#some good and a crapton of bad

[ohnoitstbskyen]

I deleted the ask, but someone wrote one basically saying "why do you post reaction videos to Helluva Boss? Don't you know the show exploits its workers and they're overworked and get burned out?"

And, I mean, I love your energy, person who asked, definitely hold on to those values and speak up about this. But also, I am afraid I might have some bad news for you about literally the whole entire animation industry.

As near as I can make out from the sparse journalistic reporting that's been done on SpindleHorse -- and as a sidebar, please for the love of god read actual reporting about these things and not just callout posts and fandom discourse -- as near as I can make out, SpindleHorse as a studio is neither all that much better nor all that much worse than basically anywhere else in the industry on their level. It seems like it is (or was? Hazbin Hotel seems to be run differently) a studio mostly run by contracting people on a project-by-project basis, which leads to a crapton of turnover, and a huge need for organizing and onboarding, which according to the reporting I have read, the producers and freelancers have struggled to balance and manage properly, which has negatively impacted a number of the workers.

Top that with the usual catty, clique-based backbiting, sniping and poorly managed conflict resolution that's just kinda endemic in creative environments mostly staffed by twentysomethings and stressed out freelancers, and you have the recipe for a workplace where a lot of people are going to have a great time and feel creatively fulfilled, and a lot of people are going to come away feeling justifiably burnt the fuck out and exploited.

All of this is... not especially unusual for the animation industry, or indeed for any creative industry. Which is not to say that it is good, or that it should be allowed to be normal, or that it shouldn't be reported on and criticized (and please for the love of god support unionization efforts because that's the only thing that will actually address these kinds of systemic problems). It's just to say that if those kinds of issues are the line in the sand you draw where you refuse to engage with a studio's output...

Then, for starters, say goodbye to basically all of anime, because the Japanese animation industry is actively in a state of crisis trying to recruit new talent because its working conditions and pay are so astonishingly abysmal. And the horror stories that escape from that industry make the issues at SpindleHorse look like summer camp at times.

But you also have to say goodbye to a lot of American and European animation. Please do not imagine that Disney and its subcontractors, or that Nickelodeon or Warner Bros, are benevolent employers. They exploit their staff brutally and are currently trying to crush the labor value of animation with threats of generative AI being used to replace jobs. But those corporations also have extremely well-funded PR departments and the ability to silence employees with NDAs and threats of blackballing, so you don't get to hear as many of the horror stories as you might from a smaller independent studio that's less able to silence criticism by holding people's careers hostage.

All of this is to say that 1) it's valid and important to have criticism of both large and small-scale animation studios, and to keep the well-being and happiness of the workers higher in your priorities than the output of Products™.

And 2) if you're going to have a principle for what kinds of problems make a studio's output morally untouchable for you, and what kinds of problems you think should make a studio's output untouchable to other people, you do need to apply that principle consistently to the entire industry, and not just to the independent animation studio that happens to be surrounded by the internet's most inflammatory fandom discourse.

If you don't apply that principle consistently, maybe don't send reproachful messages to strangers scolding them for not living up to your standards, and even if you do apply that principle consistently, maybe still don't do that, because it's mostly quite annoying, and doesn't really do anything to support animation workers struggling for better working conditions.

The Animation Guild in the US is currently in the middle of a bargaining process with their industry, and they have a social media press kit as well as relevant talking points on their website which you can use to post in solidarity with the workers. If it comes to a full industry strike, consider donating to their strike funds to help them maintain pressure. Outside of the US, try and find out what (if any) local unions exist for animation workers, and maybe sign up to their mailing lists. They will let you know what kind of support they need from you.

[kozykricket]

i wont lie, terraria shimmer teeters very close to too much quality of life for me. to the point if it had any more perma buffs id probably call it a bit of powercreep but also like. with terraria, i really dont care what the devs do because i trust in them a Lot and. the game is a smorgasbord anyways yknow? funny thing is, shimmer is probably one of my fav things to introduce people to in terraria, because its so cool. and it feels like... hidden cheat codes, almost. like. theres some merit i think to having really obscure and impossible to figure out mechanics, because. yes. it makes the game a "wiki game" sometimes but then i get to feel really cool showing my friends all the special transmutations that exist, like the peddlers satchel. its like. yeah okay why is qol for traveling merchant selling more locked behind that? its kinda weird. but. its cool cus i get to feel cool and clever doing it. again terraria shows its mastery of making u feel cool for being able to do something or being able to know something or maybe thats just me loving my fixation on terraria and knowing everything about games that i play

oh right i said i think shimmers close to too much qol yea i think sometimes theres like. ways it reduces grind where its like i dont mind the grind in terraria ive been over this. and so. do i really want them to reduce the grind? but for one, theres the "it feels like a cheatcode, not just some recipe" as well as like its a way to keep low droprates for things like say, the adhesive bandage. to keep it from dropping a crapton. so .. .you can shimmer a bezoar for it yet still it makes people grind for Something for it and... reward their unluckiness for being so lucky they happen to get more bezoars than they need like, theres still the grind of killing an enemy involved. same for the magma stone to lava charm conversion. that just means you get to pick "im gonna farm hell bats instead of chests around the area"

which like. is . an option. and options for doing things are good! its just if one option is blatantly easier than another one, that it gets to be. weird I also appreciate fishing in terraria as being an alternative for many things! yes it can be grindy, but also. tbh? fishing can be pretty darn easy, if you just do some angler quests and use some potions. ive fished for rare stuff i dont have before. and sometimes it sucks, but ... its usually not that bad. its fair as a last resort for getting stuff that you can otherwise get i suppose this turned into a ramble about just, the methods of getting stuff in terraria in general but anyways, point is i like shimmer, but it was so close to being something i couldve very much hated. and in terms of the permabuffs, they're very very negligible, if you told me they were just placebo and did nothing id believe you. which is good. they shouldnt be that much and... for stuff like swapping class emblems? now thats just fantastic. not every single piece of loot should be able to be swapped out for another piece of loot! i think grinding bosses is good sometimes! but for the WALL of FLESH of all things, and for something as important as a class damage accessory? entirely fair all in all i really appreciate the time relogic puts into thinking about stuff

[opheliajupiter99]

Kideon

(As the name suggests, this fanfic is about a potential 'Kideon' as Frost once put it, or in other words, a product of one of Gideon's many crossbow weddings. Also, fair warning; while my parents have played a crapton of DND, I'm a bit rusty in terms of some lore bits, so my apologizes if I get anything wrong.)

Amongst a thick wood sat a small town. It was the kind of town where hardly anything of interest really happened; same food, same stores, same families, every day playing out just as the day before.

Luckily for the townsfolk though, there -was- something interesting going on this particular night. Within the only tavern in the little town, a bard was visiting, a young human woman by the name of Moria Wormwood. She hated travelling, to be quite honest, but being as poor as she was, she hardly had an option.

Moria sat at the very back of the tavern, playing away at her worn lute, the notes ringing out with an extra clang to them due to the cracks lining its sides. The pay was bad enough, but the paltry tips would barely be enough to cover snacks, much less a room to stay in.

There was another reason she performed in such pathetic conditions, however; that reason sat by the fireplace, watching her mother perform for the drunken patrons - a little girl named Dahlia.

Dahlia was almost six years old, kicking her legs back and forth over the edge of the stone cobbles that surrounded the fireplace. She wore a patchy old shirt, handsewn in various places by her mother, a pair of ratty cloth pants, and her favorite part of her outfit; her skirt, which her mother had handmade her from a fancy tablecloth she'd stolen from one of the many inns they travelled to.

