#so i'm not nearly as motivated to do the fun stuff

[arcaneyouth]

i finished making chapter 7 of my comic and immediately my entire routine went to shambles cause i don't know what to do with myself anymore. girlies i'm so bored

[khaotunq]

🥹🥹🥹🥹

[noxtivagus]

HSJFKDKSK I MISS PLAYING FFXIV

[mixelation]

(a)sync rotating

so in attempts to not have this drag on forever, i think i'll have minato fall for tori relatively quickly. after she nearly kills him, i have part of a scene written where he tracks her down and

tori obviously noticed his body disappeared. she is HOPING he just teleported away to die of his injuries, but she does quickly realize she may have just pissed off THE most lethal ninja in history. and she no longer has the "i'm just an innocent, harmless civilian :)" disguise

she's like: oooooh no. oh fuck. and she goes into Seal Development Turbo Mode

when minato DOES show back up, they end up at a stale mate where she traps herself in a barrier

minato is like "well that HAS to have a time limit" and then he goes through all her stuff

she's in seal development Turbo Mode so she has a bunch of her notes out, which is both like phylogenies she copied because she's trying to figure out if chakras are more similar in more related taxa, but then also like "results f attempting to flash-fry a rat in project Flash Fry the Yellow Flash"

minato: wtf why do you keep trying to COOK me?

he ends up just leaving her because 1. he doesn't have clear orders from Konoha on this; it's mainly a personal research project, so he'll do what he wants (he is..... very bad about this). 2. he thinks she's interesting. 3. he gets her to explain wtf she's doing and she actually DOES have motives and logic he finds sympathetic: she's trying to get away from war, and even if she's selfish, she doesn't like ninja harassing civilians and she'll intervene when given the opportunity. 4. plus she's like

and this logic speaks to him. minato is "a good guy" in that he's a loyal friend and he largely respects the rules of society (harassing people bad! etc), but he's also basically never once been like "oh, murder of an enemy is too harsh a punishment!!" like yeah, if someone is threatening you or your comrade, you just kill them? duh???

so minato leaves her and has upgraded her in his brain from "interesting potential enemy" to "person i just think is neat." and he's not like I AM NOW IN LOVE but he IS like "i am bored all the time now, and i think having her attention would be fun and interesting and we could get along, so i'm going to try flirting" except she just GETS MAD AT HIM???? and jiraiya has a bunch of very bad suggestions

so minato goes and does his monthly Track Tori Down field trip (tori is always like HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS??? and will switch up her behavior to be weirder and less predictable, it's SO cute) and she's at a bar chatting up some other ninja. minato will NOT admit he is jealous but also, if she wanted to talk to a ninja, he's more famous, superior at every single ninja skill, nicer, smarter, more charming, AND better looking?!

@waffliesinyoface suggested Plasticity lore character Batta of Grass, so that's who Tori's target is. minato reflects on jiraiya's advice and is like FINE I WILL MAKE HER JEALOUS and saunters over and hits on Batta HIMSELF. obviously batta is more interested in talking to him than to tori and abandons her. except now.... now minato is talking to this random unimpressive ninja he doesn't care about and NOT the person who WANTED to see?

batta: (bragging about killing TWO ninja in one fight)

minato: (internal screaming) that's SO impressive (best most resilient fake smile)

and tori looks scandalized for like five minutes but now she's just smirking at him from across the bar. minato is silently begging her to bail him out.

not sure how the batta part of this ends (with him dying in some comical way, maybe?) but i want the fallout to be

tori is like "you are so fucking stupid, i was trying to get him to go kill some road bandits for me bc they're making travel basically impossible"

minato is like "whyyyyy didn't you just ask meeeeee i have been dropping SO MANY HINTS THAT I LIKE YOU"

tori is like "no, you treat EVERYONE like that. you just sat around for two hours treating batta like that even though you don't give a shit about him"

debating if she tells him he's met her TWICE before the boiling incident here, or if it's better to have another mirrored conversation later where instead of "minato why are being dumb" it's "tori why are you acting insane." kind of leaning toward the latter option maybe with them confronting the fact that tori WILL kill minato's allies and he doesn't want her to do that?

minato: ......you could minato: you could ask ME to clear out the bandits

he wants to show off so he takes her down the ENTIRE trade road and clears out every bandit, plus some ninja sitting around

tori IS incredibly blushy and flustered by this!! flirting successful :)

[canyourfavesurvivecastledracula]

ok would Ray Vecchio survive? (I'm thinking no) What about Fraser?

Ray Vecchio my beloved...

Oh, Ray. Everyone hates Ray so much. I don't even think the townspeople would help him because he's just that obnoxious. On the other hand he survived his own abusive father and his own house full of maneating girlies (sorry Francesca...). He's also an Italian American with a Catholic mother who works in a job where he gets shot at - crucifix nothing that boy is wearing a scapular. (Although since I'm being very hard-line about sacred items vs holy symbols I'm not sure how far down the sliding scale of harmless jewelry to Literally God a scapular would fall. Hmm.) He also probably arrives thoroughly garlic infused, so that's an advantage.

On the other hand, Ray Vecchio is a little rat of a man and we know Dracula can command rats. He's also a City Boy through and through, not at home in the great outdoors. He is not going to be happy about All Those Wolves (one deaf half-wolf is more than enough). If he makes it as far as the Jon-a-Thon he's going to be having a real bad time. The one comfort is that there's no way for the Riv to get scratched or blown up.

The thing about Ray Vecchio is... he's a born loser. And in this case that might be a real advantage for him, because I think he will be able to recognize pretty quickly that Dracula is a fight he will lose. Ray can and does get cocky, but in a mean little way, driven by his own insecurities and the fact that everyone beats him down all the time. But when faded with a superior foe he's more likely I think to be underconfident. RayK needs someone to take care of him, but RayV needs someone to take care of, a reason to step up. Castle Dracula is not going to give him that, but that's fine, because stepping up in Cstle Dracula gets you killed.

The more I think about it, the more I think he'd react almost exactly like Jonathan Harker, only more depressed/this might as well happen. He'll be a coward in all the right places. But for the psychological stuff, what can Dracula do to him that he doesn't already get from his own dad? Actually the best (possibly only) way to get Ray Vecchio out the window is for his Horrible Ghost Dad to be standing there telling him he can't do it. But also the thought of being trapped forever with three more overbearing sisters is going to be a strong motivating factor towards Literally Anything Other Than That. (Ray loves his family. He's a good boy. But once is enough).

And tell me that calling for help out the window only for the people in the courtyard to point and laugh isn't exactly the sort of thing that happens to Ray all the time. Also uggggghhhh I'm imagining the running to the door to save the baby and finding it locked scene with Ray (in his shirtsleeves like in the Duel) and it's making me sad because he would...

The main issue that's still plaguing me is that Jonathan Harker is a sweet innocent young man who activates everyone's protective instinct on sight, and is therefore tons of fun to slowly break over the course of months, and Ray Vecchio is a depressed divorced cop with the worst dress sense the 90s could produce and a personality like a rat whom everyone hates. Is he going to be nearly as fun to torment? Is Dracula going to be caught dead in one of his horrible suits? Can Dracula, being a supernatural entity, see the Ghost? How does that change the equation?

