#it doesn't help that tiny little things tend to set me off

[ketchfantrolls]

classes are kicking my ass but at least i have. a cat i suppose

[mapis-putellas]

Braids

Pairing: Nat x you

Words: 1100

Warnings: none

Summary: You and Natasha had only been together for a few weeks when you ask to braid her hair.

Notes: Yikes. It’s been a while. I’m so sorry. I hope this cute fic makes up for it.

The atmosphere was almost peaceful as both you and Natasha lounged on separate sides of the couch. You were idly watching her from the corner of her eye as she focuses on the laptop screen in front of her, hands distractedly flickering through the pages of the book you were planning on starting.

She was clad in one of your hoodies along with a pair of grey shorts; her hair down and a little mused from the way she would continuously run her hand through it. You often found yourself wondering if it was as soft as it looked. How soft it would feel in between your fingers.

You see, you and Natasha had only been together a little over four weeks, so the tentative relationship you did have was still very new. You'd held hands once or twice. Kissed a few times more. Chaste pecks that never trailed off into anything more. But that was it. No hugs had been given, and you'd yet to know how it felt to hold her body against your own.

Though you longed to hold her in your arms, you found that you didn't quite mind waiting. Good things come to those who wait after all. Well, that and the fact you knew months before you'd started dating that she was a very guarded person, and that wasn't going to change just because the label on what you were was different.

"I can feel you watching me, you know." You hear her speak, and your eyes flicker away from her hair to her face. Her eyes, you notice, remain on her computer screen, but the tiny smile present on her lips does not go amiss.

You sigh contently as you turn in your seat to face her, your back now pressed against the arm of the couch whilst your legs sprawl out in front of you. "Just admiring." You admit, your voice a mere murmur.

Natasha's fingers still on the keyboard of her laptop as her eyes finally meet your own. The emotion in them was undecipherable, just like always, but they do soften at the sight of you sitting before her. You couldn't help but melt slightly at the sight as you reach over to the coffee table and set down the book you never did get the chance to open.

Eyes once again meeting her own, you finally bring yourself to ask the question that had been on the forefront of your mind since you'd sat down.

"Can I braid your hair?"

You brace yourself for the rejection, but much to your dismay, it doesn't come. At least, not straight away. Natasha simply stares at you, mouth slightly agape as though she was attempting find a plausible answer to your question.

She clears her throat, eyes flickering away from you for just a moment before they return.

"Braid my hair?" She seems to finally find her voice, the sound of it alone making your heart race.

You nod, swallowing the sudden tightness in your own throat. Natasha stares at you for a little moment longer before she nods. It was just once, almost unnoticeable, but it was all the confirmation you needed. With more confidence than you felt, you let one of your legs fall to the floor and pat the now open space in between them.

Natasha hesitates for only a second before she was setting down her laptop and scooting herself towards you. As she settles, you place your hands on either side of her waist in a silent question. It was only when she nods again do you tug her backwards just slightly, the insides of your thighs now settled snuggly on either side of her hips.

"Good?" You question in a mere murmur, and she vocalises her agreement with a soft hum as your hands begin combing through her hair. It wasn't necessarily tangled, but you didn't want to accidentally snag any loose strands like you tended to do with your own hair. Soon, you'd parted the top her hair into three thin strands in preparation to start the intended dutch braid.

A comfortable silence seems to settle upon you, and you can't help but smile softly when you feel Natasha's hands rest almost tentatively on each of your thighs. You risk a gentle kiss against the back of her head, immediately rewarded by the feeling of her body relaxing completely against you.

"Nearly done." You reluctantly break the silence as your fingers begin to quickly finish the braid, and Natasha hums in acknowledgment as you grab the hair tie off of your wrist and secure it with ease. As you bring your now unoccupied hands back down to your lap, you watch as one of Natasha's own rises to feel the top of her head. It lingers for just a second before a satisfied hum escapes her lips.

"Dutch?" She questions knowingly, and you smirk slightly as you nod your head and place another kiss to the back of her head.

"Good guess." You muse, and Natasha looks back at you with a smirk of her own.

"It wasn't a guess." She tells you simply as her head settles against your shoulder.

"You're just that good huh?" You tease, craning your head slightly to you were more or less face to face with her.

"Damn right." Natasha smirks as she leans forward to affectionately graze the tip of her nose against your cheek, the appendage scrunching up cutely when you press a gentle kiss to it, and you roll your eyes fondly as your arms settle around her waist.

Tight enough for her to feel secure, but loose enough that should she choose leave your arms, she could do so without issue.

Your heart races when Natasha settles her hands atop of your own, choosing wisely to ignore the way they tremble slightly with what you could only assume was nerves. Instead, you simply press your lips against her forehead hoping to alleviate whatever fear may be there.

"Nobody likes a smart ass." You murmur as you pull away.

"No?" Natasha grins slyly as she turns herself in your arms so she was more or less cradled. You accept the change of position with ease, keeping one of your arms beneath her whilst the other loops around her stomach to meet the other that had come to rest on her hip. "You like me."

You sigh heavily in fake exasperation, "Unfortunatel-Hey! What was that for?!"

**

I hope you enjoyed 😊

[grandlinedreams]

You probably hear this a lot, but your writing is amazing. I’ve spent hours just going through your works and they all tug at my heart. Is it possible to request a lax x reader where he realizes he’s been overworking the reader a bit to much. Like, asking her to do something while she’s already working on something else he asked for. And maybe poor reader gets frustrated but tries to hide it.

Hiya!! Thank-you so much, it really does mean a lot to me that people enjoy my rambling hehe ㅡ but also absolutely, I can do that!! I hope that this is to your liking bb!!

He doesn't mean to, you know he doesn't.

But you're still a human, and there's only so much that you can do at a time ㅡ and Law tends to forget it. Sure, he delegates tasks to the others, but you seem to be the one he entrusts more difficult ones to and you're honored, truly ㅡ you just wish it weren't so much all at once.

Case in point, he's sent you out into the main town of this island for supplies, both crew-related and not, the list varying wildly from pantry staples to medical supplies.

You don't mind, you tell yourself firmly. After all, he's done so much for you ㅡ the least you can do is take on whatever he asks of you without complaint.

It's a whirlwind of activity as you flit from place to place, amassing a pile of neatly wrapped packages, boxes, and brown paper bags that only seems to grow with every stop. (How you're going to get all of this back to the Polar Tang is beyond you, you have no nifty powers like your Captain.)

Your muscles ache by the time you find a second to rest, studying the remaining items on the list and eyeing the sack full of berries that Law had sent you out with. You're almost done ㅡ and you smile to yourself, pride tempered by the abrupt growl of your stomach. Right ㅡ you haven't eaten yet today.

"I'm making good time," you mumble to yourself, "so I could grab lunch..."

Neatly folding the list, you tuck it into your pocket along with the money for said items, retrieving your own pouch of personal coin and set off to find something to eat.

The closest place ends up being a little shop with a refrigerated display case showing off various sandwiches and salads, along with neat rows of carefully shaped onigiri. Your expression lights up.

"Could I get two of the grilled salmon onigiri, please?" Given that he'd been in the middle of studying when he sent you off, you have no doubts that Law has yet to eat anything either ㅡ and since you're using your own money, he has no room to complain, either.

It's as you're watching your items be wrapped up that you become aware of the low 'purururu' from your pocket, rummaging to retrieve the tiny transponder snail. It's made in your Captain's likeness, from the tiny speckled cap to the shadows under its eyes.

Hurriedly handing the waiting cashier the berri needed, your attention shifts back to the snail as you answer it. "Captain?"

"[Name]," Law answers, "have you finished getting supplies?"

"Well no, Iㅡ"

"Good, I need you to add a couple more things." You bite back a groan of weary annoyance. Of course there's more. It takes a second of fussing to find the list, mouthing a "thank-you" when you're handed a pen to scribble it down. "Have you got it?"

"Yes, Captain." There's the click on the other line, and you huff. "Wouldn't kill him to say 'thank-you'..."

Food stacked as carefully as you can on the pile of purchases, you set off to resume retrieving the rest of the (now longer) list.

"Do you need help with that?" Concerned, the last store owner watches as you struggle to lift the massive pile, parcels at the top wobbling.

"No, I've got it. Thank-you though," you answer, trying to keep the strain out of your voice as you stagger off in the direction of the Polar Tang, muscles straining under the weight.

How you manage to get everything onto the submersible, you don't know ㅡ only that your body aches something fierce by the time you've hauled the last armful onto the deck.

Vision obscured by the boxes in your arms, you jolt as your boot hits the corner of a box and makes you scramble to correct your balance.

"Gotcha!" Fingers snag in the back of your shirt to keep you from falling over, but there's nothing to be done about the sway of the items on top ㅡ the food you'd picked up for yourself and Law ㅡ and you watch as your food topples from it and busts open on the deck.

Wonderful.

