#i know that there are some... people... on this site

[bobthedragon]

Hey webcomic makers and enjoyers!!

My very cool partner has been working on a site called webcomicweb to try to help collect comics and help people find them, spurred on by hiveworks dying* and randomwebcomic's domain expiring.

more info under the cut, but it is a voluntary webcomics directory and we'd love to have you check it out to add comics or read comics if you are interested!

*more complicated than that so look it up if this affects you ok

----

We're both millennials who grew up with the birth of the webcomic format, spawned from passionate strangers making things out of the human need to make art and stories and connect. When you stumbled from comic to comic through webrings and link pages before the internet got so small and so centralized and before comics became a business model for middlemen who have never cared about them.

webcomicweb can't promise any of the things a big, corporate product can promise because it's run by one person and hosted on neocities as a passion project with a $5 domain. we're not planning on making this a business and we don't know how long it'll last! but at least! we give a shit! my partner's going to keep paying for this and keep updating this directory for at least as long as our own comic is running (estimating 8 years at least at this rate lmao) so if this sounds appealing to you: bookmark the site, send us your links, tell your friends, whatever!

some features I wanna highlight bc I like them:

default randomized comic order - Zani specifically did not want to have the list end up with a bias based on time or alphabet. every time you refresh it re-shuffles so everyone gets seen!

filterable ratings from Everyone to Explicit

comics can ONLY be submitted by comic owners, so if you don't want to be listed you will not ever be dragged in by mass link scrapers or w/e!!

no monetization - this is literally JUST a directory for serving and displaying links to comics. because we like comics. because we want more people to read cool things and we want to read more cool things.

There's categories for paused, scrapped, and finished comics as well as ongoing! it's hard to get people to look at old things you've made in this feed-based world!!! but there's still so many people who wanna see it!!

anyway yeah that's my pitch!!! neither me nor zani benefits from this in any way other than the fact that we get to read and share comics! that is literally the whole goal! They've also been sending out emails asking people if they want in, but anyway they are so cool and handsome check out their site

[kdh-tally]

Abby x Reader Headcannons

Prompt : Headcannons of Abby and his Partner

Author's Note : This was requested (i was gonna write it anyways) and the request was so adorable but I unfortunately deleted it cause the first post wasn't loading 😭 But to the anon that asked, please keep your soul!! I'm not like Gwi-ma ;P

For context, you work at a pilates place. It's mixed building so they're both multiple female and male customers (i forgot what u call people who do pilates)

It’s bright and sunny with colours like yellow and pink being in the main design. Opposite of you is this minimalist and dark themed gym.

Both places are more or less enemies in business.

Not necessarily boys versus girls but instead gym junkies and muscle heads vs elegant bodybuilders and core strengtheners. 

It had been a long day and you were not supposed to be working but your co-instructor called in sick, and now you were the only available trainer on site. 

The building would be closing in a few hours and you seriously hoped no one else was coming in. Then the door opened.

In walked a guy who looked like he belonged in a boxing ring. He was crazily muscular, tall, slightly intimidating but 100% cocky.

You knew who this was, kinda.

He recently started going to the gym next door (traitor!!) so it was odd as to why he was here. Other than his pink hair, this definitely wasn’t his scene.

You were also pretty sure he was some new Kpop idol but apparently his group had gone on hiatus or something?

“Hey,” he greeted. “I’m here for the pilates thing?”

You glanced at the schedule. There was no appointment listed under his name. You looked back up at him in confusion, his cocky smirk was starting to piss you off.

He grinned. “It was a last-minute thing. Manager said she’d booked me in for some stretches or something. Said I need to ‘loosen up’.” He even added air quotes.

You tried not to roll your eyes. 

“Right. Lucky you. I’m the only one available.”

“Perfect,” he said without missing a beat before eyeing you up and down. “You look like you know what you're doing.” Cue the smirk, then the flex. 

Even though you swore to be loyal to pilates, you had to admit his muscles were… 😋

Five minutes later, he was on the reformer machine (in a position that should not have been physically possible) and asking if he was supposed to be feeling core activation.

“Is this normal?”

By the end of the session, he was drenched in sweat and fully humbled. You handed him water with a smirk of your own.

“Still think Pilates is just stretching?”

“…No comment.” after a moment of silence “…When’s your next opening?”

He proceeds to walk in every day after his gym sessions.

At first you’re confused cause he never seems tired?

You made him hold a side plank for 20 minutes and watched his soul leave his body.

“I can do squats with 200kg,” he gasped, “why is this band killing me?”

“Because you’re not using your core, muscle-head.”

He swore he wouldn't return again but came back the very next day.

All of a sudden he’s a regular.

Slowly starts coming to Pilate’s instead of the gym.

Many of the members, men and women alike, are super hyped.

It boosts their ego when the muscle-head can’t do half of the things they can.

He meets a decent amount of fans and they (very respectfully) ask why he’s taking Pilates classes all of a sudden.

He tells everyone he’s training to be more flexible for the dances Jinu makes them do, but honestly, he just wants to see you.

Brags that you’re his private instructor to literally everyone, even though you told him to stop doing that.

Whenever you correct his form, he smirks and says, “You just wanted an excuse to touch me, huh?”

You threaten to make him hold a wall sit for 10 minutes.

Will flirt with you. ALL THE TIME.

“You know, your hands are really strong. Its kinda hot.”

“Are you checking me out?”

“Breathe through the stretch, Abby.” you’d tell him

“It’s hard to breathe when you’re looking at me like that, cutie.”

You’ve smacked him with a foam roller at least three times. 

He soon convinces you to hang out outside of Pilates classes. 

Fortunately for you both there's a smoothie and snack bar next door.

After every session, he insists on walking you there.

You always order something healthy but he orders the fruitiest, sugariest thing and insists you try it.

You say no. He forces the straw in your mouth anyway.

When he confesses to you, he doesn’t make it big and dramatic.

I lied. It's kinda dramatic.

It was supposed to be a normal session.

You had no idea what was coming.

Abby had stayed behind again, lounging shirtless on a mat like he owned the studio, which he absolutely did not.

He’d more or less stop going to the gym at this point.

He’d just finished a perfect cobra stretch, smirking the whole time, and now he was watching you clean, spinning a towel around his hands like a bored pet.

“You always stare at me when I stretch,” he said suddenly. You didn’t look up, already used to the teasing remark. “I stare at all my clients. I’m making sure your spine isn’t breaking.”

“That’s cute. You care about my spine.”

You did look up that time, only to see him already walking over to the front desk where you stood.

“Abby,” you warned, “if you break another foam roller—”

“I’m not going to break anything today,” he cut in, laughing as you rolled your eyes. “I’m here to ask you out.”

You froze. “…What?”

“You heard me, cutie.” He leaned on the desk. “You’ve been driving me insane since day one. Yelling at me, correcting my form, making me sore for days.”

“That’s literally my job.”

“And you’re really good at it.” He leaned in, voice dropping just a little. “But I want more than our little pilates dates. Let me take you out.”

You blinked. “You’re joking.”

He tilted his head. “Do I look like I’m joking?”

You wanted to say yes. But his eyes weren’t playing around. Not this time.

“You really want to date your pilates instructor?”

“Hell yeah. You’re hot, you’re scary, and you’ve forced me into a split. I trust you with my life.” A beat. “Also,” he added, smug as ever, "I know you’ve been checking me out since the first class.”

You opened your mouth and closed it. “…Shut up.”

“Is that a yes?”

“…Maybe.”

“I’ll take it,” he said, reaching over the counter and stealing one of the protein bars you were fiddling with. “First date’s on me. Dress comfy.”

