#so a lot of you likely don't even know who they are yet - which is entirely my own fault for not talking about them more ^^;

[bug-swarm]

Uh yeah?

The point they are making is that some domesticated animals are not well suited for people who don't know what they are doing yet/might not be conducive to a lower amount of input lifestyle.

Like with most cats, it's pretty much the same thing, you get them toys, you get them food, you get them things to do and play with them, and generally care for the animal. Some cats might have slightly higher needs like higher vet care needs or a need to have multiple animals/no other animals with them, but 99% of all cats you can get at a shelter will be within a reasonable range of effort required to care for the animal.

And then you have the Savannah Cat. Which was originally created by breeding a wild breed cat and a domestic cat but are still 100% domesticated animals since they are interbred together nowadays and are usually multiple generations away from their wild ancestor. They have a lot more behavior issues because they have a HUGE amount of energy. A single person is likely not enough energy for a Savannah cat. Many have issues with litter box training or being picked up. Most are incredibly intelligent and can and will get into things often if you have not sufficiently given it enough to do. They tend to be more stubborn and are larger and stronger than most other domesticated cats. When you are deciding to get a savannah cat, you really need to be prepared for a cat that your entire life will revolve around for the entire time it lives. You cannot take a day off, leave one with a sitter, or board them in a pet boarding place (in most cases. Obviously there are exceptions), hell they aren't even legal in a lot of places so you likely can't move either. They are extremely loyal and do not act like a wild cat does, but they are very difficult animals (generally, obviously your mileage may vary on individual animals of course). Unless you are fully prepared to overhaul you and your whole family's lives to revolve around one cat, the savannah cat is not for you.

The same thing happens with some breeds of dogs. They just are not meant to be with people who don't know how to train an animal well or who isn't 100% ready to have that dog be THE central focus of their life. Most dogs don't have to be the central focus of your life, but some dog breeds absolutely do.

I love dog people

This is NOT a beginner pet!!!! (points to a fully domesticated animal)

[abbysimsfun]

Sims In Bloom: Generation 2 Pt. 198 (Wishes, Whispers & Water Balloons)

The day had finally come. Today, which was also a national holiday, Ash Landgraab turned thirteen. His family woke to a warm, sunny day, relieved they'd made plans to beat the heat on Deadgrass Isle with family - and a few of Ash's friends.

Heather baked a cheesecake and kept it from collapsing on the ferry to the isle, decorating it with candles before Ash made a wish* to blow them out.

*Ash didn't tell anyone his wish, but maybe it had something to do with his first crush. Who is...

Pearl looks like she has opinions on this 🤔👀

His grandparents, Neal and Daisy, made the drive from Henford, joining his family, his Aunt Hazel and soon-to-be Aunt Suri, and his school friends, Arun Kalani and Scotti Holiday. But no one had come farther to help him celebrate than Pearl Richards.

"You're only a year older than us. You're really a professional ballerina? Like on stage?" Scotti Holiday looked torn between being impressed and actually showing it. "That's pretty cool, but you must have the ugliest toes from those pointe shoes!"

Pearl rolled her eyes. "I'm not asking you to look at my feet. Scotti, was it? Isn't that a guy's name?"

"Not the way I spell it." Scotti forced a smile for the only one of Ash's friends she hadn't met yet. Arun, who was tall for his age, passed the picnic table and shook his head.

"You deserved that, Scotti. Eat your cheesecake."

"Who makes a cheesecake for their birthday? Ashy, where's the icing?"

"Icing is just pure sugar," Pearl said.

Scotti scowled. "So ballerinas aren't allowed to have icing?"

"Come on guys, it's my birthday," Ash interjected. "I bet you two will realize you have a lot in common once you get to know each other."

The girls gave each other a long look, with Pearl scoffing at Scotti's gingham clothes and Scotti side-eyeing Pearl's bolder fashion choices. "If you say so, Ashy." Scotti gave him a friendly smile - mean as she was, she was nicer to Ash than her own siblings.

They socialized a while and enjoyed Ash's birthday cheesecake, getting updates from Hazel and Suri on their wedding planning. "We're looking for the perfect venue and don't know what to do," admitted Suri. "We've both got family all over so we're considering a destination wedding, but that makes it so much harder to plan."

Arun turned to Pearl at the picnic table with a winking smile. "Want to be my date for the wedding, Pearl?"

The ballerina shook her head, trying not to show how much she disliked the thought of being his date. "Sorry, Arun. I've got ballet and I don't think you're even invited."

With the afternoon sun beating down on the isle, Neal and Conrad set up a bucket of water balloons to help everyone stay cool during the heat wave.

Ash doused his grandfather before Scotti threw one that looked like it might fumble to the ground, but it picked up speed across the sand and knocked Pearl flat on her back! Pearl grimaced as she pulled herself up, and Ash chuckled at his soaked friend. Pearl glared at him while Scotti celebrated her point for the hit.

"Ash, don't laugh. She looks mad," Lavender advised him.

"What do you mean? Pearl, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"She doesn't mean fine. When the girls on Dating Deanna say it's fine they don't mean it. Callie said she was fine with other girls flirting with Deanna, but then she slapped Deanna when Lara flirted with her!"

"Lava, I don't watch your show. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Duh! I'm saying they both like you. Aren't you supposed to be a genius?"

His cheeks flushed, but he didn't have time to think before a red balloon sailed in his direction. Though it landed at his feet, a splash of water still hit him and his sister.

No one was unhappy to get wet in the sweltering heat. Eventually they called the game for bathroom breaks and more socializing, while Neal invited granddaughter Lavender to help him build a sandcastle.

"Grandpa, you build a lot of things. Have you ever built a real house that looks like this sandcastle?"

"Not quite, but I once built a fairy den for someone in town."

"A fairy den like a fancy birdhouse?"

"I thought so, but the owner said it was really for fairies."

"What fairies? There aren't any real fairies."

Neal scoffed as they worked together to form the sand into a castle. "How do you know there aren't any real fairies? Haven't you ever heard any whispers in the woods?"

Lavender's eyes grew wide. "Fairy whispers?"

"That's what they say. Just because you've never seen a fairy doesn't mean they're not real."

The pair stood to admire their finished work. "It looks great, Grandpa."

"It wouldn't look half as good if you hadn't helped me. Those extra towers make the whole sandcastle."

"You really think so?"

"Are you calling your old Grandpa a liar?"

"No way! I just messed up the one tower and-"

"And the shorter tower is the most interesting part of the whole build. Don't be so hard on yourself, kiddo. The world's tough enough."

Lavender heard his advice and tried to understand it. Most people settled for less than the best, but if the world was so tough, wouldn't things be better if they were perfect?

She let the question ruminate as the party continued through the afternoon, until she heard what sounded like faint whispers coming from the direction of the lighthouse.

Remembering what her grandfather said about fairies and knowing ghosts were everywhere on Deadgrass Isle, she raced off toward the point to investigate. The door was unlocked and she climbed the winding stairs to the viewing platform of the lighthouse, glancing back toward the school and museum where she'd left her family and friends.

The ocean breeze felt cooler up here, and though she found no trace of ghosts or fairies, she did feel an odd sensation - a feeling like she'd been here before. But in all her eight years, she couldn't remember a time when her family had taken her up to the lighthouse observation deck.

"Weird," she said to herself. Unable to explain it, she pulled a toy from the pocket of her dress and spent time playing by herself, making the most of her time away from Ash's bickering friends.

But Pearl and Scotti stayed on their best behaviour until sunset, when most of the guests left Deadgrass Isle to head for home. Ash and his family stayed behind, paying respects at Ben Gordon's gravestone, lighting sparklers for the holiday, and enjoying each other's company, only heading home once the ghost pets in the cemetery emerged to make the isle their usual midnight playground.

Now that Ash was a teenager, Heather and Conrad knew they'd see less of him than they were used to. He was growing up, ready to discover himself and the world, and they knew they had to let him spread his wings when he was ready.

But for today, the family could bask in the joy of simply being together, making memories to last a lifetime. ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 2 Start | Gen 2.1 Summary

Gen 1 Start | Gen 1 Summary

NOTE: I had to cheat Lava's 'oddly reminiscent' moodlet by adding the hidden Lighthouse Baby trait, but it does exist. Not sure what went wrong for Heather and Conrad, who got pregnant in that lighthouse twice, but I think it's because I have a mod that overrides 'try for baby' where woohoo works to get pregnant more regularly and there's 'try for pregnancy' instead (I think it's Pandasama's Childbirth mod? Could be RPO.)

Anyway, I'm not one to let mods stand in the way of earning hidden traits so I cheated it for her and then the moodlet appeared! Apparently one must get pregnant in the lighthouse with the 'try for baby' option only. Regular woohoo or try for pregnancy mod-interaction babies don't appear to count!

NOTE 2: Malcolm's genetics are strong in Ash (you should see him with Malcolm's hairstyle EXCEPT YOU NEVER WILL! 😂) but I love him. There's something Jake Gyllenhallesque about him - as in the features aren't conventionally handsome, but there's something about it all that works.

Premades involved in the genetics of Ash and his friends are Gavin Richards, Malcolm Landgraab of course, Zoe Patel & Mitchell Kalani, and Travis Scott & Summer Holiday. Scotti is mean and loves the outdoors and we can - nay should - have opinions on Ash's taste in girls being so...Nancyish. The relationship panel told me how he felt about her in the main save, and when they 'met' for the the first time in the second save to get the posed birthday photos, I got the heart farts. Now you all know I'm not just saying Ash likes the mean girl who looks like teenage Nancy for some made up drama!

WCIF Poses: Ash and his friends are posed with @talentedtrait's With Or Without You posepack, Ash and the Gordons with Family of 5 posepack by @cheesesoes, and the group shot is a wild mish-mash of several different poses including Family of 5, With Or Without You, Moments by @simmerberlin, Large dog poses by Simmerberlin, Crossed Arms by @whimsyalien, and You & Me by @starrysimsie. I was going for something less chaotic, but I'm still working on using TOOL to toggle sims by half spaces and, well, mixed results! Chaotic is fine!

[lanadelreyscokewhor3]

CRUSH- S. WINCHESTER

day five of the june bug masterlist

pairing: hunter! sam winchester x hunter! fem! reader

word count: 1.4k

summary: just a typical morning that you and sam have in the motels on a day off from hunting!

warnings: thigh riding, heavy praise and dirty talk, heavy size kink, pet names, finger sucking, sam is a soft dom, swearing, lots of fluff!

*reader description is not mentioned, but sam braids her hair!

“ i only want him if he says it first to me, i wanna, uh, him in the back of his mom's mercury/ he looks like he works with his hands, and smells like marlboro reds, it makes me so, uh, and i can't get enough of it”- crush, ethel cain

You had just finished tugging on your panties when the motel door swung open, and the familiar smell of coffee and fresh mint wafted in.

You didn't even need to look up to know who it was.

“Hiya sweetheart.” your boyfriend Sam called, a paper bag carrying the one thing you had been craving since yesterday.

Bagels. Not any bagels.

Speciality bagels that were locally made, from whatever shitty, grungy town you were in now- that had smelt heavenly when the three of you drove by earlier that week. They had been on your mind ever since.

And now? You were about to taste the best  bagel with cream cheese you had ever tasted in your life.

You were sure of it. You ran over to where your moose stood, not even bothering to toss on a shirt over your bra, arms open as you jumped up onto him.

You wrapped your arms around his neck, your legs around his torso as he laughed. “Someones happy to be awake. What happened to this chipper energy when I first went out?”

“Didn't have bagels.” you murmured into his neck, planting a kiss, a gentle bite to his pulse point. He gasped, rolling his eyes as your confession, as if he was personally wounded from your words.

“So my girlfriend only cares about me when I bring her food. Got it. That's going great for me, I guess.”