Ray Vecchio is born to suffer, and the longer he goes the more suffering there is for him. So I am going to say that actually, Detective Raymond Vecchio can survive Castle Dracula.

That or he disappears after the first month and is replaced by a blond Pole who attempts to gaslight Dracula into thinking nothing has happened

[cairavende]

Worm Arc 12 thoughts:

Brian needs to watch the Barbie movie holy shit! (I understand the story takes place in 2011 and the movie doesn't exist there)

Just like, fuck get off Taylor's back. She is playing it too safe but also being too aggressive. Moving too fast but also not being aggressive enough! AHHHHHHHH!

Seriously, nearly every time Brian showed up in this arc I was yelling at him. Dude. Just back off.

Skitter fucking just, killing thousands of rats in a few minutes is absolutely terrifying. God I love her.

Hookwolf is a dick. I can't believe everyone else went along with him and gave the Travelers and the Undersiders shitty choices like that. I mean that's not true, I can believe it I'm just mad.

I legit forgot Imp existed until Tattletale mentioned leaving her at the meeting as a spy. I love how the way her power works combined with the writing style means she just disappears for the readers as well.

Loved seeing more of the Travelers and more Noelle. Excited to learn more about her (I don't have great feelings about her long term situation though).

Jack is such a fucking POSER oh my god!

He just. He thinks he's so cool. But he's not. Fucking "this is not an exit" reference and shit.

He is Tobey Maguire Spider-Man from Spider-Man 3. Just thinks he is the coolest shit. Everyone just has to accept it cause he got fancy knife powers.

Tattletale just fucking full confidence fucking with the Nine while standing right in front of them. She clearly knew it was high risk but she took it and she got results, spoiling Jacks plan with Cheri and shit.

That said, AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! MY BABY SOMEBODY HELP MY BABY! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! (Ok she's not like, my baby, that's Taylor. But she's still my baby.)

LOOK AT MY FUCKING DAUGHTER! FUCKING LOOK AT HER! HOW MANY PEOPLE DID SHE SAVE FROM SHATTERBIRD? HUNDREDS? THOUSANDS? SHE IS AMAZING!

She fucking needs therapy though. Saves more people than anyone else could have and is mad because she didn't do enough. God damn Taylor love yourself!

Danny is fine. Besides, he had warning so any injures are basically his fault. Git gud Danny. (Ok look that's a little unfair, but he messed up pretty bad with raising my daughter so I'm allowed to be a little unfair to him I think.)

And look at my daughter again! She goes and organizes people to help the wounded. Takes charge. Gets a cool butch lady that might never show up again to help. I hope she does show up again though.

AND THEN FUCKING MANNEQUIN! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

After he showed up I said "I don't know how the fuck she's gonna do it, but my daughter is gonna kick your ass". And then like a few paragraphs later I read "I have no idea how the fuck I’m going to do it but I’m going to make you regret that." This made me both happy - fun to say something and have Taylor say almost the same thing - and worried - cause when I said I didn't know how she was going to do it I kinda hoped she had a plan.

But then she fucking does it! She kicks his ass. She steals his arm. SHE RIPS HIS HEAD OFF! GOD DAMN! THAT'S MY FUCKING KID!

I do think she should hire the buff burly guy who helped her rip Mannequin's head off. He clearly has motivation and would be loyal. And maybe I want to see him more. For reasons.

But anyway she fucking wrecks Mannequin, makes him look like he lost a fight with a paint store. Just fucking clowned on him. She is so good.

Then the next day Brian comes in and fully focuses on how stupid it was to fight Mannequin, not really praising that she won or asking if she needs medical help. God damn bud!

But I loved how a fuck ton of people were like "Oh shit she beat Mannequin! I want to work for her." She's going to be so fucking famous soon.

Interlude 1 - Jack is a poser again. Sucks to be the Merchants, can't say I'll miss them. Jack trying to sound all clever with his carrot and sticks thing, but most of what he lists for the other Nine is really obvious. And he misses some stuff as well. Poser. I could lead the Nine better than him (not that I would lead the Nine, just that if I did I would be better than Jack).

Interlude 2 - God damn this is a doozy. Shit ton of Cauldron lore. Battery backstory. Assault backstory. I made a "now kith" joke when they fought for the very first time cause I didn't realize who they were yet. It was supposed to be a joke. I did not want them to end up together. They should not be together. Legend should not have allowed Assault to be on Battery's team. He was a bit of a dick for that. So much Cauldron lore though. I can't put it all here.

[hamofjustice]

nemona's sync pair story in pokemon masters ex can be viewed anytime as soon as you recruit her, and in just a couple minutes of dialogue we scarlet/violet story analyzers get some great subtext-made-text and new subtext:

confirmation of one instance of nemona working herself really hard for the sake of others and seeing anything less as a display of her own weakness and letting them down (even if the others are her pokemon in this case). it's something that i thought always seemed likely to be a theme with her if we knew more about her, with stuff like her mostly un-commented-on arm brace / compression glove and perfectly clean room nearly devoid of personality outside of her meticulous schedule and displays of her achievements, and what that implied about her relationship with her family, teachers, and idol

recontextualization of why she wears sporty athletic wear and runs around everywhere, even though she's a straight-A nerd who has to take a break every 50 feet when she initially takes you to school and is still winded enough to be worthy of comment from arven by the time you're running around in area zero

the fact that penny, the otaku shut-in, did not get called out like this means either she performed exactly as arven expected her to based on how she looked, or that nemona was doing the worst out of all of the group and might actually have some kind of chronic condition / disability like some fans theorize. nemona's stamina now being revealed to be a long standing insecurity of hers despite shrugging it off with a joke in area zero implies the latter to me

if she shrugged off a long standing insecurity with a joke, that could potentially say a lot about any other things she didn't want to make a big deal about that fans are a little suspicious of, like saying her parents were "hands-off in a good way" with her while her sister got all the attention, which i definitely think was an deflective understatement or simply not realizing there's a problem

and if her low stamina and "bad throwing" are in fact due to some kind of condition and mostly out of her control, that also makes her calling herself weak that much more tragically unfair to herself. someone hug this kid please

i trust these folks to write a compelling nemona if they were given the chance to, not just a fun and cute one. they get it.

her 15 minute storyline from her debut event is mostly just good fun with her meeting a bunch of people and almost winning a big tournament with her new friends hilda and bede. it also, however, touches upon how sad she is that people mostly get jealous of her rather than feel inspired by her (which she actually comes up with a motivational speech to try and combat this time, with hilda's help). it even has her tell blue and bede that florian/juliana back home is "a precious treasure" to her, which made me melt into boiling taffy.

now i'm looking forward to whatever else they come up with when nemona's more plot-driving friends arrive. despite how cheesy and hit-or-miss pokemon masters tends to be, they're treating scarlet/violet with respect so far. it's canon to me. i kinda need that right now when we're not sure what the friend trio are gonna get in the DLC of the actual game.

[ghostinthegallery]

Yup, finally time to talk about Trazyn...

I put it off because hey, everyone else deserves some love and attention...but Trazyn deserves more, sorry he is just built different.

It will probably shock no one that Trazyn is my favorite 40k character. He's what got me into Warhammer in the first place. I imagine I'm not the only one who went through the "oh, funny meme steal guy lol" to "guess I'll read Infinite and the Divine" to "can't be invited to parties because I refuse to think about anything that's not Necrons or my new plastic crack addiction" pipeline.

