#plus it's like easy to find guides and stuff

[valaratminaforaldrar]

i need someone to pluck my kas tristan character page concept out of my head because if i start making it it'll take the rest of my life like actually

[steddielations]

nsfw, actor eddie, hair and makeup artist steve, sub top

The downside of Eddie having a bunch of tattoos is that he has to sit in the makeup trailer longer than anyone else getting them covered, along with his character’s makeup. 

The plus side is he gets more time with Steve. 

They have this game. It started on Eddie’s first day. He was all wired up with nerves because it’s his first time in a lead role on a big production like this.

Every nightmare scenario of how he could screw up was running through his mind. He couldn’t sit still enough for Steve to give him the wavy hair and facial scars that his character has. 

Eddie kept apologizing and Steve was great about it. He asked Eddie about the heart on his arm with “Wayne” across the ribbon and distracted Eddie from over-practicing his lines, busy telling Steve all about his uncle who raised him and where they’re from. 

Eddie killed it on set that day, and pretty much every day since then. He loves acting, he loves fully immersing himself in the story he’s telling. This role is the biggest of his career so far, but it’s not even about that, he loves the character he’s playing, he meshes well with the director and has chemistry with his co-stars.

But Steve is his favorite part of this whole deal.

Eddie ran out of tattoos for their little game of telling Steve the story behind a different one every day. They never ran out of things to talk about though.

But Steve takes his job seriously and he’s good at it. He explained once why he likes doing this. It’s an art, getting the right look for the right character, or the right person, connecting with and taking care of whoever’s in his chair.

He explained it all while he was running his fingers through Eddie’s hair in those perfectly practiced strokes. Steve’s very good at his job, that’s why it feels so nice when he touches Eddie, even if it’s just work, because Steve cares about this. That’s why it’s easy for Eddie to be lulled into bliss when Steve’s fingers are so gentle on his scalp.

And, okay Eddie’s not made of stone, and he has eyes so he has a thing for Steve. A crush, but there’s a line there. This is work. They’re co-workers, despite how many pretty smiles and lingering looks are exchanged. Eddie won’t cross that line.

Until he does. 

It’s an accident. He never would have done it on purpose. 

Steve’s fingers are just so talented. Eddie’s eyes are closed, he was having another fit of nerves earlier so Steve took extra time with his hair. It put Eddie in a space so relaxed that he feels like he’s floating when Steve’s hand twists in his hair with the perfect amount of tension. It feels so intentional. The moan just slips out.

Eddie apologizes like crazy afterward, he feels terrible. Steve is a picture of professionalism, he’s charming and fun but he runs the makeup trailer like it's the navy and he takes his shit seriously and Eddie crossed a line. 

But Steve just shushes him, guides him to sit back in the chair and says it’s alright. 

Eddie blinks in disbelief but Steve just looks at him. 

It’s a look. 

A look that Eddie can’t stop thinking about for the rest of production.

It’s a look he sees again on his last day on set.

Eddie already shook everyone’s hands and said his goodbyes. He's just stopping by his trailer one last time to make sure the assistants got all his stuff cleared out. 

When he opens the door, his stomach flips, finding Steve waiting inside for him.

“You wrapped filming today,” Steve says in place of a greeting. But his smile and the way his arm is languidly stretched over the back of the couch is inviting. 

Something tells Eddie to lock the door before he goes over to sit next to Steve.

His gaze is even more intense up close. Eddie feels Steve’s eyes on him everywhere, like he’s just eating Eddie up. 

“Yeah, I did,” Eddie says, a tad nervous.

He doesn't want to make a move he can’t take back in case he’s wrong about why Steve’s in his trailer looking at him like that. He doesn’t want to be one of those douchebag movie stars that assumes everyone wants him and he has a free pass to hit on the crew. He’s sure Steve’s had enough of that bullshit.

“We don’t work together anymore,” Steve simply states.

“I know, it sucks,” Eddie laughs a bit sad because he really is, “Sorry if it’s weird to say, but I’m gonna miss you.”

Steve’s eyes shift between Eddie’s and then down to his lips, making his heart stutter in his chest.

“No it’s a good thing,” Steve says and Eddie’s brows knit in confusion. “It means I can do this finally.”

Eddie thinks he’s watching his daydreams play out the way Steve starts leaning in. 

It’s only real when Steve’s lips press softly to his.

Just once, so light, long enough for Eddie to catch on that it’s happening, then Steve pulls back before Eddie can reciprocate.

Steve chuckles faintly at the dramatic frown Eddie’s pulling. 

Then Steve’s hand cups Eddie’s cheek, his thumb stroking Eddie’s face as he tells him, “We can stop there and keep it professional and say our goodbyes. Or I can climb on your lap and give you something to remember me by.”

Eddie gulps. Steve’s offer and his silky voice and his perfect touch that Eddie’s already so addicted to is such a heady mix, making it hard to form words. “Yes, climb me— I mean, option B.”

“Yeah, honey, you want that?” God, Eddie always blushed hot when Steve called him that casually in the makeup trailer, now he’s melting hearing Steve say it like this. “Well, go on and take your pants off for me.”

It happens in a syrupy warm blur. Eddie sheds his jeans and underwear like he’s told and he’s rewarded with a gorgeously naked Steve Harrington in his lap. He’s allowed to touch, only after Steve has threaded his fingers through Eddie’s hair more reverently than any time before, like something precious in his hands, and kisses Eddie deep and hard. 

Then Eddie gets to nuzzle the chest hair that’s been driving him crazy peeking out of Steve’s shirt every time he leaned over. Eddie gets to touch Steve’s soft strong thighs, feeling the smatter of hair leading up to his ass that’s been driving Eddie even more insane trying not to stare at. Then he slips his fingers in and moans into Steve’s mouth when he feels the hard bulb of a plug nestled inside Steve.

Steve pulls back from the kiss, smiling and smearing his thumb over the spit on Eddie’s lips. “Yeah, I’m so ready for you, Eddie, baby, you have no idea.”

Eddie’s practically drooling watching Steve take out the plug and get a bottle of lube from between the cushions and a condom, oiling up his hand. When his fist wraps around Eddie’s cock, Eddie helplessly bucks into it, but Steve’s solid thighs pin him down. That makes his mind lust-foggy and his eyes flutter up at Steve, who bites his lip watching Eddie as he lines up to his hole.

“Mm... you know how bad I wanted you?” Steve sounds relieved as he sinks down on Eddie’s cock. “You know how bad I wanted to climb on your lap when you were sitting in my chair. You know how starry-eyed you get when you’re drifting? Just from me touching your hair, so fucking cute.”

Eddie’s just a mess of moans, Steve is so hot and tight around him. It’s too much with all the sweet praise to really comprehend that Steve knew all those times he was getting spacy.

“It’s so easy to put you down.” Steve’s breath comes harder, not letting Eddie move as he starts to roll his hips. “Such an actor, high strung all the time but that’s okay. It’s your passion. That’s sexy. Been dying to hold you down and ride you until you can’t think about anything but me, though.”

Eddie gasps out a groan when Steve tugs sharply on his hair, being right about everything that Eddie’s into so far. It’s no secret that Eddie’s intense, just a different kind of intensity in the bedroom than with his craft. 

Steve seems to get it, seems to know that Eddie needs everything hard and relentless with the way he’s bouncing on Eddie’s dick. He can feel the strength in Steve’s hips, dying to feel them fucking into him too, mouth watering at the sight of his thick cock jumping with all the movement.

“You’d let me tie you down and use you, hm?” Steve asks, drawing Eddie by the hair into a biting kiss that just barely grazes the surface of what Eddie would let Steve do to him. “I know. I’d fuck you up so good if we had time, baby.”

“Steve, holy shit,” Eddie practically sobs, fingers digging into Steve’s ass.

“You close, honey?” 

“Fuck, yeah.” 

Steve suddenly cups his face, just a tad rough and Eddie thought— hoped for one hot moment— that Steve was going to slap him. Just the thought is enough to make him do what he's supposed to, “Can I?” 

“Mh-hm just keep looking at me,” Steve strokes Eddie’s face as he circles his hips and takes Eddie deep. “Wanna see those pretty eyes when you come inside me.”

Eddie does as he’s told, his gaze falling half-shut as he lets go, spilling into the condom like he’s pumping Steve full.

It’s the hottest thing that’s ever happened to him, followed by the second hottest thing when Steve kisses his slack mouth as his warm heavy spurts of come land on Eddie’s belly.

While Eddie’s coming down, he lets Steve shift him onto the couch. He gets some tissues and then pulls Eddie to lie on his chest because of course he would, he’s Steve.

“Was that enough to remember me by when you get all big and famous?” Steve asks after a while, trailing his knuckles down Eddie’s bare arm.

Eddie looks up, seeing the first glimpse of hesitance in all of Steve’s practiced smoothness.

So Eddie leans in and assures him between pecks on his lips that slowly turn to smiles pressing together. “Nope, think we gotta do it again. And again. And again.” 

[jd-loves-fiction]

Hello hello :3

I'm not sure if you take platonic requests so if you get to mine and you don't, pls lmk <3

Anyway. I would like to request platonic Boothill, Sampo, Mydei (if you can't write him yet then it's okay) and the Astral Express crew (you can leave out characters if it's too much) with a reader who is a former slave like Aventurine but they escaped by force and now respond to certain gestures with violence. Think about it like a wounded animal you're trying to approach. They lash out, bite, scratch, attack, anything.

🌑hello dear welcome!! I do take platonic requests 🫡and you can request as many characters as you want just know the more there are the longer I'll take😅 also I love love this idea 👀👀

✦ 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥 ✦

Ooh he gets it

You can't exactly hurt him, given the metal body, but even if you try he won't hold it against you

The circumstances might not be the same but he undoubtedly became a different, not violent, man after what the IPC did to his planet

Plus being a galaxy ranger is a lonely existence by design

He respects your need to distance yourself from people

But I feel there's a nurturing side to Boothill he doesn't get to tap into very often

So there's a part of him that will try to comfort you? Relate to you? He doesn't know what he's doing himself but something in his heart breaks for you and pulls him towards you

One stubborn fella about helping you but quite sturdy, let's say he's the guy letting the dog bite him to get its anger out and know that he can be trusted 🥺

✦ 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐨 ✦

Menace I love him

Sampo is a con-man salesman - he wants to know everyone's secrets so that he can exploit them for his benefit

But there's some lines even he won't cross

He's got a soft heart somewhere in there (deep in there) so you can expect that he'll go easy on you when he comes to his scheming

Plus he knows how to calculate risk, so if messing with you is highly likely to get him fucked up, he won't try you... Too much

Another man whose life wasn't exactly easy (which is why he's the way he is) and with a soft spot for people with a similarly difficult past

I think he'd find his own way of showing companionship, implying that you can talk to him about stuff if you want (tho he won't blame you for thinking he's just trying to get to your secrets) and stuff like that. He'll just be very subtle about how honest he's being

Let's say he's the guy slowly leaving treats for the dog and pretending like he doesn't care if it likes him or not (he really does, he's incredibly intrigued)

✦ 𝐌𝐲𝐝𝐞𝐢 ✦

New character so bear with me

I feel like you're very similar in this way

He's got a heart of gold under all that aggression, specially when it comes to his people

He's just bad at expressing it in a gentle way😅

His childhood was... Traumatic to say the least, violence is all he knows

Another sturdy guy, he's literally immortal and seems to enjoy a good fight so hitting him in any way might just start a sparring session💀

If he doesn't know you, he wouldn't engage, he's got better things to worry about

But if he does, you might get to see a gentleness from him no one thought him capable of

He's a patient man but he genuinely wants to see you learn to live with your trauma like him

I don't think he's done healing, mind you, but you might be able to learn something from each other about living with your demons

✦ 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐭 ✦

So much father energy LORD

The way he just immediately takes Sunday under his wing? Guiding him gently and patiently? That's a dad right there

He's deeply altruistic so he will try to help you please don't fight it😭

He's canonically one of the strongest characters so don't worry about hurting him. The fact that you even had to live through what you did, hurts him much more

Gentle but insistent, is how I'd describe him

He will not give up on you no matter what and that is a promise

When and if you decide to open up, he's a great listener

But even if you don't, he'll be there always🫡 because he genuinely just wants to see you be happy

✦ 𝐇𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐤𝐨 ✦

A fearless woman if I ever saw one

On the express she mostly keeps to herself, y'know navigating

But she undoubtedly cares deeply about the team so if you're part of it (let's say you are) you're included in that sentiment

She's not exactly... Motherly, per say, but she does care. She's just a bit... Awkward about it?