You shrugged, a smirk on your face as you snatched the bag from him, taking a deep whiff of the fresh bread. “You’re cute too, I guess. That's a plus.” you teased, grabbing breakfast and taking a bite, moaning as the warm, soft dough seemed to melt in your mouth.

“Well sit down silly so I can do your hair.” Sam ushered you over to the bed, and you sat down against the frame on the floor, spilling crumbs on the carpet while you happily munched away.

It was routine at this point for Sam to braid your hair. You don't know why he loved doing it so much, but god you were thankful everyday for it.

Whether it was calming for him, as it was for you- or just kept his hands and fingers occupied- you didn't know. But he was so gentle with you, always so concentrated as he twisted the strands nimbly through his fingers.

Plus, you were always rewarded with a gentle head massage beforehand, which almost always sent you back to sleep. But today, you had that luxury.

Not that you wanted to take it- of course, you were much too excited to have a day off from a hunt with Sam, to actually spend time doing something together. Though today, you didn't want to do much of anything.

As if on cue, you heard him break free from thought, taking a second to reach and sip his coffee before letting his fingers continue their duties.

“What do you wanna do today sweetheart?” he asked.

“Hmm. I think there's a creek not too far from here. I wanna catch some frogs.” you confessed. It was so nice out today, a gentle breeze, not too many clouds- yet it was still warm enough for you to wear a nice little cotton dress.

Plus, it was a little damp- perfect for your buddies to be hopping around the taller grass.

“You’re not gonna kiss any, are you?”

You laughed. “When I already have my prince charming? How could I?”

You felt the braid coming to an end, his fingers stretching the elastic around to tie it off, before a little ribbon was tied in a bow. It was pink today, a favourite of his- you noted.

Told you it brought out the softness of your eyes, claiming they were like a bunnies. Or a fawns. It depended on the day.

You whipped your mouth free from crumbs and a little smudge of cream cheese on your lower lip as you finished your last little bite before stretching up to wrap your arms around him again.

A soft kiss was planted to the top of your head as you snuggled into him and the warmth he provided, not quite with enough force to sprawl him backwards on the little double bed, but you sure as hell tried.

“Why are you so big?” you asked, making him smile.

“Why are you so small?”

“Everyone is small compared to you.”

He shrugged, scooping you up so you were firmly pressed against him, chest to chest. “Gonna finish getting ready?” he asked, letting his eyes glance down appreciatively to gaze at the cleavage that tempted him, biting his lip.

Sam Winchester was a gentleman. But with you, it became hard to control his urges.

“Do you want me to finish getting ready?” you batted your lashes seductively, shifting your weight so you straddled one of his thick thighs, humming appreciatively at his longing look.

He parted his lips,as if he were to speak, but stopped himself as soon as the whisper of your lips grazed his. “Thank you for the braid baby. It’s lovely. You always make me feel beautiful.” you smiled, kissing him slow and deep, shifting your hips so you grinded suddenly against him.

He groaned, aware of your little antics. The frogs could wait. The world, in fact- could wait. Right now it was just you and him, savouring the quiet, early morning- the sound of the wind in the tree branches all that could be heard.

“You always look beautiful. My beautiful little fawn.” he murmured, capturing your chin with his thumb, stroking it delicately. You smiled, feeling heat rise to your cheeks at his compliments.

“So should I get ready or- oh!” you squealed as his hands found their way to your hips, rocking them back and forth against the denim.

“Don't be a minx sweetheart. Finish what you started for me. C'mon now.” he smirked, knowing he held the upper hand. You always tried to get him flustered, but it always seemed to work out the other way around.

Here you were, trying to get him riled just for it to actually work. Almost as if that was the point.

As if on command, your hips slide forward, and you started to pick up an easy, steady pace he helped you with, with the quick and rhythmic bounce of his knee.

You moaned at the friction, letting your head loll back as his lips peppered sweet kisses and bites across your neck.

“Atta girl. Feel it out sweetheart.”

You nodded, fingers slipping up to grip his bulky shoulders, clinging onto them for dear life as you began to spiral. He made you feel so good without even barely needing to touch you, just a few sweet praises here and there and you melted into a puddle for him. So malleable, he couldn't help but take advantage of the sweet state you were left in.

“Sammy-”

“Shh. Shush baby. Don't wanna wake Dean in the other room now do we?”

You quickly shook your head, eyes wide as his two fingers slipped in your mouth, the pads warm and heavy against your tongue as you lapped at them appreciatively.

“Just stay like that sweet thing, keep makin yourself feel good for me. You making a mess on my jeans? Dirty girl.” he cooed softly, chuckling at the little wet patch that had formed on the dark blue fabric.

Your eyes refused to leave his, wide with something of shock mixed with pleasure and appreciation at his dirty, but soft words that drove you crazy. Something like a mumbled “Love you.” softly left your lips and he smiled, hand on your hip tightling slightly as you let yourself go, unraveling around him.

“You’re so beautiful when you cum for me sweetheart. So desperate for that little release, yea?”

You nodded, a trail of salvia connecting your lip to his fingers as he tugged them out with a little pop, letting you finally push him back onto the bed, so he was sprawled out under you.

“My turn to tease now.” you hiccuped, eyes glossed over from your sudden orgasm as you restraddled yourself onto the prominent bulge that poked at you, aching.

He smiled, letting you capture his forearms and place them beside his head, like you had any ability to seriously pin him down.

“Do your worst sweetheart.”

Yeah, the frog catching could wait, just a while longer.

[onaswife]

https://www.tumblr.com/onaswife/785460957763747840/ive-been-seeing-a-lot-of-videos-in-tiktok-and?source=share

share them thoughts 🙂‍↕️

I made blurbs of both Alexias, I don't know if you'd like to know more. For now, these are the ideas I developed best.

Warning: Mention of miscarriage

The first time Omega! Alexia met Irene's little son, she was struck by the famous "Baby Fever."

You still remember how bright her eyes looked as Lucía showed her how to hold a baby properly without hurting or making him uncomfortable. Never, at least not since you two had started having a serious relationship, had you talked about having children.

That day when you got home, Alexia couldn't stop talking about this new experience, about feeling how the little one seemed to snuggle up against her chest, something that made her feel full. You, on the other hand, couldn't stop thinking about how radiant Alexia looked with a baby in her arms. You'd always thought Alexia was a person who radiated energy, perhaps not so much on the pitch when she should have been a more serious person, or when she was in "media day" mode, but when she was at home with her mom and sister, or when she went to visit the girls from her foundation, even when she scolded the younger members of the team for listening to Mapi and doing something mean, Alexia would look like the most beautiful and radiant person in the room.

That day you didn't talk about expanding the family; ypu only talked about Irene's little one.

The months began to pass. Mateo, Irene's son, was already older, beginning to say his first words, and could already babble something close to "mama" and "mami." Meanwhile, Alexia had one mission in mind: to get Mateo to say "Tia" or at least "Ale."

When it was their turn to babysit (on Alexia's whim, disguised as the older couple needing to have time for themselves), she would try to get him to mumble something as close to "Tía" as possible. Every time he mumbled something with a tone resembling that word, Alexia would begin to congratulate him while holding him tightly to her chest and praising him for being so intelligent.

You always stayed more distant, not because you hated being around the boy or anything like that, but because you'd never been able to figure out how to connect with little kids. You always stood there, not knowing what to do while looking anywhere but at the boy, trying to find help. But while you stood like that, you could look at your girlfriend, who seemed more and more accustomed to being maternal, giving you future ideas of what she would be like with your children, without having to be sad about them having to go with their real parents; they would be hers.

Gradually, every time Mateo accompanied his mother to training, or when they took him to watch the finals, he always looked for Alexia first. Which is why it seemed rather strange to you when Irene approached you with the little boy in her arms, while he screamed your name and tried to get away from his mother's arms. As soon as Irene stood in front of you, the boy stopped moving and stretched his short arms toward you.

It was at that moment, when Mateo looked for you first, that the baby fever hit you the hardest.

Neither of you said anything, neither of you wanted to have the conversation.

It was like that until you saw Alexia start flushing all the birth control pills down the toilet, and you knew the next step in the relationship was closer than you'd thought.

There was a long talk about the future. You tried to get Alexia to remember why she had decided not to be a mother yet—she was in the prime of her career, having just won the Ballon d'Or and being the face of the Spanish national team—but Alexia kept countering her arguments based on her experience with her teammate's child.

From that day on, you had both agreed to no longer use protection, you wouldn't force children, but Alexia really wanted to get pregnant. Whenever you two had sex (which was quite often, it was hard to keep your hands off her body), Alexia made sure that when it was time for you to finish, you wouldn't pull out until she was sure you could. So for the next eight minutes, you were on top of your girlfriend's sweaty body while her legs tightly hugged your body, leaving you with no way to move.

It was in the midst of recovering from her ACL that the pregnancy test finally came back positive. You both were both now proud mothers to little Mar. Mar Putellas.

On the other hand alpha! Alexia would be more scared. She loves children, and she had that instinct, being Alba's older sister. From the moment they met and talked about having children, they had both agreed that they weren't ready for them.

That remained the case until your older brother had his first daughter, and you automatically made her your spoiled niece (the only one).

You lived and breathed for that little girl. She looked a lot like you did when you were a baby, something your mother and brother emphasized when you and Alexia visited them.

Alexia and you had a tacit agreement about using condoms when being intimate. You both got tested for sexually transmitted infections every two months, and obviously neither of you had any other sexual partners, so it hadn't been a problem.

Until it was.

You got pregnant.

None of you expected it. That night there was a big argument. Alexia left, slamming the door as you cried in the bathroom stall, no longer knowing what to feel.

The following week was a cold one. You didn't speak to Alexia, you didn't look at her, you had started sleeping in the guest room and always avoided seeing her in the mornings and at night.

It was like this for about two weeks, until Alexia stopped being a coward and spoke to you seriously. While it was something neither of you had planned, it was something you had both done, and therefore, you would both have to take responsibility. As soon as you heard those words, you couldn't help but feel worse; you felt like Alexia was forcing herself to take charge.

Time began to pass; Alexia seemed to change. And just as Alexia changed, so did your pregnancy. At week 11, you began to feel strange; even Alexia commented on your lack of milky smell. That day, you both suffered and cried knowing your little one would no longer be with you.

The following weeks were hell for both of you, a personal hell.

Time passed, the wound healed as best it could. A year and a half after that fateful day, the test came back positive again.

This time, Alexia didn't get angry, of course not. She cried. She cried next to you as she looked at the pregnancy test on the sink.

Alexia pampered you throughout your pregnancy. She didn't mind canceling interviews so she could get treatment for the back pain you were having. She didn't mind getting up at 2 in the morning and having to get up in 4 more hours to go buy your midnight snack. She didn't mind carrying you every time you went out and your feet started to hurt. She watched videos on social media to help you. When your bump had grown enough to slow you down and cause more back pain, she started standing behind you and bringing her hands to your lower abdomen, where she would put her hands together and take some of the weight, making you feel less heavy and allowing you to rest a little. Or when you were going for a walk on the beach and you couldn't lie face down, she remembered seeing a video where they dug a hole in the sand big enough to fit your bump comfortably so you could rest. Alexia might be able to take her heart out if you asked her to. She wouldn't make the same mistake as in the past again, and she wouldn't let it end the same way either.

The day her son was born, Alexia felt her chest fill with happiness as she saw him in your arms as he lay resting. Even as you watched her be happy with your son, you couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if your first baby had been born. You still had nightmares about that event.

She cried again, seeing how her family had grown, now determined never to be separated from her son or from you again.

Whenever you went out, both Elias and you reeked of Alexia's scent; it was her way of being present.

Over time, little Elias had grown up with the same passion that Alexia's father had passed on to her. Both Barcelona fans, they breathed and died for their colors.

