#somebody has probably already made this post but i could not find it if so

[vamphrrr]

Hi!! i loved your tough love fanfic of clarisse! so i decided to ask if you can make a clarisse la rue , (aphrodite child) reader, but she’s not some normal teenager… she’s a princess if you get what im saying??? lets say that aphrodite dated a princess and had a child with him before she left, and so that’s where reader grew up, no one knew that the reader was a princess u til she told clarisse, she was really worried clarisse was gonna hate her but clarisse is like “Woah me mad at you? no way” and clarisse supports her! (Including some kissing, flirting, it would be super nice if the reader was shorter the clarisse probably up to her chest like in the tough love fanfic!)

notes ; omgggg this is so cute!! i’m so glad u liked my last fic i was nervous about posting 😭. also i’ll be making clarisse call reader princess too now knowing SHE IS ONE! they’re already dating in this. i used the same banner bc i’m too lazy to create new ones based on plot LMAO. i wrote this so soon but sometimes if anyone requests it might take me a couple of days bc of school and stuff! think i went a little overboard with this one. i should probably start counting how much i write lol.

%% are you mad?

in which your super attractive girlfriend finds out the secret you’ve been hiding from her for so long. also, she accidentally meets your dad.

— clarisse la rue x f!aphrodite!reader

warnings ; reader has doubts, tall & buff clarisse / short reader (again), flirty!clarisse flirty!clarisse, a little angst?, kissing, two swear words, flustered reader (oh how the turned tables), ooc clarisse? (i’m never sure if i write her right), one suggestive thought in the first paragraph (nothing happened tho!). a little too much background i think… too much father, did my daddy issues come out? made reader’s dad a king bc plot reasons, maybe more emotional than requested srry😭

You couldn’t believe you were doing this. Sneaking off from your girlfriend’s warm bed in the middle of the night. For a minute, you wondered how’d that look to anyone watching. A girl hastily running from a cabin that she very obviously did not belong in, a long shirt —it was Clarisse’s— accompanied by small shorts, (which were not visible might you add). Oh and how could you forget, you were barefoot. Who’s bright idea was that? Oh, yeah, yours. Why?

Gods were you cold. Should’ve brought a jacket, you thought.

The bottom of your feet hurt, stepping on rocks and sticks and who knows what else would do that to you. Next time, you would definitely bring hiking boots or something. And a jacket. In the forest, you were far away from anybody that might disturb you. Pulling Clarisse’s shirt up until your shorts were visible, you dug your hand inside the pocket, meeting with a drachma. You approached the round well, splashing water mist being met with sunlight from below, creating a rainbow.

How? It was the middle of the night. Why was the sun inside? You decided not to think about it.

This well was old, dirty from not being used much. See, not many people knew about it. Apparently, it was for those that needed to talk to somebody reallyyyy privately, that’s why it was hidden in the forest, only appearing at night. You weren’t sure how that worked, but you stumbled upon it a couple of years back when you were being chased by wood nymphs for being out at night. They found you, obviously. Punishment was not escapable and you ended up having to clean the stables the day after you got your nails done. Yuck.

Now here you were again, this being the only place where you could speak to your father without anyone finding you. It’s not that you were embarrassed of him per say, it was that you really didn’t want anyone to know that you were a royal. I mean, how ironic was that? A daughter of Aphrodite, a Princess? Forget it. You’d get made fun of for the rest of your life. You especially didn’t want Clarisse to know. She was your girlfriend yes, and this was something very important that you needed to tell her about, but you weren’t sure how’d she react. You knew she wouldn’t make fun of you like others would, but you didn’t know if dating a literal Princess was too much of a deal breaker for her.

Being with a royal was too stressful, there was so much that they’d get criticized for and so little people that they’d be accepted by. Your dad was a King with many past lovers, Aphrodite included. The people loved her, I mean, who wouldn’t? But then she was gone, disappearing the same night she gave birth to you. Your dad knew of her, of this. He knew she’d be gone by the time the sun rose. Yet, he did nothing. Who was he, than just a mortal man? He could not stop a goddess from leaving.

He got with others after that, your dad had a lot of love to give. Maybe that was something that attracted your mother to him. Public lovers were not taken well, the people respected the King, sure, they just didn’t respect his partners. Constant judging, constant eyes following their every move, constant hatred being thrown, constant stress on their shoulders. In the end, they could never take it. Running away or completely disappearing seemed to be something they all had in common. Your father had to give up on love, small secret romances blossomed for a while, but never enough for it to go public.

That is why you were so scared to tell Clarisse of your status. She was smart, she’d realize being with you would not be worth the hassle. She’d leave you just like everyone else left your father. Clarisse was the love of your life, you don’t think you’d be able to handle it if she left.

You threw the drachma in, calling for the rainbow goddess to let you see your father.

“Dad,” you said, once the back of his head was visible.

He jumped, turning around. “Oh! My dearest daughter, you scared me.” He laughed a bit, looking at you with such soft eyes it almost made you cry. “Why are you Iris messaging me at this hour? Isn’t it time for you to be resting?”

You swallowed, a sudden knot appearing in your throat. “I just needed someone to talk to.” Playing with the ring around your finger that Clarisse gave you for your one year anniversary, you choked out. “I have this amazing girlfriend, she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me here at camp and—” You stopped talking, taking a small breath, not noticing the familiar figure of Clarisse standing a couple of feet behind you. “—and I’m scared to tell her that I’m not who she thinks I am. That I’m not this girl that just so happens to be a daughter of Aphrodite. I love her so much and I want to tell her about you. I want to bring her to you in person because I want the two people I love the most to meet. But how do I do that when I haven’t even told her I’m a Princess and that the only way you two could meet is if I took her to our royal palace?”

Your father widened his eyes, not expecting his little girl to burst out her feelings just like that. He sighed, glancing behind your shoulder. “If this girl you love so much really loves you like you do her, she wouldn’t care about your status.” Staring at who he assumed was your girlfriend behind you, he continued. “She wouldn’t care that you hid this from her. Instead, she’d try to see it from your point of view.” Moving his eyes away from Clarisse, he looked at you, eyes squinting in light mischief. “You should tell her, she’ll understand. I love you.” Is all he said, before he was gone.

You’re left staring at a rainbow, your dad nowhere in sight. Suddenly, a branch broke from behind you. Turning around quickly, heart beating rapidly, you’re met with the eyes of your girlfriend. You immediately let out a gasp, not knowing she was there.

Clarisse speaks up. “You’re a Princess?”

You felt your mouth dry up. With wide eyes, you respond. “Please don’t hate me! I didn’t know how to tell you!” Walking closer to her, you reached your hands out, grabbing one of her own with both of yours. “Please, you have to understand. I didn’t want this to ruin us.”

She stayed silent.

Silence was haunting, especially coming from Clarisse, someone who was always provoking people and boasting loudly everywhere. You gulped, with lips shaking you asked, “A-are you mad?”

She lets out a huff. Was something funny? Was she annoyed? Angry? Did she not care at all? Those were the questions running through your mind. You’d find out the answers soon enough.

“Woah,” she shook her head, letting you see the slight amused smile on her face. “Me? Mad at you? No fucking way.” She reached her free hand towards your face, moving away the strand of hair that fell slightly over your eye. “It just… surprised me s’ all.”

You let out a breath, relaxing and putting your head against her chest. “Thank the gods, I thought you were going to break up with me or something.”

Reaching out again, she placed her forefinger below your chin, raising your head to meet her eyes. “How could I ever break up with someone so beautiful?” She leaned down, your lips grazing against each other’s. “Why would I leave when I can now be your knight in shining armor?” Closing the distance, your eyes fluttered shut. Butterflies were in your stomach just like the first time you two ever kissed. Without your lips separating, she put one arm around your waist, the other grabbing below your thighs, hoisting you up.

“Ah!” you screamed, separating your lips, not expecting it.

Clarisse smirked, seeing you get flustered. “You don’t have any shoes on.” You pouted, putting your arms around her neck so you wouldn’t fall while she walked back (not that she would let you fall off in the first place). “Didn’t think I’d notice, did you, princess?” Teasingly, she used the pet name, now knowing how much truth was behind it.

You whined, pressing your face against her neck. “You’re so unfair. I’m supposed to be the one flustering you.”

“Awe, the princess is mad,” she cooed, letting her lips touch the tip of your ear. “You want me to get on one knee and apologize?”

Clarisse laughed when you let out a loud groan, hitting her lightly on the chest. Smiling, she knew the only way she’d ever leave you was if she was six feet under. And even then, she’d find a way to get back to the land of the living just to be by your side.

The only things heard in the dead of night were the grasshoppers, chirping their little melodies into the darkness. That was until you muttered sleepily, letting out a yawn. “I love you.”

Clarisse repeated after you. “I love you.” Feeling your eyes fluttered close, she followed it with an almost silent “goodnight.”

Now that you were asleep, she felt panic slowly rise, steps quickening to reach the Ares cabin faster. She could only think about two things now.

Holy shit, she’s a Princess. Oh my gods, I met her dad.

