#feel free to assume connections besties

[sumthingscosmic]

starter for: everyone !! -- (@chqstarter)​ location: frisky kitty café

anyone who knows hari would tell you that his three favourite things are reading books with the cheesiest title you can possibly imagine regardless of whether they seem good or not, caffeine and cats. thankfully at this fine establishment he was able to indulge in all of these things all at once, which is why it was his preferred place when he wanted to relax and get a very strong serotonin boost. he actually spends so much of his free time here that he was pretty much familiarised with most of the cats and has even been thinking of adopting one, however, this thought has been going on for a while because he feels like if he chooses one then he might make the other cats sad. he’s sipping on his chai latte, flipping through the pages of his most recent read with one of the adorable fur balls on his lap. but his attention suddenly shifts from the book once he notices someone looking over at him but his memory is actually so bad he doesn’t immediately recognise them, but he still waves with a friendly smile. “sorry if this sounds incredibly rude of me, but my memory is actually lamentable these days. -- but, have we met before?”

[loovesicks]

*       ♡     ◞      open starter      ╱        @revolutionstart​ .

chocolate  hues  were  fixated  upon  the  pages  of  the  novel  that  laid  spread  across  her  lap,  all  while  legs  dangled  over  the  arm  rest  of  the  comfortable  chair  she  occupied  within  the  break  room  on  the  fourth  floor.  the  sound  of  footsteps  across  wooden  floors  announced  the  appearance  of  company,  but  her  first  response  was  to  raise  her  index  finger  in  their  direction    —   finger  hovering  in  mid  air  in  attempt  to  stall  their  business.    “  shhh,  ”    she  even  added,  the  moment  she  could  hear  the  first  tones  escaping  their  lips,    “  you’re  interrupting  the  best  part.  ”    free  hand  continued  tracing  the  sentences  on  the  page  with  the  pad  of  her  finger,  as  eyes  shot  back  and  forth  across  the  pages,  ending  with  a  deep  sigh  as  she  finished  the  page.    “  you  pierce  my  soul,  ”    she  began  quoting  from  the  pages  of  the  novel  persuasion,  voice  dripping  in  dreamy  tone,    “  i  am  half  agony,  half  hope.  i  have  loved  none  but  you.  ”    the  finished  quote  finally  marked  the  moment  rory  tilted  her  head  backwards,  gazing  over  upon  the  figure  standing  beside  her.    “  don’t  you  agree  there’s  just  something  indescribably  sexy  about  fictional  men  written  by  women?  yes  please,  write  me  love  letters,  devote  your  entire  life  to  me.  i’ll  be  gentle  with  your  heart.  ”    despite  the  quite  obvious  hint  of  exaggerated  sarcasm  in  her  tone,  none  of  those  words  were  far  from  the  honest  truth.

[okieize]

  ‘ saw a snake that was 3.14 meters long, the other day. to my understanding it’s called a .... PI.thon. ’  jokes aren’t their specialty, sue him. what’s important, is that the other takes the ice-breaker as his cue to speak, instead of the dead silence between them. ‘ you did pay attention enough in maths to get that, right ? it’s not gonna soar over your bobble head ? ’ 

[papaflynn]

CALLUM 💬 RIVER

callum: how you doing? callum: i saw you during the storm outside securing things... that was very brave. we all owe you one!

@riverwclker

[mistresscitrusslice]

I will never get why some people think Jayce and Viktor’s arcs aren’t connected enough. Like, did y’all not see how so much of what they did impacted the other? They’ll literally say there weren’t genuine moments between the two and still have the gall to post this shit on the Jayvik tag and say they could do a better job writing the show than the actual writers.

The point IS that they’re growing apart and not resolving their problems jointly throughout the series. Jayce gets drawn in by the worst parts of Piltover and Viktor gets drawn in by the worst parts of Zaun. That’s- that’s literally spoonfed in the “We lost our way” scene.

Their plots seem disconnected BECAUSE THEY’RE INTENDED TO BE. Because Jayce’s priority list is a mess of incomprehensible scribbles and Viktor’s go-to move is to lock himself in the lab, fuck everything else. That’s. The point. They lost sight of their goal just as they lost sight of each other. If Caitvi is an example of how Piltover and Zaun can work together, Jayvik is an example of how Piltover and Zaun can fall apart.

There are still people out there saying that Jayce doesn’t express worry for Viktor’s impending death outside of the hospital scene. And apparently there wasn’t enough story emphasis on Jayce insulting the people of the Undercity. That Jayce and Viktor “really don’t act like good friends or anything” AND THEN POST THIS IN THE JAYVIK TAG AS DIRECT PROVOCATION. If you can’t see that they’re close, then you’re denser than the brick wall I feel like I’m talking to. This isn’t even about shipping. Some people LITERALLY cannot see the platonic love waving its arms in front of you.

Jayce can’t figure out priorities, but we DO see him working with Viktor on the Hexcore, trying to influence the way it reacts to organic matter. In fact, I think the only time he spends in lab after becoming councilor IS TRYING TO SAVE VIKTOR.

Viktor also pushed him away at the start, saying not to worry, and Jayce respected his wishes. He only starts accepting Jayce’s help after getting sent to the emergency room.

You know what else he does to try to save his partner? HE DEPOSES THE HEAD OF THE STATE. (Besties, if your bf won’t dethrone a ruler for you, he ain’t your bf <3) As soon as Heimerdinger said he would destroy the one chance they had at saving Viktor’s life, Jayce took immediate action and removed that obstacle for them.

