#plus it's just. a lot of fun - especially if you're changing around a few things like the pupils or the light source

[modern-gremlin]

Morning Errands | Sebastian SDV — Married Life 🔞

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

Pairing: Sebastian (SDV) x afab!reader

Summary: You need Sebastian's help with beginning-of-season errands. If only there was a way you could "wake him up".

Tags: Husband!Sebastian, Smut, established relationship, detailed descriptions of sex, a dash of fluff. NSFW Tags below the cut.

Word Count: 2,900 (I did it, a fic under 5,000 words lol) A/N: Fun Fact — this idea started as a non-SDV related adult animation concept I was in early development of. I unfortunately do not have a lot of time for animating things anymore, so it's definitely more feasible to write it down. PLUS, I just love quickly shooting these stories out — better spat out here than rotting in my brain!!

It was really fun to rewrite it to fit the Stardew Valley world; I think it just gives me so much more to work with. Especially when it comes to writing about the world in detail. (and I get to feed my Sebastian brainworms <33) Hope you enjoy the read xoxo

NSFW Tags: morning sex, foreplay (dry humping), some dirty talk (mostly teasing), oral (male receiving), overstimulation, creampie

"Seb? Seeeeebb, it's 6:40," you say softly with a gentle shake of his arm, "we gotta get going." Still unwilling to move from his comfortable spot on the bed, Sebastian stifles a sleepy groan in response. It's always been hard to wake him up — that's something you knew even before you married him. Working freelance comes with the blessing and curse of setting your own work schedule, which means late night cramming sessions are a normal occurrence. You don't really blame him for wanting to sleep in, but today, he promised to help you with your ever-growing list of morning chores.

You run your fingers through his hair, lightly brushing the dark strands off his cheek with the back of your fingers. He just looks so peaceful when he's asleep; it's really such a shame to wake him up like this. Especially when he wraps his arm around you to cuddle against your thigh. It's almost tempting to sink yourself back into his arms and shut the whole world away under the protection of your shared bed covers. Almost — but you know better than to underestimate your beginning-of-season errands. It doesn't help that you also agreed to host a family dinner with Robin and Demetrius this evening. So much to do, so little time. In hindsight, you wish you planned this all a little better.

With a little more force this time, you try to shake him awake. "Mmph… just a few more minutes…" he mumbles while releasing his arms from your thigh, now lying on his back. At least he's able to get a few words out. That's a good sign, you think to yourself. You head toward your bathroom, hoping that by the time you're done brushing your teeth he'll be sitting upright. Maybe.

A soft, cool breeze enters the small opening of your window as you pass through the hallway. It's remarkable how quickly the seasons change in the valley. From your view in the bathroom, you can catch a glimpse of your summer crops, now reduced to wilted clumps in the soil. You'll definitely need Seb's help with this today. You take a little extra time to brush your teeth and wash your face, trying to buy him time to get up. He's gotta be awake by now, right?

You're not surprised to see him still splayed on the bed, eyes just barely fluttering at the sound of your footsteps entering the room. "Seb, it's almost 7 now. I really need your help," you plead sweetly, hoping the cute tone you've adopted would prompt him to move with more haste. He just smiles and offers a curt, "Mhm," in response, eyes still shut. Wow, he's really out of it, huh? You might need to switch strategies.

If you married Sebastian knowing that he's not exactly a morning person, he should also count on the fact that you're always up for a little bit of mischief — because now, you've got a plan that's basically foolproof. Creeping up to the bed, you slowly plant a knee on each side of his body to gently straddle his lap. With your chest pressed against his, you place kisses on his face. "Sebby, come on" you whisper tenderly into his ear, "you can get up for me, can't you?" He lets out an amused huff out of his nose and wraps an arm around the small of your back. He's definitely more awake now, but perhaps a little more provocation will do the trick.

You kiss along his jaw down to the side of his neck, playing with the collar of his t-shirt with your fingers. His eyes lazily open when you stop, now meeting his gaze from where your cheek rests on his chest. "Morning, sleepyhead. Remember those errands I need help with?" you tease. He lovingly smirks at your remark, placing a hand on your head to gently stroke your hair.

"Mm… what time is it?" he asks in a raspy voice. You answer his question with a light pinch of his cheek,

"Probably seven, by now. We're running a little late, y'know?"

The fact that 7AM is considered late to you is something he's still getting used to. If left to his own devices, he'd absolutely sleep the day away and have his breakfast at 3PM. Yet, he tries his best to slip into your daily schedule because that'd mean he'd get more time to see your face throughout the day, wouldn't it? But you know what they say, old habits die hard, and right now his old habits have him basically glued to the bed.

"What are the chances I can convince you to push these errands to tomorrow?" he asks cheekily.

"Hm… slim to none," you reply. "With the dinner party today and the fair coming up in a few weeks, it's gonna be really tough to–" You notice his eyes droop as you speak. "Seb?" He startles awake at the sudden call of his name.

"M' sorry, babe. Promise I'm not doing it on purpose," Sebastian rubs his eyes and yawns. "It's just... hard to stay awake."

With a smile, you shake your head and sigh, "what am I gonna do with you?"

"Hm…I don't know. What are you going to do with me?" He places his hands onto your back again, looking down at you with a suggestive smirk.

Leaning in closer to his face, just barely grazing your mouth over his, you whisper, "I might have a few ideas."

Placing your hands around his neck, thumbs resting against his jaw, you pull him closer into a deep kiss. He tightens the grip around your waist in response, pulling you closer toward him. God, if he wasn't awake a few minutes ago, he definitely is waking up now. He takes your mouth into his, enveloping your lips entirely and gently brushing them with his tongue. You can feel your pulse quickening as your breasts press firmly against him; an urge slowly building and itching at you from below. Unable to contain yourself, you lower your hips to grind against the thick bulge beneath you. You can't help but smile at how hard he already is; grinning against his tongue.

You pull away to shift your weight onto his clothed cock, gasping at how it rubs against you. "At least one part of you is up," you jeer, rocking slow movements against his length. He muses at your words and brushes his hair away from his face, granting him a better view of your body on top of his.

"Can you blame me?" he smiles, his sleepy eyes scanning your form. Running thumbs underneath the hem of your shirt, he gingerly lifts up the fabric to reveal your bare chest steadily bouncing at the rhythm your clothed pussy rubs against him. "Fuck me," he gasps breathily, "what a way to wake up."

His exasperation makes you laugh, motivating you to grind your hips with more fervour. "I'm glad this is working," you admit, "because we have just– so much– to do…" Your words are broken up with every sway of your hips. He pulls your shirt off your arms as you continuously pleasure yourself with his dick, moaning and creating a wet spot on his boxers. He just watches as you use him, in absolute awe by how your body reacts to his. His head slowly falls backward onto the pillow, closing his eyes to take in the stimulation. Then suddenly, you stop.

His eyes dart open again at your weight being lifted off his lap, ready to pull you back onto him. You move his hands away and lower your face to his lap. "Nuh uh. You gotta wake up," you chastise before pulling down his boxers. He groans breathily when his thick cock springs free, smacking his toned stomach from the speed of your movements. Without warning, you spit on his tip and run your palm against his shaft, causing him to tense at the sudden sensation. For a while, he can only stare at you with furrowed brows and complete admiration.

"I should sleep in more often," he teases while grinning at his own remark. But soon his sly grin is replaced by a strained grit because you wrap your fingers around his fat length, stroking him at an unfair pace. He perches himself up by the elbows, watching you fist his cock from base to tip. "Fuck, baby. You gotta slow down or ill–" You lower yourself to lick his balls, dragging your way up the shaft.

"Can't, Sebby," you say, stopping at the tip. "Can't have you falling asleep on me." Taking his length in your hand, you guide his cock into the warmth of your mouth, swirling your tongue around the head.

He instinctually places his hands on the top of your head as he throws back his own. The bed gently shakes at the bobbing of your head, catching and swallowing his length into your throat. It's all so sudden; so frustratingly sexy that he can hardly take it. With the hand that grips at your hair, he tries to pry you off him — hoping to gain some reprieve. But this only invites you to suck on him with more excitement. It's just too hard to resist when he praises you in his gravelly, morning voice. "Holy fuck, babe. You're too good at tha–" You can feel his cock twitch in your mouth as he pushes you away from him; he must be close.

With a gentle tug of your hair, you give in and pull away. You and Sebastian heave heavily, the latter trying to regain his composure. He's usually the one to make you melt underneath him, so you can't help but marvel at his flustered expression. "You awake now?" you triumph with a mischievous smile. He picks himself up to stare into you; the look in his eyes tell you that you're in for it now.

Releasing his grip, he sits himself upright and leans toward you. "Hm, yeah. I think I am," he says while returning your expression, "turn around."

Without a question, you turn yourself around, resting your chest on the bed while lifting your ass toward him. You wiggle your hips tauntingly in his direction until you're greeted by a firm smack — a small yelp escapes your lips from the impact. "So impatient," he chides while soothing the sting with his palm, "well, you got what you wanted. I'm up." He slaps your ass again before leaning behind you, pressing his chest to your back to whisper into your ear, "unless…there's something else you wanted."

Just the sound of his condescending tone sends shivers down your spine, and he knows it. He hooks a finger by your dripping slit and tugs at your underwear, causing the fabric to bundle tightly against your clit. All semblances of your mischief has disappeared, vanished with his scolding and now you're moaning his name into the covers. You can tell he's enjoying every lewd noise you make, because now he's tugging at your panties harder, trying to elicit a bigger reaction.

"Well, now that I'm awake, let's go over our to-do list, hm?" He releases your underwear, only to slip his cock beneath the fabric and vigorously rub your clit.

"Seb… I can't–" you plead, eager to feel him plunge inside you. He places his hands on your waist, stroking soothing circles with his thumbs against your back.

"Don't worry, baby. You'll get it, after we go through the list. Okay?" he coos.

Stumbling your words in between moans, you begin listing the day's tasks. "W-we… need to clear off the crops…and prepare the fields."

"Mhm," he hums while wetting his tip along your slit. "What's next?"

"Clear off the weeds in front of the b-baaaarn–" You words shake as he teases your entrance with his tip, gliding it to catch your slick. "Then go to Pierre's… to pick up ingredients for tonight." Your legs quiver as he prods your wet cunt, not fully entering.

"Is there…anything else?" Sebastian meaninglessly asks, his own voice getting shaky in anticipation. He doesn't really care what's on the to-do list, not at the moment at least. No doubt he'll have to ask about it later, because all he cares about now is making you beg to be railed.

"We might also need to–" This time, he slowly pushes his cock through your wet folds, slipping himself inch by inch into your cunt until his thighs are flush against you. His size fills you entirely, stopping any words from escaping your mouth.

He lets out a breathy moan as he feels your pussy clench around him, still gritting his teeth to continue, "We might need to what? I didn't… catch the last part." He nearly pulls himself out entirely while waiting for your response.

"We…might need to–" You breathe in heavily while his dick pulses inside you. "Seb, please," you beg in a petulant tone. Your cries are so needy and desperate, but you don't care. There's no pride between you two, only true love and the aching desire to be fucked. Lucky for you, the feeling is mutual. Deciding he's equally impatient, he fucks his full length back into you.

"I think I get the gist," he says with a satisfied smile before plunging himself in and out of your cunt. He so badly wants to praise how well you took his teasing, but he's almost completely breathless. Lost for words at how tight you are, how well your pretty pussy takes him, and utterly smitten by the way you moan his name between thrusts. He wants to pound more of them out of you — a reminder to everyone in town that you've chosen him and he's the one fucking you the way you deserve.

