#expect good things this year 😛

[travelling-on-the-octopath]

Decided to go back and review previous Princes chapters. Things have changed, which means I'm going to push back any publishing until I've got more in the tank. Hopefully we'll get an update before the two-year mark 🙏🏻

[meowsforyujin]

tattoo artist- Leeknow

(Warnings: smut! Leeknow x reader, slight age gap, oral, unprotected sex but reader is on the pill, tattoo gun, hair pulling, mentions of pain, semi public sex, good old fashion doggy style 😛😛)

Summary: leeknow is your tattoo artist that you’ve been crushing on for a while, but he’s never made a move. So obviously, you decide to get a tattoo in a slightly scandalous spot and inevitably things get steamy

——————————————————————

You sit on the chair eagerly, holding the piece of paper in your hand. It’s been 15 minutes since you came, where is he?

“Are you nervous?” you swear you feel your whole demeanor change when you hear his voice.

You scoff, “Have I ever been nervous?”

“You were the first time.” Minho smirks playfully.

You don’t remember the first time as vividly as he does. He remembers it as if it was yesterday.

He remembers his world stopping when you walked in. You were so captivating to him. You wore a leather skirt with fishnets, and a cropped tank top that complimented your belly button piercing. Your hair was black and blonde at the time, roots grown out but still pretty. Your eyes were starry and nervous, showing the design you wanted on your left arm for the first tattoo you’d ever gotten. You were shy at first, but then opened up pretty quickly, talking his ear off. Explaining how long you had wanted a tattoo, and it was hard to narrow down the choices for your first one. He knew you’d be back after proclaiming your love and interest in tattoos, but he didn’t expect so soon. You’d come back a week later for another. It was then when you told him you were excited to start college the following week. All his possible plans on asking you out vanished with that, given that you were 18 and he was 22 at the time.

Well it’s three years later, and who knows how many times you’ve been here. Minho expected to have a fun time like usual, chatting away with you, also expecting the familiar disappointment that would follow when you left. What he DIDN’T expect was you wanting a tattoo on your chest that required your shirt to be off.

“Um, well you’d need to take your shirt off..do you want me to get a girl to do this instead?” He hoped you didn’t see how red his ears were.

“No, why would I? I trust you the most, and it’s not like I’m getting naked or anything”

Yet.

He hesitantly nods, instructing you shyly to remove your shirt. This usually wouldn’t be a problem, since Minho finds himself mature. But his attraction towards you is what stands out among the rest of the customers. And he feels guilty for it, given the age gap. You’re 21 and he’s 25, which doesn’t seem that big of a deal to most but the fact that he’s known you since you were technically a teenager amplifies his guilt.

Despite his worries, and your black lace bra, things weren’t very awkward. You both talked as usual, enjoying the time you had since it had been a while. I mean, it's been three years and they're only so many tattoos you want, so inevitably your visits have slowed down over the years. At some point in your rambling, you ask, “Have you ever had a psychotic ex girlfriend?”

He simply shakes his head. “Oh really? Not even like a jealous one?”

“I’ve never had a girlfriend.” He states as if it’s the most normal thing for a gorgeous 25 year old man to have never had a girlfriend.

“YOU WHAT?” you could not contain your shock.

He chuckles softly, “Why so surprised?” He’s still focused on his task at hand.

“Well for starters, you’re gorgeous, and also you’re kind and funny, what else would anyone want?” His laugh was breathier than he wanted it to be, and you definitely catch the pink hue dusting his cheeks.

“Maybe, but I’m also a tattoo artist who didn’t graduate college.”

“I think the tattoo artist thing is dreamy.” You pause, “And hot.”

His breath audibly hitches. “I, thank you.”

Truth is you’ve been pining after Minho for forever. You flirt with him constantly, and it obviously has an effect on him, so you assumed he had a girlfriend since he never made a move. But even so, you always secretly hoped he was single. And maybe you let your delusions get the best of you, because you scheduled the latest appointment possible, and picked your most flattering bra for him to see. Your plaid skirt was short too, knee high socks complimenting your thighs.

“Any plans or ideas for the next tattoo?” Minho asks, desperate to change the subject.

“I dunno, I’m kinda running out of ideas.”

“Damn, I’d miss my favorite customer.”

“Well, maybe we should go for coffee sometime?” He pauses his movements, obviously flustered, but also deep in thought of what his response should be.

“You know I can’t, but I’m flattered regardless.” Minho failed to hide his disappointment in his voice.

“Why, can’t date customers or what?”

He laughs a bit, “No, have you seen this place? We don’t really have rules.”

You laugh with him, “Okay so why? Am I not pretty or?”

That wasn’t very funny to him. “No, you’re breathtaking.” He knows he shouldn’t have said that, yet he doesn’t feel a single trace of regret. “It’s just, the age gap.” You furrow your brows in confusion, “Aren’t you 25?”

“Yeah.”

You couldn’t help giggling at him. “Oh please Minho, I’ve been on dates with way older than you.” His eyes dart up at you. “What? How much older?”

You shrug, “Doesn’t matter, go out with me?”

He turns off the tattoo gun and sets it next to him, deep in thought.

You suddenly wrap your legs around him to bring him closer, “Please?”, you watch his eyes flutter shut as you comb his hair with your fingers. You didn’t dare make another move. You needed him to take the next step. He caught on to this quickly, given the fact that you’ve had your fingers and legs wrapped around him for what felt like forever, and have made no further effort to act on the obvious tension between the two of you. Despite your persuasion, he still felt guilty. But his judgment was clouded by your hot breath fanning his cheeks.

You nearly zone out taking in his features, but quickly brought back by Minho closing the gap between the two of you.

His lips were so soft. He kissed just like he did his tattoos, calm and precise, concentrated on doing everything the best way possible. He bites your bottom lip softly, granting himself access to push his tongue in your mouth. He tastes so sweet it was insane.

You whine softly, tugging at his shirt. Minho pulls away from you for a second, pulling off his shirt, then quickly attaching his lips once more. His lips trail down your jaw towards your neck as you whimper. You hiss when his chest accidentally comes in contact with your new (unfinished) tattoo.

He pulls away worried, “Sorry, did I hurt you?”’

You shyly shake your head, “I liked it.” He raises his eyebrows at you, “I liked the pain, feels nice.” He stares at you, his concerned expression morphing into a devilish smirk.

“Oh really?” He touches you again, groping your breast slightly, barely pressing against the tattoo but still enough to cause a pleasurable thrill.

Minho kisses you again but with much more force this time, biting your lip rather harshly, earning a deep moan from you. His hand slowly inches up your thighs teasingly, searching for the hem of your underwear. He pulls away abruptly to look at you, and then pulls your skirt up. He scoffs when he finds that you indeed were not wearing anything under your skirt.

“You’re crazy.” He laughs, shaking his head, not really trying to hide that his face was bright ass red.

“I’m crazy for you.” you pull him closer, missing his lips on yours. He shakes his head in disapproval, “Cringe.”, you look at him in disbelief, about to protest but immediately distracted by his hand reaching down to cup your heat. You feel yourself beginning to fall apart for him right then and there.

“You're so wet.” He flashes you a toothy grin while running his fingers up and down your folds. You don’t respond, too focused on the fact that his hands were finally touching you, and this wasn’t a dream.

You’d often daydream about his hands alone. You loved staring at his hands while he held that tattoo gun, veiny and big, and precise in every movement. You’d think about all the ways his hands could move precisely, and not with the tattoo gun.

Your thoughts are cut short when Minho's head is in between your legs. “Fuck.”, you whisper, the way his dough eyes are looking up at you, half for consent and half for amusement was enough to make you finish right there. Nonetheless, you power through.

Minho licks a long, slow stripe up your folds. When he meets your clit, he circles his tongue slowly over it, before going back down to tease your entrance.

The way he eats you out is heaven. He uses a kissing motion around your clit, rather than just applying pressure or sucking on it (he does that too). You whine, pushing his face impossibly closer to you, tugging at his hair begging him to keep going. Your legs shake as you feel your high approaching, Minho gets the message and speeds up his actions. Out of nowhere he pushes in a finger, pumping it in and out of you quickly. This tips you over the edge and before you know it your thighs are shaking violently, closing around his head as you cum with a silent cry, back arched in the air.

Minho cleans you up with his tongue, ignoring your whines from overstimulation. Eventually he stops and looks up at you, and fuck if it isn’t the prettiest sight you’ve ever seen. His lips parted, pupils blown out, and you don’t miss your juices dripping down his chin. His lustful gaze is working you up all over again.

You pull him into another heating kiss, tasting yourself on his tongue. You hand trails down to his hard on, palming him softly. He groans deeply into the kiss, playing with the clasp of your bra until it falls off your shoulders. Minho pulls from this kiss to peel the rest of your bra off, letting out a shaken exhale staring at your bare chest. It’s not long before he has his lips wrapped around your nipple and his hand around your other breast. You enjoy this for a moment, before playing with his belt until you manage to get it off.

You stand up, taking Minho by surprise. He almost thought you were leaving until you get on your knees. His breath is shaky and he watches you pulling out his member. You practically drool at the sight of it. It wasn't too long, but longer than most. And what he didn’t have in length was made up for by how fucking thick it was. You wrap your hand around it, pumping steadily.

