#<- been using this as a placeholder tag for these guys

[knuckleblaster]

[mapsofnonexistentplaces]

characters from a wip i'm reviving....

[an-asuryampasya]

plastics are so sodding stupid

okay infuriating is a more accurate term here I suppose.

One of the biggest problems with plastic pollution is that plastics are very slow to degrade, and end up sticking around where they're not wanted for ages. Which is BadTM. But you'd think that hey, at least this is good for purposes where they're meant to last long, right? Like in museums!

Except no! Plastics are contrarian little fucks and go cause the exact opposite problem in museums. Because plastic objects have the potential to "to experience rapid and often spectacular disintegration with very little advance warning". And while degrading, they also often release substances that negatively affect other objects stored around them to boot.

And since there's SO MANY different kinds of plastics, from what I understand conservation of plastic objects in museums is kinda like playing whackmole as we struggle to keep up with different types of plastics and the varied ways in which they degrade. Each causing different problems and needing different solutions, of course, and why not shove multiple kinds of plastics within the same object for extra flavour? That way even treating one part of the object puts the rest of it at risk! Oh, joy.

Anyway plastics are stupid and they make it their goal to be a pain in the neck in every context they possibly can.

[chlix]

sharpest tool

bf! chan x fem! reader: chan doesn't love you like you love him. you're not planning on doing anything about it

genre: angst, suggestive (but not actually very fun or sexy)

word count: 2.9k

warnings/tags: toxic relationships/situationships, arguing, self-worth issues

a/n: this fic is inspired by "sharpest tool" off sabrina carpenter's new album! i heard it and immediately knew i wanted to write for it. i also plan on doing other songs off the album with other members but we'll see if i get to that before the album loses all relevance 💀

“What’s new with you then?” your coworker Seohyeon asks once the lunch rush dies down. You’re wiping spilled coffee off the bar and she’s pretending to reorganize the stacks by the till, but really, you’re both just trying to look busy while you recover from the last round of customers. Seohyeon has already bitched about her evil landlord and snitched on your manager for critiquing the way the new girl set up the cup display. Now, it’s your turn to overshare. Unfortunately, your life is scant of any juicy details.

“Nothing. You know I have no life outside this job,” you say.

“So not true,” she says. “What about that guy who keeps hanging around waiting for you to get off every day? How’s that going?”

You stiffen. “It’s going.”

She hums sympathetically. “That bad, huh?”

You drop your rag in the bucket of sanitizer water and take a long breath.

“It’s not bad. It’s not really anything right now.”

“You know, I mentioned how he’s always waiting for you, but I haven’t really seen him in a couple of weeks.”

“You and me both,” you mutter. Unwittingly, your hands drift to your phone in your apron pocket, hoping it’ll buzz and you’ll get a text from Chan, as if he’d sense you thinking about him and give you the attention that you’ve been craving. When you first met, the two of you had that kind of psychic connection. It was like you were of one mind. He was everything you wanted in a guy. He still is.

That’s what makes this all so difficult.

The idea of Chan using you as a warm body isn’t inherently distressing. Or, it wouldn’t have been, if he’d posed the idea initially. Maybe if he’d asked you for that up front, then you would’ve known better than to catch feelings. Or at least if you had, then you could take all the blame unto yourself for being softhearted, overly optimistic. He could be blameless. This would be easier if he was a bad person. Or maybe he is, and you just love him too much to care.

“If you want to talk about it, I’m all ears,” Seohyeon says.

“There’s not much to say. We weren’t really even dating. I think. I mean, he doesn’t owe me anything.”

Seohyeon gives you a knowing look, and it makes anything else you were planning on saying stick in your throat.

“Get well soon, girl,” she says, and turns back to the till. You swallow, pick up the bucket of dirty water, and go to dump it out in the sink in the back.

Chan does not come in at the end of your shift and wait for you. Of course not. He does text you, though.

Hey, he says. It’s the first time he’s spoken to you in a week. The casual nature of it swallows you alive.

Hey

Busy tonight?

Never for you <3

My place? 8?

It’s almost pathetic of you to keep falling for the same old trick. Can it even be called a trick if you’re neither fooled nor impressed? You always knew you were just a placeholder, filling in the gaps for when he can’t have the girls he really wants. He doesn’t have to make it so obvious, though.

Placeholder. It’s one of those thoughts that as soon as it crosses your mind, you know you’ve already lost. You’re not sure if Chan realizes that’s what he’s turned you into. You can’t really blame him. You only recently realized it yourself. You’ve been hooking up for months, you’ve been hanging out with his friends, you’ve been posting each other and having cozy nights in with long conversations that last until the early morning. He’s your baby. You’re his girl. But you’re not his girlfriend. Six missing letters and suddenly, you’re the crazy one.

You wonder if Chan knows how these periods of long silence make you feel like a cheap lay, like someone he doesn’t even know. Maybe he does, and this is all an elaborate manipulation tactic that’s working distressingly well. Maybe he doesn’t know, and you’re projecting malice onto his thoughtlessness.

It doesn’t matter either way. You know it, and you’re still going to go.

Ok <3

You put your phone away and start walking to the bus. You need to go home and get ready.

You arrive at his apartment just before eight pm. He hates it when people aren’t punctual, and you hate it when he’s upset, so here you are, shaved and showered and dressed all pretty. You’ve developed a scarcity mindset around him- you need to make sure every time he sees you is perfect because the incidents are so few and far between. You need to look irresistible, so enticing that he’ll be begging to come see you again. It’s so pathetic that you piss yourself off on a daily basis.

You fix your hair and clothes, ring his doorbell. He answers the door, all smiles and muscle tees, and it almost makes you forget that you haven’t seen him since the last full moon. It’s like a thirst that doesn’t make itself known until that first drop of water.

“Hey, baby,” he says, drawing you into his arms. He kisses you deeply, not lustful but loving and you let yourself fall into it.

“Missed you,” he says, low in your ear. He smells like aftershave, like sandalwood and pine.

“Missed you more.”

He pulls you into his apartment and closes the door behind you so he can press you up against it and kiss you again. He licks into your mouth, and you let him, bringing your own hands up to cup his face. The barest bit of his stubble tickles against your palms. His body is warm and solid against you, it makes your knees weak, makes your heart race. For the moment, you forget every grievance you’ve ever had with him. You forget how upset you were at work today, and Seohyeon’s pity, and how empty your phone has been lately. The world outside the two of you might as well not exist.

Chan’s hands slide up under your shirt, pressed against your stomach. Your gut twists.

The illusion shatters.

You pull your lips away from him.

“Chan,” you say, trying to be authoritative, but you’re breathless. He moves away from your mouth and latches onto your neck, and your body reacts without your permission, arching into the touch, but you pull your hands away and press on his chest.

“Chan, stop.”

He lets you push him, taking a step back and looking down at you with blown wide eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m just…not feeling it.”

“Right, sorry. Didn’t mean to pounce on you. We can move to the bedroom if you want?”

“No…” That sticky feeling is building in your throat again. “I’m just not really in the mood for sex at all, right now.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Awkward silence stretches between you. He’s just looking at you, unsure how to proceed, and you want to die a little more every minute.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come. I’ll just- I’ll go-”

“No, wait!” He catches your arm as you go to turn away. “You don’t have to leave. I’m the one who’s sorry. You shouldn’t have to apologize for something like this.”

“Okay…”

He kisses your forehead again, affectionate and chaste. “I’m glad you came. I wasn’t lying about missing you, yeah? Let’s just have a chill night in.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. We’ll order in. It’ll be nice.”

You let out a long breath and pull him into a hug. He embraces you, and your ear ends up pressed against his chest. You can hear his heartbeat thrumming under his ear, soothing, reassuring.

Okay. Okay okay okay.

You try to have a good night, you really do. You want to be happy when you’re around him, but it’s like a switch has flipped in your head and it’s impossible to truly relax. He orders food from your favorite place without you having to even ask.

“You want your usual?” he asks.

“You still remember my usual?”

“I remember everything about you, love.”

You think about earlier, how he’d known to text you as soon as you got off work yet hadn’t made the effort to actually show up like he used to. You tell him your usual is fine and kiss him on the cheek.

When the food arrives, you curl together on the couch under blankets and put on some show as background noise. There was a drama you were watching together, but he doesn’t bring it up and neither do you. As he pulls up Netflix, you notice the title card in his Recently Watched, but you haven’t been over in so long that you know it can’t be from the last time you were together. He doesn’t pause, skipping over it completely to select another random thumbnail.

“This okay?”

You hum an affirmative and the Netflix logo appears on the screen, signaling the start of the episode. You eat your food and try to focus on how good it tastes instead of how leaden your stomach feels.

