#filed under: asterisk

[bjorkshire-pudding]

A moment to appreciate how my himbo was completely honest

[y-rhywbeth2]

Decided to go poking through the point and click dialogue files to look for Durge comments I haven't seen. Strangely I don't think this is all of them, because I have heard my Durge start hissing under his breath about screaming in a decidedly Durge fashion while in stealth, but I don't see it here.

*The ones with an asterisk are where I think it's Durge, but it might be one of the ones they share with Tav. They appear at the end of the sections, where Durge's lines go, but who knows: they aren't marked. Tav players feel free to let me know if your character has ever said any of this.

Reaching 0 HP: "Death is for other people."*

Harassing them by spamming their portrait: "I'm maiming as fast as I can!" "A thousand needlepricks in my rotten skull."

Combat turn start: "They're dying for me. All of them." "Behold the dance of death."

Stealth: "A knife in the dark."* "Time for bitter business the light would fear to shine on."*

Moving: "Walk in death." "Dream in red." "Pave my path with corpses. Build my castle with bones." "They should all be running." "Have I been this way before?"

Selecting them: "Mind never quiet." "I can do better. I must." "Where am I? What's going on?" "Still in control. Just." "Keep it together." "Father, they will die for you." "Everything is clear." "Nothing hurts anymore." "All is ash and meat!" "Intestines throb. Blood whispers." "Must lug my guts through this hell." "Wretched thing, pull yourself together." "How many die today? How many die tomorrow?"

Attacking, or casting an offensive spell: "Worship me, the prophet of the end!" "One down, millions live." "Father, are you watching?" "A beautiful death." "Kill! Kill! Kill again!" "Hee hee hee." "HAH! HAH! HAH!" "A fine day for murder!" "Bodies for the harvest!" "The butcher calls." "You will die for me, won't you?"

[lisenberry]

Sneak peek at Ch. 2 of this one.

The mountain is you

You and John share a drink and few personal questions as you get to know each other before your first session.

E/MDNI/18+

1.1k

CW: Kink/bdsm negotiating, talk of pain, choking and past medical trauma/limits.

“What does that file say about me?”  You sipped your pint, finding your throat suddenly dry and your forehead warm, and in need of something to do with your hands.  He was too intense. 

Impenetrable.

He didn’t look down at the file, instead kept it closed on the table.  His pen held between his two hands, contemplative and resolute.

“That you’re a pain slut.  With a high tolerance.”  His voice didn’t rise above his gruff, conversational tone, and you didn’t bother to look around at your fellow patrons seated near you.  With the din of the pub, they wouldn’t be able to hear.  “Does that bother you?”

“No.  It’s the truth.”  You didn’t have anything to hide.  Not from him at least.  Not if this was going to work.

“What is it about pain that you seek out?”  He crossed his arms over the table and leaned in closer.  Biceps bunching under his t-shirt.  Ghost had always worn a suit.  John looked like he came from a construction site. Unshaven and slightly dangerous.

You didn't hate it.

“When it’s done right, there’s a moment right before it gets to be too much that my body starts to fight back.  As if to say, ‘Go on, I dare you.  Is that all you’ve got to give?’  And just then, right before I give in and quit, it’s the most powerful I’ve ever been.  The most alive.”

“It’s the rush then, is it?”  He studied you like a therapist.  And you felt like a patient.  Only this therapist’s job was to tie you up and make you cry.  And come.  And cry again.  The thought made you shudder inwardly with anticipation.   

“It doesn’t work for all pain.  It’s not the blood or the risk of injury.  I don’t get off at the thought of the dentist...” you trailed off with a light laugh, finding it easier to talk to him about this that you'd thought. “But sometimes, the more helpless I am, the stronger it feels.  There aren’t too many things you can do without thinking about it.  Against your will. Beating, breathing, feeling.  There’s a freedom in it.  Again, if it’s done right.”

“You don’t like to think, then.  You’d rather be surprised?”

“I don’t mind surprises.  I like them, actually.  We don’t have to negotiate everything ahead of time, so long as it feels right in the scene.”

You finished off the last of your pint and smoothed the napkin that had caught to the condensation on the bottom.  A first date, a therapy session, and an interview all in one.  And yet it didn’t fill you with the same anxiety as it should.  It could’ve gone wrong in a hundred different ways, and yet the more you confided, the more you relaxed. 

“Talk to me about these hard lines.”  He opened your file, skimmed it, and moved his pen back and forth as if he was underlining something boldly.

“Always be honest with me about what you’re going to do.  Don’t play games or make me have to choose something in order to please you.  Keep me engaged, but if I have to make a decision it will take me out of it.”

“That’s important to know, thank you.”  He made another note on the page.  “It also says no choking, but with an asterisk next to it.  Care you elaborate?”

“When I was little, I had terrible asthma.  Life threatening at times.  It’s under control now, but not being able to breathe, or even the threat of it, doesn’t...” you paused, searching for the right word to convey your biggest fear, “arouse me.  Let’s just say.”

“I understand why it wouldn’t.”  No sympathetic indulgence, thankfully, just a solid nod of support. 

Could he relate?  You wondered what hard lines he had.  You couldn’t imagine anything scaring him. Ghost had reacted the same when you’d had this discussion.  No questions, no bargaining.  Just respect for your vulnerability.  Surprising, from two men who seemingly had none themselves.

It prompted you to delve in further, and leave no room for misunderstanding, just in case.

“No collars, no ribbons, bows, belts, neckties, your hands, anything please.”

“Neck is off limits.  Noted.” 

“You can still kiss me there, if that’s something you like.  Or you can slap me, to get my attention.  And if you need to move me around or hold me down, you can grab my hair.”

You punctuated the last with a helpful smile and a shrug of your shoulders.  His gaze seemed to find your neck then, perhaps contemplating what it’d be like to kiss it.  Did the thought bring him as much excitement as it did you?

“Fair enough.”  A contented grunt was all you received in response.

“You said that this would be a reciprocating agreement.  What do you want from me?”  The question that had been on your mind since Ghost had called you.

With him, you just paid him money.  That was your end of the deal.  Without payment, that left too much to your imagination and you’d let it run a bit wild. 

“I’ll tell you what I want, and when I want it.  Is that clear?  I won’t ask for your permission, and you’ll never have to wonder what I’m thinking.  I don’t hear yes and no, or green and yellow.  Red means take a break and try something else, and the safe word is a hard stop to call it a day.”

“Understood.  Thank you.”  It was a plan you could definitely work with.  “But what about you?  What do you hope to get out of this?”

“I like to be in charge.  Take care of things.  And do the hard things that need to be done.”

“And who takes care of you?”  A simple question, but he seemed to bristle at it.  Perhaps you’d pushed him too far, too soon. 

“Good little girls who listen and behave.”  He adjusted himself in his seat, straightening as if to get back some control.  “Let’s talk punishments.  No spanking, obviously.  You’ll enjoy it too much.”  His eyes seemed to darken in both amusement and desire.

No doubt proud of himself for changing the subject and redirecting the friendly interrogation.

“Hopefully I won’t displease you, but you could ignore me.  That will make me rethink my attitude real quick,” you replied, with an answering grin.

“Ignore you?  I think that would hurt me more than you, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart.  You liked that.  Probably said as much with the flood of heat to your cheeks and the breathless giggle that sounded so foreign to your ears. 

“I think we’ll get along just fine...John?”  You questioned what name he wanted to be called.

“Sir.  Just sir.”

[jinxxsims]

Today I have a mixed bag of goodies to offer up to this amazing Sims 2 community! Under the cut, you’ll find preview pictures, more information, and the download link!

@daydreamingdrawerette requested a few 4t2 lamps, and here they are in all their glory... along with one I wanted for myself. In order from top to bottom, left to right...

Interrogation Illumination (Lighting > Ceiling) from Get to Work.

The Forgotten Saucer (Lighting > Ceiling) from Journey to Batuu.

Dollop O’ Light (Lighting > Wall) from the Base Game.

The Beamer (Lighting > Ceiling) from Get to Work.

In the Raw Industrial Table Lamp (Lighting > Table) from the Base Game.

As I said in my last post, @sofia-28tosi-blog had requested some 4t2 counters, so I did a couple more for her. This is the “Whittler’s Pride Kitchen Counter” from Cottage Living. All recolors are included... with a great big asterisk attached, which I will explain now. 