Really, this is just one of the many moments he's reminded just how lucky he is. He feels so lucky that you decided to move to this boring town. So lucky that you stuck around despite his icy exterior, and miraculously lucky that you fell in love with him. Now he gets to wake up beside you everyday, fuck you like no one else can, and navigate life's mundanities with the person he loves. Morning errands be damned; nothing ever feels like a chore now that you're his.

He pounds you harder now — as if he's trying to bury his intentions deep inside you so you can feel his gratitude. Because even all his sly remarks and bullied thrusts are just another way of praising you; another way to tell you he loves you without saying it out loud. Your pussy clenches down on him so tightly, grasping onto his praises like your life depended on it. Ready to cum all over his cock to confirm that you feel the same. But even if your cunt wasn't being obvious, your words certainly were.

"Seb– it feels so. Fucking. Good," you whine in between thrusts. You try to warn him of your impending burst, but the arch of your back signals your orgasm much faster than you can speak. Backing your ass further into him, you accept his length against your cervix until you feel your release. You convulse around him, whispering thank you's under your breath. The only sound reaching his ears are your muffled cries of pleasure and the squeaking of the bed. He fucks you through your orgasm, but even after you come down from the high, he's still not done.

He rails your stimulated pussy over and over again, causing you to reach out your hand behind you to slow him down. "S-sebastian, I just came. Slower, it's so f-fast"

Grabbing your arm by the wrist, he plows deeper into you. "Sorry, baby. Can't," he says breathily, "We got too much to do today, remember?" You turn your head back to look over your shoulder and flash him a blissed-out smile, silently laughing at his twist of your words.

Reaching around to your front, he rubs circles around your puffy clit while he fucks his last few, sloppy blows inside you. "So close, babe. M'so fucking…close" he says with gritted teeth. His movements on your bud stokes the fire within you, threatening to shatter you once again. With one last buck of his hips against yours, he shoots his load deep inside your pussy, filling you to the brim with in white. He groans profanities as he sputters small thrusts into you. The warmth of his semen hitting against you is the last straw, sending you into your second orgasm of the day.

Dropping your wrist from his grip, he leans forward onto your back, pulling out slightly causing his cum to spill out of you. You breathe in unison, heavily and laboured as you try to regain your bearings. Maybe it's been ten minutes or maybe it was an hour, but you both lay beside each other, unbothered by the time that's passing you by.

When you both come down to your senses, your eyes lock onto his and suddenly you're both chuckling at the morning's happenings. With a bright-eyed smile, he takes your palm to rest on his cheek. Placing a kiss on your knuckles, he greets you to start the day.

"Good morning, honey."

[wenosgf]

PUBLICITY STUNT

synopsis: nicholas is an old friend of yours from back when you were a trainee under hybe. however, due to a grudge you’re stubbornly holding onto years later, your relationship as fellow idols is strained. what happens when a video is leaked of you and nicholas bickering backstage, and your company wants you to fake date him to dispel the backlash from his fans?

chapter 10: pillow fighting

wc: 2.4k

"y/n, wait, i'm sorry," he followed after you but you ignored him and stormed down the corridor into the kitchen. you went to take your drink from the counter but nicholas caught your wrist to prevent you from moving any further away from him.

"y/n, can we please talk about this? i'll make it up to you, i swear,"

you looked him up and down and narrowed your eyes,"how are you going to do that?"

he shook his head, visibly distressed,"i don't know, i’ll do anything you want,"

"you'll do anything i want?" you asked.

he nodded, his eyes holding sincerity that you couldn't deny.

“will you stop making fun of me?" you requested.

“when have i ever made fun of you?" he frowned.

"you do it all the time! i'm always the butt of your jokes,"

he shook his head,"can you give me an example?"

you rolled your eyes,"okay, today when you said i was your celebrity crush,"

he only stared at you for a few seconds, before he sighed, letting go of your wrist and shoving his hands in his pockets.

"y/n, that wasn't a joke,"

"what on earth do you mean?"

“in terms of celebrities, you are the one i find the most attractive, so you're my celebrity crush,"

"don't take the piss,"

“i'm not! i swear, y/n,"

your mouth fell open a little as you processed what he was saying. part of you was sure he was taking the piss, but there was no reason for him to do that since nobody was around to find the joke funny. plus, he sounded genuine, even a little embarrassed, as his blush reached his ears.

"you find me attractive? since when?"

he shrugged,"since the first time we met,"

you just stared at him, unable to find a way to respond. it was strangely flattering, since nicholas was annoyingly perfect-looking, and to be found attractive by someone who was attractive, it felt very validating. but at the same time, weird, because now you had to reevaluate everything he'd ever said to you, everything you’d ever done together, to see if you’d missed anything. has he ever made a move on you?

"why?" was all you could ask.

he chuckled,"because of your eyes, and your lips, and your smile, and your body. everything about you,"

you started to feel a little overwhelmed by everything he was saying, because you actually felt your heart swell a little, which was bad news. you feared if he kept on going, you would lose sight of why you hated him in a first place and just start throwing yourself at him - it was hard not to when he looked so good. you needed to control yourself.

“so what were we talking about?" you quickly changed the subject,"you'll do anything i want?"

he nodded,"i just want you to not be mad at me, i'm sorry for what i said,"

you sighed,"it's just a little insensitive considering you're the reason i was kicked,"

he let out a little grunt,“y/n, it wasn't me,"

"what do you mean?"

"i would've loved to be in a group with you, i just couldn't be in a group with hanee,"

hanee was another girl who was supposed to be in the co-ed group. you rarely interacted with her so you didn't know much concerning the girl, and as far and you knew hanee was still a trainee at hybe.

"hanee? why?" you asked, furrowing your eyebrows.

"she said a lot of things behind people's backs, especially yours. i don’t like to use the word hate for anything, ever, but i hated her,"

you stepped back and leant against the kitchen counter,"what was she saying about me?"

he sighed, running a hand through his black hair,"she spread some rumours. she was clearly jealous of you, she said that you smoked and were sleeping with a staff member. it makes me mad just thinking about her,"

he wasn't lying, you could see his knuckles going white as he clenched his fists, and the muscles of his jaw tense.

"im pretty sure the rumours are why you got kicked,"

you sighed, looking down at your feet,"you’re telling the truth?"

he nodded, his jaw tight,"i am, y/n, i wouldn’t lie about this, please."

“i believe you,”

you did suspect back then that there was some kind of rumours circulating. you noticed the way trainees whispered to each other when you entered the practice room, it was pretty hard to miss, really. at the time you assumed it was because you were closer to attractive male trainees such as nicholas and yudai, and they were just gossiping. that was the only explanation you could think of anyway.

“are you okay?" he asked, frowning down at you.

you huffed,"yeah, fine,"

"i'm sorry,"

"what are you sorry for?" you snapped.

you immediately regretted your hostile tone, because the hurt look on his face made your heart shrink. suddenly, you started feeling bad for every mean thing you’ve ever said to him. you wished he would stop being so genuine and go back to his cocky, annoying self so you could stop feeling this way.

“i just feel like i've ruined the party for you," he said, not meeting your eyes.

you shook your head,"we said we were going to talk about this at the party, didn't we? and we've still got ages to get back into the party mood. i’ll be fine," your eyes landed back onto his hickey, and you smirked, reaching forward and tapping it with your index finger,"plus, doing that has already been the highlight of my month,"

he blushed deep rose, placing a hand over the hickey,"it has?"

you chuckled,"i'm just imagining your makeup artist trying to cover it up. you're going to get into so much trouble,"

his face fell a little,"oh, that's why you did it,"

you frowned at him, unsure as to what he meant by that. was he hoping you’d done it for another reason?

"well, i suppose they'll have to cover up a black eye too now,"

suddenly, yuma rushed into the room with a guilty expression,"nicholas, joohee's here,"

your heart dropped. joohee wasn't supposed to know that you and nicholas weren't actually dating.

"what?" nicholas frowned,"why is she here?"

yuma shrugged and mouthed wordlessly for a few seconds,"i don't know! i told her we were having a party, but i didn't invite her or anything!"

nicholas groaned, walking out of the kitchen into the living room. you followed loosely behind him and saw joohee in the room talking with some of the boys and introducing herself to the girls. once she saw nicholas, she let out a little squeal and rushed to him, throwing her arms around his neck.

"oppa!" she beamed at him.

“joohee," nicholas looked like his smile hurt him.

"what happened to your eye?" joohee pouted and held nicholas’s face in her hands, gently rubbing her thumb over the red marks around his left eye.

"oh, i walked into a door frame,"

joohee giggled and squished his cheek,"you’re so silly,"

you didn't like all of that contact, so you slipped to nicholas’s side and wrapped an arm around him, smiling at joohee as sweetly as you could muster. you couldn't let her think you were a pushover, and would just let a girl be touchy with your man. nicholas immediately reciprocated by placing a hand on your waist and pulling you even closer into his side.

"oh, y/n, you're here!" joohee's eyebrows raised out of surprise.

"i'm his girlfriend, why wouldn't i be here?" you spoke dryly.

"oh, no reason-"

"do you still think we're not real?" you pushed, narrowing your eyes.

"oh, no, of course not! the only reason i assumed it wasn't real before was because nicholas never dates, but that must mean he really likes you!"

you didn't believe her, but you didn't want to judge the girl before you even got to know her. nobody seemed to have the balls to tell joohee that she wasn't actually invited, so she ended up sitting down with everyone on the sofas. the mood was sort of tense as everyone was a little on edge knowing joohee couldn't find out you and nicholas were fake. you and nicholas sat down next to each other and he wrapped an arm around your shoulders, leaning in to whisper in your ear.

"are you uncomfortable?"

you chewed on your bottom lip, before whispering back to him,"i think i might ask the girls if they wanna leave,"

nicholas shook his head, taking your hand and standing up,"let’s talk in my room,"

you let him drag you away from the group. wonyoung arched an eyebrow at you as you were leaving.

"where are the love birds going?" she winked.

maki smirked at them,"oh, you two can’t go two hours without running off to have some privacy, huh?”

you could only see the back of nicholas’s head as he lead you down the corridor, but you could tell he was blushing from the tint of his ears. once you reached his room he opened the door for you and you walked inside. there were two single beds in the room, and nicholas motioned towards the bed which was his and you sat down at the foot while he stood in front of you.

"please don't leave, y/n," he said, almost pleading.

you shook your head,"everyone is on edge because they have to keep us a secret. it’s better if we just leave so you guys can enjoy the rest of the party,"

"y/n, i won't enjoy the party if you're not here," he sounded genuine, but you found it hard to believe,"what if we just tell joohee the truth?"

a frown creased your face,"no? we can't let it get out that we're fake, i’ll get cancelled all over again,"

nicholas bit his lip,"i’ve known joohee for a long time, i trust she wont tell anyone,"

"but i don't know her at all, nicholas, and i don't trust her,"

he sighed and ran a hand through his hair,"okay... alright, i’ll get her to leave,"

"how are you going to do that without hurting her feelings?"

he groaned,"i don't know,"

you were silent for a few seconds as you both tried to think of an effective solution. you got a little distracted, though, and ended up just staring at nicholas, specifically the hickey you’d given him. you couldn't stop your eyes from going to it every time.

