#It’s a great game I had a lot of fun but really had to scrape through it at times

[driftingballoons]

Typical pkmn BW2 experience

Tough, but not impossible

[exhuastedpigeon]

WIP Wednesday

Figuring out how to weave Shannon and Eddie's love story and relationship breakdown into the NHL AU has been a fun and complicated little game. Here's a little snippet of Buck and Eddie bonding on a road trip and Eddie telling Buck about Shannon.

And just as a reminder, in my house we love and respect Shannon Diaz. There will be no Shannon bashing in this fic, but there will be Buck's POV as Eddie and Shannon work to overcome a lot of hurt feelings to become co-parents and friends again.

“Shannon’s family moved to El Paso our freshman year of high school and she was devastated because they moved away from all of her friends and from her rink. I saw her at school a few times, but the first time we really talked was at the rink. She figure staked and her mom had finally managed to scrape together enough money for some ice time for her,” Eddie says and Buck can picture young Eddie watching a faceless girl spin on the ice. “I think I fell in love with her that day, but we didn’t get together until right before I left for training with the U.S. National team for U18 Worlds our junior year of high school.” “That was 2017 right?” Buck asks because he remembers that year. It was the year before their draft and the U.S. team was stacked - they had Brady Tkachuk, Quinn Hughes, and Eddie fucking Diaz. The Canadian team hadn’t even made it out of the quarterfinals against Sweden. “I hated your guts.” “You didn’t even play us,” Eddie laughs and it sounds so fucking nice. Buck didn’t know a laugh could sound like that, deep and rich.  “You were so good,” Buck says, voice maybe too earnest. “Do you want me to talk about Worlds or do you want me to tell you my story?” Buck mimes zipping his lips and gives Eddie a closed mouth smile to prove his point.  “I come back after Worlds and Shannon and I are inseparable. She’s so cool and funny and also a total dork. I learned how to do lifts so she could practice them. I- I loved her so much,” Eddie says and Buck knows it's true. He knows in his bones that Eddie loved this woman with his whole heart. “Senior year was good, great even. I had to leave a few times for U.S. national team stuff, but I got lucky and mom found a great team for me in Tucson so I didn’t leave home like you had to. I just had to drive four hours there and four hours back every weekend.” “And then the week before the draft we found out she was pregnant, after I’d already committed to Michigan, Shannon was torn between taking a year off to travel and going to Michigan with me to try to walk on to their figure skating team. She - she was good, but her family didn’t have the resources to pay for a great trainer like mine did so she kind of got left behind in terms of her skating,” Eddie sounds sad. He sounds like it hurts him that she didn’t get the same chances he did.  “So you decided to sign your entry level contract instead of going to school,” Buck says, the pieces falling neatly into place in his head. Eddie, 18 years old getting ready to play for one of the best university programs in the U.S. and realizing he’s going to have bills to pay, bills that you can’t pay when you’re a full time student-athlete.

Tagged by @spotsandsocks @cal-daisies-and-briars @daffi-990

no pressure tagging @devirnis @thewolvesof1998 @spagheddiediaz @malewifediaz @eddiebabygirldiaz @eddiebuckley-diaz @rosieposiepuddingnpie @acountrygirlsfun @wildlife4life @jamespearce9-1-1 @underwater-ninja-13 @steadfastsaturnsrings @monsterrae1 @ladydorian05 @loserdiaz @wikiangela @rainbow-nerdss @jeeyuns @puppyboybuckley @watchyourbuck @ @jesuisici33 @butchdiaz @911-on-abc @disasterbuckdiaz and anyone else who wants to share!

[itwasthisorthemilitary]

March 17th

Emo about Saint Patty’s Day. You’re telling me St. Pattys Day is on a Sunday this year and I’m not there? Fucking rude. Avoiding social media because i can’t bear to see everyone at the parade.

Been busy busy and phone decided to not work so that explains the lack of posts.

Friday we had our second language interviews. Realistically mine was not a good representation of what I know. I’m disappointed that it won’t accurately reflect my capabilities. But I can also recognize that the formal setting of the interview is not how a typical conversation flows.

Friday afternoon the trainees all put on our first community meeting. The goal was to gather members of the community to have a conversation about their environmental concerns. This was a trial run for all of us because we will be expected to do this alone once we are at site. We somehow managed to scrape together snacks, an environmental bingo game, and lead group discussions. I think all of us were surprised that it went as well as it did. And honestly I almost expect it will be easier to organize once we are alone in our sites because we won’t have to try to co-plan with 21 other volunteers.

Yesterday was Saturday and I went into Chorrera for provisions. Chorerra is where joy goes to die. It’s hot and disgusting and way too many people. People keep asking how I’d feel if i was placed in a really remote site, where in reality I’m much more wary about getting placed in a highly populated area. But i got my snacks and headed home.

Yesterday evening there was a fundraiser Bingo party for the guy who got hit by the car last week. (If you couldn’t tell, Bingo is a BIG deal here) To know one’s surprise, about 5 times as many people showed up to the Bingo Party than they did to our meeting. The event was a great way for all the trainees to socialize and build up some good cred. I would’ve had a lot more fun if I could’ve been drinking as much as the locals, 6 hours of bingo sober is about as thrilling as it sounds.

Currently I’m on hour 5? 6? Of a 10 hours bus ride. We’re headed to Chiriqui for a week of technical training. Right now I think Chiriqui is the province i want most for my site and I’m excited to see if that holds true after this week. It’s wicked close to the Costa Rican border and typically it’s a little cooler in the mountains. It ain’t cool right now though, It’s 112° outside and approximately 110° inside the bus. Luckily this is a private bus for the trainees and we are currently all wearing as little clothes as we can. The first 2 hours the AC was so cold that we were huddled up, now we are a flaming tin can barreling down the highway.

Feet infection! I have really fun small pus blisters covering my feet and ankles. Defintely not the ants because all the ant bites on my upper body cleared up within like 12 hours? I’m struggling to keep my feet clean and Dry. I can keep them dry but dirty? Or “Clean” but very sweaty in socks. Not sure what’s best. The flaming bus is horrendous but not having to wear shoes all day is probably best case scenario. Don’t love leaving my house for a week with even less access to medical care. But in typical Zoe fashion I’m self medicating and hoping that the concoction i come up with will help (I know y’all are gonna hate that).

Photos in the next post! Be wary I’m putting gross feet pics!

[dovahkinniez]

could we see some lucien flavius heacanons, since you said youre open to modded followers? thank you!! c:

Hey, so multiple people have asked for Lucien headcanons, so here I am. I'm specifically answering this one as it says Lucien Flavius, so I know it's him rather than Lucien Lachance.

Either way, let's get into it!

Remember to not be a silent reader, like and share your thoughts! I love hearing everyone's feedback. <3

LUCIEN FLAVIUS BF HEADCANONS

— such a sweetheart. :']

You're the muscle, he's the brains. Definitely the type to create the plan and then allow you to do all the physical work, at the start anyway.

He's a fast learner and you truly knew he had feelings for you when he fireblasted a bandit to death for coming near you, even his own anger and confidence shocked him.

While dating this man, you'll never be bored.

On the road, long days can be boring as you travel from one place to another. But Lucien spews out facts and songs along the way that makes it less tiresome.

He likes to read to you on the nights too, it's cold in the open air, the fire crackles away and furs just about warm you as he reads softly, almost in a whisper as you watch his lips move with each word.

In dungeons he will stop at least 400 times to pick something up, look at everything and make notes. Especially in Dwemer ruins.

You'll know more facts about the Dwemer than he does once he's done speaking about it all, you wouldn't be surprised if he even knew what happened to the Dwemer and where they went.

He isn't good at cooking. But he likes to do it anyway. Once he burnt his sleeve while cooking and screamed the house down, you truly believed someone broke in and tried to kill him.

Oh yeah! He is really dramatic. Extreme dramatic. He will scream when a mudcrab nips at his leg, will pretend to faint when you kiss him randomly.

He loves kisses. Oh man. He's a sucker for them. Beyond the erratic emotions of being in a relationship, the first kiss was the 'bump-nose-scrape-teeth' type kiss, but after it's perfect and omg, he loves to kiss you.

He especially likes to kiss your collarbone, it's an intimate place, not the regular place to kiss but Lucien isn't a regular person and he loves to press warm kisses there every morning.

He likes to sleep naked, it's real and true. He loves it especially when you to too. Feeling your bare skin against each other just makes him so comfortable, he always sleeps very well.

Lucien writes about you in his letters to his family. They know a lot about you, all the things you've accomplished to what makes you laugh, what you like to eat to the colour of your eyes. They love you already, and when they meet you, they love you even more.

Going to the places in Cyrodiil that Lucien grew up in, seeing all his old friends, it's great to see him so happy and at home, little do you know, he's at home wherever you are.

He loves to sing with you, even when cleaning around the house. Or when you're on your horses in the wild, having fun rhyming games.

