#and i just saw this MT for the first time

[tpwk-formula1]

Cauliflower Crust poly fic please! Max Verstappen for Artichokes, Lewis Hamilton for Gorgonzola cheese with Alfredo Sauce and Mt. Dew (dom!reader) No dessert

Lee-Lee's Pizzeria Menu

cauliflower crust sunshine x grumpy Alfredo sauce sweet sex artichokes "Imagine your father saw you now. On your knees like a proper trained slut for me to use" gorgonzola "Are you always this fucking loud?" mt dew dom/sub dessert no served by Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton

Max Verstappen x Lewis Hamilton x Grumpy! reader

TW mean! reader, blow job, unprotected sex, cum swallowing, threesome

WC

Y/N POV

"Both of you shut up please," I finally groan out after having listened to Lewis and Max bicker about who had a worse day during the race the entire flight. We still had another hour before we would get home and I was over both of them

"Quite frankly, you guys both fucking sucked today. It was neither of your faults it was bad it just was how the day went," I tell them very much over the day.

I was never a sunshine and rainbows girl but after watching both of my boyfriends struggling I sure as hell had zero patience, not for either of them, and surely not to listen to them bicker the entire flight.

"All I'm saying is you didn't have to start from the pit lane," Lewis added completely disregarding what I had just told them.

"You didn't have to be overtaken by Lando who started from fucking p15," Max shoots back making me snap at both of them men.

"Enough! Both of you in the room now," I shout making both men stop bickering at each other and slowly look at me before both of them scramble to get up and rush their way into the small room we had for privacy on the jet.

While the room was small and didn't have a lot of room it was perfect for the three of us to escape into after a long day. Most of the time it was used for sleeping or cuddling with the rare times it is used for what I'm about to do.

When I follow them into the room shortly after I find both men sitting on the bed with their hands in their laps not speaking.

"Oh now you know how to be quiet," I say while rolling my eyes and stepping between Max's parted thighs.

"You are doing what you can with that fucking car, but please shut up about it for once," I say before placing a kiss on his forehead and moving towards Lewis and standing between his legs the same way.

"And you are a 7 time world champion, no one is going to remember where you finished in Baku 2024, so you need to let it go, pretend it never happened," I tell him placing a kiss on his cheek before stepping back and observing both of them.

"Strip and on your knees now," I finally say making both of the boys stand and start doing as they're ask.

I knew both of them where frustrated and I knew it wouldn't take long to make them putty in my hands.

When they were finally on their knees on the bed given we didnt have space on the floor I observe both of them as they nervously twitch around trying to get comfortable under my harsh gaze.

I step to Lewis first placing soft kisses around his chest before trailing my tongue down to his cock which is already hard as a rock just waiting for me to do something.

I take one good lick at Lewis's tip making me hiss in pleasure but it still wasn't enough for what he needed in the moment. Before stepping back and moving towards Max making Lewis whine at the loss of my attention.

"No please," Lewis begs making me roll my eyes and flick his hip softly to tell him to knock it off.

"See how needy he is," I saw staring directly as Max before pulling him in for a wet kiss. I pull back far faster than Max would have liked but he kept quiet not wanting to be on the receiving end of my verbal lashings right now.

I start trailing wet kisses down Max's neck and chest, setting my hands on his thighs softly before I take him halfway into my mouth and giving it a long suck.

"Oh fuck," Max groans not expecting to get so much stimulation so quickly.

I knew how my boys were. Lewis hated being teased, if it was up to him I would already have made him cum. But Max, he was sweet and wanted the build up, he wants it to be slow and for us to take our time.

"S'too much," Max mumbles trying to pull his hips back when I start bobbing my head a bit.

"You can handle it," I say sharply when I pull back. When I look up I find Max staring down with reddened cheeks and a gazed over look in his eyes letting me know just how much of a slut he was for this.

"Imagine your father saw you now. On your knees like a proper trained slut for me to use" I add sharply making Max whimper slightly. I knew it was harsh and maybe even uncalled for but it all the more spurred him on. I think the thought of people finding out that off the track he was a submissive slut for his shared girl friend turned him on.

I went right back in to taking Max down my throat before pushing him back so he can lay on the bed.

"You know what to do Lewis," I snap at Lewis making his scramble to get behind me and pull the sweat shorts I was wearing down taking my panties with them. With the angle I was in he wasn't able to pull them off completely so he just let them rest at my knees.

"You go slow," I tell Lewis knowing if I gave him free rein right now we would both be cumming before I can even finish sucking our boyfriend.

I hear Lewis groan at the command but he still listens because the next thing I know Lewis is slowly pushing in making me gasp softly.

Once Lewis was all the way in he gave me some time to adjust. While I was used to taking his cock he was still quite large stretching me out each time we fucked.

When Lewis started thrusting I gasp around Max's cock making me whine some more. Once we all get into a steady pace I can hear Lewis whining and moaning trying to keep the pace steady even though all he wants to do is speed up.

"Are you always this fucking loud?" I say while turning my head to look at Lewis so he knows I was talking to him. I watch as Lewis's hips buck erratically before getting back on pace.

"S'so good," Lewis mumbled making me smile a little before I turned back to Max and brought him into my mouth once again.

I could tell Max wasn't gonna last much longer so I pull away slightly before mumbling, "Speed up Lew."

That had Lewis instantly speeding up his pace making me gasp as the brutal attack but I can't deny it felt amazing.

"Close," Max mumbled making me speed up my actions letting him know it's okay to cum. It didn't take long for Max to unload his massive load down my throat making me swallow everything he gave me.

Max's orgasm triggered mine because while I'm making quick work of swallowing his cum my orgasm comes out of nowhere making me instantly start shaking all over Lewis's cock sending him over the edge and cumming in my pussy. I rocked my hips slightly making sure to ride Lewis and I's orgasm out before he is slowly pulling out and laying next to Max and I.

The three of us are completely blissed out and basking in our post-orgasm glow.

[mrsfitzgerald]

odense, 03.06 ✨

[seeinganewlight]

i really fucking miss bandstand

[ranger-kellyn]

honestly this work trip couldn’t have come at a better time I could just TELL I needed to get out

[codenamesazanka]

i've said this more than a few times before, but it continues to be true. the more I think about Shigaraki letting Spinner join the League of Villains, the funnier it gets. Everything about it - here's a guy Shigaraki has to vet to let into his supervillain battle group, and he's

A hikkikomori country boy from the middle of nowhere with zero criminal experience just somehow finding his way into a big city Villain hideout

showing up in low-budget cosplay based on a serial killer who recently went viral

(because the serial killer went viral)

having to reveal that in the fight against professional superpowered mercenaries, his power... is to climb walls

then asking for a giant sword made out of dozens of knives duct taped together as his main weapon. (They'd have to pay money for this.)

And Shigaraki said 'sure' to all of it. Is it any surprise he's dedicating his destruction of Mt. Fuji to Spinner? We all talk about Spinner's giant crush on Shigaraki, but i think Shigaraki is actually the one got a crush first, moment he first saw the guy.

[throwaway-yandere]

"If the pedestal is beautiful, then the statue must be even more beautiful." (Yandere!Zhongli/reader)

a/n: I do not regret this one bit. while i do feel bad abt yaoyao's suffering, at least i wrote something unhinged again + it aint a zhongli fic without me referencing proverbs lMAO--

unreliable synopsis: “(Y/n) must be a really important person if Rex Lapis made them a statue, right?”

Yaoyao found a realistic statue inside Mt. Hulao.

As she was exploring the area with Qiqi to find herbs, Yaoyao discovered a secret domain that was only accessible to children her size and smaller creatures like Yuegui. It was horribly muddy and extremely narrow. She wouldn't go there on purpose if she hadn't fallen inside after exhausting herself trying to climb a hill just for a stem of violetgrass.

She anticipated a dense mixture of dust and fog inside the cave, with layers of spiderweb adornments, but it was unexpectedly unscathed with the typical filth that embellishes a place over time. The table was piled high with multiple apparatuses that she was unable to identify, but its aesthetics screamed that it was an adeptus' prideful handiwork. Despite not being refused entry as most adeptal abode should do, she came to an unspoken conclusion that this must have been an adeptus' place, and her curiosity grew by the minute when she noticed a life-sized statue sitting in the middle of it all.

Yaoyao was unable to take her eyes off it as a halo of soft yet lurid orange light enveloped it. The statue wore a brown hanfu that was encrusted with citrine jewels fashioned into dragons and the Geo element's symbol. Their clothes looked ruffled on areas near the waist and thighs as though it was frequently hugged and touched around those parts. But what Yaoyao couldn’t forget the most was their black earring with a white tassel that hung on their right ear. She can't recall who she saw wearing that earring when she first saw it, but she had certainly seen it before.

Admittedly, the statue was nearly perfect if it weren’t for the fracture the child had caused upon bumping into it. Yaoyao would have mistaken it for a real person and apologized if it weren't for the diaphanous and stony texture it possessed.

Still, the farrago between real and fake stirred around the lost child’s head as if it was a major dilemma. She swears she had seen that earring somewhere and that chipping its pointer finger off the statue was an inexcusable and grave mistake. Was this statue designed after someone in history or a character from those fictional tales Master loved to talk about? Yaoyao couldn’t decide which is a likelier story, but she certainly didn’t want it to be the former.

In addition, what made it eerier was the anticipation of calamity on their face. It’s a look not at all visible. The majority would undoubtedly dismiss Yaoyao's perspective and assert that the monument exuded a stoic aura. But if such were the case, why does she see the look of a rabbit about to flee in their eyes? The statue’s face exhibited a great firmness that declared that it wasn't as it appeared on the outside.

The statue looked like it was fearing for Yaoyao’s life after what she had done.

To avoid amplifying her trepidation, the young girl focused her attention elsewhere. Near the statue laid a red baize-covered table full of tapestries and books Yaoyao could only reach by tip-toeing and underneath it was stacked with clothes, herbs, vulneraries, and letters without indications of the sender or addressee’s name. If so many offerings were being made, then someone really cared about whoever this statue stood for. A commendable devotion considering how the last letter was only dated about two days ago.

Whoever this statue was and whoever maintained this shrine must’ve mortified a penchant for humorous literature and scientific breakthroughs. It would've been a strange combination if it weren’t for how everything was aesthetically arranged. It was obvious that the domain was kept immaculate out of love and adoration. Under the watchful gaze of this statue, philosophy and science had united into one entity, and Yaoyao was positively enthralled.

However, it was a seasonable night and due to the touch of Nyctophobia children inevitably have, Yaoyao couldn’t tell the murky difference between excitement and fear as she quickly stumbled out of the cave. 

When Yaoyao came back the following week after a busy lantern rite, the domain’s opening vanished. She brought Qiqi along and attempted to show her in quailing distress that asked for confirmation that should’ve been a hole in that wall— but Yaoyao was only met with the zombie’s catchphrase of: “I’m sorry. I forgot.” 

