#so switching to mouse and keyboard will probably help

[ferronickel]

So I'm thinking about replaying Deltarune before the new chapters come out, and I was thinking it might be fun to stream it. Saturdays make the most sense with my schedule, but what time would work best for y'all? I could be more specific, but in the end I'm going to have to pick a time that works for me, and I've discovered that trying to account for other time zones just leaves everyone confused, so:

If things are split I can also try alternating times, since this will probably take a few weeks. Plus there will be vods after the fact for anyone who can't make the time.

[dravidious]

How was the buying process for a new computer? How did you decide which one to get?

Honestly I kinda didn't decide at all. I went onto this site's PC Builder thingy and just clicked one of the cheaper options. I was ignorant and scared of messing something up so I just left all the preset stuff as-is, except removing the graphics card because I already have one. I also kept everything as-is because I was gifted $1000 specifically to get a better computer and wanted to splurge for something good. If I cared more about saving money or if I knew what I was doing, I'd probably have swapped out more stuff. The specific parts I bought are these, but some of them were on sale so I got them for cheaper; I got them for $730, and they're now $800 at the time of writing.

The buying process was easy enough, just scary because it's the biggest purchase I've ever made. The building process was a pain in the butt, but looking up video tutorials and instruction manuals made sure I knew what I was doing. Overall, it took me 24 hours to finally get it fully working. Transferring the files over was slow, painful, and tedious, but that's mainly because of my old computer locking up whenever I tried to transfer too many files to an external drive. There's probably way easier ways to do it.

[pink-tonic]

Rapid Research🔪

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Warnings: None

Monday without my darling was hard for me. I had to suffer watching him from afar as he talked to the leader of the student council. Of course, I was close behind the two of them. I can't trust anyone, especially not Saikou. I trust him even less because of these new cameras. It'll be harder for me to do anything since it'll all be taped. So, keeping a close watch on him makes sense.

Today is now Tuesday, and that means another day without my darling. I will try to keep a close eye on them, but I do have certain things to tend to. Specifically, regarding Info. She sent me an odd text message in the morning. She wants me to stop by her club room. I found this to be odd. If she wanted to tell me something, she would do so over the phone. Unless it's a physical document or item, then she'll just drop it out her window, and I'll go pick it up. This is odd coming from her.

When I arrived at school, I quickly switched my shoes and started to go up to the third floor where her club is located. I walked by many students, but sadly, none of them were my darling. He must be in the student council room with that pathetic excuse of a school leader. I eventually make it to Info's club room. Her club room was an odd looking one. A dual set of thick, beige curtains decorated the windows and remained closed at all times. A camera was placed on the ceiling right outside of the club room, which was the only camera on campus before the huge overhaul. And the doors never seemed to open. It's like they were only for decoration.

I stand in front of the doors, and I wait. I look up towards the camera because I know she is currently inside watching me. Possibly even laughing at me. I hope this isn't a waste of time.

Then the impossible happens, one of the doors slides open. I step back in surprise. I look inside and I see a dark void, the lights weren't on. But I could see something, and it was a mountain of monitors that gave the room a small light source.

"Come in, or I'm shutting you out," a familiar robotic voice calls out to me. I quickly made my way inside, and the doors snapped shut behind me. I look over towards the light, and I see her. She's sitting at her desk looking and clicking through random webpages and different accounts.

She suddenly stops and rotates her chair, so she's looking at me now. "Happy you could come. I don't offer this opportunity to many," she tells me, framing this meeting as a privilege to have. I still can't see her face, but I do see a glint come from her red framed glasses.

"What did you want to show me? You're cutting into my time," I dismiss her and her cockiness. I don't have time to deal with her if I don't get anything valuable from her.

"You know, Ayato," she starts off, and it catches my attention. Maybe she's going to say something valuable to me, "I find you to be very interesting. You probably think I'm messing with you, but I'm not. I know more about you than you'll ever know, and what I find is so - I don't actually know how to put it. But interesting would be the best."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She seems to ignore me and spins her chair back around so she's now facing the monitors.

"But I'll make one thing clear. I do value you the most out of all the clients I have," she admits to me, but I don't believe her. I've heard of her having other clients, but I never bothered to look into it because I wouldn't gain anything from it.

"Get to the point. Why did you want me to come here in the first place?" I ask her as the clicking from her mouse and keyboard fill the room's silence. I'm getting tired of all this side conversation. Can't she tell me why she wanted me here in the first place?

"Well, I have a client. But he is rather odd," she explains to me, and it doesn't really help with my impatience.

"Who is he?"

"Kencho Saikou."

"Wait... does he have any relations to the Saikou Corporation?"

"Second son, second in line."

Now, I was intrigued. Different plans started to take shape in my mind. I could befriend this Saikou, I could kidnap him and hold him for ransom or even kill him. Any of these would surely make the older Saikou crumble.

"I see what you're thinking, Aishi, and I want you to snap out of it. Killing him wouldn't matter at all. And Kencho knows this better than anyone else," she tells me, giving small insight into the fact that she has already met him before.

"Why is this important to me? How is he going to help me?" Being in association with a Saikou could give me an upper hand, but it's clear that Kencho is at the bottom of the line. He might as well be a normal teenager and not the son of the most influential man in Japan.

"Megamo is planning something. I won't tell you what it is, but just know that it will affect you the most," she then hovers her cursor over a picture of the youngest Saikou,"he doesn't like his older brother at all. And you could help him with what he wants."

"What does he want?"

"Expose his family and the school of everything they have hidden from the public." Info then pulls herself closer to her desk and starts to open up different documents. "Come over here and read them."

I step closer, and I start to read the different websites she pulled up. "That article is about Kina, and that's a police report about Rana. If he's gonna expose this, then I'll get exposed, too."

"True. Only if you left anything behind. For Rana, you're fine in regards to that case. Kina's case is a cold case now, and I think it'll stay that way. Kencho doesn't care about the killer. He cares because of the fact that his father and grandfather paid people to not talk about it," Info informs me. So Kencho isn't trying to play detective. He is trying to let the public know of all the events that have been hidden from them.

"Do you understand now? He isn't trying to expose you, but he is trying to expose his family. As a type of revenge, for always having him as a second choice," Info then puts away the websites, "Are you going to take the offer? This could change everything."

She is right. This could change everything. The Saikou family will be looked at differently, Akademi will be met with a new wave of scrutiny, but maybe through it all, I could get my darling.

"I'll do it."

Info then opens a drawer and shuffles through a few items. I can hear different items smashing against each other. If I had to assume, I would guess it's computer parts and old cables. She seems to find what she was looking for and closes the drawer back up. "Take this. It's a burner phone. It's best to use this, so if anything happens, it will make it harder for them to connect anything to you."

I take the silver colored flip phone, and I open it up. A bright, white screen greets me. It boots up and makes a chime before taking me to the home screen where an outdated, blue wallpaper from a long forgotten era greets me. I close the phone and I put it in my pocket.

I decide to finally take my leave. Before I can make it towards the door, her voice calls out towards me.

"Rana."

"What about him?"

"His first jury trial is set for this Friday. I know you are supposed to testify. Will you be going?"

"I'll go. After all, my darling will be there too."

I start to walk over to the door, and I open it up. Before I fully step out, I hear a few familiar words.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you."

[meloncholy-words]

Robin: A Word That Means Run (Chapter 2: Red Hood)

Red Hood died as a Robin, and came back as something else. The name still means something to him.