He loves your hands, he will stroke his thumb over the scars that litter across them, kiss your knuckles and squeeze the palms of them as he entwines his finger with yours. He has lovely hands, warm, with long fingers.

His hair is very soft too. Play with the blonde locks and he will fall asleep automatically. To be honest, he falls asleep so easily it's unreal. Five seconds on the pillow and he's off.

But he loves it more when he rests his face against your chest. Arms tightly wrapped around you and his cheek smushed as he dozes off.

He's such a cutie. The type to make bracelets with flowers for you, then he surprises you with an actual bracelet. Then he does the same with a necklace. Then one day he does it with a ring and you feel yourself crumble when you realise how this usually works.

When he 'surprises' you with the ring, when he pops the question, he also remembers to tell you he knew from the moment you helped him use his sword properly that he'd want to marry you.

And its true. He did know. He never got so nervous before feeling someone so close. But feeling you close as you taught him, he slipped up a few times which annoyed him but he couldn't focus on anything other than you.

[mayordoi]

huzzah! 2023 art review!

it’s almost the end of the year, wowzers! i always do one of these art review thingies since i always like looking back at the art ive made :> last year i posted the review on my other account and left it at there, but this year i want to actually review each month and notable pieces i made… just for fun!

this post is very much just for me lol, but i hope someone out there enjoys it. month-by-month review + previous year in reviews will be under the cut! 🩷

(also, shoutout to tumblr for going rouge and posting this way way earlier than i had scheduled 😍 luckily tumblr post editor is weirdly based and kept all my embedded links when i pasted it from the old one? hell yeah)

Jan: started off the year with a painting of my beloved ocs after ending last year with one! (and i will be talking about my older year in reviews, rest assured). this was my obligatory cute shared scarf art, and i wanted to try attempting to render something more involved like two characters and draping cloth. i don't think the result was too shabby, though this was before i discovered my favorite rendering brush for procreate, so in hindsight, it looks kinda flat and boring now. where's all the crunch? ah but anyway, starting a whole year with your art in a mid place compared to what you made later on is par for the course.

Feb: probably the month where i had the least art to put here, i remember scraping a little to find one. this was a chrobin piece i made in my sketchbook! nothing too noteworthy... i think i tried doing a slightly different approach to coloring with markers (applying the color before the lineart) and incorporating paint, but i remember this one giving me trouble. first of all, the size i drew this in was really small (it was in a small sketchbook and i decided to mask the margins with comparatively wide masking tape), and second of all the paper was absolutely NOT built for gouache, so it ended up a kind of wrinkly and muddy mess. i mean i'm still not the best with gouache now but still, not my best.

March: a redraw of a robin piece i made back when i was still on amino. i probably won't share the old versions because they're crap, so just trust me on the redraw part. anyway, the last iteration of the concept was in 2019 i think? and while i was proud of it for a while, its luster finally faded and i decided to try doing it again in procreate. this was when i discovered my love for the soft chalk brush in the jingsketch basics brush pack. for a while i've been using the hard render brush in that pack to render, but this one's texture and chalkiness totally changed the game. i was in love!! also tried to be a little more crazy and vibrant with how i applied the base colors, using saturated colors across the board. this process didn't consistently stick, but i think it yielded some neat results here. another hit from this month was my piece of grandmaster robin, since i'm really proud of the detail here!.

Apr: guys, april was MY MONTH! i remember making so much art in just a few weeks, something just clicked in my brain i guess. i chose my drawings of hagane rin and len since this was when i truly began to get comfy in my lineart era (after the grandmaster drawing). this month was full of detailed line drawings at that, but this one was what made me both enjoy the process a lot and do more of it. hell yeah. other hits: vocaloids at mcdonald's (i drew a background omg!!!), alice in ny fanart (just the euphoria of finally nailing a composition for this piece after struggling with it in november was great), and the end-world normopathy fanart (it's a line drawing, and a traditional one at that. i was happy with incorporating gold accents into my typically monochromatic style when it comes to my line-focused drawings as well as getting tamari's mechanical details nailed).

May: hell yeah. evil power couple time. this one was another line-art heavy one since i thought it fit the vibe. the softer colors in the background i feel like could have been executed a little better, but i do like how this came out, especially the armor (good god fe armor is a pain to render, but i think i've gotten better at it this year! middle school me would be so jealous). not much else to say here. Other hit this month would be my alice of human sacrifice fanart, another line-heavy traditional drawing. i think it turned out nice, especially for a crammed composition lol.

Jun: another end-world normopathy-centered fanart. i mentioned it in my og post but i was trying out a slightly different painting style where i did a black-and-white base first and then added colors as an overlay (also in the initial upload of the post i was so fucking meek about posting fanart of mariyam's alternate design teased at the end of the mv?? 😭 sorry about that, i've edited it out but it's still in early reblogs. kind of cringe on my part). i didn't end up committing to this consistently cuz the beginning process was kind of tedious (plus i'm too inept to pay close attention to values anyway), but laying down all the colors after the long rendering process was rewarding! it's a nice alternative with i get bored with my other method to yield basically the same-looking result lol. this month featured some more pieces that tried using this process, like the one with my oc alice, lucina and dark pit hanging out, and f!robin's resplendent design from feh.

Jul: ah yes my typical flavor of "improvised oc art that i invent new symbolism for on the fly that i apply meaning to after i'm finished". kinda just wanted to paint something again because i've been doing a lot of line drawings lately and to go back to my old painting process again. honestly, i mainly picked this one because i wanted more oc art and non-lineart drawings to be in this chart lol. art i made this month that i'm real proud of is this family pic of some young cryptonloids (i really like how the colors came out on this one!) and my birthday drawing for miku's sweet 16, which was originally completed this month. i opted out of considering it for my july art to avoid confusion. also also, this very whack pathological facade fanart (plus some doodles i didn't post) opened my eyes to the beautiful world of NOISE and HALFTONES and just slapping crazy textures onto my art like nobody's business. hell yeah.

Aug: ok this one is kind of another piece i picked to represent this month that isn't quite my favorite but i chose anyway for the sake of variety (in this case, i wanted more traditional pieces and non-vocaloid stuff). for once, i used my bigger sketchbook to make a big n detailed piece for my boy's new brave alt in feh (that game has zero significance to me outside of cool alt costumes for my faves). my actual fave from this month was young miku/meiko/kaito chillin in their house; i'm real proud of the background and lighting! but i still like this robin too ofc, big fan of how the colors came out ;3

Sep: another traditional drawing! felt compelled to draw kandy again, specifically her evil miitopia great sage incarnation :> this one was pretty standard in terms of process, and not much was really done to experiment. just wanted to draw something cool of my girl for my sketchbook. other fave from this month is this sketchy miku i did, i like how loose it came out and how the colors pop.

Oct: pretty palutena!~ i think i went into this trying to do something a little different with my painting process (i think it was to try incorporating more colors in the shading like the blue in the dress or more saturated colors near the focal point, but i can't remember LOL) or try rendering a more detailed character w/ a background (even if the background was pretty vague). i like this one! especially the color cohesion, it's pretty swag imo. other faves from this month was fanart i made for the song "orbit" since i also like how the color cohesion came out for this one, and the maid dress/crossover drawing i made for cringetober. no other words needed to explain why.

Nov: another digital painting! it's yet another ghost song, this time "uncanny". i really loved the aesthetic of this song, especially its bold colors and simplistic shapes, so i wanted to try capturing it in my style. i really love how the colors turned out on this, though i've yet to truly recreate what i like about this particular painting again? regardless, it's one of my faves, deserving of one of my favorite ghost songs. few other highlights from this month would be my obligatory purple robin drawing for the month, my sketchbook drawing of my luka design, and my fanart of utsu-p's song "ga". i like how i was able to do a couple of my different "styles"/processes this month rather than just sticking to just one. they all have their own feel to them that i like to play around with depending on the idea.