There was no reinvasion of the cave's darkness. Not a single hump was left to indicate that something was concealed behind it.

And that led to Yaoyao hunting a certain “illuminated bird” down.

——————

“Aunty! Aunty!”

“Must you grate One's ears with your incessant shouting, child?”

The bird continued to coast on its two legs while Yaoyao halted in her tracks, gasping for air. Although Yaoyao found it excruciating to attempt to keep up with the adeptus' quick treks in the mountains, it was obvious to any outside viewers that the crane was being merciful with her slow and tiny steps.

“P-Please stop aunty! I-I just want to ask a few questions!”

Cloud Retainer sighed and did as commanded.

After letting her describe the location and what she had seen inside it, Cloud Retainer nodded in the affirmation that what Yaoyao experienced truly happened. Yaoyao felt triumphant when the adeptus did not dismiss her babbling as some silly delusion, but she was unable to completely express it when she noticed a glimpse of sadness in her eyes.

“Of course it was real. One knows that location quite well, but One was never permitted to enter. That statue you spoke of would be none other than Rex Lapis’ depiction of (Y/n), the Wayward Pharmacist.”

(Y/n)?

Softly, the adeptus continued, “oh, (Y/n)… One remembers them rather fondly.”

Cloud Retainer did not raise her chin or adopt her customary condescending tone. Instead, her message matched her voice. Yaoyao was not the least bit confused by this sudden shift in demeanor.

They both know that name.

After all, (Y/n) (L/n) was Streetward Rambler’s first human disciple.

Yaoyao never inquires about (Y/n) with her master. All of Madame Ping's disciples were aware that they shouldn't broach the matter. Grief swarmed against Streetward Rambler so frequently that she bathed herself with distractions to wash away the acuteness of such regrets. She had done the most of what she could to relieve certain difficulties she had over the years, including mastering inventions and raising mortal children. While the majority of these were in her favor, the final diversion was less successful. 

How can it not be painful when Streetward Rambler always sees (Y/n)’s old cheerful and ambivert nature in Xiangling and Yaoyao's eyes?

This was a rare chance to learn more about (Y/n) than just the faceless figure that her Master frequently likens her to. Madame Ping only ever briefly narrated (Y/n)’s deeds. Yaoyao relied heavily on individuals around her for her adepti history knowledge because she wasn't book-learned enough. Hence, inflicting a sense of confidence that she did not fully possess, the child continued to inquire.

“What were they like, Aunty?”

“You must understand how broad that question is.”

“Oh, r-right. Sorry!” Yaoyao sheepishly laughed. “I wanted to ask what was their personality like. Did they have friends? Or, well, what did they do?”

“(Y/n) was…” Cloud Retainer chuckled. Yaoyao couldn’t see a smile, but she heard it from her laughter. “—an obnoxious human.”

“E-Eh?!…” Yaoyao trembled. “S-Should I be worried that Master always compares me to (Y/n), aunty?”

“What nonsense— of course not. Take such compliment with high honor!” The bird towered her gaze above Yaoyao, clearly offended. Effectively, it seemed as if Yaoyao’s needless worries kindled afresh the snobbish Cloud Retainer everyone knew of. “There are only a few humans One regard as almost equals. Their obnoxiousness is what makes them wholly endearing and wholly human. If there was one true flaw One would nitpick out of all their traits, it would be their inherent obsession with longevity.”

Cloud Retainer shook her head. “Rex Lapis often debated with them over this, but (Y/n) was a stubborn mortal. Many occasions led to them being confined in a miniature domain that he keeps in his pockets. We did not agree with their dreams of becoming immortal. But other than that? (Y/n) was a humble loyalist.”

Yaoyao was inclined to believe that she was right because there were a few biological research sprinkled across the statue's domain. She had even read portions concerning Inazuman beliefs regarding stress and "ikegai" which might be related to a human's lifespan.

“Rex Lapis liked them despite arguing with him a lot?”

“Why, if you were there, you would see how adorable they were whenever they deluded themselves they could win a debate against an Archon,” the bird quipped humorously.

"Immortality had always been (Y/n)'s goal. One often told them to not be afraid of death or die worthlessly, but they never listened. They even tried to curse themselves to accomplish this, and astonishingly, they almost succeeded if it weren't for the Conquerer of Demons' unsleeping vigilance while acting on Rex Lapis' orders. The Archon always has an affectionate expression on his face when they pout over his interferences. One would have jokingly said that her friend is in love with a mortal if One didn't know any better."

“Wow…” Yaoyao covered her mouth with her tiny hands in awe. Neither of them seemed to realize that something was incredibly off about that ‘fun tidbit’. “(Y/n) must be smart if they constantly got Rex Lapis’ protection!”

“Indeed they were— were you doubting One’s abilities?! Had One not said they were close to One’s competency?”

“Ah, right.”

“They were an obnoxiously hard-working individual. Grinding their bones in hopes to grant impediments as a rival to Guizhong and I’s intellectual plays. (Y/n) lived a short life filled with effort and virtue, it is to no one’s surprise that Rex Lapis had conceived a great liking towards them,” she mused.

“Rex Lapis nearly caved and made them immortal at one point. However, he changed his mind after finding out (Y/n) had a human lover…” Cloud Retainer closed her eyes. “Perhaps that was an act of mercy. An Archon’s goodwill so that they wouldn’t have to suffer the fate of grieving for their beloved for all eternity.”

If only she knew the truth.

“They must be really important if they got a statue,” Yaoyao tilted her head, emanating a soft chime from her bell accessory. “Master only said that they were very kind and that they had a lover with green hair, and—”

“And?”

The adeptus was interested to learn what her old acquaintance talked about (Y/n). Did the grandmother compliment them on how cute they were? How, in essence, they were one of her greatest sources of delight and pride? Before Streetward Rambler took up the name “Madame Ping”, these were the typical musings she had over tea with both her and Guizhong. In a sense, Cloud Retainer merely pressed the question because she missed these times—

“And that they had a nice big family around Qingce Village! Two sons, one daughter!”

Cloud Retainer made a choking sound.

Impossible.

“Family?! Goodness gracious, it seemed Streetward Rambler has turned into quite a fabulist over time,” Cloud Retainer shook her head. “No, (Y/n) (L/n) unfortunately did not produce such a legacy.”

Legacy?

“I’m so sorry, I don’t get it, aunty. What do you mean?”

“They did not leave a child for me— for us to look after.”

Cloud Retainer cringed at her uncontrollably bitter tone. There was a point in her life where she cursed (Y/n) for this. Death was not something they can control— yes— but she used to be an ignorant fool who did not respect (Y/n)’s decision to never have children. Perhaps, in a way, this was because she wanted to see a new generation of like-minded people like them, but she will never forget the uneasy looks they gave her whenever she launched into one of her rants.

They may have been Streetward’s disciple but to Cloud? She was like their true mother. Much like most mothers of the old generation, she selfishly wished they left behind even a non-blood related grandchild for her to rear after (Y/n)’s name.

“They… have gone missing. They did not die with a family of their own— we did not even find their corpse. One does not know why Streetward Rambler would tell you that.”

“Oh… I’m so sorry. I didn’t know... It must’ve been a sad loss for the adepti and everyone else.”

Cloud Retainer only looked away.

“There was no pecuniary loss for us when it had happened, sure,” she said. “But yes, it was indeed a sad time for the adepti to lose both Guizhong and (Y/n) at the same time. There could’ve been a new province of knowledge and ventures— these virtues of arts were never grasped because death had stolen their privilege of penning down their strange yet wonderful conjectures.”

“Time and time again, they had failed to accentuate any alterations in their mortal structure,” she continued. “While others sought out their writings regarding their enlightened art pieces, few looked for their progress on human mortality. One only remembers a singular human who came to find (Y/n)’s transcendental medicines. One believes his name was Baizhu. If One’s explanations were inadequate, perhaps you must seek him instead.”

Yaoyao perked up. Well, that’s lucky. She was just about to head to Bubu Pharmacy to look for the pharmacist later.

“Ah, there you are, Yaoyao!!!”

Out of the blue, Ganyu and a face unfamiliar to the adeptus disrupted the scene. This human had indigo braids wrapped up in a tight bow for hair and amber eyes. Had it not been for Ganyu and a cute little bear clumsily climbing the stairs behind her, Cloud would’ve left immediately.

“Marchosius, it has been a long time...”

“♪~?”

“Woah… Is that Cloud Retainer, Ganyu?” The unfamiliar human gawked.

“That is that. One will no longer entertain questions. One shall take their leave at once.” The adeptus did not waste another moment upon noticing Xiangling’s curious gaze. However, Cloud did give Marchosius a look of respect before taking flight.

The little girl frowned.

“Yaoyao?”

“Oh, sorry,” Yaoyao smiled forcefully. “I just remembered I didn’t get to ask her the most important question.”

“Hmm? What question were you going to get an adeptus’ advice for?” Ganyu placed a hand on her chest. “Perhaps I could help? I may not know all the answers, but I do have some connections.”

“I’m just curious…”

Yuguei jumped off the basket as Yaoyao hastily removed it from behind her. The smaller adepti treasure leaped over her head and peered attentively over as if to assist her in locating the object she was seeking. When she did grasp it, she did not do so carefully. Instead, she held it out like a young child showing off a crayon during show & tell.

Ganyu and Xiangling’s blood ran cold as the child presented them with a dismembered finger.

“Ganyu, do statues made by the adepti bleed?”

[danrishy-ava]

Sounds

Green sat on the ground, feeling the soft grass under his hands. The day was supposed to go fine, even great. The Color Gang went to the OuterNet to hang out with Purple.

And it was fine.

Until Green realized he forgot his headphones.

On any other time, he would just returned home and grab them. But now it wasn't very possible. To get back he needs to go through the portal in MT's house, and Green didn't even remember the road back. Besides, city was too loud to walk around alone.

While being loud himself, he was surprisingly sensitive to the noise. And it's pretty much understatement. Green couldn't stand a day without headphones. And being out in still unfamiliar place only added to the stress.

It was okay for the first hour or two. But while standing in the queue in the shop, getting snacks for everyone (with Blue muttering something about homemade food being better), Green reached to take out his headphones.

Only to realize they weren't on his neck. And not in the bag.

For a second he just stood there, dumbfounded. He forgot them? He forgot them? It was even hilarious, wasn't it?

Green quickly left the queue, saying that he'll wait in the park in front of the shop. The place felt smaller, the chest felt tight. There was no safe feelings of the headphones on he head, no music to distract him.

The car beeped somewhere in the distance, making Green flinch and gasp in surprise.

Not wasting much time, he went further in the park, settling under some tree. A few deep breath helped just slightly, but he still longed the feeling of the weight on his head. Green could even laugh at himself for how much he was depending on his headphones.