[crowleyholmes]

hi there chris! since the new year is approaching rapidly, i wanted to ask my favorite creators (that includes you! i love your art!) how they look back on their 2023 tumblr year and which blogs made them happy to be here. i am very happy to follow you and hope you'll have a great 2024! 💘

Hiiii omg this is so sweet and means a lot to me, thank you! 🥺💕

I've been meaning to do a little end-of-the-year shoutout/love post for some of my favorite blogs, so I hope you don't mind if I use your ask as the perfect excuse!

I've had many fun years on tumblr, but this one has been extra special. Falling into the Good Omens fandom and meeting all of you amazing people has made this year so so SO much better than it otherwise would have been, so here are some special shoutouts (apologies, I'm sure this will get long, things like this tend to get away from me, so I'll put it under a read-more)

@majortomyourcurcuitsdead SASHA can you believe I was going to just send you an anon telling you that I think you're cool and leave it at that. Can you believe it. WELL thank Somebody you had your anon turned off and I had to expose myself in your dms because it feels like we just instantly connected about like 20 different things and haven't stopped talking since sskjdfhs anyway I'm so happy I met you you're so fun and so clever and so talented and so enthusiastic and I've only known you for like. What 2 months?? Ish? But I already love you so much <3

@lineffability !!! Line you are so *struggles to find words* you're just great is what you are okay. I feel like you are what happens when somebody takes a big cup and puts six shots of love, chaos, sunshine, talent, fun, and enthusiasm into it, generously sprinkles intelligence on top and gives it a good stir. I don't even remember how or when or why we started talking tbh? But your creativity is so inspiring, and some of my favorite tumblr-moments of this year have been 'yes-and'ing with you about one thing or another in a very >:3 manner hahah so! my point is! i love you lots <3

@dontbotheraziraphale Teeeedddd you're wonderful, I vented at you one time and then we talked for like 2 hours and at the end of that 1 conversation I already considered you a friend - and not just in that "tumblr mutuals who talk 1 time are my friends" kind of way but like. Genuinely. You're so kind and so fun and every time we talk it's such a good time ily a lot my bro my buddy my man <3

@crikey01 Tallulah HI I also completely forgot how we started talking but I remember connecting the dots that you were the one who painted those INSANE black and white and gold oil paintings and the way my jaw dropped like?? BRO you're so talented I admire you so much! And I love that we bonded over stopping each other from masochistically checking certain peoples' blogs... 😂 Anyway you're so sweet and fun and ily lots <3

---

The list could probably go on but you four are the people I've talked to most on here and you're the tumblr chat boxes I never close but always just minimize and y'all better see this as the ultimate internet declaration of affection that it Clearly is >:D 💕

---

And here are some more shout-outs because I just HAVE to.

Apologies, I know I've already tagged a bunch of you recently in a mutuals appreciation post but. This is my official thank-you-for-2023 post and I just have a lot of love for you all okay sorry feel free to ignore this <3

@rowan-ashtree (i'll text you back soon I promise I'm sorry I just haven't had the brain-space recently ssjkdfh) @crawley-fell (we've never talked but i love you from afar :')) @ineffabildaddy @llokilaufeyson @actual-changeling @saryasy @hyperfocusthusly @beccibarnes @rainbowcrowley @thesherrinfordfacility @goodoldfashionednightingale @wibbly-wobbly-blog @highlyillogicalandroid (i see your data obsession and i agree <3) @tortugay @foolishlovers @stargazing-crowley @gingiekittycat @weasleywrinkles @bildads-shoes @finleycannotdraw @bowtiepastabitch @heytherefluffy @samwwise @nocturnal-birb @athousandyearstime @angelsdiningattheritz @most-normal-eccles-cake-ignorer @jedthesecretdreamer @wraithee @hydrangeadangea @southfarthing @frodo-baggins @mobius-m-mobius

[midnight-melancholiaaa]

a hasty follow-up to my earlier post, where i questioned why sol had told fake-osha that he was ready to come clean to the jedi council about what happened on brendok, and yet switched off his comms and jumped into hyperspace to avoid the incoming jedi team. doesn’t seem like coming clean to me…

few key things here 1) sol made those remarks to somebody he believed to be osha, and now he knows it wasn’t her, his priority has switched to finding her, rather than post-mission exposition on coruscant. 2) we’ve already seen sol’s frustration at the jedi regrouping in meetings instead of pursuing an urgent ongoing situation. sol is likely avoiding asking for permission he knows he won’t receive, so he can find osha and qimir as soon as possible. the fact that he does this by avoiding the jedi altogether, inadvertently placing even MORE suspicion upon himself as a fallen jedi, is….. ouch………

so why restrain mae and monologue to her? i’ve seen posts arguing (very well) that his incoming explanation of brendok will be a self-centred emotional unloading, rather than anything useful for or considerate of mae. i totally agree there’s an element of that at play, but i think there’s something else going on as well, linked to sol’s mission for the rest of the show.

a couple lines stick out to me. “you and i have work to do” is, i think, a fairly obvious statement that mae will be roped into helping sol rescue osha. but the other is hiding in an earlier scene: “you found him”. as i explain in my other theorypost, i think this line is said after sol has realised mae is pretending to be osha. within a double meaning, it could allude to mae’s relationship with the master. she’s found qimir once — why can’t she do it again?

so yeah, i don’t think it’s super out there to say that sol is planning to recruit mae and use her to find qimir, and osha along with him. why the table restraining then? on a purely practical level, he’s keeping her cuffed until he feels in control of the situation and as though he can rely on her allyship. and getting to that allyship? sol’s going to try his damndest in this explanation monologue to convince her onside, and he doesn’t want her struggling or arguing until he’s said that full pitch.

i think all this really speaks to the level of desperation sol is experiencing. he’s just watched the other jedi he cares deeply for get massacred in front of him, and failed to save any of them. and it turns out the one person he thought he’d saved, osha, is still in danger, and that he’s failed his ex-padawan again. no wonder his responsibilities to the council fall by the wayside when sol, a person clearly motivated by love for those close to him, has one final chance to do right by ANYONE in this clusterfuck situation. sol also feels extremely out of control in this series of events, so is grasping for whatever control he can salvage — hence his desperation to do whatever it takes for his mae-saves-osha plan to work and his… questionable methods in accomplishing it.

the implications for sol giving into fear and a need for control like this are certainly juicy. dude is on the struggle bus lately, and this particular struggle bus has a few dark-side-themed stops. also, the irony of sol behaving like this indirectly digging his grave re: the council’s inclination to believe in his dark-sidedness…….. makes me want to lie in a ditch for a while. can’t wait for next week where my theories will probably be proven wrong and also i get to cry on the floor!!!!!!! i <3 the acolyte!!!!!!!

[buckymorelikefuckme]

how to marry a millionaire | chapter one

mafia bucky x spoiled brat reader

words: 3k

warnings: sexual language, no smut (yet hehe)

a/n: eeeeep!!! i'm so excited for this fic, y'all have no idea omg. with that said, though, i don't have a posting schedule for this, so pls be patient with me while i write it and post chapters whenever i can ♡ any and all mistakes are mine. feedback is encouraged & appreciated! xoxo

masterlist

This club is doing absolutely nothing to lift your spirits. Honestly, you hadn't had high hopes that it would when you'd decided to come earlier in the evening, but you were fucking bored sitting at home all alone and feeling sorry for yourself. After all, pity parties are much more enjoyable when you have at least one other person to share the pity with. Instead of bitching to someone else, though, you sought to drown your sorrows in Amaretto Sours and loud music.

You sigh heavily, swirling your straw in slow circles in your drink as the news you received that morning paraded in the forefront of your mind.

Henry Spofford III, your most recent sugar daddy, died in his sleep at the ripe age of 88. He'd been in excellent health, mostly because the best doctors and healthcare money could buy were at his disposal—which had been the deciding point in you coming to an agreement with the old bastard—so to hear of his passing had come as a shock. Your lip curls in annoyance when you recall the conversation you'd had with his lawyer over the phone.

“Henry died in the early hours of the morning,” he said in lieu of a greeting when you accepted the call. “I'm sure this is hard for you, and I'm very sorry for your loss.”

“I—what?” you stammered, coming to a standstill in your massive closet where you'd been trying to pick out an outfit for the day.

“I regret to inform you that, while Mr. Spofford had intentions of including you in his will, his untimely passing prevented him from doing so.”

You suddenly felt like the room was spinning, taking staggering steps over to the chaise in front of the floor to ceiling windows that overlook Central Park. Before you had a chance to utter a response, he continued.

“As you are aware, Mr. Spofford paid the lease on your penthouse for the year. Since we're approaching August, you have five months left until the lease is up for renewal. Obviously, what you choose to do then is entirely your business, but you will no longer have his money to support you.”

“Right,” you replied faintly, bringing your clammy palm up to your forehead, feeling a migraine coming on. “Of course.”

“I'm sorry for your loss,” he repeated, and you were pretty sure he wasn't talking about just Henry.

You drain the last of your drink, slamming the empty glass on the bar probably a little too forcefully. What a fucking joke. You knew you shouldn't have gotten into that relationship. Not that there was anything romantic about it, not for you.