Dahlia was a curious, cheerful sort; she knew they were poor as dirt, but she didn't really mind. She had a lot of imagination, so she didn't need toys, or at least crafted ones. Once she'd gathered a bunch of twigs and stacked them up to look like a house, another time she found a rock that she thought looked a bit like someone's head and pretended to make it talk. Once she even scrounged a deck of cards and made up a game to play!

There were some things that upset her though, of course. She didn't like that her mama had to work, because she could tell she didn't enjoy it, and sometimes she even worried she was a burden; her mother could barely afford to feed herself after all, much less her. But her mother always assured her she wasn't a burden at all, in fact that she was why she kept on going.

There was one question her mother didn't help her on however, which she found herself pondering in this moment as she watched her perform; who her father was. She'd never met him, so it wasn't really that she missed him, it was more her curiosity than anything. She was born with a noticeably reddish tint to her skin, and most curiously of all, her long brown hair was always hot and fiery.

Before she could linger too much on the thought however, she watched a man emerge from the back of the tavern, a wide, stout man with a filthy apron draped over his huge belly, his thick mustache adding extra emphasis to the grimace he bore on his face as he approached her mother.

"What the hell is that shit?" The man scoffed, in reference to the poor-quality music emitted from the worn lute. Her mother kept her head hung down as she responded, and a neutral expression on her face, the way mother always spoke to innkeepers they visited.

"I'm doing my best. I cannot afford proper upkeep, you see, but I assure you, it will do well enough." To be honest, the patrons of the tavern were all so wasted by this point that one probably could've entertained them with windchimes, clearly not caring much about the music's quality.

"It's not good enough, that's what it is!" Huff and puffed the man. "If you're not going to properly use that wretched thing, it'd do better as kindling!" The man bellowed before reaching down and attempting to grab the lute right from her hands!

Dahlia hopped straight off her seat and rushed forward without thinking; if that big grump broke her mama's lute, mama would lose her whole livelihood!

"Put down mama's music!" She said, putting her hands to her hips and glaring at the man, in a way that she tried hard to make intimidating, but was really just cute.

The innkeeper looked down at her, his grip loosening enough for mama to keep hold of the lute, which she hugged protectively to her chest. Truth be told, nobody'd really noticed she was there; she was quite small still after all, and everyone was either highly intoxicated, busy, or didn't really give a crap.

"Piss off, ya little brat! Your ragdoll of a mother's lucky I even let her in, the least she can do is bother to try!" Dahlia gasped, even some of the drunken patrons silencing at the man's words. After a moment, she blurted out. "W-Well the least you could do is try to not eat so much!"

Her mother quickly rushed to scoop her up and run out of the tavern while the innkeeper was stunned by the pintsized backtalk, more than a few of the patrons heartily laughing at the man's expense as they rushed out.

"Sweetie...never, -ever- do that again." Her mother said when she felt they were far enough away, panting a bit as she tried to regain her breath.

Moria meant what she said, that was indeed a terrible idea...but, at the same time, she was rather touched by her daughter's efforts to stand up for her. She just hoped the next town they'd actually get some coin out of...

[jockmewalking]

Here it finally is! The Camp Tv Reloaded biographies. I might alter Cam’s a lil bit or maybe not...

Brick McArthur 

(The Crass Cadet)

What’s your best quality?

MY LEADERSHIP SKILLS!! HERE AT BOOT CAMP, EVERYONE LISTENS TO WHAT I SAY!!! …EVERYONE THAT HAS ANY SENSE OF SELF-PRESERVATION THAT IS!

Faves? (Music, Colour, Movie, Food)

DON’T LISTEN TO JUNK ON THE RADIO! BUT HARD ROCK AND METAL ISN’T SO BAD!

BLOOD RED! WHICH IS THE LAST THING MY ENEMIES WILL SEE BEFORE THEY GET CRUSHED TO DUST!!!

ANY WAR MOVIE COUNTS DOESN’T IT?! IT’S HARD TO CHOOSE MY FAVORITE, BUT I GUESS SINCE MY MOM LIKES IT, THE SURGE OF HASSAN!!!

ANYTHING THAT CAN FUEL ME FOR A DAY IS WORTH IT!!! …BUT I SUPPOSE MY MOTHER’S RENDANG IS GOOD FLAVOR-WISE! 

Describe your craziest dream.

I WAS PICKED ON FOR NO REASON BY MY LOYAL SUBORDINATES! THAT’S UNFAIR!!! I SHOULD NEVER FACE DISRESPECT FROM ANYONE EVER AGAIN! WHICH IS FUNNY I SAID THAT!! SINCE NO ONE HAS LIVED TO TELL THE TALE WHEN THEY DO!!!

Best memory from childhood?

…JOINING THE COOKING CLUB IN 4TH GRADE! OBVIOUSLY!!! I HAVE NO CLUE WHY PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS SHOCKED BY THAT!

Most embarrassing moment at school?

UGH!!! THERE’S THIS ANNOYING BOY NAMED ARTHUR NOTHINGCHICK AT BOOTCAMP! HE KEEPS…TAUNTING ME AND PUTTING DOWN MY AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS!!! AND SOME FREAKIN’ KID HAD THE AUDACITY TO SPREAD A RUMOR ABOUT US DATING JUST BECAUSE OF A WEIRD DREAM SHE HAD!!! WHAT NONSENSE!

Describe the first job you ever had.

I WAS…AWAY FROM BOOT CAMP FOR A WHILE AND I HAD TO DO SOME ‘COMMUNITY SERVICE CRAP’ FOR MY ‘BRASH’ AND ‘IMPROPER’ BEHAVIOR!! I HAD TO TAKE CARE OF RANDOM PEOPLE’S DOGS FOR WEEKS INSTEAD OF KICKING BUTT AT THE ACADEMY!!! …THE DOGS WEREN’T SO BAD…

Ten years from now, what are you doing?

BEING A HIGH-RANKING MILITARY ‘SARGE TO HONOR MY MOTHER’S GLORY!!!

My dream date would be with ___________, doing what?

SOMEONE WHO CAN ACTUALLY HANDLE MY INTENSITY, SO SOMEONE JUST AS INTENSE AS ME OR SOMEONE MORE…CALM, I SUPPOSE!! NO MATTER WHAT THEIR PERSONALITY IS, IM GOING TO COOK THEM A DELICIOUS MEAL AND BRAG TO THEM ABOUT ALL MY ACHIEVEMENTS AND AWARDS FROM BOOT CAMP!

It’s the last day on earth. In one sentence, what would you do?

LAST DAY ON EARTH?! HAH! MAYBE FOR EVERYONE ELSE! I’M GONNA LIVE OUT THE REST OF MY DAYS DOING DRILLS AND DANCING ON TOP OF THAT NOTHINGCHICK FELLOW’S GRAVE!

Maribelle ‘Mary’ Flemming 

(The Sports Fanatic)

What’s your best quality?

I know a crapton about sports—popular celebrities, common misconceptions, random trivia, strategy-stuff—you name it! Thing is, I’m not exactly an athletic gal, but I guess my bro says that makes my obsession way cooler AND unorthodox! 