"You good?" Penguin peers at your face, finding you staring silently at the mess of food on the floor. Law's onigiri, at the very least, remain neatly wrapped on the stack of boxes. "It's okay, we can clean it upㅡ"

"[Name]." Both you and Penguin look up to find Law standing by the door, taking in the stacks of supplies before he continues. "I needㅡ"

Need. Need, need, need ㅡ frustration mixes with exhaustion in the way you tremble, snatching the onigiri from the pile and striding towards Law.

"All due respect, Captain," you say flatly, shoving the food into his hands, "but either ask someone else, or do it yourself."

And then you're gone, trying not to stomp your way to the bunkhouse. Law turns, startled by the way you've talked to him, the thinly veiled insubordination ㅡ and then down to the pair of onigiri, smell of grilled fish reaching his nose.

"To be fair," Penguin pipes up, "you've been running [Name] pretty ragged lately. They're usually the last one to go to bed and the first one up, so maybe...go a little easier on them?"

Law frowns. Has he been asking too much of you as of late? You've never complained, simply offered a "yes Captain" and continued on. Tasks got done, things completed. But then again, you shouldn't have to complain for him to know it's too much for one person to handle.

It's guilt that has him turning to head for the bunkhouse, knocking tentatively before he opens the door and steps in.

Your back is to him, blanket tugged up around your ears, and he can see you tense as he approaches. "If you're coming to tell me my punishment for talking back," you say, "I'll accept it."

You sound so tired, and it makes Law feel even worse for continuing to add things to your seemingly never ending task list. "I'm not going to punish you," he says. "If anything, I think I'm the one who deserves punishment for not noticing how hard I've been working you."

"I don't mind." You still won't look at him. "It's just a lot to handle at times."

"I know." Law plays with the wrapping of the onigiri. "And I apologize. I rely on you for a lot, and I appreciate what you do for me, for this crew." He pauses. "I also apologize for not saying that enough."

You're quiet for several long moments before you roll over to look at him. "I forgive you."

A small smile tugs at Law's lips. "Good," he says, "but I need you to do one more thing for me." You frown as you sit up, eyeing him warily before he offers you one of the onigiri. "Eat with me?"

You blink, then take it from his hand and meet his gaze, an answering smile curving your own lips. "Of course, Captain."

[thepixelelf]

Huff, Puff

genres: modern werewolves/vampires/etc, established relationship, fluff, pouty whiny cheol pairing: human reader x werewolf scoups (hints of reader & vampire jeonghan) words: 1.1k warnings: descriptions of blood, a bullet wound, and injury. kissing. implied desire to go further but it doesn't happen lol. notes: for those of you in the notes of this post and this post. I gave in. it's 4:30 am and this idea wouldn't let go of me until I wrote it so I really hope this holds up for y'all. if people like it I might continue this story because it seems like an interesting (funny) plot to keep going

When an injured vampire shows up at your door, you're of course there to help. But your werewolf partner is more than a little wary of this vampire's intentions.

Seungcheol, for the record, not that anyone cares, not that anyone's asked, does not trust Jeonghan one bit.

He never has -- it's one of his many unwritten rules in life. Never trust a vampire. They're conniving little shits, all of them.

And Yoon Jeonghan, the conniviest, little shittiest of them all, is asleep in Seungcheol's room upstairs. In his bed. Snuggled up and comfy in his 100% Tencel lyocell silky cooling sheets.

"You're overreacting, Cheol," you say as you pull a pillowcase over one of the pillows in the guest bedroom. Another one is already covered and fluffed, set on the side of the bed Seungcheol would normally sleep on in the bed he shares with you. The one currently occupied by a lying, scheming vampire.

"Vampires don't even sleep," Seungcheol tries to tell you. sitting cross-legged on top of the comforter. "Why should he need our bed?"

You scoff, the sound coming out softly. There's a tiny, defiant smile on your face, and normally, Seungcheol would find that hot. Right now he's not exactly in the mood.

"Okay, first of all, isn't the whole 'no sleeping' thing from Twilight? You're the one who told me most of that stuff was inaccurate."

Crossing his arms, Seungcheol huffs through his nose. "It... is. But still--"

"And second of all, you saw how he was when I opened the door." You shiver at the memory, and Seungcheol reaches over for you. He scoots to the edge of the bed, hooks his legs around yours, and pulls you so you're standing right in front of him. Keeping his legs around you, he puts his hands on your waist, hoping you absorb his warmth through your pyjamas. He looks up at you just as you play with the ends of his hair near the nape of his neck, your other hand on his shoulder. You sigh. "He looked like a dead man walking."

"He is one."

You smack his shoulder lightly, but he managed to make you smile, so he doesn't even feel it. "You know what I mean!"

Seungcheol does know what you mean -- when Jeonghan had shown up at your door with no prior notice and a silver bullet in his shoulder, you played the part of strong, confident human for just long enough to dig the bullet out and watch Seungcheol carry Jeonghan into your bedroom (upon your insistence, of course). After that, you confessed to Seungcheol that you might faint if you had to clean up the bloodied living room floor. Seeing Jeonghan's skin crawl over his exposed flesh as soon as the silver left his system must have been jarring for you. The entire thing had to have been.

So, Seungcheol wiped up Jeonghan's dark ichor from the floor while you took a breather outside. When you returned, you wanted to check in on Jeonghan, and like hell was Seungcheol going to let you go alone. He didn't care how shot Jeonghan was.

You knew how protective Seungcheol tended to be, but you also knew how tense things were between your boyfriend and the vampire, so you compromised by having Seungcheol hover in the doorway while you brought a warm towel to the bedside.

Jeonghan took in a sharp breath when you wiped the sweat off his forehead, and the hairs on the back of Seungcheol's neck stood up. He growled when Jeonghan wrapped his lithe fingers around your wrist.

Without looking at Seungcheol, you held your other arm out, palm facing him, stopping him from approaching. He snarled, but you kept your arm up, insistent that he not interfere.

"Oh," Jeonghan breathed out when he opened his eyes a sliver. "It's you." He closed his eyes again, the slightest of smiles on his lips. "You smell nice."

Seungcheol swears this isn't his "never trust a vampire" rule talking. That smile looked straight mischievous.

He pulls you closer, wrapping his arms around you. His legs have relaxed, just resting on either side of you now. He presses his face into the soft fabric of your pyjamas. At least you don't smell like Jeonghan. That would be too much.

"I don't trust him," Seungcheol mumbles into the fabric.

You chuckle softly, still trying to stay quiet for your sleeping guest upstairs. "You really think Jeonghan faked all that to -- what? -- sleep in our nice bed?"

"Maybe..."

Or maybe to get close to you. But Seungcheol doesn't put that out there.

Bending over, you press a kiss to the crown of Seungcheol's head, then bring both your hands just under his cheeks. You tilt his face to look up at you, smiling when you see the exaggerated pout on his lips. Another kiss gets pressed to his forehead.

"Jeonghan is harmless," you say when you pull back. "There's a hunter in town, and he knew I could help him because none of you weirdos can touch pure silver. That's all."

Seungcheol's pout deepens, and his hands on your waist tighten their grip ever so slightly. "I dunno..." he mutters.

"You don't know?"

"Maybe I need some more convincing." Seungcheol straightens his back, lessening the distance between his face and yours. He takes one hand off your hip to poke a finger to his cheek, eyes bright.

You roll your eyes but smile, and you lean down to press a short kiss to his cheek.

"More."

You kiss his other cheek.

"More." He pouts his lips out, clear in his intentions.

You kiss his forehead again.

Seungcheol fully whines, reminiscent of a puppy. He wraps one arm behind you and tugs you closer (somehow, if possible) impatiently. His other hand taps a finger against his bottom lip, as if he couldn't make it anymore obvious.

Laughing, you rest your arms over his shoulders. "You're a hard man to convince, Mr Big Bad Wolf."

But you kiss him anyway, pressing the lips he loves so much against his with a smile. The corners of his own lips spread too, upon contact, and his hand travels to the back of your thigh, pulling one of your knees up onto the bed.

"I could be bigger and badder, you know," he mumbles against your lips, a smirk teasing at his face.

You break away from him, bottom lip caught for a second between his teeth. "Maybe another night, love. We've got a guest with super hearing upstairs."

Practically rolling over him, you get comfy in the smaller guest bed, smiling at Seungcheol when he flops down on his side with a heavy sigh.

Yoon Jeonghan is not only a conniving, little shit of a vampire, but a fucking cockblock, too.

[marisaeon]

Sweet

a sweet moment between Leon, Ada, and their daughter. (I named her Alicia! A-li-cia What do you think? :))

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A cut on his left cheek. The results of a fight he broke up earlier... While he was out, he saw two men fighting in the store. Deciding to he the hero and seperate them, he ended up getting a few blows himself. But his daughter doesn't need to know that.