“Another?” the bartender asks, raising his voice to be heard over the music, nodding to your glass.

“Keep them coming,” you instruct.

See, the thing is, Henry dying is terribly inconvenient. He was the wealthiest sugar daddy you'd had so far and was so easy to manipulate into giving you whatever you wanted. You'd had your eye on a brand new Bentley Continental GT and were so close to convincing Henry to get it for you. Looks like that will have to wait a little while now.

God, why was the universe so cruel to you?

A fresh drink was placed in front of you and you grabbed it, taking a long sip without thanking the bartender.

This puts you back at square one. Searching for replacements always made you cranky. You'd have to kiss so much ass to find somebody as rich as Henry, and you were already dreading it.

“You are much too pretty to be pouting like that.”

You don’t try to hide your eye roll. “How original,” you drone, not even looking beside you where the voice came from.

The man laughs. “Oh, this one has bite,” he muses.

You look heavenward for patience. “Listen, unless you have obscene amounts of money to support my truly heinous shopping habits, I’m not interested. Fuck off.”

“Would a Birkin get you to actually look me in the eye?” he asks.

With an aggrieved sigh, you let your gaze fall to the man occupying the seat to your left. And then you promptly feel your thighs clench involuntarily.

Holy fucking shit this guy is gorgeous. Dark hair styled expertly, stubble across his sharp jaw lightly peppered with gray, light blue eyes dancing in amusement. He's leaning casually against the bar, his arm resting on top of it, dressed in an admittedly expensive looking suit, no doubt tailored to his exact measurements. Your eyes catch on the watch on his wrist and you nearly moan. You know a sixty thousand dollar watch when you see one. Perhaps you were too hasty in blaming the universe for your misfortunes.

Interest sufficiently piqued, you shift slightly to face him a bit more. His lips quirk up on one side.

“I don't want just any Birkin that every other basic bitch has. I want the diamond encrusted crocodile one,” you say, tilting your head and smiling sweetly.

“A woman with taste,” he praises, smirking.

“Clearly,” you acknowledge as you raise a challenging brow.

He laughs again, his eyes crinkling on the sides. It makes him look charming, but if there is anything in your years of being a sugar baby has taught you, it's how to read people. This man reeks of power, and not in a typical CEO or old money way. Even the way he's sitting screams easy confidence. He’s oozing danger and normally you would take that red flag for what it is, but you're just tipsy enough to ignore it.

You rise from your barstool, smoothing out your dress and fluffing your hair. He watches your every move with extreme focus. Thank god you picked a curve-hugging dress that showed off your body.

“I expect my Birkin within the next two days,” you inform him, blowing a kiss as you turn and walk away.

A man like that will know how to find you. Call it a gut feeling. You knew, one way or another, he'd come across your path again. Whether or not he would have the promised bag remains to be seen, however.

~

You're returning home from some retail therapy. As much as you absolutely adore spending money, especially when it's someone else's, you weren't completely irresponsible with it. You always saved at least half of whatever Henry gave you in a separate bank account from the one he'd wire your allowance to. So, with a fat chunk of change collecting dust in the aforementioned account, you figured you deserved to treat yourself to some goodies after the previous harrowing day you had.

“Hi, Walter,” you greet as you enter your building with arms laden in various shopping bags.

“Good afternoon, miss,” the doorman returns with a pleasant smile. “I believe your friend stopped by while you were gone.”

You pause, frowning. “My friend?” you ask.

He nods. “Yes. Tall, dark hair, blue eyes.”

“Oh.” A smile tickles your lips. “Is he still here?”

“No ma'am. He said he only wanted to drop off some things for you.”

You're practically vibrating in your skin. “Are they up front?”

“He said he had a key,” Walter replies with a knowing grin. “Finally settling down, miss?”

A key? That has your smile faltering, makes something unsure twist in your stomach. But as soon as the feeling appears, your mind recalls that Walter said he’d dropped off things, as in plural, and just like that, you dismiss whatever uneasiness that tried to make itself known within you.

“Thank you, Walt,” you say sincerely.

You quickly make your way to the elevators, impatiently pressing the button for one of them to open. It only takes a few seconds and then you're ascending to the top floor where the penthouses reside. There's only two, and you have the one with the better view, because fucking duh.

You dart out of the doors before they're even opened all the way, jostling your shopping bags in the process. You huff, adjusting your grip on them as you make a beeline for your apartment. It's a struggle to dig your keys out of your purse and unlock your door, but you eventually do and hurry inside, carelessly dropping your shopping bags in the entryway and kicking off your heels. Rounding the corner, you stop in your tracks once you see the display in your living room.

“Fuck,” you whisper, heart hammering.

Not only do you spot the beloved Hermès logo on a tan velour dust bag in the center of it all, but there are also Dior boxes, and Chanel, Prada, Givenchy—there are so many brands in front of you, and the sheer amount has your panties growing damp. You bite your lip to keep from making an embarrassing sound.

Your hands shake when you pick up the Hermès dust bag, slowly opening it and taking a peek inside.

“Oh my god,” you whine upon seeing the specific diamond encrusted crocodile Birkin you asked for.

You have no fucking clue how he managed to actually snag one of these. Not only are they one of the most expensive designs, but they're fucking rare and hard as shit to find. God, he really must have so much fucking money and connections to have acquired it in less than a day. You've hit the goddamn jackpot.

The next thing you reach for is the small Tiffany & Co. box, opening it to reveal the Victoria Vine drop necklace that you know is at least twenty thousand dollars. After that, you're like a kid on Christmas morning, and soon you're sitting on the floor in a sea of empty boxes, bags, and tissue paper, the smell of luxurious leather filling the air. Your earlier purchases are all but forgotten on the entryway floor at this point. Glittering jewelry and clothes and perfume and so much more all around you. You could weep, honestly.

There was an envelope resting on top of one of the boxes that you had ignored in favor of finding out what the contents were within. Now that there's nothing left to open, however, you finally rip it open to pull out the card. Jesus, even this fucking stationary smells luxurious.

In scratchy handwriting, the card reads: Have I passed your test?

An address is listed, followed by, 8pm. Don't be late. -JBB

You run your fingers over his signature, suddenly realizing you don't even know this man’s name, or anything about him for that matter, other than he's ridiculously wealthy and even more ridiculously handsome. But you're much too intrigued by him to pretend like you have to think about whether or not you’re going.

Checking the time, you curse under your breath when you see you only have four hours to get ready. You already have an outfit in mind, and you smile smugly to yourself as you undress and step under the warm water. He's not gonna know what hit him.

If you take an extra ten minutes to use the showerhead to get off, no one else is around to know.

~

Whoever this man was, he was doing everything possible to show off his wealth. You'd just been putting on your finishing touches to your makeup when you'd gotten a call from the concierge downstairs saying a car had arrived to pick you up.

When you stepped outside and saw the black SUV, an Escalade to be sure, you had to tamp down the excited thrill that wanted to rush through you. The driver was waiting by the back door with his hands clasped behind his back, dressed in an all black suit and tie. He'd greeted you with a polite nod and opened the door for you to slide into the backseat.

Now, as you’re driven through the bustling streets of the Upper East Side, you allow yourself a moment to appreciate the car. You’ll always love the feel of buttery smooth leather against your bare legs.

A gratified smile toys at the edges of your lips. You've had a taste of what this man can offer and you'd be damned if you let him slip away. You will make sure he's wrapped around your pinky finger before the night is over.

Fifteen minutes later, you arrive at your destination. While the driver is making his way around to let you out, you check your reflection in your small compact mirror and quickly put it back in your gold clutch. As you step out of the car you gain the attention of a few passers-by. Honestly, you’d expect nothing less. You know you look like sex on legs.

You're wearing a cream colored dress that has a high neck, but the back dips low, resting right above your ass, and the hem is more on the indecent side. For your hair you'd gone for a very 90s Pam Anderson updo, looking both effortless and sexy. You kept your makeup simple yet sultry and your jewelry is tasteful, a few dainty gold bands on your fingers and some teardrop diamond earrings.

The stars of the outfit, though, are the Kate Strass Louboutins he'd gifted you. The way they sparkle makes it hard for you to keep your eyes ahead of you because you just want to stare at them. These aren't your first pair of red bottoms, and you're positive they're far from the last, but they are your new favorites.

Upon entering the restaurant, you immediately notice how quiet it is. A peek into the dining area explains why. It's empty, from what you can see. You huff a quiet laugh. Oh, he’s trying hard.

The hostess rounds the corner and greets you with a smile. “Good evening, Miss. Mr. Barnes is waiting at his table for you. Follow me.”

Barnes. Now you're getting somewhere.

You walk behind the hostess quietly as she leads you to a table where a lone man waits patiently. He's wearing another form fitting suit, all black and incredibly sexy, and the same watch from the first time you saw him is glinting on his wrist in the low light of the room. He stands as you approach, coming around to pull your chair out for you with a small smile.

“Your waiter will be with you shortly,” the hostess says as you sit down and Mr. Barnes returns to his own seat.

As she walks away, he relaxes back in his chair, crossing one of his legs over the other as he takes you in. “You look stunning.”

