#hopefully someday i can work out my issues ;;

[mer-se]

Gotta love when ppl make snarky comments about u still wearing a mask at work (around a bunch of elderly people, and audibly very sick snotty ass people queued up at a pharmacy all day everyday) like my body literally and at times scarily doesn’t work right since I had covid and I eat well - not overweight or old. (only worth saying because those are the excuses they use otherwise ur fine) It’s not ‘a cold’ for a lot of ppl, and if it was congrats a lot of ppl don’t walk away the same and just because you’re a self righteous fucktard doesn’t take away the fact that it’s pretty serious for many. Yes - even still. Fuck off.

[selfshipping-haven]

Waaauuuugh i hate not being to share what's wrong with meeeeeee

[madelynraemunson]

𝐭𝐡𝐞 (𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲) 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞 ✨ — a steve harrington one shot fic

modern!sperm donor!steve x modern!pregnant!fem!reader

Summary: It’s hard to find ‘forever’ in a world that glorifies hook-up culture. After multiple failed relationships, you start to believe that your dream of having a family someday will only be just that — a DREAM. That is until you stumble across The Baby Gate Foundation, a family planning organization that helps qualifying Strangers start families with one another.

disclaimers — fluff overload, strangers to friends to lovers, some angst, reader goes by “Honey”,

NSFW — very brief smut, p in v sex (unprotected), breeding kink, cream pie, soft!dom steve

word count — 6.0k words

“So… what’s your favorite color?”

It’s the most aggravating question to ask when wading in the Dating Pool — and unfortunately the most frequent. But you figure at least asking about Steve Harrington’s favorite color is a good ‘precursor question’ when trying to get to know him. After all, you are the one carrying his child.

“Cerulean,” the handsome stranger from across the table replies.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a type of blue.”

“You could’ve just said blue.”

“What’s the fun in that?”

You issue him a touché type nod as you gently place your folded hands over your growing bump…a bump that was a byproduct of an ordeal that he wasn’t even present to participate in.

Before you knew him as Steve Harrington, he was just Stranger #021 whose sperm donation gave you the gift of life. The gift of having a little one of your own.

And it was about time you started a family. It has been a dream of yours — once you bagged your dream job and got to travel the world — to get married and have kids. But apparently the person you spent 6 years with did not share that dream, despite having told you he did in the beginning stages of your partnership.

Are you crazy? How dare you think your ex wanted a family after he explicitly told you he wanted you to marry him and have his kids? Silly lady. You actually thought he meant what he said.

And Steve Harrington’s baby daddy application seemed impossible to resist. The Baby Gate Foundation disclosed to you that Stranger #021 has no physical ailments, was a star athlete in high school, isn’t a carrier for any chronic illnesses, and passed a mental health and drug clearance.

Your baby is very likely to come out healthy and, now that you’ve gotten a good general idea of the guy, will hopefully inherit Steve’s luscious chestnut brown hair, his radiant smile, sparkling eyes, and kind nature. A healthy baby. A healthy family. It’s all you’ve ever wanted.

“Your stomach feeling okay?” Steve inquires.

“Yeah,” you smile. “I just like touching it sometimes. It still doesn’t feel real.”

When selected, Steve jumped for joy. And you bet he started doing cartwheels when your pregnancy test came out positive. My dick still works! he remembers saying.

Having been a foster parent to many teenagers in the past, Steve also felt ready to have a kid of his own. But then his first long term girlfriend of three years cheated on him, and then his next long term girlfriend left him when she realized a family with him was not what she wanted. Steve was practically on the same boat as you. And the stars aligned…

“So I was thinking…when you’re in what’s considered a ‘safe’ point in your pregnancy, say second trimester… we can do cute pregnancy announcements,” Steve suggests.

Your eyes glimmer at the thought.

“As coparents of course!” Steve makes sure to add. “A-and then we can have a gender reveal. We can choose the theme and ideas for it later but I’m just thinking of an intimate cake cutting thing….pink frosting, obviously for girl…”

“And cerulean for boy,” you smirk at him, finishing his thought.

He chuckles at your comment. “Yes, cerulean for boy.”

You two then begin to brainstorm the minor details. Signing up for parenting classes. Check-up appointments. Your baby registry. Ironing out the details so that you both can relish in the pregnancy as much as possible.

When you’re done, Steve then pays for your lunch and you two go separate ways. But not before a long, grateful hug.

“Thank you,” you whisper into his ear. “You’ve made my dream come true.”

“I am just as indebted,” Steve insists, giving your back a loving rub. “I’ve always wanted to be a father.”

You decide to not let go until Steve breaks the hug. But little did you know that was Steve’s plan too. So you both stand there, in the middle of the mall food court swaying back and forth, waiting patiently for the other to let go because to be honest, you never know what a simple ‘I see you’ hug can do for somebody.

Finally, Steve pulls away.

“Listen, uh, Honey,” he says. “I hope this doesn’t sound weird because technically we don’t really know each other…but I already care about you so deeply. You’re the mother of my child. I want to be as involved as possible.”

“I care about you too Steve,” you beam at him. “And I feel like our healing journeys are coming to an end. I’m so excited to come together with another person who has the same goals in life.”

And that is all that’s said during that exchange. You hope that throughout your pregnancy, you and Steve can have more coparent dates to really get to know each other. You love that he feels safe and trustworthy, willing to put his all into the child that he, and many many medical experts helped you create. And you hope that as your baby grows up, you will find a lifelong partner like Steve someday.

“So how’d it go?”

You’re over at your best friend, Eddie’s apartment talking to him about your day. Eddie has been your best friend since middle school, bearing witness to every wonderful milestone — and tragedy — that has plagued your life ever since. Your decision to become a mother on your own, and coparenting with a stranger is no exception.

“I like him!” you exclaim. “He’s very sweet.”

“Do you trust him as your Baby Daddy?”

“If I didn’t, it’d be a little too late for that I’m afraid.”

Eddie would’ve been more than happy to be your donor, and without a doubt, you’d trust him in being fully present in the child’s life. However Eddie comes from a home with a turbulent family dynamic, and unfortunately is a carrier of the addiction gene along with many other illnesses. Eddie didn’t want to risk doing that to you or your family. So it works out that he and his boyfriend Henry are the ‘Fun Uncles’ or as he calls them “Funcles” instead, and Steve is the dad.

“But yeah I like Steve,” you circle back. “He’s funny, sweet, looks like he takes care of himself. Even paid for my food. Oh, and as a bonus, he uses big words.”

Eddie snorts as he strides over to the fridge. “He uses big words.”

“Yeah, like cerulean.”

Your bestie cocks an eyebrow and smirks at you. “What’s that?”

“It’s a type of blue,” you smirk back at him.

He releases a theatrical gasp. “Ground-breaking.”

Your banter is cut short when Eddie’s partner Henry walks through the door.

“Hello, hello.”

“Hey, Henry!”

You watch as the quiet, tall blonde dressed in dark-denim-tailored-to-fit struts in with a grocery bag, closing the door behind him with his foot.

“Hi, darlings.”

“Funcle Number Two,” Eddie greets his partner.

“I thought I was Number One.”

“You are,” Eddie shrugs. “In my heart. If you have an issue with your title and rank, I’d talk it up with Honey.”

“You can be Number One,” you grant him permission, eliciting a betrayed gasp from Eddie.

“Thank you, Honey,” Henry smirks, shooting a sassy look at Eddie.

Eddie issues a sour variation of that smirk to Henry, only to be met with a rough nudge to the ribcage. The two black cats then assemble to unload the groceries, all while focusing their attention back to you, their appointed ‘golden retriever’ of the bunch.

“Speaking of titles,” Henry adds. “How was your meeting with Daddy Steve?”

“It was wonderful,” you respond. “Was just telling Eddie how much I like him.”

Henry grimaces, understandably so. Your taste and judgment in men throughout the years have been nothing short of concerning. But because you didn’t willingly seek Steve out on a shady online dating app, at a dive bar at 2 AM, or on the dance floor of a sweaty small town nightclub, you figured you were in the clear.

“We’re gonna make it work no matter what,” you insist to your seemingly doubtful friends. “Even if there are discrepancies, we agreed it’s our kid before anything. And I’m ready. I told you guys myself that if I don't meet the love of my life by the time I'm 29, I'm having a baby by myself."

Aside from the two "Funcles", you have been the only consistent person in your life. And in this day and age, two people don't need to 'be together' to bring life into this world. And even if they are together, it’s not a happy home sometimes.

All that matters in this arrangement is that both of Baby Harrington’s parents are involved. That was Steve's promise to you.

Let's just hope he keeps it.

“That’s the head… and those…are your baby’s feet.”

You and Steve watch the monitor in awe as the sonographer scans your belly. You are now 20 weeks along, and doing a routine ultrasound check up.

First trimester was a nightmare. Constant nausea and vomiting so you’re not even sure that you’re stomaching those pre-natals, intense mood swings, and breast tenderness so bad you essentially begged Steve to just chop your tits off.

Regardless, you are healthy, and the baby is healthy. And now your camera roll is filled with pictures and videos of every frame of every ultrasound you get done, as well as audio recordings of Baby Harrington’s heartbeat. You and Steve even share your content amongst each other, just in case the other missed something that the other captured. It’s a wholesome exchange, really.

“Baby’s kicking a lot. Almost looks like they’re swimming in place,” the tech comments.

“I did swim and water polo in high school, could be why,” Steve explains.

You bat your eyes in adoration at your friend. He gives you a warm look back.

“Just like Daddy,” you say. And then Steve rests his palm atop your hand.

For the first time in a long time, everything feels complete.

“So, would you like to know the gender?” the sonographer inquires.

Immediately you and Steve bombard her with anxious-filled “No no no no”s. You decided to go with the cake gender reveal idea, and Henry and Eddie were in charge of having it made.

“We’d like for it to be a surprise,” Steve smiles. “But we sure would like an envelope with the gender in it. Honey’s gonna give it to her friends to give the baker.”

“Sounds like a plan to me!” the tech grins widely. “I will have it printed out for you shortly.”

She wipes your belly down so that there is no more ultrasound jelly on your stomach before leaving. Meanwhile, you and Steve are absolutely giddy. You are now halfway through your pregnancy and couldn’t wait to hold Baby Harrington in your arms.

But as exciting as everything is, it is also anxiety-inducing. No parenting book could ever prepare you for bringing a kid into the world. There was so much more that needed to be done. So much to do. And it seems like there was so very little time to do it.

Steve has another question for you. “When does the baby usually wake you up?”

“Baby’s a night owl, strangely,” you reply. “I’ll feel some moving and stuff at night.”

Steve sighs and shakes his head in thought.

“Man, I hope kid doesn’t wake you up at night too much when they’re born. That’d be god awful.”

“I know, I’ve been thinking of that too,” you groan. “And all the diaper changes I’ll probably have to do before putting them back to sleep. Ugh, I don’t even wanna think about diapers.”

You didn’t want to think about post-partum shit. So far, you’ve only been focused on pregnancy shit, and that shit is already overwhelming. While you seem well-equipped for pregnancy itself, the thought of actually being a fully-functioning parenting unit alongside Steve brings on a new set of fear.

Suddenly you and Steve look up at each other.

“Oh shit!” you shriek. “A crib! We need a crib! A stroller.”

“And a whole nursery,” he gulps. “And a baby monitor… A swaddle! A carrier!”

———

You and Steve are moved in together by the end of the month. Platonically, of course. With a capital P.

You both figured that raising the baby under one roof would be the healthiest way to approach your parenting situation. Both of you already get along really well and have similar communication styles. You two also have the same expectations from each other. And not every child is blessed with two parents living together in a happy home. It’s a luxury you both refused to take for granted.

So eventually the non-traditional-housewarming-slash-baby-shower-party rolls around, in efforts to help prepare for Baby Harrington’s arrival. It ends up being a huge success. Additionally, the party gave everyone a chance to mingle with one another, your friends meeting Steve’s friends and jokingly calling each other "in-laws". Robin and Eddie immediately grow very fond of each other, having deemed each other best friends after their third time meeting.

“How long do you give it?” Robin asks Eddie as they watch you and Steve work together to build the crib. “You know till they…”

They observe as you and Steve bicker back and forth about whether or not a section of the crib was installed the wrong way. You argue that it was, and Steve, still firm in his masculinity that he felt like was slowly chipping away (he can’t help it sometimes) insisted that it wasn’t.

“I know how to read, Honey. And besides, if it’s the wrong part, how did I screw it on perfectly?”

“I don’t know, Bob the Builder,” you fire back at him. “You didn’t have to 'screw it on perfectly' to get me pregnant.”

“Til that baby is born,” Eddie estimates.

Eddie chuckles at this. He’s been with Henry for many years, but you two have beat him at the argue-like-a-married couple thing. Slyly, he sips his beer.

“…The very latest.”

“Steve, I’m hungry. Wanna go to Rally’s?”

The cravings have officially kicked in (finally). But of course, it’s at the least convenient of times.

“Woman, it is 1 in the morning...”

“Yes, and I want Rally’s.”

You give Steve a light thunk on his fluffy head.

Now that you two live together, sleeping in the same bed was bound to happen eventually. But it is the least of your concerns. In a world where people go ‘ghost’ after getting what they want, laying your head down in the same bed as Steve is the farthest thing from intimacy. You’re also afraid of the dark, and being in his light calms your nerves.

Except for tonight. Where the only thing that’ll calm those nerves is a Wild West burger and some fries.

Steve huffs, clearly too tired to argue with your hungry ass. But also, you’re the mother of his child. You have the hardest job, and having a late night snack when you felt like it is the bare minimum of what you deserve.

“Let’s go.”

You smirk to yourself as you dance your way out of bed. Anything Baby Mama wants, Baby Mama gets.

Rally’s sure did the trick. When you and Steve return, you find yourself skipping back to the bedroom while Harrington fights to urge to plop onto the floor right by the entry way, his body’s natural response to a food coma, and the state of lethargy he was in from being stirred awake.

But as much as he valued his beauty sleep, he knows deep down he’d still do it again for you. Your little food dance was also pretty damn cute, anyways.

———

THE NEXT WEEK

You and Steve have been ordering way too much takeout. So tonight you decide to surprise him with a home-cooked meal. So while he’s at work, you’re searching Pinterest for healthy, savory dishes to cook. Chinese food it is. One can never go wrong with some chicken fried rice.

Steve comes home right when you finish.

“Oh my god,” Steve gawks as he enters the kitchen. “What smells so damn good?”