[rory-multifandom-mess]

MORE EXITOR AU COINY STUFF except this has more to it; A WRITTEN PORTION because I don't feel like drawing anymore (putting it under a cut because . yeah)

Pencil hesitated. She felt embarrassed. Coiny and Pin had always been her enemies, ever since that second season, and she hadn't let go of that opinion yet. At least not about Pin.

But looking at her now, the desperation in her eyes, the way her hands clasped together in a plead, her voice shaking ever so slightly. It was pathetic, really. But- Pencil couldn't say that to her face.

She shook her head and turned away from Pin, storming off so she wouldn't have to look into her forlorn eyes.

"It-it's none of your business, Pinhead!" Pencil responded, refusing to look back.

With every step, she fell deeper and deeper into her own mind. Her thoughts were swirling like a whirlpool, thinking about her time in the EXIT, her time spent with Coiny. She'd never payed much attention to him outside of being an extension of Pin. But those years spent in the classroom- UGH. Why did she care so much? It was frustrating at best!

Her mind went back to a conversation they'd had alone. The only conversation they ever got to have alone, really. Four had just stormed out of the classroom, so angry that the room had started to shake. They had zapped Coiny three times that day, all within the same two hours. His copper body was slightly charred around the edges. His right arm fell limp, no feeling in it whatsoever.

Pencil had dragged him out of the door they entered through, slamming it behind her.

......

"What is your problem, Coiny?!" She scolded the moment the door was closed, turning to him.

"Why do you keep putting yourself in danger?!" She asked, angry- but she didn't know why. Not at the time, at least. She began to pace around, gesturing her hands wildly.

"I get it, you're chaotic, but this is too much! We keep telling you to keep your head down or you'll get hurt- Which we were RIGHT, by the way! Look at yourself, you can't move your arm!"

He did, in fact, look down at his arm, limp by his side. He looked back at her, brows furrowed and teeth gritting. Why was he angry? Did he not like being told off? Because, oh boy, did she have a lot of words for him.

"Why can't you just follow the rules for once in your life?!"

"Because then he'd have no one else to talk about!" Coiny shouted back finally. His words stabbed through her like a dagger and she froze, a sinking feeling in her stomach. Her anger dissipated, as if it was sucked right out of her.

"...What?" She muttered, the air heavy.

Coiny inhaled deeply. "I annoyed him out of spite at first, but then I saw how scared he made you and the others. I pissed him off more and more so he would only focus on me and be more lenient with you guys. Yeah, it backfires at times, but- If I stopped, then there would be nothing else to protect you guys."

Pencil stared at him, questions running through her head. She'd never payed attention to him. To how he acted. She didn't care. It didn't concern her. All she cared about was how he was just an extension of Pin- but now she realized she was wrong.

"...Why?" She asked, "Hardly any of us get along with you. Why... why would you risk yourself for people who don't even like you?"

At this point, she realized she sounded more worried than she wanted to.

"Even if we don't get along," Coiny started, glancing at the ground, "we're still here. Together. We're going through this hellhole together. I think that's enough to form a strong bond with others."

Pencil stared at him.

It all started to make sense. The way he was with Pin in BFDIA made sense, sticking by her side even though they would be awful to each other sometimes. The way they made up, even after they had their falling out.

The way he'd always jump in when Four was about to discipline someone else and get their attention. She thought he was just being annoying-- but there was a purpose. A method to his madness.

Suddenly, she felt his hand wrap around hers.

"I see you as a friend, Pencil. You may hate me, but I don't hate you."

......

Those words echoed in Pencil's head for a moment, lingering in the ocean of thoughts like a boulder dropped in a calm ocean. She couldn't remember what happened after that. But those words struck her with a feeling of displacement and conflict. She wasn't sure how to feel about him to begin with-- but it was worse now. She groaned, placing her hands on her head. Great. She had a headache now.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Ok thanks bye

[themonkeycabal]

Fic: "Say Goood-Bye" Chapter 1

I have decided to share, here, the first chapter of the new fic "Say Good-Bye (to who I used to be)". I haven't written anything in ages and I'm feeling very insecure about it. I don't need pats on the back or anything, just tell me if it sucks or not. I feel like there's clunky bits -- either the beginning or the ending, I can't decide which.

And on that note, enjoy.

***

Paul Lewis stood on the artistically rustic deck of the pricy mountain resort. It was a lovely day, bright and vivid, the sun warm and the air refreshingly crisp. The view was pretty great, too.

The resort's sprawl of lodges, cabins, and sundry other outbuildings, were perched on the side of a hill that rolled up to a craggy, snow-capped peak. The view from the deck took in a broad valley with a white river rushing through it. Breaking up the dark green pine forests that blanketed the valley and crawled up the peaks, patches of birch and aspen trees were turning gold and vivid orange with the season. Across the river, beyond a scenic meadow, the valley gave way to another hilly rise up to another rugged and picturesque peak.

It was all very bucolic and pretty. Paul just wished it was peaceful. The main lodge behind him was absolutely crammed full of Perlmans and Marellis, gathered from the far-flung corners of the U.S. to attend the wedding of Marcia Marelli and Derek Young. The family had decided this wedding was the perfect excuse for a long over-due reunion. Those poor Youngs had no idea what they were stepping into.

Paul had no complaints about the Perlmans or Marellis; they were good people - with a couple of exceptions - and he had always felt warmly welcomed and included, but, by God, there were a lot of them. The two families had blended and expanded exponentially when Paul's sister-in-law, Jo, married Hugh Marelli. By the time Paul joined the family, they were well established as one giant, boisterous blob. And half of them hadn't even arrived yet! The place was going to be a madhouse for the next four days.

There was a sudden burst of noise - chatter, laughter, voices talking over voices - and then it dulled to a low murmur. He turned his head and watched his wife step on to the deck, pulling the lodge door shut behind her.

"Phew," she said, blowing a piece of hair out of her face. "And it hasn't even really begun. Just wait until the open bar opens. Hugh's going to have to take out a second mortgage to pay for it." Rebecca scanned her husband's face and narrowed her eyes consideringly. "How are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm fine," he said with a wave of his hand. "I just needed a minute of quiet to let my ears stop ringing."

"No kidding," she replied and leaned against the railing. "It's really gorgeous here. Darcy's due any minute or I'd say we should take a little walk."

"She called?"

"Yeah, she's reluctantly winding her way as we speak."

Paul smiled. Even coming from such a big family, Darcy did not really like the fuss. She was a bit of a Lewis like that. They weren't a small family, but they were tiny compared to the Perlman/Manelli mob. And, of course, you had to take into account the Stark family of two. Actually, that was just kind of sad; money didn't buy everything. Just as well she had the Perlman/Manelli/Lewis squads.

"And James?" Paul thew up finger quotes around the man's name.

James Buchanan "Bucky Freaking" Barnes was his daughter's partner and maybe boyfriend and she was bringing him to her cousin's wedding like he was just some guy. Like how she brought Steve Rogers home for Thanksgiving. That kid's life was unreal sometimes. But, they weren't supposed to call him Bucky because his status as a possibly wanted assassin was a little vague. Paul got the sense that nobody quite knew what to do with him. Anyway, best to not bring up that he was a hundred year-old super sniper.

So weird.

"Him, too." Rebecca laughed a little. "I can't wait to meet him. There's a weird sort of symmetry to Darcy knowing him, isn't there? Maybe symmetry isn't the right word," she mused, "but I find I'm not shocked they ended up partners."

"You expected the Greatest Generation brain-washed assassin?" Paul asked, a little skeptical.

"Bucky Barnes being alive was a shock," she clarified. "Bucky Barnes finding his way to Darcy? Feels like it was inevitable. Who, aside from Steve and Darcy, would understand him?"

Paul shrugged. "I guess."

"Besides," she continued, "according to Tony, Darcy has a nasty habit of collecting assassins."

"Not funny," he grumbled. Though it ended horribly, but he kind of understood Tony making an army of robots to protect his daughter (and the world, of course, or whatever). It was a conflicting sort of feeling, but it was the one point on which he and Tony always agreed - protect family. The destruction of Sokovia was terrible, but yeah, Paul got it.

Rebecca laughed at him again and rubbed a hand down his back. "Darcy doesn't need two dads grumpy about James. Let's give him a chance."

"Of course," he agreed easily enough, and despite some doubts, he did intend to give the man a chance. Darcy liked him; he should find out why. It wasn't easy to watch his little girl grow up, but she was a remarkable woman and he was proud of her. He trusted her to know what was best for her. Mostly. Still, Bucky Freaking Barnes?

The wall of noise rolled out of the lodge again, followed by the loud pronouncement, "Lafayette! We are here!"

"Darcy's arrived," Rebecca murmured with a smile an a shake of her head. She turned and held her arms out. "Are we taking on no-man's-land today?"

Darcy stepped into her mother's arms and gave her a good long hug. "Got to dig in first. And, you know, check in."

Letting go of Rebecca, Darcy turned to Paul and gave him his own long hug.

"Hey, baby girl," he murmured into her hair. "Missed you."

"Hi dad, I've missed you, too," she said back. Then gave him a smacking kiss on his cheek and stepped back.

Waving a hand, indicating the man hovering near her shoulder, Darcy introduced her partner, whatever that meant in her world. "Mom, dad, meet Bucky Barnes. Though, we're calling him James this weekend," she said. "Bucky, my mom Rebecca and my dad Paul."

Paul wasn't quite sure what he expected. Darcy had described Bucky as a little rough around the edges, and the word 'hobo' had been thrown around once or twice. But, the man before him looked like a nice, clean-cut fellow. His jaw was shaved, just a hint of a five o'clock shadow, his hair was trimmed short and tidy, and he was wearing a nice blue, cable-knit sweater and new jeans. He was tall, broad across the shoulders, but not Steve Rogers big. If he didn't know the guy was a hundred-something years-old, Paul would guess he was in his early 30s. Overall, except for the black glove on his left hand, he looked … normal.

"He decided he should look like a lawyer for the wedding," Darcy commented as Rebecca stepped forward to shake the man's hand.

"James, it's so nice to meet you," Rebecca greeted. "Ignore Darcy, I think you look very nice."

Darcy harrumphed. "I didn't say he didn't look nice."

"Mrs. Lewis, Darcy talks about you a lot, it's really nice to meet you, too," James replied, then gave Darcy a quick and narrow side-eyed glance. "She's always had a lot of opinions about my clothes. I mostly tune her out."

"Harsh," Darcy said, but she laughed anyway.

Bucky stepped up to Paul next, hand out. "Mr. Lewis, nice to meet you, sir."

"James. It's nice to have you here. It's always great to meet Darcy's friends." The other man's grasp was firm, but almost gentle, too, like he was being very aware of his own strength. Steve had been like that, careful in how he shook hands. And arm wrestled. God willing, James wouldn't be introduced to Lewis family dispute resolution this trip. He supposed it would come down to how well he and Sam got along.

Speaking of, Darcy was frowning, and asked, "Where's Sammy? Hiding from Aunt Edna's riveting account of her battle with lumbago?"

"He and Bryce went to explore the local town," Rebecca explained. "We weren't sure when you'd get in."

"Sorry," Darcy said with a shrug. "There was a problem with the concrete guys and then we got the wrong brick, and it was a whole thing for like three days. We got a late start."

Darcy was building something in New York. She said it was a bar, but Stark Industries was also involved, so Paul was sure it was a whole lot more than a local watering hole. Sometimes he wanted to know things, sometimes he didn't, but most times he wasn't sure if he did or didn't want to know.

"Well, you're here now and everybody's going to be so happy to see you," Rebecca told her.

"What's the plan for today?" Darcy asked.

"Nothing big," Paul put in. "The festivities don't start until tomorrow. But, we should go out for a family dinner tonight. Just us. And James, of course."