Faves? (Music, Colour, Movie, Food)

Indie or prog-rock is OBVIOUSLY the best! My favorite song right now is Summer and a Typhoon by Trolly Hell

Any type of purple’s really awesome…

All kinds of action flicks! …It’s nice putting yourself in the shoes of a cool character.

A bag of chips would do me good… Ironic, junk food’s not good for my body, but I guess that saying “You are what you eat” really rings true, huh?

Describe your craziest dream.

Heh, this one’s a real doozy! I was ranked as the no. 1 athlete in my school! 6 years in a row!!! God, I always admired people who have the motivation to work on their physique…

Best memory from childhood?

When I got picked first during team-picking in volleyball! My ‘ol leader’s heard a LOT about my knowledge surrounding a variety of sports, so he’d thought I’d be a great first choice.

Most embarrassing moment at school?

…Turns out the same guy was hoping I’d be some ultra-mega-jock! My bad for wearing sportswear that day—easily fooled him with my fashion style! My team didn’t score a single point in that game and they all blamed me for the loss…

Describe the first job you ever had.

Never had one come to think of it! Most jobs in my town are only open in the daytime, not the best for my…personal schedule you know?

Ten years from now, what are you doing?

…Wasting away in my bedroom… As I always do.

My dream date would be with ___________, doing what?

A total loser who thinks they’re really cool but actually isn’t! I mean—my older bro Jon says I’m the awesomest gal who think’s he’s the lamest, so I guess a person like that would be my match! …Still stuck on what my total opposite and I would do on a first date….

It’s the last day on earth. In one sentence, what would you do?

I’d probably be fiddling around with the tv remote to watch my favorite sport shows one last time, or I’d be asleep. Whichever works best!

Staci  

(The Gossipmonger)

What’s your best quality?

A lot of RUDE people consider this a ‘flaw’, but I would say it’s my ability to spin any story around and have people believe anything I say! 

Faves? (Music, Colour, Movie, Food)

Pop music from the radio, I really like Glad Donna’s songs!

PINK!!! All shades of pink are the best!

Rude Gals is my jam! I don’t really know why, but Reggie and Janelle’s story really speaks to me…hmm…

An assorted box of chocolates! Especially if it includes fruit-flavored ones AND the box looks super cute!

Describe your craziest dream.

I got into my first…relationship!! Though I sadly didn’t remember what the person looked like… It was totally awesome and fun at first, but then she started arguing with me about something… Before I could respond, the dream abruptly ended. 

Best memory from childhood?

Way back in kinder, I told a girl from my class that the boy she was ‘play-dating’ thinks she’s a ‘doo-doo face’ and prefers playing with a girl named Emily! It was hilarious seeing her bawl her eyes out while ‘breaking up’ with this confused boy. …Poor kid, but whatever! It was his problem to deal with months of bullying from the other kids! Haha!

Most embarrassing moment at school?

Someone spread a rumor about me wearing a wig everyday to school! Complete truth—I’ll give them that—but I had students try ripping out my hair and messing up the cute space buns I spent soooo much time perfecting! 

Describe the first job you ever had.

Right now, I’m working at a hair salon! Hairstyling is one of my specialties, though certain people say my ‘chatterbox tendencies’ only leads to my clients complaining about me and giving the already unpopular business a bad reputation or whatever bull…

Ten years from now, what are you doing?

Opening up my OWN successful hair salon, while my current one shuts down from bankruptcy!

My dream date would be with ___________, doing what?

Anyone—as long as it isn’t a guy, bleghh!—with an awesome sense of fashion! AND TAKING CARE OF THEIR HAIR IS A BIG THING!!! The more extravagant the hairstyle, the better. I could talk endlessly about all my annoying co-workers and maybe they could talk about TONS of things after or just listen.

It’s the last day on earth. In one sentence, what would you do?

Ugh, normally I don’t like graffiti, but I might as well vandalize my salon with all the embarrassing secrets I’ve gathered about each and every employee! That will show ‘em to NOT insult me whenever I’m around.

Mike  

(The Comedian)

What’s your best quality?

Lighting up a room with my sense of humor! The way people show their appreciation is quite peculiar though…! Instead of a bouquet of flowers, I once got a bouquet of tomatoes thrown straight to my face!

Faves? (Music, Colour, Movie, Food)

I like upbeat jazz!

Yellow, the color of radiancy and happiness!

EarthDog Day was a blast to watch! …I’m not sure if I should be rooting for the main guy and the girl to get together or not..!

Smoked ham! It was something my old, cranky caretaker made a lot back in my childhood! Welp, at least a piece of him is still with us ;)!

Describe your craziest dream.

…I was in a dark, dark room. And all I could see was face of someone who-shall-not-be-named. I don’t want to let out TOO much detail, but they were saying a lot of really hurtful stuff. …I wish things were better between us, but it’s better not having them around for my sake and for many others.

Best memory from childhood?

About that! I have severe memory problems… Many things about my past is a blur, though I remember fragments of events I do NOT want to dwell on. One positive—aside my former caretaker—is this funny Russian TV show I watched about an awesome stuntwoman who loved making people laugh, just like me! I guess that lady really help me through a lot now, didn’t she ;)!

Most embarrassing moment at school?

We were supposed to do a puppetshow and I was prepping all week! But, then…! Just before I presented, I suddenly felt all woozy and like the world was spinning round and round uncontrollably…! Next thing I remember, my teacher was scolding me for having such an unorganized show!  There was a lots of…ermm….not-safe-for-school humor… and that it kept switching from an Oilers-inspired love story to an Indie Jonas retelling! I think I have a strong idea on who caused that mess!

Describe the first job you ever had.

I was a waitress for a homey, diner restaurant! Sadly, I got kicked out…! See, me and the crew were singing Happy Birthday to a customer, but then the young birthday celebrant started weeping because of my ‘horrible’ singing!

Ten years from now, what are you doing?

Isn’t it obvious?! A world-renowned comedian! …And I would definitely share the spotlight with 4 other people who helped me through a lot!

My dream date would be with ___________, doing what?

Lorrison Elli! She can definitely give me pointers on how to be a successful comedian!

It’s the last day on earth. In one sentence, what would you do?

Sing romantic ballads to drown my sorrows away! 

Scott  

(The ‘Jaded General’)

What’s your best quality?

How I take no nonsense from other people. I stand my ground strong and do as I please whether people like it or nah.

Faves? (Music, Colour, Movie, Food)

Music?! I got no time for that nonsense!

Dirt brown. I just dig it.

Don’t remember its title, but its about a guy from a military platoon infiltrating an enemy battalion. Sweet-talking his way through ’n hiding under a different identity then pretending like he’s on the enemy’s side  before taking all ‘em suckers down one by one!

Whatever’s not being served at boot camp! Though my momma makes a nummy sharped’s pie.

Describe your craziest dream.

In a world as wacko as this one my dreams hardly ever compare!

Best memory from childhood?

That time I beat ‘ol pops in long and difficult wrestling match. Not fair ’n square though! I may or may not have drugged his coffee before we fought…

Most embarrassing moment at school?

More nerve-grating than embarrassing but our general was ordering us to do some drills and I just couldn’t care less! As punishment that shmuck forced me to 130 push-ups in front of all the other cadets! 

Describe the first job you ever had.

I once trained a bunch of raccoons to hunt down a two wild hounds that were bothering the neighborhood kids. Didn’t do it to help ‘em just wanted to own an army of feral ‘coons ’n for them to pay me a grand for my work. Funny enough I’m darn sure there’s a book about this with an almost-but-not-quite similar premise…

Ten years from now, what are you doing?

