#Brain Development Courses in indi

[ashaniabous]

The Cultural Revival of Mental Math Through Abacus Education Bhubaneswar

In a world dominated by digital tools, the art of mental math is seeing a revival, driven by traditional practices like Abacus Education. Bhubaneswar, known for its rich cultural heritage, is also becoming a hub for this transformative learning method. Ashani Abacus is at the forefront of this movement, reshaping how children approach arithmetic and cognitive development.

Building Cognitive Excellence Through the Abacus

Abacus Education is rooted in ancient techniques that sharpen mental calculation skills. At Ashani Abacus, this traditional tool is used to teach children quick and accurate arithmetic, boosting their overall cognitive abilities. Research shows that children trained in abacus-based math can perform calculations up to five times faster than those using conventional methods.

Programs at Ashani Abacus focus on building essential skills such as concentration, memory retention, and analytical thinking. According to a 2022 survey, 85% of parents observed noticeable improvements in their children’s academic performance within six months of starting abacus training. This highlights the tangible benefits of Abacus Education Bhubaneswar.

Empowering a Generation Through Mental Math

Abacus education is not just about learning math - it is about nurturing confidence and independence in problem-solving. With the growing reliance on calculators and apps, there is a risk of losing fundamental skills. Ashani Abacus addresses this by training young minds to rely on their cognitive abilities instead of external devices.

In Bhubaneswar alone, over 3,000 students enrolled in abacus programs in 2023, reflecting the rising demand for this form of education. Parents and educators are recognizing its value as a tool for holistic development, beyond academics.

Preserving Tradition in a Modern Context

The abacus holds a significant place in cultural history. By promoting Abacus Education Bhubaneswar, Ashani Abacus not only enhances learning but also preserves a method that dates back thousands of years. The institute integrates modern teaching techniques with this ancient tool, creating a balanced approach that resonates with today’s learners.

According to UNESCO, mental math is a critical skill that supports brain development and logical reasoning. Institutions like Ashani Abacus are ensuring that this knowledge continues to thrive, aligning with global efforts to promote traditional education systems.

A Trusted Leader in Abacus Education

Ashani Abacus stands out for its structured curriculum and focus on personalized learning. The institute caters to children across age groups, ensuring that every student progresses at their own pace. With over 500 successful graduates in 2023, the institute has established itself as a trusted name in Abacus Education Bhubaneswar.

Parents report that students trained by Ashani Abacus often excel in competitive exams and develop a lifelong love for mathematics. This reflects the institute’s dedication to fostering meaningful and sustainable learning outcomes.

Conclusion

The cultural revival of mental math through Abacus Education Bhubaneswar is more than an educational trend. It is a movement to preserve a vital skill that empowers young minds. Ashani Abacus is leading this change, equipping children with abilities that will benefit them academically and personally for years to come.

For parents seeking a proven method to enrich their children’s learning journey, Ashani Abacus offers a solution rooted in tradition and excellence.

[uinferno]

I'm too ambitious for this executive dysfunction shit, fuck.

[undreaming-fanfiction]

Meet Me at the Bar

Written for @steddieangstyaugust day 8: Miscommunication. I got stuck on this one, but I'm finishing the list, one by one.

"I hope you get over that quickly."

That was it. A simple sentence that blew up their friendship. Eddie never told Steve that they were done, but he could feel the coldness, the growing distance between them. They acted civil for the sake of their friends when they met, but there were no more late talks over beers, no Eddie barging in at various times during the night to complain about his life in Hawkins, his job in a garage, his future, and of course, his love life.

It was the latter that caused the rift, and Steve never really understood what he did wrong. They were sitting together as usual, chatting about how everything everywhere sucked, how customers are the worst people to ever exist, and then suddenly Eddie's tone changed. He admitted to Steve that one of the reasons why he hated Hawkins was that he couldn't be himself, not as he is. That he had a coworker at the garage, slightly older than him, and he'd been developing a crush on him for the last few months. That was how he fully admitted to himself he was gay.

He tried to give it time and space, but given that Eddie's brain was always speeding five miles ahead of his good judgment, he tried to raise the issue. Gently. Inconspicously.

Which ended up in a full blown proposal and even more full blown rejection, nearly bordering on violent.

That is how Eddie ended up on Steve's couch and with majority of Steve's alcohol in his system. Steve had already expressed to Steve that nothing is going to change between them, that the guy sucked for reacting that way. And then he told Eddie - "I hope you get over that quickly." He hated seeing Eddie so dejected.

There must have been something to his words that Eddie understood differently. He froze in his alcohol haze, blinked several times - were those tears? But before Steve could check, Eddie excused himself, and no matter what Steve said, he wouldn't talk about anything past "it's too late" and "I need to sleep it off, I feel like a walking brewery."

Just like that, their friendship was gone.

Eddie soon moved away, and Steve? Steve slowly watched everyone who he loved abandon him. He waited in Hawkins until it was nothing but old memories and empty streets, and then he decided - why not. He'd held the fort for long enough.

He packed his bags and moved to Indianapolis the following week.

Steve often thought about his friendship with Eddie, about how he missed his wild smile, his constant stream of trivia and outrageous ideas. It was only when he saw what life could have been in Indy, stolen glances and hidden kisses in dark alleys, that he realized - huh. Maybe we were similar.

Steve found a bar to…explore. He didn't want to admit or label anything yet, he just went there to see if he was right. The same evening, he was pressed against a dirty wall, felt the stubble against his chin as he was being kissed with more passion he'd ever felt in his life. Yep, definitely similar.

He didn't look for anything serious, not yet anyway. Finding out who he was, that was scary. But sharing his whole life with a stranger, letting them into his home, his heart? That was way scarier. He liked what he had - going for a drink once or twice a week, a quick makeout session, maybe a bit more if he was lucky. It was all fine.

At least until the day when a painfully familiar figure sat himself down next to Steve at the bar. "Well well well. King Steve, in such an establishment? Color me shocked."

Steve opened his mouth and wanted to say so many things. Something like, I missed you, I'm sorry for whatever I did, are you safe? But they all froze on his tongue when he saw Eddie's face. It wasn't playful or happy. It was just bitter.

"Hi Eddie," he said weakly. "Didn't know you came around here."

Eddie didn't even spare him a look, he just waved at the bartender and ordered a drink. "Oh, I don't. I mean, I frequent another one, you know. Closed for some dumb reason, so here I am. I'm surprised to see you here though - isn't it just a tad hypocritical?"

"It's…what?"

"You know," he drawled out and finally turned to meet Steve's eyes. Steve'd never felt so hated in his life. "After that all "I hope you get over it" thing?"

Steve almost choked on his beer. "How the fuck is it hypocritical to wish for your friend to get over a heartbreak?"

"Oh, is that what it was?" Eddie's voice could cut steel. "Because it sounded a bit more like "phew, he got rejected, now let's go back to pretending you're straight for everyone's convenience". Because that's the best option, right?"

Steve drew a shaky breath and finally set his beer glass down. He took in Eddie's angry eyes, his trembling voice. This wouldn't do.

He reached for Eddie's hands, refusing to get deterred by his flinch. He grasped both of them and leaned close to Eddie. "Eddie. Man, I don't understand why you'd think that, but if I made you feel like that, then I'm sorry. Really. Even if you find it hard to believe me, that's all it was - we were drunk, you were telling me about this asshole who threatened you over you liking him, and I was just thinking - I hope Eddie gets over it soon, because he's my friend and he's great. And he deserves someone who loves him unconditionally."

Eddie didn't look so angry anymore. His hands grew still in Steve's and his eyes seemed glassy. Steve wanted to reach out and catch all the tears before they fell. "Steve, I…shit, I really thought-"

"It's okay. It's fine, because I got to tell you in the end. I hoped you'd get over it - so that someone better could have you."

"Someone like you?" Eddie laughed, phrased it as a joke, but it really wasn't. Not to Steve.

