#this was such an interesting challenge but I'm so glad I stuck it out

[factual-fantasy]

27 asks! Thank you!! :}} 🔮

Oooo very cool! I hope you have fun with it!! :DDD And as for how I make a story it kind'a depends-

For Grimace, Sylvester and the rest of the gang.. well that was just my Violet team. I gave them personalities that I thought would suit them and just.. went from there I guess? <:D

For Conkeldurr, Zuora, Emboar and the 4 piglets.. well, it started with just thinking about Conkeldurr and how much I like that Pokémon. I pictured him as a Gentle giant and imagined how fun it would be to draw him with some other tiny Pokémon that he adopted. I went through the Unovan pokédex and picked a Zuora because she was small and fluffy <XD

After making a post about them I wanted to give Conkeldurr a friend. Well I like the Emboar line so hey why not do that? She can be a mama Emboar to switch it up and she can have 4 kids. Why not? Since I didn't draw her in that first post, I made the story they they went their separate ways for a time but now they're back together.

I honestly don't have solid concrete advice I can offer- I just think "hey this would be neat" and slap it on there. Or I think "hey this scenario would be fun to draw" and so I structure the events and story to make the characters run into this scenario in a reasonable way. That's really all I do.. <:D

@beryl-shade

I've seen Markiplier play it :0 Its.. well its something! <:D

(Referencing this post)

<XD I never understood why they made him Spanish, the sudden guitar noise is always a jumps care XDDD

@shiny-is-miney

Humans do not exist in any of my Octonauts AUs, nor have they ever <:/

@catain-skyler1987

I do not <:/ sorry!

@nwo-metalscottic

Daww,, thank you 🥹🥹🥹its been rough these past.. how ever many months- my health is still poor and I still am glued to my bed/the couch 24/7.. but I'm hoping to finally see some improvement soon.. and I hope you feel better too! <:))

Any who, I'm glad to hear your views on Conkeldurr! :D Some people can be kind'a harsh :x As for the Tepigs, I can see them sticking around even after evolving into Pignites. They love their mama and would have no desire to leave her.. 🥺

As for what threatens them.. when they were apart, I kind'a image any meat eating Pokémon that thinks they could take them in a fight would be a threat. Or perhaps territorial Pokémon or protective parents that would see a big Pokémon coming near and just attack on instinct.

Now that the two of them are together, they have a lot less trouble with random Pokémon. They're a much bigger challenge to take on as a team. Plus I can see Zuora walking with them disguised as a second Emboar or Conkeldurr. Creating a group that looks like three macho parents that will fiercely protect their piglets.

As for the Minecraft movie, here's the thing about the Piglins. In the actual game they turn into Zombie Piglins the moment they leave the Nether. Why are they still normal Piglins despite running through a village??

And a Netflix show... uhg.. I'm just not interested. I feel like Minecraft looses all its charm when you convert it into a show or movie. And especially if you mess up Steve as badly as they did. Jack Black.. that's the worst casting I can think of.🤦

This is so cool! It feels like it could be canon to the Pokémon universe! :DD

Also thank you so much!! :)))

I have! :0 I watched 8-bitryan play some of it! :) ALSO THANK YOU!! :DDD

@cicutagreninja

WOW!! :00 THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :DDD I plan to return to it someday!! :)))

@astaherussy (Referencing this post)

I think I put that on almost out of habit <XD when I picture old abandoned houses I imagine notes stuck to the door warning of debts and bills that need to be paid lest the owners get evicted. So I drew that because it felt fitting!

..Only just now did I realize that the old owners were supposed to be a mystery.. if there was any at all. So having that note on the door doesn't really make sense.. 😅

ALSO WAAHG THANK YOU!! :DDD

I've seen the FNAF movie and I've seen multiple Youtubers play all the FNAF games. Though I haven't played through any of them myself. :00

As for what I thought of them.. I have a place in my heart for all the games. From the lore jumbling ruin DLC, to the classic first game, I'm a total sucker and I love them all.💞💞

The movie wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. I adored the inclusion of MatPat and the intended inclusion of Markiplier. There were some aspects I didn't like and a lot of missed opportunities in my opinion. And of course the lore is all outa whack..

