#The binary just says “’mouse’

[retiredcultistredux]

((when you can't draw circles but literally every character you ever draw has at least one circle in their design so you end up with circles with the most wobbly fuckin lines ever. also read the tags pls))

[emsprovisions]

❄️ Day 16 - HR's Going to have Their Hands Full ❄️

🎁 Today's fic is dedicated to @welcometololaland!

Summary: an au where TK and Carlos are flirty coworkers at the holidays.

Word count: 822

Prompt inspired by "you're annoying me with your ugly sweaters" found here Also got a little help with dialogue from @ironheartwriter <3

24 Days of Tarlos Masterpost

“TK!” Carlos Reyes bursts into TK’s office with that usual disapproving frown marring his beautiful face, the one he always reserves just for TK. 

“Hey, Carlos,” TK’s tone is bored as he continues scrolling on his computer. 

“TK, you do realize I get dinged when you go on questionable sites on your company issued computer, right?” Carlos huffs, pushing his glasses up his nose.

“Oh,” TK tears his eyes away from the screen to glance up at Carlos. “So you only talk to me when I ding you?”

Carlos pinches the bridge of his nose beneath his glasses. “Oh my god, you’re going to get us both in trouble with HR.”

“Oh, I’m sure they’d have their hands full with me,” TK just grins. 

Carlos makes a noise that sounds a bit like a dying cat. “You know it’s still the beginning of December, right? You’re already annoying me with your obnoxious sweaters and the decorations in your office, must you annoy me by making my job harder too?”

“I didn’t know there was anything against spreading a little holiday cheer,” TK hums. “If Mary Anne can have a mini Christmas tree on her desk, I should be able to have my mini menorah. Plus, sometimes Hanukkah is this early you know…”

Carlos narrows his gaze at TK. “You really are trying to get me in trouble with HR aren’t you.”

“Not at all,” TK grins at Carlos coyly. “Maybe I’m just trying to get myself on your naughty list.”

Carlos’s face just turns bright red. “Strand!” 

“Something bothering you, Carlos?” TK raises his eyebrows. 

“Nope,” the cyber security analyst just turns on his heel and grumbles over his shoulder. “Just…stay off the questionable websites and get back to work…”

TK just laughs to himself as he watches Carlos scramble out of his office as fast as he can.

A few days later, TK finds himself in Carlos’s office. TK’s wearing another obnoxious holiday sweater, this one with a Christmas design formatted entirely out of binary code. Carlos glances up from his computer as TK enters and actually smirks at his sweater, shaking his head.

“They’re getting more ridiculous every day. Seriously, how many do you have?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” TK waggles his eyebrows. “Could you look this over for me? I’m trying to implement this code into the data to protect secure information, but I think I’m off somewhere.”

“You developers,” Carlos rolls his eyes, but there’s no bitterness in the action. “Let’s see what you did.”

TK hands over his laptop and stands over Carlos’s shoulder while he scans TK’s work. There’s a few minutes of silence and TK is so aware of how close he’s standing to Carlos. He can smell his musky cologne and his cedarwood shampoo and god does he smell good. TK’s had a crush on Carlos for months now, but they keep playing this game of cat and mouse that’s going absolutely nowhere. Plus, they work together, and TK’s pretty sure the man is very serious about his fear of HR.

“Here’s the problem,” Carlos says at last, his finger dragging along a line of code on TK’s screen. “I can fix it for you, it won’t take long.”

“Thanks,” TK says genuinely. 

“It’s nothing,” Carlos shakes his head, tossing more of that cedarwood scent towards TK with the bounce of his curls. 

TK could melt into him. 

He steps away instead, rounding Carlos’s desk and dropping into a chair while he waits for Carlos to correct his work. 

Carlos glances up at TK while he types. “You know, those cookies you put in the break room the other day were really good.”

“The white chocolate peppermint ones?” TK asks with a surprised smile. He didn’t realize Carlos had tried them, or realized that TK had brought them.

Carlos nods. “I recognized your handwriting on the note…Do you think you could share the recipe with me? I’m better at cooking than baking, but I think my mom would like them.”

“I can, but maybe I can do you one better…”

Carlos’s hands freeze over the keyboard as he looks up at TK. “Yeah?”

“I could make another batch just for your mom,” TK offers with a kind smile.

Carlos looks back at the computer, beginning to type again. “What if I made you dinner in exchange?”

“Dinner? Hmm, I don’t know, might be a little weird to bring my dinner to the office,” TK bites his lip to hold back his grin, trying to contain his excitement in case Carlos really is suggesting what TK thinks he’s suggesting.

“Good thing I was going to invite you over to eat said dinner at my place then,” Carlos looks back up at TK again with a tiny smile. “And maybe you could personally show me how to make those cookies instead…?”

“Are you asking me out on a date, Reyes?”

“I think I am, Strand.”

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Unmanageable 3

Warnings: non/dubcon, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Character: Pete Brenner

Summary: your manager sets his eye on your (plus!reader)

Part of the Backwoods AU

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging.

The ding of a bell jolts you. You sit back, pushing your glasses up to rub your eyes as you wait. You don’t hear anything. You sigh. 

You drop your glasses back to the bridge of your nose and get up. Your neck and shoulders hurt from slouching at your screen. You cross the office and swing your door open. You swiftly turn and thump on the door next to yours. 

“Customers,” you call through, irritated not only by your co-workers' current neglect by the chaotic morning. 

You march back to your office and send a glance towards the counter. You find a man and woman watching you from the other side. You vaguely recognise them but you cant never keep the names straight. Maybe that’s why you never could sort out the tangled threads of the town gossip. 

You huff and settle back in to the eye crossing work. You really don’t get it. They have no shame. Caught and they’re still messing around. The walls aren’t thick enough to block out the giggles or Pete’s low tones. 

You yawn and lift your thermos. You peer into the empty metal cylinder and clunk it back down. Damn it. You can’t even make a fresh pot. 

You yawn at the clock in the corner of the screen and carry on. The day will be over soon and you can go home and zone out with some Balder’s Gate. You’ve been waiting to try that one. 

A knock at the door disturbs your internal monologue. You sit up and look over the monitor. Before you can get up or answer, the door opens. The person on the other side doesn’t surprise you, especially as he lets himself in. 

Pete gives a crooked grin as he stands just inside the door, “you busy?” He doesn’t wait. He steps further inside and turns slightly, clinging to the door handle, “you want this shut?” 

Before you can tell him yes, close it from the outside, he snaps it shut and faces you. He tucks his hands in his pocket and approaches your desk. He stops just on the other side. 

“So, uh, I just wanted to have a chat,” he begins, “about the bell. You know, next time someone rings it, you can just help them.” 

You blink and take off your glasses, cleaning the lenses with the cloth your keep in the case, “I’m not a teller.” 

“Yeah, sure, but you can ask them what they need,” he suggests, “you know, before you bother me and Marska.” 

“Mm, that’s not in my job description,” you put your glasses back on and zero in on the screen. 

“Right, but it takes two seconds,” he counters. 

You look at him again, your hand on the mouse. You stare dully over the top of the monitor. It’s not your responsibility to cover them while they fuel the rumour mill. You flick your eyes back down and click. 

“I am the manager,” he says. 

You nod and type rapidly, clacking loudly. He clears his throat and shifts. He moves a little closer as you ignore him for the binary on your screen. 

“So you need to listen to me,” he puts his hand on the top of the monitor, stumbling as the arm that holds it up dips with his weight. He quickly rights himself and retracts his hand. You fix the screen on the floating mount and bite the inside of your lip. 

“I heard you,” you mutter. 

“Alright, so next time you hear the bell, you can just zip up to the front,” he claps his hands. 

“No,” you say. 

“But you said--” 

“I’m not a teller,” you repeat. “That’s Marska’s job.” 

“Okay, but when she’s busy--” 

“She should be working,” you insist as you go back to typing. 

“Huh,” he sucks his teeth, “I see.” 

You narrow your eyes in an effort to keep them from rolling. You sniff and don’t stop. He wastes enough of your time with his bad behaviour. 

“I get it, you’re jealous.” 

You snort, “jealous?” 

You stop and raise your eyes once more. 

“Yeah, sure, makes sense. You sit in this office all day. Alone. And you hear us having a bit of fun and you want some of that,” he smirks and tilts his head, his floppy hair falling forward. “sweetheart, if you want in on it, you just have to say so.” 

“Ew.” 

He hesitates, “ew?” 

“Not interested,” your fingers flit over the keyboard effortlessly as the front sears into your vision. 

“Hey, look, if I knew earlier you were feeling like that--” 

“I just said I’m not interested,” you snip without tearing your eyes from the screen. “And I am definitely not--” 

He grabs the monitor again, this time pulling it away from you. You cringe in frustration and sit back, crossing your arms. You grit your teeth, ready to say something very unprofessional. 

“It was you, wasn’t it?” He asks. 

