#collecting them is a hobby

[sp0o0kylights]

A Steve who cannot buy his boyfriend Eddie's movie tickets all time, take him out to bi weekly dinners, or even publicly win him a teddy bear at the fair is a Steve who pivots, and starts making trips the the closest hobby store.

The bigger one, that sells more than just a handful of D&D manuals.

The guys who hang around there are initially confused--the sports guy who should clearly be buying sports cards is instead coming in once a month to load up on everything from fantasy books to new dice. Clearly he has to be a nerd in disguise.

Yet when one brave soul casually asked what his preferred game was he said basketball, like a total normie.

Finally after a full year of this, the guy opens the door to the shop, but for once doesn't step in. Instead, Eddie steps through and gasps, before spinning and loudly accusing Steve of hiding the store from him.

"It's not my fault you refuse to drive this far out." Steve fires right back but there's a smile on his face, and the stores entire crew watch in awe as Steve follows Eddie around.

Steve is always careful in Hawkins, when it comes to not acting like they're in a relationship but its hard in the moment, and he's not as careful as he should be.

Eddie brings an entire armload of things to the front of the store and Steve insists on paying because;

"It's your birthday man, I'm not gonna make you pay for your own presents."

They leave, the two of them practically floating, leaving behind a bewildered group of people who immediately start arguing whether or not they heard the weird sporty guy call the metalhead "baby."

[reddpenn]

What makes a rock a rock and not a crystal?

Ok SO

A mineral is a naturally occurring non-organic solid with a defined chemical composition and an orderly molecular structure. This means the molecules throughout the entire structure will be exactly the same, and be arranged in a symmetrical, geometric, repeating pattern called a crystal lattice.

Quartz is a mineral. Its chemical formula is silicon dioxide, and its crystal lattice forms a repeating tetrahedron.

Ice is also a mineral. Its chemical formula is dihydrogen monoxide, and its crystal lattice forms a repeating hexagon.

Obsidian is not a mineral. It is a mineraloid, a mineral-like substance. Its chemical composition can vary wildly, and instead of a crystal lattice, its molecules are jumbled up in an amorphous solid, meaning there’s no nice repeating pattern to them.

A crystal is any solid material with a crystal lattice.

All minerals, by definition, have a crystal lattice. So all minerals are crystals! Some things that are NOT minerals are also crystals!

Sugar is a crystal. It has a crystal lattice made from molecules of sucrose. But it is not a mineral because it is organic.

Often, these repeating geometric patterns in the crystal lattice cause the substance to naturally form big geometric structures with distinct faces - such as the points formed by quartz. These larger structures are colloquially also called crystals, and their shape (called a crystal habit) is determined by the shape of the crystal lattice. The same crystal lattice can produce multiple different crystal habits, and it’s all very cool and complicated but I won’t go off on a tangent about it right now.

A substance does not have to form big structures like this to be scientifically considered a crystal. It just needs a crystal lattice!

A rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids. It can be made of a single mineral, or a bunch of different minerals. But when made from a single mineral, it will not be one solid block of that mineral with an unbroken crystal lattice. Because it is an aggregate, it will be a bunch of micro- to macroscopic grains of that mineral all compacted together, each with their own individual crystal lattices.

Granite is a rock. It is made of grains of minerals such as quartz and feldspar.

Limestone is a rock. It is mostly made of grains of calcite.

So rocks can be made of crystals, but rocks are not crystals - in the same way that a house can be made of bricks, but a house is not a brick!

And this is just a very quick overview of these terms, because the scientific definitions can get increasingly pedantic and there are tons of weird exceptions! It is all very fascinating.

But of course, the word rock also has a colloquial definition, which is just… a chunk of that hard stuff the planet is made of! A mineral, a crystal, a fossil or a bio-organic solid… whatever! This is a rock collection and these are my rocks!