The mapping for Sims 4 counters is extremely different from Sims 2 counters, but in order for sinks to place properly in counters, the countertop can’t be remeshed/changed. I had to choose between 100% Sims 4 accurate aesthetics or functionality... and functionality is going to win every single time. Rather than use the countertop textures from Sims 4, I used the texture of @cluedosims / @shastakiss‘ Cluedo woods, but colormatched to the original Sims 4 textures. There is barely a difference in colors, and honestly... Shasta’s wood texture is nicer than EAxis’ in my opinion.

There are ten base recolors and seven countertop recolors (not all pictured). They are separate subsets... you can mix and match to your heart's content. Countertops have a clean and messy state. And as I already said... sinks will place properly. 

Thank you Shasta for sharing your resources!

This is the “VAULT Modular Counter” from the Base Game. As I said before... I sacrificed 100% original Sims 4 textures for functionality. I wanted a wood grain that was as close as the original as possible, which sadly made the Cluedo texture not a good match for these, but after some googling, I found a conversion of a floor by @fakebloood that was originally by PralineSims (you can find the floors here) that I used as a base for the texture, then color matched to the original countertops.

There are 15 bases and 15 countertop recolors (not all pictured). They are separate subsets so you can mix and match. Countertops have a clean and messy state and sinks place properly. 

Next up... I have the “Haughty Herringbone Fireplace” from Growing Together. It can be found in Appliances > Miscellaneous and is fully functional. All recolors are included.

Last, but certainly not least is the “Wub Tub Electromagic DJ Booth” and get this... it’s fully functional! Sims 2 DJ booths have a platform that Sims 4 DJ booths do not, and I honestly have no idea how to change that... so I added the platform in by cloning a 3t2 dj booth by FabulousZombie on LJ. I used their platform as a base (since the ones in Sims 2 are just ugly) and built atop it. The platform is not recolorable, but the booth itself is. Many thanks to FabulousZombie, and you can find their 3t2 dj booths here. 

All recolors for all objects are included. Each object is in an individual folder containing pictures of each recolor so you can pick and choose what you want. Make sure you discard the images once you’ve decided what to keep. Files are compressorized. 

Download Mixed Bag O’ Goodies

[changes]

Tuesday, December 20th, 2022

🌟 New

Tumblr Live is now out to all users in the United States (iOS and Android apps only, for now).

The ALT button on blog themes is now partially transparent until the image is hovered over or focused, just like on the dashboard.

Added some styling to the ALT button on blog themes for images under 300 pixels wide. They should now sit below the image on most themes.

🛠 Fixed

Fixed an issue on web where clicking on a tag starting with an asterisk could lead to an empty page.

Fixed an issue on the blog network where high res images sometimes wouldn’t show in the lightbox.

Fixed a performance issue with the post footers on web. scrolling should be a little smoother!

Fixed an issue on mobile web that could cause scrolling to feel jumpy or jittery when post truncation is enabled.

Fixed a bug in the post editor on web that could result in you losing your last edit if you were on the markdown or HTML editors and clicked on “preview.”

Fixed some color palette issues in the “Edit appearance” page and in blog view.

Fixed an issue where the ALT button on blog themes could fail to display the image’s description when clicked.

🚧 Ongoing

Nothing new to report today.

🌱 Upcoming

Nothing to share today.

Experiencing an issue? File a Support Request and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!

Want to share your feedback about something? Check out our Work in Progress blog and start a discussion with the community.

[sinhal]

Hal Jordan Reading List

Hal Jordan is a man of many names and many legends. He was once the Green Lanterns' best and brightest. His name and legend is written into the stars. He fell, brilliantly and terribly. He rose again as the Spirit of Vengeance, the Spirit of Redemption! He returns in the end to his place among the Green Lanterns. But to truly know the man, you must read the stories.

Most important stories are bolded and my favorites are asterisked

Origin Stories 

Some of these repeat, not all are necessary but I advise reading at least Emerald Dawn/Emerald Dawn II or Secret Origins or Showcase #22

Emerald Dawn (1990), first appearance of the Martin Jordan backstory

Emerald Dawn II (1991)*, Hal is trained by Sinestro for the first time

Secret Origins (Green Lantern (2005) #29-35), Geoff Johns’ version of Hal’s backstory if reading modern Hal stuff, its important

Showcase #22*, what actually started it all

Superman: Man of Steel Annual #4*, Hal meets Clark for the first time

Secret Origins (1986) #36, Hal retells his origin to a new friend (set post Action Comics (1938) #606)

One Shots

Green Lantern Secret Files (2004) #1 “Flight”, three flights in Hal Jordan’s life*

Justice League: The Darkseid War - Green Lantern #1, Hal becomes a God and gives it up*

Green Lantern 80th Anniversary, a tribute to the Green Lanterns across the ages* (Skip Geoff’s story. You’ll thank me. Four should be read after Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #35.)

Early Days

Green Lantern (1960) #6, first appearance of Tomar-Re*

Green Lantern (1960) #7, first appearance of Sinestro*

Green Lantern (1960) #8, introduction of the Solar Director of 5780 plot*

Green Lantern (1960) #9, second appearance of Sinestro + first appearance of Hal’s brothers*

Green Lantern (1960) #13, first team-up with The Flash (Barry Allen)

Green Lantern (1960) #16, first appearance of Star Sapphire

Green Lantern (1960) #26, second appearance of Star Sapphire

Green Lantern (1960) #30, first appearance of Katma Tui*

Green Lantern (1960) #36, Hal falls in love with an alien*

Green Lantern (1960) #45, Hal and Alan team up issue*

Green Lantern (1960) #49, Hal leaves Coast City

Wanderer

Green Lantern (1960) #51, conclusion of the Solar Director of 5871 arc

Green Lantern (1960) #53, family team up issue*

Green Lantern (1960) #57, an old enemy returns

Green Lantern (1960) #63, Hal saves the world from an alien who wants to destroy it*

Green Lantern (1960) #64, Hector Hammond returns*

Green Lantern (1960) #70, Hal gets a new job + first questioning of Guardians*

Green Lantern (1960) #73-74, Hal returns to Coast City and fights Sinestro and Star Sapphire* (note: there will be a panel that will make your jaw drop in how racist it is, there’s some good meat besides that panel but that panel…its bad)

Questioning and Politics

Green Lantern/Green Arrow

Green Lantern (1960) #76-#87, #89

The Flash (1959) backup stories: #217-#219, #226

Hal’s solo backups in The Flash (1959)

The Flash (1959) #220-#225

Space Exile and Return (I frankly rec reading all of Green Lantern (1960) #133 to #200, but these are the best issues out of it)

Green Lantern (1960) #149-150, 164-170, space exile!

Green Lantern (1960) #172, Hal gets to return to Earth

Green Lantern (1960) #181, Hal quits

Green Lantern (1960) #191-192, the Predator is revealed

Green Lantern Corps (1986) (might be under Green Lantern (1960) depending on website) #220-224, Sinestro is executed (warning, this is part of Englehart glc and thus includes small references to hal/arisia, that relationship is out of character for everyone involved and I don't support it, but these issues are otherwise good)

The Return

Action Comics (1938) #606 "The List", Hal reaches out and no one responds*

Green Arrow (1988) #20, Hal goes and helps Ollie once again*

Secret Origins (1986) #50, Hal and Ollie make up from their fight (last story, only)

At this point, Hal has been wandering and questioning for years. He’s a drifter, especially since the Guardians left the Universe to go make new Oans. 

Green Lantern (1990) #1-8, the reintroduction of the Corps*

Green Lantern (1990) #25, Hal and Guy fight

Green Lantern: Ganthet’s Tale, Hal learns the Guardians have been lying to him

Green Lantern (1990) #32-35, the Third Law*

Parallax

Superman (1987) #80, the Destruction of Coast City

Green Lantern (1990) #46, Hal fights against Mongol and speaks of hearing voices*

Green Lantern (1990) #47, Hal and Ollie team up

Green Lantern (1990) #48-50, Emerald Twilight* (if you read one thing on this list read this)

Guy Gardner: Warrior (1994) #18-21, Guy learns about the destruction of Coast City + what Hal did

Zero Hour (1994) #4-0, Hal destroys time*

Green Lantern (1990) #0, Hal and Kyle finish their fight from Zero Hour*

Green Arrow (1988) #96, Hal meets Ollie once again*

Green Lantern (1990) #61-63, Hal attempts to get Kyle’s ring back

Final Night (1996) #1-4, Hal dies to save the universe

Parallax: Emerald Night (1996) #1, read between issues #3 and #4 of Final Night, Hal looks over his life

Green Lantern (1990) #99-106, Kyle travels through time and meets Hal Jordan, in the middle of his first fight with Sinestro. Young!Hal returns to the present with Kyle.* (Read Green Arrow (1988) #136 inbetween #104 and #105, One of my favorite arcs of all time. Please read it 🥺)

The Spectre

Day of Judgment (1999) #1-5, Hal becomes the Spectre

Day of Judgment: Secret Files #1, Hal gives others the way to kill him

Legends of the DC Universe #33-#36, Hal’s first mission as the Spectre*

Green Arrow (2001) #7, Hal reveals that he’s the reason why Ollie is alive*

The Spectre (2001) #1-27

Especially read

The Spectre (2001) #1 

The Spectre (2001) #5, Hal and Carol reunite*

The Spectre (2001) #15-17, Spectre but in Space!

