#found a ton of other stuff I could use tho so

[mossywizard]

If… you were the notoray on history… where would you be?

[wetpapert0wel]

hey......what if. instead of tumblr making their own gaiaonline avi things......what if we just went to gaia online.......

[busycloudy]

For @minty-bubblegum

OMG I'm so sorry for how long this took and how short it is😭 Um I hope u enjoy it tho!

You wanted to take Floyd to the beach today. He didn't seem all too happy, but his spirits lifted when you two reached the destination! Floyd kinda reminded you of a little kid when he ran out and to the ocean.

You were sitting under a umbrella, reading your magazine with your sunglasses on. It was so relaxing, then you heard your boyfriend's voice. "Shrimpy~ Look at this seashell I found!" He held it out to you.

It was a spiral seashell that looked like the one on the Octavinelle students hats. It had a yellowish-pink tone of off-white. It truly was gorgeous. "Ah, very interesting Floyd" You gave him a smile. "Y'know, I used to collect a ton of stuff, seashells included" He smiled.

You put your magazine down and your sunglasses on top of your head. You were ready to listen to your boyfriend's rambles about the ocean. He often did this, and you found it quite adorable. He always had a happy look on his face when talking about the ocean, his smile brighter than the sun itself. It filled you with so much joy when you saw him like this.You sat crossed legged, hand holding your head, as you watched Floyd talk and talk about the ocean and what it was like there. It was clear how much he loved it. "I had a buncha things I collected, and I had a little spot I put em all!" He said as he took a seat in front of you.

Floyd talked and talked about how it was in the ocean and his collection of things. How it felt to peacefully swim through the water, how fun it was when he was a kid and hid in the seaweed when playing hide and seek. He would put his collection of things hidden somewhere so no one could find it. He really was adorable.

"Oo~ And I found this other seashell shrimpy! Here, you can have it!" He held out a seashell that looked like his. "We can be matching!" Floyd smiled. You gratefully took the seashell with a soft "Thank you".

[bitimdrake]

Thoughts on Jack Drake's death in Identity Crisis? I personally dislike it because it's a fridging (and somehow only the third worst death in that book behind "why did she have a FLAMETHROWER tho" and "that's not how Firestorm works you're confusing him with Human Bomb"), and it took away what made Tim stand out in making him an orphan like the other Robins. I'm not a Batfam expert so I haven't read a ton of the surrounding stories but it feels like there was more they could have done with Jack.

I would not personally call it fridging because I think we've gotten waaaay too liberal with that term, particularly when removed from the original context of misogyny (*unless perhaps we are applying it to other bigotry, which I do think is worthwhile), and because "side character dies to push forward a main character's story" is...not a bad thing. That's a perfectly valid story telling trope that can be used well or poorly.

THAT SAID. I do think there was more to do with Jack that could have been really interesting!

He'd just found out Tim was Robin, and imo there was sooo much that could have be mined from that. It could have been a really interesting and major shakeup in Tim's story, without entirely changing the fundamentals of his character. I'm so interested in the theoretical arc of Tim and his long time hot-and-cold distant dad trying to figure this relationship out now that Jack finally, for the first time, is both (a) interested in actively pursuing a relationship with his son (he's been on and off since shortly after Tim became Robin) and (b) actually able to get to know his son (which has been impossible from Tim's side since he became Robin and starting keeping so much of his life secret). Jack decided to be supportive, but their relationship is messy! Their history is complicated! And he still has understandably mixed feelings about his son fighting crime! How do they figure this out??

(Unrelated, I still think about this one fic where Jack comes back to life circa Brucequest and realizes his archeological skills can help. The future story it implied. The gentle question of can Tim and Jack repair their relationship. It compels me.)

I'm of two minds about Jack dying at all. On the hand, I do agree it took away a lot that made Tim unique as a Robin and lumped him more in with the others. On the other hand, there has been some nice stuff as a result of him being adopted into Bruce's family. And, e.g., I don't think stuff like his relationship with Damian would be remotely the same if Tim still had his own father.

Also like. the theoretical fandom shift from this would be fascinating. The best known batfam characters who are not Wayne family are largely women at this point, which means fandom is extra inclined to ignore them. But if one of the core bat boys was not part of the literal family, would that actually shift the whole fandom focus away from Force This Into A Nuclear Family Mold? Would we see an entire thematic shift? Or would people just be trying to contrive reasons why Tim's very much living father didn't count....

[sntafe]

i want to know more about your davey. what makes him tick! what music do you think he’d listen to! what are his pastimes and hobbies and what makes him like them so much!! PLEASEEE rant about your davey i love him!!

- @we-are-inevitable ✨

OH MY GOD. YES. OKAY. you just opened pandora’s box you have no clue. (btw most of this is based on my tattoo au although a lot of this stuff is just stuff i have connected to davey no matter the au)

okay. so. my davey is a high school english teacher and i think something that makes him really upset is when he sees his good students start skipping, not paying attention, etc. while i don’t think this would make him tick per say, i do think it would def make him anxious and on edge. he would absolutely come home and rant to jack about how he doesn’t know what he’s doing wrong and how he’s worried about them and how he wishes he can do more but all he is an english teacher. (and jack would assure him that he’s doing more than enough and just being there and noticing these things is all some kids need) (but davey would def pull them aside in class and just talk to them like they’re humans bc he knows some teachers treat their students as children and they hate that. so he will just talk and try to pick their brains and help them in literally whatever way he can)

MUSIC. okay so davey definitely tries a TON of different genres simply because he is curious and he wants to hear it all. (he wants to experience every bit of life that he can and that includes different genres of music.) at the end of the day tho he’s a slut for sad queer indie pop: hozier, lucy dacus, and kevin atwater are his favs. (i could go on a whole different rant about how davey coded some of kevin atwater’s songs are but i’ll refrain for now.) he grew up listening to billy joel and still listens to him when he’s feeling particularly nostalgic or homesick. the album “the stranger” is one of his favorites in the entire world. his parents had it on record, and one year in middle school for his birthday he was gifted a record player, so he was playing that shit NONSTOP. to read to, to study to, to hangout to, etc. les used to come and sit in davey's room while he was doing domestic tasks, like cleaning or homework, so les now has attached that album to davey. (they get a tattoo for vienna, their fav song on the album—davey gets “slow down, you’re doing fine” on his left forearm and les gets “you can’t be everything you wanna be before your time” on his right forearm) (done by jack of course)

jack listens to more alternative stuff, and although it’s not something davey listens to on his own, he finds himself humming along to the pierce the veil and green day songs on jack’s playlist 

as far as hobbies and stuff, obviously he reads. he’s always been an avid reader because he loves to get lost in other worlds and he likes to learn about things that he otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to. he gets into reading slumps around midterms and finals because he’s grading sooooo many papers but like as SOON as that’s over he falls back into finishing a novel in a couple days and he absolutely loves it. it’s just so… refreshing in a way. (sometimes, when he’s particularly missing jack, he’ll go and just sit at the tattoo shop and read. he’s content to simply be in the same space with jack and he also loves sneaking glimpses of jack working.)

he also absolutely loves to cook. he grew up often helping his mother in the kitchen, so he’s sort of always loved it. once he moved out and began living by himself he found a whole new appreciation for it. it’s his way to decompress at the end of the day and … in a way food is his language?? like he will make meals based on what he’s feeling. if he’s really happy he doesn’t mind making something that takes a while. it’ll be bright and fresh. if he’s had a particularly rough day though, he’ll throw something frozen in the oven and call it a day. (over time, jack slowly realizes this, and can gauge what davey needs based on what he says they’re having for dinner. for example; if davey’s just making something frozen, jack will give him an extra long hug and force him to take a hot shower in order to relax. jack often takes over “cooking” on these days)

don’t even play on his animal crossing island. he likes the domestic video games with goals that he can take at any speed simply because they’re relaxing and cozy. he loves making his island all organized and pretty 

meanwhile jack is like begging for the switch to play mario kart 

thank you for letting me rant GOD I LOVE DAVID JACOBS if there’s anything else you want me to yap about PLEASE ask!!!

@we-are-inevitable :)

[arminreindl]

Prehistoric Planet Croc Ideas

So this was a thing I did on Twitter in anticipation of Prehistoric Planet. Obviously crocs (in this case meaning crocodylomorphs) were a pretty massive part of earth's fauna during the late Cretaceous, and seeing as the first season featured NONE I came to speculate which taxa could hypothetically make an appearance. Now part of the challenge for myself was to come up with a new, interesting contender every day in anticipation of the show's release, each based around the confirmed episides we had and restricted purely to taxa from the Campanian and Maastrichtian. While it took a lot of energy, I did manage to do so. Hell, halfway through they dropped the reveal of Simosuchus, which I had saved for later.

Obviously we didn't get much still, but I'll regardless post my list of candidates and ideas here, perhaps third time's the charme for a lot of these (tho for convenience I'm still ordering them by S2s episode titles). I'll also try to break them apart roughly by biome, starting with islands. PS: I'd love to hear which crocs people would have loved to see themselves. Any on this list or stuff I didn't even mention? Let me know I'm curious.

We got a shit ton of island crocs from the Cretaceous actually, which you can broadly divide into two categories. The crocodiles of the European archipelago as seen in the top row. Featuring the small, possibly shellfish eating Acynodon (art by Adramelech89), the incredibly widespread Allodaposuchus which did have some possibly semi-terrestrial forms (art by Alejandro Blanco, Aina and Agnès Amblás) and Aprosuchus, a tiny terrestrial critter from Hateg (art by @knuppitalism-with-ue). They already give a nice diversity between tiny durophages with blunt snouts, large, more traditional crocs and lanky land species.

The other island category concerns Madagascar, which had a lot of attention in season 2. Discounting Simosuchus, we got Araripesuchus tsangatsangana (art by Scott Hartman) and Mahajangasuchus (art by Mark Hallet). Both are really cool. The former is yet another smaller terrestrial species that may not actually be part of Araripesuchus, while the later is a massive, 4 meter relative of the famous Kaprosuchus that took to the water independently from all other crocs and has been nicknamed "Hippo croc" for its weird skull. Really I'd have loved to seen an episode entirely dedicated to this place.

Next up we had the badlands episode, which oh boy has a lot of contenders from the clade Notosuchia. Brace yourself.

Here again I could split these in two categories. The first is just general badland taxa. There's Ogresuchus for example, from Spain's Tremp Formation (art by Aina and Agnès Amblás). A relatively small sebecid found in a sauropod nesting site. And we all know what PhP does with baby sauropods. Or the long-necked Gobiosuchus (art by @yoofilos) from Mongolia, which may look like its related to the other ones in this category but actually is a far more ancient type of croc.

The far bigger group concerns South America's Notosuchians. ALL OF THESE are from the Bauru Group, with some even from the same single formation. You got Stratiotosuchus (again by Joschua Knüppe), a large terrestrial baurusuchid that filled the nische of mid sized carnivore in an environment shared by sauropods and abelisaurs. There's Pissarrachampsa (by Felipe Alves Elias), another baurusuchid I decided to feature because we have evidence of a nesting site that shows they only had few eggs. A great opportunity to show their tender side. Uberabasuchus (justin_an74), part of the bizzarly proportioned peirosaurids. Adamantinasuchus (by Deverson da Silva), a small, lanky Notosuchian and of course the heavily armored omnivore Armadillosuchus (by the ever talented Júlia d'Oliveira). Hell you could do a full episode just on the foodweb of the Bauru Group (Godoy et al. 2014).

Then there's swamps, which I'll just use to dump all the crocs that don't fit into the other categories.

As you'd expect, freshwater would be ideal for crocs with a more traditional semi-aquatic lifestyle, here represented by three forms. Jiangxisuchus (image by Li et al. 2014) is a paralligatorid, which are tiny crocodilians from the Cretaceous and Paleogene of east Asia. We honestly don't know what they are, some say alligator relatives, others say they are closer to crocs. But its small and cute. Then there's Roxochampsa (artist of the model I couldn't find), which looks suspiciously crocodilian but is actually a relative of Uberabasuchus from the badlands, hell it appeared in the same formation. Still, I reasoned that I'd throw it into this category because I already proposed so much for badlands (none of which came true but hey). And then there's Denazinosuchus (art by Andrey Atuchin). Again it looks deceptively like a modern croc, but is actually the last remnant of the goniopholids, crocodyliforms that were prominent animals in the Jurassic and early Cretaceous. It could have brought both taxonomic diversity nad highlighted croc resilience till the end.

When it came to picking out crocs for Oceans, it got tricky. Obviously season 2 tried to differentiate itself by being set more in the open ocean, not the coast, and true pelagic crocodiles weren't around by the end of the Cretaceous. So I had to settle for coastal animals. There's Sabinosuchus (Schiller II et al. 2016), a cousin to Sarcosuchus and, like Denazinosuchus, one of the last of its lineage. Also its from Mexico which is rarely talked about for its fossils. Rhabdognathus (Ghedoghedo) is a distant cousin, a slender snouted dyrosaur. Unlike pholidosaurs, dyrosaurs actually did really well after the KPG impact and spread around a lot, living way into the Eocene. And finally Chenanisuchus (art by artbyjrc), which like Rhabdognathus was found both before and after the impact that killed the dinosaurs.

And the final two I shall talk about, both of which I thought/hoped would appear in the North America episode. Again, there's certainly overlap, both would have just as much fit into swamps, while many others would have also suited North America. Regardless, here's Brachychampsa (Tom Parker) and Borealosuchus (Chris Masna), both iconic animals from the Hell Creek Formation. One closely allied with alligators and caimans, the other more basal with a head-shape more similar to todays crocodiles.

Now obviously there'd have been a lot more. Part of the challenge to myself was to try and be as diverse as possible, rather than just listing 10 different baurusuchids I went with only two, tried to include as much of the world as possible, etc.... There's also the fact that some really awesome taxa, Titanochampsa, Brachiosuchus and Eurycephalosuchus, all incredibly unique or interesting, were published too late to have been considered for the show. And now, in hinsight, we obviously know that with the exception of Simosuchus none of them made it in. Which is a shame, but maybe next time.