A/N: Forgot to post this on Friday. Most of this chapter was pulled out of my ass because I don't know how drug dealers or city work works so. Enjoy <3 Again, actual canon does what it wants so I do too. If it's bad I apologize, I rewrote this like 7 times because I kept accidentally writing myself into corners

~~~

Chapter Warnings: Explosions, gun violence, canon typical violence, swearing, drugs and drug dealers, drug dealing to kids(it's only mentioned), past character death(it's Jason), brief descriptions of that night but nothing graphic, weapon inaccuracies probably, descriptions of blood and injury. No death occurs! Let me know if I should add more warnings please.

AO3 | Chapter List

The new bunch of dealers Red Hood was tracking were starting to become an issue. He would have been happy to turn a blind eye for a bit, get a feel for their operation before approaching them with either the offer to be under his control or the threat of being run out. But the kids in the alley talked. Not usually, but to Hood? Always. The kids told Hood that these guys were trying to sell to them, which was a pretty big no-no.

So Hood couldn't let them think they were getting away with this anymore.

Taking down their initial startup was pretty easy. All he needed to do was break a few bones and shoot a few limbs before they were scattering like flies. And that would've been the end of it, if they didn't seem so determined to set up shop.

This time around, the didn't stick to one place. Every time he got a tip as to where they might be, the place always turned up empty. They were in those places, if the scraps left behind were anything to go off of, but they'd gotten annoyingly good at scattering before Hood could appear.

The only good thing that seemed to be coming out of this dance was that not having a consistent place of operation meant selling the drugs was actually pretty hard to do efficiently. These dealers were pissing Hood off by still being around, but at least he could piss them off right back by tanking their sales.

One more bust in trying to track them down, and he was thoroughly frustrated.

There wasn't a lot to find as he stalked through the abandoned warehouse, mostly just scattered trash and a few old chairs likely picked up off the street. No forgotten drugs, no loose files, no dropped receipts, nothing that could be used to hunt them down any further.

A grumble rumbled deep within the mans chest. It had been a few weeks since he'd been trying to get a hold of these guys. He'd been itching to get his hands around their throats, slowly ingrained no-kill rule be damned. But he had other things to worry about, other scumbags, and he didn't want to dwell on these ones any longer than he had to. Which meant that he'd need help, which meant that he couldn't kill them.

Whatever. Dealing with this issue was more important than the disdain he had for dealing with his family, and they'd known he'd been on this for weeks now. They'd be willing to help.

Tapping into the Bat comm line, he was met with a conversation he didn't care for.

"Listen- listen! The cookie part of the Oreo is objectively the best!" Nightwing yelled into his mic.

"How does it feel to be fucking wrong?" Red Robin shot back.

"Well I wouldn't know, because I'm not."

Gods he hates this family.

"Exhilarating debate going on! I'll stop you right there," Hood cut in, ignoring the whisper of Thank fuck from Oracle. "O, can I get some help here? I need you to try getting camera footage from around me. Every time I try I'm too late and footage is missing, but you might be fast enough."

"Yep, on it. Give me a second." If Jason strained, he might be able to hear the clacking of a keyboard and mouse over his dumb siblings arguing over a cookie. Then there was silence; O had switched their channels. Jason would be sure to visit her with pastries more often. "It looks like we're a little late. There's a path of cameras with recently cut footage. So we can't get them on camera, but we might be able to track them down. That good enough for ya?"

"Yes, thank you, Oracle, my beloved eye in the sky."

"Haha, don't flatter me." She sounded like she enjoyed it anyway. "You've been on this for a while, should I send someone over to help you? You might be able to tie this up faster, but I get it if you wanna do this alone."

"Actually, that would be great. Who've you got for me?"

There was more silence. "Ok, Red's the closest to you, but he's only passing by on his way to a potential armed break in. That would take him ten to get over there, and fifteen if it turns out to be a real threat, not including the additional travel time to circle back around to you. Bats is only about seven out though, and he's unoccupied. Everyone else is more than ten. Thoughts?"

Hood audibly groaned at that. Ten minutes wasn't a long time to have to wait, but it may end up being just long enough to be a problem. Red wouldn't ditch his mission, which Hood didn't blame him for, but that would be a twenty minutes wait. Batman was the only logical person to send over. But that meant he'd have to be around Batman, which he wasn't sure was worth it.

Possibly let these guys escape, again, or have to deal with Batman? Escape or Batman, escape or Batman, escape or...

"Fuck it, send the old man over." He hoped he wouldn't regret this.

"Got it. Sending you both directions to that last camera. He should get there a little bit after you."

"Thanks O, you're the best and I love you~!"

The trail led him to a few blocks of old, abandoned buildings. This place had been sectioned off by the city years ago, deemed too unsafe due to the amount of chemicals and pollution that seemed to unnaturally gather around this singular point. Bruce had been trying to put in money for years to get this place cleaned up, but the city didn't seem to notice. Or care.

It was the perfect place to lay low until Hood was off of their trail, and then they could go somewhere actually habitable, because no one would even think about being here for more than ten minutes. Except that Hood already here, and this was ending tonight.

The soft flutter of a cape let him know that the old man was here without him having to turn around. Sure enough, there was a living shadow beside him in seconds.

"So, we split up and try locating them faster?" It was the fastest option, and they could cover double the distance in about the same time.

Batman only grunted in acknowledgment, the bastard, before he faded into the darkness on one side. Hood scoffed, muttering something under his breath as he took to the other side.

The place was a mess. There was glass and graffiti everywhere, bits of door and wall scattered along the roads. An average Crime Alley look, to be sure. Hood scanned the windows and doorways carefully, looking for any sign of life, or even where their potential vehicle might be. Anything to give away the location of these bastards.

His comm crackled in his ear, a deep voice coming out of it.

"Found them." A simple two words, and Hood's grapple was clinging onto a building, pulling him to the direction of the Bat.

By the time he made it over to the building of their choosing, the sounds of an altercation could be heard from above. Jason couldn't help but be a little jealous that they hadn't waited for him. The sounds of metal batarangs clanging against wall and floor was soon overcome by the loud ring of gunfire and Hood tucked and rolled into a window that wasn't broken just yet.

There was blood. Blood and broken bones and grunts of pain and exhaustion in the air. Jason was careful to deal harmful, maybe permanent but not fatal damage. The joints were hard to aim for, but putting a bullet into their limbs was good enough. They had been trying to convince Jason to switch to rubber bullets recently, and as the drug dealers who thought selling drugs to kids was a good idea yelped and screamed and writhed in pain on the floor, he was glad he hadn't been convinced just yet.

Movement caught his eye. Movement that fled out of the door, that thought they could get away. Hood wasn't going to let them. Everything was almost wrapped up here, Bruce would be find on his own while he went to deal with this straggler.

The form weaved between buildings with the grace of a Gothamite who knew when to run and a rabbit who knew it had been caught. It was clunky and frantic, but it knew how to run like hell from danger. Unfortunately for them, Jason could run like a predator.

The person dipped into a building, one at the end of a block. There was nowhere to go after this - not unless they were willing to be out in the open with a marksman chasing after them. And who would want that?

Jason slowed to a walk. More of a stalk, actually. His steps were firm and calculated as he entered the space. There were stairs to one side that led to nothing(the second floor was missing), and a door to the other that likely led into a dining area. Door number one it is.

Slowly, carefully, cautiously, Hood grabbed the doorknob, pushing it open.

On the far wall there was an open window, pushed and left open. Silent in comparison to it breaking instead. And in the middle of that room, a few feet away from the window, was an old, worn out dining table. On the dining table?

Bombs.

Old bombs that had likely been sitting here collecting dust. Likely to be used in the destruction of this place before the city decided it wasn't really worth it and left all their equipment just lying around in one of the most unsafe places in the city. In the center was a timer that was ticked down to 0:02.

Jason had been here before. In front of a timer that ticked down the seconds until he died, in an old abandoned place that no one would ever find him in and no one was coming for him. He hadn't made it out on that day, dying until the smothering, fiery rubble of another building in another country.

But things were different now. He was older, smarter, not tied up and left to rot and die in the cold. He could get out. He could close the door and run, maybe try to use all the weight he'd gained to break down the wall. He could do that. He should do that. He should-

"Robin!"

He knows that name. It used to be his. He used to wear it proudly, happily. He wore it to everything, even his death day. He'd died with that name, taken it to the grave and when he crawled his way back out it wasn't his anymore. He'd grown to resent the person it belonged to, then learned to get over it. There was another Robin now, one that was neither of them. Robin was not longer him - hadn't been his in a long time.

He moved anyways.

There was warmth and tightness around him, pulling him close and away from that bomb that reminded him of his biggest failure. Pulling him into his fathers arms, and suddenly it didn't matter that he was a lot bigger and heavier than that man now. Because it wasn't true.

Here in his arms, shielded from an explosion, he was 12 again, smiling and laughing and bright and happy, because he had never died before, and the name Robin was magic to him.

It took a moment for the world to stop spinning, for his ears to stop ringing. When it did stop, he was still there in those arms. He wasn't 12, though. He was 22, and his dad still held him close.

Stray pieces of wall continued to rain down, lighting pittering and pattering against the bomb-proof material guarding him. There was dust in the air, thick and heavy and gross, but it didn't touch him when he was buried so deep into the darkness. A few seconds passed, and when Jason felt that they were properly in the clear, he shoved Batman away, picking himself up and dusting himself off.

"Do you think that's funny?" he yelled, spinning around. There was a light anger in his voice - not as bad as it was when his eyes glowed a vibrant green, but not as soft as when he mocked his brothers in the kitchen. "Where do you get off, old man, calling me that name again? What's wrong with you?"

Batman stared at him for a moment from where he lay on the floor, then another.

"Well?

A small smirk picked at his lips. "You responded to it."

Jason sputtered for a second, thankful that his helmet covered his face because he may have gone a little red. "Yeah- well- you try betraying three years of instinct next time!"