The Spectre (2001) #21-23, the return of Sinestro*

Geoff Johns era Hal

Green Lantern: Rebirth #1-6, Hal comes back to life

Green Lantern (2005) #7-8, Hal and Ollie get stuck in Hal’s version of their perfect world

Green Lantern (2005) #10-13, the lanterns Hal killed come back to life*

Green Lantern (2005) #14-17, Hal deals with his time as a POW and gets wanted in Russia*

Green Lantern (2005) #18-20, creation of the Star Sapphire corp (note; this is the most sexist set of issues I’ve ever had the misfortune of reading, I will tell you what happened if you want)

Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War (You’ll be confused but the Hal portions are in Green Lantern (2005) #21-28)

Blackest Night (2009) #1-8, the dead return

Green Lantern (2005) #43-52, Green Lantern tie in to blackest night

War of the Green Lanterns, the 4 Earth GLS must become members of the other corps to save the Green Lanterns*

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #7

Green Lantern Vol. 4 #63

Green Lantern Vol. 4 #64

Green Lantern Corps Vol. 2 #58

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8

Green Lantern Vol. 4 #65

Green Lantern Corps Vol. 2 #59

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #9

Green Lantern Vol. 4#66

Green Lantern Corps Vol. 2 #60

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #10

Green Lantern Vol. 4 #67

War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #1 (2011)

War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #2

N52

Green Lantern (2011) #1-20, Sinestro is a Green Lantern and Hal Jordan isn’t!* (Conclusion of Geoff Johns’ run, Actually one of my favorites especially issue 20)

Green Lantern (2011) #21-26, Annual #1, Hal is in charge of the GLC

Green Lantern (2011) #29, Hal tells Jim he can't come back to Earth

Green Lantern (2011) #41-46, Annual #4, Hal steals Krona’s gauntlet and becomes a Renegade Green Lantern*

Convergence: Zero Hour #1-2, Parallax Hal returns!*

Green Lantern (2011) #47-52, Renegade!Hal meets Parallax Hal*

Rebirth

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps: Rebirth #1, Hal makes his own Green Lantern ring*

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #1-7, Hal fights the Yellow Lantern corps!

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #8-12, Kyle helps revives Hal while Soranik and John try to work out the Sinestro Corps-Green Lantern Corps partnership

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #14-17, Hal and Kyle attempt to revive the Blue Lantern Corps

You can read Prism of Time and Fracture (#18-#25) but also you can chew glass. So. Soranik is evil now and Tomar-Tu killed a Yellow Lantern from Xudar named Romat-Ru. Don’t read it, it took me three days to finish those issues at a point where I was reading more than 30 issues a day. 

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #30-31, Hal meets Parallax again, this time possessing Clark Kent*

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #33-36, the Earth GLs work together to save the Guardians

Famous Quotes- “Four legs on a table, four walls on a house, and four seats in a mustang gt. We’re the four corpsmen. You don’t screw with what works.” (Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #35)

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #37-41, Hal is captured by Zod*

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #42-50: Rise of the Blackstars*

The Green Lantern (2018) #1-12, Morrison writes some very interesting Hal stories

Green Lantern: Blackstars #1-3, Hal creates a perfect world*

The Green Lantern Season Two (2020) #1-12, major stories include the multiversal Green Lanterns and Carol Jordan and Hal Ferris

Present

Green Lantern (2021) #1-12, more John and Jo focused but Hal has some fun moments.

Green Lantern (2023) is currently coming out.

[lukethompsondaily]

Luke Thompson Master Drive

Crossed out titles are not in this drive but can be easily found (exceptions marked with asterisks and detailed under the cut). Crossed out and red means that although the productions have been recorded there are no files available.

If you want access to it just DM me!

Shakespeare's Globe: A Midsummer Night's Dream (2014)

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher (2011‑2014)

Hampstead Theatre at Home: Tiger Country (2014)

Globe on Screen: Julius Caesar (2015)

The Complete Walk: Romeo and Juliet (2016)

In the Club (2014‑2016) NEW!

Dunkirk (2017)

Hamlet (2018)

Kiss Me First (2018-2018)

National Theatre Live: King Lear (2018)

Making Noise Quietly (2019)

Misbehaviour (2020)

Tikkun Olam (2022)*

Transatlantic (2023-2023)

A Little Life (2023)

Bridgerton (2020‑ )

* = This one was available for a year to rent online but it seems that no one did a screen recording so it’s unavailable for the time being.

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

TOURNAMENT PARTICIPANTS

Greetings, everyone, our contestants have been finalized, and I want to provide a certain opportunity before the preliminaries begin. Namely, to provide additional propaganda for competitors in need of it. So, I have created a form to collect this new propaganda, and a list of both preliminary and non-preliminary participants under the cut. An asterisk next to a name indicates they have fewer than three pieces of propaganda, which is the amount that will be included in each poll. This form will be open for the duration of the tournament. You can make as many submissions you want for any character.

NOTE: The order of participants does not reflect the bracket matchups. Preliminary matchups will be announced next week, and the complete bracket will be announced after the preliminary round is finished.

UPDATE: Additional characters have been added in bold because I failed to fill out the bracket by counting incorrectly. One has been added to the preliminary round, and the others are regular competitors.

PRELIMINARY PARTICIPANTS

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER/ANGEL

Cordelia Chase

Illyria*

Kendra Young*

Winifred "Fred" Burkle

DC COMICS

Alex DeWitt - AUTOMATIC ENTRY

Barbara Gordon

Cassandra Cain

Katma Tui*

Koriand’r aka Starfire*

Pantha*

Stephanie Brown

Talia al Ghul

Tara Markov*

JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE

Dragona Joestar (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The JOJOLands)*

Holy Kujo (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders)*

Lisa Lisa (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency )

Lucy Steel (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run)

KAMEN RIDER

Is (Kamen Rider 01)*

Kanon Fukami (Kamen Rider Ghost)*

Poppy Pipopapo (Kamen Rider Ex-Aid)*

Saki Momose (Kamen Rider Ex-Aid)*

MARVEL COMICS

Elektra Natchios (Marvel Comics)*

Elektra Natchios (NMCU)*

MY HERO ACADEMIA

Ochako Uraraka - AUTOMATIC ENTRY

Magne (My Hero Academia)*

Momo Yaoyorozu

Nemuri Kayama*

Toru Hagakure*

STAR TREK

Deanna Troi (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Jadzia Dax (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)*

Kes (Star Trek: Voyager)*

Seven of Nine (Star Trek: Voyager)

Tasha Yar (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

T'Pol (Star Trek: Enterprise)*

SUPERNATURAL

Bela Talbot

Charlie Bradbury

Eileen Leahy*

Mary Winchester*

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA

Tetra (The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker)*

Zelda (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom)*

WARRIOR CATS

Bumble*

Leafpool

Spottedleaf

Squirrelflight

YU-GI-OH!

