#this is probably niche mixture of things

[sobbingscripter]

hi your writing is just phenomenal!! i love all of your fics omg especially the rex splode ones!! i kind of wanted to ask about how and where you do your research and get ideas? because i did want to get into writing but i feel like i dont have any ideas for fics at all😭😭😭

My top advice is write what you wanna write.

That's like, the most important thing. Because if you don't wanna write something and you force yourself to write it, you're gonna get bored and have a burnout.

Second thing, porn. Rule 34. Like, for positions and like, analysis for what's gonna be going on, if you're writing smut. And don't make it like, weird porn or something that you're not into.

You NEED to be into what you're writing otherwise you're not gonna enjoy it. And if you don't enjoy it, other people won't enjoy it. And if you're not enjoying it then like???

No, girl, write what you wanna write. You think anyone asked me to write how Beast Boy gives backshots?? No bitch. I woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and I needed to fuck that green man.

Thirdly, synonyms. Girl, I'm on Pinterest constantly, learning new words for said, for hair, for eyes. I'm learning how to describe teeth and the way muscles move when you smile and the way a penis looks properly (shout out to the guy who sent me my first wiener pic, it was a beautiful experience).

For chemistry between characters, TikTok. Like, look at couple videos. Steal their magic. Pull chemistry from your real life relationships, like?? Mark and reader's friendship is like, a mixture of my friendship with my best friend and a literal troll I know (also amazing penis). Think of what you'd want if you were in that universe.

Think, "what would I be to this character and what shenanigans would I force them into?"

Mark Grayson? Best friend who forces him to do stupid shit because he's invincible.

Bruce Wayne? His wife who's mad because he did some stupid shit and got hurt, now he patrols extra long to avoid facing the argument.

Clark Kent? School nurse who has to call him and explain that his son might have contracted lice, even if it might be impossible.

Sukuna? The concubine who just doesn't listen. Eating onions to breathe on him.

Bakugo? Fucking PR manager. You can't stand him but he pays really good.

Shigaraki? Girl. You're a part-time streamer he stalks because he likes the way your lips purse when you focus.

Girl, it's about what. You. Want.

Also, very important. Make it fun for you. Make banners, edits, create little headcanons in your mind because wtf? Why not? Even if you've got a plot that's like, soooooo fucking overused, if it's common, if it's niche.

It does not matter.

It's what you wanna do. Even if you're the only person who likes it.

For dialogue. Boyfriend asmr.

Whispurr_Audio — friends to lovers, enemies to lovers

Softlovi — established relationship

Redacted ASMR — for a bottom man. But specifically the one where listener is hearing his thoughts.

If you need info on a character, you don't need to look for a whole ass guide book. Just wiki that shit. Look at scene packs. Look at edits. Read fanfics.

They'll probably be a little ooc but that's okay. It's your interpretation of the character.

There's no right or wrong way to do fanfiction. Write things that make you happy.

You wanna write how reader pines for Cecil despite being decades younger and he finally let's her bounce on it??

GO FOR IT. (And tag me. Please. I would actually love to read that.)

This probably wasn't helpful but like, I wrote it like a motivational speech.

[trashpandawithangerissues]

ASK FROM THE AMAZING @preppiesenjoyer

JOHNNY AND DERBY HEADCANONS

Ok so, 100% these two would only ever get together AFTER the main plot. No way in hell do I see it before

These two don’t exactly fit the enemies to lovers niche exactly it’s more like..enemies to rivals to I guess I’ll put up with you to your my annoying friend I low-key kinda hate to nvm your kinda cool to I would actually kill someone for you

People who didn’t know them before, would probably think their pulling the greatest prank ever on Bullworth but no they actually are serious

After they got together I feel like even though their leaders were literally DATING, the preps and the greasers still low-key hated eachother- as long as Johnny and Derby weren’t around

They came around though eventually

The two of them are both kinda uncover still and not at same time, mostly because I believe Derby’s family is EXTREMELY CONSERVATIVE and would not approve of them at all- especially since Johnny was lower class

Johnny is such a sucker. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s worse so so much worse. I’m talking Johnny will STOP EVERYTHING if he hears Derby wants to hang out. He could be working on a car and Derby could call out to him and he’d drop everything and go hang out with him for the whole day

Also Johnny is a hopeless romantic. That’s all I have to say. I’m talking all the cheesy moves like the pretend yawn at the movies and putting your arm around your date

Derby won’t admit it but he absolutely loves this

Miss Danvers, who HATES Johnny because he kept making out with Lola in the hallways, thought maybe she’d finally stop having to call him up for detention. The answer is no, absolutely not

They’re in the office all the time for either: being that one couple in the hallway, fighting someone, being a dick to someone, skipping or setting fire to something anything like that.

I have more but I can’t think of how to word them lol, now for @preppiesenjoyer’s actual askkk

HOW DID THEY GET TOGETHER

Ok first off, when they realise how absolutely head over heels they are, they are an absolute MESS like I’m talking stuttering when they talk to eachother kinda mess

Johnny I feel probably made moves first, because in my eyes he has more romantic experience than Derby

I feel like it would take SO LONG for them to admit they like eachother, for a whole mixture of reasons; not wanting to ruin a friendship, internalised homophobia all that drama

They’d probably have an argument, asking eachother what’s wrong with the other one, what changed. They’d admit how scared they were of losing someone else they care about, then how they feel

Johnny would kiss Derby first, but Derby would kiss right back.

After, they’d be behind closed doors for AGES, then eventually deciding “hey we probably shouldn’t keep this hidden forever”

Some people weren’t too surprised (Edgar lol)

Also Lola and Johnny, at first they had a rocky break up (good thing Johnny had Derby and Lola had Pinky 😏 hehe) but eventually they’d make up and remain friends

UHHHH *runs away*

[chvoswxtch]

this is probably extremely niche but frank castle x f reader x dean winchester? romcom or drama (directors cut if I'm allowed lol) whatever works best for you!

I would love you for eternity if you'd write that 💜 (I already do but 🤫)

okay I know you asked for a romcom but I am making an executive directorial decision to make this an action bc why I never thought of putting these two murder boyfriends together is beyond me but also this idea popped into my head and I need to share it with you so

the studio is moving in a different direction but I think it's one you'll be pleased with :)

blurb below the cut

10 things I hate about you starring frank castle & dean winchester

For two men that weren’t scared of anyone or anything, neither one of them could look you in the eye. They could feel the weight of your glare as you stood there with your hands on your hips, making them feel like children getting silently reprimanded with just a look. Dean was the first to speak up. Clearing his throat, he mustered up that cocky bravado and flashed you his usual charming smirk.

“You know, it’s really not as bad as it-”

“No.”

Immediately the smirk disappeared, and he swiftly closed his mouth with a nod, averting his gaze back to the floor. Frank’s dark brows knit together as he shot Dean a ‘what the fuck are you doing’ look, to which Dean silently responded to with a clueless shrug and annoyed expression.

All you ever asked from the two of them was to be careful. You knew what they did was dangerous, that there was always a risk for injury, or more permanent consequences you didn’t even want to think about. You knew they weren’t invincible. But Dean and Frank were forces to be reckoned with by themselves, so when they went after something together, they usually came home virtually unscathed. 

To see the two most dangerous men you’d ever met in your life, who were feared by men and monsters alike, come home covered in blood looking like they’d been through hell and back, needless to say you panicked and that panic turned to fury at their recklessness. 

Seeing the mixture of emotions on your face, Frank finally spoke up, lifting his bloodied hands in a show of placation.

“Look, we’re alright-”

“You’re bleeding all over the goddamn floor.”

“It’s just blood, with a little bleach it’ll-”

Snapping your head towards Dean, you looked at him in irritated incredulity.

“I’m not worried about the fucking floor, asshole.”

Dean and Frank shared a look. They’d never seen you this upset before. Frank let out a deep exhale, looking at you with those warm brown eyes that made you weak in the knees.

“Hey, we’re okay. We made it home, yeah? A few more scratches than we intended, but we’ll be fine. I promise.”

Frank kept his voice gentle, trying to soothe you with his words. Dean on the other hand seemed to be holding his breath, like he was scared you’d rip his head off if he said one more wrong thing. Frank took a few cautious steps towards you, reaching out to gently take your hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. When you let out a deep breath at the physical contact, the tension in the room seemed to slowly fade along with the tension pent up in your body.