“I know,” you reply, smiling when he laughs. “Thank you.”

“I'm surprised you're not using your new Birkin,” he replies.

“That's not a date bag, silly,” you inform him playfully.

He grins. “My apologies. I do see that you're wearing the shoes, though.”

“I am,” you confirm, delicately sticking one foot out to admire the sparkling heels. “I can't stop staring at them,” you sigh wistfully.

“I'm happy to see you like them.”

You hum and return your gaze to his. He’s staring intensely, his blue eyes calculating.

“Do I get to know your name now?” he asks.

You smirk. “Are you pretending you don't already know it?”

His lips quirk up on one side. “Yes,” he decides.

You roll your eyes. “I think you should tell me your name.”

“You don't like the mystery?” he wonders, tilting his head.

“Something tells me you'll want me to know for later,” you tease coyly.

He laughs. “Touché.” Sitting up straighter, he leans in. “My name is James Barnes.”

Your brain perks up, trying to recall where you've heard that name before. You know you have, but honestly, it's hard to keep up with who's relevant in Manhattan anymore these days.

“It's a pleasure to officially meet you, Mr. Barnes,” you purr.

“Believe me, the pleasure is all mine.”

You grin. This should be fun.

James lifts a hand, beckoning someone. The waiter rushes over, introducing himself and asking what you'd like to drink.

“We’ll have the Montrachet Grand Cru,” James replies without even looking at a menu.

“Very good, sir. I’ll be right back with that.”

After the waiter leaves, you cross your arms and rest them atop the crisp, white tablecloth. James matches your stance.

“So,” you begin, a slow grin etching across your lips, “how much did it cost you to rent out the whole place?”

“Why would it cost me anything to rent out my own restaurant?” he asks in mock curiosity.

Your eyebrows raise ever so slightly. His restaurant? Impressive. That still doesn't explain the absurd amount of money he spent on those gifts, though.

“You won't lose profit closing it like this?” you prod.

With a secretive smile, he explains, “I have my hand in quite a few… business endeavors.”

“I see,” you respond.

You have a feeling his other so-called “business endeavors” aren't quite as legal or upstanding as a high dollar restaurant. It should send off more warning bells in your mind, but it only proves to further pique your interest.

“Besides,” he continues, “shouldn't a spoiled princess like you get the royal treatment?”

A surprised laugh escapes you. “Spoiled princess?” you repeat.

“Don't act like you're not,” he says with a knowing grin.

“You say it like it's a bad thing,” you reply.

“Oh, on the contrary, I love it.” His smile turns sly. “I love when a woman knows exactly what she wants, and how to get it.”

You lick your lips, noting how his eyes drop and follow the movement. “Well, it's a good thing I do then, huh?” you say quietly. “I've got my sights set on something big, too.”

“Bigger than you think,” he smirks.

You roll your eyes with a laugh. “God. I guess I set myself up for that.”

He leans back, elbows on the arms of his chair and rubbing at his bottom lip. “I've got my sights set on something, too,” he tells you, voice low and contemplative.

A pleased thrill hums throughout you. This man is the whole package. Everything you could ever dream of wanting in a man, conveniently wrapped up in a perfect, little bow is sitting right in front of you. Handsome, funny, and most important of all, filthy fucking rich.

You're gonna sink your claws into him and never let go.

[toastingpencils37]

Ok, so some random DR Season 2 theory, but first I have to credit @nyaskitten for two things that I'm going to use as a basis for my theories.

One, back when the Season 2 sets first leaked way back in 2023, Raine had noted that the gong had three eyes, similar to that of an Oni. I can't find the post detailing it for the life of me, but I do remember it.

Plus, later, he made this post, which actually predicted a leak we recently got in the Summer 2024 set description leaks.

Anyways, on that, it is reasonable to believe that whoever that Oni (assuming it's an Oni) is, they were probably either trapped within the gong or made the gong, and first physically appears towards the end of part one/beginning of part two, as they first appear in the Summer sets.

Which open up multiple possibilities as to who they may be, some a lot more far-fetched than the others:

A Source Oni: In this case, if the Oni is a Source Dragon, 1) Source Oni would have to exist in canon, and 2) they cannot be trapped within the gong. If Source Oni aren't gonna be canon, this option is automatically out. But if Source Oni are canon and this is a Source Oni, it has to originally be outside the gong, because capturing & freeing it would probably upset the cosmos like doing so to a Source Dragon would. And from a narrative perspective, I don't think the writers will want to do another Chaos Storm in the season right after the first that already did it. Now, assuming it's a Source Oni, what'll it be the Source Oni of? Honestly, it could be any, if it's red eyes are from whatever blood moon magic it uses. Or it's the Source Oni of Fire. But even though the Source Dragon of Fire appears to be relevant this season, I don't think there's anything relevant to do with fire in relation to the villains. So just some random other Source Oni would make sense. Now how they made the Gong I have no idea. Maybe they made it in a regular non-Oni/Dragon way and then just infused it with the blood moon stuff, and then possibly lost it/or decided to go into hiding.

Just a regular Oni: In this case, it would just be a regular Oni that started using and probably even created the idea of Blood Moon magic. If the Oni is just a regular Oni, then it is possible that they got too powerful and either their magic itself or something/somebody else trapped them in the gong, and then they get freed in Season 2, probably by Ras, as leaks claim that he's Ras' master.

A Dragoni: Sadly, I feel like this may be the least likely option, just because it's unlikely that another Dragoni will be included in the series. But if Ras' master was a Dragoni, that would allow the Oni to possibly create the gong themself. Of course, like the previous possibility, it would still be likely that the Dragoni made the Blood Moon magic (possibly through the actual power of creation in this case) and then got trapped in the gong. I personally feel like this would be the most interesting, especially because then there could be a character that could be like the opposite to the FSM in a way, who holding both the powers of creation and destruction, decided to pursue destruction and pain rather than creation and life. But again, probably the least likely option.

Of course, if the Oni is in fact not an Oni at all, it would completely disprove all of these theories, but it's nice to theorize.

[tatertato]

life series smp winners playlists part 2

we're back! for those who don't know, i'm putting together songs that i think fit each of the life series winners, and they're either songs i've seen work really really well in animatics already or songs that would probably work really well, but are less popular or not associated with this fandom (yet)

i'll be linking+listing them here as well as providing little snippets of explanation for why i think the song fits, but i don't feel like making actual spotify playlists or smth, so if anyone else wants to do that, be my guest.

i still had trouble finding good songs for some of them (this one especially)- if anyone seeing this has a good idea that i missed, lmk and i'll update these posts (no promises tho)

pt 1 (3L!Grian)

pt 3 (DL!Pearl)

Last Life: Scott

Boss Bitch - Doja Cat: alright, kickin it off strong! picked this song for the gaslight gatekeep girlboss energy and little else

Yeah, ain't tryna be cool like you Wobblin' around in your high-heeled shoes I'm clumsy, made friends with the floor Two for one, you know a bitch buy four And two left feet, you know I always drop (this line because of this post and this post alone)

I'm a bitch, I'm a boss I'm a bitch and a boss, I'ma shine like gloss (need i say more)

Said, I took it and I ran for it I won it then I stand on it (NEED I SAY MORE)

2. Two - Sleeping at Last: as i mentioned i had some trouble finding songs for scott since i dont watch his pov too often, so some of these are less exclusively last life and more just his character in general. that being said, i do feel like this still fits to an extent for LL!Scott

Sweetheart, you look a little tired When did you last eat? Come in and make yourself right at home Stay as long as you need (this is scott's total eldest sibling energy, always helping and trying to be friends before anything- ex: taking in cleo, being friendly to scar)

You know I'll take my heart clean apart if it helps yours beat (this applies more after last life, see: the many many many times he offers to sacrifice himself, but also the fact that he refuses to betray his friends as the boogeyman)

Like a force to be reckoned with A mighty ocean or a gentle kiss I will love you without any strings attached And what a privilege it is to love A great honour to hold you up (very representative of scott's trust and loyalty to his allies in every series, through both chaos and peace)

3. Constellations - The Oh Hellos: at first this one was only here for the star symbolism, but after listening to it a couple more times it does fit pretty well (also the oh hellos is very scottagecore)

'Cause like constellations a million years away Every good intention, every good intention Is interpolation, a line we drew in the array Looking for the faces Looking for the shapes in the silence (despite all his efforts to maintain alliances throughout the series, everything inevitably falls apart in the chaos of the finale)

Like constellations imploding in the night Everything is turning, everything is turning The shapes that you drew may change beneath a different light And everything you thought you knew Will fall apart, but you'll be all right (LL was really the only series in which they made a point to isolate the reds- in DL, there was always a pair, and alliances stayed solid despite name color in LimL and SL- but in LL, alliances could be torn apart so quickly, loyalties constantly changing which made it hard to trust others and that shows why scott's loyalty stood out)

4. How to Be a Heartbreaker - Marina and the Diamonds: this is another one that isn't exclusively LL, i just had to put one in abt scotts many ex's.