Aki Izayoi/Akiza Izinski (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's)*

Aoi Zaizen/Skye Zaizen (Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS)*

Kotori Mizuki (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL)*

Mai Valentine (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

NON-PRELIMINARY PARTICIPANTS

Abbie Mills (Sleepy Hollow)*

Ada Vessalius (Pandora Hearts)*

Agent Texas (Red vs Blue)*

Alex DeWitt (DC Comics)

Allura (Voltron: Legendary Defender)

Alys Brangwin (Phantasy Star IV)*

Amber Volakis (House MD)*

Amy Amanda Allen (The A-Team (TV))*

Amy Pond (Doctor Who)*

Amy Rose (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Ann Takamaki (Persona 5)

April O'Neil (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012))

Arcee (Transformers)

Asuna (Sword Art Online)*

Athena Cykes (Ace Attorney)

Azula (Avatar the Last Airbender)

Britta Perry (Community)*

Brunhilda aka Mym (Dragalia Lost)*

Carmelita Montoya Fox (Sly Cooper )*

Casca (Berserk)

Celica (Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia)

Chi-Chi (Dragon Ball)*

Chloe Bourgeois (Miraculous Ladybug)

Chloe von Einzbern (Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ILLYA)*

Clarke Griffin (The 100)*

Daenerys Targaryen (Game of Thrones)*

Dahlia Hawthorne (Ace Attorney)

Elya Musayeva (Топи/The Swamps (2021))*

Eve (Paradise Lost)*

Flora Reinhold (Professor Layton)

Gamora (Marvel Cinematic Universe)*

Grelle Sutcliff (Black Butler)*

Gwen (BBC Merlin)*

Gwen Stacy (Marvel Comics)*

Hélène Kuragina (War and Peace)

Hinata Hyuuga (Naruto)*

Irene Adler (BBC Sherlock)*

Iris Sagan (AI: the Somnium Files)*

Jade (Dragon Quest 11)*

Jade Harley (Homestuck)

Jane Crocker (Homestuck)

Jennifer Lopez (John Dies At The End)*

Jiang Yanli (Mo Dao Zu Shi)

Julia (Hellraiser)*

Julia Wicker (The Magicians)*

Juvia Lockser (Fairy Tail)*

Kaede Akamatsu (Danganronpa V3)

Kairi (Kingdom Hearts)

Kallen Kouzuki (Code Geass)

Kamala Khan (Marvel Comics)*

Katara (Avatar the Last Airbender)

Katherina Minola (The Taming of the Shrew)*

Katherine Pierce (The Vampire Diaires)*

Konan (Naruto)*

Laurel Lance (Arrow (CW)*

Leia Organa (Star Wars)*

Lisa Cuddy (House MD)

Lucy Heartfilia (Fairy Tail)

Madison Paige (Heavy Rain)*

Malty S Melromarc (Rising of the Shield Hero)*

Margaret Houlihan (MASH (Movie 1970) )*

Marinette Dupain-Cheng (Miraculous Ladybug)

Marwa (What We Do In The Shadows (TV series))*

Megaera (Hades)*

Mikaela Banes (Transformers)*

Mikan Tsumiki (Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair)

Mikoko Sakazaki (Kaiji)*

Mikuru Asahina (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)*

Mildred "Millie" Knolastname (Helluva Boss)

Milla Maxwell (Tales of Xillia)*

Misa Amane (Death Note)

Misaki Unasaka (Buddy Daddies)*

Nami (One Piece)*

Naomi Misora (Death Note)

Natasha Romanoff (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Natasha Rostova (War and Peace)

Nemu Kurotsuchi (Bleach)*

Nezuko Kamado (Demon Slayer)*

Nya Smith (Lego Ninjago)

Ochette (Octopath Traveler 2)*

Ophelia (Hamlet)*

Ophiuchus Shaina (Saint Seiya)*

Orihime Inoue (Bleach)

Padmé Amidala (Star Wars)

Pussy Galore (Goldeneye)*

Pyrrha Nikos (RWBY)

Quiet (Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain)*

Ran Mouri (Detective Conan)*

Rey (Star Wars)

River Tam (Firefly)*

Sakura Haruno (Naruto)

Sansa Stark (Game of Thrones)*

Skye (Lost in Blue)*

Sonia Hedgehog (Sonic Underground)*

South Dakota (Red vs Blue)*

Stephanie “Steph” Nocanonlastname (EverymanHYBRID)

Susan Pevensie (Chronicles of Narnia)*

Sweet-P (The Caligula Effect)*

Sylvanas Windrunner (Warcraft)*

Sylvia (Two Gentlemen of Verona)*

Teresa (Maze Runner series)*

Throné Anguis (Octopath Traveler 2)*

Yan Hui (Back From the Brink)*

[twentyfourfirst-sims]

Advent Calendar 2023 — Day 7 — Brickie

An advent calendar in February? Why not! 🎄 From 6 February to 17 February, I'll be releasing a new gift set for your Sims 2 game every day! 🤍

Welcome to Day 7! Today's gift is Brickie, a set containing all 21 brick walls from The Sims 4 Base Game, converted for The Sims 2!

Be sure to visit tomorrow for your next gift! ˖˟ ⸜₍⁽ˊ꒳ˋ⁾₎⸝ ˟˖

Included in this set are:

BASE GAME — Better Days Brick Facade — Better Days Brick Facade with Corner Accent* — Better Days Brick Facade with White Trim* — Blocked Out — Brick & Plaster — Firehouse Brick — Industrial Interest — IndustryMatters Brick Facade — IndustryMatters Brick Facade with Corner Accent*  — IndustryMatters Brick Facade with White Trim* — Ornate Brick — Pretty in Plaster — Steve & Graham's Habitat Bricks — The Brickery — The Brickery with Corner Accent* — The Brickery with Stone Corner Accent* — The Brickery with Wood Trim* — The Brickery Elite — The Brickery Elite - Caution — The Brickery Elite with Corner Accent* — The Brickery Elite with Wood Trim*

---

DETAILS — Descriptions: walls in TS4 don't come with descriptions, so I wrote one for all of the bricks in this set ^^ — Mirrored: walls marked with an asterisk (*) have mirrored counterparts. For example, if the wall came with a trim on the right side, I've included a left side version, so you have more wall functionality all around! — All walls can be found in the build catalogue under Build > Walls > Brick. They share the same prices as their original EA counterparts. — All walls have a high-resolution texture (512 x 1024 pixels) and come in all of their original swatches. — Everything has been compressed; the swatch is included in the .zip. — Merged files are included.

———

LINKS — 📝 Terms of Use — 🦋 Bug Reports (Google Form) — 🎁 Commissions — ☕ Patreon — 📁 Download on Patreon (Free)  

[spell-bloom]

If you download a bunch of CC from a creator who packs their mods inside a folder, this is the easiest way to extract the files without doing it manually.

If you want to move the contents of a source directory and all of its sub-directories to a single destination directory (i.e. flatten the folder structure), it's very easy and you don't even need to bother with the command line. Just go to the top-level source folder (whose contents you want to copy), and in the Windows Explorer search box type * (just a star or asterisk). This will display every file and sub-folder under the source folder. Now just sort by Type to group all files together, select them all, then cut/copy and paste in the destination folder.

[bjorkshire-pudding]

Jūshirō my beloved

[eeldritchblast]

Editing Face Textures for Baldur’s Gate 3 (as of Early Access – Patch 9)

Disclaimer: I’m definitely not claiming to be the expert on this, I’m just sharing what I’ve figured out thus far upon request from an anon looking to play with this too.

TOOLS USED:

GIMP 2.8.18 (+DDS Plugin)

BG3 Modder's Multitool

PART 1: Unpacking the textures

After configuring the BG3 Modder’s Multitool (click the asterisk), you can use it to unpack the textures.pak file found in Steam\steamapps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\Data, or wherever you have the game files installed.

Click the “unpack .pak files” button and select the checkbox next to Texture.pak in the selection window that pops up. Then exit the selection and wait for the textures to unpack. This may take a few minutes. The application will create a folder called UnpackedData where the files will appear.

(Because there’s so many texture files, I highly suggest deleting folders you will likely never use to keep your computer clean.)

Face textures are found under Textures\Generated\Public\Shared\Assets\Characters\_Models, then sorted by Race folders – for example, Humans, and then for example HUM_F_NKD or HUM_M_NKD, and then by individual head, for example HUM_F_Head_E\Resources.

A great resource to help identify what textures go with what head is Padme4000’s CC Head References PDF, which you can download HERE.

In this tutorial, we’ll be changing the eyebrows for TIF_F_Head_C with the eyebrows from ELF_F_Head_F.

I suggest copying the textures you are using into a new folder so not to accidentally edit over the vanilla ones.

PART 2: Editing the textures

There are 3-5 textures found in each resource folder per head: CLEA, HMVY, NM are the only ones you need—and sometimes you don’t even need HMVY, depending on what you’re doing. Sometimes there’s also a MSK file, but you can ignore this one. Tieflings also have a BM file for the horns, but you can ignore this too.

Open the CLEA file in GIMP. Click on Colours > Components > Decompose with RGB as the model selected. (For some reason edited CLEA files are unfriendly with alpha. I don’t know why.) This will create a new image file with the channels separated into different layers. You can close the original.

Red will contain the face details. Green will contain the eyebrows. Blue will contain the lips. Sometimes eyebrow details are included in Red as well—such as the case in what we’re doing—but most of the time with eyebrows, it’s just a matter of switching out the Green channels.

