#is there a meaningful difference between the two? (do i really love my friends?)

[luna-azzurra]

do you have any advice for writing a love confession without making it grossly cheesy or awkward?

im writing one between long time childhood best friends that are EXTREMELY close and im so stuck

Since these two characters have been best friends for a long time, the confession should feel like it’s built off their history together. Maybe start with a memory that’s meaningful to both of them. It doesn’t have to be a huge, dramatic moment, something small but personal, like a time they supported each other or a running joke they’ve had forever.

For example, one of them could say something like

“Remember that time we got caught in the rain walking home from school, and you made up that ridiculous song to keep me from freaking out? I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately… and I realized that’s when I first started seeing you differently.”

When people confess their feelings, especially in a real and vulnerable way, it’s usually not in flowery language. If you try to make it too poetic or dramatic, it might feel forced. Instead, keep it honest and straightforward. They don’t need to say “I’ve loved you all along” in some grand, movie-like way. Let the confession come out more naturally, almost like they’ve been fighting it for a while and finally just have to get it off their chest.

You could have them say

“I don’t really know how to say this, and it might sound weird… but somewhere along the way, I started seeing you as more than just my best friend.”

There’s no way for this kind of confession to be totally smooth, and honestly, that’s what makes it feel more authentic. They’ve been best friends forever, so there’s going to be nerves, maybe some hesitation or stumbling over words. Lean into that awkwardness, it actually makes the moment more relatable and shows how important it is to them.

Maybe one of them starts talking, realizes they’re rambling, and tries to correct themselves. Like

“Okay, wait, that sounded dumb, let me start over. What I’m trying to say is… you mean a lot to me, more than I’ve probably ever said out loud, and it’s kind of terrifying because I don’t want to mess things up between us. But I’ve gotta be honest, this is how I feel.” The vulnerability in admitting they’re scared to ruin the friendship makes it more heartfelt and real.

This is probably the most important part! These two aren’t just falling for each other out of nowhere, they’ve built this strong, deep friendship over the years. So the confession should acknowledge how much that means to them. Make it clear that the romantic feelings don’t take away from their friendship but add to it.

You could have one of them say something like

“You’ve always been the person I turn to for everything, and that’s not gonna change, no matter what. But lately, I’ve been feeling something more, and I can’t keep pretending it’s not there. I just hope it doesn’t mess things up between us.” This way, they’re emphasizing that the friendship is still the foundation of everything, but they can’t ignore the fact that it’s evolving into something deeper.

Overall, just make sure it feels true to the characters and their relationship. Don’t feel like you have to tie it up neatly with a perfect line or a romantic kiss right away. The beauty of this kind of love confession is that it’s messy and emotional, and it should reflect the complexity of their relationship. They don’t need to have all the answers right away. Let the moment be about the honesty and the fact that they’re finally admitting something that’s been building for a while.

Maybe end with something like

“I don’t know where this goes from here, but I had to tell you. You’re too important to me to keep pretending like I don’t feel this way.” This leaves room for both characters to process what’s happening without forcing a big romantic resolution right away. It’s more about them taking that first step into new territory, which feels more genuine and in line with the close friendship they’ve had for so long.

[hungryslothwrites]

what is love! baby don't hurt me. don't hurt me. no more.

[hermetiqa]

How do they feel about you?

Close your eyes and take a deep breath before picking a pile. If you feel drawn to more than one pile, it's alright, you may take the piles that you're drawn to. What's important is to take it how it resonates and leave what doesn't.

PAID READINGS LIST

TIP ME HERE

FEEDBACK

NOTE: Please feel free to give me a feedback on my asks about the reading!

Pile 1

This person is happy around you. I can see that their feelings are overflowing around you and they feel like your relationship is meaningful. To them, your relationship is deep and truly important. They're excited to see where your relationship is going and they're already in the stage of feeling intimate. They feel like there's an opportunity and a lot of potential between you. I can also see that this person is protective of you. They treasure and value you deeply and this person might have a strong masculine energy. They are willing to do anything to protect and defend you in many situations. This person wants to provide for you, maybe they're generous towards you. But I feel like this person is also in a confused state. They're unsure about how they feel, or maybe they don't want to admit it to themselves. But they're really attracted to you and they want to approach you and express how they feel about you, but they might have some baggage from the past which is making them feel like they're not worthy of love. You might be seeing signs of their feelings already. In this case, you might have to give them assurance and make them feel like they're worthy of love too.

Pile 2

I can see that this person feels like you're "the one" for them. They're content with you and you're like a dream come true to them. They want to show you off to everyone, especially to their family and friends. I feel like you might be dating or in a situationship. But this is changing. This person might be ready to transform your relationship into something deeper. They might commit to you because they realized that they don't want to lose you and they know you're both serious to each other. They were holding back because maybe you're in the early stages yet and your relationship moves too quickly, but now they're certain that they want this relationship with you. They're willing to work on this with you. This person is looking at your relationship in a different way now, in a better perspective. They appreciate you a lot. I feel like you bring out the inner child in this person and they feel like they don't have to pretend around you. It's like they can talk to you about anything, even their personal problems and struggles in life. They feel like you really understand them, not just on a surface level but on a deep level. Their feelings for you are getting deeper and beyond the potential they saw at first because now, they see that the relationship that they dreamed of is happening in reality.

Pile 3

This person is determined to show you and make you feel that they love you. They're willing to work hard on your relationship and make it work even when things get tough. Their love language could be acts of service and they might believe that actions speak louder than words. They want to show their love for you through actions. They're committed to you already, whether you made your relationship or not. They're patient towards you and your relationship. I feel like you're the feminine energy and this person is the masculine energy. They're willing to fight for you and protect you at all costs to the point that they might come off as overprotective. I can see that you might be friends or (close) acquaintances right now but this person wants to take things on a deeper level. They want to start anew, in a romantic way. They want to be in a relationship with you and they are excited about this because there's a lot of potential between the two of you. They're curious about you and where this relationship leads them. But no rush, because this person is patient with you and they don't want to rush you. They might prefer to take things slow because this brings out more stability and harmony in the relationship.

[maplebellsmods]

Expanded Storytelling Relationship Bits Mod

I'm so excited about this! Revamp your Sims' relationships and unlock a world of storytelling possibilities with Custom Relationship Bits!

Whenever I play the game I always wanted to be able to visually see how each relationship was different so I thought it would be a great idea to add more relationship bits in the game. 

I don't know if I am the only one who loves to open the Sim Info Panel and look at the different relationship descriptions between sims. Gone are the days of generic labels like "Friend" or "Romantic Interest." With Custom Relationship Bits, you can now give your Sims personalized and meaningful relationship titles that reflect their unique connections. From "Childhood Sweetheart" to "Love-Hate Relation" and a lot more, the possibilities are endless. 

This mod is perfect for storytellers who want more depth and nuance in their Sims' relationships. Some of the custom relationship titles add depth to your Sims' interactions and help to shape their narratives. 

You can access the relationship bit option my pressing on the target sim while you are in control of the sim with whom you want to set the relationship by clicking on actions and then the Enhanced Rel Bit Pie Menu. 

Above you can see all of the possible relationship bits you can choose from. They also each have their own description. (The Secret Admirer Rel Bit is the only one-sided bit)

Some of the relationship bits have interactions that come with them. I would love to make more and expand on them but I don't know if this is something you would be interested in so let me know. 

More about some of the interactions:

Travel to Visit Long Distance Partner will have your sim leave the house for about two days and return with possible different moodlets.

With the virtual date option your sim will video call their long-distance partner for a few hours and it will make them really happy.

Star-crossed lovers can share a forbidden kiss. And sims who have a love-hate relationship can share an "I hate you"(kiss).

That is all for this mod! A lot of it is cosmetic, But I think it can really help relationships between sims feel more distinct. 

Does this mod require any DLC?

No, it does not.

What else do I need for the mod?

Lumpinou's Mood Pack Mod, so it is required for the mod to work properly.

You can get her mod here.

If you already have it great! But make sure it's up to date. Otherwise, it will break the UI

Maplebell Pie Menu: Download Below. If you already have it ignore. 

More Kisses Mod here. If you don't intend on using the kissing interactions you don't need to get it.

Questions and concerns you might have?

I want to remove the relationship bit

After you set the relationship bit an option to remove it will appear in the same pie menu.

Some interactions aren't showing

The interactions depend on the relationship bit you may have with a sim. For example, only sims who have had a summer romance can "Share Summer Memories. Only Study Buddies can quiz each other, only long-distance relationship simmers can have virtual dates etc...

I'm experiencing some weird bugs!

Let me know, please.

Report it here: Mod Bug Report

Public: 18/06/23

Download

[ladyriot]

Once upon a time, I used to believe that the reason I read Rizzoli and Isles' Dean arc as queer was the way he came up in the fight that Maura and Jane have in the first episode of season 3, wherein Maura directs specific vitriol at Jane's "boyfriend" in her anger at feeling betrayed when Jane shoots Paddy. I've realized recently that it all starts much earlier. As in... the literal first episode. And it's actually, subconsciously, been one of the major reasons I ever interpreted Jane and Maura as potentially queer for each other.

