#This cat and I share the same mindset

[elodieunderglass]

I'd like to know more about Killie's family!

Thank you so much!! I LOVE THEM

Killie’s family are a horse racing “dynasty” of several generations, with his branch being especially trashy, mean to each other, in debt and all-consumingly horse-obsessed. The historical base of the paternal family is County Meath in the Republic of Ireland - Killie’s mother is English.

The greater family is competitive, horse-obsessed, and that depressing mindset of being conservative-without-being-rich. You’re not allowed to name children like racehorses (because of woke) but they’ve made up for it by having a tradition of sharing a generation-based initial letter for their first name. Killie’s in the “C” generation, and his siblings and cousins all have C-names.

The parents are awful, and you can see the stamp of their influence on Killie and his siblings. The family are justifiably proud of Killie, though toxic about it.

Here’s the sibling set before Charlie’s estrangement:

Press “Keep reading” for fascinating Killie personal life below:

Killie (Cillian), oldest, and even by their family’s standards, incredibly Good at Horses. Master of the preternatural jockey powers of the mental timer (can set and stop accurate stopwatches and timers in his head; the opposite of time blindness), psychic horse connection, inhuman discipline and stoicism (the Jockey Constitution (TM).) champion jockey over jumps and on the flat, closing in on legendary status, while also secretly falling apart in every other direction. We happen to know that he’s secretly a bisexual demisexual wet stray cat with exhausted anxiety and Terminal Horse Autism, but he does a very good job of projecting aggression acceptable jockey energy, and therefore Nobody Suspects. Moved to the UK as a contracted jockey with a prominent stable and is genuinely, genuinely good at what he does. About 4’10”, extremely desirable height for an international-quality lightweight flat jockey, but just about too light for UK/Irish steeplechasing (but he’s intensely bonkers, so he does it anyway.)

Charlie (Charles), twin, hates horses (actually rather good with them as animals! but hates competition, gambling, pain, The Racing Industry, hurting himself, pain, animal abuse, falling off, trashiness, when they step on you, horse racing, and Being So Brave About It.) Horse Hating ADHD, pictured here being insufferable because he actually owns clothes besides breeches and boots. Family lore states that the twins were born prematurely because Charlie attempted to murder Killie in the womb, but that sounds medically improbable. Regardless, the twins failed to thrive in NICU until being placed in the same incubator together, so even if murder attempts were made, they reconciled right away. Unfortunately estranged from family, sport and home by being unapologetically and flagrantly bisexual, he vanished from Killie’s life for over a decade, and ended up building an unexpectedly normal and healthy life in which horses did not eat any of his fingers. They used to have magical twin telepathy before estrangement.

Charlie always sounds like he’s speaking with emojis, has a great deal of charm, and did so much of The Talking when they were younger that Killie was able to secretly conceal and get over his own stammer. While being outwardly 300x more social and funny and lovable, Charlie is actually much more of a bastard than (secretly soft) Killie, and defended Killie and the other siblings from bullies on all sides, including/especially their parents.

Ciara, an unpleasant wench three years younger than the twins, who wasted her twenties being mean in the comments. Mediocre jockey, now a trainer’s assistant, back living with parents while slow-motion Republic of Ireland (TM) Divorce goes through. Despite being a homophobic harpy during the catastrophic Estrangement Incident, would desperately like to see Charlie again. Much of her internet usage sprang from the compulsion to find Charlie on social media (she never managed.) weirdly, being really online accidentally radicalised her, and despite only hanging out with incredibly conservative bigoted people IRL, she made nice friends online and became secretly quite tolerable, and guilty about all of it. Wouldn’t talk to Killie about any of this, though. Killie’s perfect. Killie’s the culmination of a five-generation breeding experiment to create the perfect jockey, and by all metrics, it worked. Killie once had a 500-kilo horse fully land on his thighbone and only said a mild “bugger.” Killie wouldn’t get it at all.

Colm - youngest. not a great rider, not very interesting, not much presence, not very brave, no particular instinct for horses, not especially disciplined, no particular ambition, and excessively large. Works as an exercise rider, groom and general stablehand for his parents (constant criticism, zero thanks), and presumably has a private life, but keeps his head down. His takeaway from Charlie’s estrangement was: everyone loved Charlie most of all, and that’s how quickly they threw him away - what hope do I have, if I put a foot wrong? Really misses Killie, lacks the ability to follow him, lost as a result.

Charlie and Killie reconciling would shore up a tremendous amount of Killie’s collapsing mental landscape, and prove utterly necessary for Killie surviving the total tailspin of being forcibly loved by a completely random great big beardy nerdy American man life outside of being a jockey.

And it is entirely possible that there are uncles and aunts and cousins who would turn around and say, quite fiercely, Cillian’s the best of us. We love and admire him more than we love winning. He throws his heart over the fences and then follows it, and when it’s important he always wins. If Killie wants a boyfriend - then you know what? Fuck it. Maybe that’s winning. Maybe we’d rather be on his side, the winning side - the side of the best of us.

It has a chance of all being okay.

(Greyuncle Era: Ciara and Colm manage a near-complete recovery from their family of origin. They choose to never have kids, and good for them. Charlie, polyamorous bisexual in an incredibly stable three-person marriage, has a mysterious number of kids (he and his husband and wife produced kids with the admirable Lucky Dip method; but they’re all Charlie’s, of course. They’re also all his biologically, because he won. He won all of them. He has the fastest sperm, if you want to know. okay, admittedly only some are markedly shorter and more ginger than the rest, but frankly YOU NEVER KNOW, do you?? Charlie himself has a brunette sister! and a younger brother who is VERY NEARLY almost tall?? Genetics are a mystery 😤 no this is NOT a racing thing, this is - no he’s not competitive. He’s better than that. He hates - they’re - shut up.

This results in the “between 12-75 business greatniblings” that Killie and Derek share. Derek actually knows how many there are. Killie cannot physiologically remember that kind of thing, his brain just turns to static; and Charlie possibly doesn’t know himself. And it’s okay and it’s okay and it’s okay and it’s okay and in fact they are HAPPY AND WELL.)

[bumpkinbayouthief]

🂱 › dating Remy LeBeau .

what is it like, dating the devilish cajun?

pairing : remy x reader warnings : tiny illuding to nsfw a/n : this is my first time writing this boy outside of rp context! decided to go more of the headcanons route, it is for the most part SFW. I also tried my best to keep it gn!reader as much as possible I plan to do a sfw & nsfw abc's to expand even more on what it is like dating the Ragin Cajun

first off, Remy is quite the romantic, however, he also has an impulsive streak so when he asked you out, it’s safe to say it was pretty unplanned on his end

he asked you out in the mansion kitchen, slipping a playing card with the question into the pockets of your sweatpants while you stood making coffee.

and he had the biggest devilish grin on his face when you found him later that day and gave him the card back, writing a yes on the card

on top of being a romantic, Remy loves to cook so say goodbye to ever having to cook for yourself, unless you like cooking then he is happy to share the kitchen with you and make dinner with you

you also have to now get used to sharing a space with three cats. After all you did start dating a proud cat dad.

he’s extra protective on missions, even though he knows you can hold your own he’s always keeping an extra close eye on you while out in the field.

total doberman boyfriend material, all the traits of a golden retriever with the added “will fuck someone up if the need arises” energy

you guys go out together and his head is on a constant swivel while he holds your hand

Remy is also really good at handling panic and anxiety attacks. if you struggle with mental health he is always there to support and help you through it

he will also go out of his way to learn everything he can about the conditions you live with. you deal with OCD, guess who is spending hours reading up on it and talking to doctors about how he can help

he also will naturally want to move a lot faster with the relationship. he’s got a very all or nothing mindset to life however, he will easily adapt to your pace for the relationship, respecting and talking about boundaries. he may act like a little kid but he is pretty good with communication

except his past. he’s gonna take some time to open up about his time prior to joining the x-men. he’ll share everything about New Orleans with you but his childhood? oh that’s gonna take a while.

Remy also deals with nightmares, most of them revolve around his time under Apocalypse’s control as the horseman Death. Some are about his time with Sinister.

he’ll try his best to not wake you up whenever he has one, slipping out of bed quietly and walking around the house.

when you do notice or wake up to one, he won’t be too keen to tell you about the dream but he will accept the comfort. he’ll lay his head on your chest and let you soothe him back to sleep

and the same goes for you if you ever have a nightmare.