None the less, I think the movie is charming. And my love for FNAF has only strengthened upon the movies release :))

@i-only-created-this-to-read

Since Metagross isn't in Black/White (Its in Black/White 2) I wont be looking into that species for a bit.. and I wont be looking at Mega evolutions-

As for a Quantum slime equivalent, I have no intentions to make equivalents for all the slimes- I didn't add trubbish to be an equivalent to pinks. I just noted that Trubbish are a common slime that can eat anything, just like pinks are :0

The slimes and foods I add will be their own thing. Not intending to replicate or replace any of the canon slimes or fruits/veggies/meats from slime rancher. If that makes sense-

@petrichormeraki

I don't really have any proper name ideas for them 😅 I've just been calling them the shiny one, the normal one, the runt and the big one. XDD

Also thank you!! :DDD

Oooo that's really interesting actually! :000 That would have been a much more tame version of my Zuoras story <XDDD

@pigeonsplural

SLAKJDJ THANK YOUUU!! :)))0

*plotting noises......

(Referencing this post)

This ask will be very relevant soon.. 😈 Also thank you! :)))

@roughsketch2010

WAHGG THANK YIU SOMUCH!! :DDD

@kermit-ydafrog

Daww 🥹 Thank you! MY question is why are you so kind?? :DDD

I've heard of it and seen a lot of fanart, but i never got into it myself😅

Thank you for remembering my boundaries and respecting them! <:) And yeah that paints a pretty vivid picture in my head XDDD

@holly-opal

He would have been a better voice for Bowser then Jack Black in my opinion..

@fandomcenteral

WAAHHG THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :DDD And its still a surprise to me that I'm considered a celebrity :00 I hope people aren't intimidated to send me asks because of that.. <:D

@muncho1234 (eye post in question)

Peso, Dashi, Tunip and Ranger Marsh have no eye bags because they have decent sleeping schedules and diets. :0 The rest of the characters either have poor sleeping schedules, deal with a lot of stress, or are very hard workers and burn up all their energy throughout the day.. :(

Oh boy 💀

@minnesotamedic186 (Eye studies post) (Kwazii and Calico Jack hug post) (Ranger Marsh jump scare post)

WAAHGG THANK YOU!!! :DD I ALWATS LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE NOTICE THE DETAILS I PUT IN!! :))))

@caronaro-flipaclip

<XD While I agree with this, I cant help but get red in the face when people like/reblog my old artwork.😅😅 And there's nothing wrong with that! It just shows how far I've come! :)

[ameliathornromance]

“(Y/N), what is that?”

Your Orc Boyfriend pointed to the bundle in your arms. A small, innocent smile crept onto your lips. “I… Brought back a baby?”

You had been on a stroll, alone. Your Orc Boyfriend was stuck doing boring wood chopping work. Normally, you would read, but you had just finished reading your favourite book for the third time and there were no reading materials available for you. So, you decided to go on a walk.

It was a rather new pass time for you.

You enjoyed some alone time, away from the others and the quietness of nature. Despite finding comfort in the grunts and growls of Orcs working and thudding about the camp, there were moments when you yearned for a more subdued ambiance, particularly at night.

And so that’s how your walks began.

You knew and followed only the safest Orc routes through the countryside.

But as you walked, faint cries called to you. You had frowned. A baby, crying? Mindful of a trap, you tiptoed in the direction of the crying.

“There are dangers out in the woods. Do not stray from our regular paths.” Your Boyfriend had warned you before you left.

All kinds of things lurked in the woods, from fellow Orc camps to Witches, you could never be too cautious. Anyone would do anything to capture a lone human woman. Regardless of where she'd come from.

Your feet were silent against the moss covered ground. The cries drew closer, and closer, and that’s when you found it. A bundle held the tiniest form you’d ever seen. The baby was pasty pale, wriggling and screaming at the top of it's lungs.

You swiftly stooped and scooped up the poor thing, cradling it. “It’s okay!” You shushed. “You’re okay! I’m here, don’t worry.” Looking over your shoulder, you knew you couldn't just leave the poor thing alone out there.

So you made your way back home, baby in hand. Other Orcs gave you odd looks upon your return with the baby, but no one said anything.

The baby had calmed down by this point and appeared content to have finally received someone's attention.

Noticing that your boyfriend was still busy at work with wood chopping, you made your way back to your shared tent and waited for him to finish.

In the meantime, you wrapped up the child in animal skins and tried to think of something to feed it.

Your boyfriend came in later in the evening. And here you are now.

“It was all alone, someone left it in the forest…” you explained. Worry crept over you.

Finding food had become more challenging. Winter was about to set in. The crops were dying, animals were being herded into more secluded places.