High up in the ranks of whatever business I take up… ordering my goons to do whateva I want ‘em to do whether they want to or nah!

.My dream date would be with ___________, doing what?

No thanks! I’d rather mess up the lives of potential lovebirds than be a lovesick fool myself. 

It’s the last day on earth. In one sentence, what would you do?

Terrorize the neighborhood with my ever-growing raccoon army!!

Cameron  

(The Explorer)

What’s your best quality?

Well, bad luck seems to follow me wherever I go… But I don’t let that stop me from getting where I want to be!

Faves? (Music, Colour, Movie, Food)

Fantasy video game music, especially The Myth of Link! I love listening to that genre while on my expeditions.

Red! It’s exciting and passionate, just like me.

The newest Metal Might Movie obviously, though I will say I prefer the comic books.

Rocky road ice cream! there’s a shop nearby my home that makes the most DELICIOUS rocky road ice cream imaginable!

Describe your craziest dream.

I’ve was forced to live in a bubble my whole life! That’s terrifying!!! I’ve got almost nothing to do in a small space like that…

Best memory from childhood?

That time I first met my closest buds! They were a bit mean at first… But now we spend every waking hour at school together! I love them all to bits, but they always ask me for my lunch money and seem…distracted… whenever I geek about Metal Might!

Most embarrassing moment at school?

I did terrible in a math test and the teacher exposed my mistakes to the entire class! I’m normally good at logic-based problems, but that was the first and only time I did terrible in a test…

Describe the first job you ever had.

I was part of a Boys Scout group back in the day. We sold granola cookies! 

Ten years from now, what are you doing?

I want to travel the world one day and write a book about all the best places I visited! I know there’s tons of books already about this concept, but I have a feeling this one’s REALLY special.

My dream date would be with ___________, doing what?

I may be a lively guy, but I would prefer being with someone more serious or otherwise collected to ground me out. Maybe we can watch the stars or I can show them all the best touristy spots in my city.

It’s the last day on earth. In one sentence, what would you do?

Traverse the city one last time. Then right before the day ends, sit on top of the tallest building while reading my favorite comic series! 

[themculibrary]

Fics With Titles That Start With P Masterlist

Painted in Indigo (ao3) - nekare steve/bucky M, 11k

Summary: “You should be careful of that one,” Mr. Hendrickson says, with a nod to Bucky outside the window. “It ain’t right. Looking at you all the time as he does. The way he should be looking at girls.”

Steve laughs, because damn, but what a ridiculous idea.

Or, five times Steve caught Bucky looking at him, and the one time he looked first.

Parapraxis (ao3) - CypressSunn sam/bucky E, 14k

Summary: “We get it, Buck, you’re a New Yorker.” It is the last thing Sam would have suspected to transcend both time and brainwashing, but Bucky’s Brooklyn born and bred hatred of the Garden State was alive and well. “Does it really matter what side of the turnpike the flying murder drone was built on?”

Peep Show (ao3) - BladeoftheNebula steve/tony, tony/tiberius E, 42k

Summary: “Alright there, Sugar?” A voice came from behind him and he whipped around to see an omega with a little box of tokens. “You know you got to put one in to start right?”

Steve felt his face heat. “Yes ma’am. I was just uhh—“

“First timer?” He nodded and she gave him an encouraging smile. “Well, don’t worry, there’s glass behind the curtain, so the omegas can’t bite.” Then she winked. “That costs extra.”

Steve’s face got even hotter. He certainly wasn’t doing that.

Steve knew he wasn't any omega's first choice, or hell, even third. But what starts as a visit to a seedy Peep Show in Manhattan ends up changing his life for good.

perfectly right wrong number (ao3) - melonbutterfly steve/bucky T, 31k

Summary: It all starts because Steve is too dumb to handle his smartphone.

A wrong number AU in which Bucky Barnes doesn’t enter Steve’s life (meaning: Bucky wasn’t born until the eighties, but Steve is still Captain America) until Steve accidentally dials the wrong number. Wherein there is a lot of texting, some advice via Natasha and Darcy, a bit of pining, and a first date in an amusement park. Oh, and on top of being a disabled veteran, Bucky is a professional catwalker. Literally.

Perfect Match (ao3) - BladeoftheNebula steve/tony M, 9k

Summary: All Steve wants to do is get through his omega work placement and get out. Too bad Tony Stark, the alpha son of the CEO, is such a dick.

Peter and the Jailbirds (ao3) - beautifullights mj/peter, steve/sam M, 86k

Summary: “If you did play chess,“ Ross said, "you’d remember that a pawn can become a queen. The most powerful piece on the board, Parker, remember that? But—” Ross smiled— “only if it obeys.”

He adjusted his tie, stood, and looked down at Peter. “I’ll ask you again,” he said. “Eventually. You may feel differently after you’ve been living in a six-by-six cube without sunlight or fresh air for a few years.”

“What pawns do,” Peter said, voice shaking slightly, “is sacrifice themselves for the greater good. I have no regrets.”

He had a lot of regrets.

Like, a lot. A crapton. A shitload. An overloaded dumpsterful.

“When I visit you on the Raft,” Ross said, “you’ll be old enough to grow a beard.” The cell door clicked shut behind him.

Peter Parker’s Home for the Wayward Villain - BeanieBaby T, 90k

Summary: A really long redemption story.

Peter’s Field Trip To Stark Tower (ao3) - ScxrletWidowXx G, 4k

Summary: Peter Parker’s class is going on a school trip! Can you guess where?

— Basically, the Avengers are embarrassing Peter and being overprotective because of Flash.

peter’s stars (ao3) - IronPengu, parkrstark peter & steve, steve/tony T, 175k

Summary: Steve and Peter lose their apartment and are kicked out on the streets. Steve has to juggle between jobs to earn whatever money he can, take care of his son while resfusing to let him realize how much they’re trouble in, and keep them warm and safe on the city streets in winter.

So, he really doesn’t have time to date the billionaire that flirts with him everyday as he buys his cup of coffee. Even if he did, he can’t let himself fall for the man. Because if he knew that he lived from a backpack and showered in a public bathroom there’s no way he’d still want him…right?

Pick a Star on the Dark Horizon (ao3) - artist_artists sam/bucky T, 38k

Summary: In 1945, a Hydra experiment gone wrong sends their prisoner Bucky Barnes to the year 2025, where he meets Sam Wilson for the first time.

In 2025, Bucky is stolen from his happy life living and working with Sam and sent back to his Hydra cell in 1945.

Both of them love Sam, and both of them are trying to get back to where they belong without destroying the universe.

Pieces of Echoes (ao3) - geekymoviemom steve/tony, happy/pepper T, 334k

Summary: When weapons designer and SHIELD consultant Tony Stark and his son are kidnapped following a routine weapons demonstration, newly defrosted World War II hero Steve Rogers is sent to find them.

But what begins as just another mission, a way for Captain America to reintegrate back into society, quickly warps into something more as betrayals are discovered, harsh, long-buried truths are finally brought to light, and Tony and Steve come to realise that their biggest allies are each other.

Powers and Principalities - Filigree loki/tony M, 5k

Summary: Jarvis is a scheming schemer who schemes, but he loves Tony very much. Loki doesn’t stand a chance.

practice makes imperfect(ao3) - wintermadethissoldier steve/bucky M, 3k

Summary: the one where bucky learns that steve’s never kissed a girl and insists he has to practice, preferably, with bucky. 17 is an age bucky will never forget.

pretty in ink (ao3) - flowermasters G, 5k

Summary: Peggy is a secret agent by day and the front-woman of a girl band by night. Steve is just a tattoo artist, but he’s also head over heels for her.

