#so i thought i'd give my own little idea to that concept

[raepliica]

Heartbeat

[image description: A grayscale Trigun comic featuring Vash and Wolfwood.

Against a black background, child Vash floats in Ship 5, curled up and with his thumb pressed to his mouth. Heartbeat noises sound around him, and he looks at peace. The background shifts to white and shows adult Vash, sitting shirtless with his knees pulled up to his chest. The heartbeat sound continues only to be interrupted by knocking. Wolfwood, from outside the bathroom, asks, "Hey blondie! You fell asleep in there?"

The scene expands to reveal Vash sitting curled up in the bathtub, shower spraying on the back of his head. His clothes are left aimlessly on the bathroom counter and floor. From outside the bathroom, Wolfwood, shrugging of his jacket, continues, "… The sand steamer leaves at dawn tomorrow so don't take all night. I'm not waking you up gently if you're late." Vash's eyes continue to look downward, glazed and unfocused. Step sound effects and a yawn sound from outside the bathroom before Wolfwood says, "'m going to bed…". In the tub, Vash sits curled up against a dark background, before eventually lifting his head and unfurling himself as the background grows lighter.

He twists around to turn off the shower and then looks at the floor, going, "Ah." He sits, thinking, before calling out "Wolfwood?". A sleepy Wolfwood replies, "…yeah?" from offscreen. "I forgot my towel!" Vash exclaims. "Ugh, look under your change of clothes… Knew you'd forget so I left it there…" a grouchy Wolfwood replies. "Gee, thanks!" Vash replies, a cartoony doodle of him saying "so reliable!".

Vash, shirtless but with sleep pants on, opens the door, towel draped over his head, to see Wolfwood, reclining on the bed. Wolfwood's smoking and holding his rosary, lit by the light from the bathroom. Vash climbs into bed next to him, towel still around his shoulders, and rests his head on Wolfwood's chest. His eyes close and then open to see Wolfwood watching him. Vash exclaims, "Oh! It's speeding up!, and Wolfwood bonks him on the head before saying, "Get on here since ya wanna be so up close 'n personal!". The two tussle briefly and Vash laughs before Wolfwood tucks the blanket around them. Wolfwood continues to smoke as Vash curls up against his chest and listens to his heartbeat, the background turning black once again as he smiles, content. /end id]

[darqx]

Snakes on a post

Another particularly long answer dump since i, once again, have a backlog of things to potentially answer |D

❗️For commonly asked qs please see my BTD FAQ

Got jumpscared with my own old art for a hot minute there LAUGHS.

(For those wondering, the naga doodle from here was attached to the ask)

That is every other Royal that exists in the Nether and also at least some of the demons that challenged him for his Royal title lol.

Believe me, no one was or is more surprised then me XD;

So, the thing about where Rire's ichor manifests is that it kinda exists and doesn't exist at the same time. Meaning that his upper back is where the manifestation point is anchored, BUT it can still manifest with a bit of space in between it and his back hence why it will manifest over his clothes and not through them.

So if you touch where the manifestation point is sans the ichor, than you are just straight up touching his back. With the ichor, he still gets sensory input from the tentacles to his back but it's a lot more soft and muted esp the further away it gets from him. As you've seen implied though, he would feel a very sharp pain if a great deal of damage was done to the ichor where it clusters at the manifestation point, since he'd DEF be feeling that straight in his back lol.

He is definitely a top and the only way he would bottom for anybody is if they somehow forced him to.

Ah i knew i'd answered this a long time ago [finally found it]! Holy crosses (those that have been blessed) can also burn him but they would need to be in contact with him the entire time. Being a Royal he also has more of a tolerance to these than normal demons.

Well, unless said person actually has the undeniable ability to make good on their words, Rire would just stand there rather genially with that little smile he sometimes has and let them finish.

And then he might use them as reverse suggestions for dealing with said person (why would you give him any ideas!!?)

both

In BTD canon it is quite possible that they actually haven't in person. But we are using creative license here haha.

Rire heals a lot faster than a human. Cain is not my character so I don't know how his stacks up.

I've grouped these asks cos they kind of have similar answers - 360° (jk sorry sorry to the second q that is just a very common spelling mistake and I couldn't resist XD; )

Now, even though we mashed all the characs together in BTD, they all actually come from different storylines and so their canons outside the "BTD canon" may differ. This tends to bleed in. With this in mind:

The rules of Rire's canon (eg the concept of Battle Royales and how to become a Royal) don't apply to Cain. Anyway, they don't live in the same place either.

Cain is canonically the oldest and most OP character in BTD lol so yes he is stronger than Rire - you might've noticed, but Rire is never in the same drawing as Cain voluntarily. I play with this along with the "natural weakness" aspect - which I've also referred to as scissors-paper-rock rules XD Basically; demons beat humans, angels beat demons (purely because demons have weakness against holiness).

It would (be insane) but I hope you are not looking at me to fulfil this :d

Not really

His coronation day is a public holiday in his sector so yes XD

Aww thank you very much for your interest! ≧(´▽｀)≦ It's really cool that some of you guys want to actually fund such a thing - I'd have thought you'd have enough of him killing you in BTD1 XD Unfortunately, I have no plans for a Rire game at the moment as I'm working on a webcomic which looks like it will take up all my free time (that being said, he will be in the webcomic at some point).

Nope! Although i can kinda see why you might think that lol.

Whatever that one is where he doesn't particularly care what someone else identifies as. It really makes no difference to him or how he will act.

There are viruses in the Nether that if contracted could potentially kill you, yes. Part of being a Royal is becoming a lot more robust than normal Demons though. As for if/when Rire dies, I dunno maybe either in a Battle Royale somewhere thousands of years down the line or by old age (which is rare for a Royal but not impossible if you play your cards right).

If you are asking if he has a heat/rut of some sort, he does not |D

[russellsppttemplates]

Uh oh, I'm falling in love (Lando Norris)

Y/N and Lando both have jobs that require good sight and attention to detail and yet they're oblivious to their feelings for eachother

Note: english is not my first language. I'm in a very fluffy mood, so I got really excited when I got this request! This also makes my expectations even higher and calls me single in about seventeen different languages at once...

Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is appreciated 🤍 and I'm taking requests so if you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to do so as I'll try to get to them the best I can!

my masterlist

Tw: mentions a needle (for sewing)

Tag list: @myloverjk-blog

"Hey guys! How's everyone?", Max said to the camera as you made sure the set up was right, the screen showing his and Lando's faces on one screen and the table on the other like it was supposed to.

"As per your many, many requests, we have brought our graphic designer at Quadrant, Y/N", Lando announced as you appeared on camera, sending a very awkward first wave to the camera, "today's stream is little different than our usual programming, but it was the only way she agreed to be in one! You guys really wanted to see her, so we had to be creative!", Max said as he moved the friendship bracelets making kit into view on the table.

"Hey, Queen Taylor said we should make the friendship bracelets, so we're just following her!", you chuckled, looking at all the coloured threads and colourful beads, sorting them out and grabbing a pen and paper so you could draw your ideas.

"Since you guys wanted to get to know Y/N, can I tell them to send in questions?", Lando questioned you, "sure, I'll answer them to the best of mu ability", you smiled.

You were picking the letters you needed for the bracelet you were making when Max spoke up, "first one: how did you start working with Quadrant? I'd love to work on the team when I finish my degree!".

"I saw the job offer, and I must admit at first I didn't really know much about the company. I looked it up, looked cool enough and I sent my CV and portfolio in. So keep your eyes peeled for any offers, I guess? We have them now on the website, which was my doing, so you can check them out there if you want to be part of the team", you offered.

"I need help, guys", Lando said as he fiddled with his bracelet, the orange and grey beads with his initials sliding on the elasticated material, I can't do the closing knot on my own", he pouted as you placed your bracelet down.

"You have to flip it like this, here. Just put it on your wrist and I'll do the rest", you ushered him, your fingertips gingerly touching his hand and wrist as you quietly laced it, "this way we don't get frilly bits out and it looks pretty, see? Pretty!", you smiled, modelling his wrist for the camera.

Pretty, that's what he often thought about you. Not only pretty, but it was one of the first physical traits that came to mind.

"We should all have matching ones!", Max said as he completed his bracelet, impressively on his own, revealing the colourful beads with Quadrant spelled in white round beads with black letters, "I'll make one for each of you", he said as he watched you show your own, pink beads and a lyric he assumed was from a Taylor Swift song.

"I'll make Y/N's, she helped me after all", Lando said as one brave fan sent a comment into the chat.

He's so giddy to make Y/N a bracelet, it's a shame it will snap because of his lack of skills

Am I delusional if I say that they'd make a great couple?

If you're delusional, then what do I call myself? I still think they're making heart eyes at eachother whenever they catch the slightest glimpse!

We're joining forces, I think it's a noble pursuit!