Bucky nodded from his spot at Darcy's side. He looked like a protective rottweiler. Interesting. "Sounds nice. Darce?"

"Yep," she agreed. "Let's go check in, and then you can hide while I brave the invasion."

The man snorted softly and shook his head. "I"m not hiding. You said you needed backup, I'm backup."

"You said I needed backup," she corrected him.

"Well, whatever," Bucky said, unbothered by the details. "I'm looking forward to meeting your grandmother."

Rebecca and Darcy gave him identical skeptical frowns. Paul sucked in his cheeks and looked up at the sky. He tried to stay neutral; nothing good came from getting in the middle of any Francine-related tussle. Or really a Francine-related anything. His mother-in-law was a walking landmine.

"That is such a lie," Darcy said finally. Then she gave Bucky a firm pat on the shoulder. "Okay, let's do this. Over the top, doughboy."

"I think you outrank me, so I'll let you lead the charge," Bucky told her with a smirk.

"I'm not impressed with your cowardice, Sergeant."

"I'd watch her," Rebecca put in, "she tried to court-martial a friend when she was eleven."

"Fourth Street was invading, we needed to shore up our defenses, and Becca was malingering. And whining. So much whining." She sighed dramatically. "Besides, she was always more of a frenemy."

"You tried to court-martial somebody when you were eleven?" Bucky asked, but he wasn't really asking. It was like he expected that, of course, Darcy tried to court martial somebody when she was in grade school. Clearly, he'd come to understand her well. Paul found that both comforting and discomfiting.

"Actually, I did court-martial her," Darcy said with an off-handed shrug. "And then we never spoke again."

"It was a kangaroo court," Rebecca laughed.

"I'll have you know," Darcy said with a superior sort of sniff, "that I stole Rhodey's UCMJ and I did it by the book! The literal book."

"Of course you did, sweetie."

Bucky was looking very amused by the whole thing. "You stole a copy of the Uniform Code of Military Justice?"

"Don't make it sound shady. I gave it back." She clapped her hands and started towards the door. "Now, it's time to storm the trenches."

"Why are we doing World War I today?" Paul asked, following along with Rebecca as they all headed back inside.

It was Bucky who answered with a wry twist to his lips. "Darce got the notion in her head that a family wedding was like trench warfare. It's been Verdun since Seattle."

Darcy opened the door and they were all smacked by the din. "It's not too late to call in artillery."

"Nah," Bucky said. "Bad terrain for artillery."

Darcy pouted at him then made a show of sniffing the air. "I smell brimstone."

"Oh stop," Rebecca chided as she shepherded her daughter inside. "You saw Ericka."

"What's an Ericka?" Darcy asked. "Oh, did you mean Satan's Handmaiden?"

"This is your mom's cousin?" Bucky asked, frowning like he was checking his memory for the list of potential hostiles.

"Yes," Rebecca confirmed. "And, Darcy, just stay away from her. No fights this weekend."

"I won't start anything," Darcy told her piously.

Paul laughed a little. She was so terrible at playing innocent. "But, you'll finish everything, won't you? How about we avoid getting to that point?"

"You're all determined to spoil my fun this weekend," Darcy said with a sigh as she stepped up to the check in counter.

***

[rekino2114]

!!SPOILER WARNING!! Sooooo, uhh, CSM chapter 195 has come out, and we have met Death! And she’s just a softie schoolgirl! Honestly I like her design. Scruffy tangled hair, pure white hair, (headcannon) green horseman-eyes! Not to mention she seems adorable! I don’t have chapter 196 yet, so I’m unsure if more of her has been revealed, or if her name has even been revealed, but I was wondering if you would make prediction headcannons of Death x Male Reader. How do you think she’d be in a relationship with us?

Real fami relationship headcanons

A/n:Doing this request after the reveal is really funny to me. It's like looking in the past but i guess that's one of the pros about doing requests like two months after they're asked also I hope you don't mind I just took your headcanon and made it mine as well

You're incredibly important to fami, she tells you that a lot, but sometimes you don't realize just how important you are to her

Not only are you one of the very few people who actually treat her nicely, with decency and respect and most importantly with love but you also just completely changed her and her life for the better. You took her when she didn't know what to do with her existence and gave her a new goal purpose: to love you and spend the rest of her life with you

This girl is so insanely anxious about everything and especially your relationship. If you thought kobeni and asa were bad, you've seen nothing yet. You could forget to send her a good night text once, and she'll be calling you so many times during the night until you answer crying her eyes out and begging you not to break up and apologizing for whatever she did wrong

She genuinely believes she is so out of your league and that you'll break up with her the moment she does something you don't like, so she's willing to do whatever it takes to make you happy (usually failing miserably) when you told her everything you needed to be happy was just her love she genuinely cried..........more than usual

She constantly asks her sisters for dating advice, death especially (they made up after the whole identity theft attempted murder thing) which often doesn't result in anything cause she also has no idea how the whole dating thing works (she's basically winging her own relationship with little to no knowledge on human stuff)

Fami is incredibly clingy and cannot go like a day without physical affection. If you don't hug her or kiss her for a while, she'll start visibly shaking and overthinking about the hundreds of reasons why you could be upset with her, a simple kiss cheek will calm her down though.....mostly (also just to clarify she's not like angel devil she can turn her powers on and off so handholding and touching is completely safe....which she's very thankful for cause she genuinely couldn't handle if she hurt you)

She's actually very protective of you, it seems like her idea about saving you and humanity slowly transformed into a need to actually save you and protect you from devils, even If she doesn't look like it she is really strong and a horseman so she can easily take care of devils who hurt you and the idea of protecting you means a lot to her

Please praise her she needs someone to tell her she's doing a good job so bad. This girl is literally the dictionary definition of girlfailure and fails at almost everything she does so it would mean the world to her if her boyfriend helped her and told her she was doing great (also give her headpats her hair is really fluffy)

Now that she met you fami doesn't think she could live without you, you helped her understand that her idea of salvation was wrong and to teach her love, which quickly became her favorite emotion to feel. Fami loves you so much and being your girlfriend is the most fulfilling role she could have, she just wants to spend eternity with her loving boyfriend now.

[strange-anni]

Your answer just made me realize how weird Vickies trajectory from not caring about Robin to "falling in love with her" actually is. So lets look into it.

This is the moment where it seems like Vickie is actually done with the conversation she had with Robin. She laughed at a joke Robin repeated and then just stopped caring to keep the conversation going.

@bylerlipglances is completely right. Vickie could have said literally anything to keep talking to Robin. I mean they are at a sports event! Nothing is easier than to start a random conversation at a sports game. It could range from "Ugh. I hate it here. I hope we get to go home soon" to "Yay! I hope we can win! Go Tigers!", "The tiger mascot looks so silly," "I like the part with the cheerleaders best," or just a question like "Do you think we can win?" There are so many opportunities and Vickie takes none of them.

Even then I think it could still be possible that Vickie is just nervous and says the wrong words at the wrong time except ...

... she doesn't look like that at all. She is pointedly looking away from Robin almost like she wants to avoid getting talked to again.

This is also the first time (as far as we can tell) that Robin had let her true self slip through in front of Vickie and if that is how she reacts to it it doesn't bode that well for them I fear.

To me Vickie is giving off vibes like she doesn't want to have anything to do with Robin at all because if it'd be different and she really wanted to talk to Robin again she'd at least smile or try to get a second look at Robin to make sure she didn't accidentally hurt her feelings or anything. Yet there is nothing of the sort.

This continues here. When even Brenda and Steve share a High-Five and a moment of happiness after the Tigers won (thanks to Lucas!) Vickie still isn't looking at Robin.

How easy would it be to just turn around and say something about how happy she is that the Tigers won. Or share a half hug, an awkward High-Five like Steve and Brenda or anything at all. Robin is right there next to her and Vickie does nothing.

Fast forward to their next scene and this is what Vickie sees right after she notices Robin and Steve standing not that far away from her and Dan. She sees Robin and then Steve right behind her licking his lips.

I don't even know what to make of this whole scene were it not for the fact that I suspect this is a lot more about Steve and Vickie than Robin and Vickie.

Vickie sees Robin next to Steve giving her the information that they probably know each other which then could be revealed to her as true when Robin leaves and Steve looks after her.

This then could make her question in what kind of relationship they actually are. Are they friends? Or a couple perhaps? Vickie would not know.

Yes, I know the common interpretation of this scene is that Vickie is shown to be upset because Robin sees her with her boyfriend but that would require at least some sort of interest in Robin which she hasn't shown before. If Vickie had done anything to express interest in any form this could be the correct interpretation but she hasn't. So why would she be upset because of Robin?

Now Vickie is suddenly eager to talk to Robin which to me seems to come out of nowhere. She had no interest before but now she can't keep her mouth shut and is revealed to be pretty similar to Robin in personality. It just doesn't make any sense to me. What happened to cause that change?

After apologizing for making it sound like she isn't happy to see Robin Vickie starts talking about Dan and how she is no longer together with him before she mentions Fast Times and how he didn't like the movie. This indicates that she does in fact like the movie but she also never tells us the reason why she likes it.

Dan dislikes it because it has no plot but why does Vickie like it? Is it because of Phoebe Cates or is it because of Judge Reinhold?

Then she talks about the people who are suffering which makes her look into the general direction of where Steve is standing before she realizes she created a "peanut butter monstrosity." She apologizes again for talking to much and gifts Robin one half of her peanut butter monstrosity and we also get to see Steve again who's smiling at them.

Again, this whole interaction between Robin and Vickie ended with Steve! It started with Steve and it ended with him and I have to ask why this has to be the case if he does not play a role here?

---

Then when I try to interpret this whole chain of scenes from a standpoint in which Vickie is crushing on Steve everything just clicks together for me. So let's look into that too.

First Steve learns that Robin has a crush on Vickie (He's learned that before S4 starts which we can assume due to Steve mentioning Vickie in the very first episode)

Then Vickie came to Family Video either to rent a movie or give it back. Steve would be the one to serve her and I think we can assume that he talked to Vickie at least for a bit especially since he knew Robin liked her

So Steve probably praised Fast Times in order to endear it to Vickie to maybe find out if she likes girls or not as it features Phoebe Cates who is objectively hot (according to the show)

Vickie gave the movie back at 53:05 which showed Judge Reinhold but Steve takes this as confirmation that she is into girls at first as Phoebe Cates shows off her chest a bit earlier in the movie (Except that is not what Vickie wanted to tell Steve at all. She paused it at Judge Reinhold to send Steve the message that she is into him as he is extremely Steve-coded - Many thanks to @greenfiend for pointing this out earlier)

Vickie laughs at a joke from Steve Robin repeats at the basketball game (Note that Vickie may or may not have realized that Steve is even there. I don't know)

Later when Vickie is with Dan at the Weapon Store she spots Robin and Steve not standing far away from them which makes her realize a few things: 1) Robin and Steve are close as they are standing together 2) Steve might have gotten the correct message she wanted to send him with Fast Times as he is licking his lips and is smiling at her and 3) Steve also knows now that she has a boyfriend which must complicate things for her

Dan leaves for college meaning Vickie is free again

Vickie meets Robin in the gym at the food stand and is surprised to see her there. Then she strikes a conversation and tells Robin exactly the things she wants to get across to Steve: 1) She doesn't have a boyfriend anymore meaning she is now available to him and 2) confirms again that she likes Fast Times (as it also features Judge Reinhold who is very reminiscent of the guy she wants to be with)

Vickie hopes Robin will take her message to Steve so they can meet and get to know each other better/ get to be a couple

It just makes so much more sense to me if viewed through that angle. Everything just clicks into place.

It's just a whole bunch of misreading each other. Steve misread Vickie when she gave the VHS back. Then Vickie misread Steve's behavior as him reciprocating her feelings and in the end Robin misreads Vickies behavior as her being interested in Robin.