He left with a wink and a flex, the bell above the door jingling musically.

Now that he has boyfriend privileges, he’s constantly barging into your sessions to “check if your clients are better looking than him.”

They’re not. He makes sure of it.

You keep telling him it would be physically impossible for you to find someone more attractive than him anyways.

He does not like when other guys flirt with you.

He’ll sit on a mat, arms crossed, glaring while you lead a class. He’d be closer to the front of the class, which is odd cause he normally remains near the center to show off.

“I'm just observing.” he’d excuse, but you know he’s truly just trying to block any other on-lookers from seeing you.

He’s secretly very soft, though. 

Brings you water. 

Wraps his jacket around you if it’s cold.

Packs your bag the morning before classes (yes he stays over)

He pretends not to care, but sulks if you forget to text him after a long day.

The boys would be shocked that he managed to find someone willing to date him.

They only thought he had love for his muscles

“You’re dating a human pilates instructor?? Since when did you do pilates?” Baby would glare at him curiously.

Romance tries not to die laughing. “Wait, so she told you what to do and you liked it? Bro…”

Jinu was just happy he didn’t have to be forced to go to the gym with him anymore.

Abby would just take you instead.

Mystery was quite impressed. He didn’t care so much about Abby dating but was really interested in the mixed pilates center.

Would probably book a session to see what the hype’s about.

He would call you things like:

Ma’am - Whenever you boss him around.

Star-fish - Your super duper flexible the way a starfish is.

Brat - The name he uses to “bully” you

Y/N - Drags it out whenever he wants something from you.

Cutie - What he calls you most of the time.

You would call him things like:

Muscle Head : Cause he’s all muscle no brain

Baby : Cause it’s Abby spelt differently. (It kinda threw him off at first cause yk his band mate is also named Baby)

Loser : Banter is a very prominent thing in your relationship.

Himbo : He’s really pretty, you’ll be the first to admit it, he just isn’t the smartest sometimes….

Sweetie : Cause he can be such a sweet guy sometimes.

[hyperbees]

YALL ALREADY KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS!! I tried my best to make them both really pretty, I know some people were really underwhelmed with the team themes this year but I honestly love a chance to draw some cool shiny rocks. ^^ Happy Art Fighting this year everyone! :D MORE INFO UNDER THE CUT!! :]

As usual, these are also available through my Ko-Fi Shop for free as a download if you want the *crisp* copies for anything. If you're going to put them on your profiles, I suggest using Imgur since I've noticed grabbing the image links directly from Tumblr tends to make them weird and flickery on site.

To make your life easier, here they are for ease of BBCoding. :]

Crystals Gif: https://i.imgur.com/R9D8GYI.gif Crystals Static: https://i.imgur.com/R5UkAjH.png

Fossils Gif: https://i.imgur.com/wcvcUWR.gif Fossils Static: https://i.imgur.com/uE1Szaz.png

[delilahsturniolo]

ᝰ.ᐟ NEW CLASSIFIED MISSION FILE . . .

★ secretagent!chris x secretagent!reader

⋆˚࿔ RECKLESS

in which . . . you recklessly disarm an active bomb during a mission without waiting for chris, and chris is fuming at your irresponsibility. feeling guilty later on, you break down in front of him, thinking you’re a horrible agent and you’ll never be as good as him.

contains . . . mentions of bombs, a bit of violence, arguing, crying, angst but fluff at end, mentions and descriptions of blood/wounds.

written by @delilahsturniolo. do not copy, steal, or modify my works. if you are taking any inspiration from this, please ask me first before posting and credit me in your description. happy reading! :)

view more of this au here!

too much pressure. you can feel it ticking. the bomb is mounted to the underside of a steel beam, wrapped in wires, old tech. you don’t know. you didn’t wait for backup. you just ran in. you dropped to your knees in front of it, mind blank, hands shaking as you tried to remember the training. blue before red, red after yellow, or was it the opposite? doesn’t matter. there’s no time. your team’s still securing the upper floors. chris had gone around the east wing to stop the second convoy. you told him you’d wait. you lied. you pull a wire. the timer speeds up. your stomach drops. “shit—”

“what the fuck are you doing?!”

his voice cuts like a blade through your chest. you flinch. chris is suddenly behind you, shoving your hands away from the bomb with a sharpness you’ve never heard from him before. his eyes are wild. his breath is ragged. he looks terrified, and furious. “i told you to wait,” he seethes.

“i thought i could—”

“you thought?! are you serious, sunshine? that’s your defense right now?” you stand up slowly, but your legs feel weak. “we didn’t have time—”

“and now we have less time because you made it worse!” he yells, pacing once before turning back to you. “do you even understand how reckless that was? if you’d pulled the wrong wire—if i hadn’t come back when i did—”

“i was just trying to help!”

“you were trying to be a hero,” he spits. “and it almost got everyone killed.” his words hit harder than expected. your mouth opens, but nothing comes out. he doesn’t give you a second look before dropping to the ground and getting to work on the wires himself, hands steady, jaw clenched. you just step back, silent, and swallow the lump forming in your throat as you watch chris disarm the bomb, clean the mess you made.

back at HQ, the debriefing room feels like a courtroom. your wounds sting beneath your suit. you didn’t bother changing. you just sat in your chair, trying not to bleed through the fabric, trying not to look like you were barely holding yourself together. the director’s voice booms across the room, sharp and cruel. “agent, what the hell were you thinking?”

you keep your eyes on the floor. every other agent is watching you. some with annoyance. some with resentment. no one defends you. not even him. “you disobeyed a direct order, compromised the mission, and endangered everyone on site,” the director continues. “that kind of reckless behavior gets people killed.”

you nod once. “i understand.”

“say it louder.”

“i understand.” you speak, voice slightly breaking.

he scoffs and turns toward the other end of the table. “agent shadow.” chris finally looks up. “excellent instincts. you neutralized the threat before it could escalate. your quick thinking likely saved multiple lives.” chris shifts in his chair. doesn’t say thank you. doesn’t smile. but he also doesn’t look at you. not once.

“we’re done here,” the director says, slamming the file closed. ��dismissed.” you don’t say anything. don’t wait for the team. you disappear down the corridor, into the locker room, quiet and hollow. your blood is dried into the seam of your shirt, the pain in your side throbbing with every movement. you don’t ask anyone for help. who would wanna help the reckless, stupid agent anyway?

you just sink onto the bench in the corner, clutching gauze in one hand and antiseptic in the other. your hands shake. your breathing stutters. you peel back the fabric and hiss as the air hits raw skin. your fingers fumble, trying to clean it. trying to patch it. you drop the bandage twice.

you’re crying before you even realize it. not loud. not messy. just broken. you keep trying to wrap it. your shoulder’s burning. your vision is blurry. you’re not enough. you’ll never be enough. the door swings open. you freeze.

“jesus,” chris mutters. “sunshine.” you don’t look up. you don’t speak. he walks over quickly, eyes scanning your trembling hands, the blood, the mess you’ve made of your own skin. “what the hell are you doing?” he snaps. you flinch again. still, nothing. you can’t respond. can’t lift your head.

he sighs. and when he speaks again, his voice is quieter. softer. tired. “you should’ve come to the infirmary.” your lips are trembling. you just press the bandage to your side, failing miserably to line it up. blood keeps soaking through. chris lowers to his knees in front of you. “stop,” he says gently. “let me help you.”

you can’t look at him, but your hands fall into your lap. he works in silence at first, cleaning the wound carefully, taping it tightly. his touch is sure, steady. nothing like how he yelled before. he’s calm now. too calm. “you could’ve died,” he murmurs, breaking the silence. “you know that, right?” you blink hard. tears keep falling. “i just wanted to do something right,” you whisper. he pauses. you finally glance at him, eyes rimmed with red. “you’re always better than me.” his head snaps up.