As the night wears on, you realize that he’s being cagey. He asks you questions about your life and your job, about your sister and her baby and your plans for the holidays. He’s always been a good listener, always attentive and empathetic and curious. He’s been good at getting secrets out of you as long as you’ve known him.

I’ve never told anyone this before, you would start sentences, but I feel like I can trust you.

You can, he’d respond. I’d never judge you. I care about all of you, even the parts you might not care about yourself.

Always so welcoming, so loving. It had you spilling your guts after only the third date.

I’m rambling, I’m sorry. You don’t need to hear about all my baggage.

Y/n, I want to know anything you’re willing to tell me. Communication is important in relationships. It builds strong foundations.

And yet here he is, only a few months later, dodging all your questions about where he’s been or what he’s been up to.

“How’s work?”

“It’s been alright.”

“You’re pretty busy around this time of year, aren’t you?”

Chan shrugs. “Yeah, but I’m used to it by now.”

You nod around the fork in your mouth, unsure how to continue the line of inquiry. You try again, another topic this time.

“Did you hear about that giant pile up downtown? There were like ten cars involved.”

“I haven’t been watching the news much lately.”

“Well what have you been watching?”

“I’ve kind of had other things going on. Not much time for leisure.”

“Right. You said you were busy with work.”

He doesn’t reply to this. You want to shrink into the couch cushions and coil inside one of the springs.

You eat in silence for a while, eyes flittering between the screen and his face. Once or twice, his phone will ding, and he’ll pick up and scroll through it, shoot back a quick reply. You don’t ask who’s contacting him. When he’s done, he sets his phone face down on the table, out of your reach.

When you’re both done, he takes the empty containers from you and goes to dispose them. His hair bounces as he moves, curling around his ears and the tops of his brows.

“Your hair’s getting long.”

“Is it?” He pulls at a loose curl, stretching it out in front of him critically. “Guess I should get it cut.”

“Nooo, I like it. It suits you.”

He glances at you shyly. “You think?”

“I know. You look adorable.”

“I can’t be walking around adorable. What would that do to my image?”

“Right. Mr. Tough Guy Bang Chan, who always has short hair and thick biceps. There’s a brand image to consider.”

“Exactly! I knew you’d understand.” His cheeks dimple in his smile, but it’s shaky, and it disappears as quickly as it came. “And anyway, I just don’t think…” He trails off.

“Don’t think what?”

Chan stays quiet for a while, lost in thought. You’re unsure whether or not to push, but before you can say anything else, he snaps out of it. He shakes his head as if to clear it and throws an apologetic look your way.

“Never mind. Just getting too into my head.”

Concerned, you rise from the couch and cross the room to his kitchen.

“Is everything okay?”

“Of course. Don’t worry about me.”

“Of course I worry about you. I care about you.”

Chan isn’t meeting your eyes. “Just leave it alone, y/n. It’s stupid anyway.”

“Something bothering you could never be stupid.”

“I said just leave it alone.” His voice is harsh now, face hardened in the way he does when he’s not being nice anymore. He’s putting his walls up and you don’t understand why, and it’s tearing at you, the cumulative weight of all this distance.

“Okay. Whatever then.”

You turn around and start walking back towards the couch.

“Whatever?”

The audacity to sound offended after the way he’s been treating you.

“I can’t make you talk to me. If you don’t want to tell me anything then why keep asking?”

“Don’t be dramatic. I’ve been talking to you all night.”

“No, you haven’t. You’re shutting me out.”

“Shutting you out?” He sounds genuinely confused. You stop halfway back to the living room and turn to look at him.

“Yes, that’s what I said.”

He lets out a short laugh and pushes his curly bangs away from his forehead, hands alight with anxious energy.

“Y/n I invited you over here. We’ve been talking and watching the show. I thought we were having a good night. Now I want to keep one thought to myself and I’m ‘shutting you out’?”

That same twisting in your gut starts up again.

“You’re making me sound so unreasonable.”

“I mean, can’t you see how this looks from my perspective?” He turns away from you and pinches the bridge of his nose, like he’s developing a headache. Like he’s the one being tormented. “Sometimes I feel like you and I are living in different realities.”

It’s like a dagger in your chest. All your indignation leaves you, leaking out of you and pooling at your feet in a sad little puddle of self-respect.

“Don’t say that.”

“I don’t know what else you want me to say.”

You set out of your ring of self-loathing and approach the island where he is, still turned away from him. You reach out a shaking hand and turn him to face you. When you meet his eyes, you see frustration, confusion, and helplessness.

You’re a placeholder. You know it, Seohyeon knows it, the girl he’s been texting all night knows it. It’s possible Chan doesn’t.

That’s fine. You know it, and you’re in love with him anyway.

You press your hands against his chest, leaning up so you can look right in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” you say. “You’re right. I’ve been on edge lately; I didn’t mean it.” You smile, self-deprecating, embarrassed. “Forgive me?”

Chan lets out a long breath. He grabs your hand and kisses it, then keeps holding on to it, his grip strong and secure.

“Nothing to forgive. I’ve been all over the place too. But we’re here now, together. So let’s just relax, yeah?”

You nod. He leans down and kisses you. The twisting in your gut persists, but you don’t pull away until he does.

“Let’s go finish this episode,” he says, and goes to lead you both back to the living room.

The night feels like a failure. You can’t figure out why, but the thought of just finishing your show and then putting your coat and boots back on and leaving feels like accepting defeat. Your legs are unstable underneath you, but not in the way they were earlier, when Chan was kissing you like his life depended on it. Now, you are standing at the top of a very tall hill, fighting against gravity to remain upright on the slope.

Get well soon, girl.

You close your eyes tightly, then reach forward and grab the back of Chan’s shirt. He jolts, surprised, then turns back to you. You release his jacket as he turns and grab his hand instead, lacing your fingers together.

“Forget the show,” you say. “Take me to bed.”

His eyes widen. “Are you sure? Earlier you said-”

“I’m too in my head. You’re right. I should try to relax. I haven’t seen you in weeks.” You get on tiptoe and lean up to his ear and whisper. “You can make me feel better, right Channie?”

Chan’s fingers tighten around yours. When you lower yourself back onto your heels, he’s looking down at you with dark eyes. You push down your unease, leave it abandoned on the floor with your anger and ego and heartbreak.

“You’re sure.”

“Never surer. Unless you don’t want-”

He effectively silences you by sweeping you into his arms, lifting you up like you weigh nothing.

“Baby, you have no idea the things I want.”

You laugh, shocked at the display of strength, and wrap your arms around him as he carries you away. The last thing you see before he shuts the bedroom door is his phone on the table, vibrating with an unanswered call.

[buddiesmutslut]

Okay, so I want Buddie to get together before Chris comes home, right? So, they get Chris, spend a few days getting everyone settled back into the swing of things, and then either 1) they don't get a chance to tell him, or 2) they do, and it doesn't go great (which I feel like is something that's going to happen regardless, I need Christopher to be an angsty teen with abandonment issues in 4k)

BUT

Before they can sit down again and figure everything out, they get a call for another wildfire or a crossover or whatever that requires them to leave town for a little bit.

Obviously, Eddie can't go, because he just got Christopher back home and he really doesn't want to leave him again, even temporarily, but Buck has to go because people need help.

Cue Buck & Eddie spending time apart for the first time since they got together, sleeping in different beds hundreds of miles away from the other, and both spiraling a little bit. Eddie because he's worried that Buck is finally getting some time away from him and the mess that he was in Chris' absence and is worried that he doesn't want to keep wading through Eddie's problems,

And Buck because Chris is back now, and what if Eddie doesn't need him anymore? What if he was just a stand-in or a placeholder for Chris, but now his son is back and Eddie is on his own two feet again and what if he doesn't need Buck anymore, and if he doesn't need him, then why would he keep him around?

Extra points if telling Chris doesn't go well so they're trying to figure that out and cell service is spotty and they don't know what the other is thinking because they're so far away and if they were closer, they would just be together and solve the problem, but they're not so they're relying on delayed messages and downed phone lines and a game of phone tag.

And then, obviously, Buck gets home, and they realize they were spiraling over nothing because they've been building a life together for far longer than the few months they've been kissing, and Buck sits and talks with Christopher, and everything is fine.

AND THEN I NEED TIM TO LEAVE THEIR RELATIONSHIP ALONE. No breakups like in a lot of other main couples (Chenford, Booth & Brennan, I'm looking at you guys.) no! None of that! They've suffered enough, give them plot lines without breaking them up.

Give them better arcs with their parents, BRING US EDDIE'S GODDAMN SISTERS and the drama I K N O W is hiding there. Give us Buck focusing on his career (and also maybe slip in an official ADHD diagnosis, what, who said that?) Give us them talking about raising another kid, kill off an obscure family member and a stroll down memory lane (I absolutely do not mean Isabel Diaz, you keep your filthy paws OFF Eddie's abuela, bitches. I love her so so so so much lol).