The entire encampment fought to provide enough food and water for everyone. And now you had brought a new born.

Your Orc Boyfriend said nothing. He approached, towering above both you and the small thing in your arms. You expected him to be angry. Upset because you brought back another mouth to feed.

“And it was all alone?” He asked you. His voice rumbled through your chest. All you could manage in reply was a weak nod.

“Humans are pathetic.” Your Orc Boyfriend scoffed.

Before you could stop him, your Orc had scooped the baby up in his own arms and peered down at it. “How could they abandon something so vulnerable?”

“You’re not angry?” You asked, surprised.

“No. Even an Orc would ensure the child's safety.” He grumbled. The baby stared up at him, expressionless. Before a huge grin over took its face, hands stretched out.

Your Orc chuckled, holding a finger out for the baby to take. It did so and giggled, flexing the finger up and down with ease.

"What about food?" You asked, placing a hand on your Orc's forearm. The both of you watched the baby investigate your partners finger.

"I will deal with that. Since this is new born, I will make sure it gets the care it needs." Once the baby had lost interest in his hand, your Orc Boyfriend cupped your face. "You did the right thing, my love. I'm glad you brought it back."

Your heart swelled with pride, "thank you."

"We shall raise it to be a strong and powerful warrior!" Your Orc grinned, tusks jutting out of his bottom lip. He raised the baby high in the air, it let out a shriek of delight.

You sighed as your Orc returned to cooing at the baby. You truly had a wonderful boyfriend, didn't you?

Sequel

Patreon

[pendarling]

Ring of Engagement

Villain locked the cuffs around Hero's wrists, "You're at fault for getting stuck in this situation." They sighed. Hero was on a terrible losing streak this month, and a part of Villain wanted to ask what was wrong; then again, what right did they have to ask those questions? They only ever met with them once a couple of weeks.

Their eyes had caught something they hadn't noticed as they secured the cuffs, "A ring?" They smirked, "I didn't know you were engaged."

Hero grumbled something and reluctantly let themselves be led away to the vehicle. For some reason, it hadn't occurred to Villain that Hero might've had a life outside their job, but the thought had disturbed them enough to grow slightly annoyed at the proposition. "I didn't take you for being a potential spouse." They off-handedly commented. They weren't entirely sure why they said it, maybe just to pass the time or to fill in the empty silence at Hero's refusal to banter.

They pushed them into the front seat before stepping to the driver's side and starting the ignition. It would take a while until they arrived at the lair, mainly because they had moved it outside of town to avoid the growing dangers surrounding the downtown area.

"How're you feeling?" They glanced to the right of them and caught Hero's annoyed stare.

"Are you going to keep talking, or are we gonna do this in peace?"

"A little grumpy today, huh?" They chuckled and pulled the car onto a highway. "Get used to me because we'll be stuck together."

"For fuck's sake..." They leaned back into the chair and fiddled with the metal, locking their hands together; a specialized handcuff prevented a person from using their powers. 

"So what's up with the ring? You got a family?"

Hero scoffed lightly and stared out the window. "Why? Were you interested?"

Villain felt their ego shift a bit, "What? No. You're way in over your head, dear." They licked their teeth and stifled an uncontrolled laugh, "Besides, you're not even my type." 

"Okay, well, you're not my type either."

The soft hum of the tires running along asphalt covered the few minutes of silence between them again as Villain wondered if engaging further would bring more harm than good. Still, their inability to keep their lips shut made them decide, "It's a cheap-looking ring anyway." They mumbled. 

Their adversary laughed heartedly, "Are you seriously judging me for a ring? Just let it go already!"

"I'm not judging, it's just ugly."

"You're ugly."

"You would actually settle down with someone who can barely give you a proper ring? Wow."

Hero shrugged, "And you could do better?"

They clicked their tongue, almost too glad they had asked, "I sure as hell would."

Their rival smiled and looked in Villain's direction. "All this for a ring with no meaning..."

Villain spared a second to shoot a glare at Hero's smugness. Yet, somewhere inside, they'd gone through the stages of grief until swift recovery at the newfound information. Villain smiled pleasantly, and Hero had mistaken it for another challenge. Their eyes scanned them for another reaction besides the failed attempt to laugh with joy. They couldn't believe their luck. Hero wasn't engaged.

What a relief.

"What's so funny?" Hero asked.

"Nothing," they smirked again and continued focusing on the road.