"Instincts you haven't used in seven years?"

"That- I- I've only been conscious for like three of those years!"

"Of course, Jaylad." The old man was standing now, upright and facing him with a soft smile on his face.

"Pssh, whatever. There's- we still need to get that other guy, we don't have time to sit around and handle sentimental shit."

"Of course."

"Don't say shit to anyone,"Jason called as was already turned around, walking fast in the direction he decided to go. He didn't bother listening for a response, huffing to himself and mumbling something under his breath, too quiet for his helmet's modulator to pick up.

Yeah, he regretted bringing Bruce along. A lot.

Well... maybe only a little bit.

[jenroses]

Working on making my space more accessible means short term intense effort for long term ease.

So the "before" was roughly this:

(the pictures are described in the text for those on screen readers.)Adjustable bed, janky bedrail with a squishmallow between me and it, messy shelf, laptop mounted on a slightly precarious wall mount, upright mouse on pillow, keyboard on lap, squishmallow under knees. Adjustable bed was awkward because the legs were not secure. They are now stabilized with car jack stands rated to 4000 pounds and it feels very secure. Price? $25.50.

Janky bedrail replaced with a smaller, sturdier, strapped-to-the-bed version: $39.99. The laptop lived there continuously for like five years without being de-mounted more than a couple times. So it was replaced with a desktop mid-tower with a larger monitor. Note that the screen is well aligned to my head and neck, and has a shelf mounted above it for the speakers and webcam. On the wall you can see a little basket, and empty shelf space for a plate of food and a jar of lemonade. There's a smaller pillow under my left elbow, a grey faux large sheepskin "rug" from Costco under my shoulders and head, and a colorful blanket over my lap. My knees are on the squishmallow and the mouse is on a sturdy memory foam pillow with a dark tencel pillowcase.

Here are some of the little quality of life improvements.

Today's project was a little basket! $11.99 and required a drill and about 10 minutes of futzing including getting the tools. In the basket are the bed remote, the air conditioning remote, a nail file, a sewing kit, fancy eyedrops, my distance glasses, some double stick tape, some lite salt, and my bendy straws. I can mend things lying down now.

Here, at the bottom of the computer, we have a new second on-off buttons so the monitor doesn't have to move for me to access the on-off switch. $7.85 and took five minutes to install.

This is what I see of the speakers and the webcam. They're mounted to a Vesa-compatible shelf mounted behind the monitor. The shelf was about $25 and was VERY difficult to get mounted correctly, requiring a lot of thought and I needed a lot of help to get it done. But it's sturdy. The mount for the webcam was $8. The speakers are up there in an extremely janky fashion and if you do something similar you should probably get speakers that are able to be mounted with a bolt or tripod mount. I got an etsy printed part and basically double-stick gorilla taped it up there to hold the speakers and it mostly works but only mostly. I'll figure something better out when I have another couple spoons to rub together. next project: Cable management.

[7thboss]

QMK Projects

Hello QMK Community,

I've been an amateur mechanical keyboard user for years and an even more amateur electrician for even longer. I had learned about the existence of a Dactyl Manuform keyboard and had to make one for myself. With a few trials and helpful guides I eventually made two pairs, one for work and one for home. I named them Enki and Namma after the Sumerian creation gods. They were made with Gatreon Green and Kaith White switches respectively.

Pictured: Wiring process top, Enki left, Namma right

I even went so far to make my own keyboard layout combining the "Workman" layout and the "M-system" layout to make a keyboard optimized for English and Japanese typing.

Pictured: Workman / M-system Hybrid Layout

All of these projects above would not be possible without QMK (Quantum Mechanical Keyboard) an open source firmware used in hobbyist mechanical keyboards. Despite all of that, QMK currently has no support for my next ambitions. There are two primary features I am looking for: -Analog Hall Effect Switches -PS/2 Support

The first feature I would like to implement is analog hall effect switch support. Hall effect switches are switches that utilize the "Hall effect". Basically, they are a sensor that can detect when a magnet is moving over them. In keyboards, this means you can create a switch that is literally just a magnet on a spring. This simplicity makes the switch very durable. These switches can even be analog meaning they can detect the intensity of a key press and be adjusted in software. The one downside for most consumers is that they are only offered as linear switches, in other words, switches with little or no click. Personally, this is not a downside because I'm looking to move to linear switches anyway.

Pictured: Hall effect sensor left, Hall effect process right

Hall effect switches already have support to a certain extent. Hall effect sensors can be digital instead of analog, meaning the switch can be used as a normal switch plugged in the normal way. I see this as wasted potential and will not be using these for my project. Only one analog Hall effect QMK keyboard exists to my knowledge, the Keychron Q1 HE. I do not intend to buy this keyboard but may reach out to Keychron to see how they pulled this off.

Pictured: Keychron Q1 HE

The second feature I want to implement is PS/2 support. I imagine very few of you know what I'm talking about, some of you think I'm trying to make a keyboard compatible with a 25 year old games console, and the ones who do know what I'm talking about probably think I'm crazy.

Pictured: PS/2 Port

Above is a PS/2 port, a standard introduced by IBM in 1987. Now I suspect the entire audience is on the same page of thinking I am nuts. Hear me out, there is a reason you can still find computer's made with this port today. When using this port with a keyboard or mouse, the device interfaces directly with the hardware of the machine. USB devices have a polling rate, they effectively send their data by waiting for the bus. With a PS/2 port, there is no waiting so the speed of data is dramatically increased. There are several other features exclusive to PS/2 but the latency decrease is my primary objective

Pictured: Passive PS/2 Adapter

Some of you may find a device like the one pictured above and think there is no need for this direct support, you can just plug the keyboard into this adapter and it will just work. You are wrong. Only certain keyboards play well with these adapters. There is a protocol built into a normal keyboard's firmware that can detect if it's plugged into an adapter like this. This protocol does not currently exist in QMK to my knowledge. My intention is to introduce this protocol into QMK's firmware for use with these passive adapters. This way, I don't need to introduce a new port to my existing keyboards or get PS/2 wires and plugs.

I'm intending to make another two keyboards with both of these new features named Gilgamesh and Enkidu because what good is a theme if you don't stick to it? I'll post updates as I continue along this journey and hope you are interested in how this project develops. If you have any insights or knowledge please feel free to reach out.

[infinite-games-finite-life]

Mother Machine Demo!

I went ahead and ran through the full Mother Machine demo and I absolutely loved it!

In the Mother Machine, you play as a gremlin, a goblin creature, a little guy of sorts that feels very reminiscent of Stitch of Lilo and Stich fame, large-eyed, grabby-handed and with a need to eat and break all sorts of fun creatures and crystals, you are tasked by your gigantic mother to run through caves and various biomes to repower the various abandoned outposts and satellites that allow Mother to send you on more expeditions and to further-away places.

You'll scratch, roll, jump, eat and fart your way through various procedural cave systems, causing chaos and craziness all while your sweet robot mom tells you how smart and wonderful you are. I won't lie, this makes me want to play more for mom's approval (I'll have to unpack that later), all the while trying not to fall too far, smashing your tiny body against the rocks below, or being eaten by the various critters that are skittering along your path.

Exploration of the levels is rewarded with various bonuses: Radiation Berries that help progress your Mutation Bar towards unlocking various powers your creature will absolutely need on its big journey. These mutations range from shooting crystal projectiles out of your body to barfing up glowing puke on the walls to light darkened areas of the cave to farting so hard it projects you upwards for an enhanced super-jump (there's so many more, too, and they all do something different). To boot, the game makes use of portal devices that will help you quick-travel through the massive cave networks, even allowing you to warp near your old body should you perish.

There is some risk involved, while you are running through the map to switch on satellites and gather energy, it takes energy to power mom's creature Printers, which you and your friends/online players spawn out of at the start of every game, and get liquidated into when finishing the mission, and once you're out, the mission ends. You'll use the energy you gather (by completing the mission and/or finding crystal-fed machines that give you bonus energy points (as well as other stat-bonuses)) for various things, but I mostly used mine to customize my little guy into the a fun little green cretin.

While it is a fun platformer, and there's a lot presented that tickles my fancy, there are a few things that I hope get fixed in future iterations. First, and probably most-pressing to me personally, is the fact that my controller is unsupported in this game that tells me a controller pad is recommended (and I definitely felt it). I tried my best to search for the issue preventing me from using my gamepad, but unfortunately, I had to play with my keyboard and mouse (which, while do-able, is definitely not nearly as intuitive).

Secondly, the fact that it is an always-online game, and that you can have random other gremlins jump into your mission irks me a bit. While I didn't look further than surfacely viewing the UI for a way to shut this off, not being able to pause the game, or worse, have players that eat away at your energy and the various resources in-game is an annoyance, since it'll mean waiting for the plants to regrow berries which can be a momentum-killer. While I'm all for diving into caves with my gremlin friends, I can't help but dislike having players I can't really communicate with jump head-first into my own experience.

Ultimately, though; this game, Mother Machine, is fantastic and if you're a platform junkie, or have a love of belching little creatures, I absolutely must suggest you give the game a try and a wishlist!

[postgamecontent]

'Drova - Forsaken Kin' Switch Review

Well, this is neat. Homages to Japanese turn-based RPGs and tactical RPGs are pretty common these days. Games inspired by Bioware's old Infinity Engine computer RPGs also aren't terribly uncommon. But Drova is something else. It's a 2D game from an overhead perspective, I suppose coming off like Diablo with a bit more of a pixelated look. Hearing someone describe it as "pixel-art Gothic" helped the pieces come together for me. Yes, that's pretty much the feeling here, in more ways than one.

Dire world full of moral ambiguity and little in the way of joy? Check. An open-but-not-too-open world to explore, full of interesting detours that are almost always worth taking? Yes. Action-based combat where you're likely to get shredded until you know which fights not to pick? Mm-hm. Lots of interesting systems to dig into if you feel that-way inclined? Naturally. Jank? Oh goodness, you bet. Drova is a big game with a lot to do, and it's one that rewards those who prefer their video tourism to be dangerous and unguided.