Give them character arcs that have nothing to do with them possibly breaking up. They deserve storyline's that are more than just about their love interest. Literally, Buck's coming out wasn't even about him, it was all about Tommy and I'm so sick of it. Buck and Eddie are interesting characters! They are M A I N characters, give them better storylines. (Esp Eddie bc genuinely, wtf have you all done to my boy??)

[silverware-is-interesting]

got some sketches of the band au

Note: these are not final, design's are likely going to change when i eventually clean them up. they all technically have 2 outfits (onstage n offstage) these are just the onstage fits

idk what to make the tag for this au tbh "kinitopet band au" seems kinda boring... ANYWAYS! Have a terrible overview of the concept so far. n the band members too ig

Meet the KinitoBAND (placeholder name while i think, i'm open to suggestions though). They're a rather niche yet beloved band who play a multitude of different genres. all of their songs have a rather upbeat nature, or, they used to. lately they've been leaning more into rock and sometimes it just gets a little... strange... wonder why that is? they're actually more like vocaloids(???) that are programmed like Kinito with the react response algorithm (Kinito's i more advanced, but they've all got it) so if they ever did interact it'd be alright. the programmer (Sonny C) had initially only meant for there to be a vocalist but there was a decision somewhere to make a band (so there's a drummer and a guitarist too)

Let's get into the characters

Kinito The vocalist + tech Kinito is a fan-favourite, to be expected of the one who is always in view front 'n center. personality-wise he's similar to his canon counterpart, just a bit (emphasis on bit) more chill. i've imagined him to get a little... parasocial with his fans who probably just went for the music. he has a bit of a persona on stage, you could say. he's more energetic and in general might be a little more aggressive than usual, especially lately.

Sam The drummer Sam isn't quite as popular as Kinito, but he's got quite a few fans who might not gravitate towards Kinito like almost all the promotional material wants you to or people who like the drums. personality - Sam has a calm, almost 'cool guy' demeanor. he acts relitivley the same on and off stage. Jade the guitarist Jade, unfortunately, is the least popular member of the band. She's got a couple devoted fans, but noticeably less than the others. just as intended. personality- she's quite resourceful and the most upfront about things of the band. she's generally louder than the others, not on purpose, she's just not the best at maintain a good speaking volume.

[spiderymiasma]

🕸 Five Times.... || Miguel x f!Spider (2/5)

Summary: Gwen sees how Miguel takes it upon himself to comfort you.

//Five Times They Weren't Alone and One Time They Were.

Words: 2.0k

Tags: Comfort Fic, Overprotectiveness, Slight Angst, Mutual Pining, Eventual Kissing, Pre-relationship, Flirting, Dating, Fluff, Wholesome

A/N: A continuation of my 5 Times Series. Use of "Charlotte Webb" as a placeholder for y/n

|| My AO3 || Part 1 Here

2. Gwen Stacy

One thing was for certain, if you wanted anything from Miguel…

 …..you went to Charlotte first.

Gwen spun around in one of the swivel chairs in the other Spiderwoman's office, kicking her new stolen shoes idly.  “Sooooooo….it’s been a while since I’ve seen Miles, with all the extra work Miguel is making us do." She pouted dramatically.  "Can I pllllease get time off to go visit his dimension?  Just for a couple of days?”

The older Spiderwoman's soften as she looked at the teen fondly.  Unlike Miguel, it seems as though his right hand woman had a soft spot for the younger Spiders. 

“Did you finish all your missions?”

“Yup!”

“Did you file all the paperwork Miguel wanted?”

Gwen internally winced.  Well, if you stretch the definition of words like “paperwork” and “what Miguel wants”, then yes she technically did sort of do it.

“Yup.”  She popped her p.

She chuckled, clearly not buying Gwen’s shenanigans.  “Of course you can go visit Miles-“

Gwen perked up.  She didn’t actually think she’d get a yes, already mentally resigning to the fact she’d have to sneak out right under Miguel's nose.

“-right after you get the green light from Miguel, of course”

Gwen slumped over, defeated, all the bravado completely drained.

Getting Miguel to let Gwen do anything was like getting Charlotte and Miguel to admit their feelings for each other.

Mathematically impossible.

What would Hobie do in her shoes?

Gwen lifted her head, playing with a strand of her hair.  “You know, you shouldn’t let guys like Miguel boss you around like this.  I mean, you’re the Spiderwoman everyone looks up to around here.  Are you really going to let a man tell you what you can and cannot do?”

She blinked.  “Gwen, he's literally both of our bosses.”

The teen huffed, dejected.  “You know, Spiderwoman to Spiderwoman, this whole affair is a real loss to feminism.”

She snorted, done with these childish games.  “Gwen, ask Miguel.”

Well, shit.

🕸 ⋆｡°✩ ⋆｡°✩🕸

Miguel, like always, was not in the mood for Gwen's shenanigans.  “What do you want?  Can’t you see I’m busy?”

"Can I take some time off to go visit Miles?"  Gwen leisurely strolled around the room, touching, poking, and prodding at all the fancy science gear.

She knew that Miguel got antsy (Ha!) whenever anyone but Charlotte touched his stuff, but he didn't even give Gwen the decency to look even mildly annoyed.  "Go ask Charlotte, I'm busy."

She sighed, flopping her hands in front of her dramatically.  "She asked me to ask you."

"Then no." 

"Ughh, Miguel!"

"Go back to Charlotte, and tell her I told you to ask her."  Miguel stated, his words clipped in a very "and that's final" dad voice.  Gwen internally groaned.  It was a long trek back to the other Spider's office.  “It's like a billion miles away, Miguel.  It's crazy that you two don't have your offices next to each other.”

His fingers paused in their work, momentarily distracted.  Miguel toyed with the idea.  How nice would it be to be able to see her beaming smiles, the small crinkle in her eyes, her laughter as she gossiped with Lyla.  He could picture it now: the quiet moments in the dead of the night as they worked in comfortable silence together, her woops and hollers whenever they made a scientific breakthrough in whatever fun project they had together, the blazing passion in her eyes whenever they argued over the most inane subjects.

Miguel chewed on his bottom lip.  It would be nice getting to see her every day by his side, knowing that she was safe next to him.  Miguel could easily spend his whole day just watching her work whether in the office or in the field.

Gwen cleared her throat politely.  Miguel blinked out of his daze, almost forgetting that the annoying teen had even showed up to his office. “She’s distracting-I mean-it’s an distraction for me when other people are here.”

Gwen raised an arced eyebrow.  "Peter and Mayday are here like…all the time."

"Against my will.  Charlotte is the only one to have the manners to respect my privacy."

Gwen scowled.  Adults sucked.

🕸 ⋆｡°✩ ⋆｡°✩🕸

After begging, pleading, and whining, the other Spiderwoman did eventually fold and allow Gwen a two week vacation to go visit Miles.  Two weeks had come and gone in the blink of an eye.  Though she wished she could have spent more time with her boyfriend friend, she eagerly made a beeline straight to Charlotte's office.  She couldn't wait to gossip with her about her time with Miles.

With a skip in her step, Gwen didn't notice how the door to the older Spider's office was already ajar.  Her good mood made her blind to the muted blues and black watercolors that had painted the air around the entranceway. 

Silently cracking the door open further, Gwen paused in the doorway, not expecting to see the sight in front of her.  The usual joyous yellows and bright colors seeped into the walls of the room had dissipated, now replaced with muted blotched blue.  The other Spiderwoman was crumpled into a ball on the floor.  She could hear the quiet sobs of a woman trying to hide her sorrows in her hands. 

And for some reason, Miguel was here.

It was weird to see Miguel of all people comforting her.  Indeed, the big strong man looked so awkward.  As if he had no idea where to put his hands or what words to say.  His big hulking form was hunched over her protectively, completely shielding her from the rest of the word.  His arms hovered around her form as if terrified over the thought of touching her and yet unable to help himself otherwise.

"I'm sorry Mig, I shouldn't be troubling you with this."  She sniffed, voice thick with sorrow.  "It's just the anniversary of…you know…his death-"

"I know, I know,"  Miguel said phrases in Spanish too quick for Gwen to even understand.  Charlotte let out a rather wet laugh through her sobs.  No doubt, laughing at a joke Miguel told her.

Which…honestly made Gwen's stomach twist into knots.  She shouldn't be here.  It was one thing to see Charlotte like this.  But seeing Miguel so caring and vulnerable was…

….well she shouldn't be here.

Charlotte's eyes were a blotchy red.  God, she probably looked so horrendous to him.  "M-miguel, you shouldn't be here.  You always have so much on your plate.  You shouldn't have to worry yourself dealing with my stupid bullshit."

He clicked his tongue, annoyed at her words.  "Chiquita, no te voy a dejar solo así (I'm not going to leave you alone like this)."