He's a dork, Y/N, but you should give him a chance

Have you always known you wanted to be a graphic designer?

"I thought about different careers before I settled on this one, for now at least", you explained, "engineering was in the running up, but then I figured out that I was curious about how things worked, but that didn't mean that I wanted to be the one working on it. And this was a way to express my creativity, my strategy planning as well, and at the moment it's been quite good", you smiled as Lando grabbed your wrist softly, "I need to make sure this fits", he interrupted, "and it won't snap because I've learnt how to do it, thank you very much", he blushed. So he, too, was reading the comments, choosing not to dwell in them.

"Look, this way you always have a lucky charm with you everywhere you go, even if we're not together. We're eachothers lucky charms!", Lando announced as Max mafe a fake gagging noise.

.

"Are you all ready?", you said as you and Tara walked inside the room, clasping your watch on your wrist and hoping to find the boys ready.

Quadrant had been invited to a gala dinner that celebrated the companies in the same line of business, inviting five people to take part in the meal. After some team members politely declining the invitation since they had things booked already, the group ended up being Lando, Max, Callum, Tara and yourself.

The dress required everyone to up their usual style, hence the long dress you were wearing. Even though it was far from your usual everyday attire, you felt beautiful in the dress you ended up with after browsing the online shops for a while. The cut was simple, the skirt widening from your waist down and complimenting your curves as the sheen from the midnight blue fabric looked soft and sweet against your skin.

Lando seemed to think the same, trying his best to not let his mouth hang open when you and Tara walked inside their room, heels clicking on the wooden floor as you hurried them, "does it really take that long to put on a suit? I had to help Tara with the laces on her back and we still got ready faster than the three of you?", you asked, shaking your wrist to check if the dainty watch wasn't going to fall and that it wasn't too tight either.

Looking up to meet Lando's eyes, you were sure you physically and audibly gulped. No one should look that good in a plain white shirt. The cuffs were still unbuttoned, but the shirt itself was tucked in his black pants. He didn't have any jewellery, so his tanned skin caught your eye as it contrasted with his clothes.

"Lando has a problem with his shirt and we are trying to solve it", Max said, a little bit too antsy given that, at the naked eye, there didn't seem to be a big issue with the piece of clothing you had been inspecting quite closely.

"There was a loose button, and I tried to fix it, but I made it worse", Lando said as he pointed to the button on his hand, the slight movement showing you the place where it was supposed to he holding the piece together and closed.

"Three people in this room and no one thought about grabbing the sewing kit from the amenities?", Tara suggested, looking for it in the box that was the same as it was in your room, "see? Simple as that! Can you sew it, Y/N? My hand isn't fully healed yet, I can't quite grasp something that small yet".

Tara had injured herself earlier on in the week, prompting her to ask to tag out of the gala until you pleaded her to go so you wouldn't be alone, so she couldn't do it. None of the other guys seemed to even know how to pull the thread through the needle, so you grabbed the kit from Tara's hand, "sure, I'll do it", you said, "if that's okay with you, that is", you looked over at Lando.

"Sure, anything to solve this. Do I keep it on or should I take it off?", he questioned, wanting to slap himself straight after at his offer. Why would he volunteer to be shirtless in front of you? It certainly wasn't the way to go, shoving himself like that.

"On should be fine", you muttered, missing the snickers going on behind you as you wet the thread with your tongue, careful to not transfer any of the lipstick on it and ruining the piece without point of return for good, easily looping it through and adjusting the size of the ends.

"Button", you put your hand out so Lando could place it in your fingers, "I will do my best not to poke you, let me know if I do so accidentally", you mumbled at the closeness to him you found yourself in. It was the third button from the top, and as much as you loved the sight of the shirt slightly undone, the dinner required his shirt to be done up. Looping the thread on the button a few times, you moved to pierce the crisp white fabric so it would be secure, your hands dangerously close to his skin as you could hear his laboured breath. Lando still remembered and thought constantly about your fingers touching his hand and wrist when you did the friendship bracelets video for the YouTube channel, and right now, it only added to his predicament.

"It's done, all good!", you exclaimed, looking up as you cut the thread and seeing Lando's eyes on you. The intensity nearly threw you off of your balance as you stood the tiniest bit crouched down on your high heels.

Scrambling to further the distance between your bodies, you smoothed out the non existent wrinkles on your dress, storing the supplies back in the kit as Lando managed to utter out a thank you, too stunned and intoxicated by your scent to say anything else.

"I sewed a button as neither of you look any more ready that you were when we got here? We're going to be late!", you hurried, sitting next to Tara and ignoring her smirk as you scrolled through your phone.

.

"That shoot will have to wait since Lando won't be back here soon, then", you said, moving things around in the online shared calendar, "when did you say you could again? I'm sorry", you asked, rubbing your forehead and squeezing your eyes, adjusting your glasses and looking at him through the screen.

"The first weekend of the next month", Lando assured, "are you okay, Y/N?", he asked. The bags under your eyes didn't fool anyone and you looked tired. And sick, he guessed by the layers of clothing you had on.

"I had a pretty shit day, actually", you admitted, "I had to go with the guys from storage because there was an issue. The supplier sent the samples and we wanted to get things moving so I could have some ideas for the description and the social media team also wanted to prep the draft for the whole story telling, but it all went under. I also think I caught some bug, so it's been a fun day", you exaggeratingly smiled, mocking your own misery.

"You look like you need a hug, Y/N. Do you need a hug?", Lando asked as you nodded, "Actually, that would be pretty good, but I live alone. The neighbours would think I'm pretty weird if I went around like this asking for one, too", you reasoned.

Even though he wasn't next to you, Lando still managed to pull a smile out of you as he got up from the chair he was sitting in, hugging his laptop, "did you feel that hug?", he loudly wondered, "it's full of Get well soon fairy dust!", he smiled charmingly.

"Fairy dust, mate?", Callum wondered, reminding you of his presence in the videocall, "you try and spend more than a few hours with a little girl and you let me know. Mila has taught me all about fairy dust and princess magic", Lando added.

.

"How will we get out of here?", you wondered, starting to regret joining Lando, Max and Pietra when they said they were going to watch a football game. You loved the sport and you figured it would be a nice distraction after a work loaded week, but now, things were looking less than a distraction.

"We will let them space out once the game finishes, free up the roads as well because getting out of here will be a pain, too", Lando suggested.

The game granted your team a win and three points in the championship, the crowd going wild as they clapped, whistled and waved their scarfs, slowly leaving the stadium.

"Should we make a run for it now?", Pietra said, holding her boyfriend's hand as she allowed him to pull her away.

You followed Lando, thanking his choice of a colourful hoodie to wear today as it made it easier for you to spot him, "go in front of me, I'll back you up", he switched positions. You weren't having too much trouble until you were met with a ramp, people carelessly shoving others as they tried to leave as quick as they could, all with the same intent of avoiding traffic and crowded roads.

"Here, Y/N", you heard Lando as he grabbed your hand, lacing your fingers in his and pulling you along, excusing you two as you approached Max and Pietra again, "we're here", you tapped the blonde woman's shoulder with your free hand.

"Goodness, that was and adventure", she said once you reached the stadium car park, the crowd clearing up significantly as there was maybe another ten people headed the same way as you were now, "is everyone alright? I think someone stepped on my foot quite a few times, or many people stepped on it at various different times", you reasoned, walking alongside Lando still.

"Don't we need to hand the bracelets back?", Max said as he looked at the sign, taking his bracelet off and depositing it in the box in the booth, Pietra doing the same as you seemed distracted.

"Are you okay, Y/N?", Max asked, seeing you and Lando were still holding hands and, because of that, not taking off your bracelets.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?", you scrunched your eyebrows, "we need to hand the bracelets back in, so I kind of need to have yours, too", he teased, looking at your hand still entwined with Lando's.

Removing your hand from Lando's as if it har started burning all of a sudden, you removed the bracelet, apologising quietly to the stadium employee as you thanked him, "shall we go now?".

"Dinner out?", Lando gulped, getting into the driver's seat, "Good idea, yes", Max added, sitting in the passenger's seat as you and Pietra sat in the back, your hand rubbing your other hand that had been laced with Lando's own one for a long time. Uh oh, you were falling in love.

.

The launch was finally over after an amazing response from the fans, leaving your heart happy and warm with a sense of mission accomplished.

"Is everything packed into the van?", you asked Tara, "yes, it's just this box. It has fragile things, so do you think you guys can take it in the car with you? It probably only fits at the front, so you'll have to squeeze in with the boys on the back", she smiled apologetically, "it's fine, we'll keep eachother warm like penguins do", you chuckled, holding the door open as she set the box safely.

Saying goodbye to her and the rest of the team, Max and Lando joined you, "You sit in the middle seat", Max pointed at you, opening the door ao you could scoot closer to Lando and he could get in.

