#the fact that they’re milk white is WRONG

[venux777]

just remembered the vackers aren’t canonically desi…… dhmu

[creatingblackcharacters]

"Defying the Default"- Skin Tones and the Presence of Black Characters

Okay, this one is going to be half lesson and half a thought experiment- it may get a bit frustrating, as conversations like this often do- but remember, discomfort is not always a bad thing! So I ask that you walk with me for this one.

It’s also interesting, because I’m going to direct this towards everyone (readers included!), but specifically towards my fanfic writers of media with no visual medium, as I’ve noticed this pattern there, and it makes up a good amount of creators on this site. Okay? Okay.

Behold! Many shades of brown!

I had to wade through a lot of colorism for this, and even this link is subtly racist in its introduction- the idea that brown is ‘unexciting’ 🙄.

Anyway, you know where I’m going with this:

"Chocolate and Coffee"

Even the link above pulled this! Writers who use this... they’re not ‘wrong’ per se but… often uninspired. It feels... Lazy. When you can tell an author has put no thought into the brown of choice, it makes Black readers feel like you believe these are the only shades of brown- that that’s all we look like. Even chocolate is more diverse (white, milk, dark, marbled, cookies and cream?) Coffee can come in numerous shades as well (light, medium, dark roast? Type of bean?)

My first direction to help with this: make it a point to know what shade that character is (whether canonically, or if you're the original creator, look at a reference and write it down) and find a name! Be consistent! Find similar browns to one another. If the canon Black character's skin color is done poorly, find something similar and use that! (I'll get more into this in the next lesson!)

Our skin colors may modify as we age, it changes over the seasons/presence in the sun, and some people even have vitiligo! But we're not gonna be “dark roast coffee” one morning and “light milk chocolate” suddenly. We're not chameleons lmao.

And you know what? That shade you choose might very well be 'coffee'! But it's not going to be because you didn't look and assumed we're all some random brown! That’s the intent showing! If we can find endless ways to describe the beauty of white/pale skin, we absolutely can for brown! Be willing to unpack why you may not believe brown to be capable of beauty, and work through unlearning that- it will show in your writing! One way is by pausing with yourself, and recognizing when you had a biased thought. Even by this, you’re learning!

Here’s where I want us to get into the thought experiment:

I want you to think about the description of characters in stories (as a whole). Challenge yourself- in the fics and stories you read, how often is anyone blatantly labeled 'White'? Read a story or fic; how long can you imagine them as not-White before it's ever clarified? Because not even 'pale' automatically implies a White person!

You know how I’ve mentioned before that 'Black people are not a monolith'? I can find you at least some examples of Black people fitting some of the common descriptions of white characters.

"Brunette with brown eyes"

(Fun fact: I actually learned back in my Masters program that genetically no one has ‘black’ hair- our eyes are processing it as black, but it’s really just dark brown due to eumelanin. Regardless, if you stand us in the direct sunlight, you will see that our hair is usually just dark brown!)

"Red hair with pale skin"

“‘tanned’ skin with hazel/green eyes”

“blond hair" (period!)

Now, I’m not saying that blond haired Black people or Black folk with albinism are overly representative of my people. What I AM saying is that it needs to not be taken for granted that a reader is automatically assuming a character is White in your piece of fiction- I can assume your character looks like anything if it's not stated! Especially if the OG source is a book or a podcast! We’re just used to assigning these features- and characters- as white until ‘proven not’! The default!

I am guilty of this too! Even still, I reread many of my works and go ‘ah, I didn’t clarify.’ And I have to work on doing better at it. This is having intent for your Black characters, but really, it’s having intent for all of them!

(This doesn't mean going “the Black man said,” the way sometimes people say “the Chinese said” (which…. Tbh we should all stop doing that anyway, it's weird and racist))

My Next Challenge:

Some people may disagree, but- Ahem:

Say BLACK!

Breathe lmao! Take the time to recognize that it's OKAY to introduce a character as Black, to say Black, it's fine! Obviously be sensitive about it, don't shove it in there to “win your diversity points”, but like… People are Black. It's not a bad word. What matters is the context in which you used it!

You don't even have to say it every single time. Really just the first, introductory sentence will do. For example:

“[Character A], a bright, young, Black girl with knotless braids to her mid back, glittering hair clips matching her bright green t-shirt, and a brilliant smile that shined against her bistre skin.”

I recognize that some might argue that by saying “bistre”, you don't need to say Black. But 1) you don't have to be Black to be brown or dark skinned, and 2) There's a social stigma behind even saying Black- of discussing race in general, because it leads to discomfort. Race (as a sociological construct) exists. When we say nothing about it, allowing Whiteness to be the default, we're still emphasizing race, however silently! If you're already doing it... Why not mention it? 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️

(here's a good clip of Ijeoma Oluo discussing the difficulty of discussing race; while I highly recommend the whole thing, the relevant clip is 4:25-5:39)

Maybe they're in the Black student organization in a lead position, maybe they're in a Black main cast of a play- it's okay to have those things in the story to help develop the idea that your Black character is actively Black! Just do your research to make sure you’re not leaning into stereotypes!

“There’s no races in my fantasy/future world!”

That’s fair! But I want to give you an example of how people will still project these identities onto your characters anyway:

No one has an explicitly stated 'race' in Avatar: The Last Airbender (afaik); they’re all divided by element culture. YET, many people were offended that a mixed-Korean actress was cast in her role in the live action- they ‘just didn’t see it’, because subconsciously they'd imagined her ‘face claims’ as WHITE, despite it never once being mentioned in the canon! (there’s also a firm sexualization and east Asian fetishization argument to be made about it, but that’s not within the scope of this particular conversation.)

Point is, if you are including humanoid characters in your fantasy stories, fine. You don't need to say ‘Black’ outright. But, that just means that you’re going to have to be even more detailed in your description. Because if I were watching a TV show and a Black actor shows up as an elf… I know what features I’m seeing! Entire protests have occurred over the casting of Black actors in a role ‘meant for a white person’; so... everyone sees it!

Conclusion

This is another reason why intention in character design and writing is important! Context clues and socialization help me understand who your character is. If it works like this for white characters, it can work like that for everyone else! You just have to know enough about me to write it in (and that's where the social and societal bias lie, because how much do you really know about me?)

A way to better understand this is reading books by Black authors (for fantasy, I would highly recommend Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko and Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi) as well as Black literary classics! Finding and reading Black fic authors in fandoms with Black characters! By learning how we describe ourselves and our skin colors, you’ll learn and practice how to appropriately describe us!

Now I can't make you do any of this! But I do want you all- writers especially- to start noticing our bias, how we may default to the experience of whiteness- and how that affects the way we write. When we have Black characters, and really any character of color, we need to start paying attention to how often their features, culture, and activities are emphasized, even for what we may consider to be 'background' details. That’s how we normalize creation and understanding, and become better at writing!

It’s just something to practice; remember, it’s the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!

In addition, if you are interested in a simple read into why approaching race is so uncomfortable as a whole, I've attached Robin DiAngelo's book here! Thank you to the PDF guru @toiletpotato for the link!

[pedge-page]

Baby Sarah and Joel playing tug of war over the tv remote has to be the funniest thing ever , Joel watching tv one night and the remote is resting on the coffee table and the channel randomly changes and he turns to see Sarah just pressing buttons then joel immediately takes it to change the channel back and the brat fusses and tries slapping Joel’s hands and biting even having to get reader involved in the mix

Joel Dealing with Sarah: Theatrics

warnings: none :)

- - - -

Joel is fucking exhausted. Yeah he says that a lot, but damnit, that’s what happens when you have a pregnant monster for 9 months and then a whole ass baby monster for the next year!

You had gone to bed right after dinner with little Sarah. There may have been a debacle about Joel buying the wrong flavor of chocolate chip cookies despite you specifically saying regular chocolate chip earlier. He grabbed the raisins by mistake, and now he’s condemned to the couch (for the next hour or so till you’re out cold and won’t remember whether he was in bed with you or not).