For this tutorial, I pasted the elf red channel over the tiefling red channel, then cut away the changes I want to keep. Then I replaced the Green channel completely with the new eyebrows.

After you’ve made your edits, click Colours > Components > Compose with RGB as the model selected. This will create a new composed CLEA file for you to save as a .dds with the following settings:

For HMVY next, do the exact same thing as I did with CLEA, but this time with alpha included (RGBA). This is the file that you can make changes to things like adding or removing freckles to, by placing dark dots on the Green channel or getting rid of them using the Healing Tool. When you’re done, again, Compose the image but with RGBA this time, and save it as .dds with the same settings.

When editing the NM, I prefer to make changes channel by channel just the same as with CLEA and HMVY to be super safe. Make sure to use RGBA again, like with HMVY. The only channels you need to edit with NM is Green, Blue, and Alpha.

PART 3: Replacing the textures

Assuming you’re replacing a vanilla set of textures, here is the loose file way of doing so. (AKA the only method I know currently…)

Remember the file path of where the vanilla textures were extracted? You need to recreate that file path in your Data folder where the game files are installed. So in this example, that would be Data\Generated\Public\Shared\Assets\Characters\_Models\Tieflings\TIF_F_NKD\TIF_F_Head_C\Resources. Drop the new .dds files in the appropriate folder path, and start the game to view your changes!

[bacon-sandwich-of-dionysus]

Bloodhound. (A Ghost x AFAB!reader fic)

Act One, Chapter Two: Encroach

Chapter Two: The Electric Boogaloo!

I hope you guys enjoy... we're starting with Graves' perspective first so if you want to skip on down to Y/N's before coming back to Phillip's storyline, the continuation of your tale is under the three asterisks. :)

As per usual, remember to vote on the poll at the end! And if there are any grammatical hiccups, sorry in advance!

Word Count: 4,743

Warnings: Strong language and mentions of nudity (no I'm not elaborating further or I will burst into flames)

The men filed into the plane, walking up the ramp to go take their seats. A gorgon, standing proudly by the entrance, directed them to where they would sit. 

The inside of the craft was bathed in a red glow, dimmed down for the sakes of the men’s sensitive eyes. Chairs lined the sides of the cabin, forcing people to face their fellow passengers directly opposite them for the flight, should they be spending it awake. 

Graves was still trying to get used to the effects of the blood canisters, his head feeling heavy and light at the same time. He trudged into the transport craft, heavy boots clunking against the floor. The soldier at the front gestured to where he would spend the rest of the journey. He looked along her arm in the direction she was pointing and saw his two lamias already sitting in their seats, strapped in and everything. One was leaning on the shoulder of the other, watching her older companion scribble down something on a newspaper. 

She briefly looked up to see Graves take his seat beside her, the other lamia looking across at him. They both had helmets on, though they looked more like what Phillip would expect in the military: rounded and tightly strapped to their heads by clips on their chins. The gas masks they bore were familiar too, compared to the alien attire he and the men were currently donning, along with blocky goggles, though one of the girls had elected to have the eyegear sit on top of her helmet, as opposed to actually wearing it. 

It turned out that both girls were doing a crossword, to Phillip’s surprise, as he leant over a little to see what they were up to. Well, it was more like the one holding the paper was doing the crossword whilst the other watched and occasionally chipped in. 

“You’ve been stuck on that one for ages, 23.”

“Can’t think of anything.” She replied. 

“What is the prompt, again?” The other asked, stretching out and yawning. 

“A vampiric, vengeful female spirit, from South-East Asia, who died an ‘unhappy death’ at the hands of men.”

“Hmm…” The lounger scratched her chin in thought, “What letters have you already got?”

“I’ve got ‘P’ at the beginning from three-down.”

“Yeah…”

“And then I have two A’s.”

“Huh…” She remarked.

“What are you thinking, 72?” 

“It’s South-East Asian?”

“Yeah.”

“Damn… I should know this.” 72 sighed. 

23 chuckled, “Well, it’s not like you’ve had much opportunity to explore your culture.”

“If I’m even from there,” 72 pouted as she mumbled, adjusting her mask so it would sit more comfortably on her face, “That’s just what the docs say.”

“Yeah…” 23 exhaled through her nose, staring at the crossword long and hard. 

Heavy footsteps, similar to Graves’, clomped against the floor as another Arcadian Son made his way down the aisle to take a seat opposite to the two lamias. All three, Graves and the two girls, looked up to see who he was. 

“Ah! I see the nippers are back at it again!” He chuckled, landing in his seat with a thud, “So, what is the clue causing you trouble this time?”

23’s eyes narrowed as she looked at him over the edge of her paper.

“How’d you know I’m stuck, sir?” 

“Because you’re not writing, kid. You’ve been still for a while now.. Could see you looking stumped from the moment I came in!”

She hmphed. 

He leaned back in his seat, tilting his head to one side as another soldier began fastening his seatbelt next to him 

“So, what’s the clue?”

The girl looked off to the side, rolling her eyes, before reluctantly coughing it up. 

“A vampiric, vengeful female spirit, from South-East Asia, who died an ‘unhappy death’ at the hands of men.”

“You tried banshee?”

“It has to be from South-East Asia.”

“Ain’t they?”

“Banshees are Irish mythology.” Graves said, bluntly. 

“Oh.”

Another Arcadian Son leaned in, sitting diagonally across from 23, opposite to Graves.

“You tried… uh… what are they called… ‘Manananggal’?

“Needs to have a ‘P’ in it.”

Soon the whole cabin was filled with scratching heads and mumbles of confusion… along with mild irritation. 

Graves looked down at her half-filled crossword, taking in every clue he could find. He wasn’t usually one for these kinds of puzzles, but at this point, the man would do anything to distract his mind from his own thoughts. His brain was slowly being filled with a haze of sorts, a feeling he couldn’t quite place. It was probably the fumes of the blood canisters still trying to take hold of him but… but there was something else. Dread? No… Not dread…there was something about this sensation that was almost buzzing inside of him, as opposed to forming a pit in his stomach. It was a different kind of trepidation, sharp but not necessarily classic terror’s touchy dynamite. In between. He knew something was going to happen, but he just didn’t know what that something would be. 

Anyways. Graves batted the feeling away, shoving it to the back of his mind, where it would do the least amount of distractible damage as it festered away. 

He pursed his lips, thinking long and hard, trying to dredge up some morsel of knowledge related to this. 

Hmm… 

23 and 72 had found themselves looking up at him as he thought, tapping a gloved finger on his concealed chin, eliciting a quiet clink that could be heard if you paid attention.

“Have you tried ‘pontianak’?” He finally said, his much-anticipated response after half an eternity of silence. 

“How do you spell it?”

“P-O-N-T-I-A-N-A-K.” He replied. 

She tested it on the paper, tracing the shapes of the letters in each box, hovering her pen just out of reach, careful to not make any permanent scrawlings with the ink.

“It fits.”

He internally patted himself on the back. 

“Go on and write it down, then.” He instructed, leaning back in his seat.

He tried to nestle into a comfortable spot on the chair, folding his arms. He tucked his chin downwards, almost into the neckline of his chest piece, hoping that he could maybe sleep away the hours. 

Only for three loud bangs to resurrect him from his second-long nap. They all whipped their heads round to the front of the craft, where the gorgon stood. 

“Listen up, Unit 7!” She announced. 

Graves kept his arms folded, trying not to show the fact he had almost jumped out of his own skin. Some of the men were clutching the sides of their heads, looking to be recovering from the loud knocking like they had just had a bomb go off next to them. Sure, it was loud, but it wasn’t that loud… at least for an average human. 

“As per the briefing, you know we have two jobs to do and luckily, we’ve received an update that both targets are within the same location. Instead of investigating the border, you’ll be transferred straight to Las Almas where you’ll rendezvous with El Sin Nombre-”

“By ‘rendezvous’,” one guy spoke up, albeit a little shyly, “do you mean-”

“Yeah, I mean sack over the head, put ‘em in a dark room and set out your demands.”

They all nodded. 

The gorgon continued, “Once you’ve handed the druglord the package, half of you observe she delivers it to the target, infecting him, and the other keeps watch for the renegade lamia. Serial number is 96. We’ve received word that they and the other target are staying in the same building- i.e. A military base on the outskirts of Las Almas.”

“Who tipped the lamia off?” The gruff one sitting opposite to the lamias asked. 

“Anonymous source, but we know they’re American Intelligence.”