[chairwritexv]

Can i request platonic rottmnt little sibling chubby with all of the brothers HC?

Reader is same age as Mikey but what makes them different is they're on the plus size, their ninpo were made to be support class (and yes am thinking of rpg games).

This makes reader insecure about themselves; they're not " helping much " and they believe they're fat and not strong or skiny or have toned muscles like the rest of the mad dogs which put them down.

However the 4 brothers think otherwise and they have their own way to show their love & affection to reader/p

yess!! WE LOVE CHUBBY PEOPLE !!! i am such a green bean tho akfsjdns

also, i don’t play rpg games a ton, but after looking it up it appears to be a healer kinda? sorry if i got it wrong !

r a p h

is actually really surprised to learn youre insecure about your size and ninpo

he’s pretty big but doesn’t really have problems with it ??? of course he doesn’t really realize the difference between ‘beefy af’ and ‘le chubby’ lmao

he wasn’t entirely sure what to do at first bc he’s never seen this before

and with his sibling?.?? afjsjsj

when he realized/you told him he tilted his head in confusion stared at you before bursting out

“you don’t like your body??? why???”

“raph has a big body and he don’t care!”

didn’t understand at first

“you’re the most perfect little sibling raph could want !”

”no matter what yer size!”

kinda felt bad, he felt like he should’ve noticed sooner since he was the Big BrotherTM

made sure not to be accidentally offensive about it just in case

when one of those lose-weight-or-no-one-will-love-you thought inducing ads would come on raph would block the tv

“DONT LISTEN TO IT!! YOU ARE PERFECT NO MATTER WHAT YOUR SIZE!!!”

l e o

ok so. the lil shit probably teased you abt it in the past. but NOT in a rude or offensive way. like affectionate . well he tried to come off affectionate anyways …

he’d like just poke at your chub n stuff y’know?

he wasn’t really trying to be offensive he just found it interesting since all his other brothers were skinny beans, and raph was just super beefy

but oh my god

BOI FELT SO BAD WHEN YOU TOLD HIM YOU WERE INSECURE ABT IT

”…what?”

feels like it’s all his fault

apologizes so much abt it he’s the one the needs reassuring afsjdn

he wasn’t the main reason of your insecurities , but his teasing hadn’t helped it… yknow?

he reassured you there was nothing wrong with your body OR ninpo and no reason to be insecure abt it

tells you his past ‘teasing’ wasn’t meant to be rude in any way and apologizes

he hasn’t teased you abt it for awhile anyways, but still makes sure not to be rude abt it in any ways whatsoever

if one of those lose-weight ads comes on he’ll tell you a stupid joke or something to move your attention away from it

still feels bad abt the teasing tbh

d o n n i e

he’s the second most surprised

i mean, he knows that people feel insecure abt their chub sometimes thanks to the internet but he wasn’t expecting one of those people to be you

i mean, you weren’t even that chubby in his opinion

uses logic to reassure you that your body is fine in every way

same with your ninpo

”your ninpo is very important and crucial to the team, y’know-“

he will not have his little sibling being insecure >:(

if he notices you staring at yourself in the mirror with a less-then-positive-face on, he’ll drag you away from it under the guise of wanting to show you his latest invention

not good with emotions but he’s doing his best ok

if those lose-weight-and-you’ll-finally-be-perfect ads comes on he’ll either distract you somehow or cover your eyes with his battle shell arm

m i k e y

was confused at first, not understanding what you meant

when he finally understood he gasped

his twin?? disliking their body/ninpo???? UNACCEPTABLE

cue the doctor feelings speech

does absolutely everything in his power to make you feel good abt yourself

will draw you SPECIFICALLY highlighting your pudge bc there is nothing wrong with it and will take that to his grave

sends you body-affirming stuff at random times

will paint his nails with you whilst reassuring you you’re absolutely beautiful the way you are ✨

a lose-weight ad?

he will DRAMATICALLY scream at you not to watch it-

”Y/N! DONT WATCH IT!! ITS FULL OF LIES-“

-before hugging you and dramatically putting his hand to his head

”LIES!!!”

it’s such a funny distraction technique you can’t not burst out laughing

thanks for reading!! hope you enjoyed!!!

[magic-is-beauty]

Sweet tooth head cannons part 2

I'm just going to put part 1 of my headcannons here as well since there might some continuations/more details from part 1

The first five animal army members were in order Bear,Tiger,Rhino,Pony,and Flamingo ; At first they had a blood oath ceremony to induct you into the army but that soon stopped after Flamingo since her finger wouldn't stop bleeding and the rest of animal army did NOT want to go through that disaster again (they all have cool matching scars tho from that).

Flamingo's parents were a chef and baker so she grew up around cooking and baking so when I say she can make good food I mean it ; Her ability to make decently good food from what the army was able to get is astonishing.

Rosie,Ginger,Tex,the wolf boys and ginger's son all stay in Texas for a while to monitor and oversee the farm but they eventually leave to find a place closer to where all the hybrids are and so they can have a place to stay that isn't crawling with bad memories.

The farm is still in Rosie and Ginger's hands but they now look over it from the sidelines trusting the people who are there to keep it in order and up to the new standards they've created.

The animal army get stick and poke tattoos of the animal they were while in the army to commemorate their time in the army ; They're still a army but they retire their old outfits for stuff that's more comfortable and recenter their focus on helping hybrids using other means that are not killing ; Bear gets a bear,Tiger gets a tiger,Rhino gets a rhino,Pony gets a pony,Flamingo gets a flamingo,etc.

Tiger before the crumble had a younger sister that was killed by the sick along with their grandparents who she was close with ; Tiger's father eventually joined the last men but both of her parent's soon were killed because of sick which is when they ran away.

Tiger before the crumble learned sewing and embroidery from their mother and was just starting to learn photography from their grandparents ; Tiger kept the camera from their childhood and started getting back into photography during the animal army days and continued it when living with the hybrids (Bear was one of their favorite things to capture) ; Rhino,Pony,Flamingo and Wendy do like to steal it in order to get photographic evidence of Bear and Tiger acting like a couple (but Bear and Tiger don't entirely know that yet).

Bear didn't sleep much when Tiger was injured like she tried but she eventually gave up and just continued to be by Tiger's side as much as she could.

The hybrids and Wendy could sense that Bear wanted to be by Tiger's side so they mostly found ways to entertain themselves with both Wendy and Jepp offering to take up watching and entertaining the hybrids ; Jepp trusted Becky to look over Gus as well since she was in there but still periodically checked in on them.

Bear,Tiger and the rest of the animal army kept the fallen members memory alive by telling stories to the hybrids about them and created a book that honored not only their memories but also Pubba,Birdie,Aimee,Louisa,Dr Singh,Bruno,Roy and many others lost.

The hybrids for some reason really love hammocks so now they have a shit ton around the place in order to decrease arguments of who gets a hammock ; No one touches the hammock towards the outskirts of the woods tho since that's the one that Bear and Tiger share and is the place they go to when they need a break or just want to be alone.

Rosie after everything chills out finally is able to do her art again and now she gets to share this with her boys who are very eager to enjoy something that makes their mother so happy ; Rosie is a really good painter and loves crafting things with Ginger also loving painting (both did it during their pregnancies to help relax them) ; their home is now covered in both Rosie and Ginger's art but also the boy's art pieces that everyone in the house cherishes.

Ginger's son absolutely loves being the water and gets super smiley and happy when bath time comes around ; Rosie jokes that the only time she ever saw that same exact smile is when her boys are running around.

After finally being away from her mother Rosie and her boys can finally grieve the death of Bruno and remember his memory while also grieving the childhood she wished her boys should of had with her making sure that her boys live a safe and happy childhood that she wished Bruno was also allowed to have.

Parenting at first comes not so easily to Rosie,Ginger and Tex but they eventually get the hang of it with the help and advice of Jepp and Becky ; The wolf boys love howling especially when they're happy or excited and it seems like Ginger's child is also quite vocal when it comes to things that make him excited and happy as well with Rosie,Ginger and Tex not minding it at all but instead encouraging it.

Parenting the wolf boys isn't entirely easy since they were taught so much terrible shit that needs to be unlearned but Rosie wouldn't trade it for the world because now she knows that she teaching and parenting them herself instead of somebody else ; It takes time to get them to unlearn the bad habits taught to them but since the boys are still fairly young they respond well and are able to learn and be around their mother who adores them ,their cousin who they love to be around and a whole bunch of others who are not only like them but who are not scared of them and want to be around them.

Rhino,Pony,and Flamingo are now overseeing the new animal army with the help of both Bear and Tiger and visit the cabin fairly often to see their favorite people : the hybrids ; The hybrids do visit the animal army HQ once in while and they always end eating too much sugar,playing games,being spoiled and staying up way too late much to the dismay of Jepp,Bear,and Tiger.

However when Flamingo finds all the homegrown food at the cabin has it's over for everyone with Flamingo at first freaking out since she hasn't had this much to work with in years and then ends up making one of the best dishes anyone has ever had making the hybrids flock to poor Flamingo with food requests ; Flamingo in the span of a few months lovingly makes all the hybrids their food requests because she can't say no to those faces.

Rosie,Ginger,Tex and the boys manage to find a quaint farmhouse about 30 minutes away from the hybrids to settle down in and with the help of Jepp,Tiger and Flamingo manage to start growing their own food but they still spend a decent amount of time hanging out in the woods with everyone not just to socialize the boys but because the boys seem so happy being in an environment surrounded with kids like them and who was Rosie to take away what made her kids so happy.

The hybrids,Jepp,Wendy,Gus,and Bear are all pretty light sleepers with everything that has happened so they usually wake up with any slight noise but then go back to bed if not anything to be worried about. Tiger and the animal army on the other hand sleep like the dead unless they hear a actually concerning sound which is when they really wake up.

The hybrids share tree houses not only because they like sharing a space but it's because in case someone has a nightmare or a bad memory there's always going to be someone in the tree house to help them and be there for them ; Jepp,Becky and Tiger always tell them to come to them when that happens and they do when it's bad or when they want too(Gus goes to Jepp,Wendy goes to Becky,the other hybrids will go switch between Jepp,Becky,and Tiger) but a decent amount of time it can be helped with just being around one another and being reminded that they're alive surrounded by friends and in a safe environment.

A lot of the time the hybrids sleep under the stars being able to see the sky and hear the sounds of the woods around them but they do also sleep in the tree houses (that are equipped with nightlights) since it's their space and they love it.

Bear and Tiger enjoy climbing onto the roof of their tree house and stargazing or just talking or they climb onto their designated tree and sit there enjoying the view or again just talking about anything and everything.

Rosie,Ginger and the boys eventually meet the animal army who immediately love the boys ; Rosie comes with the hybrids when they visit the animal army HQ since the boys still get a little anxious when they're away from their mother and Rosie doesn't think she's ever heard them howl so loudly or seem the light shine so bright in their eyes.

[anxiefics]

modern au hcs.

: ̗̀➛ ft. scaramouche x reader

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

he has a ton of piercings. he wears a bunch of earrings and occasionally a lip ring. (he may or may not have gotten a tongue piercing recently, and you only found out cause he decided to make out with you.)

he can cook, but he's lazy, so he usually gets takeout or smth. when he does make food, it's the best shit you've ever tasted. (he cooks more often for you <3)

kinda streamer au: he's addicted to fps games. like you can't tell me he doesn't play valo. he gets annoyed when ppl call it apex, though he loves both games.

pushing my scara and xiao bestie agenda; they often play valo and absolutely OBLITERATE the other team. scara likes to piss them off and say some toxic shit, while xiao says dry stuff like "haha."

he rage quit playing getting over it (ahem xiao beat it in under 10 mins.)

a bit of idol au: scara used to be a solo artist, then recently joined 5wirl, so they renamed to 6reeze. he still releases solo songs sometimes tho.

his songs are usually edgy (i mean just look at him), with some rap and metal vibes. he made a new song where the vibe was the same, but when ppl actually listened to the lyrics it was sounding kinda love-songy (is it coincidence that it was released a lil bit after he realized his feelings for you??)

him and xiao are the ones that the fans want to see together more

they just match and their voices complement each other (also they're both hot asf)

they're also the ones who keep the band members in check; scara just insults them and xiao scolds them (they stick together when the rest are out doing weird shit)

omg one time they posted a mirror pic together when scara wasn't part of the band yet and it was trending

not just cause of the speculations n theories but also cause it was SO HOT

scara has cold hands. it could be so hot and he would still have cold hands.

when it's winter and you want to hold hands for warmth, you should not ask scara. he's gonna make it worse; they feel like actual ice cubes.

once when you dragged him to a haunted house for halloween, he brushed his hands over your neck, and had the AUDACITY to act like he didn't do it, claiming it was "a ghost." he called it payback for making him go to this "stupid place."

he has a love-hate relationship with the rain. he likes seeing it from indoors, and looves the thunder and lightning, but he absolutely hates it when he gets wet. he forgot his umbrella when it was raining really hard and he looked like an angry cat LMAO

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

̗̀➛ a/n: this was supposed to be out by halloween, but i started writing other shit 😭

[sillypiratelife]

Zoro and Luffy childhood friends au where Perona taught Luffy all about clothing confection and Uta taught Zoro how to dance and sing.

The funny part is that neither Zoro nor Luffy realize what the girls were doing until they were deep into the trap lol.

Perona started by giving Luffy random facts about bugs that produce material for webbing and then teaching him about bugs patterns and colors. She slowly roped him (ha!) into paying attention to all those details and explained that people are like bugs in the sense that they use clothing for many reasons: to protect themselves, to show they are dangerous or make people pay attention to them, to show their joy or freedom, etc etc etc.

She failed A LOT trying to make him take interest in any form of clothing confection tho. So much she was also in tears. If you wonder why she was dedicated, maybe she made a bet and her pride was on the line lol. Anyway, she followed by telling Luffy the relation between certain fabrics. Silk, leather, wool, mostly stuff related to animals and bugs, then found a way to connect those to other types of fabrics.