It works out, though. He sighs heavily, propping  one foot then the other over the coffee table with his cup of decaffeinated tea. The house is quiet for once. He gets alone time for once. 

Scrolling through the saved tapes on the DVR, he finally finds the last home renovation episodes he’s missed these past few weeks. He chucks the remote somewhere, sits back, and turns his brain off for some quality Joel time.

The poorly acting woman goes on about the gorgeously boring white paint they’re gonna splash over the entire kitchen when suddenly the Jigsaw puppet creepy thing jumps on the screen and nearly sends Joel over the couch with a heart attack.

He looks around for the damn remote he must have nudged with his thigh when he spots his diapered one year old sitting upright next to him, the remote the size of her entire arm sitting in her lap with both hands on the bottoms. 

“Jesus—fuck kid. Where did you come from???” He whispers, looking around wondering if you put her here mysteriously without being noticed.

Sarah smiles with her gummy mouth like she’s not at all disturbed by the contents of the TV.

“Aight kid, gimme the remote, it’s not a toy—“ as he reaches for the devices, she yanks it back furthest away from him.

“Hey! Listen to me right now—“ he leans further, his arm outstretched in front—when she clamps down with her little gums.

“AY! SARAH! NO bitting!” He grits his teeth and reaches again but Sarah whines and slaps his bitten hand repeatedly with the remote. He manages to push a button, but she snatches it right back and hits another. The TV flashes between channels, volumes and mute, and different inputs like its having seizure as Joel and Sarah loudly grunt and whine at each other, tugging it back and forth.

Joel’s partially amazed at the incredible gripper strength she has on the remote, refusing the let it part from her tiny fingers that are latched on law claws. That, and the fact that she’s pulling enough strength that he isn’t sending her flying over his shoulder is making him wonder what kind of muscle milk you must be feeding her.

“Let GO!” He shouts, his arm straining with one hand on the remote, but she puts that big back in it and is yanking back towards her way with both of her baby paws tightly secured around its middle.

The TV is at full volume now, as are their angry growling at one another. So much that neither of them realize you had gotten up and were standing right behind the couch, rubbing your eyes viciously at the scene.

“WHAT—“

Joel and Sarah stop and turn, frightened by mom-zilla, who’s at her worst when she’s prematurely awaken. 

“IS. GOING. ON.”

Joel opens his mouth, ready to get the little brat in trouble and have a shout when sneaky little Sarah immediately lets go of the remote and launches herself back, crying loudly. She makes heavy eye contact with you through tears and her pained wailing while rubbing her chunky arm, squeezing her little lids shut so that the tears fall fat across her puffy cheeks. All while Joel’s got the remote tightly gripped in his hand.

“Joel!” You rush to pick up your baby and cradle her to your chest, which she totally nuzzles into.

“I didn’t do anything!” He shouts incredulously, and perhaps a little too off tone because there’s no way you didn’t see her just fake her injury by pretending he hit her. “She’s faking it! You saw!”

On cue, Sarah screams harder into your shoulder, huffing up and down like she can’t catch her breath. 

You wave your hand over to shush him. then you point to the couch. “Rest of the week. You. here.” 

He bites his tongue hard as the two of you walk back to your bedroom. He catches the minx give a little glance back over your shoulder with a toothless grin. 

If he could wring that child, he would. But he knows he’s gotta wait before he can start cooking her for real.

The theatrics of Sarah Miller are strong enough to rival your own.

- - - -

Taglist:

@harriedandharassed @lola8888673 @its-nebuleuse @zliteraturehoe @merz-8 @joeldjarin @pascalscoffin @pedroshotwifey @ghostslillady @innerpersonunknown @missladym1981 @mrsoharaxx @survivingandenduring @milla-frenchy @cockykookiee @fairytale07 @daddy-din @pedropascalsbbg @spookyxsam @somehopeatlast @millercontracting @pedrostories @mishala005 @theoraekenslover @animez96 @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog @puduvallee @cassiecasluciluce @loohoop @himboelover @callsignwidow

[causenessus]

new grounds

part 0.6. TOXIC TRAIT . . . 1.5.2024

PLAYING IN THE CAFE . . . atomic vomit by steve lacy

it’s 10 o’clock. not in the afternoon, at night. she’s huddled in a corner next to keiji, the both of them leaning on each other and periodically dozing off and then shaking the other awake. 

kageyama is a few feet away from her on her right, playing with his hands as they wait for their manager who is late as per usual.

yachi is a little more energetic, sitting a chair’s distance away on keiji’s side, swinging her feet as she scrolls on her phone. she giggles at something which draws all of their attention.

“akaashi,” she says, turning towards him. “do you want to tell me about this condom thing?”

“oh god,” keiji removed his arm from around y/n’s shoulder to cover his face with his hands. 

y/n laughs as she sits upright in her chair, it had only happened a few days before, but it felt like forever ago.

“what more is there to say? keiji’s tweet summed it up pretty good,” she answers and keiji groans at the thought.

kageyama tries his best not to look as he listens. his phone is buzzing with texts from a group chat. his friends are trying to encourage him to talk to her after he told them she was here. but he can’t. instead, he’s on google researching condoms and microphones, something he never thought he’d be doing. ever.

then a bell chimes as the door opens and their manager walks in, a small corduroy bag around her shoulders over a white puffer jacket. 

“happy holidays, sorry i’m late,” she slings off her bag as she talks.

everything is pointless here. they’re all pretending to listen to her as if they respect her and she’s pretending like she actually does her job. but maybe that’s all his opinion.

“this last year was pretty good. we lost some people but you’re all new additions and you’ve been handling this great. i help out when i need to, i accommodate when you guys need some days off…” it was slowly transitioning into statements about her, which she realized and quickly cleared her throat, pulling out a folder. “the only things i can say is you all need to do better about getting to work on time and calling out. if you’re all gonna call out one day at least tell me a day ahead or something. it’s not like i can stop you guys from doing it, just don’t make it a habit,” she sighs, running a hand through her hair. “i think that was all, if you guys can hang out here for 20 minutes more, we’ll all get paid extra. everything’s free today for you guys, so if you want anything just let me know and i’ll make it for you.”

y/n settles back down into her chair with a steaming chai latte, curling back up against keiji, whose sipping on a brewed green tea. yachi is happy with a hot chocolate, and kageyama has a mug of warm milk in his hand.

none of them want caffeine right now, it’s too late. they all just want to go home but they aren’t going to miss out on being paid just for sitting around.

but something bothers her about the fact that kageyama’s been on his phone this whole time. he keeps texting someone, she assumes, and for some reason that sits wrong with her. she wants to know what’s going through his head and who he’s talking to. a part of her wishes he would look at her, or ask how she’s doing.

maybe that’s asking for too much, it sounds comedic just thinking about it. he’s never talked to her more than he needed to. he’s never been one to say “how are you?” but maybe after her havoc on twitter, she thought he’d be more interested.

he's unlike anyone she's ever met, and maybe that's what makes her care so much. she's never cared so much about what anyone thought, or in garnering a simple look from them.

but he won't look at her and she can't predict how he's going to act, and she doesn't know how to handle that except by telling herself that she hates him.

“look at him,” y/n can’t help but whisper to the companion she’s leaning against, still facing towards the boy who’s mindlessly scrolling on his phone as he sips on his drink. “look at the state we’re in and he doesn’t even care. he hasn’t looked at us once.”

keiji raises his brows in surprise at her comment. what did it matter what he cared? but then he pieces it together.

“well, he’s seen me like this once at the beginning of the fall during our first show. but yachi’s right,” he gives her a sly smile as she tilts her head back, looking at him confused, “you really do care what he thinks.”

her face turns red at the thought and she immediately sits up, staring down into the swirling foam of her latte. “i do not,” she mumbles.