Wdym they never focused again on the fact that Jayce insulted Viktor’s people? We see that that line had IMMEDIATE AND DIRECT AND LASTING CONSEQUENCES. It’s implied that Viktor would have told Jayce about the shimmer since he said, “Jayce will understand,” but decides not to tell him anything after Jayce says that bullshit. Without someone to bounce ideas off of while using the shimmer and the Hexcore on himself, he gets a lot more reckless and Sky goes poof.

One thing leads to another. Just because it wasn’t spoonfed to you doesn’t mean you can’t use your brain and make the connection. Besides, Jayce eventually writes up the proposal to free Zaun. Viktor presents this peace treaty to the Council alongside Jayce, so we can assume that it has been at least partially resolved between them, but likely that we will see more of it in season 2, or so you need that spelled out for you as well?

I said this a in a response already, but seeing as it was deleted to curate this user’s echo chamber, i still felt the need to post this where people could see it. Fuck you, but you can’t see this anyway, so nobody’s feelings will be hurt.

[puckpocketed]

19/12/2023 Seattle Kraken vs Dallas Stars

The Summer I Fell For Hockey - The Kraken Wagon: How to Stay Silly in the Face of Loss

I’m the asshole on the tram who’s watching hockey on their phone and not paying attention. This is how my afternoon commute home starts. I almost run into at least two people, I definitely trip a guy trying to get off the tram because I’m not looking, and I’m caught scrambling for the door after nearly missing my stop. My walk home is slowed by my unwillingness to take my eyes off the live feed. I’m sweating through an ill-advised sweater vest thrown on at 6 in the morning on my way out the door and my feet sting from the 5 hour shift I just finished — but I don’t care. The Kraken are down 0-2 and it feels like if I stop watching, if I even think about hurrying home through the swampy, muggy afternoon, the game will run away from us. 

“The Kraken are a wagon” is a sentiment I’ve come across repeatedly in my idle googling about my team. They’re a new team, my friend tells me over discord — she fell out of love with ice hockey years ago, some time back when the Kraken were first drafting their inaugural season lineup — and as soon as I hear it I am enamoured with them. A baby team! One that’s still building an identity, trying to figure out its core; and I’m already so charmed by their jerseys — toothpaste red, white, and blue, a squiggly tentacle ‘S’ for Seattle and a glaring sea monster’s eye — but a baby team? That’s the kind of story I can gorge myself on.

So they have me. I’m in and I’m reading primers and checking player stats, and I only find out about the “Kraken wagon” later. My squids have been in free fall all season, I learn this not long after I catch a game (their 0-3 defeat to the Minnesota Wild). This is what I get for choosing teams based on jersey colours, it’s not too late to swap loyalties — my regulars, who have by now heard all about my latent ice hockey obsession, tell me this as I pour their coffees. They don’t get it yet. If I truly didn’t like the Kraken, I’d have given up on them by now. The jersey colours, at this point, are immaterial. The jerseys are a cute bonus.

Here’s the rub: no one ever expected them to make the Stanley Cup playoffs in their second ever season of existence, but they did — or, some past incarnation of them did. The shadow that this playoffs run casts, even now, is where the “wagon” accusations stem from. But I didn’t join them when times were good. I joined them after an 8 game-long skid into the boards.

It’s hard to love something when all you ever see are the worst parts of it, some might assume. Looking through the Kraken tag tells an entirely different story. Loving the Seattle Kraken has come so easily to me largely due to the tiny group of die-hard followers I’ve come into contact with. I have a tab perpetually open on my second monitor at home when I’m watching games, set to the Kraken’s liveblog tag, and each time I’ve tuned in has been the ride of my life. It’s clear from the speed at which we like and reblog each other’s posts that we’re all regularly checking the tag when something happens. It’s like the world’s most intimate Twitch chat section, the world’s least intimate discord call. We’re mutuals and besties, strangers and fellow fans — I imagine if we were in the stands together, we’d look at each other when our Kraken score and cheer together, maybe we’d scream and laugh in half-disbelief.

The Dallas Stars are at the top of the Western Conference’s central division table, and they play like it. In the first few minutes of the match, Duchene and Seguin blast through and slip one past Daccord, no easy feat given he’s been on fire himself recently. Time after time, the Kraken’s power play is wrecked. The Kraken are being given the runaround, having to doggedly chase down intercepted pucks where the Stars’ passes always seem to connect. Recovery from 0-2 might seem impossible from where they are at the end of the first period, but the Kraken bring to the second period the same energy they had for their relentless puck hunting. Matty B and Tuna — Beniers and Tatar  — put us on the scoreboard and keep us in it, even as we lose Canner and Belly to injuries. Recovery from such an early and demoralising goal deficit isn’t impossible, just increasingly unlikely when you’ve got no superstars and are trying to throw off the wagon allegations.

That’s another thing: expectations are low. And not in a way that’s meant to disrespect the Kraken players — it’s closer to how animals might ball up and protect their vulnerable, soft bellies from harm. Losing, to be perfectly candid, fucking sucks. Reminding ourselves that any gains — no matter how trivial — still count as a win is one way to stave off the inevitable heartbreak. Another way we do it is, to paraphrase several Kraken bloggers,  “staying silly”.

If I were to distill the essence of silliness, I’d start with hockey itself. This game is a goofy one, in spite of my past assertions about warrior’s codes and narratives and unspoken honour. On-ice collisions can in fact be the height of slapstick comedy; and today the tension of a potential line brawl was broken with, of all things, the arena DJ playing Mortal Kombat music. As for the people? Even as the Kraken went down two goals halfway through the first period, the posts and memes rolled in. 