“what?”

you shake your head. “you are. you’re smarter. faster. sharper. everyone listens to you. they praise you. i’m just the girl who messes things up. who puts people in danger. who almost—”

“don’t,” he interrupts, voice hard. “don’t say that.”

“it’s true,” you choke out. “they all hate me. and you—you haven’t even looked at me since the mission.” his jaw flexes. then he shakes his head, eyes full of something deep and unspoken. “i was mad because i was scared,” he says. “because the second i saw that bomb, and you kneeling in front of it, wires in your hand, i thought—” he stops. exhales.

“i thought i was about to watch you die.” you cover your face with your hands, the sob finally slipping through. he pulls you into him before you can stop him, arms wrapping around you, hand cradling the back of your head as your whole body trembles against his. “you made a mistake,” he whispers. “that doesn’t make you a bad agent.”

“i wanted to prove i could do it without you.”

he pulls back just enough to look you in the eyes.“sunshine,” he says gently. “you don’t have to prove anything to me.” you cry harder, shoulders shaking, body aching from everything. from failure, from fear, from needing him and hating that you do. he doesn’t let go. he just holds you tighter. “you’re gonna be okay,” he says softly. “i promise. we’re gonna be okay.” and in that moment, bandaged and broken and buried in his arms. you believe him. just a little, just enough.

© delilahsturniolo

[markkiatocafe]

try again

𖠚 warnings: veryyyyy cliché (i’m sorry guys, i’m in a mood), food + mentions of eating said food!!!!!! (ice cream) if that triggers you, be ware!!! rmb to eat something today ♡, slight angst ig at the start?? scoups used to be kindaa emotionally absent????, not proofread!!!

𖠚 synop: to your surprise, seungcheol isn’t opposed to the idea of getting to know you, again.

𖠚 pairing: gn!reader x ex!scoups

𖠚 w.c: 636

𖠚 a/n: my svt writing debut!!!!!! YIPPIEE ^_^ it feels fitting to do cheol first due to lia being the main reason i’m writing for svt… i hope you enjoy !!

it was a normal summer day. you were just going on a walk around your city, nothing too eventful. you had nothing better to do, and you wanted to enjoy the sun! so, why not?

well, when you got to your local park, you weren’t expecting to see scoups. aka, seungcheol. AKA the man who you dumped years ago and then blocked on every social media and messaging site available.

why exactly did you block him? well, at least back then… talking to him felt like talking to a brick wall. any conversation where you tried to tell him something you were hurt by or that you struggled with, it never got anywhere productive. he would immediately get combative, defensive. it was so annoying and honestly exhausting… so, you cut it off. ended it.

although, you couldn’t lie, a part of your heart ached whenever you saw something cherry themed. even if he was stubborn, you loved him. truthfully, deeply. he cared about you, even if in those heated moments you would definitely second guess that.

anyways, it wasn’t the past anymore. it was time for you to move on, like he sure has, right? maybe that thought was wrong.

“oh, hey, yn, right?” an all-too-familiar voice spoke up. you tilted your head towards the voice, only for your eyes to meet his.

“oh… yeah, seungcheol,” you said, a weak attempt at sounding normal. “long time no see.” you shifted your weight on your feet, fixing your hair.

his face crinkled a bit, yet a friendly smile remained on his lips, the smile that always made your heart skip a beat.

“i always hated it when you called me that.” he laughed.

that laugh played in your head like a broken record. you shrugged, ignoring the blood you could feel rushing to your cheeks. “i always thought your name was cute, i don’t know why you hate it so much.”

that time, you both laughed.

a little bit later, you somehow started walking off to no where specific together, lost in a conversation you didn’t even remember the start of. “i actually was wondering something.” he said, pausing to look at you and inhale, then looking over to the ice cream truck that suddenly appeared somewhere in the time span of your guys’ conversation, which you didn’t even realize till now.

“do you wanna get ice cream?” he said, but for some reason, you had a suspicion that’s not exactly what he was planning on saying. still, you nodded, quickly ordering together before going back to walking.

“what else did you want to say?” he raised an eyebrow as he took a lick of his ice cream. “what do you mean?”

“like, before you asked to get the ice cream,” you explained, holding up your ice cream and then taking a lick of it yourself, “you were gonna say something else, no?”

he hummed, clearing his throat and glancing at the ground. “i was just… i was wondering if you’d ever wanna try this again,” he hesitated, “us, again.”

you felt your breath catch in your throat. a big part of you knew you should’ve said no, but another part of you really wanted to say yes. “i mean… we’re both such different people now. you don’t even know me anymore.”

he turned to face you, pausing his steps. “i’m willing to get to know you again. more maturely this time. i can actually get through my feelings without freaking out now, and i don’t wanna waste this chance with you.” he was stern, truthful. not to mention, a little too convincing.

“i’m willing, if you are.” you said, turning to fully face him now, too.

and so you tried again. it was scary at first, but, over time, you never regretted giving seungcheol another chance.

[rametarin]

Well yeah. Think back to grade or highschool.

Say you had a friend. We'll call her, 'Carly,' or 'Sadie'. Your friend may be named something else, I don't fucking know.

Sadie/Carly has this big interest or concern she's pushing and "just floating" an idea about it and how to solve it. Problem is, it's the worst thing you've ever heard. The entire premise of her discussion is faulty and her conclusion is self-indulgent pap, and you feel like just by the nature of this bad faith conversation she has already reached a conclusion to this "problem" and is working backwards to bring you to it or try to get you to get there yourself, using only the information she's given you, to make you feel like you're solving it yourself.

But it "starts a conversation" at the table. The conversation does not go the way Sadie/Carly/your-friend's-name-here wants, she doesn't convince everybody to go in the direction she'd prefer or reach the sort of conclusions she wants. Too many people that know better interject and contribute and disprove some things her conversation takes for granted as true, because actual professionals or background people are in the soup and also present to converse.

The people at the table reach a consensus on the topic and all conclude: Sadie's conclusion was wrong, the solution is something else, and while Sadie may try and insist upon opening the conversation up again to go where she wants, the resistance and pushback she gets from retreading the same conversation and the irritation she causes by insisting the result be what she wants it to be is a nonstarter.

So Sadie, "just floats a subject" to another group of friends and hopes to direct and steer them towards her preferred conclusion to the conversation at the other table of peers, just to manufacture consensus on the topic there.

Tiktok and other social media sites are just Sadie bringing that conversation there where people aren't as exposed to the topic of conversation, the rules of engagement and discourse are different (shorter form posting, lowest common denominator bias in favor of small, many posts by less educated people with more emotional volatility) and she can shut out disparaging or dissenting voices from criticising the conversation she's championing.