But why is this weird sexy space kleptomaniac so compelling? The answer might surprise you!

(it won't for a while but bear with me there's a twist coming)

Why do we all like Trazyn? First of all, he's easy to grasp. Indiana Jones meets the Collector in 40k. One sentence and you know what he's about. That's invaluable for pitching a character. And then you watch him and he's clever, he's hyper-competent, he's funny. In the grimdark future, this guy makes you laugh! He screws with everyone. And yeah, he's easy to meme, but that's just part of his charm.

He fits into nearly any 40k story too. Space Marines? Aeldar? Chaos? Tau? Trazyn wants an artifact and he's messing with *insert main characters here* to get it. Or maybe *insert main characters here* need something and he's the only one who has it. Doesn't really matter what or why, the second Trazyn shows up he can play off anyone. As an uneasy ally, an opponent in a negotiation, or in a fight. He has an incredible dry wit that makes him super entertaining (especially in a setting where characters can be a bit...serious).

And Trazyn ultimately has pretty sympathetic motives. He wants to preserve, to collect, and tell stories through his museum. Museums are cool! Culture is neat! Sure he's a bit...unethical, but he's far from the worst dude in 40k so he's very easy to root for, even if he's a side character or antagonist.

So yeah, witty, devious, immortal museum curator. Perfect character, right?

Well...here's that twist.

Trazyn is actually (in my opinion) really, really hard to write for as a protagonist of his own story.

See most commercial fiction is structured around a character who wants something, but something else gets in their way. Frodo wants to take the ring to Mordor but all of middle earth plus some evil wizards, orcs, giant spiders, etc. are in the way. The issue with Trazyn (on paper) is that he doesn't truly want anything. Sure there are specific artifacts and people he wants for his collection, but that's surface level. Hunting down random cool space stuff is not a change from his day to day, so focusing a whole story around that might be fun for a while, but it wouldn't stick with you. Because any deep, emotional desires he has are fulfilled. He has power, he has purpose, he has his own planet that shapes itself to his will.

Trazyn is used to being in control. Of Solemnace, of his expeditions, of his negotiations. If plan A goes south he has twelve other options, and a few back up plans, and probably an ork warband attached to his belt if he needs it. Oh, and he's immortal. And can't be hurt. Which again, is hella fun, but how do you have suspense or stakes with all of that? How do you write an interesting story for the guy that has everything?

Enter Orikan.

Orikan is one of the only things that introduces chaos into Trazyn's existence. Orikan can break into Trazyn's house, break his stuff, and get away with it. When Orikan is around, the things Trazyn loves are in danger. Orikan shattered relics from their people's history and Trazyn failed to save them. He tried to catch one piece and it shattered because his hand was metal. The thing that usually makes him untouchable contributed to his loss. That is heartbreaking to read. Sure he can fight elves and dinosaurs and steal the most incredible things, but Trazyn can be made vulnerable in the right circumstances.

The thing he wants throughout Infinite and the Divine is not the McGuffin Mysterios. It's revenge. But because Orikan is his equal and opposite, he can't get it easily. There's an obstacle. Which means we have a story on our hands.

There's another scene that I find really striking from that book: Trazyn and his human assistant on Serenade. This old man who Trazyn kinda...mind controlled into service, but also provided him and his family with the best education, medical care, career opportunities etc. Trazyn didn't have to do that, but he is the type of greedy where if something is "his" he takes care of it. That includes (for better or worse) that human man and his family. Blips on the radar to an immortal being, but those are Trazyn's blips so they get the best a blip can ask for (aside from free will but shhhhhh.)

But that doesn't mean Trazyn can prevent the inevitable. His assistant gets old without him even noticing. The man has reached the end of his life, and that is something Trazyn can't control. And he's emotional about it. Not like devastated (it's just a human after all, basically his hamster just died) but it throws him for a loop.

Oh hey, speaking of how Trazyn takes care of things that he considers his...

Trazyn never really gets close to killing Orikan. He says he wants to. He acts like it. That's the story we set up. Trazyn shoots him in the face. But does he try to permanently kill Orikan? Does he ever act with any true cruelty?

He does once. When Orikan was weak and vulnerable, Trazyn crushed Orikan's skull with his foot, and that's so out of character it's our clearest indication as a reader that something is wrong. That's when we realize the song has Trazyn ensnared because normally he would not do that. He wouldn't treat his greatest enemy and rival that way which is... certainly interesting.

And then of course there's that scene at the end. When Orikan is burned and afraid and unable to defend himself, Trazyn doesn't even try to hurt him. He is gentle, careful, he makes sure Orikan isn't permanently damaged. After everything they've done to each other over 10,000 years (and that's just the events of the book, their rivalry is older), it doesn't even occur to Trazyn to harm Orikan in that moment.

That to me is the real secret that makes Trazyn more than a meme character. That greed that makes him care for things, cultures, places, and people. Those moments where he isn't in control. The combination of the two that means something is at stake. He has a deep love for the universe despite this being such a nihilistic setting. That love drives him to do ridiculous things, but that's the core (I think) of why we love watching him cavort around the galaxy so much.

[headcanonpalace]

Here are more headcanons/ similarities of Ladynoir and Superbat because I'm way to invested in these ships.

1. Cat Noir and Batman both flirt with their superhero partner.

While Cat Noir as hero is generally more flirtatious and shows his affection towards Ladybug, Batman is secretive and behaves extremely professional.

Nonetheless both of them have some amazing pick-up lines they (sometimes) use at the worst time possible. And let me tell you, you can't compare these lines to cheesy stuff like 'Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?'. No, these guys are pros at flirting and know how to use words.

Ladybug is used to this and found a way to hide her excitement, so Cat Noir has to get creative. Batman on the other hand can easily turn indestructible superman into a blushing mess, what makes things so much more fun for him.

2. Clark and Marinette love watching their partner.

Sure, you can say it's the same with Bruce/ Adrien but I see some differences here.

Both Clark and Marinette do things that require a good eye for the little things. The things someone else might not pay attention to.

Clark naturally does ist with his superpowers, the job as journalist does the rest. With Marinette it's nearly the same, she just loves to create fashion instead.

So both of them directly see the habits their partner has. A furrowed brow, chewing on lips, playing with a pencil while thinking.

They love to watch Bruce/ Adrien without any ulterior motives (because let's be honest, that's what Bruce does. He observes and doesn't just look) and enjoy the time they spend together.

Every glance while their partner isn't looking makes their day.

3. They danced around each other for so long everyone went mad.

This should explain itself pretty good. I think both ships had a really long 'talking stage'.

After they revealed their identities and found out about the alterego of their crush things got awkward. It took some time to adjust and accept the fact partner and crush are the same, but they became an even better team afterwards.

After that it got clear pretty fast that feelings were involved (for everyone except Superbat and Ladynoir).

I think at this point eveyone knew that the pairs were head over heels for each other, wether it were Alya, Plagg and Chloé or Alfred, Lois or any of the batkids.

At first it was funny watching them dance around each other. All the tension, flirting and 'dates' that definetly weren't dates.

Then it got annoying. Time went by and nothing happend. No progress at all. How could they be so dense?