[sourscratched]

got caught in one of the back wheels of the bandwagon, extended corniverse headcanons be upon ye

my bryce and clark are based on the lovely lovely designs for them made by @gaybearwedding !! (well they at least were initially. things may have gotten away from me)

additional dumb doodling under the cut

(and one for my little team illinois + nebraska ocs ⬇️)

notes, headcanons, etc:

- the Wicked shirt and the blue button down (from the group pic in the first photoset) are both shirts i’ve owned for a long time and are still in my closet right now

- the team illinois and team nebraska captains are named dani (daniela) and miya and pretty much exactly what happened between bryce and clark also happened with them. they also spent a summer road-tripping together; prime grounds for homosexual thoughts to happen

- for anybody who’s watched the off book episode The Kids Are At Night with Mary Sohn (10/10 episode highly recommended), i imagine that most nights after clark gets done helping his sisters* with their homework he’s probably looking up online editions of Boy Boy Magazine. gotta get connected to the culture

* = my headcanon is that he has two sisters, one older one younger

- the Away Team is from the same country as Princess Emily but they’re diehard Nothing Everything Children Glass fans (is there an actual name for the group who made it?? tag with your headcanon for the band name) and there is a rivalry between the two factions

that’s all ive got for now thanks for reading all my weird little ideas!! 💖💖

[redisaid]

I have now played enough D&D to distill a quintessential experience that everyone should go through at least once, but I do literally every time I make a character:

Make a joke character because you are just a silly little clown and this is easier for you than committing to a hard concept

Be easy-going about your backstory because it's a joke character and you don't care, haha I'm such a funny little clown

After a few sessions, fall into a deep imagination hole and develop a complicated backstory that fits into the loose ideas of what has already been revealed for your little clown, but also explains why they are such a little clown, tragically

Grow unbelievably attached to your awful little joke character

Get fucked by your dice and die or have a close brush with character death

Get emotional about the prospect of losing your stupid fucking joke character

Get equally emotional when they are saved and you get to go on pretending to be a stupid little sad clown with your friends

Be surprised when your backstory always becomes the one the DM gravitates to, because you were actually the one that fleshed it out the most and left the best hooks for them, despite the fact that you made a joke character

Get invited to another game and do the exact same damn thing all over again

[kexing]

cries in they’re going places 🥺

[meirimerens]

wind in the sails like water under the bridge. or vice-versa. (a zoichik moodboard)

[un-pearable]

darkly funny to me that lloyd “father issues” garmadon is the one who introduced jay to starfarer

[ravs6709]

idk if this is something im maybe hallucinating or maybe its just the posts that i see occasionally but ifl sometimes its hard for the fandom to let yjh exist outside of kdj?? like i know the whole kdj being the reason for the story and yjh as an extension to exist is a thing but yjh separating himself from the narrative and establishing himself as not just the protagonist but a person is Also a thing and i feel like we don't talk about it as much.

like i dont know man!! maybe this is all in my head but sooo much of the yjh content also doubles as joongdok?? and you KNOW i love good joongdok but where are the character studies. where are the deep dives. where is the acknowledging yjh as an intricately convoluted and complex characters with his own wishes and desires and the way those desires fuel the narrative like goddddd hes SUCH a Character i think we need to discuss it more. anyways hes my fave btw no one gets him like i do

NO YOURE SO RIGHT THAT IS EXACTLY WHATS HAPPENING

Like yjh becoming a Person is his whole growth??? I haven't been consuming nearly as much orv content, and I'm pretty sure it's for this very reason cause I want more character studies so bad!! Or dynamics with other members of kimcom!!

You ever think about him and mia, mia who is suddenly so distant from her brother, you ever think about him and jihye, how she wants to be strong like him

Or sp!!! Who carries so much grief, and it saddens me that his "why is it not me, but you?" line got reduced to "oh he's jealous he doesn't have a kdj" when it's "he doesn't have ANY companions he doesn't have a SISTER A DISCIPLE A TEACHER"

[lovesickeros]

im back for my monthly delusion and its alice this time BECAUSE WHY DOES NO ONE ELSE TALK ABOUT HER. OR RHINEDOTTIR. extremely powerful witches who are probably on equal power level to an archon just vibing and committing war crimes.