Dec: and finally, we're at the end. like july, we have another heavily improvised oc drawing with symbolism i came up with on the spot. that's just how i do things. anyway, this turned out really good in my opinion! i tried to stick to a color palette i saved in procreate a long time ago, and damn is it a fine palette. it helped me get a little loose with the colors and solely focus on creating a strong composition with colors and contrast rather than get hung up on sticking to typical color palettes. i also really like how i did the background by essentially using the liquify tool to swish all the colors around and then polished it a little on top. made for a really cool effect. other notable work would be the companion piece i made with my other oc that had a similar style since i liked the process of this one. there will probably be more as of when i'm drafting this (at the beginning of december) but i just wanna be finished w this post already bro

all around, very satisfied with this year. there was kind of a lot of song fanarts (something that i am somewhat guilty about because it feels like i'm unoriginal or something, but i swear it's cuz i'm really passionate about vocaloid music and need to act on what my braincells do when i listen to certain tracks), but overall i'm happy i was able to maintain some slight variety in the art i made this year through my chosen mediums and "styles" or processes i use.

this was the first year where i really wanted to have a fully rendered piece i'm proud of to represent every month. now, i wouldn't recommend this since forcing yourself to make art is not a good mindset to be in (sometimes, with how early i pushed some pieces out in certain months to get the monthly quota over with makes it seem like i'm getting paid to have a pretty year-in-review LOL). i was pretty lucky to not really have much burnout i guess?

~~~

ok now that all that boring stuff is out of the way, here’s my previous years! this is the sixth year i have made an art review chart.

lightning round review time! (probably just gonna be more boring stuff)

2018: ok, so this was the year where my prime art hosting platform was… amino… specifically smash amino. as much as i could rant about how much i hate that place now, i cant deny that it got me creating a lot of stuff. also it was an actual date archive for my traditional art because i never got in the habit of dating my physical art 🙃 uh don’t mind the absolute horrid graphic design on this one. i grabbed a template which was probably saved from a bunch of other places from amino and… didn’t really know how the formatting was supposed to work. first of all, i edited this in picsart on my phone and the chart wasn’t transparent, and second of all i didn’t know you were supposed to crop only the main focus so it could fit and be a little more clear. hence why its such a visual eyesore. i've been meaning to remake it to make it a little less bad (once i get my hands on the traditional pieces again), but i guess its shoddiness adds to its charm, much like amino. but anyway, 2018 was a bit of a turning point year for me in the smash amino art biz. on amino, i mostly made copies of official artwork from smash (character renders and so forth), and this year i actually tried experimenting with my own original ideas and scenes (my copying roots were still around at this time tho, seen in the november drawing which is based on ssbu’s mural art. i mainly moved on to copying artwork from feh). this was also the year i got my ipad and finally got into making digital art. i didn’t have the knowledge of digital art that i have today obviously, so colors and lighting were usually on the plain side. i also hit my stride with making more ambitious traditional art that incorporated backgrounds and such, and they’re pieces i’m still really proud of!

2019: so, i actually made this chart some time in 2021 or 22 because i didnt make an actual chart in 2019 officially (i forgor). which bums me out because i deleted my amino account by then, so a lot of dates for traditional pieces were flushed down the toilet the one time i needed them. so, to compensate, i tried scraping any digital piece i could to fill in some spaces, which is why some are more underwhelming than others. but yeah since this isn’t fully accurate to my art progress that year, 2019 is a bit fuzzy. main thing of note that year is midway through i got really REEAALLY into fire emblem: three houses and drew a lot of art of the characters (not shown much on the chart because they were mostly sketches and whatnot). imo there’s not much improvement or stylistic changes from 2018 in this year to note. 2020 on the other hand…

2020: if it wasn’t clear, this was my jojo phase. i got into jojo at the end of 2019 and my downward spiral into jojo hell bled into 2020 :p as such, i made a lot of jojo art. and because i made a lot of jojo art, this was the year where my style shifted drastically. i feel like it’s a common phenomenon for artists getting a total stylistic makeover after getting into jojo. whether it’s to imitate araki’s style or just trying to accommodate the characters’… features, i ended up facing the same thing. gone were big round heads with tiny mouths and in were tree trunk necks and higher effort placed in learning anatomy, both for the full body and well as the face. it was around may of this year i got procreate and moved on from ibis paint for digital art. while i still have my personal hangups with procreate, im glad i ended up investing in it since it really just works for me!!

2021: around summer 2020 in peak pandemic mood, i decided to indulge in some nostalgia and listened to some old vocaloid tunes from my middle school days. and then i kept rediscovering more stuff, and then i ended up browsing producers' individual discographies, and uh yeah i am still suffering the consequences of my vocaloid renaissance to this day. while it wasn't prominent in the 2020 chart, it really started to leak its way into my art subjects in 2021. however, i still primarily stuck to my roots with fe/"smash"/jojo fanart. this year was mainly trying to find my style again i suppose? i had already learned the ropes of procreate, its limitations, and the options it has to aid with the art making process, so it was just a matter of flinging a bunch attempts at a ~style~ to see which one i liked the most. i did try finding a painting/rendering style a lot by way of copying (mainly guessing based on speedpaints) other artists' styles and process with digital painting which ended up growing into my own thing. i know they all sort of look the same, but march, april, and october of this year all had slightly different ways of doing all the shading n rendering for painting that i liked experimenting w/ in the future.

2022: by this point, i had fully gotten used to procreate and the methods i used to make art, and the vocaloid train had no signs of stopping. i think the main thing of note this year was that i was able to break out of the "5 million overlays of pink and purple color vomit" box my digital art was set it. while it used to amuse me when i first began abusing it in my art, i guess i just sort of grew out of it? it ended up making a lot of my art look homogeneous, and it took out the fun trial and error of picking the colors to match the atmosphere myself. i also tried to get more experimental with my compositions, mainly in trying to make them more dense with Stuff as well as finally get a little more comfortable with drawing backgrounds. besides those things however, i remember feeling my art progress was very stagnant this year, with not much noticeable change from january to december. perhaps i've gotten a bit comfortable with the state it's in. regardless, still a good year all around.

~~~

whew. THAT'S finally done with. if you made it to the end of this very me-centered ramble, congrats. i will probably make reblog additions in future years to continue this little saga. idk if i'll be as detailed as i was for the 2023 lineup, but we'll see.

[foxgirlass]

Been meaning to put this anon I got about tf games on my main on here for a bit, in case anyone else is interested.

I can't vouch for most of them as I have not played most of them, as a heads up

Heres the anon in its entirety (under a readmore because it's long. Also I fixed a typo in the first paragraph that would have made one of these games harder to find):

I saw you ask about the other games I recommend. I mentioned princess trap because it had recently gotten an update, and it will probably be my favorite game if it gets consistent updates. I didn't mention the other games because the ask was already getting long and I didn't want to overload Roxy. You asked though so the floodgates are open. I mostly use a site called TFgames (dot) Site if you don't already know about it so you can find the games there.

You likely already know magical camp if you're aware of the site, but for completion sake I'll mention it. It's a long running RPG maker game which was unfortunately put on permanent hiatus recently. You play a normal guy who is accidentally transported to a boot camp for magical girls and have to blend in until you can escape. Lots of content, great writing, good art, good worldbuilding, highly recommend. Maybe avoid losing to the bosses. The loss scenes aren't super tasteful. You can get the most recent build in the updates channel on their discord. For some reason it wasn't updated on the site. I was genuinely sad the game went on hiatus.

Little bitch academia takes a lot of inspiration from magical camp, and the developers seem to have been working together in some capacity. RPGmaker, decent combat. A guy ends up in a magical school and is assigned to a class for witches. Lots of ecchi, not much actual porn, I don't think you can even have sex in the game. The story was interesting though. It's overloaded with lolrandom early 2000s type humor which was weirdly enjoyable. Definitely not for everyone.

Between seems promising so far. RPG maker, alright combat. A guy and his coworkers are sent to a mysterious void. Again, the story seems interesting so far but not much actual porn.

Crossdressing in Camelot is alright. RPG maker. Lots of sex scenes, some of them are good. Decent writing.

The last of the kitsune was alright. I didn't get super far. Lots of sex scenes, but honestly too much dialogue.

Timeless Pantheon was amazing. RPG maker game with adequate combat. You play an earth man mistakenly summoned to a technomagical world where houses have to fight in tournaments for money. A rare completed game. Loved the story. Light on sex scenes until the end. Follow the walkthrough for the hidden events, it's worth it.

Better Earth is alright. RPG maker, forgettable combat. People are constantly experiencing full TFs but the player character never has sex. Lots of art scraped from the internet. Surprisingly strong gender binary. Everyone becomes a girl with a vagina, no intersex options at all.

Oathbreaker is pretty cool. It's a tactical RPG like fire emblem, but there's a few slow TFs going on. No sex so far. Made by Icarune. Their games are always interesting. Lots of different styles of gameplay, half decent writing, the art style takes a bit of getting used to. I get good vibes from them but they rarely get super spicy.

Superhuman was pretty fun. A visual novel that's more of a power fantasy than anything. You're a college guy that gets Prototype style shape sifting. Unfortunately the sex change TFs are temporary and only for certain events. Really long, I didn't reach the end after hours.

The rest of these are on itch.io

Unholy Arts wins the award for best world building in a porn game. It's an ongoing sex battle simulation game where you have to dominate your competitors, or choose one you want to win and try to befriend them. Honestly the gameplay kinda sucks, but the characters are all top tier. By default the main cast become futas at the beginning of the story, everyone starts as a female though.

Tales of androgeny by majalis is pretty good. It's sort of an exploration based RPG. The combat system is a little weird. They were an artist and story writer team before doing games so there are lots of good scenes. Really long though. I'm not sure about the story, it's locked behind patreon.

Full service shop has excellent writing and art. It's a visual novel set in the future where cybernetic limb replacement is common place and you're a girl going in for a new thing. I didn't get to the end but I think it's pretty short.