The fun was gone and all the superbat/ ladynoir interactions made their friends and family nearly explode. Even some help (from Dick or Alya) didn't work out.

When the ships finally sailed Lois was throwing a party, just as Alya.

4. Batman and Cat noir love the strength of their partner (not in a sexual way).

Superman is incredibly strong, I don't think i need to say much more. This guy can move planets if he wanted to.

Ladybug might not move planets, but let me tell you, this girl can carry buses, buildings, even the Eiffel tower.

With superbat it's easy to say that superman is physically stronger, with ladynoir it's a little different. I think they are nearly equally as powerful with Ladybug being a little stronger.

In the beginning this fact wasn't really that spectacular to Batman/ Cat Noir until their partner did something to show their power and they were simply at awe.

Were they fascinated? Impressed? In love?

Maybe (for sure) all of it. From that moment on they always watched Ladybug/ Superman secretly while fighting because them beeing so absurdly strong makes them feel things.

They may be jealous sometimes, but most of the time they just love their partner for beeing so strong and using it for the greater good.

[yooniesim]

I'm not sure what simblr's general opinion on this is, but peeking back in after my long hiatus, I have a lot of thoughts...

In my opinion, Patreon killed all of the momentum that ts4 simblr had pre-2020. I think we all know a lot of the bigger issues- permanent paywalls, creators doxxing and bullying, cliqueing up and sharing info- but I mean even besides that. I mean specifically early access, two to three week delays for releasing cc, the version of paywalling that most people (including myself) accepted.

It's good that creators were able to get paid for their work, especially during the pandemic. But I think, unfortunately, it had other effects too. I remember back then, being disappointed at how much was eacc, and that was only like 25% of the cc coming out, and it (almost) always was popular creators with high quality work. But slowly but surely, nearly everyone moved to patreon (which I've noticed has caused a lot of cc to be forever lost once patreons were closed/deleted) and 99% of the time it was early access or even exclusive. Many people started blogs with early access cc from the get-go, without having a presence beforehand, and those blogs seemed to be some of the most focused on blocking anyone that shared their cc. The cc varied in quality- it could be simple mesh edits that were still mostly ea, or recolors, or even just patterns sourced from other sites. It didn't matter what it was, it was just content for money, anything to pad out the month and keep patrons. Creators would do early access and then link the cc through adfly or to TSR or simsdom/simsfinds, one by one, even if it was supposed to be a pack. It wasn't bad enough to call out, but it was purposeful.

CC on tumblr became a business in a way it hadn't before, even with other paysites in sims history. And while some people are happy to donate to creators they like now and again... most people either can't or won't. Many simmers are children, and many simmers are adults with strict budgets, especially during the pandemic. And truth be told... they probably got bored. Because it's all terribly boring. CC shopping isn't fun anymore. It's the briefest serotonin seeing something interesting on your dash and then instantly flying away when you see you'll have to wait almost a month for it. And if it wasn't a creator I really liked, I forgot about it instantly after that... sometimes even if I really liked them. Motivation dropped. People stopped being excited, and stopped playing.

Nowadays, it seems even worse. Because the amount and variety of cc and creators has dropped drastically. I'm shocked to see 2-3 cc posts per day, if that, most of them paywalled. It isn't just cc posts either- used to you couldn't look in the s4cc tag for cc, it would be so crowded with non-cc sims posts, but now it's depressingly easy... and empty. Lookbooks, edits, gameplay, cc, it all seems more sparing. And you don't see the same creativity, the same fun random little items, stuff that was interesting even if it wasn't necessarily perfect. Or wild ideas or cc that would appeal to certain small niches. Because that isn't profitable, is it? When you need to create a certain amount of items per month at a certain quality to keep patrons and therefore income, you have to strategize, for good or for bad. Some people are able to do that, and while good for their business model, it limits what they can create and how much energy they can spend on each item. Some people aren't able to do it, and burn out and leave. Either way, creativity suffers. Enjoyment suffers. Creators leave from the passion being sucked out of their hobby; non-creators leave from frustration and boredom. And you're left with a handful of creators still going by their cc business playbook, month by month. But how long can those few sustain themselves?

It's natural for communities to ebb and flow, or even completely die out, but ts4 simblr had been going strong for years before this overall, even if it was in waves. In the pandemic, it should've flourished the way other many other communities did, especially gaming focused ones. But, it didn't. Instead it slowed down, more people left than the amount coming in, the engagement died down, and it seems like as a whole custom content hasn't advanced at all. Maybe it would've happened anyway, but I honestly think patreon contributed a lot. Also, ts2 and ts3 communities weren't affected in the same way, afaik, which makes me think it was paywalls even more.

Can it be fixed? Maybe. If paywalls weren't as much of a thing anymore- and I don't mean completely gone, but just a fairer ratio- I think it could. But now that it's become a standard, I doubt that will happen. I think most people have moved to other places where they don't have to deal with it, like discord servers, and simblr will continue to lose momentum.

It's good for creators to have the option of getting some income for their work, but I guess I'm just saying... at what cost? Beyond the monetary? If you're not super popular, are you even making enough for the added stress to be worth it? If you are, is this going to be satisfying and maintainable long-term, without burn-out/effects on your mental health? Who will pay for it when the number of players keeps dropping? And will this continue on to the Sims 5 community in the future? I honestly hope not.

[steve0discusses]

S5 Ep : I don't know the episode numbers anymore I never wrote them down, so from here on out, I'm just going to number up from my previous post. So I guess episode 49

Fun fact I finished this post a week ago and then never pressed send. I can blame this on a lot of things, (work, illness, brain fog, etc) but at this point we just know it's the universe trying to keep me from finishing S5 of my Yugioh reblog, lmao.

So, last we left off, Sad Seto was next to die.

What makes this extra weird is that the other Seto is going to just watch this entire thing happen. He apparently didn't have enough traumatic disassociating while watching his Blue Eyes Wife die, now he will disassociate from watching himself go out in a blaze of glory, too.

Sad Seto's strategy against Zorc is not really what you'd expect out of the #2 of Egypt's court. Although...I guess before everyone biffed it, Seto was more like #5? #6?

He's above Mana I feel. Barely. Mostly because Mana probably isn't the right age to legally work, even in ancient Egypt when the working age is like...if you can walk.

But he was apparently so busy doing Aknadin's taxes that he's decided it's good judgement to throw himself at a 800 ft tall dragon/crotch/man.

for his credit, Sun Tzu's art of war hasn't been written yet.

And Sad Seto realizes his true purpose, which is that he has a smarter, stronger, and more powerful girlfriend (ish.) Which is a running theme on this show, as we all know.

In a bizarre cut that I can't believe they left on US TV...other than I think they couldn't cut this any other way, the penis dragon attached to Zork extended it's neck up to grab Blue eyes by her neck and just fling her into the ground, killing her instantly.

I don't like that the neck can extend longer. I don't like that it's a function of the dragon crotch. They knew. They knew what this looked like. Thanks, I hate it.

Also what an embarrassing way for Seto's past self to die. Truly the hieroglyphs about this event will be wild, and thousands of years later, Grandma Muto probably looked at this event etched into stone and just thought it was weird ancient pervert stuff.

Sorry if you were thinking Sad Seto would recover last minute and realize he's like the most OP person in Yugioh. He instead rotted from his hand and joined the rest of our Egyptian cast in Shadow Hell.