Leon decided he'd enter the house quietly, taking the walk of shame to the bathroom and tending to his wounds. Avoiding the questions of his wife or child.

But, his plans are immediately ruined when he walked past the kitchen to be immediately spotted by Ada.

"Look who's home, Alicia." She smiled at her daughter and motioned with her head towards Leon, who was behind the little girl.

Alicia turned, looking at him with a big toothy grin. "Daddy!" She screamed, jumping down from the counter and running over to him.

Leon picked her up, taking her in for an embrace. He purposefully laid her head on his shoulder, so she wouldn't see his face closely.

"Hey, sweetie. Did you have fun today?"

"Yup, tons of fun!" Alicia wrapped her tiny arms around his neck.

He watched nervously as Ada got closer to him, obviously inspecting face. His cheek bleeding, and dirt rubbing into certain areas.

"...Oh yeah? What'd you do?" Leon continued to talk, looking at the woman in front of him clearly.

Ada spoke now, "We played doctor... Wanna show him what you learned?"

The little girl gasped, raising up her head to look at her mother. "Yeah!"

"Go get the bandaids and we'll show him, okay?"

Alicia nodded, breaking free from her father's hands as he sets her down on her feet. She runs off to the bathroom, trying to find her bandaids.

Ada crossed her arms, tilting her head ever so slightly to look him in the eyes.

"What happened to you?"

"Two drunkies fighting over nonsense. I guess they didn't like me much."

She reached to touch his cheek, lightly grazing over some dirt that clung to it. "I told you already, stop breaking up fights for strangers like this. You'll get seriously hurt one day... You know Alicia wouldn't like that." Ada sighed. "I wouldn't either."

He frowned. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

Before she could say anything else, their daughter came back with her bandaids. They were in a pinkish box, with cartoon animals on it.

"Look, hun! Daddy's got a cut on his left cheek. You gotta patch it up." Ada exaggerated it, to make it more like a game.

The little girl looked determined as she ran over with the opened box, reaching for her father's face. Leon bent down, coming to her level as she struggles to peel off the paper back of the plaster. This gave him a clear view on what was about to go on his face. A pink and splashes of purple backdrop with a bunny on it. He has to say... Not really his style. But he can't complain, he's getting taken care of by his little girl.

"Here, let me open it." He offered.

"No! I can do it." Alicia stubbornly snapped back.

She got it open right in that moment, and gently stuck it onto his cheek. She announced that she was all done, and Ada couldn't help but laugh at the event in front of her. It was sweet, seeing a heart warming thing like this. Compared to the nights where Ada would stitch up his wounds, another scar to be had on his back and arms.

Leon smiled at his daughter. "Thank you, sweetie. I feel better already." He touched the bandaid, smoothing it down on his cut.

A little later, he went to go properly patch himself up in the mirror when he finally saw the plaster on his face. It stands out so much, and yet he loved it. He'd have to take it off to clean the wound.. Leon peeled off the bandaid, taking alcohol and pressing it into his cut. He dried it off, and put the plaster by on. To his surprise, it still stuck to his face. Leon smiled, it really was special.

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A little something while I finish up the 3rd chapter of "When I saw you"!!!

My aeon daughter finally has a name now, if you've been here a while you'll know I'd always just call her "little girl."

I had a few suggestions before, and I'm grateful for that! But I decided on this :D

Hope you enjoy this!! Cya with that 3rd chapter soon (.◜◡◝)

[writing-now-andthen]

could you possibly write a (possibly smutty) sub!jd x fem!reader fic where he keeps trying to subtly drop hints that he wants her to take the lead, but she is pretty oblivious to it, until he finally comes upfront and says it??

Okay I was trying to do these in the order I received them but yk what I'm straight up cherry picking and I choose this one <3

This is like hella short cause I kind of just pumped this out, I'm trying to get back to posting again also ngl I totally skipped out on making it smutty

(set in 1989 btw)

Jason Dean x Reader

Nsfw

3 times JD hopes you know what he wants + 1 when he tells you (yes okay I tried to do 5 + 1 and only got to 3 before being like nevermind this is where I stop)

1

The thing about JD, well one of the things is that if he starts making out with you he instinctively comes in strong, he's pushing you against the nearest surface, his hands are exploring your body- the point is it's hard to back track out of that when he comes in so strong. It's easier when you initiate, then all he does is kiss you back, he tends to match the energy you bring.

You're on his couch and and you kiss him once gently, he kisses you back after you pull away. You're eyes meet his, then close as you bring your lips together again, this time longer. He pulls you onto his lap, he likes the control you have when you start grinding into it. So take control, hold his wrists, grab his throat.

but you don't.

2

"We could try these."

And he scratches the back of his neck and he's holding hand cuffs

And you. You assume because he's JD he wants to cuff you and you would not at all mind reversing those roles but he probably wouldn't be into that right? So you say you wanna cuff me?

And he says he'd love to and yeah he really would it's just... He had something else in mind but you know what nevermind he can try again another time. He does want you to... y'know... He just doesn't want to say it. He was kind of hoping you would suggest the cuffs go on his wrists, then he wouldn't have to say it, he'd just need to not object to it.

3

He's holding your purse for you because you saw a tiny little frog and wanted to pick it up. Your purse is cute and feminine and no he does not mind.

This is Sherwood, Ohio and in 1989 it's home to beer guzzling, high school peaking, Kurt Kelly, and as your coming to take your purse back he just happens to be walking by.

And he says

"Nice purse! What's it feel like being your girls pet, flamer?"

And that's it and he gone. And its whatever, but come to think of it he actually brings up an interesting point.

"How nice." JD unfazed and he pulls you in close to him. He kisses you and he doesn't drop the confidence or his flirtatious energy when he asks you "So how about it..." He kisses you before the second half of his inquiry "you uh, want me to be your pet?"

He's smiling and he's looking you up and down. The way he says it... He could be kidding, he could just be acting flirty.

Or.

He could be totally serious and hoping you take the hint and tell him you'd love to dom him and he'd look so pretty on all fours. But you don't take the hint and you don't say that.

+ 1

The two of you are sitting together on his couch when he says it.

Well not so much sitting on the couch as making out on top of it. Only this time when you put your hands on his chest he grabs them and asks if you put them somewhere else.

You position your hands on his wrists, he feels a little nervous but he positions you both so your pinning him to the couch.

It does not help with his nerves when you kind of just pause for a second, it's just your surprised, that's not something you thought was going to happen.

Your still not doing anything.

He clears his throat.

You take control for a minute and kiss him, your forceful, and domineering, and your putting pressure on his wrists. But only for a minute. Next your taking his lips off his just to double check that he's into this, that he wants you to take control.

He chokes a little when you ask him if he wants to sub for you sometimes and do you have to be asking him this right now? Like this? While you're on top of him, and his hands are pinned above his head? He's feeling a little exposed like this and he's very aware of his erection pressing into your body.

You can feel him pressing into you.

"Oh I guess you do like it, so you wanna be more submissive for me?" You nod towards his crotch to illustrate your point.

There's no judgement in your voice, just observant curiosity, but God that doesn't mean you're not making it just a little awkward for him.

He's a little embarrassed. He is not going to tell you he's embarrassed.

He feels like it's worse if you know. So he just nods his head yes and tries to act cool about it.

"So maybe do we could stop using our mouths for talking?"

He is silently begging for you to to kiss him and not ask any follow questions for now.

And you do.

Maybe he'll talk about it some more later.

Masterlist

[alciedoodles]

Hey Neyla! I hope it’s ok that I ask but is there a brush setting you prefer on procreate? I’ve been inspired by your art for eons but I can’t comprehend photoshop. You can totally disregard this if you don’t use procreate though!

Hello! I don't know how long this message's been sitting in my inbox because i didnt check in for a while 🥺 I hope you get to see this either way!

I don't use procreate unfortunately, but I can explain the settings I use for my brushes on CSP in general, and if it works like any other art software then you should have similar settings on procreate

for sketches/linework, I will very often use an opaque & slightly textured round brush. the most important for me is for the brush to have that fuzzy sort of texture that gives the impression of using a pen/marker on paper.

note that i am actually terrible when it comes to line weight, it's definitely not something i work on a lot other than in backgrounds, so I don't actually bother too much with pen pressure settings.

the only rule I abide to is to always set the minimum value above 0 (anywhere between 20-30 is what I use). this is because when I started drawing, I used to be very heavy-handed and would wear out my pens too quickly-- so setting a minimum can help you become more aware of how hard you're pressing on your pen and make gentler strokes.

another fun little setting i use is opacity: like I said, I use opaque brushes for lines, but I like to reduce a tiny bit of opacity when brushing very lightly to give that impression of pen on paper.

There's a couple more brushes I use for coloring or rendering; the major sticking point being that I don't use pen pressure to control brush size that much. If I want to make thinner/smaller strokes, I'll simply reduce the brush size because it's easier for me to control!