"i don't care," she whispers again. but she can't even bring herself to say it confidently.

prev. | m.list | next

extras <3

kageyama literally knew y/n would be at the celebration because it was a mandatory and he had overheard her talking about in their psych class once to a classmate but he wasn't actually prepared

he immediately opened up his gc when she walked in and said "she's here" and the gc subsequently blew up

my boy was literally texting about yn the entire night but she thought he was just on his phone </3

the gc was trying so hard to get her to talk to him and he had the nerve to say things like "she looks busy" "she looks tired" "she's laying against akaashi right now"

which is when hinata with all the love in the world but not the brightness of someone intelligent said he should spill a drink on them so that she wouldn't be laying on him anymore (literally not said with any malice he's heard from bokuto how cool he is)

yams screamed no in the groupchat and outloud...because tsukki, hianta and him were all in the same room texting the groupchat in silence

other than that hinata was going off with the advice and giving kageyama all the reasons why he could talk to y/n

y/n keeps looking at akaashi because she wants to open her mouth and express how she really feels about kageyama (which would come up as a jumble of undiscernible words) but doesn't know what he'll say so then she looks away

yachi can't work on sunday because she's going to an art auction!! <3 how coincidental

(also my brain for some reason really wanted to write the written part in the present tense for absolutely no reason which i was trying to fight and then got confused so hopefully it still flows ok </4)

taglist: @ncitygreen @lvrlamp @cherrypieyourface @mimi3lover @lees-chaotic-brain @frootloopscos @0moonii @cr4yolaas @eggyrocks @pinkiscool @httpakkeiji @localgaytrainwreck @lunaviee @kitty-m30w @lixie-phoria @aliruuiz @tartfrappe @corvid007 @iluv-ace @yvjitadori @k8nicole (form to be added to taglist! <3)

[faithst]

STRAWBERRY MILK ༄ HYJ

synopsis yujin is very popular in school and gets frequent confessions. when reader ignores his existence, he thinks that they hate him. so, he tries to bribe reader with snacks.

pairing classmate!yujin x gn!reader

genre fluff, platonic

mentions gyuvin, gunwook

warnings mentions of snacks

masterlist<3

it wasn’t unknown to anyone that han yujin was incredibly favored in school albeit having a relatively shy character. he was multiple students’ eye candy and even had a fan club! being used to the attention, he didn’t take satisfaction in how you weren’t providing him any.. at all.

it’s not like you didn’t believe he was attractive but you cared to focus on your studies better than a mere boy and that rubbed yujin the wrong way.

“hyung, i haven’t gotten any gifts from them yet!” yujin signaled you to gyuvin using his eyes “maybe they’re working on it, why are you so worked up on one person that isn’t being up in your face?” gyuvin quirked his brow, amused at the sight.

“do they hate me? i don’t want people to hate me!” yujin frowned, crossing his arms together “i’m sure they don’t hate you, yujin-ah.” the older boy smiled, patting his friend’s back.

every day when yujin walked into his classroom, there would be at least two chocolates or letters on his table. especially on white day, the gifts kept piling over and yujin would share the snacks he was given with his friends.

he memorized every confession letter as they all started and ended the same way but ever since he noticed that you weren’t interested in him, he kept inspecting every recent letter to see if it was from you. none.

“still nothing?” gunwook questioned, feeling nearly bad for the distressed kid, whose head was face first on the table. “having one person dislike you doesn’t mean anything, yujin..” gyuvin sighed, fed up with yujin’s beliefs about you. “what if they secretly curse me and they plan to use everything against me in the future?!” eyes enlarged at the rash thought.

“then how about you switch it up?”

no, yujin did not like gyuvin’s idea as he has never done this before but he swallowed his pride. so there he is, holding a small bag full of various kinds of snacks that he borrowed from gyuvin. feeling a bit chipper for once, he made his way to your table, secretly loving the looks he got from his ‘kind act’. “hi! i know we don’t talk much but i got you some snacks!” shoving the small plastic bag into your face. you glance up at him, confused at the sudden moment.

“oh, um.. thank you?? but i’m not hungry..” confusion is written all over your complexion. “oh that’s okay! you can have it later.” he kept encouraging you to keep it but you were more persistent than he thought “i don’t eat those kind of snacks.. sorry.” (what are you? jiwoong?) you told as a last attempt to stop the boy from bothering you. “oh.” was all he said, interrupted by the teacher entering the classroom.

for the next few days, he left you alone while trying to figure out another resort. that’s when he caught on the fact that you always drink milk in the morning before class starts, so that was his next objective. he got up super early in the morning to buy you milk at a nearby convenience store. feeling hopeful once more, he placed the milk on your table, and you raised your head to see a familiar face. “you like milk right? here.” with a wide grin and proud shoulders.

“i don’t like banana milk, yujin.”

yujin, who was laidback, is now trying to hide his red ears from the embarrassment. what was this deja vu he was feeling? of course, the sudden remark had gotten stares from around and soon enough, people started speculating that he had a crush on you.

feeling pity for the boy, you decided to give him a not-so-subtle suggestion. after class was over, you called out to the boy “yujin, wait up!” he stopped in his tracks and faced you. “i do like milk, strawberry milk.” you smiled to not make him feel like a fool and he was relieved that you didn’t think he was a nuisance.

ever since then, every morning there would always be a bottle of strawberry milk on your table and a han yujin awaiting your reactions from a distance.

© keiwook

[storiesofsvu]

A Cup of Juju

Addison Montgomery x reader warnings: maybe some language, just some cute fluffy flirting. a little drabble from a request that's been sitting in the inbox for like, 2 years LOL. oops. Taglist here. Buy me a ko-fi.

Seattle Grace had been your placement for a few years now and as chaotic as things could get, you found that it was exactly where you wanted to be. You’d been specializing in obstetrics and had been debating transferring to a different nursing program considering the lack of an OB attending until The Addison Montgomery walked through the hospital doors and you knew you were staying put no matter what. She was incredibly talented, hardworking, admirable, professional and as friendly as she needed to be, but she would always fall into the group of fancy high level doctors who half the time didn’t even realize just how much work the nurses were putting in. It wasn’t anything against her personally, it was just the way things fell through the cracks and honestly, she was better at getting to know patients personally than others around the hospital.

You were sitting at the nurses station, a single ear bud in to keep an eye on videos playing on your phone while you were finishing up a couple of charts and discharge paperwork. It had been a relatively uneventful day, a couple of check ups on moms and babies, some who were staying for another night and some who would be out of there before you could even punch out. The view in front of your phone was suddenly blocked, the white flash of a doctor’s coat before a coffee cup remained sitting on the counter. You glanced up to see Dr Montgomery standing on the other side of the counter with a soft smile on her face.

“Thank you?” You cautiously raised a brow, “or is this some sort of bribe to deal with the mom in two oh eight? Because I’m pretty much done your charting already.”

“You know I was coming back after lunch to finish that.” She replied in a near teasing tone, leaning against the counter, “and it’s not a bribe, just… good juju. Half sweet vanilla with oat milk, right?” She said with a little shrug and your head tilted as you continued to stare at her and she suddenly faltered, ducking her gaze while her cheeks pinkened.

She was about to step away from the counter and pretend like it never happened when you finally reached for the cup, cautiously taking a sip to not burn your tongue. You let out a near dreamy sigh as the flavour and warmth spread through your body and Addison couldn’t help but smile when the corners of your lips curved up.

“Juju, hey?”

“I mean, you’ve been my scrub nurse for over a year now, I figured it would be a decent way to start an actual conversation… maybe even convince you into joining me for coffee one morning?”

“What?” Your brow furrowed as your head titled once again and Addison let out a groan, her face dropping into her hands.

“Oh god. I completely misread things… you’re one of the ones who calls me spawn of Satan behind my back, aren’t you?”

“No!” You nearly jumped up out of your seat, “no, no. Sorry! I just..  I— honestly didn’t think you even knew my name. And honestly if I was going to call you spawn of Satan it would be to your face, not behind your back.” She glanced up at that, a small chuckle on her lips.