“I made dinner,” you smile gleefully, and with pride. “I have so much energy second trimester it’s insane. Hope you like Chinese.”

Steve slows down. Glancing around the chaotic kitchen, he takes in the array of sauces, the cutting board, and the multiple plates and bowls that most likely harbored the. Then he looks at you — a sweaty mess with stains on her apron from all the rice tossing. And he can tell, by your slightly labored breathing, that you’re gathering up all the energy you possibly can to powerwash all the dishes.

“You…made this for me?”

“Yeah! For us, actually. And the baby. I hope you’re okay with onions and scallions.”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine with those,” he insists. “It’s just that…I have a date tonight.”

Suddenly the pots and pans feel so much heavier. The air, hotter. The onions, stronger judging by how tears start pooling at the base of your eyes. At least you want to blame it on those.

“Oh,” you sniff.

“I’m so sorry, Honey. I should’ve told you so you didn’t have to go out of your way.”

“It’s fine.”

Why do you feel this way? It’s not like you two are together anyway. This pregnancy is a partnership… platonic with a capital P. So why are you upset? And more importantly, why are you jealous?

“I-I’m sorry…” Steve panics. “I-it’s just that we’ve been getting takeout all week and I thought it’d be the same toni-”

“It’s okay, Steve.”

“That came out so bad, I…”

“I know what you mean,” you shake your head shutting him down immediately. “Have fun tonight, okay?”

“You’re crying…”

“I was chopping onions,” you point out.

You nod to the bag of onions that were yet to be put away. There was a lot left to be put away actually, and you were kind of hoping Steve would help. But clearly he’s a busy man.

“And it’s probably just the stupid pregnancy hormones too,” you add.

“They’re NOT stupid,” Steve insists. “And you just said you have so much energy. You were bursting with light just a moment ago…before I killed it.”

“Have fun tonight, Steve,” you repeat.

You head over to the wok and scoop out a serving for two: one serving for you, and one for the baby. Dad will get the leftovers, you suppose.

Steve watches you intently. You can feel his stare even with your back turned. Suddenly, you hear the faint dial tone of his cell phone ringing a couple of times before someone answers.

“Hey…Lacey, I can’t come tonight,” Steve sighs. “I’m really sorry for being so last minute. A family emergency came up.”

You look back over at him. He makes sure to look you in the eyes as he says ‘family’.

The two of them talk some more before Steve hangs up the phone. Awkwardly now, you chew softly at the rice you made.

“Well she definitely hates me,” Steve chuckles. “But I don’t care.”

“Steve…” you speak. “You didn’t have to.”

“You’re carrying my kid,” Steve looks at you with glimmering eyes. “I can’t be running through the town in the arms of another woman. This pregnancy is a team effort.”

He glides over you and stops right where your hips meet. You timidly manage to look up at him, tear-jerked, all sweaty, and very very pregnant. And after Steve tucks a loose strand of hair behind the blushing cartilage of your ear, he presses his tender lips against your forehead.

“For the baby,” he whispers to you.

“For the baby,” you repeat after him.

The day is here.

The gender reveal, that is. You didn’t expect finding out something as simple as having a boy or girl was going to be this nerve wracking. And to think some people do this in front of a huge audience.

“Okay…” you exhale unevenly. “You ready?”

“Only if you are,” Steve nods, but his trembling hands betray him.

“Hand me a glass.”

Steve hands you one of the two wine glasses you brought for the intimate picnic you had planned for today. On the count of three, you two were to dig those very glasses into the cake and scoop out the long awaited answer.

SWEET CHILD O MINE, the cake reads. Boy or girl?

Henry and Eddie settled for a Rock-N-Roll inspired cake, with self-indulgent black and red buttercream on the outside, and the pre-determined blue or pink on the inside. You were afraid that it was going to be a little too edgy for Steve, but he assures you the aesthetic of a cake is the least of his priorities.

Drawing out an uneven breath now, you decide to start counting down.

“One…” you gulp.

“Two…” Steve joins in.

But you can't bring yourself to say ‘three’. Shutting your eyes closed in a bout of nervousness, you mutter softly,

"Two and a half..."

It earns you a chuckle from Steve. Knowing just how to calm you down, like he had been doing all pregnancy, he offers you his available hand to squeeze if you needed.

“Three!” you two finally say together.

Plunging your wine glasses into the cake, you and Steve gather one big scoop each while your eyes drift elsewhere.

“I can’t look,” you choke, sniffing back a tear or two.

“I can’t either,” Steve exhales, evidently nervous. “You can look first though.”

“No, I’ll look when you do.”

You’re met with messy dough and frosting in the glass at first. But after trailing after the inside part of the cake, you catch sight of the fluffy frosting that was buried beneath. A bright, eye-catching, pastel....

...cerulean blue. A baby boy.

“Oh…my…god,” your hand trembles in complete shock. “It’s a boy…”

“Oh my god, baby!” Steve sniffs going in to hug you. “We’re having a boy…”

And then it happens. Unable to contain himself from his joy any longer, Steve cups your face with his frosting-laced fingers, connecting his lips passionately to yours, and you with him.

It’s the best day of Steve’s life. You are the reason that he gets to live out his dream of becoming a dad. And now that you two are having a son, all he can imagine is teaching the kid how to throw a football in the backyard, signing him up for T-Ball and Boy Scouts (just like his dad once did with him), and taking him and his buddies out on silly, fun-filled rag-tag group adventures.

And knowing how strange and daunting the world can be, Steve already maps out how to raise your child morally, encouraging him to always treat others with kindness, to be a friend to all, to always lend a helping hand whenever the situation calls on it. And to respect women…because after all, everybody came from one. And Steve knows that he struck gold, considering the fact that he views you as an absolute queen.

You kiss King Steve back, humming in awe because of how natural his energy feels against yours.

It all feels very natural. Makes you feel like you’ve known him your entire life.

Your eyes widen in shock as you two look at each other, both stunned that a kiss was both of your initial, seemingly ‘platonic’, response to the news.

"Is it just me or is it just now hitting?" Steve questions. "We're having a kid together."

"It's just now hitting me too," you agree, the double meaning tugging aggressively at your heartstrings. "We're really doing this, Stevie."

“Our son.”

“Our son.”

———

“What happens when one of us finds somebody?”

It’s a talk you and Steve were due for eventually. But Steve is just as unsure, looking over at your pregnant silhouette standing at the foot of the doorway.

But with how beautiful you looked standing at the doorway, your silk, maternity night gown hugging all the beautiful curves of your body while you rubbed your belly that housed your very active kicker, Steve wasn’t even sure if he’d ever want to find somebody else.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” he ends up saying.

He makes his way over to you, wrapping his gentle arms around your waistline, emitting his ever-growing love for you and the baby you two share.

“But if one thing's for sure, it's our son. Baby Harrington first. Before anything.”

“Baby before anything," you repeat the promise.

Steve’s lips graze your skin once again, an invitation and incentive to join him in bed — nuzzled up in the sheets and his warmth — so the two of you can soak in all the rest you possibly can before Baby Boy makes his entrance into the world.

Some bridges aren’t meant for crossing. Sometimes settling is the best option. And you don’t mind settling down. Because here, in Steve’s arms, it feels like home.

WEEK 38

An involuntary rush in your lower extremity stirs you awake. When you feel around to push the sheets aside and hobble to the bathroom, you’re stunned to discover your nightgown had become a raft, and that you’re laying atop your own unscented secretions. And you know it’s not piss. So if you didn’t pee…

Oh no, it’s happening.

You begin to panic.

“Steve!” you hiss, sitting up and pushing your partner awake. “HEY! Harrington!”

“Huh?” Steve mumbles, still half asleep.

“Get the hospital bag.”

“What?”

“Get the hospital bag, dingus. My water just broke.”

He shoots up. Still relatively disoriented, but now also horrified.

“W-what? Are you sure?! Does this… A-are you about to…”

“Yes! Grab the bag and start the car. He’s coming RIGHT NOW.”

While you slowly sit up to get your shoes and a robe on, Steve scurries to the car with your overnight L&D bag and purse in his arms. You reach over to grab your phone and charger, dialing up Eddie in the process.

It rings for a long time before he picks up.

“Honey, it’s 4 AM, what do you want?” Eddie grumbles.

“It’s time, Eds,” you sniff happily. “The baby is coming.”

The line is silent for a couple seconds, and for a while it’s like you can hear Eddie connecting the dots in his head. Alas, he speaks.

“HO-LY SHIT!”

*Click*. The line disconnects.

Steve holds your hand through it all. From checking into Labor and Delivery, to moving to your room, to breathing exercises with your bedside doula, check-ins with your midwife, and throughout the entire birthing process.

Not only is he nervous out of his mind, but he thinks you’re so beautiful.

"You know," Steve says in attempts to soothe you. "When I came out the womb, the nurse yelled "Oh my gosh! That's a lot of hair on a baby!"

You're too fixated on your breathing exercises to fully appreciate Steve's story. But you understand his sweet gesture, so you stroke his thumb with your thumb to let him know you're listening.

“I guess I had double the amount of hair than a usual newborn,” he continues. “And all the nurses were crowding around to get a good— OW OW OW! Watch the hand, watch the hand.”

The sudden level 9 contraction that shot through your entire stomach, causing you to scream in agony and beg for the epidural.

"JESUS, FUCK GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME!" you plead desperately.

Steve kisses you softly on the forehead before going in to stroke your, very sweaty, hair. He was not going to leave your side. Not now, not ever. This baby — and you — are the best things to ever happen to him.

Thanks to yours and Steve's mindful prep, the birthing process was a smooth one compared to others.

But still pretty painful, nonetheless. For you, for Steve, for everybody involved.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit," Eddie sputters as he and Henry rush onto the unit with the baby's carseat and other miscellaneous belongings in their hands. "It's happening, it's happening. He's almost here!"

"I wonder," Henry pants, doing his best to keep up with his boyfriend. "If she experienced the Ring of Fire yet."

"What's the Ring of Fire?" Eddie questions him.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" your tumultuous screams sound down the hall directly from your room. Anyone would've thought someone was getting murdered in there, had it not been a hospital unit strictly for childbirth.

"That," Henry answers him.

---

"You're almost there, baby," Steve encourages you. "Keep pushing."

The epidural had finally kicked in and now all you had to focus on was pushing.

“I see the head, Mama,” your midwife announces, rubbing your knee as you’re struggling to push. “Keep going, keep going! Couple more for me.”

“FUCK!” you cry out doing your best to contract those muscles.

“There we go…” Steve soothes you as he strokes your hair. “Doing AMAZING, baby. That’s it…”

He strokes your thumb with his, a helpless look in his eyes as he watches you struggle. It’s clear that Steve doesn’t know what else he could possibly do for you, but he attempts to mask that belief. He couldn’t wait to spoil you afterwards. It’s what you deserve.

“Few more pushes, Honey,” your nurse says again. “He’s almost out. We got his shoulders now.”

“Oh god I’m gonna faint,” Steve says, evidently growing dizzy.

“Can someone get a wet towel for Dad?!” another nurse calls out. “And maybe some juice?”

“PUSH, PUSH!”

“PUSH, Honey!”

“ALMOST THERE, MAMA!”

“I can’t,” you cry out. “I can’t anymore.”

“You can do it, baby,” Steve encourages you, pelting the back of your hand with endearing kisses. “You’re doing such a good job, I’m so proud of you…”

Before you know it, the air of the hospital room fills with tiny belted cries, followed by relieved and adorn coos as the nurse catches your baby.

“0507, time of birth!"

“Oh my god,” Steve wails in excitement. “Oh my god, he’s here he’s out. We have a baby! You did it, Honey!”

Too exhausted to say anything you simply fall back, taking a few deep breaths in relief. It’s over, the baby is here. And he is healthy.

You feel a sloppy kiss land on your cheek. Steve ruffles your hair when you look his way.

“You did it, Honey.”

Everything happens so fast after that.

From what you hear, Steve was the one who cut the umbilical cord — and he was very adamant about having the pictures to prove it. The baby was then weighed and bathed, all the hospital data was gathered with permission granted by Steve.

And soon, after an eternity, your son is swaddled and soon returned back to you and ‘Dad’.

"Oh wow!" a nurse remarks. "This baby has a whole lotta hair!"

You and Steve immediately look to each other and burst out laughing. Just like his Daddy...

———

“How does that feel, Steve?” you ask him, eyes fixated on the absolute DILF in front of you.

“Amazing,” he coos. “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

When all needs were attended to, it was finally time for ‘skin to skin’. You didn’t think it’d be possible to be both sexy and wholesome at the same time — until you saw Steve cradling your newborn, pressing him tenderly against his exposed chest so that their hearts can beat as one.

“Hi little man,” he sniffs. “I’m your daddy.”

A single tear falls from his face and splashes onto the blanket that your son was cocooned in. Steve pulls him in closer and kisses him softly on the forehead.

“I’m your daddy,” he repeats.

It’s everything he’s ever wanted. Steve’s legacy is about to begin and it’s all thanks to you. And from your hospital bed as you recover, you are able to snap some pictures of the two loves of your life, the first photos of many, of the family photo albums.

“Ugh, when did Steve get so hairy?” Lucas wonders as he sneaks a gaze into the hospital room.

“Right?” Dustin agrees, joining him beside the doorway. “I told him he needs to tame that jungle but he claims the ladies dig it.”

“I mean, look at Honey,” Lucas points out. She seems to like it and Steve knocked her up.”

“True but it wasn’t organic, you idiot,” Max mutters.

Love pours in from every wing of the unit. Soon all your family and friends start to arrive, as well as Steve’s family and friends. You’re spoiled with ‘congratulations’ signs, and postpartum care packages, and an array of foods that you couldn’t eat while pregnant (i.e. sushi, deli sandwiches).

And with your approval, Steve comes out of the hospital room, ready — and proud — to showcase your baby to the entire world.

“Everyone, there’s someone we’d like for you to meet,” Steve says, keeping his voice at a low murmur. “This is Benjamin Dean Harrington. Benny for short.”

You and Steve end up taking parental leave at the same time.

Your entire day-to-day consists of loving on and spending quality time with Benny. The diaper changes, the cuddles, the nursery rhymes, and everything in between. It’s impossible to think you’ll ever get tired of it. You and Steve have officially transitioned to Mom & Dad Mode.

Until Benny goes to sleep.