The type to do things like invite you to have coffee with her (don't drink it), or offer to teach you about navigating and stuff like that, just try to make you feel included

Not the type to outright ask about what happened but will listen if you tell her and will not judge - she doesn't see anything wrong with the way you handled things (Sunday train flashbacks)

Knows you're capable of protecting yourself, but will become somewhat protective of you

Tries to avoid setting you off as much as possible, she can hold her own no problem but she'd feel terrible if she hurt you in some way

✦ 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟕𝐭𝐡 ✦

Sunshine incarnate

Might come off as overly friendly upon first meeting so if that sets you off well... she'll learn her lesson... maybe

Doesn't remember her past so if you don't wanna talk about yours it's all good with her

But if you do, she's a surprisingly good listener

Tho if you decide to be rude or aggressive to push her away, she'll definitely take it to heart, at first

She'll mope about it for a bit before her determination takes over

She wants to be your friend damnit 😡

She'll call you out for being rude but stick around regardless

She's got thicker skin than expected and she's hard to shake off (like a puppy...) if she decides she wants to be your friend, that's what she's gonna do

Plus after that first time, being rude to push her away won't work, she'll just talk right over you

In the end, she might just win you over through sheer determination 😭

✦ 𝐃𝐚𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐧𝐠 ✦

Oh he cares so much bless him

Dan Heng is extremely protective of those he's close to

If you're in the express, you're immediately included in that

Quiet comfort is his thing

Like sitting together quietly because you just need some company while he reads or even offering a game of chess as a distraction

Doesn't blame you for how you react, but if you become physically dangerous to be around he will be the first to restrain you

Just because he gets it doesn't mean he likes seeing the people around him get hurt

I feel like he's got some words of wisdom regarding how to make peace with your past

But beyond that he's good to have around because he doesn't push for answers at all

Nobody knew about his past when he came onto the express so he'd be kind of a hypocrite if he cared

It's inevitable that he becomes attached and when he does he becomes just as protective with you as with any other member of the express, regardless of your past

[doumadono]

MY HERO ACADEMIA MASTERLIST

Officer!Bakugo is a seriously scary motherfucker - he's really tall and big, and he gives off an intimidating vibe. I mean, he gets annoyed over the tiniest stuff

Officer!Bakugo is a stereotypical “bad cop” type - tough, no-nonsense, and not afraid to bend the rules

If Bakugo slams his fist on the table during an interrogation, you can bet you'll spill all your secrets, whether you like it or not, thanks to those intense crimson eyes boring into your soul

Officer!Bakugo owns a big K9 dog named Blast. The massive belgian malinois is super intimidating - nobody dares to move when the dog is around, showing off its long fangs. The dog pays close attention to whatever Katsuki commands

Bakugo often goes undercover to bust drug rings. His intense look, paired with his scarred face and that maniac grin, makes him appear like someone who tasted cocaine or any other heavy drug for breakfast

When Bakugo raises his voice, it makes both kids and adults cry

Officer!Bakugo harbors a cache of dark secrets, ranging from covering up crimes to manipulating evidence. He becomes adept at concealing his corrupt actions behind a facade of a dedicated officer

Bakugo really likes wearing the uniform because it makes his ass, chest, and shoulders look awesome

Officer!Bakugo drives his cop car like crazy, but he's super skilled at it - when he's chasing someone, he always catches them

Can and will swiftly pin anyone down in just 1 second flat (he's used this move on his one-night stands numerous times)

One of the corrupt things officer!Bakugo does is take it easy on the cute girls (basically all the girls he finds attractive) when they come to his office to report a crime or seek help

He's definitely used handcuffs on a few girls in his career

Sex in his office is a must, but his police car is also on the list

Bakugo's preferred position is doggy style - he just loves the feeling of being in total control and able to thrust as hard and fast as he pleases while spanking the ass of his lover, like when he apprehended you for exceeding the speed limit, and due to your earnest pleas and appeals, he opted to fuck your little, sweet-scented cunt rather than revoke your driving license. You found yourself pinned down to the backseat of his car, your ass raised up as Bakugo fucked your cunt mercilessly from behind, spanking your ass every now and then. The vehicle was swaying with each forceful thrust as he assaulted your drenched pussy, growling like an animal. "Just like that, you little whore. Look at you, taking my cock so well. Dripping wet just f'me like a good slut you are."

Officer!Bakugo has a kink for public sex. There is something thrilling about the danger of being caught, the thought of someone stumbling upon you in the act only added to the excitement, especially when you're bent over, sucking his dick while he's smoking a blunt in his police car, guiding your head more towards his pelvis, and the only thing you can do is to choke on his fat cock as its tip hits the back of your throat repeatedly

Officer!Bakugo has a particular fondness for dominating his girls, both physically and mentally. He enjoys the thrill of manipulating them into submission, leaving them begging for more and being on his mercy

Officer!Bakugo quickly gets turned on when a girl pleads for mercy with doe eyes; also, he really likes skimpy skirts that hardly cover her ass

Officer!Bakugo enjoys night patrols the most because there's a better chance of catching criminals and tormenting them. Plus, Katsuki can smoothly hand out fines to loud tipsy ladies leaving the clubs, and he even doesn't hide that he's checking them out

Officer!Bakugo who has a preference for younger girls (Katsuki is in his mid-30s, but he won't hesitate to flirt with someone barely over twenty-year-old)

[mw00nie]

Learning each other:

♡—————♡—————♡—————♡—————♡—————♡

w.c: 2.1k

warnings: NSFW MDNI!!, established relationship, fem!reader, oral sex (fem receiving).

summary: Jake finds out no one ever went down on y/n so he decides to change that :)

♡—————♡—���———♡—————♡—————♡—————♡

You were curled up with Jake on his couch, the sky outside melting into a deep, sleepy blue. Some movie played quietly in the background, neither of you paying much attention. You had been together for two months now, still in that new, shiny phase where you were learning everything about each other. Boundaries. Habits. Little quirks.It was easy with Jake. So much easier than it had ever been with anyone else. He was tracing lazy patterns on your thigh with his thumb, chatting about nothing, when the conversation drifted, naturally, almost shyly, to sex. "I wanna make sure I'm, you know, doing everything you like," Jake said, his voice a little lower than usual, a little more careful. "Like, if there's stuff you wanna try or stuff you like that we haven't done yet, you can just tell me."

You smiled, warmed by how attentive he was. "I will. Honestly, you're already amazing, Jake." He grinned but then bit his lip like he was working up to something. "Would you want me to … go down on you? Sometime?" The question hung there, not heavy, just… sincere. Jake was looking at you like he already thought he might have overstepped. You thought about it for a second before answering. "No one's ever done that for me," you said, casual like it was the most normal thing ever. Jake blinked. His whole face shifted into stunned disbelief. "Wait, what? Like, ever?" You shrugged. "Yeah. My exes were never really into that. They never offered and I guess I just figured it wasn’t something I should expect." Jake stared at you, eyes wide like you had just told him you had never eaten pizza. He looked genuinely pained. "Y/N. I cannot express to you how wrong that is. That is a crime against humanity," he said, dead serious. "You’re telling me no one's ever…" You laughed a little at his reaction, but it also tugged something deep in your chest. No one had ever really made a big deal about it before. It felt weird to have someone care so much. "I didn’t wanna seem pushy," you said, picking at a thread on the couch cushion. Jake scooted closer until your knees were touching. "Hey. You’re not pushy. You’re not even close to pushy. I literally want to do this. Like, enthusiastically." You looked at him, searching his face for any sign of hesitation. There was none. Just Jake, ridiculously handsome and completely genuine. "Are you sure?" you asked. "Are you kidding? I like making you feel good. Plus, I have… techniques," he said, wagging his eyebrows in a way that was more dorky than seductive, but it made you laugh and relax a little more. "Okay," you said, your voice softer now. "I want you to." Jake beamed like you had just handed him a winning lottery ticket. "Awesome. You’re gonna love it. I promise. I'm gonna be like, a gold medalist," he said, already guiding you to lie back against the couch cushions. He moved slowly, giving you every chance to change your mind. His hands were warm as he slid them under your shirt, pushing it up with a reverence that made your skin tingle. He pulled it off you completely and tossed it somewhere behind him without looking. "Beautiful," he murmured, kissing your shoulder, your collarbone, every inch he could reach. Your pants came next, slow and careful. He kissed the inside of your knee after tugging them off, then the soft skin of your thigh. His mouth moved higher with agonizing patience, like he had all the time in the world to worship you. You squirmed, already aching with want, but Jake just smiled against your skin. "Relax, babe. Let me take care of you." You tried. You really did. But when he mouthed over your underwear, you let out a small, needy sound you could not have held back if you tried. Jake groaned quietly. "God, you sound so good." He pressed a kiss right over your center, through the fabric, then hooked his fingers into the waistband and pulled your underwear down. He sat back for a second, just looking at you, his pupils blown wide. "You’re perfect," he said, like it was just a fact. Before you could even get embarrassed, he ducked his head and licked a slow, broad stripe through your folds. Your hips jerked up and Jake's hands immediately came up to steady you, thumbs stroking calming circles into your hips. "Shit," you breathed, already dizzy. Jake kept going, unhurried but determined, like he was memorizing you. His mouth was hot and slick and perfect, and he kept making these soft, pleased sounds that vibrated right into you. He circled your clit with his tongue, gentle but insistent, and every once in a while he would glance up to check on you. The first time you locked eyes with him, you almost came right then and there. He looked so focused, so stupidly into it, like eating you out was the best thing he could possibly be doing. "Tell me if you need anything," he said, voice rough.

You whimpered something that was supposed to be an "okay" but mostly came out as a sob. Jake slipped two fingers into you, easy and slow, and your whole body seized with pleasure. He groaned against you, like he could feel how good it was for you, and started fucking you with his fingers while his mouth never let up. You could feel yourself building fast, that tight coil low in your belly pulling tighter and tighter. "Jake, I…" You gasped, clutching at his hair, your thighs trembling around his head. He pressed closer, mouth relentless, fingers curling just right, and when you finally broke, it felt like falling off a cliff. You came with a full-body shudder, legs clamping around his head, and Jake just held you through it, murmuring something you couldn't even understand. When you finally sagged back against the couch, spent and shaking, Jake kissed your thighs, your hips, your stomach, every inch of skin he could reach. He crawled up your body slowly, kissing your chest, your neck, the tip of your chin, and finally your lips, deep and lingering. "Okay?" he whispered against your mouth. You nodded, still catching your breath. "You’re amazing," he said, brushing your hair back from your face like you were something fragile and precious. You laughed weakly. "I think you killed me." Jake smiled, stupidly proud. "Good. Mission accomplished." He gathered you into his arms like you weighed nothing, pulling you into his chest. His face buried itself in the curve between your neck and shoulder, breathing you in like he never wanted to let go. He stayed like that, just holding you, one hand stroking up and down your back. He kissed your temple, your eyelid, your nose, your cheekbone, each one soft and lingering.

♡—————♡—————♡—————♡—————♡—————♡

A/N: i hope this was good i would appreciate feedback/criticism on it or reqs for other scenarios :))

[wip]

hey there! I'm using desktop again for the first time in a while (desktop is SO nice now, thank you) and I'm really struggling with the keyboard shortcuts. where can I find a current list of those? googling only gets me old ones that don't seem to work anymore (specifically I'm trying to queue stuff with tags, not quick queue). Shift or Alt plus ? key did not pull up a shortcuts list as some sites suggested. I can't find this in settings anywhere. TIA!

Answer: Hey there, @razbb!

Good news! We already have a guide for keyboard shortcuts built into the dashboard, as luck would have it. You can access it by clicking the little floating keyboard icon in the bottom-right, as in these screenshots:

But as you point out, there is no keyboard shortcut for opening the keyboard shortcut guide. This seems like an oversight to us, so we will get to work on this as fast as we can. It should be easy enough to add!

We also have various mentions of other features and how to make use of them in the Help Center—we think this article, Lesser-Known Features, would be ideal for your question.  

We hope this all helps, and thanks for getting in touch! Keep 'em coming, folks.

[honeytonedhottie]

starting a collection⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🎀

BENEFITS OF STARTING A COLLECTION ; collecting things is SO much fun, but not only is it fun but it actually has lots of benefits for you. it can be a stress reliever, a mind stimulator. plus, the social aspect of collecting, where collectors meet and exchange items, fosters a sense of community and shared interest.

and BESIDES, who doesn't want a lot of cute stuff that belongs to them? i love to have lots and lots of my favorite things.

THINGS TO COLLECT ;

lipglosses - i collect lipglosses bcuz i LOVE lipgloss and since i use it so much, i like to have a variety at my finger tips. some of my favorite glosses include the dior lipglow oil and the victoria's secret candy baby.

music albums and vinyls

clothing articles

and anything you want ofc, just find whatever it is that you like and collect that. collect what sparks joy and happiness.

HOW TO KEEP TRACK OF UR COLLECTION ;

keep an adorable collections binder that u can decorate with glitter and charms etc. if u want you can use a journal or your diary to keep track of new additions to the collections. you can organize your collection into sections -> editions depending on what it is that you collect. here's the step by step guide to organizing ;

categorize - you might categorize by date, author, genre, or origin. categorizing the collection makes it presentable and easy to locate when u need to.

storage - the way that u store ur item depends on the size and nature of your collection. for smaller things -> use binders or display boxes. for larger things -> they can be stored on shelves or in dedicated display cabinets

documentation - keep a record of each item in your collection, its origin, value, and any other relevant details. use a binder, journal or digital tools like spreadsheets.

THINGS THAT I COLLECT ;

lip glosses

kpop albums

i collect tomorrow by together albums bcuz they're my favorite boy group. i collect twice albums bcuz they're my favorite girl group.

hello kitty collectible figures

i can't remember what they're called exactly but they're very soft and very cute. i have pompompurin and a hello kitty one.

stickers

tea flavors and tea blends

flavors of gum

fragrances

whether physical objects or digital assets, collecting is a rewarding hobby that combines the thrill of the hunt with the satisfaction of ownership. starting a collection gives u a sense of control over what u have.

[monochromaticbeans]

I've never written an "x reader" before, so at my daughter's suggestion, I decided to give it a whirl. Here's a short bit of fluff featuring our Kazutora. 🧡🐯

***

The clinic was actually quiet for once, the sound of the air conditioning broken only by the occasional rustle of papers or a bark from one of the back kennels. You had just finished up with a particularly wiggly Dachshund when the front door chimed, announcing your next visitor.

And there he was: Kazutora Hanemiya, standing awkwardly in the doorway, clutching a battered cat carrier as if it might explode.

“I, uh…” He cleared his throat, glancing down at the carrier and then back at you. “Found another one.”

Of course he did.