Hardcoded is cool. You play as a trans robot in a cyberpunk dystopia. You explore the city and make friends, and you get a day job. Excellent art, decent writing. Maybe too long, the story was kinda depressing. Lots of coping with oppressive mega corporations controlling the world. The characters were all just trying to get by. I didn't finish it but it didn't seem like there was any hope in the world other than hanging out with your friends.

Mice Tea is pretty good. Visual novel where there's a tea that makes you a furry. I only played the demo, but I was promised gender fuckery. The actual game costs money. I might actually buy it though, which would make it the first time I've spent money on porn.

[foodandfolklore]

Jar Folklore - Magsawi

Anyone else here guilty of jar hording? You finish a jar of pickles or jam and you're just like 'That's a nice Jar. I'ma keep that jar.' This seems to be a universal thing across witches and people just looking to reduce waste. Fun Fact, it's actually really hard to recycle glass. Not for the same reason as plastic; it's all the same material that can be melted down again and again. The problem is the colour. Clear jars are always made with new material because recycling can't realistically pick out the coloured bits. So reuse your clear jars!

One part that can be frustrating is the labels. Some peel off real easy once wet, others you swear were stuck on with rubber cement >.< You don't need a lot of stuff to get labels off of a jar. Just a decent amount of time.

Rinse out your empty glass jars. Begin to fill your clean kitchen sink with hot water from your tap. Apply and saturate your jar's labels with liquid dish soap. You can also add a little soap into your hot water if you want. Place your jar in the sink on it's side and continue to fill with hot water until covered. Leave your jars to soak for several hours; maybe overnight.

Once soak has completed, take jar and begin to pull label away. Label should come off easily with minimal force. Use your thumb nail or back of a wooden spoon to help with scraping. Scrub remaining bits off with wash cloth or sponge if needed. Once label is completely gone, give your jar a proper wash. I stick mine in the dishwasher. Now it's ready for use.

Tips: Don't put the jar in the dishwasher before the label is off. It will just seal it on harder, like stuck on food. -If the label is being stubborn, redo the soak. Or try letting it sit with a baking soda paste for a bit. -Do not give into temptation and try using something abrasive to scrub the label off. Steel wool and SOS pads can scratch glass.

I found a Filipino Folktale about Jars. Or rather beings in jars. It brought back memories of the days of making fairy jars or spirit jars. But it's always a good reminder about how Jars can contain great power. Even if others don't always understand it.

A great many years ago some Tinguian left their little village in the valley early one morning and made their way toward the mountains. They were off on a deer hunt, and each carried his spear and head-ax, while one held in leash a string of lean dogs eager for the chase.

Part way up the mountainside the dogs were freed, and the men separated, going different ways in search of game. But ere long the sharp barking of a dog called all in his direction, for they believed that he had a deer at bay. As they approached the spot, however, the object did not look like a deer, and as they drew nearer they were surprised to find that it was a large jar.

Filled with curiosity they pressed on, but the jar evaded them. Faster and faster they ran, but the object, disappearing at times and then coming into view again, always escaped them. On and on they went until at last, tired out, they sat down on a wooded hill to rest and to refresh themselves with betel-nut which they took from brass boxes attached to their belts.

As they slowly cut the nuts and wrapped them in the lime and leaf ready for chewing, they talked of nothing but the wonderful jar and the mysterious power it possessed. Then just as they were about to put the tempting morsels into their mouths they stopped, startled by a strange soft voice which seemed to be near them. They turned and listened, but could see no person.

“Find a pig which has no young,” said the voice, “and take its blood, for then you will be able to catch the jar which your dog pursued.”

The men knew then that the mysterious jar belonged to a spirit, so they hastened to do as the voice commanded, and when they had secured the blood the dog again brought the jar to bay. The hunters tried to seize it, but it entered a hole in the ground and disappeared. They followed, and found themselves in a dark cave where it was easy to catch the jar, for there was no outlet save by the hole through which they had entered.

Though that was many years ago, the jar still lives, and its name is Magsawi. Even now it talks; but some years ago a crack appeared in its side, and since then its language has not been understood by the Tinguian.

Sometimes Magsawi goes on long journeys alone when he visits his wife, a jar in Ilocos Norte, or his child, a small jar in San Quintin; but he always returns to Domayco on the hillside near the cave.

[whoovesnassistant]

Skit Contest Entry 12

“Time Heals All Wounds” - By DigiKate

The TARDIS doors creak open as frantic hoofsteps and grumbling of the 3 ponies who occupy this time and space ship can be heard stumbling in.

Doctor: Just sit right down Tick Tock. You’re gonna be just fine. Looks like it’s just a scrape.

Tick Tock: I’m not sure I’d call a second degree burn a scrape.

Doctor: It is compared to a third degree burn. Or someone giving you the third degree. Ohhh that’s so annoying. Some ponies just can’t take a hint and think everyone wants to hear them talk and talk and talk and talk and tal-

Derpy: (interrupts) You knooooow, maybe next time you offer to play a game of The Floor is Lava, it might be smart to warn us that the floor is actual lava.

Doctor: Well what else would you expect at a field day picnic on Pyrovillia? Luckily the Pyrovillians were much more pleasant in your universe then they would have been in mine.

Derpy: What?

Doctor: Long story. Anyway! Let’s tend to our well done gingercorn here.

Tick Tock: Very funny.

Doctor: Does that hurt?

Tick Tock: (flatly) Ow. (annoyance increases with each ow) Ow ow ow ow! Yes, that hurts!

Doctor: Sorry. It’s hard to tell with you sometimes.

(Tick Tock groans)

Doctor: I’ve got just the thing to fix that hoof up good as new. Wait here. Don’t move!

Tick Tock: (annoyed) No problem.

The Doctor’s steps recede as he walks down the halls of the TARDIS, the door shutting closed behind him.

Derpy: Don’t you worry Tick Tock. We’ll get you all fixed up. How are you feeling? Can I help you get more comfortable?

Tick Tock: Thanks, but I’m fine Derpy. I had far worse injuries back in Neighers.

Derpy: Huh? I thought you didn’t fight in the war.

Tick Tock: Technically no. But it is very possible to get injured off the battlefield as well. I always tried to help in my own way. One time, I tried to create artificial wings to give an aerial advantage to troops who were incapable of flight. This was before my paralysis, so I was more keen to test out my own inventions. I got about 15 feet in the air, before I crashed and broke my muzzle and a front leg. Sprained the other one too.

Depry: Oh my gosh!

Tick Tock: Worst part was that I gathered any creature I could to witness it, and when it failed… They all laughed at me. Even Lightwing told me to “leave the flying to the soldiers with real wings”. I don’t think I came out of my shed for days after that. But… as discouraging as it was, it only strengthened my resolve to get that invention right. Tinkering was all that I was good at, so I decided to keep at it until I made something that would make somepony appreciate all my hard work as much as I did. In fact, those artificial wings were the baseline for the wings I developed for the Doctor on my first adventure with you both.

Derpy: That, kind of reminds me of all the trouble I had at flight camp. Because… Well, I’m not the best flier.

Tick Tock: Don’t be ridiculous. You’re a great flier. Do you know how many times the Doctor would have plunged to his death if you weren’t so quick to catch him?

Derpy laughs

Derpy: I guess that’s true. He does give me lots of practice. But… when I was a filly, nopony ever thought I was any good.The other campers would laugh and make fun of my uneven patterns and how I’d have to take breaks all the time. Not to mention my eyes. I’d get so sad at all the teasing that I’d lay on a cloud all by myself just to hide away.

There was this one time that…. (talks rapidly) I don't really know how this happened! If I stepped on the cloud too hard or maybe it read how I was feeling somehow. That happens sometimes with pegasi- (slows down) A-anyway, it…. May have poured a bunch of rain on top of these fillies who were laughing at me.

Tick Tock lets out a stifled laugh

Derpy: Oh you laugh, but it wasn’t funny at the time. I raced to apologize to them when they ran out from under the cloud. They were soaked. So I offered to help them go and dry off. They may have been mean to me before, but they seemed to appreciate my help. One of the fillies even thanked me. When we got back, the rain had stopped, and under the cloud was this little shining rainbow! It was small, but so pretty. Like the cloud made it just for us to brighten our day. We were all so amazed! We even took turns flying across it like we were told unicorns could do. It was so fun!

Tick Tock: So, did you become friends with those other ponies after that?

Derpy: No. They went back to picking on me a few days later. But, I still felt really good being nice to them, instead of laughing at them like they probably would have. It’s funny. Both ways can only take a minute to do, but how you make that pony feel can stay there for a long time afterwards. I guess it depends on how much you want to make others feel good as much as you want to make yourself feel good. Right?

Tick Tock: That’s…. sweet Derpy. Very sweet. In fact it’s so sweet I think it’s giving me a stomachache.