"are you looking at the hickey?" nicholas placed a hand over the dark mark, as if he were self conscious of it.

you snapped your eyes back to his face,"no,"

"you can make another one if you want,"

you scoffed, reaching behind you and grabbing a pillow from the bed, swinging it around to hit him in the face. he stood there shocked for a moment, before a huge grin split onto his face and he launched forward and tackled you onto the bed. you screamed, and he rose on top of you and started hitting you with a different pillow while you tried to shield your face with yours. they were barely hits, more like gentle taps, but he was doing them so frequently and quickly that it confused you and you just started to hysterically laugh.

"stop it! stop! stop!" you screamed through heaving gasps of breath, though you were actually having quite a lot of fun.

he could tell that you weren’t being serious and just and carried on. you could barely move from underneath him, so you solution to that problem was to shove your pillow into his face and push him backwards. he fell back surprisingly easily, or maybe he wasn't even trying to resist, but you took the golden opportunity to lean over him and continue to push the pillow onto his face to pin him to the mattress.

at that moment, jo walked into the room. once he saw you attempting to suffocate nicholas, he smiled and laughed,"nooo, don't kill nicholas,”

you blew air out of your nose with exhausted laughter and removed the pillow from nicholas’s face, and he sat up, looking way too happy for a man who was just being pinned down.

"you attacked an injured man," nicholas pouted, pointing to his bruised eye.

you just rolled your eyes.

"joohee has left," jo said, a guilty expression shadowing his face.

nicholas frowned,"why?"

jo sighed, leaning on the door frame,"well, she asked us about your guys' relationship, and we started making up a bunch of stuff about how you loved her since the moment you saw her, you asked her to be your girlfriend on a hot air balloon, and you've already planted a field of tulips in amsterdam so they'll spell out 'will you marry me' in a years time and you're gonna take her there and propose,"

nicholas just shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose,"why would you do that?"

“and then she started crying and left.”

your mouth fell open,"she cried? oh my god, nicholas, she has feelings for you!"

it wasn't that you didn't suspect that joohee liked him, it's just you didn't think her feelings were so strong that she'd cry over it. suddenly, you started to feel bad, because if nicholas liked joohee back then you were the sole reason they couldn't be together. you were just an annoying wedge between them.

nicholas hung his head, and jo laughed.

“yes, we know that," he said,"i'm just letting you know. you can continue suffocating him now.”

jo left and closed the door gently behind him. you turned to look at nicholas, and he had a similar guilty expression on his face to jo’s when he walked in the room.

"nicholas, i didn't realise there were feelings involved. if you want to be with her, you can just tell her we're not real, i’ll let you. i don't want to come between you two.”

nicholas laughed and met your eyes,"joohee’s not the one i want to be with. where did all this compassion suddenly come from?"

you rolled your eyes for the millionth time since talking to him,"i made someone cry, it makes me feel bad.”

"that wasn't your fault, y/n, it was the boys being stupid and insensitive.”

you sighed, standing up,"i'm way too sober right now. come on, let's do shots.”

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@conwunder @n1staytiny @eunbiland @cherry012309

[ratsummer]

Okay so I have seen headcanons here and there about the abbey having a nursery for the ghoul kits and human babies and I LOVE THAT. I've been having a rough few days so I've been thinking a lot about what that looks like c: Maybe someday I'll type up my thoughts on what the system overall looks like, but for now...

How would our beloved band ghouls interact with the little ones??

I'm starting with Swiss! Maybe this will become a little series if I feel like it/anyone wants to know what I think about the other ghouls c:

Though I believe there's a dedicated nursery staff in the abbey, I think they always welcome and encourage volunteers to come hang out so the babies can socialize with all kinds of different people! Swiss is one of the ghouls regularly assigned to work nursery shifts when things slow down a bit for the band, but the rest of the time I think he visits voluntarily because he likes it.

Overall, I think Swiss is super great with kids of all ages. He's got deep wells of energy and patience, and though he of course loves playtime, he also actively enjoys most elements of caretaking! Keeping everyone fed, clean, and cozy can be fun too! He helps with everyone, but his most favorite group to spend time with? The toddlers.

Ghoul kits becoming ambulatory is... interesting! Like many human babies, they typically start with some scooting and then get into crawling. But, I think ghoul kits stay in the crawling phase for much longer than humans. After all, they have those pesky tails to figure out, too! Switching to walking on two legs is so hard when everyone is cheering for you, and that's exciting so your tail starts wagging, and then you're thrown off balance, and then you're on the floor, and yeah that's annoying, so maybe you should cry about it... or stick to moving around on four limbs because it's way faster anyway! Practicing moving around on four legs for a while longer lets them build up their little hip and ab muscles, especially while their tail moves around with their emotions.

But just...

Swiss on his knees behind one of the kits who is so close to figuring out walking upright on their own. He's got an arm on either side of the little one, hands just in front of them. The kit is little bitty tiny, maybe air, so even though they're using their whole entire hands, their little grip doesn't quite extend all the way around even one of Swiss' fingers.

Swiss has propped up one of their favorite toys, a big plush bear almost the same size as the kit, against an armchair just a few feet away.

"You see your bear-bear, baby?" Swiss coos, bouncing his hands a bit to jiggle the kit's arms.

The kit is shrieking in delight, little tail lashing around and whacking into Swiss' stomach. Their giggles are infectious, and Swiss' face aches from the strength of his smile.

"I know, baby! Should we go get your bear??" Swiss moves his arms just a smidge forward, gently encouraging the kit to take a step.

Their chubby little leg jerks forward a bit awkwardly, but with a confidence that sends Swiss' heart soaring. This kit had been one of the more shy, timid babies when they had come into the abbey's care. They rarely smiled, much less laughed, just taking in the world around them with big eyes and arms held tight to their chest. They'd arrived during a busier time of year for the band ghouls, but Swiss had met and interacted with them enough times to see the remarkable change in their energy. He made a mental note to shower kisses on the nursery ghouls specializing in infant care.

"Yes! Well done, my darling!" Swiss cheers, scooting along on his knees behind the kit. They're taking strong, only slightly wobbly steps toward the bear. "Go get bear-bear! He wants a hug!"

Swiss squirms a finger out of the kit's grip, but they maintain their awkward forward momentum with only one finger to hold. They're practically bouncing as they lurch toward their bear, bright laughter filling the room.

When the kit finally makes it to the plush toy, they let go of Swiss and flop onto its round belly, giggling and nuzzling into its neck. Swiss claps and hollers for the kit, cheering and celebrating their hard won victory.

"You did it, my love!" He coos, rubbing the kit's back. His heart melts over how tiny they are, his hand spanning the entirety of their torso. "I'm so proud of you! You're getting so strong!"

The kit flails a little bit but is quickly turned back around to face Swiss, a huge grin lighting up their face. They only laugh harder when they see him, the big, gasping laughs that they nearly choke on.

"I know, baby! Aren't you cl-"

The words catch in Swiss's throat as the kit pulls themselves up on their feet, a bit wobbly, but notably standing up with no outside support. He watches on, breathless, as they hold their tail out behind them, mostly still, and put their arms out to the side for balance. They take one tiny step, and then another, stuttering laughs breaking through their sudden and intense focus.

Swiss holds his hands out toward the kit, ready to catch them, but otherwise not interfering. They take only two more steps before their toe catches on the rug and they go lurching forward, but instantly Swiss is scooping them up and jumping to his feet.

"You did it!" He cries, dancing around while holding the kit on his hip, "You walked all by yourself!" As he whirls around, the kit in his arms matches his joy with their shrieks. "Oh, clever baby!"

Swiss stops spinning around to pull the kit up onto his chest so he can nuzzle under their chin and around their neck, scenting them thoroughly. He's purring so hard his chest hurts, but he's just so overwhelmed he can't help it. When the kit starts a cooing purr through their laughs, Swiss starts kissing and play-nibbling over their face and hair, making gobbling sounds as he goes.

"What a sweet little kit," he says between kisses, "I think I'm going to have to eat you up! I don't have much time left, soon you're going to be able to run away!"

An exaggerated gasp from the door has Swiss turning on his heel to find one of the main infant through toddler caretakers making their way in, a snack for the kit in hand. When the kit sees them they're instantly squirming and screeching in delight and reaching for their caretaker, and Swiss happily hands them over.

"Don't worry baby, I've got you now! I won't let Swiss eat you!"

And because Swiss is a deeply sentimental ghoul he is going to immediately detail what just happened and he is going to start crying about seeing a kit's first steps and generally just be gooey about it and you cannot change my mind!!! Aaaah!!

So ya ghouls with kits on my mind has been keeping me saaaaaane recently and I have so so many thoughts!!! Idk if I'll write anymore BUT look out who knows! I have a stressful week ahead lmao save me ghouls with kits save me 😭

[seafoamreadings]

week of november 10th, 2024

these are written predominantly for the *rising* signs but they are also intuitively "channeled" enough that they should work for any dominant energy you have! (try your sun if you don't know rising, or more advanced readers can try moon, anywhere you have a stellium, etc and see what works best for you!)

aries: significant nodal transits this week mean all you have to do is walk, and the path appears. the full moon this week also points to (likely positive?) developments around money and your deepest core values.

taurus: the full moon this week is the yearly full moon in your sign. it can be a highly emotional time and yet, the moon is so happy in your sign that it's hard for this to go badly for you. just make sure you're meeting all your needs as much as possible.

gemini: a full moon across your 6th/12th house axis this week pushes you to integrate the multiple parts of yourself that sometimes disagree with each other. sometimes as you go about the routines of daily life it's easy to forget that you even have some of these parts. quiet introspection, especially if you can actually have the moon in view as you do so, is likely to bring about fruitful results psychologically.

cancerians: while full moons may typically have you feeling moody and broody with lots of mood swings, this week's feature in taurus is likely fun and friendly. if you're up for socializing a bit it is a fantastic time to do so, and if not, at least send off a few texts to strengthen community bonds.

leo: if you've had any changes you'd like to make at home or to your more public-facing image, this can be a good time for it. just be cognizant of mercury and mars doing their impending retrograde things.

virgo: earth energy amplifies a bit with venus into capricorn plus a taurus full moon. this is good news for you, overall, especially if you're looking for fun or a new flirtation, or if you're trying to work out an academic plan or spiritual leveling up.

libra: while the vibes are not particularly libran, your ruling planet venus is quite busy all the same, and this is broadly beneficial to you, especially in your home life and/or if you want to reconcile with a family of origin or ancestry. meanwhile a merging of households or a sharing of resources or expansion of intimacy can also be a really good move now, being mindful of course about upcoming retrogrades and possible associated hiccups.

scorpio: creative pursuits or flirtations that seemed to fizzle out in the last few months (and similar endeavors) may pop back into existence this week. you get to choose what to actually follow through with, but if you've wanted a fun fling or artistic undertaking to come back and get a little more permanent, this is the time.

sagittarius: work you've done on your inner world, like shadow work or therapy or a dream journal, starts to pay off big time with this week's full moon, in such a way you can see benefits on the earthly plane. meanwhile a household problem may begin to resolve by the end of the week - rent issues, a roommate search, repairs, etc.

capricorn: venus moves into your sign to grace you with timeless elegance, attractiveness to money, and similar. if you're seeking a charming benefactor this may also come to you in the next few weeks.

aquarius: you can let this week's full moon act as a sort of bridge between your private and public life. of course, if you want to keep these compartmentalized you can, but if it helps you to live authentically to dissolve the boundaries or just make them a little less impermeable, this is a great time for it.

pisces: make new friends and build your close-knit community. it doesn't have to spontaneously appear over night or even in a week or a month. but it is built brick by brick. place a few tetris pieces about it this week.

watch the transit posts in real time to have the best guide through your week. want a little more? have a look at my patreon or ko-fi.

check out my etsy for a private reading or dm me to set up a reading through venmo, cashapp, or paypal.