Trying to block out everything around, Green got really startled when someone sat next to him. He gasped, finding Orange leaning back against the tree.

"Are you okay?" They asked, noticing the distressed expression, which they rarely saw on Green.

"Yeah, don't worry, just forgot my headphones." Green shrugged, making these words sound as nonchalant as he could.

"I take as it's not exactly fine. You never go anywhere without them." Orange sighed, placing their hand on Green's shoulder, "How did you even forgot them?"

"Took them off to fix my hair, left on the table." Green admitted, feeling stupid for leaving his most important thing like that. He took another deep breath, dropping his head on Orange's shoulder. Younger's hand immediately wrapped around his shoulders, giving a reassuring squeeze. "Where are the others?"

"Still in the shop, I just thought it would be good idea to check on you."

"Thank you..."

With Orange here, he wasn't that overwhelmed now...

[starless-nightz]

The nature at the camping trip I went to replenished my imagination. The monster fucker was back again.

(Small spoilers) So, Jinhsi because she absorbed Jué’s powers, that technically makes her somewhat part of a dragon.

So I present you, Dragoness! wife for Jinhsi ☝️

So, imagine one night, she was just taking a stroll when she was kidnapped and brought to a hidden den deep within Mt. Firmament, that turns out to be the resting place dragon people, but because of the time distortion, it felt like they haven’t mated in years.

And Jinhsi here, she’s the first female “dragon” they’ve met other than Jué. So of course, they are already in chaos when they caught a whiff of her but as tradition, those who want to “bed” her for the night must fight. When the fight is over, Jinhsi gets to choose who she wants to share the bed with for tonight.

Jinhsi was against the whole “breeding” thing at first but when (reader) entered the arena, all tall, skin fragmented with scales that shows a friction of her dragon (draken) form, tail thumping and nearly dragging against the ground as she stares down to one of the males dragons with disinterest…

To say the least, Jinhsi stayed for a little longer. Longer, then another longer before coming into terms and dragging (reader) out of the den. Now turning her isolated dragoness in a mountain to wife <3

Ahem, yes, Dragoness wife (reader) has the le deck

OMG I LOVE THIS IDEA POOKIE LETS GO NEW AU EVERYONE LET GOOO!!!

Btw in this AU the dragon ppl are both male and female and they have both male and female genitals, but female born dragons are very rare and they often refuse to mate with the males, instead mating with other females, so often the males mate with other males.

warnings -> kidnapping.

content includes -> hcs, fighting, Jinhsi is turned on by dragoness! reader.

Jinhsi knew that there were once human-looking dragon people deep in Mt. Firmament, but she wasn't expecting them to be still alive and kidnap her and take her into their den

At first Jinhsi was against the whole idea of the dragon people fighting for the chance to mate her, she didn’t like the idea of even mating with any of them, so she was planning to escape the moment she could

That was until she saw you when you entered the ring, you were much taller them the rest of the dragon people, scales coversing part of your hands and face, with large horns and a huge tail

Instead of escaping Jinhsi chose to stay, watching as you absolutely destroy all your opponents, wagging your tail when you notice her clapping at youe victorys, she was definitely turned on by you and found you both hot and adorable

Jinhsi already knew who shes going to pick, and she will make sure to bring you back to Jinzhou and make you her wife, after all, you are going to be her mate soon, you are the only one worthy of her

[guyfieriii]

Get Us Strung

We're back to our regularly scheduled programming with another angst-y piece. Inspired by the song Dirty Love by Mt. Joy comes the tale of John Price and his best friend. My apologies if it seems a bit disconnected, it was originally much larger but I decided to scrap a lot of it (See? I can be nice sometimes.), but I tried my best. Also, this was edited on pure audaciousness, a bottle of wine, and a pitcher of margaritas. Do with that what you will.

Lastly, the biggest thank you to @mvtthewmurdvck for once again tolerating me bombarding her with snippets galore and supporting me as she always does.

(Can we consider this as a somewhat happy ending? My original one was A LOT worse.)

Pairing: John Price x f!Reader Warnings: Explicit Sexual Scenes and a gallon of pain :)

Nostalgia is a cruel consonance of sentimentality and longing. A honeyed trap you could easily get caught in if you aren’t careful. 

You weren’t. 

All it took was one precarious step forth into its birdlime confines and you’re stuck, forever adhered to moments gone by. Try as you might to break free, to rid yourself of the persistent fog that looms and live in the present — you’re simply unable. The struggle of it brands ropes into your skin. A chemical burn that scabs eventually, but it leaves you debilitated of every ounce of strength you have to leave. 

With time, you make do. 

You adjust to the circumstances you’ve found yourself in. It’s easy enough — to simply give in. It’s like the call of a warm bed on a cold winter morning. The arms of a man you love held open in an invitation. It’s the perfect balm to your stinging disappointments and embittered thoughts. 

Witness, reminisce — rinse and repeat. 

A moment here. An admission of love there, just not the right kind. Not enough to keep you satisfied, just enough you keep you—

There. Still. Stuck in time. Recycling the same out-of-date echoes through your trench of despondency till they fossilize. 

It’s his eyes that do you in, really. Lapis set in moonstone white reminding you of the ebb and flow of deep ocean currents that gently coax you inwards to drift among the waves. 

They were the first thing you noticed about him. 

A skinny kneed boy of eleven, head full of bistre-brown hair, and the bluest eyes you ever saw that suddenly wanted to be your friend. He was loud and brutish in contrast with your more reluctant and constrained demeanour and yet—

He was your best friend. Your first. Your only. 

Is your best friend. 

Five years later, he left to join the infantry. 

He departed, eager to prove his worth. While you stayed back with a poor facsimile of a supportive smile as he promised his eventual return. 

I’ll be back on leave before you know it.

But—

I’ll be back. 

And I’ll be here. 

You clung to him when he told you he was enlisting, fingers curling into the sleeves his Fleetwood Mac t-shirt — a gift from you for his fifteenth. He’d asked if you wanted to keep it, as a reminder of him.

Wouldn’t need to if you just stayed, Johnny. 

In the fortnight leading up to his departure, you prayed for a last-minute change of his mind. Maybe the realization that he couldn’t stay without you would finally come to the surface. 

It had to. Eventually. 

You couldn’t bear the thought of walking up the morning after he left, just missing a part of you. Feeling a crater right in the middle of your chest grow wider and deeper as the distance between you and him extended. 

But as the days counted down, his excitement grew nearly as fast as your despair. 

It began with you pulling out all the stops, reminding him of the comforts of home, of you. To him, it was only the perfect gift farewell. 

It wasn’t until just the day before that you decided to take the cheap shot and just beg.

Don’t leave. Just— please just stay, okay? You don’t have to go. You don’t have to leave me— please, Johnny. I can’t—

He stood at an arm’s length and listened to you in silence, watched you scrounge every ounce of emotional ammunition you could, until your voice ran hoarse, and your tears ran dry. 

The pained expression that your outburst gradually chiseled onto his face left you shamelessly hopeful, and you took a step forward to close the distance between you and him. 

He wordlessly took a step back.

The time slowed, and the seconds hemorrhaged until he finally spoke. 

All he responded with was—

I have to. 

You saw him standing out on my pavement by your house the next morning, walking across the same yard over and over. He’d glance upward at your window every now and then in such excruciating hope that you might grace him with something as simple as a wave goodbye. 

But you didn’t. You simply stood there, watching from the shadows, trying to find some relief in tears shed, but you came up dry. 

And he left. 

When he returned, he came as Private Johnathan Price. 

Nearly half a foot taller since you saw him last. Mostly the same in disposition if only a bit more self-assured. 

In the 18 months of his absence, all you had was a shoebox full of unopened letters and that chasm left behind that grew deeper, still. Every week, unquestioningly, there’d be an envelope addressed to you. And every week, you’d hold it with measured trepidation and excitement. The first one brought you relief to know that you hadn’t lost him in your near ruinous parting of ways. But as you felt the weight of it in your hands, your fingers prudently tracing the ink, you couldn’t bring yourself to read what lay inside. It felt it would be ripping the bandaging off of a wound that had barely begun to heal. 

So, you kept it aside.  

18 months. 72 weeks. Every corresponding letter that followed underwent the same approach. You held them, appreciated them for their infallible arrival, and locked them away with repentance as the pile grew.  

The letter that followed, came hand-delivered. 

“You could have written back at least once, y’know.” He says with a smile. 

“I’m—”

Sorry, Johnny. Forgive me. Forgive me. Please—

Your ensuing apology dies at your lips, and you nearly suffocate under the weight of it until—

“It’s okay.” He promises.

“It’s not.” You assert back.

His gaze softens and he tries again. “Hurt ya when I left, didn’t I?”

“You did.”

“So, it’s okay.”

He means to placate. You know this and an infinitesimal part of you appreciates it. But what takes more prominence is one blazing question left behind.

It blisters and leaves behind the blackened soot of your unmatched expectations. A skeletal impression of his well intended albeit anticlimactic confession. 

All you’re left wondering is—

Why didn’t it hurt you to leave me, too? 

You met him in London to celebrate your collective 21st birthdays some time halfway in between them. 

It took some coordination, between your school and his training in Sandhurst. He never told you — said he wanted to keep you detached from that part of his life. 

How’re the— I don’t know what to ask, John. You never tell me anything. 

I tell you plenty. 

He does well— his mother informed you as much. But the details remained vacant. You try to fill in the blanks, hazard a guess — a poor approximation of the real thing, you’re certain. 

It wasn’t something you liked, but never fought him on it. It felt as though your paths diverged at too steep of an angle and you were the only one trying to get them to realign. He seemed content in this compartmentalization, while you worried your margin in it would grow smaller still. 

The disconnect it created left you unsettled. Like a trail down the woods that suddenly ends midway. You’re disoriented and unanchored, forever caught in an abridged narrative with his part missing. 

But you couldn’t keep waiting around—

Something you tell yourself to make it better. 

“Didn’t bring him with you, then?” He slides a glass of ale across the table to you, the bottom of it catching on the adherent buildup of many a spilled drink, causing the foam at the top to dribble over. 

“You asked me not to, John.” You mutter, indignant. 

You wouldn’t have asked to begin with, but for appearances sake—

“Didn’t want to have to share you with some other bloke, is all.” His self-satisfied grin tells you he sees right through it. 

The implications that simmered beneath that statement cut through you instantly. 

He didn’t want to have to share. 

What would happen if you told him that it was never even brought to question? That you were his, and his alone. 

Would he make it come true? 

Would he—

“I’d like for you to meet him eventually, y’know.” You opted for a safer route. Something more dependable. Everything John isn’t. 

That’s a lie. He’s nothing but. 

“If he stays around long enough.”

“Johnny.” You snap, irritably.