Remy's strongest love language is definitely physical touch, this boy cannot keep his hands to himself, whether it's holding your hand while walking together or having his hand on your thigh, inching up further and further, you are going to have a clingy boy on your hands

overall, you have a partner who will adore you like a devotee with his deity and will support you and protect you till his dying breath

love , elizabeth

[ divider credit : @strangergraphics | banner image from A+X 006 ]

[grllmx]

"Ragatha in Wonderland"

🌻 Them side by side for height difference 🌻

Heya!! Y'all wouldn't mind some info dump, would ya?

But before I share my thoughts and ideas for this au, note that I am making this all for fun and that I am only merging two concepts at once because they sound fun in my head!

-- So without further ado, let's start shall we?

Ragatha in Wonderland is a fun silly lil' au I thought about in my spare time (Though I am aware that I'm not the only person who had similar ideas) buuut! Here's my take on how this concept goes ~

💜🟣🎀- - - - - RAGATHA IN WONDERLAND - - - - -🎀🟣💜

🌻 Wonderland is similar yet different from the Circus. Many possibilities await in this newly found land, but wait... How odd, suddenly everyone and everything is of new variation! Did things really stay the same? Are things different? It's a confusing world that warped and transformed the original digital land into something new. New places to explore, new outfits! New concepts... New people? It seems everything changed. Perhaps even... True death is possible now.

Ragatha - Plays the role as Alice. Confused and bewildered at first but Ragatha progressively adapts to the world and the surroundings around her. Acts like herself for the first portions of the story but as she dwells longer in this 'wonderland' she loses herself, her identity, as if the place was sucking out all of 'her'. She'll meet a lot of familiar faces. She feels comforted, knowing that she isn't alone in this newly found world but little does she know - they are not what she seemed.

Jax - The white rabbit leading Ragatha to wonderland. Jax was the one who dragged her in this, so Ragatha's first instincts was to follow him, hoping he knows where the exit is. Though he often plays tricks, teasing and playing with Ragatha's head whenever given the chance. Maybe he doesn't sound like a reliable shoulder to lean on, but he is Ragatha's key in terms of escaping wonderland.

Gangle - Starring as the mouse and the dormouse. The first person (other than Jax) Ragatha meets in wonderland. Gangle is skittish and has an extreme fear of cats. She does not like hearing or mentioning them, her mouse-like features says so otherwise. Though, in later unfortunate events, Ragatha scares her by mentioning, you guess it, cats. And then flees elsewhere.

Zooble - Following the (possibly tobacco) smoke trails, enters in the wise caterpillar. Meeting for the first time was not fun, in Ragatha's case mostly. Zooble asks Ragatha a lot of questions, typically centering around herself which gradually starts her descend into madness. Zooble's questions hit hard for Ragatha, making her realize a lot of things and learn more about the world. Though one question stuck the most, "who are YOU?"

Caine - The Hatter/Mad hatter. Need I say more? Hehe, anyways... Caine, alongside Bubble, is notably the most mad or insane person living in wonderland. Always yapping about random things (Riddles, jokes, factual statement... you name it) that can either be truth or made up, which Ragatha can't tell the difference of since they are always so surreal and deranged, or in other words, utter nonsense! He is another character that made Ragatha's mental state and mindset deteriorate. (Ragatha wishes to never meet him again)

Pomni - It's Pomni! Though, something is off... Pomni's role is the Cheshire cat. She's willing to help Ragatha escape, even suggesting ideas that felt to be possible, but are things really that easy? No, of course not! She is a red herring, a person filled with mischief that fools and plays with her victims until she deems them boring. Ragatha meets Pomni in the woods right after she ran away from Caine, and just like Jax, Pomni plays with Ragatha's head. But eventually helps her out and leads her to the kingdom's garden.

Kinger - Sometimes, a king is fit to be queen. Kinger is the Queen of Hearts, a short tempered, bossy but childish queen. After first meeting, Ragatha didn't deem Kinger as a threat at first, even playing a simple game of croquet with him. But as she starves and remembers that hunger was present in this land, she secretly ate the queen's well-known 'tarts'. This resulted into the seething rage of Kinger, declaring a court trial in which Ragatha was later proven to be 'guilty'. Hence, "OFF WITH HER HEAD!"

🌻 So, spoiler alert -- Just like in original tales and stories inspired by Alice in Wonderland, this was all in Ragatha's head, a dream! I'm debating to either turn this into a comic or not, because I think it helps further explain my ideas, but who knows? Maybe with the right motivation and energy, I might do it.

Thank you for reading! Have a nice day/night 🌻

[theresattrpgforthat]

As someone who designs games, are there any specific games you've read that do interesting things with the Forged in the Dark or Powered By The Apocalypse systems that get you excited to write your own stuff?

(Asking those two since Protect the Child is FitD, also excited to hear if another system is excited rant worthy)

My friend, thank you so much for giving me space to ramble lovingly about games and mechanics. I don’t know if anything suggested here will be new exactly, but I am relishing the chance to talk about how the games I’ve read and played have impacted my design journey.

This is going to be a walk-through of various games that have given me a lot of tools to work with. Right now my head is full of Protect the Child, so I'm not really thinking about any other design projects, but I hope you enjoy this nonetheless!

Brinkwood, by Far Horizons Co-Op, Slugblaster, by Wilkie’s Candy Lab, and Moth-Light, by Dissonance.

I knew of a few Forged in the Dark hacks before I heard about Brinkwood, but when I realized that the Masks were basically communal playbooks, my mind was blown. Both Slugblaster and Moth-Light appealed to me because of their setting, but when I read the rule-books I was also impressed by how they were able to take the base Forged in the Dark and change it to make the rules work for the proper genre and tone.

Brinkwood takes the playbooks with special powers and makes them communal. You can pick up a new set of powers every time but still play the same character, so you can have variety while still pursuing the same character’s storyline. Because the Masks are shared, the “crew playbook” doesn’t look the same as it does in a lot of other Blades hacks, as no matter what Masks you take, you’re still engaging in a rebellion against vampires. Brinkwood also gives the GM a lot of guidance on how to flavour the antagonists in a way that is challenging, interesting and dangerous, while also giving the players a way to veto any subject matter that bleeds too much into real-life boundaries. Honestly, I think Brinkwood probably directly influenced my game A Terrible Fate more than Protect the Child, but the initial moment of realizing how much you can play with the game was a really important step in my development.

Slugblaster re-organizes your dice resources as Boost & Kick, and shifts Stress into a currency (Trouble) that you have to spend, rather than a time bomb. This gives your characters more longevity and takes away a lot of the gritty trauma that works for Blades, but doesn’t make sense for hover-boarding teens. Additionally, Slugblaster gives agency of faction creation over to the players in a way that’s way more personalized than it is in Blades. Specific questions are meant to be answered by specific playbooks, which I think is a great way to speed up crew relationships, as well as ensuring that each player at the table has a piece of the world that they contribute to. When setting decisions are left up to the group as a nebulous whole, one player may have more say over setting creation just because they have the loudest voice or the most ideas. By giving specific choices to specific playbooks, you’re ensuring that each player has a piece of the world they can point to and claim as theirs.

Moth-Light takes the CATS safety tool and embeds it into Pact creation, allowing the genre and tone to shift the way the game is played slightly to reflect the kind of story the group wants to tell. The core setting is the same - a planet with gigantic bugs - but the ways the characters interact with the setting changes depending on the Pact that you choose. I think this is a genius way to give a group a way to use Safety Tools without them necessarily realizing it, and it ensure that the group enters the story on the same page. This mindset fuelled my choice to present the world-building as a series of questions for the players to answer, establishing some truths about the technology levels and the use of magic before players make their characters, setting some basic limitations to make sure folks are on the same page. Currently however, I don’t think I’ve achieved the seamless translation of CATS into a game-appropriate setting exercise - I’ve just ported CATS into the game.

External Containment Bureau, by Mythic Gazetteer.

External Containment Bureau minimizes a lot of their character options and does away with playbook options in order to make character creation customizable while still quick, and one of the primary ways they did this was by changing the way gear rules work in the game. In standard Blades, you can only use equipment to improve your Effect, but in ECB, you can use your equipment to add +1d or improve Effect. This is primarily because ECB doesn’t use stats in the way Blades does, but I liked the way that little tweak gave the player an additional resource.

Additionally, ECB doesn’t care about load. Instead, the character comes with some gear associated with their department, and a few gear slots that they can fill themselves. You can always have everything in your Gear section on you - the limitation is in what’s available. I really liked how the game provided a balance between gear that made sense for your department and gear that reflects the way the player wants to portray their character, so I did the same thing in Protect the Child.