“So what do you call me behind my back?” She asked with a raised brow and it was your turn to blush, though she didn’t give you time to fully answer, “and of course I know your name, why wouldn’t I?”

“Because you’re The Addison Montgomery… you always have a million things on your plate, and half the doctors on this staff don’t know the nurses names unless they’re sleeping with them.” You paused, “and from what I’ve heard sometimes even then they get them wrong…”

“God.” She muttered, rolling her eyes because you were in fact, correct, leaning back against the counter, “well I do in fact know your name. You’re y/n Fossen, you’re without a doubt the best scrub nurse I’ve had, I’m pretty sure I got your coffee order right and…” she surveyed you for a moment, her lip tugged into her mouth, “your drink of choice is gin, but with soda… and extra lemon on the side instead of lime.”

“Have you been stalking me Dr Montgomery?” Your voice softened as to not be overheard, raising a brow at her and she chuckled, her own voice lowering.

“No. I just happen to have a bad habit of staring at pretty things who are also incredibly smart and happen to be absolutely adorable when they’re blushing.”

“You don’t say.” You murmured over the rim of your coffee in an attempt to hide behind it and she laughed, the smile lingering on her cheeks.

“To get to the point, I’d really like to buy you a drink tonight, maybe dinner?”

“You already bought me a drink.” You raised the coffee up in your hand. Before she could reply, the call light went on over room two oh eight and practically the whole floor groaned. You moved to stand from your chair but Addison held up a hand to stop you.

“No. I’ll deal with her.” She paused after a couple of steps, “are you really done my charting?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay well then drinks really are on me tonight.” She flashed you a dazzling smile before making her way down the hallway and you knew the one on your face in that moment was a dreamy one.

Turns out all it takes some days is a cup of good juju to secure a date with the stunner you’d been lowkey crushing on for a year. From that day forward, if you were ever offered juju, you were definitely going to take it.

___________

@svulife-rl @temilyrights @summergeezburr @ssa-sapphic @mickey-gomez @clarawatson @hbkpop @itisdoctortoyousir @emilyprentiss4life @somethingimaginative17 @borg-queer @swimmingstudentchaos891 @red1culous @imlike-so-gaydude @disneyfan624 @littlegaybabe @mysticfalls01 @bumblebear30 @solemnnova @samwithnoplan @multifandomlesbianic @narvaldetierra @dxtery @kellykidd @poisonedcrowns @summergeezburr @temilyrights @alexxavicry @anya-casablanca  @daddy-heather-dunbar @evilregal2002 @aliensaurusrex @alcabots @wandsmxmff @7thavenger @dextur @m00nkn1ghts @augustvandyne @msvenablesbitch @peanutbutterprincess @kdaghay  @sapphicprentiss

[captain-lessship]

Candy Corn

A/n: and so it begins. Enjoy and forgive me when I undeniably post the rest not on my schedule I have in my head <3

Even after years of running your candy shop, You were not a sweets person. There was also a theory that you were not a sweet person.

You specifically hated chocolates. Whether they were dark, milk or white, even if they had nuts or dried fruit, you simply did not like it.

But of course, the cocoa based bars followed you where ever you went because everyone else in the world seemed to like it and you liked the money, who wouldn’t?

Yet each time you recognized your dislike of candy, you couldn’t help but think about a few interesting interactions you had seven years ago.

You sighed as you heard the bell to the shop ding, “Hello, Welcome to the House of Haroldson Chocolates, what can I do for you!” You didn’t lift your eyes from the book you were reading until a pair of shoes approached the counter.

You looked up and saw a very odd looking individual. A lanky man with brown hair and greenish eyes that was dressed in odd pattern combinations was standing there, slightly smiling at you.

“Hello! I was just planning on looking around but since you asked, what is your most popular chocolate?”

You looked him up and down, “Well, I guess it would be our dark chocolate with hazelnuts and white chocolate drizzle.”

You were still trying to figure out why he was dressed like that when he spoke again, “What’s your favorite?”

Your favorite? None. But you knew that your dad, who was the owner and therefore your boss, wouldn’t be happy if you said that.

“I’m not really a chocolate person. I prefer these.” You turned around and plucked a random jar from the wall. The jar had pink and yellow striped squares and were very shiny. “These are Strawberry Shortcake Drops.”

“Can I taste one?” He asked, you thought about it before slipping on a glove on one hand and opening the jar with the other. You plucked one of the squares from the container and gave it to the man.

He popped it into his mouth, eyes turning from joyful to very deep in thought, as if he was trying to taste every single grain of sugar and drop of flavoring. He was entertaining to say the least. You couldn’t help but take one yourself and eat it, trying to see if there was something wrong.

Nope. Vanilla. Strawberry. It was right.

“Is this really your favorite? You don’t seem to like it.” He asked.

“If I am being honest, I do not like chocolate or candy.”

He looked surprised at this, “Why?” He couldn’t fathom that someone dressed as fun in a pale pink dress shirt, striped tie and white pants as you were could dislike candy. It just didn’t seem right.

You shrugged, “Just isn’t my thing. But do you like them?”

His brain was temporarily fried over the fact that someone could dislike sweets. “They’re good. Could I get a small bag of them and a bar of the dark chocolate you talked about earlier?”

You nodded as you began getting his order together. He watched you intently as you pulled a bar of chocolate from the case and filled a bag with the candies, noting the care you took with each part of the order.

As you handed it to him and took the money from him, he smiled at you, “I will find a chocolate you’ll like.”

You rolled your eyes playfully, “I don’t like chocolate Mister…”

“Willy Wonka.” He said. He then stole a glance at your name tag. It was a nice name.

“Mister Willy Wonka.” You smiled.

[showtoonzfan]

Someone posted the stream highlights on this thread.

https://desuarchive.org/co/thread/136264145/#136264195

I’m just going to only go through the one’s that were the most important to me or the ones I felt like talking about.

>“Viv was responsible for the dildo scene, Adam (the episode writer) had no knowledge of the scene”

Well that just makes me feel a whole lot better. (Sarcasm) Adam is still a shitty writer but to learn that this was VIV’s idea is….wow, I mean it makes sense, girl loves her mlm fetishization and is way too horny a writer for my liking.

>“S2E2 and E3 were hectic to make since they started being made at the same time as Hazbin Hotel started production, resulting in split teams”

Ah, and it shows, THAT’S why the animation in those episodes are so choppy and awkward and the quality drops constantly.

>“goofy Millie music scene coming up very soon”

I’d say I hope this has something to do with her character or something that will possibly expand on her personality but I doubt it. It’s probably some wacky country song or maybe another love song between her and Moxxie.

>“Viv consideres Stolas, as a character, is full of pain and emotion. Difficult to write. Very positive character (kind natured but very flawed) but is dealing with a lot.”

Of course Viv. He’s SO flawed and complex. That’s why his daughter is at fault for not seeing the fact that he’s miserable or appreciating his care for her. That’s why Blitz is at fault for breaking his poor uwu heart. That’s why Stella is at fault because she’s an evil bitch right?? Yeah, we can tell he’s filled with drama Viv, but I’m surprised he’s difficult to write for you since your viewpoint on him is so black and white. You call him complex and flawed but you never treat him that way. You just like to milk his sadness constantly and baby him to prove that he’s an innocent Uwu bean who’s done nothing wrong and only the characters AROUND him are at fault. Your words in livestreams about him are such bs.

>>“Viv states that eventually Stolas will become more involved in how he relates towards the other members of the core cast (Moxxie, Millie)”

Judging by the leaks I do expect Stolas to go live with IMP at one point since Octavia and/or Andrealphus and Stella kick him out, and maybe I’m speaking too early but….lmao Stolas and Moxxie and Millie have nothing in common. I’m not even interested in whatever they’re going to pull for this because their whole dynamic is that Stolas never gave a shit about Moxxie and Millie, seeing them as lower life forms and constantly disregarding them because he only cared about Blitz. See what happens when you have a powerful prejudice character and then retcon him into an Uwu baby? It gets weird. Don’t worry, I’m sure Viv will retcon the fact that Stolas was prejudice towards imps and act like it never happened too! Also I’m sure he’ll relate to Moxxie more, cause…ya know, Millie has no fucking character. That’s all we need tho, Stolas butting in to the MAIN cast and overshadowing the characters and dynamics that are barley developed. It’s going to be a disaster.