“Attagirl, there we go.”

Frank pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead. 

“C’mon, you know we ain’t made of daisies.”

“Well you’re not made of steel either.”

Letting out a deep chuckle, Frank nodded and gave you a soft kiss before heading down the hallway to fetch the first aid kit from the bathroom. Now that the mood was considerably lighter, Dean swaggered over with a flirty smirk.

“You know, if it’ll make you feel better, you’re welcome to strip me down and kiss it better. As a matter of fact, right below my belt-”

“Dean, shut the fuck up.”

Shaking your head with an exhausted laugh, Dean grinned and laughed himself. He wrapped his arm around your shoulder and pulled you tight into his side, leading you down the hall while pressing a kiss to your cheek.

“C’mon baby, me and Grumpy need your loving touch.”

[dystopianroach]

hey saw your post on copper sulfate and roaches, try looking for results for copper sulfates effects on stream insects. i remember digging into it once and it seems while some insects are more affected than others it didnt seem to have any conclusive effect, though theres a few different studies testing different things.

i will also say this salt mixture: https://www.mpbio.com/us/wesson-salt-mixture

is used as a supplement specifically for insect diets and is added to diets for lab grown insects, it contains copper sulfate so presumably there hasn't been any measurable negative affect on the lab grown insect cultures. and from personal observation, a lot of diets specifically made for insects (especially zoomed and flukers brand stuff) has copper sulfate in it and if there was a noticeable negative affect more people would probably be raising the alarm. i think high concentrations of copper sulfate affect crustaceans more and its also fairly common in fish food (which is fed to hermit crabs and isopods very frequently), so this might be where people initially started expressing concern about that and it got generalized to all arthropods. hope this was helpful, i definitely feel tit being difficult to look up specific care shit on bugs.

Thanks for reaching out! Yes!!! originally my concern actually was linked to crustaceans as I am also a hermit crab keeper and isopod keeper. They are 100% banned from any copper sulfate.

I will say I know exactly what fluker’s mix and zoomed products you’re talking about, and I used to feed it to my roaches until very recently - there may be something else like a lurking variable in the mix but I’ve since stopped feeding my roach tanks both Zoomed and Flukers feed containing things such as Copper Sulfate (CuSO4) and Sodium Selenite (Na2O4Se) and have avoided any products that are commonplace in insect feeding such as Glyphosate (C3H8NO5P) and Ethoxyquin (C14H19NO) [these two compounds are often found in pet food or animal feed]. It's been approximately almost two years now since I've cycled these ingredients out of my roach colonies and my findings are interesting:

My Madagascar hissing roach newborns are no longer dying at young ages. Usually when a clutch was born, around 5-7 of them wouldn't make it for various reasons. Now I have an almost 100% successful clutch rate.

My ivory roach juveniles are molting, growing, and eating much more than they did before and at a much faster rate.

Overall successful breeding in my colonies has increased substantially.

Gastrointestinal problems such as blockages and constipation are very uncommon.

This is a super niche one - but for the longest time I had a strange underlying odor coming from my roaches. When I stopped feeding them this fluker's product the odor entirely dissipated. Keep in mind my tanks are all bioactive with a cleanup crew - there shouldn't be lingering odors or buildup in the substrate.

Id like to continue researching food ingredients and their effects on particularly insect populations: there is a lot to learn! and like I mentioned there could always be variables that I'm forgetting or leaving out. I feel like there's still so much we have to learn about arthropod and insect wellbeing and it really sucks that there's not a lot of information or resources out there besides niche scholarly journals and... redditors. ugh. I've been keeping for five years but have been learning for many more - and I will continue to do so.

[definitionsfading]

few random updates of niche interest; 1) I finally read matthew mcconaughey's memoir after having it on my shelf for at least three solid years lmfao. he is the most astounding mixture of humbleness and egotistical, it really is a marvel to behold his bizarre thought processes on paper. also, he's definitely a product of gen x because the first quarter of the memoir at least was him talking about his mother and father's domestic abuse relationship-situationship in detail, as if it is a benchmark of marriage. example: his father broke his mother's finger (3) times and he decided this was a good detail to tell the world without a critical eye....interesting. okay my mans. but overall the book was pretty entertaining and attention-grabbing when he wasn't riffing about his hippie alright alright alright talk as if it were a self-help seminar. the memoir parts? very insightful in places.

2) scentsplit order finally came in last weekend, of the 7 samples I received I'm able to tolerate 6 of them and probably would purchase at least 3. marfa by memo paris is the yummiest creamy orange blossom scent of my life. I cannot believe how expensive it is, but maybe I'll buy a travel size on ebay at some point. I did not like 'coven' by andrea maack on my skin because of the realistic dirt and evergreen type notes, but I gave it to my mom and she loves it. the person who refuses to do commonplace things like drink boba tea or use lavender scented anything. go figure!!

3) idk if this is just truly part of getting older, but I mentally disassociate from Christmas more and more every year. like, I guess living in Florida is part of the problem because we don't experience seasons here and only mild cold snaps with no visual changes in the scenery, but I cannot connect with the Christmas spirit anymore. it's just not there. you take it for granted so much as a kid, not realizing how much of that holiday feeling is forcibly manufactured by your parents or family members. even sadder to think I don't think I'd have the strength in me to perform that same magic act for children of my own, if I had them.

[thepaintedsable]

Uh oh, who let me into a fandom again? Who left the niche within a niche door open??? Y’all should know better.

@sm-baby’s Carnival AU for The Amazing Digital Circus grabbed me by the bootstraps with??? Inspiration??? Not only have I dodged most fandoms and the motivation to draw fanart (not that I don’t want to show support; just no ideas in the noggin), but I genuinely don’t think I’ve sat down and put a non-ironic, genuine OC for a media I like on paper since my Warrior Cats/Creepypasta era. This AU didn’t just get me to sit down and make an OC that fits with the original media, but one that fits with their derivative. I saw other people doing it and it looked like so much fuunnn.

First, have standard TADC version! Either that or a player.

This is Tuus! They’re mainly based on the beanie baby dragon to fit that sweet sweet 90s theme, but generally a mixture of beloved childhood toys I have sitting on my shelf. She’s scruffy, worn, and kinda dirty looking and that’s on purpose. She’s bottom heavy, and I wanted her wings to give off the texture of that basically-plastic shiny fabric you used to see on a lot of toys.

No mouth, but a randomly appearing lizard tongue. For fun.

Tuus deals with the circus by sleeping. A lot. Too much. If you don’t need to sleep, then you don’t need to be awake. If she’s doing to be trapped in a digital hell, she might as well be catching up on her naps. And she will sleep in the worst places. Time for a digital feast? She’s on the table. Caine wants to have an adventure in the lake? Girl is at the bottom. Sleeping with the fishes fr fr. And you need to find her one day? Nowhere to be seen, probably on the roof.

It’s playing on the whole big, lazy, sleeping dragon thing that used to be in a lot of children stories I remember. But also how well loved childhood toys seem to pop up and disappear, there when you aren’t looking but gone when you are. Her name also means “Your” or “Thy.” Your dragon.

BUT AT THE CARNIVAL?

What amusement park is complete without a gift shop? What game doesn’t have a place to buy goofy digital goods? Tuus is the big lady in charge of the gift place of the Carnival! Her room is what should have been a shop of sorts, to buy whatever products that darned company would have tried to push. Cosmetics, virtual toys, digital snacks, whatever. But, uh, I don’t think anyone told them dragons don’t like to…. share. Becoming sentient did wonders for the attitude. You should be just fine if you don’t make too much noise, though! She’s a lazy lizard, and often sleeps sprawled around the place. I imagine the level would be set up like a maze, or a labyrinth. Isles and isles of things, with peaks of a tail or smoke every now and again. Toys, clothing, and even random things that shouldn’t be in there just trash the path. It’s your job not to step on anything! It’s different each time, though (a speed runner’s nightmare). One level you might get lucky and have a straight shot with a sleeping dragon, the next there might be so many things it’s physically impossible to reach any exit at all. Potentially can get out of trouble with some digital coin™, but you’ll have to have found enough hidden in the room to forgive each “damaged item.”