(also, opacity is something I'll use a lot more when I'm working on colors)

just know that this is my way of handling it, and it may not suit your style. pen pressure may be another artist's best friend, so please make sure you try out what works best for you :)

finally, some art softwares come with stabilization. I don't use it personally, unless i'm actually trying to do really smooth curves (which is practically never). stabilization can also make CSP lag a lot with higher values and large brushes. the use of stabilization doesn't make you a bad artist or a lazy one, and not using it can make your lines look a tiny bit wobbly if you're not used to doing quick strokes. use stabilization at your own leisure!

on a different note, i know this wasn't part of the question but I'm bringing this up since it's something I tend to hear from people who say they were inspired by my art (thank you by the way🥺💕!!) : don't be misled by artstyles that "make it look easy"! my sketches may look very simple and natural because i'm more adept at bringing out the essential and discarding details in a design. this is not necessarily what you want for your art style; maybe you like drawing details a lot, maybe you prefer the lazy way out going straight to the point. neither are good or bad, only what you like to do matters.

also, if you're frustrated by your work, don't be afraid to draw over it as many times as you want, adjusting things with the lasso tool or deform if something feels off then drawing over again. sometimes you'll be satisfied with your first take, and sometimes you'll need 3 bases before its acceptable (examples below)-- it all depends on your mood, energy, motivation, desired outcome, format, or even just randomness

oh and, sometimes the best way to enjoy drawing..is to find something to obsessively draw (,:

take care!

[imminentinertia]

How to get me to nope the fuck out of a fic part 172: Doing Profanity Wrong

Please don't. I'm begging here. I'll do it Ray style if it helps.

First, let's talk a bit about types of profanity. Just so you know, there will be a bit of vulgar language here (in case that first "fuck" in the title of the post didn't turn you off already).

I'm not going into the functions of profanity, the why we use it and how we use it to achieve our goals for using it, Steven Pinker's The Stuff of Thought is a good starting point for functions if you're interested. What I'm most interested in right now is the what.

The what is often a taboo of some sort, like mocking something sacred, referring to body parts that are considered filthy, fears of invoking dangerous situations like illness or natural disasters. The words used can be grouped into these categories*:

Sex

Religion

Bodily functions

Disease

(Derogatory terms may be considered a function, the why is to cause harm, but it tends to contain terms that don't always belong in the four other categories, and those four tend to bleed into this. I consider it a fifth category of types of words)

Languages and cultures don't use these categories in the same ways. For instance, there's very little left of disease swearing in English ("a pox on you" sounds just a tiny bit outdated, wouldn't you say) but it's alive and kicking in Danish (all word constructions with the word "kraft" refers to cancer, and there are a lot of those constructions). The British Isles and Denmark are pretty close geographically and not enormously different culturally, but the swearing takes different routes.

English uses a hell of a lot of religious profanity. East and South East Asian languages, not so much. There are examples, like mara (まら), a quite rude Japanese word for dick that has its root in the demon Mara (I don't know the precise etymology, but it's possible it has to do with temptation), but it's not anywhere near as prevalent as in Christianity-heavy cultures.

Which means that "for Buddha's sake" does not, I repeat NOT, work as local colour swearing. At. All.

It really is not a problem if you write an English profanity in an English sentence, in your English fic set in a culture that isn't in the Anglosphere. Don't worry about it - the point is that the story needs to flow well, and trying to fit in unfamiliar swearing is likely to end up stiff and awkward.

What you might want to think about is the categories. It's not that E/SE Asians never say "oh my God" or "fuck" in English, we who have other mother tongues often like a bit of English profanity mixed in with our native language, but the patterns for when to swear in English may be different.

So if you pay a bit of attention to how the shows are translated and what swearing choices are made (disregard the bowdlerised translations on fudging IQIYI entirely) and what category the characters seem to use the most, it becomes easier to make the story flow well without anglofying it too much (brimming with "oh my God") or stumbling in asiafying your own language ("oh my Buddha").

Sex and bodily functions tend to be safe bets because there are a number of taboos regarding both in so many cultures they're probably near-universal and only differs in exactly how they're used, but trying to make that super authentic for the source language and culture doesn't necessarily fit well into the language you're writing.

In other words, "shit" and "fuck" and such are likely to work fine for anything.

Also, there are a number of ways to be rude as fuck without uttering a single vulgar word. You can be rude while speaking and acting very politely, even. That's not something that's easy to show in a fic, it's easier to tell it ("he's speaking very politely yet it's the rudest thing she's ever heard"). Not to mention that it's easy to get it wrong when it's a culture you don't know extremely well, so a little vague telling is likely to make your story smoother than a detailed description of a rudeness situation.

The point is that one of the characters is rude to another, and that can be communicated well to the readers in several ways.

*Sources what sources. Actually there are lots of sources, but they tend to leave out disease. This is how I categorise and I'm sure there are researchers who agree with me, somewhere.

[goodluckclove]

I'm writing a new thing!! I don't really need advice I'm just excited about starting it. They're gay and one of them's a shapeshifter the other has a culturally engrained fear of shapeshifters given that as defenders of the wilderness/ basically very local gods they tend to fuck up anyone who's in their space. I also dong know how to start books which is an issue my beginnings are always weak. How do I start a book. Do I describe the sheep? He's a shepherd btw which I think is fun because the shapeshifter often takes the form of a wolf or coyote. It's also set in a relatively high fantasy setting (no elves and shit just weird magic and a different landscape) that vaguely corresponds to the late 17 or 1800s (they've got some guns i think, they ride horses and trains might exist). How do I start a book. What do I start with. Where do I start. There's no real solid beginning I've got in mind, just a dude trying to take his sheep over a large area on his own. Help please I do actually need advice

Well you see, Ghostie, everyone knows that the first sentence of a novel is the most important part of the entire story. It has to contain the main character's name - in fact, it has to contain the names of every character in your cast - and it has to provoke intrigue and resolve it in a satisfying way without being a too long and jesus christ i can no longer keep up this bit.

I'm annoyed by people who say you need to have a super profound first line. I mean, they're good when they happen. If you can think of one that's great. But if you can't you aren't fucked right off the gate. If your first line isn't something people will get calligraphed onto canvases to hang on the walls of their boring houses (Is this a thing? Did I just make up a type of person to hate?), it doesn't mean your beginning won't be good.

You want to hook the reader. That's what all the guides say, right? They describe a person picking your book off the proverbial shelf and leafing through the first page to see if it's something they'd be interested in. That's solid, but then some go on to make it seem like you have maybe ten words before they either buy the book or toss it across the room in disgust. I'm not saying this is never true. I'm just saying that, personally, that type of person is probably not someone who'd be interested in me or my stories to begin with.

Usually when I'm considering a new book I'll skim the first few pages and then a bit throughout the middle, just to see if I like the prose. I do not put that much weight in the beginning, but it's always a good sign when the general scene feels purposeful. It doesn't have to be a car chase/diamond heist/sex scene/murder. I read someone somewhere saying that you have to start with something exciting and it took like an hour off my life I was so angry.

Here's one out of a billion angles to tackle this puzzle from - where does the story start for you? What is the inciting incident to the inciting incident? This feels like something easy to answer, but oftentimes what you come up with might feel a little inconsequential.

A beginning scene - like, for instance, a prologue centered around only sheep and coyotes - does not necessarily sound interesting on its own. But in a world where shapeshifters usually take on those forms it both sets up the world and establishes a mood. You can play with how much information you give people in the world.

Using my book as an example because I've been watching my editor @hoard-sweet-hoard react to it in real time, at one point he commented that he didn't know if the Eddie in my initial prologue is the same guy as the Edgar in Chapter One. And I was like yeah man that's the whole goddamned point of the book you tiny little king of fools. I wasn't at all that mean. I made a really good sandwich for dinner so I'm feeling extra rowdy. But the point is that I focused less on the action and more on the feeling it would create in the reader.

With that mindset the action doesn't really matter. If it's mundane it can be comforting, or tiring, or numbing, or eerie, or unnerving. If it's far removed from the world we know it can be fantastical and whimsical and sexy, maybe? I don't know. God that sandwich was good. I'm getting really into bagels lately.

Also, from purely the perspective of a writer, you might think of a better beginning midway into the draft. So you can also go back and make a weak start much stronger. You can skip the beginning entirely if it's really fucking with your life. Come back to it later. Who will stop you? Me? I don't even know how to find you. And if I did, you could easily kill me. You have that vibe and I am very clumsy.

Also also start posting excerpts when you get going because that shit sounds rad as fuck.

My bagel had egg and bacon and a hash brown patty and caramelized onion. Man has done a lot of sin, but it is almost neutralized by the insight we once had to caramelize onions. They have a unique flavor that I can only describe as eating the house of a beloved grandmother? Or maybe just the way that house makes you feel?

Yum.