“>As noted above, Millie, Octavia, Stolas and Fizz have bits of personal experiences written into them”

I always knew that Viv poured her “personal experiences” into some characters and was a self insert writer at times, but lmao you’d think Millie and Octavia would be written with more respect if that was the case for them, but Viv doesn’t give a shit about them. Again, Millie has no character so I don’t know how that could relate to something of Viv. Stolas and Fizz tho? I could definitely believe lol.

>“viv adores crossovers, she hopes in the future she can have crossovers between HH and HB”

What??? I could have sworn Viv said that she wouldn’t do a crossover with HH and HB. Kinda thought the whole point was that Helluva was the indie one where Viv could make her own stuff and Hazbin was the actual big show. I dunno, I like crossovers too but I don’t think this one would fit.

I felt like screenshotting the last part I wanted to talk about because it’s basically all of this.

1. This is PART of the reason why Viv’s world is so messy. Everything feels so scrambled because she wants to shove in a bunch of mythologies and texts and everything into one and that just makes your world less consistent and more confusing.

2. I don’t even know why Viv says these things because she never focuses on them anyway. Again, her hell is just an underwhelming city and there’s never a deep dive into the mythologies in the first place, aside from background shit or a name drop. Still, this is starting to become Zoophobia where she has too many ideas and is too ambitious and wants to dump a lot of things into one. It’s funny, I saw part of this livestream, and she willingly can openly admit that the comic was a mess and she poured too many ideas into it, but she just……does the same for Hazbin and doesn’t realize it—-

Okay I’m done. I will post a clip or talk about some of the stuff said in the OTHER livestream (the one that was a mess) but for now here are my thoughts. Honestly tho EVERYTHING Viv says in a livestream is a mess. None of the insight or attitude she displays there never comes into the show or even real life with her criticism shit fits and all. It’s all a joke ugh.

[quietlywatchingwritingreading]

So it's been awhile since I posted about anything, and I figured I may as well post some thoughts I have about the Beast Cookies.  For the sake of length and potential spoilers, i’ll put this under a readmore. 

This is a very long post.

As a general, I love the fact that each of their evil counterparts basically reflects their greatest weakness/the thing that’s caused them the most trouble. 

Pure Vanilla not telling his friends what happened, being a lie that only hurt them when they learned he kept such a secret. Dark Cacao was apathetic when he wasn’t investigating information/verifying it, leading to the attempted usurp and countless cookies in his kingdom suffering. Even then, it was not something that lasted for very long, and perhaps his apathy was in not reacting to something he knew was wrong. He clearly knew something was up when Affogato tried to get Caramel Arrow Banished,  but he still allowed it to happen. For Golden cheese, the destruction of her kingdom, and coming to terms with that, is her greatest concern. White Lily not telling anyone anything, is what would lead to all of these events. 

Now sloth, sloth’s an interesting one. One I thought worthy of its own paragraph. Sloth is often depicted as laziness, but another interpretation is about the Status Quo. Hollyberry giving up the throne, taking on a second life, and trying to live her life as an adventurer as she had done in her past is far from lazy. Yet, in that lens, that entire thing could be viewed as sloth, as she was trying to maintain/return to a certain status quo. 

Shadow Milk Cookie is a pretty interesting counterpart to Pure Vanilla Cookie. I love the vibes of a Jester to their king, especially with the often repeated story that a Jester was often the only person who could actually tell the truth to the king. I’m not entirely sure what ‘Shadow Milk’ is. I imagine it's supposed to be a mythical/mystical ingredient. Milk that came from a shadow of some sort. 

On complete baseless speculation: Cereal milk is something of a fad in the coffee world. Instead of using regular milk for lattes, people soak milk in strongly flavored cereals, and then use that flavored milk. It makes me wonder if Shadow Milk Cookie’s actually milk infused with a Shadow Brand cereal. 

As an ingredient, Milk is one that is often masked/flavored. It’s often also seen as ‘childish’, in the sense that it's something frequently given to children. So I really like how they represented that with the character. They’re certainly important/visible, but they aren’t 100% trustworthy. Yet they aren’t always lying, and their lies do provide information. It makes them rather interesting, and makes me want to learn more about them. I also like how Pure Vanilla couldn’t really do anything about his counterpart , making me feel this is one of those situations where the characters can’t fight their counterparts, but their friends could. 

Mystic Flour Cookie is also a really interesting character, but I honestly think she might have made a good counterpart to Golden Cheese Cookie. With both characters having some interesting ties/feelings related to death and the afterlife. Where both characters seem to be trying to give cookies a peaceful afterlife. Golden Cheese by giving those cookies what they desire, and Mystic Flour by removing desire/feelings entirely, leaving only a false peace. 

Like I speculated earlier, that might even be intentional. A situation where Dark Cacao really can’t do anything against her directly, but one of his friends could directly counter it. 

In real life, flour is an ingredient that frequently causes illness. Most people in America think of the Egg as a disease causing ingredient, but flour is equally as dangerous. So I really like seeing that referenced. 

Pure Speculation time:

Eternal Sugar Cookie is really hard to pin down for what her roll or trial might be against Hollyberry. The term of Sloth, and the fact that sugar is extremely important to the fermentation process. That makes me wonder if it would be related to Hollyberry’s alcoholism, and the general attitudes of personal comfort/luxury over assisting/helping others. Or, as I theorized earlier, something related to cookies clinging to the past, instead of moving on.

I believe they’ve touched on that topic a few times, but I think it might be nice if it was explored more intently. 

Burning Spice Cookie is also a little hard to pin down. That said, it's really hard not to notice how similar his story is to Capsaicin Cookie’s fears. Making me wonder if Capsaicin was baked with the intention to serve this cookie. Or with a nickname like the Spice Overlord, to become them. That could make a good fanfic. 

Most likely though, the counterpoint is because Cheese is easily melted, and destruction is heavily tied to Golden Cheese’s fears. I also quite like the builder/destroyer vibes the two sort of have together. The pure virtue was ‘creation’, and Golden Cheese created an entire virtual world in order to tend to her people. Just, the idea that one would have to destroy something in order to create something else, is just one of those themes I kind of personally like. It makes me interested to see how things work. 

Silent Salt is extremely hard to pin down, especially because White Lily is kinda complex for a character. She already has an evil counterpart in Dark Enchantress.  White Lily did live in a place whose people were completely hidden, and her silence about her plans is what ultimately led to everything happening. Salt is also supposed to be extremely dangerous to plants, with phrases like ‘Salting the earth’ meaning to destroy an area so nothing could grow/people could not thrive there.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I haven’t done a new dream Taskmaster contestants list since the season 17 lineup came out, so I thought it was time for one. A list based on who hasn’t been cast yet in the first 17 seasons. I’m going to split this into two separate lists.