Watching sports is meant to be a leisure activity. If the stress of it ever becomes too much for me, stepping away is vital. Having the denizens of krakenblr being silly alongside me is like having an extra layer of armour between us and the heartache of loss. We crack jokes about manifesting wins, about freeing our boys from the penalty box (they’ve never done anything wrong in their lives, ever, and even if they did those assholes had it coming), about our players who are babygirls, about the endless double-entendre made by Forslund and Olczyk. For each time we scored, for each penalty taken, each power play and penalty kill the tone set by everyone was simple: stay silly. 

In the last minute of the third period, the Kraken rally for one final push. With Daccord pulled from the net the 6-man rush is relentless, and they manage to get up in the Stars’ faces. This is the grit that so inspired my admiration. Though the recaps on the news feed might only list one or two names on the assist, the last goal of third period is thanks to everyone on the ice. The Kraken players perform as their namesake implies: as one they are a many-armed leviathan, come to drag you and yours down, down, down, into the deep.

Vince Dunn — Dunner or Vincess depending on who you ask — keeps the puck from the blue line, Wenny snatches it away from a tight spot between two Stars, and everyone works to feed it back onto Bjorkstrand’s tape. Bjorkstrand’s shot cracks down the line and into the crease — and how’s this for poetry: from the same goddamn place on the ice he shot the last time he had to even up a game going into overtime — and the ensuing scuffle ends with Tolvy tipping it past Wedgewood. After a deeply frustrating review from the situation room, the goal is called good and we’re confirmed for overtime. Various posts to the effect of, “No matter what happens, I love you all. We’ll be okay,” flood the tag as I refresh my page. With them, it truly ain’t that serious; and going into overtime, even knowing the Kraken have one of the least impressive OT records in the league, truly cements it for me. The Kraken will be my team for the foreseeable future.

I won’t keep you in suspense, if you’re reading this from the outside looking in. The game ends in a loss. But I’m no heavier than I was when the game started. On the contrary, I’m lighter. The little reservoir of dread that had built up inside me in the early hours of the game has been emptied by a tidal wave of sweetness, of sincere well-wishes and optimism. To the Kraken fans I’ve interacted with so far: thank you all so much for what is possibly the warmest welcome I’ve ever received to a fandom space, thank you for making this game and this team so easy to love, thank you for shielding my tender flesh from loss and making even defeats a little fun.

So what if the Kraken are a wagon? It’s a clown wagon, and we’re riding it together; hand in silly hand.

[w0nd3rplay]

W0ND3RPLAY'S MORTAL KOMBAT

SATOSHI IN THE NEW ERA

inspired by @running-with-the-feels and @laismoura-art. Fuck NRS for not letting their own mascot be happy. @theelderhazelnut @bloody-arty-myths @starneko123

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE SHIRAI RYU IN THIS VERSION FIRST....

In the new era, the Shirai Ryu is mostly composed of pyromancers and plant magic users as opposed to the Lin Kuei, but their origins on how they came to be are different: the founder was a pyromancer himself and couldn't handle the cold environment, also got homesickness, so the Lin Kuei grandmaster assigned him to start a japan branch but then founder got shipwrecked and met a bunch of plant magic users, who have a redeemed Cetrion as their patron goddess. The island is her blessing towards them.

The matriarch of the plant magic users was the one to become grandmaster, as the founder see her as deemed worthy of the role when she was participating in the Mortal Kombat tournament.

The Shirai Ryu takes on the same role as the Lin Kuei but the difference is they deal with a bunch of external threats towards Earthrealm while internal threats are dealt with by the Lin Kuei. Both clans are on civil and friendly terms. (This may explain Harumi's connection to Outworld and the Umgadi)

NOW BACK ON THE SUBJECT!

There was no massacre that took place, just Hanzo and Harumi living a happy life with their beloved son. As I said, fuck NRS.

Hanzo wasn't a pyromancer after becoming Scorpion, it was by birth, and this goes the same toward Harumi as she's one of the best plant magic users within her clan. Oh, not to mention she's the official grandmistress.

Satoshi was born on October 11, making him a Libra.

In his early years, there were many marks that looked like scars and injuries that made Satoshi look like he grew up in a terrible household much to his parents' concern, they went to see the doctors but it was always concluded that Satoshi was perfectly healthy overall, no serious skin condition going on whatsoever.

Then a psychic came over to the village, they told them that Satoshi has a soulmate, and there was bad energy surrounding those marks because whoever was predestined to meet him must've grown up in a not so pleasant home life. They told his parents that their son must simply wait for his soulmate as that person would eventually find him, assuming around his teenage years.

By the time he was 5, the marks appeared less frequently, then for two months where it kept popping up left and right. Satoshi also had a really vivid nightmare of a village being destroyed with its residents being killed in the most gruesome ways possible, which was very alarming for his parents and that was a time where security measures had to be held up because they assumed it meant something wrong was about to happen to the clan.

Satoshi grew a habit of making up stories about the random scars that appear in his body, thinking they were from other different lives, from the past to the far future. Even his playmates get on the fun. This is because he didn't understand this whole soulmate ordeal at the time until much later in life when his parents sat down with him that day.

Is childhood besties with Takeda, as Kenshi settled down in the Shirai Ryu after freeing his own clan from the yazuka and marrying the love of his life, Suchin. They were practically raised like brothers growing up and liked to push each other's limits to ensure they grew up to be great warriors. Takeda loved being a big brother figure towards Satoshi as they were both only children with no siblings whatsoever.