Rule number one is that you gotta have fun But, baby, when you're done, you gotta be the first to run Rule number two, just don't get attached to Somebody you could lose (i see these "rules" kind of as lessons learned from each season instead, like things he tells himself he'll do next time, but because of his loyal and caring nature, never can)

How to be a heartbreaker Boys they like the look of danger We'll get him falling for a stranger A player, singing I lo-lo-love you At least I think I do (really like i said, a play on the ex's)

5. The Garden - The Crane Wives: here it is, the obligatory crane wives song

Put your ear to my heart or set your teeth against my throat Give me something pretty to wear beneath my blood-stained clothes (something abt this line is just very scott to me)

Lay me down Pour the dirt into our bed Tell the crows They can have their pound of flesh The ghosts at the window echo all our quiet prayers When they come for us, they'll come with hammers and nails My darling, the devil knows my name My name My name (this comes from the things i've seen about how the watchers hate scott, the watchers here symbolized as "the crows" and "the devil")

6. A Terrible Ride - Lizard Boy: this one is an animatic recommendation! here's the animatic -also i think this is applies to most of the winners very angst

I used to be calm But now this ticking bomb is gonna go off (the way he goes after ren for revenge after pearl's death)

I fought and fought hard And I could've died But I got scarred A terrible ride Ride This game was not fun I thought it was right Because I won Was it worth the fight? Fight? (WATCH THE ANIMATIC)

Written in the starss This could have been ours (what can i say, im a sucker for the star symbolism)

and that's all for scott! DL!pearl coming soon!

[cheshire-creeper]

Post-canon content, as a cultural product and also a literary product, fascinates me to no end (as should be obvious by now). The production history of it, the entire size and scope of the thing, how short it ultimately was and yet how much it changed the fandom... It was only a period from 2019-2020, and yet *so much content* came out for Homestuck that it felt like something new was happening every day...

Remember that one time that they put up a weird warning about how Homestuck was not for like, kids/teenagers, even though A) most of the fandom *were* kids/teenagers at the time, and B) most of the old timers had gotten into the fandom *when they were kids/teenagers*?

I remember always waking up and blearily scrolling through Twitter (the only platform worth caring about at the time), trying to piece together through half-fragmented arguments about what actually happened to spark all this debate, this heated rhetoric, and finding out the answer was: not much, honestly. Some baffling decision or tweet by What Pumpkin, or someone affiliated with them. Somebody with like, 5 followers had made some off-handed remark and then somebody with 5000000 followers had retweeted that with a pithy comment and now it was all anybody could talk about. Made me feel like a janitor who had to come in after everybody had already been done with everything and clean up the mess, and trying to reconstruct just how this chain of events was set off in the first place, knowing and dreading that the feared "upd8" was just around the corner, and this would all start up again...

There was always somebody leaving the official team, I know that. Also, they were always putting up new ways to contact the official team, but never using them, probably because at that point the fandom had become so corrosive that any attempt at fairly answering questions would've been moot anyways...besides, that was in the late stage days of the fandom...

There were, like, big name celebrities that you *had* to follow. Funk McLovin. Rads/TomatoGrater. I've always considered celebrities in a fandom, that are known primarily through their creation of content in that fandom, to be a weird concept, but I guess if you use a very loose definition of "big name fan" you might even be able to classify me as a "big name fan." I'm pretty sure that's why a lot of you are following me, at any rate...

I've rambled enough. I'm not going to stop, though, but the other point I wanted to start making would serve for it's own separate post, since it has more to do with the content of Homestuck Beyond Canon/Homestuck^2 rather than some weird rambling down memory lane, that one might not want to ramble down anymore...

I've probably said too much already.

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 48: First Claiming

Today has not been good so let me summarize:

This post contains lots of spoilers.

Specifically the spoilers are for Wheel of Time.

ALL OF IT

Don't read if you don't want those.

We have the Dragon's Fang symbol because Rand has been marked as the Dragon in a variety of ways.

And there was something drawing her on, as surely as if she had a string tied to her.

Poor Min is already being strangled by the red strings of fate.

She did not blame Bayle Domon for not waiting longer, not after what she had seen; she thought it a wonder he had remained so long.

Makes me wonder why we looked in to see him still waiting resolutely when we could have looked in to see him finally decide to give up.

Silver glittered as the figure raised a bow; a streak of silver lanced to the boxy ship, a gleaming line connecting bow and ship. With a roar she could hear even at that distance, fire engulfed the foretower anew, and sailors rushed about the deck.

Birgitte is a badass. I really don't have anything else to say about it. She's just that cool.

She pried his hand open, and winced when the hilt stuck to his palm. She tossed it aside with a grimace. The heron on the hilt had branded itself into his hand.

It's funny that the prophecy mentions the Dragons and the Herons as twice markings but not the double unhealing wounds on his side. It can't be that Fain sidestepped fate there - otherwise Rand would not have been able to cleanse saidin on schedule - so one wonders what the deal is. Just the lack of a cool animal?

What shook her was the feel of his flesh. It had a touch of ice in it; he made the air seem warm.

Medically speaking that's pretty terrible.

With a put-upon sigh, she wriggled under the covers beside him.

This really is how you treat hypothermia, though technically speaking you're supposed to remove as much clothing as possible first to encourage thermal exchange. It's basically the only time you can remove an unconscious person's clothing and get into bed with them without being a bad person so I'm disappointed that Min's not taking full advantage of the situation.

Light, why did the Pattern have to catch me up with you? Why couldn’t I have something safe and simple, like being shipwrecked with no food and a dozen hungry Aielmen?

That's pretty racist, Min. And you probably would have been as safe as a starving person could be; I expect the Aiel would find it bad form to cannibalize someone.

“I—I felt him pulling at me. Needing me. Elayne felt it, too. I thought it must be something to do with—with what he is, but Nynaeve didn’t feel anything.”

Odd that Egwene is being tangled up in the red string of fate too. Funnier still that the Wheel doesn't point the healer at Rand, though perhaps she wouldn't have been able to stay angry at the sight of him.

Egwene looked at her for what seemed a long time. Not at Rand, not at all, only at her.

Egwene is clearly struggling between the understandable urge to scream "He'll go mad and kill you!" at Min to punish her petty comments and the desire to not think about Rand that way. Also she's fucking exhausted and just spent some time a slave, so Min's really not being cool here.

Light, I don’t even know if I am the one you’ll choose. I don’t know if I want you to choose me. Or will you try to dandle all three of us on your knee?

Not gonna lie but with how this particular polycule plays out I honestly wouldn't have minded if Rand had just tried to be a player with each gal in turn (maybe circling back to Elayne towards the end). Just for Min's sake, since she's the one who doesn't really fit in the rest at all and would probably prefer to be a FWB followed by being out the door.

Ishamael thinks he controls events, but I do.

Bold claim from somebody who...

*checks notes*

...fucked around with Rand on one occasion and had virtually no influence over him. Lanfear is incredibly high on her own supply.

“Lews Therin was and is mine, girl. Tend him well for me until I come for him.” And she was gone.

Least realistic part of this. Lanfear would have insta-gibbed Min for the sin of touching her man.

The legion was dead, Lord Captain Geofram Bornhald was dead, and there was only one explanation for that; Darkfriends had betrayed them, Darkfriends like that Perrin of the Two Rivers.

It's incredible how close to right Byar is while still being utterly wrong on all counts. Anyway, this is another odd aside in that we pretty much already knew that he was going to go tell the Whitecloaks that Perrin was responsible. Ah well.

Next time: Double feature! Chapters 49 and 50!

[thelaurenshippen]

Hey Lauren! I've just finished writing my first novel, I'm also the writer/creator of the audio series Life & Death on the Rim (Star Wars fan audio drama), and I've started my own company Galactic North Productions. What I really want to understand is how other writers/creators who are successful and profitable got there. If there are any insights you can give me I'm all ears, whether that's associations, conventions, marketing, etc etc I just really want to learn. Very determined. Thank you!

hey!!! first off, HUGE congrats on finishing your first novel, that's an incredible feat and you should be unbelievably proud!!!! secondly, I hadn't heard of this podcast before but as a huge fan of both star wars and fan works, I am absolutely putting it on my tbl list right now!!!!

so. this is a great question. and a hard question. and one that I'm probably going to spend way too many words answering, if I know myself at all.

I think this question, in part, depends on what you consider successful and profitable! for me, it's meant being a jack of all trades - a lot of my work has come from being someone who knows how to make a podcast from soup to nuts and from being a person who a lot of people know. you've already done the hard thing: making something. that's your resume, now get the resume out there!