“What? It was me, what?” You squint. 

“You told her.” 

“Who?” 

“You fucking snitched on me to my wife,” his grin disappears, “I’ve been trying to figure it out all day but I shoulda known--” 

“What? I don’t even know your wife,” you scowl. “And I don’t give a crap about whatever you’re doing or whoever you’re doing it with.” 

“Bullshit,” he sneers, “it makes sense. You can’t have me so you go and tattle,” he accuses, “that’s sad. Real sad. But what’s a girl like you gonna do?” 

“I didn’t tell your wife,” you insist and reach for the monitor.  

As you grab the side of the screen, he latches onto your wrist. You try to rip your arm away but he squeezes tights. He keeps a solid grip on you as you wrench your hand helplessly. 

“You did it. I know it.” 

“I didn’t--” 

“You’re going to regret that, sweetie,” he snarls as he yanks you so hard you roll forward and your ribs hit the desk. “Don’t forget, I’m in charge here.” 

“Let me go--” 

As you pull again, he releases you and the chair tilts dangerous but the wheels save you from a topple. You rub your wrist as you grimace at him. He plants his hand on your desk and bends forward. 

“You want it so bad, baby, well, I’m gonna give it to you,” he winks.  

[osc-brainrot]

This is just me pointing out all the background details in TNM 6 (that I could find) cuz I’m a massive nerd for background details lol

This is probably a reference to Hfjone when back pack sent the frech tooth paste guy back to earth

Or maybe it’s for shadowing to the prolong episode

Mini tost from tdos because sketch pad was originally a tdos recommended character before TNM also there’s a tdos short where sketch pad appears and mini tost and them hang out all day and that’s sketch pads back story

Sketch pad has different captions than anyone else in the show I remember on the wiki it said he talked in comic sans but this doesn’t look like comic sans to me idk what it is

There’s a fire extinguisher in the car because sketch pad loves arson

And the plate says “GP5X1H4T” and I think that’s typing quirk for gps x top hat :>

North creek has a national park that is mentioned in the embers short and later in the episode it’s mentioned that gps and top hat and folder go to north creek high school

In this it says that the new file is to big and it had to spilt it in to and that’s why Cody and binary are to different people

This is the door to the store in episode 4 I think

For shadowing to the fact gps has 2 viruses in them

Folder calls gps jeep :>

So tumblr mobile doesn’t let me put more then 10 pictures so I’m just gonna leave timestamps now

[6:21] I already made a tumblr post about the lyrics of the song and you should go read it :D!

But I got one thing WRONG in it 💔

in the “my post modern Prometheus just won’t die” part that’s actually a Frankenstein reference

Thanks to this user for pointing that out

[6:23] gps has a picture of tophat and folder in his office

[6:29] gps is in the elevator with paperclip from Spraypaint and mouses gang so this might mean gps has some connection to the gang

[6:44] folder is playing wackamole with all the characters that get killed in the manor

[6:48] this was the same Photo Booth used in the trailer for this episode

[7:16] “the green one was teaching the short armless one how to drive and stuff”

[7:21] they are all at the same bar Spraypaint was at in episode 5

[7:23] gps saw the forest fire that happened in the short embers I feel like that’s gonna be plot relevant later

[7:25] the date in the left corner of the video says it’s 2003 June 6th I don’t know when this video takes place in the timeline but I think it means TNM takes place in the 2000s-2010s

[7:38] you can see on the can gps in holding that it has a little doodle on it that can also be seen on the dancing in my room video on the channel and I think that’s Allen persona

[8:26] you can see strings of code on the mountain their on and gps is sitting on some sort of computer part

[10:07] the car accident was from gps trying to teach top hat how to drive (that can be seen in the song montage and speaker got punched my spray paint both taking place/mentioned in episode 5

[10:12] rings mom is seen in the short embers and she dies from having a tree fall on her and embers forshadows this episode by the last scene showing the museum burning down :>

[10:19] puzzle piece and pan flute are wiping off the mustard that fell on ball guy(?) in episode 5 

[10:24] those guys are walking out of the room after making the news papers for the embers short

[11:00] here’s what all the files (I can see/read) say

“gpswere 2.1” “tophat <3” “my drawings” “diary” “clock” “recycle bin” “funny stuff” “empty folder” “facesim 98” “memories” “canvas” “music” “documents” “movies to watch” “grocery list” “pool” “worm” “command_1” “command_2” “unknown device”

All the pop ups say

“Delete “meetingfolder.mem”? “Delete balloonride.mem”?

“Running script C5P6PS8E” “running S5Q78TSFDSWC” “running CDCQEWVFDR” “running CHCPW”

All of the commands on the command log thing in the top right says

-Personally pector “6a6179”—————-_LOGS

-debug mode enabled

-system sener process 03 has been created

-ERROR: Syntax error_ unexpected token

-disabled fast string operations

-cache “644” cleared

-ERROR_ could not read /sys/user/diary.txt. (i really like this cuz it looks like binary tried to read gps’s diary)

-signalcontroler. Process [0] complete

-signalcontroler. Process [1] complete

-signalcontroler. Process [2] complete

-onrobotfocusgained method called

-ram ???? “107 105 108 108”

-cache “101” cleaned

-Sensors recalibrates

-gpsware 2.1 operations ceated

-personally sector “6c617665” overran???

-[angel_commit_id] 66M2QXESDT

-[passthrough command decoder] (null)

-[initializing time] 1073

-rsn string “56 50 54 48”

-ram string “53 53 54”

-[initializing time] 688

-cache “161” cleared

-[initializing time] 903

[11:04] binary says the hallway is rigged implying that they have control over the mansion/they know who does

Idk where to put this but Cody and binary are both made using ascii art :D

[12:26] the computer gps has in their room looks old I don’t know how to identify computers but this adds to my idea that the show takes place in the 2000s-2010s

[12:31] folder is glitching out in the picture here because binary deleted the meetingfolder.mem file :)

[12:58] OH BOY MORE COMPUTER STUFF

I’m not typing all that shit on the screen again but all of the pop up’s asking to delete.mem are all memories that were shown in the rewind replay song :)

[13:43] all of the recovered memories also show up in the rewind replay song

[14:13] OK THE COMMAND LOG IS ACTUALLY IMPORTANT

It says

-keyboard controls: added Route to “ cr/micrwave.sys”

-fail safe activated

-malicious entities detected

-lilicit activity’s detected

So yeah that’s a little detail because binary used the microwave to start the self destruct process

And on the pop up it says “self destruct sequence must be set in place this is to ensure that the spread of malicious code is prevented in a accordance to north creek national law”

Implying that there’s like code in every technology object put there by law to blow themselves up if their code is acting up … yeah I don’t like that

[16:18] I saw a theory that gps and folder were actually going to the dance together because their wearing the same color accessories and gps left her for tophat and I really like that so I’m taking it as canon

[16:32] it’s making me cry I don’t like it

[16:50] the reason everyone is looking at them is that is the show takes place in 2000s-2010s then they went to high school in the 90s (if we assume they finished college before the show) and gay relationships weren’t common yet

Also Party hat from boto is in the crowd

[17:35] OWOWOWOOWIWIWOWOOW THIS SONG HURTS (in the good way) I don’t have anything to say here except if you think about it the lyrics can apply to both gps and Cody :]

Kay im done good night

[anonymousewrites]

Burden of Truth Pride Special

Father Figure! Marc Spector x Teen! Non-binary! Reader

Father Figure! Steven Grant x Teen! Non-binary! Reader

Pride Special 2025

Mouse Note: Not a lot of Marc and Steven, but...you'll see.

            This was perhaps not one of (Y/N)’s best decisions. More accurately, there had been a series of bad decisions. One: They had been trying to strike out on their own and discover themself. Two: Steven and Marc told them to “get out” with people their age more. Three: Their kinda-friends? decided to sneak into the club by lying about their ages. Four: (Y/N) was curious to see if their thieving skills were still up to par. Five: (Y/N) had successfully gotten into the club. Six: They had lost everyone they were with.

            Apparently, they were a little more used to clubbing, despite the fact that most hadn’t hit eighteen. (Y/N) wasn’t close, but there they were. The only upside of this situation was that the club had some fun drag performances and great party music because it was a gay disco during Pride month. So, (Y/N) could at least enjoy themself in that way. They couldn’t…talk to anyone, though. They couldn’t lie, and (Y/N) didn’t need to get dragged back to Steven and Marc for being underage (what was the big deal with wanting to dance a bit? They were discovering they liked it).

            Therefore, (Y/N) was left to wander. They watched a few performances and bobbed around the side of the dance floor, keeping a wary eye out for any creeps hovering. They might not be fighting crime all the time anymore, but their instincts remained as sharp as ever (Steven called it “trauma,” (Y/N) and Marc called it “helpful instincts.”)

            As they danced, they bumped into someone else. It was unavoidable, so (Y/N) just turned to apologize. “Sorry,” they said over the music.