"You've flamed me all day for my romantic decisions--"

Villain shrugged. "What? I already told you I'm not interested. You can do whatever you want with your love life. Go marry a hero for all I care." They rolled their eyes and tightened their grip on the steering wheel. Yet, Hero could see they kept that smile, a sense of satisfaction.

Hero crossed their legs and faced the window again, "Yeah, maybe I will. Better than someone with a criminal record."

Their eyes squinted, a flash of irritation and some bitter hurt stung through those words, and even though they had previously said very clearly that they weren't interested, the intense pain that arrived moments afterwards promised a different reality. 

They took a deep breath, their brows furrowed, and without any warning, Villain pulled the car over abruptly, the car set on idle. "First of all, you have no reason to bring up my past."

"What's your deal anyways, Villain? Just keep driving."

"No. You're saying this, and you're saying that you better stay off of my back."

"Or what?" they smirked calmly. Their unbothered eyes hid another suppressed feeling they had only seen a few times previously. Villain unbuckled their seatbelt without much thought; they'd pushed their lips roughly against Hero's. Their hands pulled at their attire, and in response, Hero reciprocated with an equal amount of fierceness. Their lips locked in a battle for control, tugging and roughly pushing them back down again repeatedly. 

Their eyes opened momentarily in a silent argument for domination. Unfortunately, Hero was always on a losing streak, and their bad luck had returned in the form of a small trickle of blood down their lip as Villain bit slightly harder than intended. It didn't have to come down to it, but Hero forced it upon themselves.

"Fucking idiot," Villain breathed heavily against their mouth and licked lightly at the cut, "Look what you made me do to you." 

Hero winced, their breath bated and sharp. They patiently waited for Villain to undo their seatbelt, "That hurt, you animal."

"Shut up," Villain shoved Hero to the back of the car; they rechecked the vehicle to be left in park while busy only momentarily. Hero sat on the leather chair, still trying to understand their surroundings. Their enemy followed quickly behind with much more elegance than them, "What are you sitting around for? Get on your back."

"You're going to have to make me!" 

______

The sun had already dipped below the horizon, leaving the streets dark. Long empty stretches of road were trapped between a suffocating line of pine trees. The sky was a dim blue, heavy with clouds as they began to roll in.

Hero woke up a little warmer than expected. Villain had left their coat lying on top of them, which kept them from the chilly temperatures of the season's end as they approached fall. 

Hero could barely make out Villain's words through the dull sounds of the vehicle's engine. "Up already?" They glanced at the rearview mirror and adjusted it slightly. 

They could only groan as they struggled to sit up from their position. It was much harder to do with the handcuffs still on their wrists. Villain would never let their guard down, even if they knew there wasn't any threat at their weakest state. "I'm starving."

"As I expected." They smirked, "Just give me a second, I know a place." They pulled the car over to what looked like a diner. Its bright light nearly burned their eyes if they hadn't squeezed them shut in time. 

Villain stepped out of the car and opened the back door. "C'mon now, don't waste my time."

Hero took a deep breath and used what little strength was left to scoot to the edge. 

"Wait."

Villain leaned into the car and looked them over, their hands reaching around their neck and pushing their hair to one side. Villain's hands were exponentially colder than theirs, and instinctively, Hero had goosebumps at the touch of their icy fingers along their neck and down their collarbone. 

"You're freezing." They murmured. 

"I know." They whispered back and straightened up again, "Stay here."

From the trunk of the car, Villain pulled out a scarf and stuck out a hand to help them out of the vehicle. They would have nearly collapsed on themselves if it hadn't been for Villain's quick catch. "Easy there." They helped them up and wrapped the scarf around their neck with careful focus. Next, they undid their cuffs; Hero was just glad they weren't going in with them still on. In place of the cuffs, however, Villain took it upon themselves to reach for their hand. 

Even though they complained of the cold earlier, it felt nice. Villain's hands were comforting as they stayed secured onto them. Hopefully, they knew that; it would be a shame otherwise.

"Be good." Villain shut the door, and they walked inside the diner.

Villain insisted on sitting next to them rather than across, and it wasn't like they had a choice in the matter anyway since they were the prisoner. Whatever it was, it was probably out of fear of them escaping. They had Hero sit between the window and them. "What do you want?" They slid over the menu in their direction.

With heavy eyelids, they tapped on the sheet at whatever was closest. "This one."

"This one? You sure?"

They nodded. All Hero wanted to do was go back to sleep; they only woke up due to hunger. One of the employees walked over and took their order. Villain did the talking; they could only stare outside at the small shower of rain that began to pour from the sky. "How long until we get to your lair?"