Here she is much, MUCH larger and far cleaner. An oversized display never meant to be bought. A collectors item far too expensive for a child. Think “I used to be a beloved toy and now I’ve been forgotten, even forgetting myself, and this is how I cope” favor VS “I have never known the touch of a person and have been trapped on this shelf only to be abandoned and have the personality of an unsocialized dog” flavor.

She has no mouth, but she bites.

I want to draw more of her :) She’s a goof.

[shithowdy]

Does Oliver follow game ghoul lore or the show's? And did Dallas give him a hug after the ugly cry event?

I've honestly gone for a mixture of whatever seems sensible to me! Even game ghouls are wildly varied in appearance and origin, so I don't feel too bad cherry-picking traits. Since whatever is put in the show is "officially canon", I'm looking forward to the explanation on a lot of stuff we've seen so I actually know what to do with it rather than speculate and tiptoe around it. I like the idea of there existing a dubiously-sourced chem that necessitates use when someone begins to turn feral, but the lore limbo of it all makes me itchy. How recent of a development is the drug/is it being a recent development why we haven't heard of it? If that's the case, was it recently developed because the "half life" of ghouls is becoming evident? Are there alternative methods to stave a feral descent? Is this something unique to the west coast ghoul types? Is it a situation where they were tricked and using one time actually damns them to needing it? What exactly are they extracting from feral ghouls, and are they the only source? Is there actually a point of no return, or was Cooper just being coldly pragmatic? Aaaaa!!!!

(I will say that I did like the "name repetition as an indicator" thing and I did definitely use it as the method through which Emil and Dallas learn his name after he slipped during those few weeks of Legion captivity, and obviously he got better. A psyker grandchild comes with many benefits. Also problems.)

(I also uhhh hope that in the show Lucy learns Cooper's identity through a similar crisis 🫣 Can you imagine!!!)

I've said Oliver does depend on a chem to stave it off, but I've left it vague with that he sources it from a Follower NPC with a (entirely self-imposed) life debt to him. I'll figure out what to do with it once the show explains more. Like other ghouls in the game and show, he also sucks down other chems and liquor like air and water, and the effect it has on him is basically "just to feel something" levels of effective until he overdoes it. Ambient radiation energizes and heals him (even sunlight, solar powered perk babyyy), but too much will make him aggressive and weird. He has rapid healing but can't make something from nothing, so small wounds will knit up with some light rads but large missing pieces will not (thus the face). There's a window where he could "fuse" tissue to his open wounds (this is how the boots problem technically occurred), but it has long since passed for his face. RadAway has a sedative/torpor effect on him, and a dart of it is probably the most effective way to take him down if you can get it into his skin.

He can only taste the most pungent food due to the olfactory situation, and he does feel spice, so he eats any garbage you give him and seeks out spicy food if available. He can fuck, because I know the question burns in everyone's mind, but the past century has been pretty dry for him outside of a blackout night here and there. His ghoulification was the result of an irradiated snowstorm, so his more mutated flesh is very top-heavy from where the snow settled on his shoulders and head. Like seen in the games, feral ghouls don't react with immediate hostility to him, and he can kind of assert himself as "alpha ghoul" to make them leave. He has partaken in cannibalism, but out of practicality-- if he doesn't eat this fresh post-battle meat, something else will. He does cook it, at least.

I'm still hoovering up lore as I find it, thank god for niche youtubers.

THANK YOU FOR ASKIN i'm so tickled. Dallas did not hug him after, both men are too emotionally constipated for that, but he's about to endure more hugs than he can handle once they get back to his "home".

[archeryenthusiast]

Okay but spinosaurus is literally the greatest creature to have ever roamed this planet. Spinosaurus wasn't created by God, but it wasn't put in this world by the devil to punish it. Spinosaurus came into this world against the combined forces of God, Satan, the Holy Spirit AND Lucifer, all together, and they were overpowered by spinosaurus, which spawned itself into the world with the purpose of bringing chaos and suffering to it. Spinosaurus is an unholy abomination, a 15 meters long mixture of a crocodile, a shoebill stork, a gharial, an alligator, a grizzly bear, a chub, and whatever other animal could be combined into the Cretaceous equivalent of a platypus, but evil.

And the thing is, spinosauridae isn't even consistent in that. most spinosaurids are a lot less crazy than the big man himself, Baryonyx, for example, is more just a big bipedal crocodile that hunts more like a grizzly bear. nothing crazy with that, right? but then in Egypt, Spinosaurus had to come along and specialise itself into fishing more than any spinosaurid ever dared to. and, it makes sense, because the area spinosaurus lived in had a carnivore occuppying just about every carnivore niche you could possibly think of, so what was left? obviously, stork with gigantism, what else could it be?

Spinosaurus was so evil, that once it was extinct, God went out of his way to stop any creature from ever remembering its existence, spinosaurus's original bones were FUCKING BOMBARDED in the museum they were kept in. Then, years later, before any new spino bones were found, they found Oxalaia's bones, which was probably very similar to spino- AND HISTORY REPEATS, Oxalaia's bones were burnt to ashes in the museum it was kept in.

But God failed, God made a mistake. even God wasn't able to stop spinosaurus from being remembered forever, and more spino bones were found and studied, and that led into us knowing about the existence, and having an idea of a lot of things about that unholy abomination that once tormented this planet. and we are doomed because of it. we don't have much longer, we disturbed the fish eating beast.

[heretichromia]

Unit Evaluation - Gladiia

(And also the Abyssal Hunters as a whole.)

Gladiia became available once again today, this time permanently (through Record Restoration). There's a lot of buzz happening around her right now, so I feel like I should throw my hat in the ring.

Mostly because...I disagree with most of the takes I'm seeing.

Gladiia is a very good unit, if used in the right scenarios. I'm certainly biased, but I would encourage anyone who's interested in using her to build her. However, I need to stress that the hype surrounding her is overblown.

Compared to the premier units in this game, she is not by any stretch of the imagination broken. This is not a Młynar or Texas the Omertosa-level unit who'll instantly warp the way you play the game with her awesome might. Don't build her thinking you'll get an obscene powerhouse, especially if you don't have her best partner, Specter the Unchained.

Beneath the cut, I'll break down her strengths and weaknesses, and give you some tips on how to play with her. It gets a little long-winded, so I'll give you a TL;DR:

As a standalone unit, Gladiia's module elevated her from "incredibly mediocre outside of niche use cases" to "decent, but inferior to other 6* options for most players." As the lynchpin of the Abyssal Hunter squad, Gladiia offers you the opportunity to play with some reasonably powerful generalist units whose power largely lies in their mixture of solid damage and self-sufficient durability (with one noteworthy exception). Their power, however, is often overstated; they don't excel in either category, and in many cases are sidegrades or downgrades to other options.

I've also included small TL;DRs for each subsection, if you're just interested in my conclusions.

I don't have a ludicrous Risk 27 Abyssal Hunter CC clear to show to prove that I know what I'm talking about, but mid-risk CC (18-24ish, unsure with the new CC system since I wasn't a fan of Pinch Out and so didn't bother doing above 600) is generally the area of difficulty I like playing around with. Keep that in mind when I'm talking about these operators, so you can take my words with a grain of salt if your personal goals for using them are different!

—

Solo, Without Module

TL;DR: Gladiia has shift power that can't be replicated by any other unit, but without her module is a fragile, low-damage pseudo-Guard that isn't worth using for general content unless you're as stubborn as I am.

Before we talk about her ludicrously-hyped module, it's probably helpful to recall what Gladiia was like before her module came out.

Without her module, Gladiia is a fairly unimpressive unit outside of a very narrow set of use cases. Her power is largely concentrated in her pulling strength, and in those cases, she's completely invaluable:

Her S2's wide range and good shifting power (strength 2, the same as other shifters' S1 at M3) makes it a very flexible skill for things like shifter stalls. Her S3, as well, has some good niche shifting utility that can't be replicated by other operators (though note that the actual max risk clear used S2). Her S1 is also worth using in some situations, as it can store multiple charges, but it's by far the most niche skill in her arsenal.

The issue is that, if you're the average player, you'll almost never be taking advantage of that power. She's like Weedy: Queen in Contingency Contract, but most players will never be doing hard enough content to need to take advantage of the power she has at her disposal.