In Jane and Maura's first scene on screen together, Dean makes an appearance that reveals a tension between the two women and plays off of their earlier intimacy.

First, Maura and Jane display their close, intimate relationship as they survey the crime scene. Both Maura's immediate defence of Jane as she chastizes Korsak for not warning her it was a Hoyt-like crime, and Maura setting Jane's broken nose present them as intimate.

This is placed almost immediately next to their meeting Dean for the first time, reinforcing him as a stranger, even an interloper onto that scene of intimacy. Maura indicates her interest in Dean non-verbally (which reads as intimate too), and further, she reads the potential for Jane's territorial behaviour to emerge and both gives a little warning and phsyically steps between them.

Because of Maura's displays of intimacy and knowledge of Jane, Jane's response of outright aggression becomes more meaningful. Her posture shift does not only indicate a desire to threaten Dean's intrusion onto her crime scene but also Dean's intrusion into her intimate connection with Maura. Jane slants herself as if she's offended she's not an option.

Um... what is that thing about how you point your feet at the person you're most engaged with in a social situation? There has to be some meaning about where you point your pelvis...

Anyway, later scenes show us what Jane looks like when she's inviting romantic attention from men, and that involves her making herself smaller, making herself look less sure and aggressive, and leaning into traditional femininity. It's quite the opposite of what she's doing here, which I read as laying a claim... on the crime scene but also on Maura.

This is fascinating because, at first, I'd mistakenly believed it was Maura's queer jealousy that cropped up first, but this reading actually presents the opposite scenario.

This kind of framing comes up again, in this same episode, when Jane flees her apartment to stay at Maura's for the night. In Maura's guest room, Jane spies to see who Maura's nighttime visitor is, and then they have that exchange on the bed. The question of Maura's potential attraction to Jane comes up in the same brief span as the question of whether or not Maura has ever had a crush on the same guy as her best friend, intermixing these two potential attractions in such an interesting way.

It's almost like Jane is giving mixed signals here. She's asking Maura if she's attracted to her only in joking terms... because for some reason she doesn't feel like she can ask it seriously. But as their conversation turns towards Dean, and their supposedly shared attraction to him, I'm instantly reminded of the concept of some of Eve Sedgwick's work on homosociality and erotic triangles and how those theories have impacted my own understandings of love triangles in media. I'm going to way oversimplify it here, but essentially when two people of the same gender are vying for the attention of the same different gendered love interest, I'm more interested in the bonds presented between the two of the same gender — whether it's rivalry, intimacy, potential sexual attraction (especially when it's wrapped up in taboos, social norm violations, and repression), or some complex mix of the three. And just, wow, this connection between Jane and Maura is ripe for that kind of reading. It becomes really easy to read Jane's "pursuit" of Dean as a way of attaining conventionality through a connection that also engages her potentially unconventional attraction to Maura (and a resistance to admit that) by being with someone Maura finds attractive. Jane isn't really showing attraction to Dean, but she is very much going for the closest conventional relationship she can that partly expresses her repressed, "taboo" attraction. (I wonder now if this contributed to my reading Jane specifically as a lesbian, rather than bisexual, through most of the series, but that's a bit besides the point).

Doesn't this just make it so interesting how Maura had physically insinuated herself between Jane and Dean?

It's also significant for me that when Jane does pretty herself up with lipstick to go see Dean, she rebuffs him and is consistently iffy about him despite the so-called attraction she admits to Maura. It's also very much giving that repressed queer experience of having a crush on a girl and being so jealous of her relationship, but not being able to conceive of yourself as queer, so mistaking that for a crush on her boyfriend. You know?!

Later on in the show, when Jane is with Dean, there is still so much to this dynamic. Maura calls Jane on a date with Dean and she immediately runs to meet her, choosing her, prioritizing her. It's what makes it so sick-inducing when, after Maura reveals that she doesn't know if she wants Jane to catch Paddy, Jane goes on to tell Dean the FBI agent with a hard-on for catching criminals at all costs about his presence in Boston in a specifically romantic scene. You know, which then causes a chaotic scene that requires Jane to shoot Paddy after feeling up his daughter to set her up on a sting... There was so much wrong with that, I'm honestly surprised there was a moment in Maura's tirade for her queer jealousy to slip in, but it does.

Hell if they're not in big fat queer love with each other, whether they admit it or not.

[hectateovrhere]

Soul, Body, and all

Pairing: Neteyam x male Metkayina reader, eldest son of Tonowari ( the chief)

Summary: you, the aloof eldest son to the chief, do ( your unexpected friend) Neteyam’s ceremonial paint and things get intimate.

A/N: idk how to write summarys but hopeful the story makes up for it this is more first time posting so hope y’all enjoy :) also I added “lore” just to make it more meaningful. Idk-

There was a comfortable silence that hung over you two. Neteyam sat infront of you his eyes catching every detail of your face. You didn’t know what to say and neither did he. An unspoken bond between you two. You were evasive and slippery you were loved but no one really knew you. The chiefs son was what you were and a great warrior; that’s all the reason your tribe needed to love you. You were adamant on keeping everyone at arms length; you weren’t interested in relationships, even with your siblings. No connections meant no feelings getting in the way of what you believed in. no one could have gotten this close to you but somehow he did.

You traced the structure of his face with white paint sharp and delicate at the same time; he stared as you focused. You place your hand on his shoulder as you got closer you grabbed the yellow paint and outlined his eyes with dots.

“What is the ceremony for?” Neteyam broke the silence

“It’s very spiritual… it allows you to be placed under eywas protection and our protection.” You fingers glided down his neck Neteyam gulped at your touch. “The paint is very important each style is different- they have a unique meaning each of us learn a different technique.”

“What does mine mean?” You pause for a moment coating your hand in pale green paint.

“Kind-hearted. A protector and protected.” You place your hand on his chest you feel his heart beating. “A special soul.” Your painted hand print was left on his chest Neteyam refused to utter a word as if they were jammed in his throat. The wind rushed past you with a whistle and the waves crashed to the shore in a musical pattern.

“Turn around.” You ordered softly now it was your turn to break the silence. He obeyed silently his strong back faced you. Coating your hands once again you place them on his shoulders pushing inward to his shoulder blades replicating that of wings. Your hands halted at his braid.

“Can I?

Neteyam nodded slowly you moved it to the side he shivered as you dotted the outline of his spine.

“The back represents freedom and your choice to look after those around you. A leader. People will follow you anywhere.”

“Will you?” The words slipped through Neteyam’s lips. He cringed at the way it came out like his body reacted on its own ignoring the brain and following his heart. It yearned for you. He failed to figure out how to express it to you and the looming possibility that you didn’t feel the same way terrified him. He couldn’t bare the thought of you slipping through his fingers.

Neteyam’s ears twitched at the way your hands paused. He prepared for the worst. What could you possibly think of an outcast?

“You want me to follow you forever?” You reiterated with a light chuckle; Neteyam flushed he knew it came out wrong. Of course he knew you had your duties you were the chiefs son; you made a promise to your people. He knew all about that; it was him once upon a time. It sounded like he wanted you to run away with him to drop everything and leave.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Neteyam whipped around catching you by surprise you took notice to the distance between you. The short distance you watch his pleading eyes you could tell he was struggling to find the right words to say.

“I want you by my side and I want to stay by yours.” He explained “you’re the only person that makes me feel okay with never going back home. I want to stay with you.”

“What are you saying?”

In that moment time stopped all you could feel were his soft lips on yours. you weren’t sure what to do you’ve never kissed anyone before- you’ve never been this close to someone before. Neteyam was struggling as well both of you unsure about what to do and how to continue but doing it anyway; eventually you got the hang of it syncing with his movements. You could feel his energy enter you, careful not to touch him with your painted hands you attempted to deepen the kiss you wanted to be closer.

Neteyam understood what you wanted and did it for you basically grabbing your head and pulling you towards him. An unfamiliar feeling erupted in your stomach is this what it felt like? To be kissed? You never thought you would experience it. You seen your parents kiss and other people your age do it;but it never interested you. Now you could see why everyone liked to do it; it was nice you felt connected to him like you could feel what he felt, his senses were yours and the world seemed to melt away.

When you both pulled away everything felt cold by the way Neteyam was looking at you he felt the same way.

“Do you understand what I mean now?” He questioned his voice was gentle. you placed your forehead on his; your eyesight being filled with his deep yellow eyes only. You saw him for who he was and all he could be; you saw his heart and mind, his internal battles and his responsibilities. You unraveled before him he saw you, he knew you and you felt free knowing someone finally understood you.

“Neteyam..” you trailed “I see you.”

His eyes widened at your confession “I see you too.”

Your lips met again you held each other delicately disregarding the paint on your hands. this time there was less of a struggle both of you had somewhat of an idea on how to do it; all that mattered was the way it made both of you feel. He caressed every inch of your skin like he had been waiting an eternity to do so. Every inch he followed as if to memorize your body; your skin burned where ever Neteyams wandering fingertips grazed; every touch felt like fire and you savoured every second of it.