Kazutora had become a semi-regular at the clinic over the past few months. His name was already written on your unofficial “stray savior” bingo card, right next to the likes of old Mrs. Tanaka, who brought in her tiny army of feral cats, and the delivery man who always spotted injured pigeons.

You smiled as you gestured for him to come in. “Let’s see what we’ve got this time.”

Kazutora set the carrier on the exam table with the sort of care usually reserved for handling priceless artifacts or sleeping dragons. The cat inside responded with a low growl—definutely not the happiest of campers.

As you coaxed the tabby out of the carrier, Kazutora leaned back against the counter, folding his arms. He still looked a bit out of place here, his bell earring and tattoo clashing with the clinic’s sterile walls and the staff’s pastel scrubs.

“Have you been working at the pet shop long?” you asked, glancing at him as you gently restrained the cat.

“A few months,” he replied. “Mostly stocking shelves and cleaning up after the animals. Not exactly glamorous, but it’s… nice.”

You nodded, carefully examining the tabby’s coat. “Bet you’re good at it, though. I’ve seen how patient you are with these guys.”

Kazutora shrugged, looking down at his boots. “It’s not hard. Animals don’t ask for much, you know? Just food, care… a little kindness.” His voice softened. “It’s easier than dealing with people.”

You paused, meeting his gaze. “People aren’t all bad, Kazutora. You just have to find the right ones.”

He didn’t reply, but there was a flicker of hesitation and something—hope, maybe—in his eyes.

Once the tabby was settled, you pulled a flyer from the stack by the desk and handed it to him.

“We’ve got a feral and stray cat program,” you explained. “It’s a trap-neuter-return initiative. Helps control the population and keeps the kitties healthier. You should mention it to the pet shop—maybe they can partner with us.”

Kazutora studied the flyer, his brow furrowing. “You think it’ll help?”

“Oh, absolutely,” you said. “Programs like this make a huge difference. Plus, it’d give you guys more resources for the cats you take in. Win-win.”

He nodded slowly, tucking the flyer into his pocket. “I’ll talk to them about it. They're pretty cool about stuff like this.”

Kazutora stepped closer as you took the cat's vitals, watching intently as you checked her eyes, ears, and teeth.

“She’s pretty thin,” you murmured. “Have you been feeding her long?”

“A couple weeks,” he said. “She wouldn’t come near me at first, but… I don’t know. Guess she figured I wasn’t gonna hurt her.”

“That’s a big deal,” you said, glancing at him. “Earning a stray’s trust isn’t always easy.”

He shrugged again, but you caught the faintest hint of pride in his expression.

As you moved to check the cat’s paws, she squirmed, letting out a sharp yowl. Kazutora instinctively reached out to steady her but stopped halfway, looking uncertain.

“Here,” you said, guiding his hands. “Hold her like this—gentle but firm. Don’t let her feel like she’s trapped.”

He followed your instructions, his movements awkward but careful. The cat let out another half-hearted growl but settled in his grasp.

“You’re a natural,” you teased, offering a soft little smile.

“Yeah, right,” he muttered, though the corner of his mouth twitched upward.

By the time the cat was back in her carrier, Kazutora was leaning against the counter again, watching as you typed notes into her medical chart.

“You’re good at this,” he said suddenly.

“At what?”

“Everything,” he said, gesturing vaguely. “The animals… talking to people… making them feel safe. It’s cool.”

You felt your cheeks warm at the unexpected compliment. “Thanks. You’re pretty good at it yourself, you know.”

Kazutora frowned slightly, as if the idea didn’t quite sit well. “I just… don’t want them to feel alone.”

You glanced up, meeting his gaze. “They don’t. Not when they’re with you.”

For a moment, the room felt still, his unspoken thoughts hanging in the air. Then he cleared his throat, looking away.

As he gathered his things, you handed him a bag of food samples and the tabby’s aftercare instructions.

“Take care of her,” you said with a smile.

“I will.”

“And don’t forget about the stray cat program,” you added. “I’m serious—it’ll really help.”

Kazutora nodded, his hand patting the flyer in the pocket of his jacket. Then he hesitated, his hand lingering on the door.

“If… if I ever need help with this stuff,” he said quietly, “can I call you?”

You grinned, pulling a business card from the desk and scribbling your personal phone number on the back before slipping it into his hand. “Anytime.”

Kazutora stared at the card for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then he nodded, a small, genuine smile breaking through his usual guarded demeanor.

“Thanks,” he said, a flicker of warmth in his golden eyes. “See you around.”

[watatsumiis]

Being A Part of the Sumeru Squad!

I've been thinking a lot recently about being a part of the ‘in’ group in Sumeru - the ones shown to be good friends on screen already (Tighnari, Cyno, Al Haitham and Kaveh!) I feel like there's lots of ways one could slot themselves into the dynamic and it's just very pleasant and fun to think about. 

(Rambles below the cut. Platonic stuff, reader is referred to as ‘you’ and is entirely gender neutral) 

Though the squad is almost constantly making playful little jabs at one another, bickering back and forth and whatnot, they're overall a pretty supportive and kind group and accept you into their midst without too much fuss. 

You soon find yourself invited to a myriad of small, casual get-togethers where the group catches up with one another. It's kind of weirdly formal at first, with so many of them holding such high and important statuses. 

Luckily, Kaveh also ends up feeling pretty left out during these discussions, so you'll have someone to chat with or ask questions when you've lost track of the topic at hand. Plus, he's often got some very funny (and surprisingly astute) commentary to add on, even when the subject is painfully dull. 

Once all the politics are out of the way, the conversation tends to ease right up for a little while. Regardless of whether you're at some restaurant or cafe, or just hanging out at someone's house, there's usually snacks available and things will remain super lighthearted for a bit, all jokes and talks of recently released books or occasional infodumps about hyperfixations and special interests. 

On that subject, whenever the stars align and two or more group members have the same special interest or hyperfixation, hoo boy, you can expect them to monopolise the conversation and somehow always drag it back to whatever niche fascinations that they may have accrued lately. 

If you have something you want to talk about, you can rest assured that at least one person in the room will be able to engage. Everybody has their own collection of equally specific and obscure knowledge - with the occasional kind of hilarious overlap. Kaveh and Cyno’s shared fascination with Fontanian machinery, or Tighnari and Al-Haitham’s in-depth discussions of insectoid languages and their potential overlap with human ones are some of the first to come to mind. 

Of course, disagreements do break out every now and then - but everyone is fairly civil for the most part, if a little bit overdramatic and occasionally loud. It's interesting to see how everyone the group tends to take sides almost as soon as a hint of a possible disagreement rears its head. Al-Haitham once questioned Cyno's sense of humour, querying whether it could really be considered comedy if nobody was laughing, and pretty soon, Tighnari and Kaveh were arguing along as passionately as if they'd been personally insulted. 

You tend to be the tiebreaker more often than not - with such an evenly split group, there often tends to be an even balance between whatever arguments. It doesn't help that Al-Haitham likes to break it all down and give pros and cons for both sides (while still keeping his own stance firm), which may make it impossible for you to decide. 

Luckily, it's easy enough for you to guide the group's attention elsewhere. Just offer to make them some hot drinks or ask if someone wants to play a round of Genius Invocation, and it's like the argument never happened at all. 

It's easy to wind up feeling a little out of place in a group of such highly ranking people, but it's like your friends develop a sixth sense for when you're starting to get a little confused or feeling out of your depth. Instead of poking fun at you (like they do for Kaveh), they'll find a way to rope you into the conversation that doesn't put too much pressure on you. Cyno and Tighnari, especially, seem to have a way of relating things to subjects that are in your area of expertise to help you parse them better so you can find your footing and be debating back and forth with the rest of them. 

Game nights tend to get really intense. It's not a case of if someone will flip their lid, it's simply a case of when. Alliances and subsequent betrayals are all too common, and you'll often find yourself being bribed to help someone one-up another person. 

They even have a ‘trophy’ for winning each week's game night. It's a tiny crown, carved out of wood and painted gold. Collei made it and donated it to the group. Whoever possesses the crown also possesses the ultimate bragging rights until the next gaming night (or until they accidentally sit on it and squash it with their big clumsy butt. Kaveh ). 

Though the group is chaotic, noisy, and constantly teasing one another, they're all so supportive of one another and will stick together through thick and thin. As the conversations slow down, sometimes some pretty serious subjects get brought up, heavy venting and other such similar things. 

Though, they're all very understanding if someone isn't in the correct headspace for that sort of talk, and will happily postpone it or talk about it elsewhere if needed. They're also very used to multiple conversations happening at once, so it's easy enough for someone to dodge around the heavy topics if they need to. 

The squad can be almost violently supportive at times. Sometimes you worry that Cyno may be one hundred percent genuine about abusing his status as the General Mahamatra to threaten somebody who mildly inconvenienced you one time in the market last week. 

Overall, the vibes of the friend group are super fun (if a little intense at times). They may not say it directly, but everyone is super glad to have you around, hanging out with them and getting in on all the goofs they make and shaking up their dynamic a little bit.

Please don't repost, steal, copy or otherwise plagiarise my writing! I do not consent for my works to be translated and posted elsewhere, or copy - pasted into bot or AI technology.

[aroaceleovaldez]

what do you mean by fandom infrastructure?

Oh goody I get to rant about this. Definitely gonna need a read more for this one. There's gonna be a lot of general fandom thoughts here so I'll put a big title for when I get to the actual list and pjo-specific stuff for if anybody wants to skip. Okay, my anthropological fandom thoughts:

"Fandom infrastructure" isn't official terminology by any means, but as someone who's been in a wide variety of fandoms for like 15+ years and in varying stages of participating within said fandoms, I generally use it to describe the sort of environment created by a fandom that supports and sustains the ecosystem within it (and may also extend to what kinds of attitudes are fostered within the community). This obviously looks different for every fandom (and different per platform), but I think it's really valuable to break down what systems exist in different fan spaces and how those impact the community that utilizes it, and take lessons from different spaces about what those systems do and how they're effective or not.

General forms of fandom infrastructures have shifted over time - a lot of more recent formats, at least in western fandom, tend to be very reliant on source material and you rarely see a lot of sort of classic archetypes of "old fandom" like concepts such as "big name fans" (I partially blame social media platform drifts for this - I'll touch back on that later*). A fandom with more consistent infrastructure over time (plus just a general favorite fandom case study of mine) and just a general good example of fandom infrastructure is the Furry fandom. It's a bit of an outlier to begin with as Furry fandom doesn't have an actual source material, which means it's an entirely self-perpetuating fandom, and as a result you get some really interesting community structure! (I highly recommend the documentary The Fandom for a dive into the history of the Furry fandom and even some adjacent fandoms!) One of the number one things I always like to note with the Furry fandom particularly compared to other fandoms is it's a very easy fandom to join/integrate yourself into and become a part of the community - it's one of the few fandoms that has generally agreed upon written etiquette/guidelines for behavior in the community that is very easy to find (early 2020s MCYT fandom had a little bit of this as well, but most guides were specific to individual MCYTs rather than the community as a whole and difficult to track down) and a ton of guides explaining what the community is and ways you can begin exploring it. Not to mention the absolute plethora of resources available in the community for just about anything you could think of, and tons of community-dedicated spaces where people can get involved in various ways. The furries are a very well-organized fandom in general! They're also an older and very well-established fandom, so there is much to learn from them.

I like to consider fandoms that have good infrastructure to be fandoms where the fandom is self-reliant or self-perpetuating (not fully dependent to a source material - so the fandom doesn't experience total dry spells when there's no new official media.) and one that's easy to join and integrate into.

Tangent: I have this whole personal concept about "entry-level fandoms" particularly when it comes to the cosplay community. A lot of those fandoms tend to be the ones labeled as "toxic" but when you break it down it's actually that the fandom is just very easily accessible and for a lot of folks that is their first fandom and they haven't learned general fandom etiquette yet. For cosplay, entry level fandoms tend to be relatively mainstream or otherwise easy to access the source material for and then also easy to cosplay while also offering ample room to grow (doubly easily accessible while also not limiting) - usually that the main cast of characters have very casual every-day outfits that can be easily made with a closet cosplay (cosplaying using clothes from your closet or otherwise "normal" clothes) (low barrier to entry) plus more elaborate and evolved outfits for when new fans get comfortable enough to begin exploring further (niches to grow into). Also bonus points if people are able to use their natural hair at all because that makes it even easier. Another aspect that tends to be helpful is how much one actually needs to get into the source material to begin interacting with the community - if you can get the general gist/premise of the franchise pretty quickly and not have to actually engage with the entirety of the source material, that's way more likely to be an entry-level fandom (like, One Piece for example is not likely to be an entry-level fandom, lol). Homestuck is (or more was) an easily accessible webcomic, and despite it's length for the majority of it's run it was actively updating so there was no expectation to be completely caught up, plus it was extremely common to just fully skip over entire segments. Cosplay progression: human characters in basic outfits > trolls > god tiers/etc. My Hero Academia is a mainstream readily accessible manga and anime, particularly to western audiences, and the general premise throughout the series remains relatively close to the pitch from the beginning, alongside not shifting core characters too much. Cosplay progression: civilian outfits > hero costumes and more complex characters. Percy Jackson actually very much fits the bill for this as well - its a VERY popular book franchise to the point where most people have probably had to read it for school at some point, but also it's generally not expected you'll read past Blood of Olympus or any of the side series, if you even read past the first series (and you won't be super lost if you even don't read far past the first book). Cosplay progression: camp t-shirts > adding armor, props, or maybe trying to make goat legs or etc. A more recent and very interesting newcomer to the entry-level fandoms scene is Genshin Impact because it somewhat breaks the format - it's still easily accessible (free to play game) but the character outfits are all incredibly complex. But as cosplay becomes more mainstream and just in general as manufacturing techniques improve, it's suddenly become very easy and affordable to just buy a decent looking cosplay, which is very appealing particularly for a fandom like Genshin. You can have a very nice and complex looking first cosplay with little effort, similar to the effectiveness of closet cosplays in the other examples. As varying techniques improve, the barrier to entry becomes lower in more communities, and there are more opportunities for a wider variety of entry-level fandoms. Okay tangent over -

There's a lot of ways fandoms can be self-perpetuating, but some of the most self-perpetuating fandoms I see are ones that either have a lot of room for original characters, concepts, and similar (see: TTRPG fandoms) and/or fandoms that are heavily divorced from the source material (often due to the source material being widely deemed "meh at best" but having compelling base concepts) (see: Miraculous Ladybug) which is where you often see a lot of AUs - Warrior Cats fandom is a good example of both! I have not kept up with Warrior Cats in ages, but I'm still in the fandom. I have no idea what book they're on. If Warriors stopped publishing books tomorrow I genuinely don't think the fandom would even notice. They've been doing their own thing for ages. There's a ton of room for creating your own characters, storylines, and etc within the worldbuilding of the franchise where it never stops being identifiable as Warrior Cats, which means the fandom can basically do their own thing eternally without ever cutting off newcomers to the community.