[voidedjuice]

the bdsm potential of goldenglow and haze arknights

[dioti]

"lady shar protects me from the shadows" u sure it's not the bright ass glowing mace strapped to ur back

[cerise-on-top]

Haiii! I love your work :D

Could you possibly do a gaz x reader? When him and reader are celebrating their anniversary:), that would be really cute :’))

Hello! Thank you, I hope this is enjoyable as well! I went with a more fluffy route this time, I just wanna see Gaz happy and healthy and as far aways from any and all danger as possible! This request was really cute, I love Gaz! I'm glad there are several of us who do! Though I think I went a bit overboard with this, but how could I not when people are requesting best boi!

Celebrating Your Anniversary with Gaz

For the sake of this request, we’re gonna go with the idea that Gaz was able to be with you during your anniversary and didn’t end up being somewhere in the world, having to fight tooth and nail for his survival. We’re gonna go the fluffy route with this!

His memory is really good, Gaz would never forget something as important as your anniversary. Doesn’t matter if you’re together, doesn’t matter if you’re married. He has it memorized, he wrote it down on his phone, he noted it on several loose papers lying around just about anywhere. Trust me when I say he’s the last person to ever forget something like this. Although he would appreciate it if you remembered as well, he’d probably love it even more if, just once, you forgot about your anniversary, that way he could properly surprise and absolutely spoil you rotten. He wants to make your anniversaries days you can remember, so he will tailor them to your liking. You like going to arcades or amusement parks? A bookshop date? You just wanna go to McDonald’s? It’s all yours, and don’t you dare even think about paying, your wallet will not be strained on such a holy and sublime day.

The day would start off simple. You’d sleep in, if you can, cuddling for as long as possible, until one of you needs to get up for whatever reason. He’ll nuzzle into you, holding you as close to him as possible. He wants you to feel his warmth, how alive you make him feel, he wants you to feel how his heart beats for you and only you. Gaz has a beautiful voice, it’s fairly low and very calming to listen to. He’d hum your favorite tune that’s a bit calmer. He wants you to be as relaxed for him as possible, maybe even fall asleep in his arms again, even if he definitely wouldn’t mind you staying up to chat a bit with him as well. He’s gonna be all over you, making sure to touch you wherever he can so you feel secure with him. And when you’re drifting off to sleep again, that’s when his plan begins.

Gaz will plant a kiss on your neck or your forehead, whatever he can reach as he excuses himself to the bathroom. However, this sly dog will actually head for the kitchen to make you some breakfast. He’s a good cook, so whatever it is you like, he’ll make it. French toast? Scrambled eggs? Eggs and bacon? Your wish is his command, even if you never uttered a single order. He just hopes you won’t wake up or, even if you do, will at the very least stay in bed. This breakfast isn’t for you to enjoy in the kitchen or the living room, you’re to eat it in your bed. He even got you a nice tray so he can carry it to you without making a mess. Orange juice and all. You will be spoiled.

It’s then that he’ll wake you with another soft kiss to your temple, maybe shaking you awake a bit, so you can enjoy your breakfast together. Might even feed you a bit, just to be embarrassingly cute while he’s at it. The more content you look, the better. Afterwards, he’ll leave for the kitchen again, putting the tray away and decorating the living room a bit. There will be the most gorgeous roses you’ve ever seen in a vase, alongside several other flowers, each of which tells of a different kind of adoration. And when you finally follow suit and spot the flowers, he’ll just smile and claim that they looked very pretty. If you understand flower language, then you can tell he just really wanted to say he loved you in as many different ways as he could.

It’s then that he’ll ask you to get ready for the day, to brush your teeth and hair, and put on some clothes. You don’t need to look particularly fancy, he wants you to be as comfortable as you could possibly be. This is when he’ll take you to a place you like which, as mentioned before, could be just about anything. Waterpark, roller skate rink or just a lovely walk in the park, he’s open for everything. You will be accommodated accordingly. Those places are where you’ll be spending the majority of your day, grabbing something simple to eat for the time being, such as some fries or maybe some toast at a good cafe or pub.