Perona was like "you need to recognize how some people dress to identify who has money, so you know who can pay you for more food" 😭😭😭

After a masterclass in manipulation techniques, Perona somehow made it. Gave herself an award and everything. Most important moment of their journey was when Perona taught Luffy how to fix his strawhat and told him that fixing your friends' clothing is a way to show love.

Uta's job was so much easier. She arrived one day and told Zoro she was teaching him breathing techniques to make him stronger. Then she went to teach him how to identify tones because (all according to her) sounds said a lot about the world around them and paying attention could make him a better fighter.

Next step was to convince the kid that dancing was almost like doing katas and that it was a good way to learn how to move along with things and still not hurt anyone. Uta gave him a million more reasons why to keep up with her plans: because adapting to any rhythm means he could adapt to any fighter, because he could learn to move each muscle individually, so Zoro could intimidate in a freaking party, to work on his space awareness, as workout routine, to become faster, to allow his body to flow for a better performance....

Uta convinced Zoro that he needed to take care of his throat and voice like he took care of his body. Warm up, practice, control it completely to your will. What is dancing if not the ability to tune your body to the sounds around you and become one with them?

I need to laugh. By the time they were teenagers, they were completely screwed. Being Luffy and Zoro, they just accepted it for what it was lol.

Perona can ask Luffy on the phone to describe Zoro's outfit if they have to go somewhere decent so he can change clothing accordingly.

Uta borrows Zoro sometimes because "the public loves the muscles!" and "you need to see their faces when Zoro's sing!" and also they win a ton of money on dubious bets.

Imagine the interactions with the rest of the Straw Hats... Imagine the chaos...

[spicyraeman]

I usually don't send two asks in a row because I don't want to overwhelm you. But you just posted about phonology and I was curious and then bam hyperfocus. I found a pretty cool table of gith sounds :

https://conworkshop.com/view_language.php?l=GITH

It looks like there are a few main differences to english:

No W

-Like in french from France. She probably would say "Oo-il" for Wyll. They usually replace the W by a Oo or a V, depending on the sound after it. A "wagon" -> a vagon, but "when" -> ooän. In German you would have the W as a V, because it's already pronounced like that.

There is a type of Th, like in "thin", but not "this".

- I kinda hear the difference but I can't do it. The first one is closer to an s or an f and the second one to a z , I guess? A native english speaker may understand the nuance better.

There is a Zh

- It's the same as the French "j", like in the name Jacques (which could be your frenchsona btw. It's the equivalent of James). In English you add some kind of "d" in your "j". As an example, we visualise Djordan for Jordan. You take that D off, you got the sound. (Insert respectful trans joke here)

The Tl like in Nahuatl

- I can explain this one in english because I can't find the right translation, but you can find how it's pronounced on Wikipedia.

Gh is not silent

- Kind of a guttural G, like in dutch or the scottish gh.

The glottal stop '

- It marks a pause between syllables, while still linking them. Uh'Oh in English, "bu'er" for butter in cockney. It depends of the dialects/accent/language.

Everything is my understanding of this, obv, linguists please don't hate me. I'm just an audhd girly with a multi-lingual environnement and too much time.

Sooooooo Frog'zel is not completely off the table, but I'm sad the R's not an uvular one. It would make it a more "brutal" language. I think she would have some difficulties we see in frenglish. Especially when a letter has several ways to be pronounced, like cat / face or breath/breathe because it's straightforward in gith.

Ergo, she wouldn't have a stroke trying to say "library" like I do. But she would struggle with "throughout", I guess.

I couldn't find anything on tones and accentuations stuff though. I still want her to fight for her life like I do. I shouldn't be the only one suffering here.

I guess it can still change with context and stuff. Like the s in german becomes a sh when it's in front of a t.

I hope I was clear enough. Sorry for any spelling or formatting mistakes, cat fell asleep on my arms in the middle of this. But she's cute so forgive her please.

🫀🚑

You are always allowed to overwhelm me with worldbuilding shit like conlangs (even if this isn’t really a conlang) I live and breathe this stuff and I'm constantly rotating it around in the back of my brain

I cannot express the sheer joy I felt looking at these charts and comparing them to my own and seeing that I've got pretty much the same result! The only strange thing I found was the addition of a b sound, maybe I missed it but I haven’t found a single word that uses that sound (despite Lae’zel’s “bah’s”) Their chart is also missing a p sound but I believe that's due to when the charts were made bc there's only one Gith word that uses it and it was in bg3. Honestly tho, it makes a lot more sense for Gith to have a b sound and no p sound instead of the other way around, there are wayyyy more examples of languages with no p instead of no b (although a language with neither would be fun lol)

The lack of a W was the first thing that I noticed! But there's a fuck ton of languages without it so it makes sense, It doesn’t really fit the feel of the Gith language either. Also, I know in my heart that you’re probably very much right on the Wyll pronunciation but I was joking around with my friends while I was looking through all this stuff and one of them made a German comparison and the thought of the fascist space frogs having a german accent was just too funny to me to pass up

I personally find the Gith language having θ but not ð very fun for their accent! It's kind of a subtle difference but also not? I went through and pronounced a bunch of words with a ð sound with a θ instead and they sound harsher? I guess? It really did give them a more Gith feel honestly

(a little aside but the thought of a “frenchsona” is so fucking funny to me and you’re respectful trans joke got a legit laugh outta me lmao)

Fun fact! English does have a ʒ (zh) sound it's just not associated with a specific letter, it just kinda.. happens in words. All in all, it seems that Gith is relatively comparable in terms of sounds with English. The lack of a w and p/b (debatable) seems like they’d be the biggest ones to come up in everyday speech as far as phonetics goes

Also can I let you in on a little pet peeve of mine? I usually hate when “fantasy languages” use ‘ in their words bc most of the time it's just a cheap way to make it look more fantasy-esc or alien. BUT in Gith, it honestly works? Mostly because it actually is a glottal stop and not just a random “make this word look fantasy” addition

I'm also nowhere near a linguist, just insane about worldbuilding stuff (i have notebooks full of phonetic charts and mathematics on creating solar systems) It's really insightful and interesting to see the perspective of someone with a multi-lingual background tho as someone who only speaks English

I've always seen the Gith language as less brutal and more.. Sharp? I dunno how to describe it really, kinda harsh and pointed rather than guttural or brutal if that makes sense. But yeah if common is English then all the long and short sounds and strange exceptions would be supremely rough especially if you only ever really read it and never truly spoke it

I couldn’t even blame Lae’zel for not being able to pronounce throughout correctly cuz I can’t say that shit right either unless I'm really trying

If you want tones and accentuations you’re just gonna have to have fun and make em up, cuz sadly most fantasy “languages” are just a bunch of made up words with no real rhyme or reason. If I had the brain power to spare it’d be fun to flesh out a real Gith conlang

At least with a full phonetic chart, you can see what sounds the Gith wouldn’t be used to using and find out what words would cause trouble

Also I can forgive any and all misspelling or weird formatting, cute cats aside, cuz I have no clue how anyone could read this jumbled rambling mess lol gratz if you got this far and understood any of this

[sinningtamer]

Not sure if you’ve answered this before but what are your favourite fics and ships?

Love all your art btw! <3 Thx for all the food!

i might've years ago, so let's go again! i'm gonna answer this question as only NSFW/kink related, otherwise the list would be way too long haha

alright let's start with the obvious: ParviII is and always will be my #1 one ship, even when I dip in and out of the fandom a lot (i feel the term OTP is super outdated these days? but if there was one ship i could use it with it's them...)

so obviously i'm gonna say Talking Body and Payment and Payback by @sparxwrites. because. you know. how can i not. oh yeah, Good Vibrations is also a classic. hiii sparx, i'm sorry for picking your older fics, i just have such a bias. they've written a ton of great stuff over the years though, so go give the account a peak! there's something for everyone, especially if you like darker stuff.

...speaking of accounts with a lot of content who lurk around here, shoutout to @pawpunkao3. lmpᴇarI is one of my favorite ships, and they're still such a rarepair somehow?? anyways I think about Between Bedrock and a Hard Place at least once a week tbh. A New Religion That'll Bring You To Your Knees is fantastic, and i have a soft spot for I Spy (even tho i didn't watch too much empires). again, another author with a whole arsenal under their belt, so don't just take my word for it and check the rest of his fics!

back to lmpᴇarI being a rarepair... @thatstoomuchsoup has Chicken Soup for the Soulbounds (okay it's more pearI-centric but they're both there) and is another blog that specializes in some of my kinks and these fandoms. same with @anon-teddy's content, gotta give a shoutout to full. this is also making me realize i haven't sought out enough poly S0up Group or GᴇmpuIse/PᴇarIgem fics...maybe i'll get back to you on that...

there's a bunch of good explicit trᴇᴇbark fics, but i said i was gonna keep this list concise, so the only one i'll specifically point to is how to deal with your supernatural lust for blood (and other things) in a completely normal and god-honoring fashion. for...reasons. also because it's good!

edit: oh my GOD i realized two seconds after posting this i completely forget to mention @also-an-art. go read (this is) hungry work and honey don't feed it right fucking now. i've read both of these in full (pun intended) multiple times they're that amazing. it's rare that the plot is just as good as the horniness, when i tell you i lost my mind at some of the development in these. also hot and dirty (like the la air) is a guilty pleasure. AND it introduced me to a song that ended up being #20 on my spotify wrapped LOL (RPF warning on that one! trust me tho)

let's get to my other bias, shall we? RᴛSpiff and RᴛS00t don't....have any explicit fics. nor does poly lᴀds. CMRᴛ does, though! I'm kinda picky about how people characterize them, but play it cool and Every Stumble and Each Misfire are lovely (note that the second one is also blatant RPF! don't say i didn't warn you o7)

speaking of lᴀds, if you follow me on main, you know i got into Bᴀnᴀna Bᴜs Sqᴜᴀd just last year (I'M SORRY, OKAY, DON'T @ ME-) you'd think getting into an old fandom late would mean a ton of great smut fics, right? to be honest, i haven't found many that i care for, but maybe i'm just picky... however, i remember your lips, they're the ones i miss, and smoke in your lungs, your lips on mine are SO GODDAMN GOOD i'm not even mad it's only those two i like because i could reread them 20 times. god. such fun characterization. shame the author orphaned them because i badly wanna read more of their stuff.

this is the part where you go, spirit, do you read anything besides (mᴄ)yt fandoms??? and i go, not really.............well, sort of. i like 0verwatch! and M0icy!! Reciprocity is a delightful PWP long fic. i'm also not really an omegaverse guy, but Water Me has such a good take on it i fell in looove.

okay, i'm gonna cut myself off here, enough though i could probably name dozens of more fics if i sat and thought about it. if anyone i tagged wants to be untagged, feel free to reply here or shoot me an ask/dm!!

[kuzann]

The Wayward Heart Outlines & Notes

I thought it would be neat to give everyone a look into my writing process! Behind every bit of writing I post is a TON of notes as I basically talk to myself about how the fic is gonna go. Hope y'all find it interesting! ^__^

As you can see there were a lot of changes between outline 1 and what I posted in the end. As well as stuff that didn't make it in due to wordcount limitations. That's my bad for not judging the amount of words this would need accurately tho heh... ^^;

The fic can be found here on Tumblr or on Ao3!

Outline 1

Basic premise is that Vlad is trying to avoid being forcibly paired off with a powerful ghost so he has to pretend that he’s engaged to and dating Jack Fenton. Hilarity ensues. Includes an instance of the One Bed scenario with the added caveat of it being 100% mandatory that they share the bed.

Maddie thinks it’s hilarious when she finds out.

Vlad has fun afoul of a ghost called the Matchmaker who is tired of his fooling around and wants him to settle down already and stop being such a menace to the Ghost Zone. She is going to pair him off with a ghost he’s never met and has heard bad things about, and Vlad is extremely unhappy about this especially when she springs it on him out of nowhere while he’s recovering from a big Ghost Zone scheme that went badly.

Since Vlad is still too weak to fight Matchmaker off and won’t be strong enough to do so for a while yet, he has to think fast and while going over romantic options in his head(he’s wondering if Jack will go along with Vlad fake-dating Maddie for a few days) the Matchmaker suddenly says “Jack Fenton?” and convinces him that he mumbled the name aloud and Vlad has to think fast when she presses him on it. Vlad is forced to tell Matchmaker that he is in fact in love with Jack Fenton but human world culture stuff is getting in the way.

Matchmaker listens with polite interest, then tells Vlad to bring this Jack Fenton over so she can measure their compatibility as partners, adding that human cultural politics aren’t much of a concern to her so it would be fine as long as they make a good match. She waits at his mansion and Vlad hightails it over to FentonWorks to try to get things sorted out; he’s hoping to get Maddie to come along too because he’s convinced that he’ll match better with her than with Jack and that Matchmaker will reveal this.

Vlad gets to FentonWorks and begs Jack and Maddie for help. Jack is onboard with saving his buddy and Maddie is surprisingly open to the ruse, saying that this is a good opportunity to help the two see eye to eye, and that it could be a nice humbling experience for Vlad. Maddie’s views on the matter don’t make Vlad happy but he’s glad for the help regardless. Another reason to keep the other match from being made is the fact that this ghost will gain a great deal of power through Vlad and the last thing anyone wants is a maniacal ghost to get access to Vlad’s resources.

Danny thinks the whole situation is pretty funny but does warn Vlad that if he ruins his parents’ marriage he might have to actually kill him. For once Vlad is not fixating on that and promises Danny that he has no intention of ruining things between Jack and Maddie. Right now he is completely focused on saving his own skin.

They go back over to Vlad’s mansion where Matchmaker is still waiting. They don’t simply blast her because she’s used her powers to take Vlad’s actual heart from him to make sure he follows through and they don’t know if he’ll survive if they beat her to the point that her powers stop working.