His favorite pastime was gathering plants in the island's wide variety of otherworldly plants, he lets his parents cook the plants he's gotten during dinner. It even stayed after his childhood.

Another one was catching bugs with his dad, his favorite being those butterflies. He also learned how to paint and was a gifted artist like his mother.

Got a HUGE FNAF phase around when he was like 7-9 years old, his favorite animatronic would be Bonnie (blame @laismoura-art, those headcanons with Bi-han are truly hilarious) and shipped him with Freddy before he even knew shipping meant.

Inherited his father's facial features and resting grumpy face, though that resting face becomes more prominent once he was 11 years. It was also when he started to take on grandmaster training as per the clan's tradition.

He eventually started to learn how to hunt to practice his assassin skills, helping other villagers and members as a way to connect with them. He's now often seen practicing in the Fire Gardens or in the courtyard.

He also took on babysitting duty as well and eventually became like a protective and loving older brother towards the little fellas, he started becoming good with kids at this point too.

Satoshi didn't know about Zhenbing, the son of Bi-Han & Sareena until he began his grandmaster training despite knowing Zhenbing's parents personally due to monthly annual meetings between the Shirai Ryu & Lin Kuei, because he was often sent to Kenshi's home to be babysat while the meetings took place. They bonded over the fact they went through a FNAF phase albeit Zhenbing happened to him pretty early (sometime around 6-7) and the high expectations, pressures that comes with being both future grandmasters.

When he first met Zhenbing's adoptive older sister, Frost, she was responsible for Satoshi's bisexual awakening and had a brief crush for only two months. Currently he's a pansexual in denial.

He started to experience a growth spurt once he was 12 years old, and was 6'0" by the time he hit 13, his current age. (My boy would've been freaking in the NBA with the height I gave him at this point 💀)

He's also gotten more intimidating looking in terms of appearance due to the grumpy resting face that he has, but don't worry, he's a sweetheart but is really omniverted at best.

Whenever he wants to wind down and relax or wants some alone time, he goes to this huge lake with a pretty waterfall hidden within a forest only he knows and even plans to show his soulmate this place once he's trusted and got to know them more. He usually paints or plays with the small animals that come and stop by.

When an Ainu elder joined the clan, he got to get more connected to his heritage since while his father was afraid to pass on the traditions to his wife and son yet due to being disowned after joining the Shirai Ryu, so he takes that opportunity for a nice father-son bonding, since he too wants to take pride in his heritage as well and let his father join on a journey in learning about themselves. This was a core memory during Satoshi's teenage years (I loved the 'Hanzo being Ainu' headcanon from that one anon sent to @running-with-the-feels)

He enjoys reading those old choose your adventure books he'd find in those bookshops as well with some nature books, he's a huge fan of horror and fantasy novels as well.

His music taste consists of 90's japanese hip-hop, along with some from its western counterpart, along with indie rap. He listens to artists like Joey Valence & Brae, MC Hammer, Kid N' Play, and Salt N' Pepa

As Satoshi is now a teenager and now understands the whole soulmate ordeal that he has, he starts to wonder what his soulmate would be like in person, other than being such a reckless idiot as marks resembling external injuries tend to pop up often. He often says to himself 'Oh what they've done now??' or 'Here we go again...', yet beyond those scars, he wishes to meet them but alas, a psychic told his parents that he must wait. For now.......

[nikethestatue]

Is it fair to say that CC4 isn’t happening, therefore Nesta’s arc is complete? In that case, can we assume that we won’t see G and E again? I feel bad for Emerie because people completely forgot about her, but to be honest, I would prefer Elain’s book to be as free of Valkyries as possible. They have nothing to do with her. I would prefer to learn more of Nuala and Cerridwen.

I don’t know why people are suddenly so concerned about Gwyn being in Elain’s book.

We don’t even have Elain’s book yet and there is nothing to worry about.

I think the Valkyries will be present down the road in some fighting capacity but as of now their storyline isn’t connected to Elain’s and therefore there is no need for them to be there.

They also aren’t connected to CC, only Nesta. Regardless of her story and the connection to CC i don’t see Gwyn becoming besties with Elain suddenly.

[tumblingclockwork]

BESTIE can you tell me more about your lovely lady Jo I like her a lot....

IM SOOOOOO FUCKING GLAD YOU ASKED so she’s like technically an SCP OC tho we’re not suuuper connected to that universe it’s more of a vessel to tell our story but she’s this middle aged lesbian who is PAST her prime. She never had a prime. This is a cringe woman. She’s like on the millennial gen x cusp and it’s like painfully obvious. She is not a cool woman. She hasn’t even really talked to a girl other than her sister since high school. She’s got no friends. She works a minimum wage job and then goes home to her little house she took from her elderly mom after her mom got moved to 24/7 care (Jo doesn’t visit her btw)

And then one day she wakes up with a ton of weird symptoms. They persist for weeks. She goes to a doctor. They have her take a pregnancy test even though she tries to explain to them she can’t Possibly be pregnant. It comes back positive. She takes several more. She is super pregnant. She panics. She assumes the worst. She cannot fathom how this could have happened. More tests are done. She gets an ultrasound done. There’s no baby. Every pregnancy test comes back positive. She experiences every symptom of pregnancy. Her body is reacting as if there is a baby. But there’s just no baby. Her womb is empty.