Tick Tock lets out an overly dramatic groan.

Derpy: Oh shush you!

Derpy starts laughing.

The door to the TARDIS halls whoosh open again and the Doctors' hoofsteps approaches.

Doctor: What are you two doing over there?

Derpy and Tick Tock: Nothing.

Doctor: Hmm. I thought laughing at nothing was my thing.

The Doctor rips open the packet containing the medical pad.

Doctor: There you go. Keep that pad on your hoof for 30 minutes and it should be good as new!

Tick Tick: Thank you Doctor.

Doctor: Ahh don’t mention it. Now come on! Out with it! What were you two talking about while I was gone?

Tick Tock: We were just sharing stories about how we were outcast when we were younger. 

Derpy: I don't know how much the Doctor could relate though. He was probably super popular when he was little. Taking the other kids on all kinds of fun adventures! Playing games about space and time! You can be kind of crazy sometimes, but I bet everypony wanted to be your friend.

A beat of silence. The TARDIS console buttons being pressed can be heard.

Doctor: (solemnly) Well… that’s not entirely true.

Derpy: Huh?

Tick Tock: What do you mean?

The Doctor can be heard fiddling with the console some more until the TARDIS is in flight.

Doctor: (sigh) Growing up on Gallifrey, my home planet, wasn’t exactly easy. There were very strict rules. What you were expected to learn, and more importantly, how you were expected to apply that knowledge. I learned very quickly that I… didn’t exactly fit the mold that I was meant to be shaped into.

Tick Tock: Fascinating. I mean, I knew you were an alien but…

Derpy: Yeah. I guess I just kind of figured that back on your planet they were all….

Doctor: Like me? (The Doctor laughs) Ohhhh no. No, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Sure, I could have tried being what they wanted me to be, but you both know me. That’s not my style. When I entered the Academy, my fellow students, my professors, even my family called me out all the time for being wistful and sensitive. How I asked too many questions, and wanted to know more. There were a lot of times where I felt so lonely and scared… I cried myself to sleep. Afraid of what my future would look like.

Derpy: That’s terrible. But… Something must have helped you right? We both figured out how to be stronger in spite of what happened to us. What made you become strong?

Suddenly a memory flashes into the Doctor’s mind. A dream of a woman whispering in his ear that “didn’t anyone ever tell you? fear is a superpower” and how “fear can make you kind”

Doctor: I realized that the things many around me considered weaknesses, were actually my greatest strengths. I was lonely and afraid when no one accepted me, so I could do one of two things. I could grow bitter and resentful, and hurt those people just as much as they hurt me. Or, I could take those things that made me more curious and sympathetic than my fellow Time Lord, and hold it close to my hearts, until I found the best way to let it all out. And as soon as I could, I ventured off to see the rest of the universe. Carrying that with me. Defying what they told me I had to be, and becoming who I wanted to be.

Tick Tock: Hmm. That… almost sounds like what I did. Leaving behind everything I knew, but finding somewhere else that would appreciate my tinkering.

Derpy: Me too. I mean, I may be able to go home whenever I want, but it’s been much more special to reach out to ponies in other times and places who don’t have that kind of thing happen to them as often as somepony in Ponyville might.

Doctor: Hardship is a funny thing. It always molds somepony, changes a part of themselves, possibly forever. But how it changes them can very much be up to them. You can use it as an excuse to be cruel or cowardly, or, you can use it as a chance to become smarter, 

Tick Tock: Hmm

Doctor: Kinder,

Derpy: Aww.

Doctor: And a little more clever. And, if you’re really lucky…

Derpy and Tick Tock: Oof

Doctor: you’ll find other lost souls, and you’ll find your way together. The path brighter than ever.

Derpy: One thing’s for sure. I never had hugs like this when I was little.

Tick Tock: Nor I.

Doctor: And those days are over! (triumphant) The past is behind us, and ahead is adventure! Anywhere and everywhere!

Tick Tock: But maybe with less physical discomfort next time.

Derpy: Agreed.

[julien5-malfunction]

13022023 Thoughts about inprisonment, the end of the world and a game called Pathologic.

I think the main reason I sort of miss being locked up in the mental ward are the boredom and the lack of things.

Being so bored, I would start to do things that I normally wouln't, just to entertain myself. Inventing shit out of whatever little resources I could find. I didn't feel bad for wasting so much time on such 'non-productive things' after all, with no knowlige of my release date, I had nothing to do but to kill time. I read books and solve puzzles, hunt down the newspaper of the day and try to solve a crossword or a sudoku. Draw the landscape I could see from the windows of my captivity. Keep track of things in my diary. The most fun was stealing pens and other small items, like a loose playing card, maybe some beads or other craft supplies if I had access to such. Collecting empty pill cups. Dead bugs. Evaluate and mock the painting in the hall. Snatch tea bags and sugar cubes from the caffeteria...

Normal life is so 'pretend to be busy' all the time. Fuck this multitasking bs, it's killing my attention span and focus. I used to be so much better than this... I'm a disappointment to myself, in the way I've lost all that capacity I had. I had endless ideas and a parrion to create, even when I had no materials, no resources, no money as a kid/as a teenager. I stole stuff from school, things that they had an aboundage of but I had way more use for than they would ever have. Collecting scraps and things I found on the streets... I miss that.

I just watched a video about this game called Pathologic. The video was over 2 hours long, no ads, I was planning on multitasking but I'm glad I didn't. I sat trough it fairly calmly, I didn't worry about 'running out of time, I should be sleeping'. I feel more calm than usual... The game also makes a great deal about resource scarecity and -management. The athmosphere feels, to me at least, cut off from the rest of the world. There is this inpending doom, this illness spreading. There is just something about that, that scrathes an itch. The game is really long too, and most of the time you're stuck with your thoughts while walking around to take care of tasks. One of the main characters is able to brew medicine out of herbs and you can find and trade around shit like needles and bottles, ammo, food and flowers or whatever... There is just something about that...

Like why...am I making this so complicated to myself? Can I just keep life simple like that? I have a lot of things I most likely do not need. I know I have an issue of getting too sentimental over all sorts of misc items. Can they just be items. Things I can 'trade', for money. Not things with feelings attached. I'm not sure why it's so hard to let go of things, material or mental.

I get some kind of kicks out of the thought of being doomed. Like, I feel fine now but something is coming for me and it's bad. I know I'm not strong or smart in a way that is too useful in today's society, but resourceful is something I would like to be. Independent, as in 'know how to fix your own car if it breaks'. (car as an example. I don't own a car)

Like it's so fascinating, to think of a life as a survival game... Where you can collect things and craft other thing from those things. Living alone is resource management. Money can be used to purchase things from stores. I wish I knew more ways to make money, my comissions are kind of an underground thing but reciving a few hard earned euros feels about as good if not better than the next big hit of dopamine from doom scrolling. Really makes you think carefully about how you're gonna spend those few euros. I even keep seperate the money I've actually earned and the benefits I live off of. Since I don't actually have any other income. I wish I knew how to earn some more underground credit...

I was thinking that, since I 'owe myself a loan' and I'm really struggling to scrape any extra savings to pay it off, maybe I should have like a super low budget for anything else than food and necessities and bills. Like a rediculously low amount. 10€ a week? I didn't even have weekly allowance as a kid, that sounds like a lot in a way but yeah... but how do I define nessecities?... are, for example, plastic bags a nessecity or not? Or clothes?

Probably better idea to stick to the goal of ~60€ a week for food and necessities, add the 10€ to that but the 10€ can be spent on treats and other, not-absolutely-necessary, most likely seacond hand shop stuff and art supplies, even tho I have enough and more than I have use for currently....

I'll need to think about it in action.

[smile-files]

okay this is kind of silly, i don't know why i have bfdi brain right after a new ii episode, but it's time to talk more about everyone's favorite character, teardrop!

so there's something pretty interesting and strange with td's current position in tpot: as she's the only member of her team, if she loses a challenge, she automatically gets eliminated.

there are plenty of thematic reasons for teardrop to participate in tpot, and such a big fuss was made over them joining in the first place, so reasonably enough jnj won't have a situation like that happen - at least not anytime soon, anyway.

with that in mind, there are two options to avoid that immediate elimination:

teardrop doesn't lose challenges

teardrop becomes part of a larger team

both could make sense if executed correctly, and i want to talk about each individually.

teardrop doesn't lose challenges

i feel like this could be a viable option, at least for a little while. as we have seen in bfb, teardrop has a lot going for her, so i can see her scraping by solo.

however, the emphasis is on 'scraping by': while td is talented, we've already seen how hard it is for them to be all alone against these huge teams. she'd certainly be able to hold her own for a bit, but not forever.

i think it would be incredibly fun to see how teardrop manages to pull through alone for at least a handful of episodes! i want to see what chaos she could bring to the game. but in the long run, i think the other option might be the best course of action...