Antiquarian Adventures, by acegiak

I heard about the way Stress works in Antiquarian Adventures when I was listening to the Dice Exploder podcast, and it sparked a lot of thoughts about what Stress can be used for, especially since I knew that I didn’t want to give the characters Trauma in Protect the Child. Thematically, it doesn’t make sense to imply that parenting is inherently traumatic, and I don’t want to cast the Child as a source of trauma for the parents.

Antiquarian Adventures solves this problem by allowing Stress to re-set every time you fill it, as long as the player is able to dictate how the character suffers some kind of setback or brings about some form of trouble as a result of getting too stressed out. The exact trouble is attached to the playbook, adding to the distinct flavour of each trope. In Protect the Child, I made sure to add one Reaction that was unique to the playbook, to reflect the same kind of thing.

Last Fleet, by Black Armada Games.

Last Fleet blew me away with the Pressure mechanic. It’s a physical manifestation of stress that exists in the setting, that doubles as both a player resource and a ticking clock. You can spend Pressure to give yourself a better chance at success, but once it hits its cap, your character is forced into a situation that that they cause themselves.

In many ways, Last Fleet is doing something similar to Antiquarian Adventures, but the one thing it adds is that it gives the player options in terms of how they’ll cause trouble. Some options overlap across playbooks, but each playbook has a unique collection that helps keep it somewhat distinct from the others. One of the best moments I had in play was when one of my players realized that he had the option to actually turn on the group - the reaction was like a little present he’d just unwrapped for the entire group, and it made for an extremely memorable moment for the table.

Last Fleet also inspired me to shorten the Stress Clock in Protect the Child. Base Blades has a 8-mark Stress track, but in early play-tests, I felt like it was difficult for anyone to fill up their clock in a single session. The Last Fleet Pressure track can only hold 5 marks of Pressure, and re-setting it doesn’t empty the track, but rather puts it at 2. I think that constant Stress provides a bit of a friction point for players, which is needed since it’s easier for players to achieve bigger dice pools in Protect the Child.

Beam Saber, by Austin Ramsey

When I was agonizing about how to encourage more roleplay between players, someone recommended that I read through Girl By Moonlight. Unfortunately, I don’t own a copy of Girl by Moonlight. I do, however, own a copy of Beam Saber, so when I decided to comb through other Blades games for relationship mechanics, I stumbled on the relationship clocks of Beam Saber.

In Beam Saber, you write down beliefs you have of each other character in the party, and attach each belief to a slice on a Connection clock. During downtime, you have the option to Cut Loose, which helps two Pilots relieve stress with each-other at the same time as filling the Connection clock. Filling the clock awards XP as well as provides the characters an opportunity to confront each-other about the way they see each-other.

I liked the idea of using time together as a chance to relieve stress. As far as I understand, this moment of connection is also seen in Girl by Moonlight, but I decided to limit the amount of stress you could relieve in Protect the Child because I’m still operating under the ethos I was introduced to in Last Fleet - I want to keep the characters under a lot of pressure, making room for them to make terrible decisions, and therefore giving them room to grow.

Lady Blackbird, by John Harper.

I returned to Lady Blackbird when I realized that the way I’ve set up runs in PtC means that it may be hard for players to do things like engage in long-term projects, or train for XP in a regular Downtime session. I also noticed that it was hard to get the players to roleplay with each-other with the way that Downtime is written in base Blades - it’s often navigated through in a very procedural way. Finally, I wanted to make the game a bit more one-shot friendly, with a way to present a Downtime-like section partway through the game without bogging down play too much.

Lady Blackbird has moments in between Action scenes where it explicitly encourages players to engage in flashbacks or character interactions in ways that allow them to clear conditions and provide a bit of exposition into their backstory. This, coupled with the Impressions in Beam Saber, gave me the tools to both encourage the players to role-play while also giving them the tools to foster relationships with each-other.

Right now, Rest Stops only have two moves: Bond with the Child and Bond with Each-Other. By reducing both of your options to moments where your character interacts with other characters, and encouraging both of these options to reflect your character’s ideals and history, I’m hoping to provide some of the maintenance of Downtime while encouraging the role-play that happens in Lady Blackbird. Longer downtime actions are relegated to Time Passes, which will only come up in campaign play.

I still haven’t perfected this stage though. For example, I haven’t figured out what to do about wounds.

Apocalypse Keys, by Rae Nedjadi / @temporalhiccup.

It’s kind of hard to quantify or describe the influence Apocalypse Keys had on my design, but I’ll give it a shot.

In Apocalypse Keys, your character never has to fail. There’s always options to give yourself a success, it’s just a question of how much you want to sacrifice parts of who your character is in order to get what you want. Apocalypse Keys is itself an amalgamation of a number of different mechanics from various places, such as the way you use tokens to improve your rolls, as originally found in Libretè, or the Theorize roll, popularized in Brindlewood Bay but originating in Codex: Moonlight.

The character playbooks are also centred on different struggles that the player has decided to wrestle with. The Summoned has a lot of moments centred on fighting destiny, while the Last wrestles with grief and loss. Some of the themes in these playbooks give you a lot of freedom to explore struggles and traumas that affect people in real life, but are flavoured in a way to give your monsters great power and extremely interesting backstories.

Finally, the way your character looks is completely up to you, and is irrelevant to the things your character can do. If you want a thousand glowing eyes, it doesn’t matter which playbook you choose. If you want to be the spirit of all werewolves that came before you, it doesn’t matter which playbook you choose. If you want to carry a golden spear that can listen to the regrets of the restless dead, I don’t think it matters what playbook you choose. I think that there’s a bit of a carryover from what I love about Changeling: the Lost to be found in Apocalypse Keys, in that your character’s origin and presentation can be as varied as whatever you can imagine, and can fit into the themes of whatever playbook you decide to wrestle with.

Protect the Child doesn’t directly borrow any mechanics from Apocalypse Keys, but I think the ethos behind the design is there. I want the players to experience the same creative freedom, while tying down specific themes to specific playbooks. I want to enable conversations about real issues that affect real people, while allowing the table to situate those issues in whatever setting makes the most sense for the group. I want the players to feel powerful, and at the same time recognize that the biggest obstacles to being good parent are generally incredibly personal.

I also admire the way that Nedjadi designs, from the rigorous play testing, to the purposeful openness about his inspirations, to his careful documentation of who has inspired him and where his ideas came from. I think being able to provide a clear through-line to the ways your were influenced by other design works is good for the historians of our hobby, and it also reinforces a culture in which game designers influence and allow themselves to be influenced by each-other.

[pixelplayground]

hi, i'm a little embarrassed to say it but nobody likes what i publish. i have more than 2k readers but in the end there are always 2 or 3 who follow me by liking or sharing my posts. i spend time creating interiors or lookbooks that may be liked but in the end it is not so. i would like to ask you for some advice to improve, to understand where i am going wrong if i don't bother you. i like what you publish.

Hello @valerysims,

First don’t feel embarrassed about arbitrary internet numbers. I know the world makes it feel like social media = validation but I promise you that your worth as a person is not tied to numbers on a post. Second, I checked out your blog and think you have a good number of likes to follower ratio! I have a little over 40K followers, and as you can see I get a fraction of that amount in likes per post on average. (I’ve also been around literally for a decade so please don’t burden yourself with comparisons, many of those followers came to me when I was posting sims 3 downloads, and when I was very active in the 2017-2019 period. Many of those people are now inactive/left the sims so it’s meaningless).

As far as content, I would recommend that you play this game for you and try to think less about what others want to see or what’s trending or will get likes. I hate so much how even simblr has been infected by the influencer mindset. I wish the community would go back to remembering we’re nerds playing virtual doll houses and would celebrate non-conformity more. I know it’s hard to resist, but I think people can sense when you are passionate about what you’re making/posting versus trying to create content that keeps up with the trends.

Back when I started doing coastal in 2017, I did it because I adore the architecture style, and it was around the time that Cats & Dogs was released so we now had the perfect world setting to compliment and exploration of this style. I wasn’t thinking about making it a trend, I always build and decorate for me and what I want to see in my game, and back then it wasn’t that popular. I had a phase of being really interested in modern farmhouses/low country builds and spent time doing that — they don’t resonate with me the way they did so I moved on and that’s ok. You don’t have to do anything that no longer interests you. Along the way people followed me because I guess they liked it, but a common sentiment I receive from followers is that they can see how much time and love I put into my builds, and I think that’s what resonated most to find an audience as it were.

It's the same with CC creation, I never learned how to make CC because I want lots of followers, monetization, or exposure. I had to learn to make the items I could not find back in the day, and now that style is trending, so I don't have to create so much to fill gaps and execute builds the way that I like.