Matchmaker performs the assessment and finds that Jack and Vlad are indeed compatible. Maddie asks that she and Jack be assessed as well out of curiosity, and it is found that she and Jack are even more compatible; a further curiosity test between Vlad and Maddie shows little compatibility between the two which makes Vlad pretty sad. (The test takes the souls of the two parties into account, and it is notable that because souls are changeable, so is the compatibility. It also uses some arcane technique to determine how much the match would benefit both parties.)

With the compatibility confirmed Vlad thinks he’s in the clear and can just tell Matchmaker that he’ll date Jack to make her go away(and then not follow through at all), only for Matchmaker to ask that he prove it because she’s wary of him trying to trick her. So she assigns them trials in the form of things that lovey-dovey couples do together, like cooking, sharing a bed, and going on picnics.

After the first trial(cooking, where Jack sets the non-flammable parts of the stove on fire somehow and is banned from using it again) Vlad is starting to have a crisis of goals because he’s starting to realize that he doesn’t hate Jack as much as he thought he did and oh yeah that’s one of the reasons he was keeping contact with Jack as minimal as possible. Especially after the night of sharing the same bed results in the best sleep Vlad has had in a long time.

Actually Vlad’s hatred still remains throughout, he just gets ever more conflicted about it, especially once the two get a chance to actually talk about what happened after the accident twenty years ago. Jack apologizes and admits he was too much of a coward to properly face how he’d hurt Vlad back then, which is why he backed off when Vlad told him to kick rocks directly after the accident happened(in Vlad’s defense he just got like kinda irradiated so he had every right to be really angry) and when the hospital staff rebuffed him a few times, but he wants to help and support Vlad now and promises he won’t let him down again. Admittedly this is the type of apology Vlad has wanted to hear for years—that acknowledgement of the harm that was done is actually pretty important—but Vlad is far from being ready to actually put faith in Jack as a friend at the moment.

With a lot of effort and acting from Vlad(and a surprising amount of actual fondness that causes a lot of inner turmoil for him) they make it through the trials and convince Matchmaker that they are, indeed, a good couple. But before Vlad gets the chance to breathe a sigh of relief, Matchmaker declares that since they’re such a good couple it’s only natural that she have them ghost-marry right now, and only afterward can Vlad have his heart back.

(Note that Vlad’s heart being taken is a contractual affair, so Matchmaker can’t go back on the terms of him getting it back. Actually he gets it back after the trials are over, but since he doesn’t want to draw her ire or be married off to aforementioned tyrant ghost he goes along with the ghost-marriage to Jack.)

Vlad is justifying the marriage to himself by it being a Ghost Zone marriage that the human world will not acknowledge as valid and Maddie will not acknowledge as valid either, and that it’ll keep any further ghostly suitors off his back in the future(and that part of him kinda likes the idea now that he and Jack have actually talked to each other about what happened back in college and some old romantic feelings toward Jack have been revived but he’ll never admit that to himself). Jack is sincerely trying to be there for his friend and keep him safe(and does have romantic feelings too but feels he has to keep them under wraps for his marriage’s sake), though he doesn’t really see a ghost marriage as valid and won’t be actively adhering to it. Maddie has complete faith in her husband’s love for her, doesn’t view the marriage as valid at all, and also she thinks it’s really funny to see Vlad squirm and hopes this will be a humbling experience for him.

They’re about to make their vows when someone says “I object”, and it’s not who you’d expect. The one who objects is Matchmaker who directly calls Vlad out for only going through with this for his own protection, adding that she was sure he wouldn’t be able to take this anymore during the trials because she already knew about his hatred for Jack.

There’s also the matter of certain secrets he’s been keeping from his to-be partner and only gives Vlad enough time to look at her in horror before forcing him into ghost form, revealing his secret identity to Jack and Maddie. Vlad fearfully backs away from Jack, saying “I can explain”, only for Jack to clasp him by the shoulders and say “No need to explain, V-man. We know this is just a trick!”

Jack and Maddie pull their weapons on Matchmaker because why wouldn’t they think she was trying to trick them under these circumstances, so the ghost resorts to incapacitating and kidnapping Vlad instead so she can force him to marry the tyrannical ghost mentioned earlier who had in fact already paid her to hand Vlad over to him as a partner. Vlad is locked in a room made of both Ghost Zone and human world material, which prevents him from phasing out of it in either form. He asks Matchmaker how long she’s been planning this and she tells him that it’s been in the works for a while since she and her associates are sick of his antics in the Ghost Zone and that his recently-failed endeavor was part of the plan so he would be weak enough to control. Having that tyrannical ghost turn his attention on the human world instead of the Ghost Zone will also be a bonus.

Vlad tells Matchmaker that he’ll escape because he’s gotten out of worse situations. Matchmaker says “not this time” and leaves him to mope in his room while she makes preparations. Vlad examines every inch of his prison and finds no immediate means of escape, and has to sit down and try to come up with a way to get out of this.

Before long an explosion rocks the room and there are sounds of a commotion outside and then Jack bursts through the door. Vlad is flabbergasted because he honestly didn’t expect that Jack would come to save him, and so quickly too. Jack tells Vlad that he’ll never abandon him again and leads Vlad down to the main room of the building they’re in. It’s kind of like a dream for Vlad and he’s letting himself get swept up in it until reality comes crashing back in via Matchmaker starting to reveal his crimes to Jack, and under a truth compulsion no less so Vlad can’t lie when Jack asks him to confirm what she’s saying.

Matchmaker accuses Vlad of wanting to murder Jack and take his wife and when Jack asks Vlad if this is true Vlad admits that yes, that used to be true... In a sense. Jack asks why Vlad didn’t just hire a human hitman in the last twenty years and Vlad is forced to admit to himself and Jack that maybe deep down he didn’t actually want Jack dead. It would’ve been quite easy to utilize his human world resources to dispose of Jack, and yet he never did...

Any further admissions are cut off by the other suitor stepping in, having just defeated Phantom and stating that if Jack wants to marry Vlad then they can have a duel over it to prove who is stronger and more worthy. 

This actually gets Vlad pretty scared—to his own surprise—since he’s heard of how powerful this ghost is and there’s a not insignificant chance that this will be a fight Jack does not walk away from. Vlad tells Jack to back down since he doesn’t want him to die, but Jack brushes him off and says he’ll be fine, adding that he promised Vlad that he wouldn’t let him down again, to which Vlad says he’ll forgive it in this case since he doesn’t want Jack to die.

All the while the enemy ghost has been boasting about how powerful he is and how neither of them stand a chance against him, so Vlad uses that against him and successfully baits him into fighting both of them at once, the reasoning for fighting Vlad being meant to prove that the ghost is actually stronger and capable of controlling him. The ghost accepts with all the bravado of someone who fully expects to win, and Vlad shifts to ghost form...

Jack and Vlad share a look, and Vlad says “later?” to which Jack says “later” with a nod and the fight begins.

Vlad is still pretty weak powers-wise at the moment and the fight is pretty hard on him but they’re able to win and even find out that this ghost actually isn’t as all-powerful as he’s been making himself out to be, since his power is based more on resources stolen from others rather than his own remarkability. He even called a bunch of his minions in to help him when he started losing.

This gets Vlad fantastically mad since he was scared of this guy for nothing and proceeds to brutalize him and his loyal minions while Jack cheers him on. Once Vlad has calmed down he flops down on the floor in exhaustion and Jack lays down next to him. Jack says something goofy that gets a laugh out of Vlad and the two have a lighthearted chat.

The rest of Jack’s family walk in on the two just chilling and then they all go home. The ghostly officiator and Matchmaker are there, and in the end Vlad decides to ghost-marry Jack just to no one can spring this crap on him again, not realizing that this will actually have consequences later because he thinks it won’t apply to him or Jack due to their human qualities.

After this are the closing conversations between Vlad and Jack, Vlad and Maddie, and Vlad and Danny. Vlad has to come clean to Jack about his half-ghost status and at least some of the schemes he’s done, he has a decent conversation with Maddie where he promises not to come between her and Jack and adds that he has some stuff to figure out and Maddie mentions that he’s still on thin ice but she feels a little better about Vlad now that he’s on better terms with Jack, and he has a conversation with Danny where he apologizes for what he’s done to Danny and promises he’s not trying to destroy his parents’ marriage anymore.

Outline 1 Notes

Overall

Alright let’s rethink a few things...

I don’t think Matchmaker’s betrayal quite works. Some of the motivations aren’t properly there and it’s sort of unnecessarily malevolent, and forcibly outing Vlad does feel a bit too cruel. Vlad should give Jack that secret himself as a sign of trust and the start of a new phase in their relationship. The big bad would-be suitor can still show up to interrupt the wedding because he heard about the match and felt entitled to Vlad’s hand in marriage.

In fact Matchmaker’s plan all along was to get Vlad to actually talk to his former friend, clear the air, and maybe calm the hell down with the troublemaking as a result. Getting them to actually marry would be a bonus that would make it so ghosts having an issue with one can complain to the other and potentially get some respite, or at least get the troublemaker sidetracked long enough to fix things. And again hopefully get Vlad to calm down. Matchmaker also pushed for the marriage because she thought it would be funny.

Since Matchmaker doesn’t out Vlad in this rendition, him revealing his secret to Jack is more meaningful. When they’re about to duel the suitor Vlad looks at Jack and says “please don’t hurt me”, then he shifts to ghost form. Jack is shocked but he doesn’t hurt Vlad and simply asks “talk later?” to which Vlad agrees “talk later”.

Important that Jack has gotten Vlad to trust him enough to let him know about his secret(for the sake of keeping Jack from being killed). It’s a very meaningful bit of progress for Vlad.

Talking to the Fentons(Beginning)

Danny makes a “what if Vlad just never had a heart” joke when Vlad reveals the fact that Matchmaker took his actual heart and Jack tells him to knock it off and even Maddie doesn’t laugh since she knows that Vlad used to be a better person.

Jack and Maddie of course find this a bit difficult to believe, especially when they check his pulse at his wrist and find it normal. But then he tells them to listen for his heart and they can’t hear it. They’re admittedly very curious about how the ghost was able to do this without killing Vlad outright but there are more important things to attend to right now.

Timeline

This whole thing starts when one of Vlad’s schemes directly impacts Matchmaker and she decides to take a crack at fixing things permanently. She does her research, discovering the one-sided bad blood between Vlad and Jack, sneakily runs a compatibility test and finds that they’re compatible, then concocts her plan to shove them together until they talk about their issues and also take Plasmius down a peg.

Matchmaker kicks things off with a boobytrapped artifact, then spreads rumors about it that she knows will get Vlad’s attention. In fact maybe it’s this artifact that takes Vlad’s heart to begin with when he touches it and since he was caught red handed trying to steal it he has to appease her to get it back. She tells him that if he wants it back then he’ll have to play her game and put some serious thought and effort into finding a partner who will fulfill him enough that he stops these foolish pursuits of his.

The main goal is to get Vlad and Jack on better terms with each other and the ghost-marriage isn’t even necessarily part of that, but Matchmaker pushes for it anyway because she thinks it would be funny and she wants to see if Vlad would actually go that far.

If the artifact did the heart-steal then the “contract” for it was left in plain view, Vlad just didn’t read it because he assumed that he knew everything he needed to know and didn’t need to read any stupid warning. His arrogance bites him in the butt. Again. It’s nothing new with him.

The fulfillment condition of this contract is that Matchmaker succeeds in getting Vlad a worthwhile partner—which will have to be either Jack or that tyrant ghost. Only then will his heart be returned to him. She can also null the contract early and give it back if he’s placated her enough.

Danny’s Pranks

Should Danny try to sabotage the trials? He wouldn’t want his dad to actually be paired up with Vlad but on the other hand he doesn’t want a potentially worse threat getting its hands on Vlad’s resources.

Even if Danny isn’t trying to sabotage things he could still swing by just to annoy Vlad since Vlad can’t do anything to stop him with Jack constantly being around him. Heck Danny might use this as an opportunity to just do an absolute prank spree on Vlad—and unintentionally push Vlad and his dad closer together as a result. The pranking kinda bites Danny in the butt with that being the case.

Picnic Trial & Apology Notes

Near the end of the picnic trial Danny turns invisible and hip-checks Vlad into the duck pond. The resident swan pair hiss at Vlad and give him a few slaps with their wings, and they have to head home after that since Vlad is covered in pond muck and needs to shower and change his clothes. Jack is as helpful as he can be throughout, driving Vlad home in out of his coat before he’s shooed away so Vlad can clean himself up.

Perhaps Vlad falling in the duck pond gets Jack to bring up Vlad’s apparent bad luck, including the college accident in that tally… And that sets Vlad off a bit, as he calls Jack out for using such passive language about something he directly caused and asks if Jack is ever going to take responsibility for the years of pain he caused Vlad. It doesn’t last long as Vlad catches sight of Matchmaker lurking in the background and remembers why this is all happening, and he forces himself to calm down and drop the matter.

Luckily it was enough to get through to Jack that he can’t keep dodging responsibility like this if he really wants Vlad to at least be his friend. The ride back to Vlad’s mansion is very quiet since Jack has a lot of thinking to do and Vlad doesn’t feel like talking.

This helps lead into Jack’s apology and promise that night when they share a bed. Actually multiple conversations throughout the day’s trials should lead to Jack’s apology, but the picnic one is the tipping point for him. Jack becomes more and more aware of how Vlad is trying to keep himself at arm’s length despite the show they have to put on for Matchmaker and can’t hide behind his delusions about everything being fine between them anymore.

Key points to Jack’s apology Vlad are that he takes full responsibility for the accident(because yeah, it’s 100% his fault three times over for: not making sure the area was clear before turning the proto-portal on, not checking his math while tuning it, and not putting the correct filtration substance into it cause he was too busy looking at Maddie), take responsibility for and explain why he ditched Vlad afterward(Jack was too cowardly to properly face what he’d done and was afraid of the consequences, and he’d even been trying to make excuses and deflect blame right after the accident happened which got Vlad even more angry than he already was and caused him to lash out verbally at Jack), properly and completely apologize, and promise to do better in the future. Vlad still doesn’t trust him of course, but it does reduce the hatred he feels for Jack and does help him feel a bit better just in general and about their relationship. This also helps the two understand where the other is coming from better.