2. teardrop becomes part of a larger team

i'm assuming that, if this does happen, it won't happen immediately - there's a lot to work with in terms of td's current solo position, so it'd be rather silly to get rid of that so soon.

however, i do think that this could be an incredibly (and i mean incredibly) fascinating idea! now i must present two subcategories of this option that i would equally enjoy:

other contestants ask td if they could team up with her

td asks other contestants if they could team up with her

both of these could explore teardrop's abilities to communicate and interact with their fellow contestants, which i believe is immensely important for them.

other contestants ask td if they could team up with her

as i've mentioned in a previous post, teardrop has immense skills in many areas. i won't go into that much detail here, but suffice it to say that she most definitely has the raw power needed to win a challenge like tpot, and would surely be a valuable asset to any team.

teardrop had been underestimated and belittled by their peers throughout bfdi's history. at this point, because of the empowerment they have received from their friends (the newbie alliance, among others), teardrop is now able to properly show off the talent they have always possessed.

everyone is now able to see teardrop for who she really is - and them subsequently wanting to team up with her because of that would be really awesome and a great change of pace for bfdi.

td asks other contestants if they could team up with her

again, this is something i've mentioned before, but another issue that has persisted in bfdi is teardrop's inability to connect with the people around them. all in all, she's never been here to make friends.

however, as we have seen with their interactions with the newbie alliance, namely the willingness to risk elimination for lollipop's sake at the tweested temple, teardrop has now developed beyond their competitive nature. she sees the value in interpersonal connections now.

teardrop's current position makes it so they can likely only succeed if they do reach out and interact with other people. she has to take initiative and form alliances, create teams, and make friends. td can work alone, but they don't have to.

of course, for teardrop to be able to team up with anyone, she has to be able to communicate with them. i think this could be a good opportunity for the show as a whole to address how passively horrible most contestants are to td regarding her inability to speak, and shine a light on those who genuinely want to understand her.

tl;dr: i think tpot is a wonderful opportunity for teardrop to continue their journey in being accepted by those around them and accepting them in turn - because being alone not only means td stands out in a crowd, it also means she has the chance to make new friends!

[whetstonefires]

For the oc ask game 2, 3, 6, 20, 21, and 25.

Okay this time I'm gonna do Darya. She's from the same story as Marl, and technically in story structure terms she's one step less Main Character than he is, but she's also one of the main POV sources and we're not allowed in his stupid head, so no she isn't.

2. What do they think is their best feature? This can be both physical or personality wise.

Her greatest asset has always been her looks, but she knows she was only able to use them to her advantage instead of getting victimized for them because she's a schemer, goal-oriented and patient. Also she's 37 and aware the usefulness of her beauty is very much in decline.

So definitely her ability to think long-term, even in circumstances that pressure you toward thinking only about surviving to see tomorrow.

3. What is something they are really self-conscious about?

She tries really hard to be aware of how she's coming across every second of every day but also not to care what people think, except as it's relevant strategically. So this is tricky! :D

The places she's worst at the latter are...she's overly defensive about being seen as an opportunist in the places she's acting out of loyalty or something approaching altruism, but since she identifies as an opportunist generally assumes people are always assuming it.

But at the same time she's very touchy about the idea that she's letting herself be taken advantage of and the possibility people might assume that instead.

6. What is something they are absolutely hopeless at doing? Why?

Darya has a lot of holes in her education generally because she basically brought herself up and not in great circumstances. But she's done a pretty good job of filling most of them in. So there are a lot of things she's pretty bad at but can scrape by in, and mostly avoids having to attempt. She's a bad cook, but that just means the food is bland and overdone.

I guess what she's hopeless at is vulnerability? I was going to say emotional honesty but while she's pretty avoidant about it, and will often default to either appeasement or anger, she could be a lot worse.

The funny thing about her is she considers herself a schemer but is pretty straightforward, for the most part. Which is only partly because she observed from a very young age that every additional point of complexity introduces a new potential point of failure, so the strategic thing to do is usually not to over-strategize.

20. What makes your OC special? Why are they important or different ? What makes them a particularly wonderful and/or evil character?

I should make a case for her?? Like in the story or in the literary canon?

The point of Darya, for me, is she's someone who's always had to rely on herself but in a way that's made her acutely aware of how false and untenable the concept of self-reliance is. That people need people. So her personality is defined by the need to obtain security from others without trusting them. Which is a shitty way to live.

But she's not like some glamorous mastermind or social predator, she just ingratiated her way from abject poverty, to mild respectability, to the leisure class. Then found that position insecure in a fun new way and was eventually forced to choose between 'kill a decent person to ingratiate yourself with Asshole Social Leader and become his direct client' and 'chuck it all and throw yourself on the mercy of Cool Bandit Teenager' and chose the latter in a fit of basically violent reaction against the sunk-cost fallacy.

That was nine years ago and they've since overthrown the government, so she's just constantly torn between viewing her relationship with her found family as a healthy mutual-reliance thing built on trust, and seeing it as a complicated web of mutual exploitation that may collapse at any moment as their individual needs evolve.

And she wants it so desperately to be the former, but she can't bring herself to rely on it. Or even admit this conflict is a thing.

Which means everything she does has at least two motives and both of them consequently feel a little like lies she's telling herself.

Like, she's quietly setting aside a small fortune in relatively liquid assets--is she embezzling from her friend's nonprofit militia to set herself up in comfort when she's left hanging since they have no more use for her and have moved on, or is she socking money away to take care of her family when Elaine's stupid refusal to let the wealthy buy her off leaves them all in the lurch? It's both.

21. What sets your OC off? What will make them go from a docile little lamb to a rampaging, fire-breathing dragon?

This is a weird question, why would everyone's OCs default to lamb? I don't think any of this group are docile lambs. Marl can be uncomfortably slavish but only to (1) person, Owl only does what people want if it seems like a good idea, Elaine's entire Deal is about personal autonomy. Duluth likes to get along with people but he's got a lot of pride and grew up with Elaine as his top role model. Dan is probably the most biddable overall, but he's also royalty so the number of people he actually defers to is low and mostly he's kind of high-handed.

Anyway though. Intent of query. Darya gets mad pretty easily, but she usually channels it through her survival instincts so there's no rampaging, because she doesn't have the kind of power that makes that useful to do.

She gets mad about injustice but she's also really inured to it and thinks of herself as a strict pragmatist, so what truly pisses her off is being sold dishonest narratives about why an injustice is actually Good and Moral. Still wouldn't fly off the handle about it, though.

I guess the main exception turns out to be when someone she trusts lets her down severely, and she's the one in a position of power subsequently? Or at least enough power? Like that's the one scenario where she'd consider it worthwhile to just have a yell, and/or her survival instincts wouldn't be enough to counterbalance the amount of emotion.

If she doesn't care about someone personally and she's yelling at or attacking them it's not because she's simply lost her temper, it's because she thinks it'll help in some way to do that. If someone has offended her deeply and she's destroying them because of that she will probably do it like. In a way that isn't obvious.

Not, again, that she's someone inclined to or capable of deep elaborate manipulations, but it's just safer to cut a throat or publicize someone's dirty laundry than to confront them directly. And if she's planning to murder you (note: she has never actually assassinated anyone but she thinks of herself as the sort of person who would if it was ever a good idea) she's not going to blow up at you first. That would be stupid.

So yeah, her first instinct is to sit on that kind of feeling.

If she's betrayed and she's at a disadvantage she'll keep her head down and try to find a way to salvage the situation for herself, regardless of level of seething--the anger will definitely inform her choices and is likely to make her more reckless, but she's not going to actually blow up unless she feels secure. You know? She's a survivor first.

That's kind of what makes Elaine stand out, in the setting. She's the person who can get apocalyptically angry and go on a flaming rampage and find she's accomplished something thereby, and isn't dead. But you can't count on that happening every time, even when you're a hero.

25. Describe your OC in one sentence.

When your second midlife crisis is that your first involved leaving your husband (who let his boss throw you to the wolves) and joining a nomadic commune, and now the commune finished killing evil wizards (like your husband's boss) and is breaking up.

[stars-and-darkness]

For the ask game: 🎶⛔️🌞🦅🤩🤲⏳

Answer all of them, or just pick a few, I know I picked out a lot 😂

alicia, my love!!!

🎶 - Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

usually, yes, but i don’t really have specific playlists for specific fics. some songs will, however, always be associated with the fandom i was in when I discovered them.

⛔ - Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

quite a few, actually. I always need to try them out first, write a couple thousand words to see if i actually have anything to say on the topic.

🌞 - Do you have a preferred time of day to write?

i happen to be very much a morning person, and prefer to do everything, writing included, before noon

🦅 - Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

depends on the fic! generally, i have a plan in my head and follow it loosely, with lots of diversions. i only really outline in detail if it’s a very plotty fic. but bc i generally write everything and then post, you know that any plotholes are there bc I’m an idiot who left them in, not bc I wrote by the seat of my pants.

