. I’m here and I am doing my job. And I plan to do it to completion!”

“You think you can hack it for the long haul?” March walked over to the counter where the tools were displayed. He grabbed the copper hoe and threw it at Ari who fumbled the catch, just managing to grab it before it slipped through their fingers. “If you fail, you can’t blame it on a lack of help from me. Who knows, maybe you’ll surprise me. I doubt it though. All you adventurers share the same lack of persistence. I’ll be keeping an eye on you. See you around, Ari.”

And with that, March turned and walked back to his drafting desk. There was a soft rustling followed by a loud ‘thunk’ before the door slammed shut a moment later, the bell banging against the glass of the door. He swore that he heard a loud cry of frustration come from outside the smithy. A wicked smirk consumed him. That was just the push Ari needed. They’d be gone in no time.

When he finally got up from working on blueprints, he noticed something lying on the floor near the main counter. He walked over and picked it up, turning it over in his hand slowly. It was still covered in dirt, so he brushed it off, cursing Ari for bringing something so dirty into his shop. He paused as he looked at it. An iron ore. How in the world did Ari get that? He knew from Olric’s recountings that iron was more than 20 levels down in the mines. There was no way they had gotten that deep.

There was no way…

----------

March headed out to the forge, ready to work on his latest project from the capital. Yet another display piece. This time, a Caldosian-style rapier. The client had requested the guard and pommel be gold, with extra silver inlay framing the decorative cuts in the guard. Tedious work, but he could get it done before tonight.

March started the forging process, first heating the gold and forming the guard. He punched the metal to form small holes, then grabbed his hot chisel and started cutting the metal, expanding the holes. He placed the hot gold back in the forge, then grabbed a silver ingot to throw in the forge to start melting.

Right as he placed the metal into the forge, a lone cloud appeared to block the sun. It floated just south of town, white, fluffy, harmless. March observed it, noticing how small it was. Just one cloud. He shrugged and turned back to his forge, poking the fire to stoke the flames higher.

It took a minute for him to realize that it was getting dark. March looked back up to the sky, puzzled. Juniper had said no clouds, no rain. But somehow the lone cloud had morphed into a sea of dark clouds. Something wet hit March on his shoulder, and then all hell broke loose.

The downpour didn’t start with a small drizzle. No, it unleashed all at once, rain flooding the streets.

“SHIT.”

March dropped his stoker and shut the door of the forge before covering his head and running for the smithy. The rain came down in pounding sheets, killing any visibility he had. He’d almost missed the shop door entirely, the heavy rain blocking his line of sight almost completely. He yanked the door open and retreated into the dryness of the building.

He was soaked. From the top of his head to the soles of his boots. Water pooled underneath him, dripping off in heavy drops. What had just happened? There had been no sign of rain, no clouds. And then… torrential downpour. It confused him.

The rain seemed to scream ‘fuck you,’ keeping him from his work. March walked to the bathroom, leaving a trail of small puddles after him. He grabbed a towel and walked back to look out the front windows. There was zero visibility, none. He shook his hair with the towel, noticing the way fresh dye from yesterday stained the white towel red. Great.

Within 5 minutes of rolling in, the clouds dissipated almost instantly, leaving a clear sky and rising steam in their wake. How had it happened? March knew the weather didn’t work like that. It was damn near impossible for rain to roll in so suddenly and then disappear just as fast.

As he stepped back outside, March took his boots off one by one, dumping out the water that had pooled in them. The forge was still burning, thank god, but the gold of the guard had melted too much to be salvaged by the time he got back to it. He’d have to redo the guard. March groaned and threw his towel on the ground.

----------

“That was magical rain,” Juniper said with little interest as she sat at the bar that evening. She was sipping a wine that Valen had bought them to share. Probably expensive, knowing Valen.

He hadn’t come to the inn looking for answers about the rain exactly. But given the way Juniper seemed to know the weather better than anyone, she probably had an idea of what happened. So, he asked. But magic?