Perhaps each trial(that the audience witnesses anyway) addresses a pain point between Jack and Vlad, and then that comes to a head in the bed scene where Jack apologizes. Matchmaker could’ve mapped out the main issues between the two and then planned out the trials accordingly.

Then when the ghost wedding rolls around and Vlad is taken away, Jack makes a step toward proving that he’s reliable by immediately going to save Vlad. He also exercises forgiveness for how Vlad attacked him in ghost form before when Vlad reveals his secret identity to him. The fact that Jack doesn’t attack Vlad after learning his secret also proves that Vlad can start to put trust in him again.

Another important point to prove to Vlad is that Jack doesn’t care about his money and status, he sincerely wants Vlad to be part of his life again like he was back in college. Vlad has thought that Jack was being fake in his friendship attempts when actually he was just being really inept.

All throughout the trials Vlad is feeling his grudge start to waver simply from having to spend time around Jack with no ulterior motive and he hates himself for being weak every time he notices. Part of the grudge is Vlad feeling that Jack should suffer at least some consequences for the harm he did to him and thus it takes energy to maintain when he has nothing to focus on but Jack. Vlad is at once trying to save his skin by making the couple thing look convincing while also being constantly reminded that Jack is very likely to hurt him out of carelessness again and then not even own up to or try to fix it.

Future

Once Vlad and Jack are on better terms it’s time for Vlad to fret over having to tell Jack about how he’s been a menace to his family and worry over how Jack will react to that. The bulk will have to be left to a sequel fic though cause there’s already a lot going on in this one and I have only a month to write it and only 20k words to accomplish that in.

Vs Reginald & Jack Proving Himself

Does the situation Jack saves Vlad from at the end fit the hang ups that were between them and sufficiently prove that Jack is serious about his promise? Cause we’ve seen that jack is ready to help Vlad out of a bind at the drop of a hat—just not the ones he’s immediately responsible for. In the case of having to finally cure Vlad’s ecto-acne Jack had already put sufficient excuses and distance between himself and the event so that he didn’t feel guilty about it.

Jack could even bring up curing Vlad’s ecto-acne as a reason that Vlad shouldn’t be mad anymore, only for Vlad to point out that Jack could’ve reached out at any point in those twenty years to check if it was gone and try to cure it but no, it took Danny’s friends getting involved for Jack to finally try to do that. And in the end Jack didn’t even cure it, Danny did by figuring out the substance that mucked up the filtrator; Danny is willing to go the distance for his friends, Vlad can only wish he could say the same of Jack.

Also in any case, finally stepping up to fix something he broke doesn’t magic away the twenty years of pain and loneliness that Vlad had to endure. Especially since Jack couldn’t even bring himself to say as simple a phrase as “I’m sorry” for the longest time.

But back to the question of the scenario that Jack has to save Vlad from. It would be more relevant to Vlad and Jack’s conflict if it did come about as a result of Jack’s carelessness, and whereas before Jack ghosted Vlad this time he immediately comes running to fix things and apologize. This would show that while Jack is still his usual bumbling self, he’s now ready and committed to fixing the things he breaks and being more accountable for the harm he causes, which will be a good thing for everyone in his life, not just Vlad.

But how would Jack’s carelessness result in the fake suitor crashing the wedding and kidnapping Vlad? As it is now, that situation is squarely Matchmaker’s fault. Could it be that Mitze(the Matchmaker) decided to test Jack specifically by having him hold onto the artifact that currently contains Vlad’s heart for a bit? And then Jack was careless and left it in a place where the fake suitor found and stole it, thus granting him the leverage he needed to force Vlad to do what he wants(because the false suitor can just crush the artifact to destroy Vlad’s heart and instantly kill him).

When Vlad sees that the artifact—and his heart—has been stolen he is absolutely devastated and he looks at Jack and says “I can’t believe I trusted you” before going over to the suitor as ordered under threat of instant death. Vlad had earlier agreed to letting Jack take care of the artifact because he at least trusted Jack with it more than Mitzi, only to have that trust betrayed when Jack screwed up the assignment. He is also expecting for a repeat of twenty years ago where Jack is nowhere to be found and Vlad has to rescue himself.

Mitzi the Matchmaker

Mitzi the Matchmaker looks like your busybody aunt from the 20’s: big-brimmed hat, long but fairly simple dress, fancy shoes, a fur wrap(that is itself an ermine ghost that is basically her familiar), and a cigarette in one of those long holder things. Her clothes are dusty rose, her skin gray, and her eyes teal or green.

Though she isn’t outright malevolent she is rather self-important, which is why she thought herself capable of pulling off such an ambitious scheme as this. And she almost does pull it off without a hitch so she’s mostly on the money with that self-assessment. Mostly she just wants things in the Ghost Zone to be as harmonious as possible, which can’t exactly happen with Vlad running amok as often as he does.

Final Showdown Notes & Does Maddie Find Out

Rather than run away like last time Jack is ready and raring to go after Vlad as soon as the suitor ghost has left. His family has to restrain him and get him to calm down and make an actual plan before he dives in.

Mitzi had attempted to get close and conclude the contract spell while the suitor ghost was crashing the wedding, but he caught on to what she was doing and threatened to kill Vlad then and there unless she backed off. The rescue plan involves getting her close enough to the artifact that she can return Vlad’s heart to him, which requires a substantial distraction that Jack will provide by challenging the false suitor to a duel for Vlad’s hand in marriage(which the false suitor will accept cause they appeal to his arrogance and he wants to rub his win in Jack’s face and put him in his place).

Jack’s team is able to successfully get Mitzi close enough to conclude the contract so sneakily that the false suitor doesn’t realize the heart has been returned when he takes up and crushes the artifact just to spite Jack and Vlad when he loses. Both Vlad and the false suitor are shocked that this did nothing, and then Jack’s crew of helpers emerges from their hiding places and reveal how they pulled off their little scheme.

With this being the case it’s possible that Maddie also witnessed Vlad transforming into his ghost form so he’ll have some explaining to do with her over that later as well. Or maybe she wasn’t in the immediate area when the duel happened—she could’ve been obliterating the false suitor’s minions in a different room—so the reveal could be limited to just Jack. In the second case Jack and Vlad would have to make plans for telling Maddie about Vlad’s secret identity lest she find out on her own and things go to hell in a handbasket as a result.

I think it’ll depend on total word count by that point since I can’t exceed 20k words. If it’s getting too long then Maddie has to be told later, if not then she finds out too and then the three have a closing conversation about it once everything has calmed down.

When asked why he never told the two about his ghost powers Vlad asks why he would tell them after they ditched him for twenty years and given the fact that they hate ghosts and love to experiment on them. They don’t really have a defense for that since admittedly the way they act toward ghosts would give any hybrid reason to mistrust them.

Reginald, “Future King of the Ghost Zone”

What does this false suitor look like and what’s his name?

He’s a sort of “old money” brat full of entitlement and overestimation of his own abilities because his stockpile of resources and external power mean that he rarely faces any adversity and typically gets what he wants with very little—if any—effort. His dire reputation thrives on the fog of rumor and the correct details being lost over the course of word of mouth transition, which means that most ghosts are too intimidated to do anything against him, resulting in more easy wins that further boost his overestimation of himself and his fearsome reputation.

It’s a very rude awakening when he gets thrashed by a human ghost hunter and a ghost hybrid who is basically working with only a fraction of his usual power. His reputation and good fortune take a massive hit and Vlad and Jack gain a reputation of their own.

Maybe his name is something like Reginald, harkening back to times of royalty and playing to his own views of self-importance. And what should his title be? The Terrible? The Regal? Actually it should fit with the typical Ghost Zone titles like Master of All Electrical Technology, Master of Time, the Ghost Zone’s Greatest Hunter… It needs to be something that suits his arrogance and thus isn’t necessarily true… Maybe he claims to be Pariah Dark’s successor? That’s definitely an arrogant enough assumption on his part, and maybe he decides that he needs to conquer both human and ghost worlds to prove it, thus why he’s determined to acquire Vlad when he learns more about him.

Reginald, Future King of All Ghosts? Or Prince of the Ghost Zone? Might need more work but it’s good enough for now.

He lives in a distant enough area of the Ghost Zone that he wasn’t affected by Pariah’s awakening in Reign Storm and had been making plans to present himself to PD only to discover that PD had already been shoved back into the Coffin of Forever Sleep. Heck he could’ve been making plans to assassinate PD too since PD would stand in the way of his own ascension to the throne and his time ended long ago anyway. He did take notes from PD’s brief return though, namely the whole wanting to conquer both human and ghost worlds thing. Vlad’s human world resources would make half of that goal easier. Also cause he heard that he was considered as a match for Vlad and how dare no one tell him about it until it was almost too late to do anything about it.

The main source of Reginald’s power is a special necklace with gems that contain captive ghosts. Break these and Reginald’s power weakens, leaving him at average strength for a ghost once all are destroyed. Vlad notices the necklace glowing whenever Reginald is using a unique ability and tells Jack to target it with him. Actually the gems only need to bind a piece of a ghost, and upon breaking that piece is returned to its true owner.

Any wannabe tyrant is not without his sycophants of course. And since he’s imitating PD he’d require that they make themselves look like skeleton warriors. They’re not very strong individually but what they lack in power they make up for in sheer numbers.

Similar to Skulker, Reginald hides his true face behind a more frightening mask. This mask takes some design elements from PD, though minus the eyepatch. His entire regal suit of armor is enhanced with technology to give himself as much of an edge as possible.

To be clear Reginald is not any weaker than your typical ghost, nor any more special. He still thinks himself superior to them regardless and thinks he should be the one to rule them(even if he was superior that still wouldn’t give him license to rule over anyone, tbh). If he is below average in anything it is not due to lacking natural ability but to gross excess making him lazy through lack of genuine effort. Big difference between having enough and having things in gross excess.

Needless to say, their run-in with Reginald does cause a bit of self-reflection in Vlad cause no way does he want to be as pathetic as that guy.

Jack’s Perspective

I need to think more in-depth about where Jack is coming from. He does care about Vlad and wants good things for him, but he’s ultimately selfish in that he has until now refused to acknowledge how he hurt Vlad and has not not tried to fix that, yet feels entitled to being around Vlad anyway. He’s also selfish in that he hasn’t really thought about what Vlad wants(an apology) and what would actually be good for him(the apology).

Jack is all for saving his friend whenever it’s from something he didn’t just cause, but when it’s something he did his fear of catching consequences gets in the way. Or maybe he thinks that he shouldn’t suffer consequences. He’s dumped consequences on his family in canon before(landing Danny in detention when he used the Fenton Peeler on Mr. Lancer and then immediately dipped) so what, does he think he’s above that? No, probably just that he doesn’t like consequences and tries to avoid being stuck with them. Maybe he was disproportionately punished for screw-ups as a child and that caused him to be so avoidant about these things.

Jack is still as careless as he used to be, maybe it’s a flaw that he either refuses to acknowledge or has given up on trying to fix. He also runs away from taking responsibility for his actions most of the time, relying on the people in his life forgiving him time and again rather than leaving. In the present situation it’ll be a bit harder for Jack to run away from what he did to Vlad, he’ll have to face how severely he hurt him.

Acknowledging how he hurts the people around him is painful for Jack, and it’s not just Vlad he’s hurt(though Vlad was definitely the person who was hurt the most by Jack). Change is hard, and though Jack can talk a big game about wanting to change he fears that he won’t be able to. If he can’t be more careful he can at least stick around and clean up the messes he makes, which he does after this.

Despair for the Future

All the while Vlad is kind of starting to despair over the fact that he will be forced to just bury what happened and wait for Jack to hurt him again, dreading the eventuality all the while. Jack starts to see this and is really distressed by it—since Vlad is letting big cracks in his armor show, Jack can’t continue to ignore how his presence hurts him. It all helps lead into their proper chat later on in bed.

Once Jack has at last taken responsibility and apologized, Vlad’s despair starts to ease a little and he’s a bit more relaxed around Jack, and is even a little hopeful about their future. This hope is, of course, temporarily dashed when Jack allows Vlad’s heart to fall into Reginald’s hands.

Cooking Trial

The cooking trial requires that Jack and Vlad prepare a nice meal for the family as a team. No having one person cook the whole thing while the other does nothing. Vlad is super stressed and tries to figure out something for Jack to make that isn’t too difficult.

This results in Jack goofing up and setting the stove on fire, putting them both back to square one when it comes to the meal. Vlad is not taking this well(he really wants to impress Maddie and it’s embarrassing to not get a meal out to hungry guests on time) and Jack does his best to calm him down and keep their guests satisfied until the actual meal is rolled out. He comes up with the idea of making a cheese board and Vlad starts putting it together only for Jack to stop him and say that he should be the one to do it.

Vlad hesitates for a moment, then tells Jack that he better not set the cheese board on fire too and returns his attention to the main meal. Jack successfully assembles the cheese board and shows it to Vlad, who’s impressed to find that Jack picked a really good combination of flavors and asks how he knew these would pair so well and Jack looks at him blankly for a few moments before replying with “the smell”. This reminds Vlad of how intuitive Jack has always been and he tells him good job and Jack takes the cheese board out to the guests along with crackers and bread and drinks.

When Jack returns he asks Vlad what he can do to help and Vlad asks him to work on preparing ingredients for him to use, which works out alright. They find out that Jack does best when helping someone cook, rather than making a dish on his own as he’d been trying to do originally.

Throughout the kitchen chaos Maddie has been a bit worried about how things will go since Jack is not allowed to cook for good reason. She’s not even remotely surprised when she catches the smell of Jack setting the stove on fire. She asks Jack if he’s done helping when he brings the cheese board out but to her surprise he says he’s still going to help and goes straight back into the kitchen.

Together Jack and Vlad are able to put a good meal on the table. Jack is in high spirits while Vlad is pretty exhausted from all the stress.