As the golden sun peaks in through the cream colored blinds, you feel Steve’s hand trail down your back and down to your ass to grab it. Releasing a soft moan, you lean into his touch, shifting your weight to one side of the mattress.

“Baby…” he moans into you.

“Should we?” your eyes twinkle. “The baby’s asleep…”

He chuckles into your neck, raspy voice sure to be the end of you if he kept teasing you any longer.

“‘m scared I’ll hurt you.”

“I’ll let you know,” you barter. “I feel ready.”

———

“Fuck, right there, Steve…”

You grip the sheets tightly as Steve rolls his hips into you, his strokes a delicious mix of pleasure and a challenging stretch. And as you bite into your pillow, your eyes rolling up towards the sky, he maintains the pace you love so much, drilling you in, simultaneously massaging your clit while his quenched lips tenderly suction themselves to the crook of you neck.

It’s your first time together, but it feels like you two have done this before. Your bodies are naturally in sync, knowing where your boundaries lie without needing any cues, and knowing exactly how far you both can take it. Daddy Steve, being the gentleman he is, has your entire body mapped out.

“God I love it,” your overstimulated self whimpers, chest to your chin, ankles dangling off of Steve’s broad shoulders as he rails you.

“Oh, I bet you do, Honey.”

His large hand encloses around your neck, thumb hovering over your lips as he fawns over your mewling, vulnerable body.

“You want my cum, baby?” Steve asks. “Want me to fill you to the brim huh? You wanna have my babies?”

“Yes, I want your babies, Steve,” you moan. “Want all of them.”

And as an orgasm spills out of you, Steve’s spills in, coating you with his warm release as you both unravel in the sheets.

“Holy shit, that felt so good,” you whisper, nuzzling your head against his chest. Steve grins from ear to ear when you kiss him on the chin. “Thank you for making me feel so safe and loved.”

“Well when you’re you Honey, you make it so easy,” he blushes.

Steve rests his hands on your ass again, giving it a faint smack. You bite your lip as he pulls you even closer to him. And as the sun sets, you know round two is on the horizon.

“Anyways, when ARE we having another one?”

———

author’s note: i’m noticing some themes with the way i write eddie smut vs steve smut. i totally write eddie as a rough dom and steve is def a soft dom. not complaining tho, those are my headcannons for them 🤭

divider creds: @silkholland , @elfbar-baby

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

Rainbow Bridge

Summary: The reader is incredibly confused when in heaven one day, a dog she's never met before appears by her side...

Pairing: Dean x reader (in heaven)

Word Count: 1,800ish

Warnings: language, mention of pet death/human death

A/N: I wrote this for my fellow pet owners (and myself). Hopefully those little dudes over the rainbow bridge have their own kinds of adventures like these pups while they wait! (and all the chicken nuggies they can eat 😉)

_______

The air shifted, a warm and joyful presence filling the air. You glanced down in your kitchen, an adorable dog with long fur and pointy ears staring up at you with a wagging tail.

“Well good morning to you, cutie,” you laughed, bending down in your pajamas with your cup of coffee, giving the dog a few pets. “Who might you be?”

The dog woofed and the thought Miracle sprang into your head. That wasn’t entirely uncommon. Animals in the afterlife were able to communicate a bit better than they had when you were alive. 

One of your own dogs you’d had when you were alive, your first dog ever, bounded upstairs from the playroom on the lower level that was for them to use as a way station. Sometimes they liked to stick around home, sometimes by your side and others they’d go off and visit their own animal friends they’d made. But generally they kept to themselves first thing in the day.

“This a friend of yours, baby?” you asked your little dog. He ran over to Miracle, sniffing intensely before he snorted. “No huh. Did you just die, Miracle? I know sometimes dogs are a little confused when they get here and you got your young, healthy bodies back.”

Miracle woofed with a slight head shake, your lips pursing. Your own dog pawed at you, resting a little foot on your arm. You hummed at him, the little guy sending you some positive feelings, sensing you were worried.

“Alright. I’ve never heard of a random dog appearing in heaven unless you request one. You show Miracle around the house and where he can do his business while I get ready. Then we’ll try to figure out who your owner is, okay?” Both dogs yelped happily and took off downstairs, a loud crash at the bottom as they slammed into your boot tray. “Careful! Just cause you can’t get hurt doesn’t mean you can be reckless!”

More than one dog barked back in response and you rolled your eyes, heading for your bedroom.

“At least I don’t have to pay vet bills for you guys anymore. Five dogs is only kind of a lot for one eternity.” You heard more barking and groaned. “I wasn’t complaining you mongrels! I was quite pleased to see your little faces when I died. I could have done with a little less face licking though.”

You swore you could hear the faint echo of laughter in their barks as you got ready for the day.

“If I’m not back by supper make sure you boys get some dinner,” you called, heading outside with Miracle. You loaded into your car and headed down the road, thinking you had a problem. Soon you were taking an off ramp you’d not seen before. You wound up in a mostly empty parking lot, Miracle following you out and into the lone building around.

“Take an issue form and fill out everything before returning it to the counter,” grumbled the guy behind the desk, shoving a clipboard towards you. You stepped through the empty waiting room, picking up the board. You opened your mouth to speak when he sighed. “The form is a requirement by the big man. I’m just doing my job.”

“How do you have a job which is arguably the equivalent of working at the DMV, but in heaven? Like, we don’t have jobs.” He flickered his eyes up at you, making you jump back when they flashed black. 

“Demon, sweetie. It’s part of my rehab program so I can someday be like you. By then, some other schmuck in the program will have my job. No more questions.” 

“Okay…” you said, grabbing a pen and taking a seat, Miracle laying down on the floor beside you. You stared at the form, frowning when you didn’t see your particular issue listed.

“Um, excuse me, Mr. Demon,” you said, approaching the counter again, the guy rolling his eyes at you. “My problem doesn’t appear on the form?”

“That’s impossible. Those are the only issues possible of occurring in heaven.” You pointed at Miracle beside you, the guy standing to look down at him.

“I have no clue who this dog is and it’s not my dog’s friend. He just appeared next to me in my kitchen this morning,” you said. The demon stared at you, rubbing his temples. 

“Remember your steps, remember your steps,” he muttered to himself before forcing a smile. “Listen. Dogs don’t get lost in heaven. Either you know his owner-”

“Nope. My dogs don’t recognize him.”

“Fine,” gritted out the demon. “Then you and the owner of this dog are soulmates in some way.”

You blinked at him, the man angrily typing on his keyboard. 

“This dog belongs to a man named Dean Winchester. You and Dean Winchester were alive, somewhat, during the same time. He died a lot younger than you did. You two are…romantic soulmates,” he said, a fax machine going in the back. He got up and ripped off a sheet of paper, handing it to you. “Here’s his address. Now please go bother him instead of me.”

You rolled your eyes, ready to leave when you stopped, glancing down at Miracle. “Do you like, want to pet the dog?”

“Excuse me?” You turned around, the demon still on his feet.

“Well I mean, it’s probably been awhile since you’ve seen a dog or gotten to pet one. You can’t be that horrible if they’re letting you up here with the rest of us. So do you want to pet him?”

It was shocking how quickly the demon hopped over the counter and knelt down next to the dog, giving him a few pats and then a belly rub.

“I had a dog when I was a kid. I can’t wait to see her again once I get out of here,” he said, glancing up at you, seeming to forget he was a demon for a moment. “That was weird.”

“Dogs are kinda perpetually happy here and give off good energy. I’m sure your dog is looking forward to seeing you too,” you said as Miracle sat up and headed for the door. “Apparently I’m on the move. See ya around someday.”

“Yeah. Someday,” he said as you left. Five seconds later, now that you knew where you were going, you popped yourself over to this Dean Winchester’s place. You were standing outside a beautiful two story cabin on a lake, Miracle taking off in a sprint down a dock to where someone was sitting in a chair fishing. 

Your heart felt funny as the man on the dock stood and turned around, cocking his head at you. He gave Miracle a good ruffle before he approached, meeting you halfway across his backyard.

“Hi,” he said with a smile, shaking his head. “I uh-”

You both jumped when your five dogs appeared, running and chasing around a ball in the yard, Miracle joining in after them.

“Your dog popped into my kitchen this morning. I’m pretty sure we’re soulmates. At least that’s what this paper says,” you said, the pack of dogs sprinting around the corner of the house. “I’ve had a few pups in my life.”

“Miracle could do with some siblings,” he said, smirking as you felt a cozy peace inside you. “I was wondering where he ran off to. He normally doesn’t stray far from home. Looks like he was off finding his mom.”

“I thought soulmates were supposed to like…snap together when they’re both in heaven,” you said. He smirked, pursing his lips. “What?”

“I probably wasn’t in heaven when you died. I was jumping around alternate worlds and you look very confused all of a sudden.” You nodded, staring at him wide eyed. “I’m a smidge of a rule breaker…and I kinda know Jack…and took down the old god.”

Your first instinct was to call him crazy but he had no reason to lie. Besides, something ached in his soul, like it had a little bruise on it. This man had known serious pain and then some when he was alive.

“You know, I killed vampires when I was alive. What’s something you did for fun?” he asked. Your jaw dropped, Dean chuckling. “Oh boy. Sweetheart, you and I have some catching up to do.”

“Hi baby,” you said that night as you and Dean laid on a blanket in the yard, your little guy crawling up on the blanket and settling in beside Dean. “Aw, he likes you.”

“He’s protective of you. I can feel it,” he said with a hum. “He hung out with your grandparents a lot after he died. Apparently while you were crying over him on earth, he was chowing down on some of your grandpa’s maple syrup bacon thinking mom’s being overdramatic, I’m gonna see her again. She worries too much.”

You sat up, raising an eyebrow. “How do you know that? My grandparents told me they were with him until my parents got here and he stayed with them a while but dogs can’t talk to us like that here. We can sense them and stuff but we can’t know complete thoughts.”

Dean smiled, scratching behind the dogs ears. 

“Well, I’m a little special. I worked a case where I could communicate with dogs once. It came back up here. This little guy adores the fuck out of you and wishes you hadn’t been so sad back then but he understands. He is pretty awesome,” laughed Dean. 

“And he’s a little shit,” you giggled. “What else does he say?”

“He’s glad you got more dogs over your life and he’s glad you found me finally. Also if we don’t stop talking soon he’s going to go inside and sleep on our bed,” chuckled Dean. “Cranky baby, aren’t you?”

The dog snorted, stood up, licked your nose and trotted off inside with his chin turned up.

“Like I said, he’s a sassy little shit,” you chuckled, Dean pulling you closer. “So Dean. What do you got planned for the afterlife?”

“A bit of fishing here and there. Working on my car. Going out for a drink at the roadhouse. Hanging with my brother. Sneak out of heaven to get up to shit every once in a while, hopefully with you. How’s that sound?” he asked. You leaned over and kissed him slowly, rolling back with a smile. 

“Sounds like a plan, Winchester. Time to start having some fun in eternity.”

___________

[writingquestionsanswered]

hey, i love your blog, you’re so kind for doing all of this. kudos.

i was wondering if you have advice on how to not be terrified of sharing your work with the world? i write a lot of fanfiction (and someday hopefully some original stories) but i get so so anxious about ANYONE reading them so they usually end up rotting in my google docs, and eventually i stop writing them because i don’t get the motivation that comes from reader responses

but the issue is i’m not sure how to tackle this anxiety. as someone who has published works, do you have advice for this?

Tackling the Anxiety of Sharing Your Work

For my answer, I'm going to cobble together some bits from previous posts and add some new stuff. ♥

Sharing our fiction with others is one of the biggest steps we take as writers, and it can be scary no matter what you write. But, if you want to be published, it’s a necessary step. As with so many things in life, doing something that requires courage is often just a matter of taking a deep breath and doing it. "Ripping off the band-aid," as they say.

However, there are some things that might help ease the associated anxiety a bit:

1 - Try to Pin Down Your Specific Fears - One of the first things you may want to do is try to figure out what you're specifically afraid of or what's making you the most anxious about the prospect of sharing your work. If you can find the root cause, it might be easier to tackle the associated anxiety. Are you worried people:

will think your writing is bad?

won’t like your writing style?

won’t get your story/characters?

will judge you for what you write about?

will think less of you for writing at all or what you write about?

will blab about your writing to others?

will steal your ideas?

will see similarities between your story and others?

will make you feel tied to a project you might not complete?

I tackle some of these in the writing-related-fears portion of my Motivation master list.

2 - Don't Rush It - If you take the time to properly revise and edit your story, you can be confident in knowing you've put in the time and effort to make your story the best it possibly can be.

3 - Start Small - If you can, try sharing your story first with an "alpha reader," or in other words a trusted friend, family member, or community member who can appreciate your story. In this case, you might say you're not looking for specific feedback but just a general impression of what they liked about the story. This way, it's not about getting constructive criticism so much as getting over the hump of sharing it and getting the little boost of what they like about the story.

4 - Gradually Go Bigger - From there, you might try sending to a couple of beta readers and opening up to a bit more feedback. The great thing about this is not only are you conditioning yourself to sharing and getting the opinions of others, you can potentially use the feedback to iron out kinks in the story if there are any.

5 - Use a Pen Name - You might want to consider using a pen name for anonymity. Pen names have many different purposes, but much like wearing a mask at a party, they can decrease your inhibition a bit because it creates a bit of a buffer between the real you and your writing.

6 - Post and Let It Go - Many writers get around the issue by simply not engaging with reader feedback, and if you're someone who cares what other people think or are likely to be daunted by the prospect of criticism, this may be the best route for you to go. Now, I know that with fan-fiction in particular, reader feedback is often used for improvement. But the truth of the matter is, you shouldn't rely on reader feedback for improvement anyway. Alpha readers, beta readers, critique partners, and editors are a much better metric for where to improve. When you get your feedback elsewhere, you can post your story and let it fly on its own without worrying about what others are saying.

I hope that helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[joojconverts]

      4t3 Conversion of Gilded-Ghosts’ Old Catalogue

A 4t3 conversion compilation of all of Gilded-Ghosts’ old catalogue of clothes and buy mode objects! Another big one, which I’m very happy to finally be releasing. Hope you like it as much as I do!!

The compilation has all standalone releases + mini-sets, and the New Woman Set (late 1890′s mix & match). I didn’t convert recolors or anything else!

This is part TWO of my 2000 followers’ gift. You can find part one here! 