Blessed with a sudden burst of confidence, he smoothed his thumb over her cheek, carefully avoiding pricking her with his talons.  Miguel wiped away her tears so gently it almost seemed like he was a completely different person.  "Mi Cielito (My sky), you're safe.  I'm here.  I won't like anything bad happen to you."

The cordial professional boundaries that they put between the both of them flew out of the window.  She slid forward, burying her face into his shoulder.  She inhaled shakily, trying to stem the flow of tears.  Miguel's presence was so soothing.  His warmth seeped through his skin into hers.

Gingerly, he shuffled on the couch, wrapping his arm around her.

Gwen, now satisfied that her friend (boss?) was well supported, gingerly tip toed out of the entranceway. 

It was about time those two love bugs (Ha) got their act together.  She couldn't wait to tell Pav.

🕸 ⋆｡°✩ ⋆｡°✩🕸

Charlotte didn't know how long they sat on the floor of her office together.  With only the steady rise and fall of Miguel's breathing keeping time, it could have been minutes or hours.  The once blurry dark world sharpened and refocused whenever she was with Miguel.  Blotchy inky blues that had settled in the room slowly faded away.

She sniffed gingerly.  It was too embarrassing to lift her head from Miguel's shoulder to look at him in the eye.  "I'm…I'm sorry.  God this is embarrassing, you're not supposed to see me like this."

For some reason, it stung to hear those words come out of her mouth: "not supposed to see me like this".  Had she been crying like this often?  All smiles and arrogance during the day, have they simply been another mask she wore?  To hide the tears that she had at night? 

Though Miguel couldn't judge her too harshly.  How often would he look at pictures of his daughter just to torture himself with a life that would never be his?

Well, it was time that she stopped moping on the floor.  "Come on, let's get you straightened out." Before she could protest, he leaned over, hooking one of his arms under the crook of her knee.  She gasped, momentarily off balance, throwing her arms around Miguel's thick neck.  He scooped her up in his arms, picking her up bridle style.  Miguel was trying his hardest to not touch her so familiarly that it would border on unprofessionalism.

Because really he would do this for any of the Spiders.  Like..well, certainly not Miles, or Peter but..well..

…well he definitely would…

Her shaking stopped.  The arms around his neck remained in place, selfishly not wanting to let go of him any time soon.  Miguel's chest was so warm against her.  She could feel his rapid heartbeat, a comforting presence against her cheek.  In his arms, she felt safe.

He didn't need to be able to look down at her to sense the rising blush on her face.  "Thank you, Miguel."  Her words were so soft, he could barely hear her.  "I'm sorry to put you in this position.  You're a good friend."

Miguel swallowed thickly.  That's right.  That's what they were: friends.  There was a million reasons why they couldn't be anything more than that. 

Though for the life of him, he couldn't come up with any.

She was so warm against him, a comforting reminder that he was still very much human.  It was like he was in a trance, as he carried her over to the couch.  How many times did he carry his wife to bed, as she sleepily cuddled against him?  How many times did he carry his daughter like this after she had fallen asleep in the middle of playing with her dolls?

"Are you okay?" she asked, snapping him out of his daze.  He could feel the featherlight brush of her lips against his chest as she spoke.

He tried to fight the blush rising on his cheeks.  He had got to stop daydreaming about her around people.  "I should be asking you that."  His voice was surprisingly soft and gentle. 

Gently (and reluctantly), he placed her on the couch in her office.  His eyes softened as he watched tuck her legs close to her chest, curling into a tight ball.

"Thank you.  I'm..better now.  I'm sorry for troubling you.  You don't have to stay with me."

Miguel stopped himself from pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.  If there was anyone in this whole building who knew what it was like to have the painful flashbacks, the nightmares, the dark memories...  He sighed, running his fingers through his wavy brown hair. 

He knew what it was like to sleep in a bed that was too large and too empty.  In a house that once held so much life and joy.  He knew what it was like to be alone.

Gingerly, he sat on the couch next to her.  Her head was so close to his thigh.  He resisted the urge to put her head in his lap.  "Go to sleep, mi corazón.  I'll be here to watch over you."

Her eyelids were heavy.  Crying her eyes out in front of her crush was more exhausting than battling the Vulture.  "Please, Miguel, you don't have to."

"No, I don't." Miguel agreed, his voice firm and steady.  "I want to.  Now go to sleep.  I'll be here when you wake."

Too tired to protest any future, she nodded sleepily.  As she drifted off into unconsciousness, she felt a familiar large palm resting on her head, comforting her even in her dreams. 

Part 1 Here

To Be Continued!

[miryum]

Foundling Villa- Chapter 11

Royal!Charles Leclerc x Reader. Princess Y/n is arranged to marry Prince Charles. There will be many ups and downs that the author hasn’t planned out yet, but read along to find out more! (Yes, I know that sounds super cheesy) Warnings per chapter. Hope you guys enjoy!

Tag list: @notleclerc @sunsumonner @saturnsrinqs @livster @chonkybonky @eau-rougee @champomiel @justyouraverageeverydaysimp (wow, there’s a lot of you)

Warnings: argument? short chapter... so sorry you guys!!!

ao3 link  next chapter>>

“Charles, I know what I’m asking is a lot, but this needs to be done. Right now, I’m not asking as your brother, but as your king.” Lorenzo looked tired, and Charles felt sorry for him, but what he was telling him to do was crossing a line.

“Lorenzo, I am not spending weeks in a potentially hostile environment with my wife,” Charles insisted. They had been arguing for over an hour now, ever since Lorenzo proposed his idea. Since the coronation, Lorenzo had been doing everything in his power to gain support for his reign. He had used Charles and Arthur as placeholders in meetings while he went to villages and markets around Enza, drumming up supporters and fondness. But as of now, Lorenzo was worried about foreign affairs. 

You had relayed to Charles what Prince Verstappen had hinted at during Lorenzo’s coronation. Charles had, in turn, told Lorenzo, who spiralled into worrying that a war would break out during his first year as King. Once Queen Pascale calmed her eldest down, the brothers and their advisors had convened a meeting to discuss what the next steps should be. Charles had gently suggested that you avoid the meeting. He didn’t want you to overhear his shouts.

“You don’t even have to go to Redull,” Lorenzo compromised. “Just to their allies or neighbours. If you can coax information out of them, it would be incredibly helpful and necessary for the future of Enza.”

“Lorenzo, must I repeat myself? I am not travelling across the continent with my newlywed wife to adversarial kingdoms!” Charles found the title of ‘husband and wife’ sliding much more easily on this tongue.

“I am your King, ordering you on this assignment, and don’t think I won’t exile you for disrespecting your superiors!” Lorenzo’s roars reverberated through the room, and surely out into the hallway. Charles flinched back. Lorenzo slumped down into his chair. 

“I’ll do it,” Charles agreed quietly. “Lorenzo, I-”

“Don’t you dare,” Lorenzo held up a hand to silence him. “Just… go.”

Meanwhile, you sat in your and Charles’ shared room, penning a letter. 

Prince Verstappen,

I hope this letter finds you in good health. It’ll be unusual for you to hear from me, but I hope you’re not too surprised. I've lost sleep over your words at Lorenzo’s coronation and I’m writing so you could wipe away the worries. 

I’m unable to do anything to protect the ones I love if I don’t know what I’m protecting them from. I’m sure you can see my predicament. I’m aware you won’t divulge your kingdom’s secrets, nor am I asking you to, but a little more information would be beneficial. 

This may seem like a ploy to compromise your plans, but rest assured, it’s not. I want to avoid conflict and altercation in any way possible, and if writing a simple letter is enough to do so, then I will gladly write a thousand.

I beg that you come to your senses to help a friend in need. You won’t simply be helping me, but thousands of innocents. I’m sure you don’t want that bloody smear on Redull history.

I eagerly await your response,

Princess Y/n Leclerc of Enza

You slowly set your quill down and stared at the words you had composed. Would it be enough? What could Redull be concocting? Your unstable alliance with Prince Verstappen could prove to be essential, and you needed to play it well. You felt as if you were playing chess against an opponent, but you couldn’t see how they were moving their pieces. You were playing in the dark.

In a state of convoluted amusement, you added a postscript to your letter: By any chance, do you play chess? If so, Queen’s pawn to d4.

Feeling much more weary than you should have, you flagged down a servant in the hallway and gave them the letter.

“What’s that?” You quickly turned around to see Charles smiling sheepishly at you. He still felt bad about his argument with Lorenzo. “Are you writing to your parents?”

You let out a laugh. “God, no. Actually… it’s to Prince Verstappen. I thought that because he reached out to me in the beginning, he would be more prone to talking to me again.”

Charles let out a sign. “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea, but thank you for trying. How would you feel about going behind Prince Verstappen’s back to deduce what they’re planning?”