“What?” March stared at her dumbfounded. “Mag-there is no way. That’s not real!”

“I don’t know, March.” Valen mused, grabbing Juniper’s hand and raising it to her lips. “There’s more to the world than you think.”

“I-” March looked back to Juniper.

“Why don’t you go ask Ari about it? I’m sure they’ll have some answers.” Juniper smirked at him, rolling her glass of wine.

“Fuck you!” March stormed off. Ari. Of course, it was Ari. If they had answers, he was going to get them.

“Woah, I’ve seen that before. Sounds like someone is down ba-”

March didn’t hear the rest of what Hemlock said as he threw the door open and exited the inn.

----------

Ari stared at the slice of cake on the table, a lone candle burning down slowly. ‘Happy birthday to me,’ they thought. No family or friends to wish them a happy birthday. No one in Mistria even knew that it was today. Ari didn’t bother to tell anyone. Not like they had the chance with all the work they’d been doing and errands they’d been running. Twenty-three years old and they sat all alone in a run-down cabin on a forgotten farm, energy thin from the exhausting day. What had their life turned into? Quietly, they muttered a ‘happy birthday’ to themself and blew out the candle.

If they were back at the guild hall, it would have been an all-out party. Noisemakers and balloons, pizza and lemonade. A rare delicacy for the guild. The guild never carried many Tesserae in it’s stores, but what it did carry made sure to allow for special moments of celebration. Ari remembered the gift they had gotten from the guild last year, a new quilt for their bed. They looked over to the bed now, admiring the gift they had made sure to pack. The bright colors of the fabric, the invisible warmth of the thick batting, the tight stitches that led to perfect corners. 

Ari knew how to quilt. They had learned it when they were little. Just one of the litany of ‘ladies’ hobbies’ they’d had to learn to please mother and fit into high society. Did they like to do it? Hell no. But could they? Yeah. Trench had made the quilt for them. It had taken months, he said. Picking the fabric was the hardest part. But the most important part was the little piece of Antonio that had been quilted in. A piece of one of his remaining shirts. Something their guildmates had hidden from Ari for 2 years before finding a good use for it.

Ari had cried. They’d cried so hard it hurt. They thought the one shirt of Antonio’s that they had saved was the last remaining piece. But to think that Otter demanded another shirt be saved just for them. It broke their heart.

They walked over to the quilt now, running a hand along the dark fabric of the shirt. It was moments like these where Ari desperately missed the guild. The comradery was all-consuming. The guild was their family. Sure, they knew other factions weren’t like that, close-knit and tied together. But Otter made sure that his faction of the greater adventurer’s guild remained a home for those who were lost and weary. It accepted everyone, regardless of background. 

When they had walked into the guild, explaining who they were and where they had come from, Otter had welcomed them with open arms. He and the others had immediately gotten their pronouns right after the first and only time Ari sheepishly had to correct Otter’s accidental misgendering. Anyone who didn’t comply after that got corrected by Antonio. A solid hit on the head with his wooden training sword did the trick. Ari was forever grateful to the men of the guild who treated them as an equal, never questioning their ability. Well, Antonio had questioned their ability up until the very end, but Antonio never really trusted anyone to do, well, anything.

A loud pounding on the door drew Ari from their thoughts. They weren’t expecting someone tonight. Maybe it was Celine with a new book recommendation? Ari hoped not through. The path down to the farm was way too dark to be walking alone. Not to mention all the roots that had yet to be pulled out. They really needed to get on that. Ari added it to their mental list.

They opened the door, expecting to find Celine with a warm smile and a book in hand. But instead, March loomed just outside the door, face clearly red despite the dim lighting.

“What did you do,” March demanded, fists clenched at his sides.

“Huh?” Ari looked up at the man, blinking a few times as their eyes adjusted to the darkness around him.

“What did you fucking do?” 

What did they do? Nothing seemed to come to mind. “I don’t know what you are talking about, March.”