The majority of this stems just from being able to not rely on the source material to drive the fandom. If the community inspires itself, then it's able to continue to sustain itself without outside reliance. But to do so indefinitely it will eventually need new fans. And this brings me to the whole "easy to join/integrate into the community thing" -

*It's later - Tumblr used to be a huge fandom hub in general, but the content bans around 2018 led to a giant migration of communities to other platforms. That 2016-2018 era is when we see a shift in fandom in general, with fandom attitudes shifting from old-era concepts like ship-and-let-ship, YKINMKATO/Kinktomato, use of "squick," etc (in general a major loss of old fandom linguistics and terminology - nobody even says OTP anymore!). There's a couple of reasons for this sort of multi-fandom cultural drift, but in general it seemed to widely be the combo of a new generation of younger fans entering their first fandoms all at once while simultaneously being cut off from learning established pan-fandom culture. Newer fans never learn about the old community, how it functioned, or how to upkeep it, and now the fandom is fully reliant on the source material and fizzles out almost completely in the absence of new official media. (Also I think somewhat the lack of BNFs/Big Name Fans can also contribute to this, as they are often the people new fans will look up to and emulate the behavior of when learning how to interact with a fandom - this can be good or bad, depending on the BNF! - alongside being able to learn about the community's history through them, since they're almost always older and well-established members of the community. In the absence of BNFs, the community often turns more towards the source material/creators and it can get Bad™.)

Tumblr as a platform, due to being a blogging and sharing platform, is inherently structured for long-form discussion, long-form text, documentation, and sharing concepts and ideas in nuanced ways. Also preservation - there's no time limit for when posts disappear, and there's no algorithms restricting you to only the newest posts. Tumblr's features even make it really easy to go back and find old posts, even despite the semi-broken search features. Tumblr creates environments where these types of communities absolutely blossom. There's a reason why it was the go-to platform for fandom stuff. Instagram is image-focused, actively discourages text, has a mediocre search, and no proper means of sharing except awkward reposting most of the time. Tiktok is even worse, being short-form video-centric (so even more difficult to repost in absence of sharing features) but otherwise similar (and even less text-friendly and more difficult to search, especially for older posts). Twitter has strict text and image limitations, heavily limited sharing options, and any attempts at threads get messy extremely quickly, so nuance is dead there. Reddit has long form text capabilities but no real sharing features and next to zero longevity. Facebook and Discord are locked behind requiring an account to even view it (instagram as well, to a point). And Youtube is right out (generally it acts as supplementary to other social media). Theoretically you could try to use Ao3 for that, but it's an archive, not a discussion board or social media - at best you'd probably just be going back and forth like scientific journalists which will not be easy for most people to follow. As far as mainstream western social media goes, Tumblr is the best place for "classic fandom" so-to-speak. There's a reason a lot of very established fandoms have built their own dedicated spaces - forums, art sites, etc (usually in combination) - the more splintered your community is, the less of a community it is. It's very difficult to build a community when you never know where the majority of your community is going to be at any given point! In most cases you'll still have the source material, but how is a new fan supposed to know if everybody's on twitter or instagram or tiktok at any given time? That uncertainty immediately cuts off new fans. And you need new fans to perpetuate a fandom (or in general, new people to perpetuate a community). Not every community is capable of having dedicated hosted forum boards and such (though GOD i wish,,,, i miss forum boards,,,, forum boards are awesome,,). Maybe there's a Discord, but discords are difficult to find, easily overwhelming if large, and often intimidating for new folks to join. Not to mention difficult to moderate and if they're busy then it's basically guaranteed most people are just going to get drowned out.

ALL THIS TO SAY: For a true fandom community to exist, essentially, it needs to a.) not be entirely reliant on the source material (instead being driven by activity within the community), and b.) have a cycle of new fans that can come into the community and take up the mantle of upkeeping that infrastructure and continuing the activity within the community, usually with low barrier to entry. This is where that fandom infrastructure becomes important, because that's exactly what supports and encourages that activity in the first place.

To begin with, you must have a community acceptance for deviating from the canon/source material. This is normal and fine and okay. This is what fandom is known for. This is exactly why we have the terms "fanon" (concepts largely agreed upon by the fandom but not officially canon) and "headcanon" (the canon that exists in your head/is personal to you) and AU (alternate universe)! You have to help foster this - you don't have to actively engage with every canon deviation you see, but respect when it is other people's prerogative to deviate from canon and don't shut them down just inherently for "daring to disrespect the sacred canon" or whatever. Remember the ancient fandom proverbs: don't like-don't read, YKINMKATO/Kinktomato ("Your kink is not my kink and that's okay"), ship-and-let-ship, etc. Cringe culture is dead, engage in some whimsy, and remember that ultimately you always are the one to curate your own online experience. Etc etc.

The other major thing is you need to foster spaces where new fans can easily enter and begin engaging with the community. These spaces are extremely important in fandom communities because it's what allows fans who are completely new to fandom to comfortably begin partaking in fandom at a level appropriate for them and without pressure. It's in these spaces that those whose who wish to can begin fostering skills that then leads them to engage with the fandom in larger and more complex ways, growing into different niches within the community and thus allowing the fandom to continue. (I have a whole little essay about this topic [here] which is extremely relevant to my major points here.)

"Alright so where's the PJO-specific stuff and actual examples?"

I'm glad you asked, theoretical reader. So, to answer the beginning question - what is some fandom infrastructure I've seen in other communities (and/or Riordanverse fandom, back when we had that kind of stuff)? These are generally types of blog or other niches that prompt activity, discussion, and other forms of interaction within the community. I have comprised many examples though forgive me if my organization is messy because these are somewhat difficult to categorize concisely: (Also if you do know of examples in the riordanverse fandom of any of my examples, like specific blogs or etc, feel free to comment them!)

- General community hubs and community spaces. I have these as two slightly different but adjacent categories since I think these things generally fall into one of two categories - spaces meant for general chatting and interacting with other fans (community spaces) and spaces more meant to find specific topics (hubs).

Things like forums, discord servers, group chats, etc - these exist in the PJO community but are far and few between and difficult to find. If you run one I highly recommend putting a link in your tumblr sidebar (enable custom theme > edit theme > new page [bottom of sidebar on the left] > there should be a little dropdown menu where it says "standard layout" - select "link" and plug in a discord invite set to never expire. there ya go). A couple I know of include my own (one for general riordanverse and one for my askblog), the Titan Army discord, these two, Riordanverse artists server, Nicercy (Percico) events, Jasico challenges, and Above The Clouds (also jasico). There used to be a big general PJO server but it's mostly inactive now (I affectionately refer to it as functionally a knitting circle these days, cause that's most of what's discussed there now, lol). There also used to be a well-known TOA-specific one and a general Riordanverse cosplay discord but both had problems and I'm not sure either still exist. I've heard there may also be a Percabeth server floating around somewhere? But I've never seen it.

"Hubs" is what I label things like blogs surrounding specific designated topics, usually consolidating stuff like general fanworks, specific fanfiction, fanworks of specific characters/groupings/ships, etc. I believe there might be one or two general riordanverse fanart blogs floating around. I'm not sure about blogs for specific fanfiction. A lot of ship-specific blogs went inactive by like 2017 but a couple are still alive like @solangelo. (I'll get into some other examples in a similar vein to this later*) We don't have a designated blog for keeping tabs on whenever there's a Riordanverse fanzine or similar project but some fandoms do (I would love this btw and i am almost tempted to do it myself) - an old pan-fandom one was fanzinewatch. I run a blog dedicated just to reblogging fanart (and occasionally other fanwork) of Hazel and Nico - @deathsibs. I don't know of any individual character-specific blogs off the top of my head unfortunately. Etc etc.

In general the purpose of these things is to help connect the community and make it easier to find and promote things or meet people. These are good places to ask questions, particularly directions or recommendations. That brings me to another one-

- Ask/Tag games and memes. Back in ye olde tumblr days there used to be TONS of fandom-specific inbox and tag games, or people would do milestone promos or etc and do these massive blog recommendations or literally just list everyone they follow or similar. This was a really useful way for people to find more blogs for specific topics and engage with each other in general. Here's an old one I found as an example. My friend has a nice tag with a bunch of old ask memes as well, and Hermitcraft-ask-games is a great example of a blog categorizing fandom-specific ones (Hermitcraft/adjacent MCYT in this case). Tag games can refer to both posts where you respond to the prompt in the tags while reblogging or a game where you tag other people - the latter has mostly fallen out of favor cause it can get very spammy and posts can get very long with it. Less spammy versions tend to be something more akin to an ask game or a follow forever, where you are responding to a specific question or prompt by tagging blogs that fit that, usually as a recommendation. It's a little nicer and more favored because then you're promo'ing other folks and usually it's not a long chain of reblogs, plus the posts tend to have dedicated formats so they aren't super messy.

- In another similar vein, Art games/memes. PJO fandom doesn't have a lot of these! These are your "Draw 6 Characters," "Character color wheel," etc prompts. The fandom I see this the most in is MCYT fandom, particularly Hermitcraft/Trafficblr! There's a ton of little variant prompts I see all the time there (not just for fanart! also fanfic and etc!) - Characters in your style, Fanon species swap, color palette swap, etc etc. (I am totally going to try and make one of these for riordanverse, give me a bit, lol)

- Prompt weeks/months. Also similar - prompt weeks/months/etc are pretty self-explanatory. They're events that give you a set of prompts to create/post fanwork themed to over that time period. PJO fandom used to have plenty of these, though I only see a couple floating around these days. I know Jasico Week/Jasico Challenges and Solangelo Week are still alive, and TA week happened recently. Fun fact, in some smaller/largely inactive fandoms I've actually seen prompt weeks DM active people in the community to tell them the prompt week is happening which I actually really like. In circumstances like that where a fandom is so small, scattered and inactive, it's a good means to get the word out.

- Headcanon/ship/"Imagines" blogs *It's later (again)! Headcanon blogs used to be EXTREMELY common back in ye olde days of fandom. Some of the most popular iterations tended to be ship-specific headcanon blogs. PJO fandom had A TON of these (and many are still up! They just haven't posted since like 2017 at the lastest. Quite the trip down memory lane though). They were generally formatted by people submitting their headcanons/"imagines" anonymously, which would then be formatted into an image to match the blog's general format (sometimes themed to specific characters or subjects, depending on the submission itself) and posted. A good example from PJO fandom I stumbled across the other day while looking at old askblogs is Percicoheadcanons. Absolute classic format right there. Also bonus time capsule points - the most recent post is from before Blood of Olympus was published. That's just particularly amusing to me given the ship in question here.

- Shortform Headcanons / Short Memes & Shitposts Helyeahmangocheese reminded me of this one in my previous post - shortform headcanons are essentially any headcanon thrown out into the world in a short format. So you're "headcanon that [x]" or whatever with no elaboration. Just quick little snappy things off the top of your head that people can pick up and run with. Sometimes there would be blogs dedicated to these, with people submitting them in blog formats like the above, and then shortform headcanons to be posted in that format. Short memes & shitposts are the exact same type of thing - just short little silly textposts and similar cracking jokes that the fandom can take and run with. Both of these are more important to the fandom than you'd think - a.) they have a very low barrier to entry, which means they're a great way for new fans to begin engaging with the larger community. b.) they circulate new ideas for other fans to build off of, creating collaborative concepts. These collaborations help build the community with giving opportunities for people to chat/inspire each other's work and can create iconic fandom moments or community references/in-jokes. And old one from PJO fandom that floated around was somebody threw out the concept of Will Solace's weapon being a lasso/whip (because cowboys/he's Texan/etc) made of light, which then got illustrated and elaborated on by many other fans such as Cherryandsisters and was very popular fanon for a time.

- Confessions Blogs These ones can be decisive in fandoms, depending on how they're run. Confession blogs in general are blogs where people anonymously submit fandom thoughts, opinions, etc (formatted similarly to HC/imagines blogs like above). There's also usually a decent amount of funny confessions like initial misunderstandings or confusion about things. Most well-run ones of these will have rules against negativity towards other fans and similar. When done properly these blogs can be a nice way for the community to have discussions about topics that they may be afraid to broach publicly, and easily can generate community in-jokes.