Chasing a couple of druids on their stupid quest, you end up in a hostile world where the survivors are doing their best to stay alive. Naturally, there is some disagreement among them about how to go about things, leading to two opposed factions. Your choices and decisions will see you throwing in with one or the other, and that will affect the narrative and which quests, skills, and other things are available to you. Basically, there's enough here for two playthroughs. Each one is going to take you more than twenty hours, so that adds up to a lot of game.

It's a game that more or less leaves you to your own devices once it teaches you the basic ropes. You are free to wander and die, and you will. It autosaves often enough, but you'll probably want to make your own saves just to be sure. The interactions with NPCs are interesting and the overall plot is compelling. The combat is a bit awkward on the Switch, and you can tell it was designed around a mouse-and-keyboard interface. You don't get a ton of real options in battles, despite how many appear to be there on the surface. It's more about making sure you don't get in the wrong fights, don't get outnumbered, and whether or not you're strong and well-equipped enough to go the distance.

It took me a while to get into Drova. It was really buggy at launch, which probably didn't help matters. It's had at least one big patch since then and that got things into a far more stable state. Setting that aside, this was a slow burn initially. I couldn't quite figure out how the game wanted me to proceed, and it took some time to get the lay of the land. I'm glad I stuck with it through the teething pains, though. I don't think this kind of experience is for everyone, but there's something to an RPG that will let you be an idiot and pay the price for doing so. There's a solid atmosphere here, too.

Drova - Forsaken Kin has its share of rough edges, with some clumsy control and UI choices, and more bugs than I'd prefer to see, even post-patch. I think a lot of its choices (and they are indeed intentional design choices) aren't going to go over well with some players, as well. If you can stick with it through its awkward early hours, I think you'll find this to be a really good game to hunker down with. It rewards exploration, and its swift punishment for excessive bravado only makes it that much more satisfying when you get away with it. On top of that, you get an intriguing story set in a well-realized world. I'd probably advise playing this on PC over Switch, but if a Switch is all you have and this sounds interesting to you, I recommend giving it a go.

Switch Score: 4/5

[dashawfrostart]

This Week In "Time & Again" #9: LINEART IS DONE!!! And My Adventures With Krita Assistants! [Longread warning]

First things first! It took me a while (again) to make yet another one post, but taking a small social hiatus was totally and utterly worth it, let me tell you!!! Because here's the news:

THE LINEART FOR CHAPTER 5 IS COMPLETELY DONE!!! Yaaaaaay!!! 🥳

(happy cheering, happy music playing (my personal favourite is Skinny Puppy - very happy indeed), sounds of jolly hand clapping, and a cake, somebody please bring in the cake!.. wait... the cake is a lie... 😱 hmmm, every time I refer to this joke, I want to alter it and say, "A pie is a lie, but the cake is fake!" Personally, makes me happy, but also makes me sound a bit like Mad Hatter to everyone around😅 which is fine, I love "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland")

Not gonna lie, it feels like I spend a little bit more time on lineart alone comparing to what I've been expecting from myself: different factors have contributed to the delay, and among of them was a short-term loss of a creative spark as well (which is always incredibly unpleasant, yaaarrrr!), but nonetheless! It is done!!! And let me tell you - it is done in style 😎 Ich bin sehr froh 🥳 However, contrary to what I've just written above simply for fun, it's not time to celebrate just yet. I'll probably take a small 24 hour break from my project - to take a breather and recalibrate my brain to successfully switch to colouring mode, ya know - and I'll just keep working on it to keep up the pace! The Colouring Stage is waiting for me, wheeeeeee!!! ... Wait, but so happened I already had my 24 hours off drawing yesterday. 🤔 WELL, NO TIME TO SPARE NOW: BACK TO WORK!!!...

But only after I'm done writing this post, for I have a moral obligation to finish it up 😁

So, earlier I promised to share my experience with Krita Assistant Tool with you. This is going to be very technical, so prepare yourselves, happy folks. Here goes.

I've used Krita's Assistant Tool before. I started to use it quite extensively as the work on Chapter 2 began, for I had to represent strictly geometric shapes of rooms, and corridors, and even the whole floors, for almost the entire set of events was happening indoors. In a peculiar place. The entirety of Chapter 1 with the exception of, say, 2 or 3 panels at most, took place within Lothar's mansion in Sweden. That one also required quite a few geometric shapes, but for some reason I did well without any help of Assistant Tool - I don't remember for sure by now, but I only used it briefly for some panels/frames. And it did not require anything particularly complex then. Mind you, during the development of Chapter 1 I've been still learning my newly obtained graphic tablet - that was the first time I ever used one (and now I don't want to go back to neither mouse and keyboard drawing or a "blind" tablet - eff that! 🤣). In this respect, Chapter 2 was a game changer. I wanted to raise the plank further up and challenge myself to do even better with the perspectives of urban buildings and interiors. And since approximately that time, I believe, Assistant Tool has become a precious little helper for me. Thank you so much, Krita devs!

As you can see in the documentation, Assistant Tool has many features and different modes. I primarily use those tools to draw perfect - or almost perfect - urban perspectives, for those might be a bit tricky to do right off the bat. However, some of those tools might be used in a non-conventional or less expected ways. Let me show you some of my experiments with them.

Starting off with the basics, of course.

Above you can see the screenshot that illustrates how I used to normally set up the perspective assistant grid for the more correct view of a room - I've been doing that very thing beginning from Chapter 2. Basically I create a bunch of perspective grids and join them to create an imitated 3D view of a room. That really helps a lot.

I mentioned a certain video tutorial that really helped me out on my journey of meowstering - sorry, mastering the Assistant Tool in a way that's helpful to me. It was this incredibly helpful little video I watched trying to figure out how to build a one point perspective view for one of the panels I challenged myself to draw. However... I discovered something else instead: Parallel Rulers and an obvious "Snap To Assistants" function. Both of which are super helpful to use. I never paid attention to "snap to assistants" before. Now I wonder why 😅

Parallel Rulers help to draw totally straight lines when working on a perspective view - like the one that I was having a hard time dealing with when trying to portray an extremely skewed backstreet perspective. All of that is done without the use of the Line Tool.

While parallel rulers are something that I'm still learning and practising, the self-explanatory "snap to assistants" is an excellent function that just makes your life significantly easier.

I used a combination of Ellipse and Vanishing Point with "snap to assistants" function on to create spectacularly precise and nice looking sports wristwatch for Lothar. This is just how I love it: extremely geometric and correct, but with slight imperfections that make it lively and natural, with a visible hand-drawn "fluctation" to the outlines:

For example, here's a good comparison for you to see what I'm talking about: to the left it's a gif illustrating how I drew the wristwatch outlines with an Assistant with Ellipse setting that snaps to the assistants, and to the right there's a gif showing how to do the same (but way worse) simply using the separate Ellipse Tool using the same brush as an outline. Behold the difference:

For the record, I used the same neat trick to draw the nice lines around that "Hit!" special effect on another one page, to make it look cleaner and more professional:

Spline is yet another one type of assistant that might come in handy in certain situations, for some artists. In my case this time, I used it so add extra thickness to a certain line that has already been drawn to make it look more appealing and lively:

Thus, instead of trying numerous times to reproduce the same brush stroke (and inevitably failing at it repeatedly) to add just a little thickness to already existing stroke, one can simply draw a Spline "vector path" on top of it, turn "snap to assistants" on and draw a perfect, non-shaky line that doesn't stray somewhere you don't want to. Neat-o! If you're somewhat familiar with vector software (like I am), using Spline and making it exactly the shape you need is easy-peasy: it has two handles so that you could adjust the position and the curve of the assistant line. Works exactly as a basic Bezier Curve. Super simple!

That's gonna be enough for now. Since this post has grown fairly large in size (I never change, eh?), I'm thinking about taking a longer break in posting again. So I might return in about 2 weeks with more news on how the colouring of Chapter 5 is going!

Stay tuned, and have fun! Lothar is on his way back to you, and Jeanny will follow up, too 😉 Take care!

[theydjarin]

Reasons the Steam Deck rules

1. FREEDOMMMM

This is the biggest reason SD is infinitely better than the Switch. A steam deck is essentially a handheld computer with a dedicated interface for gaming. That means you can do anything you want on it. Compared to the Switch that is by nature completely locked down, and run by Nintendo who will literally brick your entire machine if you do any sort of modding or sideloading. And in addition to software, Valve makes the SD fairly easy to modify hardware wise. If you’re savvy, you can get a cheap Deck and install new hard drive or better screen.

2. EMULATION

The steam deck is a perfect machine for emulation with a few dedicated programs to help set it up. Nintendo barely has any sort of retro gaming, but some of my favorite deck games come from the Gamecube era (SSX Tricky my beloved). You can even emulate switch 1 games, ymmv.

3. THE PRICE OF GAMES

Every time I start to get drawn in by the switch, I have to balk at the cost of the games alone. $70 for breath of the wild? are you fucking serious? Even the indie ports are pricey. SD has any game you could ever imagine at your fingertips, and if it costs too much you can buy it elsewhere (or 🏴‍☠️) and still run the game through gaming mode. There’s even a plugin to help find the best price if it’s lower than on the steam store.

4. CUSTOMIZATION

If you don’t like how something looks or operates, there’s probably a plugin for that. Tinkering on the steam deck is a hobby in itself.

5. NON GAMING

Even aside from its gaming uses, there’s a strong use case for doing anything else on it. You can connect it to a mouse and keyboard or an external monitor to get stuff done. My personal use case is as a video streaming device. I can cast directly from the deck to chromecast, including from VLC player, so I don’t have to worry about remotes and inputs and cables on my tv. I do literally everything from my deck.

6. FLAWS

Okay I do feel the need to recognize the limitations. The hardware is somewhat outdated, so huge graphics intensive games might not have great performance. But I personally mostly play indie games or retro games and it’s totally fine. It also really depends on optimization- for example, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 ran amazingly and that’s a very new, beautiful game. For other games, the deck has great programs for streaming so you can run games on a pc and stream to your deck, or play with cloud gaming services. One of my favorites lets you stream from your PS5 to your deck.