“Charles, what do you mean? If we misuse their limited trust, then it could make things so much worse.”

“Y/n, I’m aware of the possible repercussions. It’s the reason why I’m against it.” No other reason. None at all that had to do with you. “But I would rather sacrifice our alliance with Redull than the people of Enza. I’m getting orders from Lorenzo. I can’t disobey him. But I need you to come with me. Please.” He took a step towards you. 

“You didn’t need to ask,” you said. “I would follow you anywhere.”

“And I you.”

**

“Be safe, dear.” Queen Pascale kissed you on both cheeks. “It’s a cruel world out there. My mother always said, be nicer than the cruel world, or be crueller. I trust you to make the right decision. She was quite the woman.”

“Of course, my Queen.” You curtsied quickly, smiling at the Queen mother’s words. You and Queen Pascale had created a quiet bond during your time in Enza. “And you as well.”

Charles was busy talking with his brothers, but once you stepped towards the waiting carriage, he quickly left them to help you. 

“Good luck,” Arthur called. You waved in return. You shifted over so Charles could squeeze in next to you, even though the seat opposite was wide open. Your hand immediately gripped his, intertwining your fingers. You justified it by wanting some solace. 

Queen Pascale, having seen this, leaned over to her youngest and whispered, “See? And he said he didn’t care about this girl.”

[bengiyo]

Hidden Agenda: Zo Experienced The Knowing

I was tagged by @respectthepetty this morning in her post about Zo and how much damage Puen did to him. At the end of the post she mentioned that Zo probably Knew who he was this whole time. I want to talk about the timing of this reveal, what it means for this kind of show, and how I feel about it.

I have admittedly been struggling with this show. I think Dunk is often a little hard for me to read, and I often wish that he hadn’t been given such an internal character to play. However, I think the team may be using that to their advantage to cloud our ability to read Zo. 

Zo began the series in a debate with Joke about how people need to be honest about their feelings before going into a relationship with someone, and he’s been nervous to approach Nita. We’ve also seen him showing dismay about possibly being a bad mentor to Pok, along with his general reticence to Joke’s advances. I think I’ve decided that I’m okay with the show recontextualizing much of what we’ve seen before, but I don’t generally like it. Sure, it rewards those who pay close attention, but there’s too much going on for me to do an extensive rewatch to see those scenes again in a new light. However, I like it for queer reasons. 

What fascinates me about our sudden reread of Zo as a Known Gay (placeholder term I use for everyone; Zo hasn’t identified himself; let me have fun) is we watched Zo go through this during their Chiang Khan trip when he realized Pok was seeing Jeng. At that time I only read Zo as concerned with being read as homophobic by his junior who couldn’t come out to him, but now it’s even sadder because Zo was not only concerned about being seen as homophobic he was also not being seen as a member of the community. 

The constant concern he expresses is that he’ll make people uncomfortable. He’s afraid to approach Nita, and has a huge panic when a not-date doesn’t exactly go over well with her. I thought this was part of his confused feelings for Joke, but it’s also about how Zo doesn’t trust himself in romance because of what Puen did. I feel especially sad for Zo because Puen messed him up so badly that he can’t even pursue an opposite-sex romance with confidence either. I felt like a part of Zo hoped that things would be easier if there wasn’t a gay component to the romance and yet he’s still feeling weird and uncertain.

As for whether Zo suffered The Knowing, I am not sure how far back Zo Knew. I can’t tell from his interactions with his mom, but it’s clear from his scenes with Puen and the matter-of-fact way he describes what happened to Joke that he had put a lot of thought into his feelings for Puen at the time. So, because of the way Puen’s actions continue to impact Zo, he goes on the board.

I'm at least relieved that as @justafriend-ql pointed out in her reblog that confirming that Puen did like him, and it wasn't all in Zo's head, allowed him to finally enjoy a moment with a guy he likes and who clearly likes him.

[daycourtofficial]

WIP Game

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIP's

Thanks for tagging me: @pit-and-the-pen @mika-no-sekai-blog @thelov3lybookworm @shadowdaddies @prythianpages @azrielbrainrot @stormhearty @illyrianbitch I love you guys 🥰🥰

(I think that was everyone, however my notifications have been wild this weekend soo I’m so sorry if I missed anyone)

This obv isn’t all my drafts, but it’s some of my most current ones

1. Put her canine teeth in the side of my neck (Azriel x reader)

2. I will follow you into the dark (Azriel x reader)

3. Take a look at my girlfriend (Nesta x reader)

4. Untitled (Nesta x Cassian x Azriel x reader)

5. Not cooking for Az (placeholder title) (Az x reader)

6. A damning night for us all (Eris x Rhys’s sister!reader)

7. How everyone found out (Azriel x reader)

8. Never seen, never known (Azriel x reader)

9. An Autumn Courting (Eris x reader)

10. A Drunken Vanserra (Eris x reader)

11. The first chapter to a potential series that I’ve just titled ‘Nyx’ for now (Azriel x reader)

12. Eris being a hot water bottle (Eris x reader)

13. Let’s play restaurant (Eris x Rhys’s sister!reader)

14. ???? (Azris x reader)

15. Storyboarding a series (Azris x reader)

16. Storyboarding a murder mystery series (Azriel x reader)

17. Falling in love on the fourth floor part 12

And about 18 million drafts just titled ‘Eris’ in some form or another it’s a wee bit ridiculous I must say

Also I won’t be tagging anyone bc I’m pretty late to this game and I’ve seen a ton of people do it, but if you’ve been itching to do it, here’s your sign ☺️

[auxiliarydetective]

↬ OC Verse Trading Cards

Here it is! The reason (well, one of the reasons) for why I've been so inactive lately. I saw this super cool trading card template by @squea and @buttertrait and thought it was super fun, so I wanted to make something similar for my mutuals and myself. And, as you can see, I rediscovered my love for art deco on the way, so it's very art deco lol

You can find the template to make your own cards here - and I explicitly encourage you to make your own, because I was kinda hoping I would get to see cards of you guys' OCs and we could collect them all in a binder like this one. It would be really fun! (The number next to the name is the power level btw - I wanted to imitate a set of Star Wars trading cards I used to collect as a kid) Make sure to @ me when you do and tag your post with #ocversetradingcards!

I tried to make the template as accessible as possible so that even beginners should be able to use it without any issues. So, I color-coded the layers!

The red layers are ones you shouldn't touch. They make up the main frame of the card. The orange layers are ones where you can play around with the colors, but that's for advanced photoshop/photopea users. The green ones are the ones where you put in text! Edit those freely. Blue ones are ones you have to select and move as a batch - if you don't know how to do that, check below the cut ^^

You'll need to download these fonts:

Park Lane (name & power level)

Market Deco (main text font)

Artisual Deco Black Italic (blog url)

Below the cut, you'll find a tutorial for the template and a list of the image resources I used - Quick info for everyone, including the more experienced Photopea users: Save your image at 50% quality. The template is a big file and the exported image will also be pretty big if you don’t save it at a lower quality. 50% is what you can see above and I think it's a nice size-quality ratio.

Tutorial Time

Opening the File

Step one: Get either Photoshop or Photopea. Photoshop costs money, Photopea is free and runs in your browser. Take three guesses which one I use. Yeah, it's Photopea. As such, this tutorial will be Photopea-centric, and I also have no clue what the Photoshop interface looks like, so I can't really help you if you work on Photoshop. But I'm told they're essentially the same, so...

Step two: Download the fonts listed above from the links in this post.

Step three: Click on the link above to go download the template. It's a bit of a big file, so I put it into a zip file for you. Don't worry, you don't need a special program to open it. Photopea will do that for you.

Step four: Open Photopea. Click on "File" -> "Open..." and select the "TradingCardTemplate" zip file.

Step five: Click "File" -> "Open..." again and select the zip files for the fonts. This will import them to Photopea. There are also preview images included in at least one of the zip files for the fonts, so just close the windows for those projects when they pop up by clicking on the little "x" next to their file name. You only need the "TradingCardTemplate.psd" tab to be open in your Photopea window.

Great! Now you're all set to edit!

Editing the name, power level and blog url

I decided to group these together because they function essentially the same way

Step one: Select the typing tool. It's the little "T" symbol in the toolbar on the left side of your screen.

Step two: Select the layer of the text you want to edit. The blog url one is in plain view. For the name and power ones, you need to open the corresponding folders first. They're the green layers in the folders!

Step three: Click on the text you want to edit. It's easiest to aim for the middle, that way you have the least chances of missing. The typing tool is a bit finicky with that sometimes, especially if the text is small.

Great! Now you can use your keyboard to delete the placeholder text and replace it with your own! The power level will only fit two digits and picking "00" will look bad. Your OC should have at least some power. They need it to breathe.