- Positivity blogs / Fandom voting Somewhat opposite to (at least, more negative) confession blogs, fandom positivity blogs are a very sweet way to spread compliments around the community. Sometimes they're anonymous, sometimes not. Generally though the format is people can submit compliments or kind notes to other people in the community and it'll get posted tagging the individual in question. Trafficblrpositivityproject is an MCYT example of this concept. Fandom Voting is a little bit more odd and varies a lot between communities. An old one PJO fandom used to do was PJO Prom, where people could nominate blogs for different categories, they would either accept or deny their nominations, and then folks would vote for their top favorite blogs of each category and winners would be announced (though the event also included more than just that - like blogs asking each other to prom and etc). In other fandoms I've also seen elections where various members of the community would jokingly campaign for election (including choosing other members of their campaign), people would vote for a winner, and then do it all over again. Fandom elections tend to be a lot more chaotic and silly, versus stuff like fandom prom voting is more geared towards just appreciation towards members of the community.

- Fandom Events / Community Projects Related to PJO Prom, (and prompt weeks/months) general fandom proms or valentine's events used to be pretty popular, especially amongst RP and askblogs. These weren't always strictly organized, but they generally involved asking other blogs to prom/to be valentines and then people would draw cute prom/holiday art or similar to celebrate. Some blogs would send out valentines to multiple blogs just as a nice cute lil treat in a similar vein to how some blogs still do trick-or-treating events. Trick-or-treating events have been a thing for awhile, generally following that same structure, but it's become significantly more popular in general now that tumblr has image embeds possible in asks rather than having to submit a post. Other fandom events can include fandom elections like mentioned before, or any number of things really, but the majority of regular ones will include gift/fanwork exchanges in some form. Secret Santa projects are very common (and PJO did have them! There isn't one singular PJO Secret Santa blog since it seems different folks did different years so I can't link it, but I participated in 2016 iirc. It looks like the most recent one was in 2021 - pjosecretsanta2021). I did find Rrversesummerbang as a recently active one as well. Zines and similarly collaborative projects are also common - PJO fandom does occasionally have zines but they aren't very frequent and generally don't get a ton of traction (which is very sad cause zines are very fun - most of it seems to be just the fandom doesn't have good ways of getting word out about events through the community). We've also had a couple of coloring book projects! I participated in the 2016 one and there was another in 2022. Some other fandom and pan-fandom examples of similar stuff is Mcytrecursive (Gift exchange for fic-of-fic, in this case MCYT-specific), Fic in a box, Mcytblraufest (AU fest), general holiday exchanges, etc. (A lot of my examples are MCYT cause man that fandom is active). There are a lot of pan-fandom ones of these, but usually involvement of specific fandoms is entirely dependent on sign-ups and it can be difficult to know or guarantee any specific communities participating. Fandom-specific ones are generally more well-known in their own communities for obvious reasons. In other projects, Riordanverse fandom even once had a Multi-Animator Project! These are more common in fandoms like Warrior Cats that are very artist and animator-centric, but the fact that we have at least one major one at all is pretty cool! Collaborate games in similar veins to big events/projects like this (see stuff like the art meme/games) can also be great ways to get the community active and engaged. Voting/poll stuff like character or ship brackets can be really interesting too and depending on how it goes down can become an EXTREMELY major event in the community (see: MCYT Tumblr Sexyman bracket). Very fun times.

- Incorrect Quotes / Text Post Memes / Chat Posts Rolling back to headcanon/imagines blogs, incorrect quotes for specific ships/character groupings used to be extremely common. And not even just dedicated blogs, but incorrect quotes/chat posts were pretty much the number one thing the average fan who didn't create fanart/fanfic/etc would post. I was actually quite surprised to see that Incorrectpercicoquotes is still alive. They post more than just incorrect quote/chat posts (not uncommon for blogs of those nature, especially back in the day), but still it feels like seeing a thought-to-be-extinct-species in the wild eating a bag of chips. Anyways, like shortform headcanons and memes/shitposts (of which these are somewhat a subcategory of), these are another low barrier to entry type of fandom engagement, which means they're great for new members of the community.

- Askblogs MY FAVORITE TOPIC. I have a list of PJO askblogs on my sidebar actually cause I'm very passionate about them and askblogs in general. For what an askblog is, my blog @askblog-index goes over that and also I answered some questions about askblogs recently, which you can find in my askblogs tag (also I'm always open to answering questions about askblogs please ask me about askblogs I love them so much). There's so many different varieties too - text, illustrated, cosplay, voice acting, combination, etc etc etc. Askblogs are a really fun means for collaborative storytelling in the community, especially with how much they tend to generate headcanons or put characters in silly little scenarios. Cherryandsister's Will Solace askblog is practically personally responsible for a solid 50% of all Will fanon. Photokinesis!Will was entirely popularized there. They're also a really great place for people in the community to build up their skills - yknow those jokes about "the best way to improve your art is to become obsessed with something and draw it one billion times?" yeah askblogs are that. My art improved so much by starting an askblog because it pushes you to draw things you might avoid normally or wouldn't expect to draw - or if it's not an art askblog, is just plain good practice for writing or voice acting or whatever. It's a regular outlet where you can build up your skills with not a lot of pressure but also outside encouragement and concepts to build off of. Character or fandom-specific daily art blogs and similar request art blogs are similarly also very useful to building up skills (and can be applied to other artforms like fic writing!) (Request blogs are not the same as askblogs though please dont send random art requests to askblogs just gotta put that disclaimer). I also personally consider them extremely vital to fandom ecosystems, though often overlooked - remember those old "ask the seven" posts that would be the terribly colored text in random fonts on a white or poorly-chosen-color background that'd just be random stuff and it'd get reposted absolutely everywhere? For a lot of people that's both some of the first stuff in a fandom that they might make, and also some of the first stuff people used to see in fandoms in general. With my whole silly theory of fandom ecological niches, those types of posts are your base of the pyramid, because it's where most fans are going to start out. It gives them a low-stakes place to begin engaging with the community and figure themselves out and begin exploring the characters and media on a deeper level. That's what fandom is all about! It's what separates fandom from just the general audience of any particular thing. Those types of posts were popular because they're just easy to make! All you need is mspaint, if even! They get across their concepts quickly and easily in an easily sharable format - that's exactly why they got reposted absolutely everywhere! The concept of those posts (and general character chat posts/incorrect quotes) still exist in other spaces in fandom communities, but in different formats - usually tiktoks, being spoken and acted out loud. The problem with that format though is it can't go anywhere - even in shortform video format there's no way to easily condense it down (and also they have a higher barrier to entry, as the format at it's simplest usually requires some aspect of showing your face/using your voice. This means you inherently have to sacrifice some amount of privacy to engage with the format, which isnt friendly to new/younger fans). Meanwhile these ask-the-seven posts are one jpeg that gets across the entire concept. And we've evolved! We have better technology! We can pick better colors and fonts and add image descriptions! We can bring the format back!

- Cosplay This one is pretty self-explanatory - just. Cosplays are a type of fanwork too! PJO cosplay used to be pretty common on tumblr actually! Particularly there used to be a decent number of cosplay askblogs (which are just askblogs where instead of responding to questions with text or a drawing, asks are answered with either a gif or image of the mun/mod in cosplay reacting in-character). Cosplay is cool! And in PJO fandom it's particularly easy!

- Roleplaying Spaces PJO fandom does have a pretty active tumblr RP scene as far as I've been able to tell, which is good! Also you can find people who want to RP pjo just about anywhere. It's just somewhat of a matter of giving them a space to do so. I talked about how to get into roleplaying recently on my blog as well. RP is also one of the forms of fandom infrastructure in this list that transfers well to other social media platforms, in large part due to social media RP making it a whole lot easier. The fandom is mostly just severely lacking in hubs to locate RPs and help people find ways to begin engaging with them.

- Public AUs / OCs Public AUs/OCs are a bit of a weird one to describe - they're basically any AU/OC that the creators (if there is a singular known creator of it) have given total free reign to people with. More often it's an AU that doesn't have a particular known creator but the fandom likes to run around with and do a lot with. In PJO fandom, the ye olde fandom OC was Peter Johnson, a son of Demeter. The AU generally was about how Peter Johnson was a new camper and Mr. D's favorite camper, and just generally a sweet lil guy while Mr. D proceeds to torment Percy because of the name jokes. A series of public AUs that's completely unique to PJO is Godswap aus - there's no one singular set godswap au, but the two most common swaps tended to be Demeter!Percy (in part due to Peter Johnson) and Aphrodite!Nico (admittedly this one was like 90% gay stereotypes/homophobic tropes and there's a reason why the fandom kind of dropped it. It was absolutely the most popular godswap for a time though, and some of the concepts from it have bled into general Nico fanon for better or worse). General pirate aus have also always been very popular in the fandom - there were some old ones back in the day, including local BNF (Big Name Fan) Saberghatz having at least one, maybe like two or three, including a cosplay. Pirate!Nico in particular was very popular. There was actually a slight resurgence of PJO pirate AUs on pjo cosplay tiktok in like 2020 or so I wanna say. Truly we came full-circle there. There's also just general popular AUs that fandoms like to run with. For awhile PJO fandom had a HTTYD au they really loved. The current fandom favorite AU seems to be Velinxi's Young Gods/Hades Game AU.

- Fangames This one might sound odd because Riordanverse fandom doesn't really have this, but fangames can be REALLY fun and cool. Fangames also often spark mini-fandoms in themselves and are just really awesome in general. There's a lot of different varieties of vastly varying complexities, but a lot of it is pretty much just "I made a game, it's about [fandom], here ya go." Some good examples from other communities off the top of my head are games like ClanGen or Untold Tales for Warrior Cats, or Featherbent from the Homestuck fandom which was a visual novel / AU fanfic. Btw, visual novels are actually not all that difficult to create. If you're interested in trying to make one I highly recommend checking out Ren'Py - it's basically a program to make visual novels with.

- Other project types / General Collaboration Related to community events, particularly Multi-Animator Projects (MAPs), AMVs/PMVs/Lyricstucks ("animated music videos" and "picture music videos" - lyricstucks are the same as the latter but usually in a scrolling tumblr post format with the song linked at the beginning rather than video format) are very cool and can be both individual or collaborative projects (in Riordanverse fandom most are probably very familiar with Viria's old lyricstucks - Nothing Left To Say and How Far We've Come). Some folks do dubs of fancomics (also used to be a thing in PJO fandom, particularly back when the PjoVoices group was active and the brief stint in the fandom when we had some Voice Acting askblogs) which can be a nice way to collaborate and engage with other fans in different mediums. "Aesthetics"/Moodboards (usually an arrangement of either 2x3 [former] or 3x3 [latter] grids of images) and the more recent "webweaves" also are a great low barrier to entry type of fanwork that has a lot of variety and versatility (just make sure to credit art/photos used) - especially if you make moodboards/webweaves inspired by people's AUs/fics/etc!

- Gifset Makers / Editors In Riordanverse fandom we don't see this often, because we're primarily a book fandom, but back in the days of the movies and more recently now with the show, editors and gifset makers are a very cool niche of fanwork creators. Gifset makers is pretty self-explanatory - they're people who make gifs. Editors can range from people who make edits of clips or put together clips of images or a whole bunch of very different things. Very wide range there. Edits (with credit to the original artists) can be a really fun alternative to AMVs/PMVs/etc if you don't draw but you have a concept (CREDIT THE ARTISTS - trust me, having your art used in an edit can feel super cool but ONLY IF IT'S CREDITED. IF IT'S NOT CREDITED IT'S NOT FUN. if you ask and credit people will probably be happy about it!). Edit blogs can also be very fun and are often a big hit in fandoms - "Where is [x]" and "[character] in places" are classics. Again just remember to credit artists appropriately and ask permission to use their work.

- Fanwork Promotion Blogs/Hubs PJO fandom does have a couple of these still floating around I think! I don't know them off the top of my head but I swear i've seen them recently. Regardless - these are any sorts of blogs that promote other fanworks. Maybe it's dedicated to just general fanart, general fanfic, stuff of a specific AU or concept. Going back to previous bullet points, character or ship-specific blogs are a form of these. They can range from elaborate and complex with how they promote or spotlight and recommend works, to just literally being random reblogs of stuff of a specific topic. These can actually also be a really nice if you're looking for a simple way to get more involved in the community, because chances are if you're on tumblr you know how to reblog things and that's about all it takes. These hubs can be really nice ways for more fans in the community to get spotlighted/recognition and become more well-known, and it also helps fans looking for specific types of fanwork. (The only caveat with these is if you are going to make a generalized hub blog, you have to actually make it generalized. You can't just exclude the things you personally don't like just because you don't like them - if you don't want to deal with that, make a more specialized hub blog for your more focused interests instead.) (Also personally I'd recommend if you're making one of these types of blogs that you're an adult, cause these blogs can require fandom tag-spelunking that may not be appropriate for all ages - ESPECIALLY if you run a fanfic hub.)