Leaving us with just Mana. And like kudos to her, but how on EARTH did she survive so freakin long!? Like of all of them, I thought Seto would be the last one. Not Mana. Not in a million years did I think it'd be the girl who hid in a pot.

But youknow maybe that's why she survived?

And then Bakura casually walked away from the only Seto who matters. Which is fitting, because if memory serves, that's also what Yami did to Seto for like half of the Battle City tourney.

It's such a weird strange bod on this dragon. It's such a strange bod. He's both got kind of a belly, but also is ripped to shreds. Such a weird bod.

In case you were like "We haven't given Seto enough motivation," we also toss in a few nearly dead brothers just to make sure we have properly traumatized this boy to the point where he'd duel someone who isn't Yugi Muto.

Seto decided magic exists 6 minutes ago, and he's already better at magic than Yugi Muto who's had access to it for YEARS.

Like he learned about magic in a different culture, a different time, a different language, and now he's fighting the final boss.

But it's Seto, so I buy it. He would speedrun his life like this.

That's the dialogue of the show where he says his first words were "neutron blast attack" and youknow...he probably has very few memories of himself as a child since his parents died and his other family put him up for adoption...but he knows his first words?

That, or Seto likes making his brand a reality by making up whatever nonsense it takes to make that brand legit. Which I can also see him doing.

Also please don't look at this foreshortened hand, don't look at it, ignore that this happened.

So thanks to Bakura's weird choice to drag Seto into this universe in the first place, now Bakura has to fight Seto and his 3 blue eyes that would not have existed here otherwise.

++++++ME RANTING ABOUT THE SETO ARC FEEL FREE TO SKIP++++

TBH it kinda makes the whole Sad Seto arc feel kind of like it didn't need to exist. Like this is the Seto fight that matters. This one right here, and although they share a name, it's not with the same guy who fought Zorc at the beginning of this episode.

And like I could add it to a list of problems with this season. But Sad Seto started out so interesting, and then forgot. It was like he only existed to introduce the dragon, and not explain anything at all about the nature of Seto Kaiba we know and love. Like the possession of Aknadin can be a parallel to how Seto was raised following Gozaburo's footsteps, but youknow...that's all old territory.

Like, I wish I had any sort of new growth from the interaction of either of the Seto's together in the same room, much like we've been getting from Yami facing his past self. Yami's been growing a lot, he's been facing his demons, but Seto? Seto's been walking around this desert trying find wifi.

(which like he did find a "wifey" which is almost wifi but wasn't as helpful because she was dead)

The Seto Kaiba who is fighting Bakura right now, is the same exact guy we saw at the end of the last arc against Zeigfried Von Schroeder.

Which means the reason that Seto is now souped up and capable of going up against Bakura isn't because of anything we witnessed here in this arc, but because of the weird horse guy last arc who taught him how to put up a better firewall.

And maybe there was a draft where Seto decides he is a spiritual reincarnation of the Pharaoh of Egypt. Maybe there was a draft where he gained a new ability. Maybe there was a draft where he realized the gravity of what was happening and wanted to save the world.

But it ain't this draft, unfortunately.

Seto is here not because of an internal growth reason, but because he was on a tablet in S2, and we have to know where that plot thread went to have an ending...but the show rewrote what it initially said in S2.

Like in the OG timeline, it was Seto who killed Pharaoh. But here we found out it was actually Aknadin who possessed Seto to kill Pharaoh. (and at some point in that fight, Pharaoh stuck his soul in a box and sealed away Zorc)

Sad Seto was apparently a chill bro the entire time. Just a nice guy who arrested half of Cairo and had a sort-of-girlfriend for about 8 hours before she biffed it.

And I would have been OK with that, if it were more interesting than what we initially thought happened in the past: where we thought it was a kickass Seto launching a coup. But unfortunately, it's not, instead it's a boy who started out powerless, and continued to be powerless despite working in Pharaoh's literal court. He didn't even have the power to not get possessed.

And I am sure there were other drafts, and endings are hard, and the author did get hella hospitalized while he wrote this season, animation is a miracle of many moving parts and budgets, and we were lucky to even get an ending to this show. So I don't want to sound like I'm complaining when there are so many worse directions this show could have gone. I'm just a little surprised it went this direction, mostly.

But say what you will about Yugioh, it doesn't like to be predictable, doesn't it?

+++++++++++++++++++OK I'M DONE++++++++++++++++++++++

Speaking of characters who haven't gained anything from being here, Tristan is no longer possessed!

Tristan begs his apologies and Yugi takes it gracefully. Which means, it's time for the main character of this entire show to finally re-enter the plot.

And they do so, in style.

Y'all I remember being excited about the look and style of extreme sports, but I do not remember this many heelies in the 00's.

Anyway, this is the link to read these in chrono order, you know the drill. See you next time to see yet another girlfriend biff it!

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[tickle-bugs]

Tip of advice from a writing blog too shy to come off anon with like- 5 followers XD. Write for YOU, not anybody else. And if you don't feel like writing, then don't. Writing is supposed to be a fun hobby, not a chore. I know that only maybe 1 or 2 people are going to see my work, but that's okay! Because as long as a single person enjoyed what I put out through my stories, I'm happy. Write what YOU want to write, when YOU want to write it. Do not feel obligated by anyone else and don't let others tell you how to do YOUR hobby. Trust me, you'll be happier. I was in your place once (Not long ago, actually ^^). And hey, for what it's worth, I love what you do. Gives me the feeeeels!

I appreciate this! Honestly I do write for me. I know I sound like a broken record here but I really don’t care about notes or attention lol. It’s more about the ache of watching the active community shrink before my eyes. Fanfic is about self-indulgence, but it’s also about sharing in an experience with a community. There’s just little to no community anymore, and that sucks.

Most if not all of us write because we like sharing with you guys! Writing stuff for our people. Hearing the shouts from the void that you all loved sharing in a fic and want to see more is so motivating and heartwarming. For me, that’s a huge part of it. Even when I write something I’m not 100% into or a fic I’m not super proud of, getting to share it with you guys sparks joy.

Not to sound like a bitter old man here but people used to write essays in the tags. That was the thing to do. I can’t tell you the last time I even saw a fandom tag on one of my fics. Likes mean anything from “I saw this” to “reading later” to “omg I loved this but I can’t reblog this”. Going from a thrum of conversation that you could share in with other people to dead silence is unnerving and really sad. It makes me sad.

There are quite a few self-indulgent fics I could probably spit out right now in fandoms no one would care about, but would make me happy. I’ve done that more times than I can count! For me, it’s hard to feel motivated to write at all when the silence I expect from writing for a niche little thing in an already niche community is what I get for nearly everything I put out.

I’m so grateful for this little community. I really am. I don’t want to sound ungrateful or sharp, I’m just really fucking bummed out that I feel this way.

[fitzrove]

Euromusical Short Story Challenge (until June 18, 2023!)

I've been thinking about writing and finding ways to be motivated to write recently, and I've also been thinking about wanting more fic to read, given that nearly every euromusical fandom is relatively tiny... :D So I decided to come up with a little challenge!!!

If you write an euromusical short story (up to 650 words) before June 18th and tag me in the post/send me an AO3 link, I will draw MS Paint fanart of it.