But what part of Jack and Vlad’s relationship does this highlight or question? It displays pretty prominently that Vlad’s strength is planning while Jack’s strength is improvisation. If they were a couple and iron things out their strengths would compliment each other. Vlad didn’t think of this when delegating tasks and also didn’t take into account the fact that Jack isn’t the best at following directions and would try to take a shortcut or “improve” a particular step(this resulted in the stove catching fire).

This trial also seems to highlight that Vlad needs to learn flexibility and to stop being so uncompromising(that Jack would be able to help teach him this on top of showing up weak points), as well as being better at meeting people where they’re at and taking their unique skill set into account rather than expecting them to magically conform to his expectations. This has been a roadblock for him when it comes to his relationships, especially with Danny and Dani, and Vlad refuses to even meet someone halfway(though to be frank, it’s still on Jack to apologize for their friendship to get off the ground again). So it would benefit Vlad and everyone else in his life if he learned to compromise and see where someone else is coming from better.

So it looks like this trial highlights how Jack could help Vlad improve as a person if he let him back into his life, and this helps Jack realize that he actually can help out in the kitchen, just not as the sole person cooking the meal. They’d both help each other improve if it happened on the right terms.

Unmasked Misery

A large part of Jack being unable to continue lying to himself about being friends with Vlad is that Vlad is plainly becoming more and more miserable around Jack, even though he’s doing his best to act otherwise. The times when Vlad’s mask slips and he shows how unhappy Jack makes him are impossible for Jack to ignore, and that helps to get him thinking about how he can fix things with Vlad or at least make it less painful for Vlad to be around him.

Changing Stance on Eccentricities

Important to note that Vlad found a lot of Jack’s quirks to be more endearing back before the accident. It’s amazing what fondness will allow us to excuse. He can recover a bit of that fondness—and thus find Jack easier to be around—after Jack makes his apology and after Jack proves that he won’t be running away from responsibility anymore.

Trials Notes(Plus Movie, Nature Hike, Museum)

What other couple things should the trials include?

We have the picnic scenario, the meal prep scenario, and the sharing the same bed scenario, what other couples things should they have to do? The picnic draws Jack’s unwillingness to take responsibility for what he did to Vlad into focus. Meal prep shows how Vlad and Jack can make each other stronger by shoring up each other’s weaknesses. The bed is where things come to a head and Jack makes his apology.

Watching a movie together? No development around that immediately jumps to mind... But if they try to connect over a movie like Back to the Future that came out while they were separated it could highlight how much time they lost because neither was willing to restart communication(this is kind of more Jack’s fault than Vlad’s, since Jack was the one who hurt Vlad and needs to apologize to start fixing things). It would be a bittersweet activity for the two.

Nature hike could be a fun one. But how would it relate to their relationship and how it could improve? Or some regret that the two unknowingly share? Neither of them are opposed to doing outdoorsy things since Jack likes fishing and Vlad is implied to have done hunting(plus one of his mansions being in the wilderness), it could be something for them to connect over. Though it’s also pretty likely that Vlad will try to rush through the hike either to get it over with as soon as possible, to keep Jack out of breath enough that he doesn’t have any left to talk to him, or both. If Vlad rushes the hike he’s absolutely going to regret it later since it’ll make his pre-existing tiredness worse. The hike can be an early off-screen trial that Mitzi almost failed them on because they weren’t acting like a couple. After the warning from Mitzi Vlad is careful not to pull something like that again and is really worn out afterward so he regrets having done that.

A museum visit would be up Vlad’s alley but Jack probably wouldn’t like it so much. If Vlad is smart and trying to do better at the trial he’ll take Jack to the exhibits he might have more interest in, like the dinosaur halls since most people think dinosaurs are neat. Jack will probably have a great time and then wonder aloud if dinosaur ghosts are a thing, to which Vlad replies that none have been seen but it’s a possibility that they’re in some distant part of the Ghost Zone and simply haven’t been found yet. And that would get Jack pretty excited and he’d ask if they could go looking for them together sometime. Maybe this one happens after the sharing a bed scenario, once the two are on better terms.

Trial Order

So the trials could be, in rough order:

Nature Hike

Meal Prep

Picnic

One Bed

Museum

Movie

Six trials in all isn’t bad, and they don’t all have to be covered in their entirety to get the necessary character moments in place. Mitzi actually had a lot of trials planned and was prepared to keep throwing them at Vlad until things were resolved.

The trials can be split among several days since they do need several hours each and Vlad and Jack need time apart to process things. Maybe day one could be nature hike and meal prep, day two is picnic(they do have to put the picnic together themselves) and then at the end of day two is the sharing a bed trial, and day three is the museum trip and movie which prove they’ve made a big step toward fixing things so that’s when Mitzi calls an end to the trials... And then tells them that it’s time to get married for a laugh and to see if they’d actually do it, which they do because Vlad never wants this crap happening to him again and he doesn’t view it as valid anyway.

Wedding Size

The wedding is put together a bit hastily since Vlad just wants to get things over with, so it’s small and has only the most important guests invited. Mitzi takes the opportunity to show her gal pals a good time by inviting them, but unfortunately they tend to gossip a lot and that’s how word got around to Reginald.

Stealing the Heart

As for how Reginald gets ahold of Vlad’s heart… Jack got swept up in wedding prep and was worried he might drop the artifact or something to that effect if he kept carrying it around with him, so he hid it in the lab for safekeeping. Which while he had good intentions that was a terrible place to hide it because Reginald just stepped through the perpetually-open ghost portal and found it pretty quickly.

Chat Between Danny & Vlad

Danny pulls Vlad aside for a little chat once Mitzi has let them go for the day and asks what’s going on because he knows Vlad isn’t telling the whole story to his parents. Vlad does tell him the truth, if only to get Danny out of his hair sooner. Danny asks if he should try to take Mitzi down and why Vlad is so scared since getting his heart crushed wouldn’t completely kill a creature like him right?

Vlad tells him to leave it cause best case scenario is that he becomes full ghost and worst case scenario is that his entire being gets obliterated because the artifact took a significant portion of his powers along with his heart. Danny asks why Vlad was willing to tick off such a powerful ghost and what he was planning to do with the artifact if he got his hands on it.

This part Vlad isn’t willing to tell him and Danny threatens to beat the answer out of him, only to relent when Vlad comments that a tactic like that is straight out of his own playbook. Instead Danny warns Vlad that if he tries to use this whole fiasco to ruin his parents’ marriage he’ll find a way to make Vlad regret it. Vlad assures Danny that this isn’t what he’s after and he just wants to put this whole mess behind him as soon as possible and forget it ever happened.

Danny prods Vlad a bit over him hating his dad but Vlad gives no answers other than a line about Jack betraying him, and Danny decides he’s had enough of interacting with Vlad for the day and leaves. Because Vlad was rude about Danny’s dad, Danny decides that he’s gonna prank Vlad while he can’t do anything about it, especially since an opportunity like this doesn’t come along every day.

Jazz’s Deductions

Jazz figures out what Mitzi is actually about before anyone else and talks to her about it. While she appreciates what Mitzi is trying to do she’s worried that things might spin out of control if they take a wrong turn.

An Open Heart

A side-effect of the artifact is that it makes the person it’s used on more emotionally open and honest. It can also make them more closed off depending on how the outer rings are spun.

In Vlad’s case Mitzi has tuned the artifact to keep Vlad more open so that his pride won’t get in the way of letting Jack know how much he hurt him(and because Vlad believes that would be showing weakness and he’s very afraid of appearing weak due to trauma reasons and because he doesn’t trust or respect Jack). Vlad notices this after a day or so and confronts Mitzi over it, and Mitzi pretends that she can’t control it but tells him that a little emotional honesty can go a long way in improving a relationship. It’s a hint that Mitzi is in fact aware that the relationship between Vlad and Jack isn’t great but it flies over Vlad’s head because he’s too focused on other things.

Important to note that the artifact will not force Vlad to love Jack, just make the emotional communication on Vlad’s end more open. Jack still has to do the work of apologizing and moving the relationship in the right direction, and he has to get over his own emotional roadblocks himself.

Vlad is much more likely to tell Jack when he’s hurting him in this state. Annoyance and anger are easier for Jack to chalk up to some other reason than a direct statement of “you hurt me” from the person he’s presently dealing with. That’s something Jack can’t run away from as easily and Vlad is going to be telling him that more and more directly as time goes on.

Dance Trial

The dance trial, where Jack and Vlad have to do a waltz, would show how miserably out of sync the two are. It would be a good follow-up to the hike cause they were so out of sync in that one. They must waltz together for an entire musical piece.

Vlad is the only one of the pair who knows how to waltz, so he’s the one who should lead. Jack is a bit freaked out by the fact that they failed the first trial and once he goes a few rounds of following he gets a bit too into it and ends up stepping on Vlad’s feet. A lot.

After a few more rounds but before the song ends Vlad hits his limit and starts telling Jack to stop, but the end of the song is drawing near and Jack isn’t listening because he’s trying to get them to the finish line. At last Vlad yells “You’re hurting me!” and that finally gets Jack to pay attention to him—and notice that he’s currently standing on both of Vlad’s feet.

Jack steps back and releases Vlad, who limps off to the nearest chair and sits down. Vlad is upset that he showed weakness by telling Jack that he hurt him but he knows that he has to keep trying or else they’ll fail the trial. Jack comes over and apologizes for stepping on Vlad’s feet and hurting him like that, then asks if they can try again and promises to be more careful this time.

They try again and this time Jack is actually paying attention to Vlad and avoids stepping on his feet. The waltz is a clumsy one because they’re both tired, but they make it to the end and Jack is even paying enough attention to notice Vlad’s knees about to buckle and he sweeps him into a dip to make it look natural just as the song ends. Jack has the sudden(but not unexpected) desire to kiss Vlad during the dip but he resists and gets them upright again, holding onto Vlad to make sure he doesn’t fall.

Mitzi gives them a round of applause and says they pass. Vlad is super relieved and tells Jack that he can let go now—and he falls to the floor when Jack does that.

An important part of this trial is that Jack starts to realize that he needs to get better at listening to Vlad(and the other people in his life) and not just assume what’s best or what he wants.

Actually scratch the apology part too, that’s still something Jack has to work through. Maybe he thinks it’s unnecessary in this case cause he knows how to fix things, which for this situation would be to pay attention to Vlad and not step on his feet again.

Should this be from Jack’s PoV or Vlad’s? There are merits to both, but I feel like we need a bit more behind Vlad’s dislike for Jack? And Jack can always get time to digest things later...

But a big piece of this story is Jack realizing he has to apologize and try to be a better friend to Vlad. So Jack could start realizing things during the trial and then Vlad could do some reflection afterward.

Yeah, let’s do Jack’s PoV for this trial, to demonstrate directly that he hasn’t been paying as much attention to Vlad as he should’ve been. Show Jack actively not listening to Vlad and stomping over him until Vlad very directly tells Jack that he’s hurting him, which finally gets Jack to pay more attention.

Wedding Rearrangement

Now that I’ve mostly written the fic and gotten past the 14k point I think some bits would be better if I rearranged them.

The Fentons devise a plan to get Vlad’s heart away from Mitzi by proposing a trial where Jack takes care of the artifact for a while. It would be a very large bit of proof that Vlad trusts Jack now, at least to a degree. They figure that it’s worth a shot so they can carefully run some tests to see if they can reverse the artifact’s effects themselves.

Actually no, have Mitzi propose it as a trial and put Vlad on the spot. Vlad has a lot of indecision as he weighs the danger of letting Jack watch the artifact vs letting Mitzi keep it. Since Jack is set on being more careful Vlad decides to give him the chance to prove himself despite his anxieties over it.

Things actually go alright for a little while. Jack is actually very anxious over the heart and keeping it safe, constantly worrying over accidentally harming it as long as it’s on his person. With that being the case, Jack decides to hide it somewhere instead, not realizing that Reginald’s spies have already moved in and one was able to see him hide it.

(The Fentons don’t meddle with the artifact despite having full access to it because if they mess it up that would likely kill Vlad. Jack even immediately sides with Vlad on the matter when Maddie brings it up.)

Vlad was really taking a chance by putting his life in Jack’s hands. No, more like he decided to give Jack a chance by allowing him to do this. It’s an enormous show of faith—not the smartest move, but still. Vlad is showing that he’s willing to believe that Jack can change. Which makes it all the more devastating when Reginald is able to steal the artifact.

This time the two are just hanging out when Reginald barges in and orders Vlad to marry him. When Vlad tells him to get lost Reginald repeats the order with an “or else” attached and shows that he has the artifact.

Vlad is stunned for a moment(Jack is too), and then he gives Jack a look of utter betrayal and says “I can’t believe I trusted you”. With no other option Vlad walks over to Reginald and is taken away to the ghost’s lair.

Jack is devastated over having failed Vlad but his moping doesn’t last long. He’s ready to go charging after Vlad and has to be stopped by the rest of his family since he could get himself and Vlad killed that way.

Mitzi shows up and they accuse her of being in cahoots with Reginald, which she denies; in reality he was never supposed to get directly involved and was only used as a threat to get Vlad to play along, since her real goal was to get Vlad reconnected enough with Jack that he wouldn’t have the time or desire to be such a menace to the Ghost Zone anymore. In fact she dreads what Reginald might be able to accomplish by marrying Vlad and offers to help with the rescue plan.

Meanwhile Reginald is rushing through wedding prep as he intends to marry and dispose of Vlad as quickly as possible so he can take all of Vlad’s assets for himself. Vlad is desperately trying to figure a way out of this but Reginald is able to keep him contained long enough to start the wedding ceremony.

Vlad is despairing as he stands on the dias and is forced to start giving his vows, only for chaos to erupt as the Fentons leap out of their hiding places and crash the wedding. During the mayhem Jack is able to get his hands on the artifact but Reginald refuses to let go. After some back and forth Reginald asks if Jack knows who he’s trying to save and messes with a dial on top of the artifact.