- General Resources This can look like a lot of things, particularly depending on what the fandom is about, but in general a lot of fandoms will have dedicated places to finding different types of information, and often important fandom terminology and sometimes fandom history. Fan Wikis may cover some of this, but not always (and depending on how the wiki(s) are run in a particular community, may not even have reliable information to begin with. I'm looking at you Riordanverse wiki). In furry fandom for example there's a ton of resources for how to get started in the community, commonly accepted community guidelines and general etiquette, fandom history and terminology, resources to find fursuit makers or other artists, various tutorials, etc etc etc. PJO fandom does not really have this! Like i mentioned in previous bullet points, while we have some hub/promotion or character/ship-specific blogs, they're relatively far and few between and commonly inactive, not to mention usually very specific in what niche they're focused on. The wiki only covers the source material (and is questionable quality at best most of the time) with there being next to no resources in the community in general for stuff like fandom history or terminology or etc. Did you know PJO fandom used to be part of the Superwholock of book fandoms (it was PJO, HP, Hunger Games, and Divergent. there was a whole symbol for it)? Did you know we used to have our own fandom lingo? Members of the fandom were usually called demigods or half-bloods, people would put their cabins in their bios (people would make little banners or other decorations to put on your blog themes to show your cabins or pjo stuff in general!), and we'd say stuff like "Spread this like greek fire" and "Amazhang" and etc. Those are actual things people said unironically very frequently. You're probably most likely to be familiar with "Persassy." We don't necessarily need to bring all of those things back, but point is we did use to have a community identity and sort of genuine subculture! And we lost that! There are so many community jokes and similar that most people have forgotten or at best kind of know of but don't remember the origins or contexts for. In other communities they have documentation for this kind of stuff - you should see some of the documentation that MCYT fandom does, particularly if the MCYT in question is a popular streamer or the SMP is primarily streamed content. Holy cow it's thorough. Resources and documentation are what help keep fandoms alive, because they give a means for new members of the community to learn the history of the community, learn established rules and etiquette, and just generally find their way around where they otherwise might be lost. It's really invaluable but often overlooked.

Okay, i think that's all the ones i can think of. This post has taken me over a full day of working on it, lol. Anyways i'm very passionate about fandom history and PJO fandom history/community in general so this was very fun for me to go on a deep-dive about. Also now i'm really tempted to put a lot of my old fandom knowledge and unnecessarily complicated lists/documentation to good use and try to help build up some of these bullet point concepts for riordanverse fandom myself because dammit somebody's gotta do it. But that's all i've got for now! As always feel free to ask me to elaborate on anything, or if you just wanna hear me babble on more about general fandom structures (i have another ramble about different types of fandoms relating to what fanworks they tend to exhibit the most!)/pjo fandom history/askblogs/RP community/whatever, I am always more than happy to talk!

[stygiansun-totaleclipse]

THE MENTION OF THE MEANINGS OF THE FLOWERS IN AURYNN'S LETTER OMYGOD!!! AS SOMEONE WHO LOVES FLORIAGRAPHY THIS MADE ME REALLY EXCITED AS MINOR AS IT MAY BE LIKE FLOWERS ARE SO AMAZING TO ME!!! WE LOVE FLOWERS IN THIS HOUSE!!

So now I have to ask, in universe is there a sort of language of flowers? O.o And by extension what is everyone's favorite flowers? :3 (siblings and RO's)

Heheheh >:3 I love flowers too (spring is my favorite season 🌸🌺🌷🌹🌻🌼) and I ended up doing a bunch of research into flower meanings and medicinal uses etc for this lol. Expect to see a lot more floriography in the game! (and if anyone has read one of the POVs on Patreon, they might recognize those flowers in that letter and some of the intended meanings behind them 👀)

In universe, a lot of the flower language follows various irl floriographies but there is some in-universe specific stuff too, like irises in Theia being used for funerals to guide the dead into the afterlife and so representing death, vision, guidance, transformation, renewal etc. So it also does vary a bit between countries. Plus they have some mythology stories surrounding certain flowers and that affects some of their meanings/associations too. 🪷🪻🌼🥀💐

As for everyone’s favorites:

Kieran: Might be considered rather plain for a prince/ss, but they didn’t grow up royalty: golden yarrow—its abundant in Celestyl and they like the taste in certain festival foods/drinks. Nostalgic to them—they didn’t have an easy childhood by any means but it was much simpler. They wouldn’t admit it but they sometimes wish they could go back to how things were.

Nihm: Loves flowers—they attract insects! They’re pretty familiar with a lot of plants and their relationships with different insect species, so it’d be hard for them to pick just one fave. They find species that have very specifically evolved alongside insects most interesting, like spider and hammer orchids.

Lilith/Lucien: Flowers are their language, so they are fond of and well-versed in flowers. I can’t tell you their fave cuz it’s spoilery but I’ll tell you one of their other faves: Amaranth. Symbolizes immortality, eternal love, undying devotion, hope, resilience, determination. A good reminder.

Aurynn: Hasn’t really ever put much thought into it. I wouldn’t really say he has a favorite, but perhaps the flower that holds the most significance to him would be red poppies. Symbolizes sleep, peace, death.

Samira: Lavender—it was one of her Pa’s favorites and she likes the smell. Plus it’s quite useful. She does also have a fondness for weird/poisonous/carnivorous plants as well. A Theian Desert Thorn holds the most significance to her now, given what transpired in her hometown, and serves as a reminder: appearances can be deceiving.

Parim: Celosia/cockscomb—it looks like a feather :3 and it’s a festival favorite

Aurora: Saffron crocus—grows abundantly in the palace gardens. And it’s her fave color—purple.

Castor: Water lilies/lotus—very calming. Liked watching them float down the Thiss during festivals.

Ember: Sundews. They’re carnivorous >:)

Nour: Sunflowers—they’re big and bright and happy and always follow the sun. And Nour has fond memories eating sunflower seeds with their siblings.

Farah: Pom flowers—she loves pomegranates. And her brothers used to have to help her get them open and scoop out the seeds for her.

[awkwardgtace]

Demonic Curiosity

hehehe more Isaac and Aster! For Candle Light. Idk where this idea came from buuuut i liked it. They get some fun stuff i'll do more with these two just don't know what yet.

Aster has some suspicions about her partner Isaac. She's asked before, but this time she pushes. Finds the perfect question to ask. If only she was ready for the answer

Demonic Curiosity

Aster sat at a long table covered in a white cloth. The room was a full banquet hall, lined with burning candles; the table had some placed to look like a heart. She’d been curious how they were lit, but Isaac convinced her not to worry. As if on cue, the door at the far end of the hall slammed open.

“Sorry for the wait, sweetpea,” Isaac said with a sing-song voice. The way he’d sounded each time he brought her a gift. He was the one who asked her to wait here. It wasn’t surprising. “Took a little to get it just right.”

The large man wheeled a cart along the table. He stopped just out of her reach, he had said she’d never have to do anything here. He’d meant it, he barely wanted to let her walk on her own. The gaze he leveled at her made her spine tingle. A few steps closer then he bent close to her ear. She tried to turn her head, but one of his hands cupped her cheek. A silent request not to move.

“Made your favorite this time, plus something special I know you’ll love Sweetpea. Of course if ya tell me something ya want, it’ll be here,” She let out a strangled breath as he pulled away. Sometimes he felt overwhelming. A presence she could never describe. At the same time she craved that feeling more and more. To have Isaac be her world all while his eyes stayed locked on her.

“Isaac,” she whispered. Aster met his dark eyes. A hunger always sat right at the edge, something she knew well. The need to know more, to understand the world. It was the only reason her next words ever found her voice. “Who are you?”

He chuckled. Dark and ominous. How many times have they done this now? She asks and he pushes her to accept no answers. When he does he makes the truth vague. She’d learned his birthday, but not his age. That he wasn’t from anywhere she’s visited, but not the exact spot.

“Come on Sweetpea, ya don’t mean that.” Isaac set a dish with a decadent cake on the table. It reminded her of the ones her family made when she was young. Was this the time to push? “Don’t ya like what we have here?”

One hand to cup her face. The other grabbed one of her hands. Guided it up to his own cheek. She loved this feeling. The way he leaned into her hand. His eyes were dark and held something sinister. It was a warning, maybe a threat. Was she ready to see that threat followed through?

“Isaac…” He rubbed her cheek with his thumb.

It felt stupid to question it; to question him. But the way he arrived was part of it. One night he showed up as she left work. Asked her if there was anything she wanted. It had been a long tiring day so she picked something impossible. A necklace that had been lost for years, one her grandmother had given her. Isaac stared at her for a few seconds, then dangled it from his hands. It was the same one she’d thought of, even had the chip from when she dropped it.

That had only been the beginning. He brought her unbelievable gifts every day for weeks. Eventually he asked her out. Actually he asked if he could court her. That turned into trips all over. Places that were always a pipe dream to visit. A whirlwind change to her normal life.

“Isaac,” she breathed. 

Her voice gave away her thoughts. He let her hand go and backed away from her. Pulled out a chair and took a seat near her. This time felt different. This time… she might have to keep pushing. From the tray, he grabbed a gown. Floor length, sleeveless. Black accented with gold.

“This’ll look gorgeous on ya, Sweetpea. We could have a ball. Somethin’ out of a fairy tale…” he said. She heard the plea in his voice. Begging her not to push.

It would be so easy to listen. Keep this life going. Where he’d taken her. How he’d treated her. Things she thought could only be fantasies. Even how they made it to this banquet hall together felt like a dream.

The last whirlwind trip. One that had to be delayed more than once because of her job. She’d worried he was annoyed that day. He’d been quiet, withdrawn even. If he left her she wasn’t sure what to do. Isaac felt like someone that had always been there. Since he’d arrived she felt whole. 

That night was better than she could have imagined. After an entire afternoon where he felt quiet, he took her out to a park. The moon and stars shone brighter than ever before. Then Isaac, sweet and kind Isaac, got down on one knee. Grabbed her hand and looked at her in a way she couldn’t properly put to words.

“Aster, Sweetpea,” he had said. “I know we haven’t known each other too long. That I’m not what someone like ya deserves. But I am head over heels about ya. Have been since I first saw ya. Will ya be mine, sweetpea?”

Thinking back that added to the mysteries around him. It was a weird question. No ring to offer her. A request to be his. She did say yes. Jumped on him, wrapped her arms around his neck. Happily listened as he offered to take her to a place he knew. Where they’d be alone and she could have anything everything she ever wanted. At the time it felt romantic, but now…

“Isaac.” Firmer this time. He dropped the gown, grabbed her hands again. Leaned close, their noses nearly touching. When she tried to look away, he grabbed her chin with two fingers and made her face him.

“Sweetpea, ya want to go back to that life? Workin’ somewhere ya hate. Barely scrapin’ by, not sure what to do with yourself. Ya want to lose me that much?”

Aster steeled her nerves. She wouldn’t let Isaac scare her. They couldn’t play games for the rest of their lives. There was nothing he could say or do that would make her leave him. Of course she assumed he’d not leave her. Even though she was pushing this. She had to know. To use his own words, she was head over heels about him and couldn’t leave this wall between them. She leaned forward and kissed him. He hungrily reciprocated, but she pulled away before he was satisfied.

“Swee-”

“What are you, Isaac?” she said. The kiss was her selfish goodbye. Just in case he did leave after this.

Isaac chuckled. Ominous, foreboding, almost threatening. Aster wanted to take back the words. Go back to the game where it all appeared normal. He leaned closer, moved enough that he could keep going until his lips reached her ear.

“Ah, sweetpea, I wish ya had kept that question in that pretty head of yours,” his voice was different. Darker. Colder. “Ya know I’ve never been able to lie to ya. Come outside for the answer.”

And he was gone. The candles all around the room had gone out. She was alone. It felt more like a nightmare than reality. Everything in the room slowly disappeared. Aster was left in a banquet hall bereft of everything, but the chair she sat on. It was cold too. A sudden earthquake made her regret everything up to this point.

Fear rooted her to the ground. What if this had been a dream? She’d leave the now dark hall to be alone in a bright white room. All of this a hallucination she crafted after the years of monotony. A crash from high above her shook the whole building. Aster desperately tried to make her body move, but it wouldn’t listen.

“That should have been stronger,” Isaac’s voice was all encompassing. Everywhere echoed with the sound. “Flimsier than wet paper.”

“I-Isaac,” she whispered. Maybe it was a weird joke. He would do whatever he did to light the candles and hold her. Make her feel safe. That too loud voice let out a dark laugh. It wasn’t something she recognized.

“Sweetpea, ya got to the count of ten to come out on your own. Ya asked now ya gotta see the answer.”

It felt like a threat. He’d never truly threatened her. Never scared her. Maybe he should have.

“One.”

Aster chastised herself for accepting things from Isaac. Things that she couldn’t explain. It helped her climb to her feet.

“Two.”

A few unsteady steps forward. The necklace alone should have made her suspicious. The way he looked at her though. Like the only one in the world. More crashes sent pieces of the ceiling to the floor around her. She fell back to her knees.

“Ten.”

Aster screamed as the top of the building disappeared. She couldn’t make sense of what had replaced the familiar roof. It almost looked like a finger nail. Too long and dark for it at the same time. Her scream died as the thing disappeared and she was left with an impossible being. Hard to comprehend, yet clear at the same time. Nothing made sense anymore.

The castle disappeared before she could even blink. Aster tried to move. She knew escape was impossible, but she couldn’t sit there and do nothing. Wind pressed her back against the ground as the impossible being moved. She was almost positive he crouched. That alone made it hard to breathe.

“Easy there, sweetpea.” Isaac’s voice was still so loud. It gave her a little hope.

“Help! Isaac please! I’m sorry!” she cried. 

A chuckle followed by a sigh was all it got her. Wherever Isaac was he wouldn’t protect her. Aster screamed again as the nails from before dug into the ground. Pudgy finger tips closed in on her.

“I am helping ya, Sweetpea,” Isaac’s too loud voice sounded a little sad. Softer too. “Ya think my voice is safe for ya by nature. Now hold still a minute.”

The words reached her, but she didn’t process them. All she caught was the fingers moving closer to her again. Adrenaline gave her strength to stand. Before she could run the fingers made contact. So warm, it was almost reassuring. That died as soon as she was brought into the air. Aster let her instincts take over and started fighting. It didn’t matter how high they went.

“You’re as wriggly as a catfish, Sweetpea,” Isaac laughed. The voice vibrated through her now. More like she felt it than heard it. Even sounded a bit deeper than she expected. “I told ya to stay still. Not like it matters much. Like this you’re not only cute as a button, but the size of a small one too.”