Graves could not wait to see the look on Valeria’s face when she would come to in a shipping container once more, cuffed to a chair and realise her captor was the man whose dead body she saw as she was escorted away by the Mexican Special Forces. He couldn’t believe he was here himself… Although, his death had been fairly swift, like the ending of a dream, it was like he may as well have not died at all. Instead, just… slept. 

After all, it only took a few operations and he was back to continue his story.

To be a plaything. 

Shadow Company had given him control… until Shepherd. Shepherd fucked this all up. If he hadn’t panicked and given out those stupid orders to turn on 141, perhaps Graves never would have met his maker. Well, would never have come close to it. 

How did that man ever earn the privilege of being a general?

“It’s capture or kill for the renegade. As for the newly infected, we cannot afford to have him die. The client wants the target alive. Understood?”

“Yup!”

“Yup!”

She nodded. “Good. If you need to contact us at any point…”

The gorgon raised her arm and unclasped a cube-shaped device which sat on a belt across her chest. At first, Graves had thought it was some kind of sash to mark her status, but upon closer inspection, he realised it wasn’t embellished with badges or jewels, but rather oddly decorative but practical devices. Once the piece of equipment had been removed, all she had to do was twist it like a rubik’s cube and send it floating to the centre of the cabin. 

As if it weighed nothing, they all watched the thing hover in midair, strange, a strange red glow seeping through its cracks like luminescent blood. 

“... Use one of these. There are more lexicons in the bag with your weapons, but they’ll have to be manually set up. Don’t worry though, they’ve been programmed to recognise you Sons for the blood seal, but not your lamias, 7223, so take that into account.”

Phillip nodded as the gorgon addressed him, looking fairly collected on the outside. On the inside, however, he was in a state of awe.

Holy shit.

Graves leaned forward, watching it rearrange itself, going from cube to diamond, to back to a cube.

This kind of tech exists?! 

Its red light reflected off glossy helmets of every Arcadian Son, lining their plane surfaces with streaks of crimson. 

He was fascinated. 

“Organise amongst yourselves who’s who.”

With that, she took her leave and, in her absence, the cabin fell silent. 

Soon, the engines of the craft revved to life, making that signature hum as the pilots got ready for take off. 

“So…” The soldier sitting opposite Graves broke the silence, “... who here was a ‘commander’ or some shit?”

Phillip raised his hand… more like, only Phillip raised his hand. 

“Okay, you’re in charge then, 7223. Take the lexicon.”

He did so, carefully drawing the item to his chest.

Well, that was suspiciously easy. Graves had expected a squabble for power, for people to start wrestling each other to the floor for the title but… it seemed these guys liked to keep things civil. A surprise to be sure, but, with his newfound chronic exhaustion, a welcome one. 

The next few hours were spent in somewhat comfortable quiet, the guy, who was branded with the number 7152, directly opposite Graves having fallen soundly asleep. His soft snores blended into the muffled sounds of the engine. Phillip had tried to catch some shuteye himself but to no avail, it seemed that his brain was too busy to shut down. Instead, he had found himself watching 23 continue with her crossword, occasionally asking him for help. 

72, on the other hand, had too fallen asleep, nestling into a comfortable position in her seat. Graves envied her, having yet to find that sweet spot. 

“Okay,” 23 spoke up, snapping Graves out of his thoughts, “I have a ‘shovel’.”

He looked at her quizzically.

“You have a ‘shovel’?”

“Yeah. That’s the clue.”

“The clue is one word? The clue is ‘shovel’?”

“Yeah.”

He brought a hand to his face. 

“Jesus Christ.”

As he was about to ponder what information the word ‘shovel’ could provide in enabling 23’s quest to complete the latest crossword on her dishevelled copy of the Guardian, the radio on Phillip’s chest crackled.

“7223,” The pilot’s voice spoke, occasionally breaking up with static, “We’re approaching the target location, got eyes on the cartel lieutenant's villa. Be warned, we also got visuals on potential hostiles guarding the perimeter.”

Graves pressed down on the device. 

“No worries,” he assured, “We’ll take care of them. Just land us somewhere suitable.”

“Roger that.”

Graves decided it would probably be a good time to make sure everyone was ready.

“Okay, boys!” He yelled into the cabin, watching as people resurrected from their slumbers or returned from whatever daydreaming they had been doing, “We’re landing soon and the guys in the front said we gotta be ready for trouble so… prepare for combat, folks.”

***

You were still trying to steady your breaths as you watched him continue down the corridor. Having been given such a fright and realising you weren’t up to risking another one, you decided you should probably take Ghost’s advice and head back to the barracks. 

It seemed the night had chosen you to be the victim of its machinations and the only way to escape was to sleep. Sleep would also probably do you a world of good. However, sleep also meant you’d have to be in your own mind, and you didn’t want to face whatever your imagination had cooking up for you. Brains sometimes had a funny way of processing things and you suspected yours was still struggling to make heads or tails of what had happened… what you had seen, what you had felt and so on. 

Ready to take your leave, just as you thought Ghost had, you spun on your heel and began to make your way back… Only for a voice to call after you from behind. 

“You alright?” He asked. 

You turned around to see him standing in the centre of the corridor, looking at you. His head was slightly tilted to the left, like a quizzical pup, as he awaited your answer. 

“I’m fine.” You replied, “I’ll… I’ll head back.”

“You seemed a bit rattled.”

You chuckled weakly. 

“Yeah, I did, didn’t I? Look, I’m just tired and the dark was playing tricks on me. I’ll do as you said and head back.”

“Do you want me to-”

He began to approach you. 

Your eyes widened. 

“It’s fine!” 

He stopped in his tracks. You covered your mouth with a hand, realising you had said that a little too angrily than you had liked. Before you could even apologise, you watched him draw back his outstretched arm, resuming his two-handed hold on his assault rifle. A pang of guilt tugged at your chest as you watched him nod to himself and vanish back into the black. 

That morning, Laswell found you sitting by your bags with your armour slumped over your rucksack, sprawled like a dead body. 

“I still think you should have breakfast with us, Y/N.” She sighed, taking a seat beside you on the floor, “You know ‘social eating’ is apparently a very good way to lift your mood.”

“I’ll go to the canteen when I’m hungry.” You replied, tone robotically even. 

She shook her head, giving herself a moment to collect her thoughts. As she did so, Kate peered at what you were up to, looking over your shoulder as you leaned forward to prod at your chestpiece once more. A nostalgic smile creeping onto her face; seeing you work on your gear took her back to when she was your age, maybe a little younger. 

Oh, to be young!

Nah, Kate thought to herself. She wouldn’t change a thing about herself now and she most certainly would never want to return to who she was in her youth. You know, some people say you’re constantly evolving and Kate found that to be true in a sense. Every version of herself that grew more and more distant from her years in the Foundation was most certainly better than the last. Laswell hoped that perhaps the same fate would befall you and you too would find yourself away from it all… the experiences of your life as a lamia being a distant memory that only occasionally reared its ugly head.  

“I see your hepta-plate has stayed somewhat intact after we removed the trackers.” 

You looked at her, only to see Kate gesture to your gear. 

A little reluctantly, you nod. 

“Yeah. Though, the shroud mechanism’s fucked up, I’m trying to get it to work again but…” 

Your voice trailed off into a sigh as you poke at it again with your tweezers, watching the thing hiss and spew a few sparks. Laswell coughed, waving away the smoke as you cup your cheek with your hand.

“My armour never agreed with me, you know.” Kate scooted herself forward to get a better look at the mildly smoking disaster, “But you both learn to settle your differences.”

She held out her hand, fingers flexing as she gestured for the tweezers. You gave them to her, seeing as you yourself hadn’t been of much use. Kate gently ushered you to the side so she could have room. Upon laying eyes on the armour properly, it dawned on her just how far the Red Room had come from when Kate was a little girl. This armour looked almost alien, its namesake heptagonal plates only giving themselves away as the light caught their edges. Had it not been for the morning sun shining through the windows and that one gaping hole in the roof, Kate would have never spotted those interlocking, seven-sided scales making up your glorious armour. Back in her day, the plates were so big and so clunky… it was pretty much like you were wearing chunks of plastic sewn into your baselayer, similar to a poorly put-together Halloween costume. 

Nowadays, though, it seemed the Foundation had ditched the honeycomb-chic of Laswell’s time for something sleeker, something which looked almost… reptilian, organic.

“You got three plates here that are not connected.” She muttered as she gently lifted an example from its backdrop of black material to show you, “I think that’s what’s causing the shroud mechanism to falter.”

“Are you sure?” You asked, not wanting to get your hopes up in case her tinkering also led to sparks and disgruntled mechanical groans. 

Kate shrugged. 