[doubleddenden]

Onto gen 7- an underrated cast of characters and gen imo. I feel like people just hate on this because of lack of gyms and more text- even though the island challenge is the best breath of fresh air we've had in years. The story is really good and the characters have so much depth- they walked so the SV cast could run and the SwSh cast could trip, cry, and pee a little

Let's start with Elio, our boy for Sun and Moon. Vanilla wise he is about as generic as you can get, looking pretty much any little boy on vacation, minus the pants- I have literally never seen pants like that in my life. They look like they'd fall down a lot. He's so generic, but thankfully there's a pretty decent character customization option- a little less than xy in some regards, but you CAN remove the hat, so that's a plus.

The sun and moon/ultra protags are confirmed to look about 11- I've seen some funny people get creative with Wicke and say "actually miss I'm in college," which is pretty fitting for the time period of release for the majority of players. This a simple callback to RBY, but I will say it's kinda sad that they took that little ambiguity away and makes it a bit harder to project yourself onto the character. Not impossible, mind you, but you gotta try a little harder vs XY or BW, especially with regular Elio here. 6/10, barely tries.

Meanwhile, his Ultra variant gets a massive improvement all around. You're still said to be around 11, but the right art can make him seem older

Like this INCREDIBLE piece done to show off Ultra Megalopolis. Elio looks anywhere between early to late teens here.

But enough about that- the in game customization doesn't see too many additions, but enough to be different. Vanilla wise, Elio looks so much more unique and fun to play as on his own. The pants and tights definitely look a bit like Nate's (and also are one of a kind last i remember, unfortunately), but Nate is a terrible design, so it's fine. The bucket hat i didn't initially get, but now that I'm older and losing hair, I've been wearing one myself, and I think it is pretty neat now. This actually looks a bit how I'd dress in the summer, and I think that's pretty great all around. 9/10 design, massive improvement on vanilla

Chicken-Chan, or Selene as people call her these days- which I think is bad right after Serena- is a hit or miss depending on your audience. I'll say, minus the hat, this design is similar to Hilda in that this is an outfit I've seen women wear often in the summer around where I grew up. The baggy shirt is really comfy looking, covers a lot while allowing a nice breeze to keep you cool. The bag- as it turns out- is supposed to be a watermelon slice, changed to avoid racial stereotyping when selected as someone with darker skin. That's kind of sad, I mean I get why, but it would have been a fun thing to have in an ideal world. As it is, it's fine. The colors definitely feel more inspired compared to Elio, very tropical and summery, looking even more like a tourist on vacation.

The design definitely reads as younger than the last few FemCs, and this is sort of the point where Game Freak really starts making the girls especially look younger and younger each gen (except Akari of course). That's not necessarily bad on its own and for those not online or aware of the skeevier side of the internet, just leads to some unfortunate "art" that gets shown everywhere that maybe wouldn't have been nearly as creepy if they left them as ambiguously aged blank slates like usual.

Weird rant aside, I think Selene is a fine enough design, and in my Moon playthrough, I had plenty of outfits to choose from- definitely more of a defined binary compared to XY, imo, but still plenty to work with. 8/10, cute, but I hate the hat

Selene's ultra variant imo is just another improvement, ditching that awful chicken hat and taking a nice sun hat instead. This is definitely something I can see worn on vacation, and the colors of a mostly orange and white just look so good- makes me think of a refreshing glass of fruit juice. The braids are also really cute, and the sandals are more or less what I think Shauna should've had instead. It's such peak tourist, I love it. 9/10, cutie, love the hat

Of course, we got Hau now, the first standalone friendly "chooses the weaker starter" rival that kind of... becomes another pattern. Actually, a lot of Gen 7 becomes a pattern for future games, including hoodlum teams with a white collar real bad guy using science for their own selfish goals, bigger pokemon than average, angrier pokemon than average, the rivals having a chip on their shoulder or being in someone's shadow, etc etc etc. That's another rant on its own.

Hau is fine, not really my favorite rival, but I do think he tries harder than people give him credit for. In SM, I especially like that he kind of has an unrequited crush on Lillie, and that drove him to be a little braver and do a couple of bigger things beyond his pay grade- it's weirdly relatable, especially the heartbreak when she leaves. Otherwise he's a chill dude, kind of unrealistic in how happy he always is, but honestly he's a peak buddy I could see myself being friends with as a kid. He's strong- maybe not scary like Blue or Silver, but you do need to actually lock in for a few fights if you aren't overleveled. Not my favorite rival, like 7 on that front, but as a friend? That's an 8.

As a design, I think it's a good one. Definitely not threatening, super safe and chill looking, even when serious. I guess that's why some people dislike him as a rival, along with his pretty laid-back and cheery personality, but as a buddy, he looks pretty zen. I'd definitely wear his fit, it's so comfy looking and perfect for the summer, minus the not-crocs. I think I'd just make those black or brown sandals instead. Colors are a nice and warm tropical feel, definitely someone who enjoys the sunlight and radiates joy like it, too. The hair, I think, should just be black, but that's not really a crime to have green hair that dark- in fact it's so minor, I forget often that it's that color. Idk man, I don't get the hate. 9/10 buddy design- as a rival, sure, maybe that's a 6 on design, but a 9 on design alone. I'd definitely want a rival that looks like they would stab me, though.

HEY, a rival that looks like he could stab me! Gladion is a very complex and edgy looking character at first glance... and second when he starts doing chuuni shit mid battle... and third when he tells you to get out of his hotel room and fourth when- you get it. But, underneath all of that, he's a guy that clearly wants to do good- he looks like he'd stab you, but a lot of the Pokemon he has on his team- both in game and anime- rely on friendship to evolve. Lucario, Crobat, especially his Silvally. You could even argue his Porygon Z is a mark of his character- not super integral to his team until the title bout, but it is the only pokemon that needs to be traded TWICE to evolve, which alone says that he's a trusting and trustworthy individual. To top it off, in the Ultra games, he even gets a (ugh) Kanto starter, which would imply that Prof Oak maybe met him and gave him one, and we know Oak is a decent judge of character.

The complexity doesn't stop there- he's mean and intimidating as a defense mechanism, out of necessity after stealing Type: Null from horrific experiments and running away from the Aether Foundation. In fact, the anime, Masters, and Ultra games really do their damn best to try and make you forget that Gladion and his sister are survivors of child abuse. Gladion especially struggles a bit with the thought that he abandoned his little sister. He knows his mother is crazy and dangerous, and yet he goes in guns blazing to rescue Nebby abd Lillie, and also is more than willing to lead the Aether Foundation in Lusamine's absence. He doesn't smile often, but it feels like a reward, knowing all the pain he's gone through for the sake of something bigger than himself.

His design even exemplifies that- the tears in his clothes are supposedly from Type: Null going out of controll and attacking him once, which he's clearly developed some sewinh skills to make look part of the vibe, as if on purpose to push others away and make people worry less about him. As a character and design, I'd give it a 9/10.

As a rival, I feel like we battle just enough to get there right at the end, but I will say that I think he should have appeared and battled more often. 7/10 on that front, because he's less of a rival and more like someone testing us constantly- which being fair, I see why.

I know what you're thinking. "Lillie isn't a rival! What's she doing here?" Well, I think any fan of gen 7 will tell you that she is just as integral to the story as you are, and thus I'd say that makes her a secondary Main Character alongside you. Plus, it'd feel weird not to include her, she's the fries to the bacon cheeseburger of the rest of the cast, and arguably the soul of the story.

Her character arc is definitely more impressive in SM than Ultra- a fellow survivor of abuse that actually wears a symbol of it: her first outfit is heavily based on Nihilego, who we know Lusamine has a very unhealthy obsession with. She's less like a little girl and more like a doll made to dress a part she didn't want. Still, her bravery is off the charts- stealing Nebby without a single other Pokemon to help her is very, very brave, especially considering she was in the heart of enemy territory.

It isn't really until she's brave enough to stand up to her own mother that she finally decides to try something new. "Z POWER" Lilly looks so much more confident and sure of herself. She's still in white with hues of baby blue, but that's her choice, and sort of paints her as a protagonist that's a blank canvas- her future finally being her own to decide. She has no Pokemon (other than Nebby and later a Clefairy), but she's still brave enough to jump into ultra space to try and rescue her mother AND tell her off. She didn't have to forgive her for anything, but she does acknowledge that her mother was under the poisonous influences of Nihilego and opts to travel and find a way to save her. Her decision to go to (ugh) Kanto on her own is such a massive step for her, and her maturity to leave Nebby in our care is something that actually made me cry the first go around.

...then ultra sm kinda... undid a lot of that, lol. Lusamine isn't regretful for a single thing she did, but gets to continue like nothing happened. It makes some sense as to why Lillie decides to just keep living with Kukui lol.

Anyways, her design is part of her story, and her story is very deep and engaging. 9/10.

Next up... oh God it's Galar again

[vulpixisananimal]

[A:2 C:5]

[Small text = Essentialy unchanged dialog from normal ISAT]

---

“Heya, stardust! How can I help you on this wonderful new loop?”

(How CAN they help you? Questions questions. . .) “So, last loop.”

“Big rock trap again, huh?” (Loop closed their eyes and wagged a finger.) That's what happens when you don't look hard enough, stardust!”

(Urgh.) "Hard to see things with one eye."

“Yeah, I know. You'll miss things no matter what, especially with your sight reduced. You shouldn't feel bad. You can loop back and look everywhere again, after all!!!”

(That was... a surprisingly nice thing to say. They have a point, you can’t exactly smell out a key after all, you just need to look again.) 

“I'm always nice, stardust!” (They wink at you.) “. . . . .”

(. . . . ?)

“. . . Anything else, Stardust?” 

(Questions, questions. . .) “. . . Why Stardust?”

(Loops near permanent grin faded for a moment.) “. . . Because you're still here, alive, after everything.”

(Still here?) “After everything?”

(Loop instantly went back to their cheeky facade.) “After going splat under that giant rock of course! Plus it’s cute, My little Stardust~ Cutie patootie Stardust~”

(Ew, but. . .) “You can say you don’t want to answer, it’s fine.”

“But it's so much fun to annoy you instead! Distracting people with puns and jokes is the best way to evade stupid questions.”

(Yeah, you can relate.)

>>>

(Gardening room, second time around getting all the tonics. This time you’re sure to compliment the little dying plant to make Mirabelle happy, and, out of pure curiosity, check where you got the Garden Scissors last time. Just like last time, the world seemed to skip, and it disappeared.)

(As you squeeze through the room to get the last of the tonics, you realize, not for the first time, that everyone unconsciously makes sure to not touch you any more than necessary.)

(. . . It's not the best feeling, but there must be a reason they're not touching you, since everyone’s has, so you leave it alone.)

>>>

(. . . . . Aw stars.)

(There WAS a key hidden in there. It was taped to the underside, so you missed it before. . .You blinding idiot. . . You found the ROCK KEY, fitting. You put it in your pocket.)

(Stupid.)

>>>

(After a quick walk and a key in a lock, you made it to the House library. Stars, it looks like there’s a lot to look at here! Going to the first bookshelf, you gently touch the back of a Vaugardian tragedy you remember liking.)

(Isabeau saw.) “Aw, don't worry Sif, you'll be able to see some plays soon!”

“. . .” (Bonnie shuffled on the spot.) “So, there's. . . There's something I've always wondered.”

“What is it, Bonnie?”