Find joy in the act of playing the game, posting pics etc. whatever it is that you love most about the game, and you may find a niche there. Don’t pressure yourself to have to post X times per week if you’re not feeling it. Work on finding out what you’re passionate about and share that passion with your followers — usually the audience will follow you from there.

Also, I open this post to others to share their input. Some people I think are killer social media marketers, and I've never felt like I have that skillset. I feel like I gained a following accidentally rather than setting out with that goal in mind.

[sylviewrites]

do you write reader as the mc or as a non-mc? bc i don't like mc i find her too perfect and unrealistic to be me and i read your raf piece and thought i would never do that to him

Greetings,

I write both, and they can be interpreted as both. I especially like doing a Non-MC! Lads MC ─── kind of like how you see in Isekai and Transmigration novels. However, I do love both as in: both the same character, and as different characters.

This question has unexpectedly brought a lot of peculiar feelings about the subject. Humans are always different. They have different personality traits, values, different mannerisms, mindset, philosophy and perspective.

There is a big variety of options we have to insert to characters, yet the genre of "self-insertion" has been lacking diversity in the name of relatability.

It is why I have held polls for the people to vote. Many readers want to insert themselves into the world they are reading, not as they are, but as what they could be.

Taking your statement, for example. I am not a particularly athletic woman, I chose the pen over the gun, and I am dealing with a lot of anxiety and self-doubt for years now. However, I could still see MC as a part of myself, because what she liked I also liked, I never resented or disliked.

The MC of Love and Deepspace has a vibrant personality that, as someone who has played quite a few Otome Games, was a breath of fresh air.

To me, she is not unrealistic. She is reckless, sometimes she doesn't think. For many times her emotions have clouded her judgement. Other times, she is too passive. She is also kind and smart, funny and a tease. To create a model for a Personalised Game that can feature both entertainment and the audience majority, many things are going to be overlooked.

Now if the piece you are referring to is DTDM Rafayel one shot, I do have something to say. It is a angst filled written piece about a woman who is at her limits with her partner's constant bitterness of her so called abandonment. This is a case of how people are going to react differently on situations. For someone, they would try to quell Rafayel's burning desperation and centuries-old grudge, acting soft and reassuring. For someone else however, they would butt heads with him, taking his insecurities as a personal jab to them not being a reliable and secure partner, as they never showed him anything else but love and loyalty.

The conclusion that I want to come down to is, that if you are reading each piece of literature for a character that acts just like you, you are not going to find any of them.

Because there is only one you in the world, and so instead, you can try finding yourself through them.

This character shares my love for plushies.

This character likes cats just like I do.

This character drinks their coffee the way I like.

This characters shares my love for the ocean.

This character shares my loves for sweets.

This character sleeps just as much as I do.

This character sings just as horribly as me.

This character loves the sky just as I do.

[eemamminy-art]

My art process, more or less

Hey, so a lot of people have asked me before to share some of my art process. So when drawing a recent quick personal piece I decided to finally take screenshots as I went to make a write-up. This is the artwork:

And below the cut is all the steps as I drew this. I wasn't counting the time but I think it was something like ~5 hours between two sessions.

This is less a tutorial and more just showcasing how I draw. You know how writers sometimes call themselves a planner or a pantser? I'm a pantser with art. When I try to plan stuff out too thoroughly I get stuck in the mindset of like, it HAS to be one way and I can't improvise. Improvisation and pivot is kind of essential in how I draw, and I recommend everyone trying to not be so rigid when drawing if you can help it. I'm kind of all over the place and winging it through most drawings so I hesitate to call it a tutorial as I feel it would be hard to follow for beginners. I can only manage to draw this way because I already have some classroom training, thousands of hours and artworks under my belt, and a pretty strong sense of visual recall that gives me a good sense of how to eyeball proportions and the like. Okay, disclaimer done, let's jump in I guess

I had an idea to draw my OC wearing a layered shirt combo that I saw in a cat video and I thought suited him. You'll see the snippet I took of it in the corner of the canvas throughout, but that's where the idea spawned. I began with just trying to get the basic gesture and flow of the pose. I was constructing it from my head, as I most often do (I don't recommend this, but I am usually too lazy for finding pose refs)

I flip the canvas and use the lasso tool all throughout and just continue to push and pull on the body shape and gradually add more substance to it until I'm satisfied with the undersketch

Once I feel like the undersketch is what I want it to be, I lock the transparency and reduce the opacity to 15%. You could also just change the colors on it if you'd prefer, but I've done that and then drawn on the wrong layer too many times lol so I prefer to just lower opacity. Then I make a new layer at 100% opacity and start to draw the clean sketch on top.

I'm making changes to the pose and expression as I go, as you can see I ended up shifting his head away from where it's positioned in the undersketch

I achieve some of the effects in my art, especially the line weight, through setting the colors to transparent and continuing to use my sketch/line brush so that it now acts as an eraser but maintains the same texture and size as my brush strokes. I use it to cut away excess lines, and also add transparency to stuff like having the eyebrows be a suggestion beneath the bangs

I redrew parts of his face, neck, and hair several times and questioned what I was doing with my evening (normal part of the process) and eventually ended up with this:

I realized the hands were way too vague in my undersketch so I went back to it to try and figure out the hand pose better

And here's the finished hands. Well not really finished, I continue to mess with line weight later, but this is basically their final form

And this was basically the finished "lines" (it's still a sketch to me because I use this rougher brush, but people always refer to it as line art. So I guess it's line art), with the undersketch on and with it off

Of course I took one look at the art above and said "something's wrong" lol but I was in a bad mood and it was late so I went to bed. I came back the next day and began tweaking it, using my beloved lasso tool to adjust his face somewhat which helped a lot

I then proceeded to add some more line weighting, adjusted proportions further, and toned down the folds on his jeans because there was WAY too much focus on them lol. Side by side to show the differences:

Okay now we can start colors. And I know this is the thing you're all here for, the skin rendering. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but it's mostly just magic with textures and layer modes! I make a flat color layer for the skin base, and three layers clipped above it (clipped meaning, they lock to the alphas of the base layer). The first layer clipped above is set to 100% opacity with a normal layer mode. This is for color variations on the skin like blemishes, freckles, lips, tattoos, hickeys, and in nude works, nipples and genitals. In this artwork though, it's just his lips.

The top-most skin layer (three above the base) I set to 40% opacity and hard light mode. This is important, but can be adjusted. You can use multiply or soft light if you want, or adjust the opacity, really mess with it. But this is fore the texture on the skin. I use a custom airbrush that simulates skin pores, and I use a saturated orange color and dust it all over his skin

Next is what I normally like to call blush but it's all over, so it's really like. Definition? People call it rendering and I suppose it's kind of like that but in my head I'm just being lazy to make my flat colors look better and not have to actually do proper shading on the piece! But this is below the pores layer (so it's two layers above the skin base) and it's also set to 40% opacity, hard light. Again, use your discretion and play with it. I use a dark red color for this, it leans slightly pink but it's still fully red I'd say. Like a wine red I guess? And I just start defining shapes of the body, and deepening it in areas that actually would have a lot of blood flow (like the cheeks or ears)

I basically do it like this: I use the same brush that I use for blending when I am doing actual rendering (it's just an oil brush with a chisel tip that I got off the assets store, though it is currently unavailable last I looked) and I block out the area darkly. Then, I swap my color to transparent once again and I use that to carve out the midtones. I use a light touch so I can blend it out really nicely but I do leave some hard edges where it feels appropriate.

So satisfying, so beauteous (★ ω ★) Then I just add in the rest of the colors, putting them in their own layer so I can easily edit them later.

And edit them I did. What is this color scheme?? Whack lol I color picked the shirts from the video I was referencing.. and realized I didn't like it. So I tweaked the colors to better match Mal's earthy color scheme. I also colored the lines by locking transparency on the line layer and coloring over it in a deep red.

Lastly, I made some little edits to line weight, gave him his fuzzy arms (essential, and also? Charm point) and used a deco brush from the clip studio assets store for the background. Here's the finished artwork:

And here's the deco brush, if you wanted to download it:

[elikaina]

Stupid Nagi Headcannons

So Im not fully caught up to bllk yet (I stopped reading right before the uber match so I can binge the NEL arc when it is completed) but I heard that Nagi got locked off (sad :( ) but my cuties made it (yay!!)