"That's confidential." They said. 

Hero narrowed their eyes at Villain's reflection, "Don't tell me you're trying to kill me and dump by body somewhere out here."

They heard their enemy laugh. "No, that's too cliche." 

Hero adjusted themselves in their seat and felt a dull pain from there. They reached into their pocket, and it was the ring from earlier. They didn't recall placing it in their pocket. Hero took a deep breath and set it on the table, sliding it to Villain's side. 

"Hm?" Villain's attention shifted to their hand on the table as they pulled it away to reveal the ring underneath. "Are you giving this to me now?" Villain mused.

They looked at Villain's expression, a mix of disbelief and a calm delight. "You can have it. I don't want it anymore." 

They quietly picked up the band and lifted it to their eyes. The intricate details hidden in its sharp edges weren't noticeable from a distance, but they've come to appreciate its worth even if Hero deemed it meaningless. Without another word, Villain placed it back in its spot. "You can wear it." 

Hero's head rose just enough to catch them looking their way. They tucked the ring back into their pocket and settled their hand atop Villain's.

~~~

MASTERLIST

[rockethorse]

Calcinidae Bay Lot Tour: Marine Discovery Centre

I finally got around to picking the terrains I wanted to use for Calcinidae Bay's subhoods, so the Bay now officially has a(n as-of-yet unnamed) Downtown! Yay! Let's take a look through the only currently-finished lot there, the Marine Discovery Centre and Aquarium.

First I wanna shout out @dirtfauna for suggesting I build an aquarium and getting me thinking about this in the first place! As I was putting on the finishing touches I was also inspired by seeing @lolabythebaysims's gorgeous lot influenced by the Belle Isle Aquarium.

Before I get into the lot, I need to show the original Sims 4 shell for reference. It's "what the.. shell?" uploaded to the Gallery by simbellaz, and as you'll see, it was both perfect for and wildly impractical as the basis for an aquarium.

I don't normally go for shell challenges that have so many internal walls, but all those little 1-tile-wide hallways were practically SCREAMING to be made into fish tanks! The external "walls" you see added to my TS2 shell are all either actually half-walls, fences, or just windows placed with moveobjects, all of which are allowed within a standard shell challenge. It may seem like a cop-out, but it's more limiting/challenging than you'd think.

But enough preamble. Let's take a look inside!

The entrance is also a small gift shop. It seems like every aquarium I've ever been to has also sold jewellery. Don't ask me about my tiny penguin earrings.

I really wanted a "fish tank tunnel" vibe, and the effect was... almost perfect, lol. Close enough for a shell challenge IMO. I so so badly wanted to break my CC-free rule to place some fish shaders, but I'm glad I stuck to my guns because I think the solution I came up with looks goofy but effective. (Plus you wouldn't see them in build/buy anyway.)

Ooohhhh jellyfish tank ooohhhhhh they're so lifelike and graceful

I have my fun.

That little "airlock" room is a fun pirate-y undersea exhibit that connects to the outside and is probably where school field trips would loop around rather than heading upstairs.

Through the pirate's cabin is a touch pool and tactile play room where kids can inspect rubber anatomical fish models. I like to imagine the TV plays a short looping movie featuring a B-grade celebrity talking to a cartoon bass about the water cycle, fish spawn, and pollution.

The outdoor area is where the field trip groups would probably eat their packed lunches, fill out activity sheets, and take a commemorative photo with the world's worst greenscreen that's supposed to make it look like you're underwater but just ends up eating half your hair and shirt.

If you're not a student and you're just here for the love of fish, you'd probably head upstairs to get a closer look at the fish tunnel, smaller specialty tanks, and the squid/octopus models. (This room is technically considered outdoors thanks to the shell so tbh I'm not sure how lighting/temperature would behave during gameplay.)

The third floor has more tanks, some hands-on displays about aquatic plants and marine ecology, and finally a room with the actual floor-to-ceiling aquarium objects.

I thought this would be an interesting lot to run as an owned business, so I included a small employee area tucked behind the guest toilet block on the ground floor. It also helped to naturalistically answer "how would Sims feed themselves if their outing wouldn't stop complaining they were hungry," a concern I keep in mind whenever I make a lot I think would be a nice place to take a date.

And here's the floorplan! This lot had a pretty severe ugly stage but I'm really really happy with what we ended up with and the vibe I achieved without any CC. Hope you enjoyed reading this far and that it could give you some decorating inspiration!

[huckleberrykai]

okay HEAR ME OUT BEFORE U SAY ANYTHING OKIE?

meeting soobin at the gym