These topics didn't even start on tumblr, they were just brought here by girls like Sadie that wanted another generation of people to be handheld through the topics and then championed and waved as foundational topic standards. Tumblr's format in many ways is just like a bleached well for certain terrible ideas or misrepresentations of history (see the Russophiles that keep trying to pretend western Lend Lease didn't pamper and powder Soviet asses, so they could contribute victories as well as meatwave bodies during WW2)

And they were brought to Tiktok especially because Tiktok is a aparatcha of the Chinese Communist Party. So, big fuckin' surprise there.

tumblr was the blueprint for all internet discourse and I stand by that. everything currently being talked about on twitter and tik tok now was already covered in the tumblr 2010-2014 era

[isuggestforcefem]

Kinda frustrated and upset rn, have a psychiatrist who’s been pretty cool and good so far, but I asked him what stops him being able to just prescribe hormones to patients himself? And he said he technically can but it’s his responsibility if anything goes wrong and because he isn’t trained in gender stuff specifically he could lose his license. I asked him, not to be a dick but how involved would that training really be? And he admitted it would probably be just some online training and shadowing a few appointments of someone who can do it already, but also that he wasn’t gonna do it. Just didn’t have the time to add that to the priority list. Like I wasn’t suggesting he do it for me but if your practice mostly serves younger people and you wanna be a queer ally having someone who specializes in trans healthcare on site would be a HUGE boon. It sucks for me but I wouldn’t feel right asking him to risk his license for my sake, my problem is it’d be a gigantic pain to get to an endo right now but in a few months it’d be a breeze, I was asking him if I could start now and line up an appointment in a couple months, but he’s insistent I see the endo first before even starting.

But like, for anyone with executive dysfunction every extra thing you need to do can feel like 50 things, and if you’re still closeted you could be going through all of it on your own and my even need to stay discrete about it. If someone is already in your care and wants that help why don’t you want to be able to give it to them?

On the personal level I feel like I’ve just wasted so much time, it’s frustrating to think I found a shortcut then get shut down and have to keep waiting. I know it’s never too late but I’m so tired ☹️

That’s awful! That psychiatrist is horrible, his behaviour denotes such a lack of care for trans people. I’m so sorry darling, it’s unfair how people treat us.

[3liza]

im sorry i think im having an autistic oppositional moment that is wholly unreasonable. and that i need to work through it to get my head straight. i have to do some talking it through with myself ancient philosopher style. because no one NEEDS to know that rats and mice are different, really. no one tests you on it. if you arent a rodent specialist of some kind it really does not matter. but

im still having trouble believing anyone, even who lives in i think Indonesia based on their blog, who posts in english on an english-based site that uses pictures and posts about animals as a form of local currency, and who claims to have studied German and Italian extensively, both languages that like english have separate words for mice and rats and in my experience use them in language education templates extensively, would genuinely be unaware that there are more than one species of household pest rodent, and also that a pet rat is also a type of pet. i dont really understand that level of being checked out of information that ambiently exists in the places where this person appears to be interacting with large posts that link to other large posts where ambient information is in circulation etc etc. like they arent isolated and just using tumblr as a personal blog. but i think im having an unreasonable response like i said. i will just have to update my worldview

one of the big things about this thats baffling to me is they really do not look similar except when they are irl scurrying around your house, because the wild type mice and rats do tend to be sort of a similar brown color and often a young rat will be not much bigger than an adult mouse and they hide and move quick so i get it. but in a google search the speciation is really really clear from photo to photo

this is like that time i discovered my boyfriend at the time was unaware that when days got shorter in the winter or longer in the summer, it was because the sun both rose and set at ever-changing times of the day. he thought in winter the sun rose at the same time as it did all year (i should have asked him what hour he thought the sun ALWAYS came up every day but i was so shocked i didnt think about it), but just set earlier. he was like 25 years old and regularly stayed out working or clubbing until dawn, so he must have been putting in extra effort not to notice that the sun was rising at different times. this doesnt even get into that he was fully uncomprehending of how the planet actually works in orbit around the sun but i assume most people do not beyond "the planet spins and this is somehow related to how days and seasons work". learning he was wrong about this didnt seem to affect his life at all. despite it being the second thing they would tell you about earth if you were a visiting alien, you can live your whole life here never internalizing that information despite it appearing constantly everywhere, and it will take 25 years or never for someone to catch you not knowing shit about it. the basic principles of physics are not relevant to the everyday lives of human beings. weird to consider

anyway in my opinion you will have more fun if you know about multiple kinds of rodents or how the earth travels around the sun or that ponies are not baby horses. i think it makes your life better in a lot of ways so its cool that a lot of people are finding out about rats and mice today

there. i have successfully talked myself down from reactive irritability

[were--ralph]

FYI Pocket Deer Boy has not been going after trans men or black trans men. What happened was that PDB spoke out against harassment campaigns and general hostility towards trans women and black trans women, as well as repeated some transfeminist talking points. As such people behind those harassment campaigns are now doing the same to him.

Main thing is you don't have to like him or whatever. But anytime someone comes into your inbox and tries to tell you that someone you've never met is evil and bad (especially without proof) and you should tell everyone that they're evil and bad and to avoid them. You should be skeptical at the least or just delete it.

only focusing on the second part.

i answered three anons. the first one i was blatantly skeptical i literally said "i feel like theres more going on than im currently hearing", the second i said "i dont know what's going on but i dont follow them atm", the third i said "i dont know why people are notifying me about this discourse". i never not once did anything to condone or condemn them i literally minded my own business, then asked friends who do follow them and found out the truth for myself, then went back to not being bothered.

I posted nothing else and said nothing else about it. I think the big takeaway here is for people to stop inciting drama and stop policing who people are reblogging especially if they're simply in a chain of reblogs and not from the source itself. the only reason i answered anything was to defend myself in the first anon and distance myself with the other two because of the amount i had received in my inbox about something i truly had nothing to do with. nothing on this site matters even a little bit at all irl and its annoying for people to act like it does.

go touch grass

[argumate]

Israeli soldiers have been deliberately firing at unarmed Palestinians near aid distribution sites in Gaza, army whistleblowers have said.

First-hand accounts reported in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz allege that commanders had in recent weeks ordered troops to shoot at crowds “to drive them away or disperse them, even though it was clear they posed no threat”.

Soldiers used “heavy machineguns, grenade launchers [and] mortars” to suppress hungry Gazans queuing for food at new distribution points set up by a controversial private firm, it is claimed.

It is also alleged that some soldiers took orders from a brigadier general who had previously stated that there were “no innocents in Gaza”.

One soldier told Haaretz: “It’s a killing field. Where I was stationed, between one and five people were killed every day.

“They’re treated like a hostile force – no crowd-control measures, no tear gas – just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machineguns, grenade launchers, mortars. Then, once the centre opens, the shooting stops, and they know they can approach. Our form of communication is gunfire.”

...

An IDF officer told Haaretz that the military’s security perimeters around distribution points included tanks, snipers and mortars, and they were designed to protect those present and ensure aid distribution could take place.

“At night, we open fire to signal to the population that this is a combat zone, and they mustn’t come near,” the officer said.

“Once, the mortars stopped firing, and we saw people starting to approach. So we resumed fire to make it clear they weren’t allowed to. In the end, one of the shells landed on a group of people.”

In other cases, he said, “We fired machine guns from tanks and threw grenades. There was one incident where a group of civilians was hit while advancing under the cover of fog. It wasn’t intentional, but these things happen.”

According to the officers and soldiers who spoke to Haaretz, the IDF fires at people who arrive before opening hours to prevent them from approaching, or again after the centres close, to disperse them.

not great work my dudes

[marshmelman]

back from the dead! how about a mini update!

well, i'm calling it "mini" even though a lot of things were added... that's because i haven't made a full progress report or posted this to reddit or sent out the email newsletter. i'll make a big update about it a little later. for now, have a looksee! here's a list of everything that has been added in this video:

Group stuff

- i put in tabs on the homepage that let you filter your feed to only show posts from certain groups. the plus sign button takes you straight to the groups directory to look for more groups to join.

- there is also a "post in" dropdown at the bottom left of the post form that lets you choose which group to post in.