So here is my tribute to Nagi I guess (its most likely occ but please, its been a while)

1. Nagi seem to assign role to ppl like believing that it is more of like a mindset, a mentality that someone executes

Like obviously for Reo, he is wife energy

For Barou, it is not wife energy but maid energy because to Nagi, Barou can clean, nag, and maybe cook but does not have the same caring and emphatic energy that Reo has even (+ Barou can be annoying unlike his precious Reo)

For Isagi, it is probably girlfriend energy, because he looks after others but will not hesitate to start shit if you offend him.

For Chigiri, it is pretty boyfriend energy. His nickname may be princess as he takes a lot of time taking care of his hair and all that but at the end of the he is boy messy.

For Zantetsu, it is himbo boyfriend energy. Zantetsu is stupid but he is very attentive to other people's emotions. Nagi can see the appeal to that but it is not really for him.

For Bachira and Shidou it is probably deranged but affectionate cat energy.

For Yukimiya, it is most likely boyfriendiest boyfriend energy cause he seems like a such a gentlemen, and easy to talk to but Nagi does not know him well enough to move him to husband energy.

2. We already know that Nagi project himself and Reo whenever he sees a duo so he definitely fujos out a lot

We also know he makes crack ships (like wth was barou x tokimatsu) so he would thrive with on ao3 especially those crack ships

He, along with Hiori, Yukimiya, Raichi, Niko, Aiku and maybe Rin in the background are sharing and gossiping about ships in blue lock. Nagi has a ship for almost everyone. I do wonder if how he feels about ot3s tho

I feel like he would also encourage the delusions of active crushes. (poor bachira tho, he was more caught in Nagi's negative projection)

3. He gets the nastiest side eye from Kunigami and Shidou and he does not understand why

Like they could be out, getting lunch, and he would catch them giving him the side eye from across the cafeteria.

He tries to have a convo with Kunigami cause he is close to both Reo and and Chigiri. And if he is close to his close friends that means he is good guy overall but he just gets a look and ignored. Isagi is like "dont worry nagi, he's been like that since he came back" BUT Kunigami just does not see the appeal of being associated with Nagi especially since he witnessed Reo crash out like no tomorrow.

Shidou on the other hand just doesnt think Nagi is all that special, no matter what Reo says about him. Nagi is just not a fun soccer player at all for Shidou and Nagi's skills are going in a downward trends. He doesnt understand what Reo sees at all.

Reo just wants all of them to get along.

4. Nagi started to play more otome games when he met Reo

Once Otoya found out that Nagi also plays otome games, he is weirded out that he has a common interest with Nagi

Niko is more interested in the choices that Nagi plays

Hiori is intrigued by the variety of games Nagi play

Rin is just disgusted

5. Now that he is eliminated, his depression is going to be even worse since he got a taste of friendship and a bit passion

[beastlygoat]

I couldn’t sleep so I decided to write a short fic, don’t expect it to be great or anything

Mortality

CW//Discussion of death and Mortality

A yellow cat slipped into the tent of his favorite person, Leshy’s of course. It had become a habit at this point and he didn’t event need to ask for entry, the two had become so aquatinted with each other. Heck the lamb even joked about building a shelter they could share. But for now, they met like this. The yellow cat witnessed as his dearest bagworm layed on his back, his neck now adorned with a new garment. A golden skull necklace. The cat kneeled beside his companion, hand slowly tracing its way to the necklace. He carefully felt around the engravings and its surface before speaking up.

“Leshy, what is this? Did you make it?” He looked at the worm who only tilted his head slightly.”

“Ah.. no. It was gifted to me by the lamb. They said it would help me…. adjust.” His hand rose to meet the yellow cat’s palm, feeling its delicate form in his claws as he spoke.

“Adjust you say? Are you still having troubles here, you don’t seem to show distress lately.” It was hard not to pry, as Leshy had been a completely different person since the day he was indoctrinated. At first, confused and frustrated with this new way of life. Speaking out nonsenses that no other follower paid mind to, all except the yellow cat. He had always been patient with the worm no matter how difficult it was. And eventually, Leshy settled down and grew closer to him. To hear that the worm might be suffering in silence was surprising.

“…” Leshy thought about how to approach this, his old life could never be summed up in mere words. Regardless he would try his best as his companion liked to listen to as much as he could. “I suppose I have been quiet about some things. I didn’t think it would be something a mortal could grasp…. When I was tending to the garden, I nicked myself, not the end of the world but, the blood ran crimson. I have a limited time on this earth just like everyone else…” He intertwined his fingers with the yellow cat’s and the necklace. “And so… the lamb thought this could bring back an old sort of.. comfort? It is claimed the necklace will not let you age a day so long as you wear it. You will remain the same until the end of time.”The yellow cat lowered to his level, laying his head on the worm’s chest.

“You are scared of dying?” The worm simply nodded in response to him. “There is no need to fear Leshy.” The worm scoffed at him.

“That is nonsense, who wouldn’t be? Hundreds grovel at the very thought of getting hurt let alone dying. You should be scared too. There will be a time when you pass on and you never know when. It could even be tomorrow.”

“Well firstly, I’m a cat Leshy.. we have 9 lives.” He chuckled. “But to be honest with you, I only need the one.” Leshy tilted his head.

“Just one life?”

“That’s right. Just one. You see.. while I may not be here forever, I’m grateful for the time I have now. Every minute counts, I cherish the moments that I’m able to live through. And with that, if I were to die tomorrow, I would die fulfilled with myself.” He smiled at Leshy.

“But what if you could live forever. You would take it would you?”

“It sounds nice on paper but I wouldn’t. You must understand Leshy, to live forever is to watch the world change around you. To watch the ones you love come and go. To live on without them, the only memory existing in your head as new generations come along. I wouldn’t want to watch my loved ones die. I’d die with them.” Leshy’s hand slid down from his necklace.

“You’d be missed.”

“That is true. But I will live on in their memory” The yellow cat brushed their hand along the worm’s mossy face. His head melted into the touch, almost drawn to it like a magnet. “Did any of that help you at all?”

“…” It gave him more questions than answers, however, he felt an odd sense of reassurance. There was an interest to hear more despite him not understanding the mindset. Though for now he felt like he had enough. “In a way you can say it did.” He turned to face his companion, noticing that the sun had began to set from the opening in his tent. “It is getting late isn’t it? Are you going to head to your tent?”

“Ah about that…” The yellow cat looked sheepishly to the side. “It collapsed… could I stay here for the night?”

“Phah! I told you there’s no need to ask, besides you clearly made yourself at home already.” Leshy looked at his companion who was practically snuggled against him at this point.

“Oops.. sorry about that.” The yellow cat lessened their grasp on Leshy shyly. In response they were met with the strong embrace of the worm, inviting them to get closer to him. The two nestled against each other as nightfall approached, Leshy eventually closed off the tent to allow them to rest peacefully.

[frostbitemutt]

May I interest you in a writing request? Yandere Kaz and Ocelot fighting over the same darling. :)

That's all. No pressure or anything.

Yandere! Kazuhira Miller VS Yandere! Revolver Ocelot (MGSV)

Warnings: Gender neutral darling, spoilers for mgsv, Obsession, stalking, murder, military propaganda/cult, cult tactics and behaviors, abuse of power, power imbalance, brainwashing, sadism, torture, stealing, perverted behavior, mature themes, manipulation, non-consensual photo and video taking, boundary pushing, unwanted touching and advances

❆ Oh boy. Anyone in this franchise is a handful. These two pitted each other? You're not in for a fun time buddy. Better hope you can deflect before things come to ahead in the final chapter.

❆ I mean the obvious way to go here is that you're more than likely a diamond dog. Hell ya could be a higher up/leaders like them if ya been around long enough. Say if you knew the big man since the 60s or back during peacewalker with Kaz. Although for now to keep things simple we'll say you're a lower ranking dog. Easier for them to prey on.

❆ Ocelot the Tactical instructor, Kaz the Co-Exectuive of diamond dogs. Despite Kaz's seemingly higher position, only one of them is let in on the phony big boss. Ocelot. Ocelots a big ol yes men and boot-licker to John. Kaz isn't too much different, but he'll say no and disagree. So he's not not let into the plan at first.. until Ocelot tells him. He knows Kaz would figure out the quickest something was wrong.

❆ They have a mutual respect for one another. If not a love-hate situation-ship in their little evil polycule. They'll agree on some things about the dearest soilder. Not wanting to deflect, escape, get maimed, or die. Otherwise they're clawing at each like cats n dogs on who gets to be on your metaphorical (or literal) lap.

❆ The try to sway you to either of their sides. Ocelot tries to convince Venom to put you in his Unit that he commands. Kaz insists you'd be more helpful on the support or base development units that he is heavily involved in. Especially depending on your stats. Despite where you may end up at, the other constantly attempting to pull you away from the other via orders.