“Been a while since you called me that.” He murmurs, his grin slipping into something less presumptuous and more unshielded. Vulnerable. 

“We’re not kids anymore.” You turn your gaze downward, nails digging into the chipping laminate on the cheap bar top until he flicks the side of your palm to make you stop. 

“No, we’re not.” It’s his tone that makes you look back up— hinting at some kind of unspoken understanding that you recognize right away. 

Let’s not pretend, then.

It’s in the dimming obscurity of alcohol when it finally happens. With your dress hiked up over the curve of your ass, and panties pulled to the side — he fucked you in a rush, outside in the cold fall air. The grain of the brick wall scratched your cheek with every thrust he buried himself in you. His ale-laden breath at the cusp of your ear, his hands cupping your breasts, squeezing — they were your only source of warmth.  

“Fuckin’ hell, I’ve wanted to—” He confessed.

“So have I, Johnny.” You matched his revelation with your own. 

But this wasn’t how it was supposed to—

You’ll take what you’re given. Even if it’s just this once, just tonight. A fleeting taste is better than the fantasy of him you’ve held on to. 

He’s better than what you’ve had in the past. Better than what you’d thought he’d be like. 

Or maybe, it’s just how well knows you. 

He knows how deep you need to feel him, no matter if it hurts just a little. It’s the kind of hurt you enjoy. 

How many women have you been with, John? 

Does it matter?

Yes. No. Maybe? 

It was you that crossed the line. A temerarious lapse in judgment, a flick of a wrist that knocked down an already precipitous house of cards when suddenly your lips descend upon his. He tastes of stale beer and the cigarette you bummed off an old man at the pub. With a grunt of surprise, he reciprocates, his tongue invading past your lips. 

In a flash of somewhat sloppy adjustment, your back remained firmly pressed against the brick wall of the side of the pub, while his hands to the side of you effectively cage you in. 

It’s not soon after that he takes the reins.

His mouth is everywhere — your lips, glossing over your jaw to the underside while he firmly grasps a fistful of your hair at the root, tilting your face upwards. He lays siege to the delicate column of your neck, armed with a stinging bite and the consolatory swipe of his tongue after. 

John. Johnny.

The straps of your top hang loosely off your shoulders as he pulls the front of it down haphazardly to latch on to your nipple. You helplessly mewl beneath him, fingers trembling as they undo the buckle of his belt. 

“Tell me to stop, love. Tell me, or I’ll—” He groans. Your hands sink in past the zipper to palm his erection. Warm. Solid. 

“Please, don't.” You sink to your knees with the excitement, the need to taste him chafing at your rib cage with every beat of your heart. 

“Fuck— fuck, okay. Just slow down—”

“John. Please.” 

“I’ll make it good, yeah? For you. I will.” He swears. 

I know you will. 

You moved to Liverpool a year later. Something about staying in Hereford without him just kept you trapped in a state of inertia. Spending your time waiting more than anything else. It was time to move on. 

Or try to, at any rate.

Humble beginnings for you — a modest apartment, a job that paid the bills and nothing else. 

You settled into a routine — oscillating between work, home, and bisected friendships that you formed. 

It’s not the same. It’s not the same. 

It’s hard not to hold him somewhat accountable for your perpetual state of futility. There’s an essence of banality that follows you wherever you go. A life lived in half measures, mediocre and prosaic. It isn’t fair, and yet—

Why couldn’t you just stay, John? 

It’s usually at night when the bitter tendrils of your regret slink up your limbs, like stalks of Golden Pothos, that collect around neck and squeeze. 

A fire that kindles all too easily.

Can you even call it your own, when it’s caused by the choices of another?

It’s when you think back to that night in London, the weight of his cock in the palm of your hand— the way his eyes pinched shut and his head tilted back as you attempted to take him all the way in. 

“Where the fuck did you learn how to do that?” He’d asked in a choked groan. 

Had the head of his cock not been pressed against the back of your throat you’d have answered with:

Upset you weren’t the one to teach me, aren’t you Johnny?

Whatever remnants of that night that weren’t washed away by the glassy comber of one drink too many, replayed themselves a hundred times over. Every reiteration leaves you breathless and wanting — the evidence of it clearly shining on the inside of your thighs and the tips of your fingers. 

Until—

A knock. 

“You moved.” His voice was weight down by many an unspoken accusation. 

“I did.” There’s no point in an apology— he’s here now.

“You never said.” Anger. Hurt. Betrayal — all in coalescence that lacerates you so deeply, you might stain the walls blood red. 

“I— Do you want to come in—?” 

He walked across the threshold, brushing past your shoulder before you even finished inviting him in.

“You— it’s not much. I’ve only just—” You stumble your way through some kind of explanation as he sheds himself off his duffel and coat. Any reasoning you were able to muster trickles back down your throat as he makes himself comfortable on your sofa, the floral embellished cushion sinking under the weight of him like it’s his right to be. 

“It’s nice.”

You’d have expected him to feel out of sorts in this new home of yours, but he finds his place in it so naturally it fucking stings. 

It really could have been that easy— a life with him. It’s a dangerous thought experiment but you wonder if he also aches for that near miss of a surrogate life. A peripeteia of decisions that might have led you down a different path entirely. 

“How long are you on leave this time?” It’s a jibe and he notices. There’s an unmistakable clench in his jaw, a steely look set in his eyes at your question like he’s willing you to challenge him. 

You almost do. 

Good of you to waltz by after a year, Johnny. I’ve been waiting. 

You really have. 

“Two weeks. If you’ll have me.”

You considered turning him away simply out of spite. A laughable thought, really. An egomaniacal deliberation you pretend to have. 

You’d never—

“Aren’t you going home?” 

Don’t say yes. Please, don’t say yes.

“Would’ve — yeah. But you moved.”

Fuck. Don’t—

“You make it sound like I’m the only reason you come back.”

The words decamp themselves from you without any realization. Subdued embers relight themselves. Veiled desires now unwrapped — a festering infection that itched beneath near-mended dermis now touching air simply because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut. 

“Would— would it be so bad if I said yes?” He asks, wavering slightly in his footing only to gauge your reaction, and you pray you’re not giving anything away. 

Yes. Yes, it fucking would, John. Because—

It means nothing in the scheme of its payoff. You don’t know what he expects, because to you his disclosure only exacerbates the acridity of his absence tenfold. It makes his eventual departure seem like a harsher slap to the face. 

You could accuse him of pretense. Tell him how hollow it makes you feel.

Or simply—

“No. Of course not.” You lie with a smile, instead. 

He believes you. 

His parents pass within a year of each other. He attends both funerals in uniform — having only singular days granted to him in lieu of bereavement. 

It might have been a personal choice in his father’s case, which happened to be the latter. 

The first was an open casket, the second closed — both lowered into the ground while his hand firmly grasped yours. 

And after—

On both days, he found himself buried in you, however in polar opposite ways. 

It began gentle, with his need to be held and your need to oblige. You straddle him in the backseat of your busted-up Mondeo Estate, soaking in his silent grief as you whisper condolences. He finds his home in the crook of your neck, bedewed with the warmth of his breath and his tears. 

He tastes of grief. 

Regret, even. 

Maybe, one day, you’ll tell him it didn’t have to be that way.

Imagine what we could’ve been, John. 

Only seven months later, you find yourself in circumstances alike only in one solitary way. This time, it’s his anger that transcends the grief. You’re turned away, bent over the disjointed desk in the corner of his childhood bedroom. His fingers etching your skin in a mosaic of blue and purple, willing you to acquiesce to his baser instinct rather than envelop him in comfort. He fucked you, brutally — bare teeth, white knuckles. A lacquer of vitriol to coat you in. Only apologetic in the aftermath. 

And—

He wouldn’t let you kiss him. 

Change is a weight borne poorly by most relationships. 

You try to blame the distance between his visits, and the fact that he always seems more worse for wear than the last. A chronic transformation with every visit, like rust on iron — sandstone shaded corrosion bleeding into his edges. 

He tries to shed himself of it when he’s in your company but it’s ever-present, like a phantom limb. An undeniable extension of himself. 

You tell him not to pretend. 

Not with me, John.

You might as well be white noise. 

What started out as concern he’d brush off with a ‘this isn’t something you need to be worrying about, love’ slowly evolved into disregard which concluded with blatant contempt.  

This isn’t what I—

He stopped himself a moment too late. 

“This isn’t what I came back for.”

“Glad we’re both disappointments to each other.”

Finally, some truth spilled out. It felt oddly cathartic, even if it meant having your worst fears confirmed. 

He makes an implicit plea to retract what’s been said, undo the hurt caused, and return to your perpetual state of synthetic decorum. Two people who tip-toe around each other, chat about the weather, and when all redundancies are through and done with—

Let’s just leave it be. Dinner’s nearly—

He feasts on your cunt like a man starved. 

It’s funny how rarely you consider the sheer probability of his safe return. Is it simply denial? Is he so deeply rooted within your being that imagining him not being there isn’t an ending you can enumerate? 

To you, there is simply no finality to John Price. Forever seems like a paltry presumption to have in his line of work and yet, you can never imagine the alternative. 

You’ve tried. You even asked him once.

Just once. 

“You’ll be informed if— I — they know you’re my— you’ll be informed.” He spoke with such unambiguous apathy like he was reading it off a manual. 

Ten different ways to prepare your loved ones for your eventual demise. 

“I’ll be informed?” This isn’t the hill to die on, but you just can’t help yourself. 

“I don’t know how else to—”

“I’m glad to know I’ll have the privileges of being your widow without you having to marry me, John.”

He recoils away like you just struck him. 

It was an unscrupulous remark to make. Atonement is futile, he’d see right through it. All you can do is wait for the dust to settle and carry on. 

But he— 

“I’d marry you tomorrow if I thought it would fix things.” 

It wouldn’t. 

Some things are just predestined to remain broken, you suppose. 

“I know you would.”

You find yourself at an impasse. Anyone pragmatic might think to cut their losses and retreat. Start anew. 

That’s just not who you are. 

You find other ways to meet each other halfway, on an equal plane of vulnerability and certitude. Nothing to hide behind in the arms of one another. There are shared breaths, harmonies of impassioned confessions and you find yourselves in the other once more. 

You shed the pain you wear like a second skin, disrobed in ways both actual and metaphorical. 

He’s kinder and you’re more forgiving. 

He tells you it’s his last night with you for a while and you request your goodbye before the morning. You need something to remain unsoiled. 

He leaves before you wake.

Sometimes, he leaves a note. 

I’ll be back soon, darling.

Empty words. Hollow promises. An interminable echo in a cave that ripples in the subterranean waters you float in.

Except—

I’m doing the best I can. 

And that’s enough. 

[sgiandubh]

Sunday sounds:  ¡Chao, pescao!

Bad news travel fast, irrespective of time zones. We were having lunch, when I (very uncharacteristically) saw Shipper Mom bursting into tears while checking her phone.