Soon enough, you take him all in your mouth, tip hitting the back of your throat. Luckily he did not notice your impatience, too immersed in the feeling of your mouth around him. You bob your head up and down on him, alternating between swirling your tongue around his tip and sucking it. He eventually begins thrusting his hips, meeting your bobbing motions until you feel him twitch in your mouth and he pulls you off him. You can’t help but pout up at him and he just chuckles, pulling you off the ground. He kisses you briefly before bending you over the tattoo chair.

You whimper as he teases your folds, dragging his cock up and down them. You feel his tip teasing your entrance, your cunt leaking in anticipation.

“Wait,” he breaths, “Do you have a condom?”

“No? Why would I have a condom? You're the guy here.”

“Yeah well you’re the one who expected this to happen!”

“I did not!”

“You literally didn’t wear any underwear.”

“I’m on the pill.”

You hear him sigh, “Are you sure?”

“Minho just fuck me already before I ride you instead.”

Despite your affirmation, he was still hesitant. Pushing in as slowly as possible, your warm cunt enveloping him earns a somewhat high pitched moan from him.

You want to tease him, you really do, but you’re already a fucking mess and he hasn’t moved. The stretch is absolutely delicious, and he’s reaching every spot perfectly.

He begins moving steady, hands gripping your hips. You’re loud and he loves it. Your moans encouraging him to move faster, he builds up his pace. “Fuck fuck fuck! Like that please!” You babble, already feeling your consciousness slip away.

“Mmm you like it rough right? You like it when I fuck you dumb?.” you can only nod, incredibly turned on by his words.

Knock knock.

You both pause, and you feel reality coming back to you when you hear a voice from the other side of the door.

“Hey Minho, sorry to interrupt.”

Fuck. It had completely slipped your mind that yeah maybe there weren't really any other customers there but there were obviously workers. And you recognized her voice, it was Yuri, the one who always answered your calls and scheduled your appointments. God this was embarrassing.

“I’m leaving for the day, so if you could lock up when you’re uh, done, that’d be great.”

You could not be more mortified in this moment.

“Okay sounds good, thanks Yuri.” Minho yells from the other side.

You both wait until you hear the bell from the front door, indicating she had left.

“Oh my god that’s so embarrassing.” You whine, burying your face further in the chair. Minho laughs in disbelief, “You wore no underwear and THAT'S embarrassing?”

all you do is whine and mumble a ‘shut up’ before he’s fucking you again without warning, this time pulling your hair. You yelp at the sting, eyes rolling back to your head.

“Thought you wanted an audience baby? Thought you wanted everyone to know I was fucking you so well?” You can’t respond, you're too close to your climax already. Minho takes note of this and picks up the pace, thrashing into you without mercy.

“Oh my god I’m so close please!” You cry, tears of pleasure spilling down your cheeks. Minho just grunts, snaking his fingers down under you to rub your clit.

You see white as you cum for the second time tonight, walls clamping down on Minho, causing him to cum shortly after you.

You both lay there for a while, catching each other's breath. You jolt up when you hear him walking away, fearing that he was going to leave, only to find him returning with a warm towel to clean you up. You’re silent as he cleans you up, just watching him with adoration.

“So,” he clears his throat, “Should we go somewhere now?”

You smile, “My place?”

He chuckles, “I was thinking dinner?”

-AHH I had sm fun writing this!! Expect a sequel bc omg I cannot stop thinking ab tattoo artist bf lee know? Like? Anywaysss pls lmk your thoughts! I’m not great at writing but I love to do it, so I’d rlly like tips on how I can improve!!

[gamblersdoll]

Is it possible for you to write an ex bf sukuna fic where he shows up at psychiatrist y/ns office, as a patient, to win her back after months of her not reaching back to him 😭

This could end up being fluff or smut wtv u prefer 😛

ogey! toxic! sukuna semi nsfw

oh my fucking god, dude.

you would think that because he is the one who broke of the relationship, sukuna would just leave you the fuck alone..

nope! instead of that, he just texts you when you leave him on read, an obvious sign that hes bothered by the fact that you dont reach to him anymore. he lived for it, it was pathetic for both of you.

merely pathetic of him, moreover.

you had more important things to worry about, like your patients at the hospital that were worried about their own health and needs.

“okay, how are we doing —“ you were looking at your little pretty notepad, thinking that you were attending to the same old man who dealt with hallucinations and voices, but no..

its your delusional ex boyfriend, sukuna.

“im doing better now, doc.” he grumbles, a shit eating grin and he crosses his legs. “why dont you respond anymore? aren’t psychiatrists supposed to do that?”

you could punch him.

literally. like, you could punch the fuck out of him.. and unfortunately, he would like that.

“to patients, not to ex flings. you grunt, turning your back to him to reorganize your desk. you feel a pair of hands on your hips, breathing on your neck.

had you both stayed together, you would be soaked.

“and to me, because im a patient now.” he chuckles, sitting back down and expecting a professional smile. “well, arent you going to help me, doc?” it wasnt really a question, more of a snide.

it takes everything to not break him.

“ohkay, ryomen.” you address, he hated when you called him by that. “what’s been going on? any new medication youve been taking.”

he sucks his teeth, rolling his eyes. “well, i have this asshole of an ex girlfriend.” he starts, noticing a vein popping out of your neck. “but, cant get mad.. had the best pussy ive had in years.”

how poetic.

“hmm, okay, and how does that make you feel?” you coo, seeing three veins pop from his knuckles. seems like he could lose this game he started.

“it pisses me off,” he starts. tapping his foot, he stares into you. “she acts as if she can win this little ‘ill have him crawling’ game. yet, shes using her pussy as some pawn.”

now that confused you, but, if he says so.

“has it made you feel.. down? blue?”

“the fuck are you asking me?” he growls, a eye twitch and his fist balls up. you hold back a chuckle, professional, professional.

“have you been having suicidal thoughts, ryomen?” you mask your voice with that customer service voice, knowing damn well it pisses him off so bad.

“no, i havent had— fuck you!”

“ryomen, why are we angry?” you press again, eyes lowering to his and a small smile.

youre fucking with him, he knows that. he knows that you are toying with him, he knows that. why does it make him angry? he used to do the–

fuck, he taught you that shit.

“fuck you, ill have you lose your job.” he growled.

“for what? being too nice? for good customer service?” you chuckle, “ryomen, is there someone i should call to come retrieve you?” you suggest, “any nephews? brothers?”

oh, you fucking bitch.

“we aint done.” he says, storming out and slamming the office building door. you chuckle, immediately looking at your phone to see the missed calls and texts from him.

you pussywhipped fucker, sukuna.

[harus-simp]

When you call them couple nicknames in their native language

Zhang Hao, Ricky, Brian and Ollie

Warning: none, just really cute moments (in the Ollie one the reader will have their same age or maximum will be one year older)

Author's note: I got this idea thanks to the wonderful haobin video (you all know which). So I searched like different nicknames to call your partner in China so we'll just roll with that :))

If it's not accurate enough please tell me so I can change it :)

°□°□°□°□°□°□°□°□°□°□°□°□°□°□°□°□

Given their hard work and the sacrifice on coming to a whole different country from theirs and learning a different language, you decide to surprise them by calling them with couple nicknames in their native tongue (well, maybe someone had the idea and helped you)

Zhang Hao

☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆

You were texting each other as he was on the planet camp and you were back home doing your own thing

You were congratulating him on his advances on the programme and how he was killing everything he did

Before telling each other goodbye you wrote him a short sweet message that he wasn't expecting at all

-Bye bye 宝贝 (Bǎo bèi)

He literally was speechless and blushing all shy, like 😳😳😳

He smiled like a little kid would

-How do you know that?

He asked it although he didn't need the answer at the moment, he felt so happy that you told him something in his native tongue

He felt butterflies, no fireworks exploding on his tummy

-Did I say it wrong? :((

-No no, you just surprised me, I love you so much <3

Yeah you definitely have this man whipped for you 😩🤌

Ricky

♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡

You were cuddling peacefully on your sofa while watching a little bit of Netflix

You both enjoyed your quality time in silence with Ricky's arms being wrapped around your frame and your head resting on his chest

He suddenly got up to go to the grocery store because you were missing something to have as a snack

Before leaving you called him quietly

"亲爱的 (Qīn’ài de), would you get me (whatever you prefer) please?"

He smirked slightly, nodding at you

"Sure princess" 😉

All his journey and the way back he kept thinking of the sweet nickname you used,filling him up with pride and appreciation for you

When he got back he brought what he had bought to the living room and just collapsed on top of you, trapping you in his arms

You giggled trying to pray him off of you without any succes

"Ricky stop please"

"What's the magic word?"

Realising of his previous smile you figured it out

"亲爱的(Qīn’ài de)?"

He moved satisfied to one side but hugged you tighter than before

"I thought that didn't have any effect on you?"you teased him

"Oh, you have plenty of effect in me, believe me"

He's just a flirt, what can I say?😛✌️

Brian

☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆

You were hanging out that day having a nice and relaxing date by the Han River

It was spring, so you were having a walk by the beautiful trees, specially cherry blossoms

When you both eventually got tired you just layed on the grass next to each other enjoying the good weather

You then got closer to him and looking at him you told him

"I love moments like this 亲亲(Qīn qīn)"

Right after you said that you returned to your previous position

He looked at you surprised and a shy smiled appeared on his face immediately 😄

He started giggling like a little kid almost kicking his feet from excitement

You looked at him amused, seeing he was laughing.