            “No, I’m sorry,” said the boy—he looked young, like (Y/N). He wore a dark, mesh shirt over a tank top and jeans with some studs. Eyeliner rimmed his eyes, intensifying them. “I bumped into you.”

            “I guess we both did,” said (Y/N).

            The pair stared at each other for a moment.

            “You’re not supposed to be here,” said the boy finally. He had seen that they were young.

            “Neither are you,” said (Y/N), acknowledging it but calling him out.

            “I won’t tell if you don’t,” he replied.

            “Okay,” said (Y/N). They were amenable to that.

            “Why did you sneak in?” he asked.

            “I was with friends,” explained (Y/N). “I lost them.”

            “Not a good place to lose someone,” he said.

            “No,” said (Y/N). “But it’s a fun night.” They looked at where another drag performance had begun. “I’ve been worse places.”

            “Yeah.” He grimaced. “You’re telling me. Not every place is as accepting.”

            “Yeah,” said (Y/N). “Being queer in multiple ways…I’m glad there are some places where people just get to relax.”

            “Me, too,” he said. “Especially after high school. Everyone’s so judgmental there.”

            “You know, I should ask why you’re here,” said (Y/N), avoiding having to say anything about high school since they hadn’t gone. Ma’at had taught them. “You’re American.” This was London during the school year. Americans didn’t do weekend trips to London.

            “I’m traveling with family. Doing some research,” he said. “That’s why school isn’t a…huge issue.” He smiled.

            (Y/N) blinked. Those three sentences had gone lie-truth-lie. They knew they were a stranger, but they were strange things to lie about. Huh. “Cool,” they said casually. “What type of research?”

            “Old books,” he said.

            True but vague, thought (Y/N). This boy was definitely interesting. “I like old books, too. My parents were an anthropologist and archaeologist.”

            “That’s cool,” he said. “I’ve been trying to find some books, and it’s been so hard. I bet knowing something about that would help.”

            (Y/N) shrugged. “That stuff is all luck.” Even the gods had their avatars to do research for them. “Unless you got magic or something.”

            With the amount of wizards and superheroes and everything, it wouldn’t be unheard of, and tons of teens imagined what it would be like to have powers. (Y/N) played along with the “wishful thinking,” but they knew what it felt like to have the weight of the world on your shoulders.

            They didn’t need it back.

            “Wouldn’t I be lucky,” he said, grinning slightly. “But I’m pretty sure I’ll find what I’m looking for eventually. I’ve got some help.”

            “That’s good,” said (Y/N). “Is it your parents?”

            “No,” he said abruptly. “My mom—my parents—”

            “Oh,” said (Y/N). “Yeah. Mine too.”

            “Guess that means we’ve got a few things in common,” he said, trying to lighten the mood. “Gay and orphans.”

            (Y/N) let out a laugh. This teen was fun. “Guess so.”

            Across the dance floor, a woman with white hair and a purple dress waved at the boy. (Y/N) frowned.

            “Hey, I think someone’s trying to get your attention,” they said.

            “Huh?” He turned around and spotted the woman. He looked at (Y/N) suddenly. “You can—”

            “There you are!” said a friendly voice, and a hand latched onto (Y/N)’s arm. Their party group had found them. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

            “Come on, we’re going to miss a performance in the next room,” said another person. “It’s our old high school teacher.”

            “Come on!”

            (Y/N) was dragged backwards, and they waved at the teenage boy. “Bye! Nice to meet you!”

            The boy waved with a strange look on his face as the woman in purple approached him.

            “Look at you, flirting,” teased one of (Y/N)’s companions.

            “Who was that?” asked another.

            “I don’t know,” said (Y/N). “We didn’t get each other’s name.”

            “Boo, should have tried,” said the person leading the back.

            (Y/N) rolled their eyes. They’d probably skip out soon. This was fun, but they liked the dancing more than anything. Unfortunately, so many people and things were…boring. After a life of travel, they’d grow used to the new and the exciting. Trying to find a place to drink or party or sneak around wasn’t their thing. At least they’d met someone interesting.

            I should have gotten his name. He was cute.

Taglist:

@jaytheaceenby

@severussimp

@dmitrytherat

@slytherinroyalty16

@grippleback-galaxy

@alexpangender

@thewittyfanficreader

@aew-kun-age-regression

@oscarissac2099

@amberforest08

@kyalov

@yyourmotherr

@im-making-an-effort

@the-toskaverse

@wra-1-th

@noodleryworld

@snowy-violet

[raptorfae53]

Ever After High Reimagined: Maddie Hatter Character Bio/Redesign

Maddie Hatter

TeaGender Aromantic (tea/teaself)

Child of the mad hatter (Ghanaian-British)

Maddeline Xylophone Hatter (amongst myriad names) has a tendency to be underestimated, at a surface glance most assume Maddie to be well…mad, a teatime-and-crumpets obsessed oddball with a penchant for crazy hats and brainteasing riddles, not to mention a habit of noticing and talking to seemingly nothing as if a person was there…But if you get to know tea as tea's predominantly rebel and wonderlandian friends do it's an entirely different story, Maddie is fiercely loyal, caring, emotionally intelligent and despite loving tea's future as the next mad hatter is wholly supportive of tea's friends rebelling,much to the puzzlement of tea's royal classmates, then again in a mad world as ever after maybe…as the saying goes,only the mad are sane…

Likes: Tea, hats ,baking biscuits, riddles and playing a range of wacky instruments.

Dislikes: coffee,rude customers,tea's friends being upset, the insistence of others of the impossible, and being away from wonderland.

Spellbinding Style: Victorian inspired fashion based on aspects of both male and female outfits of the day, with some typically bright and crazy wonderland colours to boot! Of particular note of course are maddies cherished collection of hats,there being at least one available for every day of the week and then some, always comically oversized and adorned with this,that and everything else in between, not to mention everything found inside them…

Companion creature: Earl Grey the mouse. The walls of the mad tea shoppe are beset with mice, however instead of pests said mice happily help the Hatters run their tea shop, serving tables, washing dishes and the like. Earl is maddies personal assistant, and when not on the job takes naps in the many deep pockets of tea's coats.

Hexworthy vex: People making tea in a microwave. It takes a lot to make a Hatter genuinely and literally hopping mad but this is one of those things, blondie did it last year to see if the rumors were correct and needless to say she won't be doing it again anytime soon…

“Oh Curses” moment: Maddie has a tendency to slip into tea's native riddlish if tea talks for long enough,stupefying those tea's talking to and usually forcing tea to sheepishly repeat teaself in English. Being the good friends that they are, Raven and the other Rebels have taken it upon themselves to brush up on the language themselves as to not catch their friend out…

Storied Secret: less of a secret, but maddie is aware that there's…something out there, and it's watching and commenting on tea and tea's friends,mind you it is a pretty open secret,Maddie often talking with them in public in and outside of school, but usually people brush it off as typical hatter madness,regardless maddie has decided to keep an eye out about for them for now…

Deepest Wish: To be able to live in Wonderland again. For as adaptable as maddie can be to most circumstances, sometimes tea gets awfully homesick for the place, Ever After is an admittedly strange,nonsense place filled with strange,arbitrary rules and wonderland just…clicked y'know, Regardless Maddie puts on a brave face, the rebels have more pressing problems anyhow and tea's sure wonderland will eventually bounce back to its old self…right?

Five Fantastical Facts:

Like all Wonderlandians, Maddie doesn't entirely proscribe to eah's binary sense of gender in regards to visual and verbal presentation, and along with tea’s dad uses neopronouns pertaining to tea to describe teaself.

Maddies hat is its own pocket dimension, full of multitudes of things both completely random and surprisingly useful, the space insode being big enough to literally get lost in. Maddie teaself tumbled out of tea’s dad's hat one day as a baby, tea's dad raising her as tea's singular parent.

Maddie works part-time in her Father's mad tea shoppe after school and on weekends, serving up all sorts of tea and brewed concoctions. It's a favourite place for the Rebels to hang out together and catch up on homework after school along with much of the wonderlandian diaspora about the neighbourhood.

One of maddies favourite hobbies is baking biscuits to add to the tea shoppe's retinue out of all sorts of wild ingredients, tea's friends always willing to try out a few of teas newest creations, with Cerise preferring the umami flavoured ones,Hunter the ones with floral and earthy notes, and Raven the sweet,if tart treats.

Maddie plays the keyboard, among many,many other wacky and whimsical instruments if needed as a part of Raven and The Rebels. Said keyboard is adorned with all manner of noisemaking gizmos,thingamabobs and whatnots to add a mad kick to the Rebels latest songs…

The first of week 2's profiles and the Rebel of this week's set is Maddie, the Rebels tea loving heart and Raven Queens first and best friend ever after!