Neteyam embraced your warmth accepting it into his body, he could feel your soul. He silently thanked Eywa for guiding him to you this was her plan all along.

He was the only one for you. There was no one else. He was worth losing everything over and you would die before you gave your heart to another. Though you were young; in your heart you knew Neteyam was yours. Soul, body, and all.

[antianakin]

Any thoughts on the Jedi and romantic relationships? I get that they're allowed to love/have feelings and such, but, idk, my understanding is that they generally prefer to have “selfless service to the Republic/Galaxy” as their only major commitment.

I think Jedi can HAVE romantic relationships but they'd look a lot different to what we normally conceive of as a romantic relationship. They'd likely end up feeling closer to a friends with benefits sort-of deal or maybe a queer platonic relationship (without the necessity of being queer, obviously). They can't HAVE a commitment to their partner beyond like... the basic compassion and respect they show to everybody, so the relationships would always end up relatively casual. A lot of people interpret the Jedi as being a basically aro/ace society, so I think that using aro/ace relationships as a basis to understand how they might approach romance is probably a good place to start. One of the things I really like about looking at romances from that perspective is that it really breaks down some of the expectations of what's necessary in order to qualify as a relationship, romantic or otherwise. Sex, intimacy, living together, etc. These are all things that often end up a dividing line between friendship and romance, but aro/ace relationships can blur those lines a lot. So while those things CAN define the difference between friendship and romance, they aren't the ONLY things that could do so and, for some people, might not qualify as a difference at all.

I think that Jedi in general are okay with the idea of relationships being ephemeral and ever-changing. A lot of relationships these days work on the concept that people are always growing and changing and so the perfect partner will grow and change WITH you over the years. But I think the Jedi would accept that that's not always possible and that it's entirely natural and normal for the relationship not to remain romantic forever, but that that doesn't make the relationship meaningless or that any friendship would have to be terminated along with the romantic relationship. Relationships aren't meaningful because they last, they're meaningful for any number of reasons the people involved in them might decide on. Maybe someone went through a difficult mission and what they needed from a partner was very different for that moment, but as they healed, their needs changed and the relationship ended but the fact that this person was there for them would still remain very meaningful and the relationship remains important regardless of whether the romantic/sexual portion of it stayed. Maybe certain people come in and out of romantic relationships with each other, and it's not a will-they-won't-they type of deal, it's just that they gravitate towards each other during different periods of their lives and they allow themselves to just... go where the Force leads them, but it's not what they need or want ALL the time.

I also imagine the Jedi are just impeccably good at long distance relationships because they don't put all of their happiness into a relationship with one person and the relationship is never their top priority anyway, so they can manage being away from someone for long periods of time without it negatively impacting the relationship itself and could probably start the relationship up again years later without it feeling like a big deal.

I personally headcanon that the Jedi don't even necessarily have specific labels for their relationships and there's a lot less of a firm line between things like friendships and romantic relationships for them. A romantic relationship is going to look very different for different people and all that matters is that the people involved in the relationship agree on what it is and what the boundaries are. So two people might be in a relationship that could seem like a romantic relationship but that both people insist is NOT romantic at all. Or the opposite, two people seem like there's nothing romantic between them from the outside but if you asked them they'd both confirm that that's exactly what it is. Labels like boyfriend, girlfriend, (romantic) partner, husband, wife, spouse, etc all tend to come with specific expectations attached to them that the Jedi would probably agree with on an ideological level and just plain be uncomfortable with on a personal level.

This opens the door for the Jedi to have any NUMBER of different kinds of relationships with different people that allow them to remain very fulfilled in their life without needing constant access to a romantic partner, hence being a lot better with the long distance relationships. Maybe they have one person they really like doing more romantic stuff with but there's someone else that they have a more friends with benefits style relationship with and tons of other people that are friends without romance or sexual additions to it that can run the gamut between being mentors, peers, or students of their own. I imagine they'd be pretty open to the concept of polyamory since they don't do major commitments to romantic partners, so the idea of having multiple romantic or sexual partners would be fairly normal and not that big of a deal.

I think Jedi relationships often end up seeming really complicated and difficult to people outside of the culture but, to them, it really is very simple. It's romantic if the people involved say it is and all you really owe your partner is respect and compassion. It's everyone else who has all of these labels and expectations and obligations that make relationships exceptionally complicated from their perspective. If you just open up a little and expand/loosen your definition of what romance or a romantic relationship might entail, there's plenty of ways for Jedi to have romantic relationships. I do think that these relationships end up generally less compatible with people outside of the Order who don't tend to have similar cultural concepts, which is likely what leads to misconceptions like that the Jedi don't allow love or relationships at all (something we see with Padme, who comes from Naboo which does seem to really emphasize familial relationships a lot as something vitally important if that's what you choose to pursue). It might even be easier for Jedi to simply tell people they don't do romantic relationships or to allow people to believe that than to try to explain their ways to people who are just unequipped or unwilling to understand it.

This is also where I think the clones tend to come in as some of the only people capable of truly understanding the way the Jedi choose to do relationships. The clones aren't allowed to form the kind of commitments everyone else would, they can't make promises to each other that they'll be together forever. And I imagine the clones end up prioritizing finding happiness and pleasure any place they can find it above being faithful to one relationship above anything else. Loving someone means wanting them to be happy and if you're able to give them that, even for a short amount of time, then that's what matters. They'd be forced to get really good at long distance relationships and accepting change is inevitable. And while all of this is coming from really awful circumstances, I do think it'd allow them to sort-of build cultural values that end up pretty similar to the Jedi's and would likely REMAIN fairly similar to the Jedi's even in a happy fix-it AU where they gain the freedom to explore more options. So while most non-Jedi have difficulty being in relationships with Jedi because of how different their cultural values towards romance end up being, the clones are actually a lot more able to adjust to that and I think some of them might even specifically PREFER relationships with Jedi to relationships with anyone else.

I'd love to see some sort of Star Wars media really explore this more. The two options that we end up seeing are Jedi who choose to break the rules in order to be in a relationship anyway or Jedi who choose to avoid romantic relationships entirely (either in a situation like Obi-Wan's where he FEELS romantic attraction and has to specifically walk away from the relationship or situations like Mace or Luminara where we simply never see them interested in romance at any point). We see them be friendly with each other and with other people, obviously, and we know from Lucas that they aren't celibate, so the opportunity is THERE to see Jedi in happy romantic or sexual relationships that are simply more casual, but no one's been interested in actually showing or exploring that yet. My aroace ass would LOVE more representation among the Jedi.

[thequietkid-moonie]

Saw you write for corpse bride, im not sure if requests are open since your bio and pinned say different things but if they are could I get something for Victor? Im a sucker for friends to lovers so maybe something with that? 👀

Friends to Loves w/ Victor Van Dort

[ HEADCANONS ] [ Corpse Bride ]

OMFG thank you so much for requesting this!! I love so much the movie and finally writing for it is so amazing!!! Waaaahhh hope you like it as much as I did!!

Also, so sorry for confusing you, it was totally my bad, I totally forgot to change the one of the bio but thanks for checking both, I apreciate it a lot!! 🖤

Getting to be Victor's friend could be either pretty easy or pretty difficult, he normally doesn't go out of his house and when he does is mostly with his parents, it could be that you two met because your families are friends or because you two agree somewhere

He could be pretty awkward and clumsy at first due not really knowing what to say but wanting to give a good impresion, but at the time pass he will start to feel more comfortable and will start to express more himself

He would prefer if you don't meet his parents right away (and actually prefer to avoid it as long as posible), not that he is embarrased of you but he is afraid for his mother reaction, and even if she takes it well is probably that will say something embarrassing about him and he doesn't want to scare away his probably only friend

Is more likely that Victor will accept you the way you are without much problems, not matter if you are more the shy or energetic type he just wants for you to feel free to be yourself (since you do the same for him, is only right in his mind and even if you would criticize him he prefers to just let you be). If you are more the shy or introvert type he tries to talk more and motivate you to do diferent things together as friends (even when is something new for him) but if you are more the energetic and extrovert type he tries to follow your lead and your rythm, he may complain a bit sometimes for being too much but he just get uses to it over time

It doesn't have to pass much time for Victor to fall in love but that doesn't make it less meaningful, his feeling grows faster that he can notice so it would take him a while to know what he is feeling, and when he does it will take him a little bit of time to accept it mainly because he is really nervous about the whole thing, he doesn't know if he will be enough for you or even if you will ever like him that way

Even before him realicing his feelings it start to be a little bit obvious, since, even if he had already got used to having you around he is more nervous and clumsy around you again, just like he was when you just met, but this time he tries to brush it off by laughing at it, as well he start to trip on his words and sometimes speaks before thinking (more than he used to). While having a crush Victor is stuck between being really nervous and completely comfortable around you

He isn't exactly planning to confess his feelings for you but there are moments where you two are talking in a more serious manner and he just start to talk from his heart and his true feeling slips a little (if he realice it in time he will try to apologize or cover it up). He will only confess if and when he is sure of his feelings for you and that are reciprocated because he doesn't want to risk your friendship, he wouldn't mind too much never telling you his true feelings if he knows you don't like him back

If you are the one confessing then it will take him by surprise, it actually take him a moment to fully process what you have said and is probably that he asks you if it is real, he will be all blushy and flustered, even triping on his words but at the end he manage to express his feelings for you too

It would take him a while for Victor to accept that this is for real and that he is in a relasionship with you and yet he couldn't be happier for it, he tries to be the best boyfriend, the one that you deserve, unfortunately his insecurities sometimes push him a little to much and make him think that you deserve better than him

It would take him a while to get used to being in a relasionship but once he does he will be actually pretty open with you and tries to have a lot romantic and meaningful gestures with you

[waltermis]

Trick Or Treat🎃👻

MASTERLIST ↠ NATASHA ROMANOFF MASTERLIST

Summary: You spend a meaningful day with your amazing girlfriend.