"What's so funny?"you looked at him confused

"Nothing, it's just you are so cute" he said pinching your cheeks

Despite his calm and composed nature, you saw a totally new side to him.

But you weren't complaining

And he was living his best moment 😌

Ollie

♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡

He is the one behind all his friends s/o calling them cute couple names

Literally so playful and childish we love it

One day after school he was going back home with his friend, aka his crush

They were just talking about school and how their day went

He also told you about the little plan he carried out

You were listening carefully, already aware of the situation because let's say Ricky already had in mind that it was all their maknae's idea, knowing his teasing nature, and told you everything

So you asked him in advance a nickname to call Ollie and make him taste his own medicine

However you warned him not to be anything too loving or more personal because he was still a baby at the end of the day

And you kinda found him cute (liked him back)

Well Ricky ignored you completely anyways lol

So when you both reached your house, where you both parted ways, you said to him calmly

"Well see you tomorrow, 亲(Qīn)" you told him as you gave him a little peck on his cheek and bupped his nose, and entered your house grinning from ear to ear 😁

He stood there in utter shock and feeling how his ears started to heat up, as well as his cheeks.

He suddenly realised the whole situation and smiled cutely

He could have a chance with you!

Maybe teasing the others was useful after all

He turned around and started giving little jumps of happiness going to his destination

Well you were watching him the whole time through your window, and his reaction made you giddy and excited for the future ahead of you both 🤭🤭🤭

°◇°◇°◇°◇°◇°◇°◇°◇°◇°◇°◇°◇°◇°◇°◇°◇°

宝贝 – Bǎo bèi = literally means treasure or precious thing but the English equivalent would be baby or sweetie

亲爱的 – Qīn’ài de = it's used like in English, meaning darling or dearest, regardless of gender

亲亲 – Qīn qīn = variation of the previous one, it means dear one

亲 – Qīn = also a variation of 亲爱的(Qīn’ài de) but has a slang context to it, the closest equivalent would be bae or boo

[bakathief]

@scar-eyejolteon14 This movie is still not out on disc and probably won‘t be until October/November so please don‘t drop spoilers like that, even if seemingly everybody talks about it. Unfortunately I was already spoiled but I still want to be fair and treat it as a spoiler.

As for the reveal, I can‘t say I cared much. It was hinted at before and you can‘t expect me to take it too seriously when this is established 30 years into the show. If it will be relevant in future plot points or anything at all for that matter I would be happy but atm there seems to real reasoning behind it. I wasn‘t too happy with some stuff in the latest MK chapter either and I don‘t want to sound overly critical but sometimes I think „was this really the best choice?“ i respect Aoyama and whatever his choices are and I still enjoy the show endlessly. I know he loves his characters but you see less of that in the later chapters or at least it is harder to see? I don‘t wanna seem unfair and like I said, I still enjoy the show.

as for the cousin thing - I don‘t mind but will ignore it mostly unless they give me a reason to think „hey, that‘s a good plot point“. I‘m still very excited for the movie ❤️

as for KaiShin - honestly, I didn‘t get the panic. I stayed off social media because ✨spoilers ✨ but from what I heard it was crazy. Some really needed to calm down. To me a real crisis is when the author dies - that is bad. Even if two cousins are fucking two men won‘t have any kids. If KaiShin were to give birth we have stetched the limits of canon enough to also ignore cousins and possible recessive genes 😛

[staawberru]

My Childhood Friend Wrote A Gay Omegaverse Fanfic About Me!

hiiiiiii welcome to the first chapter in this series whooo. A couple. things mc homophobic (he will half to get over it) but if you agree with anything he’s saying get out 😛

Chapter one | next chapter | past chapter

—

The bus rides always sucked, if you had no friends it sucked even more. Lucky for you, you don’t have those problems. You have many friends, cool friends. Unfortunately, none of them ride your bus. Well, you have one friend but he’s your weird childhood friend, Jobie You’ve lived right next to him for years, and, sadly, that somehow means he’s attached to you, like a parasite which you would be fine with if he wasn’t gay! You know how that sounds, but you're not homophobic! How can you be homophobic and have a gay friends? That doesn’t make sense. Fortunately, he was too engrossed in his little online comic to notice or talk to you right now. 

      You look out the bus window, it’s going to rain. You already knew it, the sky was cloudy and this morning on the walk to the bus stop you could smell the rain. You love rain, you do, but you have soccer practice later today, and you really can’t miss it. Well, you can, but you’d prefer not to. Missing it would mean taking the bus home, and that would mean talking to Jobie, and that’s one of the worst things ever. All he talks about is his stupid new bl obsession and blah blah blah. Maybe you can convince a real friend to drive you home. God, you just wish you could get away from his rants about his newest fixation. 

      You sigh. You hate the bus, but school is even worse. You don’t have any classes with any of your friends. Well that was a lie, you have one class with Jobie but he definitely doesn’t count. You feel a small pale finger poke your shoulder, you turn your head and glare. How dare he ruin your train of thoughts. You see his pale blue eyes widen just ever so slightly and you soften your [eye color] eyes faintly. As much as you want to tell him that you hate him and his clingy attitude you can’t. Why not? Wouldn’t it be so much easier to get rid of him? Unfortunately he has the hottest sister possible. You can’t let such beauty go.  

    “I was wondering if you wanted to come over…?” He asked quietly. Your eyebrows furrowed. You saw him looking down at his lap, and you assumed he was expecting the worst. 

    You paused. This could be an excuse to see his sister! Wait, she won’t be back until spring break, and that’s next week. You can’t just tell him no, he’ll go complain to his little mommy and then his precious mother will talk to your mom. You need an excuse.

   “Can’t, sorry, I have soccer practice today.” You say. Hopefully that would be a good enough excuse. You see him look up with a frown plastered on his face.

    “It’s going to rain today, didn’t you read the forecast?” His quiet voice seems to ring around the silent bus. Ah, he got you. Ugh, how are you supposed to get out of this one? 

    “Well we can still practice in the gym,” you smile. He doesn’t seem completely convinced but he finally gets off your back, going back to his online book, You look at him you can see the small frown on his face. You hate to make him feel bad, but you just let your smile fade and look back out the window, toward the dreaded school.

——

    As the school day continues you can’t help but feel increasingly worse. It’s unlike you to feel this bad over other people. For example, you didn’t feel bad the time a friend broke an arm, or the time your dad lost his job, but yet you feel bad because you rejected a kid you don’t like. So you’ve decided to go home with him. It doesn't matter if his hot sister isn’t there, he still has an awesome gaming setup.

     As the last period approaches, so does your class with him. This is where you plan to apologize. You hate to admit it, but you’ve been thinking about this all day. What were you going to say? What were you going to do? Finally, you decided to just say sorry, and that you do actually want to come over. 

     Sixth period finally rolled around and you saw him, Jobie. He was looking at his phone like normal, unbothered by your staring. You frown slightly. He probably doesn’t care. It's understandable, but still kind of annoying. Is this what mom thinks when you ignore her? Whatever, you’ll just catch him at the end of class. You look out the window, it seems like the rain is finally starting. It was supposed to start earlier, around ten but here you are. You put your head down and wait for the class to end. 

                                                    ——

Biology class took longer than normal. By the end of the day it had already been long enough, but the added weight of talking to Jobie attached a whole lot of extra Stress. But it was finally the end and finally time to talk to him. You look outside briefly and start making your way to him. You pause. Is this really okay? You blew him off this morning and now you're apologizing. It makes it seem like you're desperate or something.

      Something’s wrong, you know it Jobie always rushed to the bus, tripping on anything and everything, but today he isn’t. He's just sitting, waiting. Maybe he’s waiting for your apology, your forgiveness. Your eyes narrow. It’s weird, but it’s none of your business. All you have to do is apologize.

     “Hey Jobie,” you say, walking the rest of the way up to him. He jumped, your voice scaring him. He turned off his phone and looked up at you, blushing. You were about to say something, but you paused. Not only was he acting weird, but he also seemed guilty. You can see it in the way he tries, desperately, to look away from you. It could be passed off as his normal behavior, but something was wrong with him. 

   “You good?” You ask, leaning over him. His face reddened and he looked down.

    “You’re, um, a little close…” He squeaks, fidgeting with his hand. Oh, you were, you were practically squishing him.

    “Oh, sorry,” you didn’t mean for it to come off so awkwardly, but it did. You back off and stand next to him, forcing him to turn to look at you. 

    “So, uh, how are you?” You decided to take things slow. “Aren’t you going to miss the bus?”

    “Ah no, someone's driving me home. Why?” He looked up at you. 

    “No reason, really,” you shrug. “Better get off to soccer practice if I don’t want coach up my ass.” You mumble the last bit as you walk off. Jobie is the type to report you for something as stupid as cursing. Well, that was a bust. You didn’t get to apologize like you wanted. At least it saves you the embarrassment of saying sorry to him.

      “Wait!” Jobie calls out “Can I walk you? You looked like you really had something to say.” How does he know that? Can he read minds or something? Now that you think about it, he always knows what’s on your mind. Could he be a mind reader? Or maybe you're just easy to read. Whatever, it doesn't matter.

     “Ah well, it sounds stupid so never mind.” You say, now that you think about it, who is this person driving him home. “So, who’s this friend?”

     “Oh! Um, well, it’s embarrassing to say,” Jobie looks off to the side, fidgeting with his coat seaves. Then he stops walking, takes a breath and looks at you. You almost ran into him, but stopped yourself just before. 