- groups on this site will be important especially for building community with early adopters, so i also made them easy to get to by adding a "my groups" section in the site sidebar.

- the groups have a number of features beyond just the group feed, including a private forum, private gallery, privacy settings, and cosmetics like changing the group icon and banner.

Profile Stuff

- unfortunately, i can't do full html customisation like Tumblr can, but i'm still trying to add as much as possible! cosmetically, you can change not just your profile image and banner, but the background image of the entire website (when someone is on your profile).

- i'm also working on developing a robust bio section with a lot of fields for people to fill out. almost none of them are required, so anyone can pick and choose what information they have on their profile, and visible to whome (just yourself, people on your friends list, or everyone).

- the bio has a lot of conditional fields to avoid getting too cluttered, so certain fields only show up if they apply to you as based on your answers. please let me know what kind of things you want to put on your bio! i'm a little uncreative when it comes to what sorts of things should be fields...

- in the future, i'd love to add a feature for system littles to be able to easily switch between different profile information, but that's not in a mini update like this. maybe it would also be fun to extend changing the website background to group pages too. just some stuff to think about.

i was quiet for a long time, but please don't give up on me! even if i don't say it, i'm still working on this project. :] it is something i truly wish to come true, even if it takes a long time.

alrighty! back to the grind for me!

[santae-salt]

Hey, this is former artist (and briefly art director) Keshi. My anxiety over how I had to leave has prevented me from speaking up about anything, and has even prevented me from publicly interacting in Sancord or anyone affiliated with Santae (I really do miss a whole bunch of you though). With the current events, and the many times the teased breeding mechanic has been brought up, I’d like to finally break my silence, and share my experience.

First off, the situation CJ has put Ember in is horrifying, I do not wish to take attention away from this appalling selfish act with my post. I cannot fathom what would bring a person to do this to someone they call their friend. CJ should truly be ashamed of himself, this is going way too far. I never really got the chance to interact with Ember, but I am so sorry you are going through this and I hope things work out for you soon.

A little background on me, I have worked for Subeta and MisticPets in the past, and done commission work for various petsites and games. This experience is spread over the last 18 years, so I’ve seen my fair share of drama on these sites. I’ve never witnessed this level though.

I was willing to (and did) put a lot of time and heart into the egg and hatchling art. I was aware of the amount I’d need to draw, and was ready to commit to what I thought was a desired fun feature with really cute art. I had no idea that this mechanic was not wanted, that it had been stated it would never be a feature on this site. And while I know it wasn’t my decision to make this happen, I am so sorry that money was spent on me creating those images. I am saddened that the feedback on this feature wasn’t respected and listened to. At one point, the AI art incident was brought up during a discussion with CJ, and that the NPCs were being revamped. I am strongly against AI art, and I offered to help fast track the revamps by working on some myself. This was turned down, and I was only to focus on the breeding images.

When it was made aware that Whixy was to sadly step down, I was surprised to be offered the position to take over. I probably triple checked that there definitely wasn’t another artist who had been there longer, who wanted to role, and was reassured no one was interested. I accepted the role, and was excited to be closer to the team and feel I was actively contributing more to current events and features. With access to the calendar and full trello, I could see how many events were planned, the artwork we needed, and that we were, in my eyes, quite behind schedule. I want to preface that this was in no part, Whixy or the previous and current artists fault. They are all amazing, and were doing the best with what they could. I expressed my concerns on how much we needed in a short time. I had offered that I could help get us ahead by working on some items, but I was reassured that we were doing fine and once again the breeding artwork was to be my focus. (Despite this claim, CJ then proceeded to assign/reassign tasks last minute to various artists, and I was informed after the decision was made. So I can only imagine what staff members like Ember, Whixy and Ermineleader would have been through during their time, so much respect from me there)

After realising how much CJ continued to mismanage the site and staff, and witnessing his public conduct in front of users on the discord server and beyond (just in the 2 months I was there), I knew I couldn’t align myself with him. I finally looked into this blog and read the staff letter+ the statement on toyhouse, and my heart was heavy. This, along with many long days/late nights dedicated to drawing for the site, and working on my new art director roles, my body and mind kind of gave up. I won’t go into detail, but it was a sign I had to leave. I know I chose to work as much as I did, but I’m a chronic people pleaser/overachiever (and I also needed the extra income).

The art team was not informed that I had left, and it took almost a week before I had the strength to come back and let them know. I still feel some guilt, like I let everyone down during an already rocky time. I’m so sorry I couldn’t help more.

I have my fears in talking openly about this, but I’d love to lift this weight off my shoulder and finally move on. I know my experience is a small fraction compared to what others have endured, but thanks for allowing me the space to share it. An emotional breakdown over a virtual petsite was not on my 2025 bingo card. I hope everyone left on staff, and those negatively affected by the site both past and current are doing okay.

💜 Keshi

☁️

[recklessghostart]

Guys- Y'all (The Anon) sound SO entitled. Art is work. Valid work. A real job for many. Meanwhile Doody and Maru are making Full fledged, colored and shaded, comics for FREE. F R E E. And We ain't talking your standard free webtoons (Which no shade to, I love a good webtoon) where a good chunk of the art is pre-made brushes patterns and faces they can slap on to make their work faster (yes that's how a lot of them can upload weekly + working in advance to their seasons). And even they have a way where you can pay the app to see their Finished work a couple of weeks early. And lets just say they decide one-day that no, they want to hide some of their art fully behind a paywall. Not even DDVAU Comics, just art like what this Anon was complaining about. So-fucking-what? It's their art. They can do what they want with it. And supply and demand is a thing- there 100% are people who would pay to get to see it. You know hat people used to have to do to get to see art? Buy it. Or pay to go to a museum. Or like- literally anything but open up their phones that didn't exist back in the day. And ontop of that- the art that they may or may not be gatekeeping behind a paywall (Which a reminder, they post a week later for Free. but lets again, just say they don't for sake of argument)- its not even the COMIC! It's just art of the sillies. You still get the full story- FOR FREE. You know what you should do? Go to your local Barns and Noble. Look around- See how there is manga and comics on the shelves, books that you couldn't finish in your stay there at the store. You know what you have to do to read them? PAY FOR THEM. Art can be free- If the artist feels like they wish to upload and share it that way. But never expect someone to do hard work for your enjoyment for free. Art can be tipped, such as with ko-fi, and maybe- just maybe, you will receive perks for being nice to your artist, like getting to view the art early. Art can be payed. The artist can tease their work and tell people "Hey if you want to see it, buy my book! Sub to my site! Give me money to see my Work." And they should NEVER be shamed for wanting to get payed for what they do, If you ever think to yourself "Wow, I am upset that someone spent hours on something that I would like access to, and would benefit me in one way or another (IE: make you happy). How dare they not give it to me for free!" Then check yourselves. This is how you lose everything you enjoy in life. Because one day, it won't be worth it (Likes don't feed you or pay the bills) and all the artists you love will just stop. (or at the very least slow down). Then the market will flood with things like even more AI and all the art, comics, shows and movies you used to love will become lifeless boring slop. That's not a world I want. Support your artists.

I think it's quite annoying that you place some art behind a paywall. I could understand if it was extra comics or prints or art requests but just a drawing? Art should be free and accessible for everyone...

No offence to you of course. I don't want to come across as rude. Do what you want to do.

But I'm a huge ddvau fan, and part of the appeal of it is that it's free to read online. Having extra art of it that many people will never see just because they can't spare the money goes against that. And teasing it doesn't help.