Ya se fue la Mamita. Mommy just left us.

La Mamita was one of our best family friends and the reason I could write here that I did have a Chilean grandma. She was one of the most fascinating women I have ever met, a heroic, larger than life, luminous presence in the darkest of times. Her family has long been a part of ours, by immediate choice and she firmly maintained she had not one, but two daughters - one of which was Shipper Mom.

They met in the most improbable of places, on the swimming pool deck of one of those hotels that catered for foreign visitors lured by Gerovital's promise of everlasting youth, circa 1985. Freshly divorced, my mother was immediately demoted to the most menial of foreign trade jobs - being a tour guide. She was still grieving her son's suspected assassination in a freak military plane crash, following General Leigh's dismissal by Pinochet, in July 1978. The Romanian tour guide was intrigued by the deep, heavy silence surrounding this mysterious señora. A conversation started, which ended only today.

She adopted us. We adopted her family as if it were ours - and, after all these years, it IS. She came and stayed with us every other summer ever since and until about five years ago, bribing her way around the secret police honchos with cigarettes and Colombian coffee packs, poking fun at the brutal interrogations ("¿Y qué creen esos cretinos que soy yo, Mata Hari?"/ And what do those cretins think I am, Mata Hari?) . She knew all our secrets, took care of our broken hearts ("no llames más a este asco de hombre, no vale la pena" /"stop calling this disgusting guy, he's not worth it"), made us better people. She taught me how to use makeup ("hazlo como una señora, mijita"/ do it like a lady, baby) and, while we first started communicating in English, I suddenly found myself answering her in Spanish.

When we finally, suddenly became free, hers was the first international phone call to cross the clogged lines: 'take the first flight to Santiago and if things fizzle, we'll ransom you. You already have a house and a family in Ñuñoa'. And we did. La casita del tren, where her husband, whom everyone called the Colonel, kept their wonderful toy train collection, patiently assembled during his long diplomatic career. And who else could ever regale us with stories of being wined and dined by a very young Jackie and John, in Georgetown, when she was a very young diplobride of a much older, doting husband? And who else could remember waltzing along with Ike ('I didn't like Ike, but I had no choice'), circa 1956?

Today, it was my turn to tell MT, her daughter and what I consider to be my aunt, to take the first flight to Bucharest and come stay with us for as long as she wants. That is what family is all about.

Eso es para ti, mami. Porque, como tú me enseñaste, el amor es más fuerte:

[regular-gnome]

Absolutely /adore/ your art and overall take on the Demon Realm world + it's history and the Archivists. Especially coming from someone who adores speculative biology and trying to find logic/science in magic (I'm not sure how to word it so it makes sense - basically almost everything you are doing here)

Curious if you have any ideas on how the titans managed to inhabit the planet, because Papa Titan's hand managed to reach the atmosphere just from lying down. There's no way that planet was big enough for a bunch of titans to walk around comfortably.

Idk much about planetary stuff, but is there some way the planet may have changed? Maybe the Archivists did something?

Sorry this ask got kinda long, hope you have a lovely day doing little gnome things :}

glad you like them!:D

So, one of the gnome things is overanalyzing things and avoiding doing math, but here we are, you actually made me read my biophysics notes from 4 years ago. There are a few things to really focus on and think about, but I gotta preface this by saying I am very much not an expert on speculative biology xD I just have the internet and some books I am basing my theories on

Titans:

First the titans themselves. A while ago, I made an approximation of how large the Boiling Isles titan is and got that it would be around 27 km in height post-mortem. Buuut if the titan was this height during its life is another question because it would run into some biophysics issues

Issues like the atmospheric pressure. At ground level, it is 101.3 kPa, but at 27 km, it falls is 1.6 hPa (titan bless wolframalpha for counting this as exp funtions are the death of me). That is 63 times higher pressure on their legs than on their head! Blood circulation would be shot to the moon. The blood is liquid that in general transports gasses so travelling fron upper body parts to lower ones where there is diffrent dissoving of oxygen would end up in gas bubbles, which are NOT GREAT. Additionally, their ability to stand up or lie down quickly would be pretty much non-existant as that would be super fast change of pressure and more bubbles. But okay, lets say they are like some kind of abyss fishes and keep constant internal pressure.. that would still mean their hearts would need to be either massive or they would have multiple pumping mechanisms to handle their size (maybe like the single-chamber hearts in fish??) And the thing is we saw their heart, it was big but not THAT big so unless it was just one of many, maybe the last beating heart there might be diffrent explanation. And Im not gonna even go into how temperature changes every 100m around 0,6C, lets say their fur makes them warm and cozy and blue blood avoids freezing problems like some arctic critters

bringing those graphs up again cause they show the altitude change nicely

All of this to say the titans during life were probably smaller. They would still have been massive, but maybe not three times the size of mt Everest massive. So next thing to consider is their magic. Their powers are closely tied to life, healing and creation and so, the demons on the Boiling Isles are said to have originated from it and their evolution waas likely sped up a lot thanks to it. Next we saw size-changing spells affecting King in the carnival episode, so it's not a stretch to believe that all titans could be affected by this kind of spells, with the strength depending on the particular titan's magic. So anyway as the titan was activly dying, its magic could have desperately attempted to save it by rapidly generating more cells to repair its failing systems, ending up in expansion of all tissues and their overall size. (Maybe thats why the vains were so big and empty in the mines, you cant create more energy so maybe the magic going with simmilar concept expanded everything around but not made more of blood?) However, despite these efforts, the magic would ultimately fail to save them. When it reached a critical point, maybe after using up most of its magical energy, the process would stop or change focus. There are some fun grusome possiblities on how that might have went down but this is already pretty long

So in short, I think the titans during life were big but only got island sized after death, otherwise theyd have some wild biological mechanisms battling physics and them becomming bigger would explain where did most of the blood go after death. Not to mention how much food they would need

Planet:

Next the size of the planet. While we don't have many clues to determine whether it's bigger or smaller than Earth, one clue is Luz's lack of reaction to changing gravity after passing through the door. If the planet were larger (or denser I know), she would feel change in g-force, so like the feeling of being on a lift going up in case of bigger planet or down in case of smaller. If the diffrence was significant she would develop issues with circulatory system and fatigue. But thats not the case and I do not have the energy to calculate min change xD

So let's say the planet is Earth-sized. This is still a lot. We don't know if there are any continents on the planet or their sizes, but even if there were same like earth, the scale is immense. If the Boiling Isles were the size of New York (based on titan's height) or even larger, say the size of Hawaii, compared to the world map, that's tiny. If Earh is 510 100 000 km², while NYC covers 1213,3 km² to cover the same area, we'd need 420423 titans lied up neatly next to each other. And thats if they are isles sized their whole life. There can also be landmasses where they can lay on, oceans deep enough to cover bodies, they can be stacked.... I don't think the planet necessarily needs to be much larger to accommodate creatures of this size

TOH as a show:

One thing to remember while analyzing shots from the show is that we we will run into contradictions because it's a show, one that is not focused on speculative biology. While most elements are well-constructed, some details may show inconsistencies. For example, determining the direction of north on a titan becomes challenging when one shot shows the sun setting in one direction and later another. Finding the titan's height poses difficulties when one shot shows their arm reaching the atmosphere while another barely shows them reaching it while standing. But its not due to carelessness, its more about serving purpose of the shot, conveying the atmosphere. They both show the titans are giant, the view from above is beautiful and if they were more focused on keeping them some arbitrery size it might have taken away from it

And Im pretty sure that I'm wrong around a lot of aspects here, how it wasnt supposed to be interpreted like that or its more convoluted than I realize. Thats just my take on this. World we live in can seem small as we can only see a tiny part of it but Earth is so amazingly vast. It's larger than we can comprehend, and yet, it's nothing compared to the vastness of the universe. So, yeah, some of my thoughts on titans and the demon realms planet xD peace

[miragee19]

Correct me if I'm wrong because I never played Ever Crisis, I just saw a few videos about it. There was a particular scene: what I understood is that Sephiroth looked like he was around 12-14 years old and there was another boy around the same age, called Rosen, and Sephiroth's team (following ShinRa's orders) have already killed everyone in the area save for that one little guy. With his squad they all agreed not to kill him (which was against the orders) and take him back with them to Midgar. Sephiroth was the first one to approach him, he tried to tell him that they would spare his life but the boy was determined to die in order to be with his people in the lifestream. Sephiroth tried to talk him into coming with them and he even mentioned his own example that he found his place (which "place" I don't exactly know, his standards of living must not have been very high at that point, for his "place" was a very unpleasant place to be all in all but he could still express it as good or at least decent). It all just seemed like the person with 1% good in their lives trying to reason with a person who had 0% good in their lives that it was worth living and things would get better. After that attempt failed, he told him that his squadmates wanted him to go with them, and that they were really good people and he asked him to do it for them. This still didn't work, Rosen still did not want to come along. Instead, he pointed out that the island they're on would sink and it would be too dangerous for them to stay any longer.

Sephiroth, realizing there would be no way for him to save Rosen, came to the conclusion that the right thing to do was to end this boy's life. Sephiroth felt responsible for his subordinates' lives not only as a team leader but as a comrade and as a friend too.

By that time his teammates arrived and they saw Sephiroth killing Rosen, which made them extremly angry since they had just agreed to spare his life.

Sephiroth, taking full responsibility for his actions, did not even try to defend himself by saying anything, and he also did not want to burden his teammates with the guilt of being the reasons for this boy's death.

I cannot even put it into words how selfless this act was in my eyes, and how very few adults would be able to take the same level of responsibility for their decisions, let alone a child. He's a pure hearted angel with his little white feathers around him, literally too good for this world. Sorry I may have gotten a bit too carried away with words, but the point I'm trying to make is that Sephiroth, even at such a young age, was already the type of person who would rather take on the role of the bad guy in order to do the right thing, than trying to stay blameless but failing to do the right thing.

I hope Glenn saw all of this in the lifestream when he died, that Sephiroth only did it for them, not out of blood-thirst, and that he even tried to reason with Rosen, - the same way Tifa saw that Cloud wanted to protect him when she went up to Mt Nibel.

[riveramorylunar]

Pairings: Zeus's Daughter Yelena Belova x Aphrodite's Daughter Reader

Warnings: Forbidden Love, Sneaking Around, Height Difference, Slight Age Difference (Yelena is 27 in human years and Reader is 21 in human years), Alcohol Consumption, Fighting & Fluff

Pet Names/Nicknames: Принцесса(Princess), детка(baby) & Lena

Word Count: 2,879

In the majestic kingdom of Mount Olympus, two powerful and mighty gods reigned supreme. Zeus, the god of thunder and ruler of all gods, was known for his fierce and commanding demeanor. On the other hand, Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, was adored by all for her kindness and captivating charm.