He smiled at Eddie and wiped away the rogue tear. "I wish. Back then, I still didn't know. Or maybe I did, but couldn't really admit it, you know? Everything around me was changing so fast and I didn't feel ready to do the same. But I think it was always you who made me wonder. Who made me think that being different wasn't so bad. But even if it couldn't be me, I wanted you to be loved and cherished, like you deserved." After a brief eh, fuck it moment, he added, "And now it can be me. If that means anything." 

Eddie finally found back his voice. Clearing his throat, he squeezed Steve's hand back and straightened his back. "Before I say anything more stupid, just answer me this one thing, Harrington - are you as painfully single as little old me?"

Steve laughed so hard he thought he cracked a rib for a second. "Agonizingly so."

Eddie batted his eyelashes at Steve, doing a very poor impression of one of Steve's many conquests back in Hawkins. "Oooh, big words. I like that in a man." Then, in his normal voice: "That's all I wanted to know. Buy me a drink, Harrington? We have a lot of catching up to do."

Steve had never reached for his wallet so fast in his life. 

Something shifted between them. It still wasn't okay, they had a lot of talking to do, but it was a start. A new beginning. And for that moment, it was enough.

[aoi1dee]

OLNF Week Day 7: Alternate Universe

@olnfweek2024 more info is down below...

Hi this isn’t a short fic because if I were to try and write a fic for this… it wouldn’t be short. But I didn’t want this day to not have anything to go with it especially since every single day has had a short fic. So… you get a bunch of ideas spilled from my brain. 

Ghost Hunter AU!!!!!

Basically this AU is exactly what it sounds like. In 2016, Qiu, Tam, and Alex go ghost hunting in this abandoned building in Golden Grove. This idea started when Alex saw this movie about ghost hunting so he spent the money from his job at the diner to get ghost hunting equipment and a backpack to fit all of it. When Tamarack got the news of such things she absolutely wanted to go with him. But when Qiu got the news, they weren’t as excited as Tam. I feel like they aren’t the type to believe in ghosts or anything paranormal. But of course they go along because why not? 

When they went ghost hunting, none of them were expecting to get their lives threatened by ghosts. They want their bodies… but not in a weird way they want to possess their bodies to do stuff (idk what yet) like none of them have a way of escaping. The doors suddenly locked and they don’t want to get charged for property damage by breaking the windows (Qiu tried. Tam didn’t let them) So this AU is basically just them communicating with ghosts trying to convince them to let them go or finding a way to help those ghosts move onto the afterlife so they can stop haunting and terrorizing people. 

This is actually probably a shock but I’m more into horror than romance visual novels. I’m currently working on a horror game actually. And I have a completely separate artstyle for my horror games. The artstyle I share is just my normal art style (if you wanna see my horror art style I WILL SHARE IT) also if you want indie horror game recommendations… ask. I have a lot.

But I will also share 2 really good indie game developers right now.

Puppet Combo and Chilla’s Art. 

I LOVE THEM!! They make really good horror games. Puppet Combo does more slasher horror while Chilla’s Art does more ghost horror. Chilla’s art made The Closing Shift if you’ve ever heard of it. It's the game about getting stalked in a coffee shop.

Anyways I can rant about horror games just as much as I can rant about the Our Life games so… if you want to see more OLNF Ghost Hunters AU please let me know… i would love to make a fic about it.

Now here are doodles I made for this.

c'mon alex you're supposed to be hunting ghosts not admiring qiu...

anyways thats it i hope you enjoyed OLNF week just as much as i did and thank you @goldengroovy for hosting it!! :3 byebye!

[coco-loco-nut]

Choices

pairing: logan x reader, pato o’ward x reader

summary: when your first love comes back into your life, you are stuck between two choices.

a/n: please enjoy my drunk, post-indy, fic idea (i wrote most of the plot while drunk at the bar. college towns are great guys 😂)

masterlist part 2

———————

“I am so proud of you, amor!” Pato hugs you as soon as he sees you after your graduation. He’s been supporting you since you joined the team as an undergraduate engineering last summer with Arrow McLaren.

“I couldn’t have done it without your support, Pato,” you smile, admiring your boyfriend. He would make sure to visit you when he got the chance, and he always picked up when you called needing to vent or asking for motivation. Your lock screen was a picture of the two of you at a hockey game you snuck him into the student section for, he showed up as a surprise that weekend to help you relax.

“Don’t say that, you got this because of your own merit. The guys send their congratulations, by the way,” Pato tells you. The only people who know about you dating are the other drivers, you didn’t want to risk your internship.

“I hope they aren’t too tired of me, I just accepted an offer for a full time position,” you tell him what you’ve been keeping secret the past few months.

“You deserve it. Does that mean you will be coming to Indy with me?” Pato asks, rubbing his thumb on the back of your hand.

“Of course. Now, let’s find my parents, I know they will want pictures,” you kiss Pato quickly before looking for your parents. He spots them waiting a few yards away and pulls you over. They have to leave after a celebratory lunch, but Pato stays to help you finish packing up your apartment. You utilize his muscles for putting things in your U-Haul trailer. He even manages to convince you to let him drive to Indianapolis with you.

It doesn’t take you long to settle in with the team that year. Your coworkers throw you a 23rd birthday party the next spring, inviting everyone who worked in the garage (including the drivers) to celebrate. You worked your tail off proving why you deserve to be there and they said you deserve to let loose before the summer.

Later that second summer you are on a date with Pato for your two year anniversary when you get a call from your boss offering a promotion, which you quickly accept.

“You deserve it, you’ve worked so hard,” Pato reaches across the table, grabbing your hand and squeezing it.

“Your support makes it possible, babe,” you reply, squeezing his hand back. You are so helplessly in love with him. At the end of the season, Pato has a ring picked out and he had a plan before he is flown out to Abu Dahbi to drive in free practice for Formula One.

Unbeknownst to Pato, while he is away you are asked to join a virtual meeting with some higher up engineers at McLaren.

“We’d like you to join our Formula One team as we finish developing next year’s car. We will assist in your relocation, all you need to do is say yes,” the offer is virtually laid in front of you. Your mind immediately goes to Pato.

“When do you need an answer?” you ask, making sure you don’t sound disinterested.

“Two days,” they say and you nod.

“I’ll have my decision into you by then. Thank you so much for the opportunity,” you tell them, mulling it over in your brain. A copy of the details pops up in your inbox.

“We hope you say yes,” they tell you as you leave the call.

As you read the document, you know what your answer is going to be. The next day Pato returns and you go for a walk through the local park.

“Will you marry me?” Pato blurts and your heart drops.

“Patricio-,” you start and he cuts you off.

“I know, we are young but-,” this time you cut him off.

“I’m moving to England. McLaren wants me to move to the F1 team, and they are offering to pay for me to get my Masters as well as helping with my relocation, and the money is good,” you start to ramble but stop when the hurt in his eyes matches the hurt in your heart.

“Mi amor, I can support you here, I have enough money for both of us,” he says, praying you didn’t accept yet.

“Babe, I know, but I have to do it for myself. I have to accept the job,” you say, silently pleading that he understands.

“What about us,” tears start rolling down his cheeks.

“I don’t know, Patricio,” tears form in your eyes as you say his name softly, he loves it when you call him by his full name.

“We can make it work,” Pato says, despite both of you knowing it won’t.

“Pato,” your voice cracks with emotion. The two of you know what has to happen.

“I know. At least keep this, it’s only meant for you. Maybe one day it will be on its rightful place,” he pulls out the ring and shows it to you. That’s when the tears flow, and he pulls you into him.

“Please don’t think that I don’t love you. I would say yes a million times if it wasn’t for this offer. This is the hardest decision I’ve ever made,” you cry as he holds you tight.

“I know. I love you more than you know,” he whispers. He walks you back to your apartment, leaving you with a heartfelt kiss goodbye. A few days later you are gone.

When you meet Lando and Oscar, you are wary of them, they remind you too much of Pato, but it only takes a week for them to crack your shell. They saw how sad you were and learned how young you are and immediately wanted to get to know the new American on the team.

You carefully balance work and classes, wishing you could pick up the phone and call Pato, but you can’t. Instead, you fiddle with the ring you keep on a chain around your neck, you added a P charm to the necklace.