Warnings: none

Pairings: Natasha Romanoff x reader (romantic), Avengers x reader (platonic)

↠↠↠

“I’m back!” you sang out, walking into the Avengers Compound

“Hi detka…” Natasha said, as she greeted you with a kiss. “What’s all this? I thought you said you were going shopping for groceries.” Natasha said, as she inspected all of your ‘groceries’.

“Well, I was… until I saw the cutest Halloween decorations ever!!!” you exclaimed, as you placed your bags on the kitchen table. You dumped everything you bought out of the bags. Soon enough, the table was covered with carving tools, different candies, Halloween colored decorations, and so much more.

“So… you didn’t get the groceries?” Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow at you.

“What is wrong with you!? I tell you that I bought stuff for Halloween and you don’t even acknowledge it?!”

“I dunno, dorogoy. I’ve never really seen the appeal to Halloween.” Natasha’s statement caused you to gasp loudly.

“How are we even together?!”

“What do you mean?”

“I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!! It’s when we can dress up in random costumes, give out candy to adorable kids who are trick or treating! How can you not love Halloween?!” you exclaimed loudly.  Natasha shrugged, smiling at you. “You know what! We’re gonna spend the whole day showing you the best parts about the night of all Hallow’s Eve!” you quickly ran to your shared bedroom, almost bulldozing over Clint and Tony. 

“You still didn’t answer my question! Did you get the food or not?!” Natasha called out after you, but it was too late; you were already gone.

“What’s going on with Smarties?” Tony asked. Smarties became Tony’s nickname for you after the team caught you stuffing your face full of the candy in the middle of the night.

“She’s going on and on about how exciting Halloween is…”

“C’mon Nat. You can’t still be mad about that!” Clint cried out, exasperated. He knew instantly why his best friend was agitated.

“Wait… what’s going on?” Tony looked confused between the two best friends.

“The first Halloween Natasha spent at S.H.I.E.L.D. an agent decided it would be a good idea to place dozens of actual spiders in her room, along with snakes… long story short, they were left beaten to a pulp and are no longer an agent so….” Clint explained, snickering slightly.

“Damn…” Tony chuckled.

“It wasn’t funny then, and it isn’t funny now!!”

“Okay! I’m ready!!” you walked out, dressed in complete autumn colored clothes. You were dressed in a light brown tight-knit sweater with a trench coat and a pair of black high waisted jeans.

“Ready for where exactly?” Natasha questioned.

“We are going to go pick out pumpkins and then we’re gonna carve ‘em! Then all of us are gonna decorate some parts of the compound with the decorations I bought.”

“Moya lyubo–”

“Please Natty? For me?”

“...fine, but I won't guarantee that I’ll like it…”

“Yay! Let’s go!”

“Have fun, you two!!” Clint called out, as you pulled Natasha away.

↠↠↠

“Okay! We’re here!” you cheered.

“Detka… I thought you said that we were going to a pumpkin patch.”

“What no!! That’s what I wanted Tony and Clint to think. Why you may ask, well because my dear Natasha Alianovna Romanoff, we are going to be pulling pranks on them for the entire day!” This caused Natasha to grin widely. She quickly jumped out of the car, and dragged you into the store; nearly pulling your arm out of its socket, might I add.

The two of you spent over 3 hours in the store, but neither of you minded. The whole reason why you both worked so together was because of your love for scaring people. All people saw in your relationship was a pure princess and a dangerous beast but in reality, it was just 2 soft beasts who loved pranks…

The two of you finished your shopping and quickly ran back to the car. 

“Oh, I can't wait for this!!” you said, as you pulled out of the parking lot.

↠↠↠

You and Nat returned to the compound hours after you bought everything you needed without alerting anyone. Your first prank was set up in Tony’s lab, and it was quite simple. Tony had already decorated his lab in the spirit of Halloween, and you knew that had bought one of those witches that played a scary laugh every time you walked past it. So, when Tony was eating lunch, you and Natasha snuck into his lab and hacked into the witch’s voice box. Which meant that you could control when the witch would start laughing. The two of you were quick to leave before you got caught. When you did start the witch’s laugh, you could hear Tony’s girlish scream from across the compound.

The next person you hit was Steve, you painted his suit neon green and also spray painted his shield ‘Hello Kitty’ colors. To say he was frustrated would not bring his rollercoaster of emotions to justice.

After that, you and Natasha hit Clint, Bucky, Bruce, Wanda, and Peter at the same time. The original plan was supposed to be Clint walking into the kitchen where a tripwire was set and green slime would pour down on him before confetti cannons would go off causing the confetti to stick onto him. However, you didn’t expect all of them to enter at the same time, so when Peter set off the tripwire, they were all doomed.

Last but not least, Sam’s room. You knew that he was going to be returning from a mission later that night so you decided to cover his entire room in sticky notes. Everything was covered in bright sticky note papers and you even added the finishing touch of fake spiders in his underwear drawer.

By the end of the night, the two of you were exhausted. Your cheeks hurt from smiling so much, and your stomachs ached from the laughter you two held in.

“Ya tebya lyublyu’” Natasha said, looking at you.

“Did you just say you love me?” you asked, surprised. It was the first time Natasha’s ever said that to you. When you first said it, Natasha told you she wasn’t ready yet and you respected that. But now, hearing her say it for the first time, your heart feels full.

“I did,”

“I love you too.” you grinned before pulling her into a passionate kiss. The two of you drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms but before you could fully succumb to slumber, you heard Sam’s cry of surprise as he entered his room for the first time.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!?!!?!??!”

↠↠↠

1126 words

[moons-of-dewclan]

I was curious how to get your clan really set off? I recently (LIKE EARLIER TODAY JFJSJFJ) started my own clangen blog but idk if it's worthy of Tumblr😭

How can I improve my art and improve my process? You're one of my BIGGEST inspirations ngl you're literally him (or her or they I'm so sorry I never caught your pronouns) but I was just curious on how to be better? If you wanna look, don't. It's like, rlly bad so.... save your eyes. Have a lovely nighttt <33

HELLOOOOO I'M NOT 100% SURE WHAT YOU MEAN BY SET OFF I'M SORRY :{ if you mean to get people reading it, i think it's vastly just luck also appealing to an audience by accident i posted my art online for 10 years (i started posting in 2010 as a wee ka- told you i'm an adult haahahueu) before anyone showed consistent interest and i valued those two or so commenters who occasionally had something to say about my stuff, so much LAKSNLKD. that entire decade i got between 2 and 30 favourites for every piece i posted- usually between 2 and 10- until around 2021 when a making a comic aANNND joining a wolf ARPG group exposed me to many kindred art-enjoyers that wanted to keep up with my goofy stories then for some reason, i posted Dewclan's first page on tumblr and it got way more engagement than any other piece of art i've ever posted SO LAKSDNLKDAS WE CANNOT PREDICT THESE THINGS.. at least i can't if you're looking for engagement, pLS AIM FOR ENGAGEMENT THAT FEELS MEANINGFUL over anything else IN MY OPINION, and it's just my opinion- part of being 'better' is, first and foremost, being able to enjoy your art alone. and then being excited with what you choose to share! even if you don't care about your quality of art, care about the story. if you don't care about the story, care about the process and just having fun. but you have to have fun in doing it, and do it for your own eyes primarily. like if you were alone in a room and creating only for yourself! because, until you happen to find others who like what you're liking, you are then when someone is interested and you get to share that excitement, even that ooone comment on something you care about is OOGHHH SUCH A NICE FEELIN. enter communities, comment on other artists' work, try to make friends! but make sure to remember, if you create with the hopes others will like it, without liking it yourself, you're going to be really broken down if someone doesn't like it FOR you :{ loving your own art is tough work but it's integral to your longterm relationship with drawing ON IMPROVING.. for me, nothing is more integral to improving than finding a way to practice that suits you (looking at live figures doesn't help me at all. i don't know why. it's insane), and having fun doing it. i can't grasp anatomy unless i break it down with shapes. SHAPES ARE EVERYTHING. study the shapes of what you want to draw. break em down by tracing simple shapes over your subject. see if the leg is the same length as the head from muzzle to neck and lock that info in. STUFF LIKE THAT on the technical side of things, it can be super helpful to dedicate half an hour or so to drawing a day- eventually it becomes a habit and you just default to 'oh i think i wanna draw' when you've got nothing else to do. more drawing, more improvement!