The other flaw is that it can be a bit buggy, especially if you’re tinkering going outside of the typical Steam ecosystem. Some things require a bit of technical aptitude but there are a lot of guides and resources and tools. There have only been a few things I really wanted to do that I haven’t been able to (i never could get the Sims 3 up and running…..)

And finally, it being a handheld, there are just some games that are harder to play without mouse and keyboard. Steam Input is super adaptable and I know a lot of people have figured out great controller layouts, but I personally can’t play most strategy or management games without mouse and keyboard so I tend to just use my PC for those.

fuck the switch 2 get a steam deck instead i am so fucking serious

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

CTRL+ALT+DECEIT

Warnings: non-consent sex and rape; oral, fucking, stalking, hacking, threats, implied violence.

This is dark!Jake Jensen x reader and explicit. 18+ only.  Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Synopsis: You find your pictures on someone else’s Insta but that’s not the only thing he’s stolen.

Note: Yay, another Jensen fic at last. I’m probably gonna try to work in more one shots between my series. I’m looking at Andy Barber, Ransom Drysdale, or Lee Bodecker right now for next week but we’ll see.

Thanks to everyone for sticking around and putting up with me and thanks in advance for all your feedback. :)

I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 Let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!

The chirp of the chat pierced your eardrum once more as you ignored it for the spreadsheet of dates on your other monitor. Working from home could be both peaceful and distracting but the third bing had you muting and pushing your headset to your neck with a grumble. You switched windows as the chat box blinked.

‘So why didn’t u tell me u had a bf?’ Zia’s bubble blipped up followed by impatient emojis.

“Wat r u talking bout?’ you typed back and clicked back to the spreadsheet to update the status of each course. That noise came again and you flipped back.

‘I’m not stupid! Come on. He’s far away but he’s cute.’

You frowned and tapped the space bar lightly. You were utterly confused. The only activity in your daily life were the general notifications from Tindr. You repeated the question and she sent an emoji rolling its eyes.

‘I’m serious.’ you replied.

She sent a link and then a laughing GIF attached to another bubbled response, ‘I’m not buyin it.’

You clicked on the hyperlink and a new tab opened. You scrolled down on the Insta as the air was knocked out of you at the sight of your own face. Not only were their pics taken from your public profile but several you’d never even posted. Your skin crawled and the bing sounded again.

‘So… an online thing huh.’ Zia pressed on.

‘I gotta work.’ you closed out of the window entirely but stayed on the Insta.

You scrolled through about a dozen or so selfies of you, each labeled as ‘missing my lady’ or ‘she’s so sweet, sending me pics to keep me company’. Your stomached roiled with mortification and the unsettling sensation of intrusion. It was easy enough to guess you’d been hacked but to think this was what the creep did with it was even more startling.

You changed the password on your Insta and went through the process of doing so with all of your accounts and ran a scan on your PC. You would likely have to file a ticket for a proper inspection with a specialist. You couldn’t help but shake as you went back to the profile after checking your bank account and PayPal to make sure it wasn’t worse than just pics.

You went back to the profile and found photos of the culprit. His spiky blond hair and glasses were unsurprising and his comic book tee shirt was even less. Your disgust was quickly replaced with anger as you hit the chat icon above his info.

‘Hey, jackass, care to tell me how you have my photos on your profile?!’

The read icon appeared almost and you saw him typing. It stopped and then started again.

‘You’re so beautiful, I wanted to share it with everyone.’

You scoffed at the message and cringed at the screen. ‘Are you nuts? Like actually. You stole my photos! You hacked me. Creep.’

You blocked him immediately after hitting send and logged out. You opened Excel again and tried to focus on the coloured cells. You could hardly process what you were doing as your phone began to vibe on the corner of your desk. It didn’t let up and you couldn’t focus past the incessant buzzing.

You snatched it up and several messages covered the screen as you unlocked it. ‘You really think that’s gonna work’; ‘You can’t block me’... several in a similar vein that you deleted before blocking the number. You silenced your phone and turned back to your monitor.

Suddenly the screen went black and you blinked. You hit the keyboard and clicked, assuming it fell asleep. It lit up again but all you saw was yourself staring back. Your mouth fell open and you ripped the clip-on cam from atop your monitor. You disconnected it as the notepad opened and typing flicked up across the white space.

‘I didn’t want it to be like this.’

You could move the mouse or backspace. All control was lost and you sat there helplessly watching the scrawl.

‘I think we’d be really good together if you only gave me a chance. Can’t you see I worship you?’

Your phone began to shake constantly and a private number flashed. You picked it up and hollered into the speaker, “leave me alone”. You hung up but it kept on and your screen turned to black once more. Your PC was still on but there was no reaction from the machine.

Fuck, you sat back and looked at your phone. You couldn’t even call work to tell them because the damn thing wouldn’t stop ringing. You put your head in your hands and grunted in frustration. How the fuck did all this happen?

🖱️

After your initial panic died down, you disconnected your tower and shut off your phone. You left your cell behind as it was just as useless. You hauled the PC down to IT at your work and filled out the ticket without giving intricate details on everything the weirdo had taken.

You left with a borrowed laptop. You wouldn’t sign into your personal accounts and stick to the company portal. You were embarrassed but happy to have a temporary solution. You got home and set up the new computer and reconfigured your wi-fi. You finished the last of the day’s work and ended the day with a glass of wine.

When you dared to turn your phone on again the next morning, it was filled with notifications from all platforms but each one you clicked on errored and prompted you to sign-in. All your new passwords were wrong and you knew it was him. 

You checked the Insta and found a screenshot on his profile from the day before, your mouth agape in horror that could easily mistaken for surprise.

‘Her face when you pop the question on the call’. The caption made your stomach curdle and you nearly flung the phone away. You couldn’t comment without logging in or message. So you created a shell account with a throwaway email you used on Reddit.

‘Why won’t you stop?’ you sent the message through as you waited for your coffee to brew.

‘Stop what?’ he added a winky face with his reply and you growled.

‘You know who this is! Why are you doing this?’

‘Hmmm…’ he let the message hang there and you sat down with your mug and listened to the birds outside. ‘Imagine what someone else would do with everything I have.’

‘Look at what you’re doing. You’re ruining my life.’

‘Ruining? Sweetie, I’m watching over you. Protecting you.’

Your nostrils flared and you burnt your tongue on the coffee and planted it on the table so it sloshed over the sides.

‘Love you, sweetie. See ya soon.’

The chat box turned grey as you realised he blocked you. That pissed you off more than anything and you lobbed your phone away with a shout of anguish. This guy was fucked!  

You were shaking so much you couldn’t even drink your coffee. You got up and paced until you could think straight. You dialed into work and told them you were taking the day off for a personal emergency and shut down your phone. You were too afraid he would find a way onto your work laptop and you didn’t want to have to explain that to IT too.

🖱️

Zia showed up on Saturday and she wasn’t happy. She buzzed up and banged on your door impatiently. You let her in and she crossed her arms over the strap of her purse as she crooked her hip.

“I know I shouldn’t have snooped but if you’re mad at me, you should’ve just said so. I would’ve backed off,” she scowled.

“I’m not mad,” you said as you backed into the front room and dragged your feet over the rug.

“Sure, you’re just ignoring all my messages by accident,” she stayed at the other side of the room.

“Not exactly, no,” you shrugged, “it’s a long story.”

“And you couldn’t shoot me a message to say that at least?”

“Look, I’m stressed the fuck out. I’m sorry but the only reason I didn’t answer you is because I can’t.” 

“You can’t?”

“I can’t even turn my phone on anymore.”

“What--”

“Just--” you touched your temples, “I don’t even know how to explain--”

“Jesus, are you okay?” her anger slaked away as her voice softened.

“No, I’m not,” you sniffed, “I’ve been trapped in this apartment and I can’t think straight and I can’t even talk to anyone because my phone and my life is totally fucked.”

“How about we get a coffee and you can tell me once you’ve calmed down,” she said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so worked up.”

“You don’t know how bad it is. I really fucked up,” you whined, “I don’t even know how it happened.”

“Is this about the boyfriend?”

You huffed and shook your head, “I told you, he’s not my boyfriend-- Let me get dressed.”

After you felt presentable enough to leave the apartment, the thought of getting away ushered you down the winding stairwell and onto the sidewalk. You and Zia walked down to the cafe on the corner where you always overspent on their specialty drink and caught up.

You ordered but when you tried to use your card, the machine beeped in rejection. You tried again but still no luck. Zia offered to pay and you promised you’d pay her back. Anxiety pitted deep in your stomach as you sat. You’d have to call the bank and figure out why eight dollars would bounce.

“So,” Zia said as she shaded her eyes against the sunlight streaming onto the open patio, “he’s not your boyfriend?”

“I don’t even know the dude,” you hissed as you almost overturned your cup, “Zee, those pictures, they were all on my phone. I never sent them to anyone. I don’t even know his real name and when I confronted him, he crashed my whole system and blew up my phone. I haven’t been able to log into anything because of him.”

“You’re shitting me,” she chuckled.

“Zee, I’m not fucking kidding,” you blinked, “don’t you think if I was dating some dude out in who knows where, you’d be the first to know? You think I’m wasting my time with the idiots on Tindr for fun?”

“No way,” she scoffed.

“Zia, look me in the eye,” you said as you gave her a stern look, “I’m freaking the fuck out.”

“Did you call the police?” she asked.

You sat back and closed your eyes. You were so swept up in the panic, you hadn’t even thought. You could report it to the police, just get a record of it even if they didn’t do anything else. You heard horror stories of hackers and how little could be done but you had to at least try.

“I guess I should go down to the station today,” you ran your fingertips along your chin, “I don’t know, I felt so alone, I thought--”

“And call your bank right now,” she slid her phone over, “figure out what’s going on with your accounts.”

You took her cell and dialed the number on the back of the card. You dragged your finger down the side of your cup as you listened to the automated message and hit the buttons to direct you to customer service. The hold song bubbled in your head and finally picked up as you finished the last of your mocha.