💖 💖 💖

————— —————

Known Problems:

The flapper dress (1920′s dress with sparkles) has a UV mapping issue where some body verts look disconnected. This happens sometimes when I convert body textured outfits like this one, and it doesn’t seem like there is a fix for that. I’m sorry, but it’s not really noticeable unless you zoom in closely.

The little stripes on the montague top (male renaissance top) are a bit brighter around the edges because of the mask texture. I fought with the textures so that this wouldn’t happen, and I did my best, but it’s still a bit noticeable. Hopefully it won’t bother you!

 The borgia’s dress little golden stripes have some color banding. I did my best maximizing the texture on the UV and doing some mask work, but it’s still there, especially on the right golden stripe. Sorry about that, but again, you can only notice it very closely.

LIGHTING GLITCHES ONLY APPEAR ON CAS! 

* Note that teens and elders have neck gaps. This is sadly the price for having them available! For teens, try using this and this slider by gruesim! I might convert these for those specific age groups someday, but for now, I just activated them!

————— —————

ALL OG CREDITS GO TO @gilded-ghosts​! IT’S NOT MY MESHES, AND IT’S NOT MY TEXTURES, I JUST CONVERTED THEM TO THE SIMS 3!

————— —————  

NOTES (PLEASE READ):

IMPORTANT: Most of these items have more than one preset! In fact, some of them have around 10 or more! All to achieve the customization of your dreams! I really hope you find them useful and that you enjoy the options given!

All of the items are low poly, and nothing is out of the ordinary for an usual historical gameplay!

There is an acc categorized as socks that give the option to add some recolorables flowers at the jubilee jacket (the one with the green checkered skirt)! It only works with this top, and there are plenty presets to choose from!

There is also an acc categorized as socks that recolors the belt on the stepford wife dress (1950′s big skirt one)! I wanted to make the entire dress recolorable, and this is the alternative I found! On the preview the sim has the acc on!

You can find the light bulb at lighting, and the tap at sculptures/decorations! They’re cheap!

The green checkered skirt ONLY works with that jacket that’s being used in the preview, it won’t work with other stuff! That’s not a problem, just a condition! The other skirts will work as usual!

Now, to the download!

SimFileShare |  Dropbox

☕   buy me a coffee or become a patron!

————— —————

Credits and Special Thanks:

@gilded-ghosts​​ for all the meshes and textures, you can find all of her old CC here!

@deniisu-sims​ for the necklace on sim 1; here!

hair on sim 2 is my own conversion, also by @gilded-ghosts​; here!

ladesire for the necklace on sim 3; here!

@rollo-rolls​ and @ifcasims​ for hair on sims 4; here!

💖 @katsujiiccfinds​ @kpccfinds​  @xto3conversionsfinds​ @emilyccfinds​

[gffa]

Hi there! I’m someone who’s been following you for Star Wars for a while but I’ve become really interested in your DC comics posting recently, and I was wondering - since the franchise has been going for so long and has so many instalments - what you would say to someone who wants to start reading these comics/watching the shows/movies but doesn’t know where to start? Have a lot of the comics been retconned? Is there a particular order one has to read in? Where does one even find these comics…?

My interest in this franchise was literally sparked by the Jason Todd telephone poll so I’m definitely interested in reading more about him - he seems like a character I’d like - and the rest of like, the… Batfamily, I think they’re called? I just have no idea where to start lol - my knowledge of DC is limited to seeing bits of Teen Titans GO when I walked past my little brother watching TV, and watching the Lego Batman movie with him xD

Also! If I’m correct, after observing the fandom, Talia seems like an interesting, complex female character (with some bad writing), like Padmé or Bo-Katan? I always love those kinds of characters, just wondering if I’d got the right impression of her.

Hi! You've got a solid idea of things so far, so hopefully, this shouldn't be too hard of a climb to get used to the structure! And I'll do my best to explain the structure of comics without getting too lost in the weeds about it. 😂

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW: In my view, comics aren't meant to be a single coherent whole and it's helpful to drop that idea before you get started because otherwise you'll drive yourself around the bend in a fruitless attempt to make everything line up neatly, when it just never will. There is no one single "true" version of the characters, there is no one single creator who is the highest authority on a character, no matter who created the character or even who is most famous for writing them, these are shared characters being written and drawn by a multitude of authors and artists who all have varying takes on them. The characters should stay true to a core personality and traits, but the flexibility of an author to write a character differently from the last person who wrote them is a feature not a bug imo. I like to think of comics as stories being told by different authors playing with action figures and we're in the audience enjoying these stories, regardless of how some authors fit really well together and others completely clash with each other. You can try to make them mesh (sometimes that's fun!) or you can just shrug your shoulders and pick what you like out of the pile of comics that have been handed to you (you'll probably drive yourself less over the edge this way!). Jason is particularly difficult on this aspect, because he often doesn't have a regular book to be written in and his overall place/point in the Batman comics is murky at best somedays and so he is wildly different from author to author. I personally enjoy this, because I think it works for Jason as a character who has some core beliefs, but also is kind of a mess who doesn't really know what he wants, so he veers wildly from one reaction to another. You can read comics in a variety of ways, but I genuinely do not recommend trying to read "in order" because it's a nightmare to try to keep track of everything once it's been a few years and the numbering of these series is the most confusing thing you'll ever meet. Instead, I think it's better to focus on picking up trades (collections of comics that originally came out in single issues, but are put together in a single volume that tells the whole story of that particular run) that sound interesting or come recommended. (And, honestly, it's not even satisfying even if you did do all the work to read them in order. Throw out the idea that comics have a coherent timeline, because they do NOT.)

CONTINUITIES AND DIFFERENT ERAS: The ONLY context I think you need (other than a general sense of the Batfam, we'll get there in a minute) is to understand that there are sort of four "continuities" that you're likely to run into, and this is EXTREMELY simplified/streamlined, so nerds don't come for me on this unless you have a better streamlined and simple version. 😂 - Anything published before 1985-1986 is all "Pre-Crisis" and while reading a lot of the older comics can be super fun, they're generally not super relevant to current comics - In 1985-1986, there was a comics event (an event is where multiple different comic books are all written to be part of a bigger storyline, whereas normally, they don't cross over that much, each book usually has its own self-contained storylines) called "Crisis on Infinite Earths" (which is different from "Infinite Crisis") that was basically a way for DC to streamline all the different versions of the characters running around into one manageable universe. This ran up until about 2011 and I'll often refer to it as the "preboot" or "post-Crisis" continuity. (This is where Jason's death happened, in the storyline "A Death in the Family".) - In 2011, DC wanted to reboot their entire universe with an event called "Flashpoint", with the purpose of creating an all new lineup of 52 comics that new readers could jump right into, which isn't a bad idea in theory. The problem was that people were really attached to the preboot versions of the characters, a lot of the Nu52 comics were really badly written, and there was almost no collaboration. You expect a certain amount of contradiction just by the nature of comics, but there were major issues with "nobody is talking to each other, so everything is a giant mess".

- In 2016, for a variety of reasons (probably including that sales for Nu52 had dipped back down pretty far again), DC rebooted their universe again, with "Rebirth", which is the continuity we're in now. I'm still catching up (I left when Nu52 happened) but I think a lot of preboot events are leaking back into the continuity, but that's not the same as saying it's equal to the preboot continuity in total. This is also the era that I generally talk about the most because I've found it genuinely the most engaging to get back into! Generally, as long as you understand those four eras of continuity, I think you'll be fine in understanding how things are put together. If you want to know where something falls, just check the date and that'll tell you! But, honestly, yeah, background details change all the time, so even within a single continuity there will be retcons--just that there are MASSIVE differences in the Nu52 era that might confuse you if you're unaware of the reboot shenanigans. (Or if you want to understand how Jason returned--like, preboot continuity has the explanation that Superboy Prime (don't ask) punched reality so hard that it shook Jason back to life, even if they never found out about it, that's what happened. I think Nu52 said Talia dug him up and put him in the Lazarus Pit? Don't quote me on that. I flamed out hard on Nu52. Rebirth continuity, they have no idea what the hell happened and I'm not sure there's an explanation. I just assume the Reality Punch leaked back in or something.)

SO, LIKE, WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THESE CHARACTERS? AS SHORT AS I CAN MAKE IT: - Bruce Wayne witnesses his parents being murdered in front of him and this traumatizes him so badly that he withdraws from life to obsess over it, eventually travelling the world for several years to learn every kind of skill he can, until he comes back to Gotham at, like 22 years old or whatever and becomes Batman to fight crime. The only rails on this ride is his butler Alfred who basically raises him from the time he's eight and Alfred is working MIRACLES here, but there's only so much even he can do. He is absolutely Bruce's father figure, even if they rarely frame it in those terms, because Thomas Wayne (Bruce's father) is such an important figure in their lives and because Alfred is extremely British. - Bruce is Batman for a few years, usually depicted as being super grimdark because he's shut his heart against loving anyone ever again because the pain is too much. But then one night he's at a circus performance and there's a terrible "accident" where a little 9 year old boy (shhhh we ignore any other versions than that he was nine, dammit, it's important for the thematic parallels!) witnesses his world-class aerialists parents falling to their deaths. Dick Grayson's grief and loss spark something in Bruce and he takes on this grieving, angry, brilliant little boy as his ward. Now, not even God can stop Dick Grayson, who is going to get justice for his parents' murder, so eventually Bruce reveals that he's Batman and Dick basically barges his way into creating his sidekick persona, Robin. Bruce is not a fan of this, but seriously. He couldn't have stopped that kid, he tried. He could only put a leash on him. Dick brings light and joy back to Wayne Manor and they have the most fascinating relationship--they're father & son, they're brothers, they're best friends, they understand each other like no one else does, they fight like no one else in that family does, they love each other, they're so angry at each other, they're co-dependent and absolutely batshit about each other, they basically raise each other from the time Dick came to Wayne Manor. - Dick eventually grows up and starts clashing with Bruce more, especially as he gains his independence. Different versions happen differently in different continuities, but eventually it hits a boiling point and either Bruce fires him as Robin or Dick quits because he can't deal with this. He goes off to become Nightwing, while Bruce eventually meets another kid who (in the most common version) tries to steal the Batmobile's tires because he needs the money. Circumstances happen, Bruce eventually ends up adopting Jason Todd, who becomes the next Robin. Things are relatively stable for awhile, until Jason learns about his birth mother and runs off to try to reconnect with her, except the Joker's got his sticky fingers all up in this situation, and it results in Jason dying in the exploding building.

- Bruce is Not Doing Well after this, so in comes our favorite horrible little stalker gremlin Tim Drake, who hunts down Dick Grayson and says, hey, you gotta become Robin again because Batman's going to get himself killed if you don't. Dick is like, no, I fucking do not. Tim responds with, well, guess I gotta do it myself then and basically barges his way into being the next Robin. He bonds with Dick as a brother (who is far and way Tim's favorite, imo), he does his best to be as good of a Robin as he can be. - Things are better after that, they're fairly well into Batfamily territory by this point. Jason comes back and, originally, it was supposed to be a trick, it was a villain pretending to be him, but was later retconned to actually be Jason who came back and... it's complicated. I don't think they really knew what to do with him once he came back, so he kind of ping-pongs around with varying levels of villainy for awhile. - Then we get to the time around Batman R.I.P. where a lot of shit happens all at once, especially for Tim. Bruce dies fighting a Justice League villain, Tim also has his bio-dad die around this time, his relationship with his ex-girlfriend/good friend is kind of going to shit, the boy he's in love with (not canon at the time, but current day storylines basically confirm it was true) also died and it wrecked Tim, like he lost his MIND over Conner Kent's death, there's this annoying little shit Damian Wayne who has showed up as the bio-son of Bruce, and then suddenly Bruce also dies. And Dick has to become Batman because Gotham needs Batman and he's in mourning and dealing with Jason being back and everything OFF THE RAILS as various people are like, "No, I'M going to be Batman now!" and Dick has to shut all that shit down and take up the mantle himself despite that he doesn't want it AND deal with Damian being an emotionally traumatized 11 year old baby assassin who has been abused into being a killer his entire life (I mean, it's comics, don't take it too seriously) and he needs something to hold onto or he's going to leave and go back to killing, so Dick and Alfred give the Robin mantle to Damian, which pisses Tim off because he's not doing well and sees it as a betrayal (while Dick was asking for his help as an ally, that he was ready to graduate to being more than just Batman's sidekick) because he's lost so much. - So we have Dick & Damian as Batman & Robin (THIS ERA WAS SO GOOD), Tim as Red Robin (fandom way overplays Tim and Dick's tension, they come back together after their dramatic few months), and eventually they find Bruce who was lost in the time stream (don't ask) and then, WHAM, Nu52 happens. But basically, that's the Robins timeline. I'm skipping over Steph's turn as Robin because it was so short and it was clearly set up just to knock her down, as well as not touching on Cass much because this is long enough as it is and I'm trying to circle back to focusing on Jason-friendly stuff.

WHERE TO START: Ask a dozen different people where to start and you'll get a dozen different answers! I think starting anywhere is fine and it's going to depend on what you like--for example, I'm personally not that into the animated DC movies (not enough of my Blorbo) but "Batman: Under the Red Hood" is generally very well-regarded as an updated version of Jason's return and is nicely self-contained if you want to watch it without much other context. I also think watching the Justice League animated series from 2001 is fantastic if you want a funny, charismatic, streamlined adaptation of what the Justice League is like. (Batman: The Animated Series was groundbreaking at the time and a really good adaptation, but very dated by this point in time, so I hesitate to recommend it too much, even though it's beloved to me.) The Wayne Family Adventures is an absolutely adorable, delightful webtoon adaptation that is very light-hearted compared to the mainline comics! I like recommending it to new fans because I think it's super easy to start reading without too much extraneous context and gives you an idea of the characters' relationships to each other, so long as you understand that it is EXTREMELY soft and is much in the vein of LEGO Batman content--you're not supposed to take it super seriously, there are times it's deliberately crossing into something like parody territory, but that doesn't mean it's not genuinely funny, charming, and a great read. @fantastic-nonsense has an incredibly thorough list of recommendations for comics by character here, and you can scroll down to the Jason Todd section and start reading there! Or you can check out the "A STARTING POINT: BATMAN IN OTHER MEDIA" section because I pretty much 100% agree with everything she says about the various adaptations. I like recommending "Young Justice" as an introduction to DC, so long as you understand that it's a loose adaptation and that the team compositions and various relationships are not always going to be accurate to comics dynamics. I have my own comics recs tag, but I'm more Dick-focused, so your mileage is going to vary on how useful you might find my recs! But basically, you can't go wrong with starting with "A Death in the Family", then "Under the Red Hood" (movie then comics) and "Red Hood: The Lost Days". Basically, anything by Judd Winick has a good chance of being a solid read for him. It's hard to recommend Jason comics, because so many of them are either not great or require knowledge of the events that are going on around the same time--but, honestly, once you're familiar with the set-up, I do think you can pick up almost any trade and pick up context along the way. I personally also loved "Robins: Being Robin" series, because all five of the Robins working to solve a case together and being unhinged weirdos at each other is my jam. (But I like pretty much anything Tim Seely writes!) I also always recommend the 2016 Nightwing series because Dick is my Blorbo, but I also think "Robin & Batman" by Jeff Lemire is a fantastic story to understand who baby Dick Grayson is and his relationship with Bruce, and both "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory" are some of the best Batman comics I've ever read, but they can be tough to get through if you don't like Tim Sale's very stylized art.