People who might possibly appear on Taskmaster UK at some point:

- Ahir Shah

- David O’Doherty (even though he is not UK)

- Josie Long

- Chris Addison

- Eleanor Morton

Alternates – by which I mean copouts because I managed to narrow down my top five but I have more that I wanted to list:

- Michael Legge

- Jessica Fostekew

- Rhys James

- Ian Smith

- Sarah Keyworth

- Danielle Ward

- Liam Williams

- Kiri Pritchard-McLean

People who would never appear on Taskmaster but would be on my dream list if we could have anyone, but still with some connection to the sort of people who do the show:

- John Oliver (wouldn’t do it due to: too important)

- Andrew Zachariah Zaltzman (wouldn’t do it due to: insufficiently important, because generally when they pick a comedian who isn’t already TV famous, it’s someone young and up-and-coming and Andy doesn’t fit the bill for that role – but I’d love it if they proved me wrong; also I realize he's younger than Michael Legge who also isn't TV famous, but I think Michael Legge is bigger on social media so that makes him feel slightly more realistic, I think, I don't have a good sense of how famous British people are, also I just remembered that Danielle Ward doesn’t perform anymore so she's probably less likely than Andy too)

- Kitson (wouldn’t do it due to: he doesn’t do anything where people can see him, despite having chosen to pursue a career in public performance, and I would sell out everyone I’ve ever met to have him filmed doing just one team task with John Oliver)

- Grace Petrie (wouldn’t do it due to: musician, though she did that one fucking excellent comedy hour and one or two more could get her in the Taskmaster pool and could also significantly improve my life)

- Gavin Osborn (wouldn’t do it due to: also not a comedian, but he’s on this list mostly because I’m imagining that these lists of five people will make up one Taskmaster season, and I love the idea of Gavin Osborn and Grace Petrie on a Taskmaster team together, or in fact doing anything together, couple of comedy-adjacent socialists with guitars)

…I didn’t mean for that list to become just Chocolate Milk Gang + Grace Petrie, but it’s not surprising that it did.

Dream Taskmaster Australia lineup, because I’ve decided I have one of those:

- Alice Fraser

- Laura Davis

- Tim Minchin

- Tom Ballard

- Adam Hills (I want to really hate him for some of his pro-monarchy shit, and I did object to it enough to stop following The Last Leg last year, but the fact is that I’d still like to see his wildly competitive side come out on Taskmaster)

- Alternate - or actually maybe she's on the list and Hills is the alternate - Claudia O'Doherty

People I’d most like to see fill the National Treasures role, if we pretend that literally no one is too famous to do that role, and also that they’re able to bring people back from the dead as long as they’re sufficiently National Treasure-y:

- Michael Palin

- Douglas Adams

- Sandi Toksvig

- Armando Iannucci

- Olivia Coleman

Dream Taskmaster lineup, any category:

It would be worth setting gender and racial equality back by thirty years, to have these five white guys on one season where the final studio task is to take apart a cow.

[prettyrealm]

Long rant ahead! Watch out!

When will people realize that at the end of the day, men WILL ALWAYS be men. Obviously not all men are the same...but A LOT of them are.

Giiiirrrrl honestly, don't these kpop fans and stans feel embarrassed? Personally as I'm losing ALL interest in celebrities and I'm just starting to see them as people who have more money and fame than me, the way these fans and stans be acting is honestly concerning. Korean celebrities especially idols have said time and time again how their companies will literally assign them roles to play in their groups. Do y'all really believe that most of these idols -especially the male ones- are completely genuine? Have y'all forgotten that South Korea is a conservative, homogeneous AND misogynistic country?

Kpop fans/stans will use the excuse of these idols being from a conservative country to excuse their racism, colorism, homophobia etc but at the same time will deny the possibilities of these idols being misogynistic? Shit babe just like how majority of these idols are most likely racist, colorist, and homophobic...they're most likely misogynistic as well. It is what it is. Y'all will watch vids of Korean women themselves telling y'all the truth about living as a woman in South Korea and y'all will agree yet at the same time say "bUt NoT mY bIaS/iDoL" but I'm never surprised because I also believe that most of these fans have internalized misogyny as well. Just because you're a girl/woman doesn't mean that you can't be misogynistic OR have internalized misogyny.

Also have you not seen the OBSESSION with these idols "future spouse/twin flames" or whether or not they'll date "foreigners?" there's nothing wrong with being curious about celebrities but whew! 😭😭😭 a lot of fans are just too fucking obsessed. Why are you more concerned about someone else's future spouse/twin flame when you have your own? I could NEVER be 20+ years old and worried about JK or V future spouse/twin flame, I'd be worried about my own future spouse/twin flame. TF!

Also I definitely agree about the racist part too! There's a lot of infantilization going on as well. The way these kpop stans/fans baby these idols especially the adult ones, is just weird. Imagine "western" fanbases doing that shit. Imagine the beyhive calling Beyonce "baby bee😙😙" or some shit the way armies be calling JK "banana bunny cookie milk" or whatever tf they be calling him. Calling Suga, a grown ass man mind you, "Meowmeow"....WTF????😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😂😂😂💀💀💀💀 The way that K-pop stans and fans go out of their way to defend these idols and excuse them for literally everything that they do whether it be racism, colorism, homophobia makes me believe that they really do view them as Godly beings that can absolutely do no wrong. Y'all DO NOT have the same energy for western celebrities- especially the black, white ones! Don't you realize that they're human just like you...damn...para-social relationships will have people going absolutely crazy over people that shit and piss just like every other human on earth. Luckily there are some kpop fans and stans that are completely sane and normal! Kudos to y'all! 💗💕💖

They’ll never apply “men will be men” to kpop boys because they don’t see them that way. These are not ordinary men, these are imaginary boyfriends. They’ll never be able to get that they can be just as bad as any other guy in their life. You said it perfectly, celebrities are normal people with way more money, fame & power than you and it’s crazy how people want to assume that somehow makes them better people instead of worse…& yeah i think a lot of that infantilization stuff mostly just come back to not seeing them as humans or normal people because no matter how fine my friends think a guy or a celeb is they’re not about to be calling no grown man no sugar plum or gumdrop idk..

I agree Internalized misogyny 100% plays apart as well, like the fact that I, a woman, receive hate from what would mostly be other women & girls for saying a man has misogynistic tendencies says A LOT.

People will make the argument that these idols are humans and you shouldn’t even entertain the possibility of them being misogynistic/racist/homophobic or whatever & I feel like that’s not only illogical, but dehumanizing in itself because like you said, we never see this grace being extended to non Asians or people outside of that industry. No matter how much these stans wanna yell “my idol is human” they don’t actually mean it or view them that way. They mean their idol is the PERFECT human that can do no wrong.

& that’s what really blows me is how OBVIOUS they make it that this is a racial thing. I didn’t have people sending me hate when I said Matty Healy, Timothee Chalamet & Blueface had issues w misogyny. Didn’t get hate when I said Pinkpantheress has problems with women either. Seems you just aren’t allowed to say it about Asian men 🤔🤫

But yes, luckily they’ll always be people like you and a few others who are actually able to see understand that these idols are just as human & flawed as your brother, sister, neighbor or coworker! Thank you so much for your support and taking the time to reach out! 🩷🩷🩷

[riahlynn101]

Whumptober Day Twenty-Six: Alternative Prompt - "Broken."

This is part of a bigger idea, so I apologize if this makes no sense. I'm going to go back after whumptober and edit/add onto all my stories. I've had a very busy week, so I apologize in the lack of quality in the last few stories.

Also, I saw the FNAF movie today! I'll hold my judgment until this weekend when the movie officially comes out. I will say, if you are fan, this movie is 100% for us. Blumhouse wasn't lying when they said that. Go out and watch it in theaters (if you can), or watch it on peacock (once again, if you can).

With that being said, after today, there will be a good chance that my stories will be influenced by the movie. In fact, this story is also heavily influenced by the movie. Nothing too spoil-ish, but I would proceed with caution.

--

Michael is two. 

He’s playing in the costume closet with his best friend and twin sister. Though, sometimes it feels like Charlie is more his sister than his actual sister. She’s nicer and they look more alike anyway. (And her parents actually love him. He doesn’t understand why daddy’s so cold to him, but so nice to his sister. What did he do wrong? But he doesn’t yet have the words to ask. Not that their daddy will listen.)

Michael is two when their playtime is cut short. 

The door bursts open, and in steps Springbonnie. His daddy’s suit, the one he wears to greet the children that come here. 

Springbonnie scoops Charlie up and leaves as quickly as he came. His best friend is kicking and screaming, but Michael and his sister are frozen to the ground. 

Michael is two when he watches an empty casket be lowered into the ground. It’s small, at least that’s what all the grown ups keep saying. Everything seems big to him, but if the grown ups say so….