In terms of general use, she's...not very good by the standards of 6* lane-holders or crowd control units. She'll be a valuable roster addition for new players, acting as a pseudo-Guard. As she's cheap (13 DP), she might be good to shore up holes in struggling rosters.

She doesn't do a whole lot of damage. She's not particularly durable—in fact, she's only slightly less squishy than Pioneer Vanguards, and less durable than Bagpipe. Her cooldowns are relatively short, but her power on-skill isn't very impressive.

She's not useless. I, stubbornly, brought her to almost every map anyways. Her regen passive means she'll be able to handle waves of weak enemies by herself without the need to babysit her with a Medic. Her S3 provides some decent crowd control in terms of a single-target Bind and an AoE pull, though you'll need to get used to how it works to make good use of it. The issue is that she doesn't really do a lot compared to other 6* units, which is...what you'd generally expect from a welfare unit, unfortunately. If you lack lane-holders or cannot use more powerful sources of crowd control (e.g. Gnosis' Freeze), you'll still likely get good use out of her.

—

Solo, With Module

TL;DR: Gladiia's module fixes her fragility and helps her low damage output, but is not itself a magic bullet that'll make her a unit on-par with the stronger 6*s. She becomes a reasonably defensive crowd control-focused unit that can help hold weaker lanes.

Gladiia experienced the single most phenomenal upgrade a unit's ever gotten from a module. That much is undeniably true. Her module gave her pretty much everything she needed to become a solid generalist, and...she is!

The damage reduction and enhanced regen makes her reasonably bulky, but keep in mind that without it she's squishier than off-skill Bagpipe. Putting 30% damage reduction onto that fairly fragile frame isn't going to make her a tank, but while she won't be replacing your Defenders anytime soon, you don't need to worry much about her dying. Her damage increase is nice, too. If you don't have or want to use the other Abyssal Hunters, Gladiia with her module is perfectly fine on her own. She's still not a unit that I'd recommend over a dedicated 6* lane-holder for that role, but can be used to very good effect in conjunction with other units.

I personally prefer using her S3 for general content. It's a solid mixture of crowd control and pretty considerable arts damage on a short cooldown. Others tend to favor her S2 for lane-holding, and I've seen a few recommend putting Mastery points into that first. I've personally...never really been impressed with her S2's performance in these general cases, and only switch to it if I'm using her for pulling, or in specific scenarios where it'd be good in a particular map.

—

With Specter the Unchained

TL;DR: Gladiia is a great unit to support the already quite good Specter the Unchained, and both make each other a good deal more effective. There's a cute synergy between the timings of Gladiia's S3 and Specter's S2, as well.

Here's where I should talk about the unit I effectively always pair her with in some capacity. These two are a match made in heaven, and complement each other very well. If you don't have Specter Alter, then Gladiia is still a perfectly fine unit, but if you do, you'll notice a significant boost to their performance when you use them together.

First, Specter's own Abyssal Hunter faction buff helps considerably with Gladiia's survivability. At max level, even without Specter's Mod-Y, it'll get her to slightly over 3,000 HP. Coupled with her damage reduction and regen, this means she can withstand a good amount of punishment. The only thing holding her bulkiness back is her relatively low DEF, which does sometimes mean she melts faster than you'd think.

Second, Gladiia's module makes Specter Mod-Y (S3)...legitimately decent. She turns from an S2 machine into a more than competent lane-holder capable of tanking and dealing respectable damage to elites and bosses. Nearly 4,000 HP off-skill translates to over 10,000 on-skill, and her middling DEF is offset pretty heavily by Gladiia's staggering 30% damage reduction and over 350/s HP (on-skill) regen. As a bonus, with Specter's Mod-Y, Gladiia's skills have even shorter cooldowns, letting you spam whirlpools.

Third, Gladiia has very nice synergy with Specter's other skill—her most powerful and specialized one, which can't be replicated by Gavial Alter. There's the obvious synergy: Gladiia's damage reduction and regen means that Specter can survive more punishment between her skill cycles, keeping her cycling between periods of invulnerable onslaughts and AoE burn. The less obvious one comes in how well their skills are synced. Specter's skill timings are 20/20/20 at max investment. Twenty seconds off-skill, on-skill, and in her substitute. Gladiia's S3 lasts for 8 seconds, and then has a 35-second cooldown. This means that you can use Gladiia with Specter to consistently lock enemies in overlapping arts damage AoEs between cycles of Specter's blender. I like placing Gladiia 1-2 spaces behind Specter for these purposes.

—

Full Squad

TL;DR: The Abyssal Hunters as a full squad are fun, but do not necessarily or even often represent the strongest thing you can be doing with a selection of 4-5 units in your already limited squad.

...I don't think the Abyssal Hunters are that strong.

I feel a little crazy saying that, since the ubiquitous opinion that I always hear is that they're overpowered. It's everywhere on Twitter, on Tumblr, on Reddit. Even fucking Yii made a video calling them broken.

I really don't agree with that assessment. They're good. They're definitely very good. But in my playtime being stubborn about using the Abyssal Hunters as often as I can in the hardest content I can tackle, I've never really felt like they were the strongest thing I could be doing. When I'm stuck on a stage, I switch off of the Hunters so I can take it seriously. That's not the most objective analysis I can give, though, so...here goes.

The Abyssal Hunters kind of suck.

Individually. They kind of suck individually.

I don't think I need to convince anyone that Guard Skadi is a joke of a 6* by herself, and while Specter is great by 5* standards, she doesn't exactly hold a candle to the 6* lane-holder options when you're not abusing her invincibility. Andreana...

Andreana isn't real. I'm sorry. I wish she was. She's not.

The only one of them that's powerful—not just decent, but actually strong—as a standalone unit is Specter the Unchained.

It's not relevant to this analysis, but it is relevant to the general point of this post to point out that Specter the Unchained is a limited unit from a year ago that a majority of the people just newly picking up Gladiia won't ever have.

Gladiia, Specter the Unchained, and Specter can all be very specialized units who offer very strong roles in specific scenarios. But most of the time, if you're taking the full squad, they're not going to be used in those windows of power. At best, you usually just have Specter the Unchained using her blender optimally. They're just...Guards.

They all do the same thing. They're Guards. You place them in lanes, and they hit things. And none of them besides Specter the Unchained are even particularly good at that. Specter (5*) is great when you're using her to tank unsurvivable damage. She's not so great when you're just using her as a nun-flavored Mountain whose skill options are a reasonable DPS boost that stuns her for 10 seconds and fucking ATK Up γ.

And...yes. I get that stacking enough buffs onto a vanilla stick will eventually make the stick strong enough to break anything. The issue here is that the teamwide buffs are largely defensively-focused. There are some offensive parts of those buffs, but they're the ones with the strongest opportunity cost. They're—likely intentionally—found on the most individually mediocre members, Skadi and Andreana. Skadi feels great to bring when you're using her to 1v1 incredibly strong enemies, but when that's not a great option for the map you're bringing, she feels useless. The worst part is that if you're bringing her for the team buff, you have to choose between her modules, because the one that provides the strongest buff is her worse module by a considerable margin. Skadi Mod-X almost makes her feel like a worthwhile unit, by reducing her redeployment time to 40 seconds, making her (with S2) a decently tanky medium-redeploy unit who can square up against units that would make other helidrops falter.

Andreana gives 20 ASPD to the entire team, which is great—but you can only bring 12 Operators to your mission.

Is that really worth a slot in your team? What are you giving up by bringing someone who's weak enough that she's not even worth deploying?

Yes, with all of the buffs combined, Specter the Unchained does become a monster. But with all of the obscenely powerful units we have in the game, is it ever actually worth it to bring two to three dead weights to use her more effectively? Especially when the most potent buffs, the defensive buffs, will usually only be effective on her for a third of the time when she's equipped with her strongest skill?

Is that worth not bringing Texas? Yato? Surtr? Ines? Bagpipe? A real Defender? A secondary DPS? A plan B, in case something goes wrong?

...Maybe? Maybe that's been the experience for you, and these units actually have felt overpowered in your hands. But that hasn't been my experience. These units are clearly powerful. If this review has seemed largely negative, it's only because it exists in the face of endless praise or even complaints about how strong the Abyssal Hunters are.