“The rain, the fucking rain, Ari! I know you did it!” March was yelling, his voice echoing through the farm. Ah, the rain. This was about the rain they’d summoned. The rain they had summoned at just the right moment to spite him.

“Whatever do you mean?” Ari smirked. If he wanted to see what real ‘capital scum’ could do, then he was about to see it. With all the targets they’d seduced on jobs before, ha. If mother had taught them one thing, it was how to eat a man alive from the inside. To make him fall, to beg.

“You…” March started. “I was at the forge. I know you planned it.”

“Planned what?” Ari reigned their voice in. Made it drip like liquid gold.

“The rain!” He threw up his hands in the air. “Don’t play dumb!”

“Apologize,” Ari commanded, tone simple and matter of fact.

“What?!” March lowered his hands clenching his fists at his side again, eyes narrowing.

“Apologize to me.” Ari crossed their arms, squaring up with March despite the height difference.

“Why the hell would I do that?!”

“Well,” they started. “If you don’t want a rainstorm rolling in right when you are in the middle of forging every few days…it might be a wise idea.” A smug smile tugged at Ari’s lips. Sure, their plan was seeping through at the moment, like light through a cracked door. But it was thrilling to get this rise out of March. To get back at him for all he had said.

“Fucking mage,” March spat.

Ari rolled their eyes and shrugged, starting to close the door.

“Wait!” March shoved his boot in the door, preventing it from closing all the way.

Ari opened the door back up and stared at him expectantly. “Yes, March?”

“I knew you were wearing a mask! There is no way someone can be that bright and bubbly all the time! You’re just capital sc-”

Ari knocked March’s boot out of the door and went to close it again.

“I’m sorry, ok?!”

Ari opened the back up this time to its full width. “For what,” they asked, tone sickly sweet, dripping with desire. All according to plan.

Ari watched as March seemed to shiver. “F-for…augh!” March ran his hands through his hair before taking and breath and composing himself. “I’m sorry for being rude.”

“Thank you March, that’s very kind of you, I accept your apology.” Ari made sure to slap on their polite capital smile for good measure. Mission success.

“Fuck you.” March huffed and turned away, starting the walk back to Mistira. Ari watched as he trekked off. And they couldn’t help but laugh gleefully as March tripped over one of the exposed roots on the path. He looked back and threw up his middle finger before disappearing into the night.

“Have a good night,” Ari called, raising their middle finger in response.

The moment they shut the door, they collapsed on the floor, a weeping mess. They felt it instantly. All the grossness that was the mask they wore in the capital. The mask their mother had taught them to wear. To be more assertive. To be more domineering. To win against the women who they competed with. To secure a man. How easily they had let that mask slip back into place.

Ari wasn’t like that. Not anymore. Sure, for jobs? They could summon it up, the seductive glances, the honey that dripped from their lips. Ari had captured many men before that way. But it wasn’t them, not anymore. They’d washed themselves clean of it years ago, vowing to change who they were at their core. Allowing themselves to be them. Who they really were.

Slick had always described them as kind and spirited. Guardian as sweet and sensitive. Ginko as hardworking and airheaded. And Otter as clumsy and overeager to please. All those were true, Ari knew. They’d become someone different. But the way they had played the part so easily, the way they had challenged March, it made them sick.

‘Happy birthday to me’ Ari thought. ‘Happy birthday to the piece of capital scum.’

----------

The next morning, Ari awoke to find a new letter in their mailbox. Hopefully not from March again. The letter was unaddressed from the sender. They brought it into the cabin and sat down to read it. Could it be from someone in the guild? It would make sense that way seeing as it was unaddressed. They read the words slowly.

Princess,

I’ll be stopping by in a few weeks to check on you. I’ll arrive on Summer 14. I’ve already sent a letter to Adeline and she will secure me a room at the inn. All I need from you is a willing attitude and a listening ear. You better not be slacking off. That is not a warning, it is a threat.