ITS NOT THAT REALISTIC BC HE HATES WORKING OUT AND STUFF BUT HEAR ME OUT

meeting him at the gym and seeing him train with taehyun but every so often he’s whining about wanting to go home and laying on the floor so dramatically saying he’s so tired. THAT IS. until he sees you walk in <3 perfect girl of his dreams and next thing you know terry’s in shock :O hyung i didnt know you could move like that AND ITS ALL BC HE WANTS TO IMPRESS YOU 😭😭😭😭

OH PLEASE THIS IS SO DUYGSKECN

sooby who gets DRAGGED to the gym by taehyun - something about him never getting out or training properly blah blah. soobin doesn't care, he's just praying the time flies so he can leave and get back to finishing his jjk marathon. and ur so right LOL he's absolutely sprawled on the floor and being dramatic jdsnkl

"but taehyunnnn my muscles are so sore.. please let me go homeee~"

then someone pops into his eyeliner above him~ "excuse me, are you okay? i need to use the machine behind you."

RUSHES to sit up because an actual angel just hovered over him trying to get to the treadmill behind him. "o-oh! i'm so sorry! i'll get out of your way!"

and when you smile and thank him, he's convinced he's just seen the prettiest smile in existence. he shuffles across the floor to allow you access to the treadmill and just... watches you. until taehyun yells at him to join him with the weights.

"oh hey taehyun!" you'd pant, mid-run. since you're both in there all the time you became gym friends! and soobin is immediately all >:(

"hi Y/N! i see you met my friend soobin already, we're gonna head over to the weights ☺️"

soobin is just like.. challenge accepted. taehyun is STRESSED when he sees soob running over to the weights that are directly in your eye line and tries to pick one up that is WAYYYY over what he can handle. it's almost endearing the way he tries so hard, and taehyun for one is proud of all of his sudden motivation 😌

its so obvious to you how hard he's trying, and how his eyes are glued to you whenever he accomplishes something, ears flaming red. when you decide to move off the treadmill to something else, you need some help so you ask taehyun to spot you as he usually does and- "oh i can help you Y/N!"

"soobin you've never even done that how the hell are you gonna help her?"

he's so embarrassed 😭 but it's okay because you thank him anyway and smile apologetically before letting taehyun help you. you watch him do all sorts of exercises with a pained expression and you can't help but laugh a little and send him encouraging comments - even when he tries to squat and loses his balance, landing flat on his butt.

when you leave, soobin is so sad - especially since taehyun wants to stay a little bit and they came together :( you politely bid them goodbye and soobin immediately starts complaining that he never told him his 'gym friend' was so beautiful hdjksl he just daydreams about you while laying on the floor tired until it's time to grab his bags and leave.

when they do though, soobin notices a little note stuck to his waterbottle~

soobin,

taehyun never said he had such a cute friend, i'm glad he dragged you along today. come back tomorrow and i could teach you how to squat without falling over this time >_<

p.s. i saw you staring at me the whole time~ text me and we can get coffee if you're interested :) xxxx - xxxx

-Y/N

he just about feels his heart beating out of his chest.. was it from you or from all the exercise? he'd have to find out :3

THIS BASICALLY TURNED INTO A DRABBLE LOL SORRY I GOT CARRIED AWAY MOON THIS IDEA IS SO CUTE I'M SO OBSESSED OOO UR BRAIN

[lettheladylead]

Hi! I was looking through Magica De Spell’s Wikipedia page today and it says that Magica has a sister named the Wicked Witch of the West, who has children named Witch Child and Warlock. I couldn’t find any information of them online so I was wondering if you knew anything about them, if they exist at all.

If they don’t, do you think you could instead do a character post on Magica’s cousin Matilda? Your old family tree posts helped me a lot in understanding Duck lore.

Aw I'm glad those posts help!! I'm still down for making them 'cause it's a lot of fun for me to find old comics and do some research.

So before I talk about Witch Child, I wanna clarify some things that are relevant to the character.

This is another case where Americans can't stop themselves from taking "sister" and "aunt" literally. Aunt can be used to refer to any older woman in someone's life. Sister is frequently used in stories about witches (because a coven is like a sisterhood/sorority, it's a whole thing). Neither imply blood relation! Even "cousin" is often used to refer to friends/neighbors. Different cultures and languages treat words like that very differently than Americans do.

Witch Child, Warlock, & Witch of the West are all from a very specific time period of Brazilian duck comics where Magica and Madam Mim (from The Sword and the Stone) were living together/dating/???? and interacted with other Disney movie characters. In this specific timeline, the ducks live amongst regular humans which is very strange but you just gotta accept it. Magica also lives in Duckburg I think? It seems like she and Scrooge just run into each other randomly so I believe she and Mim have a house in Duckburg for whatever reason