For a really long time she tries to find an answer. Doctors don’t take her seriously. They assume she has an extreme case of Pseudocyesis. They blame it on her parental problems. She sees therapists. Nothing helps, and she continues to appear more and more pregnant until her body stops at around the 7th month mark.

Eventually she gives up and for Four Years she exists in a body that is 7 months pregnant until eventually her case gets brought to a doctor who has ties to the SCP foundation and they immediately clock her as something anomalous. The foundation gets involved.

The SCP foundation sends in Agent Ainsley ( @ericka-the-worm ‘s character, If you were wondering) to pick her up. He’s a high level agent in the foundation. He’s well trusted to do an easy job like this. Except Ainsely has just come back from forced leave after his spouse, another agent at the foundation, was killed by an SCP. He’s freshly traumatized and his grief has made him angry. The sound of a lamp crashing on the ground when he breaks into her home sends him into a full on PTSD induced panic attack which he believes was not just a sign that he wasn’t ready to come back to work, but instead a mental attack from Jo, who he believes is a far more dangerous SCP than she’s letting on and able to manipulate his mind.

The foundation believes Ainsley and puts Jo in maximum containment. She’s left unattended for days. The isolation drives her crazy. She has been abducted from her home with no explanation and now sits in a silent white room every second of the day. She tries her best to stay sane but it’s near impossible. She deals with constant hallucinations and delusions. That’s when a scientist is assigned to her case. Doctor Zephyr Salem ( @kennydennys )

Dr Salem is driven by only one thing: knowledge. They learn very quickly that Ainsley’s report of Jo wasn’t accurate. And they are very easily attached to Jo for how interesting she is, both as an SCP, and as a human woman who has been driven out of her mind.

Jo IMMEDIATELY attaches to Salem as the only person who she’s in contact with. Finally being able to talk to another person and have a connection to the outside world, she relies on them, and believes them completely when they say they want to help her with her condition and eventually free her from containment.

Jo feels that she’s already been saved by Salem, because she finally has someone to talk to after being in isolation for so long. But the SCP foundation is Salem’s place of work, and Salem has to clock out eventually. They can’t stay with her all the time, and she still spends most of her time completely alone. She continues to get worse. Salem tells Jo that things won’t be like this forever, and she’ll get to leave some day. But in reality Salem has no real intention of ever letting their most interesting case yet leave them.

[monstersandmaw]

April's Patreon exclusive story is live!

Gender fluid lich x female reader (nsfw)

Content: cis female reader (though that really comes in right at the end with the nsfw and anatomy to be honest. I'm so used to writing gn readers by this point!). Reader is one of the quiet and reserved types, who prefers to have a meaningful connection with someone before taking things further than friendship, and sometimes it makes her feel a little bit lonely. Her bestie is a big, girlie orc lass with confidence to spare, and there's a goblin and a gargoyle in there too.

Wordcount: 6735

Extract:

...

Cassia peered over the shoulders of the remaining three people — the two excitable gnolls included — in front of you and began rattling off the labels of the ice cream in the glass-fronted freezer, but you had eyes only for the lich.

The way their delicate finger bones moved, connected to each other by magic instead of tendons and muscles; the way they held the ice cream scoop and moved it with such precision to create wonderful, glassy balls of ice cream to set delicately atop the cone in teetering arrangements; the way they squeezed syrup from the bottles and let it zig-zag across their ice cream masterpieces without once spilling a drop… They were enchanting.

The light of their magic — the magic that kept them in their state of permanent un-death — glowed a minty green in the depths of their eye-sockets, and it added to the vivacious aura that emanated from them. They talked constantly while they worked, chatting with customers and hardly breaking off to quip a quick retort at the goblin, who matched them for speed in both ice cream preparation and banter, until you were almost dizzy with it all. Combined with the glorious scent in the air, you were almost overwhelmed.

When it was your turn, they shifted their magical gaze to your face and you watched a slight change come over them.

Before you and Cassia had reached the head of the queue, they’d seemed tense and almost frantic, their shoulders held high and their movements a blur, but when they spotted you, they seemed to stall for a moment. The light grew minutely brighter in their skull, illuminating the curve of their eye sockets and the dainty line of their nasal cavity, and although they had no mouth with which to articulate a smile, you got the impression of a beaming, blinding smile all the same.

“Well there,” they said in that intriguing, slightly husky alto. They had the faintest trace of an accent, though you couldn’t place it. “What can we get for you, lovely?”

The final word, so casually but so sincerely added, threw you off balance, so you looked up at Cassia and begged her with silent, wide eyes to go first. She did, and you took a second to compose yourself. Social interactions weren’t really your thing. That was why you worked at a garden centre. The most you had to do there was point someone in the direction of the petunias, or advise someone on organic slug repellents. You didn’t want to be thinking about organic slug repellent at that moment though, and dragged your brain back into the present.

With your own order awkwardly given, the lich nodded and waggled the freshly-cleaned scoop at you. “Fabulous choice, I must say.”

And because you had the social range of a butter knife, you blurted, “Bet you say that to all your customers.”

They laughed. “Only the cute ones. You want a free flake with that?”

You eyed the jar of flaky, crumbly chocolate bars and nodded. “Thanks.”

The light in one of their eyes went out briefly in what you could only assume was a wink, and as they handed you the teetering cone of ice cream a second later, they also slid a little card across the counter with the delicate fingertip of their other hand. “Come back for a freebie,” they whispered, leaning close.

_

Read the whole thing now on the Little Ghosties tier of my Patreon, and get access to all my previous works too in my extended masterlist, as well as access to all early release content a week ahead. There's also a chill Discord server if you fancy joining that too.