Zeus had a daughter with Hera and her name was Yelena Belova. She was the goddess of Lighting and Thunder just like her father. She had her mother's beauty and her father's personality. She was due to take over Mt. Olympus but only if she had someone to rule with her and she hated that. She knew she was capable of ruling over Olympus without a wife. Her and her father always got into fights because of it. Her father wanted her to marry someone who was capable of ruling beside her. On the other hand her mother Hera didn't really care if she ruled alone or ruled with someone.

Y/N daughter of Aphrodite and Hephaestus. She was the next goddess of Love and Fire. She was the personification of beauty. She looked like both her mother and father. She had the personality of her father making her kind and hardworking unlike her mother who had left for another man. Y/N hated the fact that she was related to Aphrodite after finding out what she had done but her father always told her that she was only half like her mother. Although Y/N was the goddess of Love she never used that power and instead only used her father's.

The two had met for the first time when Yelena snuck away from her father without him even knowing a year ago. Yelena had snuck into a cave and heard the most beautiful voice she had ever heard in her entire life. She had wandered deeper into the cave and peaked around the corner when she saw a girl with dark brown hair and blue-green eyes that sometimes turned a reddish orange color when she used her fire powers. “You know you're not really good at hiding” the girl had said, causing Yelena's eyes to widen in shock. She broke out of her shock before stepping out from around the corner and walked towards the girl slowly. “You're the daughter of Zeus and Hera right” the girl said and Yelena nodded her head before blushing slightly. “Um yeah” Yelena says, chuckling nervously before the girl looks at her. “Well it's nice to meet you, I'm Y/N the daughter of Aphrodite and Hephaestus” Y/N said and Yelena's eyes widened in shock again. “Wow” Yelena managed to get out causing Y/N to chuckle before going back to what she was doing.

“What are you doing?” Yelena asks as she tilts her head. “Organizing the different types of metal” Y/N said as she picked up a piece of tungsten and dropped it in a bin labeled Tungsten next to the table. Yelena walked closer and looked at all the bins that had all different types of metal in them. “I never knew that there was this many different types of metal” Yelena said as she picked up a piece of metal off the table. “What's this one?” she asked and Y/N looked up. “That's cobalt” Y/N answered and Yelena looked at it more before looking for the bin that had cobalt on it before dropping it into the bin. “Is this what you do everyday” Yelena asks as she starts helping Y/N out. Y/N let out a chuckle before shaking her head. “No but I wish I did, I have to take on my mother's responsibilities though which I hate” Y/N said as she dropped a piece of Beryllium in the Beryllium bin. “Oh do you hate love” Yelena asked as she stopped and just watched Y/N. “Well I wouldn't say hate but I don't really like it but that's because of my mother” Y/N said as she sighed out. “Oh right, I heard about that. I didn't even know she had a daughter until now” Yelena said as she furrowed her eyes before shaking her head and smiling. “And might I say I think you're even more beautiful than your mother” Yelena continued causing Y/N’s face to flush slightly.

“Oh um thank you” Y/N muttered out and Yelena smiled. “No problem Принцесса” Yelena said before standing up. Y/N looked up when she heard Yelena get up. “Where are you going?” Y/N asked curiously and Yelena chuckled. “I have to go back before my father sends out a search party for me” Yelena sighed out and Y/N smiled slightly. “It was nice to me you I hope we get to see each other again soon Принцесса” Yelena said before she waved and left the cave leaving Y/N there with her heart pounding out of her chest and her face flushed.

Since then the two had met in the cave every other day. Yelena snuck out of her house at night and would meet Y/N and help her sort out the metal before they talked about the world below them. Yelena would occasionally flirt with Y/N which caused her to blush every time.

Yelena had snuck out of her house again and jumped from her window landing on the ground. She stood up and looked around before sneaking away and to the cave. Yelena made her way through the cave and stopped when she saw Y/N focused on something that wasn't metal. She snuck up on Y/N before leaning over her and kissing her cheek causing Y/N to blush before shoving her away. “LENA” Y/N shouted as she covered her cheek and Yelena let out a laugh before smirking. “Hello детка” Yelena said before wrapping her arms around Y/N’s neck and hugging her. “”Lena” Y/N said as she looked up at her lover. “Yes Принцесса” Yelena said as she stroked Y/N’s jaw. “My father found out about us and he wants to meet you” Y/N said and Yelena froze as she stopped stroking Y/N’s jaw. “W-what how” Yelena stuttered out and Y/N sighed. “He saw you leaving the cave one time when he came to see me” Y/N said and Yelena stayed quiet. Y/N stood up and cupped Yelena's face. “Don't worry Lena he won't be telling anyone” Y/N said and Lena closed her eyes before sighing. “Alright” Yelena muttered out before opening her eyes and looking down at Y/N who was a a couple inches shorter than her. Y/N smiled up at her before kissing her cheek and pulling away.

Yelena let Y/N drag her to her house. “Will your mother be there” Yelena asked and Y/N shook her head no. “No which is a good thing” Y/N said and Yelena let out a breath of relief. Y/N stopped in front of a beautiful house with pink, white and red roses. “Wow” Yelena said as she looked at the roses. Y/N pulled Yelena towards the house and looked around making sure none of the other gods or goddesses were watching. “Come on hurry up” Y/N said as she opened the door and pulled Yelena in before shutting the door behind her. Yelena looks around and her eyes lighten up at the furniture and interior of the huge house.

“Is that you my sweet child” a man's voice echoed through the house. Y/N grabbed Yelena's hand again and pulled her towards the kitchen where her father was cooking dinner. “Hi Papa” Y/N said and Hephaestus turned around and smiled when he saw his daughter and a blonde woman behind her. “So this is Yelena” he asked and Y/N nodded. He walked over and pulled Yelena into a tight hug causing Yelena's eyes to widen in shock as Y/N just giggled. Hephaestus pulled away and put his hands on her shoulders. “She's beautiful just like you said Y/N dear” he said and the two blushed. “Papa stop it” Y/N muttered out and Hephaestus looked at his daughter before letting out a laugh before pulling away from Yelena. “Alright alright I won't embarrass you too much” he said before ruffling her hair up. Y/N blushes more and Yelena just looks at her with a soft smile.

Y/N had set the table up and grabbed some vodka for Yelena and a beer for her dad while she grabbed wine for herself. Hephaestus set down a huge dish of Shawarma Chicken & Orzo Skillet and a Greek salad onto the middle of the table. “Wow this looks delicious Papa” Y/N said as she sat down at the table and Yelena took the seat beside her. “It really does” Yelena said as she breathed in the scent of the food. “Have as much as you want dear” Hephaestus said as he sat down across from the two.

As the three were eating the door slams open causing Y/N to jump up from her seat. The three looked over to see a beautiful woman walk in before freezing as she looked at Yelena. “Mother” Y/N said and Aphrodite looked over at Y/N before looking back at Yelena. “Who the hell is this?” Aphrodite asks and Y/N looks at her father before looking back at her mother. “What are you doing here mother” Y/N asks and Aphrodite scowls before grabbing the bottle of wine from off the table and pouring herself a glass. “This is still my home Y/N” Aphrodite said and Y/N scoffed. Aphrodite looks at Yelena now and tilts her head. “Now who are you?” she asks and Yelena looks up at her. Yelena stands up and holds her hand out. “I'm Yelena Belova” Yelena said and Aphrodite looked down at her. “And who are your parents?” Aphrodite questioned and Yelena was about to speak when Y/N cut in. “Mother can you just stop” Y/N said and Aphrodite glared at her.

“Y/N sit your ass down now” Aphrodite said and Y/N clenched her jaw. “No you don't get to tell me what to do you're not my mother anymore” Y/N shouted and Aphrodite's eyes narrowed before she landed a harsh slap across Y/N’s face causing her to yelp out. Yelena rushed over and knelt down beside Y/N as she cupped Y/N’s face while Hephaestus stood up. “Aphrodite leave now” he growled out and Aphrodite looked at him before looking at her daughter who had tears rolling down her face as she looked at her mother in horror. She then looked at Yelena who was trying to calm Y/N down. “Whatever, I'm not going to stay here when you bring the daughter of Zeus and Hera into our home” Aphrodite said before slamming her glass of wine down onto the table causing it to shatter. She left slamming the door shut and after Hephaestus rushed over and kneeled down next to his daughter. “You need to leave” Hephaestus said as he looked up at Yelena.

Yelena looked at Y/N and then back at Hephaestus. “Go home” he said and Yelena sighed before standing up and leaving after saying bye to Y/N. Y/N sat up while rubbing her cheek. “I thought you said mother wasn't supposed to be back tonight” Y/N said not looking at her father. “Things can change Y/N they're not always certain” he said before standing up and pulling Y/N up as well.

Meanwhile, Yelena snuck back to her house and climbed back through her bedroom window when the lights turned on. She froze before looking towards the doorway to see her father standing there with a glare. “And where were you young lady” Zeus asked and Yelena rolled her eyes. “I don't have to tell you where I was” Yelena said and Zeus clenched his jaw before walking up to Yelena and grabbing her by her jaw. “I am your father now tell me” Zeus growled out and Yelena glared up at him. “I'm not a child anymore I don't have to tell you shit” Yelena spat out and Zeus's grip tightened against Yelena's jaw before Hera's voice was heard. “Zeus let go of her now” Hera said and Zeus let out a scoff before letting go and shoving Yelena's face to the side.

Zeus left Yelena's room and Hera looked at her daughter before sighing. “So who's the girl?” Hera asked her daughter and Yelena kept quiet. “Come on, tell your dear mother” Hera said as she shut the bedroom door behind her. Yelena sighs as she sits on her bed before hiding her face in her hands. Hera walks over and sits down next to Yelena before putting a hand on her shoulder. Yelena looks up and looks at her mother. “It's Aphrodite’s and Hephaestus daughter Y/N” Yelena muttered out and Hera's eyes widened in shock. “Yelena” Hera sighed out as she rubbed her forehead. “I know Mama but I love her I really do” Yelena said as she fell back onto her bed and looked up at the ceiling. Hera put her hand on her daughter's knee before squeezing it. “You can never let your father kno-” before Hera could finish, Yelena's bedroom door slams open causing Yelena to jolt up and ftlook over to see her father. “Why the hell did Aphrodite just come to our house and say you're seeing her daughter” Zeus shouted and Yelena gulped. “Fath-” Yelena was cut off when he grabbed her by the shirt and lifted her up off her bed. “Zeus let her go now” Hera said as she stood up and Zeus glared at her. He looked back at his daughter. “Do you really want to put shame onto this family” Zeus growled out and Yelena clenched her jaw. “I don't care if I put shame on the family name, I love her and why do you care I found someone to rule Mount Olympus with me” Yelena said as she glared back up at her father. “Isn't that what you wanted” Yelena asked and Zeus was about to speak before shutting his mouth and scoffing.