Pretty Keener (ao3) - mauvera harley/peter T, 30k

Summary: When Harley Keener moves to New York for his last year in high school, he comes with one mission: Mess. With. Everyone.

Somewhere between convincing Captain America that he is actually Spider-Man, and seeing just how many robots he can sneak into his new school, Harley finds himself spending more and more time around a certain boy with more secrets than he could ever have guessed.

Proprietary Information (ao3) - notlucy steve/bucky E, 85k

Summary: Okay, so Bucky Barnes has a crush on Steve Rogers. The guy’s gorgeous, talented and, oh yeah, the Chief Design Officer of the biggest tech company in the world. In other words: he’s so far out of Bucky’s league that he might as well be in a different stratosphere.

protective big brothers (ao3) - haveufoundwhaturlookingfor rebecca/sam, steve/bucky G, 1k

Summary: Sam is taking Rebecca out on their first date, he has the pleasure of meeting her big brother, Bucky.

Publicity Parent (ao3) - Bowtiez G, 36k

Summary: Tony's losing his credit with the public. Pepper's got a plan to fix it.

Enter Peter Parker, eight-year-old orphan from Queens, New York.

Tony has no idea how children work, so why is he so drawn to little Peter Parker?

“Punk!” (ao3) - mjolnir_in_my_hands steve/bucky E, 3k

Summary: Steve and Bucky reunite after the events of the Winter Soldier.

put it in reverse and hit him again (ao3) - paperclipbitch lance/bobbi M, 15k

Summary: Is it any wonder, these days, that he opens his mouth and Bobbi just pours right out?

[randomnameless]

Since the new Star Wars will be released in less than a week, I’ve been binge watching some of my favourite episodes...

I’m a bit surprised, but given how the original sixology (? the first 6 episodes) all revolve around a certain character who fell to “the dark side” and then was redeeemed, i couldn’t help but think about a certain game -

Ani’s the chosen one (tm) and knows it.

It goes over his head, makes him arrogant, his descent to madness is kind of gradual but it is well portrayed (unlike his romantic plot) - he really wanted to save the mom he never forgot but was forced to and now his wife is going to die and he must do something to prevent it because he is just so strong isn’t he supposed to be the chosen one (tm)?

Ani murdering children is never whitewashed. Ani, in his madness, tries to kill the one he swore to protect.

Ani doing all the shit he does in Episode III is, and will never be whitewashed

There is this “split-persona” thing where Darth tells Luke that Ani’s dead (just like Obi-Wan says Darth killed Ani) but in the end, we discover that the real Ani never died and there was still some part of him buried inside Darth’s evil looking armor.

(Ani never realising that the force is strong in his daughter when Luke says it is is on par with Princess Julia shenanigans, the plot never wanted it to happen but it had to be mentionned in some weird way)

so yes, at the end of the 6th movie, Ani’s kind of redeemed and appears as a force ghost.

GG Ani?

I thought Ani was a nice parallel to another mask wearing authoritarian character we know.

Granted, Anakin is shown to be subservient to Palpatine (calls him master and does whatever he wants - even if i read on the wiki that he tried to kill him after learning that Padmé died?) when Edel’s not so subservient to her uncle Arry.

Both were manipulated by external forces who are actually the reason why they suffered (even if it is not that simple in Star Wars? You can make the argument that Palpating was nurturing the “asshole” streak of Anakin, but he was still an asshole ?) and choose wrong pathes - Palpatine deceived Anakin into killing Windu and isolated him from the Jedis, Uncle Arry experimented on Edel and is apparently the reason why she’s so lonely and can’t trust anyone, save for Hubert and Billy.

But Anakin is called on his bullshit, by Padmé - the one he sacrificed everything for. Confronting his wife, Ani reacts violently and tries to kill her.

(it is never said why “she died in childbirth” apparently she lost the will to live so bar the WTF YOUR CHILDREN ARE YOU GOING TO LET THEM ALONE BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT TO LIVE ANYMORE??? - I think it’s pretty implied that when Anakin tried to kill her she lost it, she couldn’t save him, she knew he still had “some good left in him” but she knows she isn’t the one able to call to him)

When Ani realises that Padmé and their kid (remember guys, those people can sense pregnant women being alive but not two force sensitive babies inside said pregnant woman, i mean sense a daughter) died he breaks (tries to kill his master?) and becomes the souless husk we see until Luke comes in.

Thing of importance here : Anakin is called on his bullshit.

A certain someone from Fire Emblem’s latest opus is never called on her bullshit, let it be her odd allies, the fact that Kronya used to be a thing, why Jeralt died or the funny experimentations on peasants.

Anakin, angry that his beloved doesn’t react like he planned, kills her (tries to) violently.

He then has to fight his sensei

Billy never tells Edel that nope, Rhea isn’t the Goddess the Church is venerating, the real Goddess lives in their head, or that Edel’s story about Nemesis and the relics is doodoo. Would Edel have reacted violently and tried to kill Billy?

SS plays the scene where sensei has to fight his wayward student as a tragic thing but there is nothing on par with Obi-Wan and Ani’s duel on Mustafa. We’ve seen Obi-Wan raise, as much as he could do, Anakin, who was naught but a brat. We saw them spend time, do missions etc, together. Even share jokes!

Anakin tried to killed Obi-wan, and all of his former allies (the Jedis). He managed to kill (he and Sidious) a crapton of them (even babies!) but the one in front of him he has to kill is his father figure, his mentor.

When Ani “I 8 U” memetic words are heard it’s a parallel to Obi-Wan’s “I thought of you as my brother” “I loved you” - there is no returning point here. Kenobi’s torn - Anakin became their enemy and he dealt with him accordingly (alway being on the defensive and severing his legs after warning him that it was useless to continue) but still showed sadness.

Billy? Is shown to be sad?? But why? Where is the weight? They spend (in SS?) a year together?

Sadly Billy also spent a year with Bernie’n’co and Edel tried to kill them. Was he closer to Edel than to Bernie’n’co? Nothing prevents Billy from reaching supports with the other BE students - so if Edel confessing her torture to Billy could be seen as that big thing for her, why should it be different than, say, Bernie confessing that her dad wanted to make her a good wife, Dorothea more or less confessing that she used her talents to get a place in the academy or Ferdie’s insecurities about being the eldest son of House Aegir?

“But Rhea is an evil baby-eating monster; the church lied to everyone”

Note that Obi-Wan never says that Anakin’s distrust with the Jedi Council is unfounded (during episode III iirc) or that he’s plain wrong.

Obi-Wan considers Anakin dead because he tried to kill Padmé, because he fell to the Dark Side, and because he effing cut babies (i don’t even know if Obi Wan knew about Ani’s role in Mace Windu’s death).

Just because one party did shit it doesn’t enable you to do way worse shit

Morale (one of them?) is that I don’t know Star Wars universe like I pretend to know FE.

But if there is one thing I loved in Episode III and in the subsequent episodes (4 5 6 and even 7 where Ben’s entirely wrong about grandpapa) is that while Darth’s story is a sad story (Palpatine manipulated him), he found his redemption doing the only thing he could, at the cost of his life - saving Luke and embracing his Jedi persona.