Further information and thoughts down below:

Maddie is a very fun character concept to me. I've seen it mentioned that in the original book the Mad Hatter is the epitome of a useless adult, on the contrary,Maddie is a very capable adolescent. I like the idea that despite peoples assumptions of tea as a beverage-crazed loon, Maddie is really the rebels rock, always ready with a brew and a pack of biscuits if a friend or otherwise wants to chat about something with tea.

Another idea that adds to this is my take on the Evil Queen's curse on wonderland and how it affects the Wonderlandians in the cast. My versions of Maddie,Lizzie,Kitty and the rest are for all intents and purposes, war refugees, displaced by events beyond their control, forced to up sticks to a safe, but unfamiliar and in a lot of cases unwelcoming new place and make do with what little they've got. In this case it's Maddie and tea's father having to turn their favourite recreational thing,teatime into a marketable skill in the form of a teahouse and as a consequence working their butts off to get by, something Raven notices and feels guiltily responsible for on behalf of her mother on her first visit to the place. Maddies had to grow up a lot quicker than tea's Ever-Aftian peers as a result of the Wonderlandians displacement, though through it all stands Maddie's stalwart,optimistic belief that they'll all be able to go back to wonderland someday, no matter how impossible it seems.

This belief in the impossible and inconceivable is also partly why Maddie, despite the circumstances, doesn't blame Raven for them despite her insistence on being sorry for her mothers sake, as well as why tea is immediately ready to throw in with the rebellion effective immediately, tea's a lot like tea's father but tea also understands that tea isn't him, tea's Maddie, and Raven is just Raven and so on and so forth, and that maybe escaping the confines of destiny and being your own person isn't impossible in turn.

Anyways, the rebels work so well together because Raven and Maddie work well together. They are best friends and closest confidants, fill in for each other's shortcomings well, the Rebels as a whole are founded on both Raven's ambition and Maddie's wisdom and their shared heart,optimism and kindness, they're essentially the perfect pair...

[echo-goes-mmm]

Moonflower #15

Masterpost

Previous

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Warnings: domestic abuse, alcoholism

Note: Ari is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns

Kit considered the pull-rope in the corner of his room. He’d seen Iris use hers once, to call a servant to pick up a dress that needed ironing before the usual laundry day.

Kit bit his lip. Slaves shouldn’t get to call servants, but how else would he be able to contact David?

He pulled the heavy cord, and waited.

It was only a few minutes before a servant appeared at his door. It wasn’t David, but someone he hadn't seen before.

“You rang for me, uh…?” they floundered for a title.

“Just Kit, please.” 

“What can I do for you, Kit?” The servant had a nice smile.

“Do you know David? I need to ask him to do something for me.”

“Oh, sure! I’ll go get him for you.” The servant turned to go.

“Thank you. Oh, um, what can I call you?” 

They looked back, confused. “You want to know my name?”

Kit worried the sleeve of his shirt. “Is that… odd? Sorry.”

“No. Well- a little. Most people don’t ask. I’m Ari.”

Kit winced at the wording. It wasn’t Ari’s fault they weren’t familiar with introducing themselves to faeries.

“It’s nice to meet you,” he said instead.

Ari gave him a smile. “You too,” they said. “I’ll go get David.”

___________________

David nervously walked down the hall to the royal wing. Kit had asked for him; for a favor, and he didn’t know what to expect.

He tugged on the sleeves of his uniform. It was a hot day, too hot for long sleeves, but it covered his marks.

He hoped Kit wasn’t mad at him for leaving so quickly. Dad had already been upset when he got home early, and he couldn’t handle more people yelling at him right now.

David took in a deep breath before knocking on the door.

“Come in,” called Kit.

David turned the handle and stepped inside, closing the door as quietly as possible.

Kit turned to look at him, and David suppressed a shudder.

The fae looked calm, but David couldn’t help but be wary. Kit was tall, and probably unnaturally strong, and had sharp teeth and strangely bright eyes and could do magic-

“Are you alright?” asked the faerie.

“Yes,” he squeaked.

The fae crossed the room towards him, and David tried his best to stay still.

“Hey,” said Kit, hand brushing over his, gently taking it in his. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Faeries couldn’t lie.

“Okay.”

Kit’s thumb rubbed a small circle on the back of his hand. “I just want to talk to you.”

“Okay,” he said. He couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Kit tugged him along to the couch, and David automatically sat down after him.

“I know we don’t really know each other. But, um, if someone’s been hitting you, I can help.”

Oh. 

“It’s nothing,” he said. “It’s not like that.”

Kit tilted his head, his bright teal eyes watching him like a cat watches a mouse. Or at least, that’s how it felt.

“What’s it like, then?”

David bit his lip. “It’s not his fault,” he muttered.

“Who?”

Kit wasn’t going to let it go, was he?

“My dad,” he admitted. “But it’s really not his fault. He just gets angry, sometimes, and he’s been stressed. He’s fine the rest of the time.”

David knew what Kit was going to say.

“It’s still not right. We can get you help; away from-”

“I won’t go,” he blurted, and Kit went quiet. “I’m all he’s got left. Mom died, and I can’t-” David’s voice broke- “I can’t just leave him. He needs me.”

“Does he?” asked Kit quietly. 

David nodded, tears beginning to gather at the corners of his eyes. “Family sticks together. And he needs the money I bring home.”

“He doesn’t work?” 

David thought about the empty bottles of alcohol in the house, the smell of old beer and whiskey, the stench of drink on Dad’s breath.

“He’s sick,” he said, instead of the truth. “He never got better after mom passed away.”

Kit didn’t look convinced. “If you ever change your mind,” he said gently. “I’ll do whatever I can.”

David nodded. “Thanks. I uh, better get back to work.” He stood to go, but Kit grabbed his hand again.

“I mean it,” said Kit, the scent of fresh flowers flooding the room. “Freely offered, freely given. I promise.”

David shivered, a tingle of magic running up his spine. “Thank you.”

___________________

He pushed open the door to the cottage, the acrid smell of old wine hitting him square in the face.

“I’m home,” he called out into the house.

“Shut the damn door,” grumbled Dad, his face buried into the couch cushions. He must be hungover again.

David closed the door. Dad glared at the sound, even though David had already oiled the latch a dozen times.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “Have you eaten today?”

“Obviously not,” said Dad. “You were at work.”

“Right. I’ll, uh, make dinner.”

David left the room before Dad could ask if he got more hours.

He checked the pantry. It was mostly empty; he hadn’t had the time to go to the market. And there was no way he would ask Dad to go get groceries. That never went well.

There was enough to throw together a soup, and some bread to help fill them up, but that was all he could manage.

___________________

“Is that it?” frowned Dad, staring at his bowl.

David’s heart sank. “I haven't gone shopping yet,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

Dad rolled his eyes. “Did you at least get a better work schedule?”

David looked down at his bowl. “No,” he whispered.

Dad slammed his fist on the table, and David jumped. “Dammit, David,” he hissed, “Can’t you get anything done?”

“I- the schedule is already made for next week,” he explained, “if you had asked me earlier-”

“Don’t you dare pin this on me, boy.” Dad jabbed his spoon in his direction. “It’s not my fault you’re useless. Do you even care about me?”

“I do!” he protested.

“Then do better. Am I understood?”

David bit his lip. “Yes, sir.”

___________________

Dad smashed the plate against the wall, and David dove out of the way.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry- Dad, please-”

“Shut the fuck up!” Dad screamed, his hand reaching for a framed portrait. 

David watched in horror as the glass shattered right where he’d been standing, the frame bent.

“I let you stay here, for free, and this is the thanks I get!?” 

“I’m sorry!” David pleaded, scrambling away. Dad stalked forward and grabbed him by the arm, yanking hard. David stumbled, and Dad reached for a bottle.

“Don’t!” he cried, but the bottle smashed against his temple, and the world went dark.

___________________

The house was empty when he woke up. His head hurt like hell. He pressed a hand to his temple, and it came away sticky and red.

He whimpered, the sound making his head hurt like one of Dad’s hangover headaches.

David slowly sat up.

The room was just as Dad had left it; trash everywhere. David picked himself off the floor.

The picture frame Dad had smashed still lay on the ground. David gathered up the remains. 

It was an old portrait. Mom, Dad, and him; from years ago. It was the only one he could convince Dad to keep after the funeral.

It was torn, and the frame was unsalvageable.

David heard the key in the latch.

He quickly pulled the portrait free, folded it, and tucked it away in his pocket.

“Hey champ,” said Dad, swaying into the room. There was a bottle in his hand, half empty. Gin. “Back from work?”

His voice was cheery, as if nothing had happened and he hadn’t left his son to bleed on the floor.

“Sure,” he croaked. The clock on the mantle said two am.

“Great.” Dad looked around the room. “Clean this up for me, ‘kay bud? I’m going to bed.”

“Okay.”

David watched his father stumble into the bedroom.