“Bring her to me” Zeus said and Yelena's eyes widened in shock. “What” Yelena asked and Zeus rolled his eyes. “I want to meet this girl so bring her to me” Zeus said and Yelena nodded before rushing towards the door. “I meant tomorrow not right now” Zeus said and Yelena blushed in embarrassment. “Right um yeah okay” Yelena muttered out.

The next day Yelena had brought Y/N to her home. “Yelena are you sure about this” Y/N mumbled out and Yelena pulled Y/N close to her and kissed the side of her head. “I'm sure I promise you if anything bad does happen I'll protect you” Yelena said as she headed to the throne room. Yelena and Y/N made their way into the throne room before stopping in front of the steps that led up to the throne. “Welcome back my daughter, I'm assuming this is the girl then” Zeus said as he stood up causing Y/N to gulp. “Her names Y/N and yeah she's the one” Yelena said as she tightened her grip around Y/N. Zeus walked down the steps before stopping right in front of the two. Zeus was about to reach for Y/N’s jaw but Yelena stopped him. “Don't even think about it father” Yelena spat out and Zeus yanked his hand free from his daughter’s grip. “Do you love her” Zeus asked as he stared at Y/N. Y/N looked at Yelena who was already looking down at her before looking back over at Zeus. “Yes” Y/N mumbled out and Zeus narrowed his eyes a bit before looking at Yelena again. “Alright I guess if you love her I'll let you guys see each other” Zeus said and Yelena's eyes widened in shock. “Really” Yelena asked and Zeus nodded his head. Yelena hugged her father tightly before picking Y/N up and hugging her tightly before spinning her around.

Yelena set Y/N down before kissing her on the lips. She pulled away before looking deep into Y/N’s eyes. “Marry me and become the other ruler of Olympus” Yelena asked and Y/N’s eyes widened in shock. “W-what “ Y/N stuttered out and Yelena smiled. “Marry me and rule Olympus with me” Yelena asked again and Y/N blushed hard. “A-are to being serious?” Y/N asked and Yelena nodded. “Yes I'm being serious Y/N” Yelena said and Y/N pulled her into another kiss before pulling away. “Yes yes I will” Y/N said and Yelena smiled widely before hugging Y/N tightly and burying her face in Y/N’s neck. “You have no idea how much you made me happy Принцесса, I love you so much” Yelena said and Y/N giggles before pecking Yelena's forehead. “I love you too Lena always and forever” Y/N said as she continued to hold Yelena.

Taglist: @yelenasdiary, @red1culous, @i-lov3-w0men, @marvelfan98, @Whoreforblackhill, @emmytaysversion, @livin4theeradicator, @music-4ever, @lizzieolsenswifey

[murfeelee]

TS3 vs TS4 Features - Supernatural

I saw @moonbiscuitsims' comment here about how EA added "way more features" in their TS4 occult packs, and I wanted to talk about it in depth, cuz that's a misleading statement. Y'all know TS4's my trigger.

Cuz yes, on paper, EA offers a LOT of stuff in TS4 packs. But the saying goes: as broad as an ocean and as deep as a puddle. 😬 QUALITY, versus QUANTITY, which is crucial for replayability, customization, variability, and ultimate longevity. And another thing is the TIMEFRAME that that content was released. Sure, if it takes you 10 years to develop/dripfeed your frikkin game, ofc you can add more content over more packs; than if you'd just stuck to ONE dedicated pack, developed it in 1-2 years, and given people arguably BETTER, if not MORE content.

My gut reaction's to say EA had BETTER be offering more content! 😤 Not even to justify the ridiculous pricetag or anything, but for the simple fact that TS4's supposed to be NEXT GEN. It's SUPPOSED to be bigger & better than everything that came before it. Why are we sitting here for 10 years with TS4 if it ain't gonna increase ANYTHING but my rising blood pressure & trust issues?!

So Imma just examine TS3 SN in comparison with TS4's packs, and give my take on what's been going on, from 2012 (SN EP) to now.

Missing Features: TS4 Fairies

A fairy was the very first sim I ever made in TS3 back in 2009 (my avatar sim, Sakura). Watching the SN announcement trailer for the first time dang near made me cry. TS4 could never; moving on.

Missing Features: TS4 Zombies & Toadsims

TS4 Tragic Clowns are a W for the apple juggling & costume. I think EA was lazy by slacking on the clown just cuz he's already dead in Sunset Valley; and I guess they don't expect players to resurrect his ghost. SN EP did nothing to actually improve/expand him, just creating the alchemy Clown Potion; I guess to better integrate fishing the Clownfish into the lore.

TS4 Vampires GP (2017)

This is an easy one. I've said since TS3 Late Night EP (2010) that TS3's vampires are utter dogtrash, and the SN EP did eff all to patch/improve them, and I will die on that hill (until someone figures out how to give convert TS4's functional coffins & vampire fights & special FX). Compared to every other occult, I have more mods installed just to try to fix how effing busted & stupid vamps are; and these sparkling Twilight dumb AF bloodsuckers STILL get on my dang nerves.

IMO, TS4 Vampires is hands down the best pack EA ever made for TS4. 10/10, the attention they put in that pack outclasses darn near everything else they did until TS4 Seasons. Undisputed W, yes. 👏

TS4 Realm of Magic GP (2019)

Disputed W. I gave it an 8/10 at BEST, cuz magic/fantasy's a win, but I am disappointed. If this had been a home run for EA, I'd've shut my dang mouth, ISTG. But alas. I went on a long AF tirade against RoM when I realized that a lot of its so-called "new" features were things we could already do in TS4, with a flashy coat of paint--let alone things TS3 & the SN EP did, and better. Some things I didn't mention though:

Muggles who ask spellcasters how to do magic are sent on a fetch quest for Magic Motes, which is EXACTLY what the ITF EP Time Traveler occult Emit Revelart makes normies do to, finding Power Cells to learn how to use the Time Portal.

The Witch's perks/ranks system works just like the Vampires one, so kudos to EA for not fixing something that ain't broke I guess.

The Spells: At MTS I actually broke down what each of TS4's spellcasters do that's largely nothing sims couldn't do in TS3, even before SN came out (via SHT Genies or SSNS Aliens, or the Store).

TS3 Witches (let alone other lifestates) can do most of this either through alchemy or inherited features from older TS3 packs. This was a huge RoM dealbreaker for me, as I'd been hoping for WAY more innovative features in TS4's spells--the whole point of Spellcasters--than just an elaborate set of cheats. TS3's Witch's main features are fewer, but far more cohesive, IMO. (Granted, NONE of the packs holds a single candle to the GOAT that is TS1's Makin Magic, which had WAY more features than TS2, TS3 & TS4; and was CHEAPER. But I digress.)

There's no unique features with TS3/TS4 wands; they act the same way; the effects are just different, and TBH I'm not a fan of either--I wish wand/magic FXs could be modded in different colors at least (like BLACK 😈). But I DO like that in TS4 they can duel for rewards.

TS4 brooms do EFF ALL in a closed world; EA made them exactly they way they were in TS2, with zero innovation. (IIRC kids can't even use them--EA's hatred for kids & elders ALMOST matches MY hatred of EA.)

IMO beekeeping doesn't count, cuz TS3 included it as a small feature for alchemy ingredients in the SN EP, while TS4 integrated it far better in SSNS to work with gardening, which is genius.

Speaking of SSNS, there's the Weather Stone that only appears if you have both SN & SSNS, so occults can conjure magical weather effects over the whole world. (I'll talk about the best perk under Crystals SP.)

Familiars are the certified W for me with RoM. They're the best & most unique & most well-thought out & feature of the GP, IMO. ❤️

Extra TS4 features I think are supremely cool are spellcasters' books floating whenever they read anything. And their cauldrons have much cooler animations, and I'm so jealous that y'all can cook food in them; EA should've added that to the Store Cauldron, although I guess I understand why they didn't in the SN EP Alchemy Cauldron.

A lot of RoM's features are wrapped around Glimmerbrook. Access to Glimmerbrook comes with the Glimmer Stone key--and I WOULD use that as a segue into the Crystals SP, but I'll hold off. I already vented about Glimmerbrook in my Werewolves GP rant--but I'll get to that in a minute, too. The bigger issue is what even constitutes a TS4 "world"--those non-customizeable tiny AF clusters of tiny AF lots and huge swaths of decorative set dressing--let alone the Diagon Alley ripoff EA loves promoting like I was born yesterday and never saw Harry Potter. GORGEOUS realm, of course, like many EA worlds are. But they're largely just set-dressing, which irritates me to no end.

TS4 Paranormal SP (2021)

I've ranted & raved about Paranormal before: 7/10 at best.

TS4 Seances with the crystal ball work very differently from TS3's Soothsayer's Crystal Ball, which wasn't about banishing ghosts, but improving progression for SN's Witches & Fortune Telling (career). Fortune Telling's NOT a ghostly job, although the boho aesthetic carried over to TS4 Paranormal. (On top of the fact that they promised this whole NOLA Voodoo vibe, but delivered ZERO cultural accurate features reflecting ANYTHING from Haitian Voodoo, wtf? It's all hippie boho New Age BS--why TF does the tutorial ghost look more like Johnny Depp and less like Dr. Facilier, I ask you, EA.) Granted, some of the interactive objects are nice, like the calming dollbaby & magic candles to purify lots--kinda like TS3 incense. But again: 1-trick ponies. Yes, the animations look great, but crystal balls are typically for divination, asking spirits about the past/present/future, not removing haunting poltergeists, so I don't really get it. Stylish & gorgeous! But GENERIC AF substance-wise.

IMO, TS4's Ghosts are an L across the board; all the way from the base game--that bafflingly launched in 2014 WITHOUT ghosts until they were patched in a whole month later after everyone rose a stink (IIRC TS4 kids can't be ghosts!?)--to present. EA's been over/course-correcting from that gaffe ever since, with like double the amount of Death types than TS3. I DO NOT like how TS4 ghosts colors are tied to Eeemotionnsss~! (more like they're a sentient Plumbbob). TBF, kudos to TS4's smoky cloudy effect when ghosts appear. But the lack of unique deaths & ghost types in RoM (aside from Spellcaster Overload & the Night Wraith) made me roll my eyes, as SN EP's ghost types are some of my faves (ITF & SHT are also my top 3).

IIRC it was the SN patch that unlocked all types in (basegame?) CAS to make playable Ghosts. SN's Philosopher's Stone allows sims to summon new playable Ghosts (and ofc allows for transmutating cheap objects into gold ingots--more on that later), or it can just kill you and make YOU the new ghost, LOL.

But as for features, sure, TS4 ghosts have more interactions--though they're all pretty, rather than scary (vs TS2 ghosts, which were SCARY). TS4 ghosts lost the HORROR to just be silly/goofy or just CUTESY--especially the little spectres from Paranormal.