“Y/n! I want you to meet Logan, he’s American too,” Oscar drags a blonde boy into the motorhome behind him during testing. You look up from your coursework and offer a welcoming smile.

“There aren’t many Americans around, are there?” you jokingly ask, motioning for Logan to sit down.

“No. So where are you from?” Logan asks as you quickly mark where you are at. Oscar slips out of the room, hoping his matchmaking skills worked as you tell Logan about your start in Indycar.

Oscar failed at first, you were determined to keep Logan in the friend zone. But he broke down your walls and somehow convinced you to date him a couple months later.

Everything goes smoothly from late May until October when COTA comes around. You visit your family the week before the race, and that’s when your mother drops a bomb.

“What are you going to do when you see Pato this weekend?” she asks.

“What?”

“Didn’t you see? Pato is driving free practice at COTA and Mexico,” your mom tells you and you feel your stomach flip, it takes everything in you to not reach for the ring around your neck.

“No, I must’ve missed that email,” you say softly. You do really love Logan, but there is a reason you can’t bring yourself to take off the necklace unless you are with Logan. There’s been times when you have wanted to tell him, Oscar, and Lando about Pato, but you never do, it’s too painful.

You arrive at COTA and it’s clear something is off, but you brush every question off. Pato arrives the same way, nervous to see you again. He is wearing a hair tie on his wrist, one that you left behind. He wears it for the same reason you wear the ring.

“Oh! One of our engineers is from America, used to work in IndyCar. Maybe you know her,” Lando says to Pato, not picking up on Pato’s uncomfortableness as Lando drags him around. It’s odd for the Mexican driver to be uncomfortable.

“Y/n, hi,” Pato awkwardly and breathlessly says, you almost drop your tablet from where you are standing in the garage. How is it possible for him to look this good.

“Patricio, hi. How are you doing? Tough luck on the 500, I meant to text you,” you say softly, setting the tablet down and approaching him and Lando. He can barely breathe, to him you’ve only gotten more beautiful.

“Thanks, it’s okay, I’ll get it next year. Maybe I would’ve won if you were there,” Pato ruefully smiles, your heart drops.

“Maybe, but don’t think like that. You’ve always been okay driving without me,” you match his rueful smile. Lando looks between you, a little confused. Pato goes to say something, noticing a P sticking out of the collar of your shirt where a necklace is, but Oscar interrupts.

“Hey, Logan is looking for you outside,” Oscar tells you, you can’t suppress the happy look on your face.

“It was nice talking to you again, Pato,” you tell the Mexican and quickly exit towards where Logan is waiting.

“How do you know her?” oscar asks suspiciously, picking up the longing look Pato is giving you.

“She’s my ex, she broke up with me when she moved to formula one. We were going to get married,” Lando cringes. he remembers how sad you were when you joined the team, it’s why he befriended you. “Who is Logan?” Pato asks Oscar, feeling like he’s missing something.

“Her boyfriend,” Oscar says, feeling the urge to defend his best friend and engineer, but also wanting to crawl in a hole and die.

“That’s something you need to talk about with her, if it makes any difference, she was unhappy for a long time after moving here,” Lando says, ending that topic.

Pato nods, turning his focus to the drive. Luckily for you, you are currently one of Lando’s engineers, so you are busy with him all weekend.

“Y/n, we should talk,” Pato approaches you carefully.

“Pato,” you say his name warily, it’s like a dagger to his heart.

“Please. Come with me to Mexico. I won’t try anything out of respect to your boyfriend, but we both deserve to talk about some stuff. Plus, Mami and Elba miss you,” Pato says and you pause to think about it.

“San Antonio is on the way,” you think out loud, still mulling it over.

“It’s just tomorrow that we’d be there, leaving first think Tuesday morning to get to the track on time,” Pato insists. Even if it’s a bad idea, almost all of you wants to go.

“Okay, I’ll join you,” you relent, and he almost hugs you.

“I’ll drive you from the hotel,” Pato says, turning to leave before turning around again. “You will have to unblock my number so I can text you,” he adds and you fight the smile playing on your lips.

“I never blocked you, Patricio,” you admit, and his heart melts at how you say his name.

“Oh, I will see you soon then,” he says, not quite sure how to reply, leaving you to pack you backpack.

“You okay?” Lando asks and you shoot him a weird look.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“We know you used to date him,” Lando says and your eyes widen.

“We?”

“Oscar and I, yeah. Wait, you aren’t even denying it,”

“I broke up with him to take the job here when he was proposing even when I wanted to say yes, we dated most of the time I was at Arrow McLaren, I still wear his ring and initial on a necklace,” you blurt, knowing Lando isn’t going to judge too much.

“Oh. Wow, ok. Is it a nice ring?” Lando asks and you tug the chain, pulling it in front of your polo. “He has good taste. What were you talking about?” Lando pushes further as you tuck the chain behind your polo again.

“I’m going to San Antonio with him tonight and tomorrow,” you say, needing someone to confide in that isn’t your college friends.

“Does Logan know?” Lando asks and you shake you head.

“That’s the next step, once you are done asking questions,” you bump his shoulder lightly.

“No, like, does he know about your history with Pato,” Lando asks, glad Oscar isn’t around.

“No, I can never bring myself to tell him. I think we both know that we might not last past this season,” you admit. Logan and you had said as much to each other a couple weeks ago. He admitted that he isn’t sure where he sees it going after the season.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Lando pauses, thinking about it.

“Don’t be, he knows that I had just gotten out of a serious relationship when we became friends and I know he isn’t ready for something long term yet. Obviously I’m still going to try to make things work, because I do love him, but I’m also going to take comfort in knowing that we tried,” you pull your backpack over your shoulders. Lando says a quick goodbye before you walk out to find Logan’s rental car where he is waiting.

“Hey sweetie,” he kisses you when you get in. Any tension in your body leaves when you see him.

“Hi, Lo, ready to get back to the hotel?” you ask as he backs out of the space.

“So ready, I just want cuddles and a nap,” Logan groans a little, you reach up and play with the ends of his hair as he drives. Despite you having a room from McLaren, you are staying with Logan in his room this race weekend.

“That sounds perfect,” you admire the way the sun makes his hair look lighter and his blue eyes clearer. You change while he takes a quick shower, tucking the necklace into a pocket in your backpack.

“Don’t go to San Antonio with Pato,” Logan says suddenly while you lay in bed with him.

“What?”

“Come with me back to Fort Lauderdale instead, please. I heard Pato tell Oscar that you were joining him, and I know your history with him even if you didn’t explicitly tell me. And I get it, it must be hard to bring up. I don’t want to lose you, I love you,” Logan whispers and you feel your gut twist as you are left with a choice.

Logan offers you a chance to start fresh and continue the new relationship you built, but Pato offers the chance to rekindle an old flame that never quite burnt out. How the hell are you going to choose.

part two

[jealousmartini]

Any other manifesters and shifters manifesting art skills, styles and knowledge out here like me?

I am an artist, a creative writer, a musician, an amateur animator and a sucker for cinematography, and i just crave having the skills, knowledge and fundementals of art and animating in my bones already. Because I strive to understand and research for myself, to make up for my lack of experience. To explore and to know where to look to find the thing that will scratch that itch in my brain so i can develop my skills even more.

It's always been my dream since the womb days, to draw everything that came to mind... without the struggle. Like any other artist. I crave to envision something and put it on paper. To envision something and to put it on the screen. To envision something and to put it on a track. To be able to bring my art to life and to share my art with everyone, to impress everyone, to inspire others too and to help them find themselves with the knowledge and research I found a long the way. To speak through art when I can't find the words. To express my feelings when I don't know how to show them

Which is why, I am always an artist in every reality. Without fail, I script in my stacks of sketchpads and notebooks, my 2006 camera and my laptop on its last life like they are part of me. I script that I know everything i need to know to go crazy in the creative fields of art, music and cinematography. Which is also why I have an mha college au reality where I am taking a games and animation course, studying filmography as an indie animator and song artist just like I am here, so I can share my world and how I see the world through ink, pixels, music, lyricism and several different camera filters in another world that practically raised my childhood here.