❆ Ocelot hovers around you. Monitoring, watching, stalking like the very cat he's named himself after. He invades your space just enough to be uncomfortable.. but able to be excused. Correcting the way you hold a gun, coming up behind you to ask you something, or just needing to reach over to you grab something while getting awfully close. He likes seeing you jump. Not to mention trying to test how receptive you are to his presence. If he's gonna be your lover you should get used to him touching you right?

❆ Kaz on the otherhand is a bit more respectful about your space. He's mellowed out from being the manwhore he was during Peacwalker to say the least. He'll try to lean on you a lot, just slightly, or akwardly put his leg up against yours. It's just his vision. It's bright out. He promises. A hand on your shoulder or arm if he can. If you look uncomfortable he'll lay off. He believes that'll be an advantage against Ocelot.

❆ Camreas are no doubt planted in your room. Sorry. Along with photos being taken. No they don't cut out when you're changing. Ocelot and Kaz are both gonna keep that footage for their own.. "reasons" although Ocelot is a bit less inclined to do so than Kaz. Ocelot dosen't mind having such resources incase the rare blue moon when he feels like it though.

❆ Ocelot is more for discipline and control. Kaz is more for swaying you with bonding and a nice appearance. Although in reality neither is really a good option. Ocelot collects every bit of information he can, likes, dislikes, reactions, mindset. Kaz collects more of the same, although he may get access to medical documents. For the most part they will share this information if they believe if will benefit your health. Yet they're still selfish. Keeping some bits to themselves.

❆ Ocelot also likes to watch you as you snooze. It's not invasive if you don't know right? It is. He may even be bold enough to cuddle up against you if you're heavy enough sleeper or if he sedated you beforehand. Kaz might peek his head into your room while you sleep and rummage through your things, but he ain't gonna sit there and watch. Much as he may adore you he has other things to do.

❆ They're constantly using their power to pull you one way or another. To push the envelope. They're your higher-ups. You should listen to your higher ups should you? What are you, a dissenter? A spy? Is your faith wavering? Or will you heel to their calls like a good diamond dog? Ocelot espically likes to use this card. Not to mention the wavering threat that comes with it. He'd hate to put you in the brig. But he won't have to do that, right?

❆ Ocelot will not doubt relish if he gets a reason to torture or interagate you. He's a sadist. He'll be oh so sickening nice too. Gently prodding you with the needle of truth serum. Talking quietly just for you to hear just how much he cares about you. He dosen't want to do this to you! His ass is lying he does. If you give in now it'll be easier for both of you. Then he won't have to play bad cop anymore, yeah? All while his hand lightly wanders over your body. Caresses that feel almost like a ghost.

❆ Kaz is there to scoop you up as soon as Ocelot is done. Cooing sweet words. Prying for the same information as him. Just with a nice tone. Despite this his nails still dig into you just a bit too tight. His voice a certain seething tone to it. Even if you were being defiant.. Ocelot was simply too cruel. If you were defying Ocelot specifically and not them as a whole.. he encourages it in a way.

❆ Kaz in the case of defiance will use guilt tripping. He's just asking you to do this little thing. He's met eye to eye on you with so many things when he dosen't need to. Would you prefer Ocelots company? Do you want him to turn you over to Ocelot to punish you as he sees fit? He's your higher up. You should still listen to him to an extent. Yet he still tries to play it as if you two are equal all the other times.

❆ He also dosen't like others tending to you medically absolutely needed. If you're sick mildly Injured he'll throw a fit if someone besides him or venom cares for you. He's the one with the most medical experience! What if the others messed it up? Trying to use your state of vulnerability to "bond". To instill trust. You better so much quicker when he takes care of you don't you? Not to mention giving you food he cooked up especially for you.

❆ Now, if another soilder tries to shoot their shot with you. The two will stop bickering, shake hands, and get their ass. They hate the idea of some random soilder having your heart rather than one of them. Even if they don't want it to be the other.

❆ Kaz is snapping at them for any slight infraction. Citing any reason he can for the brig. If not betrayal. Ocelot will happily drag that said soilder while they're kicking and screaming to one of his integration rooms. Far from others. Kaz joining soon after. Bones are broken, cuts are given, and a point is made loud and clear. A brain entirely altered. If that dosen't work and the soilder persists or tries to snitch. Well.. that soilder was "sent out on a mission" they never came back from.

❆ When things come to ahead and things start going to shit. You're now stuck in the middle of a very rickety and unstable bridge. Kaz or Ocelot. Do you stay Ocelot and Outer Heaven? Or do you leave with Kaz. Each beckoning to you desperately. Whispering dirty lies and truths about the other.

❆ Isn't Kaz pushy? He's just using you as a replacement for John. Don't you know his history of sleeping around? You think he'll stay loyal to you? What about his yucky temper? You want to deal with that?.. But Ocelot has hurt you hasn't he? Bossed you around? Threatened you with the brig? He just wants power.

❆ Ultimately its up to you to pick your poison soilder.

[damnfandomproblems]

https://www,tumblr,com/damnfandomproblems/776703114446274560/776696002425012224-i-aint-reading-all-of-that-i?source=share

"i ain't reading all of that i hope it felt good to write tho" It felt amazing, and also go fuck yourself.

Not that it matters since the Rowling Bad crowd refuses to learn from their obvious mistakes, so things are only going to get worse.

https://www,tumblr,com/damnfandomproblems/776705721772523520/httpswwwtumblrcomdamnfandomproblems776696002?source=share

"How can you logically accuse someone who did all of that of being a transphobic Nazi just because they still enjoy the books and films?" Extremely easily so if you're a narcissistic idiot and a bully who has a perfect moral excuse to emotionally abuse and manipulate people to feel good about yourself.

"And what about the trans people who still enjoy the stories despite being disappointed to learn of Rowling's opinions? People who openly point out that Rowling is a hypocrite for writing an anti-discrimination book series only to start discriminating?"

They probably try to bully those people into killing themselves too because they don't understand the concept of "making the punishment fit the crime", or even what constitutes a crime in the first place. Especially the Trans people. If there's one thing Moralizing Leftists absolutely just can't get ENOUGH of, it's being utterly fucking monstrous to the minority groups they claim to champion when someone from said minority group dares to have an independent thought and expresses opinions they don't like, or just generally stops being useful as a shield to hide behind.

Again, see the I/P conflict and how fast they've turned against Jews after years of jerking themselves off about being "antifascist."

"While we're at it, do you also claim anyone who still likes Coraline or Sandman supports Neil Gaiman's serial rape? Or that HP Lovecraft fans are racist? Or that Percy Jackson fans think Pagans are crazy? (Look it up, Rick Riordian made anti-paganism statements in the past and only recently apologized largely due to pressure)."

That's the problem, these people are dumb as rocks and fully sucked into mob mentality and the exact same mindset of moralizing as Jack Thompson and conservative fundamentalists who decried DnD and Pokemon as being Satanic. They're fucking idiots who genuinely DO believe all of that.

Especially with Lovecraft! They literally never SHUT UP about Lovecraft even though his is the most tragic case because he flat out said at the end of his life that he REGRETTED his bigotry and didn't have enough time left to do anything to atone for it! But these nitwits ignore that because they still think the stupid cat meme is funny.

Hell they're ALREADY trying to do the "Hatsune Miku made Minecraft" shit with Gaiman's works because they still think that's a good precedent to set and a thing that won't inevitably just lead to everyone being miserable because expecting your authors to be 100% pure is damn near impossible.

Posting as a response to a previous problem.

[liliadrawingstuff]

Let me put the this upon you

The Cat Faba just came naturally- I was just doodling him and then it happend.

On the other hand I was itching to draw Petrel because he is a dumb //affec and BECAUSE I NEVER DREW HIMMM. Really have to study him more and see how I prefer drawing his hair.

I am sorry I have to let out a little rant about them:

I will explain their dynamic hopefully more in a future post, but in my Pokemon story Universe where Lilac has her adventures, these two lovely idiots are brothers because just look at them.

Basically Petrel is C H A O S while Faba wants everything nice, clean and tidy and literally gets angry about everything Petrel does. And man does Petrel love seeing him angry and fed up by him.

Faba is the older "Big bro" but gets bullied (brotherly) for being shorter and gets made fun of/teased by Petrel verrrry often for literally anything. Also watch them have make up rivalries and insult each other how shit the other looks (as said everything is in a not harmful and joking way ✋🏻)

As much as they bully each other, they shared the same shitty household they grew up in and deep inside they are there for each other and understand each others mindset about how they see the world a lot. But you will never see that because they only talk about these things privately.