I wish I could give advice about marketing and finding an audience, but honestly it's changed so much since I started out that I hardly know how to find an audience anymore. but the basic approach always stands I think: don't promo, build community. be authentic and enthusiastic, and hang out in online spaces that you're already excited to be in. share your passion with people. clearly you already know how to do that, making a fan podcast!

in terms of getting to know your peers, I always recommend people join the WGA Audio Alliance discord to get to know who else is working in the space and hear about events. I did meet a lot of people at events early on, but unfortunately a lot of those things don't exist anymore (or were one-offs to begin with) or were smaller, invite-only things. if you're in NY, LA, Chicago, or London, there are vibrant AD scenes, so seek those out and go to (or organize!) a meet-up.

knowing your peers is the single most important thing for getting jobs. with the exception of one cold outreach, every job I've ever gotten has been because I met somebody and vibed with them. stay in touch but not too much - don't email your industry contacts all the time, but every 8-18 months, reach out to folks and do a catch up zoom or coffee. but don't network just to network! get to know people whose work you really like. getting to know peers at your same level is just as - if not more - important as networking to those who are further along in success than you.

be incredibly findable. having the facebook page, instagram, etc. is great, but if you're a production company hoping to make money through providing services like producing, directing, writing, etc. (which is primarily how I've made a living - I don't really make money directly from my original podcasts), having a website is a must. if you don't want to pay for squarespace or wix, you can make a website through tumblr and then just buy a url and have it redirect (I wrote about this a bit in my production guide). same deal if you want to be hired as a writer - having a website or some kind of resume is huge. I'm not saying you need to have an instagram detailing your personal life or anything (for me, I get personal about my thoughts on social media, but I never post my family/partner/non-industry friends/etc. some creators have had massive success building mystery (lemony snicket, the team behind midst), but I have no idea how to do that lol

this is already too long, so to summarize: build a community, both in your audience and your colleagues, be very clear and open about the skills you have/services you provide, and, ideally, do a lot of different things that put you in front of a lot of different audiences. try a lot of things and stick with what works.

to speak more on my personal journey, just briefly: 90% of being successful in the art and entertainment industry is luck. I know that people always say that, and it sucks as advice because it's not advice at all, but it is just true. luck and timing. the only way to improve your chances are to make stuff, meet people, and be easily accessible.

I know that's all exceptionally broad advice - if you'd like to share more specifics about your career goals, I'm happy to get more specific too!

[here2bbtstrash]

bts at a drag show/gay bar

i was already babbling abt how much i wanted to do this with my bias line and then y'all made me realize i should just make it a whole damn headcanons post so. welcome! here we are! here is my brainrot on how the boys would turn up on drag night at the gay bar 🏳️‍🌈✨ if this content is not for you, it costs $0 to just keep scrolling ✌️

knj: everyone expected that joonie bby would be flooded with attention from the people who came out tonight specifically in search of a tall, built daddy, but there's a group nobody saw coming that ends up swarming him first: the lesbians. they fucking love him, and he finds himself getting sucked into an hour-long conversation on the back patio about roni horn and rha hyeseok. he'll probably end up agreeing to start a book club with his new sapphic friends before the night is over (and he'll run into them all again the following weekend when he goes to support soyoon at one of her gigs lmao) 👭

ksj: entirely oblivious to what it looks like when a person is flirting with him, despite that being exactly what happens to him for quite literally the entire night. each time someone new walks away from the table, he'll turn back to yoongi and jimin with the same question: "okay, now surely that wasn't flirting, was it?!" only to be immediately told that yes, yes it was and no, nobody would sit through a 20 minute ted talk on the lore of maplestory if they didn't also want to sit on his dick. he'll argue til til he's half-hoarse from screaming over the music that there's no way everyone in the club could possibly be flirting with him - but frankly, he's not mad at the ego boost 🍆

myg: putting the suga in suga daddy, he's breaking hundreds at the bar to make sure everyone has a stack of singles to tip the queens, and alllllll the drinks are going on his black card. other than that he's pretty lowkey, mostly just sipping steadily at his whiskey and looking at his phone. when somebody finally gets nosy enough to lean over his shoulder and snoop, they realize that he's actively scrolling through his rotation of hookup apps and trying to match up people in the room to their profiles. might slip away for a sneaky link in the bathroom oop, but he'll be back in time to close his tab out 💳

jhs: full-send GAGGING at the queens and their dancing. he can't even stay in his seat because song after song he's jumping to his feet just so he can dramatically collapse to the floor with a gay scream, getting his life entirely with every new kick, flip, spin, and death drop. the word slaaaaaaaay! has never been shouted with more enthusiasm than it is tonight by this man, and he does not give a fuck that he won't have a voice tomorrow. once the show is over, he is the absolute center of the dancefloor, popping and locking and showing off his footwork like he was born to do it-- and the boys will definitely catch him practicing his duck walk at some point in the next week 🕺

pjm: without a doubt, he is the LIFE of the mf party, lost in the lights and outta his mind u kno?? it's literally just the like crazy MV, actually. will make everyone do shots as soon as they get in the door and then at least once an hour the rest of the night, if only because he really likes flirting (and by flirting i mean making out) with the shot boys. lbr he probably gets several shots poured or spat into his mouth, and if anyone's hopping up on the bar to get tequila sucked out of their belly button, it is absolutely this demon. and ofc he's bringing at least one person home with him - "it's gon' be a good night" indeed~ 😈

kth: disappears into the crowd a few songs into the set, but he texts the group chat that he's fine and just made some friends, so the night carries on without him. it isn't until the next performer is called to the stage - miss tata mic! - that everyone realizes he's befriended the queens, and they've done him up right: cinched for the gods, face beat to make his eyes even more smoldering than usual (...wait, did he bring his colored contacts from home?!), and moving fearlessly in borrowed six-inch heels. and of course, his choreo is flawless. he easily earns enough tips to pay yoongi back in full and then some 👠

jjk: the definition of 'happy to be here'. loves the lights, the music, the ~vibes~, all of it. he somehow knows every word to every single song, and the more drinks he has, the louder he's singing along. and the queens love him for being easy to fluster, the way even his ears flush with color when he blushes, so he gets a whole lot of ass and tiddies in his lap and his face (rewarded with generous tips, naturally). when the lights finally come on and everyone stumbles outside, he's a drunchies king, and he thinks the food from the truck in the parking lot is quite literally the best thing he's ever tasted. he repeatedly shouts 'DAMN!' up to the night sky, one fist swinging as he eats, until someone pours him into the car so they can all head back home 🍗

[not-terezi-pyrope]

do you have any sources on ai energy use not being that big a deal? everything i see about seems to be really fear mongering bad faith stuff so i’d like to read a more balanced approach

Don't get me wrong, the energy use of AI is pretty expensive, and even if it's a small fry when many applications are still in development, mass adoption of tools could push it up to a significant power draw. Investigating ways to improve efficiency is important and thankfully there are lots of roads towards that that are being studied.

What I'm not overly convinced of is that the energy use of AI apps is too disproportionate compared to other industrial production processes and, at inference, other calculation intensive cloud computing operations. Data centers already pump out a lot of carbon doing boring business tasks. I think the reason people focus on AI specifically is because they want to reuse the angle they had against crypto, but imo that was a different beast because no useful work was being done. ML apps are actually doing calculations with a purpose, crypto proof of work just crunches empty numbers for their own sake.

That said maybe I was a bit too dismissive off AI energy cost in my initial post. Like all things that cost power these days we should be looking into ways to cut back, it's just that I don't think that that means that AI apps are a nonstarter, just that they exist in context with other things that people do with their energy, some of which are more frivolous but probably comparable in aggregate. Ultimate answer is to decarbonise energy production and increase data center efficiency in general...

As for sources, it's hard to find a good source that provides specific numbers on the overall power use of AI, most estimates are just for individual models. Some people have made ballpark guesstimates that it might be pretty intensive in the future, but if you want exact numbers now - well if somebody has a source for that now I'd also appreciate it.

[strawberry-cowmilk]

I posted something like this for Asmo before, so why not do the same for other characters.

it makes me feel better

-> simeon x mc

mc's gender is not mentioned, not proof read

a/n: I'm not very confident in my ability to write for Simeon, so I hope this is still okay and he's not ooc or something.

content warnings: lesson 5/6/24 spoilers, mild strong language, bottling feelings up, overworking, celestial war

-----

It’s lonely up here, ever since that fateful day. Actually, it probably was already lonely before. Simeon cared about the former angels a lot, especially Lucifer. They were a family. Simeon wanted to be Lucifer’s dearest friend, but he always seemed to be busy. Or did he just not care about Simeon the way he cared about him? At least he had somebody to talk to, right? 

The day it began, Simeon actually didn’t want to fight. Surely there would have been a better way out of that situation than to spill blood, but apparently the other angels didn’t share this mindset. He remembers that moment like it was yesterday: the moment he saw all seven of them fall from grace. Simeon tried to reach out to them, but it all happened so fast. He couldn’t save anyone. All he could do is watch as these seven former angels got smaller and smaller in his field of vision.

You know, it’s funny how Michael still loves Lucifer after what happened. He keeps a whole collection of the now-demon’s old possessions, and talks about him a lot. Why? Michael played a big role in the whole war, and the reason the Celestial Realm lost seven great angels. Sometimes, Simeon finds himself wondering why he even works for such a hypocrite, and why the younger angels admire this dude so much. To Simeon, Lucifer and his brothers are way more admirable, whether they are demons or angels. That’s why he writes books about them. Or is it because he’s trying to distract himself from the loss? But none of that matters now! The prince of the Devildom announced a new exchange program, and Simeon has been chosen as a candidate. Finally he gets to see them again.