WHERE TO FIND THESE THINGS TO READ? The movies and animated series should be on HBOMax and/or Netflix, and comics I always recommend hitting up your library to see what they have--so many libraries have a ton of comics available, especially digitally! And, if you have a library card, it's very possible that your library partners with Hoopla, where they have a ton of Batman comics! You can also check out DC Universe, which has almost all DC comics if you get a subscription.

TL;DR: If you want bigger context on how all this stuff works, start with either "Justice League" or "Young Justice", they're really cute, fun adaptations. If you want to get straight to the Jason stuff, start with "A Death in the Family" --> "Under the Red Hood" --> "Red Hood: The Lost Days" --> "Batman: Urban Legends vol. 1". (And, yeah, you have the right impression of Talia! She often gets written as a villain, but she's also often a lot more complex than that, it really depends on who you get to write her. The corner of fandom I hang out in is generally more generous to her, but some of the actual comics can be kind of rough. But she's complex and has a lot of sharp edges, so, you know, I love her, too. 😂)

[vyxated]

finally answering asks I've been keeping for a while ~.~

📝 sims2 & chalk'd ui, phone icons & wallpapers, cas bg recolor, font replacement, and some more (reshade & rig helper asks will be answered at another time ;; )

tysm anon!! I had to wrestle a bit with the file to make the taxi image work, and at the end it came out looking super neat! Especially if you have the sims 2's music playing (found a super cool music override that does that). It's such a cool idea, and I've been researching on how to do it 😆 ngl, making cc objects is something I wanna do someday, tho from the looks of it it's gonna take me a while to understand the process lol. If/when I make any breakthrough, I'll be sure to post about it :p (It'd be neat if it costs money too to use the taxi.)

jdfklsjf tysm @hellofears & @oshinsimblr !! I've been doing some final adjustments so hopefully I can release it within this week c:

thanks anon ^7^ you can replace them as long as you have access to the files (pancake1 made a pie menu & wants sound replacement and buurz replaced the in-game music with ones from other sims games). I looked around and found these resources you might want to check out: TS4 Sound Tool, UI sound kit & UI audio instance list

hehe tysm anon! My UI mods won't remove the shop icon so you'll need to grab other mods that do that. I decided not to do it myself to avoid having a new mod conflict ^^

Hii @simplyamazingsims, I've tested both mirroredup & triple mirror and both v3 files are working w/ the latest update. The reflection setting must be set to low or higher for the reflection to show up. You can also try clearing your caches and try removing the resource.cfg file (file will regenerate, and doing this fixes the issue for some). Oh and ofc having other cas backgrounds can cause mine to not show up so make sure there's only one in your mods folder ^^

@claravizeu it's a map override that I'll probably work on whenever I'm in the mood 😆

Hi anon! For the phone icons, I used xosdr's phone icons psd to create mine. For the wallpaper, I haven't found someone who've gathered & shared the files for it, so I'll see if I can do that myself :)

Heyy anon, it's a CAS bg that I made for the previews so it's not available to download. I haven't got the chance to prepare the files yet, but I'll try to find the time to do so ^^

Hey anon, unfortunately the notification wall is associated w/ the texture file that handles most of the UI panels, so you won't be able to remove a specific file to achieve it. I've received a request just like yours so what I can do is share it a separate file later on ^^

Hii as well, it's compatible yes ^^ you can use both mods as they don't have any files in common that conflicts with each other.

heyy @icyaliyah, sorry it took a while to respond! While I don't have plans to recolor them, you can download these pink recolors by estellics & dumbabie ^^ and thank you very much!

Hii as well, it's been a while so I don't know if you're still having the issue or if it's already been fixed. Afaik my mod shouldn't cause any loading issues on its own, as well as if you have the conflicting mod & files present and if you remove the conflicting files. So far, I've not received any reports of this exact issue, so I can't be of help. Sorry if that doesn't answer your question 😅

ahhhh @veone thank you as well for using it ever since it came out!! 🙈

Heyy anon, basically you'd want to only remove the files that conflicts w/ the mods that you do use, and not the other way around. For example, if you use TOOL, you'd want to delete the files in the Additional Files > TOOL folder (either both text and texture files or just the text file alone, depending on which one you prefer). If you don't use TOOL, keep the files be. So, if you only have the UI Cheats mod and none of the listed conflicting mods, then you don't need to remove any files ^^

heyy @swithdream, well very belated happy new year to you as well despite it being april already lol there's an update to the cas organizers that I haven't done yet, and when the time comes that I update those, I'll try to include the psds for all the templates I did ^^

Hii @kneptoone, it's a font replacement using TS3's Helvetica Rounded font that I made & haven't shared yet, yeah ^^ I can try putting it up for download since there isn't one out yet.

Heyy anon, I've been focusing on other things so I haven't yet found the time to work on my older uploads >< I'm definitely interested in doing those, but not sure when that'll be.

Hello anon, tysm! I'll do it at some point but not sure when :x I haven't properly played around w/ CAS since last year :X

[starlahuskyz]

Chances - Chapter 19

Summary: Jordan's story only goes downhill, the boys soon discover where he distrust and anxieties came from.

The follow up to Jordan's lore, this might be longer than the previous chapter.

Chapter 18 <<< >>> Chapter 20

TW// Vampire Indoctrination, Vomit, Implied Suicide, Blood and Gore

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Everyone felt tense, no one said anything for a moment, Jordan shuffled a bit in Marko’s hold feeling discomfort. David spoke first.

“So those fuckers were vampires, I had a feeling.”

“I thought you guys could tell when someone was a vampire?” Jordan tilted her head in confusion.

“Well we didn’t know you were a vampire, so that’s not quite how that works.”

“Oh” She leaned back into Marko and Paul talked next.

“So, what did you think when you found out your boyfriend was a vampire?” 

“I’m getting there, warning you all now though it goes downhill from here.” She continues on.

--------------------

Jordan had chosen not to tell her parents about what happened that fateful night. She pondered whether what happened was real or just a really fucked up dream. She had gone the boardwalk in search of Viktor to see if he could give her the answers she was looking for. She didn’t see him for a few days though, until she saw him performing again. After the performance she entered the backstage and confronted him, he was abnormally tense after seeing her approach him.

“Viktor, we need to talk.” Jordan grabbed his hand.

“I already know what you’re gonna say.” He pulled away from her grasp.

“That’s not what this is, I’m looking for answers dammit. What the hell was up with that night, was that all some sick prank or was it real?”

“What do you think? It should be pretty obvious what happened, I’m a vampire and killed those guys for you.”

Jordan was at a loss “A vampire? They’re real?”

“I mean you’re looking at one.” Johnny piped up from behind her and cackled.

“Okay, so if you’re a vampire…why didn’t you kill me?” Viktor looked surprised.

“Why would I? I love you, I wouldn’t even fathom doing such a thing. But now I must ask, how come you’re so…normal about this?” 

Viktor was genuinely confused, most people who learned of his true identity would run and scream and he’d have to unceremoniously end their lives. Yet, Jordan didn’t seem to care too much, she cared more about the fact he wasn’t too honest about being a night stalker.

“It hasn’t bothered our relationship up until this point, I don’t see a reason to get upset about it. You did save my life after all.” She didn’t seem like she was bluffing.

“I see. So even though I’m a bloodsucker, you don’t really care?” 

“Not really.”

Viktor only stood there thinking to himself, now faced with a scenario he never imagined himself being in up until this point. Having a mate who didn’t him being a vampire seemed like an impossible dream, and yet, here he was.

Viktor pulled Jordan close to him and relaxed, his bandmates also seemed relatively happy with Jordan’s thoughts.

“I’m glad to hear you’re so accepting of me, hopefully you can join us someday.” At that statement, Jordan pushed him away.

“No…I’m sorry but no. I can’t be a vampire, I have a family and a job.” Viktor’s smile faltered. 

“C’mon, won’t you at least consider it? Being a vampire is wonderful. You’ll stay young forever, never have to worry about being sick, and never let anyone be in your way. I implore you to at least think about it, please?” Viktor seemed genuine, but Jordan remained conflicted.

“I don’t know, maybe. I’ll have to take some time to think about it. It’s a big decision.” Viktor smiled.

“I’ll give you time.”

-------------------------

“So you found out he was a vampire and that’s how you react?” Paul looked at her with judgment in his eyes.

“I guess I didn’t really care because we had been dating for a while without issue. I didn’t really think that he could be incredibly dangerous to me.” Marko inhaled once again feeling peeved.

“Why couldn’t I have dated you first, you were so perfect.” He would’ve loved to date Jordan if she were this casual about vampires before she even became one.

“Thanks, but if I turned him down and stopped dating him he would’ve killed me. So be happy I’m here now and you have me.” She reached over to pat his head.

--------------

Jordan had distanced herself from Viktor and his bandmates for quite a while, they had been pushing her to become a vampire like them and she was very against the idea. She weighed her options a lot considering that Viktor truly loved her. She didn’t want to drop him completely considering he’d been the best thing that had ever happened to her. But at the same time she didn’t want to leave her family behind and become a killer to survive. And no matter what even after a whole month of thinking, she never came to a decision.

She sat in her room listening to her walkman as it played music that fell on deaf ears as her thoughts overtook her mind. She didn’t even initially notice at first but there was knocking at her window. She eventually noticed when the song came to an end and saw Viktor trying to open the window with varying degrees of success. She eventually opened the window to let him in.

“Hey Viktor, did you need something?” She watched as he climbed into her house through the window while holding a tall paper bag in his hand.

“Just came to check on you, you don’t come to the boardwalk a lot anymore.” He stroked her hair affectionately.

“I’ve been busy lately, that’s all.”

“Let me guess, still trying to make your decision?”

“Yep, it’s been seriously bugging me lately.” Jordan moved to sit on the bed again.

Viktor sighed “You really shouldn’t think too hard about this, just jump in and make a decision. And I got something to help make it a little easier for you.”

Jordan watched as he pulled out a very bejeweled wine bottle filled with what she assumed to be red wine. Jordan got a little tense because she was only 19 so not legally able to drink. 

“You know I’m only 19 I can’t drink yet-”

“One swig won’t hurt anybody, it’ll be enough for you to calm down a bit. And trust me I know, you need it more than anybody.” He handed it to her and she took it hesitantly.

It was covered from its neck to base in colorful gems in all kinds of shapes and sizes. She popped the cork off the top and looked inside the bottle, a red liquid filled the container and it smelled quite putrid.

“What is this? It smells awful.”

“It’s what I call a fine wine, it might not smell or even taste very pleasant for you. But trust me, it’ll make you feel fantastic.” He continued pushing the bottle towards her, pressuring her to drink from the bottle.

She decided not to question him any further, with a deep breath, she drank from the bottle. She could hear the deep rumble of a laugh that came from Victor when she started drinking. It tasted unlike anything she had ever had before, it was sweet but also bitter. It was slightly thicker than water and gave her an intense high that made her see stars. After lowering the bottle, she closed her eyes relishing in the feeling given by the liquid contents within the bottle. Viktor leaned into her side whispering something gentle into her ear.

“Now, our love will be forever intertwined…” He lowered his mouth to her neck and took a large bite, he sucked the blood out of Jordan, but at that moment, she could care less.

-----------------------

“So it’s a common thing for vampire indoctrination to include drinking a mysterious red liquid from a fancy bottle I assume?” Michael finally spoke after mostly listening the whole time.

“You know us too well, Mikey.” Paul really hammered the fact into Michael who only stared back less than thrilled.

“God I feel so stupid…” Jordan sighed frustratedly, Marko only held onto her tighter not saying a word.

“Everyone fucks up in life, you just fucked up harder than most.” David said not really helping Jordan.

“Thanks…dick. I know it was a fuck up, but if I would’ve believed the whole vampire thing to begin with, I would’ve just let him kill me right then and there. But now I’m forced to pay the price…”

No one spoke for a while, there wasn’t much the others wanted to say. Not including the half vampires, they hadn’t really thought of the idea of regretting becoming a vampire. They had all taken to being turned as a minor inconvenience that soon gave them many benefits. All except one…

“I get how you feel.” Dwayne spoke solemnly with a nod towards Jordan.

“Woah, really? I thought you loved being a vampire?” Jordan was surprised.

“I’m fine with it now, only because I got over my sadness now wanting to live a life of pure misery and pain all because I never moved past one bad decision I made many years ago. You need to do the same, you sit here talking about how stupid you were back when you were young. You’ve seemingly learned from your mistakes, so get over it, you’re just hurting yourself.”

The others were rather taken aback by Dwayne’s statement, they knew that he wasn’t in a very good place when he was turned and he always refused to even mention it. Now here he was talking about it with Jordan, someone he didn’t know amazingly well.

“I understand what you’re getting at, but it’s not very easy for me to forgive. And that includes myself, if it wasn’t for my stupidity, none of this shit would’ve happened.”

---------------

The night after Jordan drank from the bottle, she felt awful. She couldn’t keep her food down and kept running to the bathroom in pain and vomiting up whatever she tried to eat. Her parents grew concerned about her and they of course eventually found out what she did the night before and while they were less than thrilled, however they were more worried about making sure their daughter felt better. Both her parents thought she was suffering from a hangover or even alcohol poisoning and so decided to wait the day out and see how she would be feeling the day after.

Even after two days, Jordan wasn’t getting any better. In fact, it was getting worse, she started getting sensitive to the sun outside and she still couldn’t eat anything being presented to her. This led to Jordan’s parents taking her to see a doctor to find some answers. The doctor simply said she might’ve been suffering from food poisoning and prescribed some medication for her in hopes it’ll cure her.