Otter

Ari practically squealed with delight, kicking their feet. Otter was coming! They were going to see Otter! They’d get to introduce him to the town. They’d get to show him Mistria. Ari walked outside and looked over the farm, deflating. Shit. The farm. They had cleaned it a little bit. Just enough to have a functional patch to farm on and a clear area around Caldarus’ statue. Sure, they were also clearing land for a barn after having helped fix the mill, but it was slow going.

Ari had some work to do.

----------

Author's Note:

Hey y’all! Shimmer here! I had fun with this one. So much fun. March and Ari’s fight was the first thing I wrote. It’s good to see Ari fighting back instead of being passive for once. There’s a lot to their backstory and I keep finding out more about it the more I write. I’m super excited for the next chapter. It’s not what I was expecting to happen at all. See you then! Thanks for reading! <3

[entamewitchlulu]

There's several on there I'm curious about but imma narrow it down a bit ^^; I saw Dragonriders and Dragon x Slayer and got all jazzed cause Dragons. Unicorn Field Guide and Arc of Magic sounds interesting, but then I spotted Lancer Yoko and almost shot out of my seat, PLEASE tell me about it. (also a bit unrelated but I love that I recognise several of these titles/au's. all of em are great too)

Thank you so much!! I'll happily talk about all of them lol.

(ask me about one of my wips and i'll tell you about it)

Putting this under a cut cause it'll get long

Starting with the one that's the least fleshed out, the Dragonriders AU is, well. it's a dragonrider au lol. All the main Arc V characters have dragons, and it's a fantasy world that semi-similar to something like Eragon crossed with Dragonriders of Pern, but you know, legally distinct.

I was doing designs for some of the dragons for them, like translating Odd-Eyes into a more traditional looking dragon and such. I didn't really have too much more to go on, so it might end up being more an aesthetic doodle thing than a fully fleshed project, but i dare to dream lol.

Dragon x Slayer is a sort of original fantasy world with Arc V characters, where there is this mountain range where the kingdom of dragons is, and it's cut off from the rest of the world by a magical barrier that prevents dragons from leaving. It was put there hundreds of years ago after a war between humans and dragons that the dragons supposedly lost, ending up with them being sealed away. Meanwhile, in the human world, adept humans go to an academy to learn how to be slayers, to kill dragons that manage to pass through the barrier before they can kill humans.

The longest story short, the dragon boys are all of course dragons in this au, with the ability to shift into human forms. They are the sons of the dragon king Zarc, who has become dangerously unstable since the barrier was erected. The dragon boys each find their own ways to sneak out from under Zarc's increasingly strict eye in order to explore, and one by one they all meet humans for various reasons, who come to learn that the dragons aren't necessarily as dangerous as they were led to believe. Reiji, for example, is a top of his class slayer who was tasked to enter the barrier and kill a dragon as part of his graduation exam, but he was injured during his time in the mountains and rescued/nursed back to health by Yuya.

The basic crux of this one is that the leaders of both factions (Zarc and Leo) are becoming increasingly warlike against each other while the people underneath them are trying to find ways to make connections with each other and mend the rift between the two kingdoms.

The Unicorn Field Guide is in its most basic early stages, but this one is basically one of those fun fake field guides a la Dragonology about my concept for unicorns in my fantasy universe. Basically, unicorns are a universal constant that seem to spring up out of nothing and are anthropomorphized concepts of natural forces (stars, trees, oceans, etc), and the field guide is like a scientist going around to different dimensions and cataloging all the unicorns they find there. This is mostly an excuse for me to get to draw lots of unicorns lol.

Arc of Magic is another Arc V AU lol. this time it's a retelling of my favorite middle grade fantasy series, Avalon Web of Magic. Basically, Yuzu, Ruri, and Selena (Rin joins up later) are regular girls from the real world who are tasked to become mages in order to defend another fantasy world from the destructive spread of the Sorceress and her corruptive magic that is killing the magical animals. Also Yuya is a ferret.