When day meets night, he’ll take your hand in his, taking you to a fancy restaurant you’ve been to a few times. Preferably one where the both of you can look down at the city and see all the beautiful lights it has to offer. You’ll spend another two hours or so there. At the very least, you’ll be there until it gets dark, eating good food, having a good drink, maybe some wine as well. It doesn’t matter what you choose, all Gaz wants is to see the twinkling city lights dance in your eyes afterwards. When the evening is starting to roll over into night, he’ll take you to a ferris wheel. A big one where you can see the entire city from.

He’ll watch you as you excitedly look everywhere, taking in as many sights as you can, hoping that the ferris wheel stops at just the right time. Ideally, that would be right at the top. But he won’t be too picky if it’s somewhat to the side as well. As long as he gets to see your mouth agape at all the pretty lights, he’s content. While the ferris wheel stops, he’ll shoot his shot. If you’ve been together for a few years but aren’t married yet, he’ll propose to you. If you’re already married, he’ll still get down on one knee, take your hand in his and kiss its back tenderly, like a knight in shining armor. It’s embarrassingly sweet, but he knows no one but you is going to see it, so he does it anyway. You’re royalty in his eyes, you’re his to protect and care for, and he needs to show his loyalty however he can. Once he’s done kissing your hand, he’ll get up, holding your hand still and pulling you up with him, just so he can hold you close once again. Another tender kiss to your lips, and then he’ll get out a small box. Either the proposal ring or, if you’re married already, he’ll gift you a lovely little necklace made of pure silver. Something you can wear that will always remind you of him.

Once you’re down on the ground again, he’ll take your hand in his and lead you home, conversing with you about how much he loves you, how happy he is to have you in his life and how he hopes he gets to spend many, many more years like that with you.

If it’s not too late yet, you might watch a movie and cuddle on the couch. But you’ll likely both be tuckered out after today and just snuggle up in bed, ready for the next day.

And this is how Gaz’ ideal anniversary would go.

[trans-duckling]

KakaGai Week 2024: Fire Country's Wilderness

Words: 1,947 Pairing: KakaGai Promt: Collectables

Excitement ran through Kakashi’s veins as he jumped from one building to another on his way to the training ground where he knew Gai would be with his students. He just hoped he was almost finished, because what he had discovered had priority over any training. Or that was his opinion, anyways.

As expected, his friend was torturing the young genin with personalized exercises that would no doubt help them to become chunnin soon. The Hatake didn’t do a lot of that anymore, since Naruto had left with Jiraiya, Sakura was under Tsunade’s supervision and Sasuke… Well, he tried not to think too much about how he had failed him in order to avoid his brain messing up with him even more.

“Yo!” he exclaimed as he reached the team.

“My rival!” Gai greeted with way too much energy. “Have you come to join us in a youthful training?!”

Judging by Tenten’s and Neji’s expressions, the activity was being more a tortuous than youthful. Then again, they had to deal with a high-energy Gai for most of their day, so…

“Not really” he deadpanned. “Could I talk to you for a moment?”

Kakashi put emphasis on sounding serious but not urgent, though the matter was rather pressing, if they asked him. His friend, obviously noticing that, nodded while walking behind him until they were at a safe distance from the genin. Tenten and Neji took that as a signal for taking a break, while Lee started to do push-ups. He really was like a mini clone of Gai.

“So, what is it, rival? A mission?”

“Ah… No” the Hatake said. “I saw a new international delivery entering the village an hour ago.”

“Okay…” the other man nodded, as if waiting for something more. “And…?”

“It was an international delivery, Gai” he pressed.

A few seconds passed before his friend opened his eyes wide.

“Oh! OH! I see!” the taijutsu master exclaimed, suddenly excited and barely containing his energy. A moment after, his expression changed into a sour one as he looked back at the genin and then to Kakashi as if he didn’t know what to do. “I, uh… I know I promised you we would do this together, but my students…”

“Mah, Gai… You promised to open and build them together, but never said anything about shopping, so…”

“You’re right! GREAT!” he beamed, taking out his wallet the next second and offering him a bunch of money. “Here, there should be enough for two or three. We’re almost finished with the training, so maybe we can meet at your house in half an hour?”