     “Tell me what you were going to say,” Jobie looks you right in the eye. “I want to know.” With how girly he looks, you never expected him to be so threatening. You look him in the eyes. Is he serious? 

[haljathefangirlcat]

My dealer: got some straight gas 🔥😛 this strain is called “Beowulf” 😳 you’ll be zonked out of your gourd 💯

Me: yeah whatever. I don’t feel shit.

literal years later, when I least expected it: dude I swear I just saw Cain's spawn lurking in the fens

My buddy the narrator pacing: Hrothulf is plotting against his uncle

The thing about Beowulf is... I never quite got the hype about it. (Yes, we're not Supposed to use words like "hype" about world literature Classics, especially from ancient times, or to make light of them in general. Shut up and contemplate the fact that social media posts expressing nothing more than personal opinions and feelings aren't generally meant to be the same thing as academic work to be shared between academians in an academic context.) Ofc, I understood its historical value, including in terms of linguistics and philology. But in terms of "would I pick this as reading material to obsess and fall into a research hole over"? Despite trying a few times, I never quite got past ALL the references to God every other line. ("Snorri was an Evil Zealot who set out to knowingly and purposefully Christianize Norse mythology For The Evulz" crowd, I will tattoo each and every single one of those all over your body so you can't look into a mirror without accidentally reading one ever again.) The apparently disjointed "Beowulf fights Grendel and then Grendel's mother in Denmark. Years later, after going back to Sweden and becoming king, he also fights a dragon but this time he dies" narrative didn't really appeal to me, either. Nor did the presence of (afaik) exactly one (1) named female character. (Wealhtheow, babe, in hindsight I'm so sorry.)

I'm not sure what changed, exactly. It's just that, some time ago, I finally got around to reading Grendel by John Gardner, and I loved it and thought "wow, this would have made me either bawl my eyes out or stare off into space for like five-to-ten minutes after finishing it, had I read it as a teen." And after that, I found myself thinking "well, now I should probably get to know know the original story," and finally picking up my copy of Tolkien's translation of Beowulf, and realzing there actually was a lot going on in the story, and getting way too engaged in the looming "Hrothulf kills Hrothgar's kids" subplot that doesn't even really resurface in any later material about Hrolf Kraki (though those aren't exactly free from fucked-up family dynamics, either...), and going "!!! Volsungar mention!!!!" at the bit about Sigemund and Fitela despite already knowing about the Sigemund and Fitela bit and the whole "who actually killed the dragon first/in which tradition" question, and losing my mind at the bit about Hama and the "necklace of the Brosings" and "Eormanaric's hate" because, yeah, I already knew about that one, too, kind of, but recently I've gone into a little bit of a Brisingamen deep-dive, and a while ago I read a really interesting commentary and translation of the Hildebrandslied that had quite a lot to say not just about the specific hatred/enmity of a powerful king for an adventurous hero but also about the shift from Odoacher to Ermanric as Dietrich' von Bern's enemy, which ofc (?) got me thinking about Eormanaric/Ermanric/Jormunrek's apparent widespread reputation for being an asshole, something there probably has to be some accessible paper in English about somewhere out there...

Ahem. Anyway, I also found myself alternating reading Tolkien's translation with watching Grendel Grendel Grendel, the weird and very simplified and toned down but still somehow very enjoyable and sad kids' movie adaptation of Gardner's Grendel. And Beowulf & Grendel, the one without any magic where Grendel's a traumatized Neanderthal on a quest of vengeance that's somehow also quite a good watch despite the wonky editing, the cast and crew being possibly cursed by the Norse gods, and ofc, the time-displaced Neanderthals. And Animated Epics: Beowulf, which I might have actually watched once as a child, thinking about it. And Simon Roper and Jackson Crawford's read-along, featuring interesting linguistic, literary, and historical notes as well as Australian!Hrothgar, Beowulf making it exceedingly clear that "some of my best friends are Danes!", and some unforgettable exchanges such as "I used to tell my students the story about that time I almost drove off a cliff when they were worried about their exams to make them undestand that I, too, had experienced the fear of death :|" "I'm glad you didn't perish :)" "Thanks. :|" (I'm on the Fits 8-11 video, btw. Even if, when it comes to Tolkien's translation, I'm already at the part where Beowulf says goodbye to Hrothgar and sails back to the land of the Geats. Look, I remebered thos videos existed somewhat belatedly.)

I think eventually I might also end up rewatching The 13th Warrior (which I'm gonna go out on a limb and say might be the true origin of the ahistorical Neanderthals in Beowulf & Gredenl, but I remember liking that one, too). And Outlander (my beloved "aliens crash-land in Viking Age Scandinavia and fight each other while being Sad & Tragic in their own ways" one, not the Scottish one) but specifically as a Beowulf reimagining this time around (rather than as "the movie that could have totally had the Brooding Hero, Fiery But Sweet Warrior Woman, and Hotheaded Rival-Turned-Friend invent modern polyamory, because that wouldn't have been weirder than having a character called Boromir" like every other time). Maybe that weird post-apocalyptic Beowulf that was the first to do the "Grendel's mom's got it goin' on" thing, too, at least if I can find that snarky review of it on Youtube again. Probably not the Uncanny CGI Desperately Trying To Be Live-Action 20O5 Beowulf where the titular hero keeps screaming "BEOWULF!!" and "I'M BEOWULF!!!" just in case the audience's intelligence levels can't be considered to be above the average rock's, and that also decided to add a foot fetish/body paint kink note to its cover of Grendel's Mom, though, unless I can find any snarky review of it. (I remember reading somewhere that the director actually hated Beowulf, as in the poem itself, and accepting the bit of info without question. The high heels-shaped feet are just one of the reasons why I wonder if anyone ever asked him if perhaps he hated women, too. At least his work supposedly contributed to the writers of Outlander being told "there's already too many Beowulf movies coming out!" and going "whatever, we're gong to do our own thing! With blackjack and hookers aliens and shieldmaidens", so I should probably thank him for that.)

Unfortunately, while I'm pretty sure I'll be able to avoid writing down a list of Adaptations I Absolutely Need To Check Out One Day Or I'll Die (i.e. Every Single I've Ever Heard About) like I did for The Nibelungs In Their Every Possible Form, all of this had the unforeseen side effect of reminding me that, even when I didn't have much if any interest in Beowulf, I used to have a bit of soft spot for Unferth. I mean, how could I not, when I imprinted on Hagen von Tronje when I was eleven-years-old? Give me a guy who knows all of The Hero's heroic deeds and still doesn't find him all that impressive from their very first meeting, and I'll just "👀" at him. Though from what I knew, this guy in particular seemed to go against his character type by becoming more friendly with the hero and lending him his ancestral sword, which seemed pretty interesting. Especially because he was apparently a fratricide, too? And you wouldn't expect a guy who killed his own brothers and got a "... and that's why you'll go to Hell!" by The Hero over it to have any kind of redemption arc/sudden reveal of hidden depths in any positive sense. And there was also that paper (which, ofc, I didn't bookmark at the time, and now I want to kick myself for that until I remember the title or at least the author...) arguing that maybe him telling off Beowulf about the swimming race was less about him as a person and more about him having a specifc role among the thanes in Heorot that included testing strangers requesting to speak with Hrothgar to figure out if they really were who they claimed to be or if they could actually live up to their reputation...

Again, I blame John Gardner, at least in part. He has a really crunchy Unferth, who definitely reawakened my interest in the character. The on in Grendel Grendel Grendel wasn't half-bad, either, though very different in some respects. But the original, too, ended up being actually so much more fun (meaning, so much more to chew on/rotate in my mind) than I could have imagined from my vague memories.

First you've got the iconic "didn't you look like a total loser against Breca, and isn't that literally all there is to know about you?" "shut up, you're drunk, a kinslayer, someone I have never heard anyone tell heroic tales about, and also, maybe if you were braver Grendel wouldn't keep eating you guys" banter, and I'm starting to realize that might be already more juicy, in terms of both Beowulf's and Unferth's characterizations and their interactions together, than I ever thought it was. Then you've got a line that sounds an awful lot like "everyone could see Grendel's severed arm hanging from the ceiling and that shut Unferth up" and seems to imply some sort of lingering bitterness on Unferth's side when Heorot is in the middle of the celebrations for Grendel's death. But then Unferth actually starts being described in much more favorable terms, almost as if the narrator were pointing out that, despite what the audience might think after his first appearance, there's a reason he's close to Hrothgar and has a good place in his hall... even if at the same time Unferth's praised for his "mighty heart" (something quite different from cowardice), wisdom, and the trust everyone in Heorot apparently has in his mind, there's actually another reference to him having had no mercy for his relatives "in the play of swords" in the past. (Fun little detail: that line comes right after one to the effect of "Hrothgar and Hrothulf were there and no betrayal had yet happened between them"...)

Until, finally, you get Beowulf preparing to go fight Grendel's mother and Unferth giving him his family's swords, Hrunting. And all kinds of entertaining things happen in relation to Hrunting.