[tupperwaretub]

Blood-Ridden (part 2)

Pairing: Joel Miller x (firefly)male! Reader

Warnings: tiny tiny sexual theme, imagery of abuse, violence and gore, attempted suicide, intrusive thoughts and some throwing up 😉

Summary: Tommy's brother joel is over and after a argument and storming out you meet someone who makes you feel a way you haven't felt in 10 years.

(set 10 years after the first one, you're well acquainted with joel and tess)

(blue and red text is for thoughts reader has sort of like a angel and devil on each shoulder kind of deal)

Part 1: here

Part 3: here

....................................

It's been ten years since you first met Tommy, since he first introduced you to the fireflies and gave you what you considered to be a family and a home. The fireflies were your family, your not-so-little messed up family of wanted terrorists and you felt happy. Sometimes for a second you forget the problems with the world, everything for just a moment is good again.

But its always hard to forget the things you've done. The people you have killed, ten years ago you couldn't even shoot a gun and now... Well now you're some sort of monster, you can't look at yourself in the mirror without hating what you've become but you keep on killing? You think it's become some kind of natural reaction to danger or a threat to, slit their throat, beat them in with a wrench or... This one you liked to call a 'merciless macdonwald' where you do a shit job at slicing them from their abdomen to their cheeks and then... You need to stop thinking about this, it's not doing you any good for your guilty conscience, what's wrong with you, you freak, you monster, you fucking-

Your thoughts were broken by the door to you and Tommy's shared apartment opening, you jolted up to sit on the uncomfortable couch you were laying on- stupid thing all the springs are broken and theres a patch of damp on one of the pillows. You look up and see tommy with his brother, Joel what a dick he pisses you off so much you should just-

"hey y/n, we wake you?" Tommy asks with a soft smile. "No, no. I was awake, just thinking" you reply, returning the smile.

"Me and Joel are gonna hang out here for a while if thats alright?" You know he's only asking because he knows you and Joel don't tend to get on, but he also knows what you're going to say. "Yeah that's fine." You reply and he smiled back as a silent thank you.

You slowly stand up, getting off of the couch letting out a small groan. You've lost count of the amount of times you've been, hit, punched, scratched, cut, shot at... You could go on forever, but the main point is your body is spotted in bruises and cuts constantly. The bruises are only from people trying to protect themselves against you, they dont want to die you freak. No, no, most of the time they shot or swung first dont pin this on me like I'm some mindless sociopath! At this point you are! Am not! Oh yeah you are, sometimes you barely have the courteousy to put them out of the their misery! How is not actually killing them bad now? You like to watch them writhe around and scream for you to help them don't you, you get off on it! Yeah you do! Don't deny it!

"you gonna keep starin' at that wall or are you gonna answer me?" You quickly swung your neck around to see who was talking, it was joel. "What did you say?" You ask trying to be polite and answer whatever he had to say to you. "Jeez, someone's losin' it. Tommy's got rations." He remarks and walks away. Losing it? Losing it? You're not losing it! Hes losing it!

"I'm not losing it asshole. Can't a guy think anymore?" You bark back. "Guys! Don't do this now, lets just eat and be functional for just a second?" Tommy quickly says before Joel could get the chance to say something snarky back at you.

You grab your rations, a little too aggressively but only because Joel still has you riled up and angry, and you go sit on the couch again. The food is some disgusting tasteless jerky, honestly doesn't make you any less hungry and you wonder what it's made out of.

"you ever thought about leaving the fireflies" you overhear Joel asking Tommy. "No, we fight for a good cause. You don't like FEDRA either Joel, we're just using our hate into something productive. Y/n gets it." Tommy replies and you turn around to look at him. "Yeah." You say taking the last bite of the whatever-the-hell jerky you got given, with that you get up and go to the sink to get a drink. FEDRA might be fascist assholes but they do still give you running water..

"y/n only gets it because hes a firefly to. And you really believe killing people is productive?" Joel snaps back and tommy. "It was productive before, dont talk to me like you're innocent Joel." Tommy replies, he sounds like hes losing his mind here. "You're right, but at least i stopped."

"will you shut the fuck up Joel?! I swear to God you can't go a single second without saying something and being an asshole to anyone, it makes me want to-" you shut your mouth knowing your thoughts were about the get the better of you, you can't let that happen, you can't.

"want to what, y/n. Go on, what d'you wanna do to me?" Joel says, you can't tell what hes trying to do - is he trying to get a rise out of you? Make you say something you'll regret? You can't say what you're thinking Tommy will hate you! Tell him.

Tell him every last little thing you've dreamt of doing to him, all the disgusting images in your head of you killing him. Cmon dont be such a pussy-

You quickly storm out of the apartment, you can't, you can't let your thoughts get the best of you. Be stronger than your thoughts, they're in your head, they're harmless, nothing to worry about, they're -

Suddenly you bump into someone causing you both to stumble. "Shit, I'm so sorry! Here let me help you" you say quickly grabbing the persons hand and helping them up. Once they were up you finally got a good look at them, you'd bumped into a really handsome man- he had blonde hair and gorgeous blue/grey eyes you could just drown in. You felt yourself getting embarrassed.

"thankyou, hey it's no problem, things happen." He says with a bright smile, he reminded you of a golden retriever. "Hey uh... What's you're name?" You ask him, sounding quite timid against your own will. "Names Charlie, you?"

"y/n" you reply still admiring him.

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

Two years, you and Charlie had been attached by the hip he asked you to be his boyfriend a month after meeting him. Spending these two years with him is up their in the best times of your life, but the standards for that list dropped significantly at the start of the infection so just having a relationship with someone feels like heaven.

Though, recently he's started becoming distant. So, when Marlene asked the two of you to leave the QZ and search for supplies needed to create some more explosives you were over the moon, hoping it'll bring you two closer together again.

"y/n ans charlie, you two can go together to collect supplies." Marlene said pointing at the two of you. You smiled at Charlie, but he seemed disappointed "you're kidding right? You're putting him with me? Can't i go with Tommy or something?" Charlie pleaded. "What do you mean? Is working with me really that bad?" You ask, offended.

"stop, both of you. You're working together thats final." She ordered, then showing you the route on the map.

An hour later you and Charlie were outside the QZ, it was late and you still had a mile before the first rest stop. You decide asking Charlie about his reaction earlier might be a good idea. "Charlie." You begin.

"what do you want?" He replies with malice. "What the hell is your problem with me? We're supposed to be a couple but you're treating me like shit!"

"you ever thought maybe you're an annoying peice of shit and deserve to be treated like one?" Charlie says without hesitation. You go silent, confused why suddenly he hates your guts. But, you start thinking- he's always pushed limits with how he treats you, you were just blinded with love. You think back to a time where you were showering together, when he suddenly put his hand to your throat at first you laughed and thought he wanted to have a bit of fun. But then he applied some pressure, he just kept putting more and more pressure onto your throat until you couldn't breathe, when he pulled away he just left you in the bathroom with your neck already bruising.

Now you see why Tommy only ever speaks to him when hes been forced to work with him, tommy realised much earlier how he was treating you, he tried to warn you why didnt you do anything? Stupid, stupid, stupid, maybe you wouldn't have fallen in love with him and you wouldn't be in this situation.

You kept your mouth shut until you got the the first rest point, Charlie flopped onto a shitty old couch while you got to work setting up a fire and your sleeping bags.

"why do you have such a problem with me?" You finally ask. "Dunno you just piss me off, stop asking questions." He spits. "What? No! I want to know what i ever did to you to deserve treatment like this!" You start feeling extremely pissed off.

Charlie jolts up and walks towards you "Maybe it's all these God damn fucking questions you keep asking thats making me treat you this way! I don't want to have to be such a dick! You're making me be this way!" He screams at you, some of his spit getting on your face. The argument gets progressively more heated before Charlie seemingly snaps and hits you around the face and pushes you to the ground with a strong grip on your throat. You're gasping for air while clawing at his hands.

Get out of his grip and rip him to fucking shreds, you want to you know you want to. He'll kill you if you dont kill him! Show him that side of you only Tommy's seen!

That was it, you kicked Charlie's crotch with all your might causing him to scream and jolt backwards. You quickly scrambled to your feet and grab a metal pipe laying in a scrap pile next to you. All you see is red as you close in on him. Blood splatters onto your torso and face, soon you were seeing a sight you were familiar with. A person on the floor Infront of you with their face bashed in - unrecognisable. When you came to your senses you started to hyperventilate, what had you done, you killed Charlie.

Your only idea was to grab your gun put it to your chin and fire. Your gun was in your back pocket, you grab it and put it to your chin, your hand shaking, your breathing frantic and tears leaving your eyes. Do it. And you fired.

You were still alive? What the hell was going on? It all came to you as you felt you face and saw your own blood on your hand, and then a suddenly twang of pain on your face. You had missed, you had missed and the bullet just left a wound up your face. Fuck. Idiot how the hell do you miss your own head?!