This forces Vlad into ghost form with a sudden painful surge of power and Jack stares at him, dumbfounded. At last he asks Vlad why he attacked him before and Vlad replies that he did it because he was angry and stupid and selfish and he thought that getting back at Jack would make him feel better, but it never did. He’s about to make his own apology when Maddie interrupts by shooting at him. Vlad yelps and starts running while Reginald panics and orders his minions to protect Vlad cause he can’t let him die before he gets all his stuff in the marriage.

Maddie drives Vlad into a frantic chase around the room, picking off every single one of Reginald’s allies as she does so and leaving Vlad surprisingly unscathed. At last Vlad has nowhere left to flee to and Maddie asks if he has any last words, to which Vlad says “I wish I’d just talked to Jack to begin with” and braces himself for the end. Reginald jumps in to stop her and Maddie shoots him down.

Now that all hostile ghosts have been defeated Maddie straightens and thanks Vlad for being exactly the kind of distraction she needed to decimate the enemy forces.

(Also Jack was chasing Maddie around the room begging her not to kill Vlad throughout her pursuit, meanwhile the kids were basically eating popcorn while they watched cause they knew that if Maddie wanted to shoot Vlad, she wouldn’t be missing.)

Vlad sits up and returns to human form just in time to get tackle-hugged by Jack and both of them are pretty freaked out about Maddie’s attack. Jack is almost crying and saying he’s so glad Maddie didn’t kill Vlad and Vlad is touched and amazed that Jack still cares about him that much even after finding out his secret. Vlad looks up at Maddie and asks if she was planning to attack him all along and Maddie replies that it was spur of the moment since their original planned distraction got derailed(Jack was gonna challenge Reginald to a duel as cover for Mitzi) but the anger was 100% real and the are going to have a talk later.

Reginald snatches the artifact up and declares that if he can’t have Vlad no one can and he crushes the artifact. To the surprise of half of those still conscious this does nothing to Vlad. It turns out that Mitzi used Maddie’s distraction to get close enough to the artifact to return Vlad’s heart. With Reginald’s bargaining chip removed the adults give him one last beatdown to teach him a lesson then take the kids and go on their way.

Don’t forget that Vlad accidentally said Jack’s name at the end of his vows, which means his end of the marriage contract is primed for Jack to wander into the other end and seal it for both of them. Jack will probably get confused when the officiator asks him if he accepts Vlad’s promise/vows and say yes.

They’re both shocked when the officiator declares them married and congratulates them before wandering off to get on with his day. They immediately wonder if divorce is an option but doing so would require tons of hoops to jump through since there are humans involved. Maddie thinks the whole situation is hilarious and doesn’t see a ghost-marriage as something that threatens her own marriage anyway, so they decide to leave things as they are for now.

Giving Heart

It’ll be important to show everyone’s reactions to Vlad giving Jack his heart to protect. Danny even tells Vlad that this isn’t a good idea as Vlad takes the artifact in his hands and prepares to pass it to Jack. Maddie questions if this is a good idea too, as much as she loves Jack she’s still going to be realistic about what he’s like.

Vlad ignores them, his voice breaking somewhat as he puts the artifact in Jack’s hands and says “Jack, I’m going to let you take care of this for a while. Please don’t let me down.”

Outline 2

We start with Vlad in front of FentonWorks. Jack lets him in and he tells them about his heart being stolen and that he and Jack will have to pretend to be a couple.

They visit with Mitzi who does the assessment and finds that Jack and Vlad have decent compatibility, Jack and Maddie have great compatibility, and Vlad and Maddie have NO compatibility. Mitzi breaks the news that Vlad will have to prove that he and Jack are a couple in order to get his heart back.

Danny pulls Vlad aside for a little chat once Mitzi has let them go for the day and asks what’s going on because he knows Vlad isn’t telling the whole story to his parents. Vlad does tell him the truth, if only to get Danny out of his hair sooner. Danny asks if he should try to take Mitzi down.

Vlad tells him to leave it cause best case scenario is that he becomes full ghost and worst case scenario is that his entire being gets obliterated because the artifact took a significant portion of his powers along with his heart. Danny asks why Vlad was willing to tick off such a powerful ghost and what he was planning to do with the artifact if he got his hands on it.

This part Vlad isn’t willing to tell him and Danny guesses it had something to do with his mom. Danny warns Vlad that if he tries to use this whole fiasco to ruin his parents’ marriage he’ll find a way to make Vlad regret it. Vlad assures Danny that this isn’t what he’s after and he just wants to put this whole mess behind him as soon as possible and forget it ever happened.

Danny prods Vlad a bit over him hating his dad but Vlad gives no answers other than a line about Jack betraying him, and Danny decides he’s had enough of interacting with Vlad for the day and leaves. Because Vlad was rude about Danny’s dad, Danny decides that he’s gonna prank Vlad while he can’t do anything about it, especially since an opportunity like this doesn’t come along every day.

Jack and Maddie have a chat about Vlad and what’s going on. Maddie says a bit more on her low opinion of Vlad but doesn’t get into it too much, while Jack still has faith in him. Jack also double-checks that Maddie is okay with this, which she is because she knows Vlad can’t replace her and she thinks this’ll take him down a peg and maybe get him to appreciate Jack more.

The next day arrives, and the nature hike trial begins. Vlad sets a relentless pace that keeps Jack behind him and unable to talk to him. This results in Mitzi nearly failing the two of them then and there because they weren’t acting like a couple. Vlad walks away from the trial exhausted, demoralized, and a bit scared.

The dance trial is Mitzi’s attempt to get Vlad and Jack to be more in sync with each other. They have to waltz for an entire musical piece, and since Vlad’s the only one who knows how to waltz he’ll be leading and trying to teach Jack how to do it. Jack is a bit freaked out by the fact that they failed the first trial and once he goes a few rounds of following he gets a bit too into it and ends up stepping on Vlad’s feet. A lot.

After a few more rounds but before the song ends Vlad hits his limit and starts telling Jack to stop, but the end of the song is drawing near and Jack isn’t listening because he’s trying to get them to the finish line. At last Vlad yells “You’re hurting me!” and that finally gets Jack to pay attention to him—and notice that he’s currently standing on both of Vlad’s feet.

Jack steps back and releases Vlad, who limps off to the nearest chair and sits down. Vlad is upset that he showed weakness by telling Jack that he hurt him but he knows that he has to keep trying or else they’ll fail the trial. Jack comes over and asks if they can try again and promises to be more careful this time.

They try again and this time Jack is actually paying attention to Vlad and avoids stepping on his feet. The waltz is a clumsy one because they’re both tired, but they make it to the end and Jack is even paying enough attention to notice Vlad’s knees about to buckle and he sweeps him into a dip to make it look natural just as the song ends. Jack has the sudden(but not unexpected) desire to kiss Vlad during the dip but he resists and gets them upright again, holding onto Vlad to make sure he doesn’t fall.

Mitzi gives them a round of applause and says they pass. Vlad is super relieved and tells Jack that he can let go now—and he falls to the floor when Jack does that.

Reflection time. Jack and Vlad are thinking over the day in their respective homes, and Maddie may chime in for Jack.

The cooking trial requires that Jack and Vlad prepare a nice meal for the family as a team. No having one person cook the whole thing while the other does nothing. Vlad is super stressed and tries to figure out something for Jack to make that isn’t too difficult.

The scene opens with the stove being on fire. Vlad calmly puts a fire blanket over the mess and facepalms when Jack says “whoops”. Given that this puts them back at square one for the meal, Vlad’s stress levels are hitting their peak and he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to hold it together long enough to get through this. Jack does his best to calm him down and keep their guests satisfied until the actual meal is rolled out. He comes up with the idea of making a cheese board and Vlad starts putting it together only for Jack to stop him and say that he should be the one to do it.

Vlad hesitates for a moment, then tells Jack that he better not set the cheese board on fire too and returns his attention to the main meal. Jack successfully assembles the cheese board and shows it to Vlad, who’s impressed to find that Jack picked a really good combination of flavors and asks how he knew these would pair so well and Jack looks at him blankly for a few moments before replying with “the smell”. This reminds Vlad of how intuitive Jack has always been and he tells him good job and Jack takes the cheese board out to the guests along with crackers and bread and drinks.

When Jack returns he asks Vlad what he can do to help and Vlad asks him to work on preparing ingredients for him to use, which works out alright. They find out that Jack does best when helping someone cook, rather than making a dish on his own as he’d been trying to do originally.

Throughout the kitchen chaos Maddie has been a bit worried about how things will go since Jack is not allowed to cook for good reason. She’s not even remotely surprised when she catches the smell of Jack setting the stove on fire. She asks Jack if he’s done helping when he brings the cheese board out but to her surprise he says he’s still going to help and goes straight back into the kitchen.

Together Jack and Vlad are able to put a good meal on the table. Jack is in high spirits while Vlad is pretty exhausted from all the stress.

The picnic starts out alright, they even make light conversation, though Vlad is still distant. They keep chatting as they go look out over the pond together, and then something causes Vlad to fall in. Jack helps Vlad back out, commenting that for such a fortunate guy he still has the worst luck and includes the proto-portal accident in that tally.

Doing that sets Vlad off. He tears into Jack for using such passive language about an event he directly caused and asks if he will ever take responsibility for how much he hurt Vlad for years and how ridiculous it is that Jack thought he could just run away from what he’d done. Vlad is ready to say more but then he spots Mitzi lurking in the background and cuts himself off, not wanting to throw off their ruse. He drops the matter and tells Jack to forget it, then asks that they go home since he’s covered in muck.

It’s a very awkward and silent ride back in the GAV since neither of them want to talk much.

Jack gets time for self-reflection, and he realizes that Vlad is just miserable around him and that his inability to take responsibility for the problems he causes and apologizing is putting a wall between them.

Vlad confronts Mitzi about the weird stuff going on with his emotions. Mitzi pretends that she can’t control it but tells him that a little emotional honesty can go a long way in improving a relationship. It’s a hint that Mitzi is in fact aware that the relationship between Vlad and Jack isn’t great but it flies over Vlad’s head because he’s too focused on other things.

Mitzi’s pet returns and tells her about the developments with Jack, so she decides it’s the perfect time to have the sharing a bed trial happen.

Jack apologizes during the bed trial and promises he’ll do better by Vlad in the future.

Museum time. Jack and Vlad just go there and enjoy it. Vlad is more willing to accommodate Jack, and Jack has slowed himself down to match Vlad’s pace more. The resentment Vlad has felt for years is background noise now.

Mitzi proposes the trial of letting Jack watch over the artifact for 48 hours, after which she will give Vlad’s heart back to him. Vlad has a lot of indecision as he weighs the danger of letting Jack watch the artifact vs letting Mitzi keep it. Since Jack is set on being more careful Vlad decides to give him the chance to prove himself despite his anxieties over it.

Things actually go alright for a little while. Jack is actually very anxious over the heart and keeping it safe, constantly worrying over accidentally harming it as long as it’s on his person. With that being the case, Jack decides to hide it somewhere instead, not realizing that Reginald’s spies have already moved in and one was able to see him hide it.

(The Fentons don’t meddle with the artifact despite having full access to it because if they mess it up that would likely kill Vlad. Jack even immediately sides with Vlad on the matter when Maddie brings it up.)

Vlad was really taking a chance by putting his life in Jack’s hands. No, more like he decided to give Jack a chance by allowing him to do this. It’s an enormous show of faith—not the smartest move, but still. Vlad is showing that he’s willing to believe that Jack can change. Which makes it all the more devastating when Reginald is able to steal the artifact.

This time the two are just hanging out when Reginald barges in and orders Vlad to marry him. When Vlad tells him to get lost Reginald repeats the order with an “or else” attached and shows that he has the artifact.

Vlad is stunned for a moment(Jack is too), and then he gives Jack a look of utter betrayal and says “I can’t believe I trusted you”. With no other option Vlad walks over to Reginald and is taken away to the ghost’s lair.

Jack is devastated over having failed Vlad but his moping doesn’t last long. He’s ready to go charging after Vlad and has to be stopped by the rest of his family since he could get himself and Vlad killed that way.

Mitzi shows up and they accuse her of being in cahoots with Reginald, which she denies; in reality he was never supposed to get directly involved and was only used as a threat to get Vlad to play along, since her real goal was to get Vlad reconnected enough with Jack that he wouldn’t have the time or desire to be such a menace to the Ghost Zone anymore. In fact she dreads what Reginald might be able to accomplish by marrying Vlad and offers to help with the rescue plan.

Meanwhile Reginald is rushing through wedding prep as he intends to marry and dispose of Vlad as quickly as possible so he can take all of Vlad’s assets for himself. Vlad is desperately trying to figure a way out of this but Reginald is able to keep him contained long enough to start the wedding ceremony.

Vlad is despairing as he stands on the dias and is forced to start giving his vows, only for chaos to erupt as the Fentons leap out of their hiding places and crash the wedding. During the mayhem Jack is able to get his hands on the artifact but Reginald refuses to let go. After some back and forth Reginald asks if Jack knows who he’s trying to save and messes with a dial on top of the artifact.

This forces Vlad into ghost form with a sudden painful surge of power and Jack stares at him, dumbfounded. At last he asks Vlad why he attacked him before and Vlad replies that he did it because he was angry and stupid and selfish and he thought that getting back at Jack would make him feel better, but it never did. He’s about to make his own apology when Maddie interrupts by shooting at him. Vlad yelps and starts running while Reginald panics and orders his minions to protect Vlad cause he can’t let him die before he gets all his stuff in the marriage.

Maddie drives Vlad into a frantic chase around the room, picking off every single one of Reginald’s allies as she does so and leaving Vlad surprisingly unscathed. At last Vlad has nowhere left to flee to and Maddie asks if he has any last words, to which Vlad says “I wish I’d just talked to Jack to begin with” and braces himself for the end. Reginald jumps in to stop her and Maddie shoots him down.

Now that all hostile ghosts have been defeated Maddie straightens and thanks Vlad for being exactly the kind of distraction she needed to decimate the enemy forces.