Changing the size of the name text

As you might be able to tell, the basic text size only works for fairly short names. So, you might have to make it smaller for your OC's name to fit

Step one: Enter your OC's name as described above.

Step two: Select the text as you would anywhere else in your browser.

Step three: Above the little tag where it says "TradingCardTemplate.psd", there's an options bar. You'll find a box there labelled "Size" with a box that says "150px" and a down arrow next to it. Click on the down arrow and a slider will pop up. Play around with that slider until your text has a good size. Then click on the checkmark.

Step four: Switch to the transformation tool. It's the cursor with the directional cross next to it, at the top of your left-hand tool bar. Move your text so that it aligns well with the left side of the frame but make sure it's below the middle.

Step five: You now have to select two layers at once. The text layer and the frame for the name tag. Do do that, either press and hold your control key on your keyboard while selecting the other layer or toggle the control key using the on-screen keyboard at the bottom left of the toolbar. If you use the toggle, don't forget to untoggle it after.

Step six: On your horizontal toolbar above your project window, click on the icon that's a horizontal line with two boxes centered on it.

Congrats, your text should now be centered!

Adding in your OC picture

Step one: Open the "Picture" folder and select the layer beneath "Add picture here". This will make sure your picture will be in the right spot. Also make sure to click on the eye next to the "Pattern" layer tag to make it go invisible.

Step two: Select "File" -> "Open & Place..." and pick a nice image.

Step three: Once the image has been imported, make sure you change the zoom percentage to 100%, that way the image doesn't look pixely or weird. Click on the checkmark.

Step four: Resize your image so your OC fits nicely into the frame. The image should fill the entire space inside the frame and can stick out as much as you want.

Step five: Right-click (or press and hold, if you're on mobile) your image' layer and select "Clipping Mask".

Perfect! Now your image should no longer stick out of the frame. Feel free to adjust your image's coloration, brightness etc. by selecting "Image" -> "Adjustments" and your preferred action.

Changing your stats bars

This works the same for each bar and I tried to make it as simple as possible.

Step one: Open the corresponding folder.

Step two: Select the set of three blue layers together. You can do this by selecting one layer normally, then selecting the other two while holding your control key or while having it toggled using the built-in on-screen mini keyboard at the bottom left of your screen. If you use the toggle, don't forget to untoggle it after.

Step three: Switch to the transformation tool (the one at the top of your left-hand toolbar, it's a cursor with a directional cross) and move your layers. By moving them to the right, you'll reveal more of the gold underneath the overlay. More gold = higher level of the corresponding stat.

Great job! Now adjust the bars to your liking.

Saving your project + card image

To save the project: Click on "File" -> "Save as PSD". This will download the current project under the same name as the file that you downloaded it as. So, it will be called "TradingCardTemplate (1)" or something similar. Make sure you change the name in your files so you know which is which. Alternatively, you can also change the name of the project by double-clicking the little square that currently says "TradingCardTemplate" and type in your new name. If you save again now, it will show the new project name! Make sure to save your project if you want to be able to recover it and/or work on it later!

To save the card image: Click on "File" -> "Export as >" and pick your preferred image file type. I suggest JPG for best results. Make sure to turn the quality slider to 50%, then hit the save button. This will download an image file of your chosen type, under the same name as the project name. To change that name, refer to the bullet point above or go to your files :)

Advanced: Changing the BG color of the pattern

Step one: Select the pattern background of either the name tag, power score or picture and turn it to 100% opacity.

Step two: Color-pick the current background color of the pattern.

Step three: Click "Image" -> "Adjustments" -> "Replace Color..." and click on the colored rectangle in the new pop-up. Replace the default color with your color-picked color. Now use the Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders to get a new color that you like. Note down your slider values for later so you have them for the other elements.

Step four: Color-pick your new color and select the corresponding solid background layer. For those layers, click "Edit" -> "Fill..." and make sure you have "Foreground" and "Normal" selected, your Opacity is 100% and you have "Preserve Transparency" checked.

Step five: Don't forget to turn the opacity of your pattern layers back down to 60%.

Congrats! You have your colors changed! Repeat this process for the other two patterned elements.

Extra advanced: Changing the card's background color

NOTE: I DON'T recommend this. You can do it, but it's a lot of work.

Step one: Select the background layer and change its color to the new color you want. You can do it with the "Hue/Saturation..." adjustment, with the "Fill" edit as described above, or whichever way you want. Color-pick your new color.

Step two: Open the smart object PSDs for the frames for the frames for the picture, the name tag, and the power counter by double-clicking on the preview image of the layer.

Step three: Select the lowest colored layer of each and change its color to the same as your new card background color. Click on "File" -> "Save (Smart Object)". Close the project windows.

Step four: Open the folders for the various stat bars and select the "Color Overlay" layers. Change their colors the same way you did for the other layers. Warm colors and high-saturation colors will most likely not look good here and you might need to find a different way of making the stat bars look good. Playing around with the "Brightness/Contrast" adjustment layers above might help, but I can't promise anything. This is the main reason why I don't recommend changing the card background color. The stats bars are adjusted to the background color.

There we are! Either your card looks very pretty now or you understand why I don't recommend this. Either way: Good job!

Resources from Freepik:

Corners by tartila Power counter frame Picture frame by pch.vector Stats bar by tartila Pattern

Taglist (we're bringing out all fandoms today): @starcrossedjedis @oneirataxia-girl @daughter-of-melpomene @bravelittleflower @box-of-bats @fluffle-system @wheresmybloodynauglamir @nanukanal @supermarine-silvally @cody-helix02

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

Find the word

Thanks to @bookish-karina here and here and @somethingclevermahogony here!

My words: old, new, borrowed, blue, gentle, pretend, stars, secret, rob, cradle, monster, and gaunt.

Your words: launch, admire, short, reckless

Tagging @aziz-reads @talesofsorrowandofruin @i-can-even-burn-salad @space-writes @drchenquill

+ ANYONE ELSE

TSP intro

TSP tag list (ask to be +/-): @thepeculiarbird @illarian-rambling @televisionjester @finchwrites

@nebula--nix @literarynecromancy @honeybewrites

Keep reading for:

Maddie is proud of her reference

William's formula works

Ash wants telepathic theory books

Robbie just punched Jason

Party planning

Lexi is unhappy

Rose, in between dimensions

Kirsten talking to Lexi and Maddie's mom

Yes, I used a name for this

The only time I've used this word was in shitty MCU fanfic that I feel sick talking about so here's the shortest excerpt

Placeholder video game

Old - from The Secret Portal Part One (Maddie POV)

“Well,” said Noelle, biting her knuckle, “this rock being a portal doesn’t sound too logical.” “Logical?” I repeated. “Okay, Mr. Spock, what’s so logical about walking through a wall and ending up here.” I smirked at my reference to one of the old sci-fi shows I watched with Lexi for the past year.

New - from The Secret Portal Part One

William slowly poured the new formula, sparkling with speedsters’ lightning, onto the frozen insect. He clutched the tablet—containing all of his notes, the ingredients to his formula, his observations, the past month of his life—against his body. He tapped the side rapidly, anxiety taking hold. Slowly, the insect’s wings began to flap.

Borrowed - from The Secret Portal Part One

“You’re dressed as Dr. David Pinchên.” Carla looked down at her sweater vest and khakis. “Wait, isn’t that the telepathic theory guy?” Ash asked. Carla nodded. “Hey, can I borrow some of his books?” “Sure,” said Carla. “Thanks,” said Ash.

Blue - from The Secret Portal Part One (Robbie POV)

Jason stood up straighter, rubbing his jaw, his steely blue eyes locked on me with a look that could kill. Still, I didn’t regret the action. Yeah, I shouldn’t have done it, but who gave a shit? I may not have been a hero, but justice was justice.

Gentle - from The Secret Portal Part One

“I programmed the replicators with Jedi with some cookie recipes, so kinda,” said Noelle as Sam dragged her into the main room. Noelle reluctantly allowed herself to be led by Sam, who was obviously being as gentle as possible with the gesture, as Sam explained how she and Lexi planned all of the games.

Pretend(ing) - from The Secret Portal Part One (Lexi POV)

My smile faded as my stomach dropped to my shoes. I turned the lock on my locker, pretending I didn’t notice. Or at least make it seem like I didn’t care. I eavesdropped. Obviously.

Stars - from The Secret Portal Part One (Rose POV)

Space. I thought. Maybe it just resembled space—I’d never been, so how’d I know? I thought the little white dots were stars, poking out from behind the brilliant pinks and greens weaving around me. I was breathing heavily—there was air.

Secret - from The Secret Portal Part One

Kirsten sighed on the other end. “I’m sorry, that was unplanned. But do you want Lexi to keep a secret from her sister for two years? I’m honestly surprised Maddie found the Gateway. One could only imagine how they managed to walk in the right spot. Besides, they had to find out about themselves eventually.”