You explained the issue after giving your information as Zia sat patiently across from you. She watched the other patrons and looked out across the street as you waited on the representative on the other end.

“Looks like your account has been locked. Your savings and checking have been placed on hold citing possible fraud,” the woman explained.

“Well, can’t you unlock them? Why would they be flagged?”

“Hmm, well I see no suspicious spending so possibly… it could be due to an external lock, not us.”

“What does that mean?”

“I can’t speak to that. Have you received any communications from the Revenue service?”

“Revenue service? I don’t--no,” you gulped.

“I’m sorry, there’s nothing else I can tell you,” she said, “you should consider contacting federal services.”

You hung up and handed Zia her phone back. “Apparently, I’m under investigation for fraud? I don’t know.”

“Shit,” she took her cell, “are you sure?”

“It sounded like it but-- I gotta check my credit card,” you stood and grabbed your empty cup and your purse.

You stormed down the street to the ATM at the corner and inserted your card. LOCKED the machine made a hideous noise and you pulled out your card in irritation. You put your wallet and touched the sides of your neck as the heat swelled through you.

“I don’t understand--”

“Um, you should see this,” Zia said.

Zia turned her screen towards you and your heart dropped to your toes. There was a picture softened by a blush Insta filter and the caption read, ‘just got into town, surprising bae with flowers’. Over the cluster of petals at the bottom of the image were you and Zia sitting at the cafe patio.

You spun and searched around for any sign of the man and the bouquet. You could hardly breath as it felt like you were being squished between invisible walls. You clapped your hand against the wall and steadied yourself as Zia gently rubbed your arm.

“Let’s go to the station,” you croaked as tears welled in your eyes, “please.”

🖱️

The police told you everything you expected. Even as you showed them the photos and explained how you never met that man in your life, they only offered you words on a piece of paper. They’d file the report and follow-up in case of any further escalation. It was a non-answer, a cold shrug.

Zia went home with you as she offered to stay the night. You gladly accepted and the two of you cozied up on your bed and spent the night watching early 00s rom coms. You found it hard to relax even with her there. You couldn’t stop thinking about how close he’d been without you even knowing.

You at last began to doze off as Reese Witherspoon triumphed and exhausted by the endless maelstrom of dread, you slipped into a deep but perilous sleep. You were locked in limbo between waking and slumber, almost as if you could hear everything around you but remained blind and unknowing all the same.

You woke with a start as you felt like you were falling. You sat up and reached to the other side of the bed. Zia was gone. She must have got up to get water or use the bathroom. You took a breath and turned your legs over the edge. You got up groggily and lumbered across the room, your mouth dry and head aching. Some tylenol and water would do you well.

You hesitated as you noticed the bloom of light just around the corner from your doorway. Zia must be having trouble sleeping, you guessed as you kept on. As you came in sight of the front room, you heard a whimper and you backed up against the wall as tall figure stood before the coffee table. The flowers laid across the wood, slightly crumpled from a struggle.

As Zia whined, he jabbed her with his foot and she grunted around the rag tied around her mouth. Her arms and legs were bound behind her as the man loomed over her. You recognized his blond hair and glasses, the menacing blue eyes as he raised his chin and crossed his arms.

“Been waiting on you,” he stepped over her, “I was disappointed when I realised it was her. Good friend though, hanging around…”

“Don’t hurt her, please. What do you want?”

“You can’t figure that out?” he taunted, “huh, I’m sure you can guess what it will take for me to leave her in one piece.”

Zia wiggled and received another boot. You pushed yourself forward and he stepped closer, predatory as he dropped his arms and clenched then unclenched his fists. He chuckled as you stopped short and gaped up at him.

“She’s cute,” he said, “she can join us if that makes it easier for you.”

“You’re disgusting,” you snarled and winced as he reached out to touch your cheek. You fought not to shove him away, your eyes on Zia’s bound figure.

“Play nice and I will,” he warned, “every time I hurt her, that’s on you. I wish I didn’t have to do this to show you how much I love you.”

You shook your head as your lip trembled. He pressed his palms to your cheek and ran his thumb along your lips. He leaned in and you cowered as you realised how big he was. You didn’t expect that looking at him from the other side of a screen.

“Do we put on a show for her or did you want a little privacy?”

“You won’t get away with this,” you hissed.

“Oh yeah? I locked you out of your social media, your pc, your bank… do you really want to see how far I can take this?”

He smothered your murmured answer with his mouth and kissed you gruffly. He pulled away and looked you in the eye. He bit his lip and hummed.

“So, do we do this here?”

“You’re sick,” you grabbed his hand and wrenched it away from your face. You yanked him and directed him to the bedroom, “you monster.”

“Now come on,” he twisted his wrist around and grabbed your elbow, “I could’ve killed her. Don’t think I won’t.”

You quivered as he forced you back into your bedroom, the street lights casting shadows between your curtains. He flung you ahead of him, as strong as his thick arms would suggest. You stumbled and caught yourself on the side of the bed. You turned as the door slammed and he prowled towards you like a wild cat.

“Well,” he threw his hands up and you caught a glint of light against the lens of his glasses, “you want me to undress you or you think you can handle that, sweetie?”

You puffed in repulsion and looked away from him. Even in the dark, you could feel his eyes on you. You jittered as you reached to the neck of your loose tee and slowly raised it over your head. You dropped it to crumple on the floor and you touched the top of your shorts. You heard him moving around and shied away as he flipped the switch and light shone across the room.

You pushed down your shorts as you heard a thump from the next room. His jaw twitched as his eyes lingered on you and he reluctantly glanced away. He swung the door open and stormed out into the front room. You went to the door and heard his snarl.

“Stop fucking moving,” he rasped, “every time I have to tell you, I’ll pop another out.”

Zia gave a muffled sob as you heard a sickly crack and you hurried to look around the wall into the room. He blocked your sight with his broad chest and pointed you back to the room.

“I didn’t say you could leave the room,” he spun you and slapped your bare ass, “fast, fast, fast… before I lose my patience.”

Your skin stung from the strike and you tripped through the doorway as he followed quickly. Another slam and he poked you further into the room with his knuckle. You stepped away from him and tried to cover yourself as you faced him in horror.

He quickly swooped his shirt over his head and revealed a buff chest thick with blond hair. He kicked off his shoes and fumbled to undo his fly. He tilted his head as he looked you over and groped himself through his jeans.

“You know what to do,” he said, “I’ve seen the way you touch yourself… cyber security 101, cover your webcam.”

You shuddered as he beckoned you closer. He stopped you and put your hands on the waist of his jeans. He leaned in and nuzzled your temple as his hot breath seeped into your goosebumped skin.

“My turn,” he pushed on your hands until you pulled down the denim on your own strength.

He stepped out of his jeans and snapped the elastic of his boxers. You stood and latched onto those shakily. He ran his fingers along your arms as you pulled them past his erection and they fell to the floor with a whisper. You didn’t look down, instead staring past him as his hand swept up to cup your tits.

His fingers crawled up your chest and his hands wrapped around your neck. He squeezed and turned you so that your back was to the bed. He marched you backwards as you felt his dick bobbing between your bodies. You gasped as he pushed you down onto your mattress, your legs dangling over the edge as he came up to straddle you.

“Such a good girl,” he taunted, “look at you… I bet you’re wet already.”

He pulled a hand away and stroked his length as he raised himself on his knees. He clung to your neck as he leaned over you and planted his hand on the bed above you. He hovered his dick over your head and you closed your eyes.

“Put it in your mouth,” he ordered, “now, or I’m putting it in your ass.”

You reached up blindly and angled his tip against your lips. He dipped his hips down and you choked as he prodded at your throat. Your legs twitched as he forced his cock past your gag reflex and your whole body tensed at the intrusion.

He balanced on the hand above your head and the one on your neck. He thrust harder and harder as sloppy sucking reverberated around the room between his dark groans.

“That’s it,” he purred, “look at you taking my cock. I can only imagine how tight that cunt of yours is.”

Your eyes welled and you flicked your lashes as you tried to bat them away. You kept your hand at the base of his dick as you tried to ease his motion. He ignored your reluctance and only delved deeper as he brought himself to his limit, your lips touching the fuzz along his pelvis.

When you couldn’t breath, you slapped his hard stomach and he reared out of you abruptly. You coughed up spit as he sat back on his heels and released you. He huffed as he looked down at his glistening dick and climbed off of you.

“Stand up, turn around,” he snarled as his eyes flashed. 

His glasses were low on his nose and he slipped them off entirely and folded them up on your night table. He squinted as he watched you stand and turn stiffly. He smacked his hand in the middle of your back and pushed you over impatiently. He stepped closer and tapped his tip against your cunt as you were exposed to him.

He bent his legs and poked along your slick folds. You were wet enough for him to glide in and fill you up completely. He was so big it was painful and you arched your back as you tried to take it. He pulled back and slammed into you harshly. You let out a garble and he repeated the motion, taking you off your feet.

He leaned over you and grabbed your knees, lifting them on the bed as he urged you forward. His hand brushed up over your ass and he pressed between your shoulder blades until your face was flush to the mattress, your arms bent around you like a broken doll.

He thrust again and the loud slap made you wince. He jerked his hips roughly until he found his motion, rutting into you with hissy breaths as his other hand groped your ass. He hummed as your body shook before him, ruled by his touch as your walls clenched him.

He pushed his thumb down between your cheeks and circled your asshole. You strained and lifted your head in alarm. His other hand quickly stretched over your crown and pinned your face to the bed. He felt along your cunt and slickened his thumb before trailing back to your puckered ring.

He pushed lightly at first and as he broke through you gasped and whined. You gripped the blankets as he moved his thumb in and out of you, his hips still rocking steadily into you. He slid his thumb out entirely and prodded with two fingers instead. Before you could react, he forced them inside and you cried out in surprise and pain.

“I know you want it, sweetheart,” he groaned, “I can feel…” he kept fucking you, “I can fucking hear it.”

Your holes tightened around you as he carried the pace. A new pressure began to bloom inside of you, unlike anything you’d felt before. The burning in your ass and the stretching of your cunt mingled to an agonized bliss. You sobbed into the blankets as you came uncontrollably around him, shamed by the unwanted release.