“Wouldn’t kill us to see, now would it?”

You supposed so as you watched her use the tweezers to manipulate each tiny plate to slide against each other and lock in place. She then turned to you. 

“You got something to seal these with?”

Quickly, you procured a small can of bonding agent from a pocket on the thigh of your cargo pants. A small shiver crept up your spine as you laid eyes upon the Foundation’s branding. Anyways, before you’d let yourself fixate on it, your hand promptly dumped it in Kate’s. 

“Thanks.”

After a few minutes of delicate handiwork, Kate finished up repairing your loose hepta-plates. A smile crept across your face as you watched the piece of gear slowly return to its familiar, former glory. Although, the scuffs and scratches from your escape could still be seen on the surface if you looked hard enough. The armour was never going to resume its perfect state but… this would suffice. Well, it would suffice if the shroud mechanism would get to working again, which you hoped it would now. 

“How do you activate the shroud mechanism on this thing?”

“You just double tap on the chest, like this.”

Laswell watched you lightly press twice on the sternum-like structure running through the centre of the upper-half of the chestplate. Then, to her amazement, the armour began to fizzle, almost like a glitching television screen before vanishing from sight. If one had a keen eye, they’d be able to spot the slight distortion marking the armour’s outline, but Kate was certain that if this mechanism was employed in the heat of combat, the user would surely vanish from their opponent’s view. 

“The Foundation has certainly come a long way since my time.” 

You could hear the dread in her voice, her tone turning melancholy. 

“Yep.” You set the can of bonding agent on the floor, “That it has.”

Suddenly, you hear something crackle, then a short fizzing sound emitted from the armour and within thirty seconds, it reappeared. Your shoulders slumped and you sighed. 

“Is it meant to do that?”

“No.” You shook your head, “It’s supposed to stay invisible until, you know, I want it to come back.”

A growl escaped you as you give the can a little kick, knocking it onto the floor. Kate gave you a sympathetic smile and put a hand on your shoulder. 

“Look, I know just as much as the next lamia, that our armour sets are our babies but I’m gonna be honest, unless we get this to someone who knows Red Room gear… this is as far as we're gonna get the mechanism to work.”

Your eyes had grown big and Kate could see your brow was lined with worry. You had relied on this armour to keep you safe, to keep you hidden. This had been your saving grace, the edge you very much needed over your enemies. And now, your guardian angel lay before you, flickering in and out of view, caught in the limbo of being a working piece of gear and something which deserved to be dumped. Disappointment formed a pit in your gut and you just stared at it, hoping that maybe it would get its act together under intense observation. Laswell could see your hand tensing, readying to tinker with it further.

“Y/N, don’t bother. It’s not worth it. I’d rather we keep it in the state it is now, where the mechanism is actually somewhat usable, than run the risk of breaking it entirely.”

She was right. 

Reluctantly, you nodded and relaxed. 

“Come on,” Kate said as she rose onto her feet, “Maybe getting something to eat will make you feel better, huh?”

“I need to brush my teeth.” You mumbled as you got up.

She paused. 

“You haven’t brushed your teeth, yet?”

You laughed nervously, “Nope, I went straight to this! But I’ll…”

Your voice faded into silence. You could see she had a look on her face. It wasn’t as extreme as disgust, but it did make you feel as though you should probably grab your toiletries from your bed and get a shift on. You nod to yourself and scamper past her, doing a brisk walk to the barracks, hands balled into fists as you swing your arms in tow with your steps. 

Patting around for the items in question, you managed to feel for your toothbrush and toothpaste. You let out a monster of a yawn, stretching your arms upwards. 

The barracks were virtually empty, with you sharing the vast space with one other person, but you knew most of the base was still nearby…. Hearing distant activity from beyond the walls. 

You looked over to the doorway and spotted your company a few beds down, throwing a towel over his shoulder as he knelt down on the ground to fetch something from his bag. 

The guy in question was Gaz… if you remembered correctly. 

“Hey!” You called, “Gaz!”

He turned around to see you and waved, smiling. 

You waved back and then got straight to business. 

“Can you remind me where the bathroom is?” 

He nodded. 

“Turn right, down the corridor, first door on your left.”

You gave him a thumbs’ up and hopped out of your bed, toiletries in hand. The bathroom was exactly where he said it was, a plain almost beige door marking its entrance. Yawning again, you pushed it open. 

To your surprise, you could hear running water. However, you paid no attention to it, sauntering in to go pick from the row of sinks before you. 

That is until you realised that the sound of running water was from the shower unit. Before you could even register fully what you would bear witness to, you were out of there in a flash. The exchange preceding your prompt exit went as follows:

Creeeak!

“Hey!”

“AH SHIT! SORRY!”

Slam!

This was a military base, afterall, and you had forgotten that some military bases had open shower units… which had now resulted in you trying to unsee the image of a pale man’s arse that had seared into your brain. If you hadn’t fully been awake then, you sure had woken up now. 

Goddammit!

You leaned against the wall, gently banging the back of your head on the plaster, hoping that by some grace of God, you’d receive a concussion and forget this ever happened. The urge to just keel over and die was only increasing in strength with every passing second. Your heart was in your mouth, your breaths shallow and fast as you dug your hands into your face.

That was beyond embarrassing. 

You really were living your ‘walking disaster’ fantasy, huh? 

First, you pulled a gun on an ally and now you had just walked in on some poor sod completely naked trying to have a solitary shower. 

After a few minutes, you heard the squeak of the valve being shut and the sound of water abruptly stopping. 

The door creaked open once more and out stepped… 

Oh no. 

A lump formed in your throat, your mind going into full denial-mode. However, your eyes played no tricks on you… Oh God… You drew in a shaky breath.

Not him again!

A man wearing a skull-patterned balaclava along with  his darkly coloured base layer and cargo pants stepped over the threshold. His eyes immediately fell to you. 

You swallowed hard, putting on your best, although also your most nervous, smile.

“Uh… bathroom’s free now.” He gestured for you to enter; a towel draped over his arm.

You nodded and slunk past him, internally screeching as you felt yourself brush lightly against his clothes. The last thing you wanted to do was make physical contact… especially after that. You presumed he probably thought you had it in for him or something, even though a part of you prayed he didn’t see it that way. 

Besides, the number of awkward encounters was only two… you’d need to do something stupid in front of him a third time in order to make it a pattern. However, the two run-ins you’ve had with this guy were in pretty short succession. 

Yeah… You sighed, nose wrinkling as you cringed, give it a few more days and you’ll never see him again, Y/N. You can forget all this ever happened.

Although, knowing your mind and its habits, those memories of your idiocy would come back to haunt you at an inopportune moment in a few years. 

Squirting a blob of toothpaste onto your brush, you lazily brought it up to your mouth, beholding your tired, tired reflection in the mirror. As you were about to get on with cleaning your teeth, your mind decided it hadn’t actually processed what had just occurred. 

A flash of him in the shower took over your field of view for a brief moment. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” 

You coughed, spluttered, and almost choked on your toothpaste, leaning forward over the sink so it could catch the fallout. 

After a short while of wrestling with your own brain and the awful new weapon it had found against you, you waddled back to the barracks. And he was there, packing stuff away… kneeling down by the bed next to you. 

You froze. 

Ghost’s eyes slowly looked up to meet yours. You’d practically stopped mid-step, shoulders drawn up to your ears, looking like a cat caught stalking its prey. He did not like the way your eyes were wide, mouth hung slightly open and lips curled back a little… the face of trepidation. Regret grabbed hold of his insides and twisted them slowly. 

He should have locked the door. 

“Uh….” It almost came out like a whimper from your lips. 

He just stared at you.

Your foot hovered above the floor, yearning to take another step, but your hip had fervently locked itself in place. 

He was still staring at you. 

Fuck. 