Now the words sunk in. She fell still as she continued to move higher and higher. There was a flash of white then more flesh. Aster stopped in front of a familiar darkness. Eyes that had always felt deeper than the ocean. Maybe they were. The hold on her eased and she fell onto a soft platform. The flesh colored towers gave her a solid idea of where she was before he could say it.

“I-Isaac?” she asked. The impossible figure nodded. The wind knocked her into the pillars of fingers. 

“Ya didn’t catch on til now, sweetpea?” The look in the eye before her made her shiver. It was her Isaac and wasn’t at the same time. “Ya always surprise me, I thought ya would’ve fainted before I got ya this high up.”

“What-”

“I know Sweetpea, I know. What am I?” Isaac’s fingers curled over her. An entire room just from his hand. “I’ll tell ya, but lemme get us both a bit more comfortable first.”

A loud version of the snap she’d grown used to made her ears ring. She slammed into the fingers above her. The soft fat on them didn’t cushion the impact enough. Her entire body ached. A groan left her just as the fingers opened up again.

“Did I hurt ya, sweetpea?” Soft and kind. The Isaac she knew, but still too loud. His hand was close to his face, but not where she expected. It let her take in more of him, notably the horns on his head. She’d heard stories of beings with them. Bargains for souls. She couldn’t stop herself from shaking.

One of the nails, probably claws, poked at her. Aster curled up and away from it. Her body ached, her mind was racing, and she wanted her Isaac. The one that had held her only hours before. Gave her a promise of safety and love. A life of her dreams.

“Sweetpea, are ya that scared of me?” he asked. “I didn’t want ya to know. Wanted to keep our little life goin’ as long as we could. I can put ya down if ya want. Gotta admit I do like holdin’ ya.”

“D-demon.” was all she managed to say. She felt the change from the man holding her. How his hand dropped a bit. The way he sighed just enough to push her a little. A force of nature.

“Yeah sweetpea, I am one. Or was one. As far as my kind sees me I’m an enemy. Don’t like that I’m strong enough to do as I please.”

Aster played the memories in her mind. Kind looks. Generous gifts. So many times he could take her and each she was given a choice. Even now he was offering her a choice. She managed to uncurl enough to look at him. To stare into his eye and see that he was hurt too.

“Ya want the whole story or ya want me gone now that ya know what I am?”

She forced herself to her knees. Hugged her arms around her. This was Isaac and he was nice to her. Said he loved her. Actually that he was head over heels which should mean love. Maybe it wasn’t and that was why it felt wrong. Why courting sounded out of place. Why being his hadn’t felt like the marriage proposal she read it as.

“W-who are you?” she whispered. 

 A laugh that almost made her feel better. She kept thinking about the stories. Everyone knew the warnings. Beware of demons, they’d hunt a strong soul. The more desperate for something you were the stronger a demon you’d summon. The risk was always if you got the strongest. They could bend reality, but didn’t always honor deals. There was at least one city that lived in infamy under the claim a demon destroyed it.

Now she sat in the hand of one. One so big she was maybe an inch tall in comparison. According to the stories it would mean Isaac was impossibly strong. It would also mean he had taken enough souls that he grew this large. The reason he wanted her scared her now. Tears slipped down her eyes.

“Hey now, sweetpea, ya don’t have to cry,” he whispered. “Not like ya made any deals with me. I’m still who ya know. Isaac. Don’t have a place I call home or people to have ya meet, but I am who I’ve told ya.”

“But…”

“I told ya, asking what was the change, sweetpea. Aster I’m a demon, but haven’t had a soul in centuries. Not since a curious human and angry demon tried to kill me and made me stronger instead.”

She was lost for words. So many questions ran through her mind. Why would a demon try to kill him if he was one? Why did he say he wasn’t one anymore? How was he here without a deal? If she remembered the stories right he needed one. Unless she was the target of someone else’s deal. That started a new set of tears and worse fears to enter her mind.

“Sweetpea, ya don’t have to be scared. I’m not here to hurt ya no one sent me after ya either.”

It felt like he was reading her thoughts. The hand she was on warmed up.

“Sorry Sweetpea, I am a little. I knew ya were gonna be small and with how small ya are didn’t wanna risk missin’ anything ya had to say. I’ll set us back to normal after I explain myself, deal?”

Aster tried to silence her thoughts. Avoid being heard and answered, but of course one had to slip out. Would agreeing sign her soul to him?

“Bad word choice, I’m sorry sweetpea. Deals for a soul are specific. I won’t be takin’ one from anyone unless they know what’s happenin’ and what they’re losin’. Especially yours.”

A few nods. The hand she was on moved. Tilted until she started rolling. Aster tried to dig her fingers into the skin. Hold herself from whatever he planned, but it was pointless. Gravity dragged at her until she fell from the skin. She landed on a soft sofa. 

Before her Isaac set his elbows down and laced his fingers together. The platform that formed was used as a rest for his chin. It didn’t feel like she should be able to see as much as she could. The only explanation would be Isaac helping her to see. That didn’t seem right, but also made more sense than anything else.

“That a little better, Sweetpea?” he asked. 

His mouth was so close. The breath behind his words pushed her into the soft fabric. Still she nodded. It would be better to get to what he had to tell her. Especially as fear started to build in her heart again.

“So?” she whispered. It felt impossible to get her voice any louder. Isaac had probably been smart to listen to her thoughts. The laugh she got only made her think a few choice words. Those made him flinch and she grinned to herself. It felt… normal.

“Like ya guessed I started out as a demon. See I was good at it. Made deals with fellas ya wouldn’t believe. Humans were a bit foolish from where I sat. Most thought they could trick me. Guess it was how I look and how I talk. Lemme think,” Aster managed to get comfortable as he thought. Watched curiously when his eyes brightened and a hand moved to his stomach. “That’s right. One said it was hard to be scared of a jovial, fat man. Didn’t make much sense, but that had been a mighty fun soul so I didn’t much mind.”

The grin on his face made her tense. He clearly enjoyed the memory. She didn’t know how demons ate souls, but… One of the soft fingers tapped her head.

“Sweetpea, did ya forget I know what’s goin’ through that head of yours. I enjoyed that human cause he was a hoot. Not cause of their taste. Another day I’ll tell ya how we use souls. A day ya don’t look so scared.”

Another day… Isaac’s expression darkened as she considered the words.

“Anyhow. After a few good souls I was lookin’ to be the next royal. Not many were happy about that. A few thought I’d been stealin’ other souls instead of doin’ my own deals. Sweetpea I can’t tell ya how angry I was hearin’ those rumors. I didn’t enjoy it, but I took pride in what I did. I’d earned every damned soul that gave me power.

“Some fella got sick of me. Thought he’d team up with a human to get rid of me. Didn’t work out how they hoped. Ya see, I caught on.” He stood. Aster’s heart stopped. She hadn’t realized he was sitting. Standing was worse, she couldn't even start to imagine what it would be like to stand near him. That was with whatever he did to help her recognize all of him.

“They wanted to make it so I fed off knowledge instead of good old souls. Well, I decided to play my own little game. Messed with the spell a bit here and there. In the end they were makin’ my power come off my own curiosity. Now ya might not believe it havin’ known me like ya do, but they really thought little old me would crumble with their spell. Took me to be as thick as two short planks. They’re little spell worked. I felt the change. How the souls in me kind of stabilized.”

Isaac leaned closer. His eye was near enough to touch. It made her heart hammer in her chest. A single blink made her nearly scream. He was doing this on purpose, but her scream wouldn’t be from fear.

“I’m sure ya noticed Sweetpea, if I’m curious I’m worse than a dog with a bone. That said, it worked better than I expected. It was a good thing I’d thought to get the humans out before their game. It woulda been a messy clean up after. Not many buildings stayed once I started growin’. Back then I’d settled where ya would be maybe half my thumb in height, Sweetpea.”

To emphasize the point he brought one of his hands right next to her. Pressed his thumb, claw down, next to her. The claw easily dug into the floor her seat was on. She stood right away. If… if she had to guess she was maybe a third the height of the finger. Possibly smaller. She shied back from it. From just how little she probably mattered when someone like this existed.

“Those two were the last souls I ever took, sweetpea,” Isaac whispered. The authority and confidence was gone. “The change made it so I could make myself look human without a deal. All the benefits too. Didn’t even have to keep the souls I took anymore. Set them all free. That made me somethin of an enemy among my own kind. Demons got together and stripped my wings from me. I don’t have a place to call home without those. They’re the key to hell.”

“O-oh…” The first thing she could manage and it was barely anything. He took his thumb from the spot next to her. A claw touched her face, made her look at him. It didn’t feel like he should be able to do this. Be so gentle when he was a force of nature.

“Like I said, I never enjoyed takin’ souls. Was glad to be free of it. Spent a few centuries wanderin’ around til I found ya. I wasn’t lyin’, never could lie to ya if I wanted to, Sweetpea…”

They sat in silence. Her own mind was empty while his probably raced. She couldn’t come up with a response. A feeling. Anything. His claws tapped her a few times. It made her spine tingle and suddenly the clear image of Isaac was gone. Fingers so large they were hard to understand. A face she could barely make out. A monster so big other monsters rejected him.

“Ya see, I wanted to be with ya. Thought I could play human, but it looks like I was as convincin’ as a wolf wearing wool. I took what I did away… Aster. Can’t hear your thoughts, not makin’ ya see me in a way ya would understand. This is what I am. I love ya. Might be hard to believe, but demons do love. I would do anythin’ to keep what we have, but if ya want me gone say the word. Can make it all be a dream for ya, even make ya forget all about me.”

“No.” the first time her voice sounded strong. The first time she felt like herself too. All of it was hard to understand. Nearly impossible to wrap her head around. 

Isaac was a demon that drew power from curiosity. He was impossibly big. He’d lived for centuries like this already, but wanted her. Saw her and wanted something different. Aster reached out to the soft skin. Warm, comforting. This was her Isaac. Now there was a lot more to him, but he was hers. And she was his.

“Sweetpea… Aster, ya don’t gotta worry. No strings attached. No deals, no danger. Ya can have whatever ya want. Just like I always tell ya,” his voice was quieter. More like what she knew. It didn’t match what she was trying to understand as him. She dug her fingers into the warm skin.

“I… want us to go home,” she said. A little shaky. Not the confidence she wanted. Isaac jumped though. Pinched her between two fingers and pulled her up and up to his standing face. The eye before her shook. Fear, excitement, disbelief.

“Aster, I mean it. Ya don’t have to-”

“It’s a lot, Isaac,” she cut him off. Happy to see she could. “You’re a lot, but… you’re still Isaac right? Still the same person who I’ve been with this whole time.”

“Well… yes, but-”

“No, I want us to go home. Where I can think about this. Ask you things. And maybe… sometimes… we can be like this. I just need you to be more gentle. It hurt to slam into your fingers.”

“Oh sweetpea, I think I’m the happiest man in the world. I hope I can make ya happy. I know ya deserve better than a demon like me, but-”

“Don’t say that. You sound like I’m settling and I’m not I just-”

Aster was cut off this time. She was pressed to plump lips. For a moment it felt like she might slip between them, but the pressure against her kept her still. Isaac pulled away and she was able to see him again. His face with the image of the reality beneath it. Like he was far away and close all at once.

“Sweetpea, I don’t know how I convinced ya to be with me, but I promise I won’t ever let ya regret it.”

Before she could answer the world shifted. Isaac started to change. The first thing she noticed were the horns disappearing. It was weird and a bit terrifying to know he was a demon. The way he talked told her he was proud of his power and stature. Admittedly she kind of liked it too. Liked that he was doing what he could to make sure she understood. It was still Isaac and… she was in love with him.

[gaydexvocaloid]

your covers have gotten me to start wanting to make my own.... if youve got any tips for a beginner it would be greatly appreciated !!!

AHH IM SO HAPPY WE COULD INSPIRE YOU 2 WANT TO MAKE UR OWN!!! I FEEL HONOURED 2 MAKE SOMEONE FEEL LIKE THAT…

ahh hmm okay so my tips may not be great at all, i didn’t really have anybody who knew what they were doing to help me, so this is almost fully self taught info ,, but from what i can think of:

so this might be obvious for some ppl but i went into this thinking i had to make my own song files- always look for if someones made a song file! example: VSQX is a file made for VOCALOID4, SVP is a SynthV file, UST is a Utau file, if you find a file that’s a VSQX but you wanna use it on SynthV ( for example ) you have to convert it to work for SynthV and vice versa! you can convert a file using this website: https://sdercolin.github.io/utaformatix3/ u have no idea how much we have used this LOL

if ur trying to find JP song files most likely youll have to find it as a UST specifically, since utau is more accessible ( free ) and has been around 4 agesss, if you can’t find a file on youtube, try looking on niconico! i’ve even had 2 find files thru searching on twitter or tumblr at times LOL but it’s always worth checking everywhere!

if you have a file that doesn’t come with harms, i’d recommend using harmoloid, it can make harms for you! https://sdercolin.github.io/harmoloid2/ personally i don’t know a thing abt how harmonies work ( how to make them ), i’ve tried learning but it just never made sense 2 me T_T so this is a lifesaver!!! it can take a lot of trial and effort to find the right key that fits the song but usually it ends well ^_^

personally i tried going into this cover stuff thinking “it has to be perfect, if it isn’t i have to scrap it” and u just,, can’t go into it like that, starting out new ur bound to have stuff not sound perfect or even great but u have to start somewhere, and i guarantee you will improve!!! you don’t need to know anything about music to do this ( i went into this not knowing what a BPM is or not knowing you had to mix stuff lol ) so go into it w a free mind! just keep trying, genuinely

for mixing tips, i’m honestly not sure- like all of this stuff i went into it winging it, but i learnt from help from others that compression is rlly important, make sure you always have a compressor on the vocals, reverb, n an audio balancer ( I’m not sure what it’s actually called- an EQ maybe?? ) but this stuff helps a Lot… i mix on bandlab personally ( it’s a free mixer but it does the job abgdjdhd ) and it’s easy enough to learn?? a bit confusing at times but if you don’t have the money to buy a mixer ( like mr broke (((me))) ) then it’s a great option

absolutely look up mixing videos, mixing guides, tuning tutorials, etc. some of them can be really hard to understand but just try anyway, even if you come out of a video thinking “wow none of that processed” you can always go back to it, it’d prob be much more helpful if you have anyone who knows abt this kinda stuff to ask about though

id recommend joining the SynthV unofficial discord server, they have help guide channels and channels to ask for help, and they don’t only handle synthv stuff they have channels for loads of other softwares too, u have no idea the amount of times i’ve looked like a dumbass asking the stupidest questions lol but! any help is better than none, even if u look silly, plus the people there are nice!! https://discord.gg/synthv

i really hope this info is helpful, if you want anymore tips i can try, i’m just not very good at wording things or thinking of the right stuff to say lol.. but i really wouldn’t mind trying to help more, i understand wanting to get into this but having nobody to ask for help T_T so ur not alone!! i bet you’ll do great w/ making covers, so pls believe in urself (: !!!!!