"Witch Child" is not her name and I don't know why she's referred to like that on InDucks/other wikias. Her name in Brazil (where she was created) is Magali, in Italian she's Maghetta/Maghina/Streghella (inconsistent names in translations are very common), and in French she's Seraphine. None of her comics have an official English publication so again idk where "Witch Child" comes from! But I'll probably refer to her as Streghella for the remainder of this post 'cause it's easier that way.

OKAY now for details:

In Streghella's first comic, Magica gets a letter from a friend asking her and Madam Mim to babysit her friend's daughter. Streghella is whiny and rude and a troublemaker. She ruins a magical career opportunity for Magica and it's pretty funny

Then there's a whole bunch of comics where she just appears for no reason, making trouble. She's a surprisingly powerful witch but she just loves to piss everyone off, especially Mim.

Another important note about Streghella - she was only really drawn by two comic artists during the height of her appearances (in the 70s, pretty much). The above drawings were all done by an artist named Jim Fletcher. But she had a lot of appearances drawn by an artist named Glenn Schmitz, who drew her completely differently.

I don't know if I would've realized these were even the same character if it wasn't documented lol but y'know they didn't have the same resources in the 70s that we have now so they did what they could.

Anyway, from what I can tell her personality stayed mostly in tact through most of these comics. Whiny, stuck-up, nosy, but also very funny and magically powerful. She would occasionally interact with Scrooge or HDL but mostly her appearances were in Magica and Mim comics.

Oh there's one comic where she looks like this for some reason?

BUT THEN what's interesting is Streghella making a few appearances years after her comics all came out. First there was one comic in 1995, then twice in 2011 and once more in 2016. There's also apparently a 2020 appearance but I couldn't get my hands on it :(

In her 1995 appearance she looks really cute but her personality is, well. Personality-wise she's completely unrecognizable. Now Magica makes comments about Streghella always trying to be good and getting in trouble for being good all the time.

(Ignore the bad english translation I was just popping pages into google translate lol)

She's still a troublemaker in the sense that she tries to trick Magica and Mim into consuming a potion that will make them good, kind people. But then the comic ends with Magica doing something nice by choice and it's cute but yeah the character is nothing like her original self.

Her first 2011 comic is where she...wants to go to a Jonas Brothers concert and chats with April May & June online to try and make it happen. Something like that. It follows along with "Streghella is too kind and Magica tries to teach her to be evil" from the '95 comic, but for some reason the colorist made Streghella a brunette. Idk! They also forgot her iconic hat!

Next 2011 comic has Huey Dewey and Louie accidentally traveling to a magic academy. It's very Harry Potter-y? I guess? Streghella is friendly and does some magic. You can tell it's her 'cause of the pigtails and bows. But still no hat :(

In her 2016 appearance, she's been reading April May and June's blog and wants to help them with some problem. Magica is like no be mean and Streghella's like no I want to help! You get it.

This comic is pretty fun. Magica turns herself into Grandma Duck and puts a truth potion into some cake Streghella bakes for the Duck Family and gets a bunch of secrets out of them.

There's also a joke at the end where Daisy accidentally reveals Brigitta's age to everyone (we don't get to see it) but according to this comic, Brigitta is much older than she looks lol Not that we didn't already know that.

Anyway so that's all there is to know about Witch Child/Streghella. She's cute!

Warlock time!

Warlock is Streghella's brother. He's only in four comics total and they're mostly very early comics - his real name is just whatever Streghella's name was at the time but with an -o at the end. If she's Maghetta, he's Maghetto. If she's Maghina, he's Maghino. You get it. He'd probably be Streghello if he had a named appearance more recently.

His personality is not very distinct from Streghella's. He's also magical and a troublemaker. In his first comic he arrives in the mail, in a, like...little jail cell? Crate? Idk? And then Magica and Mim eventually box both kids up into the crate and ship them away.

(Yes that's supposed to be him, apparently.)

He appears in the magic school comic as well...

And that's it! There's not really anything else to know about him.

Last but not least...the Witch of the West! Actually, that's a lie. Least. She appears just the one time. And I'm gonna be honest. I don't think she's the biological mother of these bird children.