[cedarbranch]

WIP gameee!! tagged by @obscurecurse and i was honestly kind of floored to see myself tagged alongside the likes of theopteryx and helena hathaway like?? WHAT!!!! THANK YOU!! i'm guessing that means you've been tuned into my writing for Quite a while, what a very sweet reminder that people remember i exist! ;-;

RULES: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

ok because i'm a type A little freak i actually have a meticulous folder and sub-folder system for all my writing divided by fandom and completion status, so i'm gonna mark fandoms for each of these... also not all of these are being actively worked on, some are much more likely to be completed than others. (the ones that are under active construction atm are marked with asterisks!)

forwards, beckon, rebound (hannibal) *

iphigenia in tauris (hannibal)

anaphora (hannibal)

sometimes it's just for company (hannibal)

haunt me, then (stranger things) *

5 + 1 (stranger things)

c/r/e (stranger things)

show me how you do that trick (stranger things)

jason in the basement (stranger things)

watch it all go up in flames V5 (the magnus archives, magnolia verse part 5)

blue skies above (pacific rim)

pleaaaaase ask me about these silly little wips... some of these might not ever see the light of day but by god do i love em all :')

following obscurecurse's lead and tagging a mix of friends and legends! @stoplightglow (<= plus one lover i guess. hi babe) @shark-myths @dear-monday @awondrousway @emungere @figbian @sunriseverse @loveinhawkins @palmviolet @help-me-nah @stillmadaboutpetra ! no pressure to participate, tag just means i think you and/or your work are cool <33

[llaevateinn]

Fic WIP Meme

Rules:

In a new post, post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non descriptive or ridiculous.

Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and post a little snippet or tell us about it.

Tag as many people as you have WIPs. If you don't write, list your art WIPs!

I was tagged by @jaybarou :-* <3

Oh man there's so many. For the sake of transparency, I'll mark the WIPs that are already (partially) posted on AO3 with an * asterisk. I guess I could link them but I'm too lazy lol.

In no particular order:

The way to a woman's heart*

proposal AU

Dissipating Clouds

Dog Days*

Under the influence*

Demon Husband*

bridenapping

The flames that bind us*

King's Ascent*

toji lives AU

having fallen, it was blood*

screwtio royale

To Form an Attachment*

(madatobi)

If you see this, I'm tagging YOU 🫵

[callunavulgari]

Scrapbook 2024 | Pt I

For anyone that’s new to this, this is how I keep track of all of the things that I enjoy and/or create throughout the year. I have literally been doing this since I had a livejournal.

It’s a nice little snippet of my life and helps to organize my brain.

A reminder:

Normal font - Indifferent/Neutral Italicized font - Enjoyed bold font - Loved with an asterisk* - All time favorite (bracketed titles) - Re-watches/Re-reads strikethough - Disliked

Goals are: read 70 books and write at least 50k of original content.

Past Years

MOVIES

January

N/A (yet)

TV SHOWS

January

You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment

Percy Jackson & the Olympians

Delicious in Dungeon, s1

Little Women: Limited Series

The Brothers Sun

(Stranger Things, s2)

YOUTUBE CHANNELS

January

Beryl!

Watcher: Making Watcher

BOOKS

January

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells [Fin]

(Sabriel by Garth Nix) [Fin]

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Morena-Garcia

PODCASTS

January

Watcher Podcast

The Adventure Zone: Live In Seattle

VIDEO GAMES

January

LoZ: Tears of the Kingdom, looots of hours [Fin]

(Ghosts of Tsushima), 22 hrs [Fin]

Baldur's Gate, 82 hrs

POSTED FIC

January

you let me complicate you | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 5,219 words | “But I thought—” Eddie starts, sucking in a deep, quelling breath when Steve sucks a mark into the side of his throat. His pulse ticks just a little higher. He tries again. “I mean, you’re straight?”

WIPS | UNPUBLISHED | ORIGINAL

January

600 words of Dead Girl Walking (sequel to you let me complicate you)

152 words of Steddie singing neighbors meet cute

Fanmixes/Spotify Playlists/Graphics

January

2024

put your back into it [a playlist for getting closer to god]

Stranger Things: the Musical

DELIGHTFUL FIC

January

they're going to send us to prison for jerks by greatunironic | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 16k | In which Eddie is TikTok famous, and his personal favorite creator just had an unexpected face reveal.

can't live long on starvation rations by ghostoftonantzin | WWDITS | Nandor/Guillermo | 6k | The temperature goes up, the air conditioner goes out, and Nandor is reminded what it's like to be driven near mad with lust.

in the backseat of your (boy)friend’s car by greatunironic | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 4k | A story about a first time.

Five Times Steve Surprises Eddie by nbfutureboy | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 5k | “We are some kind of after-school dads, my friend… Extra-curricular fathers. A real pair of paternal putzes.”

Let The River Run by astolat | GOT | Jaime/Robb/Brienne | 61k | The deep satisfaction of having made the right choice; of having found a clear-flowing wellspring of true honor to protect.

hold me now, i need relief by ToEdenandBackAgain | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 26k | “Sorry. Couldn’t die without knowing what that felt like.”

think kindly of a stranger by magneticwave | GOT | Jon/Sansa, Robb/Dany | 16k | The dead walk again.

crashing high by brawlite | X-Files | Krycek/Mulder | 3k | Handcuffed in the freezing cold, Krycek comes down on Walter Skinner’s balcony. It’s not ideal, but he’s had worse crashes in his time.

Show Me Your Teeth by entanglednow | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 8k | Eddie Munson apparently didn't get the memo that you can't just bite the people you're interested in. But Steve decides that he's surprisingly willing to hear him out.

I Want to Hold Your Hand by Peachesandpears | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 4k | Steve, on the heels of Starcourt, tries to drown his memories with cheap beer. At least until Eddie Munson checks in on him.

In the Kitchen or the Tulips by teddywesworl | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 34k | Did he touch me? Did he touch me? Did he touch me?

Alive and Kicking by gayhandshake | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 13k | Eddie is laboring under a misapprehension about the nature of his relationship with Steve Harrington.

Vino by teddywesworl | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 39k | Eddie comes back hungry. It doesn’t go the way you think.

Dissonance Theory by colossalflea, teddywesworl | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 30k | In the most exclusive luxury attraction on Earth, Steve Harrington follows a scripted loop of violence and cruelty.

Fight the Hurricane by spqr | Hannibal | Hannigram | 6k | “He’s the best Jaeger pilot we have,” Jack says, grimly.

look what you've done, now i'm a mess by Civil_Hearing | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | “That’s it, baby, look at you,” Eddie coos from beyond the wall.

We Better Make a Start by thefourthvine | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 11k | As soon as Eddie gets to the counter, Steve turns to him and says, “Back me up here. Kissing is no big deal, right?”

smoking guns (hot to the touch) by fivecenturiesverse | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 7k | “Your boner is digging into me,” says Robin, and Steve snorts a tired sort of laugh.

so let's sneak in from the cheap seats, honey by pricklywhicket | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 14k | The Hawkins Public Pool is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, 8AM to 8PM, seven days a week. It employs three lifeguards, two of whom work each day: one from 8 to 2, and one from 2 to 8.

steve harrington's six-step guide to getting the guy. by oaseas | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 35k | Lucas needs love advice, Dustin & Robin despair, and Steve's a regular Casanova.

four puffs of farrah fawcett spray (and a mouthful of UD pollen) by oaseas | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 17k | Steve Harrington can take a hit. He can take many hits. In fact, thanks to the Upside Down, there isn't a hit Steve can't take.

STRIKE TEN. by oaseas | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 16k | One double scoop of pining, please!

time you taste it. (don’t need to wait for an invitation) by oaseas | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 5k | Eddie gets a tongue piercing. Steve despairs.

DELIGHTFUL FANVIDS

January

2023 Movie Trailer Mashup

2023 || Multifandom Mashup

Doctor Who - Here We Go Again

if I could go back in time ┃ steve & eddie

Steve Harrington & Eddie Munson | Make Him Pay

Steve Harrington || No parents, big house

steve & eddie | bad habits [+s4 v1]

Steve & Eddie | One Night

Eddie Munson - Lovely

Steve Harrington | You're On Your Own, Kid

(ST) Steve Harrington | The Babysitter

► Eddie Munson | Heroes

Didn't run away | Stranger Things

DELIGHTFUL MUSIC

January

i believe - christina perri

dear arkansas daughter - lady lamb

yes i'm a mess - ajr

goodbye - bo burnham

my sails are set - sonya belousova

and the world was gone - snow ghosts

waiting in the wings - annapatsu

dandelion - gabbie hanna

child of ashes - madds buckley

you will be okay - annapatsu

the jellyfish song - kleonlumi

murder on the dancefloor - sophie ellis bextor

won't stand down - muse

mount rageous - andrew rannells

nothing can take from me - rachel zegler

bad idea, right? - olivia rodrigo

alice - peggy

bring me to life- corvyx

revived - derivakat

you will be okay - sam haft

the sound of silence - disturbed

paint it, black - ramin djawadi

only the lonely survive - marianas trench

red flag - billy talent

sleep walking orchestra - bump of chicken

waiting for the end - linkin park

spice up your life- spice girls

blood - starbenders

waterloo - abba

white rabbit - haley reinhart

closer - nin

sweet dreams - marilyn manson