Nothing…after a week, no results. She still suffered the same pain and nausea, but now she was getting better at hiding it from her parents. She didn’t want them to worry, she was starting to suspect Viktor did something to her. Now she was dead set on going to find him and see if he could help her out. Now with her new sleeping habits, she slept through the day and stayed awake all night making it a perfect time to go and find Viktor.

She had hopped onto her bike and rode through Santa Carla in search of Viktor, it was late though…very late. The usually bustling town was now dark and quiet, she rode through stirring up the only noise that wasn’t commonly heard this time at night. She eventually reached the boardwalk and parked her bike near the beach and looked around, not a single sign of life was present around her. She didn’t even see the usual bonfire being lit by Viktor’s bandmates, even though she saw nobody and there was nothing to prompt her to look any further, she descended the steps leading onto the beach. 

The waves crashed violently as Jordan walked down the beach getting further away from the boardwalk and becoming more isolated by the minute. She could feel a pull taking her somewhere, she wasn’t sure what it was, but her body seemed to sense something her brain couldn’t. Then, she saw the only sign of life around her, a drunk guy who was standing facing the ocean with a bottle in his hand. Jordan could weirdly sense his mood, he was sad, upset, solemn. She approached him with caution.

“Sir, are you okay?” The man turned to her slowly, he wasn’t in a hurry or even alarmed by her sudden appearance.

“What do you want?” He spoke blankly with a slight slur in his voice.

“I just want to make sure you’re okay, did something happen?” The man suddenly swung his bottle at her and Jordan backed up.

“I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP GOD DAMMIT!” He roared at her, refusing to listen to her.

Jordan’s patience was waning quickly, she only wanted to help this man and yet he seemed to have something against her. It was then that the man’s demeanor changed, he lowered the bottle and sat down on the sand sobbing hysterically.

“I can’t fucking take it anymore, could you do me a favor?” He looked solemnly at Jordan, who only dreaded to imagine what he had in mind. He spoke no more, but only lifted the bottle up to her as an offering. Jordan felt uneasy, yet she didn’t try to stop him.

“Are you sure?”

The man saw a rock to his side proceeding to shatter the bottle in his hands. In the process he cut his hand open making it bleed all of the sand, the man didn’t even care. He stood up and once again handed the bottle towards her direction, but now it was shattered and covered in the man’s blood. Then something overcame Jordan, it was a sudden pang of pain within her. She could hear the man’s pulsing heart and smell the blood coming from him, it all became quickly overwhelming to her.

Without even taking the man’s weapon offering, she lunged at him, pinning him to the sand and looking at his neck intensely. She felt an instinct kick in, it was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. It was a primal urge to rip into him with her bare hands, she felt her teeth grow into sharp fangs, her nails grew sharp like blades. Without much resistance, she then dove into his neck biting down hard in an attempt to rip out his jugular. The man barely even reacted, only giving out strained gasps as he felt her rip into him. With a forceful pull, she ripped his vocal chords out of his neck and sucked the blood out of him greedily. She even clawed at his torso, tearing him up like an angry cat. It didn’t take long, only a few minutes and he was nothing but skin and bones. When she was finished, she felt a high come over her. The pain and nausea all gone, her discomfort left her and she relished in the relief…only for a moment.

The realization suddenly hit her like a brick, she came down from her high and stared down at her own hands and started to panic. They were covered in blood  Shaking her head back and forth in disbelief, she was at a loss at what to do. She looked around at her surroundings for any potential spectators. As she looked, she spotted figures approaching her.

“It’s not what it looks like I swear!” She immediately yelled, only to hear a slow clap from the person approaching her. It was Viktor and his bandmates.

“You don’t gotta hide it, babe. I’m proud of you.” Viktor pulled her into a hug despite her messy state.

“Proud? What are you talking about?” Her mind was racing still not quite processing what she just did.

“C’mon, you still aren't getting it are you?” Viktor looked at her with a raised eyebrow as if it was obvious about what was going on.

Jordan thought for a moment before furrowing her brows and looking up at him.

“What did you do to me?” Her tone was ever so slightly pissed because she knew he did something.

“Don’t you remember our night together, you had your first drink that night. I started you down the road to be like me, but tonight, you really…sealed the deal.” Viktor caressed her face with his cold hand.

Jordan was confused at first, she looked at the body behind her, then to Viktor. She thought back to the night they had spent together, and the wine he gave her. Then, it all clicked…

“You…YOU BASTARD YOU FED ME BLOOD!” She shoved him away from her in anger.

“Relax Jordan, it was going to happen eventually. I thought you wanted to be with me forever?” He tried to sweet talk her but she was beyond upset.

“Yes I did, but not like this! I told you I didn’t want to be a vampire!” Jordan pointed at him accusingly.

“Listen, I didn’t want to have to do this either. I wanted you to make that decision on your own, but you weren’t making any progress so I wanted to help you. Plus, vampires and humans being lovers never last forever.”

“I don’t care, change me back! I don’t want this!”

At Jordan’s request, Viktor faltered, not answering.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, at least…not anymore.”

“What are you talking about? Surely you can change me back!” She didn’t want to believe him.

“You were only a half vampire for these past few days, but now that you’ve made your first kill, you’re a full vampire now. You’re a killer now, and there's no going back.”

At his answer, Jordan felt her whole world come to a stop. She fell to her knees and threw her fists at the sand beneath her in a rage.

“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? YOU TOOK MY LIFE AWAY FROM ME YOU BASTARD!” She didn’t even look at him, she kept her head down and felt tears leaving her eyes and falling onto the sand.

Viktor kneeled onto the sand in front of her and pulled her in close.

“I did it out of love, it may hurt now, but you’ll feel better eventually. Soon the memories of your humanity will fade, and you’ll relish in the new ones we’ll make together.” Jordan’s despair was only amplified by his statement and she felt her fingers curl back into claws and quicker than anyone could predict, she snapped.

“I HATE YOU!” Before Viktor could respond, she swiped at his neck creating a large gash that sprayed blood everywhere. He let go of her and fell back gasping at the sudden attack.

The others jumped in to try and calm Jordan down but she wasn’t going down easy. She felt an inconceivable amount of built up rage within her that she was going to do whatever it took to get back at Viktor for what he did. Jordan found a piece of driftwood on the beach and started attacking the others with it. None of the band members wanted to get too close in fear of being staked. Unfortunately, Xavier got too close and received a stake to his heart, Jordan felt no remorse for him. The others now moved in to try and kill her, but it was a surprisingly futile effort. They one by one all dropped like flies, Johnny had his spine pulled out from his back, Jackson had his jaw ripped off and both of them were properly torn into. Bolt managed to get her down onto the sand and almost neutralized her, however, Jordan freed her hands and was able to rip one of his arms off. He got off of her and taking advantage of his surprise, she quickly grabbed his head and snapped his neck leaving him to fall onto the sand unresponsive. The only responsive vampire left was Vitkor, he was still bleeding out on the ground and watched her every move. He was incapable of speaking due to his wound, Jordan only watched him with hollow eyes and spoke. 

“You wanted to be with me forever, but now you lost your chance.” For good measure she retrieved the stake from Xavier’s chest and brought it over to Victor. She drove into his chest and then without dwelling too hard on what she did, she left the scene and ran down the beach with a heavy new undead heart.

--------------------

Everyone at the camp was left in either surprise, shock, and a twinge of fear. No one spoke for a few minutes, taking time to process what she had just revealed to them. David was surprised that she had managed such a feat of killing her whole coven with just her unadulterated rage. The other boys were shocked but also not too surprised considering that she was able to rip Dwayne’s arm clean off. Michael and Star were also somewhat shocked because they never expected someone as meek as her to be so dangerous. Laddie was snoring away softly on Dwayne’s chest and was the only person who didn’t hear the ordeal.

“So you killed your whole coven…impressive.” David watched her with his icy gaze.

“Impressive? The hell are you on about?” Jordan was confused.

“C’mon, killing five vampires alone is not an easy thing to do! Especially someone like you, that’s what anyone would call impressive.” Paul supported David’s statement and egged her on with enthusiasm.

“So what if it was impressive? I could care less how cool it might’ve been. That was one of the worst nights of my life.” Jordan leaned back into Marko and sighed, continuing on with her tale.

--------------------

She never looked back as she ran, the boardwalk was still deserted when she got back to it. She mounted her bike and immediately went home, praying that nobody would see her bloody appearance. She got home rather quickly and dumped her bike aside and ran to the front door. But before she could open it, she faltered. Her parents were no doubt gonna be waiting for her, and she didn’t want them to see her like this. So she ran to the back of the house and found the doors leading into the basement and broke the solid metal lock in order to get inside. Even though there weren't any light sources to be seen inside, she could still see everything inside. Mainly old dusty boxes and items that belonged to her grandparents. She closed the doors behind her and haphazardly went down the steps and into the heart of the basement. A linear path led from the back entrance to a door leading into the house. She walked down the path and accidentally tripped on a lamp cord making a loud ruckus inside.

After settling everything down, she heard footsteps approaching the door inside the house. The door opened up and a light shined in Jordan’s face making her cringed. She saw her father shining a flashlight onto her face, his face agape with the shocking image of her daughter covered in blood.

“Jordan…what happened to you?” Harold made no move to leave or get closer and stayed where he was. Soon, Jane came over to see what was going on and was equally shocked if not more.

“I don’t wanna talk about it, just leave me here.” Jordan pulled into the shadows concealing herself.

“If you don’t talk about it, we can’t help you. Talk to us, Jordan.” Her father’s tone was calm and collected, he really just wanted answers more than anything. 

Jane got over her initial shock and tried remaining calm, she moved down the steps and into the basement to try and talk to her daughter.

“Jordan, we aren’t gonna hurt you. We just want to know what’s going on, I promise we won’t get mad.” She took a few steps into the basement but stayed within the light coming from the house.

While Jordan didn’t quite budge at first, he took a minute to think. Her parents cared about her a lot so she believed they would show some understanding. But on the other hand, she never told them about her boyfriend’s affliction of being a vampire. She decided there was no reason to hide it any longer, her life was over anyways.

She peeked from her spot behind some boxes, “You promise you won’t get mad?”.

“Cross our hearts.”

--------------

“Man, your parents are saints compared to mine. My dad kicked me out for being gay…” Paul chimed in.

“Wasn’t it also because of drugs?” Dwayne countered.

“Well that too, but mainly for being gay.”

Jordan shook her head at his comment, Star looked at Jordan curiously.

“Your parents seemed to take you being a vampire rather well considering you still live with them now.”

“Yeah, it surprised me though. I mean, I never told them a damn thing about this vampire business and yet they totally took it better than I ever could’ve expected. I thought my dad was gonna take me out back and put me out of this misery.” Marko squeezed Jordan tight in his arms.

“If he would’ve done that, I would’ve killed him.” Jordan only laughed at his statement.

“You didn’t even know me at that time.” She looked back at him and he only nuzzled into her.

“But we’re practically soulmates, he would’ve been destined to die by my hands one way or another if he took you away from me.”

Jordan made a mental note to tell her father about what Marko said.

-----------------

Sitting at the dining table, the family all sat in silence. Jordan had gone at length to explain everything that had happened, her parents were admittedly peeved a bit at the fact their daughter never elaborated on anything before. But the damage had been done and now her parents were at a loss, they weren’t quite sure where to go from here. Jordan made no move to sway their minds in any way, she just sat and waited to see what they would say.

“Jordan, you know we love you right?” Jane spoke first, Jordan still refused to even look in their direction.

Jordan nodded wordlessly.

“Even though we aren’t thrilled about what’s happening, we don’t want you to shoulder this alone. You understand?” She reached out a hand towards her daughter as a sign of affection.

“Why, I’m a killer now.” Jordan stared off into space blankly.

“Why? Because you’re our god damn daughter, that’s why. That no good piece of shit tried to take you away from me and I’m not letting him succeed whether he’s dead or not. If him being a vampire didn’t bother you at all, there ain’t no reason that you being a vampire should bother us as well.” Harold spoke firmly, he genuinely wanted the best from his daughter. 

He was definitely peeved by the situation but he wasn’t going to give Viktor the satisfaction of letting the vampirism drive his daughter away. Jordan finally looked at her parents and looked surprised, of all the outcomes she expected, this wasn’t one of them.

“Really, even though I’m a vampire?”

“We never gave up on you before, we aren’t going to do it now. Vampire or not.” Jane spoke warmly.

Jordan had no words to express her relief and gratitude she had been granted. She outstretched her hand and grabbed a hold of her mother’s already stretched out hand. It wasn’t going to be the easiest transition, but it was one she was willing to put herself through if it meant she could still live a somewhat normal life.

--------------

“So through 1987, I spent that time adjusting to this new life I still live now. We worked on moving my stuff into the basement and all the stuff from the basement into my original room. I changed my appearance as well, and vowed to try to only kill those who deserve death.”

With that, Jordan had finished her story and left the others processing what she had said. Paul decided to applaud her finishing the story and was feigning tears as if he was moved by the story.

“Bravo! That was a beautiful story, thank you for sharing. Is that the whole story, Ms.Jordan?” He moved over to Jordan and Marko’s spot leaning onto both of them in interest.

“I have some stories, but I’ll save those for later.” David then stood up from his spot and spoke.

“Good call, the sun will be up soon. We should all get some shut eye before we burn.” 

And with that, everyone got up to get going. Dwayne handed off a sleeping Laddie to Michael and Star and the boys all retreated to their bikes. Jordan hopped on her bike and watched as Marko joined her on his own, he started making a habit of taking her home even without her asking.

“Goodnight, love birds!” Paul called out to the two as they drove off.

------------

Jordan arrived home pretty quickly and was mentally exhausted yet satisfied, she weirdly felt a weight lift off of her shoulders. She was happy she didn’t have to keep this secret around her friends and felt somewhat free now. She climbed off her bike and Marko did the same, Marko seemed a bit bothered by something though. His face was rather peeved and he was biting his thumb, a trademark for a bothered or thoughtful Marko.

“What’s up Marko, you look bothered.” She walked up to him grabbing his large hand on her own.

“I keep thinking about that guy you were talking about in your story, Viktor.”

“What about him, he’s not around anymore? And I say good riddance.” She watched as he furrowed his brow, still thoughtful.

“I just want to pummel the lights out of him for what he did. Tried to make you his mate, but he didn’t fucking deserve you.” Marko pulled her close and held her possessively which caught Jordan off guard. 