🤩 – Who is your favorite character to write?

i am having SO MUCH FUN writing from klaus’s pov in my current wip, you have no idea. There’s something special about the way i make him jump between being snarky and condescending, casually thinking about an extremely traumatizing experience, simping for caroline, recalling yet another sick and twisted crime he committed … it’s such a delight, honestly

🤲 - Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

Ask and ye shall receive! Here’s a bit from chapter eight of my current WIP, make them bow.:

He really, really hates witches.

Sheila Bennett looks nothing like Ayana physically, but that look she gets when he opens the door in her dressing gown with a sleeping mask pushed up to rest among voluminous curls—that’s identical.

Ayana had always looked at him like he’s something she has scraped off the bottom of her shoe. He suspects she’d known, long before he did, who his father wasn’t. Well, witchling, there were two people at fault for that mess, and neither of them were him, so if you’d please direct your haughty looks to your best friend or her lover, that’d be great.

He much prefers to remember her in the moments before he’d crushed her heart in her chest. She was very forthcoming about the details of how to break his curse then. He’d even let her children live—merciful days like that were common for him, when he’d been a youth of seven-and-thirty.

He doesn’t think that pointing out that she is only alive because of a bit of mercy he’d felt a thousand years ago would help him with this one, though. Witches. So testy.

“You have a lot of nerve, coming here.”

“So I’ve been told.”

Her eyes narrow, and he feels the tell-tale stinging at his temple. Really, Sheila? That’s the oldest trick in the book, and he is older than even that.

“That works on younglings,” he informs her primly. It’s not hard to pretend that the pain isn’t even there. He’s played at more casual for worse aches. “That was a hint for you to stop, by the way. We’re here to negotiate a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

“Nik …”

“She is a Bennett and I am a Mikaelson, Stefan. We were never going to be cordial, so why waste time pretending?”

This makes the witch laugh. “At least you know where we stand. But I will not invite you in.”

Klaus tries very hard not to roll his eyes. As if he couldn’t force an invitation, should he want to. “I don’t expect to be invited in. I just want you to answer one question, will you, love?”

“And what would that be?” asks the witch, supremely unimpressed.

Klaus cocks his head to the side. “Where’s your granddaughter, Sheila?”

Her eyes widen, and he sees her lips part in rage. “What did you—”

“Who, me? Nothing at all. But she seems to have gotten herself into a bit of a situation of the fanged kind. Fortunately, we have a plan.”

“And why would you care?”

He gives a greatly put-upon sigh. “The goodness of my heart?”

“Try again.”

He just shrugs. “Well, I’ve got my reasons, obviously. No matter how much we all wish it could be otherwise, a witch-free world isn’t feasible, and I have a vested interest in the Bennett line’s continued survival.”

Her eyes fall to his right, where Stefan lingers.

“What do you want from me?”

“A vampire with an interest in opening the tomb underneath Fell’s Church has taken Bonnie and Elena, Sheila,” Stefan explains. “Damon has Emily Bennett’s grimoire. They will open it, and unless you help us, they will force Bonnie to do it alone.”

“She can’t—”

“Anna doesn’t care, Sheila. Working with them is our only guarantee that Elena and Bonnie get out alive … and that the vampires don’t.”

Sheila sneers. “I could track my granddaughter. I could save them both.”

Klaus lets his smile out to play—the one that doesn’t show fangs, but it might as well. “Don’t you want to hear about what I’m willing to offer to you if you wait?”

She curves an unimpressed brow. “I know better than to make deals with the devil.”

“I’m hurt, love.” He presses a hand against his chest. “And here I was, feeling especially giving.”

“Don’t call me that.” She grits her teeth together. “What’s your offer, then?”

There, love—wouldn’t it have been simpler if you’d done that from the start? “Freedom,” he says. “For the next three generations, starting with your granddaughter. I will not meddle in their affairs. Is that not a marvellous offer? I don’t know that I’ve ever been this magnanimous.”

She narrows her eyes. “Seven generations—and you’ll keep the rest of the Originals to that, too.”

He waves a hand. “Yes to second—I have my ways of keeping them in line.” Then he inclined his head. “Five generations—so long as you and your granddaughter do a spell for me when all this is over.”

Sheila’s eyes go even narrower. “A spell? No way.”

Behind him, he can feel Stefan shift uncomfortably.

“C’mon, love, I promise it’s nothing bad!”

“And what would this spell be, if I may ask?”

⏳ - How long does it take you to write a fic, or a chapter?

that really depends on a gazillion factors, but on a good day, when i’m in the zone, I can manage several thousand words

fanfic writer asks :)

[belovecore]

Hellooo fellow transformers selfshipper, welcome to the community!! :] For the ask meme, how about ❄️ and 📌 for kraken? -geckokiss

OPEN & ACCEPTING! | Unconventional Selfship Asks

( ooc: aaa, thank you so much! i'm so glad everyones so nice and welcoming here. i haven't really been able to dip into selfshipping as a community before but i feel it'd be nice since i've been wanting to share how important fictional characters are to me. great to see other tf shippers too!!)

[small reminder for readers: zero is me. i sometimes speak in 3rd person for comfort reasons!]

❄️ It is winter time and it snowed for the very first time!

What are the plans for this winter with you and your f/o? Do you plan any outings? How does a typical cold day together look like?

So for these sort of deals, it completely depends on where it takes place but for this ask I will do one where Kraken and Zero are living together on Earth!

Kraken is used to being on spaceships or rather, Cybertron- which is normal for his kind but once he's on Earth and sees snow for the first time. He is immediately intrigued. He literally stood near the window of the large shared garage just to watch it come down while his audials wiggled slightly and he just observed quietly for a few minutes.

He isn't scared as much as it just really excites him to see how a planet's atmosphere can cause different living environments. That's definitely a big plus for his curiosity when he moved to Earth alongside Zero.

Zero doesn't always leave when its winter, very sparingly cause they get cold easily but don't mind if they have motivation and lots of layers to keep warm. Their notice of Kraken's interest gets them to dressed up and take Kraken out to show him snow and all the silly little games humans do in the snow like snow angels, snowmen, snowball fights.

Kraken really likes how inventive humans are all for the sake of fun, and he gladly partakes even though he's not usually too hands-on in activities unless he knows he's comfortable. He's always comfortable around Zero :)

Once that's all said and done, Kraken has no qualms returning to their 'base' as he calls it to warm up. Kraken having to scrape off ice and snow from his pedes so he doesn't track it in but can settle down while Zero cuddles up to him in his lap. He's always so warm, and they get to wear their weighted blanket around them and let Kraken ask them countless questions about winter and snow.

Zero doesn't mind answering and happily explains in full detail to what he asks, and at some point even brings up how humans make special hot drinks just to warm up when it's cold outside! Kraken cannot digest normal human food stuffs but he can get the bare basics and apply it to energon treats for the same effect so they can share a cute hot mug moment together!

Other than that, they tend to stay in and focus on staying together and catching up tv shows since they have time to burn until it's warm again to go outside and explore. Kraken's always been one for exploring once he found out just how big the Earth was and how much life it had. Kraken also has a tendency to talk a lot during shows, but Zero doesn't mind as they both speak outloud statements or questions and the other answers or offers an explanation of what they think as they intake new information from the series.

📌 Your f/o has gotten the idea stuck in their head that they want to write you little notes for you to find throughout the day. They get up early to start hiding all the little notes they have written the past few days.

Where do they hide the notes? Is it places you visit daily or more obscure places so it comes as an extra surprise when you do find them? What's written on them? How does your f/o react whenever you find one?

This is like 100% on the money of something that Kraken would do! He's comfortable showing his love but sometimes he likes to be more creative and just get these sudden ideas to do something cutesy.

Kraken recalls information on how Zero usually goes about their day, especially around him and he places them specifically in places they will go through or find. He sorta did want to go the route of making it like a riddle or treasure hunt but can't help himself and wants to be around when they do find them so he can see their face!

Kraken takes care to put very specific sappy words or sayings on the notes but with a twist. He will put them in morse code and add a key to decipher it!

Zero knows what Kraken's handwriting looks like, very perfectly neat but usually in all caps as he prefers and when they find one they are set on decoding the note to impress Kraken and also do so cause they really wanna know and know how much it means to him.

One after one, Zero gives a soft 'aaw' and chuckle and gives him a soft playful pun back and lots of praise. He loves praise, it makes him melt and his engines rev.

Zero keeps each note in their special binder, nice and organized so they can look back on them and cherish the memory since their memory isn't always so great so it's nice to have something so they have help and can relive those special times.

[yukkurriii]

Uhh june 9th

I know it's been 2 days since. But it was a reeaaaally great day that it took me time to take it all in. Probably the most alive I've felt in a while.

It's morning, we had sandwiches and then loafed around. Ordered kfc at afternoon and got dressed up and packed things. Sooo I'm kind of awkward with my paternal family so i was really nervous considering there's gonna be some new people that I've to meet.