"Could you tell me how long we have until get back?", Lando asked the driver, "with traffic at this hour, I'd say around 90 minutes", he smiled, turning on the blinker so he could leave the car park.

"Plenty of time for me to catch up on sleep, then!", you cheered, making yourself comfortable in the space you had, folding your scarf into an impromptu travel pillow, closing your eyes.

"Are you a snorer?", Max asked, making you blindly swat his thigh, "only when I'm sick, and lucky for you, I'm in presteen health, no blocked nose", you grumbled.

It didn't take you long to fall asleep. In the last week, all of the nights combined, you probably slept less than thirty hours, so your body was indeed in need of rest.

"And there it goes", Max said as your pillow undid itself, Lando lifting his shoulder in reflex so your head wouldn't drop drastically, landing on top of him, "Good thing she isn't our engineer, hm?", he chuckled, looking at how his bestfriend was looking at you like you hung the stars and the moon.

"I think I'm in love with Y/N", Lando whispered after he took your appearance in. You had forgone wearing make-up today, so he could see all your moles and scars, your pouty lips and the darkened skin under your eyes. It took everything in him to not bend down and kiss your forehead.

"Congrats on being the last one to find out, mate", Max added, shaking his head, "I genuinely thought you had some issue processing information, I'm glad to find out you don't.

"Now you just have to act on it, which is going to take you, what? Two, three more months?".

[comicaurora]

What are your thoughts on guardians vol.3? (If you have watched it) I went into it, expecting it went to the garbage like the rest of the mcu, but I was pleasantly surprised by its creativity, trope subversion, and how it wrapped up the previously unresolved arks of its characters.

That's what I've heard!

The thing is, Guardians 3 could be the most transcendent work of cinema ever made, and I'd probably still feel little to no motivation to watch it at this point. It's not Guardians's fault - it's just suffering from the same problem that superhero comics have been struggling with for decades: no matter how good an individual arc or run is, absolutely nothing good lasts or matters in the long term, and the stories are shaped in such a way that "the long term" is the only thing anyone gets to build towards.

Whenever I complain about the MCU I get a handful of people loudly complaining about my complaining, with the general thesis that if I don't like it I shouldn't watch it or talk about it - if I'm not having fun, just stop engaging with it. And the thing is, I have. I am intellectually interested in why this massive franchise is fumbling the bag so hard, which is why I still check in on it sometimes, but I've long since stopped turning to the MCU for uncritical entertainment. And even the good movies or shows with a lot of interesting ideas - good character arcs, fun concepts, interesting planting for future payoff - don't draw me in anymore, because they're hooked into a massive moneymaking machine that will scrap and squander anything if they think it'll make them more in the quarter. It doesn't matter how good the writing is, because the writers are not allowed to tell a complete, finished story, and they have no control over what happens to their characters outside of their own script.

Captain America's arc was set up from literally minute one to answer one burning question at the core of his character: does a world without a war still need Captain America? After that incredibly basic tee-up at the end of First Avenger, half a dozen movies failed to come up with a reason to say "yes," and now Steve is retired for good after getting fumbled through four different storylines that couldn't even pretend that they needed him (the unused Chekhov's Phone from the end of Civil War still haunts me). The foundational arc of his entire character never happened because nobody bothered to keep track of it past a single movie.

Taika did something interesting with Thor in Ragnarok - take away Mjolnir, force him to recognize what it means to be the god of thunder, give him a very Odin-y missing eye - and the very next movie undid all of it. Just kidding, never mind, here's an eye and a new weapon and also his old weapon again, and in one more movie we're even gonna give him his hair back, probably as an apology for all the completely unironic fatphobia we're gonna slather him in for two and a half hours. I'm not even surprised Love And Thunder was such an overblown mess that barely took itself seriously - why would Taika bother trying to give Thor another arc when the powers that be will just roll it back in six months anyway?

I hear Rocket Raccoon has a fantastic arc in this movie. That's great, and demonstrates that he's being written by a writer that deeply cares about him. But he's part of the MCU, and the MCU doesn't let anything end, so if current patterns hold, Rocket is going to continue to serve as quippy plushie-bait for the next dozen movies and none of that depth is going to come through in the long term. Hell, since they're making Kang noises for the Next Big Threat and Kang's entire gimmick is rewriting timelines, literally none of this is guaranteed to matter. By next year, it might not have even happened anymore.

The MCU has successfully shaped itself into a paradigm where the bright spots of good writing are overridden and lost as soon as the writers room turns over, and that makes it really hard for me to muster up the enthusiasm to watch even a really good movie that's locked into the exact same grist mill as everything else. I'm glad people liked it, I hope it gets to stay good this time - I just have no desire to watch it.

[chiscribbs]

Updated Future Donnie Concept Art!!!

So, I've been hesitant to try my hand at designing an Apocalyptic Future version of Donnie for a while, for a number of reasons - mainly that I just didn't have a clear idea of him in my brain yet and the thought of attempting to update his already pretty perfect design was highly daunting - but I finally caved and decided to take a crack at it. A couple months and several revisions later, I'm actually genuinely happy with the result. I'd still consider this "concept art" more so than a final design, elements of it could definitely be improved, but I really do like the concept as a whole - I think it could work!

The main goals I had in mind while working on this were: A. Must fit the character/look like something Donnie would canonically wear and still be easily recognizable. B. Must work in the Rise world & style (i.e. not be overly detailed or have too complex a silhouette.) C. Must fit in with the other (canonical) Future Rise designs.

I was also thinking about what problems Donnie might be trying to solve, which is what inspired the belt (more info on that below). All-in-all, although there might still be a few kinks to work out, I think I managed to come up with a pretty solid base design for my favorite Warring Warrior Scientist (Jr.)

Some additional character tidbits under the cut.

Also, I can't draw mechanisms to save my life, so just pretend those vague ninpo-gun-things make sense lol

Donnie has a mechanical prosthetic leg. How'd he lose that leg? Up to interpretation - my working theory is that it was a minefield accident that occurred when he was trying to blow some Krang dogs to Timbuktu. Naturally, since it's Donnie and they are in the midst of an alien apocalypse, he designed the leg to do a whole lot more than just help him stand without falling down. It's a multifunctional tool that contains a plethora of secret uses - including, but certainly not limited to, sawing off ugly Krang faces. It's essentially his new tech bo.

Bonus leg tidbit: Casey Jr. saw him deploy the saw blade in battle once when he was little, he then proceeded to beg for a saw-leg of his own to fight the Krang with. Donnie, realizing that amputating a perfectly healthy child's leg is probably not that most morally acceptable option, instead made him his own "sawing stick"(AKA, his motorized hockey stick)...which the others then made him wait until Casey's 10th birthday to give him.

The belt that Donnie's wearing here is a prototype of his latest invention. Its intended purpose: to deflect the Krang's mystic-blocking attacks, allowing them to use their ninpo in close combat. It took a lot of risk-taking to collect the necessary information to create such a device, and he experienced a number of way-too-close calls (one of which may or may not have resulted in that large gash across his plastron), but he finally managed to crack the code and pinpoint the frequency of the Krang's sound waves. He's testing it out right now to make sure that it works and is safe to use, but once it's out of beta, he plans to mass-produce them for every mystic-wielder in the Resistance to use in battle. He believes it could turn the tides of the war...unfortunately, the device never makes it out of beta, as he dies before its completion.

Donnie's gloves are fashioned after the ones his dad used to wear in his Lou Jitsu days (with some modifications, for comfort and to make working with screens a little easier and less annoying.) The material they're made out of is far more durable, of course, since he's working with them near-constantly and under varying conditions. But maybe he designed them to look like this as a way of keeping his dad's memory close, similar to Leo's sword hilt?

Ironically, Donnie uses his ninpo probably the most consistently out of all the brothers (even though Mikey uses his to the greatest extent, hence his rapid aging). He's constantly using it to check on the base's security status and multitask while working on other projects. Because his ninpo takes a good deal of brain power to operate, it puts a significant amount of strain on his nervous system and this causes frequent complications. Seizures, spasms, and blackouts become a semi-regular occurrence - especially in the latter part of his life. Donnie does his best to manage them, but the workload makes it almost impossible to do so properly. Mikey is able to help with these attacks when they happen, but Donnie - not wanting his brother to overuse his powers any more than he is already - usually opts to just ride it out and save the mystic healing for people who need it. The exception to this rule being when he's in the middle of an extremely important procedure and can't stop long enough to let the attack pass naturally, then he has no choice but to accept Mikey's aid.

This is probably needless to say at this point, but much like Leo and his other brothers, he is a giant. Equal in height to Leo (if not slightly taller, even without the goggles.) The doodle in the top-left corner of the sketch page where he's next to April is meant to be them sitting, so don't take it as anywhere near an accurate representation of their height comparison. It is not, he dwarfs her by several feet, lol.