Rant end. Thank you if u read so far :>

After a little big Art Burnout I am slowly coming back with ideas also for Faba Colress and more. I hope I don't burn out again and actually get to draw these ideas like aaaah.

[hobiebrownismygod]

Miles G. Morales/Prowler Miles Headcanons

I like to think that he's basically 1610 Miles in a different font

Like they're literally the same person, he just has more trauma

After his dad died he begged his Uncle Aaron to teach him how to fight so he could prevent something from happening to his mom or anyone else he cared about

Thats when Aaron introduced him to being the Prowler

Because his dad died, I like to think he has a lot of trauma and symptoms of grief that people around him can see

He probably has trouble sleeping and gets a lot of nightmares

He forgets to eat food and sometimes goes up to two or three days without remembering to eat (would explain why hes so skinny in the scene we got of him)

He zones out a lot in class, thinking about how he could've saved his dad if he had the chance

But he still does really well in school, cuz Spider-man's always a genius and he was supposed to be Spider-man

He doesn't like opening up to people, but when he does he can get a little emotional

He was raised by his mom so he's a little more comfortable showing his emotions than the average guy

He tries to act cool in front of his uncle though, so he gets all cold and "emotionless" when Aaron's around

He's also very artistic and likes to draw

If he's crushing on someone (earth-42 gwen??) he'll fill his notebooks with drawings of them

He does a lot of chores and helps his mom a lot

He's very handy, and fixes broken things in the house a lot (taking up the man of the house kind of job)

Very protective of his mom and frequently checks her location on his phone (they share locations)

He just wants to make sure she's okay cuz ptsd from his dad's death

If he gets really close to a person he checks their locations often too (only if they've mutually shared them of course, he's not a creep)

His face completely lights up when he smiles and his eyes crinkle a little

its a rare sight but its very cute to see

Has a lot of friends but not many close ones

He lost a lot of his close friends after his dad died cuz he drifted away from them

When hes the Prowler he makes his voice deeper like how the spider people do it

He probably likes cats considering the fact that his suit kind of makes him look like one

He grew up too fast so he's pretty mature in terms of his mindset and personality

he can act childish and throw tantrums sometimes though but only with people hes comfortable around

Mixes his languages up sometimes or forgets words in English (Im bilingual and I do that so I like to think he probably would too)

Random thoughts that popped into my head about him :/

He's not gonna be some bad guy, he's gonna be the silliest little goober I promise

goofy kitten looking mf

[official-darkforest]

i am SOOO unbelievably thrilled by your anthro au omg. do you have fashion ideas for the characters? like their favorite outfits, fabrics, etc? imo one of the best parts of anthro characters is deciding how they'd express themselves through their clothing :]

I HAVE A FEW ALREADY!!!! i dont have many specifics because theres so many characters ahd i havent drawn them all yet LOL but i'll share the ones i do have at least SOMETHING for

im also trying to keep these reasonable for the time period and location, as in my au the clan cats are mostly rural and in small towns set (mostly) before the 2000s so most may dress more modest and conservative (especially if theyre older and very religious)

squirrelflight - the best i can describe her sense of fashion is that it ranged from tomboy as a younger girl and is currently closer to a working class butch. im not sure if masc would be a more appropriate term since i dont hc her as a lesbian (shes bi) but she dresses "like a man" and owns a lot of jeans, slacks, and button-up shirts of all kinds of fabrics and patterns. she also enjoys bright colors as well, but as she got older her fashuon sense got a little more sensible and less "loud" like it was in the 60s and 70s. she also has glasses like her daddy once shes like 35 or so. she and firestar dressed very similarly, and a lot of her shirts and neckties are things she stole from his closet

feathertail - very feminine. hippie adjacent, lots of loose and flowing garments and jingly pieces. breatheable clothes and open toed shoes. her favorite swimsuit had some little frilly bits on it i think. often combines neutral earthy tones with blues and whites

crowfeather - lots of handmedowns from his father. clothes you can do farmwork in like jeans, overalls, hardy flannel/denim shirts and boots. never grew out of this and still dresses this way and he likes it

jayfeather - he looks like a modernized (as far as the 80s goes) version of his father - same hairstyle snd way of dress. he isnt too formal but does have some more preppiness to his clothing style (polo shirts and sweaters). he avoids full button downs since buttoning them himself jjust gets frustrating since he cant match them up every time. new wave band shirts. he also wears orange tinted glasses to protect his eyes (in this au i wrote that hes able to perceive shadows and light pretty okay, but not much else beyond that) And Kinda As A Fashion Statement cuz it goes well with his facial structure and hairstyle i think

lionblaze - hes like if the stereotypical jock and stereotypical 80s rock+metal enthusiast had a baby. muscle tees and bandanas, ripped jeans, those absurdly short shorts, crop tops, etc. he's a drummer i think if that matters LOL

ivypool - punk, also sorta like joan jett to an extent. very homemade, tho sometimes she gets lazy and doesnt really commit to the outfits all the way (but definitely has the mindset, dint get me wrong). one of those girls with a chest small enough to go braless 99% of the time; wears a lot of tank tops and sleeveless shirts LOL

bone/brick/scourge - just google "the outsiders movie" or "greaser" and you'll get the idea. tho i imagine these three in particular also have some kind of bare minimum formalwear scraped together from their escapades. theyre kinda like the jetts/sharks from west side story if that helps at all

daisy - she combines flowing, pretty dresses with a sunhat and work boots. she also teaches horseback riding and owns a few (its a business she runs w smokey and floss. i think its be funny if they were polyam ITS MY AU I CAN CHANGE WHAT I WANT) and she has horseback-appropriate clothing as well

poppyfrost - THEE preppy girl of the 80s. big hair, perm and all. dresses with pastel colors. her sisters cinderheart and honeyfern are pretty similar, tho i imagine honeyfern is a little more sporty and cinderheart takes inspiration from madonna once shes trying to court lionblaze

hazeltail - long haired country girl butch. enough said

spottedleaf snd cinderpelt are nuns lol

[aushina]

I'm rereading Sword Art Online: Progressive and found myself thinking about how reticent everyone is about sharing IRL information which, combined with some rather boring work I had to do today, lead me to overthink the reason for it. Spoilers for book 4 of the series.

Kirito explains it as a taboo to talk about personal stuff online because, like, doxxing and stuff, presumably. But I feel like that goes out the window when it's no longer a game but your reality. And, also, I get not sharing stuff with Lind or Kibaou or even Argo, but you and Asuna ain't gonna talk about y'all's lives? You've both been held by the other while trying not to cry (Asuna after losing her sword and coming across the PK-ers in the dungeon under Karluin and Kirito at the end of the same book when the weight of bearing the beta tester hatred at 13 gets to him). Come on, y'all are close enough to talk about personal stuff now. Also, like, in the original run of the story, they got married and only thought to exchange information when Aincrad was crumbling and I'm pretty sure they both thought they were going to die. Guys, really?

I get the initial thought of it. I know SAO was originally written for a competition and so was much shorter than the released version (the contest version didn't have the stories about the Moonlit Black Cats, Liz, or Silica, I'm pretty sure) and so maybe finding a natural place for them to discuss their real lives was hard. And, waiting until the end like that makes it feel like they're saying good-bye to their lives in SAO. It's thematic. But it's still kinda ridiculous.

Now, onto why I made this post in the first place. I like to write and, as a writer, I often look at stories and go, "How would I write this?" as a bit of an exercise. Even with stories that I'm absolutely in love with, I'll find parts where I can't help thinking, "Okay, but it would be cool if this happened in a different way." That's the whole basis of fan fiction, after all. So I'm looking at this odd bit of world building and thinking, "You know it would make more sense, to me, if this no IRL talk was a taboo because of the mindset needed to beat the game, not as a holdover from when it was a game."

Now, what do I mean by mindset? Kazuto Kirigaya is a socially awkward 13/14 year-old who hides in his room and in games because the real world is scary. Kirito is a veteran swordsman who can face any monster with intelligence and courage. Kirito has enough leadership ability and charisma to rally 10 other players to beat a floor boss. Kazuto could never. And I'm sure it's the same for most people there. They're all roleplaying as their characters because their IRL selves wouldn't be able to handle their new reality. They're compartmentalizing. (I think I'm using that right.) This would be why it's taboo to talk about the real world and your real life. Reminding Kirito of Kazuto is stripping Kirito of his armour of nonchalance. It's reminding him that he's really just a scared kid who misses his family and regrets pushing them away. It's reminding him that he has no idea what he's doing half the time.