A 1 hour journey later we arrived. Fortunately, everyone wasn't home. The first we met was my baby niece. Then everyone came along one by one.

All of my younger cousins were here with some of the older ones. All of us first went to a football ground. A nearby one. Some of them cycled there and we went back soon. Amidst this, i needed to get to know an another niece of mine. I've barely seen her 2-3 times.

At home we have a water tank in the backyard. It was filled and it's surroundings were covered by trees. Of course, we all jumped into our little pool. There were five of us and we played lot of games in the water. As a result, ive got 2 scratched fingers and a scraped elbow.

Dusk came very soon. Watching the moon glowing in the blue sky against pink clouds over the sound of your cousins laughing and giggling from a small pool in your backyard has got to be one of the nicest feelings.

We got out of it after it was dark. We washed up and drank some hot coffee. Then everyone got into a room to play and talk. My niece has gotten comfortable with me and my youngest sis said that my voice is a bit masculine. Now that's a compliment. Maybe my voice was enhanced by my sore throat.

It was not all fun and games. There were silly arguments and fights. Including some physical violence. Our dog almost got me a tetanus shot.

At night my sister's fever shot up again. Then we went back to where we came from since there's a baby there and without healing completely my sister would be uncomfortable too.

[charley-and-the-swap-machine]

CATSM: RE-INK'D (Chapter 4, Part 3)

sacrifice more like sack of rice

The Voice Of Wally Franks

These guys down at the warehouse get to play games all day while I'm stuck cleaning up after 'em! They kept locking themselves out of their own back room.

So I says to 'em, "Look guys", I says:

"you're smart, right? Here's an idea! Why not rig these games up to knock open the door if ya win? It'll be fun for you guys, and it saves me the trip down here every day."

They went for it like a dog to pot roast!

I tell ya! If these guys don't start realizing who the real genius is, I'm outta here!

----------------------------------------

"Who's the new guy?"

"Where did he go?"

"A human?"

The skeletal beings all whispered amongst themselves as Henry stood there like a spooked horse, unwilling to make any movement in fear of being attacked. The majority of the Lost Ones either stood by themselves or huddled in groups on the floor, but all of them stared directly at him like he was the unusual one. He flinched and pulled away as one of them tried poking him out of curiosity, the inked being drawing back and returning to standing alone.

"You're not supposed to be the sacrifice."

Henry jumped and turned around as he looked at a Lost One that had come up to him. "A-A what now?"

"You'll have to do. We have to appease our lord." They continued, ushering Henry towards a vent with scrawled arrows in ink pointing at the entrance.

Oh great. So there's more of those freaks like Sammy.

"You're not like the rest of us. You're made of what we used to be. If we use you, we can finally be free..."

Henry simply stood there and stared at the group as they all stared right back at him, silently ushering him to go into the vent. "Well, um. Bye, I guess."

He picked up the flashlight and squeezed himself into the vent, hearing the door close behind him as he fell into a smaller room.

-

-

-

It was only slightly bigger than a closet, empty except for a knocked over stool. Henry looked up and stared at a crack in the ceiling, unsure what to do next.

He froze up as he saw something stir inside of the ceiling. Soon one long, slender, clawed hand slipped through, then another, and he watched as the infamous "Charley" crawled through and gripped onto the ceiling. The monster turned its head upside down like an owl's with a sickly snap, examining Henry with a snarl.

The ink equivalent of foam from a rabid dog dripped from its jaws onto the floor, and it lunged directly at Henry with a hiss. he immediately scrambled into the ventilation system and quickly dragged himself through it as the monster followed close behind.

After hastily navigating it, Henry fell out of the exit and slammed the grate back onto the hole. "Charley" ran directly into the grate with a loud metallic bang, and he watched as it scraped on it before making a dejected whine and leaving.

Huh. It's kind of like a dog. A really big, rabid, murderous dog.

Getting up and brushing himself off, he looked around the area he had found himself in. There was a large staircase with a sign next to it, which said in ink letters, "COME UP AND SEE ME". An entrance laid at the top, and Henry made his way towards it.

After climbing up the staircase, he stared in awe at the thousands of blueprints covering the walls and table. It all appeared to be things such as merry-go-rounds, ferris wheels, and many more.

He looked down at the table, a map was splayed on it, with small wooden blocks that seemed to represent different objects and buildings. It was divided into four corners: Dark World, Angel World, Ocean World, and Big World.

Man...Joey had a whole lot of time on his hands, huh?

Pulling the switch next to the table, Henry left into the next area.

-

-

-

Once he stepped onto the balcony, the lights immediately kicked on and illuminated the area. A large sign, framed by light bulbs, read in large letters: "WELCOME TO TOONLAND". The "LAND" was notably covered with new writing, so it read as "TOONHELL". What kind of edgelord did that?

Henry stepped down the stairs and navigated the clutter of amusement park storage as he went over to a panel with several levers.

"These seem to be connected. But...what do I do now?"

The intercoms buzzed to life again, and Henry grumbled as the angel began to speak to him once more. "Stumped, errand boy? That haunted house seems like the way to go....how about you get busy?"

The broadcast stopped with a fizzle, and Henry looked over at a few games left out. Maybe I should try to pass the time. Who knows, maybe that can get the first levers I need.

-

-

-

---------------------------------

"That was the most fun I've had in a while," Henry said to himself as he placed down the large mallet of the strength tester.

The speakers buzzed on for a quick moment for Edgar to make an off-handed comment towards him. "Having fun, creator? I'm sure Barley won't mind waiting while you play your little baby games."

He glared up at the speakers for a short moment, before pulling the switches and making his way to the next room.

[gaiussaidno]

it's 4AM. bruh. where did the time go. i was just trynna finish Potionomics but i was struggling with Week 4. took hours but i completed it and started the final week, Week 5, but i feel woefully unprepared and also have no brain cells at this point. i will save this for another day.

anyway, my thoughts on Potionomics so far as someone at the final level who has spent 18 hours struggling through this game: it has really good potential, but it may not be for everyone.

Potionomics is a really cute 3D-animated game where you inherit a run-down potion shop from your uncle and have to make potions to settle a debt. you haggle via a card/deck-building system to sell your potions for the best prices, befriend and maybe romance the townsfolk (and get more cards to haggle with), and win competitions to progress the story. there seems to be 50 in-game days worth of play, 5 "levels" where you have to win the competitions at the end of every 10-day week. overall, it seems a lot of love has clearly gone into this game because everything about it is charming! but there's almost always a "but" with me lol.

if you're into the stress and hectic management of time and resources - of optimizing Every Bit of your schedule in the day - this is the game for you. BUT, it's a little too overwhelming for me personally. it's giving me Don't Starve kinda vibes, but perhaps not as bad. (for context, Don't Starve is a punishing survival game in a horror-themed world that you can play alone or co-op; it requires a Lot of pre-game preparation and research to understand the mechanics and how to survive the seasons so you 'don't starve'). for Potionomics, if you research a lot beforehand (maybe by watching someone else play and explain the mechanics) and you really plan out the days, i'm sure you could get all you need done. but it's Extremely Difficult for me. i dont find it particularly fun to cram all my priorities for the game's objectives into 10 days because i can't sit down and appreciate the different aspects of the game. it feels like i'm rush-reading a book (that i otherwise would've enjoyed taking my time with) just so that i can turn in a shitty essay on time. and by the end of it, i can only remember bits and pieces of the story. i usually get by and have fun with management-type games, but Potionomics is not as rewarding for me to play as i hoped it would be. i honestly just wish they let you change the time for competitions from every 10 days to 15 or 20, just so that i can actually sit down and enjoy the world. i would like to take my time making potions, befriending and romancing characters, and running a potion shop! they could have options to extend the week or make the in-game days longer to make it easier! instead, i find myself scraping by every 10 days to make the potions i need for competitions and only occasionally being allowed to appreciate the game's universe.

aside from that, it's an absolutely gorgeous game. graphics are phenomenal and so are the animations. character designs and set designs are AWESOME. i am in love with the world that exists here and the characters and stories inside it. the music and the sound effects are great. the writing is pretty good and the characters are all distinct and interesting! the dialogue is pretty fun to read and you get rewarded for befriending characters with more cards to haggle with! though it would be great if i actually had the TIME to befriend them without a ticking bomb behind me. there's definitely a learning curve to the game and i imagine some people will find this challenge really enjoyable and rewarding, but it's not really the game for me. at this point, i'm struggling through to finish it Just Once so i don't feel like i wasted my money. there's just too many things for me to juggle in this game and not enough time, unfortunately.

if you're interested in Potionomics, i recommend watching someone play through it at least once (through a 10-day week at least) to see if you'll find this type of gameplay fun. this is a good game for the right people! it's just not right for me and that's okay! it's just a shame because i wish i was smart enough to adapt and understand the mechanics enough to get by without my brain overheating and hissing smoke.