[heartfullofleeches]

hungry for titus & executioner reader. insane even. i bet my left lung titus was lying nude in the table with his cock hard in all its glory. was it the anticipation of potentially being brutally defiled by his "angel" executioner? or was it the cold air hitting his body? who knows.

do you think his fantasies of being violated by executioner interfere with his work? or is he diligent enough to not let it get in the way? would he let down an entire nation/empire just for his darling? did he fall head over heels before or after employing his darling?

i also love the concept of executioner with HUMONGOUS amounts of bloodlust, it's as equal and if not more than titus' libido. just straight up sadistic executioner — who relishes the screams, the cries, and the whines of their victims — it's music to their ears. and you wanna know what? they're also hysterical & weird. laughing out of immense satisfaction of violating their prey, drooling at the thought of skinning & carving their next victim. and they giggle — so much — when they present their bloody gift to titus. "i got'cha a little gift, master!"

speaking of their master, they are eternally grateful for them — for granting them the liberty to fulfill their selfish desires. it's two birds with one stone to them, harming people in the name of their desires, and harming people in the name of titus. despite their gratification and loyalty to the great tyrant, their view of each other is still not equal. like our cold executioner, they will do anything for their lord, but titus' offer of allowing them to ravage them, it's over the line.

i love them a normal amount your honor

That's a fun idea, but I wanna stick with cold Executioner Reader for the time being. I'm all for sadistic darlings, but I like what Executioner has going on now. An emotional stunted, husk of a person. Killing comes as natural as breathing to them. They can't sleep without the sound of screams to keep them company, they can't eat or accept gifts without their prize feeling earned. They hold more loyalty to their post than their ruler which is why they willfully follow Titus after he slaughtered their previous employer.

Titus develops a bit of a savior complex when it comes to them as he hopes to break this mentality at least to the point where they are accepting of his love. Dresses them in the finest attire, feeds them foods that are probably a shock to their senses compared to the bland filth their former ruler fed them. Tried to give them their own bedroom, but after finding Titus in their bed one night they solely stick to the dungeon floors. Really only uses the autonomy he gave them to reject his advices.

did he fall head over heels before or after employing his darling?

I'd say he fell for them somewhere between their imprisonment and their eventual promotion to Executioner. While other members of their ruler's guard attempted to fight against Titus hostile take over, Executioner Reader sat back and watched as Titus beheaded their master. He found them a little dull, but upon being captured is where they got interesting. If there's one thing the Executioner despises it's being in chains. Took out a fair chuck of Titus' fleet for the crime of attempt to put them in chains.

Titus figured they'd be an excellent pet after realizing they'd follow along obediently on the condition they weren't strapped in iron. He began to fall for them after barring witness to their expertise with a blade and their closed off nature. He thought it'd be fun to break them out of their shell. The executioner's rejection was the first he faced in some time and while he'd normally have anyone who refused his generous offer killed - he saw them as a challenge. Overtime his kind gestures to get them to warm up to them became more genuine as his curiosity got the better of him. Had his Executioner ever truly smiled? Had they known the joy of laughter and other similar feelings? If they hadn't - he wanted to be the only one capable of giving them such wonders. That was a prize of its own. One of the greatest he could possibly obtain. It took him a while to realize and understand his love for them, but his guard caught on quick.

do you think his fantasies of being violated by executioner interfere with his work? or is he diligent enough to not let it get in the way? would he let down an entire nation/empire just for his darling?

This is Titus we're talking about. Bro will drop entire events so he can take care of himself because he got horny over a memory of Executioner Reader bringing him the heart of a traitor. If the matter had dire importance he'll try to hold off on his urges, but he'll be grump about it all the way through and immediately seek Executioner Reader's warmth afterwards. It's less of a matter of would he let down something else for them and more when he'll do it.

[thewarmblanket]

My thoughts on tsalnu

"Tsalnu" is a baby pod in which, as stated in early draft of Avatar the Way of Water script, na'vi women give birth to their babies. It described as "a beautiful translucent chrysalis" and kind of works as an amniotic sac outside of the womb, connected to the mother through tsaheylu. We don't actually have any details on how it works and looks like since the existence of tsalnu hasn't yet been confirmed canon.

A lot of fans was not fascinated by this concept and wished that na'vi would be giving birth "normally" like humans. In this topic I'm a minority, because I think tsalnu is kind of cool. And before I tell you why, I think... they still need to work on this concept because it's still a little weird and maybe if it looked more pretty then more people would like it? (Well, they liked pinkish worm-like wiggly tendrils in kuru so why wouldn't they? Ke tslolam) And now let's get to the point!

Why I think it's cool?

I'm surprised I never saw anyone stating that, but it's actually pretty cool and useful evolutional mechanism. Yeah it maybe looks weird, but I'm just reminding you that na'vi are alien species that had their own evolutional journey and wasn't created by anyone artificially and they are too part or the Pandoran alien ecosystem. So why is it cool? You know how human women needed to grow their pelvic bone wider, so that our giant big brain babies could be born? And it's still freaking painful to give birth? And if it wasn't for our science and medicine women would massively die from bleeding out and all this stuff? Well, na'vi do not have this problem, they have chrysalis.

Chrysalis allows to give birth to a much smaller baby that will come out more easily, which is a lot safer for the mother. And then she can keep nourishing her baby just fine outside of the womb until it's strong enough. Just like a kangaroo 🦘. And when baby is hatching out of it's tsalnu it's already big and strong enough to hold it's own head. Human newborns require constant attention and care from it's parents and are a lot more vulnerable at this period of time. When na'vi babies are out of their tsalnu parents can carry them around in a sling while doing their chores, fishing or gathering fruits and not worry about anything.

Just my ramblings

I've been thinking a lot on how female na'vi reproductive system works and this just bother me so much. They are non-placental, so... maybe tsalnu is a something like an egg? Egg AND amniotic sac at the same time. Somehow. Gosh I need this natgeo documentary to come out as fast as it can I have so many questions 😫😫😫

Like, is it that only mother can nourish baby in tsalnu? Or anyone can? Everyone has kuru... If only mother can, I suppose that na'vi can give birth only to one child at the time since they only have one kuru, or, if anyone can, then we can't have an exact number.. But I'd say two at max, so that both parents would be carrying tsalnu around.

I still have a lot of ideas on na'vi birth, like how it works for other animals and how they developed their own ways of taking care of tsalnu, make illustrations of how tsalnu looks like in everyday na'vi life, mating and breeding cycles, this is so interesting!!! I wanna ask my friend that is studying at med university how she thinks it all works I feel so nerdy fuck oof *catching my breath*

@annestea 👋👋

[nelkenbabe]

the conversations between solas and varric drive me to insanity, i think they might be the longest consecutive, interconnected pieces of dialogue between any companions.

there are so many layers and so much back and forth pushing, so much being said without saying it. they explain so much about solas’ current state of mind, but also show the effects of what happened in da2 on varric

Solas: I find the fall of the dwarven lands confusing.

Varric: What's so confusing about endless darkspawn?

Solas: A great deal, although that is a different matter. Dwarves control the flow of lyrium. They could tighten their grip on it.

Varric: It's hard to get the attention of the humans when the darkspawn aren't up here messing with their stuff.

Solas: You're active in the Carta. You know your people could tug the purse strings. You could claim sovereign land on the surface, or demand help restoring the dwarven kingdom, but you don't.

Varric: You're not saying anything I haven't said myself, Chuckles. Orzammar is what it is.

───────

Solas: Is there at least a movement to reunite Orzammar and Kal-Sharok?

Varric: What is it with you, Chuckles? Why do you care so much about the dwarves?

Solas: Once, in the Fade, I saw the memory of a man who lived alone on an island. Most of his tribe had fallen to beasts or disease. His wife had died in childbirth. He was the only one left. He could have struck out on his own to find a new land, new people. But he stayed. He spent every day catching fish in a little boat, every night drinking fermented fruit juice and watching the stars.

Varric: I can think of worse lives.

Solas: How can you be happy surrendering, knowing it will all end with you?  How can you not fight?

Varric: I suppose it depends on the quality of the fermented fruit juice.

Solas: So it seems.

Solas:: I am sorry to have bothered you with my questions about your people Varric. I see so much of this world in dreams. Humans, my own people, even qunari. Dwarves alone were lost to me, save scattered fragments of memory where some spirit cared to watch. Now I know why I see so little.

Varric: And why is that?

Solas:: Dwarves are the severed arm of a once mighty hero, lying in a pool of blood. Undirected. Whatever skill of arms it had, gone forever. Although it might twitch to give the appearance of life, it will never dream. 

Varric: I'd avoid mentioning that to any Carta, Chuckles. They might not take it the right way. 

───────

Varric: What's with you and the doom stuff? Are you always this cheery or is the hole in the sky getting to you?

Solas: I've no idea what you mean.