[dailycharacteroption]

Book Review: 1E GameMastery Guide

And it’s time for another review of various books in the Pathfinder system, this week starting with the GameMastery Guide (yes, the capital M in the middle is accurate).

Now, those who remember the previous reviews might immediately ask. “But wait? Didn’t Pathfinder 1e merge the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide of the game it was based on into one book? Why does there need to be a separate Game Master book?

Well, to answer that, we have to understand that while the 3.5 DMG was meant to be the book that only the GM was reading to have loot and experience tables and the like on hand to hand out to the players, plus some lore stuff and guides for building stuff and whatnot. Useful at the time, but honestly better that they consolidated it in Pathfinder because players inevitably had to read the DMG anyway to learn about prestige classes and magical items with which to spend their hard-earned gold.

The Gamemastery Guide is… not that. Instead, the book only has a few chapters dedicated to actual rules and mechanics in the game, and instead focuses on useful advice for Game Masters running their games, with a few chapters devoted to useful tools, systems and NPC stat blocks for use in the game.

Going chapter by chapter, the book starts with one on defining what a GM is and what their duties are to the game, in terms of learning the rules of the game, arbitrating their application, building and bringing to life the world of the game. There’s also a section on setting the tone for a campaign and when to think about establishing content warnings and discussing sensitive topics.

It also brings up the subjects of getting the group together and how and where to host them, including what to do when players can’t make it, and what is appropriate to bring to the table

Naturally, game planning also comes up as well, including setting out the likely story and what to do if the party deviates.

The next chapter covers actually running the game itself, everything from preparations, taking back mistakes that were made in previous sessions, and of course, being both proactive and reactive to what the players do just as they act and react to you and each other. There’s also a section on presentation too, with things like music, handouts, and the like being good starting points.

Not only do GMs need to be actors, but also writers as well, learning how to use narrative techniques in their storytelling as well.

And then of course there’s the whole thing about actually knowing the mechanics of the game (and when to ignore them when it makes for a better story, such as forgetting a monster’s insurmountable defenses so that the party can actually kill it, or claiming that the boss has more hp so that it gets a few more rounds of being a threat, especially if it was going down too easy.)

And of course there’s a section on building adventure structures and encounters, as well as what to keep in mind for atypical party compositions. Of course, there is also a section for when things go wrong, such as the party becoming unbalanced or they all die or they missed the seemingly easy to find clue that they kinda needed to actually move on to the next part of the story. Plus some useful tables as well.

Next is the section on player characters, which focuses on the easy trap of viewing the players as an enemy to vex, but also in guidelines for helping players make their characters, implementing their backstories into the game, managing the dynamic of the heroes, and of course, dealing with problem players in various capacities in a diplomatic way.

This chapter is immediately followed by one on NPCs, particularly building them both mechanically and in a roleplaying sense, be they humble shopkeeper or insidious villain, complete with LOTS of tables to help inspire the GM.

Next is a chapter on handling rewards, everything from figuring out what XP to give from both encounters and roleplaying alike, to what treasures to give, and when to create special rewards tailored to the desires of the characters, like a wish spell from a rescued genie, a new spell that really excites the party caster, or all manner of story rewards. This chapter even comes with the first instance of random loot tables in the system.

The next chapter is worldbuilding, offering things like useful questions to ask about the countries, continents, laws of physics, and the like of your world, to say nothing of geography, the cosmos, and the planes beyond. Culture is a big question as well, and guidelines are offered based on the society in question and tech level as well. Even questions of technology get focus as well.

And then we look at some nitty gritty about actually designing adventurous locales, from structuring adventures to designing dungeons and using shorthand signs to make the dungeon make sense and so on, to designing the strange traits of other planes of existence and the like, with useful tables.

Then we get useful tables and details for other adventuring staples like taverns, the rules for settlement statistics, aquatic environs, the wilderness, and more.

Next is the chapter on advanced topics, such as when to homebrew or reskin content, the chase subsystem, running natural disasters, rules for drugs and addiction, using fortune telling in-game, gambling games, a full write-up of the haunt rules outside of 3.5, various hazards, running mysteries, puzzles and riddles, a basic sanity system (sigh), and so on.

And finally, the book ends with a robust gallery of NPC stat blocks, which can prove useful for modifying or using as-is to flesh out your world or have antagonists that aren’t horrible monsters

Moving on from the book’s actual content, the art is particularly phenomenal here. The cover art depicts the Runelord Karzoug, the very first big bad we saw in one of Pathfinder’s adventure Paths, sitting on a throne surrounded by various trinkets of his wizardly craft with a blue dragon servant at his side. This proves quite evocative of the vibes of this being a book for the master of the game behind the veil.

As for the inner art, much like the core book there are big splash art pages for each chapter, and most of the art in the book itself is new, including some cute depictions of goblins in the earlier chapters (including one in a dragon outfit that I adore), as well as other NPC art and the like appropriate to each chapter.

Overall, this book gets my seal of approval. The actual mechanical rules are minimal in the book, but it provides a lot of useful advice for new GMs and old alike, and you can’t beat a good random table for those times when your own creativity is running dry.

On the other hand, those very tables for loot and NPCs do get sidelined later on by the NPC Codex and Ultimate Equipment books, which are just so much more robust. Additionally, I do have to dock a point for the sanity system, because gamifying mental illness is kinda completely disrespectful, though as we’ll see in other books, this is not the worst that Paizo gets at this topic. At least here they limit it to the possibility of developing a disorder due to extreme stress.

And that will do it for this book! While the Gamemastery Guide is not required for playing Pathfinder, it is definitely a very useful tool to have in your arsenal, and it’s advice is very good for helping to develop your own skills as a GM.

[noellesticks]

Ermm so, kinda a part two to my last post, I’m gonna share some things that I believe helped me enter the void

Disclaimer: this shit might not work for you!! Take everything I saw with a grain of salt and figure out your own stuff

Anyway

1. Support

So, as I’ve mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I introduced my friend to loa, and I’m convinced that aforementioned friend has helped me get into the void one way or another, multiple times. Whether they’ve manifested me entering or not, or it was just their words of encouragement/affirmation, I always feel better and more motivated after talking to them. Yam, if you’re reading this, I LOVE YOU!!!!

2. Religion

I haven’t assigned myself to a certain religion, but, as of right now, I worship the Greek deities Aphrodite and Apollo. This is sort of in the same vain as #1, but I’ll pray to ask for their support and help in entering the void and it’s probably the same thing where I’m like “hell yeah, I got the gods on my side” and then that confidence helps me into the void. Either way, I think just… believing that someone is potentially out there to help guide you has really aided in giving me the final push.

3. (One Specific) Subliminal

I’ve mentioned this plenty of times before, but I listen to the ‘Let Go Void State’ Subliminal (lt won’t let me link it) and it’s the only one I’ve been using for about a year now, cause I’ve woken in the void while using it multiple times. I highly suggest it. (I’m listening to it right now, wink wink)

4. Simple Affirmations

‘I am pure consciousness’ and affirmations like that never worked for me. I don’t know why, I guess it’s always just felt… complicated? I know if I say it enough it’ll rewire my mind, but I’ve proven to myself that I don’t need to go through the hassle time and time again lol. The ones I use the most are “I’ll wake up in the void state aware”/“I ALWAYS wake up in the void”. I find what really helped me is having the affirmations in verbiage I’d normally use. Like, I’ll be trying not to giggle because I’ll be repeating ‘I witewally (literally) wake up in the void every night’ in my head again and again. I personally find it more helpful than robotic affirmations, even if there is science behind the robotic route.

Another thing that I started without even thinking about was affirming everyday ‘I WILL enter the void tonight, trust’. I think the repetition aspect is really helpful in fixing my brain and has defiantly made me have a better mindset about the void. Like, yeah, entering the void IS that easy. I’ve since changed the affirmation to “I literally enter the void every night” cause it just feels better, but, y’know

5. Success Stories

I know people love to say to get off social media and… yeah. I mean, it’s bad in general and I doubt it’s helping you with the void (that much), but whatever. I LOVE to see what other people have manifested with the void (or in gen), I just find it so motivational. Though most of the time my desires aren’t represented in these success stories, I always finish them feeling like “if they can do it, why can’t I?” And then, boom, I enter the void that night—or, at the least, get extremely close. Plus, it’s always awesome to see people get so happy about what they manifested. Like, yes!!! You DID manifest your dream life just because you felt like it! Augh, please, if you’re reading this and you’ve manifested ANYTHING—void or not, proof or not—TELL ME!! Dm me or share in my asks box!! This page is mostly reposts of shit I find helpful, and I clearly find success stories helpful lmao

Uhm, I think this is all for now. I hope this was helpful at all to anyone, even if it was just motivational. If you have any questions or stories to share, my ask box is always open and I’d love to hear and help!!

-🌷

[justcruisingaroundrevived]

THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH US

Summary: Eltingville Mock Trial headccanons

TW/CW: None

A/N: Mentioned in Julie's headcanons that she's apart of Mock Trial. Think like the Eltingville Club expect they're more batshit insane and actually good friends.

Reblogs are appreciated

Mock Trial Headcanons 

Eltingville High School has their very own Mock Trial club. Consisting of 12 people, they represent Eltingville High in made of cases, while getting real life skills in the process (problem solving, reading between the lines, comprehension, social skills, etc).

Julie thrives in this kind of environment. She loves being given strict instructions, deadlines, what she can and can’t do, etc. Despite her love for the “free spirit”, Mock Trial helps her feel in control and know what she’s doing. Plus, this is where she’s fashionably the best (because of the strict code placed)

She even made a couple of friends there (just don’t ask what they do in their free time…or how many battles Sydney won cause she definitely CHEATED-)

ALEX

The de facto leader of Mock Trial. Part of the starting line up. 

He’s the most easy going of the group. Often playing prosecutor, he knows you have to keep your cool and stay on your feet. He can often be seen wearing a grey suit that’s a little too big for him (his Mother forces him to wear these suits)

Outside of the club, he’s very similar, except more impulsive. When he gets together with the main four, he lets loose a little and isn’t afraid of speaking his mind

This has resulted in most of the group’s fights, but he (almost) always knows to de-escalate them. 

He does have a nerdy interest. Mainly, he loves “V for Vendetta” and “Superboy”, and if you allowed him to, he can go on and on about the Superman canon, and how he wishes they utilize Superboy and Supergirl more (though he doesn’t really want to be associated with The Eltingville Club)

He does find Josh cute though. Something about his white boy swaglessness draws Alex to him. He knows what makes Josh tick, but it’s very rare he’ll use that (because, again, TEC are their own warning) 

Sydney 

The main defendant of the group. Loves wearing oversized suits (makes her feel bigger)

The “Sunshine, Lollipops, Rainbow” of the group. She’s always very chipper and overexcited, to the point where she may or may not get too involved with a case 

She’s also the most hyperactive of the group. She’ll often leave the trail astray because she gets grandiose ideas of how the case should do (this, surprisingly, works majority of the time)

Very physical. Is not afraid of beating up her opponents when she’s had enough. Not above of beating her own friend group up (Alex losses the fights the most, Julie wins the most) 

LOVES R&B and Emo music. She has the best music taste of them all, so she’ll play her Radio to the local rock/ R&B station. The whole group has “Waterfalls” , “Say My Name”, “Teenagers” memorized due to how often she plays them

Definitely believes in those Teen Magazines Julie gives out. Will make the recipes in them if she has the time. 

Hates The Eltingville Club, and HATES that Julie is crushing on Bill. Will convince her in every way to leave Bill (but the heart wants what it wants)

Kate 

The second prosecutor

Doesn’t take any of her friend group’s bullshit and will keep them on track 

She’s the most organized of the group; will take the study guide and trail script with her, just to study it on the go

Really quiet. Like, scary quiet. You don’t know she’s there until she makes a sound, and even then, her tone’s very robotic 

The only one who tries to maintain a healthy diet and exercise regularly. That and being part of track means she has a sleeper build 

Will coordinate the fashion for the group. Helps Julie the most because “This isn’t Legally Blonde!”

Claims to love classic literature, but actually prefers stuff like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. Her main’s are Milena and Camry 

 Love the group to death and will fight for them (even when they’re objectively wrong)

Indifferent to TEC, though think it’s cute that Julie and Alex are crushing on the worst possible members