And yet, does it absolves Ani of everything he did? Hell no!

Anakin-Darth dies. He doesn’t get to live a fruitful life with his son (and daughter he only discovered in the last minutes of his life despite having meet her earlier), he dies.

Pilling on all of the shit he did deprived him of living the perfect life he envisaged with his wife and Luke (maybe Leia if we insist).

He might not be alone when he dies, he still dies as the empty husk of what he used to be and what he had been for years.

Ani lost everything, but in the end, thanks to his son, he found his jedi pride/self or something like that.

Edel? Doesn’t face consequences of her shit.

So no Sensei trying to kill her, or if Sensei does it’s painted as a tragedy for reasons we don’t really know because, hey, Sensei is also the Sensei of the other BE - there’s no special Edel exclusive bond with Sensei (and no as i said earlier, revealing her tragic backstory in supports doesn’t count, because Bernie and Ferdie did the same thing).

Edel doesn’t lose Sensei, since the loli in Sensei’s head doesn’t see anything wrong with her daughter having been turned into minced meat due to her race and fuses with Billy or some other shit to explain why Sensei’s defective - since birth - hearth suddenly starts beating (is it the moment where Billy realises that shit, without Rhea i’d be a dead baby in the end i owe my life to her?)

Since Edel never loses anything of importance, Edel never learns.

When Edel threatens her nuncle it’s funny, when Anaking turns against Sidious (after having watched the prequels) it’s satisfying and cathartic - finally, Sidious who used to dispose of his minions right and left tastes his own medicine as in, he who betrays must expect some sort of betrayal.

Edel gets to live with her significant other even when she wanted to kill Billy (in the tomb and with the “we don’t need gods anymore” “i’m the vessel of god she kind of fused with me do you mean you don’t need me anymore??” but the last one is never adressed in the game :p) when Anakin has to live with the (distorted) fact that he killed Padmé.

They still share some loltastic moments.

When Ani argues to Windu that Palpatine can’t be executed without a trial, Windu says fig it.

But Anakin never gave a fair trial to count Dooku or to the Tusken Riders he rekt a long time ago (in episode 2)...

TFW due process only concerns senators...

Tl; Dr : Even Anakin, in all of his pear-slicing glory is a better written character than Edel.

[gabesapwhoreta]

i had a good fuckin thrift haul today fellas. take this to your grave CD in hella good condition & my record store lemme have an old danger days promo poster for fuckin free

[americanphancakes]

Honestly hardly anyone will probably even notice the hours of work I just did (aside from the raindrop removal), and my hand’s getting shaky so I have to stop despite seeing a ton of issues that are still present, but I’m proud of it anyway so I’m posting it lol

[kodev]

I don't mean to be a bother but I was wondering how you got into game development (like coding and stuff). It's something I've always wanted to do, but I have no idea where to start ^_^' (feel free to ignore this ask of course)

AHH Of course I would love to help... err I'm actually very bad at playing video games which is sort of hilarious in context but I love rpgs of all kinds with my whole heart and I grew up around software development so I also got exposed to that side fairly early on. Um.. TBH I also kick my feet a lot about gamedevelopment but for where to start I have a few suggestions in no particular order:

Join a gamejam These will usually have themes (easy inspiration) or challenges, a deadline (gets your ass moving to actaully do something), and discord communities full of people willing to help you with anything pretty much! A lot of them are hosted in itch.

If you already have an idea For me I like to draw up a list of things that I personally like in video games I've played, and then try to see where I can expand on them. From there, I see which game engine would support me the best. It is possible to make an entire game without actually coding anything (RPGMAKER is pretty good for this, and I know some other ones support block coding), but I really recommend picking up some knowledge of coding if youre able! From there, I usually come up with characters, diagram interactions, and try to come up with a timeline of events.. If you're having trouble with this, I usually bounce my ideas off of a friend and get feed back and have a fun little ideajam which helps me to get moving again.

Some helpful links/things I like: Aseprite is good for pixel art/animation Not too experienced on the music side, but I know there are a lot of free music places out there! My rpgmaker masterpost has some included :) And u can always commission music artists! For writing... I've tried out Bibisco, Scrivener, Google Docs, etc... But I think as of the moment I like Fortelling the best :) For learning how to code: I will never stop recommending Codecademy if you're able to pay, but there are a lot of videos on youtube on practically every game engine-y thing you may desire! This is a good masterpost for unity-related stuff, but i recently found out that Unity also like donated a crapton of money to the US Military so I've been trying to adjust to unreal instead lol.. This is a good rpgmaker post! And this is a good general gamedev post if you haven't seen it already

And my final piece of advice is to play a lot of indie games! I spend a lot of time just browsing on itch and then playing different games I come across. Not all of them are amazing, but all of them do inform my direction on indie gamedev in some way or another

There's a lot of free resources on the net I can link you to if you need help with music or coding or game engine advice... but best of luck! And i hope this was helpful :)

feel free to ask me anything else!

[grimm-the-tiger]

Ranking my favorite bands (warning: this is like 50% folk rock/indie folk) 

The Oh Hellos - the only even vaguely religious music I will listen to. Most of their songs are fairly secular, which is probably why I like them, and the more blatantly religious ones are probably closer to “religious trauma” in terms of lyrical content than “praise Jeebus” (there’s a crapton of Bible references though, but they’re used more for metaphor and imagery than religion). Their music is also very optimistic, which isn’t a very common thing with most of the bands on this list; most of their songs kinda give me the feeling of “even if everything’s going downhill, it’ll still get better in the end”. 

Lord Huron - if I heard this out of the blue while I was hiking in the middle of the woods, I would be completely unsurprised. Except for Vide Noir, all of their songs give off pristine “middle of nowhere and there’s weird shit happening” vibes. There’s a supernatural element in like 90% of their songs, ranging from “taking a dimension-hopping acid trip” to “dude comes back from the dead to get revenge on an evil real estate dealer who killed his family”. A lot of their songs (or at least their earlier ones; I’m still listening to Long Lost) also tell stories, which is nice. 

Death Cab for Cutie - I’d imagine their music sounds like what it’s like to live in a city where it always rains. It’s somewhere halfway between nostalgic and melancholic; my two favorite songs from Thank You For Today are “Northern Lights”, which is more optimistic, and “Gold Rush”, which is entirely focused on the nostalgia that comes from returning to your home town to find it irreversibly changed. Also, one of my favorite fics got its title from “Amputations”, so I can’t really complain. 

Imagine Dragons - while I agree with some people that their first three or so albums are their best, the rest of their music isn’t slouching either (”Wrecked” and “Bones” are probably my two favorites of their new songs, and if you haven’t listened to them, YOU SHOULD). While they’re kind of overrated, that’s more due to their popularity than any flaw with their actual music. Also, Dan Reynolds has one hell of a vocal slide, and I can respect that. 

Rise Against - punk is only really my genre sometimes, so I tend to gravitate towards these guys’ music because their lyrics are really good and to the point, sometimes to the extent that it’s downright cheesy (the children’s chorus in “Make It Stop”, anyone?). Not that that’s a bad thing, though; it can actually be really effective, such as the aforementioned “Make It Stop”, where the chorus makes it go from a standard punk rock song to straight-up badass. They’re also more...diverse than most punk bands, I guess, in terms of repertoire; some of their music is more acoustic, and I honestly think those songs are amongst their best because of the contrast they draw between the slow instrumentals and the bitter, harsh lyrics. 