“Fuck,” he drew out the word as both his hand and his hips sped up, “look at you cumming for me. Cumming for this creep.”

You moaned and curled your fingers around the duvet tighter. You felt the same knotting deep inside and you came again as he reached a tantamount. This time, you gushed around his cock and felt the deluge down your thighs as the noise grew wetter and louder.

“Look at you, sweetheart, you can’t handle it, can you?” He snorted as he sucked in a breath suddenly and his hips staggered.

He pushed his fingers deeper and kept them there as he fucked you as hard as he could. He slammed into your cunt over and over. Your hips throbbed with each tilt of his pelvis and you smothered your cries as you felt him coat your walls in his release. 

He stopped just as suddenly and dragged his fingers out of your ass. He leaned against you until your legs collapsed and fell onto you with a sigh. He covered your body with his as his shallow breaths hazed around you. 

Your own heart raced as you stretched your arms out stiffly and quivered. You tried to pull yourself from beneath him. He kept you pinned under his weight and jolted you with a cruel thrust.

“Oh, we’re not done, sweetheart,” he muttered along the shell of your ear, “not even close.”

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 5/3/22

fucking doozy of a making section

listening: Pink Panther by Scene Queen. i have been awaiting this for some time bc she did a very sensible and well thought out social media campaign across literally every platform several months before this dropped, which is how i ran across it in the process of looking up things on tik tok for work. every fucking day my job gets harder and harder to explain unless you are also in this extremely specific entertainment/tech brainrot corner of capitalism.

anyway this is an EXTREMELY horny song i love it a lot. contains the lyrics “don’t call you know i can’t answer/gettin pussy like the pink panther”. very early aughts! very ke$ha, very charlie’s angels, very D.E.B.S. if ANYONE else on this godforsaken gay nostalgia website has seen that movie.

there is in fact a very fun sample of the pink panther theme in this pop? metal? pop song with a headbanging interlude? song

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reading: fallow week

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watching: also fallow week

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playing: through an elaborate game of friend barter i have acquired a switch and breath of the wild. it is fucking hysterical to me how much this is just skyrim but good and how much genshin impact is just breath of the wild but with some tits and a lot of ass. it’s also screamingly funny to me that breath of the wild has made about a billion and a half since launch and genshin made 2.1B its first year. just on mobile. so much appetite for these kinds of games (big open world rpg-lite with puzzle solving and kind of grindy mob-based combat) but they’re hysterically expensive to make.

said “oh fuck that’s the guy” out loud when i spotted prince sidon through the ol binocs, he does not have the personality or voice acting i was led to believe

im having a slightly frustrating time mostly bc i don’t really have the hand dexterity to do combos and i didn’t grow up with controllers. it’s easier to map things to separate keyboard keys, although mouse and keyboard is quite hard on the wrists. actually my problem is probably that it’s slightly more brainpower than i want to give to a game rn.

really looking forward to playing a bunch of visual novels in bed this winter. maximum coze

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making: im extremely stressed due to a combination of work and life and not balancing them very well lately. so im buying a bunch of house shit bc it is college grad season so half the people in this area are going home or otherwise moving and looking to ditch their shit.

the first and most important thing is that a new evil lair has been rented. this will be the first place where i am the only one on the lease and it comes unfurnished. i will be slowly moving in, as i did last year, bc this  current above-the-second-floor apartment’s stairs are quite bad for the knees. hopefully everything i can pick up by myself will (at minimum) be in a storage unit by the time my sister comes up memorial day weekend to help me move things that don’t fit in my car. the tuesdayposts may be a little light on content for the next four to six weeks.

i am annoyed i have to pay double rent for a month and a half, and i am annoyed i spent a bunch of money in march for some shit that was Extremely specific to making this apartment nicer (like idk i’m gonna need an eight foot ladder in the new place, which was not built in the 1800s and has somewhat low ceilings and way fewer windows, also there isn’t really a good place to put my swiss dot and pom pom trim cafe curtains :(

anyway here are some objects and very few pictures of things i acquired last week from paying attention to craigslist curb alerts: huge pile of frames, a milk glass object, and this floor lamp. which i think is brass plated and desperately needs a new shade. project for future kay. maybe i’ll get really into lampshades next who knows. my new living room has no good ceiling light so between this and the big green lamp and i guess the plant lights that’ll have to do it

disGOSTang. v excited to get that weird shellac and all that grime off.

some objects i acquired from a moving sale but have no pics of bc they Immediately went into the storage unit: microwave, another little pyrex strage container (glass lid!), a cool vase, a brass vase holder thing, a campaign dresser/nightstand thing that is mostly made out of real wood (may hold out for a 1920s style waterfall dresser with the rounded nose, bc i fear with the brass bed AND a campaign dresser my bedroom may look a little too apartment therapy)

“kay what’s the deal with you and brass?”

well

i feel like brass implies that at least some minimum baseline of thought and effort has been put into an object. i like how mellow and warm it looks. i think it’s an easier finish to decorate around than steel or “oiled bronze” which is usually just treated steel but we don’t have time to get into that. i also like how it leans industrial without going full steampunk. also i hate trying to clean verdigris without ruining it.

also here’s a good post about recreational labor from tumblr user hellenhighwater that made something in my brain go “ping”

[theviolenttomboy]

Hm, I wonder if an official Switch 2 keyboard would be something viable? (if it was reasonably priced, of course.) Pretty sure there's already a way to rig the current Switch with a third party mouse and keyboard.

That would make navigating the Eshop easier, plus I can think of two existing games off the top of my head where it'd be helpful when playing docked (Scribblenauts and Among Us) so there are probably more. Plus I remember reading from somewhere that kids nowadays have worse typing skills, so some educational typing games can be on the table as well. (Mario Teaches Typing port/remake? Typing of the Dead port?)

oh yeah, not exactly confirmed, but it does look like the joycon mouse rumors are legit. I'm ready for the DS/3DS ports plus point and click games for the Nintendo Switch 2.

GIMME DINER DASH AND ALL THE OLD SCHOOL TIME MANAGEMENT GAMES

THROW IN ALL THE OLD SCHOOL TOWER DEFENSE GAMES IN THERE TOO

[baby-n-boo]

Pink is not a girl’s color- regressor! Tommy, finally big brother tubbo, cg! Wilbur

Tommy was little. There was no two ways to put it. And, as if it wasn’t obvious enough from the fact he hadn't sworn in a whole ten minutes, His thumb was inserted firmly in his mouth as he gamed one-handedly, a small piece of paper over each of the webcams on his monitors, in case someone saw. He had finished his stream that day in rather a hurry, logging off of the dream SMP almost as soon as the confirmation came through that the stream had ended, already feeling the pull of the headspace on his mind, and knowing he wouldn’t have been able to hide it from his friends should he have fully slipped. But, for now, he was idly wandering around a solo server he had made for himself, trying to remember where he had built his home last time he had been on the server. His chair creaked in protest, as he tried to bring his knees up to his chest, resting his feet on the very edge of the seat, making him jump. It wasn’t that he was easily scared when little, but the fact he had become accustomed to the silence that seemed to surround him when he was small, since nobody ever wanted to talk to him without being mean.  

But it was ok. He could look after himself. He was a big boy, really! Mumbling to himself, around his thumb, he tried to direct his character over to the little hill he could see in the distance, not noticing the river running between himself and said mound, and promptly falling right in. At the sudden change of perspective, Tommy panicked, pulling his hand away from the keyboard like it had burnt him, in the hopes it would be fixed if he stopped. But it didn’t, leaving him arrested in fear, watching as the pretty bubbles went away, and his character started taking damage. He didn���t want the pretty red hearts to go away, they were nice!  

Whining slightly as the last one slipped away, and the death message popped up on screen, shading everything in a dim sort of red, Tommy shoved the mouse away too in frustration, refusing to respawn. He wore a stubborn pout as he spun on his chair to turn his back on the screens, just in time for a knock to sound on his door. Worrying for a moment, he yanked his thumb out, and minimised the tab, not wanting anyone to see, before calling out a “Yeah?” that sounded too loud and brash to be right, even for his normal self.  

Wilbur, poking his head through the door carefully, smiled to see Tommy not doing much, before starting to speak. “I, uh, I saw your stream ended? I was wondering if you wanted to come spend some time with real people now?” he joked, referencing how little time Tommy actually spent socialising. Despite how much he really really wanted to nod yes, and go with him, Tommy shook his head, carefully measuring his voice to reply. “Nah, you’re alright, I have masses of women to talk to.” he tried to joke back, his smile just a little too wide, the usual bravado missing from the tone, though Will shrugged it off, sure that if something was up, Tommy wouldn’t hesitate to complain about it.  

“Well, if you change your mind, don’t forget, Toby and I ’re right downstairs.” He reminded Tommy, with a slightly stern look, before ducking back out the door frame. He tried to nod an affirmation, turning as if to go back to his game, but, as soon as he heard the door click back into place, and the creak of the stairs, he pushed up off his chair, padding over to his bed instead. He wasn’t big enough for gaming, right now, and certainly not to go face his friends. Don’t get him wrong, he was glad they had offered to come over and keep him company while his parents were away for some business trip or other, but it was hard to hide his little space from them when he knew they would be watching his streams, and constantly reminding him to actually care for himself. Especially since it had saved him the embarrassment of his parents hiring some babysitter that never actually did anything, once they found out how old he was.  

Tummy rumbling as he sat down cross-legged amid the rumpled sheets, and pulled his favourite blanket out from under his pillow, Tommy whined, having run out of fruit snacks the previous night when he had been streaming till two in the morning. Normally, it wouldn’t be an issue, him just having to sneak down and grab something from the cupboards under the guise of still streaming, but he knew, as soon as he set foot on the stairs today, his friends would be dragging him into a switch game tournament, or a conversation, or, even worse, a trip to the store. Shuddering at the very thought of going outside, Tommy shook his head. No, going hungry was much better than whatever they had in store for him.  