Lancer Yoko is a canon divergence where after the events of the Battle Royale, Yoko marches up to Reiji and pretty much demands that he let her join up with everyone because like hell is she letting Yuya go off on his own and she needs to go get Yuzu back for Shuzo anyway (girl's practically her daughter tbf lol). She mostly acts as a sort of coach/trainer for the other Lancers and helps Reiji develop unique action fields for each of them (because i think crossover, while a function of the story and also easy to animate, is boring) that play to their strengths to help them have an edge over their opponents.

I didn't get very far with my notes for this one, but I think I'd still have her separated from Yuya at the prison arc, cause as much as I love her I don't think Yuya would really grow if his mom was hovering over him too much lol. Instead I think she'd get teleported along to wherever Reiji was in Synchro arc because on the other hand, Reiji stands to benefit immensely from having a real mother hovering over him lolllllllll

thank you for asking :)

[regarding-stories]

Laid-back Camp: What gave me pause

Now, don't get me wrong. "Laid-back Camp" is one of the cutest and most chill shows around, I appreciate it very much and recommend it wholeheartedly. In general it will warm your heart and provide quiet entertainment, and the high regard in which it has come to be held is very understandable.

Now, having said that, I also sit in front of the show at times and am oddly taken aback.

The first time this happened was related to meat.

Eating meat features constantly on the show, and the show dedicates quite a few minutes to the fact that somebody brought along some rare high-grade meat. But food porn isn't exceptional in Japanese anime, it's in fact a welcome filler or sometimes the point of the show, a topic that is sure to please viewers, apparently.

And then the little cartoon pig and the little cow showed up all pleased about having rendered themselves to be enjoyed by others. This seemed oddly out of time and place these days, but Japan is its own culture and place, so I left it at that.

Then, over time I noticed how busy the characters seemed to be getting and holding part-time jobs to pay for their (surprisingly expensive for out-of-season) camping. Just as with the meat, there is at times an advertised feel about the camping gear itself and how happy one would be having this or that when out camping.

Allusions to consumer euphoria aside, it makes sense to have good gear, especially if you have to lug it around sparingly like these girls. But the way the show constantly emphasizes the importance of getting and holding a job is a bit blatant as well. Happy workers happily spending bucks for a happy economy. Now get back to work!

(I do appreciate the side-nod to rural communities, though. The jobs are hard to come by for a reason - there aren't just that many businesses in the town this is set in.)

The final one is related to this:

Yes, Nadeshiko's older sister decided one day to take matters into her own hand and chase her overweight sibling around the lake to make her lose weight and be fit. It's a surprisingly dark (in relative terms) background to Nadeshiko's action girl nature, but it is foreshadowed by the fact that everybody comments on how much she can eat. She just works it off, apparently, through her calorie-burning movement habits. (By the way, it's apparently a 50 km / 30 mile ride around that lake, and the drill sergeant sister is in no mood to cycle it herself!)

Now, a show where you have basically no infighting or drama has to have a pretty tame setup to begin with, but there are some overtones to the series that are rather conservative.

It doesn't ruin the series for me by any means, but I did notice. Your opinion on these things might vary of course. But there's a dissonance to me between the "I'm just so happy to look at Mt Fuji/this lake/play with kids" living in the now moments and some of the blatant consumerism (hot springs, eating huge desserts, leaving through camping gear catalogs, etc). But maybe that part is also more than a bit honest about our nature as humans.

But don't worry. Regardless of these minor imperfections, it's still a stand-out show rightfully beloved by many.