Michael is two-and-a-half. 

He watches Uncle Henry storm out of his daddy’s office. A horrible, angry look on his face. He heads for the front door, but still manages to stop and ruffle Michael’s hair. 

He doesn’t come back. 

Michael is three. 

The two most important things to his daddy are the diner and his daughter. Anything outside of that is irrelevant. Michael is….

Irrelevant.

Michael doesn’t know the full meaning of that word, yet. But he does know that his daddy doesn’t smile very often when he’s around. He rarely hugs Michael, and sometimes it feels like his daddy secretly hates him. 

Michael is three when he decides to walk out the doors of Fredbear’s family diner. 

He marches angrily down the sidewalk, fists clenched at his side. A car-one he would recognize anywhere-pulls up beside him. Uncle Henry greets him warmly, and tells him to get in the car. When Michael asks why, he mutters something about daddy needing a break and that they’re gonna have a sleepover. 

His car smells like the special cabinet daddy keeps all his “adult” drinks in. 

They drive for a long, long time. Uncle Henry stops to get him some food, and even gets him chocolate milk. They drive for a bit longer, and stop again at a hotel. 

Uncle Henry lets him stay up late and watch all the cartoons he wants. Michael dozes off watching a rerun of The Flintstones. His uncle’s sad face is the last thing he sees.

Michael is three when he wakes up in an unfamiliar living room. There are no toys scattered on the floor, or photos by the dozen nailed to the off-white walls. 

Two people-a woman and a man-hover over him. They tell him that they’ll take care of him, and that his daddy leaving is not Michael’s fault. They tell him that they’re going to be his parents now. 

Michael screams and kicks and (at one point) bites. 

It does no good. 

He tries telling them that his name is Michael Afton, but they just ruffle his hair, or nod their heads. 

Michael is three-and-a-half when he finally gives up. 

Michael is four, but his new mommy and daddy insist on calling him, “Mike.” It doesn’t sound right, and his daddy-his real one-hates when people use nicknames. He refuses to answer to the name. 

Besides that, his new parents are nice enough. They tuck him in at bedtime, cook delicious food, and never seem upset when Michael asks a stupid question. 

Sometimes, he wonders where Uncle Henry went? Or how is his family doing without him? He misses his daddy and sister so bad, that at times, all he can do is curl up and cry. 

Mike is six. 

He has a new brother. His name is Garrett, and Mike loves him so much. Garrett can’t talk yet, but he already knows they’re going to be best friends. 

Mike is twelve. 

His brother is taken. 

His family ends up….broken. 

It’s Mike’s fault that his brother was taken. His parents tell him differently, but he can’t let it go. 

Mike is nineteen. 

He has a new sibling, again. She’s as cute as a button, and sweeter than sugar.

Abby is his world. 

Mike is twenty-five when their mom dies, and their dad packs his bags and leaves.

He moves back into his childhood home to care for Abby, then barely six. 

Mike is twenty-nine when he sees his father again. 

[ridiasfangirlings]

WE NEED MORE LACTATING SARUHIKO!!! Especially MiSaru scenario, I think it could be really funny. Would Misaki find this hot? Or would he be preoccupied?

I feel like that ask awakened something in people XD Imagine Yata finding this hot but also he is so embarrassed  by the fact that he finds it hot, he doesn’t even know what to do. Like he hears that Fushimi’s been hit by a Strain, he’s really worried but Fushimi tells him it’s no big deal. Yata asks what the Strain power was and Fushimi won’t tell him, just grumbling that it’s something stupid and Misaki doesn’t need to know. Yata wonders if they should cancel their date at his place that evening and Fushimi says it’s fine, he’s not injured so he can come. He sounds a little reluctant though and Yata wonders if the Strain power is really as benign as Fushimi’s trying to act like it is.

Later that evening Fushimi shows up at Yata’s place and he’s wearing an oversized hoodie instead of his uniform, Yata can’t quite place what’s weird but somehow he feels like Saruhiko’s chest looks…different than usual, even with the hoodie obscuring it. He doesn’t find out what’s going on until they’re on the couch together watching a movie and they start making out, suddenly Fushimi swears and pulls away from Yata, going towards the bathroom. Yata follows him, wanting to know what’s wrong, and imagine he walks in just as Fushimi is pulling off his soaked hoodie and Yata can see the milk running down Fushimi’s chest. Yata’s all wait what the hell, totally noticing that Fushimi’s chest looks more…full…than usual and his nipples are all swollen. Fushimi grudgingly admits the Strain power and Yata’s like ‘o…oh,’ not sure what to say about it. He offers Fushimi one of his own hoodies to use and suggests they go back to watching the movie.

As they sit together on the couch Yata is trying so hard to be cool and collected, like this isn’t weird, it’s fine, it’s just a Strain power. But then he keeps having fantasies of himself sucking on Fushimi’s boobs and imagine his face getting so red and he’s like constantly slamming himself in the face with a pillow to try and calm himself down. He’s incredibly embarrassed by the idea but also he keeps thinking of how Fushimi’s chest looked, all stained with white milk on that soft skin, and it’s all going straight to his crotch. At some point I imagine he can’t take it anymore, Fushimi wrongly assuming that Yata’s disgusted and deciding to leave and before Yata can stop himself he blurts out that no, he just wants to suck on Fushimi’s chest. Yata’s face is still totally red and Fushimi can’t resist teasing him, like suddenly this is less embarrassing for Fushimi precisely because it’s more embarrassing for Yata. The hoodie Fushimi borrowed is getting soaked through at the chest too and Fushimi pulls it off, wondering if Yata wants to help him clean off. Yata’s mouth is dry just looking at him and he finds himself pinning Fushimi to the couch, climbing on top of him and getting to find out for himself just how sensitive Fushimi is right now.

[ziracona]

There’s a lot of valid criticisms for games like DA and Fallout, but I am so sick to death, especially in fallout, of people talking about faction flaws and incompatibilities, like they’re bad game design. There’s this really fucking annoying thing people who play games do a lot, where they act like your companions are Pokémon. You don’t gotta catch them all!! The fact some of your companions hate each other, or have thoroughly incompatible goals and beliefs, is a feature not a bug! It’s not bad game design you are playing the game wrong!! You aren’t supposed to try and keep every faction alive and headcanon that you took them all over and made them good. You’re welcome to do that if you want, but the game not doing that isn’t bad game design. You are playing the game wrong!

There is no ‘golden end’ for New Vegas and that is a feature, not a bug! The point is that there is no idealistic perfect solution. Yes obviously House is better than Legion, and both Independent and NCR are better than House, in different ways, but neither is actually perfect for the region and that’s on purpose. There is no perfect war that fixes everything. That’s the point. It’s to interact with reality! With the complexity. There is no black and white good and bad easy answer. You do what you believe in. That’s /why/ faction companions exist. Or—you do what you want. You want to play an evil raider in FO4 and run with Porter? You do you! But Preston will hate you. This is a feature not a bug!! Goals are meant to be incompatible and choices to exclude other pathways!! That’s literally the point! Your factions aren’t pokemon your companions aren’t pokemon you do not catch them all, you commit to what you believe in, and people die or leave you or turn against you, and others stay! That’s how it fucking works. If you want to play a milk toast run where your goal is to keep as many groups alive regardless of how bad they are or will hurt a region, that’s your goal, but you’re playing the game contrary to the way it’s meant to be played, and your frustration is wrong not the game design!!! Faction companions exists so no matter what faction you believe in, you get a companion. They are not friends they are not meant to like each other you are not meant to keep them all. Commit to what you believe in and be willing to cut ties and make choices that have some actual fucking weight

Or don’t again you do you it’s not bad to play Pokémon but quit acting like it’s bad game design that that’s not the intent; it’s not — gamers who play too much are just obsessed with keeping every companion alive and on their side, and prioritize that weird goal over story and in-world impact it’s not a bug it’s a feature. It’s not a flaw the Brotherhood in fo4 sucks ass and won’t change; make a fucking choice. It’s not a flaw the Institute is evil and won’t change; make a fucking choice. The backup end is for if you fail every faction quest line, not the ‘right end’ you’re just bad at video game.