“Well, um. . . You know that stage play Frin brought us to, before we got the last Orb to open the House? In it, The main characters. . . The two men kissed on the mouth, right?”

“Ah”

“Oh gems.”

“Shush, I want to hear this.”

“And so, um. . . When people kiss on the mouth. In plays. They don't REALLY kiss, right? They have some transparent paper in between so their lips don't touch, right???”

“. . .What?”

“What.”

“UH HUH, WHAT?”

(Haha!!) "Yeah, Bonnie. They definitely have paper in between."

“Huh!! Yeah, I knew it!! No one would ever kiss someone on the mouth in a play! Not in front of everyone!!!”

(Isabeau laughed.) “Not in front of everyone!!!!”

“Oh, that's really good.” (Odile chuckled.) “Boniface, this is why you're my favorite.”

“Woohoo!”

(Continuing on, there’s a few other bookcases, the librarian, and a very, very thick book on fishing. Odile takes it. One of the bookshelves is filled with notebooks of all shapes and sizes. They look all out of place; you point it out to Mirabelle.)

“Oh! They're diaries, Siffrin!”

(Odile raises an eyebrow.) “Diaries? in a library??”

“Oh right! you guys do that in Dormont too!” (Isabeau holds up a hand as he talks.) So you know how our belief encourages change, right? Sometimes, when people change, they might not feel any attachment to the people they were before, or want that person to disappear.”

“So some Houses let you donate items that remind you too much of who you were, Like diaries! It's about history! Being able to pick up a diary written by someone a very long time ago? It’s fun!” (He put his hands on his hips.) “I think a lot of people actually give their diaries away so it's like. ‘Look mom, I wrote a book that's in a library’.”

“Ha! I can understand that, then.” (Odile nods.) 

(The idea of anyone reading your deepest, darkest thoughts, even years in the future, completely removed from you. . . Gross!!! You didn’t want anyone reading your thoughts, stars you didn’t want to read your own thoughts!! They’re gross!!)

(Once again, Vaugarde is weird. But also you love drama, so you happily pick the gaudiest, sparkliest diary you see.)

“Oh, this one looks fairly recent!” (Mira takes the book.) We could read a little bit. . . Like, a tiny bit.” 

“Sure.” (You shrug.) “Why not?”

“We do not have time. . .” (Odile gives a half shrug.) “. . . Is what I would usually say, but I'd also love to think about boring, mundane, everyday problems for a bit.

“Belle, pick a page!!!”

“I-I'm reading again? Okay, hmmm. . .” (Mirabelle started flipping through the diary while all of you huddled close to listen.)

"Mom told me to clean my room today. I HATE CLEANING MY ROOM!!! MY ROOM ISN'T EVEN DIRTY!! WHY DOESN'T SHE UNDERSTAND!!!!!!! Urgh. Also, Dad said a big boat showed up with a lotta weird people on it? And then when mom and dad were talking about it they realized they couldn’t say the name of the island north of Vaugarde anymore? I tried to say it yesterday and I got like the WEIRDEST headache for HOURS. Might trick my friends into saying it tomorrow."

(The rest is just doodles of a little girl laughing uproariously.)

(Odile adjusts her glasses and thinks for a moment.) “Ah, the island north of Vaugarde, I remember when it happened. . . Well, remember isn’t the right word, is it? That sort of event wouldn’t exactly be easy to miss.”

“I think uhm, I think my village was really close to it. My sister said it got super busy with people showing up.” (Bonnie shrugs.) “I was really young though, so I don’t remember it.”

“Oh it’s just so frightening. . .” (Mirabelle hugged the diary close.) “All of those people showing up out of the blue, lost, confused, looking like they just came out of a terrible nightmare. . . I’m glad your sister didn’t get caught up in that, Bonnie!”

“. . . Yeah. . .” (Bonnie sulks down, looking away.)

“. . .”

“. . .”

“. . .”

“. . . Uhm That country's name. . . What was it's name again?” (Bonnie asks, looking up again.)

“Oh, I think it was something like--”

“DONT!”

“SAY IT!!!”

“CRAB!!!!!”

“NYEHEHEHEHEHE!!!!”

(. . . . . Huh! What an interesting diary entry! Anyways, on to the next bookshelf. Looking through this one, there was a book that caught your eye. “Effort: The Key To Meaningful Change.” You open the book, and yep! You take the PAPER KEY. Pretty on the nose hiding place.)

(You pause for a second as you’re leaving, looking at one of the walls. It’s fake. It’s a fake wall. You KNOW it’s a fake wall. You can feel a slight breeze coming from the wall, which means there’s a space behind it. You double check it, nothing. Triple check, nothing. Stars you KNEW it was a fake wall but. . . .)

(. . . You give up. It’s probably not important anyways.)

>>>

(Time to explore the right side!)

(Going through, you breezed through a classroom, but there wasn’t much of note. A few tonics, some books and papers from kids, nothing too interesting. But as you continued down the hall, you had to pause as you turned a corner. You smelled the air.)

(It was getting sweet again, sugary sweet, really, really sickly sugary sweet. You made a face.)

“I-is everything okay, Siffrin?”

(Uh,) “I think one of those strong sadness is coming up, like from before?”

“Oh!!”

“Will you be alright, Sif?”  (Isabeau asks.)

“Yes, we don’t want you to have another coughing fit now, do we?”

“‘Frin Should put a clothes pin on their nose, then they’ll be UNSTOPPABLE!!!”

“HAHA!! TOO TRUE!!”

(You smile softly at the banter, you had yet to go through the first weird sadness fight without a coughing fit. It was just too sweet.) “I’ll be fine, promise.”

(Although, something to clog your nose wasn’t a bad idea. You filed the idea away for later and continued on, stopping at a door where the smell was strongest. You put a hand on the handle, and another on your dagger. Looking back, everyone else was ready, too. You open the door.)

(Aha! Just as you thought! Mirabelle stands side-by-side with you as you tug your cloak over your nose.) “A sadness!”

“Another weird-smelly one!!”

“Like the one that gave us a crest?”

“Wait, Siffrin, how were you able to-”

(Odile is interrupted by Nostalgie turning to the party.)

“N-no time, madame! Let’s get ready!!”

(You snap your fingers, [MAKE UP THE TIME], your wispy tendrils of craft energy boosting your allies just like last time. Mirabelle followed up by holding her hands up, and discs of light burst from them, and passed through you and your allies. Strength AND speed! Nice!)

“The last one was paper type.” (Odile thinks.) “Let’s see if there’s a pattern.” (She holds up her paper sign, and geometric shapes form around her palm before flying at the Sadness, but glances off, leaving only small scratches.)

(The Nostalgie didn’t like that, it seems, so it charged right back at Odile and slashed at her, making her stumble back to a knee. Isabeau didn’t miss a beat, and ran in with a rock sign! A ghostly hand covered Isa’s own and he used it to pound the Nostalgie.)

(It didn’t take long after that, you tagged back to Isabeau for a follow up, Mira healed Odile, who then used another rock skill. All it took was a couple extra hits and it was good as gone. As soon as it collapsed to the ground, you did, too, gasping for air.)

“Woah Sif, careful, the air isn’t going anywhere.” (Isabeau kneels down next to you.) “Need a minute?”

(You nod, and keep breathing, eventually standing up again. Mira hands you a tissue, you blow your nose.) “. . . Thanks, sorry.”

“No need to be sorry, Siffrin.” (Odile reassures,) “Although, I am still curious about how you’re able to tell the scent of a specific sadness.”

(You shrug.) “It was, just really strong?”

“. . . . . . . . . I see.” (She's looking at you.) “I did not smell a thing. Are you sure there is no other reason?”

(You smile with your eyes tilted in a confused way.) “Not, that I know of???”

“Hmm.” (She looks away, thinking.) 

“. . . . Ssssmellology?” (Isabeau tries.)

“It's called Aromachology, and no.” (She shakes her head.) “Now may we please continue?”

(Yes please. You lead the party out.)

[the-flower-ranchers]

Jimmy, Tango what was it like (and I’m assuming here) asking Scott out? Actually, how did you all get together in the first place, considering, y’know, the ex-husband thing.

Tango: "This is a fun question..." *Tango's face turns a hue of red*

Jimmy, trying not to laugh at Tango's silly blushing: "It's been clear that Tango's had the hots for my husband for seasons now."

Scott: "EX-husband!"

Jimmy: "Right. To answer the whole ex-husbands thingy for you, Anon- It's... really complicated. First of all, Scott and I were never really married in the first place-"

Scott, glowering: "Choose your words carefully, Solidarity..."

Jimmy: "Yeesh, alright, alright. Since we were never officially married, the husbands title was kinda inaccurate. Then I died, and made Scott a widower. Then in Last Life it was just easier to say we were ex husbands rather than Scott is my widower lover from 3rd life who can barely remember what we meant to one another so he decided to ignore my existence to escape the pain."

Scott, cheerfully: "And then when I won and got all my memories back, I fell in love with him all over again~"

Tango, sighing: "Which caused a lot of unnecessary drama within the first 5 minutes of Double Life."

Jimmy: "So when the two of us became soul mates, and eventually started dating, Tango kept denying he had feelings for anyone but me."

Tango: "How else are you supposed to deal with feelings for your boyfriend's EX?"

Jimmy: "Before I could clue Scott in on this, he sort of..."

Scott: "Held a sword to Tango's throat for killing the both of them in the first 10 minutes of the episode."

Tango, rolling his eyes: "Don't forget the most important part!"

Scott: "... And then after a very heated conversation, I kissed him and stormed off."

Jimmy: "I had to sit through a very looooong season of this back and forth stuff."

Tango: "Admitting your crush on someone is hard enough when they aren't constantly threatening your life!"

Scott: "I had a lot on my mind!"

Tango: "Doesn't change the fact the the first few moments we ever spent alone together were when you hated me more than anything in this server."

Scott, rubbing the back of his neck guiltily: "... I don't know what I was thinking then. I... I'll explain it to both of you once you start retaining your memories, okay? A lot of my issues last season stemmed from them."

*Tango's face scrunched with concern, but he nods*

Jimmy: "Don't feel pressured to say or do anything, Scott. Nobody can blame you for how these games mess with a person's head, okay?"

Scott, shaking himself: "Yeah, of course... Uh, where were we?"

Tango: "We spent an entire season torturing Jimmy with our back and forth will they won’t they act?"

Scott, laughing a bit: "Yeaaah. But you eventually told him about our flirting."

Jimmy: "Even though I was already 10 steps ahead of both of you."

Tango, leaning his head on Jimmy's shoulder: "Yup. As soon as the season was over, this handsome bird asked me out on a date, and handed me off to Scott with zero warning."

Scott: "We hit it off better than we ever could have thought, especially since most of our pining was amist the literal death games. We went on 2 dates, plus 3 more with Jimmy before these two asked me to be their boyfriend~"

*without warning, Tango reaches over and yanks Scott into a kiss*

Tango: "We're the luckiest ranchers in the world, Scott."

*Jimmy silently wraps his wings around his lovers*

(Ooc: I really enjoyed answering this ask! If you're curious about the "first episode drama" Scott and Tango kept bringing up, I here's the link for the fic that inspired this entire blog! Also, I'm in the works of writing part 2 of the fic as we speak- https://www.tumblr.com/kitab00m101/766353170631999488/flower-ranchers-double-life-fic?source=share )

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  @alwaysurvalentine! alwaysurvalentine has 11 fics in the Stranger Things fandom on AO3 and all of them are in the Steddie tag!