You've got Unferth not remembering his first words to Beowulf because he was just really, really, really drunk when he said them, which seems to go well with Beowulf himself calling out his speech as a drunken boast but not with the "that shut him up" line I mentioned before. (Which leads me to wonder: was he actually too drunk to know what he was saying? Or did Beowulf give him an easy out in case he regretted it, which Unferth eventually chose to take to try and smooth things over?) You've got Unferth being "mighty of valour" yet not daring to go after Grendel's mother himself and "forfeiting glory" while giving his weapon to a "worthier" warrior, but his sword getting some lengthy praise nonetheless, to the point of being basically deemed infallible, and Beowulf not only not making any more comments on Unferth's supposed lack of bravery but calling him a man of "wide renown", praising his sword some more, vowing to succeed in his heroic feat with Hrunting or die trying, and telling Hrothgar that no matter what happens, Unferth must get it back when it's all over. And after that... you've got Hrunting utterly failing to kill or even harm Grendel's mother.

Except, that's literally the first time it ever fails at anything? And Beowulf can only kill Grendel's mother when, with the help of God, he finds a magical sword forged by giants, which implies there was no problem with it (and, by extension, with Unferth?) as the whole situation simply needed a little something extra to be dealt with?

Then, you've got Beowulf actually bringing Hrunting back, even if it wasn't much use to him when it really mattered. And praising it again, making sure to publicly clarify, while addressing Hrothgar himself, that no, it really is an excellent sword. And, after some more "the monster is dead!" celebration, Unferth himself (unambiguously "bold", now) having the sword brought over again not just to lend it Beowulf, but to gift it to him.... a weapon that is both nothing to sneeze at and, as Beowulf himself has acknowledged while praising it, a family heirloom. (From a guy who probably already has enough complicated feelings about his family without running around giving that kind of stuff away, to boot!) One Beowulf accepts once more, and gladly, already figuring it will be "a good friend in war, a power in battle" and saying absolutely nothing bad about it (the narrator goes "oh he's so gallant!" at him after that bit, which is admittedly kind of hilarious in itself, but still, imho, not really much to go on if you want to think he's not being sincere) right before he announces his intentions to sail back home.

I'm gonna be honest: I had already read most fics tagged Beowulf/Unferth on AO3 before this Beowulf binge. And now, I've gone and reread them. I've actually read the ones I'd missed the first time around, too. Not that it took me much time at all, but still. WildandWhirling has two really lovely ones. This innuendo-heavy one is a delight to read, too.

I think I might end up writing at least one more. Maybe canon!verse, if I manage not to spiral into researching Old English attitudes to homosexuality, or maybe Modern!AU, if I manage to find a good way to transliterate "sailing off to another country to slay monsters" in this century in a convincing way. Even just to have more than six works in the tag itself. But we'll see...

I suppose, in the end, the whole point of this random, almost stream-of-consciousness post (besides freeing up my head from at least some of my recent Beowulf thoughts) might have turned out to be just that, no matter who they are, fangirls will, indeed, always make them gay. (... I say, as if this was a surprise and I didn't already ship a number Nibelungenlied-and-adjacent gay ships I got into way before any of this.) It wasn't its original purpose but *shrug* I'll take it.

Then again... come on. All that talking about swords. *grin*

[ageless-aislynn]

My frens! If you know your Mass Effect: Andromeda, then you’ll know what this GIF means.

I finished the game! 🤗🥳🎉✨

Some important things of note: (SPOILERS, if anybody cares about a 6 year old game 😉)

I ended up taking 120 hours but, let me tell you, that was with me playing as thoroughly as possible. I did every single task, even the ones where you had to find randomly spawning things like datapads. 😐 Fortunately, thanks to some helpful people on Youtube, I learned that several of those tasks could be sped up by controlling load zones (so you find a datapad or whatever, drive away, drive back and voila, hopefully a new one has spawned in! Sometimes you had to actually fast travel or leave the planet and return to get a new spawn, other times that would totally bork things. It was a process of discovery, lol).

I’m not going to play it through like that again, even when I start over as Scott, but it was fun to take the time to really explore on my first “visit” to the world of Andromeda!

Fina-frickin’-ly, lol! The big guy played it close to the vest for a lot longer than I was expecting but, well, our love is now true, official and documented! Something I thought was really hysterical, though? Even after you’ve committed to Jaal, which eliminates the option to flirt with anybody else, I STILL had the flirt option for Drack! So, of course, I had to go ahead and take it, Jaal would just have to understand that Drack is an unstoppable Krogan love machine that NO ONE can resist. 😇😛😉 It was all good, though; Drack let me down easy and Jaal never mentioned it.

Though I did wait until Jaal wasn’t, you know, standing right there. Because I have manners and stuff. *nodnods* 😉

(NOTE: This is a screencap, not a GIF, just so you don’t wonder why it’s not loading, lol) I was SUPER DUPER SAD to learn that I can’t get this look for Scott on his own playthrough. The default face can’t be customized. 😥 ZOMG, I WANT THIS SCRUFFY BEARD LOOK SO VERY MUCH. 😥 I miiiiight see about customizing one of the other faces to look as much like the default face as possible if you can have a scruffy beard. If not, then clean-shaven it will be. *HEAVY SIGH* 😛😉

And speaking of Scott, this actually managed to be something I didn’t know was coming: (SO I’LL MARK THIS WITH ITS OWN SPOILER WARNING, JUST IN CASE) I thought he’d probably wake from his coma by the end of the game but I was FLOORED when I was suddenly playing as Scott and he had a pivotal role in the final fight! 👀 It hit me as hard as an invisible drink, I tell you!

Hee, for some reason, her drink glasses would randomly not appear several times throughout the game, I dunno why. But that’s not as bad as the glitch that I got thankfully only once where THE GROUND did not spawn in and so she got stuck in a cycle of falling to her death, restarting, falling to her death, restarting, falling, restarting, etc. etc. 😱😱😱 That sucked rocks through a straw big time! 😡

I still kinda laugh at the fact that, because I missed that you can customize your brother or sister, I ended up with customized Sara and default Scott as twins, lol! On Scott’s playthrough, I’m going to customize Sara to look like this Sara, though, just ‘cause. 😎 Also, I find it interesting that their dad Alec changes to match your main character, so if I use default Scott, I’ll have default Alec where as Sara’s Alec matched her look instead, lol. Oh well, clearly Original Pathfinder Ryder™ was a man of many talents! 😛

A few other fun things...

This is how Peebee showed up when I changed my loadout, lol. You can see Vetra is following me because she’s my Best Girl™ but Peebs (I love it when she starts signing her emails like that 😉) is just hanging out up there! I finally had to get in the NOMAD and then back out again to get her boots on the ground!

Sara has a radio-like music player at her bedside in the Pathfinder’s quarters and it has my friend THE DANCE PROMPT, YES! (You can’t see it here because I had to shorten the GIF for size limitations. 😕😉) Sara is also modeling both her casual and her sport’s casual looks for y’all as she breaks out her best moves! 😎👍😉

Next, because I’m sure the entire Internet is dying of anticipation to know my next move... 😛😉

Since I’ve learned of my other friend, Manual Save, I kept some points so I can go back and...

...take Peebee up on her friends-with-benefits offer. And back up a bit farther to do the same for Liam after Sara helps him move the couch. 😛

Here’s Liam and Jaal giving Sara both Thoughts™ (’cause, hey, she’s been in cryosleep for 600 years and a girl’s got neeeeeeeds, ya know!) and Anxiety™ (’cause she’s the leader of this crew and, fellas, ZOMG, this is Not Professional®) 😂

However, the next full romance I want to do (and am going to back up alllll of the way to when Sara gets the Tempest or thereabouts so I don’t miss anything) is going to be...

...Vetra, my love. I just freakin’ adore her, what can I say? She was my constant through all of the missions, it was always me, Vetra and somebody else. She’s a total badass but also endearingly a little insecure and with a literal spiky exterior that covers a sweet, caring heart. Nothing but the best full-on romance for my Turian sweetheart! *fist thump* (Can you guess who I already know my fem!Shep will be romancing in the ME trilogy? Three guesses and they’re all spelled Garrus Vakarian... 😂😉)

I still would like to romance Suvi but I get the feeling she’s going to take more work like Jaal did because her flirt options dropped almost immediately as soon as I stopped selecting them. Peebee and Liam, for example, offered flirt options right up until my romance with Jaal locked in, even though I hadn’t selected one for a while. So there’s that to consider.

For Scott, he’ll definitely be romancing Avela because, as we all may recall...

Also, it’s a short-lived romance so he can probably find time to also romance somebody else in that one playthrough, if I’m feeling it. (I honestly was surprised at how much I ended up loving Gil, so maybe we’ll give that a try, either here or elsewhere?)

But, of course, the full-on romance for Scott is going to be...

Cora. I legit went *SQUEE* out loud when she kept asking about or mentioning Scott to Sara. *furiously waves Scott/Cora shipper flag* It made me feel kinda like she might’ve had a wee little bit of a crush on her Pathfinder’s son (when Alec was her Pathfinder, of course) but she was keeping it professional and all that. I dunno, that might just be me and those darn shipper glasses that tend to fly out of nowhere and land on my face all the time...

LOL!