[golbrocklovely]

Opinion on the fact Sam and Colby have not unfollowed Wilbur Soot? I'm seeing multiple people very angry and disappointed in them for that.

Plus a lot of people seem to think they should speak on Palestine for some reason? They're ghost hunters, don't force them to speak on something they know nothing about people.

i'm gonna have some unpopular takes, so just a heads up to a lot of ppl. if you don't agree, totally fine. but i'm not hear to argue on this bc this is just how i feel.

first off, fuck wilbur. he's a dick. that being said, i give literally no shits whatsoever if snc are following him. for one thing, it's not like snc are besties with the guy. they collabed once, and then almost literally never mentioned that collab again. not to mention, snc have never been one to follow the train of "unfollow this person right now" so idk why this fandom thinks things are gonna be different this time around.

i hope they eventually unfollow him, but i'm not gonna hold my breath or even care to remember if and when they do or don't. bc that's how little i think about this.

and as for palestine, i'm of the belief that if content creators want to use their voice, awesome. if not, idc. i'm not going to snc for political or world news updates. i would assume they don't like that a genocide is happening, but i don't care which way or the other they feel about it. they are not what's important here. palestinians are what's important. freeing palestine is what's important.

unless snc have some direct connection to the president, their word means nothing. it's not like israel's government is gonna go "oh, two random influencers from kansas said ceasefire now? well shit, i guess we gotta stop genociding."

ppl are upset at the wrong thing. be upset at your government not calling for a ceasefire. be upset that we keep giving money to the idf. respectfully, what the fuck are snc supposed to do about it??? they aren't that rich or powerful. not to mention you are making a genocide about yourself by centering this whole thing on "well snc, who are MY faves, aren't saying anything and I don't like that"

not everything is about you. hate to be the bear of bad news, but some ppl that you stan have opinions you don't agree with. have values you don't agree with. you will never find someone that is 100% on the same path as you. accepting that reality sooner rather than later will help you in the long run.

god this is the dumbest shit, i swear. ppl are literally dying, being slaughtered, and you're concerned about what snc think??????? LOG OFF. holy shit.

(also none of this was directed at you, anon. just using the general term of 'you')

[sumthingscosmic]

starter for: everyone !! (@chqstarter)​​ location: the third eye

margaux was dusting some shelves to keep herself busy, the smell of lavender incense filled the air and the playlist she had curated specifically for her shifts at the shop was playing softly in the background. it had been a bit of a slow day, much like any other day because for what reason would a psychic shop be busy? maybe before a much dreaded mercury retrograde since it was something that recently became one of the most feared events for humanity these days, as it should be if she was completely honest; the possibility of your ex trying to come back to your life or phone malfunctioning should give you the heebie-jeebies! it had been so peaceful that she nearly got a scare once the bell chimed due to someone opening the door, she turns around to the potential customer with a warm smile. “welcome to the third eye! please don’t be afraid to ask for help with any of the items in the store or if you booked an appointment with us today.”

[quetzalpapalotl]

hey barbie will you tell me about arcee? i only know her from transformers prime and the occasional screencap <3 🌸🦋

Yes!!! I always want to talk about Arcee, and I mean IDW1 Arcee, which I assume is the one you’re talking about. She is great, she is the best character in IDW1. So since you know nothing about her, let me give you the rundown of her character. Keep in one that the stuff with her during phase 1 is, uh, not good, but as of phase 2 when she became a character in John Barber stories she was greatly expanded upon and recontextualized.

Ok so, she is old as dirt, like over 10 million years old. She was forged male in a time where Cybertron was a bunch of scattered tribes and her and her twin brother Galvatron where enslaved gladiators to a Prime (which seemed to just be a title for a tribal leader at this point) who had to play blood sports to eat. This is going to leave one with a lot fucking issues, but she was really good at it. But then Megatronus (later Prime) shows up and frees them and Arcee and Galvatron join the 13 Primes in uniting Cybertron.

Things seem like they’re going to be fine, but Arcee is not so sure. Then the 13 Primes decide to spread the Cybertronian civilization across the universe, which is called colonization, which is a bad thing. When Arcee realizes what she’s part of she feels like shit about it. Then the 13 Primes have drama and break up, some of them die, some of them fuck up, Cybertron falls into chaos in what’s called the First Civil War until Galvatron’s new bestie, Nova, shows up and unites Cybertron again.

While Arcee is trans we don’t know when exactly she started to realize that a male identity wasn’t how she felt on her spark, but we do know that is something she struggled with. I don’t think this is helped by the fact that at some point people Cybertron kinda… forgot about gender, so everyone was just male by default (not in the colonies, but by this point Cybertron had lost contact with them). So not only is she seen as something she isn’t, the thing that she is something people have lost any frame of reference for even though Arcee knew people like her before. This must be extremely alienating. Add to that that Arcee explains that she has always have trouble connecting with people (because Autism), so the poor girl must have felt very, very alone.

Arcee ends up volunteering to have some kind of gender affirming surgery with this mad scientist called Jhiaxus, who then just does malpractice on her, doesn’t provide proper aftercare and is seemingly disappointed that Arcee doesn’t fir his idea of what a female Cybertronian should be. This sort of breaks Arcee and turns the thing that she’s best at (murder) on Jhiaxus. But Jhiaxus leaves with Nova Prime and Galvatron in yet another expansionist mission and disappear, so Arcee is left trying to find traces of Galvatron across the galaxy and getting rid of his creations.