HONESTLY THO another important thing is not putting yourself down. i know it's a hard habit to break (i struggle with it outside of art myself!), but it doesn't do you any favours. the more you rag on yourself, the more it'll manifest as something that actually damages your art, AND your relationship with it. let it be fun- don't sabotage yourself! you can be critical of your work and still kind! little tip here, improving can take a while, but experimenting with styles can make an INSTANT shift in how you perceive your stuff. ALSOOO EXPERIMENT WITH DIFFERENT BRUSHES FOR SKETCHING AND LINING. I PROOMISE. PLS DO IT. IT'S LIKE A MAGIC TRICK. i cannNNNOT sketch with a hard brush. everything looks horrible. marker brush tho?? so smooth. full of character. lovely. binary brush sketches? suddenly i'm Anime. pencil brush?? i digidevolve back into baby ka who loved to crosshatch and do semi realism. airbrush??? i explode into atoms actually

i find for a lot of people, they don't need to improve or be 'better' at art, they need to learn to enjoy what they're capable of doing now, and improvement is a byproduct. from what i've seen through the years, unless you work to curb it the negative view of your art will stick with you no matter what 'skill level' you get to bc the calls' comin from inside the house, yknow what i mean 3: it can be a long process to learn to accept your art, and sometimes you just plain grow out of it over time! but in the meantime it can't hurt to make efforts to fight your d e m o n s

I'M SORRY I WROTE SO MUCH IK YOU DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS ALL IT ISN'T JUST TO YOU, ODESSY-CLAN BLOG RUNNER, IT'S AIMED AT ANYONE WITH ARTSY SELF DOUBTS. i hope i phrased everything kindly bc i meant it all kindly 3: i hate to see an artist doubt their work, but THERE IS NO SHAME IN IT. i want to encourage loving it regardless of any flaws tho, even though it takes time!

[tacoma-narrows]

Between the Sea and the Sky!

Hi everybody! Meet the TWO new guys I made between last night and today! Their names are Tarmac (an Aeromorph dog) and Soda (a pooltoy fox), and they've filled a desire for these two specific kinds of OCs I've had in mind for MONTHS lol. They were super fun to design and draw and I'm super excited to do more with them soon!! This piece is relatively simple but more so serves as their introduction hehe

See more about them, including refs and some additional pieces/information below the cut :] (it kind of turns into a huge braindump lmao)

Tarmac is an aeromorph, although a bit more towards the furry side of things rather than the plane side lol. His design is influenced primarily by the Concorde and the Space Shuttle! I couldn't decide for the life of me which of those two things I wanted to use so I thought "why not use both?" and here we are lol. I'm super happy with his design, with the black/dark gray markings mean to emulate the look of the Space Shuttle's thermal insulation tiles and then I really like how the red and blue stand out against the gray. I really like his icon too! I wanted to make it look like a stylized depiction of a plane (mainly a Concorde hehe) breaking through the sound barrier with a sonic boon! In terms of personality, I don't have a whole lot in mind yet. Mostly that he'd be the brave, adventurous type and since he can fly both in the air and through space, he's gonna be friends with Astro too :3

Soda is a pooltoy fox! I have wanted to make a pooltoy OC FOREVER (blame my mutuals for always posting/reblogging so many cool pooltoy OCs hehe). I finally got brave enough to actually give it a shot, and I love how he came out! I was mainly just thinking about summery themes and as I was just trying out different colors and stuff, I thought about orange soda, and that's the direction I ended up going! He's got a big stupid tail [affectionate] and can have either rounded bappy hands or have actual fingers, you're free to stylize that either way! I've only ever drawn a pooltoy character once ever before, so this was something way out of my realm of familiarity, but I'm so happy with how he came out! He's so shaped I love him so much already <33

So those are my two new guys! Making two new OCs at the same time is already a rarity for me lol. The only time it's happened before was when I made Rye and Pumpernickel back in August of 2021. And then making these guys when I had only gotten Astro about two and a half weeks ago means this is an exceedingly rare event for me lmao. My friends know how infrequently I make/get new OCs, so this just goes to show how much these guys have been bouncing around in my brain lately lol.

They are definitely gonna have some sort of connection to each other, but I'm not sure how I wanna go about that yet. Since I made them back to back, they are already connected in my brain, but I'm not sure how I wanna express that in a meaningful way. I don't wanna make them siblings bc, well, they're obv very different from each other lol, but they're kinda parallels (with one being in the sky and the other being in the water yknow), so as of right now they're definitely good friends with each other. I might upgrade that to bfs at some point in the future, but we'll see how things go hehe.

Anyways huge braindump of a post lmao, thank u for reading if u did! I'd love to hear your thoughts on these guys since they're so different from all my other characters! Also if anyone may wanna do an art trade of either of these guys (or Astro as well! I'd like to get more art of him too!) let me know hehe

[swisccfinds]

Expanded Storytelling Relationship Bits Mod by maple bell

This is such an awesome mod, this adds more storytelling, and relationships to the game. It's very realistic in my eyes!

Creator's notes-

July 15th: Feature update available to download now for early access: here

I'm so excited about this! Revamp your Sims' relationships and unlock a world of storytelling possibilities with Custom Relationship Bits!

Whenever I play the game I always wanted to be able to visually see how each relationship was different so I thought it would be a great idea to add more relationship bits in the game.

I don't know if I am the only one who loves to open the Sim Info Panel and look at the different relationship descriptions between sims. Gone are the days of generic labels like "Friend" or "Romantic Interest." With Custom Relationship Bits, you can now give your Sims personalized and meaningful relationship titles that reflect their unique connections. From "Childhood Sweetheart" to "Love-Hate Relation" and a lot more, the possibilities are endless.

This mod is perfect for storytellers who want more depth and nuance in their Sims' relationships. Some of the custom relationship titles add depth to your Sims' interactions and help to shape their narratives.

You can access the relationship bit option my pressing on the target sim while you are in control of the sim with whom you want to set the relationship by clicking on actions and then the Enhanced Rel Bit Pie Menu.

Above you can see all of the possible relationship bits you can choose from. They also each have their own description. (The Secret Admirer Rel Bit is the only one-sided bit)

Some of the relationship bits have interactions that come with them. I would love to make more and expand on them but I don't know if this is something you would be interested in so let me know.

More about some of the interactions:

Travel to Visit Long Distance Partner will have your sim leave the house for about two days and return with possible different moodlets.

With the virtual date option your sim will video call their long-distance partner for a few hours and it will make them really happy.

Star-crossed lovers can share a forbidden kiss. And sims who have a love-hate relationship can share an "I hate you"(kiss).

That is all for this mod! A lot of it is cosmetic, But I think it can really help relationships between sims feel more distinct.

Does this mod require any DLC?

No, it does not.

What else do I need for the mod?

Lumpinou's Mood Pack Mod, so it is required for the mod to work properly.

You can get her mod here.

If you already have it great! But make sure it's up to date. Otherwise, it will break the UI

Maplebell Pie Menu: Download Below. If you already have it ignore.

XML injector

More Kisses Mod here. If you don't intend on using the kissing interactions you don't need to get it.

Questions and concerns you might have?

I want to remove the relationship bit

After you set the relationship bit an option to remove it will appear in the same pie menu.

Some interactions aren't showing

The interactions depend on the relationship bit you may have with a sim. For example, only sims who have had a summer romance can "Share Summer Memories. Only Study Buddies can quiz each other, only long-distance relationship simmers can have virtual dates etc...

I'm experiencing some weird bugs!

Let me know, please.

Report it here: Mod Bug Report

How to install the mod?

Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/Mods <--- Unzip the file and make sure it's placed in this path.

Lets show our support to maplesims for creating a realist love relationship based gameplay mod!

download - patreon

[firefirefruit]

Steel in Her Veins, Chapter: Twenty-One

Read On: AO3 | Table of Contents | Next Chapter

Characters: Fem!Reader x Roronoa Zoro

Chapter Twenty-One: Polar Twwwang

Bepo’s your typical furry polar bear – well, besides the fact that he has no desire to eat people.

An overly-apologetic, teary-eyed honey-addict. Loves to fight but in a way that screams, ‘I’m adorable!’

He’s happy, he’s emotional, and well…he’s Bepo.

So, when Bepo looks up to watch Robin who greets his captain with a palm resting beneath her chin, he truly couldn’t have imagined that the person his eyes would lock on would be her.

Bepo, the white bear who’s never afraid to express his feelings, is rendered speechless. His eyes, pooling up with an overflow of fluid, can’t even manage to blink his tears away as they remain on your figure. Are you real, or is Bepo merely hallucinating? He’s not entirely sure.

Law, sharp-eyed and silent, stares from his first mate to you, meticulously arching a brow in question.

“You know that woman?” He asks, his hand finding solace in the sword that drapes over his shoulder. Always on guard, always paying attention to the little things that no one else notices just yet.