I want to give back what "they" gave to me ‐ every single on of them ‐ through art, music and film. I don't just want to draw them, i want to capture them through my own eyes and present it to them as a thank you gift. Like i just blinked and told them "oh its nothing. thats just the way i experienced you". Without the stress. Just the flow. And I already know what i want to make. Please, I already have ideas on ideas of projects and pieces stored in this limitless mind of mine that im going to create for my audience, my close ones and myself. Which is why I'm done dreaming.

I'm embodying her. I'm embodying that version of me who already knows everything she needs to just go crazy on a project and be able to sit back after working on it for weeks on months, proud of the way it came out. Confident enough to submit her project, knowing she's got those five distinctions in the bag, like always. Confident enough to show it off to her audience, knowing they'll be amazed and inspired. Confident enough to present it to "them", ALL of them, and know they will be so so proud of me and flattered I made that for them.

Ofc, they don't know the full extent to why I put in all the effort for them. They don't need to. They just need to know how much they mean to me. And they mean months of restless nights, to make animation projects inspired by them that they never knew about, songs subliminally written about them which they also aren't aware of, stupid ideas I had of what they would be like inserted into my favourite media and a worlds worth of knowledge to get everything perfect, just right.

Did that even make sense??

[hushhushchild]

—NSFW Imagines—

Gender neutral reader, spicy, not smut

I seem to have picked up a slight fascination for… “rare” monsters in monsterfucking. Of course, the odd werewolf or minotaur fills my need most times. But there’s something so delectable about something novel, a unique flavor to sate my appetite. I might even elaborate on them later…

Needless to say, I’ve compiled a few of these, from savory to sweet. I hope you enjoy, my lovelies.

~Witch~

A new bakery just opened down the block! In a rather slow part of the city, any new development (let alone a bakery) catches your eye. It’s a quaint little shop. A chime greets your entrance. Ivy drapes from pots, indie music wafts through the air. And the owner herself, looking every last bit of the manic pixie dream girl.

Maybe she thought you were cute… slipped something into a pastry or some of the coffee served…

Maybe you just keep seeming to run into her. Grocery stores, banks, your own job. As if by fate.

Her spells could trap you, tempt you, tangle you up.

And the worst thing is… you don’t seem to care.

>Robot<

Ladies and gentlemen, the future of innovation has finally arrived! Our top scientists have managed to distill complex artificial intelligence into that of a physical form! With a simple at-home setup, you too could have an android! Whether it helps out in cooking or cleaning, teaching the kiddos, or being a good friend, our machines will do anything in their power to make you satisfied.

Suppose the robot you got was… mildly defective. It never got an update patch, which was designed to prevent the AI from learning too novel of behaviors.

Suppose it determined that what would make you happiest is fulfilling your deepest, darkest fantasies.

Suppose that this robot never slows down. Never needs to eat, or sleep, or even breathe. Spending all its time making your life a hellish heaven.

“Mimic”

Did you… always have two water bottles? Or, for that matter, two of the same stewpots? For some reason, it seems that instead of things going missing, you’re getting duplicates. And it’s getting worse.

When did your things start to move around the house without you noticing? You could’ve sworn that you left them one place, and you’re not the forgetful sort. It’s not like you have a roommate…

Say, when did you get a second vibrator? And why is that one oh-so-more intense?

%Fungus%

The air, deep in the forest, has a different smell. Not exactly floral, not exactly woody, not exactly earthy. It’s sweet, but the asphalt-sweet that reminds you of summer.

It’s growing thicker, more pungent. While it once was a gentle note in the bouquet of the forest, it slowly grows to overtake the moss and leaves. You don’t even notice when you wander off the path.

Your brain feels like it was dipped in sparkling water. It’s not hard to think, per se. It just… refuses to. The request never loads. A hazy static hangs over anything else.

You’re a perfect prey for the spores, before you even realize what you’re inhaling,

[cleolinda]

Weekend links, March 23, 2025

My posts

I had a spinal procedure on Wednesday (minor; except for seeing all time at once for a couple days, it's fine) and I'm half-resting for a few days after that. But I managed to get the next set of Silent Hill 2 commentary posts up—here's the masterpost for those. I'm currently finishing up the posts for the third video, and (knock on wood) I'll be recording Blue Creek, aka "I have to fight Pyramid Head again," sometime this week. 

Meanwhile, Ian's third stream is also up: "Last night we had our first Pyramid Head encounter, talked about the Schumanns, dove into the wild world of sample manipulation, got a crash course in diatonic vs. nondiatonic chords, and discussed possible interpretations for the coin puzzle." He's already seen my third video (the same level) and tells you exactly where I got my ass kicked.

Reblogs of interest

Some interesting indie games!

Kun'tewiktuk: A Mi'kmaw Adventure: "A fantasy adventure game inspired by Mi’kmaw legend and folklore. It chronicles the adventures of siblings Wasuek ('Flower') and her brother U'n ('Fog'). They get separated one summer morning and they go on an adventure through the spirit world to reunite."

Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori: "Bond with your horse and tame the open wilds of 13th century Mongolia." ("The developers obviously put a lot of love into finally repping my people as Not Just Generic Bad Guys To Be Slaughtered in QuickTime Events, but the unabashed horse girls we truly are.")

Happy Miette Tweet Anniversary to all who celebrate

happy 10 years to wagon age oregons

Puffy is enough.

"hey gamers I’ve started watching star trek does anyone else see the romantic tension between captain kirk and mr. spock"

A Brazilian opossum being presented to Queen Isabella of Spain in the year 1500 from The Zoogoer v.15:no.1 (1986).

Poll: what font do you like to use most when writing?

"asking you about rothko . just ramble for a bit please"

"You’re just a mammal. Let yourself act like it. Your brain needs enrichment. Your body needs rest."

“you little fucker, I’m going to make a statement and then I’m going to take you out to the parking lot and beat your ass. What good does your pessimism do?”

When language transcends language

As I get back into perfume, I can't tell if I want to try Fairyland Bloop or not. I do not want to try Sécrétions Magnifiques.

"My mom accidentally joined a grieving support group (long story, she’s not grieving tho)" [and] "she says citrus tarts aren’t 'griefy' enough"

"I approve of powerscaling discourse only in utterly senseless contexts" ("Gordon Ramsay can breathe underwater. Can he fix The Chum Bucket")

Video

Wet Beast Wednesday: "sometimes you just gotta gghghghgh. mibph. breh. [sneezes] fibsh."

"Trio for Harmonica, Rubber Duck, and Belt in D Minor." "This is how clowns do BDSM"

Words of wisdom from Lil Nas X: "Stop trying to shit on your haters! Do it for you! Do it because you deserve it! Do it for YOU!"

"disability? more like check out dis ability"

Please enjoy the adventures of Dexter, Squidward, and Chicken Elizabeth Nugget at Carcass Acres

"it is once again… binturong appreciation hour"

For those of you who dont get to see fireflies. Yes they are real and yes they are gentle

The sacred texts

I'm not sure how an argument about kettles and tea turns into iambic pentameter, but

Personal tag of the week

Let's say jewelry, because I love the chocolate box pendant AND the Greek earrings AND the moonstone ring AND the garnet owl ring AND...

[moiraimyths]

You may or may not have already answered this, but my brain is swiss cheese: Is there a reason you've decided to release the routes in parts?

Each route in The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe) is shaping up to be around 110k words long, so it will realistically take us several years to complete the game in full — especially since Moirai Myths is not any member of the team's full time occupation, given it does not presently make enough money for one livable income, let alone five. Thus, by the time the game is fully playable, it is distinctly possible that no one will remember us (or those that do may assume our project was one of many indie games to never see the light of day post-Kickstarter), and thus nobody buys the final product. This would ostensibly put an end to any possibility of sustainably creating new games in this fashion, i.e. as a completely independent company, owned and controlled by its creative leads/not beholden to the meddling of investors. At the end of the day, if NDM amounts to a very expensive hobby, then it would have to be a one-off venture. We are as constrained by our material conditions (needing to eat, pay rent, etc.) as anyone else is. 😔

Conversely, by serializing the route releases, we 1) increase the odds of maintaining relevancy/hype for the duration of our development period via establishing/growing a fandom, and we 2) gain access to another revenue stream via early access purchases of the game, which will either go right back into NDM's development, help with marketing expenses, or — in a "we go super viral" scenario — the main team could maybe start drawing incomes. That'd be nice.