I'm not a great artist by any means (you can see my level of talent in this Elisabeth meme), but I think it will be fun, and I also think that the fanart being drawn with Paint takes off any possible pressure for a story to be super polished XD I make no promises as to the quality of the art (I will generally try not to spend more than 10-20 minutes per piece) but I promise I will make the art.

RULES:

For this one, to qualify as an euromusical, Mark Seibert should have been in a production of the show at some point. (Kidding... kind of ahdfgfhfj). I do kind of think, for the purposes of this challenge, that stuff like POTO, Wicked, J&H and Wildhorn Dracula doesn't qualify, despite being often produced in European countries. But French musicals, Austrian musicals, German musicals, Swedish musicals etc. all work - it doesn't matter if the composer is American, so Schikaneder and Affaire Mayerling etc are okay :D For shows that I'm less familiar with the fanart may look weird (hopefully I will be able to find reference pics), but tbh, I think all of the fanart will look somewhat weird.

Les Mis and Miss Saigon explicitly don't qualify as euromusicals though xD

No pre-written or existing stories. The purpose of the challenge is to make more stuff!!

The fic can be about anything and feature any character/s, but I reserve the right to choose what I draw and choose the level of cartoonishness of the drawing. You can DM and let me know if you want the art to be sent privately or if it's okay to post publically (I think I'll generally put it as a reblog of the story)

It would be really funny if someone did Eierwurf von Halle (this is not really a rule, I just like that 'show')

So yeah :D This is just a silly idea, let's see if anyone gets interested lol

[toxicanonymity]

Do you ever struggle with feelings of discouragement or inadequacy if your fics don’t do as well as you had hoped?

I’m struggling with that myself. I try not to get so hung up on it but it’s very hard, especially when something I’m so proud of doesn’t do as well as my other works.

I don’t even feel motivated to write bc I don’t wanna set myself up for disappointment

Discouragement, sure, I think that's natural sometimes. But I really don't feel like stats have anything to do with adequacy. Baring my soul, yuck. But fuck it we ball. Sorry it's a long answer.

I don't think I've ever answered a serious ask aside from the time i created Dr. rock which hardly counts but I've seen a lot of people struggling with this lately and hope this might be idk comforting to a person or two without leading to debate/discourse.

You mentioned something you're proud of isn't doing as well as your other works, and I can see how that would be disappointing. For laughs, I'll compare 2 of mine. These fics are impossible to compare (as are most, I think) but I def understand the urge to measure yourself against what you see as the potential. Aches: <1k popular trope I banged out in no time, wasn't sure about it, literally thought "people don't have to like it" before I hit post. >4 notes per word. Left in Lincoln: >22k posted so far, challenging, writing it for months. Has possibly driven me crazy bc I had this passing thought the other day and not about TLOU. (I didn't feel like re-reading it all): "I should just rewatch the movie. . .wait." 🤡 The whole Lincoln series combined has fewer notes than Aches lmao. But it's far more rewarding in getting to see it come to life, quality of engagement, and stretching myself 😏. It's not for everyone, for various reasons. Surely would have better stats without the twist I went with. But at what cost??

-------

Often, if people don't read or like something, it's a reflection of their own interests, limitations, and assumptions. And the right "fit."

I don't rly read much in general, but specifically, I rarely read long stuff (if I do I prob scan a lot tbh). I normally only want, if any, just enough plot/premise to build sexual tension. I don't read fluff or angst. I don't have the attention span / commitment to get invested in original characters. I tend to avoid stuff similar to what I'm working on. I make assumptions - If there's no word count, maybe it's too long. I know a lot of the fics I skip for these reasons must be fantastic. Assumptions I experience - I've seen very popular fics in the wild that strike me as dark, creepy, or pervy but aren't tagged that way. So some things that are tagged dark, etc., including plenty of mine, might not be dark in the way people assume based on their own ideas, or based on what others do tag. Also some people think I only write dark when sometimes it's just horny (see master list).

I've sometimes found myself thinking "It sucks more people don't read this bc i bet they would enjoy it" (not just my own fics). It might sound egotistical but I think it's often true.

------

Of course I want engagement because that means more people reading something which can mean more interaction, discussion, learning what you liked, what you think, etc. that's what I love.

But notes aren't rly near the top of what I care about, even though it does feel great to get them and I truly appreciate every single one.

Night walks doesn't get nearly as many notes as some of my other stuff, especially these days, but it's fun to write and I like to feed his feral fans who only get more into him with time. Same with raider: among those who do read and engage, I sense rising enthusiasm, thirst, and rate of falling in love with him (my bad). That's all worth more than 1000 likes to me. I have a good time writing these guys, so I write them more than other ones that get way more notes 🤷. I'm not saying notes don't matter at all, I know they affect exposure and engagement. But if just did what gets notes, I don't think I'd have such high quality engagement bc I'd just bang out more stuff with the most popular tropes instead of our fave Joels and those destined to become our faves bc they offer something special.

My outlook was the same before I had so many followers btw. Rock Bottom (22k) was what I felt like writing, still more ambitious than anything I've done in the Halloween fandom. I was disappointed it got way less attention than my one shots, but I know it's a banger, just certainly not for everyone lol.

-

I'm sorry for what you're experiencing and feeling, but I think it's very common and hope you can reframe it to not feel inadequate. I especially hope it doesn't discourage you from writing. ❤️

[sleepdeprivedandinsane]

I, I Found Light

Harry x Hermione, only they developed a relationship in year 6 when Ron and Ginny started dating other people.

Chapter Summary: Ron, Lavender, and the others lock Harry and Hermione in a storage closet. Maybe they confess, maybe they don't.

Warning: There's some kissing, some borderline steamy dialogue but nothing too graphic I think? Also may trigger some claustrophobic folks. Fun fact; I am in fact claustrophobic but just because it wasn't uncomfortable for me doesn't mean that's the case for everybody, so I thought I'd mention it. (P.s. I can do smut if yall want that in the next part 👀)

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

Lavender was so close to ignoring Ron.

But Ron was convinced that given enough time, they'd come together on their own. She wasn't so convinced.

"I'm gonna lock them in a closet." Lavender blurted out quietly, so only Ron and Neville could hear her.

Both boys looked up from their chess game to see that she was watching Harry and Hermione, who were sitting a little too close to be considered friendly, doing their homework together on the sofa.

"Lav..." Ron trailed off.

"I know! But look!" She said indignantly, pointing at the two. "They're literally the only ones unaware that they're practically dating already."

"She does have a point." Seamus chimed in from where he was watching over Neville's shoulder, crouching over him as they sat huddled in a corner of the common room on the floor.

"Why aren't we setting them up again?" Dean asked from beside Seamus.

"Because this is something they need to sort out for themselves." Ron said.

"You're just worried they'll kill you if they find out you were the one to set them up, especially if they find out that you knew they liked each other and didn't say anything." Neville said, contemplating his next move.

"Great, thanks, Nev. You're a lot of help." Ron deadpanned.

Neville just gave him a thumbs up without looking up from the board.

"I'm going to burst, Ron. I literally can't take their longing glances anymore." Lavender said dramatically.

Padma, who was quietly reading beside Lavender up to this point, piped up, "Locking them in a closet might work."

"I like that idea." Seamus snickered.

"You just want to lock someone in a closet." Ron accused with a glare.