“You don’t have to worry about it, I’m yours now. Even if you can be a true shithead sometimes, at least you're honest about it.” Marko pushed her away to look at her, then he looked at the rising sun and thought for a moment. Without warning, he lifted Jordan over his shoulder and walked towards the door going into her house.

“Hey! What are you doing?” She watched as he snatched her house keys and opened the door.

“You said it yourself, you belong to me. So you aren’t gonna sleep alone tonight, maybe we can…make that official.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Jordan who caught onto what he meant and she immediately started trying to wiggle out of his grip to no avail.

“Like hell we are doing that now!” Jordan protested, but Marko made his way into her room and threw her onto the bed climbing on top of her cuddling into her and purring.

“I’m joking, but if you ever want all of me, just say the word and I’ll be there.” Jordan turned over and laid face to face with him purring back at him.

“I’ll take that into consideration, but I’m too tired right now.” It didn’t take the two very long before they both fell into their day sleep while holding each other in their arms. Bixby soon found his way onto the bed and slept at the foot of the bed with them.

---------------------------------------------

Taglist (If you wanna be tagged, just ask ^ ^)

@blog4horror @ria-coolgirl @oceansrose2002 @hypocriticaltypwriter @deliciousfestsalad @kristel1990

[bloggingboutburgers]

About being Aroace in fandom, specifically sex and romance repulsed, I’ve definitely had a lot of similar issues when it comes to looking for general fics, general community, stuff like that. Thankfully I’m lucky and have a very niche interest that people make fanfic and headcanons for, and it’s not romance based, so I’ve found community through that. However, when it comes to trying to interact outside of my niche part of fandom, it gets a lot harder.

someone mentioned being in fandoms with pre-existing aroace characters to get community through that, and I’m going to piggyback off that a bit, but basically, if you find other aroace people in fandom through looking through tags for aroace characters, then looking on their account for other fandoms they like, and if there’s one you enjoy, then you can start interacting with their posts about the fandom you like and then hopefully you can find community through that. It’s likely that their allo mutuals will be okay as well, so hopefully you can find community like that :)

I’m sorry if this isn’t helpful either. It sucks that as aroace people, we have to go out of our way and get advice on how to be part of something that’s supposed to be for everyone: fandom. It really hurts, and I’m sorry to anyone who experiences it worse than me, because I’m lucky when it comes to that, and it’s even kinda bad for me

Thank you for sharing, and for the advice! It WOULD take like... There being other vocal aroaces in the fandoms for stuff I like to begin with, and I would have to like them as people and like their work, so that's quite a few conditions already, but... Yeah, honestly, it's probably the safest and the best way not to get hurt, huh. Maybe I'll find that someday. Who knows. I'm not in a position where I wanna get my hopes up. But I'm glad you do have that, if anything.

Also thank you so much for the kind words, sincerely.

[torque-witch]

Meet the Witch - 2024 Edition

Honestly I have not introduced myself in a LONG time because I've had this account since 2014 ish - so in case there are new people here this can be a good reference point.

So hi, hello - this is me in 2024. You can call me Cara but most people here know me as Torque! My pronouns are They/Them and I am currently 32 and married. I live in Pittsburgh, PA.

Most people know me for my devotion to Hel, Norse goddess of Death and my art of her!

(My hair is a bit longer so I just pull it back - but I barely take pictures anymore. Anyhow -)

What's new?

Still chronically ill and disabled; in 2024 we are still recovering from medical trauma that induced two phobias, POTS-like symptoms and a mystery digestive issue that is probably the severe IBS my meds that caused the trauma were controlling.

I am currently and hopefully to stay fully self-employed after finally getting off my feet from said trauma that left me pretty house-bound for a year. Somewhere in there I got a job with a catering company that truly was terrorizing, never reported me for taxes and therefore fucked up my finance history.

But, in 2024 so far I have done a good amount of shows and toured again briefly with the Oddities & Curiosities Expo group in cities outside of PA and that was incredible! I grew a lot as an artist, and it really helped me to work through some of my phobias and continue to stabilize.

You can find my Etsy here but I am focusing most of my efforts on shows! It would be best to follow my Instagram to keep up with events and new products!

Otherwise I've just been focusing on adulting and trying to fix our finances so that we can actually buy a house someday (hopefully).

A fun fact is that I started listening to ATEEZ in mid-2023 and got to see them in concert in DC this year as a bday gift to myself. It was absolutely the most incredible thing I've ever experienced. They are PERFORMERS.

If you're still on the fence about listening to Kpop, you're missing out! I poo-pooed it for a long time as cringey, but ATEEZ has very progressive lyrics and most of the fan-base in real life are alternative women and enby's in their 20's and 30's. Seriously the most fun I've ever had.

Other than that if I need to state it again, this page is for representation and acceptance of all forms and hate will not be tolerated. It's impossible to write out all the ways that people can be hateful but basically don't be a nazi or phobic in any way.

Not much else happened this year except a bunch of small-town drama associated with said catering company (story time?) and shit with our previous landlord (we moved). I made some really good local friends that I'm so appreciative of, and joined a DnD campaign for the first time!

My character is Ashaf Tendara, an Arcana Cleric archeologist who accidentally found some ruins of Ubtao and now unfortunately because of one of the sessions, their way of spell-casting is just screaming T-rex noises for ten minutes straight (Ubtao is related to dinosaurs somehow). We've finally emerged from the poop dungeons in said campaign, and some of those interactions I've wrote down are truly incredible. My Mage Hand is also a spectral sticky hand. My husband's steel defender's name is Duke Poop'em because of said poop dungeons.

I also read manga, watch anime and still read young adult fantasy at my big age (Adult SciFi is sooooo dense omg but it just takes me longer lol) and watch cozy game and horror playthroughs on YouTube. I listen to podcasts a lot about the paranormal, true crime and reddit readings.

Basically I'm a chronically ill and online shut-in artist with some witchy stuff sprinkled up in there.

I hope that was exciting and super informative. If you have any questions please send them in!

-Torque

[on-friday-afternoon]

Hey hi,

I found you comic Balderdash, and I love your style and all, but the website has a problem with its css or security (https and whatnot). Apart from the main page, there is no style whatsoever. It makes it kinda difficult to read it. I know it went on hiatus in 2018 and will most likely stay that way, but I still wanted to let you know :)

ughhhhhhhh thank you, i am aware of this issue...i do actually want the site to be readable, but someone else built the site, so i don't know exactly what's wrong in the code. i'm fighting for my life trying to figure out to fix this, and i frankly don't know how :,)

i believe, as long as you don't try to log in to make comments or anything, it should be safe to view all the images on the site by manually allowing it. hopefully i can work with someone soon to fix it, but "soon" might mean like. a year. or whenever i have time, since i'm currently focused on other comic projects

at the moment, though, i have no plans to take down the site...i still want my first big project to be accessible...maybe someday...i can fix it...:,,,,,,,)

[dr3am5scape]

How Vi and Sevika take you home on a rainy night (When issues happens).

Hey guys again. You could listen to rain sounds for further experience. Make sure to follow more stories. Enjoy!

You could find the link here to listen while reading. https://youtu.be/aCLgmgukgfw

Anyways....

Vi:

On a cold rainy night, you finished a council meeting with Mel Medarda. "Please be safe out there, Y/N and hurry back home," says Mel coming out the front door. "Will do, Ms. Medarda. See you another time." You open your umbrella and walk down the stairs. While walking close to the sidewalk, a group of boys who roam around the street starts talking crap about you. "Did you see how the way she's dressed? I'm surprised Mel let her in." Then another says, "I feel like Ms. Medarda wouldn't let her be some kind of Enforcer if she's that poor. She can't even dress up professionally." They laugh at you. You clenched your teeth and close your umbrella, running straight at them. "I won't be poor anymore, once I get in this job! And you could complain all you want. You won't get in like I will someday." You swing the umbrella at them. One of the boys lean back and kicks you on the ground. "Like how so? The only thing you could afford is working at selling stuff. But what will you buy you ask? Probably yourself." He kept on laughing at you. Your clothes were damp from the soaked ground and all you can do is cry. "I won't let that happen you…you brat!" You yelled at him. "And who's gonna stop me?" He asked, sarcastically. Suddenly, Vi ran up and kicks him away from you, while the others immediately ran off, knowing she's that badass girl from Vander's side who can smack the life outta people. Vi looks down at you, reaching out her hand. "Don't worry about those, assholes. Let me take you home." Your eyes flustered as you recognize who that was. Vi picks you up and adjusted your umbrella. She touches your skin from the arm, which causes you to shiver from your damp clothes and the ground. She took off her jacket and wraps it around you. "That should keep you warm from all that, hopefully." Then, she holds your umbrella up to cover each other. "Your not cold?" You asked. Vi chuckles. "I'm actually used to rain and the cold weather. Pretty warm-blooded so am alright." You let out an awe and lean down her shoulder, covering half of the jacket she gave to you, to her and walk away alone together.

Sevika:

Night arrives after you finish your job from the last of drop. It started heavy raining, when you felt a droplet from your nose. And more came down faster. "Shoot," you said. You forgotten your umbrella at home, but didn't know it was gonna happen today. What you only had was your rain coat. You zip it up and cover your hair with the hoodie and started speed walking on the sidewalk. You weren't paying attention on ground, after you fell from a rock. You fall hard on the wet ground, trying to get back on your feet but couldn't. Grunted in pain, you wish to see someone helping you out. You were alone at night….until someone approaches towards you. A large hand shows up close to your face. You lift up to see who it was. There was a tall women bending down at you. "You alright? You must've been hurt after what I saw," She says. "Yeah, pretty much." You hold her hand. The women brings you up causing you to fall almost again, but landed on her chest. You look up at her and blushes fully red from seeing how beautiful this women was. From her darkly grey eyes, to her cute shape of the nose, her dark mouth and a blue scar on the side of her cheek. You shake your head, not trying to focus on her looks and get back on what just happened. "I'm sorry for my clumsy side. I don't know what's wrong with me tonight." "Probably has been a hard time from working at the bar," says the women. You nod at her. Then, the women took off her cloak, covering you up. "You shouldn't be out here alone at night. Even if you did had an umbrella. But since you don't have one, I'll take you home safely." You smile at her relief. "Oh, that's so sweet of you uh-" "It's Sevika, love." She carries you up and wrapped you more like a baby and continues on walking. Once you got home, Sevika put you down on the couch. She folded her cloak from the damp rain and passes to you. She walk to your bathroom and finds an aid kit. She came back and takes the stuff out to fix your foot and arm that had bruise from the fall. "This gonna hurt, so be prepared."

Cries (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)

[batesmotelofficial]

Anyways, here's a fanfic that @girl-stuck-in-the-delusion demanded

[ ratings: hopefully PG:13 at the time of writing ]

"This sounds torturous."

Norman looked over to Hailey from the pamphlet he was reading prior about the escape room she wanted to go to for their honeymoon.

"It's romantic," she smiled innocently at him "you'll see."

Norman shook his head in disbelief as he handed back the printed paper.

"Whatever you say, but I'm not staying in there for longer than 2 hours..., I'm not a fan of feeling trapped."

"You went to jail once, congrats."

"And it only took me 30 minutes to get out of there. That's my issue."

"Well, that wasn't supposed to be fun, Norman."

"Well, Hailey, I found it as a challenge."

"Norman, please stop whining before I knock you out and do it myself."

He proceeded to whine more, walking away, knowing she wouldn't do anything to purposefully harm him.

After they had gotten ready, Hailey drove them to said 'escape room'. Norman wasn't any more excited about it now than he was an hour and a half ago.

"Why couldn't we just go to the beach, like normal people."

"Last time I checked, we both agreed to this."

Norman was silent before huffing and staring out the window.

Once they arrived, Hailey was able to drag Norman in by the back of his shirt. The owner took them both to the room they were supposed to be in.

Once they were inside, Norman immediately complained about a headache, Hailey just thought he was trying to get out of doing work.

Hailey handed Norman a paper of things they were supposed to look for.

Norman looked it over, displeased.

"Did they even say if there was a codeword for us to be able to leave?"

Hailey thought about it.

"Actually, now that you mention it, no, I don't think they did..."

Norman looked horrified, even more so then before they came.

"Oh, don't worry about it, I'm sure they'll let us out if we scream loud enough."

Norman leaned against the wall.

Hailey looked back up at him.

"I guess this means we have to find the first key..."

"Is there even a timer?"

Hailey looked around again.

"No..., doesn't seem like it..."

Norman tilted his head at her.

"And this seems perfectly normal to you?"

"Well, I don't know how these are supposed to go, hon, I've never done one before..."

"We should've just gotten arrested again. That would've been easier to figure out."

Hailey rolled her eyes as she began looking around, leaving the paper of things to find on a nearby side table, which Norman ended up shuffling through the drawers for, ultimately finding the first hint to about 9 more on the underneath side of the drawer, he motioned Hailey over as he read it.

"It's just a single word."

"Whats it say?"

Norman lied it on the desk.

"Ultimate?"

"Do you think that's a clue?"

"Hell, if I know..."

Hailey rolled her eyes as she looked over the walls, pointing at one of the paintings.

"Can you reach that?"

Norman shrugged before going over, easily taking it off the wall.

"Yeah, I can."

Hailey scoffed before gesturing for it. Norman rolled his eyes before handing it over.

"Ah, another clue."

"Does this one make sense?"

"Demise."

"You could've just said no."

Hailey shrugged, taking the painting over to the other clue.

"Well, there's ultimate demise. That's something you would say."

"That's because we will die someday."

"No, we won't, now man-up and go find something."

"I found the first one!?"

"And we have 8 more to find. Get on with it!"

Norman mocked her as he walked away into the other half of the room, Hailey looking behind the other paintings on the same wall, not turning up with anything but cobwebs and claw marks.

Norman didn't find anything either.

"Are we sure there's 10? And we aren't even finding anything that's on the paper?"

"...I'm sure there's 10, and these were on the paper..."

"I would remember reading 'ultimate demise' on the paper."

"Norman, you're worrying."

"It's hard not to!"

Hailey sighed, sitting down with her head in her hands as she rested her arms against her knees.

"I'm starting to think this was a bad idea..."

"So you just had to be the one to say it."

"Never mind that..."

Hailey got a quick glance at her watch. Which was about 3 hours after they started.

"They kept us in here longer than we were supposed to be..."

"No way! We haven't been in here over 2 hours!"