Rob - from The Secret Portal Part One (Gwen POV)

“Rob, where’s Niri?” Jazlyn asked as she and Ewan came over. “Uhhh…” said Robbie, looking around the large room, “I… don’t know. Either the pool or his room.” Jazlyn sighed, but didn’t seem upset. “Of course. Even though he promised we’d practice together.” Her gaze landed on me as she blew a bubble of gum I didn’t realize she’d been chewing on.

Cradle(s) - from "Just One Moment"

My other hand still cradles his cheek.

Monster - from The Secret Portal Part One (Lexi POV)

I followed Robbie’s avatar as he showed me the ropes of the game. “Watch out, Lexi, there’s a monster!” “I see that!” I practically attacked my phone screen as I had my character use a few sword swipes at the ghoul in front of me. “Ahhhh!” Maddie screamed with me until the ghoul was dead.

Gaunt - N/A

[transmasc-archive]

Now that it's been a few days and on the Discord blog we've decided on a bit of a system, here's what we've come up with. These are the rules:

Welcome to the Transmasc Archive! Unlike what the title suggest, we do not archive transmasc people onto shelves, we archive our own stories and discussions! Here's a few rules for you and everyone else to have a good time on this server!

Rule n.1: Make an intro in the channel below. You'll be able to strike up conversations much faster if others know who you are! You'll also need to choose an emoji to claim articles.

Rule n.2: No harassment. Any type of bigotry will not be tolerated. No racism, no antisemitism, no islamophobia, no misogyny, no homophobia, no transphobia, no ableism. No purposefully misgendering users.

Rule n.3: No discourse. No putting people's identity and labels into question, no bringing drama from any fandom or community, no shipping discourse, no discourse on the terminology of the words transmisandry or transandrophobia.

Rule n.4: No spam. Don't clog up the channels with constant messages. Don't keep tagging people on every message you send.

Rule n.5: Minors are not allowed to send selfies in the selfies channel.

We have a three strikers, then kick policy. After you've been kicked, you'll have to fill out a form to be allowed back in. Another strike and you're banned.

What do we mean when we say "claim articles"? I'm glad you asked!

These are our channels! Now what's each channel for?

The first three, after general chat of course, are for the technical aspects of running the website.

The blue ones are the channels to discuss topics for each website's section, that I will show below.

And the green ones are casual channels!

But let's get to placeholder-articles. This is a channel meant to serve as a sort of queue for articles that we've planned. It keeps track of what articles are going to be written and which ones have been published!

However, they also serve another very important function: claiming articles!

You see, someone might have a great idea for an article, that others agree should be written, but they don't have the time or spoons to actually write the article, or maybe they're just throwing the idea out there!

So, anyone's free to "claim" that idea and write the article themselves! That's what you need your emoji for.

Here's the system:

When you have a clear idea for an article, post a placeholder name on this channel.

This is why we ask that the name be something descriptive, like: MISINFORMATION - Radical Feminism's Ties to Right Wing Ideology

You can change the title when you post the article, we just need to know what it's about!

You can post placeholder names for articles that you, personally, don't plan on writing, but think should be written anyways. If you're not sure anyone would be interested, ask in the section's channel if others like the idea.

If you plan on writing the article yourself, put your emoji after your own title. If you see a placeholder that hasn't been claimed, you can claim it by reacting to the message with your emoji! First come, first served rules. You can discuss switching or backing out in private messages, of course.

As a rule of thumb, don't write placeholder messages for ideas others have pitched in another channel. Just wait until they do it!

Once you've written the article and you've posted in, or sent it to someone who has posted it (or are just about to), react to the placeholder title message with this emoji: to let us know it's been posted.

So here's the deal: we have A LOT of ideas so far! So many, we can't possibly write them all. We're showing them here so you guys know what to expect in the future, but also hoping it might also give you the incentive to join and find something to write!

Here's the list of ideas we have so far. As you can see, some have already been claimed!

Transcript:

HEALTHCARE - Everything Testosterone - What Will It Do To My Body?

HEALTHCARE - Top Surgery: What are My Options?

HEALTHCARE - Bottom Surgery: What Are My Options?

HEALTHCARE - Testosterone and Infertility: Some Myths

HEALTHCARE - Needle Safety For Testosterone Injection

HEALTHCARE - Acne Care For Your Second Puberty

HEALTHCARE - Yes, There Too: How To Clean Your Body On Testosterone

HEALTHCARE - Receding Hairline: How To Prevent It, and How to Grieve It

HEALTHCARE - Self Advocacy in the Doctor’s Office

HISTORY - Transmasc History 101 - Lesbian or Trans Man? The Labeling Issue

MISINFORMATION - TERFs and Their Transandrophobic Rhetoric

MISINFORMATION - Radical Feminism Explained - The That's-A-Lot-Of-Assumptions Ideology

TIRFism - Is It Really Any Better than TERFism?

TERFs And Their Unlikely Ally - The Alt-Right

Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: How Trans Men And Transmascs Are Gaslighted Into Complacency

Butch Flight - When Trans Men And Transmascs' Worth Depends On Being An Option to Fuck

Tonight's The Time To Join The Wolfen Clan - Testosterone Ignites Violence?

Is Transmasculinity An Escape From The Patriarchy? A Transmasc Perspective On This Topic, Finally

MISINFORMATION- No One Wins- Transmasc Invisibility in Media Content, and Why

CREATIVE WORKS - Homestuck and Its History With Transmasculinity

MISINFORMATION - Myths About Post Transition Social Norms for Trans Mascs

MISINFORMATION - Fujoshi Was His Name - The Myth of Gay Men LARPing As Yaoi Boys (edited)

MISINFORMATION - Who Were Baedells?

MISINFORMATION - "Sisterhood" - Cis Women And Their Entitlement to Our Bodies

MISINFORMATION - The Day I Disappeared - Transandrophobia Outside Of TERF Circles

CREATIVE WORKS - Trans mascs in the music scene

MISINFORMATION - Trans Exclusionary Homosexual Males - Vagina Repulsion As The Basis of Homosexuality

TRANSMASC QUEER THEORY - Butch, Futch And Femme Labels Among Queer Men

TRANSMASC QUEER THEORY - Transmasc Lesbians And Male Lesbians - A Lesson In How Labels Aren't Boxes

And now, a look at our website, The Transmasc Archive, edited by @hadeantaiga!

This is the Home page. Now here's a rundown of the sections based on the topics we'd like to cover:

Let's explore them in order:

Transm-ask: This is the section where you can ask us any question regarding transmasculinity, whether it's labels, transition info, coming out tips, and much more. And if you'd like to stay anonymous, you can send your questions to @transm-ask.

Healthcare: This section will cover things like medical transition but also interacting with doctors when you're a transmasculine or FtM person, especially in reproductive care.

History: This section will cover transmasculine and trans FtM history. Every month on the 19th, we publish "Historic Trans Man of the Month" starting next month, on International Men's Day!

Misinformation: This is the section where we debunk myths on testosterone and trans men, and where we discuss transandrophobic rhetoric coming from different sources, inside and outside the queer community.

Transmasc queer theory: Here we keep the complicated and personal stuff. The discussion of transmasc labels, our relationship with gender and how it intersects with our sexuality, how trans men uncover how complicated male privilege is.

Transmasc support: This section is for you! Got something you'd like to show off? An online store, a webcomic, a YouTube channel? This is the section for you.

Creative works: The last section covers transmascs and trans men in creative fields, as well as representation and...original works! Each month we propose a new prompt for stories, illustrations or mini-comics. Whichever avenue you prefer!

And the forum is for discussing among users on the site itself!

Hopefully this can give everyone a better idea of how this is gonna work, so if any of you were on the fence about joining, you know what to expect!

[doueverwonder]

This is technically from a wip game i was tagged in months ago but I feel like talking about wip's so (im not doing the tag part i just left the rules so y'all know whats up)

Rules: Reveal the titles of the documents in your WIP folder and tag as many people as there are documents. Let others ask questions about the ones that interest them and post snippets or explain the contents as you see fit!

The Bookseller & The Florist - The NedAme fic i've been posting, title is pretty explanatory even if you haven't been reading it.

The Ex - a week or so after Icelands birthday they're throwing a pseudo party for him in Dublin. Feat. Romano going "????" bc him and Norway are absolute opposites but Ire used to date Nor? and is now dating him?

Memories - A Spain fic that exists as two paragraphs and a very vague idea, i want to write for it i just don't know,,, how,,,,?

After the Fall - Germania and family finally heading back North after Odoacer overthrew Romulus Augustus, mostly family centered fluff/some internal-ish angst on Germania's part. (nightmares that he won't talk about, and leave him feeling isolated)

Natalya in Constantinople - title is a placeholder that's a joke off Emily in Paris. Belarus living in Constantinople before it falls, a lot of character/family tree building, less actual story if that makes sense.