@dame-zoom-a-lot recommends the following works by @alwaysurvalentine:

bad days were meant to be shared

three strikes and you're out!

aquariums and sweethearts

"If I had to put an image to their fics… I'd say a warm blanket and a piece of cake.

Their slices of life fics get cooked with so much care and thought. A lot of them are my go-to when I'm feeling kind of off or lonely. They approach conflict with so much empathy and realism. No one's just shitty out of the blue with zero reason, and characters talk things out in a way that feels like how real people would talk. There's rarely clear villains or clean-cut forever happy-ending type resolutions in real life, and their fics shine at showing the beauty of that." -- @dame-zoom-a-lot

Below the cut, @alwaysurvalentine answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

Honestly, I just really vibe with both of them as characters. It’s easy to draw some of my own parallels with how Eddie sees the world and Steve’s fall from grace within my personal life - so it’s nice to play around with characters who I can understand. Plus I love taking the “protectors” from the narrative and forcing them to allow others to care for them.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I’m a sucker for any type of soulmate au, the ones with soulmarks are my guilty pleasures. Just something about knowing there’s someone out there destined to care about you makes me feel all warm and fuzzy

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Anything slice of life or found family - I just love getting to give characters all the love and care they deserve. Especially when canon has put them through the ringer!!

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

With no cross to bear (these words just come out) by hitlikehammers https://archiveofourown.org/works/45052120/chapters/113340064 I come back to this fic again and again. Love their Eddie POV and all of the reactions from the party feel authentic and I just love a fic that really shows how much everyone cares about Steve (even if he doesn’t see it).

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I’ve had a big idea about a possession type fic starring Eddie. It’s gonna be a big project though so it may be workshopped and shelved for another time while I work on some other stuff!

What is your writing process like?

Music is my biggest inspiration and I listen to Spotify all of the time (my spotify wrapped is about to be WILD), but usually I’ll get a spark of an idea from a song, scribble down a quick interaction I can see, and then once I get home it’s getting it all out on a doc. It usually takes me a few days to a week for me to get a fic where I want it, especially when the characters take things into their own hands for the narrative (I’m looking at Eddie and Robin here)

Do you have any writing quirks?

I actually write everything in red text until I decide I like the section. I have so many documents that have different colored text based on how I feel about it. Black means it’s ready to be proofread/don’t change, purple or blue for things I want to rewrite, and then red for what I’ve gotten down but isn’t edited/reviewed yet. Besides that I also go in thinking I’m going to keep it short and sweet and then I blink and we’re 2k in - but it’s been fun nonetheless!

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

If I’m doing a prompt challenge usually it’s as soon as I’m done (totally not because I finish the day of…totally not that) but other than that I have a personal schedule to have certain things done by, otherwise I’ll nitpick forever.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Three Strikes and You’re Out! It was super fun to play around with connecting baseball terms to DnD in a way that still made sense and wasn’t just a block of info text.

How did you get the idea for aquariums and sweethearts?

It was actually a little followup I did for another fic, where Eddie visited the aquarium with Uncle Wayne but wasn’t able to get the souvenir he wanted. And I wanted Steve to kinda complete that circle, plus I wanted them to have a moment where they could kinda be kids again.

When writing aquariums and sweethearts, what was something you didn’t expect?

I honestly didn’t expect it to be so long, I was just going to write a tiny follow up but got carried away with my own aquarium memories and research so I just kept wanting to add more and more

What inspired three strikes and you're out!?

I feel like I’ve seen a lot of fics where Steve meets Eddie halfway with his interests and I wanted to see the opposite. Like it’s one thing for Eddie to concede that being a jock isn’t so bad, but it’s another for him to go out and learn about a sport/something that doesn’t interest him at all, ya know?

What was your favorite part to write from three strikes and you're out!?

Oooh! Such a hard question, for me it’s a tie between the conversation Eddie has with Lucas and his conversation with Uncle Wayne. I just liked putting Eddie in a situation where he was the one learning, instead of being the one in charge/control.

How do/did you feel writing bad days were meant to be shared?

It was a little hard starting out, I knew a couple things I wanted to happen but besides that I really went in kinda blind. Once I got into the groove though, it felt like it just wrote itself. Steve knew what he was feeling and just guided me along.

What was the most difficult part of writing bad days were meant to be shared?

So fun fact, I actually wrote the first draft completely from Eddie's point of view. I was trying to find his voice (still feel like I’m working on this but progress is progress) but it just wasn’t flowing right and Dame-Zoom-A-Lot actually helped beta for me. They’re the one who suggested the point of view switch and it worked so well!!

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

A favorite scene I’ve written has to be in aquariums and sweethearts when Eddie and the Mime gang up on Steve to poke fun at him, it just felt like something Eddie would play along with and enjoy.  These couple of lines from Three Strikes and You’re Out! Make me really happy, like sent my friends a dorky screenshot because I liked them so much: “Eddie’s world narrows to the smell of Steve’s cologne, something that smells like rain on freshly cut grass and a hint of vanilla. Just as soon as Steve leaned in, he leans away, the sun painting orange and pink highlights in his hair when he tilts his head grinning.”

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I’m working on a Steve Harrington ‘character study’ from Hopper’s point of view currently and might be starting on an Anastasia AU starring Chrissy as Anya and Robin as Dimitri - super stoked for both of these!

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Endless thanks to my nominator!! I just started posting for Steddie this August and it’s been unreal. So thankful for all of my new friends and can’t wait to share some more of my little ideas and chat with other people about their art and stories! <3

Thank you to our author, @alwaysurvalentine, and our nominator, @dame-zoom-a-lot ! See more of alwaysurvalentine's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[shimmershy]

Hello volta ! I wanted to know, how many "volt" do you produce ? ... Yep... I just did that... I Can only pray for my life now..

I miss you're drawing...

I miss you're Frisk cute face

More importantly, i miss you're beautifull Chara...

I miss you...

Hello! To answer your question, I definitely produce a normal and safe amount of volts! That may come as a "shock" because of my name, but it is definitely true! No dangerous high voltage situations here! ^_^

Teehee. Also thank you!! That's very sweet, it's nice to be acknowledged and missed, and I also apologize for the lack of art and activity here in general. I miss drawing Undertale-related stuff myself, especially Chara and Frisk, but there's just been a whole mixture of reasons why I haven't been posting much.

No need to read all of this; I have a feeling I'm going to be rambling a bit, but overall it's just because my interest in Undertale kind of fluctuates and since I was kind of hardcore in an Undertale phase for a few months (or like...a year kinda), it's died down a bit lately. But not to worry; Undertale's always been my main interest, so it's always kinda "there", or comes back eventually.

But ALSO, I've become interested in a lot of other things lately too. And they're aaaall fighting for my attention because I'm like equally interested in all of them and that creates its own problem. Basically I've been having trouble creating stuff at all lately due to being all over the place, but being kind of "no thoughts, head empty" at the same time (brain problems...)

And on top of that, maybe this is too awkward or personal to share, but it's been hard for me to keep track of what's important to me lately, so it's like. I know I want to draw, I know I want art to continue to be my thing, but I don't know what art I want to create. I don't know what kind of passion or project I want to devote my time to, and often it's just been driving me to avoid art altogether. I get overwhelmed because it feels like I don't have enough time to get to all the things I want to do, and it takes me so long to draw simple things, AND my interest in things changes more often than I can keep up with. Should I draw a simple drawing today, because it might be fun, and I could complete it easily, even though the reward will be short lived? Or should I try to work on this larger project again, because it's what I want to work on more and will probably make me feel more satisfied in the long run, even though it might not be fun now? Even though I might lose interest in it tomorrow and the progress will kinda be wasted? OR should I do this completely other thing?

It's just very. Eugh. I think too much. There's so much stuff I want to create, but I guess at this point I'm just going to have to give it time and patience. I've been trying to focus my energy on enjoying other parts of my life instead for now. It kind of helps.

But Undertale is not dead in my heart. Yes it is 2024, but I still have at least two Undertale stories I've wanted to start and just haven't gotten around to yet, so there's that at the very least. I doubt those will leave me alone until I do something with them. Plus I've been drawing Chara and Frisk Undertale for like, 8 years so I'm not going to stop now???? So. Woe. Hopes and Dreams be upon ye. 🎊

[kariachi]

I hate OV's timeline. Not like, the direction it takes, though I don't like that either (forced as hell, horribly done) but just the amount of time it's trying to use.

Here's the thing, not gonna judge OS, that shit is completely wild, and also I hardly watched it.

AF though. The Highbreed arc takes place over the spring, seemingly over the 'late-March through some degree of May' period. Which is a lot to have going on, but there's a big invasion happening and there's little enough that you can spread it semi-reasonably over like, two and a half months.

The third season fairs even better. There seems to be a timeskip between the sections, but still it seems like it starts somewhere from mid-to-late summer. Add in that UA, according to WoG starts a few weeks after AF ends, that the Tennysons are 16 by then, and that they're canonically December babies, we can safely say the season ends somewhere around mid-to-late December. Plenty of time for the shit that happens.

UA, meanwhile, presumably starts somewhere in early-to-mid January. There's a point where we get an episode showcasing that summer is, if not there, coming up real fast prior to an episode of Gwen in school in what seems to be a standard school day, but there's not really any reason in UA to think that too odd. Through the series there's no reason to believe we're not covering a year again, though I can't remember any key points to pinpoint seasons or months.

Then fucking OV shows up. And goes 'the Tennysons are still sixteen'. Putting it in the same year as UA. Okay, sure. Except Gwen is heading off to college, which means OV would have to begin in September, meaning what the fuck was she doing in school in It's Not Easy Being Gwen? It certainly didn't seem like a summer school situation, especially since she brings up Kevin not going to school in that episode despite us not having no reason to think he would be in summer school if he did. But okay, we say Gwen took summer classes to barge ahead of everyone and thinks Kevin would struggle in school- not the best, but it does something to fix the issue.

Except. The Tennysons are supposedly still 16 at the end of OV. Meaning that the series takes place from September to early-to-mid December. Three and a half months. Remove one of those for the Incursean invasion, 2 and a half months. To cover 68 events, several of which take place over multiple days. That would require there to be a crisis every single day, with multiple overlapping in the background. And that's not with counting cases like 'oh yeah and this has been happening in the background', just major shit. At the very best it barely works.

Like, it doesn't have to be that way. If you were deadset on keeping the mucking with UA's timeline then you could just start the series the September of that year and give each season a month-odd. Start season 4 with the Tennysons' 17th birthday, something fucks it up for the sake of a plot, they have fun anyway because this would be a breather after the Incursean Invasion, carry on from there. That way there's plenty of space in each season for all the shit that happens in them, plus Rook doesn't just leave the Academy and end up one of the highest ranked Plumbers on a well-supplied planet within four months.

Shocker, OV writers, everything does not have to be thrown into as little time as possible.

If you wanted to let the UA timeline be, you could shift OV over into the next year. Gwen starting her college career with the spring semester would be odd, but potentially viable, or if you wanted to be really cheeky you could push the whole thing back to that September and have a sizable timeskip between the two series. Max's scolding Ben with a reminder that he's about to age up would have more impact if it was "You're gonna be 18 soon" anyway. Plus we can, again, spread shit out over a longer period of time, this time leave the option of the whole year. Solidifies the pattern of the team changing age between series.

Option A we get Ben suggesting a galactic road trip when Gwen would be heading into summer break, in option B when she's heading into winter break.

It could work, it would be better, but no, supposedly they're still 16, drives me up the damn wall.