(Also Jack was chasing Maddie around the room begging her not to kill Vlad throughout her pursuit, meanwhile the kids were basically eating popcorn while they watched cause they knew that if Maddie wanted to shoot Vlad, she wouldn’t be missing.)

Vlad sits up and returns to human form just in time to get tackle-hugged by Jack and both of them are pretty freaked out about Maddie’s attack. Jack is almost crying and saying he’s so glad Maddie didn’t kill Vlad and Vlad is touched and amazed that Jack still cares about him that much even after finding out his secret. Vlad looks up at Maddie and asks if she was planning to attack him all along and Maddie replies that it was spur of the moment since their original planned distraction got derailed(Jack was gonna challenge Reginald to a duel as cover for Mitzi) but the anger was 100% real and the are going to have a talk later.

Reginald snatches the artifact up and declares that if he can’t have Vlad no one can and he crushes the artifact. To the surprise of half of those still conscious this does nothing to Vlad. It turns out that Mitzi used Maddie’s distraction to get close enough to the artifact to return Vlad’s heart.

Don’t forget that Vlad accidentally said Jack’s name at the end of his vows, which means his end of the marriage contract is primed for Jack to wander into the other end and seal it for both of them. Jack will probably get confused when the officiator asks him if he accepts Vlad’s promise/vows and say yes.

They’re both shocked when the officiator declares them married and congratulates them before wandering off to get on with his day. They immediately wonder if divorce is an option but doing so would require tons of hoops to jump through since there are humans involved. Maddie thinks the whole situation is hilarious and doesn’t see a ghost-marriage as something that threatens her own marriage anyway, so they decide to leave things as they are for now.

[platinumaspiration]

well, @brandinotbroke just gave my ego the hugest boost with this tag game! I really shouldn't play this while in a bad mood tho :p

What’s your favourite sims death? I would have to say...probably flies. Never had it happen in my game (naturally), tho

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? 4t2 maxis match conversions, because it's gross and ugly :p No, but for real, I like all cc. People put a lot of time and love into what they create/convert/retexture/recolor. I think that should be recognized.

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? No...who does that?

4. Do you use move objects? Yes, kind of have to sometimes!

5. Favorite mod? I had to go into my main save for this one haha. I'd say...all the anti-corruption mods. And to piggy back off of brandinotbroke, ACR! The rest I could probably live without if I could ever sort my folder. Oh, also, one mod I'd really like to give a try is Story Progression by LazyDuchess.

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? First purchased was Christmas 2005. My parents gifted me Sims 2 and then my birthday a month later I got University, I believe. I should show you all the video of me opening it and running off to play haha. First played was, I wanna say Urbz! and Bustin' Out. We would rent those from the video store.

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? Alive. I recently found out my IRL BFF pronounces it as Living. I've known her almost 20 years and feel like I don't know her anymore 😅

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? Rhiannon, one of my model sims, but all 4 of my models are my favorite. I really should put Rhiannon as a townie in my uberhood. She deserves a life outside of posing.

9. Have you made a simself? Yes, like 18 years ago lol. Ended up corrupting the hood trying to move me with my 10 same face kids to a new neighborhood. I've really enjoyed the premade sims ever since.

10. What sim traits do you give yourself? of sims 3 traits: absent-minded, light sleeper, brooding, over-emotional, nurturing, workaholic, frugal

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color? TS4's #13 - Honey Blond

12. Favorite EA hair? probably aflongsimple or affuzzylongep

13. Favorite life stage? oh gosh... probably adult in any game lol

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? gameplay, I'll let @plumbtales and @kestrelteens do the building and inspo!

15. Are you a CC creator? I don't think I've created anything myself. I've converted a ton of stuff tho! I'd love to create something, but textures are so difficult for my brain to understand. I commend those who retexture!

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? Yeah! Baby Gang! lol, not like we do anything other than play online pvp games and share cc wips

17. What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4) 2 is my ultimate, though I'd love to dive back into Sims 3

18. Do you have any sims merch? Maybe someday @microscotch and I can make something palpable

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims? Not gameplay (yet).

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? Well, I had dial up internet until about 2010 so... figure that one out haha. But yeah, I was a semi-realistic kind of girl up until about... 2020? 2021? when i made the switch to 4t2. Still working on becoming completely 4t2.

21. What’s your Origin ID? n/a lmao

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator? Oh gosh, there's too many. All my mutuals, I love ya and your cc! Even some people who are not mutuals with me are my absolute favorite. I could never choose haha.

23. How long have you had a simblr? I think I just had my 2 year anniversary.

24. How do you edit your pictures? I recently commissioned the Queen of Renders ™ @microscotch to take preview pics for me while i was out of town lol. She also made me a photoshop template as well. (Go get a commission, she's having a sale right now 😉) For gameplay, I let reshade do the work for me and crop/size it to 700x934

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? Brandinotbroke gave the best answer haha. I honestly don't know what kit EA can come up with next

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? For Sims 2, probably Nightlife. The first 3 EPs, honestly. Sims 3 has to be Ambitions and Generations. Idk about Sims 4 as most I've played is about 2 hours in Strangerville as the Beakers.

Gonna tag baby gang, feel free to ignore! @microscotch @tvickiesims @lordcrumps @simsisit

thank you again to brandinotbroke for making my day, my week, my month and maybe even my year.

[bellshazes]

my first two jobs ever, in order, were "board game teacher" and "university library assistant," so tho I've never formally studied games (I have been dropping out of college on and off since 2015, and was a freshman in 2012 lmao) I've been casually exposed to games and the people who make and play them in a professional context, as well as having the research skills to help close the gaps. i actually kind of hate playing board games but i loved GM-ing the coop arkham horror and watching my players, which i did for seven years straight.

my current fixation is the result of several years' fucking around on YT watching all kinds of game content, from LPs to specific game dissection to video essayists. jacob geller and folding ideas are kind of gold standards, but this week I've been really enjoying errant signals in particular. Sometimes I'm introduced to concepts this way - ludonarrative dissonance, ergodic literature, the magic circle, etc. that, and getting recommendations from friends or accidentally stumbling into game studies via other research (such as the paper i wrote a few years ago on theater-as-games in prison contexts). most of it though is having thoughts and opinions on things and letting it percolate until i am dangerous enough to find someone who's already explained a concept better than I could, and then running with that. find something that cites its sources, and then chase the ones that seem interesting.

my syllabus post is very much not a reclist, though i do in varying ways recommend everything on that list and it might be of use. here's some stuff I think would be great starting points:

Rules of Play - Game Design Fundamentals, Salen and Zimmerman. This book is an excellent resource, as it introduces a wide variety of scholars who you can dive into as it is relevant to your interests as well as providing tons of useful frameworks and vocabulary to go hunting. It's an easy read with concise bullet-point summaries after each chapter, and the PDF is hyperlinked for easy navigation. I might have found this via Wikipedia, honestly.

A Play of Bodies: A Phenomenology of Video Game Experience, Keogh. What I'm currently liveblogging - it is firmly a literary/philosophical work, rather than by/for designers, and correspondingly it's a little more difficult without at least passing familiarity with cyborg theory or any brand or offshoot of post-modernism, but still fairly digestible and a great read so far.

My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft, Nardi. Found this during my theater-and-games paper, and MMO anthropology is not really my thing, but it's a nice complement to the other books as an explicitly player-theorist perspective. Also provides a more approachable introduction to a variety of theorists and sources. (Open access on JSTOR!)

Draw Your Weapons, Sarah Sentilles. I'm biased because I discovered this book by accidentally attending an author event at my local museum, and the games portion is incidental, but if you can find it I think this analysis of the relationship between depictions of violence and violence itself is worth your time. Memorable re: games for its discussion of Press F To Pay Respects.

here are some videos which I offer as examples of channels you might enjoy diving into, looking for additional jumping-off points:

Playing as Anyone in Watch Dogs Legion, Errant Signal. I really appreciate Errant Signal's thoughtful, personal approach to analysis and especially his highlighting of buried gems in his Blips series as well as his non-self-deprecating reevaluation of some of his older analyses over his decade plus career making videos.

Controllers Control Everything, Game Makers Toolkit. Discovered via the Boss Keys series highlighting the souls games, and although I think his channel is (increasingly) geared toward devs, these are well-constructed, thoughtful videos about many aspects of game design. Even when I don't personally get what makes him enjoy Zelda dungeons in that specific way (I'm an outlier), I appreciate his analysis.

Mega Microvideos 2, Matthewmatosis. Perhaps better known for his extremely long-form essays, I love Matthewmatosis' series of microessays framed like Wario Ware minigames. They are brief but don't pull punches, and the format is uniquely delightful. (See also this microessay mixtape.)

Making Sense of Catherine Full Body, SuperButterBuns. She doesn't do much essay content, I guess, but I she loves Catherine and the Persona series, and this dissection of Catherine Full Body is an absolute treat.

Jon Bois. Okay, mostly not about games, but like - come on. 17776 and Breaking Madden, alongside everything else he's ever done, fit because I feel like they do. If nothing else, I think Pretty Good and his general use of Google Earth as a medium for storytelling have a lot of utility in talking about digital media. He's good for the soul.

The Future of Writing About Games, Jacob Geller. One of the gold standards for a reason - and especially if you're looking for further solid recommendations for other writing/creating about games. This video in particular discusses & links to some really great pieces, but his Big List of Other People's Video Essays is also a great way to spend the next month of your life. (You might notice some crossover between this list and his, only some of which is coincidental.)

if i have any conclusion, it's that my current fixation on digital literalism is me finally finding an outlet/academic match-up with a fascination i developed in 2015 when studying gonzo lit. i think the utility of academia and the long history of scholarship on a given topic, as a non-academic, is to help you express ideas or reinterpret beliefs or experiences you've had to others without having to reinvent the wheel. i always become most energized when i stop worrying about knowing all the bg and chase whatever is useful and affirming or enlightening to me. and you can get pretty far if you think about why you like what you do, and just - enthusiastically also consume non-academic stuff. maybe this is a note more for myself! but thank you for the opportunity to monologue.

[antigonewinchester]

hiya, since you said you were watching You... what do you think of it? i'm a big fan of the books, but haven't seen the show. not sure i trust them to adapt it with any kind of nuance, but i was intrigued to see that sera is involved. how is it?

Thanks for asking anon! :)

You're the opposite of me, in that I've only seen the show (just finished season 1; I'm a slow watcher) and never read the books. I found S1 to be pretty good overall, with a few minor quibbles.

I'm fond of stories picking apart The Ideals of Romance, so Gamble describing S1 as needing to be both a love and a horror story in every scene rang true. It's a cliche but a ton of romantic tropes are, if taken more realistically, pretty creepy, and I'm right there with the show in terms of noble fairy-tale princes hiding secret horrors underneath. The use of voice-over for what Joe says versus what he was actually thinks worked very well, could've been cheesy but it's not. Joe's voice is very strong thru the whole season. The show walks a tough line with Joe as the main character, because he's such an unreliable narrator, but imo they did a great job. In the last ep, Beck screams at Joe and calls him a sociopath but, at least in S1, he really didn't read that way to me; it's much more than Joe's understanding of love and what love means is very very messed up. He's an incredibly self-deluding character with very warped perceptions, so while I never bought into his charm, he and that dissonance remained compelling to me throughout the show, who Joe thinks he is vs. what he actually does (and then how much he judges other people too, like he's so much better). It's also his humor, and the show's humor, that's the final ingredient, I think. The show can be quite funny! Then quite horrifying, and sometimes funnily horrifying. The writing uses bathos particularly well, which is a form of humor I don't always like (thanks Marvel movies...) but the undercutting of Joe's obsessions or idealizations or the romantic moments really works. Overall, its balancing of tones from lighthearted to horrifying to funny is quite deft, and I enjoyed its range.

For what worked less well, I found some of the social media stuff a bit dated (altho Facebook stalking and all that was more relevant at the time). While I think the writing of the various female characters was better than what I've seen of Gamble's past shows (particularly SPN), her bias towards male characters was definitely still at play. Say, it took me a bit to figure out what the writing was doing with Peach, but eventually Peach as Joe's female foil -- the woman who's secretly in love and obsessed with Beck, who will manipulate and gaslight her, and who's implied to also have grown up in an emotionally abusive and homophobic household -- worked... except it felt like it came pretty late in the season, and I would've liked more hints earlier on. Maybe it’s more obvious on rewatch, tho.

The other part is a bit tricky, because I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it. As far as I can tell, both of these elements are unique to the TV show: first, Mr. Mooney being physically abusive in raising Joe; and second, Claudia and her son Paco as Joe's neighbors and her boyfriend, Ron, being emotionally and physically abusive. Thru flashbacks over the season, we see Mooney abuse Joe, including locking him in the book cage as a kid and manipulating him into thinking he was doing it for Joe’s own good, out of love, and Joe then reenacting that hurt on later people, most obviously Beck: in the last ep, there's literally a match cut from Joe as a kid in the book cage to Beck as an adult. We also see Ron's abuse of Claudia and Paco thru the season, with Joe's care for Paco clearly connected to his own hurt and trauma, and ultimately leading up to Joe killing Ron to protect Paco. If, as I understand, none of this is in the books, I could see someone not liking these additions, or seeing them as a way to humanize Joe and make him more sympathetic in light his stalking, kidnapping, murder, etc.

In terms of Gamble as a creator, it was striking to see her return to such distinct ideas around men, masculinity, and violence -- she's talked about how she likes writing male characters because she can get into their heads and figure out what makes them tick, but it seems to me she's particularly interested in men who've been abused/traumatized (esp by fathers/father figures) and how they react to, and reenact, that violence. Do Gamble & her writers use nuance and thoughtfulness in dealing with abuse & its consequences? That's a tougher question to answer, and depends on the person watching, tbh. I've read some pretty harsh critiques of Gamble’s writing around this topic, and understand where it's coming from, but what makes me a little more generous with Gamble is how it feels she wants to understand, and that she's working through something in continually returning to these ideas in her work.