The Hunters are tanky. They're really, really tanky. Not quite Hoshiguma or Nian tanky, but...well, nothing is. But we're in a metagame where people are (incorrectly, in my opinion) calling Hoshiguma a bad unit because she doesn't provide much utility other than her tankiness. Which is...almost exactly the same as what the Abyssal Hunters as a full squad bring to the table. They're big meatballs that are largely unimpressive in terms of damage or utility.

What content are the Abyssal Hunters optimal in, exactly? They're not meta in Contingency Contract; while Gladiia and Specter the Unchained are CC mainstays, the full squad is never brought, and Gladiia's "gamebreaking" module isn't utilized at all. They're not meta in Integrated Strategies. They're not even the strongest units in SSS, and that's a game mode that has a dedicated buff for them.

At best, they're optimal units for middling difficulty content—and I'd contest that, but we don't have leaderboards to look to for what units are best for clearing story stages. But even if that were true, to get them to that state, you need to invest large amounts of resources into getting full level 3 modules for each of them—and you inarguably need a year-old limited unit!

Stacking teamwide buffs is a great way to bring mediocre units up to playability, but you really need a critical mass of them in order to make them a serious metagame contender. And I...just don't think we're there. I don't think we're that close, honestly.

...

—

Conclusions?

In summary, build Gladiia!

...Look, she's neat. She's one of my favorite units and I use her all the time. And she is good, just...don't expect her to revolutionize the game for you.

And build the other Abyssal Hunters, too. Just...do it because they're a neat thematic squad that's decently powerful as a whole. They work fine without Specter the Unchained, too. They'll be weaker, of course, but they're still perfectly usable. All you're really missing on the other units is her HP buff, and they're still pretty strong without it.

Build them because you like them, and so Gladiia is surrounded by her family. Not because you think they'll crack the game in half, or something.

[itstimetodrew]

Deep dive into a very minor, very niche Spider-Man topic time!

The subject…WHO IS THAT WOMAN??? 🤨

It’s not crucial to the plot, and it’s not a mind-blowing theory, I just like gathering up little background details and connecting them. :)

DISCLAIMER: While obviously the Spider-Man movies are inspired by and based on the comics, I treat the movies as their own thing because tbh...I am not reading all that. It’s Movie Universe Time!

So indeed the 2002 Spider-Man movie does have a lot of cool tidbits that give extra information on characters. Sometimes it’s very subtle, sometimes it’s more overt! So we begin our journey to discover the Mystery Woman here:

95% of the words are actual Character Lore(!), with only the last paragraph copy-pasted, but Today's Focus is one particular section at the bottom of the 2nd column:

"His personal life has not been nearly as successful as his business life. Married only once, to the artist Caroline Mulder, he was divorced after ten years of what was said to have been a singularly strained and unhappy [...]"

3 whole pieces of Mystery Woman information! Her name is Caroline Mulder, an artist ("the artist" implies she's well-known at least in NYC), and they were married for 10 years before divorcing. That gives the portraits in the mansion more context, very likely that Caroline painted them.

Caroline’s impact on the story is also stated by an executive producer in a behind the scenes book when discussing how characters are developed:

"Here's a man raising his son alone—there must be a tragic story with his wife. She must have left him! Does Harry remind him of her? Does he love his boy or hate him?"

Harry does have an interest in art like his mom. In Spider-Man 3 we see him painting a still life in his spare time, after post-traumatic amnesia ironically leaves him happier than ever before. He's forgotten many details of the negative things in his life and instead enjoys reliving childhood activities and memories. It's possible painting was a passion of his when he was younger, similar to how he discusses writing a play for MJ and playing basketball with Peter during high school, but gradually became disconnected from or was pressured to drop.

Knowing the marriage lasted for 10 years helps narrow down a few things, like that the divorce probably wasn't recent. But that’s assuming he was born during the time they were married, meaning Harry could have been 10 at most. Whether Caroline is still alive also isn't clear-cut...in the movie, at least. In the novelization for the 3rd movie, Peter confirms Harry is an orphan after Norman dies. The novelizations and movie details don't always line up 1:1, so it's left open imo. I feel like the paper would have mentioned her passing if she had died but...choose your own route of angst! (And wow would that add a whole new layer of awful to Norman’s misogynistic “advice” about women to Harry if he’s shit-talking his dead ex-wife.)

If Caroline is alive that opens a new batch of questions about where she went. Do they have any sort of shared custody situation? Doubtful, as Caroline seems to be totally cut out of the picture and only exists in the story via possessions. But if the marriage ended bitterly, and some years ago, why is her art and her collections present at all? Her portrait makes sense to keep, as it's revealed in the sequel to be the cover for a hidden safe.

(That's another fun symbol, hiding treasures behind a loved one's image. A place for safety and precious things, hidden from public view.) Other pieces of art seen around the house raise more questions about sentimentality. If Norman hated any reminder of his ex-wife, why keep her work? Why keep it for so long and have it displayed prominently?

I will not let this derail into A Norman Post (it would not end I could not stop) SO my personal take is that it’s probably a mixture of some longing for the past, but mostly spite. Keeping the art is a reminder that while he lost her, he also won. What was hers is now his (son included). Which may factor into why we don’t see Caroline involved with the family at all. Either she didn’t want to be, or she was prevented from doing so. Honestly it would not be surprising to cut all ties, as I do not think many would want to test their luck in a legal battle against a vindictive person who holds a massive amount of money and potential life-ruining influence.

I could also talk about Harry forever but in short I think these details make him more interesting. It's another angle as to why he seems so conflicted and avoidant about family issues, to the point he physically distances himself from them whenever possible. He might have had a strong connection with his mother, but it likely wasn't something he could talk about without Norman taking it as a personal betrayal. Still, he's surrounded by memories of her and keeps his own mementos nearby.

^ There's a photo of her in the apartment he and Peter share, the same image as the portrait (on the middle shelf to the left 🔍). Interestingly, like the portraits, the photos of his parents are kept apart. But here his mom is given more focus on a higher shelf.

Despite the work that went into backstory creation, multiple photographs, and a painted portrait, I haven’t been able to find who "played" the role of Caroline. It would be neat! But it’s also just cool to see how background details offer glimpses of a larger story if you want to look for them. :)

[white-weasel]

Ideal Hypothetical Saw Film Reroll episode(s)

(This is something I’ve been thinking about as I’ve watched through the movies and @afoxnamedmulder also formally asked about it so I took that as full permission from him to just start spewing my every thought about these two things together. This post is hyper niche and for literally like 3 people but idec lets gooooo)

So the first thought is if the Film Reroll crew were to ever reroll Saw it would obviously be the first one. It’s the most culturally relevant one and the one that most fits with what I can see the show doing. In the case of rerolling Saw I, ideally the players would not have seen the movie. Like I said, since this is the most culturally significant one this might be hard but I’m gonna go off of both vibes and play style for this one and just hope that it works

For the GM it’s gonna be Paulo. I just feel he could do the cramped space of the bathroom justice and bring in new “challenges”/obstacles to keep things moving.

Playing Lawrence Gordon, and this is gonna sound crazy please bear with me, I think we get Carolyn Faye Kramer. My reasoning for this is that the Lawrence of Saw I is someone who, despite his task being to kill Adam and cut off his foot, does not actually have the ability to do it until the very end when his family is threatened. If we put Jon or Scott here, Gordon is shooting Adam within the first 15 minutes of the movie. Carolyn I feel can play someone very conflicted about the choice and also won’t immediately jump to trusting whatever Jigsaw is saying on the tape. She’s willing to cooperate with her fellow player and only if she’s pushed to take things into her own hands will she start trying to make moves, which I feel is fitting. (Also she’s the only cast member I feel like we can say 100% has never seen these movies lmao lest we forget the infamous Friday the 13th “I know who the killer is” fiasco” happening because she doesn’t like scary movies)

My first choice playing Adam Faulkner-Stanheight would be none other than Joz Vammer themself! I think they could really get the tone of the character down full stop. The mixture of outbursts and jokes, but then also throwing things at the wall to see what sticks in getting them out of there. I feel like Joz also would not accept the zero sum game presented by Jigsaw and would work to find a way for both Adam and Lawrence to get out together, which is really what you need for this movie. In my heart I feel like Joz has seen the movie, but for this scenario I would hope not because…

The twist in this reroll would be there has been a 3rd PC the whole time: Zep Hindle. I would LOVE for Tim to play Zep. He could 100% play this quiet, envious guy given instructions to carry out his part of the game. My imagining for this would be he and Paulo had a session before the main game that was all about how Zep handled the set up stuff with Alison and Diana.