After the Autobot-Decepticon civil war broke out, Arcee seems to be allied with the Autobots (but we are later left to understand she never joined proper), which makes sense as the Decepticon ideology of mechanical superiority is a sore spot for her. But she’s mainly focused on tracking down Jhiaxus. At some point she meets fellow trans woman, Anode, who says she can help her, but Anode disappears before she can get any real support. Which also doesn’t help her mental state, but at least know she’s sure none of the stuff with Jhiaxus was her fault and is more eager than ever to kill him and will kill everyone that gets in her way.

I think that Arcee is justified in everything she’s ever done. But apparently the Autobots don’t agree with me, they see Arcee as some weirdo, blood thirsty murderer that went crazy because of Jhiaxus, so they put her in jail, and later free her because they need their help. She eventually manages to finally catch Jhiaxus and because of plot reasons, he’s in a state of undead where Arce gets to kill him over and over and over again. This was a very therapeutic experience that allowed her to think about stuff and clear her had.

So after the war ends and Bumblebee and co. are having trouble maintaining the harmony between the Autobots, Decepticons and neutrals on Cybertron, Arcee has now come to the conclusion that a better world must be possible, so she tries to work towards that even if the only thing she really understands is violence. Arcee seems to hate herself and her own race for being like this,  she thinks that whatever world they create won’t have a place for her, that her fate is to die in a battlefield, but still she tries, because it’s what must be done.

At first she works under Prowl because he makes sense for her, until she realizes he sucks. She also tries to connect with Sideswipe because she thinks they’re similar, but Sideswipe keeps denying any closeness because he wants to consider himself better than her. Arcee has internalized the idea that things like friendship are just nor for her, but the truth is that she does crave connection to people, but she struggles with it because she’s socially awkward, doesn’t really get how socialization works and everyone is stuck with the idea of her as a crazy murder lady and keep denying her any interiority.

The only person that seems to get her is Galvatron, who is causing trouble again after coming back and almost ending the universe twice. Like a good brother who was with you during your formative years he does understand Arcee but that doesn’t mean he sympathizes with her and uses his knowledge to ger under her skin and manipulate her. Imagine only being understood by the worst person alive, that sucks. She will later let Optimus kill him and have conflicted feelings over it.

Optimus, at least, does give Arcee a chance and seems to like her. Arcee is not impressed by him because again, she’s old as fuck, she knew the original Primes, but OP seems to appreciate this. Arcee ends up becoming sort of his right hand woman and seems to stick with him both because she’s still trying to help create a better world and also to keep an eye on him since OP is doing a lot of questionable stuff that rings a bell on her head. Which includes using his Prime clout to get a bunch of wide-eyed colonists (by this point, they have made contact with the old colonies again btw) to join him.

One of those people being Aileron, a very sweet girl who grew up with idealized stories about the Primes and has no context of what war is actually like and will have to face reality. Despite everything Aileron matures a lot and is able to keep her head and see things from a different perspective. She doesn’t see Arcee as a crazy murder lady because to Aileron all the veterans are messed up, and honestly Arcee probably looks better than average since she has been putting a lot of work in changing her ways and her straightforwardness allows her to not get caught up in the same things other people do.

So Aileron and Arcee bond, Aileron shows Arcee a lot of sympathy when Arcee is upset because Sideswipe is in critical condition, and she’s not intimidated by Arcee or the idea that she’s crazy. Eventually Sideswipe dies but before that he does apologize to Arcee and thanks her for being there for him. Arcee is sad but also happy that he could make peace before the end, which allows her to get more at peace with herself. Aileron is there to help her and she will keep insisting she’s there to catch Arcee. When Arcee finally internalizes the idea that she’s not alone, she kisses Aileron and they become a couple.

Then Unicron shows up, who turns out to be a creation of a scientist from the planet in that first colonization expedition Arcee took place in. He’s here to eat all Cybertronian colonies. It seems that maybe is better if he kills them all, after all Cybertronians seems to be stuck on a never-ending cycle of violence and they’re all here because of it. Arcee thinks that she herself does deserve to die.

When it comes to either Optimus or Arcee to sacrifice themselves to activate the thing they need to stop Unicron, Optimus tells Arcee to go, while he’s stuck as a symbol of war, Arcee has managed to move past that and she has someone to return to. Optimus dies to bury the legacy of Primes with him so the Transformers can move on. Arcee, who has been there since the beginning and spent most of her life knowing nothing but violence, proves that change is possible and ends the continuity teaching about new generations about the importance of trying and having hope in the future. She is happy.

I love her, she’s better than everyone else. I would die for her. Do you understand me now, Leo?

[presdestigatto]

🏎️💨 THE FORMULA 1 TAG GAME! 🏎️💨:

tagged by @solaireverie thank u bestie 🫶🐈

1. Who or what got you into F1?

so in 2018 my brother got an xbox and in 2022 f122 (?) was added to the game pass, he developed motorsport brainrot and would not stop blabbing to me about it 😽 then he mansplained the SG grand prix to me, i surprisingly found it interesting, and here i am

i think also i saw Seb trending on here in late 2022 and that made me more ‘aware’ of f1, in the sense that Seb was one of the few drivers i did know before, so there was some weird attachment there. there was a period of time where i stopped tuning in to the SG races (busy + covid) so that got me paying attention again

2. Who was the very first F1 driver you supported? Do you support them now? Have your opinions on them differed or stayed the same since then?

Ohhhh Charles Leclerc 🎊🎶 pretty much the same, i find the narrative around his career very compelling, i like his driving and he’s a cool guy

someone once asked me “did you just choose the first guy you saw on the TV” and honestly, if i think about it. Yeah. he was the first driver i saw when we switched on the race broadcast.