It's a complete mess but it'd fit very well into the overall theme of the show where so many characters just assume things about others to be true based on their own observations about them. (Compare this with Dustin, Eddie and Robin pushing for stncy in S4. Or Will pushing for mlven. It's the exact same thing. They are all part of the club of mismatch makers)

Again, let me state that I do not think Vickie will get together with Steve as her feelings for him are not reciprocated and I doubt this is going to change in the future.

Vickie is straight

... and she has a crush on Steve

I know how controversial it is to state such an opinion given how Vickie seems to be one of the few characters in the show who actually seem queer. Yet if we are being honest she has never expressed any direct or indirect signs of actually being in love with Robin. It's Robin who is incredibly biased as she has a crush on Vickie and Steve who is trying to be supportive of Robin who gave us this assumption.

This whole thing is not as bad as it seems though. I can promise you this. So if you still care let me explain to you why I think Vickie is straight and has a crush on Steve.

Part 1: The Muppet joke

While still in the car with Steve in early S4 Robin gets reminded of her own advise: Just be true to yourself and stop pretending to be someone you're not. We need to keep this in mind as she is soon shown to not follow said advise.

When Steve reminds Robin at the basketball game that Tammy Thompson does sound like a Muppet she agrees with him. Vickie overhears this and in turn agrees with Robin.

The joke however doesn't originate from Robin. She just repeated what Steve told her before. Therefore the joke that made Vickie laugh comes from Steve. Or in other words: It was Steve who made Vickie laugh and not Robin.

We even get conformation of this a bit later in episode 2 when Steve admits and agrees out loud that it was his joke that made Vickie laugh.

Robin wasn't entirely herself.

While everyone is looking straight ahead it's Vickie who makes a point not to look in Robins direction after Robin is embarrassed of herself. There is distance between them.

Part 2: Vickie and Robin (and Steve) meet at the Weapon Store

It's Robin who notices Vickie first in the weapon store which is followed by Steve looking at her as he knows she has a crush on Vickie which is then followed by both of them looking sad as Vickies boyfriend enters the scene.

Robin is obviously sad because her crush has a boyfriend while Steve is just sad for his friend.

This shot is often brought up to proof that Robin is standing between Vickie and Dan as it's believed that her crush on Vickie is reciprocated but I don't think this is what it means exactly. It's Robins POV and she believes her feelings to Vickie are reciprocated so she sees herself as standing in between them.

But is it true? Let's look at what Vickie sees next.

Vickie notices the both of them and while Robin is just staring at her Steve is licking his lips. Then Robin turns around and leaves while Steve is still looking at Vickie and Dan and then smiles awkwardly at them.

So Steve is licking his lips and then smiles at Vickie and Dan. What message would Vickie receive here? My guess would be 1) Steve and Robin are close and 2) Steve might like Vickie as well.

This however is the last look we get of Steve in this scene. It's his back while he is still looking after Robin. So whatever made him lick his lips and smile is no longer of interest to him the moment Robin leaves. I think this means that he is Robins friend first and foremost. He is not romantically interested in Vickie and doesn't reciprocate her feelings at all.

Robin is gone and Steve has turned his back on Vickie but her gaze still lingers. Maybe her feelings towards her own boyfriend aren't as sincere as it seems and everything considered I think it's fair to ask who this is truly about? Robin or Steve? Is she saying the truth when she makes it about Robin who she did meet in band or is she using Robin as a shield as she doesn't want to admit to her boyfriend that she has a crush on another man aka Steve?

In the end she looks back towards her boyfriend and then again to the place where Robin and Steve just were. Is he perhaps still standing there?

Then we get a scene transition to Nancy holding a very long gun. It's not subtle at all.

Part 3: Providing Food for the Suffering

There is light behind Robin which can indicate that she is the one who is most sincere in this scene. This makes sense as it is true that Robin has a crush on Vickie.

It's Vickie who gives her the information that Dan is no longer her boyfriend but from the scene in the weapon store she also knows that Robin and Steve are close. So everything she says to Robin is likely to reach Steve as well which means that Robin could be the one to tell Steve that Vickie is single again and therefore available to him.

First notice how Vickie wears spiral earrings. This is very interesting to me as it's triangle imagery that is used to indicate queerness in the show. So here we have the supposed love interest of one of the only confirmed queer characters in the show not wearing triangle imagery when it really matters. Why? Because she is straight.

Vickie also mentions how she rambles about her boyfriend when there are people out there suffering at which point in time she looks up and slightly to her right. Later when the scene transitions from Robin and Vickie to Steve we also get him at a alight angle which to me indicates that Vickie was looking at him as she was lifting her head.

It's Steve who Vickie perceives as the one suffering and who she wants to provide with food. Or to put it a bit differently: It's Steve she has a crush on and who she wants to be with and support.

Steve on the other hand is also smiling and looking at Robin and Vickie. He is happy for the both of them as everything seems to be working out for Robin and Vickie which could not be further from the truth. He's also shaking his head just slightly. Most likely because he thinks a certain assumption he's made just an episode earlier turned out to be wrong.

That assumption about Vickie pausing Fast Times at 53:05 however might be true after all. Steve is just misreading the signs Robin and Vickie are giving off at the gym.

Tbc in a reblog because I almost hit image limit. Look here.

[glambots]

Can you do romantic headcanons for fem! profoundly deaf! reader with Sundrop and Moondrop (separate)?

☀️️Sunnydrop + Deaf-Fem!Reader Romantic HCs:☀️

⭐Sun is fluent in ASL--it's one of his pre-programmed languages (of which he has many). He's also the kind of guy who "speaks with his hands," so his ASL definitely has an "accent." It's really cute, seeing all the little physical flairs he uses when signing. ⭐He also signs very fast, but sometimes forgets that it's not only you and him who understand what he's saying. He's slipped up a few times, referring to you with affectionate terms, only to panic a little when he remembers you're still in-public. Thankfully, no one's caught onto it quite yet! (Or more likely, those that have, just haven't said anything.) ⭐It makes him feel bad to even think it, but he kind of likes that you two have your own secret little conversations that most other people can't eavesdrop on. It makes him feel closer to you, like he gets to see a side of you that other people don't. Sure, ASL being more mainstream would be wonderful! But...he kind of prefers it this way...

🌙Moondrop + Deaf-Fem!Reader Romantic HCs:🌙

⭐Moon, given that less people tend to hang around him, is a lot more forward with his ASL affection. He's not afraid to just shoot you heart-hands and be done with it. People already think he's weird, and being cute with you is far from the strangest thing he could be doing. ⭐He's also a much slower signer than Sun is. Not excruciatingly slow, but it would be easier for anyone who knows ASL to understand what he's saying. He may or may not be doing it on purpose. (Maybe he wants them to know.) ⭐Moon is kind of the same when it comes to the "secrecy" of ASL. As much as he would like for other people to know more about it--getting to use it means he gets to speak more openly with you than he usually would. And the thought of losing that connection upsets him.

[jnw1813]

Interlude: Mark Grayson

Another bit of plot. The Graysons meet... uh, you and Conquest.

A knock at the door caught Mark's attention. His mother, working at the kitchen island, glanced up.

“Expecting anybody, Mark?” She asks, still typing away.

“Not that I know.” He says, getting up. Eve or William would have texted if they were coming over, after all. Unless it was an emergency.

As he approached the door, he faintly heard talking on the other side of it. The voices were unknown to him, which had him hesitating.

“... just don't start anything, okay? It's weird enough we're doing it like this…”

“How else were we supposed to do it, darlin’? Start a fight downtown?”

“Oh, you'd just love that, wouldn't you?”

That amused yet fond response has Mark confused yet plenty weary, and– taking a deep breath in preparation– he pulls the door open, tensing for a fight.

What he sees on the other side makes him both tense up ten times harder and nearly makes him stumble back in shock and fear because holy fuck–

There, standing on his doorstep were two individuals. One, you, a normal human person, completely ordinary, made even more so by the towering figure of strength and horror standing beside you, a hand protectively threateningly gripping your waist.

Looking up at a scarred face, balding white hair, a fucking blind eye, and crooked, jagged teeth revealed in a sinister grin, Mark knew without a single doubt that this guy was a Viltrumite. The uniform was a dead giveaway, of course, but even without it this guy screamed stand ready for my arrival or something equally as threatening.

All at once: chaos.

“What–”

“Mark, who is it–?”

“Hi, I'm Y/N, and this is–”

“Woah, who's that old guy–?”

And Mark didn't waste any time, remembering what destruction his alternate selves caused and not wanting a repeat with this terrifying Viltrumite right here. He shot forward, fist out to hit him, ready to push you out of the way– he probably grabbed you as blackmail or something, a prisoner– the mixed shouts of his mother, brother, and you filling the air as he yelled—

Only to jerk to a sudden stop, the Viltrumite's much larger hand enveloping his fist, holding it still without even a hint of strain. And Mark had done all that training, too!

“Easy there, boy. Is that anyway to treat guests that come in peace?” The Viltrumite asks, amusement coating his words; it didn't escape Mark's attention that he'd moved a bit, putting himself between Mark and you. A shield.

It confused Mark enough that he stopped, glancing between you and the Viltrumite. You didn't seem scared. Worried, yes, but your attention was on the bigger man, a hand coming up to rest on his shoulder.

“Conquest…” You whisper, a bit of a… reminder in your tone. Whatever it was for, it makes ‘Conquest’ sigh and release his grip, pushing Mark back a bit.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, darlin’.” Conquest murmurs, patting your hip fondly. “Right, well, can we talk or do you want to take this to the sky? Because let me tell you something, Mark, I am hoping you want to fight, and it's only because my pretty little mate here wants to settle things diplomatically that I haven't already started anything.”

Mark rears back, faintly aware his mom was standing now, watching wearily, and that Oliver was at the stairs, ready to back his big brother up no matter what.

And then– confusing him even more– Mark watches you smack Conquest's shoulder, huffing heavily. “Honey, please. You promised!”

And you know what? Conquest has the gall to look ashamed, apologetic, grumbling to himself before sighing.

“I did…” He turns to Mark again. “Alright. My mate has spoken. No fighting unless you start something. Now, let us in. There are some things you should know about, and believe me, it took a lot of convincing from my darlin’ here for me to do this, so you better appreciate this.”

Mark is speechless, glancing between the terrifying Viltrumite that would make his father look weak and the human who seemingly had him leashed.

He was stunned.

He was confused.

He had no fucking idea what to do next.

But thankfully, his mom did.

Coming to her son's rescue, Debbie Grayson stepped forward, smiling a little tightly. “Of course. If you don't start any trouble, we'll hear you out. Please, come in, is there anything I can get you?”

Smiling, you stepped in, a hand delicately tucked into Conquest's elbow as you led him in. “Oh, thank you, Mrs. Grayson. And don't worry, Conquest won't start any trouble. Right, dear?”

Conquest held your gaze, fondness shining in them. “Whatever you want, pumpkin.”

You beamed.

Everyone else just felt vaguely unsettled.

A few minutes later, everyone was sitting down in the living room, Conquest idly taking in his surroundings as Mark and Oliver eyed him with a mix of wariness/weariness and curiosity. Debbie, meanwhile, played the perfect hostess, offering you and your… husband refreshments.

“Oh, thank you. You didn't have to.” You say, taking a sip of your drink. Debbie waves you off, saying it was no issue.

“So,” Mark cut in, a little antsy, “You had something to say?” He says pointedly, Conquest giving a hum as he nods, uncrossing his arms.

“I do.” He says, glancing at Oliver with some interest, the half Thraxan boy glaring at him. “I was sent here to prepare this planet for the Viltrum Empire. In other words, to make you give in.” He grins, vicious. “And you would've, make no mistake. I would've had the time of my life beating the shit out of you.”