You pack your stuff up leaving every peice of Charlie's belongings there and quickly went in the direction of the QZ, you thought if you run fast enough it'll still be dark when you get through.

A couple hours later you had made it through and into the QZ, the sun was rising as you entered you and Tommy's apartment. Joel was asleep on the couch, you coming through the door didnt wake him so he had clearly taken something to fall asleep. You woke Tommy though and as you were catching your breath against the door a frightened Tommy stood opposite to you.

"shit, y/n what the fuck happened." He asks with his face covered in worry. He took a few steps towards you. You can't even fucking trust yourself not to kill him, your best friend, you're deranged don't go near him. "Don't! Just don't! Stay there!" Tears started to escape from your eyes again when you couldn't catch your breath. You directed yourself to the sink and immediately washed your hands and face, you kept trying to catch your breath but ended up just vomiting into the sink letting all of the anxiety, regret and worry out. Only then were you able to gasp and catch your breath and you collapsed to the floor leaning against the cabinet behind you and your face in your hands. Don't act like you feel guilty, you enjoyed bashing his skull in.

Tommy approached you. "Can i come closer?" You only nodded and he sat next to you. "Can i ask? I was thinkin' if i know to i can help tell Marlene once you've slept." You sat there in silence for a moment longer. Why did you let him get closer? Who knows what you'll do.

"i killed him" you blurted out. "Who? Charlie?" You nodded. "He, hit me. He put his hands on my neck he tried to - " you quickly took a deep breath not wanting to freak yourself out again. "He try to kill you?" You nodded. Yeah thats right you killed him it's all your fault.

Tommy went silent before asking "are you worried Marlene is going to react bad?" You just nod again, worrying any words that come out are going to be accompanied with tears. "She wont, trust me y/n. She tends to be pretty reasonable and she damn well likes you I'll tell ya that." He reassured you. Hes lying to make you feel better, Marlene is going to hate you just like everyone else."Right." You finally say. "Well that slice on your face is pretty bad, let me see what i can do." Tommy grabbed the box of smuggled in first aid supplies and managed to give you a couple stitches and patch up most of it, though it was awkward with the direction the bullet went in. It meant the wound was deep and bleeding quite a bit and patching it up is awkward and difficult. "Sure is gonna leave a nasty scar." He mentions. "I know." You say simply. "Well you should rest up, wake me if you need anything. Please." "Alright Tommy." And with that you both went to bed, but you barely slept, all you saw was Charlie's bashed in skull.

The next day you explained to Marlene what happened, not letting a single emotion slip infront of her. Tommy was right, she was very reasonable and you appreciated it but she had to send Tommy and a newer firefly out to get the supplies you failed to get meaning you'd be alone in the apartment for at least a day. You'll figure out a way to keep your head occupied. It'll be okay, Marlene took the situation well and Tommy is only away for a day. Or you could try again.. do it right this time.

You wished tommy the best of luck as he set off with the younger man and then made your way back to your apartment flopping onto the couch.

Shit it was quiet. Occupying your head was going to be a bit more difficult than you thought. You got up and got onto your hands and knees pulling up a floor board, under it was smuggled medications and weapons but also some books. You'd managed to smuggle in some random books you must've read over a thousand times. You picked up a book that was written by love craft, you remember finding this one in a vintage bookstore you and tommy set up shop in one time on a supply run, the innards of the book made you chuckle so you let your wants get the best of you and took it. Reading that book for the first time it was so strange it really made you laugh, read that! It'll make you feel much better! Do it. Try again.

You let out a small chuckle as you put the floor board back and sat on the couch opening the book up. Once you'd settled in reading the book the door suddenly opened to show a pretty soggy Joel, you hadn't noticed that it was raining outside. Joel! Now you're not so lonely this will be nice! Make it a murder suicide, you hate him, you could kill him and then yourself!

"wheres Tommy?" He asks out of breath.

"out on a supply run, why? Something happen?" You ask getting worried but he just shakes his head. "No, im just getting old is all." He closes the door and walks over to the countertop to grab the cloth and attempt to dry off his hair. "The hell happened to your face?" He asks setting the cloth down. "Just dont ask, not in the mood." You reply still trying to read your book.

Joel went quiet and the room was filled with an awkward silence.

"y'know, five years ago... I tried to... Well." Joel finally says. You turn around to look at him. "Yeah?" "Yeah. I guess, it was a mix of everything I'd lost and... Not seeing any kind of future for myself in here." You felt a twang of anxiety, not used to the honestly joel was showing you. "Basically i know what you're goin' through" he finishes. "I, uh. Thanks joel." The room went silent again but this time more comfortable than the last. This is nice, he really seems to like you.

"what ya reading?" Joels asks you as he picks up the cloth again to try and dry off his clothes as well as possible. You get up and walk over placing the book on the counter top. "Lovecraft, found it in a vintage bookstore on a supply run with Tommy." You give him a smug look which he chuckles at. "You can borrow it if you want, not sure if you're a big reader, i sure wasn't but man it passes time." You push the book a bit closer to him, he accepts. "Alright, I'll try it out but if its bad im pinning it on you." You both laugh. Wow he's just incredible, he has a lovely smile and a lovely laugh.

For a second you forgot how much you hated him, you kind of felt a bit warm inside when talking to him. It felt almost like butterflies but, you'd feel to guilty to admit that to yourself you just killed your ex boyfriend it would be sick to move on just like that. Then plus, Joel isn't gay, he hated your guts before now so theres no real chance.

"i would've done the same." Joel says. "What do you mean?" You look at him confused. "I overheard a few things when you had that conversation with Tommy. I would've done the same."

You look at the ground, do you really want to have this conversation right now? "You dont have to say anythin' but just so you know, i think you did the right thing, noone who thinks treating a person they're meant to love like that is right deserves that and worse." He puts a hand on your shoulder making you shiver. You look at him, he had his usual cold stare but you could sort of see some kind of care behind his gaze it made you feel warm again and fuzzy.

You couldn't help pull him into an embrace which he reciprocated almost instantly, you can't imagine how touch starved he must be so this hug might've just been what both of you needed...

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

A/n: ANOTHER long one sorry bout that, just would like to take my time with this series and make sure its pretty damn detailed. the last thing I'd ever want is for someone to read my work not knowing something is in it and accidentally getting triggered- so also if i have missed any warnings PLEASE tell me 🙇

Also tysm all of you for the support, was fully expecting part 1 to flop y'all got me giggling and kicking my feet fr 🤭 hope you enjoyed.

[salternateunreality2]

I’ve got to ask, because the video you linked in chapter 80 makes me think I’m right…

Are the firsts parenting styles based on Gwenna’s (pleasant peasant media) parenting videos? Cause I’m living for the comparison.

Great chapter btw. I really want to cuddle Kadaj!

Answering your question:

She definitely influences them. I like to think there's an FF7 Gwenna out there making content that Angeal watches religiously. He's right there, cocoa and dressing gown ready, for Every Video.

They all have their own styles and did their own research, but her basic concepts around respect for the kids and gentle parenting are things all the Dads keep in mind. They also bend towards those principles naturally for various reasons.

I didn't set out to make her influence the story, but since I watch her stuff, it's going to bleed over. (My other sources are watching parenting irl, reddit, other fics, that weird phase I had where I got super into adoption for a few years and read a million blogs and things, and my own experiences with kids.)

Excited rambling because I can't help myself:

Angeal is a big fan of Gwenna and gentle parenting. He's also a natural by nature and his experience with Zack. He's not the "fun" parent--he's probably the most strict about everyday and risky things alike. Bedtime is always at bedtime. No playing "yeet the baby as high as you can", even if the giggles are EPIC. Healthy food. Educational field trips.

Sometimes it can be hard for him to let himself or Cloud off the hook for crazy kid stuff, but especially himself, and he needs those reminders from her about taking a deep breath and remembering that it does work. Patience yields focus.

You don't have to and can't be perfect, but you can be the perfect Dad for your kid by loving him and trying your best. And sometimes your best is collapsing on the foldout couch holding onto the baby all night despite what the books say about sleep schedules because your baby needs you.

-

Genesis respects Cloud and treats him like a small adult because that's how Genesis expects to be treated (minus the small part. Genesis is tall. He is! He just has mammoth friends. Shut up). Genesis also doesn't want to helicopter/tiger mom his baby; he got enough of that growing up and he's over it.

He wants the world to take him seriously, so he offers that same courtesy to Cloud. He offers it to everyone unless they prove themselves to be unworthy, in which case Bitchesis comes out.

He's more likely to risk Cloud's physical and emotional health than Angeal, but less likely to risk Cloud's physical health than Sephiroth. He has no qualms about teaching Cloud the hard way about the ways of the world; if Cloud gets smart with him, he says "bet".

"I cursed at Heidegger because he's a bitch." is a perfectly rational response to Cloud asking why Papa cussed, in Genesis' mind.