Also, somebody at some point will be romancing Reyes because, and please pardon my language, but he’s the epitome of a sexy mofo. 😳😛😂

You also get a glimpse that there’s more to him than meets the eye. The only thing I was disappointed in was that, while I intended to choose him over Sloane, I REALLY disliked that the only way to do that was to promise Sloane you’d have her back and would keep things fair... then you let Reyes assassinate her via a sniper shot. But if you save her, you’re choosing her to “rule” Kadara instead of Reyes. *frustrated sigh* I let her get assassinated but I felt bad about it. Not about my choice but just at how it came about. (Cora also called me out on that later, to not forget that he’d had an unarmed woman killed after promising her a fair fight... 😬😥)

In conclusion of my long-winded rambling, I loved this game a LOT. Was it perfect? Was the animation sometimes WAY WONKY? No and yes. But I was here for the chance for some romance and RPG along with my combat and I really enjoyed that aspect a bunch! I’m sorry that they won’t be continuing Andromeda’s story because I would’ve liked to see more of the Tempest and her crew. As it is, though, I’ll just be content believing they’re out there saving the universe and having more adventures!

I’ll eventually be moving to the OG trilogy and I’m definitely looking forward to that! But for now, thank you, Mass Effect: Andromeda, for 120 hours of fun game time and here’s to many more!

[fangeek-girl]

15 questions for 15 friends

thanks to my Tumblr bestie @burntblueberrywaffles for the tag

Are you named after anyone?

No, but fun fact about my name: my mom (who has a very popular French name, as do all her siblings) gave me an English name so I wouldn't end up like her with 3-4 people with the same name every time I walk into a room. Joke's on her, it's actually a pretty popular English name so I didn't escape anything lmao

2. When was the last time you cried?

Last night while watching Hunchback of Notre-Dame. And proper sobbing too. I cry a lot and very easily when it comes to fiction 😅

3. Do you have kids?

One, he's furry and 15 years old and a grumpy old... oh, you mean humans? NOPE!

4. What sports do you play/ have you played?

I used to be a dancer in college (like studied professional dance). And then I tore a muscle in my thigh.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

A lot, but I don't understand it well when others do 🙃

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Always something tiny. Like specific earrings or clothes patterns.

7. What's your eye colour?

Green

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Both? It depends on how I feel. But I am a sucker for a happy ending.

9. Any talents?

I think I'm a good writer, and a decent singer.

10. Where were you born?

Montreal, Qc (that's in Canada, for y'all Americans who always expect us to know what you mean when you name a city/state abbreviation 😛 )

11. What are your hobbies?

Writing, reading and playing Nintendo Switch (current hyperfixation is Dorf Romantik). I also knit a little.

12. Do you have any pets?

Aforementioned 15 year-old. He's a cat, he's called Chewbacca Meowalker and he's exactly like his Wookie namesake.

13. How tall are you?

5' 7" (I was born just as we were transitioning from the imperial to the metric system in Canada so I don't know my height and weight in metric because I learned them in imperial...)

14. Favourite subject in school?

History

15. Dream job?

Writer. But I do love my librarian job.

Tagging @greentealycheejelly, @ineffableobikin, @endeni, @bisexualobiwankenobi, @beautifulcheat, @bored-cat-child, @somethingsteff, @sky-kenobye, @that-gay-jedi, @bolshoiromanova, @palfriendpatine66, @underacalicosky, @happybean17, @foreverchangingfandomsao3, @ladynox

Feel free to ignore me, as always 💜

[scruffyplayssonic]

Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80's/90's syndicated cartoon? Episode 58: We have to save the environment, and so do you!

Welcome back to my look at the ArchieSonic comic series, and how it shared a lot of the same story tropes as a typical ‘80s or ‘90s syndicated cartoon! Hey kids, did you know that saving the environment is a totally radical thing to do?

Episode 58: We have to save the environment, and so do you! 

Environmentalism was a big part of cartoons in the 80’s and 90’s, which often would have episodes dedicated to telling kids about the dangers of pollution or the importance of recycling. There were some cartoons whose entire premise even revolved around this, such as Captain Planet and the Planeteers, and Widget the World Watcher. 

Many ArchieSonic stories used environmentalism as a plot device, especially in the early issues. But that’s to be expected when the main villain of the series likes polluting just for the sake of polluting. Honestly, Dr. Robotnik would have fit in quite well with the Captain Planet villains. 

Let’s start by looking at issue #3’s story, “The Bomb Bugs Me!” where Sonic overheard Robotnik planning to wipe out his enemies with a bomb. The Freedom Fighters decided to set up a fake protest to keep Robotnik and his forces occupied while they stole the bomb. 

This led to a pretty funny sequence where Rotor attempted to sneak into Robotnik’s office in disguise. 

But when they got the bomb back to Knothole and attempted to disarm it, it turned out to be not what they were expecting:

Whoopsie doopsie.

Then there was issue #7’s story, “Uncle Chuck’s Treasure.” After coming across a treasure map belonging to Sonic’s Uncle Chuck, the Freedom Fighters headed out to the Natural Park to track the treasure down. Things didn’t exactly go to plan though.

To make matters worse, a pair of patrolling Swatbots overheard the Freedom Fighters were on a treasure hunt and informed Dr Robotnik, who came roaring in with a bunch of badniks to ruin the day. 

Sonic cleverly turned the toxic environment against the robots, but Robotnik managed to get away with the treasure. 

For all the good it did him. 😛

Issue #11’s story, “The Good, the Bad and the Hedgehog,” started out with Robotnik trashing the environment again, but took an unexpected turn when Sonic tried to take a shortcut to get there quicker and accidentally wound up on Anti-Mobius, encountering his evil twin for the first time. 

But of course Sonic managed to defeat him and get home in time to save the day.

Issue #12’s story switched gears a little bit with Robotnik being savvy enough to use his anti-environmentalism to lure Sonic into a trap. When Robotnik started cutting down the Great Forest with his new mobile monster chainsaw, Sonic of course raced to stop him. 

But the chainsaw secretly housed a time teleporter that was able to zap Sonic when he got close enough and send him back to dinosaur times. …and then this happened.

Bleh.

There are probably other issues from those early days that I could cite, but you get the idea. After the comics had been around a couple of years there was less focus on stories about pollution, but they still popped up every now and then. One of the most significant stories to focus on saving the environment was in issue #110. In a prior issue, Princess Sally had turned over all intelligence they had on Dr. Eggman to their allies in Station Square. Unfortunately Station Square’s defense systems were run by an AI, and after that AI had analysed all the data it had decided that Dr. Eggman was a threat that had to be taken care of immediately. Thus it decided to go full Skynet and launch nuclear missiles at Robotropolis. That was great news in that Eggman would be wiped out, but not so great news for the residents of Knothole, who would get poisoned by the nuclear radiation.

Sonic and Tails raced to Robotropolis to warn Eggman of the incoming peril so that he would shoot down the missiles before they got too close, but Eggman smugly reminded them that he didn’t need to do that - his impenetrable forcefield would keep his city safe while the surrounding environment got wasted. Luckily Sonic and Tails were able to interfere and made sure that Eggman only activated the forcefield after the missiles were already within its radius. 

Eggman and Snively were robots and so they were eventually able to download themselves into new bodies, but they had to set up a new base of operations because from this moment onwards Robotropolis was a nuclear wasteland contained within a radiation-proof bubble. 

You would think that after getting nuked that that would be the last we’d hear of Robotropolis, right? Well actually no - that radioactive wasteland actually came back as an ongoing plot point. When Sonic returned home from space in issue #130, Eggman decided to give him a homecoming present. And what does one get the hedgehog who has everything? 

Why, more nuclear missiles of course! One was aimed at Knothole, and the other at Station Square. And deciding that overkill was just enough kill, Eggman decided to throw in a bonus gift by sending his robotic armies to destroy the forcefield keeping Robotropolis’ nuclear radiation safely contained. While Sonic and Tails led a team to Old Megapolis Harbour to stop the missile launch, King Acorn’s forces, led by Antoine’s father General D’Coolette, defended Robotropolis from the incoming horde of Swatbots. 

Knuckles, Julie-Su and Mighty came to lend a hand too, and they were also joined by Rouge and the forces of GUN. But play of the day goes to Vector and Amy Rose, who single-handedly took down the first waves of invaders.

The ruins of Robotropolis wouldn’t come up again for awhile, until after the AI ADAM attempted to take over the planet with self-replicating nanites. After that plot was thwarted Nicole took control of the nanites and used them to create the city of New Mobotropolis, which was incredibly convenient when Eggman bombed Knothole and everyone needed a new place to live. 

New Mobotropolis got its energy from a power plant that siphoned radiation from the ruins of Robotropolis and converted it into safe, clean energy. So in issue #207 the Iron King attacked Robotropolis with the intention of taking away the Freedom Fighters’ power source. 

King Acorn’s armies tried to fight him off unsuccessfully, and Sonic and Monkey Khan also struggled to slow him down when they showed up to join the fight. Sonic managed to outsmart the Iron King though, talking him into sparing the shield protecting the environment if Sonic and Monkey Khan allowed him to smash the power siphon that powered New Mobotropolis. 

The forces of evil were not happy when they later found out they’d been played.

After Eggman returned to power he also tried to strike at New Mobotropolis’ power source, this time by sending in an undercover agent to strike from within: Operation: Deadly Cuddles.

I will never for the life of me be able to figure out why Evan Stanley decided to design the Tails Doll’s monster form to look like a… that, but I guess I get the genital… er, general idea of what she was going for. 😛

In the post-reboot era of the comic, one could argue that the entire series became about saving the environment. With the entire planet shattered in the Sonic Unleashed adaptation, the main goal of the heroes became to save the planet and put the pieces back together. But there are two environmentally-focused stories that immediately spring to my mind, both of them taking place from issues in issues #260 - 263: Waves of Change and Light in the Dark (and its immediate follow up, Consequences). 