Sons of Henrik - Early viking age, All of the Central Germanics/Anglo-Saxons have converted to Christianity and 'abandoned everything we were taught'; Denmark and Sweden feel like their family has turned their backs on them as well and they're angry about it. Norway is very conflicted on exact feelings, arguing that their recently deceased Father (Germania) wouldn't want infighting in the family. Nothing really gets solved. (Inspired by some guys Quora rant about the Saxon Wars triggering the Viking Age, not sure if they're actually connected at all but it was interesting to read at least.)

Scandals - Roderich and Antonio are married, Erzsébet is involved with both of them. It gets out, and nobles love to gossip. (another one of the less fleshed out ones but still)

Father - Brandenburg and Germany get into a fight; mostly centered around a legitimate "your not my dad" feeling. Brandenburg snaps and accidentally tells Germany "well Gilbert wasn't either!" cue Ludwig's entire world crumbling as he finds out his entire family has been lying since he was born.

[skinks]

how do you keep finding these incredibly niche and incredibly awesome aesthetics

omg WELL, I will try to be concise here!!

basically it started because I got really into vaporwave relatively early in its existence, I think I discovered it in around 2013. Now, something about there being an entire online named Artistic Movement with clear design principles was extremely cool to me, and 2013 is also the earliest I can find a use of the term “junglepunk” on my blog, because this is the term I was using as a personal placeholder for the type of stuff that I have since discovered is being called utopian scholastic. I figured, if there wasn’t a “vaporwave” equivalent for the art/media niche I remembered so vividly, I would just call it something of my own.

So, I came to this newer discovery because in the decade since getting into vaporwave I’ve followed just… so many aesthetic blogs. One of my absolute favourites is @newwavearch90 but I love going on an adventure down various tumblr rabbit holes of related blogs and posts. I also watch a lot of design history videos on youtube, as well as having an interest in lost media, old web stuff, analog horror ARGs, stuff like that. For example, this guy’s video about clip art is very interesting:

And so, a few months ago youtube recommended me THIS video and as soon as I saw the thumbnail I was like oh holy shit, I know exactly what style of design this is talking about. Anyone who used Windows XP would recognise this:

And once again, like the vaporwave discovery, the realisation that there are ongoing efforts being made to classify design movements of which I have vivid living memory was like… mindblowing to me. For some reason, lol. My appreciation for vaporwave has always been through a reflective filter of the media produced during that time, my response to it is really my response to the media, as opposed to having any real emotional connection to the actual time period and places the media is portraying.

And so after discovering Frutiger Aero I googled it, and came across the CARI (Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute) site. They work to catalogue and index this exact stuff, the aesthetics and reasoning behind all these different movements. It’s also co-founded by the same guy who runs @newwavearch90. Finding the actual names of the aesthetics I have the most emotional connection/nostalgia for has been less of a stroke of luck, but more because I’ve been snooping around the types of blogs and websites where I just happened to see certain posts tagged either Global Village Coffeehouse or Utopian Scholastic, then the giant lightbulb goes off. The relief of putting a name to a sound, an image, a feeling that was so important and exciting and comforting to you in the past, that has shaped so much of your taste and interests in the years since.

I think the base concept of “aesthetics” in general has gotten a bad rap in recent years. I know it can be grating to see teenagers try to categorise their whole identities into the easily consumed “aesthetic”, but we can’t ignore how much ageism and specifically misogyny is wrapped up in that assessment. Like, yes, where once there were just preps and goths it can be depressing to see teenagers (especially teen girls) ask themselves whether they are “old money east coast quiet luxury aesthetic girlies” or “mallpunk y2k whimsigoth aesthetic girlies” - but the problem isn’t in teens trying to find their identity, it’s that social media pushes the search for identity specifically through consumerism.

Teens liking aesthetics on tiktok just isn’t my concern. I’m far more interested in how art and design aesthetics relate to consumerism, to technological advances, to socio-political cultural context, to societal values. Why did these aesthetics arise at the time they did, and why were they popular, why did they fall out of the zeitgeist etc.

So yeah, to be not at all concise in any way; it’s because this stuff fascinates me and I love researching it 🥳

[purplekoop]

any thoughts on hero 42? My theory is that Harriet is one of the "reject" Horizon animals, one who is a toad that was spliced with other reptilian and amphibian DNA, namely turtles, hence the shell we can see on her. Idk if she'd be good, evil, or neutral, but considering every tank since Orisa has been villain or Junker, I'm hoping she bucks that trend.https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/1e2f5ux/theory_new_overwatch_tank_is_a_genetically/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/17ythsp/atlantic_arcology_a_future_underwater_map/?share_id=39z04D8QgOF93Ov-7xr0U&utm_content=2&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1 put this cuz of the Galapagos section

alright this sounded so utterly deranged BEFORE I checked the links. I was internally going "how much did I miss in the rodent's story", but these posts have some fascinating insight I'd encourage everyone check if nothing else. Gonna post the links cleanly here for the sake of usability:

For personal reasons I'd of course ADORE if this character actually is a giant buff spiky turtle mutant lady. if this sentiment confuses anyone, this is an open invite to the "#my art" tag on this account. But by default I'm not getting my hopes up because come on, that's TOO perfect for me, I shouldn't be allowed to get that happy. Then again I was WILDLY surprised by Junker Queen's in-game design, so you never know.

I've said before I don't like to base expectations on arbitrary categories (namely the current insistence on more villain supports but not villain tanks (even though we were clamoring for those before Sigma and then as far as I'm concerned the rest following were all warranted as catch-up)), though if I can have my own biases then I'd also prefer not having another Junker, but also I'm not wild on the idea of another Horizon animal guy, especially when I really don't like playing as the two we currently have (and playing in a lobby with a Wrecking Ball whatsoever). The idea of them being a Moira experiment both makes more sense and is a little more appealing, but like half of Talon seems to be Moira experiments already, so I don't know how upping the Level of Freak they are would really be shocking at this point.

I'd be astonished if the mutant-looking creature with glowing green spikes wasn't called "Hazmat" at at least some point in development, though based on the hero select in the Venture gameplay showcase, their internal codename seemingly is somewhere alphabetically between Sigma and Winston. Not necessarily their final name though, as evidenced by Juno in the same teaser being between Moira and Zenyatta (which works for "Space Ranger") as opposed to between Illari and Kiriko like they are in their release state. I speculated before their working name might be "Spike" or "Toxic", which could've been placeholders before "Haz" was used for the Ashe interaction.

I don't entirely want to rule out this possibly of this hero being someone named "Harriet Oris", but while that reddit theory points out the Horizon animals have dated english first names, it neglects to point out they don't have last names either. Winston is just Winston (named after the Horizon scientist Harold Winston) and Hammond is just Hammond. If "Hazmat" and Harriet Oris are the same, then that'd be weird if they were also a Horizon animal with a last name for some reason. The Waitron does also say "It has been a very long time!" to them in the unused dialogue, which could lend credence to the theory of them being a former Talon member and possible escaped Moira experiment. The same account points out similar dialogue for Mauga, and considering the Waitrons are in Circuit Royal (a Talon base of operations run by Maximilien), so maybe there's a parallel there.

Regarding the streamer mode name easter eggs potentially meaning this is a frog (or more accurately a toad, a buff one at that), I don't know how much stock I'd put in that part of the theory specifically. It's weird how few of the names aren't a reference to something, but the only ones the wiki doesn't attribute to anything are "BEEFToad", "BioHazard", "Ch00Ch00", "EZTarget", "GarlicBread", and "SillyGoose". I think most of these are pretty clearly jokes, maybe "Choo Choo" being a reference specifically to Reinhardt's one skin or the Busan train, but those first two are definitely more conspicuous. "BioHazard" is the least joke-like of the bunch, but could also be a reference to other things like the toxic waste area in New Junk City or Mauga's weird canisters. "BEEFToad" feels like a joke, but not as obvious as SillyGoose or GarlicBread. I dunno, to me it just feels like trying to stick on another data point that doesn't necessarily add anything. Making them a frog with turtle DNA feels like an arbitrary extra step and it feels like a weird thing to tease so specifically like this. The turtle thing in the other post feels more like a deliberate nod, they already look more turtle-ish and it feels like such a "nudge nudge wink wink future hero reference here" bit to emphasize.

This all does give me some more enthusiasm for a character that previously felt like a dead end to speculate on, and while I don't wanna get my hopes up, there's definitely something cool here to consider. Gonna be a bit of a wait before they get a proper reveal though, and not sure how it'll be done without a Blizzcon this year. We probably will still at minimum get a reveal and playtest around the same time we did last year for Mauga, so somewhere in November before the proper release in season 14 this December.