I'm sorry but this comes out as rude. Currently the workload of the comic is a full time job, making 16 to 25 pages each month is truly demanding with the level of my capacities and resources, and kofi is an optional support so I can keep working on it and keep the monthly schedule without the need of constantly open commissions, cuz other way it would be impossible to me to make this a constant series with reasonable updates. All of the art IS free to access, because I post all the art a week later, for free, on my socials. And I keep the price of the kofi to 1 dollar so it's accessible for the people who wish to support me economically. I'm sorry but artists needs to eat, and this is the small ways i can help out myself and my family doing what I love without exploiting myself in the process.

[oimoitalaina]

The Emperor Has no Clothes, or, Is There an Opposite of Review Bombing?

The comments @staying-elive left on my last post (which were great thank you!) has made me think more about another strange element of Thunderbolts. That is the fact that despite the movie being objectively a terrible mess and a financial disaster, it got good reviews. And now we’re seeing Ironheart get review bombed, like many projects before it. This makes me wonder, is there such a thing as the inverse of a review bomb? Where a bad movie gets artificially positive reviews?

One of the biggest problems with having a project get review bombed is that it puts anyone with positive things to say on the back foot. The most recent example before Ironheart was Brave New World, and I still see people start any positive take of the movie with something like “don’t believe what you’re seeing online” or “Well I *actually* liked it” or “despite what people say, I think it was good”. Or “I don’t get why people didn’t like it!” (It's racism, keep up). People are always giving ground to the “majority” negative opinion before giving their own positive take. Any praise of Brave New World has had to fight uphill so to speak, it's at a disadvantage because of that damn Rotten Tomato score. Even when sites like Rotten Tomatoes crack down on review bombing like they finally did for Ironheart, it's often too little too late. The first thing many people heard was that there were negative reviews. Even when people *logically* understand that something is incorrect, like an overwhelmingly negative series of reviews, first impressions make a huge unconscious difference on the average fan.

So we know that an objectively good movie can be made to look bad to the average audience if there are negative reviews, no matter how fake those reviews are. My question is - can the opposite happen? And can that help explain the weird case with Thunderbolts? Thunderbolts got good reviews and did terribly at the box office. Now, for many movies, this is not an uncommon phenomenon. The current state of theaters is pretty terrible, and people don’t have the finances to go out to every movie that comes out. We also have streaming now, so most people are willing to wait to watch a movie for much way less money. But while this is the case for lots of movies, it has not been the case for the MCU. These movies have a huge established fanbase, a massive marketing budget, and extra control over the movie theaters themselves. Disney has a huge amount of sway over how many theaters and showtimes their movies get. Thunderbolts had every advantage to do well, even over other MCU movies this year since it had a noticeably larger advertising budget than Brave New World.

The thing is, Thunderbolts is a bad movie. And a bad MCU movie bombing makes sense. The only thing that doesn’t make sense is the positive reviews. So while many people are questioning why a movie with such good reviews did so badly at the box office, I’m instead asking how such a bad movie got such good reviews in the first place. And, as I’ve clearly been hinting at so far, I think it's because the nature of many of these reviews is in some way artificial.

Now before people think I’m some conspiracy theorist about it, I don’t actually think that this is a one to one comparison to the act of review bombing. I don’t think that fans who didn’t watch the movie flooded Rotten Tomatoes with 100% ratings. Instead, I think that the marketing of the film influenced a lot of the reviewer’s opinions. Again, credit to @staying-elive for talking about this, because it is true that Disney made a big push to act like Thunderbolts was some indie film. They did the whole “absolute cinema” meme, and they leaned into the practical stunts involved with the movie. Florence Pugh jumping off that building and the cast talking about Bucky’s stunt double with the wig on his helmet come to mind. The marketing also leaned into the concept of mental health representation. This feels especially odd in hindsight. The depiction of mental health in this movie clearly moved some people, but a great deal of it was fairly one dimensional. Nicque Marina made a great video going into detail about this topic. This movie feels rather patronizing when it comes to the topic of mental health at parts, acting like it can be solved with a group hug.

The highlighting of mental health for this movie also feels odd since other MCU projects have also covered this topic, often with much more care and grace, but the marketing for those projects didn't use the term "mental health" as judiciously as we see in Thunderbolts' marketing. Moon Knight, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Wakanda Forever are great examples. These all do a much more in depth, nuanced look into mental health while also not taking such a patronizing attitude towards its characters. Hell, I’d say that Brave New World covers mental health more than Thunderbolts in a much more detailed and subtle way. It covers Isaiah’s trauma, Sam’s grief and sense of constant pressure as a Black man in such a prominent position. It's about, dare I say it, men’s mental health and how they can support each other by being open and vulnerable in their emotions. Sam and Joaquin’s conversation at the end of the movie does more work in that department than a goddamn group hug, that’s for sure! And, again, its fine if people liked the mental health messaging in Thunderbolts, but to act like its the only project that has covered this topic is questionable in my eyes.

The trailers also did a lot of work to make Thunderbolts look like a Guardians of the Galaxy style scrappy team looking for redemption, with Bucky acting as the mentor and moral center of the movie. The montage highlighting each character, complete with big text of their name, implied that this would be a true ensemble cast movie that would dive into each of their stories. The glimpse of Yelena’s room gave the impression that the story would involve all of the characters needing to confront their demons to defeat an insurmountable foe. By showing their initial confrontation with Val, the trailers implied that this would be a clear Thunderbolts vs. Val story where they reject her and help take her down.

But, much like the indie film comparisons, the theme of mental health and redemption isn’t a legitimate trapping of Thunderbolts. Neither was the whole “future of the MCU” angle I talked about in an earlier post. These were all just straws that the marketing department found themselves grasping at when everyone behind the scenes realized that the movie was a dumpster fire. But of course the initial reviewers didn’t know that at the time. And a lot of these reviewers wanted these things that the marketing promised to be true.

While I think that Disney deserves a lot of blame for how they marketed the movie, especially with regards to how they disrespected every project to come out in phases 4 and 5, a lot of blame also falls on the fans. Because the origin of the idea that the MCU fell off after Endgame was not from Disney itself, that was something that came up on the internet just a few projects into phase 4. And while there were a few missteps in the last six years, most of those were more a matter of issues behind the scenes. Executive meddling, poor organization, and insufficient support for creative teams. Disney not immediately listening to the requests of the writers and actors unions which led to the perfectly justified strikes. These account for most of the issues, and beyond that, there were plenty of disappointing movies before phase 4 that the fanbase has  just conveniently forgotten with time.

But to many of these reviewers, the claim that Thunderbolts was the start of a new era for the MCU, a return to form, was tempting. It didn’t hurt that this movie was overwhelmingly white. There has been an insidious, racist association between phases 4 and 5 being of supposedly lower quality and their push for greater representation. The racists who believe this are of course choosing to ignore that Antman Quantumania and Thor Love and Thunder were not good at all despite having white leads. And while I’m not going to pretend that every reviewer had openly racist motivations behind being excited for Thunderbolts, it was probably the case for a few. And for those who weren’t being actively racist, I think the general feeling online about phases 4 and 5 have spread to reviewers who aren’t aware of the racist undertones. Plenty of people’s ears are too bad to hear dog whistles. 