Sonic, Rotor and Amy were sent on a mission to locate a possible Gaia Temple on the coast, presumably somewhere in Soumerica. What they found instead was an underwater shrine that was being used as a chao garden, under the care of the priestess Coral, along with her apprentice Pearly and friend Razor. 

Coral’s job was to care for the chao, in particular Aquarius, who helped to maintain the shield that protected the nearby city of Meropis. Coral was still somewhat new to her position and under a lot of pressure, facing prejudice from the royal family and armies of Meropis who were blaming her for everything that was going wrong and thought that Princess Udina should have gotten the job instead. One of the problems Coral was being blamed for was pollution being washed into the city that was only being kept at bay by the shield. When Aquarius the Chao failed to be reborn from her cocoon on schedule, the King and Queen threw a temper-tantrum and stripped Coral of her title as priestess. Things got pretty bad as the devastated Coral was unable to keep the shield up, letting the dark gaia monsters into the city. 

It took the intervention of the Freedom Fighters, Chaos, Tikal, and the newly reborn and now-immortal Aquarius to save the day.

Thankfully with the God of Destruction Water vouching for Coral, the King and Queen saw reason and restored her title. The cause of the pollution plaguing their city was also discovered:

While Sonic, Amy and Rotor were busy in Meropis, Sally was leading Tails, Bunnie and Antoine on a mission to recover a Chaos Emerald. Sally had managed to hack Dr. Eggman’s files, and she and Nicole discovered a mine where Eggman had his forces digging for one of the mystical gems. The plan was to disable the security sensors, get in, find the emerald, and get back out without Eggman ever knowing they were there, so that he would waste his time and resources drilling for something that wasn’t even there any more. However that plan changed when they got inside the mine and saw it for themselves. 

Deciding to do their bit to save this environmental wonder, the heroes let the security sensors detect them and fought off badniks and an E-1000 robot to escape the mine with their prize, giving Eggman no more reasons to continue drilling there. 

The Freedom Fighters knew that there would be consequences for letting Eggman know that they'd stolen something he'd already called dibs on, but they decided they could live with that.

Are there any other environmentally-focused stories in ArchieSonic that I missed? Let me know in the comments! Next week I’ll be covering episode 59: “stranded in the ocean.” Sonic’s favourite episode, clearly. :P

[parcequecestnotreprojeeeet]

Hi, it’s me, Fanfic Anon #2. I saw they were at Brégançon this weekend, which inspired this. Hope you all enjoy!

She smiled as she took in the gorgeous view of the sea from the open window, breeze faintly fluttering the curtains around her and providing the most pleasant chill as she took in the way the light danced on the water. Her smiled widened as she felt his arms wrap around her, pulling her into his chest fully, nestling his head on top of hers, surrounding her completely in him.

“Mmmhm, this is nice,” she hummed after a moment breaking the contented silence that had settled over them as they watched the waves.

“Mhmm, hmm,” he agreed pressing a kiss into her hair. After a few more minutes, he moved to whisper in her ear, “I have a surprise for you.”

“Do you?” She asked, eyes glittering with excitement as she quickly spun in his arms.

He laughed gently at her enthusiasm, her joy, the light in her eyes lightening his soul in a way that was nothing less than magical. “Yup, it’s on our bed.”

“You’re going to spoil me,” she shook her head dismissively, lowering her head a little as she blushed.

“Nothing is too good for my wife,” he scolded lightly, meaning every word and conveying it through the way he gently lifted her face back to his so he could look her in her too-blue eyes.

“Just this month alone - first a romantic escapade around London, then a romantic weekend home at Touquet, now this weekend here, just the two of us. a girl could get used to this, M. Macron,” she teased.

“I’m counting on it, Mme Macron,” he leaned in to kiss her meaningfully at that, conveying in the movement of his lips against her just how much he loves her. Pulling back with a smile, he instructed, “now go check out the surprise. I’ll be waiting for you by the pool -“

“But -“

“Just trust me,” he winked as he walked off, leaving her a little suspicious despite her excitement.

Determined, she made her way quickly to their bedroom, stopping when she found a large white garment box sitting at the end of the bed with a bright red ribbon tied around it. Slowly, she pulled on one of the loose ends, unraveling the bow and freeing the lid. Her mouth dropped when she removed the top of the box and saw the contents inside before she broke out into a deep red flush. ‘Oh.’ She thought as her brain started to kick back into gear.

He was beginning to get extremely excited as he waited to see her reaction. He knew what he had hoped for, but he also wasn’t going to push her out of her comfort zone. It’s been years since he’s seen her wear anything like this (and he knows why) but since it was just them this weekend, he really, really - his brain grinding to a halt when he saw her walking towards him.

“So, this look as good as you expected?” She teased coming to a stop just out of reach in front of him wearing his gift - a black string bikini that left very little to his imagination (not that he needed it - he knew every single bit of her better than he knew himself).

“Better,” he whispered when he regained the ability to speak. “Holy shit, Brigitte.”

She laughed at that, pleased, that even all these years later, even at her age, she still could provoke such a strong reaction out of him.

“Good God, you’re gorgeous,” he continued as he finally snapped back to reality enough to walk up to her, his hands now greedy to find a place on her warm, tanned, exposed skin.

“And you’re overdressed now, my handsome husband,” she replied, slipping her hands underneath his polo to encourage him to join her.

“Yes ma’am,” he nodded eagerly, happy to strip down until he was clothed appropriately.

“Better,” she praised, slipping her hands down his chest, pulling him to her to kiss him senseless.

Heloo fanfic Anon #2! ❤️

Emmanuel still checking off things out of his fantasies list haha how not to love it! He probably won’t allow that bikini to stay longer on her body but it’s the intention that counts 😛

Thank you so much, fanfic Anon #2! ❤️❤️❤️

[dreamsinfiction]

April 2024 recap (aka the month my social battery was truly spent)

Lol am already two months behind my recaps haha. It's okay, as long as it gets done, it's okay~

Highlights of April:

a. Got a better-than-expected PB 🥹 - Alhamdulillah! Honestly thought I was gonna get an average or get thrown under the bus with a lower than average PB since I already posted out of my previous dept. But yes, thankfully my efforts over the past year was (rightfully) recognised (because I was thrown a lot of shit in my last couple of months there hahaha)

b. Dad's birthday and impromptu Raya shopping - Brought the family to The White Label (before they closed the North Bridge Road outlet and reopened back at a Bugis hotel) for my dad's birthday and it was really nice seeing everyone enjoy a good meal out since it's so rare. TWL's food is really the best and the food didn't disappoint. The night also turned out to be an impromptu Raya shopping for the parents cos I convinced them to get matching baju with me and my sister. Getting older, it does make me feel warm inside when I was able to buy them the clothes that they want without worrying about the prices. Alhamdulillah for the little things truly.

The food was next level amazing gah.

c. Signed up for volunteering - This year I wanted to do more for the community and thought Ramadan was a good place to start. I did sign up with a volunteering organisation but I think it was oversubscribed and I didn't end up getting picked 😔. Need to be more intentional next year; maybe signing up with a smaller organisation will help my chances. If anyone knows of any lobang to volunteer for a meaningful cause, please let me know!

d. Raya! - This Raya was more meaningful for my family because my dad semi-reconciled with his siblings. It'll be too long to get into the reasons why they were fighting here but I'm just happy to see everyone trying to make nice as they get older. I guess it also helped that they have a common foe (maybe too strong a word but I can't wordsmith it right now) in my grandma and her very stubborn/toxic ways. They banded together and tried to manage her situation right. I really enjoyed visiting everyone and seeing how they're growing up (even though it's at the costs of my limited social battery hahaha)

Featuring a vary manja cat at Nek Muda's house heh.

e. Meeting up with Aunty Eny - Aunty Eny was here for Raya! And also for some medical check ups for Uncle Jim in the area. Even though we've not met up in a while (think the last time was early 2023) it still felt so easy and peaceful to chat and catch up. She also recently opened up a cafe back home in Glasgow so now my mom, sister and me are itching to go back and visit heh (summer 2025?😛)

f. IU in Singapore - OMG fangirl dream came trueeeee. I actually went to the concert alone (not a big deal for me, in fact I loved it more cos I could truly appreciate her music and bop along) in my baju kurung cos I came straight after visiting my cousin for Raya hahahaha. Also my seat was amazing like it was very near to the stage and I barely need to zoom for my videos. IU is amazing live - she's the same age as me but I don't know how she has the stamina to sing and perform for 3 hours straight with 2 encores?? K-pop concerts are putting Western concerts to shame hahaha. During the second encore, she straight up just asked the audience what song we wanted her to perform and she just sang it (to the horror of her live band quickly flipping thru their scores lol). Love it. Ngl, I did tear listening to her ballads which are my fave (Love Wins All, Through the Night)

g. Work stuff - Volunteered to do some extra CCAs! One was organising the monthly divisional meeting for the next quarter (Apr-Jun) + the quarterly HLS/teambonding activity. Doing it with Farah and I think our combination is the best - she comes with the wacky ideas and extroverted self while I help to rationalise everything/tone it down when needed and do the backstage stuff haha. I also volunteered to help out with the Volunteer Festival happening in July! Thought it would be good to have some brownie points on my appraisal this year and it seemed quite straightforward in terms of stakeholder management, ground ops, plus the location I volunteered for will be at Lot One hehe.