Varric: All the "fallen empire" crap you go on about. What's so great about empires anyway?

Varric: So we lost the Deep Roads, and Orzammar is too proud to ask for help. So what? We're not Orzammar and we're not our empire.

Varric: There are tens of thousands of us living up here in the sunlight now, and it's not that bad.

Varric: Life goes on. It's just different than it used to be.

Solas: And you have no concept of what that difference cost you.

Varric: I know what it didn't cost me. I'm still here, even after all those thaigs fell.

───────

Solas: You truly are content to sit in the sun, never wondering what you could've been, never fighting back.

Varric: Ha, you've got it all wrong, Chuckles. This is fighting back.

Solas: How does passively accepting your fate constitute a fight?

Varric: In that story of yours—-the fisherman watching the stars, dying alone. You thought he gave up, right?

Solas: Yes.

Varric: But he went on living. He lost everyone, but he still got up every morning. He made a life, even if it was alone.

Varric: That's the world. Everything you build, it tears down. Everything you've got, it takes. And it's gone forever.

Varric: The only choices you get are to lie down and die or keep going. He kept going. That's as close to beating the world as anyone gets.

Solas: Well said. Perhaps I was mistaken.

Varric: You know what I like about you, Chuckles? Your boundless optimism.

Solas: It's comforting that whatever qualities I lack, you'll invent for me, Varric.

Varric: No, really. Why else would an elven apostate help crazy Chantry folk close a hole in the sky?

Solas: When you put it like that, I must concede your point.

PLEASE

[avatar-anna]

hi i know u said u had writers block and i have this idea for a blurb/fic idk if you take requests and please delete this if you hate it BUT i’m terrible at writing and can’t get this idea out of my head, mua/yn and harry are secretly dating, some of the crew figure it out as tour goes on but fans start to notice a girl at every show who’s wearing like subtly matching outfits to harry and that’s how people find out they’re together, i just think it’d be such a cute concept AND maybe H doesn’t realise at first and she won’t tell him till he notices and she gets all shy when he asks her about it 🥺

so, i actually already have a makeup artist!y/n. it was one of the first fics i'd ever written on this page. so i just kinda tried to do a continuation of it here. enjoy!

The Makeup Artist, Vogue Beauty Secrets, Painting H's Nails

"Five more minutes."

"You said that five minutes ago."

Harry pulled back, his swollen lips turned down into a pout. "Do you not want five more minutes? You're hurting my heart, here, lovie."

You giggled and booped Harry's nose before kissing his cheek. "I want all the minutes, baby. But I think I'm also the only one paying attention to how close we're getting to showtime. And I have a job too, you know."

Harry didn't say anything to your attempt at logic, just leaned in again, his nose nudging against yours until he finally kissed you. And even though you knew you should've already been setting up your makeup kit to get the band ready, you let him. It was hard to say no, it was hard to say anything when he kept licking the seam of your lips, urging you to give him what he wanted. You.

And because you were about as obsessed with him as he was with you, you gave in, pushing him deeper into his makeup chair as you wrapped your arms around his neck. Harry grinned into the kiss, satisfied that you gave in.

"I'm gonna get fired for not doing my job," you mumbled a couple minutes later as he kissed his way up to your ear.

"By who? I'm technically the one that hired you," Harry replied with ease.

You rolled your eyes and pulled back just enough to hold his cheeks in your hands. "I have to get you ready."

He huffed. "It's not that much. We could even skip a couple steps. Save some time."

"I don't know about that," you said, brushing away a stray strand of his hair that had fallen in his face. "I was thinking about putting a little glitter on your chest, make it really sparkle under all those bright lights."

"I think you just want an excuse to rub your hands all over my chest."

"Well, duh. I thought that was a given."

As far as gigs went, being Harry's makeup artist was pretty low maintenance. It had been that way from the start, though sometimes you delved into some fun pre-show skincare when he let you. The bulk of your job was mainly with the women of the band, who were more than happy to let you take creative liberties with their makeup each show, though today would have to be on the simple side seeing as Harry was currently holding you hostage in his dressing room.

You were the one who liked to really go all out for your boyfriend's shows. The girls in the Love Band still needed something functional, cohesive, and something that didn't stand out so much since Harry was technically the focal point. So if you had time, you went all out with your own makeup, sometimes matching your eyeshadow or blush to Harry's stage outfits.

As you tried to remove yourself from Harry's lap, his arms tightened around your waist. "Just one more, and then I'm good."

Sighing, you kissed your pouty boyfriend's forehead. "Oh, my love, it's never just one more kiss with you."

*.*

You were waiting for Harry by the side of the stage just before he was meant to go on. Some days you went to the tour bus to catch up on sleep during shows or napped in Harry's dressing room, but recently you'd been staying to watch him perform. You knew he appreciated it, and you enjoyed the high energy of being in the crowd and watching your boyfriend do what he loved (aside from kissing you senseless, of course).

"Is it just me, or are we matching?"

You turned toward where Harry was walking toward you, smiling as he looked you up and down. When he reached you, his arms snaked around your waist, his lips against your temple as he mumbled, "I love it."

Looking down at the denim vest and jeans you were wearing to tonight's show, you said, "What, this old thing? It's just something I threw together."

"I don't know whether I should love or hate how cute you guys are."

Spinning around while remaining in the circle of Harry's arms, you grinned sheepishly at Ny'Oh. "It's a coincidence, I swear."

She laughed and shook her head, not believing you for a minute. "Yeah? And what about all the other times?"

It was no secret that you and Harry were together, though this new leg of the tour came with some new crew members who didn't know Harry was dating Love on Tour's makeup artist. You always blushed furiously any time someone caught you holding hands or having a little lunch date at craft services or sharing a kiss in what you thought was a secret corner or hallway. You preferred to keep things low-key, not wanting to draw too much attention to the fact that you were technically dating your boss, but Harry didn't have any kind of reservations. He was more than comfortable with kissing your cheek and calling you pet names and holding you against his chest in front of everyone. On tour, that is. Outside of the confines of a venue or tour bus, you and Harry both agreed to keep your relationship private for now, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to yourselves.

"I think of it as a challenge," you said to Ny'Oh. "It takes skill to be this subtle yet just on the nose."

"A fine line, if you will," Harry added, grinning from ear to ear.

Shaking your head, you said, "Nope. That was too much. Even for me."

After exchanging a couple more laughs with Harry and the band as they prepared to go onstage, you kissed Harry good luck and left to go find your spot on the floor to watch the show. You preferred to watch with the rest of the audience, though Harry always made sure you were within arm's reach of a security guard at all times. Just in case.

Walking to your spot a few paces from the barricade, you admired the wide array of colorful outfits and costumes fans wore. It was why you loved being in the crowd. Seeing everyone all dressed up in feather boas and sparkly cowboy hats and homemade outfits that matched albums and songs. It was inspiring to see the space Harry's shows created, and to be part of it in a small way.

"Your makeup looks amazing!"

Turning to your right, you saw a group of girls, maybe in their late teens or early twenties. Each of them were dressed in a spectrum of glitter and heart sunglasses and merch, wide smiles on their faces as they waited for Harry to come out.

You'd gone for a pretty tame look. For you, anyway. Simple base makeup with a pretty blue eyeshadow and daisies that lined your crease and just beneath your lash line that took way longer than they should've. But the result was just how you wanted it, so you couldn't really complain.

"Thank you," you said to the girl who spoke. She was dressed in a pair of jeans outlined in sequins, a shirt with Canyon Moon lyrics tucked in as a crop top. She also had her makeup done, her eyes and cheeks decked out in eyeshadow that shifted color in the light. "I like yours too."

You talked to the girls a little while longer, but when the lights died down and the song that signaled the show was about to start came on, the girls quickly said their goodbyes and faced the stage. Still, they were close enough that despite the commotion, you could hear them talking. About you.

"I swear, I've seen her before."

"So? Tons of people go to multiple shows."

"Yeah, but...I don't know. It feels like she's standing separate from the rest of us."

You smiled to yourself and tried to focus on the stage instead of eavesdropping on the conversation about you, which was forgotten the second the opening chords to Daydreaming began. The concert was like all the rest you'd been to, and yet you still weren't sick of it. Seeing Harry's smile and witnessing the sheer joy on his face as he performed made going to show after show well worth it.

And when he was in your section, he was always close enough to make eye contact, even wink as he sang certain lyrics, which would definitely earn him a smack on the arm later. But even so, it made your cheeks flush and your stomach flip with excitement. And Harry, who could read you like a book, grinned as he moved on to a different part of the stage.

"Did you see how he looked at her! He winked!"

"You sound crazy!"

Smiling to yourself, you shook your head. Maybe it was time to watch from backstage for a while.