Of course, we understand some players are wary of playing unfinished games, but in a lot of ways we feel what we're doing with the scheduling of NDM — a visual novel — is really no different than the scheduling of an actual book series, or TV show, etc. Since we knew from the start that we would need to serialize, we plotted the game out in such a way that players would have a lot to chew on in between releases, particularly from a plot theorizing and character dynamics perspective. The whole NDM team has been involved in fandom in some way or another in the past, and in fact several of us first met through our participation in fandom. We sincerely feel that consuming serialized media with a thriving fandom culture just hits different, and it's a wonderful way to find your people! We're already quite fond of our Discord community (just shy of 300 members!), and would love to see more public engagement / community building in general. It's just more fun to yap about the media you like as a collective, in our opinion.

[sunnysunsins]

Since recently everything here has been taken over by dipshits who lack media literacy, i will come back here to say - RWBY is a good show. It is good. It has good story and good writing and good characters. Does it have stumbles and limitations? Of course, like everything else ever created. Is it the real reason yall are dedicating your lives to religiously following and picking apart every detail to find something, anything, to hate on and make it your whole personality? Nah.

Yall are just pissy your hc wasn't canon. And i'm only half-joking.

Yall are just stuck in the expectation of "cute girls in school fighting monsters and baddies", which it hasn't been for almost a decade. Let Beacon fucking die already, it was the most boring part of the story anyway. If you like it so much, watch.. idk, high guardian spice. Or maybe my hero academia, it has godawful writing too with your favorite Adam-like and Ironwood-like archetypes you adore so much.

And if you didn't click off already in hissy rage, and want to challenge me on the writing point:

Yall are complaining about pacing, characterization lacking, skipped development, insert some other reason, how "show went to shit after volume 3". Well, newsflash, look back at volume 1. REALLY look at it, without your nostalgia boner.

How, in what actually can fit into 3.5 full-length episodes, it skips a whole semester with only a few moments shown in like 3-8 minutes. Notice how Ruby and Pyrrha interacted like 2 times in 3 volumes total. Ruby and Penny? Yeah, they barely interacted too. Ren hasn't talked to rwby girls at all aside from ensemble scenes.

Too many characters in later volumes? Honey, 1-3 had SO many pointless grunts and you ate them up. The whole Vytal festival was filled with them.

Can you tell me the plot of volume 2 from the top of your head? Yeah, me neither. If i think maybe i can remember there was a mecha fight, a dance and a train, but beyond that what was the point of that entire volume again?

Your favorite, pedestalled, volume 3, most of which is fighty-fighty filler and the only stuff you actually remember when jizzing your pants about it is last 3 episodes.

Most character interactions and development happened after Beacon arc. Most actual plot and bigger story happened after it too. Yall are stuck circlejerking to *filler*, setup, which only purpose was to show the status quo to later destroy it and start to show the real picture.

Do you know why v4 and 5 feel so empty and missing something? Sure, juggling multiple plots gave it's pacing issues too, but it felt empty because there were no side characters to fill out the world and make it feel alive. V5 cast was so tiny it felt like nobody interacted at all. Because there were none of those "extras" yall hate on so much. The extras make the world feel real. Which is why Atlas feels alive when Mistral wasn't.

The most complaints about later volumes are chucked down to lack of media literacy and nuanced reading of situations and characters. Translated for your easier understanding: the writing was too nuanced for your "cute girls go fighty fighty brrr" brain to comprehend. Sometimes things require you to put the situation into character perspectives. Sometimes their decisions are made under stress + personality + influence of events and interactions. But i guess yall don't want to think, yall just want to watch "girl go brrr killy killy monster"

I can continue writing down all these other points, but i'm hungry and should get up so i won't. Bottom text: RWBY is a good show with good story and good writing and good characters. It has struggles and fumbles like every other piece of media. But for some reason, because it's indie, it's held to a much higher standard and everyone feels entitled to pick apart every detail of it to make themselves feel justified for feeling sad over their dead headcanons, even though they'd never do the same picking for big production popular series with much *much* worse writing than even the worst of RWBY's fumbles.

If you made it this far and are a member of rwde, congratulations, you still have a reasonable bone or few. Most others i guess clicked off at first point and blocked me after sending me some kinda death threat, idk, i haven't posted this yet after all.

So yeah, feel free to leave your takes and death threats below, i'll happily discuss further later

[genericpuff]

I'm not sure if you've answered this question before but what were some of the things that made you interested in Lore Olympus in the past and at what point did you lose interest?

I adored the art in the beginning, and just like, the really warm-feeling romance that just had me feeling so giddy reading it. There were some red flags in the beginning like the age gap, but I kinda fell for the same mindset of "well they're gods so what does it matter" (obviously I can't in good faith use that argument anymore because if the age gap didn't matter then it either wouldn't exist or wouldn't be brought up in the first place lmao but it took me a while to realize that).

Now, to be fair, LO was also one of my first introductions to webtoons as a format, prior to that I had read mostly manga and left-to-right indie webcomics (i.e. comics that were hosted on their own site) and I was still in the early years of my own development as a writer and artist (I still feel like I'm early in that development tbh) so of course there were undoubtedly a lot of obvious flaws that went over my head (and I was younger and inexperienced so I wasn't as critical of what media I was watching / reading as I am now) but that's been half the fun of catching them now - it's given me a lot more perspective and helped me hone my own skills in my writing by analyzing what's wrong with LO and brainstorming on how those problems can be avoided.

But then there was the Act of Wrath plotline and I was completely sold on it being gold. Anyone who's read my original work knows how much of a SUCKER I am for "dark alter ego" plotlines, I eat that shit up like junk food. But what I like about the dark alter ego tropes is when they're used to explore the subconscious, question one's morals and true identity, etc. That was what I was hoping for and expecting with the AoW plotline in LO - that her "dark self" was gonna be a reflection of how she felt "held back" by her circumstances in the Mortal Realm, and her wrath being something she could use for retribution (in a "do no harm but take no shit" kinda way). Especially with how naive and innocent she was in the beginning, I loved the idea of her slowly coming to terms with her "darker" side and learning not to suppress her emotions until they had nowhere else to go and exploded (which was how I interpreted the AoW).

So when it didn't do that, or even explore an ounce of nuance regarding her relationship with her wrath, I was very disappointed to say the least. When Eris was revealed to be the one who "blessed" her with wrath, that was when the rose colored glasses started to fall off and I realized "wait, does Rachel not have an actual plan for this whole Kore vs. Persephone thing???" And now her wrath is literally just there to... give her the power to bully people?? It just feels so disheartening to see such potential squandered.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna chastise a story if it doesn't go exactly where I want it to go, there would be no fun in that anyways (and that's what fanfiction is for lmao). But when a story is leaving very interesting but connectable breadcrumbs that are VERY clearly leading you somewhere and then just... doesn't, that's when it's disappointing and unsatisfying. LO feels like a "creator vs. the reader" story in the worst way possible, where it's constantly leaving breadcrumbs, getting pissed when the audience "figures it out", so then it overcorrects and tries to "subvert" itself to keep the readers "on their toes"... but the problem is that all it really does is punish the readers for paying attention and investing themselves in the story by giving them a worse story. It's like Rachel's getting mad at people for figuring out a story that she's writing and hinting towards.

And this has been going on for YEARS now, it's like a Shepard tone where it sounds like it keeps getting higher and higher in pitch but then doesn't actually resolve so your brain is just scrambling trying to figure out what in the world it could be "building up to".