"Perhaps." He retorted playfully.

"Ron, I'm either locking them in a closet or setting them up for Slughorn's Christmas party." Lavender stated stubbornly.

Ron sighed heavily. "Fine. We'll figure out how to trap them in a broom cupboard or something."

Lavender squealed excitedly, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?" Parvati asked.

~~~

"What do you need me to go with you for?" Harry asked Ron, confused.

"I told you, I need help grabbing stuff from the storage closet." Ron responded.

"For practice?" Harry asked, suspecting an ulterior motive.

He just hoped it wasn't a prank. It took him nearly two weeks to wash that sticky goop from his school robes last time. He'd had to enlist Hermione's help, much to his chagrin and her amusement.

Ron just nodded his head with a hum.

Harry glared suspiciously but didn't press him further.

~

"But why are we going to the quidditch field?" Hermione asked.

"Ginny needed help with something." Lavender answered simply.

"But why didn't she ask Harry and Ron? They actually play the sport." Hermione questioned further, her curiosity beating her trepidation.

"I don't think it had something to do with quidditch itself. Plus, I think she'd already asked them." She said.

Hermione hummed. She suspected there was something else but didn't think she'd get any answers from Lavender.

They continued their trek across the field quietly.

Once they came to the quidditch storage locker, Hermione's confusion increased.

"What-" Hermione tried to ask, but Lavender spoke over her.

"Just gotta grab something real quick, would you mind?" She asked, gesturing to the closet.

"Sure," Hermione said slowly, approaching the closet, "What am I grabbing?" She asked, turning around to see that Lavender had shut her in.

"What the- Lavender!" Hermione yelled.

Just a moment later, Harry was shoved in, and the door was shut again.

"Hermione?" He asked.

"Is this a prank?" Hermione asked at the same time.

"Probably." Harry grumbled.

Hermione felt very flustered. The storage closet wasn't very big, and with the extra brooms and trunks of balls, it felt even smaller.

Her and Harry had to stand fairly close, which wouldn't normally fluster her, they've been closer after all, but it was dark and warm, and she hoped she wasn't blushing too hard.

"Nope, not a prank." Ron said.

"Ronald!" Hermione exclaimed, irked.

"It's very stuffy in here." Harry said, crossing his arms.

"So take off your sweaters." Ginny said flatly.

"Ginny?!" Harry asked, shocked that she'd actually helped her brother with something like this.

"Ginerva, I swear-" Hermione huffed.

"Ooh, she used your full name!"

"Seamus?! Who else is out there?" Harry asked.

"Hi." Neville said.

"Luna's here too." Ginny said.

"Why?" Hermione and Harry asked.

"Aw, they're already finishing each other's sentences." Seamus teased.

"I don't think they're gonna tell us." Hermione huffed. "God, it really is hot in here." She said, pulling at the collar of her shirt.

Harry nodded.

"Hey, we're gonna leave you two here for a bit, let us know if you end up confessing. Ciao!" Ginny yelled.

"Confessing?" Hermione mumbled to herself as she put her ear to the door.

She gasped indignantly.

"What?" Harry asked, pressing his ear to the door next to her.

"They're actually leaving!" She said.

Harry was about to complain right along with her until he noticed how close their faces were, so instead, he pulled back.

"Unbelievable." He'd said, hoping his face wasn't as red as it felt.

"Where could they be going?" She asked.

"Lunch?" He asked.

"I think there's still an hour until then." She shook her head.

Harry checked his watch, "Actually, that's probably exactly where they're going."

Hermione grabbed his hand to look for herself, but Harry wasn't thinking about that. All he could think about was how close she was and how small her hand felt in his.

She must've noticed, and she dropped his hand, "Sorry." She muttered shyly.

"I-it's fine." He mumbled. Fine? God, you sounded so dumb. He thought to himself.

Hermione tried taking her sweater off, but her elbow knocked into the door with a thud, and when she moved over in surprise, she almost tripped over a trunk.

"Ow!"

Harry caught her arm before she could fall into the broomsticks and pulled her up.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, just didn't realize just how close I was to the door." She said.

For a few more minutes, they tried maneuvering around the tiny enclosed space, unable to move without elbowing or bumping into each other.

Hermione huffed. "If they were gonna lock us somewhere, they could've chosen a bigger cupboard. I can't even take off my own sweater."

Harry was about to offer to help her, but his mind immediately went somewhere it shouldn't have, especially about someone who is strictly his friend, his best friend at that.

Hermione tried once more in vain, elbowing the wall this time as she tried to pull her arms out of the sleeves. "Ouch!" She whispered harshly, mostly to herself.

But still, knowing that she was uncomfortable and too warm, he pushed aside those thoughts.

"Do you want me to help you?" He asked.

Hermione felt her heart palpitate uncomfortably fast, her face warming at the thought of Harry taking her sweater off. It was an innocent (more or less) offer, and she knew this, but her mind still betrayed her with inappropriate thoughts about her best friend taking more than just her sweater off.

But she didn't want him to think she was uncomfortable with the offer. Actually, she was more than okay. But he didn't exactly need to know that.

"I'd appreciate that, Harry." She sighed.

He took a small step toward her and gripped the hem of her sweater. "Arms up." He whispered.

She nodded and complied.

He pulled the wool garment from her, careful not to accidentally graze her body. He didn't think she'd like that. (She would, but he didn't know that.)

Once it was off, Hermione sighed, relieved. "Thank you, that's much better."

He nodded because he didn't trust his voice and sat her sweater on the trunk next to them.

"What about you? Aren't you hot?" She asked.

"Yeah, but that's okay." He assured her.

"Let me help you." She offered.

He nodded.

She pulled at the bottom of his sweater, her fingers brushing against his abdomen. Since he's nearly a whole head taller than her, he pulled his arms out of the sleeves himself once they were past his elbows.

He set it next to hers on the trunk.

"That is a lot better." He agreed.

He rolled up his sleeves, too preoccupied to notice her loosening her tie and unbuttoning the top few buttons, revealing her decolatage and the tops of her breasts. She'd also rolled up her sleeves a bit, too.

She leaned her head back against the wall and shut her eyes, not noticing Harry staring at the way her folded arms pushed up her breasts, showing her cleavage. He was glad her eyes were closed because his face was aflame.

He also noted how her skirt seemed shorter on her long legs, something he hadn't noticed before. He could see more of her thighs than before, between her shorter skirt and her socks as well. She used to wear thigh-highs, and they disappeared under the hem of her skirts, but the ones she had on stopped below her knees.

He noticed she was wearing different shoes, too. Hermione didn't usually wear heels, most often opting for flat mary-janes, but these ones had a heel. They were slimmer than her other shoes, daintier.

He shook his head and mirrored her stance, leaning back against the opposite wall from her and closing his eyes. He tried to push the image of her chest from his mind, but alas, it was at the forefront.

She heard his head thump against the wall and opened her eyes. He had his fingers tucked inside his pockets, his forearms on display, and she could see the veins on his hands and arms. He, too, had loosened his tie and undid the top couple buttons, and she could see how his neck flexed.

Stop it. That's something so silly to be turned on by. She mentally scolded herself.

But she couldn't stop thinking about kissing up his neck and how it would feel to have his hands on her body. How his arms would flex as he pulled her closer. How his lips would feel on hers. How he might taste. She wondered how he would touch her. If he'd be rough or gentle. She'd be perfectly fine with either, but knowing him, it'd probably be the latter.

Her eyes unfocused as something Lavender said popped into her head.