The Lumineers - I only recently started getting back into these guys’ music and holy shit they’ve gotten good. I listened to most of Cleopatra and their debut album maybe three years ago and just kinda thought “meh, they’re good but they’re not that good”, but their new(ish) album III is *chef’s kiss*. I’m probably biased on that front though, since I’m a sucker for concept albums. They’re more melancholic than most folk rock bands I listen to and they don’t rely as heavily on electronic instruments, which gives them a more down-to-earth tone than the other two folk rock bands listed so far, but they make the kind of music I’d listen to on the rare rainy days where I live (Arizona sucks ass, man). 

[xseaxwitchxkpop]

NSFW Alphabet: Sub!Seonghwa Edition

A/N: idk anyone in Ateez who pushes the catboy agenda more than hwa and this precious soul just makes me have cute aggression. Lemme just remind everyone that stage presence ≠ bedroom preference, so he might be a demon on stage but I personally think he's very far from dominant in the bedroom. Also this is framed for a femme!presenting reader.

-------------------------

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

A very clingy baby! Even though he's the sub, he would want to hold you instead of the other way around; when you're cleaning up, give him a plushie to snuggle because he just feels very happy holding something. He would also have the most sparkly eyes ever, looking at you with pure love and adoration. He'll also be very hungry, so always have some food on hand and be prepared to be fed by him because "you need it, too, I don't care if you're my domme, lemme feed you and show you my love!"

B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

He's fave part on himself is probably his eyes because he knows how expressive they are for him and how transparent they are -- his eyes always betray his true emotions and considering he's a more private person, he likes this. His fave part on you would be your breasts, but not in a sexual way; whether you're part of the itty bitty titty committee or big titty gang, he likes them as a comfort thing, groping them or sucking on your nipples, it's very calming and relaxing for him!

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)

He loves his face to be covered in either pussy juices/"cum" (since, ya know, pussies don't ejaculate lmao anyway) or use fake cum (or real cum if you have an actual dick) to cover his face and/or inner thighs, it'll get him going like nothing else. He also loves seeing his midsection painted with his own cum and also eating his own cum.

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Every once in a while, he likes to fuck his plushies. No one would suspect this because he takes much care in cleaning them immediately afterward, so they keep their softness and hugability. He's recorded himself doing it a few times but always either deletes the videos or keeps them in a separate, unsuspecting folder in his phone; he's thought about sending them to you but never could bring himself to do so.

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

He's had a few hook ups but most of them have been pretty vanilla as many hook ups tend to be, he knows what he's doing especially with that tongue of his.

F = Favourite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)

Probably missionary, with you on your back and him fucking you. He can easily kiss you, suck on your neck or nipples, and you can easily grab his hair roughly, pull him in closer, scratch his back with your nails, and you two can make intense eye contact. Yeah, that's his favorite position.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

He's more passionate about it than anything. He likes it rough but not necessarily fast, and he likes it soft but not necessarily gentle. It's a very delicate balance that he prefers most of the time and can be difficult to pin down when the mood has to be forced from either of you -- when that happens, he rather not have sex at all.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

Trimmed, doesn't bother to shave and he doesn't care what you do; bush, no bush, trimmed, shaved, waxed, whatever. However, he likes it when you shave for him down there as a sweet bonding experience, nothing kinky or sexual.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

He's very sincere and very intense during sex, especially with someone he's romantically involved with because he's not the most open person and, like Yeosang, takes some prying open emotionally so when he shares that emotional part of himself and trusts that other person, that translates directly to the bedroom. He can be a little goofy if he's particularly happy that day, like giggly kisses n' shit, but otherwise very sincere, very intense.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

If he jacks off, you know about it because he sends you audios of himself getting himself off, complete with moans, whimpers, groans, muffling himself, and him cumming in the end of it. He never sends videos, though, because his ass has a voice kink. He masturbates semi regularly just because he has a high sex drive and you're not always available so he temporarily satisfies himself.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

So, this man, has some kinks that get me thinking. He has an oral fixation for sure, so anything involving his tongue; he definitely has a breeding kink like hard-core "let me breed you, mommy/daddy, I wanna give you babies" breeding kink, more so than San; temperature play; pegging/anal play; cock rings; nail scratching; biting/marking; kitten play; shibari; restraints; voice kink; ASMR kink.

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do)

Hmmmm, maybe the bedroom? He doesn't really have a favorite place to do anything because each place brings a different kind of thrill for him, so anywhere he can look at and easily imagine you commanding him to take you or you taking him is his favorite place. His least favorite place is the shower because the water washes away the lube and is just generally an annoying interruption.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

Doing a sexy, feminine dance for you. Sexy girl group concepts? He learns the choreo and dances it just for you; turns him on because he enjoys you intently watching him while being just out of reach. Rubbing your hand up and down his thigh, no matter how innocent, will also turn him on greatly. Also if you cook for him -- it can be as simple as ramen but as soon as he sees that you cooked for him, he's ready to pounce you and be at your every command.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

I don't think he would be into piss play or scat play (absolutely no hate to people who are into this lol) but I think he wouldn't like them just because he's a bit of a clean freak and all he would see is a mess to clean up and that would definitely ruin the mood for him. Another definite turn off of his is extreme pain; he likes a little bit here and there, like slapping his ass and thighs, nail scratches wherever you scratch him, but flogging and riding crops are a no go for him.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

He LIVES for giving oral and that's directly from his oral fixation. It keeps his mouth busy plus he gets to please his partner. Again, he also loves his face covered in cum and/or pussy juices, so oral is definitely such fun for him!

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

Moderate. He likes it a little faster than slower, but not exactly fast, if you get what I'm saying. He likes to feel you and you to feel him, so he wants it on the slower side of things but a slightly fast pace will be suitable for the most part. Only every once in a blue moon would he want you to fuck his brains out or to fuck yours out.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

Quickies involving penetration? Nah, not a fan. Quickies involving oral? Sign him the fuck up. He wants to see how fast he can get you to orgasm with just his tongue and since you derive such pleasure from it as well, you let him take on this challenge.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

As long as extreme pain is not involved, he's game for a lot of things. He's always wanted to try semi public sex, voyeurism, and submissive cuckolding, but he would only try this with one of his members since he trusts them quite a lot.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

I think he could probably go two, three rounds, maybe four if he has a crapton of energy for God only knows what reason. He has experience, jacks off sort of regularly, so he can last a good while in bed while being pounded into or pounding into you.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

He's got dildos of varying sizes because he, like San, is also a size queen. He has a couple of buttons plugs and some vibrators, along with handcuffs and bondage rope. He has a couple pairs of kitten ears and a matching choker and butt plug.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He likes to tease, but not in a bratty way. It's a very sweet way, like poking your cheek and rubbing it like a cat as he strokes your inner thigh and ghosts your genitals, teases you with food like "hey if I make this dish, maybe you can fuck my ass tonight" and he'd act all cutesy about it, he'll make suggestive comments while making direct eye contact, and wiggle his butt sometimes.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

He's a happy medium between San and Yeosang. Hwa makes noise - groans, whimpers, moans, mewling - but he isn't loud with them per say, they're very throaty noises and he uses his chest to make them so they're low in volume but frequent.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

He quite prefers the natural noises of sex between you two rather than having a playlist or any other background noise going. He's sensitive to noise in the first place and the background noise could overwhelm him in a bad way.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

He's average. Nothing too long, nothing too girthy, but boy does he know how to use his average dick regardless.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

He has a bit of a high sex drive. Think like smack in the middle of average horny and extremely horny and that's Hwa. He can go like three days without sex with no complaints but coming up on a fourth day may be a little bit hard for him.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

He becomes quite sleepy afterward, wanting to snuggle you to fall asleep while you rub his back up and down and he holds you and squeezes you like his personal plushie. It takes a while for him to actually fall asleep, but that's because it takes him a while to calm down enough to lull into a peaceful state of rest before succumbing to sleep.