He began to sweep up the shattered plates, his mother’s favorite pattern in pieces, and tried not to cry.

taglist: @paintedpigeon1 @cupcakes-and-pain @loserwithsyle @cepheusgalaxy @thingsthatgo-whump-inthenight @virtualbreadtale @bitchaknso @starfields08000

[thetragicallynerdy]

So, I'm not sure if this is helpful for anyone, but a while back I wrote a 'how to practice using someone's new pronouns' guide that I sent to a friend of mine who's kid started using pronouns they weren't familiar with. It's using ideas that I've found helpful, or have heard others found helpful.

Please feel free to share and use it as you will! Here is a link to the PDF if you don't want to use the JPG here, and an ID is below!

Link to google drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KBnJ8_20zcEiQd1nJZgCbrwJ1EEqy80Z/view?usp=sharing

[ID copied from Alt: two images that have the following text:

Tips for Practicing New Pronouns

These are some tips and ideas for practicing using someone’s new pronouns, or pronouns you’re unfamiliar with such as they/them or neopronouns (ei/eir, xe/xem, etc.) For this guide, we’re going to write about they/them pronouns, but it can apply to any new pronouns. They can also be helpful tips when practicing someone’s new name!  

Here are some different strategies that can help you get used to someone’s new pronouns:

Practice correcting yourself in your head when you make mistakes. For example, if you notice yourself using the wrong pronouns or name when you think of a person, say the sentence again, with the right pronouns this time. This is an important mental exercise to do any time you notice yourself misgendering someone! The more we practice, the easier it gets.

Practice using the new pronouns or name out loud, on your own, or with friends/family/coworkers. Try practicing when the person you’re talking about isn’t around so that they don’t have to hear your mistakes, as being misgendered can be a painful experience. Try telling stories about them, recounting what they did that day, etc – things like “they told me they were going to see their family this weekend” and “they really like to play video games”. It doesn’t have to be very complex, just things to help you practice.

Note: It is of course very important to also use the person’s correct pronouns around them, and not just practice when they’re not there. But don’t treat speaking about them to their face as “practice” – it is not their responsibility to help you get their pronouns right!

Try writing things down! Write notes about the person using their new pronouns, write tiny stories, and practice using the new pronouns. Sometimes writing things down can help to make the idea or new information more concrete in our heads, and can make it easier to remember next time.

If you’re writing messages to or about someone, take an extra minute to double check your work, and correct any incorrect pronouns. Do this every time!

It’s important to shift your mindset from "she is a woman” or “he is a man” to "they are nonbinary" (or, for binary trans folks, from “he is a man” to “she is a woman” or “she is a woman” to “he is a man”). Sometimes our brains like to cling to the idea that a person's gender is what it used to be, even if we know and consciously believe that they are the "new to us" gender. It's good practice to be really conscious about shifting the old belief, and if it pops up, correcting it.

There is often a mindset that they/them pronouns are only used plurally, and are thus “difficult to use singularly”, but this isn’t necessarily true! Often in English, when we don't know someone's pronouns, we use they/them. For example, if you didn't know the pronouns of someone’s doctor, you might say "they" rather than "he or she". It can help to shift to the general mindset of “I will use they/them pronouns unless I know someone’s pronoun preference”.

If you still find it hard to use they/them pronouns for a singular person, try situating the person who uses they/them as a plural person in your mind, as if they are a group of people rather than just one.

Another tip for this is to picture the person always having a small mouse in their pocket! When you are talking about the person, try and tell yourself that you are referring to them and their mouse – they are always together!

Try giving a pet they/them pronouns! Some folks do this as a way to practice – your pet doesn’t care about what pronouns it has, and it can help you practice with someone who won’t get hurt when you misgender them.

Something that often helps is to recognize and understand how much it means to transgender and nonbinary people to hear us using their new pronouns. It is very affirming, and goes a long way to show how much you value someone’s gender and respect them. It takes a lot of courage for someone to come out, and the best way we can respect that courage is to try our best to gender the people around us how they want to be gendered!

What if I misgender someone?

The best way to handle misgendering someone who is present is to briefly apologize and try again ("I'm sorry, I meant [correct name/pronoun/honorific]"). Keep your apology short so that it doesn't become about you and your mistake, and then move on! It can be very uncomfortable to hear someone make a big deal over pronoun mistakes, and it puts the burden on the trans person to then make you (the person who made the mistake) feel better. If you are corrected by someone else, try not to be defensive. We’re all learning, and we all make mistakes!

On that note – it’s good practice to use someone’s correct pronouns even if you're referring to them in the past when they used different pronouns. It  shows that "even if you used different pronouns or name then, I still see who you are now.”  

Last of all - try not to beat yourself up about it when you mess up! Everyone makes mistakes, especially at the start. Just note "no, their pronouns are they/them now," to yourself and try again! If you mess up around other people, just a quick "sorry, they" is a good way to correct yourself.

Good luck!

End ID.]

[1000roughdrafts]

Supporting Characters x Reader Master List

Lots of stuff in here - Gabriel x Reader, John Winchester x Reader, Rowena x Reader, Charlie x Reader, Donna x Reader, Crowley x Reader, and more (general/no pairings)

Remember that there are some 18+ explicit works, so please heed all warnings!

Gabriel X Reader

💘Coffee Shop ~ fluff, Gabriel is very much alive and just full of surprises, isn’t he?

John Winchester x Reader 

Mini Series xx 

💚Stop Asking Me To Come Back ~ flangst, kissing; Y/N and John have always had a cat and mouse chase type of relationship, where one runs and the other chases, and vice versa, but typically fall into a Dom/Sub type of relationship. John is tired of the games and when Y/N realizes she wants something more she’s too little too late. 

💚Stop Asking Me To Come Back (2) ~ 18+, smut

Wayward Women x Reader 

Charlie x Reader 

💖Confessions ~ one shot, flangst, heavy topics; You were best friends with Charlie since elementary school. One day, she just vanished. During the years you spent without her, you went down a dark path that brought you onto a road of addiction. Now she has returned to spend a day with you and talk about all the years that have passed without each other.   

Rowena x Reader 

💖What Happens During Research ~ fluff; no plot, just silliness 

💖 You Look Yummy ~ 18+ 100% smut literally nothing but sex

Donna X Reader 

💖Don’t Leave Me, Not Again ~ flangst; When a hunt in Minnesota goes awry and the Winchester’s go silent, you ask your ex-girlfriend, Donna, for help

Crowley x Reader

One Shots xx Both 18+ / Explicit

Hush -  unprotected vaginal penetration, oral sex (female receiving), BDSM, this isnt ddlg but it kinda has that vibe, a bit of an OOC Crowley,

A Night With The King - Request from Anon: Can I have Crowley flirting with a v nervous and quiet reader? Maybe w a splash of Dean jealousy because he’s been pining after her forever?

General:Supernatual x Reader (no pairings) 

💛Cop Car ~ (Dean, Sam, Reader) Drabble; reader stole a cop car and Dean wants to drive it. 

💛Saving Dean ~(Dean, Reader, Sam) imagine 

💛Live and Let Die ~(Sam, Dean, LittleSister!Reader) angstish,fluff; After years of arguing with your older brothers, they finally let you go out and hunt on your own, but it was nothing like what you expected. After killing your first demon, you call them up for some comfort.   

💛Cherry Pie ~ Drabble; Dean loves pie, what else can I say?

💛It’s Time to Let Me Go ~ angst; Raphael has started a war with only one request to end it all: you. Are Sam and Dean willing to let you go to save the world?   

💛Hi Dad ~ Drabble; based off of this prompt -  “She stared at him, holding her favorite teddy bear in one hand and his pistol in the other. “Hi dad,” she whispered.

💛Little Tree Part One | Part Two ~ Being a sheriff in a small town, you were surprised when a body was found, making it the first murder in over 50 years. The alarm bells really went off when the FBI showed up as quick as they did. Despite your initial thoughts, you were lucky that they had. (completed)  

💛 Coming Out - Request from @the-nb-florist "I was wondering if you could make a brotherly sam and dean where the reader comes out as Non Binary? The Reader is like Fem but they identify more with mass stuff. I just want supper fluff and sweet. Thank you so much!!"

[effypcfcwrites]

The Owl House

(Originally posted on my personal Facebook dated April 25, 2023)

This is probably the first time I'll be posting a detailed review of a piece of media that I like, so witness me sing all of my praises for this animated series from the House of Mouse, because wow, I've never been so invested in a Disney show after rewatching Gravity Falls.

For those unfamiliar, The Owl House revolves around Luz Noceda, a teenage girl who stumbles upon a portal to an alternate world called The Boiling Isles, meets a witch named Eda Clawthorne, learns magic under her tutelage and eventually enrolls in Hexside, a magic school where she makes many friends and goes on multiple adventures.

I binged this whole show in a span of weeks and even stayed up all night on my day off to finish it up to Season 3, the first 2 Seasons being on Disney+ and the latter on Disney Channel's YouTube page.