Silence. The Graysons look vaguely horrified as you just sigh, elbowing your mate.

He grunts like he actually felt that, and lets his smile drop. “Except obviously I didn't do that. I got… sidetracked.” At that, he gave you a look, one filled with affection. “And honestly, I'm quite happy here. I've got a mate who doesn't fear me, a comfortable home, and I don't have to deal with other Viltrumites treating me like I'm unstable.”

Well that's not worrying, Mark thought, wondering just why the hell Viltrumites would find this guy unstable, then promptly decided he didn't want to find out.

“Okaaay.” Mark says. “So… why are you here then? If you're so happy playing house, then, uh, why come here?” Not that he wasn't thankful knowing there was an even stronger Viltrumite hanging around, but y'know. Now he wouldn't be able to sleep at night, knowing he shared a planet with this guy.

“That would be because of me.” You say, setting your drink down. “Conquest has told me much of Viltrum, and I figured it was best you knew too.”

The older man nods, looking vaguely uncomfortable for a moment as he mulls something over. Finally, he makes eye contact with Mark.

"Here's the thing, Mark. When the Empire needs to subjugate a planet quickly and efficiently, they send me. I have never failed a mission before, not once in five thousand years. By now I should have already been done, I should've already made you bend and break, I should've had this planet ready. Except I haven't."

Conquest takes a breath, gazing upwards in thought. "By now the other Viltrumites will have realised something is wrong, that I've…" He sucked on his teeth. "Abandoned my mission. And that's going to make them mad. Very mad. Especially Thragg. Now, if you think I am scary, then you've seen nothing yet. Even I am weary of him. But–"

The room was silent, three increasingly horrified faces staring back at him, though the two half-Viltrumite boys also had a look to them, a look that said bring it on, we're ready. 

Cute.

But they'd need more than misplaced confidence though.

"–but… all the other Viltrumites are scared of me. They think I am unstable. They don't even talk to me. So if they are ordered to fight me? Well…" Conquest grinned. "They know it'll be a fight to the death."

"What, so you're saying you'll… fight for Earth?"

Conquest makes a considering sound, eye going to you. "If necessary. Mainly to keep my mate safe. But I don't think it'll come to that. See, the Empire has a secret, one closely guarded." And here Conquest genuinely looks uncomfortable. "One which, being of Viltrumite descent–" He sent Oliver a slight glare of disgust, "–you deserve to know."

He sighs, fists clenched. You lay a supportive hand on his shoulder, nodding.

"There are less than fifty pure-blooded Viltrumites alive."

What?

Mark stared at him, uncomprehending for a long moment. That… no… it couldn't be true, right? How–?

"It was the Purge, wasn't it?" Mark whispers, and Conquest nods.

"Yes. On one hand, we succeeded. The weak were purged–"

You clear your throat, giving him a pinched look. Conquest sighs and rolls his eyes. Clearly, there'd been some kind of argument about that topic between you two before.

"–but at the cost of much of our breeding pool and kind in general." He finishes. "Along with the true royal bloodlines heir being lost, but that's unimportant now." He waves it off. "The point is: the Empire doesn't have the bodies to spare to bring both you and me to heel. Now, Thragg himself could do it no doubt, but he doesn't fight unless everyone else has failed."

"Like a final boss." Oliver whispers, getting an amused look from his family, you, and a confused look from Conquest.

Mark rubs his face. "So… you're saying… what? We're in danger but not?"

Conquest shrugs. "Pretty much. Don't get me wrong, the danger is there, it's coming, but we've got time."

Mark felt a sense of foreboding.

"For...?" He asks.

Conquest grins, vicious, wide, teeth glinting with a deadly promise.

"To train, of course!" He gives Mark an amused look, taking joy in his obvious fear. "Nolan clearly slacked off with you if Anissa could easily wipe the floor with you, so I'll be training you, boy. Can't have the planet my mate lives on be destroyed, now can I?"

"And innocents be killed, Con." You sigh, reminding him.

He waves it off. "That too. Now," he gives Mark a serious look, all mirth gone in an instant, "What do you say, 'Invincible'? Do you want to finally live up to your name?"

And really, what choice does Mark have? The Viltrumite threat is ever looming, Angstrom nearly got his loved ones killed again, and Cecil's training program is out of the question.

So he nods, expression solemn.

"I accept."

Conquest grins. "Good." He purrs.

"Can I join too?!" Oliver quickly cuts in, flying towards Conquest and making the old man blink in surprise. "Please?! I wanna kick Viltrumite butt too!"

Conquest barely withholds his disgusted look at the thought of training this… halfbreed, but–

You stare at him pointedly from the corner of his eye.

– Conquest doesn't want to agree, but… it's not a bad idea. They need all the help they can get (even if he could probably kill a good five to ten Viltrumites on his own if he focuses– the one thing he has over the rest? Experience. He knows tricks none of those fuckers could ever dream of), and the boy doesn't even look that bugish. Just purple.

Then, remembering something he'd seen on TV more than once, Conquest says, "Only if your mother agrees." And thankfully, that's enough to get the boy out of his face, now beggin' with puppy eyes (bug eyes?) to his stepmother or whatever she was to him.

As Oliver begs her to let him, Debbie gives Conquest a weary look, obviously not liking the thought of such a dangerous man training her son. She glances at you, and, understanding her look, you give a small nod and flash her a reassuring smile. A silent promise you'll ensure your mate goes easy on the boy.

As the Grayson family discuss the matter– or rather Oliver badgers his mom about being allowed to be trained, Mark watches on in amusement, and Debbie slowly begins to give in, smiling softly at her step-son– you look up at Conquest, a proud smile on your lips.

"You handled this wonderfully." You whisper, nudging him gently. "So, do you have a training regime in mind yet?"

Nodding, a dark smile appears on his face. "Oh, I do, pumpkin. I'll be giving these two the proper Viltrumite Army treatment. By the time I'm done with them, they'll be able to take down Nolan with ease!"

For a moment, you feel pity for those boys. Having heard stories from Conquest about his days in the army, you knew they were in for hell.

… well, at least it'll mean they'll be able to actually save people from threats now!

[yes-no-maybe-soo]

Hello, I hope I'm not bothering you with this message, but I wanted to ask you something.

I recently started playing Love and DeepSpace a few weeks ago. I actually downloaded it because of Sylus—his edits kept appearing on my feed, and I was instantly drawn to him. However, after downloading the game and going through his chapters, I found his behavior toward the MC quite problematic.

One of my friends told me that Sylus isn’t like the typical dark romance characters from today’s BookTok trends, which honestly made me even more excited to explore his story. But when I watched Long-Awaited Revelry, I was honestly shocked by how he was handling the MC. I couldn’t help but wonder—is this really the same man who once sacrificed himself for her?

I tried my best to dig deeper into his lore, and I genuinely found his character to be selfless and sacrificial. But I’m struggling to understand how someone so selfless could hurt the MC in the main storyline. I can overlook many things, but one scene in particular really gave me a huge ick—when he takes her to Philip's shop. If I remember correctly, he uses his evol on her body, and she even says, “It hurts.” Then he replies with, “You will hurt even more.” That scene truly unsettled me. How could he say that when she clearly expressed she was in pain? Isn't that physical abuse?

Please correct me if I’m misunderstanding or wrongly labeling it as abuse. I just can't seem to make sense of that moment, especially after immersing myself in his backstory. It feels like the writers did him dirty in Long-Awaited Revelry. I mean, if someone could sacrifice their life for the person they love, how could they ever intentionally hurt them—even to remind them of the past?

It’s really hard for me to connect the version of Sylus we see in that scene with the one from his 5-star memories, where he seems like a completely different, much softer person. I genuinely love him a lot, and that’s what makes it even more upsetting. I usually adore dark characters—the kind who would burn the world for their beloved but would never hurt their beloved. Sylus doing this in the main story was unexpected and, honestly, kind of icky for me. 🥲

How do I come to terms with his redemption arc after knowing what he did in Long-Awaited Revelry (especially that physical hurt while taking her to the shop)? Is there a deeper context I might be missing—something that justifies his behavior? I really don’t want to dislike him, but it’s hard to reconcile such a hurtful scene with the selfless man his backstory shows. And again im saying i do not hate him but its just hard to overlook that scene especially knowing that he loves her so much and is willing to do anything for her. It seems like the Sylus who is shown in the long awaited reverly is not the same Sylus who is shown as so selfless in his myth and in his recent soft memory cards.

So I've already gone into this a bit in two previous asks that you can find here and here. But I can delve into it again, though my answer will be the same just more in depth I guess lol ^^

Ok so here are my main points

I don't at all think that this is a case of bad or inconsistent writing by Sylus' creative team. Sylus is a carefully – meticulously, even – crafted character who'd been in development for at least 5 years before he was introduced in the main story. I guarantee that his team know what they are doing with him and that they'd never do him dirty. They love him as much as if not more than we the fanbase do.

It's important to remember that we lack a lot of lore and context. We don't have all the puzzle pieces yet when it comes to Sylus or his relationship with MC. We're missing a huge chunk of backstory starting from their escape from the nebula up to Sylus' Anecdote. It is very possible that something happened in that time (or perhaps in another myth?) that can provide further explanations for Sylus' behavior in LAR. We'll just have to be patient and see.

For now though the simplest and most logical explanation to me is that Sylus is acting out of character in early LAR because he is in emotional distress. He is hurt, distraught, frustrated, desperate, possibly even fearful. He did not at all expect for things to happen the way they did, for the love of his life to not recall him at all even after coming face to face, for her to hate him, nor for her powers to be weak. I think it's pretty clear that he worries something was done to weaken her during the time that he wasn't observing her from afar – hence why he takes her to Philip and why he asks him if "someone put in a suppressor". Her suddenly deteriorated power makes him anxious for MC's future safety, and his fear has good reason – he is aware of the dangers posed to her by EVER.

He is also just simply desperate for her to regain her memories, which is also understandable. His pain and grief and frustration over his literal soulmate being unable to remember a single thing about him makes even more sense now after Death and Rebirth and the Timelock Key event. I'm ngl I wouldn't handle the same scenario well at all either, but would probably have a major crashout, especially if I'd done and been through all that Sylus has. In early LAR Sylus is basically a person who is desperately trying to remind a loved one (a literal chosen soulmate at that) with amnesia of their past and of themself. (An example of his trying to jog her memories is this part right here where he is recreating an environment mimicking the arena they fought in as kids).

To put it simply, Sylus isn't calm or rational or gentle because the situation he is in is deeply emotionally distressing and unexpected, and in his distraught state he is willing to cross lines he would not in normal situations. He loses himself, going as far as to override his core principle re: MC (her autonomy and consent). In this instance of raw hurt and desperation he thinks that the ends justify the means. This alone shows that he is not in a good or normal state of mind (and again why would he be?)

Now, that being said, does Sylus' emotional distress excuse his actions or make them justifiable? No. Because what he did in LAR simply isn't justifiable and isn't meant to be.

Like I've said before, you'll never catch me defending his actions or making excuses for them regardless of Sylus' reasonings. His behavior was wrong, and is portrayed as such by the narrative. We are meant to be uncomfortable and upset by those scenes. And we are meant to take MC's side and empathise with her as the victim of harsh and fucked up treatment, (while we can also with the context we now have also empathise with Sylus' emotional pain and anxiety – but we shouldn't excuse or justify him). Sylus himself realizes that he went way too far and obviously deeply regrets it – that's why his behavior changes notably afterwards. He is never again forceful or coercive with MC, but on the contrary always walks at her pace, and is twice shown to be prepared to let go of her. And I think his character is all the more beautiful for the fact that he is capable of learning from his mistakes and of bettering himself.