-

Sephiroth strives to do The Opposite of what Hojo did to him, so he treats Cloud as a tiny but respected new recruit SOLDIER under his command. He strives for excellence from both himself and Cloud, but the instant he starts feeling too much like Hojo, he re-evaluates. He tends to be more risky with Cloud's physical safety, because when the bar is set to "don't make a 2yo fight a monster", letting a 4yo handle a weapon doesn't seem like a big deal.

He also feels inadequate and a little out of his depth emotionally with Cloud; to combat this, he regularly seeks advice from Tifa, Angeal, and Zack to understand Cloud and provide appropriate responses.

-

Zack is definitely one of the funnest dads. His philosophy is to meet Cloud where he's at. Both he and Genesis are great at engaging Cloud's imagination and playing with him, but Zack gets way more into it.

Zack gives Cloud freedom and respect because he's a kid and he deserves to have fun. As long as no one's getting seriously hurt, why the heck not?!

---

They all drive each other a little batty sometimes with their choices (see: the petting zoo incident + any and all motorcycle outings), but ultimately their main goals are: physical needs fully met, emotional needs fully met, then education and other things. They love their baby 🐥 and he loves them! ❤️🐱🐶🐻🦜🐥❤️

[brick-a-doodle-do]

For the short prompts, If I'm not late...

The human comes back at home after a rough day and just lays on on his bed downwards. Their borrower friend comes for cuddles to make them feel better (With Dream and Sapnap?) 👉👈

Have a cookie 🍪 :]

i had this written and then suddenly decided ,,nope, this is not post-worthy'' ??? help

ANYWAY, emotional support tinies >>>

my fingers pressed until they're sore

wc: 597

cw: character guilt? nothing outside of that ,,

—–—

Not to say he wasn't guilty, of course he was, but he did know how to push some of that down. He connected his guilt to a line of logic, and let it morph to something that calmed him.

Dream was small, therefore Dream was useless.

Okay, well, maybe that didn't calm him down—more like: Dream was small, therefore Dream had the inability to perform tasks that may be an ease to Sapnap, or any other human.

Plus, he keeps himself satisfied by helping out any way he can in the events where Sapnap was out tending to real work and he was trapped inside the house, alone. He gathered ingredients to make things a breeze for his human friend, he put miscellaneous, lost things away, (To the best of his ability, mind you), and he tended to Patches. He cleaned, too, with a scrap piece of rag that he'd found before getting caught, to which he quickly learned to never let out of his sight ever since scoring it.

Additionally, there was one thing he did that Sapnap seemed the most grateful for. Every day, around six in the afternoon when Sapnap came barreling through the door with sweat lining his clothing, Dream let himself be of service for comfort. Whether that be through storage or just being held, it seemed to make Sapnap remarkably serene.

Today was no different. It had been a few minutes past six when Dream saw Sapnap's head of raven-colored hair come into view from up the hill near their home. Dream could barely see anything out the window from where he stood on the coffee table, although Sapnap's form was prominent against the greenery of the outdoors.

His ears flicked as the sound of the front door's lock slid open, and soon after said door opened quickly, and through came Sapnap, who stepped in heavily with slumped shoulders and strands of hair sticking to his face.

Dream frowned at the sight, deflating a little by the overwhelming wave of guilt that hits him. Sapnap's eyes instinctively drift to Dream, and he offers up a soft smile at the tiresome human, who just huffs in exhasperation and makes drawled steps towards the couch, where, appropriately, the human collapses and falls onto the cream-colored couch with a flush of air that makes Dream shiver.

"Hi," Dream says, fingers fiddling with one another in the confinement of his hoodie pocket.

From the cushions under Sapnap, there's a faint, (Although somehow perfectly clear), 'shut the fuck up', which sets Dream off into a soft laugh.

"Long time no see!" Dream muses, a lively and fond smile on his face as he hears Sapnap's muffled groan. "I mean, I'd offer to help you feel better, but I don't think you'd let me right now even—"

Dream is cut off quickly when Sapnap's arm extends from under a pillow and flashes his way, hurling down next to him and feeling the area nearby for a split moment before it moves over Dream and grabs him in a claw-like manor, which Dream squirms under for a few uncomfortable seconds before he's being deposited by Sapnap's neck.

The borrower chuckles, the sound nearly echoing in the sudden chamber of thick hair and Sapnap's neck.

He doesn't waste any time, mindlessly moving to get comfortable on Sapnap, his nether-born skin doing wonders against the air-conditioned home. As he rests against the crevice of Sapnap's neck, he feels a limp hand drape over his small body and a low purr vibrate from Sapnap's throat and right through his skin.

—–—

[nicole-the-hololynx]

please nico tell me about the chao adventure games! ive never heard of them

(also its rly a shame theres no chao transfer equivalent for the ports)

yeah it's a real shame 😔

Anyways on the Chao Adventure games!! there's two of these, Chao Adventure for Sonic Adventure and Chao Adventure 2 for Sonic Adventure 2 (simple!)

Most of my experience is with the first Chao Adventure, so that's the one I will focus on. Chao Adventure 2 is similar but I'm not familiar enough with it to comment much. Don't assume anything here applies there.

Chao Adventure is a game you can download into your VMU which lets you take one of your Chao around with you! It's kind of like a Tamagotchi. The game mostly revolves around your Chao going on a trip. You can choose what area your Chao will go to next, and at certain spots in the map you can meet up with the SA1 cast, who will give your Chao a permanent stat bonus as a gift!

A Chao walking through a Shrine... image from Chao Island

Through the game you can battle other Chao, earn rewards such as rare fruits you can't find in the base game, and mostly just raise your Chao's stats in an environment where you don't have to worry about them aging. It's very useful for getting those Chao Race Emblems more easily!

To me the main thing that sets Chao Adventure apart from its later counterpart the Tiny Chao Garden is that your Chao is a lot more involved! Chao in this game LOVE to talk to you. They're constantly making comments, asking questions, and the like. It makes me connect more to this little virtual pet!

It also helps that thanks to both SA1 having a much simpler Chao system and the VMU itself having very simplistic graphics, your Chao tends to resemble its proper 3D model closer in this one (animal parts are still gone, but you can now see the Chao change design depending on its type, and the colors can't be off since this is a 1 bit display lol)

Look at this lovely face! 😊 Sprite ripped by UltimaNumber255

It's a fun enough game and a nice time waster, which is why I sometimes take it with me on trips :P it's a bit sad that the Tiny Chao Garden doesn't have anywhere near the same scope, but I imagine trying to do a game like this on the GBA would take up a lot more resources...

Can't end this without mentioning the two major flaws it has tho. They aren't the fault of the game, but rather seem to be inherent flaws to the VMU....

The game uses up WAY too much storage!! After installing Chao Adventure, you're only BARELY left with enough storage for the SA1 save file!! And also the VMU loves to chug through batteries. I can't really afford to keep it going for too long!! Clock batteries are also very expensive in my country so I've had to start importing them in order to keep the game on.

Still a very fun experience tho, and one I very much recommend if you can get a Dreamcast! Or if you love Tamagotchi or similar stuff! (and if you can pay for batteries...)

[allastoredeer]

#as of right now im still not including the 9 Rings in my world building because they make no sense

Aww, that's too bad, but i get it. The 9 circles have a lot of fun story potential, but I can understand not wanting to try to incorporate something into your world building if it doesn't make sense to you. At the end of the day, you're the writer of these fics. So if something doesn't make sense to YOU, that's going to make it harder for you to convey it to your readers. Writing is hard, so you should do what you have to to make it less so while still being fun on your end.

But may I make a suggestion? How about you put a pin in this whole Circle thing and set it aside to mull over again later? I think I recall you mentioning that chapter three is going to go over Pentagram City world building stuff, so i can see why you might want to have some of this information hashed-out. But unless locations like Imp City are absolutely VITAL for this upcoming chapter, maybe put that off for later? Save that info for a future installment? Maybe all you need for everything to click into place is for another little lore tidbit to come your way, like with Andrealphus' palace?

I know I tend to get stuck on world building stuff too (ive tried my hand at DMing for my dnd group, believe me i know exactly how easy it is to get stuck on tiny world building details) The best thing to do when that happens to me is to step back for a bit and come back later with fresh eyes. Perhaps that'll help here too? If not, again, your the writer. Do what's right by you😁👍

The thing about world-building is that it is subject to change based on what fic I'm writing or what I need it to be. Even if I'm not including the 9 Circles in my base Hellaverse World Building, it's definitely something I'm keeping on the back-burner in case I do ever decide to incorporate it in a fic.

I'm not opposed to the 9 Circles being a thing, I just have a hard time making sense of it. There are a lot of ways to make it work, but so far, none of them work in a way that satisfies me. Fic 5 of Just Kiss Already will be the first deep-dive into the world-building I've concocted for the series, but most of that will be surrounding Cannibal Town and a specific punishment I came up for all the cannibals. It is Hell, afterall. It's meant to punish the wicked, and I like the idea that that comes with specific punishments for specific Sinners that's utilized in a way that punishes ALL Sinners.