So, between the work of the marketing team and a general desire for the movie to be good, I think it makes sense that a good deal of reviewers would walk out of the movie having liked it. There was nothing to prime them towards having negative opinions towards the movie other than the actual movie itself. And, well, this is where I get into the kinda conspiracy-esque part. I think that these reviewers really wanted this movie to be good because it fit the narrative that the internet had already decided on. They wanted Brave New World to fail and Thunderbolts to succeed. Brave New World had the rumors about extensive reshoots and a bloated budget, it had a controversial character, it had a moment or two of questionable CGI, and it had a lead who many people can’t stand for reasons they *insist* aren’t racist. In comparison, Thunderbolts was marketed as the creative darling, with actors like Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan who had been having great success with indie movies. This movie didn’t have those pesky reshoots like Brave New World, and it had all those practical stunts! It was moving the plot forward, bringing back these characters who we hadn’t seen in quite a few years confronting a villain who had been set up over multiple movies. It was an ensemble cast, which we haven’t seen since Eternals.

So unlike the victims of review bombing, this movie had nothing but positivity at its back. And so reviewers just kinda rode that wave. Because this is their job, and part of that job is getting attention. A confirmation that the movie everyone wanted to be good was indeed great? That gets views and clicks. So at least a portion of reviewers were just riding off the fun of watching a new MCU movie that they wanted to be good. A  proportion were probably genuinely racist John Walker fans who loved how the movie mocked and erased Sam. But I think there were definitely reviewers who recognized that the movie was bad. I mean, how could anyone with half a brain not notice that? But I think they had good reason to not point it out.

Why would a professional reviewer not take the opportunity to call out a bad movie? Don’t they love doing that? Well, as I said before, it would go against the desired narrative, a narrative that was shared by Disney, fans, and reviewers. And it is genuinely risky to go up against something that powerful. Nobody wants to be the first one to point out that the movie everyone wanted to be good was actually really bad. They don’t want to be the buzzkill, especially since the movie is supposed to be this heartfelt masterpiece about the importance of mental health! To finally reference my title, nobody wants to be the person to point out that the emperor’s beautiful robes don’t exist, that his tailor has been lying to him, that he’s parading through the streets naked.

And so, much like the review bombing we’ve seen directed at recent projects, the reviews for Thunderbolts feel similarly untrustworthy. And while this is a concerning thing to have happened, in some ways it is actually kind of comforting. Because I want the theater industry to survive, and I want the MCU to last and make good movies. If it became a pattern that MCU movies with genuine, overwhelmingly positive reviews bombed in theaters just like every other movie, that would probably spell the end for theaters and the MCU. But in the case of Thunderbolts, it was just a case of a bad movie doing badly. And that is at least something that is actionable, something that can be changed for future movies to ensure financial success. I hope that the lesson execs learn from Thunderbolts is that, at the end of the day, quality is all that matters. No amount of marketing or public perception is going to affect the actual content of the film. Because when the emperor has no clothes, someone will eventually point it out. 

[lou-struck]

Blackberry Blushes

Shinsuke Kita x reader

W.C- 2.1k

~ Shinsuke is at your door ready to pick you up for your dinner date with a gift. Little did he know you have one for him as well.

a/n: I've been out with a cold the last few days and am working through things the best I can. I should be starting my new job pretty soon but things have been a bit wild.

Despite the fan above working overtime, Shinsuke can still feel the warmth radiating from the oven as he paces circles around the Kitchen, his phone snug between his shoulder and his cheek as the man on the other end of the line gives him some questionable advice. 

“Are you sure this is an appropriate gift for them, Ushijima-san?” He asks again, fiddling with his fingers. Although the two had rather limited interactions in high school, the two former Captains have formed an unlikely friendship over their love of hard work and the outdoors. “I’ve heard of giving flowers and chocolates before a date but this is new to me.”

“I believe this will be even more appreciated,” the Wing Spiker says. Shinsuke notes that the edge of softness in his friend’s tone seems to be used only when speaking of the person responsible for that thick gold band around his ring finger. “When I did it, I got them a bouquet of peaches.” 

“I see.” The grey-haired man smiles, his heart thrumming in his chest as he imagines giving you his gift. “Then I shall follow suit and hope for similar results.”

~

The rain is great!

It waters plants, makes the air smell fresher, and creates some top-tier white noise to fall asleep to. 

But now…

This surprise rainstorm that somehow evaded every weather forecast has flooded the park, carrying away the wooden stage and several of the vendor stalls that were set up for tonight's outdoor concert series. Watching what was supposed to be the site of your date tonight with Shinsuke Kita float away on the news was entertaining for a moment but now you stare down at your blacked phone screen wondering if this is a sign from the universe that you aren't ready to take this step. 

Your stomach twists and curdles from the acidity of your nerves. Dating is rough, especially now in the age of social media. But finding someone as kind, hardworking, and drop-dead gorgeous as Kita makes you feel as if you have struck gold.

Not to mention old people love him which means he is just waving those green flags for all to see. 

Your heart races at the thought of his sunny smile or his soft laughter when you stumble through an awkward joke or cheesy pun. Your ringtone slices through your thoughts as his number flashes on the screen. You nearly throw yourself off the kitchen counter as you lunge to pick it up.

“Hello? Y/n?” Just the sound of his voice is enough to make you go weak in the knees. “ I just wanted to call ahead to see if you would still be interested in going out tonight? I know the weather isn’t perfect. But a friend of mine has a restaurant downtown that I would love to take you to instead of the park~”

“Yes!” you say with an almost panicked eagerness. Missing out on someone like him would be a huge mistake. Your cheeks burn as your brain buffers, trying to figure out what to say next. 

“That’s great,” he says, and you swear you can see his soft smile through the speaker. “I’ll pick you up around 6” There’s a pause. “I am really looking forward to seeing you tonight.”

“Me too,” you murmur, barely containing the bubbles of excitement building up inside of you like a shaken soda can. “See you then.”

“You can count on it,” he says as the line goes dead. Leaving you alone to crack the can. Your heartbeat soars to join your head in the clouds. 

How can another person make you feel this way? 

Falling into the couch, you glance over to the clock on the wall. It’s only 10 in the morning. If you don’t find something to keep you busy, you are going to spend all day thinking of tonight. 

And as it has been explained to you, overthinking is dangerous.

You need a distraction, or at least a way to cool off.

Rocking yourself to your feet you walk over to the back door leading to your garden. Through the glass, you notice that the rain has slowed to a barely there drizzle. Not wanting to let the rain dictate every part of your day, you slip on your gardening shoes and step out into the fresh air to check on your garden. 

Shoes crunching on the darkend pebbles, you walk through the rows of green reaching toward the sky, drinking up every bit of Mother Nature's gift. Their vibrancy brings a smile to your face as you walk, checking for any intrusive weeds or signs of sickness. 

It’s then when you see it, a vine from a blackberry bush encroaching on your little pumpkin patch.

Rain or not, you know you have to do something. Those vines can cause major damage if they are allowed to grow so you put on your heavy-duty gardening gloves, grab your tools, and get to work destroying the plant. 

You follow the prickly vine to source because there is never just one, it twists and turns leading you behind your garden shed where you come face to face with the mother of all thorns. 

Sure, life has been busy lately. But how the hell have you managed to miss Mt. Blackberry growing behind your cute little shed?

The tangle of half-living, half-dead vines climbing on top of eachother is almost too overwhelming to touch. 

Emphasis on almost. 

Especially when you see that many of these bushes are bearing fruit. The plump little berries look like they would make the most amazing jam. The sidequest in front of you is the perfect distraction for this afternoon. 

Circling back to your shed for a large bucket, some heavy-duty pruners, and some thicker gardening gloves, so you can take down this enemy and enjoy the spoils of war.

~

With the monster defeated, it is unclear what you have collected more of, blackberries or thorns in your skin. The bushes that have invaded your yard fought valiantly but you managed to take them all down.

As you look at the gaping hole in the dirt, you know any weeds will think twice before trying to grow back in that spot. The rain has taken it easy on you so far, it’s misty droplets ceasing for the majority of your project. But now, its dark clouds loom threateningly above your head, urging you inside to work on your next project. 