Phew my April was super packed; how did I even go through all that and come out in one piece lol. Till the next recap! Which should be quite soon since I'm so far behind in writing them down hahaha.

[bakathief]

First week of my final internship is over. Enjoying the work a lot more than expected. 🎉 good thing I didn’t waste my years at uni. Also my first time commuting to my work place via train but it’s going well so far. Just the kids are annoying. 😛

[buildmemories]

Catatan Dalam Ruang #9

Tulisan ini sebenarnya sudah gue tulis sejak bulan Mei, 2023, tapi ternyata masih dalam draft. Setelah gue baca kembali isinya, well-gue ingin post di sini sebagai aset, untuk memelihara pola pikir gue dan apa yang sebanarnya terjadi dalam proses berpikir gue sejauh ini.

Hello there! It’s been a while since my last post here, how’s you guys doing? All good, right? Hope you guys have a peaceful day! 

Untuk catatan gue kali ini, gue akan membahas sedikit tentang quarter life crisis. Well everyone said that the quarter life crisis is one of the sicknesses –probably the worst phase in your life, and I couldn’t agree more. Though I’ve passed this phase like 2 years ago, I can feel that the actual quarter life crisis is way more than that awful feeling that I’ve ever had before. This phase is different. 

Sebenarnya gue juga tidak benar - benar mengetahui dengan pasti kapan dan seperti apa, we can say that we on the quarter life crisis, apakah memang kita bisa memasuki fase ini ketika belum benar - benar berumur se-per-empat abad –like everyone called it a.k.a 25 years old, atau memang ketika kita mencapai umur tsb? 

But still, I really can’t stand this qlc –kita singkat seperti ini aja biar gak panjang2 bgt, lol– I even can’t breakdown how my feelings right now, getting overwhelmed all the time, and I’ve got this extra feeling that I need to change mylife, but damn it, I can’t, no– I don’t know how to and I kind of feeling powerless. All the urge just stuck in my head and that’s it. 

I already searched out about this qlc thing years ago, while I’m still in my college time, I wrote every single thing, but still it’s hard. Tapi dari semua negatif feeling yang gue rasakan, entah kenapa gue sangat merasa tenang. I mean, beside this whole thing, I found myself being so cooperative, and I am really happy for it. 

Gue gak tahu berapa lama gue akan berada di fase ini, sekeras apa usaha yang akan gue kerahkan, dan dampak seperti apa yang akan terjadi di hidup gue, terlebih ke diri gue sendiri, tapi ketika gue menyadari bahwa diri gue sendiri masih mau menerima semua perasaan tidak nyaman serta trying not to rush anything during this whole process, gue tenang. 

Karena, dari sejauh pengalaman gue –yang gue sendiri merasa sangat banyak ini lol, I stand to believe, that, when having a terrible or messed life, as long as you can calm yourself, relax and breath, you got this. And I found this quotes really suitable for my qlc phase right now; 

Written by Haemin Sunim –The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down

When your mind rests, the world also rests. 

Gue menemukan perspective baru setelah re-read buku beliau, terlebih pada Chapter 1 - Rest, there’s a point when made me start to slowly rebuild my perspective about work, with me being mindfulness about all of the things around me, I actually can build my own world. 

Mungkin lebih sederhananya begini, apa yang gue maksud dengan my own world adalah tentang, apa - apa saja yang ingin “pikiran” gue konsumsi, mana yang benar - benar penting untuk gue beri perhatian lebih atau siapa saja yang ingin gue beri interaksi. Gue menerima diri gue yang sangat ingin tahu akan banyak hal ini, gue menerima ke-fomo-an gue, dan karena gue menerima itu semua, gue mulai bisa untuk melepas hal - hal yang too much to handle wkwk 

Dan mungkin dari perspektif baru gue, ketika menghadapi qlc, gue bisa untuk tidak buru - buru, karena gue sepenuhnya sadar, kalau ini fase yang penting dan harusnya gue manfaatkan sebaik mungkin. Even though I still want to curse, like EVERYDAY but yeah it is still the process, so just accept it. 

Kalau misal ada yang menemukan tulisan ini dan lo expect untuk mendapatkan tips, well actually you won’t haha karena catatan dalam ruang gue akan berhenti di sini 😛

[remtheenlightenedone]

Things to know about me Tumblr #1 :

💜I only read ship fanfiction under "fem!reader" only because I'm afab. It depends on my mood to read "male!reader" content.

💜Im neither left nor right and I don't take stances on alot of things. I choose to be indifferent because at the end of the day it'll give me a headache and nothing will be accomplished. Plus I hate politics. Too much b*tchin' and not enough action.

💜"If you support xyz, block me" ok? Why would it matter if I did? Also I saw this alot on Twitter so don't expect me to follow along with any bs like that on here.

💜I like cane toads. Australia and Florida shut your mouth. dni if you don't like them. They are adorable!

💜I'm late to team cat but cat videos have been the best therapeutic thing I could ever watch during any sickness. Little meow meow kinda alright!

💜If I don't like something I'm just gonna block. No reasons. Just block. If you bringing bad vibes I'm blocking. Period.

💜Until I'm able to im not going to spend any money on commissions from other artist or writers. And no I will not turn my hobby into a profit. I'm good.

💜If I say something that ooc do not read too much into it. If I choose not to share, do not press me. All you will get is silence. Ty 🙏🏽

💜Green is a beautiful color. Especially emerald. I love it. If you don't, why is your life so sad? /lh

💜After spending years on Twitter I do not tolerate negativity of any kind. Sorry but I'll have to block that. Also lmk if I already posted something like this in the post.

💜✌🏽🙏🏽👍🏽 I am a poc. But that shouldn't matter. Im just like every other autistic person with mental issues out there. Sometimes I'll use the default yellow emojis cuz I'm lazy 😛

💜I like to write and draw mostly. Poems have been my thing now.

💜Also if you like anything that's a negative setback for me I'm going to assume you did it out of spite and I'll block you. Who likes post like "I spent a day in the hospital because people on the internet made me want to unalive myself" and thinks thats acceptable???? So if I post something like "the internet ruined my love for my one passion in life" there better be no likes. Especially if that's all you're going to like!

End of rant

💜I write fanfiction. It was mostly nsfw stuff but kinda took a break after an accident I had where I stayed in the hospital for two months. I also draw but since the internet DID ruin that hobby for me I probably won't post anything for a while :/

💜my music taste vary. Rn I'm into Eminem. He's just a vibe rn.

💜I've been having sleeping problems since I got back from the hospital. So if you see me up past 5 am... Hello :3

💜when you actually get to know me I'm pretty chill.

💜while looking into things like daoism and Buddhism it made me appreciate atla/tlok even more. Eastern culture is very beautiful!🙏🏽

💜I love people unconditionally like I love myself. Always.

💜I like cane toads and any frog or amphibian as pets. I don't like seeing them hung up as trophies or made for taxidermy. I will shut that down asap.

💜sometimes I message random people. But if I message you it's for a reason. Especially if it's a commission. Like I said I don't need any commission rn but just in case.

💜I'm also prone to make hella typos! Check my hashtags.

💜I go from ghetto speak, to proper, to old english, to vague all in one. Or manic. Manic is definitely one of those typing types I have but can I tell you how it looks or describe it idk. But I guess manic pixie naive positive speak is one way to describe it?

Ngl that's all I can think of now. I'll post more if I can think of anymore. Same with hashtags. I'll keep you posted.

[prttyvirgo]

of course you do 🥹 thanks for thinking i’m handsome lol

fucking uni, why is it taking ages to finish 😭 but you got this and honestly that’s okay. Don’t overwork yourself just try your best and everything will work out in the end ♥️ making me proud

thanks for your support baby!! means a lot to me knowing that you believe in me no matter what ♥️

that sounds exciting!!! may I ask what was different this year? I’m always interested when it comes to you ♥️ it’s just because where I come from we really don’t know anyone from different religions or cultures 💀

guess what, it’s been 2 months without work 😂 not just a day. I think I needed a proper break and I’m also starting my business and training to become a therapist so I’ve been busy with other things ♥️

LOOK YOURE NOT GONNA BELIEVE THIS BUT i ask for an ice coffee so like it’s one shot of expresso and milk like normal milk and then vanilla syrup 🤭 I’m a big boy now, I still drink hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream 😛

-💌

of course, baby 🤍

honestly im kinda glad uni's taking konger bc i'm not ready for a full time job yet lmao so i'm fine with the whole uni stress since i prefer it over adulting in the real job world 😭 and thank you so much, my love, your support means a lot to me 🥺

and of course i will support you, you know i always have 🤍

i knowww tahts why i was never bothered by the questions like i have people who grow up woth five different nationalities and ethnicities and religions in their friend circles yet have no idea either so absolutely no problem tbh

and i guess this year i just felt a little closer to my religion and that made it feel that much more special 🤍

also, two fucking months actually made me go wide eyed bc i did not expect that yet am SO proud of you. im pretty sure you needed it and km so glad you just took what you needed and i am even happier to hear how well it's been working out my love

and please 🥺 im so proud of you and your cute little iced vanilla latte, that's actually my go to order too only that i usually add an extra shot of espresso 😂🫶🏼 you really have become a big boy now and i mean everyone loves them a good hot choco so