3. Who’s your current favourite F1 driver?

Charles! if Seb makes a return then it’ll be him, but i’m assuming this means current drivers only.

4. Is there a driver pairing or pairings you support? What made you attracted to that pairing in the first place?

my roman empire Sebchal…

Charles was the driver i liked and Seb was the driver i knew from my childhood so i was curious about the connection. i’m a big fan of the maturity with which they handled their off-track relationship; tbh my opinions of them as teammates purely-racing wise are mixed, but they’re also my two all-time favourites so my fondness gets amplified when they’re together

5. Do your parents, siblings or relatives have a favourite driver?

Well. my brother is a Lewis fan, my uncle is also a Lewis fan. from 2025 we’ll be an all Ferrari family 😮‍💨

my uncle has Lewis and Valterri’s driver cards and art prints of Coulthard and Barichello’s helmets in his house haha

6. Do you have any favourite races? Are there any that stand out to you the most?

Hockenheim 2019 and Hungaroring 2015!

i think Turkey 2010 also stands out in my memory thanks to arguably one of the funniest crashes in Seb’s career and the subsequent w2w between Jenson and Lewis.

7. Do you have a favourite circuit? Can be from the past or from the current calendar

Sepang, the incline is cool i hope they bring it back

8. Have you ever been to an F1 race in real life? Feel free to tell us your experience going to one if you like.

no money 😚😚 i could attend the SG GP but i heard you can’t see much, and tbh, the sg races are kind of snoozefests…

9. Have you ever met an F1 driver in real life?

nope! the idea of it scares me honestly. i may cry if I see seb in the flesh

10. Do you have a favourite F1 car? If so, what is it?

rb6 my speedy but unreliable queen

11. Do you have a favourite one win wonder?

i probably haven’t been watching long enough to have one

12. Do you have any favourite quotes from the F1 world? This can either be inspirational or hilarious.

i’m kind of obsessed with everything seb has ever said, particularly these:

“you, asking what happened at the start? // you came in like a torpedo” (rip kyvat)

“we have to remember these days. because there is no guarantee that they will last forever.” ♥️

also quite fond of Charles’ “it’s like this”, but hope we hear it less in 2024 🤞

tagging @verstappenclerc @baiuzennsenn @leqclerc @norrisgp @monacodarling if yall haven’t done it already!! (if u have, sorry 🫡) ++ anyone who wants to

[nancydrewwouldnever]

I always assumed the met when Jess Biel filmed Blade: Trinity with Ryan back in 2003. But, that's a long, long time ago so they were probably little more than just passing acquaintances. //

I'm pretty sure there are pictures of Ryan at Chris’ Memorial Day party in 2019. Ryan was married to one of Chris’ closest HW friends, Scarlett. They might not be besties, but they are connected in many ways.

I would love to see Chris do a Johnny cameo in Dead Pool. I rather him do a cameo of Johnny than Steve.

Yeah, Ryan was at that Memorial Day party because that's when he was in Boston filming Free Guy, and the time period when Chris shot his cameo.

And, honestly, don't know if Chris and ScarJo were exceptionally close during the timeframe of her marriage to Ryan. That was slightly before Marvel filming got into full swing, and I feel it was really all the Marvel filming that more solidified their friendship.

[justagalwhowrites]

oh my god I’ve been on vacation and just caught up with Yearling and all of your asks (saving Halcyon to start tomorrow)!!

Two Things:

I’m shaking in my spurs about the coming angst. Would you be willing to share whether or not Joel & Bambi end up happily ever after? I can get through it if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I want to assume yes but you know what they say.

About you worrying whether people will like Yearling… don’t. I was an avid BD/Lavender reader and truthfully I wasn’t automatically into the premise of Yearling when you first shared the idea, because I wasn’t used to that particular dynamic (rougher girl, softer man) and I didn’t know if I could relate to her or buy such a sweet Joel. But, I wanted to read it because you had a great track record. And, I have loved Yearling. It’s absolutely a testament to your storytelling that you drew me so far into a world I can’t personally identify with; I’m still out here devouring every chapter, finding ways I can relate, and feeling deeply for the characters you’ve written. Most importantly, I think you also brought a unique voice to the fandom which I realize now was needed.

EEEEEK HI BESTIE!

I hope you had just the best vacation and had plenty of fun and relaxation and the opportunity to do all the stuff you wanted to do. I'm going to answer your questions in reverse order so I can tuck the first one below a cut for those who don't want to know :)

You are so so sweet to say that about Yearling!! I'm so happy you're enjoying it and finding ways to connect with it even though it's not what you'd normally go for! That means the world, for real. These characters bring me so much joy and I love that other people are loving them, too. This seriously made me feel better about it so thank you thank you thank you! And thank you for saying that I'm bringing a unique voice to the fandom, that means so much I cannot even just... thank you ❤️

YEARLING SPOILER BELOW THE CUT

I'm not going to go into specifics here but YES Yearling will end happily. IT'S GOING TO LOOK LIKE IT'S NOT FOR A BIT it really, really is. But trust me when I say it'll end happily.

If you're anxious about the angst and want full spoilers, feel free to DM me! I don't mind spoiling the rest of the series if that will make you more comfortable in reading it (as long as you promise to keep the spoilers to yourself, cross your heart hope to die all that good stuff 😊)

Thanks for reaching out and for being just so kind and lovely!!

Love you!!!