[rascalentertainments]

My Official Wish AU Title: 🌟🌟🌟

Not sure if this will be an entire full length story or just bits of ideas to accumulate yet. It'll depend how much people actually like the idea here. And I need some pics of Valentino's concept so I can come up with a better redesign idea for him, I just keep losing the post that had it. 😅 But, as for the story plot, I can give ya a synopsis: *clears throat*

In the beautiful kingdom of Rosas, the citizens happily live their lives without a care in the world. Thanks to their wonderful and magical rulers; King Magnifico and Queen Amaya, together they created a place where everyone's wishes can come true..... Or so they thought.

Behind the castle doors, the two rulers (and their proud lynx, ) have been taking control of people's wishes, choosing who really deserves happiness or misery. They feed on the hopes and dreams of their citizens, quietly gaining power that will soon become insufficient. Magnifico's true goal is to harness infinite power. To rule with such cosmic force that no one would dare defy him. To catch a Star.

Not all the citizens had the wool over their eyes, as a small group of them quietly fled from Rosas into what was nicknamed "The Enchanted Forest". There the people made their own lives away from Magnifico and his dangerous magic, but they know they could only hide for so long.

Asha, a young woman of 17 who grows restless in the village and wants to venture back out into the world, but still has fear of Magnifico finding her family. Especially with her saba, Sabino growing weaker everyday as a result of losing his wish.

So in an act of desperation, she wishes upon a star for a miracle, for her family and people to restore what was taken from them. Her wish is granted, but not in the way she ever imagined: A Star comes down to Earth, taking the form of an excited, shape shifting, glowing, teenage boy. Together, the duo (along with Asha's loveable and loyal pet goat, Valentino) travel to Rosas to restore the wishes to their rightful places. Only Star has no idea what he's doing....but he'll try. 😅

Its A bit long, and its inspired by the bits of the original movie we did get to see. I thought the hidden village idea was an intriguing idea, really. So if I did do a full on rewrite, I'd include those deleted scenes as sort of bridges to other scenes I write and add interactive fun.

My last addition for now is that Star and Asha's dynamic would be A little more akin to Hercules and Meg, since he's heard stories about Greek heroes and such that humans have recorded in books. Asha is a little more down to earth and Star helps her see the good and magic still in the world despite the looming threat.

That's all I got for now, and I hope its good. Fantasy is not my strongest thing to write, I'm really into Sci-fi/Superhero, p. But I'm willing to try new things. Its no "Kingdom of Wishes" level of excellence, but if this grows some more, I'd be happy about that and appreciate it.

Thanks so much for reading this!

[absolutebl]

I'd like to specify a request for good Thai shows that just finished. They're my favorite for many reasons, and I also enjoy getting to learn more Thai words.

Good 2023 Thai BL That Recently Finished (to Binge!)

(I actually held off answering this one until a few had ended this week because I didn't have many for 2023. It's not been great year for Thai BL so far IMHO. Now South Korea is KILLING it. So is Japan.. in a different way.)

My School President

9/10

GMMTV gave us a classic high school set Thai BL with tropes like messy boys singing their feelings that made this one Love Sick for the modern age with all the gentle sweetness and pining ache, but none of the dated damaging tropes or issues.

Yes, we’ve seen it all before, but I still ADORED this. And there is a lot to be said for the classics being re-executed perfectly. Who let my BL be this wholesome and funny? This show was fantastic, it’s only flaw was the singing (and that’s my baggage).

My favourite GMMTV BL offering to date. And yes, I've watched them ALL. (YouTube)

Step By Step

9/10

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one.

This was an office romance between stern boss and sweet subordinate that felt more authentic to an office environment than previous Thai BLs of this ilk. And that authenticity added tension to the narrative and character development (how novel). Now that might be because it has western source material, or it might be because it is actually kind of old-fashioned (it’s been years since I worked as an office grunt). I also really enjoyed the brothers’ relationship, and kinda wished they hadn’t attempted (and failed) to give said brother his own side BL.

(Gaga & YouTube & Viki)

La Pluie

9/10

This BL takes to task the fated mates trope and what it means to have love chained intimately to predestination. It’s about how faith in destiny before choice diminishes the authenticity of emotion, relationships, and connection. This is a high concept to examine through the lens of a BL.

By activating + examining the soulmates trope this show is challenging a foundation of romance: the idea that there is one person meant to be your one romantic partner all your life. This means that we, as viewers, spend much of the show worried about it having a happy ending, and that’s the source of both its brilliance and tension: would the narrative have the strength to truly challenge its own romantic core?

But, ultimately, all this elevated complexity was executed in a somewhat shaky manner with the narrative derailing into some serious pacing issues and characters manipulated by miscommunication. However, with good chemistry and decent acting all around, plus some excellent high heat and representation of consent and a few other rare tropes, this one has to (like it’s sibling show My Ride) earn a 9/10.

I enjoyed it even as it made me think. (iQIYI)

Make a Wish

8/10

PNR (from Sammon: Manner of Death & Triage) about a doctor who can see the dead and strikes a bargain with a wish-granting irreverent tree angel - naturally they fall in love.

Stars Fluke Natouch opposite not-Ohm, but who cares bc Fluke has chemistry with everybody. Once again the Thai afterlife is incredibly bureaucratic but I enjoyed the premise and the unfolding of the story (it’s not predictable but still satisfying and with nice little twist). I like that the doctor is just gay af and has a fag hag bestie and everything.

The cast is excellent but the comedic stylings are too overblown and tonally off. It had sad parts and did make me cry but is ultimately happy with a great sex scene, good smiley kisses, and all the agency. (grey)

Moonlight Chicken

8/10

I enjoyed this complicated little show, even though it’s spectacularly messy gay with lots of shrapnel and authentic pain.

I thought EarthMix turned in their most compelling performance to date. But it was GeminiFourth who stole my heart.

That said, the most interesting central relationship was that of Jim & Li Ming, their father-son angst mixed with evident affection made me tear up.

This was more slice of life than it was BL, but it ended happily so I’m not mad at it. (YouTube)

Never Let Me Go

8/10

Bodyguard romance where poor boy must watch over rich boy for family obligation reasons. Simple premise well executed with a few bumps that made it feel like it was trying to tackle too much (when it wasn’t).

Still, an enjoyable show that benefited from being handed to PondPhuwin who did a stellar job with their roles and chemistry. Is it going into permanent rewatch rotation? No, but a solid GMMTV offering. Of GMMTV passing out new series to established pairs this has been the most successful IMHO. PondPhuwin were about 10000x better in this than FUTS (and that's FUTS's fault, not theirs).

It's typically Thai in that its a bit bloated and has a confusing plot, but at least it HAD a plot and the central relationship is solid and loyal. Their Our Skyy 2 follow up is great. And very much adds to the cannon in a fun way rather than feeling superfluous - making this show ultimately 14 eps rather than the usual 12. (YouTube)

Destiny Seeker

8/10

A darn near perfect pulp featuring 3 likable grumpy/sunshine pairings with uncomplicated iterations of enemies to lovers. At least one half of each does a decent amount of pining and there’s good chemistry, classic tropes, and communication rep. It’s fun and full of linguistic jokes.

Sublimely cheesy but a good rainy day offering with tons of rewatch potential. (WeTV)

Bed Friend

8/10 (Triggers include: child abuse, attempted rape, family abuse)

Office frienamies transition a flaming hot one night stand into a f-buddy relationship that is built on a puppy/cat dynamic (and kinks into it at one point). Our puppy is loyal, smitten, and protective with endlessly longing eyes, while our cat is snarky, prickly, and deeply damaged (ALL THE TRIGGERS).

NetJames give lovely high-heat with excellent chemistry and tuned-in performances of surprising depth, unfortunately the story ultimately failed them. Had the show had the strength of its convictions and kept to a tighter, darker, harsher 8 eps it would have been the first high heat to earn a 10/10 from me, but once they fussed with it, it dropped to a solid 8/10.

Could have been great but was overworked. Still if high heat is your thing, this one will not let you down. (YouTube)

Between Us

8/10

Featuring the hugely popular side characters from 2019′s Until We Meet Again, Win Team (played by Studio Wabi Sabi's most popular, and commercially viable, pair BounPrem - Long Khong, You Never Eat Alone, Seven Project, Even Sun), adaptation of the y-novel Hemp Rope.

It’s a serviceable series about hot swimmers flirting and dealing with family drama in a sweetly earnest manner, but ultimately it squanders the talent in play. I would’ve preferred a cleaner narrative arc, less angst and more plot, fewer couples, and a shorter series.

That said, there’s nothing objectively wrong, sub-standard, or off-putting about this show. And it has lots of consent and other good qualities.

It’s fine. Watch along here. (iQIYI)

This list dated July 16 2023, not responsible for anything that came after, that'll probably be in end of year wrap ups.