[wistfulcynic]

last december my friend Kayoko came to visit and now, six months later, husband prime and i have finally got round to trying the collection of Japanese Kit-Kats she brought us. Here are our findings. 

First, the subjects: 

the flavours aren’t clear on all of them, but with the aid of google translate we have, starting at the top left and going across

top row: strawberry, milk tea, coffee 

middle row: orange, standard kit kat, cheesecake 

bottom row: pistachio, whole wheat, matcha (green) and dark chocolate (”adult sweetness” is the translation of the label, lol) 

tastings below the cut

the first one we tried was milk tea. Japanese milk tea is black tea brewed in milk and sweetened with plenty of sugar. Slightly reminiscent of builder’s tea in the UK in that it’s strong and sweet, but milk tea is creamier. 

the milk tea kit kat was very sweet to start, but the tea flavour was definitely noticeable at the end and lent a richness and depth to the white chocolate (which i generally don’t care for). Very good. 9/10 would eat again. 

kit kat two was pistachio.

now, i love pistachio in all its forms so i was looking forward to this one. Sadly, the pistachio flavour was very mild, almost undetectable. Still very tasty but a slight disappointment. 6/10

next is strawberry

another white (or rather pink) chocolate version. This one was very aromatic with a strong strawberry punch. Definitely artificial strawberry but a light and fresh one, not at all cloying. Personally i love fruit flavours in candy and so i really enjoyed this. 8/10

cheesecake is next

not super strong in the cheese flavour, but light and pleasant. It would be good paired with the strawberry actually. 5/10

next, orange

if you’ve ever had a Terry’s Chocolate Orange the flavour of this kit kat will be familiar to you. They’re almost exactly the same. So, delicious. Nice to have a bit of light crunch with the Terry’s flavour actually. 7/10

next, coffee

we weren’t certain at first if this was coffee flavour or just “coffee break” and it was a pretty strong chocolate flavour to start but with a definite hint of coffee at the end. Very nice, and probably would be good with a cup of coffee. 7/10

next is what google translate concluded was whole wheat

this one was fantastic. Very light and crunchy but with texture to the crunch, not too sweet with a caramelly, biscuity flavour in the chocolate. i thought it was a bit like a white chocolate digestive might be, husband prime likened it to a custard cream. Either way, fab. 10/10 i am going to be craving this one. 

next, dark chocolate

or “adult sweetness” according to the translation app. Saucy 😏. Dark chocolate isn’t my favourite but this was very good. Had a nice bitter edge without being overwhelming and also very rich. Good stuff. 8/10

standard kit kat

it’s a classic for a reason, and the japanese version has richer chocolate than you get in either the UK or US, with a lot of depth of flavour. Hard to go wrong. 7/10

last and definitely least, matcha

look, i know matcha has its adherents but you’re all wrong and have terrible taste. i tried proper matcha prepared by trained experts when i lived in japan and it was good, if a bit grassy for me personally. Very good when paired with some of their traditional sweets (sweet bean paste my beloved) but when it comes to flavouring other things? Ugh. No. Gross. Why do you want your ice cream to taste like lawn clippings? 

this kit kat did not taste like lawn clippings. It tasted, in husband prime’s words, like fish food (DON’T ASK ME HOW I KNOW THIS he made sure to add). Anyway, it was nasty. If you like matcha you might like it, idk, who can say what horrors your palate will tolerate. But for me it was only redeemed by the sweet crunch and the fact that the matcha flavour only came out at the end. 1/10.

the scores out of 10 obviously are based on my personal taste though i tried to be objective, hence the high rating of the dark chocolate. The following is my preference ranking, from first to worst

1. whole wheat

2. milk tea

3. strawberry

4. pistachio 

5. orange 

6. coffee

7. dark

8. standard 

9. cheesecake 

sir not appearing in this ranking, it knows what it did: matcha 

this was fun, and if anyone has a source for black market whole wheat kit kats... call me. 

[vex-bittys]

Bittyswap (part 24)

My version of Bittyswap involves full-sized bittybones (and other monsters) living in the Underground and getting miniature humans as pets.

———-

"Psst. Psst!"

Ugh. How can such a short arrangement of letters be such an effective weapon against sleep? I cracked open a single eye though the childlike tone of the hissed voice pointed an obvious finger at the sleep disturbing culprit. Cherry. The sight of two very large red eyelights did not surprise me in the least. With a groan, I opened my other eye. Alas, fair slumber, we part ways too soon.

That tiny motion caused Cherry's round face to light up like one of those explosions that melts your retinas. Gosh I love this sweet, adorable skeleton. 

"Are you awake?" he whispered. I considered a sarcastic No, but Cherry's sensitive emotions happen to be the perfect deterrent against Vex snark. 

I nodded, crawling onto his hand so that we could relocate our conversation to somewhere less bedroom-y. I may have been awake, but Cap sprawled out across Brassberry’s bed, blissfully unaware of the early morning shenanigans of the two smallest housemates. I envied him… until he rolled into a teeny tiny puddle of human!bitty drool. I snorted with laughter as Cherry carried me down to the kitchen.

Not so long ago, I would have worried about becoming a crispy fried human, but now I only questioned Cherry’s wisdom when he informed me that I would be his assistant chef. The precious angel wanted to make breakfast for his exhausted brothers, and I didn't have the heart to tell him that I am an abysmal cook. I mean, I don’t eat, and the Temmies didn’t exactly provide us with culinary tools or cooking lessons.

I hoped Cherry knew what he was doing.

I hoped wrong.

We encountered our first problem while reading the recipe. “It says two cups of flour,” I told Cherry, who gathered the ingredients. He set the container of flour on the counter and opened a cupboard. I waited next to the bowl where we planned to mix our perfect pancake batter. At that point, I still thought we could handle a simple recipe. Ah, hubris.

“All of the cups are different sizes,” Cherry reported from halfway inside the cupboard. 

I considered this newest development. “As long as we use the same cup every time we measure, it should work,” I suggested with much more confidence than I truly felt. Cherry plunked a coffee mug down next to the flour before reading the next line of the recipe aloud with me.

We hit our second snag. 

“What’s a teaspoon?” Cherry asked me. I shrugged.

“Maybe we should get the spoons out and look at them. Maybe they’re labeled.” They were not labeled.

“None of these look like a T.”

We definitely could not handle a simple recipe, but we did not let that fact stop us. Ah, hubris (again). Cherry selected a spoon, citing that it would “do,” though what it would do, we had no idea. Surely not measure the proper amount of something. Pushing forward, we began scooping ingredients into our bowl with enough gusto to make up for our lackluster ability to measure. I leaned over the edge of the bowl to assess our work… and tipped the whole thing over onto myself in a puff of white powder. Thankfully we were still working with dry ingredients.

Unintimidated by this setback (hubris the third), we reassembled the dry ingredients. I stayed a few steps away from the treacherous bowl at all times now, opting instead to roll eggs to Cherry who broke them into the dry ingredients with only a few tiny shells getting mixed in. I considered it a victory, which we needed because adding the milk was a clear defeat. The mixing bowl overflowed, spilling milk- which Cherry nearly did cry over- all over the counter.

I rush to reassure Cherry. “Remember all of those MTT specials we watched?” He nodded, eyelights wavering with unshed tears. “That rectangle guy made huge messes, and all of his food turned out ok, didn’t it?” I mean, most of the food ended up being bombs anyway, but at least that’s what he intended to make. Cherry nodded again. Time to complete the ol’ Inspirational Speech: “Let’s grab a bigger bowl, add a little extra milk to cover what spilled, and get these pancakes… cakin’?”

If I didn’t know any better, I’d think the pitter-patter of milk dripping from the edge of the counter onto the floor sounded like muted applause. Did I mention the hubris yet?

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