Norman walked over, nervously grabbing her wrist and staring at the watch.

"Oh God..., it's been 3 hours..."

He put the back of his hand against his mouth, probably to keep from throwing up.

"Norman."

Hailey shook her head, trying to calm him down slightly.

"Just go up to the camera and say we want to leave."

He nodded, doing as he was told and standing in front of the camera.

"Hello?"

The camera light turned on.

"Oh! Good..., me and my wife, we're uh..., ready to leave."

The camera light immediately turned off, and the door clicked. Hailey stood up, and Norman walked over to her.

"I told you there wasn't anything to worry about."

She smirked at him before grabbing the handle and turning it, slowly coming to the conclusion it was still locked. As she turned it the other way, the lights in the room went out, and they were trapped in complete darkness.

Norman grabbed onto Hailey, hiding his face into her shoulder as the lights came back on a dim red..., something on the other side of the room moved. It looked like a tall, slender person. Hailey patted Norman's back.

"Hon..."

She whispered, not trying to attract the figures' attention as Norman looked up. She covered his mouth and slowly started setting him down against the door..., the figure was probably a few inches taller than him, if not a foot.

"Don't say a word..."

She kept her voice low with her hand continuously on Norman's mouth..., he gave a soft nod, fighting back obvious tears. The figures neck twitched in a gross manner, a crack from it emitted over to their side of the room. Norman and Hailey both drew sharp breaths to keep from screaming. Hailey covered her own mouth now.

The figure tilted its head to the other side, its waist following as it grotesquely twisted its palms against the floor and began moving toward them. Its chest faces the ceiling while its pelvic bone faces the floor..., nothing an ordinary human could accomplish.

A few tears started spilling from Norman's eyes uncontrollably as Hailey covered his eyes with the hand she was using to cover her mouth.

The figure stopped about halfway, staying out of the light to keep itself hidden. Its bright white eyes stared at Hailey before it scurried backward and through a hole in the floor that opened up. The lights went back to normal.

Hailey pulled away from Norman, who just stared ahead, shaking.

The door then opened up.

Norman and Hailey looked at each other. He was still crying as she opened the door up, looking out.

"Don't move..."

Hailey stepped out, looking down the low-lighted hallway as the door slammed behind her, followed by Norman's screaming and a note on the door.

'Find the key, save the boy.'

Followed by a crude drawing of Norman cut in half.

Hailey gasped before looking down the hallway, where the figure stood again, with the key in its hand and the lights behind it slowly going out.

Hailey drew a breath before walking up to it.

"Give him back, you bastard!"

Despite her backbone, she looked horrified.

The figure pitied her.

It stared down at her before handing her a keyring of about 200 keys, none of them marked and all of them the same. The figure handed her a note.

'Only one works. You have 5 minutes.'

Followed by another crude drawing of the same situation as prior, just more blood.

Hailey took the keyring, immediately running back toward the door and starting with one of the keys. She took a minute to decipher if any of the keys could have obviously been able to fit through the lock, turning up with one slightly smaller one that she stuck in, opening the door with exactly 3 seconds left to go.

Hailey pulled a tissue from her pocket, putting it where the door met its close, so it wouldn't shut completely as she looked around for Norman. It was still pitch black and silent in the room except for a consistent and ragged tapping against the wall..., she walked over and felt around, getting a grip of Norman's shoulder and pulling him up and away from the wall, into a hug as a razor thick enough to cut through someone poked through the wall where he was sitting. He jumped, throwing his legs around Hailey as they both fell to the floor with a groan. Followed by Norman's sobbing, again.

"So that's what that picture meant..."

Hailey mumbled, running a hand through Norman's hair, which he leaned against.

"W-What picture...?"

"Never mind..."

Norman got off the top of her, backing away and toward the door before standing up.

"We can finally leave now, right...?"

"I think so..."

Hailey stood up, wincing, before getting up and heading toward the door, which opened without any issue. She let Norman out first this time.

Once he was out, she followed behind him. The hallway now well lit and almost welcoming in a way.

Norman slowly started walking toward where the reception desk was when they first got there..., only to be met with another door, he opened it, straight into the hallway they just came from, he looked back, and there was another closed door behind both him and Hailey, she looked up at him nervously.

"We need to get through the wall."

Norman nodded in agreement, closing the door back up.

"But what if we're in a basement?"

"That's logical..."

"We should try the ceiling lights instead."

Hailey nodded, holding her arms out for Norman to pick her up and hold her toward the lights. Which he did.

She pulled off one of the light covers and then ripped out the bulbs, pulling herself into the ceiling. Hailey began clawing at the inside of it.

Norman stood below her, watching.

"Anything?"

She shook her head, dropping back down.

"It's straight concrete."

"Concrete? In a ceiling?"

Hailey nodded before looking down.

"Norman."

"Whats that?"

"Norman, that wasn't the ceiling."

He tilted his head, confused.

She pointed at the 'floor.'

"We're standing on it..., the headache you got earlier was the blood rushing to your head..."

He stared down, confused before kicking at the 'floor', which began to cave.

He looked over to her, and she looked up at him as they both began to kick at the cave in the newfound ceiling, causing them to both fall through it, and into the room they started out in.

They both fell against the floor, Hailey getting the softer landing this time by landing on top of Norman.

He groaned, lying there for a moment before a voice glitched over the moniter.

'A-A-Are you two alright?? All our lights went out for about 15 minutes.'

Norman and Hailey perked up, staring at each other as they looked up at the ceiling, which was perfectly fine.

"We'd like to leave now..."

Hailey murmured as she stood up, helping Norman after she was on her feet.

'A-A-Alrighty!'

Then the door clicked.

[herlaqueen]

When I see folks discussing possible flaws/issues for the various SHC houses, most of the time the Badger secondary one is "can overwork themselves/focus too much on work" or something like that.

But Courtier Badger has a darker side too. One that by itself is pretty morally neutral, but has the potential to be used to hurt people, hard.

A Badger secondary will help you notice things about people you meet so you can instinctively understand how to become a relatable person for them. It will take note of what they say, how they say it, their body language. It'll notice the unspoken words lingering between sentences, sideways glances, every hesitation.

With a bit of patience, you'll probably have a good idea of what this person likes and hopes, but also what they fear, about themselves and others. It will point out to you the cracks in them.

And this can be a good thing! It can be very helpful to avoid a potentially explosive topic, or when you're trying to comfort a clearly distressed friend that isn't volunteering much information.

But it also makes hurting people so easy, and during a heated discussion, it's tempting to use this hold you have on their fears and emotions to just make it stop, to gain a moral high ground, or just because right now you think they deserve to be hurt.

Sometimes I look at someone I know well enough and realize: "Oh, I could make you have an identity crisis right now by showing you the ugliest version of yourself you'd still be able to recognize as you and using the right words to make you believe just a bit that there's truth in it".

And then I don't do it, of course, but the... casual way my inner thoughts take note of this and file it under "might be useful someday" is a bit scary. And it all comes from the same place that allows me to give the best Chrismas gifts and just know when it's time to check in with a friend and ask how it's going.

Edited to add: of course, I think every person of every sorting has the means to (more or less consciously) gather information about the people they interact with, and then use it for good or for bad. What I mean is that the way it happens, to me, feels tied to how I use my secondary to more generally interact with the world and other people, as well as the way I'd go if I ever had to actually go that far (hopefully never, since it's a bridge-burning level extreme measure).

[oldguardleatherdog]

let me start by saying, I'm okay to agree to disagree on this, and I respect you greatly as my queer elder. I hesitate to even send this because I don't think this cause is worth dogpiling (and not even the fun way) on anyone against and , like , I will continue to follow and admire you as a mutual who has been through a lot of the hell that I'm going through right now and got to a place I want to someday be. (for context, I am currently housing & food insecure and am trying to live in a queer-accepting city)

Posting will never be praxis, you are my brother in arms no matter what you call trump or cops or whatever. There are some fat liberation blogs that take issue with calling cops "pigs" for a lot of the reasons I bristle at calling Trump a fatass, and like, if someone is actively fighting cops who can and will actively hurt me and my found family, I don't care what names they shout while doing it. So I see where you are coming from and I'm glad you fight for me. I fight for us too, in what little ways I can while I keep me and my found family afloat. I do better work in the community just by existing around people as a living breathing transgender than I could do in a million posts on this website.

I do think that this is a valuable conversation to have, though, even though you are completely right that this is a trivial thing and not at all the bigger, more real issue at hand. I think it's still important, on online platforms such as this, to talk about how we refer to the other people on this planet.

Think about why you didn't call Trump a "retard". You certainly could have, it doesn't *not* apply to some of his behavior. I know people of our generations once used that word a lot, and we don't anymore. Why and when did we change that? I honestly don't remember. For me, my aunt was medically classified as "retarded" and she was the best person I'd ever met, so I decided that word shouldn't mean bad things. The first time I ever hit someone was over them using that word in a derogative way. it wasn't about "mental illness positivity" it was about humanizing the people that word has been used against - people who have been stigmatized and oppressed with that word.

Right now, hopefully, the same thing is happening to the word "obese". Fat people are less likely to be hired, granted loans or secure housing. they can be kicked out of airplanes and fired from their jobs because of their body size. There have been laws proposed to take fat children away from their parents and "treatments" proposed to wire children's jaws shut and starve them to make them thinner. They are often medically mistreated and misdiagnosed. I once went to a doctor with an ear infection and instead of antibiotics, he prescribed me *bariatric surgery.* I have been refused transgender top-surgery because of my BMI, which keeps me at a passively higher risk for self-injury and worse.

I do not care about body positivity. Honestly, between being fat, trans, and poor, I'm at a point where I've given up on ever feeling good about my body again. All I care about is getting jobs and meds and keeping a roof over my family's head and food on our table. Normalizing the idea that fat is a bad thing that anyone can change continues that stigma. When you use Fat as an insult, you are saying fat=bad. Fat is a neutral thing that some bodies can be, like short or tall or lean. The revolution needs to be intersectional, and body size is another axis of oppression that needs to be acknowledged, just like sexuality, gender, race, class, disability, etc.

If you've gotten this far, thank you for hearing me out. I'm sorry that others are just performatively parroting the same things over and over. Civility is bullshit, and if you still want to use body shaming as one of the ways you fight against bigotry, it doesn't really matter to me. Just as long as you acknowledge anti-fat bias as part of that bigotry too.

Thank you for writing and sharing your life experiences with me, and for your solidarity as well. You're striving to make your way as part of a despised minority in a world that's turned unspeakably harsh toward you in an aggressively mean way seemingly overnight, and I admire you for the life you have lived, for your courage and perseverance during this difficult time where resources are scant and your housing and food security is uncertain at best.

(FWIW, after I was bombed out of my Lower Manhattan home on September 11th, my income went from six figures down to nothing overnight, and I was homeless and destitute for years. Twenty years ago, I was where you are now, and I can tell you that what you're enduring today will not last forever, that there is light and hope and blessing in your future, that you're not as alone as you might think, that you must never give up.)

What more can I do to make the point that "fat" has nothing to do with this? As I've said, I grew up obese, and it wasn't until I enlisted in the Army at age 17 that I was able to free myself from my violent and abusive family and unlock the potential of the body that had been hidden under layers of fat and shame all my life. I know that my path is not for everybody, that many others are not so fortunate, and I ceased long ago to think that fat equals bad or lack of character or any other pejorative attitude that society has attached to it for generations. I hope I've made that clear and that you take my word as truth.

I am not saying "let's fat-shame Donald Trump to make him feel bad." I am saying that I'm deeply troubled by the LGBTQ+ community prioritizing hurt feelings over the very real damage that's being done to us right now all over the country by Trump, his minions, his proxies, and his cult of bloodthirsty followers and worshippers. Trump's accomplices in Congress and state legislatures and Moms For Liberty are taking over school boards all over the country, banning books and emptying library shelves and harassing teachers and librarians to the point where they're being run out of town, where the State of Missouri has defunded its entire public library system rather than follow a court order to restore books banned just for featuring LGBTQ+ characters.

DeSantis and Abbott have put in place policies that are unspeakably brutal, that are forcing trans people in Florida to slowly and brutally revert to their pre-transition state, that have given health care providers in Florida the right to deny treatment to you and me and all LGBTQ+ people because we are gay, lesbian, non-binary, trans... but God forbid we should call Trump mean names!

We've seen what happens when we buy into the "when they go low, we go high" fantasy pipe dream. This is not the way the world works, it has never been, and we need to put this loser idea in the trash bin where it belongs once and for all.

We're being attacked and harmed in unspeakable ways that are happening now. This is not theoretical or hypothetical. It's happening to us, to those we love, this minute and every minute of every day. And worse is in the pipeline - they're writing laws that will place us under virtual house arrest, that will regulate where we're allowed to go in our own cities and towns, when we're allowed to be seen in public, when and where we can shop, how we're allowed to dress, even what we're allowed to say and SING, for Christ's sake!

And I'm supposed to be concerned about some minuscule hypothetical percentage of my own people being OFFENDED because I'm somehow being insensitive and violating some trivial picayune social justice warrior philosophy, because there's a possibility of some fragile flower taking it personally, and that I should shut my mouth and let the MAGA nutjobs run roughshod over us? Oh, come let Daddy kiss it! while our brothers and sisters are suffering in real time. Sickening.

Anyone who has a problem with my stance doesn't have to follow me or emulate my proven effective tactics as an activist with 37 years of successfully defending our rights under my belt if they're so dainty and delicate and easily bruised. Everyone else that sees this for the strawman bullshit it is, get ready to hit the streets with bullhorns and whistles once again. We've got work to do.

Your arguments are strong and well-reasoned, and I accept and acknowledge everything you're saying. We can disagree on this, certainly, and still work together to turn back the progress that the MAGAs are making, restore our rights, and protect ourselves and each other. But that will require the snowflake contingent among us to get their collective head out of their collective ass, stop whining, and get with the damn program. Calling me names and telling me I'm being a bad gay activist is a waste of time and energy that should be spent fighting the fascists and the haters who are out to kill us.

And to you, my friend and fellow traveler with a radiantly beautiful soul and spirit, I urge you to hang in there, to keep the faith, to keep caring about life, to work with me to secure our own future and the future of our kind. I send to you my very best wishes, energy, and prayers that you will find your way to a place of health, security, stability, and love for yourself and for this precious community to whom we've both dedicated our lives, who mean the world to us.

Yours In Service, Animal J. Smith