And then I’m envisioning the bathroom game sessions are happening on a Zoom call or the like, and Tim is sitting with Paulo in his apartment, letting him know what Zep is doing if/when phone calls to the outside world are happening and stuff. Also Paulo could totally call for “breaks” in recording where he’s actually conferring and rolling with Tim on what Zep is doing. The knowledge Zep gets is basically the equivalent of him getting to know stuff because of the camera set up in the movie. This would probably be a logistical nightmare to actually record, but I like to think that the payoff would be awesome. Like it gets revealed there was a secret third player in the episode, Joz and Carolyn are shocked, and then the edit goes back in time to show key tidbits of Tim’s turns and such. They could even release the full audio of it then on Patreon lol

The reveal at Zep being a PC rather than an NPC also kinda parallels/coincides with him not actually being Jigsaw from the original movie too. He’s not the one actually making things happen, he’s all a pawn in the game as well

HOWEVER I also had the thought - if the crew does Saw they don’t HAVE to do the first one. They didn’t do the first Friday the 13th and hell, their first episode is literally Back to the Future 2, not the first movie. If the crew just wanted to do a Saw episode to focus on the trap aspect when they’re playing, I think they could play as the Fatal 5 from Saw V (blatant Saw V bias showing here, don’t look at me, but also I genuinely think this is the group game most conducive to being rerolled). It’s also very likely that none of them have seen Saw V, so the “twist” with the traps being all survivable wouldn’t be known to them

It was between Saw V and Saw II because those are the two group games where all of the participants are free to work together and it’s not reliant on one person. I like Saw V better because I feel it can be self contained more than II. With II you have to deal with the fact Amanda is in on all of it and idk I feel like that just doesn’t work as well for a ttrpg setting. Casting for this one is a lot more vibes based and I have less concrete answers, so I’m open to suggestions

GM - Paulo once again. King of making this all work

Ashley Kazon - Carolyn (don’t know too much about Ashley but I want Carolyn in this movie and feel she could work this)

Charles Salomon - Scott (he could do it. He could bring the smarmy vibes and even though he wouldn’t know the line “I’m an Investigative Journalist for 👆The Herald👆” he would know it in spirit)

Luba Gibbs - Jon (first of all, we don’t get Jon to play women enough on this show. I love him playing Annabelle in Jumanji. Secondly, I think he can play Luba’s cut throat nature well. However I also wouldn’t mind Lisa in this role. I think she could play it well also)

Mallick Scott - Andy (he might be a bit too sedate for this, but also he’s the one I trust the most to play into the inevitable guilt complex that would be put on his sheet so)

Brit Stevenson - Kara (she could 100% do corporate woman who cares only for her own survival until she realizes that she doesn’t HAVE to care only for her own survival. I believe in her)

No twist in how the gameplay happens here, the only fun thing would be to see if the cast would be able to figure out Jigsaw’s message in that they can all actually work together to get through the traps.

FINALLY the most self indulgent thing and the thing they would never actually do because it technically wouldn’t be the movie itself is they would give us an apprentice campaign with the mainline apprentices working together before the start of Saw III/Saw IV, each of them with their own specific, secret objectives they’re hoping to achieve:

GM/John Kramer would be Paulo

Amanda would be Joz (Fairly self explanatory I feel. They have the range to play her. They would GET her)

Lawrence would be Andy (I feel Andy could pull off apprentice Lawrence. Lawrence strikes me as someone in the shadows during his apprentice work, biding his time, and I can see Andy bringing that sort of thing to Lawrence. At the same time there’s some room to develop apprentice Lawrence’s motivations and character so I would be interested in seeing what he’d do for him)

Hoffman would be Scott (Hoffman was the hardest for me to pin down in this line up but I think I like Scott as my pick for now. Open to more thoughts about this one though.)

In every scenario there would be will rolls up the wazoo. I feel like will stats in this would be fairly normal, it would just be the penalties that would make the rolls hard. So I like to imagine that cutting your own foot off is probably a -5 penalty or something, but if you’re in immediate, imminent danger or you have credible reason to think your family is in danger you’d get some bonuses back to make it a less tricky roll. Also numerous fright checks would also be on the table I’m sure, as well as senses of duty or different traits people will have to resist. I think building the character sheets for this would be fun, though it would be interesting to see how it would get balanced out by Paulo when actually playing

[magpire-fa]

About Me

Welcome to my blog, thanks for stopping by!

I go by Mag, my blog name is because I love vampires and appreciating fat people. The contents of this blog are mostly about the latter, but there's more to me I promise!

I'm a digital artist, bartender on weekends and computer engineer during the week, I'm an archer, an author, a dungeon master, a baker, a lover of horror media, a collector, and now the proud proprietor of a blog about none of that. Be careful asking about any of these also, I can go on and on about things I like-

I'm a soft romantic; cringe is dead, being open and passionate about what you like is in! That kind of genuine excitement is my favorite thing, I want to spread it everywhere I go and make the world a little less sad in the process! If you want to be my friend, telling me about your special interests is a surefire way to get me hooked.

I'm moderate to severely demisexual with a preference for femme presenting people romantically. I'm on and off searching for my dream partner, but first and foremost I'm here to make friends and get to know the FA community on tumblr!

I'm open minded, I know I'm into some weird kinks on top of my already niche hobbies so I have no leg to stand on judging others- always down for a 'So hear me out...' from a friend.

In terms of said kinks mainly I'm just obsessed with round bellies, whether fat, stuffed, inflated/bloated, or any mixture of those! I love the shape, the texture, the sounds they make, just everything about them. Less realistically I'm into vore, and of course vampires. Additionally I love praise, teasing, burps sometimes, breeding, and indulging my partner's kinks even if they're not for me personally.

I'm unsure how into being a feeder I am, I've never really been able to try it; I'm not into long distance for relationships, so when I do try it it'll probably be with someone nearby. Plus, I just love cooking and it'd be so fun to do it and seriously overdo it for someone again and again and again!

I have a touch of the 'tism as they say, and so I speak carefully and react unfazed a lot, but I make it a point to show appreciation and love where I can even if it tends to come off long-winded and weird. Speaking of, thanks for reading so far, I hope you have a lovely day!

[r3d-f0xs-blog]

OC Profile: Charlie Ever

Basic Info

Name: Eldarion Ever

Alias(es): Charlie Ever, El, Unicorn

Date of birth: May 01 2043

Zodiac sign: Taurus

Gender: Non-binary (they/them)

Place of Birth: Nomad camp

Sexuality: Pansexual

Appearance

Height: 6’/ 183 cm

Build: Slim/athletic

Hair: Blue and pink (was a natural brunette)

Eyes: Natural blue but now mixture of blues, pinks and purples like opal.

Cyberwear: BD recording implants, doll chip, Synthskin, Techhair, Kiroshi optics, Arasaka arms in Mox colours, elf ears with enhanced hearing. The cyberwear on their face is purely for aesthetics as is the panel on their stomach.

Background

Father: Alessio Ever (alive)

Mother: Neroli Ever (alive)

Languages: English, conversational level Spanish

Affiliations

Mox: member

Aldecaldos: known to them

Occupation: Sex worker

Role: Joytoy, doll, BD performer and scroller, dancer

Weapons: Baseball bat, fists

Personality type: ENFJ -A Protagonists (ENFJs) feel called to serve a greater purpose in life. Thoughtful and idealistic, these personality types strive to have a positive impact on other people and the world around them. They rarely shy away from an opportunity to do the right thing, even when doing so is far from easy.

Charlie, as they go by most of the time, was born on the road and in a Nomad clan that since vanished and their family settled into Santo Domingo when they were thirteen. Nothing tragic about their background; lived as well as they could in their family. Their Mum was a huge bookworm and had shards upon shards of old literature; she gave them an elven name from Tolkein and encouraged them to read, write, perform, be creative. Their Dad ended up in the NCPD somehow, probably had a Netrunner friend forge IDs for them.

Charlie had a reasonable education with the clan but education in Night City was mostly from their Mum.