So in summary; Sylus behaving out of character in those early chapters makes perfect sense considering the circumstances and is imo an instance of good and realistic writing rather than bad or thoughtless. The writers were not in any way doing Sylus dirty, but were showing us a character that is flawed and emotionally hurting and capable of fucking up royally in certain situations, but who is also capable of real self reflection and of learning from his mistakes. The early chapters in LAR are integral to his character development, adding layers and depth and vulnerability to him and thus, ironically enough, make him more "human".

This is my perspective anyway, and I hope that it provided some food for thought ♡. I do want to say though that if you still feel the same re: Sylus' behavior, or if you have a completely different perspective from mine, that's ok and understandable. As always I am simply stating my own personal thoughts and interpretations, nothing more nothing less. Not trying to influence or change the way anyone thinks or feels or stating that my interpretation is the "correct" one. I am just working with the material we currently have and trying to piece the pieces together in the way that makes most sense to me, but which inevitably might not to others.

[angeliteeyes]

I promised @cmiru Aven content. And now, I deliver to you

Aventurine x Reader Headcanons

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

- I don't care that Hoyo was dumb and gave him plain ass nails. He 100% loves to get them done, especially if you're also into it. On his own, he's more of a manicure kinda guy, but he's more than down for you to do his if you offer. Even if you're a bit clumsy and the polish gets everywhere, he'll take it in stride. Although, he may have to make sure his gloves are on during business meetings.

- You do NOT have to worry about toxic masculinity with this man. Yeah, sure, he's got plenty of overwhelming insecurities bubbling under the surface, but this isn't one of them. He loves the finer things in life, so why should he limit what pleasures he indulges in? Frankly, it's the least life can give him after the shitshow that was his past.

- You would expect him to win every game you two play together, whether it's a card game, board game, or whatever else—as long as it involves luck. I mean, it's him we're talking about. Yet, after some coercion on his part to get you to play, you actually win? Like not every once in a while, you win more rounds than he even does. If you comment on it or start to boast, he'll just sit there and happily take it. Little do you know that this is what he was hoping for, to see you all happy and excited like this. So really, who's the winner here?

- He laughs a lot when he's nervous. The more nervous he is, the louder it tends to be. It gets especially bad if he ended up blurting out something that he immediately regrets or finds embarrassing, which is a lot once he tries to court you. The end result is shit like this:

"Wow, the sunset's really pretty... like you."

"Huh?"

"HAHAHAHA nothing! Nothing..."

Aven. Please. You're not being as sneaky as you think you are.

- Surprisingly not that forward when it comes to flirting with you? At least, not once he's seriously into you and wants to have a genuine relationship. His mind is eternally stuck in gamble mode, which means that he ends up seeing you yourself as a game of luck. And in turn, he sees all the chances for things to go wrong. Maybe he'll go too fast and make you uneasy around him. Maybe he'll take things too slow and you won't realize just how earnest his feelings are. He's used to making bets, but not like this.

- His saving grace is that he's got socializing as a whole down pat, which he uses to his advantage to learn as much about you as possible. What kind of guys you're into, which ones you're not into, insecurities, pet peeves, and so on. This way, he can get his odds of winning your heart up as much as possible before the final bet of asking you out.

- For how much time he's spent worrying about if you like him back, it really doesn't show when he bites the bullet and confesses. If you take a moment to think about it, you can tell pretty easily how rehearsed and planned out the whole ordeal is though. Every line is as sweet as honey, painfully so, and without a hint of shyness or embarrassment in his voice. Don't let his act fool you. There's a reason why he hasn't made direct eye contact with you this whole time, and why his hands you caught shaking are now surreptitiously hiding behind his back. For his sake, pretend you didn't see anything.

- Once he actually has you as his partner, he has no fucking idea what to do. Of course, he's thought about it a lot. His fantasies of going on dates with you, holding you, etc. have been the one thing getting him through all his boring business meetings, after all. But he was so focused on getting you that having you feels like a far-off notion. His search history may or may not have an embarrassing amount of questions like "how to be a good boyfriend" or "things you should never say to your partner" (gotta be prepared).

- It's not too noticeable unless you're already dating but... the way he thinks of you is a little off, or more accurately, how he thinks YOU think of him. He constantly gets you nice, luxurious gifts, spends plenty of money on you, all the works. Yet it feels like a given when he does, as if there's no other option in his mind. Even if you don't ask for a single thing or even say explicitly you don't want material stuff from him, it's like he can't comprehend it. As if he doesn't believe you'd sincerely like him and stay with him without some sort of transactional benefit. If you reassure him enough or refuse his gifts, you might be able to change this for a little... but don't be surprised when he reverts back to his old ways.

- He thrives off of any sort of positive reactions or general affection from you. It helps a lot to ease the neverending fear he has that you're losing interest in him, and believe me when I say he needs that help to stay sane. He won't say it out loud, but he likes you best when you're clingy or possessive. It means you want him and won't run off with some other guy, right? ......Right?

- On a happier note, he loves saying your name every chance he gets. Specifically in a happy sing-song sort of way. He kinda just likes singing to you in general, whether it's soft, romantic melodies or random, jokey stuff to make you laugh.

Imagine him singing Sweet Caroline. Now imagine him very loudly going

BUM BUM BUM

because he knows you'll find it funny. There you go.

- Also. When he laughs way too hard he snorts like a pig and then goes dead silent from shame. Looks at you like this

Unless you also snort when you laugh, in which case congrats!!! You two can live in a barn together happily <3

[enlightenedfeline]

Tips for writing toddlers:

Here's a few things that have helped me write toddlers more accurately!

1- Questions. Toddlers (2-4) and children (5 and 6) ask a LOT of questions, so many that it becomes insufferable. It's easy to fall into the trap of making their questions seem annoying or uneccesary, but this is not an accurate deception of a toddler.

Toddlers show one of humans most natural traits, which is curiousity. We are always curious, we always have been, that's how we've come this far, and how we'll keep going.

Toddlers don't ask questions to annoy you, while this may be the case for older kids, toddlers have not yet developed the emotional maturity to actively want to bother people.

So while yes, you can and should make the toddler character's questions ridiculous, never make them downright stupid. Always make sure that there is some thought process behind why a question is asked, that there is something the toddler wants to understand, no matter how insignificant it seems.

The questions are insignificant to adult characters, but to toddlers they are great scientific discoveries they are embarking on.

2- Speaking. Your average toddler will not be forming full coherent sentences, so absolutely do not leave it up to them to make important revelations in your story.

Unless you are willing to take up a page or two of an adult character deciphering what they're saying.

Another important detail for writing how toddlers speak is that they are still learning how naming works, they will generally refer to things and people by their most distinguishable trait, no matter how rude it may come off.

3- Sharing information. A continuation to my 2nd point, toddlers are simply not good at sharing information. Even if they are more developed than others their age when it comes to speaking, they just don't know what information is and isn't necessary for telling a story.

Think of yourself telling your friend a story, you generally want to give your friend an overview of where you were, your mood, who you were with, and what happened. You probably wouldn't bring up what you had for breakfast that morning unless it's relevant to the story.

Toddlers don't yet have the ability to know what is and isn't relevant, so again, don't have your toddler innocently remember details that will change a character's perspective on life.

4- Attention. If my ten year old sister can't focus when I'm scolding her for more than 5 minutes, your toddler character certainly cannot focus for more than two.

This point supports my 3rd, toddlers don't know what information is and isn't relevant, this applies to sharing and receiving information. You have their full attention for a few seconds, and it gradually goes downhill after that until they're throwing a temper tantrum to be let go.

5- Personality. I like to think that babies have distinct interests, and when they're toddlers they build personalities based off of those interests.

Your toddler is not gonna be able to distinguish personalities, they will assume that everyone thinks the way they think, and feels the way they feel.

This applies to humans in general imo, but it's especially true in toddlers.

6- Empathy and sympathy. For this next point I will refer to empathy as simply feeling what others are feeling, and sympathy as being able to apply that feeling into comforting people.

There are few conditions where a human doesn't feel empathy, psychopathy being one of them, but generally your toddler will feel empathy for others.

Not just other humans, but animals and maybe objects as well.

Empathy is a strong feeling, and you need to learn (yes, learn) sympathy to know how to deal with it. Toddlers are empathetic, as humans are naturally, but not sympathetic.

If one of their parents is crying or stubs their toe, the toddler will feel upset and not understand why, which could result in a tantrum. I will dive deeper into tantrums a little later in this post.

But keep in mind that our empathy develops as we age and mature, so toddlers are not fully empathetic, they just have the stepping stones to empathy. Which is essentially just: this person got hurt, if that happened to me i would feel sad, now i feel sad because that person is hurt.

Toddlers will generally only feel empathy for pains that they have felt, because they can not yet comprehend hypothetical scenarios. So if a toddler is dealing with a pregnant woman for example, they may seem apathetic, only because they don't understand what that feels like.

7- Intelligence. It's not unlikely for a toddler to show high levels of intelligence, but remember that an intelligent toddler is still a toddler at the end of the day.

Their intelligence may inflate their little ego, but it won't make them act more mature.

8- Tantrums. Toddlers are known for throwing temper tantrums, and you likely won't be able to avoid writing one if your toddler character appears frequently in your work.

Unlike tantrums babies throw, toddler temper tantrums aren't done out of necessity. Well, they kind of are, but they are done out of a necessity that adults can't comprehend.

Babies really only cry when they feel something bad, something that is unlike their natural blob-like state. Hunger, thirst, tiredness, a full diaper, or a need to burp, you get my point.

Toddlers are similar to babies in this, except what they view as a necessity is not always necessary for their survival. A toddler probably wouldn't cry for any of the above reasons, they wouldn't cry to alert you, because they will probably have a better method of communicating those basic needs to you.

Unlike babies, toddlers have emotions that they can kind of decipher, your average toddler will be able to connect a reason for their emotion, unlike a baby who is only crying out of instinct.

So essentially, toddlers are seasoned babies. They do cry out of necessity just like babies, but their reasons are much more personal to them rather than to evolution.

Your toddler will tell you when their hungry, but if you offend them with the wrong colored plate they will scream at you to change it.

Because in their mind, this isn't the plate I wanted, I'm sad because this isn't the plate I wanted, I want the plate I wanted not this plate.

That's their thought process for most temper tantrums.

Another common reason for tantrums is just that they have no control of their life, and to an extent they're aware of it. Normally the parent chooses when they sleep, when they wake up, what they eat, when they drink, when they go out, what they wear. And these are all completely normal things, but it does get overwhelming, especially for mini humans who just discovered that there are emotions and feelings aside from the ones they need for survival.

So toddlers, like babies, only cry when they feel something bad. But the difference is they have more complex emotions, so a lot can feel bad, sometimes all at once, and they are yet to learn how to handle their emotions aside from crying.

So, don't make your toddler character's temper tantrums random, there is always a reason behind it, there is always a reason behind misbehavior.

I'll end this post off by stating that toddler behavior is almost never random, they are about as random as your average adult, what makes them seem random is the fact that their thought process is disguised beneath layers of tantrums and endless questions.

The most accurate way to write a toddler character is to just try to think as a toddler for a few seconds, it's much simpler than it sounds, and will give you a more realistic deception of a toddler. And you should always aim for realistic deceptions of age groups, especially when it comes to younger children, because this adds a layer of depth to your story.

The final thing I'll leave you with is advice. There are parents everywhere, if you want to understand how to better describe toddlers, just ask mothers and fathers who have/had toddlers, they'll likely offer you a perspective you never considered before.

Something I personally love to do when I write toddlers is read the scene to my mother, this helps me point out dialouge and internal monologue that is too complex for a toddler.

This turned into an information sharing post rather than a tip post, but that's mainly because I can't tell you exactly how to write a toddler, but I sure as hell can tell you what to avoid when writing one.

I'm in no way a psychologist or a child specialist, a lot of the tips I've given are observations I've made from remembering when my younger sister was a toddler, and just interacting with toddlers in other enviroments, as well as writing toddlers myself.