The Hatake quickly took the money and put it away before the genin could start wondering what was going on.

“Sounds about right” he nodded. “See you in a bit.”

Not wanting to wait one more second, he shunshined back to almost Konoha’s center. There, at the corner of a building in a secondary street, an international shop brought items from all over the world once a month or so. It was a tricky business, since the provider had to have permits from all the countries to move freely and then be checked in every entrance to ensure they weren’t bringing anything dangerous to the villages. However, the price at which the products were sold definitely compensated those problems to the owners.

A few months ago, when Naruto left the village to study under Jiraiya’s supervision and Sakura told him about wanting to become a medic-nin, Kakashi had gone back to a normal jounin duty. That meant a higher number of dangerous missions and, since he was feeling rather guilty and useless about the whole situation, he also accepted those that nobody else wanted for morale or just because they bordered the suicidal. For several weeks his routine seemed to go back almost to what it was when he was in ANBU, the world grey around him. Of course, as soon as Tsunade noticed —she either paid more attention or cared more than other Kages—, he forced him to step down, but his guilt and sense of being useless remained there.

Until Gai intervened, that was.

Even after so many years, he still didn’t understand how it was possible for that man to find him at his lowest and manage to put him back together. One day, when he’d find the strength to do it, he would tell him how much that meant for the Hatake.

In that occasion, Gai had opted to make him focus on other things. Stupid things.

‘Maybe we should find a hobby for when we’re off-duty’ the taijutsu master had said. ‘We have too much money saved, anyways.’

It was a stupid suggestion. Shinobi didn’t need hobbies. And yet, the other man had dragged him through all Konoha’s streets until they found the international shop. There were a lot of different products they had never tried, so Gai made a challenge to finally do it. One of the things they bought were a couple of rectangular white boxes that were supposed to contain a puzzle or something like that. Obviously, the intention of buying two was too see who could put it together faster.

Once at Gai’s home, the package revealed to have not puzzles, but some kind of figures that could be put together to make a three-dimensional landscape of a well-known part of the world. And it was not one puzzle, but a series of collectables ones that could appear randomly in the box. The whole building process turned out to be way more difficult than what they had initially predicted, but the result was rather accurate and pleasant to the sight. And that without counting that each landscape was constructed to act as some kind of day-to-day object, like a pot, a door’s holder or fishbowl.

The thing was that, after hours of building those things, Gai won the challenge and Kakashi was left with the desire to get some of the other constructions that appeared in the pamphlet. One in particular became his favorite with just a simple look, but he would never admit it. As stablished before, to have a hobby like that was stupid for a shinobi. And those things were expensive to buy, even with their jounin pays.

The next day, Gai appeared at his house with two more and they spent all the afternoon at it again.

Little was needed after that, the activity becoming something satisfactory for both of them. To Gai, it was another opportunity for a challenge. To Kakashi, it was a relaxing activity. And, of course, it was also a nice way to spend time together without having to factor feelings in the equation. That was as completely different story.

One thing they didn’t consider after buying the six available constructions at the shop, was that once they were all finished they had to wait until the next delivery to get more, which could take from one to three months.

Thus, why Kakashi had run to find Gai the moment he had seen the international delivery arriving to Konoha. Now, he waited in his little apartment with four white boxes mocking him on the desk. They were challenging him to be opened and reveal if they had gotten anything new. Up until then, they had bought eight boxes —plus those four— and gotten five different landscapes and one duplicate twice. They both had one of the repeated, while the other four had been distributed by tossing a coin and the duplicates had been given to some friends. And they still had twelve more to collect each of them. The Hatake had opted to not do the math to calculate how much money he would need to make the whole collection.

What was most annoying —especially being a shinobi—, was that it was impossible for them to know what was inside of the box without opening it, which of course you could only do once bought. There was no serial number to check and the weights seemed to be identical.