Charlie in Lizzie's Bar

They wanted to be a writer or to direct BDs but as AI and those with better contacts got into that career path, they gave up. Charlie worked in a clothes shop for a while and on some nights worked as a joytoy. From there they found the Mox, met Judy and got into BDs which began as the smut kind but as they and Judy got to know each other, they found more creative sparks, even if that was to make more unique or interesting smut BDs or to talk about dream projects. Charlie eventually got into doll work as well, finding themselves in a niche and luxury dollhouse and befriended Ren there. Doll work is Charlie’s least favourite work but it pays well and is a fall-back when other work is going through a dry spell.

Charlie dancing at Empathy

You’ll find Charlie working in the dollhouse, Lizzie’s, dancing at Empathy or Dark Matter. These days Charlie keeps their joytoy clientele quite small; they’re expensive in the dollhouse for a reason and more expensive as a joytoy because of what they offer. Not all their work is sex related. Charlie has had clients who wanted to cook dinner for them just so they weren’t dining alone, clients who take them along to public events, people who want some physical closeness without sex.

Brain Dance and performance is an art form for Charlie, including smut BDs. It’s something they are passionate about and put a lot of thought into. Sex isn’t taboo for Charlie but with Judy they also love to discuss different ideas for their BDs that aren’t all sex related.

Ren and Judy are probably the only people who know them best. They’re known for being a bit of a grump at times, particularly when people are hassling them when they’re off the clock or giving others grief when they’re working. Charlie’s sleep schedule can be all over the place too which doesn’t help.

Charlie and Judy at Pride

That said they are very much an extroverted person. They thrive on meeting other people, enjoy parties and other social events. They’re warm, friendly and love to talk which goes with their work. While they are empathetic, which comes in handy with many aspects of their work, Charlie is no doormat either.

More at Lizzie’s

Charlie didn’t lose their arms, it was a choice for when they were a more active member of the Mox; Charlie has dealt with people who have harmed other Moxes and still does from time to time. Charlie doesn’t shy from confrontation when it comes to clients giving them or others problems. They’re friendly with Lightning for that reason as she often takes jobs dealing with troublesome clients or individuals who’ve been targeting sex workers in Night City, usually for free.

Charlie and Rita dealing with a handsy patron

Charlie’s interests have inspired a lot of their work. They styled themself after their favourite mythical beings; unicorns and elves. Their hair is cybernetic, can colour shift to silvery and their skin can colour shift from their usual skin tone to paler, it can also have a slight pearlescent shimmer if wanted. They won’t go all out on full exotic cyberwear as it’s not what they want. They’re known for their various series of smut BDs inspired by mythology, folklore, popular fantasy fictional characters and such. Coming up with costumes for their BDs, make-up, hair styling is part of the fun for Charlie. They have made some of their own costumes from scratch or altered pieces to suit.

Dressing room

Charlie is very much a nerd. Their love of reading is still strong and they enjoy RPG video games. Anything from the past about these is a huge interest to them. Tolkein was a love Charlie inherited from their Mum and friends of Charlie know the films are a big comfort for them. It’s almost a rite of passage to becoming friends with them to sit through the extended directors cut of the Lord of the Rings trilogy! Charlie took their stage name from an old surviving series of videos some Netrunner dredged up featuring a unicorn they took their stage name from.

Charlie is still in contact with their parents and have a great relationship with them. Alessio isn’t thrilled about his only child being in a gang but it’s not the worst one Charlie could be in. They’re aware of what Charlie does and don’t pass judgement on them for it.

Art by Fluffy of Charlie and her Valerian OC. Shared with her permission.

Charlie is friends with Judy, Lightning, Ren (Fluffy’s OC), Evelyn, and Valerian (another Fluffy OC.) They get along with a great number of other people but these are those closest to them.

When it comes to relationships, Charlie finds them difficult mainly because exes have said they were okay with their work but have found that actually they had a problem with it or had an expectation they didnt share with them that they would quit sex work. So they are a bit guarded about that! Charlie's relationship with Valerian is still developing. They’re friends, and it’s a little complicated by the fact that Valerian is a client of theirs. How that will develop is yet to be seen!

[bardockarts]

@whatthechickenfriedfuck

Certainly! Luthor's list was a collaboration with @darkwingsnark, so she can probably remember more of the specific reasons, but for Luthor we were looking for a good mixture of power, technology, and deviousness, as well as things that meshed well with his general being.

Gengar -- I think this was a snark pitch, but it's a three stage and has the right air of clever menace. Metagross is a powerful steel (tech) and psychic (intelligence) with the capacity to go beyond and mega-evolve. Gigalith, iirc, was for another powerful / intimidating three stage (and the shiny sort of looks like Kryptonite). Duraludon represents his buildings, Genesect for a man-made legendary, and a shiny Eevee for potential, wealth/prestige, the stereotypical cat-stroking bad guy, and the possibility of change (plus we couldn't give him a meowth for obvious reasons).

Clark has a Magikarp (raised from childhood, to represent Clark's patience and desire to nurture something weak) a Sivally (that he liberated from Luthor as a Type: Null, which Luthor is very pissed about) and a Deoxys, that sort of has been following him around since he was a kid (curious about his origin) even though he keeps trying to chase it off.

Toyman's are all single-stage and weak, most being playful toys, mischievious, and/or electric; Mime Jr, Shuppet, and Mimikyu all occupy the same niche (non-threatening little doll that actually is a little scary) a Joltik for a cute electric type (ditto that for Magnemite), and then one big unexpected powerhouse, Xurkitree. Xurkitree was a chance finding as Toyman was originally from Alola and made friends with it while getting trapped in a cave as a young child. It represents his love of circuitry and electricity well enough.

Optionally is also a Rockruff, for the childhood puppy / further connections to Alola.

Thanks for your inquiry! I haven't thought about this AU in like a year, lol.

[blackwoolncrown]

Niche rant but like...

If you're filipinx you probably already knew about jo koy and the thing about his golden globes flop that annoys me the most is that he's BEEN a shitty misogynist!!!!!! for years!!!

I wanted to like him so bad but it was really obvious what kind of asshole he was bc the vast majority of his bits are just him mocking his mom's accent

and the mixture of "Man pretending to be a woman as a mockery" and "making fun of your race/dialect for a largely white audience" is verrrry familiar to me as a black person I know what it means

so all these ppl being like wow I used to like him what happend..? is so..?? like? No you just thought crappy humor was funny and never actually thought about it until he said the quiet parts out loud

[norajworld]