"Do you see the way he looks at you? He definitely likes you back."

She wanted so desperately for that to be true. But she couldn't handle his rejection if he didn't feel the same way. Their friendship means too much to her to jeopardize it over some silly crush.

At some point, he felt her eyes on him, and he looked over at her to see her deep in thought.

Without thinking, he brushed a strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.

She broke out of her thoughts and looked up at him. His fingers lingered on her cheek a moment too long to be considered friendly. She noticed the way he looked at her just then. Saw how his pupils were dilated, so much so that she almost couldn't see the vibrant green of his eyes.

He went to pull away, flustered, but before he could, she reached her hand up and held his hand there by his wrist.

He looked, really looked at her, and saw how her own eyes were blown wide. He didn't see any sign of uncomfortability. In fact, she was entirely at ease. Surprising, since she wasn't fond of enclosed spaces.

She reached her other hand up tentatively, holding the side of his neck as her thumb brushed his jaw.

She stepped closer to him.

He was slouched slightly, enough that her face was just about level to his. His legs spread just enough for her to stand in between.

She was so close now. He threaded his fingers through her curls, holding the base of her head. Once she was sure he wouldn't pull away, she brought her hand that previously held his wrist up to grip his shirt.

He hadn't noticed until then that he unconsciously brought his other hand to her waist when she stepped closer.

"Why haven't you kissed me yet?" Hermione whispered, her brown eyes boring into his.

He didn't need to be told twice, moving his hand on her waist to her lower back to pull her closer, using his other hand that held her neck to pull her into a kiss.

Hermione was surprised that line worked, still not entirely sure that he felt the same. But the way he held her and pulled her closer should have been evidence enough.

All either of them could think about was the other's lips on theirs.

Harry's hand slipped from her curls to her hip, pulling her flush against him.

Hermione whimpered, clutching the collar of his shirt in her hands and deepening the kiss.

They didn't pull away until they absolutely had to. Harry leaned his forehead against hers, his eyes still closed. He still wasn't entirely sure this wasn't a dream.

She kissed him again, not as gently as he'd kissed her. He felt her convey her need through the kiss, and he ground his hips against hers, eliciting a gasp which he used to push his tongue into her mouth.

She moaned, digging her nails into his chest, pulling a groan from him.

When she pulled away for air, he kissed down her jaw to her neck.

She let out a breathy moan, "Harry." she whispered.

A pleasant feeling, almost tingly, ran down his spine upon hearing his name fall from her lips in such a way, and he wanted to hear it again.

"Harry," she said again, pulling his lips from her neck to look at him.

"You have no idea how long I've been wanting to do that." He muttered.

She smiled, nuzzling her nose against his. "Now, you can."

"As much as I've enjoyed our time in this cupboard, I don't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing their plan worked." He said mischievously.

She smirked. "Well, they should be coming back in..." She grabbed his hand to look at the time, "About 10 minutes. Enough time to put ourselves back together before they come let us out."

"One more." He said before pulling her into another kiss.

She smiled and kissed him back.

"How long until one of them blurts out that we like each other." She teased.

He smirked. "I don't think they'll make it past Christmas."

"Hmm," she hummed, "I think once they get back from Christmas break and see that "nothing" happened, even though I plan on staying at school, then they'll tell us."

"Oh? Since when did you decide not to go home?" He asked.

"Since now. That way, we'll have some alone time." She smiles.

He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at her playfully.

She playfully rolled her eyes and smacked his chest lightly. "Help me put my jumper back on."

He hummed. "I'm kind of enjoying the view."

"I never said we weren't going to pick up where we left off later."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you all so much for all the love on the previous parts, it means the world to me.

There will be more coming out, but as of right now, I'm in the middle of moving houses, so I might not have a whole lot of time to write.

Make sure to leave a comment, like, or reblog!

Xoxo 🫶❤️

@flowerhowellsworld @dr-doo

[therk900]

🫧February TC Challenge (Day 1-29)🫧

1. Do you have more platonic or romantic feelings for them? Romantic feelings tbh

2. Have they ever physically touched you? Yes. A has lots of times, mainly through high fives or "accidental" knee touching! I have touched S's shoulder once. M and i have knocked hands a few times

3. Would you ever plan to pursue them when you graduate? (And when you’re legal) Maybe! Haven't completely decided yet

4. Do you know their birthday/zodiac sign? I know what zodiac sign S is since i know his birthday

5. Do you know their favourite colour? Nope

6. What do they teach? B taught English, M and S teaches science. S also teaches Italian.

7. Do you think you’re their favourite student? I have no clue. Hopefully i am!

8. Are they tall, short, or average height? S is tall. And i mean VERY tall. B is average...man height?? A is 5'11" and M is just a bit shorter than S. I think N is around the same height as M, maybe a cm taller

9. Do they have any pets? B did have a cat once, but it had to be put down when B was 16. M also had a couple pets

10. Do you ever plan to confess your feelings to them? (Careful with this one, they could possibly lose their job or get you in trouble) I don't know, maybe not. i don't want them to lose their jobs. maybe after i leave if i keep in touch with them

11. Do you know any of their talents? S is good at netball if that counts as a talent. N knows how to play the guitar and A knows how to play an instrument (i forget which one 😬)!

12. How often do you think of them? Most of the time

13. Have you told anybody irl about your crush? Yes. I have told my friend. She is the only one that knows

14. Be honest: Do you think you're in love? Happy Valentines Day everyone! To be completely honest, maybe! There are so many things that i've done with all of them that have stuck with me and still make me happy!

15. Do they motivate you to come to school? They motivate me all the time

16. Have you ever seen them cry? I haven’t, no

17. What kind of dynamic do you guys have? M is so fucking nice and caring towards me! He just treats me more differently then other students! A said to my mum personally that I’m his favourite student! He is fun to be around! S likes to joke around with me all the time, and we have this special bond and also treats me differently than other students! B used to be so caring towards me! N is like S!

18. Have they ever caught you staring? I'm pretty sure on multiple occasions

19. What was the most embarrassing thing you’ve done in front of them? (All of us have done some pretty embarrassing stuff, let’s be honest.) Falling in front of S multiple times (haha, i'm so clumsy) and crying in front of B 

20. Do they make you feel safe/loved? Yes

21. Have they ever rendered you speechless? Multiple times. It is a bit embarrassing when it happens. They help me to get my words out which is good

22. Are they a good teacher? They are amazing! Other students think so as well

23. Is there something they do that gives you the ick? No

24. Are you guys close? Well, kind of. With M, N and S, we are very close! A and i are quite close as well! B and i were close, but not as close as the rest.

25. Have you ever looked for their initial in those stupid TikToks that eight year olds make? I have a couple times. I just do it for fun

26. Have you ever dreamed about them? Plenty of times! I love each and ever one of them

27. Do you see yourself in a relationship with them? Kind of

28. Have you ever cried in front of them? I have cried in front of B and N once. S saw me just after I have cried which was embarrassing. M has seen me nearly cry. i was so close to crying in front of him, but i didn't.

29. How often do you speak to him/her? All the time