There's nothing. It's not building up to anything. It's just constantly putting down new plot threads that are slightly altered versions of previous plot threads and expecting you to keep following along while it makes a mess of itself. It feels like you're going somewhere but you're actually still just running in place. It's just Rachel never learning how to progress past the middle school writing level of "and then this happened and then this happened and then this happened". Not only is it disorganized writing, but it's just... it's so boring. Nothing's exciting or interesting anymore when it keeps distracting itself with shiny new plotlines and characters that never get resolved.

It's like when you were a kid and thought "man , when I grow up, I'm gonna eat nothing but chocolate cake and ice cream every day forever!" and then you get older and you realize you were being silly because eating nothing but chocolate cake and ice cream every day 1.) isn't good for you and doesn't feel good, and 2.) the appeal and novelty of it wears off if you can have it any time you want, it doesn't feel as special anymore as it did when you were a kid and having those things was a treat.

To compare this back to LO, none of its "reveals" feel like treats anymore, they feel like just another half-assed attempt to keep people interested. It's clickbait.

And don't get me wrong, you CAN totally subvert the breadcrumbs you put down for your audience and go in a completely different direction than where the audience was expecting, but it takes a shitload of skill and thought to do it well. Attack on Titan is one of the best recent examples of a story appearing to completely throw out its original script halfway through, only for that script to actually still be relevant in a very complex and thought out way. Especially when there ARE hints towards the big "twist" that make you go back and rewatch it and realize "WAIT, THEY'VE BEEN GIVING US THE ANSWERS ALL THIS TIME?!?!"

(it would be TWO MORE FUCKING SEASONS before this ending would make sense, that's fucking GENIUS foreshadowing and in the CREDITS SEQUENCE LIKE ?? IT'S SO BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS IT HOLY SHIT-)

Evidently Rachel does not have that skill and is not willing to put in that thought; maybe she could some day, but I don't think she's learning it on the job as well as she thinks she is.

And it's disappointing as fuck because it could have been so much better than this. Rachel is literally the only one getting in her own way of LO being something truly great.

[katyawriteswhump]

the power of love part 7 (steddie, stobin, steve whump fic)

Steve has a habit of surviving near death experiences then getting sick for no reason. And Eddie and those fatal bat bites? After an impossible feat of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from Steve, he’s mysteriously fixed. So, Eddie’s back to being banished, this time with Steve and Robin in tow. Eddie’s healing, but Steve isn’t… and life gets even more confusing, when Eddie develops feelings for Steve, which aren’t entirely unrequited.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12

(also on AO3 here)

Chapter Seven

Eddie POV

Steve insists on being pathfinder lead for the next hour. 

Eddie’s gotta admit—following Steve, as he thrashes his way through the undergrowth, is the best entertainment that banishment has provided yet. Steve’s tight-fitting pants don't do any harm. Goddammit, the perspiration patches on Steve’s shirt make Eddie sweat even harder than Steve is.

“You need the fedora hat,” calls Robin, “and you’ve totally nailed the junior Indiana Jones look.”

Steve smirks over his shoulder. “I was channelling that guy out of Romancing the Stone.” 

“Michael Douglas? No way as hot.” Eddie flashes his best flirtatious grin with ever greater confidence. This afternoon, Steve has begun returning them. “Stick to Indy, man.”

By the time they reach the logging camp, however, they’re all beyond exhausted.

Eddie’s feet are raw with blisters, and Robin’s been complaining of the same for the past hour. She limps through the door of the first cabin they come to, which fortunately turns out to be a bunkhouse. She throws down her pack then throws herself onto the bottom of one of two sets of bunks. Steve collapses onto the other lower bunk and appears to fall instantly asleep.

Eddie considers crawling up onto one of the top bunks and seeing if sleep takes pity on him.

He doubts it would. The choppers were a stark reminder of the nightmare reality snapping at his heels, and he’s wired as hell. He begins to unpack their supplies. Robin, having taken a moment, sits back up.

“We should check this place out,” she whispers. “There must be a clean water supply somewhere, maybe a generator. Definitely canned food and that kinda stuff, for when the loggers come back in the autumn.” 

“I guess it’ll make a change from cardboard-flavoured cereal.”

“God, I know, right! I’d literally murder for some Count Chocular right now.”

They split up to search the various cabins. Eddie hits the jackpot first, in the guise of a crate of bottled beer. 

“Seriously?” says Robin, when she meets him outside the bunkhouse. Eddie sits on the beer crate he’s dragged out, taking a well-earned rest. “You’re gonna get buzzed?”

“You got it in one, sister.”

He doesn’t feel the need to justify this—I saw Chrissy butchered in front of my eyes. I’ve spent a week on the run from the cops. I BASICALLY DIED IN A WHIRLWIND OF EVIL KILLER DEMOBATS. And now I’m on the run again, with Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington, and I’ve fallen stupid hard for him. Oh, and there’s a small but real possibility he’s been flayed. Or something else freaky along those lines.

Robin hasn’t quit scowling at him. His smile is the first overtly false one he’s bothered with for a while:

“Forgive me, Robin. I’ve reached the point where, to quote my sweet old Granny—there ain’t nothin’ fuckin’ like it for me nerves. ’Course, she favoured hard liquor.” He offers one of two bottles he’s gotten out to Robin. “Want one?”

“I’ll stick to the cardboard cereal.” Her scowl lessens, though she remains deadly serious. “Look, promise me you won’t give too much to Steve.”

“Why?”

“What kinda pea-brain question is that? Despite the super-commando act, he’s still struggling, it’s totally obvious. Getting trashed is not gonna help.”

“Yeah, but… he’s improving, right?” Her slight wince betrays that, once again, they’re thinking the same thing. Perhaps Steve’s getting stronger, because he’s getting closer again to Lover’s Lake, Hawkins, Vecna, the Hive-Mind, and yet… “You know our little worst-case scenario, Rob? I’m still not buying it.”

The wind rustles the nearby trees. In sync, Robin’s hunched shoulders soften a little. “Me neither. Hand on heart, if Steve had a link to that evil shit, any at all, I’d sense it by now. Although… Was it just me who thought it was weird when the choppers came over, and then it suddenly clouded up?”

“Yeeeeaah, that really was just you. I was too busy eating dirt and shitting myself.” Now he thinks about it, mind, it was darn convenient.

She shrugs. “I guess I’m super-paranoid that way. I literally spent my Middle School years spotting aliens everywhere.”

“You’re kidding?”

“Then I realised they weren’t aliens. It was the Fae all along.”

“You sure it wasn’t dragons?”

“Now you’re being ridiculous.” Her laugh sounds as manic as his latest crazy smile. On the other hand:

“Maybe Steve really is getting better naturally,” he ventures, “and the set-backs are because he’s been overdoing it. I mean, yeah, we keep an eye out for anything cuckoo, watch for connections, make sure he takes rests, but… Time heals, huh?”

“Not always.” She purses her lips, veering straight back into scary mode. “Steve doesn’t like people to know, but since his second major concussion, he’s not supposed to drink. Of course, he does sometimes, but—”

“Message received. I’ll just have the one—for medicinal purposes, ’kay?” 

“Please yourself. Then wake Steve long enough to put our own bedding on those disgusting bunks. I don’t wanna be bitten to death by bed bugs.”

Robin stomps off toward the camp generator. Eddie is executing the important business of prying the top off his beer, when Steve appears, leaning in the cabin doorway. “Why did you both let me… Hey, is that beer?”

The top pops off with a treacherous fizz. “Uh, no?”

“You’re a useless liar.” Steve closes in. His messy, sleep-mussed hair renders him totally edible. 

“You got me.” Eddie darts his tongue nervously across his lips. “This indeed is the amber nectar of the Gods. You want some?” 

There’s a skewed logic behind Eddie’s offer. If he told Steve he couldn’t drink, like he was his mom or something, Steve would probably get mad. He opts to play a good cop, bad cop routine with Robin, who… 

Eddie glances toward the generator.

She’s not there. If bad cop isn’t gonna show, then he needs a Plan B.

“I guess I’ll have one.” Steve stretches to take the bottle. 

“Just gonna test it. Been here a while.” 

Eddie takes a glug, splutters it out across dusty ground. “Oh man, it’s worse than cat-piss.” He’s only slightly exaggerating. “There’s a reason those lumberjacks left this garbage behind.”