Instantly, Bepo jumps from his spot and helplessly gapes at his captain, giving him a good view of his sharp teeth that, ironically, seem incredibly harmless on this bear.

“You - you can see her too, Law?”

"Yes, I can see her," Law repeats, his gaze flickering between you and Bepo. "But that doesn't answer my question. Do you know her?"

Bepo's eyes dart back to you, his mind racing as he tries to make sense of the situation. Finally, he takes a deep breath and nods, his voice trembling slightly as he speaks.

"I... I think so," he admits, his words hesitant. He looks up, addressing the next few meaningful words to you. "But it's been so long... I never thought I'd see you again."

Everyone aboard sobers up from their chaos, all looking at each other in bafflement.

Robin’s smile grows slightly, a curious glint in her eye evident as she leans further against the banister.

“You know our crewmate, Bepo?”

For a second, you’re rendered speechless, too; is this real, or are you dreaming? You’re not entirely sure.

But after a moment of deliberation, your lips offer Bepo a small smile, your heart warming at the sight of his oh-so-typical tears that dampen his fur in odd lines.

You drape your fingers over the banister and walk down the steps to reach him – one foot closer to your childhood friend - your eyes never leaving his.

"You haven’t changed, Bepo," you mumble softly, your voice filled with so much warmth and a million other feelings. "I've missed you."

Bepo's eyes brim with tears of joy, and he takes a step forward, reaching out to wrap you in a bear hug; there’s no hesitation in his embrace - only pure, unbridled affection.

"I've missed you too, Raya,” he says, his voice choked with emotion. "I never thought I'd get to see you again."

“Ahh~ I might’ve missed something, but how do you two know each other?” Brook politely intervenes, wedging his skeletal body in between the reunited embrace, as if the closer he is to you and Bepo, the more intel he'll be able to get.

And immediately, your mouth runs dry. Your grasp over Bepo’s white furry hair halts in its warmth as your mind starts to think a million different lies on how to spin this away from your lineage.

“Oh yeah!” Luffy pipes up, snapping himself out of his thoughtless daze. He cocks his head. “Where did you guys meet? Do you two go a long way back?”

“Bepo…” You alarmingly mutter in his ear. “They must not know about how we truly met. They do not know who I am – or once was.”

You can feel Bepo’s grip slightly tighten over you, confusion colouring the tense curling of his paws.

“Raya, what—”

But the start of Bepo’s bafflement gets cut off in an instant. His captain, either knowingly or unknowingly, comes to save you from the bombardment of problems that you don’t really want to deal with right now.

“As much as you’d all like to gossip over how our crewmates know each other, this isn’t why we came.” Law narrows his dark eyes, eyes that could cut steel, zoning them in on one pirate, and one pirate only. “What were you fucking thinking, Mugiwara? You saw us coming through, and you still dove into us.”

Luffy grins obliviously, all toothy and wide-mouthed, and simply shrugs. “There’d be no other way of stopping you, Tora-o. You would’ve just run away without saying hi!”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Luffy?” Nami and Usopp snap in unison, gaping helplessly at their dumbass captain.

“I don’t run away,” Law childishly hisses, every syllable cut with a power that equates to a samurai. “I’m expecting you to fix the mess you’ve made. The Polar Tang’s in scraps, thanks to you, and I’m on a tight schedule.”

While Zoro stands nearby and watches the onslaught of a feud breaking out, his arms cross over chest, his expression darkening with each passing moment.

"Oi, Law," Zoro interjects, his voice low and gruff as he steps forward, drawing the attention of the others. "You're making a big fuss over a little scratch. It's not like we sank your damn submarine."

“Really?” Law retorts, angling his head to the Polar Tang. It lays imperceptible, floating in the sea beside the Sunny. “Why don’t you have a look, then?”

With his stubborn eye never leaving Law’s, he proceeds to push himself from the wall. He ambles over to the edge, everyone else running on his heels in anticipation.  

And then, Nami gasps. She gasps so loudly, it sounds like she's suddenly forgot how to breathe. And then…well…

And then, she starts to beat the ever-living shit out of Luffy.

But honestly? You can’t blame her.

The whole thing is just a pathetic corpse with a pirate emblem painted over it.

You and Franky gape speechlessly at the floating piece of…metal…that’s completely isolated in the water like some sort of melting icecap. The once proud submarine now floats like a deflated balloon, its structural integrity compromised beyond recognition.

“It’s….it’s…” you stammer, wide-eyed and giddy with dread.

“…Not super, at all,” Franky finishes off.

You nod aggressively in agreement, gaping at the rest of the Heart pirates who lay stranded on its deck.

“Hmph,” Zoro grumbles, turning his back around to lay on the railing. It’s as if, if Roronoa avoids looking at the destruction, then Trafalgar Law can’t possibly be right. So who really wins then, huh, Law?

“So…” you thoughtfully mutter to yourself.

And the diagnosis begins. With a flick to your craftsman focus, you lean so much over the ship’s rail, that you’re teetering off the edge. Without even needing to ask, Franky holds onto the back of your shirt as you try to get a better look at the Polar Tang. “The under casing looks like it’s about to dislocate…and the bow…. Well, it’s really not a bow anymore…”

“The propeller only has one fin, too…” Franky grimaces, slamming his other huge hand to his head. “Luffy, what the hell did you do?!”

Luffy lays pathetically on the floor, all battered and bruised as his swollen lips gasp open like a fish. “I’m sowwy…”

"This is unacceptable, Mugiwara," Law says, his voice firm and unwavering. "You will help me fix this mess, and for the time being, my crew will take refuge aboard your ship, whether you like it or not.”

Luffy, still oblivious to the gravity of the situation, grins sheepishly under Nami's relentless barrage of attacks. You can’t help but feel intense guilt on behalf of your crew; no one should ever be stranded, especially in what used to be a masterpiece of a submarine, because of your doing – whether it was done indirectly or not.

You whip around as Franky gently drops you to the ground. And for a moment, you look at each other in silent understanding, and in harmony, you both nod.

"Of course we'll help," you interject, your voice cutting through the chaos as you step forward, determination firing up in your eyes. "This is our doing; it’s our responsibility to make it right."

Franky nods in agreement, his mechanical arms flexing in the air. "Yes sir! We'll get this submarine back in shape in no time."

Law's gaze shifts to you, a flicker of surprise crossing his features at your sudden intervention. His sharp eyes linger on your arm, noticing the blackened throb that coils painfully over your skin.

"Not with that arm,” Law refuses, eyeing your skin in what you could only call - morbid medical curiosity. You’re sure he’s really enjoying himself there, with the way he’s marvelling at it. "What happened? It looks like it's been through quite a bit."

You stare down at your rapidly weakening state, a reminder of the torture that you can’t seem to escape, as Chopper steps forward to speak, doctor to doctor.

"Her arm... it's not in good shape," Chopper begins, his voice sombre. "It's been affected by an odd reaction that's causing it to deteriorate rapidly. The cause is unknown and we're still trying to figure out how to reverse the damage."

Law's brow furrows in concern as he listens to Chopper's diagnosis. He steps closer to you, his gaze fixed on your arm with a newfound intensity.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Law asks, his voice softer now, devoid of its usual edge. "I have some medical expertise that might be of use."

You shake your head firmly as your eyes pierces his. “It’s nothing I can’t handle. Right now, fixing your vessel is our top priority.”

Law’s eyes darken, folding his arms before you. “It’s against my better judgement to make you work with your condition.”

Zoro rolls his eyes and tiresomely puts one foot over the other. “Come on, she’s not helpless.”

“It won’t stop me from helping,” you say with your chest, slightly pushing your blackened arm behind your back, as if hiding it will make all of this…concern… go away. Law stares at you for a moment, his lips pursed, and you can just tell he’s thinking, processing for a moment, on the best way to navigate the situation.

He pushes off the banister, taking a step closer to you, a hand reaching out.

“Then let me at least have a look at it before you begin.”

You hesitate for a moment, looking up at the sleep-deprived man with the….really beautiful sword in one hand. No, seriously, who made that? You’ve never seen this type of make before.

"Fine," you relent, your voice softer now as you extend your arm towards Law. "But on two conditions."

Law scoffs, tilting his head at you. “Besides trying to cure you, what else is there that you want?”

You unfold a finger, waving your hand in the free space between the two of you. “Firstly, you’ll do the check-up in my workshop while I work.”

There’s no other better way to say this - Law loses his total cool for a second; he looks down at you, unknowing how to react. “But that’s not sanitary—”

“I have a million things to do, and your submarine, albeit not your doing, wasn’t one of them until now. So you gotta give me some flexibility here - I’m in high demand.”

You grin childishly as Law gawks at you - it seems like he’s not going to argue any further. Good, you think to yourself, mentally rubbing your hands together in glee.

Then, your grin widens even further as you eye the weapon that sparkles in his fingers. A second finger rolls from beneath your thumb, the excitement evident in your voice.

“Secondly, you let me play with your sword.”

[theresattrpgforthat]

What do you think are good games to replicate kingdom hearts would be? in terms of general structure/atmosphere, if that makes any sense

THEME: Kingdom Hearts

Hello friend! I really think you should talk to @monsterfactoryfanfic about this one, and I think you'll see why in a minute.