[greektragediies]

001.  GENERAL

name  mireya gracie salazar nicknames  mira age  33 date of birth  02/20/1990 zodiac  pisces place of birth  palm springs, california current residence  park slope, brooklyn ( with bellamy quist & remi ninomae ) gender  cis woman pronouns  she/her sexuality  pansexual occupation  agent ( occasionally slips away to an animal shelter to offer a hand there )

faceclaim  seychelle gabriel height  5'2" tattoos  outline of two betta fish on her left outer ankle ( for her sign ), small simplistic otter with a space helmet in the crook of her left arm. piercings  basic ear piercings, and an industrial in her right ear distinguishing features  a smile that seems permanent on her face, and a little rip in her left ear at the top. positive traits  ambitious, animated, resourceful, loyal, friendly, and protective negative traits puckish, stubborn, sometimes reckless labels / tropes  action girl, likes  otters ( her favorite animal, she can't help herself and has five stuffed otters in her room ), nature in general, the sound of rain, and the smell of fresh cranberry orange muffins.dislikes  failing, seeing her loved ones getting hurt, spiders, people that chew their gum loudly fears  completely losing her humanity and getting stuck in an animal shift. hobbies feeding stray cats, cooking (though she does experiment a lot and often gets certain cravings for things after certain animal shifts. sometimes resulting in dishes that aren't the most appetizing.), taking pictures of everything. habits  talking with her hands, and fiddling with the otter on her necklace when left idle.

002.  EXTRA ORDINARY

near death experience…  for the sake of being written on paper, mireya was attacked by a wolverine. and while wolverines aren't found in the desert of california their presence has been known to be found in yellowstone, where her start in the life of eo began. a lot of details are foggy and with no one there to confirm or deny a six-year-old girl's story her words are all there is on the matter. her recounting of the event has her wandering away from her family while they were visiting, she remembers the woods getting darker and hearing twigs snapping paired with growling, she remembers hearing herself screaming before there was nothingness. her memory seemingly picks back up with flashlights and people wrapping her blankets. power…  shapeshifting ( animal-based ) / animorphing - the ability to transform into different animals. the limitations (or rather self-given limitations) of her ability are that of animals that are alive at the present. she hasn't tried to shift into things such as dinosaurs or those of a mythical nature, with the taxation on her body with her current catalog there's a fear of everything that could go wrong. it was almost a slow-burn kind of situation, she knew she wasn't right when they got back to california at the beginning it was an involuntary thing and it took her shifting into a chimpanzee in the kitchen at then age of ten before her mom really understood what was going on. it took several years from that point before mireya was able to start controlling when she shifted and being able to actually have control when she shifted. drawbacks / vulnerabilities…  her shifting does come with a timer of an hour and thirty seconds before she starts losing touch with her more human side and things get harder to control before there is no control. she has to be sure she has access to backup clothes and a place to change when she returns to her normal self. depending on the animal changing is a painful experience that more than often results in things popping out of place when she's back to normal. she can also carry over some residue or characteristics of her transformations that can linger for a short bit after ( an example being ; experiencing the color blindness of a dog after the fact ). depending on the extensiveness of a mission she has a tendency to just sleep for days. (if applicable)  cerberus corp…  her mother has always been her biggest fan and number one supporter so it was she who pushed mireya to audition, she'd say it went pretty well despite a few hiccups that came with performing in front of people that held a taunting position in a place as cerberus. she was folded into the ranks in 2016 and it's been almost everything she could've imagined it would be a more. her number one goal is to protect people and get a better understanding of herself. if it weren't for a streak of recklessness and potential pr hell she could be level i but as it stands she sits comfortably at level ii. missions go fairly well and hardly gets to a point where she finds herself losing control. she's all about teamwork makes the dream work and understands her sometimes offensive approach to things isn't the only thing needed for a successful mission.

codename…  it was politely suggested by the corp even though she had a clear preference for others, it took a few months of going back and forth before she warmed up completely to it. artemis is a cool figure to have a codename based off of.

003.  EXTRA

potential connections... mission partners, old mission partners, friends gained from working there, it would also be cool if someone joined with the ability to communicate with animals, best friend. i promise i'll add more to this but just know she's still close to mother and an older brother both of which still live in california !