Simply put, I love it so much! I love how it reminds me of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and, dare I say, Harry Potter, which it even poked fun at, at times. Well-deserved, considering J.K. Rowling’s transphobic views and HP’s underlying anti-Semitic undertones.

I loved the pop culture references to Thor: Ragnarok, Howl's Moving Castle, Metal Gear Solid, and even Hades, among many others! I thought those were very clever and funny, and just a treat for fellow nerds, geeks, and fans of fantasy stories, anime, and video games.

I love the LGBTQ+ representation all throughout the show, which was such a bold move considering Disney’s iffy stance on the subject. None of them were antagonized for it, and it was treated as something normalized in both the Human and Demon Realms. The show featured 2 gay dads, non-binary and aromantic-asexual characters, and one of the internet’s favorite sapphic/WLW couples Lumity, which is the ship consisting of canonically bisexual Luz and implied lesbian Amity Blight, whose rivals-to-friends-to-lovers relationship was just so wholesome, so natural, and very healthy, considering they're both teenagers. Suprisingly, there was very little melodrama, not once were they petty towards one another whenever either party did something wrong, and they never got tired of showing affection towards each other. I found myself shamelessly gushing over how cute, adorable, and supportive they were together, and tearing up a lot during key moments of their relationship, especially when they both found themselves in dire straits as the story progressed.

I love the writing and the character development of them all! None of them felt static, they all grew throughout the series, maturing, getting better, and healing from their own insecurities, trauma, and guilt. The humor and comedic timing was a nice touch, and I was really taken aback by how S2 ended on such a dark cliffhanger with all stakes raised to the roof, similar to A:TLA S2 and The Empire Strikes Back, as mentioned earlier. That season wasn’t afraid to have such a grim ending, with such a great payoff by the end of S3 which is worth celebrating.

I love the animation and art style, which blended colorful and whimsical with eerie and ominous in just the right amounts. As a sucker for animated movies and series such as Adventure Time, The Prince of Egypt, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, it was just such a delight watching it.

I love the overarching message of the show, which is to be truly yourself, to embrace your quirks, and never to limit yourself and your potential based on what the majority of society and the powers-that-be expect from you. All throughout, you’ll find the characters challenging pre-established norms and roles, and it’s just so satisfying seeing them all win.

11/10 top-tier show. Don’t @ me, it’s hard for me to find something I disliked about the series. It's definitely a must-watch, especially if you're sick and tired of all the bleak nihilism of modern adult animation, and you just want to baby your inner child and escape to a whimsical fantasy world with characters you can all relate to. Betting my bottom peso you'll all be hooked, like I was.

[nnyashift]

♱ 𝕷𝖔𝖙𝖙𝖎𝖊 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊 .ᐟ

𝑰 𝑾𝑰𝑳𝑳 𝑩𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑲 𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑶 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹

𝑻𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑺 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 𝑾𝑯𝑨𝑻𝑺

𝑾𝑹𝑰𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑵 𝑶𝑵 𝑴𝒀 𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑻

💋₊ ⊹ 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐌𝐄 .ᐟ

✦ · 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 · › charlotte elio love

   ✦ · 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 · › lott, elio, el, harlot

✦ · 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 · › non-binary, he/they

  ✦ · 𝐝.𝐨.𝐛 · › february 14 1990 (15, 2005)

✦ · 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 · › human (1990—2005)

   ✦ · 𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 · › african american, native american

✦ · 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 · › 5'5" ft. 165 cm. (15)

    ✦ · 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 · › 130 lbs.

✦ · 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 · › lyle love, juliette love

   ✦ · 𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 · › vernon love, mil love, dianne love

✦ · 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 · › kal "knife" callahan

   ✦ · 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 · › joan beaumont

༺𓆩 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖔𝖓𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖙𝖞 𓆪༻

✦ · 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐊𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 · Lott's always looking for ways to waste his time— usually those ways are destructive. Typical teenage dirtbag shit: knocking down mailboxes one by one while his bestie zooms her dad's chevrolet spectrum down a richy suburban street ("they probably deserve it!"). Spray painting everything and anything, ripping clothes apart and sewing them back together again, stealing packs of cigarettes from the corner store... But with teen angst comes childhood naivety and a bloated sense of self-confidence, so obviously his dumbassery tends to get him into a lot of trouble.

✦ · 𝐒𝐇𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐑 · Despite his eye-catching appearance and loud taste in clothing, he's typically very quiet. A real timid type of person, doesn't speak much unless spoken to or if they're with their friends. Gets embarrassed when too many people are looking at him but pretends to love the attention to not seem weak around the preps. Gets mad if you point out his embarrassment.

✦ · 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 · Lott's most likely going to be the one to stand up for his friends if someone's messing with them. It's not uncommon for him to have short outbursts, poor thing just has a total lack of patience. But he's not going to say something unsavory for no reason, you'd have to say something super bad to really piss him off. He can get mad over childish things like losing in mario cart or being the butt of a joke, but know his words are never meant to truly hurt you.

✦ · 𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓 · His sketchbook is his best friend. Y'know, other than Knife. But what does he turn to when all that teen anger comes bursting at the seams? Good ol' pencil and paper, scribble down his newest ideas and maybe doodle the name of his forbidden lover with hearts for the i's and o's. He has a very sketchy and unique art style that really captures his love for the macabre.

✦ · 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃 · Even though he talks like a damn mouse half the time, Lottie's got one hell of a voice and its impossible to make him shut the fuck up if hes got a groove going. His voice has that nasty punk, grungy texture with lots of rasp and grit. He can scream, growl, and squeal, all that from practicing in his bedroom while his parents were away. Unfortunately it would also piss off his siblings.

༺𓆩 𝖆𝖕𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊 𓆪༻

✦ · pretty brown skin, littered in shitty stick n' poke tattoos and small scars.

✦ · small stature, androgynous, kinda lanky.

✦ · big brown eyes, down turned, slight sanpaku, framed by long black lashes.

✦ · naturally curly black hair, but typically straightened. has chunky red highlights that never fade.

✦ · pretty catlike smile with sharp little canines, plump heart shaped lips.

✦ · doll-like features, cherub cheeks, overplucked eyebrows, small snub nose.

✦ · various diy piercings... right brow piercing, septum, ear gauges, snakebites.

[crychaoss]

q!Foolish lore - GRANDMA'S ROOM

The first message - Found by Cellbit on June 15th

Foolish left only a book in the chest

the binary code translates to "ABUELA", which means grandma in spanish, and the coordinates lead to Bad's base (Foolish wanted Cellbit to think that Bad had something to do with the Federation)

this was made on stream and was actually just a prank to see when would Cellbit find the room

The second message - Found by Cellbit on July 17th

Foolish wanted to prank Cellbit so he played the disc "11" while he was hiding in the castle, this led to Cellbit going in the secret room trying to find where the noise is coming from, but found the keycard instead.

Foolish got this card when him and the others first penetrated the Cucurucho hallways and the area became unprotected (this keycard was found in a box next to the first door in the hallway, so Foolish just took it)

Later that day Foolish told Cellbit that he was the one pranking with the sounds and the keycard is actually useless

The third message - Found by Cellbit on July 17th

Foolish left Richarlyson's head in the chest shortly after the previous message. Cellbit found this because Foolish told him that day that he might find something else in the chest too

The fourth message - Was never found by Cellbit

Foolish wrote this on the day of Mr. Mustard's disappearance

We never saw Cellbit finding this on stream, and we don't know if he ever found it off stream either, but Foolish translated it to spanish and included it in the fifth message (not the exact message but something really similar)

The fifth message - Found by Cellbit on August 5th

This message was actually found by Roier first, on August 4th, but he left it in the chest because he knew it was for Cellbit, not him.

This is the first message that was done off stream. Foolish left a book and a gun in the chest.

The translation of the book:

I hope this finds the right person... Hide it for now, be careful who you tell about this. 7 space 27. Nobody suspects a thing. 🖕. This is a huge middle finger... stupid. No significant meaning, just for fun :D. 3000 sky 0. Someone could find this first

The binary translation is "7 space 27" or 7/27, which is also the date Foolish arrested Pac and Mike

at the coordinates Cellbit found a staircase leading to the sky, at the top was a sign which read "we are humans, not fish."

i made a whole blog about what this quote means, you can read it here. Cellbit didn't know the quote had a deeper meaning so he just left the place without thinking about it further.

The sixth message - Found by Cellbit on September 1th

Second message done off stream. We saw this book on Foolish's stream on August 10th, when he checked if it was still in the chest or not, and it was. He didn't open the book tho, and no items were next to it.

On August 24th during Foolish's stream, we could see that the book is still in the chest

On September first Foolish, Cellbit, Mouse, Jaiden and Richas went into grandma's room and Cellbit opened the book finally, but it was the same as the fifth message. We don't know if Cellbit put the same book back in it's place or Foolish made an exact copy and put it in the chest again.