Kingdom Hearts Re:Roll, by Peach (@khttrpg).

Re:Roll is an ode to the Kingdom Hearts series, built from a love for the games and a desire to translate its mechanics to a tabletop format. Re:Roll draws its inspiration directly from mechanics across the entire Kingdom Hearts series, reinterpreting its features and modes of play into a customizable format. While there was significant effort to make this game easy to use for newcomers, you may have some difficulty connecting with the framework of Re:Roll if you don’t have at least a passing knowledge of Kingdom Hearts.

This game is a fan-game designed specifically to emulate Kingdom Hearts. This will have a lot of elements reminiscent of games similar to D&D - there are difficulty levels, character classes, and stratified combat. The entire game is also free, which is a big bonus in my books! The game is still being worked on, so you’ll see in the link above a number of documents, including Abilities, Classes, Weapon Classes, and a Feedback Form for you to give feedback to the designer!

My Friends are my Strength, by Peizur.

My Friends Are My Strength is a PBTA rpg where players use powers to overcome threats thrown at them, form meaningful bonds that serve as the foundation of their strength, and try to achieve a goal that means more to them than life itself. It is a game where players make friends and draw strength from those friendships. It is a game where players strive to fulfill a grandiose goal. It is a game where anything can happen.

If what you’re looking for is a game about friendship and bonds, My Friends Are My Strength take that trope from many an anime and game-ifies it. I really enjoy the Why Play? section of this game - the designer is able to give you a quick pitch on the kinds of people this game is for. PbtA games encourage collaborative setting creation and often give your players bonuses based on the relationships they have with each-other. In My Friends Are My Strength, this is represented via your characters Bonds, links you will have with other NPCs. If you like games where each character has unique and varied relationships with the people around them, you might like this game.

Interstitial, Our Hearts Intertwined, by Riley Hopkins.

Interstitial: Our Hearts Intertwined is a tabletop RPG about our connections with other people, the power we draw from those connections, and traveling to different worlds.  It runs on the Powered by the Apocalypse engine.

In Interstitial, you will travel through the barriers between Worlds with your party. You'll meet new friends, enemies, teachers and learn about yourself. You will also be able to visit and partake in events in your favorite intellectual properties or your own worlds ala Kingdom Hearts. In short; Take two worlds that don't fit each other, smash them together, wipe away the dust and find out how they do.

This is another PbtA game, like My Friends Are My Strength, but it’s explicitly inspired by Kingdom Hearts, similar to Re:Roll. Interstitial is a game about taking two (or more) different franchises and putting them together - and telling a story that spans both worlds. It has similar themes around the power of friendship, but it gives your game group more freedom to choose which franchises you want to incorporate, while still providing a guideline on how to make sure everything works together.

If you want to learn more about Interstitial: Our Hearts Intertwined, I definitely recommend checking out @monsterfactoryfanfic's video essay about this game.

[hinasho]

I'll tell you what people's problem with The Crow 2024 is — I'm a longtime fan by the way, I own the comics, I watched all the movies, so on.

The Crow 1994 managed to get the soul of the source material (comics). The Crow is a story about overcoming grief and acceptance of death — the author wrote Eric's story during his darkest periods of grief after his girlfriend was killed. So the story of Eric and Shelley have meaning, they are meaningful characters to a lot of people. Brandon's movie, while with some differences from the original story, still carried the same themes beautifully and the tragedy that happened during the filming made people (me included) turn protective over the memory of The Crow and it’s meaning.

There were three other movies after The Crow 1994 but they never dared to touch on Eric's character, instead they created new ones like Ashe Corven, Jimmy Cuervo and Alex Corvis. And those movies suck, don’t get me wrong, but people don’t have a problem with them because they didn't touch on Brandon's Lee legacy and di their best to stay on theme — grief and acceptance. They are their own thing, and that's that.

So did the comics. Eric story is the first main one, but no one took him and tried to continue it, he's pretty much untouchable, he has his beginning and his end. Instead, they created new Crows for their stories: Joshua, Iris Shaw, Mark Leung...There's a long list of existing Crows with their own stories.

The problem with 2024 The Crow is mostly that they called it a remake and took Eric's names to a character that doesn’t even resembles the original Eric — and I'm not saying in physical appearance, I'm saying his essence because the original Eric is a killer of bad guys, but he's also pretty charismatic; he loved life, he was gentle with the little girl Sarah he was friends with, he was kind, he was thoughtful, he even jokes around! Which, to many people, Bill's Eric does not resembles even a little bit of Eric's other than his name and neither does his story matches the themes and soul behind The Crow franchise.

The main gripe The Crow community has with the 2024 version is them taking Eric's and Shelley story, then changing it so much and losing it's soul when the easiest thing to avoid all this controversy and review bombing would've been just be like "Hey, we're making a new Crow movie, but we have created our own original protagonists for it!" just like people have been doing for years, because that's what 2024 Shelley and Eric feel like to people — original characters who just happen to share the names of the OG's.

Anyway, I watched the 2024 version and while Bill did a phenomenal job as always with what he was given and he looks so damn good, the story just...Didn't get me at all. There's not one bit of The Crow essence in there for me.

Hello, thank you for sharing your thoughts! 💞 I finally watched The Crow 1994 and City of Angels today (still need to watch Salvation & Wicked Prayer) so fortunately I now have a bit more context.

The problem with 2024 The Crow is mostly that they called it a remake

So to begin my breakdown: The 2024 isn't a remake of the 1994 movie. This seems to be a widespread misconception. But in all of the clips and trailers Lionsgate has released, they clarify that it's a "modern re-imagining of the original graphic novel". The movie never claims to be a remake of the 1994 film.

Now a fair debate could be how closely tied (or not) the '24 movie is to the graphic novel, which the two are remarkably different, but based on the reviews and comments I've seen, fans seem more inclined to keep comparing it to the 1994 adaptation despite Lionsgate never claiming they were trying to remake that specific film.

So basically, comparisons between '94 Eric and '24 Eric don't really hold up as valid criticisms in my opinion, because the director had no intention of adapting the '24 film from the '94 movie in the first place.

the original Eric is a killer of bad guys, but he's also pretty charismatic; he loved life, he was gentle with the little girl Sarah he was friends with, he was kind, he was thoughtful, he even jokes around! Which, to many people, Bill's Eric does not resembles even a little bit

'24 Eric is still a killer of killers. He only kills those that attack him first or had something to do with his and Shelly's deaths. He never kills needlessly.

In regards to him loving life, 2024 Eric does in droves! He actively hates having to kill so many people and takes no enjoyment out of it. The opera scene, while fantastic, wasn't a fun moment for him. Since her death, you can tangibly feel that all he wants to do is get back to his simple life with Shelly. He loves her and he loves the life they had.

As for him being charismatic, I can see your point there. In the graphic novels (from summaries I've read), GN Eric does have a morbid sense of humor and at times played around with his kills before finishing the job. His relationship with Sherri was brief but sweet and he gets a cute cat!! He continues to form relationships even after Shelly's death because of his charisma and kindness.

From a writing perspective, I believe all of these moments are intended to humanize Eric given the GN begins with him as The Crow pretty much immediately. We are introduced to him already in the throes of his grief and seeking vengeance.

In contrast, the '24 film paces the transition MUCH slower with the first act being about how Shelly and Eric meet, and the growth of their romance. I believe Director Rupert Sanders used those scenes to humanize the characters instead, which he accomplishes as both Eric and Shelly feel like they're just normal people dealt a shitty hand who only want to live their lives together. You can see the love they shared and how pure it was.

Basically, the core of the characters remain the same, just told in different ways throughout the story. In the graphic novel, James O'Barr humanizes Eric & adds levity in the midst of the carnage, while Rupert Sanders adds it before the carnage. Despite the timeline differences, both succeed in showing that Eric isn't a mindless murdering machine, and is just a regular guy who's been driven to the point of madness.

(It still would've been a nice touch for '24 Eric to adopt a cat for Shelly in the movie though.)

Bill's Eric does not resembles even a little bit of Eric's other than his name and neither does his story matches the themes and soul behind The Crow franchise.

From my understanding, the main themes behind the franchise are grief, the difficulty to move past it, and divine justice.

All three Erics suffer from visions of Shelly, who's memory plays on a feedback loop as they go about their spree. Something both the '94 and '24 films don't do, however, is touch on GN Eric's self harm tendencies. Which isn't a criticism! I'm merely discussing the different ways they show Eric's state of mourning.

The inability to move on is also still prevalent in the '24 movie. It's an active choice Eric makes when Kronos gives him the option to get his life back, and instead Eric submerges deeper and signs away his soul. He steps into it with his eyes wide open knowing he's damning himself forever.

Meanwhile in the graphic novel, Eric is already submerged. He is already a walking corpse, the embodiment of a heart so broken the only way to put himself back together is to weaponize the shards of his loss. I believe this is who '24 Eric develops into after the second act when he signs away his soul.