Steve yawns into the back of his hand. “Gonna be honest. I’m not supposed to drink anyhow. Long story.” Ooookay. That went easier than predicted. “Got any water left?”

“Yeah. By my pack.” Eddie hurries into the bunkhouse, and Steve follows. It’s the last bottle, so he hopes Robin’s busy locating fresh supplies. Though that proves the least of his worries.

Half a minute later, he’s sitting on the edge of a bunk, thigh-to-thigh with Steve. They pass the bottle of water and a bottle of beer between them.

And being this close to Steve, now Steve seems so much better? Exchanging chitchat about how long they can hideout here, and if any of them have the skills to hunt a deer or something?

It sends tingles up and down Eddie’s spine.

The way Steve looks at him underlines exactly why Steve was angry last night, when Eddie “assumed” he was straight. Eddie suddenly can’t look Steve in the eye. Trouble is, he then can’t stop staring at Steve’s mouth—those shapely, slightly chapped lips, moist and glistening with water and bad beer.

Then Steve blindsides him with: “Do you honestly think you died, Eddie? Before I did the CPR?”

“I dunno, Harrington.” Eddie squirms on his butt, all kinds of defences flying up. “It was like a dream. Apart from that, it wasn't a dream. It was a place, and Dustin was there, and Robin was there, and you were there, too.”

“Wow. Seriously?”

Eddie cackles out a mocking laugh. “I’m misquoting ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ dude.”

“Oh.” Eddie glances sidelong. Steve appears… oddly crestfallen. “It’s just… You know, I said when I get hurt, I feel like I come back different each time. I mean, I don't know if it's true or not, but... I never knew you before... and I know you now and... and…” Steve fluffs his hair. “Jesus, I’m blabbering.”

“Nah,” says Eddie. “You sound like you’re getting somewhere.” 

Compared to the meltdown my brain is having.

“Okay, well, here it is. I like you, Eddie. I really like you.” 

Eddie half wants to flee for the hills. He fixes on a beetle scuttling across the dirty floorboards. “Dude, you sure you’re not in love with Wheeler?”

“I… I… No!”  Steve doesn’t sound angry, only bewildered. “Yeah, I believed that once, and maybe I was. I guess she fitted in so many dreams I’ve had of my future, and I owe her a lot. But now I’m with you, and…” Their eyes finally meet. Steve’s earnest warmth sends a brutal shockwave through Eddie. “I know this seems fickle, but…” His gentle laugh is too much. “Who knows? Perhaps it’s because Nance has never been dead. Or, near dead. You know, we’ve gotten that in common, right?”

“Riiiiight,” Eddie says, stupidly, then, “Screw it, I like you too, Stevie. I really like you.” 

They fling their arms around each other, and tumble into the kiss.

For Eddie, the sensations are like no make-out session before, such is the hunger that zings between them. Eddie’s so blown away, that the brush of Steve’s lips seems to kindle an actual crackling, electric friction..  Damn, the boy can kiss! 

Eddie’s gotten a semi already, fingers threading up through Steve’s hair, toying at the nape of his neck. Steve does amazing twisty things with his tongue. Gnng! You wanna kill me again, Baby? Even the scrape of Steve’s shallow stubble totally unhinges him.

They work the kiss with their whole bodies, striving to get beyond close, as if they could slide beneath each other’s skin. Eddie can’t help wondering—can they get each other off, before Robin gets back?

Then something changes.

He senses Steve gasp, then moan into Eddie's mouth with something other than dumb teen passion. His arms, clinging around Eddie, falter and slip away.

“Stevie?”

Too late. Steve crumples against Eddie, totally senseless. 

“Steve?” squeaks Eddie, struggling to stop Steve slipping to the floorboards. “Robin! ROBIN!”

Part 8

tags: @estrellami-1 @kal-ology (thank you, thank you, thank you!) If anybody else would like to be tagged on this fic or any of my writing, please let me know :) Reblogs, comments and likes also very much appreciated :) Thank you for reading so far :)

(also part of my steve whump fic series on AO3)

[grumpy-gamedev]

Finally got started with the studies

Today it finally happened, I started with the first set of homework for the first lesson of Draw a cube (will show some absolutely uninteresting process in the end of todays post).

It feels good to take the first shaky steps for getting started with the foundational skills. And it's a humbling experience for certain. I've been doing artsy stuffs since I was 6 years old (I designed Mario levels in my school books, so already I had my sights aimed on game development). But I've always just gone full steam trying to do things without actually doing some serious training.

This works to a certain degree for sure. I've been able to produce things that I still feel a sense of pride over, so nothing bad there. But now I want to take things up a notch and actually get to a semi-professional level (still keepin' it indie though).

Let's take a break and look into the archives, here's a piece that I made whilst actually being at a art school (and of course they really didn't give a **** about foundation, it was just "draw what you feel like". More about producing personal expressions and some figure drawing on the side.

This is Leviathan, a postcard sized mixed media painting (I used watercolor and acrylic ink). This like the previous post has gone through some iterations starting with a graphite drawing. I do have a digital version in the works, but I laid it to the side several years ago sadly.

Anyway, back the the present. Today I have been churning out most of the homework for the first part of lesson 1 of draw a box. Still have one more page of ghosted planes left to produce. But I want to take things in a healthy pace, so will continue with that one tomorrow.

I am trying to gauge how long time it'll take to finish the curriculum and feel steady with the basics and right now I think it will take the better part of this year really. I want to pace myself in a way that gives the ol' brain time to process both the muscle memory and the theory of the course.

I do have my eyes on some follow up courses after I've finished the DaB course as well. Right now I'm really enjoying Tim Mcburnie's YouTube channels, and I really vibe with his reasoning on both a practical and philosophical level. So when I feel ready I will probably give his big course a spin!

And now for the actual work I churned out today! It's quite horrific as expected, but I want to be transparent in my journey and give the ones that find it interesting the complete picture. I have a long way to go, but each stroke is a part of that journey, and I will try to enjoy it to the fullest.

"But Glenn! Where's the first page?" You might ask, weeeeell, the first page has the same things as the second page really, it was a 2 page thing, and I will do one more of the fourth page so I have 5 pages total for the first homework (and page 4 and 5 will get additional scribbles in the shape of ellipses at a later stage as well).

These exercises will also be put in a schedule of warm-up exercises after I've finished the homework, so it won't be the last time I will be doing planes for sure!

Anyways, super psyched to have started the course! I will be sure to you you all another update when I'm getting a bit into the thing! I hope ye enjoy!

Cheerz!

/ Glenn the Grumpy Gamedev

[justslowdown]

Creative development I didn't see coming... I've always been an intensely visual artist and trying to learn instruments feels like my hands are made of wet spaghetti. I was too afraid of embarrassment, even alone, to learn to sing before the past 8 months or so, but I've found my voice and opened up new parts of it

Turns out the painful process of getting out of your head, of discovering how much more there is to experience, can open up new ways of processing and creating

I won't be ready to share any of it for a long time

but it feels right to be doing this, just like the collage-poetry

I keep waking up with song in my head, or finding it when I'm running or in some other flow state, that I've never heard before but isn't new at all--it feels like it's always been there. Not just lyrics, but the rhythm and pitch of it just feel... natural or innate

The subconscious and the deeper current of the river is so much more aware than surface consciousness! Learning to experience, sense, and trust the 90% of my mind and soul that ISN'T conscious thought has been necessary for this, I think

The songwriting comes easily, easier than poetry for me, which is strange because I could never incorporate rhyme in my poems and rhythm was challenging. Now, as long as I don't think about it, the songs are just... there, if I can write them down before they go. Or sing them! That's what makes the rhyme and flow make sense

The first time it happened, I was trail running and a ray of sun hit my eyes through the pine trees. I was struck with an intense sense of singularity, of being there, then, and how deep of an honor it is to experience living. A few lines bubbled up in my head and more came as I kept running

The strangest thing is that I only understand about half of what I'm writing. I'm very certain the other half is going to make sense eventually. I don't mean sense as in logical; it's all easy to follow, but experiential/emotional/spiritual/metaphysical. The discovery ahead is thrilling to me

Especially when I'm in a half-lucid dream and experiencing so much more that I CAN'T bring back in conscious thought, but feels the exact same way!