I'm debating on whether I should make the world-building post for Cannibal Town now or wait until Fic 5 drops. It's one of my favorite headcanons because it explains how Hell kept the population under control until the Exterminations began (in somewhat recent years) and it gives me a lot of Alastor angst to work with, which is always a top my top priority.

[rhys-ravenfeather]

In Defense Of Kevin McCalister

WARNING: Super long, pointless rant/character analysis about a now 33-year-old movie coming up.

You have been warned.

Also, disclaimer: it has been years at this point since I've seen Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and I'm like 99% sure that Home Alone 4 is set in the Bizarro Universe, given that all the original characters are played by new actors. So I won't be counting the events from either of those movies for this post, just the first movie. Also, for that reason I'm just going to keep referring to Marv and Harry as the 'Wet Bandits' throughout this whole post, instead of going back and forth between calling them that and the Sticky Bandits.

Anyway! It's December now, and I think at this point everyone and their dog theorizing about how Kevin is a psychopath, or sociopath, or grew up to be Jigsaw (no, really, for those who don't know that IS an actual theory) because of the torture he put the Wet Bandits through is almost as much a holiday tradition as actually watching the movie.

But I finally got to rewatch the movie recently, and I have a few thoughts.

I. The McCallisters

So um, I don't know about you guys, but from what we see of the entire extended McCallister family at the beginning of the movie, they kinda seem like a lowkey toxic bunch:

Okay, maybe 'toxic' is a bit much--to their credit, there are a lot of extra people in that house, they're about to go abroad for a trip, so it's not surprising that everyone would be stressed out and tensions are running high.

But that doesn't make their behavior right.

Early on, we see the family, kids included, pushing their stress and misery onto each other, and especially onto Kevin. Granted, Kevin himself is kind of a brat at the start of the movie, but guess what?

He's still an eight-year-old kid.

He's the youngest, at least in his immediate family, and the whole night he's either ignored by the adults, insulted by his siblings and cousins, no one bothers to help him pack, and he's told he'll have to bunk with his cousin, who is a bed-wetter. That's a LOT for a kid to deal with, and with everything piling up, can you really blame him for snapping over something as simple as a cheese pizza?!?!?

So to sum up: This eight-year-old boy spends the entire night getting dumped on and looked down on by all his older family members, and in the one moment he finally dares to retaliate, it results in a mess that gets all of them even angrier at him, and he's sent to his room angry and upset, and feeling like all of them hate him.

You're really going to tell me that none of you ever had an experience like this with your families as a kid????????

Can you really blame him for wishing his family away after a night like that?!?!?

Also just a quick side note: Someone else pointed out that, well, Kevin thought he made his family disappear. So it's not really surprising that the kid would probably think he's tough enough to take on two grown adults after that.

Now, that all being said, let's talk about:

II. The Wet Bandits

Look, I'm not going to act like I didn't wince watching some of the torture Marv and Harry went through, especially Marv stepping on nails and Christmas ornaments...talk about agony of the feet (don't boo me, that's the actual trope name!)

But there's one teeny, tiny little thing I think most people tend to overlook when talking about these guys, and the hell they went through...

MARV AND HARRY ARE CRIMINALS.

We literally start the movie with Harry pretending to be a cop to get information on the McCallister's home, and their security defenses, so that he can rob the place with Marv later.

And okay, to their credit, it's not like the pair start off trying to hurt Kevin right off the bat.

Doesn't change the fact that they were still planning to rob his home, and very likely WOULD hurt him if/when they found him in the house they were planning to rob.

And yeah yeah, the McCallisters seem to live in a rich neighborhood, and seem very well-off themselves, but you can't tell me that you would see THIS outside your house:

And NOT get scared, especially if you were a small child left at home with no family to help and protect you.

Kevin doesn't go full Jigsaw on them right away--in this scene, after tricking the pair into leaving by turning the lights on, he runs and hides under the bed, like the scared child that he is.

To address another post that I've seen once--'KeViN cOuLd HaVe CaLlEd ThE pOlIcE aNy TiMe!' No. He couldn't have. The phone lines were down.

Also, the police, for most of the movie, seem uncaring at best--when his mother calls the police to get them to check on her son, they all but roll their eyes when talking to this worried, scared mother who wants to make sure her son is safe, and while a police officer DOES come to check on the kid eventually, Kevin is still too scared from seeing the burglars to answer the door. Because, again, he is a confused, scared child.

And again, the very first 'police officer' we see in this movie is revealed to be one of the very criminals trying to rob his house.

And yet, when the kid accidentally steals a toothbrush (because he was scared of his neighbor, who was in the store with him), a cop goes after him.

Oh yeah, and it's not like Kevin goes full torture technician on the Wet Bandits the SECOND time they come around either--just uses a lot of dummies, cut-outs, and strings, as well as Christmas music, to make it seem like the house is full of people.

Then the Wet Bandits find out they've been had.

And it's then, and ONLY THEN, that Kevin turns his house into a Saw trap--remember, these grown men are dangerous criminals who fully intended to rob his place, and again, it's not a stretch of the imagination to think that, even though they didn't want to hurt him originally, they wouldn't have ANY PROBLEM WHATSOEVER doing so when they came to his house again after finding out that he tricked them.

TL;DR: KEVIN WAS A LITERAL CHILD WHO WAS LEFT TO FEND FOR HIMSELF AGAINST TWO BAD PEOPLE WHO WOULD HAVE HURT HIM, OR *WORSE* IF GIVEN THE CHANCE JUST TO GET WHAT THEY WANTED, AND WAS JUST TRYING TO PROTECT HIMSELF.

[octocurse-agere]

Splatoon agere HCs !! Squid sisters edition! Part one of a few posts because I feel like I went so far with callie I had to step back because I didn't want to crash tumblr on my end ;;

it went from 3rd person to 2nd person so bare with me pls

Callie!!

I personally think of her as a cg but flip would be cool 2!

Caregiver/Babysitter 4 almost everyone in the NNSS

She's rlly good at remembering everything a little likes! And everything they tell them

Oh, that plush's name is Marshall? I'll be sure to remember!

And she isn't lying AT ALL. You could ask her a year later without mentioning the plush once since then and she'll remember.

She's super strong. Can and will carry any baby who wishes to be held.

Very good at storytelling ! Even without a book, she can recount countless of silly and fun stories to tell

Most are probably from being apart of the NNSS, but from being in octo valley, she heard a lot of good tales, stories and myths that can keep even the most fidgety littles entertained

She's not normally around littles who just want to play, but when they do she can play anything with no stops

Oh, you want to play pretend?

She'll clear out an entire area and set up the most elaborate space, just for you

Oh, you want to play board games?

She has an entire stash, pick your favorite!

Card games, even? Or possibly dress up?

Done and done! She has EVERYTHING. Nobody knows how but she can inherently pull things out of thin air if she wants to.

Will abide by almost every request you have

Not strict with rules

In fact, she only has one

Be nice to yourself

Follow it or else!

She's very good at listening when you need a shoulder to lean on

You can never feel lonely with her at your side! She knows how it feels

She'll give you what ever you need and want to feel better

Even if it's just a simple hug, some time or space

She's always here for you no matter what.

Marie!

Marie is a flip to me. Leans towards caregiving but sometimes even she needs some babytime, y'know?

Doesn't mind babysitting anyone, but only really caregives for Captain 3! But you might be an acception.

Focuses on making sure you're well taken care of.

Have you eaten today? Drank recently?

She makes sure you've done everything required to be happy and healthy.

If you're having a bad day, she'll make you whatever you want

I think she'd cook you lots of food

It might not seem like it, but she's very interested in the culinary arts.

Her favorite? Soup

Don't like soup? She can make almost anything else

Just don't ask her to make anything deep fried

Also, has to be healthy. "A lil' kid likes you needs to eat their veggies!"

Want to be fed by hand? She can do that.

Want to help cook? Can do!

I think she'd call you all sorts of kind and sweet things

And double check every few minutes to make sure you're feeling ok

She can't straight up pick you up like Callie

But will absolutely sit down and hold you in her lap, if you'd like!

She's not super playful, but will try her best

She isn't as creative as Callie, but can absolutely play any role with 100% serious if you want to play pretend

When little, she tends to regress from 0-2 I'd think

Tiny baby brain

She always sticks to someone's side when little

She HATES being alone. Will follow you around like a puppy

Hides under blankets a ton too

Mostly just wants to cuddle all the time.

Has trouble communicating, so you gotta take time to learn how she responds to specific needs or wants

Lots of arm flapping and pointing

Has a stash of baby things and refuses to get them herself

Very picky and has trouble cooperating

Just wants a bunch of attention and cuddles, mainly

Next up : Off The Hook + Deep cut !