Cellbit told the girls that the puzzle in that book led to some stupid sign and Foolish told Cellbit that it's actually a quote but didn't say where or whom it's from. He also said that the puzzle "Actually has some real meaning, but some are very vague, that it's almost stupid to figure out". Cellbit asked him "So I didn't finish the puzzle?" and Foolish's answer was "Not exactly"

[masked-vee]

Chapter 8: First Lead

Grey and Oaken started searching the castle to see where Stitches and T. Bur could have gone to.

"Besides, I owe it to them, do you know what stitches said after he and T. Bur left?" Grey asked.

"Not that I can remember..." The former hero scratched his head.

The duo took an elevator down to the cloning laboratory. It has since been converted into research lab and infirmary.

Grey went down to T. Bur's office and speed read the files and notes. Thankfully, they have a skeleton key for the whole castle. But still no closer to the two's whereabouts.

What were they missing?!

"Your highness?" Grey's head whipped up to see Frankie. "No such luck?"

Grey shook their head. "Not even his files say where they went. Oaken is someplace else looking and I doubt he's having better luck."

Frankie looked around and whispered to Grey and hands them a small black key. "Professor T. Bur told me not to give it to you unless you need it. But since you're looking for the little masked kid and Elizabeth..."

Grey takes the key and looks at it. I've never seen this key... They thought.

"Where does this go?" Grey asks.

"This way, princess." Frankie leads them to a messy room. There was a desk with papers scattered across the top. Grey carefully scanned the whole desk, for any crease.

Their gloved thumb glossed over a keyhole on the side. Grey took the key out of their pocket and slid the key into the slot. They and Frankie heard a click, and a tiny compartment opened. Grey opened it more and revealed a small hard drive.

"Want me to set up the computer for you?" Frankie asked. Grey nodded. Frankie started up the computer and entered the password. Grey gently pushed the drive in it's port, and a window opened up, revealing binary code. Something the princess can't read.

"Great..." The grey hooded child huffed.

"Not to worry, your majesty. I can translate this code, but it's going to take some time." The lizard reassured them. "I suggest waiting with Oaken for a bit."

Grey nods and and joins Oaken outside T. Bur's office.

The former hero looked up from file searching, and sees the princess. "Still no lead?"

"Actually... I think we just might have one." Grey smiles.

"Wait, really?!" Oaken's eyes widened, as Grey nodded yes.

"Yes, but it's going to be a while. Frankie is currently translating the binary code." Grey explained. "And we should wait a while. Fingers crossed it tells us about T. Bur and Stitches' current location."

Suddenly, loud grumbling came from Grey's stomach. "It is around lunch time anyway. Let's head to the mess hall and see what's being served to day." The former hero offers.

Grey wanted to decline and wait but eating something was the best option. "I'll be able to think better after a good meal."

Up to the cafeteria, it was loud with chatter from monsters as they ate with an acquaintance, a friend, or a significant other. Since she took charge and turned the minions around for the better, the food got a drastic improvement from the gross slop that was served previously! Well, the food wasn't that bad, but the cooking was still in desperate need of improvements.

Seems like the lunch choices were a verity of soups, tomato with a side if grilled cheese, potato, chicken and dumplings, and seafood. Oaken got himself a bowl of tomato soup and grilled cheese, and Grey got some seafood with a slice of bread. Looking for a place to sit, the disguised princess started walking towards Macho Poncho.

The pudgy masked kid looks up from his potato soup, and waves to Grey and Oaken. "Hi, Princess, Oaken. What are you guys doing here?"

"Finding Green Boots and Elizabeth." Grey stated.

Macho tilted his head at this. "Who's Green Boots?"

"Um... 745." Macho continued to stare at Grey. "The shy masked kid. I never got to know their name."

"Oh! You mean Mouse." Macho said. "I knew about Elizabeth, only by name, but I had no idea that the smallest and quiet kid would be her new chosen hero."

"To be honest... I've had dreams about a masked hero prophecy." Grey said.

"I don't wear a mask." Oaken said, pointing to his face. "And I don't think I wore one before I died."

Grey shook their head. "I wanted to tell you when you were the hero, but I knew I had to keep quiet. Don't tell a soul, my aunt said."

"Nurse Lillie knew?" Macho asked.

"She was the only person I told." Grey nodded. "But I haven't told her about the Grey Kid thing."

"How much did you know about... Mouse, right?" Grey had a moment to remember the name.

Macho nodded. "I only talked to them a few time, but never really got to know them." The chubby kid sighs. "Which makes me feel bad. I wish I spoke to them more before this whole dead hero thing. How close are you to finding Lord Stitches and T. Bur?"

"Hopefully once Frankie comes back with the decoded message, we'll be closer." Grey said.

Oaken dipped the grilled cheese into the tomato soup, and ate it. Grey poured a small pepper packet into their soup, mixing with a spoon and took a bite of the soup with a shrimp piece in it. The grey hooded child knew that there was more work to be done now, but they knew their belly would thank them for filling up, before they continued the search. Macho continued chattering with the princess in disguise and the former hero.

As Grey scraped the last of his soup with his bread, Frankie came running in with a piece of paper. "Your majesty! Your majesty!" Frankie panted. "Grey!"

Grey turned in their chair, facing the lizard. "What is it, Frankie?" Frankie had her claws to her knees as she handed Grey the paper.

"Princess Cereza, if you're reading this. It means that I'm close to locating Masked Kid 745 and Elizabeth. Mr. Stitches should still be with me. I knew you couldn't wait for our heroes to return home. You can find us in our hidden laboratory on Long Woods. You may bring one guest, but I'd prefer if you come alone.

-T. Bur.

P.S. I recommend going at night, where visibility is limited. And proclaim your name, and the name of your guest if you bring one, when you arrive."

They read the letter out loud, so Oaken heard it. "So, we're heading to Long Woods?"

Grey nodded. "But we have to go at night. Less people will see us." He took his bowl and spoon and placed it in the dirty dishes tray. "I'll see of I could convince Cookie to give me a few rolls of bread and water for the trip."

"What am I going to tell my boss..." Oaken asked himself.

"I'll send Bachi a doctor's note saying you aren't feeling well." Frankie suggested.

"Thanks, Frankie."

Grey filled their bag with as much bottled water and bread as they could. After that, he slung the bag over his shoulder and motioned to Oaken that it was time to go.

"Off we go to Long Woods!" Grey said with determination.

FIRST // PREV // NEXT

[wirewitchviolet]

"They Don't Teach Kids About Computers These Days!"

I see variations on this a LOT these days. Sometimes it's people in their teens/early 20s being frustrated at how they're expected to know everything about computers, sometimes it's college professors straight up HORRIFIED when they realize they have students who don't have any understanding that their hard drive, a school's internal network, and on a public website are completely distinct places for a file to be located, and I kinda figure the weird stress a lot of people seem to have about the concept of getting a game and not having it just go into their Steam library specifically is a related issue.

Now on the one hand, obviously, I sympathize with this. I have a series of posts on this blog called How A Computer Works, because... I want to teach people about this stuff. (That's still ongoing by the way, I've just got a lot else going on and need to settle on the scope of the next lesson.) On the other hand, uh... I'm from the generation before the one that apparently has all the computer literacy problems, and nobody taught us this stuff in school... and the next generation up wouldn't possibly have had access. So was anyone taught how to use them?

Now I say "they didn't teach my generation how to use computers in school" but that isn't technically true. I see a lot of people call people my age "the Oregon Trail generation" when this topic comes up. Sort of on the edge of Gen X and Millennials, going through school in that window where Apple had really really pushed the Apple ][ on schools with big discounts. And they did have "computer classes" to learn how to do some things on those, but... that isn't really a transferable or relevant skill set.

Like, yeah, if you're below the age of let's say 30 or so as of when I'm writing this, the idea of what "a computer" is has been pretty stable for your whole life. You've got some sort of tower case, a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, and in that tower there's a bunch of RAM, a processor, video and sound cards of some sort, and a big ol' hard drive, and it's running Windows, MacOS, or some flavor of Unix going for the same basic look and functionality of those. It's generally assumed (more than it should be, some of us our poor) that a given person is going to have one in their home, any school is going to have a whole room full of them, libraries will have some too, and they are generally a part of your life. We can probably make the same sort of general assumption about IPhone/Android cellphones for the past what, 15 years or so too, while we're at it. They're ubiquitous enough that, especially in academic circles where they're kind of required professionally, people are going to assume you know them inside and out.

Prior to the mid-90s though? It was kind of a lawless frontier. Let's say you have a real young cool teacher who got way into computers at like 5 years old, and now they're 25 and they're your computer class teacher in the mid-90s. The computer they got way into as a kid? It would have been this.

That's not a component of it, that's the whole thing. A bank of switches for directly inputting binary values into memory addresses and some more switches for opcodes basically, and then some LEDs as your only output. Nothing about this is other than the benefits of fundamentally understanding some low level stuff is going to be useful at all in any sort of practical sense if you sit down a decade later with one of these.