But that doesn’t take away from the pain and loneliness. Some days, Simeon feels extra shitty, and some days he feels okay. But, he has a child to look after. What kind of guardian neglects a child for some ‘self-care’? Also, said child wouldn’t expect his caretaker to harbor such dark feelings. So, guess it’s a secret now.

...

You were doing some homework in the RAD library when Luke came to you. ‘Mc, I need your help.’ the angel said as he sat on the empty chair next to you. You turned your attention away from your book to face him. You assumed Luke was having some trouble with school work, or maybe Mammon was teasing him too much by calling him a chihuahua. You never expected to be met by this response after you asked him what’s wrong. ‘It’s Simeon, he’s doing too much work around Purgatory Hall and I can tell he’s sad.’ That’s certainly weird. Simeon doesn’t seem like the type to be sad for no reason. ‘What kind of work does he do?’ Could he be using the work as a coping mechanism. ‘Well, it started out as just doing all the laundry and cooking but recently...’ Luke paused for a while. ‘He’s been going overboard taking care of people! Just yesterday, Simeon made me some new clothes and offered to read a bedtime story! I mean it’s nice, but this usually happens only on special occasions.’ You closed your book and stuffed it in your bag. Something is definitely going on. ‘Thank you, Luke. I’ll go check on him right away.’

When you went to Purgatory Hall, Simeon wasn’t there. Luckily Solomon was, he told you the angel went to the House of Lamentation. It took you a good ten minutes to find him, planting flowers in the garden. Upon having spotted you, Simeon flashed you a smile. You waved back meekly, you couldn’t help but notice the dark circles under his eyes. 

‘Simeon, what are you doing here?’

‘Ah, Lucifer said this garden is a mess. So, I’m here to clean it up for you.’ 

‘But, he didn’t tell you to clean it up right?’

‘No, he said he was going to do it himself later but I wanted to save him the trouble...’ 

Simeon muttered something you couldn’t quite hear after that. You leaned in a little closer to him. ‘Sorry, what did you say?’ The angel briefly closed his eyes and exhaled. ‘I said he’s already so busy, he needs more free time to spend with his family.’ This seems like a good moment to bring up what Luke told you. 

‘Hey, Luke told me something’s going on, and I think he’s right.’ You placed a hand on his tense shoulder. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’ Simeon placed one of his hands over yours and gave it a gentle squeeze. ‘No, if you don’t mind. I’m sorry.’ he sighed. ‘It’s just... I take care of others when I don’t know what to do with myself.’ Your chest ached for him, whatever is bothering him must be messing him up a lot. You tried to comfort him to the best of your abilities. ‘You know, it’s okay to be a little less selfless sometimes.’ You showed him a sympathetic smile. ‘Everyone admires the things you do for us, and we want you to be okay in return. Plus, you’ll never be alone because we love you.’ Simeon looked down while squeezing your hand a little harder before his shoulders relaxed a bit. ‘Mc, thank you.’ the angel pulled you closer to his side, leaning against you a bit. 

‘No problem, but now you need to go to sleep.’

‘...Okay, then.’

[arx-aru]

Is it established anywhere in canon whether the Godrick and/or Radahn cliques know Malenia has already made it back to the Haligtree after the Battle of Aoenia?

Curious cuz so far as I can immediately find the only acknowledgment of her escape prior to the Haligtree area itself seems to come from Commander O'Neil's Standard--

(I'm 99% sure O'Neil was part of the Malenian/Miquellan host but I don't think it's explicitly stated? he and the Cleanrot Knights around his arena are specifically non-hostile to each-other and share buffs, and he absurdly found Malenia's(?) discarded needle and protected it to his death even after being nuked by her)

And Gowry obviously hinges his whacky machinations on her being at the Haligtree (though it's probably more blind faith in his goddess than it is, like, solid intelligence...)

But both those guys and their associates are specifically Malenian or adjacent thereto... and, in light of the stupendous amount of bad blood and continued lethal(or worse) hostility between her and Godrick/Radahn's forces, it seems reasonable to assume the information wouldn't make it across enemy lines...?

The only(?) relevant sword monument makes no assertation on Malenia's whereabouts post-bloom too:

Gideon also seems not to know her whereabouts--or at the very least he feigns ignorance--

(the exception he's referring to here is Ranni)

If Godrick IS unaware of Malenia's successful exfiltration(thank you finlay very cool), it would serve as an interesting explanation as to the outwardly nonsensical distribution of his army in Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula, I think;

(the banner icons are where he has soldiers encamped)

The guy has made zero effort to place garrisons to a) contain the Scarlet Rot of Caelid, b) contain the Frenzy in the Ailing Village, or c) Contain the beastman peasant uprising in Castle Morne's fief... all of which are catastrophic and increasingly existential threats to his domain. He COULD just be very, very careless and bad at basic warlord-ing, but in which case he surely wouldn't have survived the Shattering right???

But actually it maybe makes sense! His troops are dug in around the Weeping Peninsula with their battlements/ballistae facing away from the internal threats and towards the far end of the single bridge to Limgrave, completely neglecting Castle Morne and its satellite fortress which SEEMS dumb... bUT! the Tower of Return, with a direct gate to Leyndell, isn't protected by Morne whatsoever. And it's one of the few locations with his lordsworn still entrenched, despite everything else.

Soooooooooo Godrick perhapsedly is insanely hyper-fixated on catching somebody trying to flee from Eastern Limgrave or Caelid. He already broke the bridge connecting Stormhill to Liurnia, which means the only means of traversal from Caelid to the Snowfields by land would be through Stormveil Castle(which would be suicide) orrrrrrrrr the Tower of Return's gate.

His prey could be Tarnished, granted, but considering that he's a) already got that entire issues entirely contained by the far more formidable Grafted Scion at the Chapel of Anticipation and b) has forsaken 90% of his domain and powerbase on this endeavor, it seems far more likely that Godrick has long been all-in on catching Malenia.

Seem like a silly objective to trade a kingdom for? Not at all, unfortunately! The uh. The game doesn't talk a whole lot about it, but Malenia isn't just a shardbearer: she's an Empyrean. The component Godrick needs to become an Elden Lord (yes, he could aim for consort to Marika, but then he'd be beholden to Marika's order, and unable to shape his own blueprint for reality like Ranni can. If he managed to shackle Malenia then he'd be able to do the same).

...So Finlay didn't just save Malenia from death by Radahn, she saved her from being Godrick's, uh- well. She would've been in the same situation as Miquella(or what whats-his-face wanted for Ranni). It also isn't exactly... unthinkable, so to speak, that Radahn pre or post rot would have liked the same thing.

I mean. That was the goal of the Shattering.

The target on Malenia's back as an Empyrean is massive. And her fate, should she have failed, would have been exponentially more miserable than all the shardbearers'.

Small part of why it's cool that, unlike the other two, Malenia battled on the front lines and charged demigods on an equal or greater power scale. Add to the fact that she's physically disabled, actively sabotaged by an Outer God, and demonstrably less magically adept than her counterparts and her performance is all the more impressive.

[delurkr]

Criminal Clarkes AU

BECUZ LISTEN I was really tickled with the crimes tierlist @kindheartedgummybears posted. This isn't necessarily related to that but it's what got me started imagining the Clarkes as a ✨family heist ring✨ because literally yes.

I'm thinking they're mainly burglars, aiming for the safes but cleaning up whatever else they find along the way. They're always planning occasional high stakes burglaries like banks and museums (shoot for the stars amirite) but more often they do smaller house burglaries and sometimes bank robberies for quick money (I want them to have range lol).

Breakdown of everyone's roles under cut, I think I'm a genius:

ANNE - Mastermind, doesn't get her hands dirty much but she's the best at keeping everyone organized. She generally takes a backseat during the actual heists and might not be there at all if it's low risk, but she'll always go along for the big ones because she's excellent at sensing danger and predicting people's next moves, and also because she can easily identify valuables and knows what's worth stealing

Likelihood of getting left behind in a panic: 2% (Stranger things have happened, but really no one would dare)

Likelihood of ratting out the others for a reduced sentence: 30% (She could be convinced, sometimes she wishes she was a lone wolf. But she'll get revenge on whoever made her do it)

JAMES - Second-in-command, sources the supplies and vehicles and such and heads the heists. Way too jumpy ofc (he's this close to making a stupid move in any charged atmosphere), but he's the most attentive to safety, trying to minimize risk beforehand and making sure all the evidence is disposed of and everything

Likelihood of getting left behind in a panic: 40% (He's not a fan favorite)

Likelihood of ratting out the others for a reduced sentence: 25% (But he's already planning how to break them out of jail)

TANYA - Information gatherer in the planning stage, the inside lookout during the heist, and the impromptu distraction if some guard or a neighbor gets suspicious. She goes undercover sometimes to scope out the joints and is basically the public relations member, charming enough to extract a lot of critical information without arousing suspicion

Likelihood of getting left behind in a panic: 5% (Not if Dennis has any say)

Likelihood of ratting out the others for a reduced sentence: 85% (She would, be real)