Expect more posts regarding writing children in the future ^^

Maybe some of this advice will help, maybe it won't, either way, I hope this feline has enlightened you!

[hanhwrites]

🇫🇷 BARRICADE DAY 🇫🇷

(yes those are pages from the brick, no I did not do that on purpose, I just loved Grantaire a little too much)

in this picture: five copies of Les mis, a Les mis lyrics books, a Les mis playbill, my Les mis and Iliad paper (with all the important things blocked off yay ✨✨), and a Paris necklace

long post sorry

ummmm so I got to meet Ramin Karimloo the other day at Pirates! the Penzance Musical and it was an incredible experience, that's his signature on the Les mis playbill (from a few years ago) (idk if you can even see the signature at that angle)

so three or four years ago I watched the Les Mis 2012 movie cuz I thought oh why not. as I watched the barricade scene I felt like this was going to be something I remembered for a while and I didn't know why. I then proceeded to watch way too many videos of actors (hi Aaron tveit lol) singing these songs. when I discovered Ramin Karimloo and Hadley Fraser singing at the 25th anniversary concert I fell in love with Enjolras and Grantaire.

since this, I have read the book 3 times, memorized every lyric Les amis sing, collected five copies of the brick, and recently just wrote a big academic paper about the sacrificial love between Enjolras/Grantaire and Achilles/Patroclus which won an award.

I love these characters.

I don't just love Les mis, I love Enjolras and Grantaire

They are incredibly personal characters to me. Grantaire is something I'm almost afraid of, he brings me to tears with every sentence written and with every word he says. he is so cynical, I fear becoming him and losing faith in the world. I see him struggle to find meaning to the world and to humanity and I can't even blame him for it. yet, despite that all, he finds something, or someone to believe in. his sacrificial love for Enjolras is something so beautiful that I find it difficult to describe why its beautiful. he goes against every belief he's ever held for him. grantaire gives me hope because despite his cynicism, he is able to hope.

Enjolras, I'm also afraid of. I too find myself becoming passionate about causes, yet I always find myself doubting. enjolras doesn't doubt, he accepts his fate and he continues on, he lives the life of a martyr and that is terrifying. I give up a lot even though I care a lot. why? why am I unable to die on these hills? enjolras is a tragedy. he knows what fate holds and yet there is no avoiding it. enjolras gives something to aspire to when I find myself ridden with doubt.

I think about these characters way too much but never like I've thought of other characters. they are human. they believe and they don't. they hope and they accept death. they live and they die. I want to love someone like grantaire loves enjolras. and in any other universe, he would die for enjolras over and over again despite what his beliefs dictate, because it is fate. but even more than fate, it is who he is. to live a cynical life and yet to hope. and enjolras, to devote himself to his worldviews, yet to die with a non-believer with a smile on his face.

this book, this musical, these actors and characters, they mean so much to me

so happy barricade day

and I'm very happy I could express this to one of the actors that started it all for me: Ramin Karimloo

[geiba]

okay sooo i made some sketches for a few of the sprites i'll be using, some of which i'm gonna show here, as well as thinking about the code edits i'll need to do for this project. i don't want to just redraw a shimeji to look like SQQ, i want him to act and move in character, so i have a whole bunch of edits to do

some of my notes:

i'm not yet sure how many sprites some animations will require so i'm not putting in a final number, or numbering which sprites will be used for what animation, but i'm going to throw out an estimate that the final sprite count will be about sixty-ish.

i mostly have all my animations already planned out. i know what i want them to look like and know how to do it, but there's a few i still need to think about, like one of the multiplying animations. i considered just getting rid of the one i have no ideas for, but i'll think on it some more. i'm open to suggestions too

i'm considering if i should code and draw in interactions with other shimejis already. it's a bit of a far off idea but i might make a Binghe or maybe even Liu Qingge or Shang Qinghua? who knows. anyway it'd be fun to make some interactions between them. i could even add a tutorial for adding more "romantic" interactions since i want to leave this area open for shippers. if i make it that is

"pet" - yes you can pat Shizun on the head. it makes him embarrased but he likes it.

i'd like to make this an incredibly intricate shimeji with a lot of animations but i'm worried about the performance. they may not be Chrome level RAM eaters, but they're not the lightest and i don't want to create something which people won't get to enjoy

i'm still considering where to host the files. thought about maybe hosting them on a patreon account (for free. the Shizun Distribution System does not demand payment for what it does) but i'm, again, open to suggestions

i'm making this for the Shimeji-ee DESKTOP SOFTWARE FOR WINDOWS. i've never used things like the shimeji chrome extension nor do i own any apple devices. i don't know how to work with these. HOWEVER, if there's someone who DOES know how to work on those, feel free to make versions compatibile with apple or with browsers, BUT only if those versions ARE DISTRIBUTED FOR FREE AND CREDIT ME AS THE CREATOR. i want as many people as possible to enjoy my shimejis

two long idles, one of which i'm showing the sketch for. in the notes i wrote down "looping" and "sound" - while it may be a project that i do not realize in the end, i thought it would be cute to make an animation where Shizun plays the guqin and add sound to it. there would have to be the option to toggle animation sounds, and another to loop that animation, but i thought it would be absolutely adorable to make a sort of music player out of that animation, allowing the user to add a downloaded copy of their playlist into the files. imagine - you're sitting at your computer, studying, working or filing your taxes or whatever, and Shizun's on your screen, doing his thing, providing background music for whatever it is you're doing. cute, no? but this feels like the sort of thing that might get annoying or make your computer turn into a jet engine from overworking. so, for now this is staying a concept. the animation will be present, that much i guarantee but all that other stuff might not show up

OKAY, SO. as you might have noticed i have three designs. i sorta changed them since i made the first post about this, because as it turns out my computer screen doesn't actually display bright colours all that well. might have to fiddle with the settings on it more. anyway this time i coloured looking at my tablet screen so they should be more accurate to what i wanted. i decided that my previous design didn't look like mint chocolate chip ice cream enough <3

so, i'd like you guys to tell me which design is your favourite! i have mixed feelings about design no. 3 because, while pretty, it's kinda too detailed. i just know i'd get sick of redrawing it so i might simplify it further for the finished product

here's the designs!

*slight correction: the eye colour is not final! i left the sketch in on those parts and forgot to actually draw the finished design for the eyes. i don't have the time to correct that at the moment, however. sorry! for a closer look at how the eyes might look like, see previous design

[itsjustdg]

Long post but I had to get my thoughts on Hudson & Rex (and certain fans) out.

This has been in the back of my mind for a while, and I think I've finally put my finger on what's been bothering me about the way a certain online contingent are reacting to the imagined idea that John Reardon has been forced out of Hudson & Rex.

TL;DR - We have nothing to go on that John's not returning and anyone who feels owed an answer by the studio/actors/dog handlers who have no say over the studio's decisions needs to take a good long look at everything. Use some critical thinking skills and just breathe for a second. And maybe some compassion for the fact that John nearly died half a year ago.

(And spamming every social media account related to the show demanding answers is not going to get anyone what they want. In fact, it's highly likely to do the opposite and I'm not surprised people's comments have been deleted. Especially for all the tangential people - but even for John! - they're probably pretty miserable to get yet another contact about this.)

More below the cut.

First off, let me say I'm a huge fan of the show. This is probably one of the first shows in a while that I got so into so fast. It has a lot of the things I love in media all rolled into one, I would be upset if they truly did kill off Charlie Hudson, and I've been anxiously awaiting any cast news. However...

None of us are owed a single thing by any studio, producer, or actor, especially not on our timelines. I know we live in a day and age of constant news and instant gratification, but we certainly aren't owed what might currently be tentative, confidential information regarding an actor's contract. If both parties haven't signed a final agreement, then they likely cannot publicly publish any related details. Maybe they're still negotiating. Maybe John is still trying to figure out how much he can commit to for a new season. Because lemme tell ya, acting might seem glamorous, but do you know how many hours they have to put in and how physically demanding even a Hallmark movie is? Let alone Hudson & Rex where Charlie is regularly jumping off of things and fighting people? More on why this is important in point 3.

We basically have never been told the regular stars were coming back. I looked but can't find where the show announced that any of their actors were coming back for seasons 2-7. They just said the show was returning. And... that's what's happened with season 8. The promo materials thus far have been on par with every other season's promo materials. (Because I love the show, but for some reason they never really put out much until the season premiere is nearly upon us.) Did we get an announcement that Luke joined the cast? Yes. Because he's a new addition (and it's often part of the contract that they'll promote it.) Did we get an announcement that Justin, Kevin, or Mayko are coming back? No. So... maybe hold up on assuming John's not returning just because nobody has mentioned that he is. We've never gotten much early promo content, just that the show was back… so why are all of these people suddenly so sure that John's been punished by the studio for having cancer? Speaking of which…

John practically just got the all-clear from his cancer diagnosis. In late December, he posted that it was his first night out since being diagnosed. (And my heart broke at the hospital picture he included because he looked so tired and sick. His "now" picture was drastically better, but you could tell he was still recovering.) Are these fans all forgetting that the man literally almost died not even 6 months ago? I don't know if their understanding of cancer is what they've seen on a couple of pieces of media or if the cavalier way most shows (including Hudson & Rex) handle injuries, poisonings, etc most of the time has warped any sense of what actually happens when a human being is deathly ill, but... illness wrecks your body. Chemo wipes out your immune system. Fighting cancer weakens your entire system. How are people demanding he turn around and come back to an extremely physically demanding role and spend 20+ hours a day on a set for weeks? They might still be figuring out just how much John can physically do. For that matter, John's doctors might not have even cleared him yet and the studio is waiting it out or John may have just recently decided if he was well enough to come back. (Also, he has a wife and three little kids. I'm pretty sure the seriousness of them losing him was a lot to deal with. Maybe he needed time to decide if he's able to fully commit to coming back?)

John's likely still dealing with a lot with having lost Diesel. They were incredibly close. All of the interviews I've seen talk about how much they bonded (they were co-stars for 6.5 seasons!). I remember one where they talked about how they had to keep Rex off-set when they filmed scenes where Charlie was in danger or got hurt because Diesel wanted to tear people apart for touching him. So then consider that John's fighting cancer, and then Diesel gets sick and passes away - and John probably couldn't even really see him much if at all because of him also being sick. (How hard must it be to have your co-star die of the same thing you're fighting? And not even be able to grieve properly because of the sheer amount of energy you're expending just trying to stay alive yourself?) Can we show some compassion toward the guy? And not just wail about how we're being cheated of... well, anything? Like, come on, cancer should put everything into perspective!

Luke joining the cast has 0 bearing on if John's staying. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Luke was added so the show could continue having a lead detective who can fall down a well for Rex to rescue while John comes back to regular episodes slowly. Maybe they'll be partners long-term. Who knows. NONE OF US DO. That's kinda my whole point here. (And yeah, the show is called Hudson & Rex, not just Inspector Rex, but I have a feeling these fans would've still lost their minds when the original show changed their human cast multiple times.) The only thing that the show starting to film season 8 means is they have a required schedule to stick to in order to meet legal requirements with the studio. Which could also have a lot to do with why Luke was added as a series regular.

Can we all just calm down and find our thinking caps? I'm aware that might be too much to ask from the internet at large, but I'm also really tired of all the panicking fans I've seen posts from lately.

At the end of the day, this is a television show that does not actually control any of our lives, and demanding they cancel it and end everyone's jobs in a very competitive industry just because you're upset about something that may not actually be happening just feels really self-centered and unfair to me.

Maybe John's leaving after all (and if he is, I'll be sad). Maybe he's coming back eventually. But also maybe don't harass every single person related to the show and contribute to making all of them miserable just because you feel like you're owed an answer and a specific outcome?