[crazyexdirkfriend]

Hi Tony i want to ask something of you. In fanon more often than not i see Jake becoming slightly more unhinged and unnerving as he gets older. Do you think this would hpapen canonically? Or are all these fanartsits and writers just projecting what they want from jake on jake

This isn't a hate on it by the way, I just realised the other day I see more often the idea of Jake becoming more unnerving as he gets older alongside Dirk and that i'd accepted it and I'm unsure if its canonically viable or not.

I actually think the nature of Jake is that people project what they want on to him-- be you an author, an audience, or a character within the text. It's an interesting concept because Jake is a character who is never afforded free will and even in fanfiction and transformative works made to give Jake free will, he's still a character doing an author's bidding ultimately.

There's a bit in Meat that discusses this with Calliope and Dirk iirc. Calliope wants Jake to have free will, but Dirk argues that Jake is incapable of free will. And truly, even on a metatextual level, the existence of a narrative voice renders basically everyone, but especially Jake, incapable of free will within a narrative.

I don't know if you've seen Revolutionary Girl Utena, but there's an exchange in Utena that I believe they're referencing intertextually here between Utena and Touga about Anthy. Utena insists that Anthy does not want to be the rose bride, and Anthy confirms this. But when Touga defeats Utena and takes Anthy as the rose bride himself, Anthy claims being the rose bride is all she's ever wanted. Touga then says Anthy is incapable of free will and her expressions of "wanting to be a normal girl" when with Utena were just Utena projecting her own wants on to Anthy and claiming them to be free will.

(pinch of salt, I haven't rewatched Utena in a few years, but this is how I remember the scene)

In many ways, this is what Calliope, and us as authors, do to Jake, and what in text Dirk is criticising as a concept. He's like, well I'm projecting my desires and wants on to Jake and you say that's bad but at least I'm being honest about it. I'm treating Jake like a puppet, but that's all he's ever going to be anyway.

Er. I think I've got wildly off topic from your actual question.

I think getting older in many ways is realising that being 14 is a state of mind and that's just who you occasionally are for the rest of your life. So yeah, I think ageing does come with this element of derangement. I have a lot of thoughts about Jake as effectively this ageing child star, put on a pedestal on Earth-C at 16 and it becoming insidious, exploitative.

Jake is self aware of his lack of agency on a literal level within the narrative, perhaps even of the narrative itself-- like a gilded bird cage of his own making and he probably could slip out between the bars but then who would he be, where would he go, would everyone hate him and abandon him? He'll just stay trapped, stay pretty on display, stay hurt until everyone probably leaves anyway because an audience is a very very fickle thing.

And I think that does sort of lead to an angle for me of Sunset Boulevard, tearing the yellow wallpaper, the starlet breakdown. Which is the depressing, almost Swift approach to it. And then you have the Ultimate Jake approach to it, the Snap. And yeah, I think historically Jake takes and takes and takes and bends and bends and bends and is called selfish for that and eventually that would snap anyone. If on top of that, he's aware of Dirk's actions and of the narrative, of being on display constantly even if he escapes that little bird cage, if the only way to ensure people stop fucking looking at him is to destroy the audience itself-- yes, I would accept that story as viable for his character.

[bloodbrown]

I'm gonna offer a little morsel to chew on that's been driving me insane😳 for your consideration, imagine on the off chance P manages to take an actual break at the hotel, not just a quick round of chats with everyone, or weapon/strength upgrades, but a full on extended break.

And during that break he discovers he's got a love of reading, and just so happens to gravitate towards the sweet and sappier type of books! (He of course reads anything that piques his interest, but for the sake of this thought I'd imagine that he keeps to these softer books as a sort of escape from the horrors beyond the hotel!🥺)

And in these books he keeps learning about all the ways in which humans and characters show affection: The plethora of darling terms of endearment or the meaningful warmth that comes from a special nickname, the endless tiny ways to show concern or care. It's the gentle kiss placed on the inside of a wrist, giving someone your umbrella/overcoat when the rain or chill is too much, looking into someone's eyes and being so whole heartedly lovestruck it makes your chest ache and heart thump a fierce pace.

(I think he'd get really caught up on the concept of when a couple is heading to bed one will often sleep on the side closest to the door, that even when asleep they want to shield their beloved🥺)

After his discovery I honestly think he'd become a bit of a mother hen, doting and even a dash fretful at that! He once saw you make your way down the stairs of the hotel without holding onto the railings, nearly tripping and straining your ankle. You try to pull that stunt after he's read his books? Right in front of lover boy? You are getting a glower and have a choice to make, either the railing or his hand, you have to hold one! >:(

I'm telling you, he may be made out of rigid cogs and unfeeling metal, has single handedly ravished droves of enemies and terrors, but this man has sugar glass ribs and a jelly heart, so unendingly sweet and warm, and if he could I bet he'd open his chest and give you his very own heart, hoping you'd see how the pace of its ticks speed up, just for you.

I have so so many more sappy sweet thoughts, and I hope it wasn't an annoyance to get such a behemoth of an ask, but from one P enjoyer to another I wanted to send something in! <:) I hope you're doing well, and have a wonderful rest of your day/night! ^^ (Oh and!! just wanted to say that I love all of the writing and hc's that you do for the mad lad, you capture him wonderfully!🥺)

I absolutely love the idea that P realizes he should get a day off like everyone else. He's worked to the bone every day, poor guy. And can't imagine Geppetto would be too happy about his Ergo-harvesting puppet realizing that he can take breaks lol

And P would totally take romance novels to heart, I bet he'd also take to writing little love letters and leaving them around for you to find... even if his handwriting is less than stellar 🥺

He is such a bleeding heart of a man, and I say this with the ultimate amount of affection.

Also I'm never annoyed by asks, even long ones, most of the time they make my day 🐸

[totally-bogus-timelady]

18+ only!! Oneshot fwb!Steve Harrington x Fem!reader

A/N this is my first fic on tumblr. Had a concept so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I'm hoping to make this into a series at some point, but I'll see how it's received first. Comments and reblogs are appreciated, I'd love to know what you guys think.

Warnings: Pure smut, filth but kinda sweet. It's fwb!Steve what'd you expect 🤷🏼‍♀️

P.s: If I have used your gif and you'd like me to either take it down or give credit, please let me know as I have so many Steve/Eddie gifs saved and I have no idea where they originally came from 😅💕

Your hand runs slowly up his abdomen, feeling the taught muscles there tensing up in anticipation of what you're about to do. You scratch lightly through his chest hair as he pushes you slightly deeper into the mattress. His mattress that you've been on now more times than you can count. He buries his head into your neck, lightly kissing a path up to your jaw and then lifts his head, big brown eyes deeply searching yours as he hikes your leg higher on his hip and gently squeezes your thigh.

"You ready for me?" Steve asks. In a second your other leg grips over his hip and you push, flipping you both over. You smirk, Steve now under you gawking up in surprise, mouth ajar and lashes fluttering in that beautifully dumbstruck expression that only Steve could make look so pretty.

"Question is pretty boy, are you ready for me?" You tease your hips, grinding ever so gently against his hardening erection.

Steve makes a small gasping sound before quickly recovering from your ministrations. "You think I'm pretty?" He smirks coyly at you and starts to cant up into your gentle grinding, filling you both with pleasure and anticipation. You lean forward and start to mouth at his chest, sucking and kissing, leaving marks that only you get to see. A deep, loud groan resounds from deep within his chest. You move up to that spot between his shoulder and his neck and start to suckle at it, nipping and licking to soothe your hard work as Steve moans in utter bliss, the sound hitting your ear and wetting between your own legs even more.

Your hand slides down through the hair on his chest, teasing along the trail, past his bellybutton and finally reaches his firm cock. You palm at it as Steve's moans climb higher up the rungs of pleasure. You sit back a little, still palming at him and look at his half lidded, blissed out eye's.

"Now I do," You snicker.

"Oh god... Please... y/n, please."

You kiss up his chest again til you reach his jaw, giving it a small peck before you look into the dark, lust-filled hazel of his eyes. Your free hand threads itself into Steve's hair, other hand now moving faster over his pulsing cock. You tug gently at his thick, dark locks. Steve breathes your name against your lips as his hands travel underneath the shirt you slept in. He realises now that it's actually one of his shirts. He's not sure why but this makes him smile into your kiss.

"What're you grinning about Dingus?"

Steve looks up at you, your hand slowing slightly over his boxers. "Nothing, I'm just... I'm glad that we do this. You know, it's nice to have someone to just... blow off some steam with. Someone that you trust and... Well, you know what I mean."

You smile sweetly at your friend. Steve Harrington. The guy who you now struggle to think of not being in your life like this. Steve who you've now been under, on top of, wrapped around in the most intimate of ways. All the ways that you never got to be with Eddie.

Eddie.

Your heart stutters for a moment as you realise you haven't thought about Eddie much lately. A surge of guilt pulses through you as your smile drops, just a little. Eddie's not here anymore. Steve is. Steve's here, hot and all consuming and gazing into your eyes waiting for some kind of response. You decide that you won't let your grief ruin this moment for either of you.