[cleverthylacine]

I know this wasn't the point of your other reblog but do you have recommendations for where to buy a cute parasol? I have one from AliExpress that's fine but I'm more here for the aesthetics than the functionality and the black liner for sun stopping reasons ruins the vibe.

My parasols cost me a crapton of money from Angelic Pretty USA. I highly recommend AP/BTSSB parasols because they are functional umbrellas that are ALSO parasols, but I understand not everyone wants to pay that much. I used to have an AP folding parasol that I won in a raffle but it got destroyed in a bad storm, alas.

This retailer is not my favourite because she's a vegan and went off on my friend for just asking if they had any leather boots lmfao, but the parasols look nice, and they do have nice stuff. Dammit.

This etsy seller has some nice stuff and probably is less of a jerk:

apparently you can also get a parasol from ShopPBS and support PBS! I'm sorry I don't have any good recs and just kinda googled, but I haven't bought a parasol in a long time. But the minimum requirements for a lolita parasol that you do not expect to use on a UV danger day or in a rainstorm are: nice lace with a nice texture and a sturdy handle. Before the pandemic I was a borderline lifestyler and either wore pinup or lolita clothes when I left the house, now I'm a slob like everyone else lmfao because I don't wear anything out of the house for non-lolita occasions that I can't throw in the wash in case some maskless asshole sneezes in my face!

So at that time... I always had brand parasols.

SWIMMER is a good Japanese brand for cute umbrellas. Another way to get a nice lolita-ish brolly or parasol, if you have access to a Japanese bookstore or feel comfty using Amazon JP, is to buy the seasonal fashion catalogs that are one (1) tiny pamphlet or booklet + a prize for like $25. The bags in those are universally shitty and not to be used for anything other than shopping or laundry, but the umbrellas are very nice, and I used to have a beautiful Axes Femme floral umbrella that came from one.

Anyhow, Liz Lisa, Axes Femme, and some Sanrio collabs come out that way, it's how I got all my Little Twin Stars coin purses.

[chloe-online]

you're making me want some stuff about karl with a teenage daughter or son, mayhaps he has fraternal twins and they're now GROWN. like. what kinda dad would he be to his teens in your eyes? 😳

im sorry this took so damn long. i have a commitment issue when it comes to writing, I have like 12 drafts just sitting waiting for me to finish them. I'm sorry if this isn't what u wanted either. i hope you enjoy anyway!

i think hed be a great father nonetheless but something in me is telling me he'd treat his daughter differently than if he had sons. I'll write for both in the form of headcanons because i haven't been writing and I feel bad.

Fraternal Daughters:

- he'd love his daughter literally so fucking much omfg. like more than alcina loves hers.

- he'd be protective over them but to an extent, they're allowed to live their teenage lives but they just have to be careful.

- he wouldn't force them to stay away from boys, but he does want to meet any boyfriends they do have, and he wants you to be careful. make sure that they arent being used, and hed always ask them how their relationship is.

- he would want them to stay away from drinking. especially at parties, he fears of what would happen if they drank too much and some asshole used her. of course when they're in their late teens (16, 17ish) he'd love to be able to sit down and have a few drinks with them.

- he would definitely be in on a lot of tea parties, and hed be playing with a concerning amount of dolls, but his daughters always have amazing ideas when it comes to playing with dolls.

- KARL IS AMAZING AT TUCKING IN HIS DAUGHTERS AND GIVING THEM A GOOD NIGHT KISS ON THE FOREHEAD OMGGVYG

- depending on their personalities hed be a little dork by teasing them, and saying snarky things, but if they arent the type that welcomes that kind of behaviour that's fine too.

- he loves his daughters so much and he expresses that by hugging them, feeding them, playing with them, spoiling them with homemade toys, taking them on wild adventures, and just helping them grow into strong, capable adults. he's quite amazing.

Fraternal Sons:

- while a lot of what has been said for the daughters counts for his sons they'd still get treated differently.

- HE STILL LOVES HIS SONS SO MUCH LIKE MORE THAN ALCINA AND HER DAUGHTERSSS HGVBRJE

- again he's a protective guy, so hed let them ride out their teen years while placing down some rules.

- he wouldn't encourage them to go out and date girls but he'd be accepting just as long as they are old enough to understand what love really is. again he wants them to be careful, he wouldn't want his boys taken advantage of. he wants to meet any girlfriends of course and would ask how their relationship is going.

- again, stay away from drinking at parties. karl knows how neglected guys were to sexual assault so he wanted to make sure his sons were safe. drinking at home with him and his wife would be allowed, encouraged even.

- he would be watching a lot of superhero movies and playing with a crapton of action figures. he would melt when/if his sons were to make drawings and stories about him being a superhero and his metal powers were his superpowers. hed feel less insecure.

- karl would make things for them out of metal for sure, and hed buy things for them that he couldn't make. he def plays catch with both his sons.

- he'd be a tease and tease them in a very loving way, but if they didn't like it he would stop immediately.

- he really loves his sons and would be doing his best to help them with any bottled up feelings and mold them into adults.

either or:

- no matter the gender he will spoil them. he wants them to be happy.

- he will take care of you in anyway he needs to. his children are his little bundles of joy.

- he will help them study for school. he'll even teach himself how to do whatever they're learning so he can help.

- their mental health will be worked off if its bad. no question about it.

-he WILL NOT tolerate any use of illegal substances. same with any crimes. he refuses to raise a criminal. but he will try his best to help them stop doing whatever illegal thing they're doing but he'll only go so far after getting pushed away multiple times.

- he'll love his children no matter what, nothing can change that <3

IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. idk why but ive been unmotivated to write. this was written over the span of a few days and I was very distracted so if its kinda all over the place apologize. i hope u enjoyed!

[bestworstcase]

10 and 17 for the Salt Ask?

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

answered here

17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

well.

i mean.

kslcdhc jokes aside i think a lot of the basic plot beats and character arcs of tts are genuinely good but hamstrung but appallingly bad narrative structure and generally inefficient storytelling: so my answer is less “abc instead of xyz” than it is “i would do xyz better.”

take varian’s villain arc, for example, since that’s the one i discussed for number 10. in canon his descent into villainy depends on a crapton of characters being utterly indifferent to his existence when they, logically, should be making decisions that involve him (whether positively or negatively). but… in bitter snow, varian’s “descent” arc is set up in such a way that it can happen in parallel with adira and cass and the coronan guard all trying to find him for their own reasons, and varian can spiral to the point of attacking corona without requiring like, several dozen characters passively acting like he doesn’t exist at all—all while at the same time hitting the same basic plot beats that canon did. it’s not the plot that’s broken, it’s the storytelling.

i would also make cass saporian and trans and a lesbian because i believe in saporian transbian cass supremacy. also i would make caine a main character and zhan tiri a main character and do more world building and bring in some eldritch horror elements and--yeah literally my answer to this question is just, i would write bitter snow mghbxbd