DENNIS - The muscle ofc. He keeps the hostages in line during a robbery, and during burglaries he's usually the first one to enter to make sure it's clear for the others. He also carries the crowbars and other supplies, but nobody trusts him with the nitroglycerin

Likelihood of getting left behind in a panic: 15% (He's strong, right? He can take of himself...probably)

Likelihood of ratting out the others for a reduced sentence: 35% (They said they would come for him! And then 10 years go by. But he'll believe you if you say they won't get in trouble, so he'll spill a name or two)

ANTHONY - The getaway driver, was there ever any question? He helps with a lot of the prepwork to plan a smooth getaway but he doesn't go in with the others during the heists, he's the outside lookout. And if something goes wrong for everyone inside (say, somebody let Dennis handle the nitroglycerin) he'll be stuck outside helpless to do anything and he'll feel guilty and experience all the horrors of being the lone survivor years down the line but he'll do it from inside a prison complex because he actually was a criminal this time

Likelihood of getting left behind in a panic: 10% (Only by mistake. If he gets left it's because everyone thought he was with someone else)

Likelihood of ratting out the others for a reduced sentence: 15% (Was it on purpose? Who knows what goes on in that brain of his)

MEGAN - MVP, they'd be nowhere without her precision. She's the one to disable the cameras and alarms and crack the safes (her favorite method is torching). Unmatched sticky fingers and maximum stealth, and gets no appreciation. She's not at the scene during bank robberies, she's on the other side of town committing arson to distract the cops

Likelihood of getting left behind in a panic: 3% (Everyone would have to answer to Anne)

Likelihood of ratting out the others for a reduced sentence: 60% (It's their fault that she doesn't feel like part of the team)

VINCE - Normie, not usually involved but he'll run errands and buy the newspapers if the gang is in hideout

Likelihood of ratting out the others for a reduced sentence: 2% (It would get Tanya in trouble)

~

If anyone has different ideas or anything to add I'd love to hear it 😁

[ckret2]

Ive only read one fic that dives deeply into bill being from flatland (flat dreams, though its popular enough, you probably heard about it from someone). And while i love it, im realy intrigued by your ideas cause its taking things in a widly opposite direction

Not only have I heard about it—multiple times!—I've also already had a couple of folks comment on my posts in a way that makes it clear they're assuming my headcanons are inspired by/based on Flat Dreams, rather than simply based on Flatland.

This is the first time someone's said they're intrigued because it's different from Flat Dreams. I feel like there's probably gonna be a lot of people measuring up my headcanons against the other fic they all know and there's not much I can do about that, so I appreciate hearing something positive!

At the moment I haven't read past chapter 2—through absolutely no fault of the author's own, it's pretty irritating to have credit for one's own writing & ideas be given to somebody else who had nothing to do with it, and it's put me off from reading the fic for now—but I have gone out of my way to get as thoroughly spoiled for the fic as I can just to make sure I'm not, y'know, accidentally retreading the exact same plot as the most well-known backstory fic in the fandom.

And yeah, by the sound of it, I just decided to veer off in a completely different direction from Flat Dreams right from the outset.

Between Bill's monologue during Weirdmageddon and "EDWIN ABBOT ABBOT HAS A DECENT IDEA" it makes perfectly logical sense to go "Flatland exactly as it is can be treated as 100% canon to Gravity Falls -> Bill is an extremely weird guy from an extremely repressive & controlling world -> Bill was trying to undo his society's oppression, went way too far, and became the villain," and get a narratively compelling backstory that fits perfectly with canon and does exactly what everyone kinda expects Bill to have done based on what we know.

However, it also happens to be a narrative that personally rubs me the wrong way. I don't think it's bad, and I still enjoy stories that use it—but it bothers me enough that I don't want to write it myself.

Conversational detour time! I've been in Transformers fandom for about 20 years, and—to oversimplify a complicated and protracted series of narrative reboots—over time, the writers of the franchise decided to give the evil villainous Decepticon army more narrative depth by stating that their home planet used to be extremely corrupt, oppressive, and controlling (you can safely compare it to 1984, Flatland, and a whole bevy of other dystopias), and the Decepticons rose up as a rebellion against the oppressive government—but then went too far, turned evil, devastated their planet, started conquering and slaughtering the rest of the galaxy, etc. etc.

The problem with this is the Decepticons are the antagonists' faction, which means the heroes are usually the surviving legacy of the corrupt oppressive government—and so for a long while you got stories with unintentional implications like "are the oppressive government and the underprivileged minorities fighting back against the government actually equally bad?" or "maybe if we let the most painfully oppressed people in society exercise any political power, their first instinct will be to oppress other people" or "sure, cops are bad and nobody wants a police state, but maybe the best solution is to find the nicest cops and put them in charge."

I say this as somebody who loves Transformers dearly, and Transformers does take some stabs at grappling with these moral issues. I don't even necessarily think it's always a bad idea to write a "faction fighting for a Good Cause goes too far and becomes worse than the thing they're fighting" story.

But several years of grimacing at the same bunch of Unfortunate Implications made me personally lean away from writing any story ideas that could be summed up as "—and attempting to fight systematic oppression made him evil."

So right from the get-go I was always going to avoid the most straightforward "Bill became a villain over the course of fighting Flatland's oppression" backstory—and trying to come up with something entirely different that still fits his claim that he "liberated" his "flat-minded" world pretty much guaranteed I wouldn't write a backstory that had much in common with Flat Dreams.

And from everything else I currently know about Flat Dreams, it seems like on most big plot points, I just sorta decided before I knew anything about the fic besides "it's Bill in Flatland" that I would do something different. "Bill gives me hella only child vibes, and that might make a good contrast to how the main cast all have siblings to help emotionally balance them." "I think I'd rather characterize his home world as less like a dystopian Victorian England and more like vaguely-modern vaguely-Western society—something that's easier for the audience see echoes of our world in than a satire a century removed from its context." "Bill doesn't strike me as someone who's good at making or maintaining friends, so with the possible exception of the Flatlander-looking guys I bet his Henchmaniacs are an ever-shifting gang of shallow brief friendships, so he's probably only known most of them a few years." "In the main fic and in Bill's backstory, as much as possible I want to introduce and play with new ideas rather than have major plot points depend upon plot devices we've already seen used in canon (for instance, ruling out Globnar as the source of Bill's power)."

I dunno what this says, except that two writers can take the exact same source materials and decide to construct a narrative with the exact same overall arc about the exact same character guided by the exact same canon quotes/details, and still come up with two wildly different stories depending upon the writers' individual tastes, priorities, and interests.

so uh tl;dr: yep I've heard of Flat Dreams; I respect its position in the fandom but haven't read it yet; based on what I know about it, I think I'm just interested in telling another story than Flat Dreams' author, and that's neither better nor worse but it is different. (And I really appreciate hearing "I'm interested in seeing something different"!)

[rainbowsuitcase]

Golden, First Impressions.

3D - I talked about that one here.

Closer To You - It sounds cool. I like that breathy-deep voice thing Jungkook does.

Seven - here and here. I made more posts, which you can all find if you search my blog for seven or jungkook, but these two feel like the main ones.

Standing Next To You - I actually really like the chorus on this one. I don't really get the deep "standing next to you" part (google said that's the post-chorus??) but it doesn't sound bad.

Yes Or No - It sounds so damn good. That's the one Ed Sheeran worked on, right? That guy definitely know how to make an earworm. (Seriously, I occasionally hum Thinking Out Loud and I don't think I ever listened to the whole song of my own volition. Also Bad Habits.)

Please Don't Change - It's nice. I could do without the repeated "I love you" part though.

Hate You - I don't usually say this, but knowing Shawn Mendes worked on the song, I can kind of hear him on it. Definitely not a favorite though, I'm generally not a fan of people singing about hating their exes for no reason. What a healthy way to deal with sadness.

Somebody - The second verse has a good rhythm. I don't hate it, but it doesn't stand out.

Too Sad To Dance - You know what, I do enjoy a happy sounding sad song. And I can imagine myself sitting on the bus after a long day, resting as I listen to this. It sounds soft.

Shot Glass of Tears - Again, a very soft and relaxing sound, but the lyrics are too obviously sad to make it a "relaxing on the bus home" type of a song.

Over all, as you can probably tell, this isn't my favorite release of Chapter 2, by far.

I don't hate mainstream pop relationship songs, but I rarely get obsessed with one the way I usually do with Bangtan's songs.

Honestly, I was just expecting something different when the Weverse announcement said the album is " inspired by the golden moments of Jung Kook, the golden maknae of BTS and a solo artist." I was ready for something more introspective than what is essentially a break-up album.

I also don't undestand why both versions of Seven are on there. Is it because the clean version is the official one but the explicit version is more popular?

I don't hate it. If any of the songs came up on the radio, I wouldn't change the stations. But I'll have to give it a few more chances to see if I would go out of my way to listen to it.

And of course, to end on a positive note, the visuals are nice.

EDIT: Apparently Jungkook said in an interview that the lyrics shouldn't be read as autobiographical, which I already suspected, but then... what the hell was that "inspired by the golden moments" bit about then?