I still get that "can't bring it back" with the instrumental or electronic parts of the songs, which is intensely frustrating. Some of them are like Aphex Twin, Royksopp, and Sufjan (of course) had a weird baby, some are more like Beach House, or basic indie singer-songwriter stuff, so it's all over the place

Rarely do they stick in my brain, since I can't play any instruments (yet? I'm hating trying to learn from videos, I need human hands to help show me)

so I don't have context to remember the "grammar" of it

Going to try and learn how to do some electronic stuff today. At least I already know how to use Audacity from my freaky, morbid, multimedia sculpture days. Bless programs that still function exactly the same instead of looking like iPhone apps........

Speaking of, I finally moved all of this from my notes app and something about how bare bones basic Notepad is has sparked some organization

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

ROUND 2 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

Anachrophobia

Synopsis

Imagine a war. A war that has lasted centuries, a war which has transformed an entire planet into a desolate No Man's Land. A war where time itself is being used as a weapon.

You can create zones of decelerated time and bring the enemy troops to a standstill. You can create storms of accelerated time and reduce the opposition to dust in a matter of seconds.

But now the war has reached a stalemate. Neither the Plutocrats nor the Defaulters have made any gains for over a hundred years.

The Doctor, Fitz and Anji arrive at Isolation Station Forty, a military research establishment on the verge of a breakthrough. A breakthrough which will change the entire course of the war.

They have found a way to send soldiers back in time. But time travel is a primitive, unpredictable and dangerous business. And not without its own sinister side effects...

Propaganda

YOU THINK MIDNIGHT IS SCARY? YOU THINK MIDNIGHT IS HORROR? TRY READING ANACHROPHOBIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! imagine. there is a war that has been raging for centuries between two groups - the plutocrats and the defaulters (YEAH THIS IS ALSO A COMMENTARY ON THE FUTILITY OF CAPITALISM AND WAR ECONOMICS!) - and both sides have developed time technology that allows them to either Speed Time Up (which can age someone to dust in the span of a few seconds) or Slow Time Down (trapping someone in a single second for millennia). the doctor and his friends are trapped in a military base that is studying time travel. they send a pod into the past, but when it comes back it brings Something With It. something that makes people Lose Their Whole Past and relive moments again and again. and also turns their faces into clocks. read this fuckkng book (@eightdoctor )

ANACHROPHOBIA ANACHROPHOBIA ANACHROPHOBIA ITS SO GOOD ITS SO GOOD YOU DONT UNDERSTAND YOU DONT UNDERSTAND. IT DEALS WITH THE TIME JUST AFTER (TWO BOOKS AFTER) THE DOCTOR HAD HIS SECOND HEART REMOVED AND IT DOES IT SO WELL. ‘‘LIKE A MAN WHO HAS LOST AN ARM STILL BEING ABLE TO SENSE MOVEMENTS IN HIS FINGERS. LIKE A MAN WHO STILL SOMETIMES FEELS THE BEAT OF A SECOND HEART’’ ARATFTFY ITS SO GOOD IT CHANGED MY BRAIN CHEMISTRY. THE LAST TWO BOOKS (MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN + HOPE) DIDNT MENTION MUCH ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF LOSING AN ENTIRE FUCKING HEART BUT ANACHROPHOBIA IS ALL ABOUT IT. THE DOCTOR IS SICK, WEAKER THAN USUAL, FITZ AND ANJI ARE CONCERNED, SO CONCERNED THEY’RE WONDERING IF HE CAN LIVE WITH ONLY ONE HEART. THEY GET OXYGEN CANNISTERS AND A MASK OUT FOR HIM JUST IN CASE!!!!! AND OH THE BODY HORROR OH THE BODY HORROR. IT'S GOOD ITS SO GOOD. AND SABBATH IS IN IT AND HES DISGUISED AS A GUY (ISN'T REVEALED UNTIL THE END) AND HE PRETENDS TO PANIC WHEN HE REALISES HIS COWORKERS ARE DEAD AND IT MAKES ME FEEL SICK SO SICK WHEN I REALISED HIS EMOTION WAS FAKE. ITS GOOD ITS SO GOOD ITS SO FUCKING GOOD (nix)

Alien Bodies

Synopsis

On an island in the East Indies, in a lost city buried deep in the heart of the rainforest, agents of the most formidable powers in the galaxy are gathering. They have been invited there to bid for what could turn out to be the deadliest weapon ever created.

When the Doctor and Sam arrive in the city, the Time Lord soon realises they've walked into the middle of the strangest auction in history — and what's on sale to the highest bidder is something more horrifying than even the Doctor could have imagined, something that could change his life forever.

And just when it seems things can't get any worse, the Doctor finds out who else is on the guest list.

Propaganda

Doctor ends up at an auction for his own dead body (anonymous)

One of the most notable Eighth Doctor books, the first by Lawrence Miles and the beginning of Faction Paradox. Generally very good. (anonymous)

Banger of a story where 8 goes to an auction in order to purchase 3's dead body. Then the weird shit starts happening. (@eighthdoctor )

[linuxgamenews]

Ascension Gamebook: Choose Your Path Wisely

Ascension Gamebook is a classic styled choose your own adventure game coming to Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. All thanks to the creative spark and unstoppable talent of developer Kudomos. Working to find its way onto Steam. Remember the magic of flipping through dog-eared pages in those old-school "Choose Your Own Adventure" books, dice in one hand, heart racing with every decision? Ascension Gamebook is here to bring that feeling back — with a vengeance. Built by indie game dev Kudomos using the powerful Ink engine, Ascension Gamebook isn’t just a throwback. It’s a full-blown reimagining of everything we like about Fighting Fantasy and early Dungeons & Dragons. It’s gritty, clever, unforgiving, and utterly absorbing. This isn’t some high-gloss, lootbox-hungry clone. It’s pure, raw adventure wrapped in a rich story and old-school charm — crafted especially for story-hungry gamers who crave a challenge. You play as a fixed avatar in Ascension Gamebook — an acolyte of the mysterious Sky Guild — set loose in a magical realm where the stakes couldn’t be higher. With nothing but your wits and the roll of 2d6 dice, you’ll have to navigate twisted puzzles, ancient secrets, and beasts that don’t just want to kill you. They want to turn you into legend… or a bloody footnote. Every step is a gamble. Every choice could be your last. There are over 40 unique and gruesome deaths waiting for the reckless or unlucky. But the rewards? Oh, they’re glorious. Rediscover long-lost truths of your Guild academy. Unlock hidden lore. Face the ethical dilemmas of advanced dragon magic. This is high fantasy with depth—where your choices echo through the story and shape not just your fate, but the entire realm’s.

Ascension Gamebook ~ Alpha Trailer

Inspired by the classic "Choose Your Own Adventure", Kudomos set out to create something truly special — a digital gamebook that feels both timeless and brand new. To make the world of Ascension Gamebook even more alive, they brought in AI magic — using Midjourney to create stunning visuals and Eleven Labs to breathe life into characters with dynamic voiceovers. The result? A perfect mix of old-school storytelling and cutting-edge tech that delivers both a heavy hit of nostalgia and a fresh, unforgettable adventure. And if you grabbed the free pre-v4 version on Itch? Lucky you. You’ve already got a head start. The rest of us will be scrambling to catch up when Ascension Gamebook lands on Steam. But don’t expect hand-holding. This is a self-driven, puzzle-heavy, story-rich journey built for those who want to explore every shadowy corner. It respects your time, your brain, and your fondness for classic RPGs. It’s made by gamers, for gamers — with full Linux support, of course. So, sharpen your mind, ready those dice, and prepare for a fantasy experience that doesn’t just nod to the past—it grabs it by the beard and drags it into the now. Ascension Gamebook isn’t just a game. It’s a rite of passage. Which is all coming to Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. So be sure to Wishlist on Steam.