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. Any products or services put forward appear in no particular order. if you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. A tattoo is the kind of thing you put a lot of thought into. The significance. The design. The location. By that logic, you also put a lot of thought into what happens after you’ve been inked, right? Right? This is hard to convey since these are just words, but I was yelling at you just then. Screaming. Sorry it had to go down that way, but finding and using the best tattoo aftercare products is important. Not only do the right balms, lotions, numbing creams, sunscreens, and soaps help the recovery process, they can also help preserve the color and detail of your ink. There are countless niche-specific products out there, and we’re going to check out some of the best ones, but you might be surprised by how many tattoo aftercare products you might already have on your bathroom vanity. Key Takeaways  The best tattoo aftercare products heal your fresh tat quickly without irritating the skin or causing damage to the art itself. When it comes to all-around effectiveness at an approachable price point, Aquaphor is the one to beat. Speaking of good prices, my top budget pick is Badger Tattoo Balm—a certified organic product that not only works but has arguably created some of the finest badger-related package art the world has ever known. tattoogoo / Instagram Yep, Aquaphor. No trendy branding. No niche-specific uses. Just trusty, been-around-forever Aquaphor—one of the most recommended aftercare products by tattoo artists. Its first ingredient is petrolatum, a topical mixture that holds in moisture and has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. Another quality that makes Aquaphor the best tattoo aftercare product is that it’s scentless. Scented products can cause premature fading and general irritation, which, yes, would be a bummer. It’s ideal for the first few days post-ink when the skin is most sensitive. One nitpicky drawback: it tends to transfer to anything it touches. If possible, wear clothes you don’t mind getting all Aquaphor-y. Ingredients: Petrolatum, Mineral Oil, Ceresin, Lanolin Alcohol, Panthenol, Glycerin, Bisabolol | Cruelty-Free: No | Skin Type: All If you’re looking for a fragrance-free, all-natural, highly praised balm on the cheap, Badger Tattoo Balm is as good a place to start as any. Its USDA Certified Organic formula is gentle on your fresh design and can also help bring out its brightness. And even if you don’t use it all on your tattoos, it makes a solid everyday balm for any other problem areas you might have. And most importantly, the package art is a badger sailing a ship in a Steve Zissou hat surrounded by octopuses. The healing properties were a close second, though. Ingredients: Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Fair-trade Coconut Oil, Other Organic Ingredients | Cruelty-Free: Yes | Skin Type: All For the purposes of this category, I’m going to define “luxury” very loosely. That’s to say, Billy Jealousy’s Tattoo Lotion errs on the pricey side. Because what is luxury if not an outstanding product that’s probably-maybe-definitely a bit overpriced? This lotion is a good fit if you’re looking for a product that delivers on moisturizing your skin and keeping your tattoo’s colors bright while not leaving a sticky residue behind. Something to note is that it’s lightly scented with lavender and rosemary. And while it’s true that you should generally avoid scented products on fresh ink, Billy Jealousy’s scents are derived from essential oils as opposed to synthetic fragrances. Ingredients: Green Tea Leaf Extract, Rosemary & Grapeseed Oils, Shea Butter, Other Ingredients | Cruelty-Free: Yes | Skin Type: All Hustle Butter has long been a staple of both tattoo artists and their clients. Its vegan formula reduces irritation and is said to help maintain color and even revive it in older tattoos. And not to bury the lede, it’s got a 4.8 average rating out of over 25,000 reviews. In case you missed it, that was a whopping 25,000+. One reviewer wrote, “I normally don’t ever leave reviews but this product blew me out of the water. It made the day after so much more bearable, and made sure the tattoo and surrounding skin wasn’t dry.” Rinse and repeat about 24,999 more times, and you get the gist of people’s opinions of this stuff. Ingredients: Shea, Mango, Aloe Butter, Coconut Sunflower, Other Vegan Ingredients | Cruelty-Free: Yes | Skin Type: All Sometimes the best tattoo aftercare products are the ones that are already right in front of you on your bathroom sink. If you’ve had your tattoo for a few weeks and happen to have a bottle of Eucerin Advanced Repair Body Lotion lying around, scoop it up, apply liberally, and thank me later. A key feature that helps make this one of the best products for tattoo aftercare is the presence of ceramides in the formula. They’re lipids that help strengthen your skin while protecting it from the elements. This particular formula is also unscented, which you know by now is semi-crucial for a successful healing process. And since you’re working with a traditional unscented tattoo body lotion, it’s perfect for everyday use long after the healing process. Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Urea, Other Ingredients | Cruelty-Free: No | Skin Type: All Not interested in piecemealing your tattoo aftercare routine? Time to kit-y up, cowboy. (What have I done? Kit-y up? I apologize, but under no circumstances should you accept.) Where was I? Right. The Aftercare Kit from Tattoo Goo. It’s a nice solution if you want more of a one-stop-shop suite of products to help your newborn tattoo recover. In the kit are an antimicrobial soap, tattoo care lotion, and tattoo balm. Everything you need to preserve your art and your skin. The products play nice with sensitive skin, contain natural ingredients, and can be used on new and existing tattoos. Ingredients: Olive Oil, Cyclopentasiloxane, Glycerine, Other Ingredients | Cruelty-Free: Yes | Skin Type: All Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Liquid Baby Soap is among the most gentle of its formulas. Having “baby” in the name was a good first clue. But it’s one of the best tattoo aftercare products for a handful of other reasons, mainly its versatility and the fact that it’s super tattoo-friendly. The unscented soap is all-natural and made with over 90% organic ingredients. And you’re working with a concentrated formula, meaning a little will go a long way. Put a bottle on each of your sinks and just go about your day as a person who not only has some killer new ink but also makes great soap-related decisions. Ingredients: Water, Organic Coconut Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Organic Olive Oil, Other Organic Ingredients | Cruelty-Free: Yes | Skin Type: All After Inked has an excellent reputation among tattoo artists and the general tattoo community. It’s been featured on the tattoo reality show Ink Master and has been in business for over 15 years. Which is nice and all, but what’s in it for you? Well, moisturized skin mostly. But not just any moisturized skin. We’re talking skin that’s been kissed by grapeseed oil and other all-natural, petroleum-free ingredients. Which is only overly dramatic for talking about tattoo lotions if you make it overly dramatic. And like a handful of the other best tattoo aftercare products, After Inked will do its job well after your tattoos heal, but also on non-inked areas of your skin. Ingredients: Water, Grape Seed Oil, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Other Ingredients | Cruelty-Free: Yes | Skin Type: All The National Library of Medicine (NLM) recommends that anyone with a tattoo apply sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher before sun exposure. The NLM also suggests reapplying every two hours when exposed to the sun. And a bunch of other stuff. Basically, just wear sunscreen. Correction, wear this sunscreen: Mad Rabbit’s Defend Tattoo Sunscreen. It does everything any self-respecting sunscreen should do—employ zinc oxide to block harmful rays and the like. But the newly tatted will especially appreciate its anti-inflammatory ingredients and skin barrier-supporting fatty acids. Who doesn’t love a good fatty acid? Ingredients: Zinc Oxide, Water, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Other Ingredients | Cruelty-Free: Yes | Skin Type: All Drake. Justin Bieber. Bella Hadid. Miley Cyrus. Cara Delevingne. What do all these celebrities have in common? They all have faces. Oh, but also, they’re just a handful of the entertainers who’ve been tattooed by one of LA’s most sought-after tattoo artists, Dr. Woo. If you don’t necessarily feel like putting yourself on a yearslong waitlist to get inside the guy’s studio, happy day. Because he recently launched the next best thing—his own line of tattoo aftercare products aptly named Woo. The Double Hydration Tattoo Care Duo features a body moisturizer and an aftercare moisturizer. The former is for existing ink, and the latter is for fresh tattoos. Ingredients: Water, Methylsilanol Mannuronate, Hyaluronic Acid, Other Ingredients | Cruelty-Free: Yes | Skin Type: All afterinked_uk / Instagram What To Look For In The Best Tattoo Aftercare Products Ingredients Paying close attention to the ingredients in the best tattoo aftercare products can mean the difference between a vibrant, healthy tattoo and one that prematurely fades and causes skin irritation. For the first few days, it’s especially important to avoid 100% petroleum products that can trap moisture and scented products that can cause dryness and general irritation. Use Tattoo lotions are going to work differently than tattoo balms. Tattoo sunscreens are going to work differently than tattoo soaps. You get it. Obvious? Maybe, but if you want your tattoo to be the best it can be, make sure you’re targeting specific needs with specific products. If you’re not sure where to start, a kit like the one Tattoo Goo makes is a good place to start. Versatility Some tattoo aftercare products have a singular function: to help your tattoo safely heal. Other products, like Dr. Bronner’s liquid baby soap and Mad Rabbit’s sunscreen, extend their usefulness beyond just helping the freshly tatted. Think about your overall grooming routine before deciding which products work best for you. madrabbit / Instagram Final Verdict  Aftercare is just as important as choosing a design and where your tattoo will go. The best tattoo aftercare products preserve the color of your ink while safely and effectively helping your skin bounce back. Aquaphor is my top overall pick because what it lacks in bells and whistles, it more than makes up for with its skin-friendly healing properties. FAQ Just after getting a tattoo, experts recommend using a light, unscented moisturizer. Some scented products may cause scarring or result in your tattoo fading prematurely. Aquaphor is one of the most recommended aftercare products by tattoo artists. It soothes and moisturizes the tattooed area and has anti-inflammatory properties that can help heal your new ink. For brand new ink, avoid medicated ointments that can accelerate the healing process in a way that could damage your tattoo. Also avoid 100% petroleum products for the first few days, as they can trap moisture and potentially lead to infection. Kelly Larson is a writer and editor with over 12 years of professional experience. In addition to writing articles for sites like UrbanDaddy and Visit The USA—America’s official travel site—Kelly has led editorial newsrooms in the creation of award-winning content in the digital space. When he’s not writing, Kelly enjoys running, spending time outdoors with his two sons, and searching for his next exceptional finger of bourbon. Source link