Here's where I go into full on AU territory and start rewriting bits of the story in my head. What can I say? I was very bored.

This compartmentalization will, of course, bleed into real life once the game has been beaten. Suguha, Midori, and… whatever the dad's name is get to see their family member wake up, but in his place is an entirely new person. They would probably try to rationalize it as Kazuto having changed and grown over the two years. I mean, it's not like he was asleep the whole time. He was doing stuff. He was gaining traumas they probably don't even know about. But no, it's not Kazuto who came back, it's Kirito. And it stays Kirito until he manages to complete Kirito's mission and rescue Asuna (and the others) from Sugo. Then, he finally returns to Kazuto. Not the Kazuto they lost, of course, but the Kazuto who survived SAO. Kirito's still there and he always will be, but Kirito and Kazuto are no longer separate entities. They are part of the same person.

Kirito, having been born as a coping mechanism, will still sometimes take over. In GGO, for instance, when the game gets too real. But now Kazuto gets to take over on occasion too. Now, I don't know Kazuto pre-SAO very well and the Kirito we meet in the first episode of the anime isn't treated like his game persona but like he's always like this, so I couldn't say what it would look like when the more Kazuto personality traits comes out of our main character, because I don't know which personality traits can be attributed to him. But I think it would be fun to explore that. If GGO is where Kirito comes out as a trauma response, maybe Kazuto comes out during Alicization or something, since the virtual environment there is less game and more simulated life. Since we the viewer only really know Kirito or the Kirito/Kazuto hybrid that came out of SAO, this would be our first real chance to see and understand the boy who turned into our main character.

Or, maybe we could see Kazuto come out in his Alfheim character. After two years in SAO, the mask of an avatar now feels more comfortable to him than his actual body and he has no one around him that he has to pretend to be okay for.

Continuing on from this, Asuna is Asuna both IRL and in game. She literally uses her own name as a username! I wasn't even doing that in elementary school. But, anyway, Asuna states early in Progressive that she chose to leave the Town of Beginnings and fight because she wants to be herself until she dies. (Which, I understand vibe-wise but is a bit of an unclear motivation. What if who you are isn't someone who fights monsters?) So Asuna is always genuinely Asuna. She's never playing a character. She used to, because of her upbringing, and is sick of it. This sets her up as a foil to Kirito and also shows him that it's okay to not just be the Black Swordsman. That it's okay to be Kazuto, too.

[bubbleddisasters]

So I just had this Idea

Malleus, Idia and Che’nya fighting all out.

Ok, before anyone starts glazing on Malleus and saying he’d win: Put who their twisted from into perspective:

Maleficent was the most powerful fae.

Hades is a god. One of the big 3, to be precise.

The Cheshire Cat is canonically the second most powerful being in wonderland, second to only the literal human form of time.

They are all God Tier in their respective lore.

Most people know the other two’s abilities, but incase you may not know :

Cheshire Cats Abilities, include:

Shapeshifting and Vocal/Visual/Physical Manipulation, Invisibility, Long Range Image Projection, Long Distance Teleportation, Flight, Gravity Manipulation on self, Minor Reality Manipulation, Portal creation, Walking through walls, Body and Limb controlled detachment, etc.

Hades abilities include:

General God Abilities, Raising the Dead, Smoke control, access to cursed objects, high heat tolerance, physical size manipulation, pretty much alot of shit, more then I can name since, y’know, god.

Maleficents abilities include:

Plant, Flame, Weather and Lightning manipulation, secondary form (Dragon), fatal long term curses, long distance teleportation, animal communication, long distance location monitoring, flight, eternally serving cunt, etc.

Now, obviously, their twisted versions are different, so what are the twisted versions KNOWN capabilities?

Mal’s strong suit seems to be mostly nature based abilities, Lightning, Fire, Briars, etc and Sleepy time shenanigans. However, he is also capable of turning into a Dragon, which gives him a huge physical buff, but makes him much easier to hit. All fae share the same fatal weakness of Anti-Magic, as Magic is canonically their life source. Thats Idias forte. Che’nya also has a mindset and skillset similar to Lilias, minus the experience and training. He also has rapid fire teleportation and invisibility, plus cat senses, making him extremely hard to strike with lightning.

Out of these 3 however, Malleus definitely has the most durability and Defense.

Idias strong suit is tech, which Mal is most definitely unfamiliar with, but also has access to extremely high tier ANTI MAGIC. Che’nya stands at an advantage of being able to go invisible, teleport, and likely having more creative and efficient methods of blocking vital sensors or heat signatures, but I unfortunately doubt Mal would think of that. Briar Valley is EXTREMELY low tech. Mal does have the intimidation factor on Idia, but if this situation somehow involves Ortho’s safety, that goes straight out the window, as seen in Book 7. We also nearly never see Idia use magic, so we don’t exactly have a good handle of what he’s capable of in that regard.

Unfortunately, Idia is a glass cannon due to his low physical abilities and stamina, leaving him likely needing a heavy defense system to not get tossed.

Che’nya is truly the wild card in this scenario, since unlike the other two, unless they bothered Trey or Riddle for information, the other two don’t know much about his abilities. Like Malleus, considering what we know (I wrote it somewhere on tumblr), he has extreme magical stamina and produces jack shit in blot (no magestone can be seen on his design too) while doing crazy ass shit, and as shown in the manga, since he was a kid too. Comparing that to Roros brother, and the bullshit Che’nya was pulling as a kid while still being alive, he’s most definitely some flavor of overpowered.

Given what we’ve seen and heard about him across the manga and game, this is a portion of what we can assume is in his skillset:

Rapid fire (and long distance) teleportation, Long term Invisibility, flexibility, flight, Gravity Manipulation (making himself near weightless without floating off into oblivion) Cat like senses, Limb and Body part controlled detachment, the ability to slip past NRC’s barrier like its an average Tuesday. The barrier that took several high powered shots from STYX to break. With little to no repercussions from what we’ve seen.

He’s also (likely) a creative and unpredictable fighter. I think mentioned/said somewhere by Riddle or someone else that they doesn’t believe invisibility is Chens UM.

Riddle, I love you babes, you were my first fully spell maxed card, but NO FUCKING SHIT DUDE.

Idias advantage is deadass: Cat knowledge. Is using partially genetic traits a low blow? Yea, but again, this is an All out 1v1 fight. Obviously not laser pointers or basic shit, but things like Sound Pitches. Theres also Heat Sensors and things like that to combat invisibility, but those can also be thwarted.

Mals advantage is experience with Lilia in terms of matching high speeds, and combating against tricks and sneak attacks, Dragon senses + his Defensive capabilities. However, as a more straight forward person, Mal may not think of the more creative strategies Chen (or Idia) may come up with. Even if he traps Chens leg or something in Briar, he could just pop his leg off and keep moving.

Che’nya is more of a high speed self sufficient DPS but with the right weakness targeting he could be taken down.

I didn’t put Leona or Lilia on here because Lilia… Lets be real : Lilia would most definitely whoop all of their asses unless he gets hit with Anti Magic too many times.

The other is I’m sorry Leona, you’re a total badass and an amazing fighter, but you might be a tad out of league on alot of mostly circumstantial situations.

Starting off : Che’nya : He’s also a Cat, and nobody knows your genetic weaknesses like your own kind, plus Sand Blinding is great until bro disappears too.

Considering Leona is a pretty kickass fighter and strategist, plus can actually somewhat hold his own against Malleus, it’s going to be a decently tough fight, but in the end, I think Che’nya might secure the win sheerly due to being able to overcome Leonas UM in a few ways, even from a point blank standpoint.

A limb being turned to sand? Detach that shit, can’t spread further if it’s not attached anymore. He could also fly upwards out of the sandstorm but that ain’t as fun.

I’m just imagining Leona whipping up a sandstorm and going in to ambush Che’nya only for that mf to be GONE. (He’s right behind him bout to FNAF jumpscare this)

Theres a slim chance he may also lose to Idia sheerly because if its an all out scenario (i’m being nice and giving them all whatever requirements if they need it for atleast one use of their UM so its fair) , Idia can quite literally open the gates to hell and unlike the other two, Leona cannot fly without a broom, so uh, enjoy the drop?

Without that though, I do actually fully believe Leona might win, but with an Anti Magic nerf possibility on the field, its not exactly set in stone.

I don’t think I need to explain Malleus. So therefore I won’t.

Again, this is mostly just my thoughts, nothing is canon here, just me wondering about the possibilities! If theres any information that I missed let me know :D

(Leona fans please don’t hurt me I don’t hate him I promise I’m just going of logic from what I know.)