This at least looks a bit more like a computer you'd see today, but to be clear, this has no mouse, no way to connect to the internet, which wasn't really a thing yet to begin with, and no hard drive, even. You did not install things on an Apple ][. You had every program on a big ol' floppy disk (the sort that were just a circle of magnetic film in a thick paper envelope basically and were, in fact, floppy), you would shove that in the disk drive before turning the machine on, it'd make a horrible stuttering knocking sound resetting the drive head, and just read whatever was on that right into memory and jump right on in to running Oregon Trail or a non-wysiwyg text editor (i.e. there's no making bold text appear on screen, you'd just have a big ugly tag on either side of your [BOLD>bold text<BOLD] like that). It was not unlike popping a cartridge or disc into an older video game console, except for the bit where if you wanted to save something you'd have to take the disk out while it was running and pop a blank one into the drive to save to.

So when I was a kid and I'd have my "computer class" it'd be walking into a room, sitting down with one of these, and having a teacher just as new to it as I was just reading out a list of instructions off a sheet like, "flip open the lock on the disk drive, take the disk out of the sleeve, make sure it says Logo Writer on it, slide it in with the label up and facing you, flip the lock back down, hit the power switch in the back of the machine..." We didn't learn anything about file management beyond "don't touch anything until the screen says it's done saving to the disk" because again, no hard drives. I guess there was a typing class? That's something, but really there's nothing to learn about typing that isn't where every key is and you only (but inevitably) learn that through practice.

Now, overlapping with this, I eventually got myself a used computer in the early 90s, very old at the time, but not as old as the ones at school. I had a proper black and white OG Mac. With a hard drive and a window-based operating system and everything. And... nobody taught me a damn thing about how that one worked. My mother just straight up did not touch a computer until something like 2001. I didn't really have any techie mentors. I just plugged it in and messed around and worked everything out. Same way I worked out what I was doing with older computers, mostly on my own at the local library, because that computer class wasn't much, and how I was totally left on my own to work out how to hook up every console I ever owned, which was slightly more involved at the time.

That forky bit in the middle was held in place with a pair of phillips headscrews. Had to keep the VCR and cable box in the right daisy chain order too.

Enough rambling about how old I am though. What's the actual disconnect here? How did my generation work out everything about computers without help but the next one down allegedly goes dear in the headlights if someone asks them to send them a file?

Well first off I'm not at all willing to believe this isn't at least largely a sampling bias issue. Teachers see all the clueless kids, people asking online for help with things is more common than people spontaneously mentioning how everything is second-nature to them, etc. Two things stick out to me though as potential sources of the issue though:

First, holy crap are modern computers ever frail, sickly little things! I'm not even talking about unreliable hardware, but yeah, there's some shoddy builds out there. I mean there's so many software dependencies and auto-updating system files and stuff that looks for specific files in one and only one location, just crashing if they aren't there. Right now on this Windows 10 machine I've got this little outdoor temperature tracker down in the task bar which will frequently start rapidly fluttering between normal and a 50% offset every frame, and the whole bar becomes unresponsive, until I open the task manager (don't even have to do anything, just open it). No clue what's up with that. It was some system update. It also tries to serve me ads. Don't know if it's load-bearing. Roughly every other day I have to force-quit Steam webhelper. Not really sure what that's even for. Loading user reviews? Part of me wants to dig in and yank out all this buggy bloatware, but I genuinely don't know what files are loadbearing. This wasn't an issue on older computers. Again, screwing around with an old Apple ][, and old consoles and such, there wasn't anything I could really break experimenting around. It was all firmware ROM chips, RAM that cleared on power cycling, and disks which were mostly copy-protected or contained my own stuff. No way to cause any problem not fixed by power cycling.

Next, everything runs pretty smoothly and seemlessly these days (when working properly anyway). Files autosave every few seconds, never asking you where you actually want to save them to, things quietly connect to the internet in the background, accessing servers, harvesting your info. Resolutions change on their own. Hell emulators of older systems load themselves up when needed without asking. There's a bunch of stuff that used to be really involved that's basically invisible today. The joke about this being "a 3D print of the save icon" already doesn't work because how often do you even see a UI element for saving? When we still used disks regularly, they held next to nothing and would take like half a minute to read and write.

And don't even get me started on launchers and start menus and all that.

So... basically what I'm getting at here is if you feel like you never learned how to properly use a computer, go get your hands on an old computer and mess around. There's yard sales, there's nice safe runs in a browser emulators, hell there's kits to build your own. That or just look for someone wearing like a Mega Man T-shirt or playing a Madonna CD (hell maybe just any CD these days) and start politely asking questions, because again just because everyone who knows this stuff just had to work it out on our own doesn't mean you should have to.

[mwolf0epsilon]

Dogma and the Mouse Droid pt.5

Hardcase: Are you sure you don't want me to rough up those jerks for you? They've been getting really gutsy with the bullying shtick as of late... Tup: I don't think that'll stop them 'Case. If anything, they might bully him even harder because they'd think Dogma's hiding behind the older vode like a scared cadet... Dogma, sadly cleaning his armor while sitting on his bunk: At least it's just nutrimush this time and not something worse... Buggy, emerging from the vents: [Friend Dogma, I am here to console you!] Dogma, smiling: Oh! Hey Buggy... -leaning down to gently pat the mouse droid in greeting- Thank you buddy, but I'm ok really... Hardcase: How do you understand what that little droid says anyway? Dogma: Binary isn't all that hard to learn. -carefully picking up Buggy and setting him on his lap- It's all about figuring out the different dialects, really. Mouse droids pick up on a lot of speaking quirks, while astromechs have a very distinct southern drawl... Tup: ... Of all the things I could have done today, I didn't think imagining R2D2 yelling at us to kriff ourselves with a cowboy accent would be one of them... Hardcase: No wait, that actually makes a lot of sense! I can see Artoo with a cowboy accent. Buggy, chirping gently up at Dogma as he keeps patting the little droid: [Friend Dogma, I bring news.] Dogma: Oh? Buggy: [The fiends who have hurt Friend Dogma will no longer be a problem.] Dogma, blinking in surprise: Uh? Did uh, did someone report them or something...? Buggy: [They have requested immediate reassignment, due to being most ashamed of their terrible actions.] Dogma, confused: They... Asked to be reassigned? Just like that? Buggy: [Affirmative.] Bullies 1, 2 & 3, rush into the barracks to pack up their things only to freeze in terror when they see Buggy: Dogma, Tup & Hardcase look up at the new arrivals while Buggy simply chirps at them innocently: Bully #1: OH GOD IT'S HERE!!! Bully #2: WE'RE SORRY!!! Bully #3: PLEASE! WE WON'T EVER BULLY ANOTHER VOD EVER AGAIN!!! JUST CALL OFF THE OTHER DROIDS!!! WE'RE BEGGING!!! Bullies 1, 2 & 3, rush to pack everything and practically trip over each other while running away in absolute terror: Dogma, Tup & Hardcase, staring after the trio absolutely dumbstruck before staring down at Buggy: Buggy: :) Hardcase, impressed and mildly terrified: Dogma, your new friend is so freaking awesome...

[Prev]

[melodybottles]

march art update!

spoilers: i'm still art blocked bad ^-^

okay no hi everyone i didn't expect to still be struggling so now that i am i wanted to talk about it a bit more because i really miss drawing and posting art. i love to draw! it's my favourite pasttime and it sucks not being able to put anything out that i'm satisfied with.

as i talked about previously one of my biggest issues is that i don't really.... know what i want from my art style? and a lot of what i like the most in various styles conflicts with other ones i admire so it's really difficult to pin things down. so i HAVE been drawing a lot, trying to experiment with this and that, but i can't help but get frustrated with all of it.

all i can draw without that frustration rn is just my oc celice because i've figured her out. love her. i also got out one (1) really nice pic of a different oc today but i haven't been able to replicate that. anyways

today i wanted to share a bunch of art i've posted in the past that i'd say are my favourite pieces from this blog so far (+ 1 i never uploaded here). so here's all that:

Q: all but one of these pieces have one particular thing in common. know what that is?

A: they're mouse pieces. 😭 the only one i did with my tablet was that odette.

there's a reason for that, of course -- it turns out i really like the sharp, often more angular looks a lot of my mouse-based pieces have. they feel like. crisper to me. if that's a word that makes sense. i don't really rely on blocky lines at all anymore now that i have a tablet, and my art is genuinely a lot rounder because of it. so on top of the overall style changes my more recent pieces have, the mouse pieces all have a different vibe to my tablet pieces that it seems i really prefer lol. (even that sakuya + amber, when you factor in the style changes due to them being very recent, still have that sharper look to them due to being mouse pieces. also bc i did them wit hte binary tool LOL.)

what does this mean? i don't know! but it's something to think about when i get back to things.

anyways thanks for reading this if any of you actually did! that's This Month With Melodybottles. tune in next time