“I’m here!” a loud voice exclaimed while banging at his door. “Open up, rival!”

Sighing after having to wait for so long, the Hatake left the chair to let his friend come inside.

“Four again?” Gai huffed, looking at the packages on the desk. “I really thought they would consider my suggestion of bringing more next time!”

“I guess we’re the only ones buying them for now” Kakashi shrugged. “So bringing more would probably take up space for other best-selling items, even if we do leave a fortune in this... Anyways, are you ready?”

“Always, rival!” his friend beamed. “You’ll see, I’m sure this time we won’t get any duplicate!”

They got two duplicates. Yup, their financial savings were going to disappear thanks to those collectables, Kakashi was sure of that now.

At least they got two news, too. And not some random ones, no, they got it. The one he had been waiting for since the first time. Called ‘Fire Country’s wilderness’, it was a small fountain and lamp that worked connected to the electricity by a plug. It had a conical form, with the most famous animal species of the territory, all replicated with absolute precision and a landscape so beautiful that it brought peace to the Hatake just by looking at it. That, together with the soft running of the water and the dim light, made of it an object that he would appreciate for the rest of his life. If he got it, that was.

“Well, then” he coughed, trying to look nonchalant. “Should we toss the coin to see who takes which?”

“We could, but I don’t think it will be necessary this time.”

That look again. The damn look indicating that Gai was able to read him like an open book even when the only visible part of his face was an eye. He hated and loved it at the same time.

“Are you sure? It would only be fair.”

“Of course I’m sure, rival!” the other man assured, patting him on the back. “You take the fountain, and I’ll take the Wind Country oasis, see? That way we’re all happy.”

Trying to hide how delighted he actually was about it, Kakashi took the object in his hands and found the perfect spot for it in the corner of the desk next to the bookshelf. There, it would be protected from falling and a plug was accessible to connect it so it could act as a lamp and a fountain when turned on. He did so almost immediately, satisfied with the calm sound of the thin creek running down.

“Would you like to stay for lunch?” he asked before thinking about it, his mind still focused on the warm feeling in his belly.

“Are you sure, rival? I wouldn’t want to impose…”

He wasn’t.

“I wouldn’t ask otherwise, Gai.”

“Well, in that case… Of course!”

They would slip. Again. Either if it was only making out or more, he knew it would happen. Some time ago, he had tried to promise himself to stop that kind of relationship with Gai until he could offer him what he really wanted: a partner. They had even —more or less— talked about it in the past and agreed it was for the best to not keep getting involved like that.

Evidently, the decision was not working for them. Not as long as Gai’s hands kept finding their place on his hips while he cooked in the kitchen. But it was ok, he tried to convince himself. That would be the last time. For sure. No more slips.

It was not the last time.

[princesscallyie]

Speaking of rooms, how’s your doll collecting been as of late? Have you added any new dolls/brands to your collection, or do you think you’re pretty set for now?

Here’s my current shelf of favorites. Nowadays I rarely add anything new, but I get my pre-order IT doll the other day.

The mermaid cause I thought she would look good with my mermaid Ken and custom. Other than that, I do get dolls I like on occasion but I just don’t open them 😩 I just put them in the closet.

Like I got Venus from monster high g3, and my mom told me about some $11 RH costume ball dolls at Walmart and I got those, another Monster High doll on clearance but I just don’t open them lol.

I do want the Sasha Slumber Party reproduction doll. I know I won’t open her, but I would like her in my possession lol. Other than that, I think I’m good for now.

[samuel-de-champagne-problems]

I really am tempted to order one of those little printers that don’t use ink? I think it’s the sprocket and it would be so cute for a book journal or scrapbooking

[raininyourblackeyes]

My cousin, a published writer, a well-known poet in my country and a literature professor, for whom I've always been no.1 support ever since her first attempts at writing in high school, told me that I must stop writing as a hobby because that's her thing and since I'm writing fantasy mostly my writing could never have any important artistic value anyways.