[ruiimellowww]

Okay HI hello 👋👋

I saw ur art about Sun & Moon through a reblog and I am such a simp for those two omg so here's a rant :33

(Also if you're not comfy with this pls ignore this rant then, and I am so sry if that is the case!! Will stop immediately if you tell me to /srs)

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

CAN I JUST SAY I am sosososososo in love with your desgin for the dca cuz holy shit I have never seen anything hotter. O.O LIKEEE THE HUMANOID VERSION??!?!!?? UGH soooo goooodd 🥵🥵 I love the designs and the- the little EARRINGS as well?!??! Omg sooooo cutee aaaaaa 💞💞

and-and omigosh UR ART IS SO GOOD AS WELL!?!? I straight up just wanna munch it. I am eating ur art fr. In LOVE with ur artstyle it's so yummy 😍

Anywhoooo I also scrolled through your dca tag aND *GASP* ECLIPSE?????? 😍😍AND I?? WANNA??? BE ENVELOPED????? BY HIMM??? (I feel like mans would give THE BEST cuddles on the planet!!!)

HOLLLYYYY SHITTTT thE SIZEEEEEEE

Big tall omigoshhhhhhHHH M- my brain- my heart my- mY EVERYThIng is mELTING! ! ! ! ! Literally his size just does something to me I cannot comprehend why omigosh

(*lays in a puddle on the floor*)

I can imagine sosososo many different scenarios where that height could be used aaaaa >~< <333 ;P

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

Omg if you have any HCs (and *wanna* share, ofc.) about him (Or about Sun & Moon) I'd love to listen to you ramble about them??? <333

So curious about ur HCs & would absolutely love any crumbs about the dca ksskksskkdkdjdks ❤️😂

Uhm uhm first off, thank you so much I can't rlly put into words how sweet this is and I totally don't mind the rambles because me too. And also because its been YEARS since I last used Tumblr or did anything answering Ask is a bit tough for me.. MmMM

Although I don't have many HC at the moment.. I can however give you a little insight I have regarding my Human DCA :]

Moondrop (Moon) and Sundrop

- when I first designed Moon (after the game came out) he had a much wilder look to him, especially the face because I was really into the idea of him being simply insane hence the red.

- later when i got back to his design and adding colours I thought that it would be fun to make it Blue and white themed, which I actually didn't see a lot back then

- he wasn't supposed to look human even as a Humanoid, I liked to think that Sun & Moon simply had a renovated body. They are just as much Animatronics as they had always been, robotic parts and everything but with a bit of twist

- So then onto Sun.. the thing is its sad to say but I never explored much with Sun's design back then as much as I did with Moon, so I can't provide a good reference

- although I had a rough idea of how sun would look like I never quite liked the way I drew him, so he's always somewhat been stuck in this unfinished stage

- Then there was eclipse, who was my absolute FAVORITE at that time, I don't think I loved a character MORE THAN ECLIPSE EVER when I was drawing him out

- yes!! It was very much inspired by the 3D render shown here as the ref, though I did make some changes of my own to the design as well

- I had a lot in my head when I was drawing him, but the one thing that I loved most about this design still to thisq day is rhe face. The way I him to look back then was sort of a mix between my Sun and Moon designs, only leaning more towards Sun in colours and Moon in appearance with the crazed look in his eyes

The height was just a funny little thing I thought of, cuz imagine this giant fkn ahh robot just comes in here and picks you up 💀 god I would piss myself

Cough..

So in regards to the new design, I did kind of get rid of the animatronic feel to him that I had done with the DCA and his old design, all of them now look a whole lot more Human which is what I intended for

Eclipse has a few scars around his body; right forearm, left side of his torso that leads all the way up to his chest. Plus a bit of his face that is burnt which you can't exactly see because of the Black spots

Overall I like my newer designs quite a lot and has also changed a lot, this is probably the most insight you'll get out of me abt my art 😭😭 cuz I don't usually ramble this much otherwise

I might come up with some head canons at a later date, but they'll be fun thats for sure ;)

[danieyells]

Re: Obscuary! Towa and Taiga AU

@tanpopo-towa

Obscuary is a house where one is manually assigned by Darkwick, not by the Weighing Of Souls. No Weighting of Souls means your desires have no bearing on your placement there.

Darkwick puts you there if you're a nonhuman ghoul, full stop. Hyde describes a player who values harmony and is "peace-loving and open-minded" as fitting into Obscuary(perhaps not because Obscuary themselves are that way--although they are--but because you'd be accepting of them and their inhumanity), but since there is no Weighing Of Souls for Obscuary the placement is entirely on Darkwick's end.

I imagine Towa still finds Ed unpleasant, and avoids him when possible. He smells like a corpse and he embraces their inhumanity more than Towa is comfortable with, although he's starting to get used to that. Ed, as usual, has no problems with Towa.

Haru canonically transferred into Jabberwock, although we don't know when or from what house, and it's possible that Towa wasn't always in Jabberwock anyway(especially given his historical treatment of anomalies and that he only changed his ways recently.) Haru still comes to the bar every night, so he would meet him regardless of the circumstances. Haru's in his house every day being weak and vulnerable. Towa wouldn't like this at first, but when love(whether from the Tree or eventually growing attached to Haru, whichever love he's talking about) makes him find weakness more valuable he'd find it endearing.

That depends on the circumstances. Jabberwock may have been closed to general students because of Towa(history of a dislike for weakness + suspicion of murder + little display of concern for the wellbeing of others + immense amount of power='we shouldn't let him be around humans too much he might harm them, but he doesn't get along with Edward so he can't go to Obscuary'), so it's possible Haru doesn't run the place alone at all(although he'd still find a reason to go to the bar.) Alternatively they'd leave a few capable general students there or have it managed partially by Institute staff(which puts a lot of pressure on Haru either way, so he will still drink.)

Taiga wasn't really calm to begin with? His whole thing is that he's very violent, enough so that they sent him on a mission because they were okay with him killing the anomaly target instead of capturing it because that's just what he does. And the fact that he'd have to leave Darkwick on missions(because he is not getting an R&R permit the way he kills anomalies instead of capturing them, DW won't approve of it even if Rui would) in order to do any gambling due to there not being a casino on campus would irritate him. Plus Darkwick would scold and punish him over eating and fighting and killing anomalies in Obscuary's forest because they haven't studied everything in there yet--it's like releasing a pack of housecats into a protected area. He's just gonna kill a bunch of endangered species. So he'd have to restrain himself to avoid getting in trouble, which would irritate him more. . . . And play-fighting isn't enough for him, he needs to fight to the death or at least be at risk of getting really hurt. If there's no risk, it's a lot less fun! I feel like he'd be bored a lot of the time, although he's well-fed and has some enrichment.

But it also depends on how Taiga was before he got here--given Romeo implies he used to attack humans and [from his perspective] he doesn't anymore, he probably wasn't any better before coming to Darkwick lmao. Taiga may even be more restrained in present canon, since Romeo doesn't know he still does go after humans now and then(based on Ritsu's recording.)

I can definitely see some kind of esthetician or spa business being what Romeo runs lol probably employs a lot of Mortkranken and Hotarubi students. A mall could also work. . .or at least some sort of luxury business(es). I feel like a mall may make less money though and he'd be wary of operating it at a loss. . . . Of course it's a front business, they do. . .other things in the rest of the ship, but nobody has to know that. . . . (Thinking about it, Kaito probably wouldn't owe him any money in this scenario. . .unless it was some sort of mall for luxury goods and they offered scammy payment plans lmao. . .then Kaito might be lured in by the nice things and how easy 12 payments of $19.95 sound and oh man didn't you read the fine print on the interest fees and such?)

And I don't mind the rambling at all! It makes me happy that it'd generate that much thought lolol

[solarcitymelodies]

You said you wanted to talk about ventriloquism?

Tell me more?

It took me so long to get to this I'm so sorry 😭 low on spoons, you know how it is

But yes, I LOVE ventriloquism, and I talk about it semi frequently here in my corner of the internet ... I'm not even sure where to start just cuz there's SO much, but this post I made a bit ago with a focus on our bonds with our puppets is a good start :)

Other than that, I've left quite a lengthy beginners guide under the cut, so I hope you enjoy!

So, here's where we start. This here:

Is a headless Jerry Mahoney. I show you this mildly uncomfortable image so you can see the most important piece of equipment in ventriloquism: the headstick! Or control stick, some people call it that too. This has a bunch of different levers on it that control different parts of the face, but more rudimentary ones will just have one lever for the mouth. Which is really all you need honestly. (Anything else costs a pretty penny. Like, an especially pretty one.) The lever being pulled on Jerry here is the only important one, and that's the one that controls his mouth.

You can see a bunch of those controls here:

This isn't the only kind of ventriloquist dummy, but it's definitely the most well known iteration. There's been a huge rise in felt puppets recently, and there's also been pull-string ones around for quite a while (which are far less intricately built than other dummies, but pretty sweet for beginners. I only own string-pulls and i love them very much. ♡)

As for actually doing ventriloquism, there's a few tips I have that I tell anyone interested.

1. Ventriloquism is easy. It is so easy. It's learning how to make it convincing that's hard!

2. And in that same vein, it doesn't matter that much how convincing you are as long as you and the audience are having fun! I always get tired of people treating what's basically playing with dolls but ✨️fancy✨️ like an Olympic sport lol.

3. Letter substitutes are whatever you can get away with. Cut corners. Change your vocabulary. Whatever works to make yourself sound more natural is what you should be doing! Remember, it's not cheating if it works.

4. If you aren't a little weird about the puppets please consider getting weirder. It is a tradition we hold very dear to us.

Now, as far as the basics go-- like I said, it's not too terribly difficult.

First and foremost, there's a certain "standing position" your mouth should rest in, which sounds very silly but it's true. Your lips should be slightly parted, enough to let air out but not enough to be super noticeable. You can't actually talk with your mouth fully closed, but it should look closed from a distance. This is one of our tricks of illusion >:3

Your tongue should always be behind your teeth, usually resting against them a bit in my experience. Your teeth are going to be acting as your new lips. That sounds insane but it'll make sense the more you do it. When you'd usually use your lips to pronounce a word, you use your teeth. ALWAYS keep your teeth resting in a mostly closed position!! This is so people don't see your tongue moving!! Learned this the hard way lol.

There are a few letters you have to watch out for: B, F, M, P, V, and W. Some of these are easier for other people and some are harder, but these are the well known ones, plus ones I have trouble with (granted I do have speech issues as is, sooo... take with a grain of salt?)

These letters are evil and cursed and don't like to be pronounced without moving your lips, which is where we introduce letter substitutes. Generally,

B = D (or G)

F = more of an S sound, like a hiss

M = N

P = T

V = a sound closer to Z

W turns into the wretched "duddayoo." I do not like this one.

I'm not that great at explaining the basics to be honest, but there's lot of great tutorial videos out there, I'd recommending doing s little dive into those if you're genuinely interested. For now here's one from Darci Lynne because I love her.

The best thing to do though, if you dont want to do the actual acting thing? Get active in the community anyways. Get your friends into it. Talk about it! Post about it! Ventriloquism has been, famously, dying as far as most people are concerned for a long while now, and we really need younger people to step up and keep this art alive. Just appreciating it and supporting from the sidelines is a huge help. As much of a loser as this makes me sound, please for the love of God make ventriloquism look cool. It sounds goofy but we really do genuinely need it.

As a final note:

Ventriloquism at its core, I believe, at least, shouldn't be competitive. There are a lot of people in the community that just take it way too seriously and frankly, it is so lame. Ventriloquism should be fun. It's odd and it's kooky and it should be accessible to everyone no matter how good they are at keeping their lips still. A lot of the best ventriloquists famously could not keep their mouths shut. And I mean that as literally as possible. They were still beloved by many and are greatly cherished figures in our community.