Speaking of horror, I can't talk about ghosts w/out bringing up TS3's AMB EP, cuz the Ghost Hunter (profession) is the real parallel with TS4's Paranormal Investigator (freelancer). In TS3, they actually stuck to their promised main premise (Ghostbusters). Overall, TS4 Seances are nowhere near as fluid as TS3 ghostbusting. In TS3 you can run all over the world using gidgets-gadgets to detect/fight ghosts & sprites, not just inside haunted houses, but anywhere they happen to spawn (ofc inc. graveyards). You're not just locked to a lot/house the player already knows is haunted (cuz you just toggle Haunted Lot to trigger the feature--SN's Ghost Gnome object isn't exactly the same, but it does spawn hauntings on the lots you put them in). ANY TS3 indoor/outdoor residential/community lot can randomly get haunted during a Ghost Hunter's shift; and you never know which one it'll be, or what kind of shenanigans will happen--EVIL ghost or just some sprites--which skyrockets replayability & keeps things fresh & interesting.

Functionally, Paranormal had no right to be that dang good for a Stuff Pack. That was a Game Pack; IDKY EA insists otherwise; esp. when it offered more & better things than some actual GPs. I'm confused. However, a serious problem TS4 has is that it gameifies everything to the point that TS4's numerous features lose their spontaneity, and just become rote--BORING. The ectoplasm everywhere just becomes another mess in your (haunted) house you have to clean--CHORES. On top of me not liking TS4 ghosts' look & vibe (and I HATE TS4's Bonehilda). Quality over quantity, EA!

TS4 Werewolves GP (2022)

Speaking of ghosts, waaaay back in 2020 I told the spirits precisely what I wanted from a potential Werewolf dedicated TS4 pack. Did they listen? HAYUL NAW. So in 2022 I said everything I had to say about the Werewolves GP, and accepted the fact that EA's INEPT.

Do TS4's wolves have MORE features than TS3? YES ofc (even in 2012 everyone complained that Witches & Faeries got the lion's share & Werewolves got shafted--they're basically glorified Familiars for Witches/Alchemist to find collectibles--more on that below). But was most of it GOOD features though? Debatable! I LOATHE the 2 wolf packs, which was what I'd most looked forward to; plus the whole world's aesthetic was ugly homeless-grunge, without a single bit of creativity or originality--only EA could make monsters as terrifying as werewolves effing cartoony hipster squatters. 🤦 7/10 at best.

TS4 Crystals SP (2024)

These crystals are ugly, EA. Which is weird, cuz the basegame TS4 gems & esp. space rocks are GORGEOUS. I have no idea which vision-impaired dev at EAxis thought these nasty looking opaque poorly-painted rocks were pretty.

Features-wise, granted, having TS4's bonafide Gemology skill from the Crystals SP's nice, instead of TS3's basegame hidden Collector skill. But the functioanlity's largely the same: cut more, unlock more (which I prefer to cheat my way through--TS3 thinks I have time for all this gameplay, LOL). (Not to mention all the extra features TS3's Aliens, Simbots & Plumbbots have when interacting with gems, space rocks, or metals.) TS4 only got 10 gem cuts for 27 crystals (=270), (+25 metals); compared to TS3's 16 gem cuts for 28 gems (=448), (+16 metals with their own separate ingots). Of TS4's 10 cuts, the Skull Cut is the ONLY one I think looks better (ignoring the atrociously flat textures ofc) than TS3's (which TS4 copy/pasted--no agates, no crystal ball, wtf).

The Garden Gnome cut isn't unique to TS4, as TS3 has several craftable (glass-only) Garden Gnome cut from the Glassblowing Machine (more on that soon).

The only TS3 gem that genuinely affects sims is radioactive Tiberium from the WA EP, so more features is definitely a plus. The best addition is TS4's Charging Grid feature--I LOVE that TS4 crystals can be imbued with magic energy--it's like TS3's Store Crystal Tree, ITF EP's magic crystal plants & the SN EP Mood Lamp all rolled into one. @greenplumbboblover's WIP Interests & Hobbies mod brainstormed integrating that functionality that back in 2020.

The functionality of the TS3 SN EP Gem Cutter & the TS4 Crystal Tree are similar, though ofc the tree's wallet & eco-friendly; and it's a plant, not a hunk of machinery, so it naturally has that going for it.

There's also the SN-SSNS Weather Stone, which gives werewolves the ability to summon a Hunter's Storm, raining a hail of gems, rocks & metals over the whole world for easy loot farming. (The best perk, though my fave is the Faeries' Reviving Sprinkle for gardening.)

Aside from SN, TS3's real equivalent is actually the Prism Art Studio Venue's Artisan skill. Cuz the REAL seller's the jewellery-making. There's ~100 CAS items in Crystals SP (plus 30+ regular Build/Buy mode objects). At $10, the Crystals SP is a steal, at least when compared to the BONKERS $20 tag on TS3's Prism Art Studio at the Store (2014). IIRC the Glassblowing Machine newly added 16 craftable CAS items & 13 craftable glass objects (as SN already gave us the Gem-Cutting Machine & AMB already gave us the Widgets work station); and 8 Build/Buy objects (inc. the goated L-shaped "spiral" stairs). It also added 5 craftable Perfumes for sims to use.

So while the Crystals SP added NICE features, I wouldn't say they added MORE features. Rather, they added more content: Quantity. But as for Quality, I think TS3 beats it out--the Prism Studio's a effing ripoff, but AFAIK it added features TS4 still doesn't have yet (craftable glassblowing & perfumes, spiral stairs); and the objects it did add are pretty nifty.

Timeframe-wise, we got the 2014 Prism Art Studio's Glassblower 2 years after the SN EP's Gem-Cutter; 5 years after the 2009 basegame. Compared to TS4's wait for the Crystals SP 2 years after Werewolves, 3 after Paranormal, 5 after RoM; and a whopping DECADE after the basegame launched in 2014. Wtf, EA?

Still, I'd say the Crystal SP's a 7/10 (there's not enough gem cuts, the gems textures are ugly, and most of the features were lifted from things TS3 had innovated 10+ years earlier).

TL;DR

Quantity =/= Quality.

EA's been taking way too long releasing packs to have the nerve to present debatable content--it should be goated releases EVERY time; esp. since everyone agrees TS4 is easier to create content for, so much smaller in scale/scope, and with an infinitely larger budget & fanbase than The Sims franchise ever had. There's zero excuse for EAxis' mediocrity, when TS3 was churning out EPs like it's life depended on it: SHT, SN, and SSNS all came out the SAME EFFING YEAR. 2012 was LIT.

EA, you suck.

[coriphallus]

A little rant on patch 6 and the implications for bg3's future

Okay, bear with me for a sec its gonna go somewhere eventually. My first bg3 run (thats spammed here on this blog) i played ascended astarion/dark urge romance where i picked the reject bhaal and become the absolute ending.

as it was my first playthrough on release i was vibrating off mt seat and i didnt really have elaborate HCs or anything, i was just doing a quick evil run until the bugs get sorted out. i didn't think much beyond "yes this dude would want the shiny stones for himself"

first time i saw astarion enthralled, i was confused. he asked me to do it, he was quite insistent on it since the beginning of the game. i was confused for a couple of hours, digesting the entire game i just played. Then it hit me; the game was calling me out. it was telling me ive been stupid for not having seen this coming and at that point i felt awe.

it was right, everything pointed to this, it was right in front of my eyes all i needed was to connect the dots that the game laid out quite visibly and i was just too caught up to see.

'well my durge would never do that' didnt matter because thats exactly what the companions thought. Gale thought the powers of an insatiable weave wouldnt corrupt him, that he'd stay true to himself, shadowheart thought shar had blessed and her she'd guide her, that she could be her true self under her influence, astarion thought he'd be free, that he'd cherish the bond he'd made with the player but at the end of the day power reveals; and when that power is acquired through the corpses of thousands its quite evident that Absolute power corrupts absolutely. IT WAS IN THE FKIN NAME.

it was a shining bait i was so focused on getting my hands on that i didn't look back to see the mountain of corpses i had to step on to get there. the game was telling me 'HEY LOOK AT EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE TO GET HERE, LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE OTHERS WHO THOUGHT THEY COULD ACHIEVE THIS, DO YOU THINK YOU'D HOLD HANDS AND SING KUMBAYA WITH YOUR FRIENDS AFTER ALL THIS?'

just as there was never an option where frodo could stab saurons flaming eyeball and sit on his throne with the ring on his finger and sam at his side, there was never an ending i could get my 'happy ending' the way id like it to. i wanted frodo to remain in middle earth and have some peace in the end, i didnt understand how he was 'too changed' to remain and sam wasnt when i first read the books. i was angry even, that i didnt get what i wanted. it wasnt like tolkien haphazardly put together an ending out of his ass bcs he didnt know what to do with the characters, its not that he didn't think while writing that the fans would hate it, he wrote a story that achieved its catharsis by reaching its narrative conclusion. it couldnt have done that any other way. it was deliberate. i may not have understood or agreed at the time but it was the story he wanted to tell, and it wouldnt be one of the greatest stories ever told if the writer wanted to please a 10 y/o like myself.

it was never out of character for my durge at all, i was just blissfully avoiding the NARRATIVE.

months later we get this absolute narrative abomination:

and all i can say is im worried.

im worried bcs this is a clear disrespect to the story they've written, im worried bcs if they can do off with huge plot elements and beats such as this just like that it shows a lack of commitment to their own plot and if a huge Point of the game can be treated like a minor mistake than what else can? was is just a lack of oversight that laezel gets killed under vlaakith? can it be waved off if enough vlaakith loving gith players come together and shout loud enough that they want to ride alongside their queen with their gith gf?

what part of the game is tangible to hold on to, and after two years worth of patches that are made to appease the fans at the expense of the story, will it still be the game i fell in love with?

i dont blame the fans for wanting, i blame the devs for delivering. that they could sacrifice the integrity of a pretty straightforward story bodes ill tidings for the future of this game.

yes i wanted this feature, but i was glad i wasn't given it. i may have been confused and slightly miffed that i didn't get to reign supreme with my evil bf, but i immensely respected the game that could call me out on it. i wish they could show the same respect to their own writing.

[bottomseareef]

Honestly the more I look at the show the amount of stuff they use from New Vegas and then retconned it doesn’t make sense to me

I feel like they must’ve meant to put certain events to happen during a time where New Vegas could still happen but fucked up and put the wrong dates like why else would you reference Sunset Sasparilla, Big MT, and fucking Robert House literally showing up and making a casino reference just to retcon the game?

It just doesn’t make sense to me, some continuity guy must’ve fucked up somewhere along the lines or they just took the first date they saw and said “fuck it 2277 is mentioned let’s use that”