His PC kept chiming with discord messages, probably from his other streamer friends to wonder why he had ended so fast, but he merely ignored them, balling up under the ratty sky-blue blanket, and trying to get his head to stop being quite so fuzzy. It didn’t help as his thumb crept back into his mouth, brushing against the cold metal of his braces, and he curled tighter, the scratchy material of his jeans starting to irritate him, as he slipped further and further. It was only a matter of time before something bad happened, so, desperately clinging to the last shreds of his adult mind, Tommy stumbled over to his closet, kicking off his jeans and baseball shirt in a frenzy of unstable movement.  

Once he was sure that it was all off, he glanced nervously toward the door, and quickly grabbed a bundle of material, throwing it onto the bed before someone could burst in and see it. Yanking a pair of shorts over his boxers, he quickly scurried back to the comfy area, hiding between the sheets as he fought his way into the other thing, a hoodie that was clearly multiple sizes too big, smelling of a foreign but comforting cologne. He’d picked it up from Wilbur’s bag the first night he had been here, thinking it had been his own, and had been reluctant to give it back upon discovering it, in fact, was not, something about how it made him feel small making it appealing.  

Flipping up the hood, so it fell over his eyes, Tommy giggled, flapping around the oversized sleeves in a childish manner, entertained by even the slightest of things in little space. By this point, his adult mind had entirely slipped away, replaced with the simple, cotton candy thoughts of the child Tommy now was. Confused as to why he was being so boring and lying round in bed all day, he pushed back his coverings with a smile, before gasping, looking around for Henry - his cow plush- in between the all-together too mature sheets. Black circles were just so grown up! Where were the dinosaurs? Or the racing cars!  

Temporarily distracted from his search by the thought of cars, Tommy gasped, running over to his cupboard, where he hid away all his colouring books, dragging out some nice-looking ones, and his big box of Crayola pens, giggling as they rattled noisily. Throwing them to the floor, Tommy lay down on his tummy across his rug, pushing up the too-long sleeves until he could see hs fingers. Wiggling them around, he couldn’t help but beam, it being such a silly movement, especially as they all bunched up to try picking up the slippery box of pens, only for it to bump back down. Kicking contentedly as he tried again, it wasn’t long before it was tipped upside down, the rainbow of colors spreading across the rug in a mess only a child could make, blues bouncing and reds rolling. In fact, every color other than pink.  

Not that Tommy noticed this lack, grabbing up his favourite colour, and flipping to a random page, cheering as it was a cool race car, with flames up the sides, all waiting to be coloured. Uncapping the pen with his teeth, he kept the lid in, chewing on the tip of it as he scribbled messily up and down the door of the car, smiling as it got bluer and bluer the more that he scribbled. Even if it didn’t particularly stay in the lines. Blue was nice, it was a boy’s color, like the sky, and the sea, and blue race cars that go nyoom! Will once said blue was a happy color, so that must mean it was good! Why else would he say it?  

It wasn’t like pink. Bleh, pink is a girl’s color, why would he want /that/? Pink was all flowers and dresses and bubblegum, blehhhh. Pulling a disgusted face, sticking his tongue out, which, in turn, made the lid fall out, Tommy shook his head. No, pink was most definitely not for a big boy like him. In his daydreaming, he hadn't heard the stairs creak, nor the tentative knock on the door, not realising as Tubbo crept into the room. “Hey, Tommy? Wilbur said we could ord- oh.” he started, before noticing his friend on the floor, surrounded by coloring pens. Tommy, spinning round at the familiar voice, smiled to see Tubbo, waving gently with his uncapped pen, but making no effort to get up, instead turning back to his coloring once he was done. “Well, I was gunna ask what pizza you wanted, but it’s ok, I'll just say pepperoni. Have fun with … what you’re doing.” Tubbo murmured, not wanting to disturb Tommy when he seemed so concentrated, instead shutting the door behind himself, and heading back down the stairs to where Wilbur was waiting on the sofa.

“Hey. What’d he say?” Will greeted, his laptop open to some takeout website, smiling gently as Tubbo relayed the information for pepperoni, before placing the order quickly. “Alright, that’s done, is he coming down?” he asked, shutting his laptop once he was done, just as Tubbo settled back in the armchair and picked up his switch. “Nah, he’s little.” he spoke simply, as if it was common knowledge, reopening his animal crossing island to keep fishing, like he had been. Confused, Wilbur tilted his head, brushing aside his hair as it flopped over his eyes, and let out a quiet “Huh?”, making Tubbo look up, and meet his eyes. “What do you mean little?” he asked, curiously, not understanding as the teen clammed up, looking mortified. “I shouldn’t have said that. I should /not/ have said that.” He muttered, hiding his red face behind the console. “It’s not my place to say.” he tried to wriggle out of the situation, but, with a stern look from Wilbur, he was pinned in place.  

“um...wow, how to put it...” he fidgeted in place, trying to find the words to explain to a rapidly more and more concerned WIlbur. “um...he’s thinking like a kid...not Tommy?” he tried, but, from the blank look he got back, he knew that wasn’t enough. “It’s...It’s like a response to stress? Or...or just cuz...?” he tried again, watching as Will nodded slowly. “Um...he’s coloring right now...i don’t think he wants to be bothered?” he interrupted, as Will stood, to go up the stairs. “I could...i could try to find a website to explain to you, if you wanted? I'm... I'm not too good at this.” Tubbo offered, reaching for his laptop, silently relieved as Wilbur sat back down.  

“That would be nice, actually, I'm lost.” He admitted, handing it over, and watching as Tubbo struggled to type out whatever he was trying to, eventually finding a page that seemed right. “Uh, it’s a Tumblr page but...i think it’s got the stuff on...” he mumbled, passing the brightly coloured page back over to him. Credit to him, as Tubbo watched on nervously, Will didn’t seem disgusted, reading with genuine intellectual curiosity, before sitting back. “Woah, okay. That’s intense.” He commented, letting out a deep exhale, and rubbing his eyes. “Why is he little, did you say?” he asked, but Tubbo froze. “I’m...i’m actually not sure. Tommy does it both ways, on purpose and not. Maybe the lore stream today? He did end quickly...” he commented mostly to himself, then rubbing his upper arm. “He normally comes and DMs me after if it’s been a hard stream though... maybe cuz you’re here, he didn’t want to talk about it?”  

Throwing out theories, Tubbo tried to hide his confusion and slight hurt that the little he liked to think of as his baby brother when he was in headspace, hadn't told him, chewing on his nails a little. “I do know he calls you his brother though...maybe he was shy in case you didn’t like him doing it?” he murmured, eyes flicking up to the bespectacled 24 year old watching with rapt attention. Luckily, he looked amused, adjusting his beanie. “Hey, it wouldn’t be the only time, I'm practically his older brother all the time.” He chuckled, casting an eye over the page still up on his screen. “It says here about something called...CGs?” he sounded tentative as he looked up to Tubbo again. “It does, and before you ask, No, he doesn’t have one. And yes, he really should, the chaotic doesn’t go down.” he replied, feeling a lot more comfortable now they could make fun of his friend again.  

“Should...should we head upstairs, go make sure he doesn’t like...set fire to something?” Will suggested, after a few moments of chuckling, right before a loud thump interrupted Tubbo’s beginning complaint. “Ok, Ok , maybe that’s a good idea.” he smiled, putting his switch to the side before standing. “I’ll go warn him.” He held out a hand to stop Will mounting the steps before him, smiling as he feigned offense. “Trust me, you wanna prepare for this, he might still be Tommy, but he’s... different.” Running up the stairs, best as he could, with the nerves he now had in every vein, he quickly pushed open the door, to see the little tugging at a stuffed animal wedge in a cardboard box. Carefully pulli ng it out, he easily identified it as Henry, pushing it into Tommy’s arms with a smile. “I have a surprise for you, Toms, you ready?” he asked, keeping his voice gentle as Tommy nodded enthusiastically. “Awe, good!”  

Awkward, shuffling footsteps were the only indicator Will was coming in, before he rounded the corner, with a small smile. “H-Hi Tommy.” his arms were held awkwardly in front of him, crossed across his chest like he didn’t know how to react. But it wasn’t too much of an issue, since, as soon as he saw Wilbur, Tommy jumped to his feet, running to him. “Wilby!” he cheered, hugging him tightly. “Missed chu!” he grinned, as Will hesitantly pet his hair. “Uh, hey kid, whatchu up to?” he asked, as Tubbo watched on with a soft smile, perching on the bed.  “I heard you were coloring?” he asked, looking to the teen for confirmation, as he nodded enthusiastically again, and dropped to his knees, grabbing his pens to keep going.  

“Yeah! Iz blu!” he smiled, thrusting a cyan pen to the elder one. Carefully sitting down between him and the wall, Wilbur smiled and nodded. “You’re right, it is blue. Do you like blue?” Clearly that was the right question, since Tommy started speaking, so fast they could barely get a word in edgewise, about the color, kicking his legs happily as he started to scribble again, starting to color in the fire on the side of the car now, under the watchful eye of his friends.  

Furrowing his brow slightly at the missing color, Will spoke up, after some small humming being the only thing to break the silence. “Hey, Toms, where’s your pink?” he wondered aloud, jumping slightly as Tommy shouted a “No!”, rather vehement. “No,no, no! Pink for /girls/.” he mumbled, when Will shushed him. Curious, he tilted his head, his hair falling agin, and ‘hmm’d  slightly. “Pink isnt a girl’s color, Tommy, what makes you think that?” he didn’t understand, not even as Tommy sent him a disbelieving face. “Pink...pink for princess” he struggled to explain, making Tubbo nod quietly from where he sat.  “But, I like pink, Toms, am I a princess?” he chimed in, taken aback as Tommy giggled, and nodded. “P’incess tubby!” he smiled, making Wilbur chuckle and nod. “That’s right, kid, Toby’s a princess now.” watching the teen stand and mockingly spin around, before carefully bopping Tommy’s head, like a fairy. “ding, ding, Tommy is now a kid!” he laughed, moving over to the cupboard that usually housed the colouring, pulling out a shameful looking pink tub, and placing it on the floor beside the kid. “Let’s try these ones too, huh?” Will prompted, picking up a pastel pink, and doodling a small flower in the corner.  

Tommy nodded, gently, slipping a little, pink pacifier into his mouth when nobody was looking, and hesitantly choosing a maroon pen, trying a clumsy smiley face, soon joined by tubbo doodling a bee, of course. Laughing, Will tried another flower, and a heart, wanting to keep what he did simple, making Tommy smile as a little of the ink went over his fingers. Catching the pen before he tried to draw on his own face, Will tutted gently at Tommy, his new little friend. His little...brother? Before they realised it, the scribbly car had been overshadowed by their doodles, Tommy having branched out into pink the more his friends didn’t seem to mind it being there, slowly smiling more and more, until he was giggling loud and free, fully convinced now, that Pink was, in fact, not a girl’s color.