It’s gonna be a jam!

~

It’s been a few hours of distracting hard work and you have made enough jam to feed an army, or at least a professional sports team.

Very carefully you pull the last batch of mason jars from the vat of boiling water, tapping your finger against the seals to make sure they are all set and ready to go. 

The assembly of jars surrounds you, taking up all the space your kitchen has to offer, the dark berry hues bathe the room.

Isn't there something you should be remembering?

Lifting your sugar-dusted phone screen you start to double-check the steps from the recipe you had pulled up earlier. In the top corner of the screen, you spot the time.

5:45

Shinsuke….

Shit!

He’s coming to pick you up in fifteen minutes, looking down at your berry-splattered t-shirt, you look an absolute mess.

Letting out a screech that would make pterodactyls jealous, you rush around the house getting ready in record time. Hopping in the shower with a toothbrush in one hand and a loofah in the other. As you scrub and brush, your skin stings as you run the suds over where the blackberry bushes fought back.

With no time to dry yourself properly, you resort to a towel pat-down and shimmy combo that, despite making you feel like a dog, works far better than you thought it would. With just minutes to go, you fix the buttons on the shirt you chose and force some jeans over your kinda damp legs.

Your rapid movements are halted by the sound of polite rapping on your front door. 

He’s here…

Time slows down as you become all too aware of how fast your heart is beating. Passing the kitchen, the sea of jars catches your eye. It’s funny how what once was a sense of accomplishment can quickly turn to shame. 

You made way too many. What the heck are you going to do with all of these?

Looking between the jars and the door a thought pops into your head. 

Would it be weird if you gave him one?

Maybe… 

But there is something in your gut telling you to give it to him. Grabbing one of the cooler jars on the far side of the countertop, you are relieved to see that the jam has set nicely and the seal is still perfectly intact. 

The floor beneath you seems to warp as you take slow, uneasy steps toward the door. Your hand shakes as you grab the handle and give it a twist. 

But the minute you open the door, the world returns to normal when you see Shinsuke standing there. His hair, damp and darker as a few droplets of rain trail down his features and cling to his shoulders as you spor In his hands you spot a mysterious, paper-wrapped bundle tucked into his tan corduroy jacket. 

He greets you with a perfect smile as he clears his throat.“Hello y/n,” he says with pink cheeks. How cruel of you to make him wait outside for so long.

Is he not feeling well?

“Hey, I’m glad you made it,” you beam, opening your door wider to welcome him inside. “I hope you didn't get too cold waiting out there.”

He shakes his head as he steps across the threshold. “Not at all, if anything the rain felt wonderful. My plants must be loving it.” You notice his attention drifting momentarily to the jam jar tucked under your arm. 

“Oh, this is for you,” you say quickly, placing the jar in his open hand. 

He takes it curiously peering at the wine-colored substance. “What’s this? Is this jam?"His features turn from surprise to a bashful red, almost as bright as the contents of your jar.

“It is. Blackberry actually. I made it this afternoon.” you say shyly, handing him the jar.

He looks thoroughly impressed with the fruits of your labor. And smiles gratefully. “Well thank you for this, this looks wonderful. I can’t wait to try this.”

“Thank you, I had some extra time on my hands today.”

“I know what you mean,” he says, shooting a glance toward the rain before turning his attention to the paper parcel he had brought with him. “Here, this is for you, I guess I also had some time on my hands.”

You take it and are surprised by the weight. It’s lighter than you thought it would be, with such a firm shape. Curiously you open the bag and pull out what can old be described as the most perfect sourdough loaf you have ever seen in your life.

“Wow. When it comes to gift giving, you win,” you say admiring the crispy, golden-brown crust and the magazine-perfect level of scoring. “I think this is the prettiest loaf I’ve ever seen.”

He laughs, “Well thank you. I picked up the hobby not too long ago so I still have a long way to go, but a friend of mine told me you may like it more than flowers.”

“This is way better than flowers,” you breathe. Despite being baked a few hours ago, the heavenly smell coming from the bread is heavenly and makes your stomach rumble to life. “Hungry?”

“A little,” you admit. “This looks so good, I could dig in right now.”

“It would probably be great with the jam you made earlier,” he says. And your eyes meet and you come to the same conclusion.

“You wouldn't want to just stay in tonight, would you?” you ask hesitantly. “Maybe we could eat toast, watch a movie?”

“I’d love that,” he says, already taking off his jacket. 

You hold the bread loaf to your chest and start toward the kitchen gesturing for him to follow. As another idea comes to you.

Your smile grows wider, “Maybe if the rain stops I could show you my garden.

Shinsuke’s breath hitches at your words. And he won’t tell you till later, but in that moment he wanted nothing more than to drop to one knee.

Tagging: @pixelcafe-network @sleepyyshroom @isaacdaknight @qardasngan @dog55teeth

[snowangelnoelle]

putting together some bits from chapter four (mainly things said by the organikks) and the spamton sweepstakes page, possibly things that indicate what happened to dess?

so starting with the secret room in the long hall of windows in the second sanctuary (found by walking through one of the windows), there's a prophecy which just says "roots" with a picture of a house and trees. an organikk stands next to it. there also a bookshelf with a book you can read that says "and so wept the fallen star, making rivers with its tears. then, slowly, from the bitter water, something grew. it looked like glass." walking between this room and the hall of windows is how you access the egg room, which looks like a hospital and has kris seem to participate in art therapy, in a way that indicates they've perhaps done it before. also in the long window hall there are several organikks which, all their dialouge put together say, "what do you call a man with one eye? why does the angel make its cry? who will call the girl who snows? i don't know... ha ha ha... i don't know!". that's not necessarily important for this post but i do think that the "fallen star" that wept rivers and "why does the angel make its cry" is an interesting connection.

anyways, the organikk by the prophecy image says there is "something in between" (the egg room, presumably), and "it was mixed up", then says a bunch of words in a randomised order which is different each time - however the punctuation and capitalisation of the words never changes, so it's clear from that which the first and last words are.

i believe the correct order is most likely "Lost where the forest would grow, children followed the pointed tail." there was a page in the second round of spamton sweepstakes pages with the URL /lostwheretheforestwouldgrow which alluded to this room, showing part of the prophecy, so i'm assuming that's the first part (first because the "Lost" is always capitalised so is probly the first word, and "grow," always has a comma after it). "tail." always has a full stop so must be the last word, and the rest is just filling it in in the way that makes the most sense. the organikk then says "the poor children!" which is also the URL of a page on the deltarune site (which hinted at the egg room).

there's another set of prophecies later in the game that read "they'll hear the ring of heavens call / they'll see the tail of hell take crawl". given that a "pointed tail" could likely refer to a devils tail i think it's probably the same? especially with all the angel stuff, kris' devil horns from when they were young, and jevil who does have a pointed tail (though i'm not sure if it's specifically referring to him).

*and* when battling an organikk one of the things they can say is "the tail which must not be followed" which i think has got to be referring to the pointed tail followed by the children. another dialogue option for the organikks have in battle is "the tale which must be followed" which sort of contrasts the prophecy (the tale which must be followed) with the pointed tail which must NOT be followed, so maybe following this tail deviated from the prophecy somehow (maybe it lead to dess going missing/becoming the knight, when that wasn't what was prophesied)? i know some people have theorised that she was originally one of the "three heroes" before she went missing, so maybe her not fulfilling that role went against the prophecy? i'm not sure but i wanted to put all these pieces together since i haven't seen anyone collate them yet!!