If you ever doubt yourself, remember: Lambchop was only a sock before Shari Lewis made her come to life. You don't need the best materials, or the best technique; all you need is passion and a good routine.

[zachsgamejournal]

PLAYING: Death Stranding

Ok, ok: I like it. Kojima-ness of the writing and direction are still off-putting, but the introduction of vehicles and roads has been a...game changer.

Can't remember where I left off. I went to a new area and had a motorcycle. Things that have made the game fun:

The Truck: once I found a truck the whole game changed for me. Walking was slow and you're limited by what you can carry. So you can't rake many deliveries with you and forget about collecting lost stuff along the way. But with the truck, ah, I can put several deliveries on it while collecting supplies and lost packages. Given the truth can hop a little, I've basically climbed rocks--haha! I really enjoyed the game The Lake, where you delivered mail. I found it relaxing and the character interactions engaging. Having truck takes me back there.

Roads: when I first saw a road paver K was like WTF is this. But after building a few roads that cut across the rough landscape and make you nearly immune to mules and BTs made me pumped. I didn't realize you could turbo on the vehicles, so it was slow going at first. I spent a lot of time building roads. Now that I have roads with my truck, doing deliveries is much more bearable. It's now my whole mission to build all the roads. In my game space, I've been building every road except one. So i expect more praise from any players benefitting from my work. Haha

Delivery Bots: I really appreciate the game giving you robots to make deliveries for you. They almost always damage the stuff even if they have a road to follow, but it's nice to hand off four deliveries especially to remote areas with no roads. I also have a robot that can follow me about but I've had trouble making good use of it.

Killing BTs: Because I love playing passive stealth metal gear, I tried to be pure stealth and passive. But they're basically ghosts, so helping them cross over isn't bad, right? Hope not cause killing the oil monsters is a good way to collect chirum or whatever it's called.

Zip lines: I don't remember when I unlocked these but I wish i had embraced them sooner. While you're limited to what you can carry, lining up a series of these could help you zip around to anywhere with minimal worries.

I fought Mads, but I was sad I had to use lethal rounds. His already dead tho, right?

Learned a bit more about fragile. They had a scene where she was almost naked so that she'd be exposed to the time fall. I think it was a little objectifying given that her under was unnecessarily small and showed but crack. I get that they show muscular Sam in the shower, but whose the target audience, let's be real. Still, this game is quite the improvement over MGS as far as objectification.

It's interesting how you can see other player's structures. It adds an interesting sense of collaboration. But seeing all these bridges and generators everywhere, it makes the landscape polluted. Kinda parallels our world of just throwing up junk every where and scarring the environment. Wonder if that'll be a story thing?

I had some close call "epic" events. I tried to carry a body plus to floating carts worth of deliveries across a large distance. Unfortunately there was a large crack in the ground I had to go around. Mules sighted me and I wasted my battery getting away. I had to find edge of the chasm and walk around 300 meters with no battery. It was rough.

Later, I got a truck stuck on a rock on the edge if BT territory. I had to walk all the contents over three trips hoping no disaster would occur along the way.

I'm not so keen on the story. Hideo is giving me weird backstories and circumstances as to be expected, and weird character behaviors. Maybe I'm so emotionally repressed I can't appreciate the healthy expression happening.

Also, I got to go thru snow, that was cool!

[basedkikuenjoyer]

I wanted to take a brief pause after VII, just to talk about hallmarks of Dragon Quest as a series. Because we are leaving the era where these games are a driving force in developing the JRPG genre. Like...I know when I do the final ranking I'm going to put II much higher than most. Because I earnestly feel II is one of those very special games that developed so many things that became ubiquitous you take it for granted. This does not mean VIII, IX, and XI are bad by any stretch. I'd compare it to The Simpsons; your purpose has changed in a world full of imitators. What was revolutionary is not comforting and timeless.

Sadly this does mean we'll lose a few elements that didn't translate into the next generation. Eventually the designers behind the series started following norms competitors innovated. So before we go on to VIII and it's massive legacy, a few favorite hallmarks I didn't get to cover:

One of the most iconic features here since the first that's just as fun in XI. Metal Slimes. So many have tried this and none work as well as the original. Rare version of a weak enemy that nets massive experience. The catch? They're quick to flee and while they have only 3-4 HP their defense is maxed out. Enough you might do 1 damage on a hit. Then later games introduce different, stronger varieties. If you need to grind, the metal slime family always feels like a fun little mini-game to shorten it. And the developers are smart about where their hotspots are usually. If you see one in a new area, it's worth it to try and bag a few first pass.

Dungeon Philosophy. I hate this has fallen by the wayside in favor of following Final Fantasy's style. Early on, you had to approach dungeons like an old school D&D module. You're not doing it first try. It's all part of the fun baked into what happens on a loss. You just go back to the last King/Priest you saved at and lose half your money. The dungeons are designed around this, if it's a tower you can just hop off and go back to town. But you'll have to make a few runs at the labyrinth to figure everything out and learn the optimal path. Especially with...

Random encounters having some teeth to them. This has diminished over time but game design in general has gotten easier so I don't fault DQ for it. But in those early ones, yeah random encounters can be brutal. You need to consider spells like sleep or fog that'll spare you some hits cheaply. If you flee and fail you lose a turn like a lot of RPGs but not every monster will go so it's more viable sometimes. All together, simple but tight design. A dungeon in early Dragon Quest feels like a real challenge of balancing resources like MP. This is why I love III so much, the class system plus peak design philosophy makes everything work so well as a total package. Your party comp will determine which parts are hard or easy.

Decisions on equipment. This is subtle but very cool in practice. Unlike a lot of JRPGs, in these early Dragon Quest games you're going to have to grind a lot to get every new piece of equipment you can buy immediately. Which will feel even worse if something is rendered obsolete with a dungeon treasure. You're not expected to. When you first get to town you decide what felt like it needed to be bolstered the most, then go on and start taking on the dungeon expecting to need a few trips. When you're ready to leave, decide if you want to polish it off here or try your luck with a headstart on the next town. Later games have replaced this with a crafting element I like, so it's more of a lateral move.

[eldritch-elrics]

silent hill 2 remake continues to delight me. even more so, now that maria is here :D

i enjoyed blue creek apartments quite a lot. it seems like the remake has taken the opportunity to completely rethink what once were fairly simple puzzles in the original - things like the clock puzzle feel very intentionally designed. the souls-like nature of the level design shines through in this dungeon especially - finding each clock hand requires you to go out in one direction and then circle back to the save point by opening shortcuts, which i liked. i did not like dying a handful of times and losing quite a bit of progress... but i think that is mostly a problem with me no longer playing on emulator, lol.

speaking of the puzzles... i noticed that it's now pretty explicit about what objects you should be looking for:

i don't think i like this decision. the remake's new interact button already makes explicit what objects are important, and i think that one of the fun things about silent hill as a series is picking up random shit and going "now how is this going to be useful..." without knowing beforehand what you're looking for.

let's see, more blue creek notes. the expanded moth room was great! i liked the big moths! also, they added a few new shots to the angela mirror cutscene that i thought were quite cool. i don't thiiink they changed that cutscene much? angela's voice actor is good, though.

also.... toilet!!!!! plus the original "stick hand in strange hole" bit! wow, they upped the amount of weird places for james to put his hand in the remake. i love that the toilet is no longer optional.

look at him. he's having a great time.

and finally: pyramid head!! i was glad to have more space to do the fight this time hehe. honestly, even more than the fight, i loved the huge knife-gashes that appear in the floor at a certain point... even though i knew what was coming, that was such a great way to create a sense of dread. (also, the mannequins near the clock room that move closer and closer to you...)

i liked seeing this staircase in hd also. that was just a neat touch. (in general, all the glitchy memory-moments are very fun... a great sort of easter egg!)

speaking of pyramid head, i noticed that if you try and reload the autosave before his bossfight, it's listed as "red pyramid thing"! even though james doesn't say that line in this version :|

anyway... most importantly.... MARIA 💖💖💖

i haven't even seen much of her but i already have so many things to say! james seems more scared(?) than fascinated by maria in the remake; he has a definite Repressed Energy here. (the way he delivers the line "can't you just tell me where it is?" kills me, oh man, he's so breathless...) maria also seems more like a normal person...? she still has a playful and slightly weird energy, but it's way toned down & laid back compared to the "suspicious seductress" vibes of the original. i'm a lil sad about that tbh; i love how in the original she's coming onto james really hard. she's also more teasing/presumptuous in the og - i miss her line where she's like "oh so the hotel was your special place? i'm sure it was ;)" like that's so obnoxious... though i am glad maria keeps her flirtiness, even if it's a bit more subtle.

funny how maria rather than james is the one to think of the hotel as the second "special place"? maria's just kind of like "oh yeah i'll take you there, it's not far." i do like how this sets maria up as a sort of authority rather than a passive "following james around" figure, AND i really like how it foreshadows james's memory issues (to put it mildly), BUT in terms of the overall plot of the game i think it loses something significant by not immediately naming the hotel as the other potential destination. now, i'm only as far as jack's inn so it's possible that maria could say something at any time that will invalidate this entire thread of commentary, but i think something that makes the original sh2 feel so tight plot-wise is that for the entire game, you're always heading towards one of two destinations: the park, or the hotel. not having james immediately knowing that he needs to go to the hotel makes him feel less driven - makes it feel like the plot has gotten away from him a bit. unless... this is intentional? giving that power to maria is definitely interesting... it's a whole new way of making her a little suspicious! like maybe she's untrustworthy, but james has to trust her now!

also extremely fun to see the small changes surrounding maria's line where she's convincing james to let her come along. in the og, "i look like mary... you loved her, right?" seems deliberately provocative: she's giving him a reason to accept her. whereas in the remake, the one extra line ("is it because i remind you of her?") recontextualizes everything. here, maria seems more empathetic: she recognizes that her similarity to mary is a reason for james to hesitate, but she still spins it into a reason for james to care about her ("you loved her, didn't you. ...didn't you?") as another note, i like that second "didn't you?" a lot more as a sudden moment of doubt than the original line ("or maybe you hated her!"). the og one speaks more to maria's obnoxious/provocative streak that i enjoy, but i think the remake line, because it's less ridiculous/out of nowhere, works a lot better to subtly cast doubt on james's relationship with mary.

also this made me rewatch the original "meeting maria" scene and i have to note that i love the way james delivers the "oh yeah, three years ago... but i got a letter from her! :D" bit. it's like.. bro forgot she was dead..... (not like this doesn't also happen in the remake, just.. the original's voice acting is something special man)

okay ummmm i didn't mean to spend so many words close reading the minutiae of that scene. anyway. more maria things! GOD i love that she banters with james now while they're walking. just an inarguably positive addition to the game. it's always the best when two characters chat during gameplay - like 2B and 9S from nier automata! i fucking love how maria startles when james breaks windows (but also sounds kind of excited about it). also her checking out her og outfit in the one hotel room?? really good moment. also this:

finally:

silent hill 3 reference babey!!!!!!! very very subtle. i like this a lot.

my final thought of the night (unrelated to maria sorry) is that i think the game is reaaally missing a lock-on/target enemies button. maybe that would make it too easy, but idk... the original had that... and it seems like a good thing to put in if you're making combat a bigger part of the game...... not to be like "dark souls!" but even dark souls has a lock-on button......