In the first act, he is human. In the second act, he is transitioning, and in the third act, he has truly become The Crow. Too deep in grief to escape it. The main difference between the '24 version and the GN version is that we see '24 Eric's journey to reach that final stage. It's the difference between character-focused narratives vs parable-like storytelling. Neither is inherently better than the other, just different.

And when it comes to divine justice, hmmm.....

In the GN, Eric and Shelly are killed and brutalized due to a completely random act of evil. The gang that killed them and assaulted Shelly had zero connections to the couple and were just some cruel, awful randos off the street. Based on what I've read, Eric nearly kills all of them without difficulty. Most of his hardship comes from his own bouts of depression and misery.

(By the way, by having the villains all be mediocre average goons, and majority of Eric's troubles be psychological, the GN focuses more on the danger of all-consuming grief, highly likely because of the trauma James O'Barr was experiencing when he wrote it. Meanwhile both the '94 and '24 films have Eric struggle a lot more during his fight scenes, elevating the danger of his physical opponents. But this is a tangent, back to what I was talking about!)

By all of them being average goons, the story gets across that: yes normal everyday people can and are capable of atrocious acts of evil, and yes they deserve to face the brunt of their crimes and divine punishment.

However in both the '94 and '24 movies, Eric and Shelly's deaths are not random and are planned crimes to silence Shelly. And both come up with a "big bad" for Eric to face off against. In the '94 movie, it was Top Dollar, a criminal kingpin, and in the '24 movie it's Vincent Roeg, a rich executive who's also a crimelord.

BUT what the '24 film does differently is that Roeg is also a supernatural being himself, who's made a pact with the devil to trade innocent souls for immortality.

This is probably the only area in which I agree with OG fans on that a central theme was changed. Because by making the main antagonist "unnatural", it's no longer about everyday, normal people committing horrible evils. It's about a supernatural entity on par with The Crow.

I think Rupert Sanders wanted to focus more on the supernatural aspect of The Crow universe. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing and definitely made for a fun movie, but I do agree with OG fans that the "grounded" nature of casual human cruelty was lost in that regard.

By implementing this change, the weight of Eric's vengeance is also changed. Because now it's no longer just personal. As the character of Kronos says in the movie, they need Eric to kill Roeg because he and all the deaths he's caused are unnatural and they essentially need Eric to tip the scales back into balance. While Eric's primary motive is still about doing right by Shelly, there's now an element of saving the world from an unnaturally superpowered tyrant, rather than the everyday cruelties of man.

So in this aspect, I do agree that a core theme was changed between the graphic novel and the 2024 movie. This still doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad story, just that Rupert Sanders had different intentions.

Because this still connects to the previous theme, the inability to move on and cope with death. Except now it's portrayed in the antagonist as well. His power is completely about his refusal to accept his own mortality. However, this does, like I said, detract from the normality of evil theme. So it's basically a gain and a loss 😅

(Plus, as I was writing this, I thought about how Eric's motivation is changed as well. In the '24 movie, Eric's goal is still to do right by Shelly, but it's to save her. Because if he succeeds, Shelly will be resurrected. This adds a noble spin to his killing spree, whereas the GN and the '94 film are solely about overwhelming rage at the loss of a loved one. There is no resurrecting Shelly. It's about enacting divine justice against their killers before traveling to the afterlife together. They're already dead and there's nothing GN Eric can do to change that, unlike 2024 Eric.

On the flip side, while this "nobler" take may feel like a negative change, I think it's countered by the fact that Eric succeeds in saving her, but is still dissatisfied because he's unable to actually be with her. GN and '94 Eric were able to find peace and reunite with their loves. '24 Eric only gets about 5 minutes before she's resurrected and he's stuck in purgatory forever.

At the end of the '24 film, both Eric and Shelly are dissatisfied as they can no longer be together. It's a bittersweet ending that feels more bitter than sweet. So while there is a "nobler" cause behind Eric's actions, the tone of the story is still very grim.

This is also why I believe the way the 2024 movie ended was with the intentions of a sequel where Eric does achieve his own peace. But that's a different conversation!)

...the easiest thing to avoid all this controversy and review bombing would've been just be like "Hey, we're making a new Crow movie, but we have created our own original protagonists for it!" just like people have been doing for years, because that's what 2024 Shelley and Eric feel like to people — original characters who just happen to share the names of the OG's.

Sure! I don't disagree. Well, I don't really think anything deserves to be review bombed unless it's content that's actively harmful. But I don't disagree with the original protagonists angle. Changing the names couldn't have hurt.

That said though, and I say this as gently as I can, Eric's character existed before '94 Eric and does not need to end with the '94 movie. I think it'd be one thing if the 1994 movie created the story of The Crow and that was the first iteration of Eric's character. But... it's not.

Multiple re-imaginings and adaptations of books / comics have been around since forever. The show Smallville and Man of Steel both adapt Superman in wildly different ways. Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew has had five different adaptations, and yet no one shits on 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) or Deliver Us From Eva (2003) for being modern re-imaginings. Awhile ago, me and my friend were discussing our favorite adaptations of the Little Women novel. Her favorite is the 1994 film while my favorite is the 2022 modern Kdrama!

I bring up all of these examples to say that there is REALLY nothing wrong with doing modern re-imaginings of older works, and tweaking characters and plotlines to reflect the changed style of the story and time period.

What's most important is that the heart of the story is kept. At the end of the day, The Crow is about an innocent man who enacts divine justice against he and his lover's murderers, while struggling to cope with her loss. Based on the graphic novel and what I've seen of the 1994 movie and the City of Angels sequel, the world of The Crow says that life can be fair and that no matter how high, or low, or cruel, or spineless, someone is, that karma is a bitch and it IS possible for them to reap what they sow.

I truly think the 2024 adaptation captured that feeling, even if it may look different than what people might be used to or expected.

Instead of being upset about how unexpected it is, try going in with an open mind and seeing the story Rupert, Bill, and FKA Twigs wanted to tell. I've read and seen a few interviews by now, and these three were genuinely passionate about the characters & story, and you can feel that in the movie.

And even if you still have no interest, the other parts of the franchise you do enjoy aren't going anywhere. The 2024 adaptation doesn't effect them in any capacity. The stories you love still exist and the new addition can't harm or take them away from you.

[emilybeemartin]

Inktober Days 13-15

Day 13: "Rise"

Rangers sometimes talk about their “heart parks”—the intimately special ones that make us go dreamy-eyed and nostalgic. Grand Teton is my heart park. During undergrad, I was going through a rough patch, missing my backcountry work in New Mexico and feeling out of place at Clemson. I told my friend that I “just wanted to go somewhere.” He asked if I wanted to go for a walk. I told him no, I’d like to go to the Grand Tetons. I don’t know why I decided on that particular place in that moment—I’d never been there and had only ever seen photos of the famous mountain group. But my friend said sure, we could go to the Grand Tetons. He proceeded to lead me outside student housing, checked the cardinal directions in the sky, and struck off northwest. I followed him. We walked around campus for hours that night, talking about a hundred different things. It was the first time after returning from New Mexico that I’d felt really heard, really understood, really happy.

A few months later, that friend became my boyfriend, and a few years later, that boyfriend became my husband. There was no question about where we would honeymoon. We went to Grand Teton.

Day 14: "Castle"

I’ve been struggling with what to say about Mesa Verde, because this site was so incredible to visit that I almost can’t put it to words. I experienced it while conducting my master’s research between stops in Navajo National Monument and Chaco Canyon. Visiting these cultural sites, tied together by sociopolitical events and natural disasters over the span of centuries, drove home how vast the network of humanity was in the Ancestral Puebloan era. These places were huge hubs of activity and massive feats of architecture—not castles, but communities humming with life, love, loss, struggle, wealth, and beauty.

Mesa Verde was also the only place I saw a ranger bring an audience to tears with the emotion in his program. I audited over two hundred interpretive programs that summer, but I remember lowering my clipboard during this particular tour of Cliff Palace, in awe of how powerfully the ranger was able to connect visitors with his own familial ties to the Ancestral Puebloans who had lived there so long ago. The goal of interpretation is to facilitate a meaningful connection between the visitor and the resource, but never have I ever seen anyone do it so profoundly as that ranger in Mesa Verde, 2011.

Day 15: "Dagger"

White Sands preserves practically the entire span of human history, from fragments of ancient blades up to the space shuttle and missile launches. But it's the beginning of that timeline that draws me toward this gleaming gypsum dunefield.

I remember where I was when the news dropped—in the Apgar ranger office with a handful of other Glacier rangers. I was working on my hunting and gathering program, where I discussed old facts about projectile points and atlatls, but I stopped when another ranger swore in shock. An email had come through to our NPS accounts with new research out of White Sands. Human footprints preserved in the ancient sediment had been dated--- not to the 13-16 thousand years old we typically associated with the earliest humans in the Americas, but to 23 THOUSAND YEARS OLD. In one short email, our whole office's reckoning of human history almost doubled. Our minds were blown. We celebrated like a bunch of lads after a World Cup win. This world that we walk! Footsteps over footsteps over footsteps! What a privilege.