"I'm glad that we do this too," You whisper. "Your a good friend Steve."

Steve's smile falters, unsure as to why those words bother him. But then your hand quickens it's pace again and the moments gone.

Steve becomes a moaning mess, grinding into your hand, hushed praises falling from his lips.

It's then that you hear footsteps through the open window of Steve's bedroom. Deciding to ignore it you pull at the band of his boxers and delicately slide your hand in, using the precum dribbling out of his angry tip to lube up the rest of his shaft. You stroke up and down, twisting your hand a little as you go. The only sounds in the room now being the 'shlick' of your hand on his cock and Steve's pathetic whimpers.

"Oh," He pants. "Oh, god. Y/N! Ugh."

His hands grip your hips again as you begin kissing and sucking at his chest.

Suddenly a loud 'Bang, Bang Bang' sounds against Steve's front door followed by the sound of Robin's voice.

"Hey, Steve! You almost ready to go?"

It's then that you look across at the clock on Steve's bedside table and realise that the three of you have thirty minutes to get to your Saturday morning shift at Family Video.

Steve's eyes widen as he looks down at you in panic after hearing Robin's voice.

"Oh Shit," You whisper against Steve's chest. "Sorry big boy, looks like it's gonna have to just be a quickie for now."

"Wha- OH! OH FUCK YES!" His fingers bruise into your side as his grip on you tightens. Your hand griping him tighter, working faster, harder on his leaking shaft.

"Shhh! Do you want Robin to hear you?" You whisper, now back at his lips.

"Hey Dingus! You coming or what!" Robin shouts again. You and Steve share a small chuckle at the pun your friend has unwittingly made.

Steve turns his head and calls out, "I'll be there in a minute Robin!" Then he turns back to you, his hips now thrusting into your hand, chasing his high now that he has to be quick anyway.

You brush his hair back with the hand not already occupied with his throbbing, hot cock. You can tell he's getting close, his movements getting sloppier. You lean in to kiss him, tongues tangling together. Hand still running softly through his hair, you lean back and whisper to him.

"Well Harrington? You heard her, you Cumming or what?"

His hips stutter as his load spills over into your hand. Steve's jaw clenches as his mouth is screwed shut tight. Aware that he can't make too much noise, Steve let's out a series of the most beautifully pathetic whimpers you think you've ever heard.

You stare at the pure euphoria in his eyes, his lips parted and realise that he's still cumming. You look down to see his cock still spurting out thick loads of white hot cum. Pouring out of the tip and making a creamy lake on his belly. It continues to throb and leak until finally, he goes soft in your hand and Steve, thoroughly spent, sighs in relief, sits up a little and looks down at the mess you've made of him.

His eyes go wide.

"Oh my god, was that all me?"

You laugh, "Yup," You look at his belly, "Well, I haven't had breakfast yet."

Steve looks at you puzzled, "Wha-" he's stopped by the sight of you licking and slurping up his cum and he whimpers again. You lick your tongue up his cock and fit the whole shaft into your mouth, cleansing him of his own cum. His cock jolts in your mouth in overstimulation and leaks a tiny bead as you pop off of him with one last lick at the salty droplet.

"STEVE! We have twenty-three minutes til work, what's taking you so long!" Robin shouts from outside again.

"Oh shit, I forgot she was there," Steve sighs.

You laugh at his expression, "Look, you go and clean yourself up, I'll get dressed, tell Robin your in the shower and that you'll meet us in the car."

"But what about-"

"If anyone asks, we watched a movie last night and I fell asleep before you could drive me home okay?"

Steve breathes a sigh of relief at your brief but not unusual explanation as to why you would've spent the night here.

"Okay, I'll meet you guys in the car in ten. Its a good job FV isn't a long drive," Steve huffs out a laugh. He looks over at you, now standing up from his bed, still wearing his shirt, your hair tousled from last nights and this mornings activities. "Hey," He leans into you, "I'll pay you back for this morning later, don't think I didn't notice that you didn't get yours."

Steve winks, gives you a short kiss on the lips and sends a quick slap to your arse as he heads towards his en-suite.

You stand there, heart thumping in your chest and slightly stunned at how quickly Steve had managed to have you blushing after the mess you'd made of him only minutes ago. But before you could dwell on it much longer you hear Robin hollering again.

"Seriously Steve! Are you masturbating or something! What's taking you so long?!"

Slipping on your own clothes over one of Steve's tighter fitted pairs of boxers, you go downstairs and prepare yourself to face Robin.

[bloodsbane]

Adventure Time Watch List

With Fionna and Cake currently airing, a lot of people have gotten interested in possibly watching Adventure Time lately - either for the very first time or returning to the show after having dropped it at some point. I've already started helping a friend watch through the show with me and have talked to other friends who expressed interest in doing the same.

For the above reasons I thought it would be fun and helpful to create a watch list, and then I thought it might be of use to others! It's a list I'd describe as lightly curated, but keeping things extremely easy for anyone to choose how they, personally, would prefer watching the show by leaving all info/options available.

Personally, I think Adventure Time is a show worth watching in its totality! At least once, anyway. But I acknowledge it's intimidating to get into a show with 10 seasons and over 200 episodes, plus some people are mostly interested in specific characters or plots, or have watched through most of the show before and want a faster way to catch up on 'key info' without running through the first five seasons with a fine-tooth comb.

So, the document! It includes:

A key for how I marked every single episode (based on their necessity for understanding the overall plot, which eps introduce and expand on recurring concepts/characters, which are arguably "totally skippable", etc.)

Highlights marking all F&C episodes and each of the mini-series arcs.

Colored hearts which mark major character appearances (Ice King, Princess Bubblegum, Marceline) and significant episodes that center on/continue the arcs of Finn and Jake respectively.

>>> You can view it here! <<<

(if any of my choices on this doc are ones you disagree with, that's fine! but please don't try to argue with me or complain to me about anything if you think something is marked wrong or missing. this was mainly done for personal/friends use. feel free to take this list and use it as a base to make one of your own!)

The idea is that you can use the list to curate your own experience in watching through the show. If you want to watch everything, you can! But maybe you only want to refresh yourself on the main plot, or maybe you only want to watch all of Marceline's episodes, etc etc.

I would like to emphasize one more time this was very casually made. Hopefully, if nothing else, it works for anyone who's interested in AT but doesn't know where to start beyond just watching the show from the beginning.

I also wanted to put out a list like this because I've heard of the existence of watch lists that will recommend skipping a majority of episodes outright, including entire seasons, which ??? sounds absolutely insane to me! Even the earliest seasons of AT contain episodes absolutely crucial to the overall plot!!

(This probably comes from the idea that the earliest seasons of AT are "worth skipping" because they're "not as good" as later seasons, or that early AT is only okay but "gets better" around the middle. I heartily disagree with this; some of my favorite episodes are within the first three seasons. I will of course acknowledge that some of the earliest episodes probably won't suit some folks' tastes even if what comes a little later on definitely will; hence, this list.)

Anyway, I hope this helps anyone interested in watching! If you do give Adventure Time a try, I hope you have a great time with it! It's a fun show and I think watching the whole thing is definitely worth it~

[cereovo]

Several years ago when an ex of mine said they wanted to make OCs shortly after I'd made my own set of characters, I encouraged them, because I thought it would be fun to develop story concepts alongside one another. And in the moment it Was fun. I contributed because I wanted to, gave them suggestions because I enjoyed their vision.

Now that the dust has settled I can't help but feel frustrated by just how much of their characters and story came from me. I gave my ideas freely and I can't be mad at my ex for taking them, but a lot of what I didn't give freely still felt heavily referenced off of my own work. Even when we were together we had friends assume that our two sets of characters were initially born from the same concept, which wasn't the case.

Despite the racism and suicide baiting, I cut things off with them discretely cause I think callout posts for interpersonal drama are stupid. But that discretion allowed them to rebuild popularity on some corner of the internet and certain OC circles are small enough that I've had their art cross my path more times than I'm happy about. And they're still using those characters, with the names I gave them, with the worldbuilding concepts they borrowed from me -- right down to bits of aesthetic visual language that I'd used in art for them.

It seems they've done very little to divorce their characters from the last iteration I saw of them. Should they have to? Probably not, and I don't expect my feelings to mean anything to them after the implosion. But the frustration (selfishly, I know) comes from the fact that new people are taking interest in these characters that would not exist without me, and my ex is completely comfortable with taking that credit.

My fear is that at some point someone will accuse me of copying them, that I'll have to 'race' them to post a finished story if I want my own concepts to feel original. Which is actually a pretty discouraging mindset to have in relation to your own projects. So I guess you can take this as a sort of paranoid failsafe in case I don't win the race lol. I have no real way to conclude this post this is just a bit of an r/offmychest, so thank you if you've read this far.