'Cause yeah she's a human witch. Idk if she's from another Disney property or if she's supposed to be the witch from the Wizard of Oz. Idk man. But Streghella calls her "mama" and she refers to Streghella as her daughter so I'll take those ones literally.

There's nothing much to say about her - she doesn't have a name and all she does is drop her kid off with Magica and then reappear when Mim and Magica threaten to lock Streghella inside a bottle.

NOW if you're wondering...how do these characters connect to the previously known characters that are related to Magica De Spell?

They do not! The fact that Streghella has made a few recent appearances means you can decide how you want her to fit in, but trying to blend these different canons will not be seamless. You just gotta take what you like. Streghella frequently refers to herself as Magica's apprentice so you can always take that route, too.

Aaaaaaaaaand since you asked, I'm happy to talk about Matilda! God there are too many Matildas in duck comics. I have never met a woman named Matilda in my life. It's fine.

Matilda De Spell (not an official name but I call her that anyway) - Magica's teenage cousin! Is she actually, biologically, Magica's cousin? Probably not. But it's fiiiiiiine.

I did actually scanlate all three comics that Matilda appears in, so you can read them if you'd like:

There's not really anything to know about her outside of these comics. She's tomboyish, spunky, fun. Really looks up to Magica. I think their dynamic is fun and I always like to see more teen characters lol I think I've portrayed Matilda as Amelia De Spell's younger sister but that's definitely not canon, just me trying to stick the blondes together.

Anyway sorry this ended up being such a long response. I haven't had the opportunity to research random duck characters in a while. I hope this has the answers you wanted :)

[runnning-outof-time]

Free the Slave | Tommy Shelby x Reader

Request: no - written for @little-diable ‘s 14k Follower Celebration

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x Reader (AU)

Summary: (Y/N) becomes blinded by opportunity when mysterious preacher, Thomas Shelby, comes into her town that she doesn't see the bigger picture of what's going on at first. But when she’s shown it, she becomes even more intrigued.

Warnings: smoking, discussion of an attempted hanging, impersonation of a religious figure

Word Count: 3832

A/N: I’m…not exactly sure what this is. I struggled to write it because it’s so different from anything I’ve tried to write before, so I appreciate the challenge you posed, Chi (which congrats by the way 14 thousand followers is unreal!!) This is also the story that this moodboard was inspired by…I hope it lived up to the expectations. Enjoy! :)

A/N 2: the storyline in this is loosely based off of the show Damnation (which I really need to finish)…I pulled some plot points from it. It’s also inspired by KALEO’s song Free the Slave - I pulled a lot of the lyrics from the song and incorporated them into the story.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

Comment/Message me if you’d like to be tagged in future stories similar to this one!

"Dark days are coming," Thomas Shelby spoke in a firm, ominous tone as he looked out at the people who had gathered before him, "whether you want them to or not. They're coming for you; coming for everyone in this room. You will have to make the choice on whether you want to fight or take shelter and hide. But before you choose, remember this: he who takes shelter is often forgotten about...it is the man who fights for what he believes in that gets to tell his tale," he paused then, hearing sounds of agreement coming from the crowd.

Hearing these reactions spurred him on. This was what he craved; the response from those who so easily subscribed to his word. He held a confident expression as he looked out at the congregation, which was still buzzing over the words that he said. He knew that he had them in the palm of his hand.

"Those dark days are almost here!" his voice cut through the talk of the crowd, bringing the attention back on him, "it will soon be time for us to stand up and fight for what we believe. The day of reckoning is almost here. So I ask all of you...is your conscience clear?" he ended by raising his eyebrows as he asked the question, panning across the crowd one more time. "Think on that," he left the crowd with a parting sentence, leaving his sermon open for the next time he'd step up on the pulpit and speak.

He stepped away from it and was immediately stopped by members of the crowd who were eager to talk about what had just been said. Tommy didn't say much. Instead he nodded along as he listened to the excited conversations; something inside of him churning as he realized just how into his word these people were. He'd never met a more receptive crowd in all of his travels.

A woman standing in the corner of the room caught his eye as he 'listened' to another person drone on about their take on his sermon. He could care less about how they received it. All that mattered to him was that they listened. But this woman...she interested him.

And she stuck around; waiting until all of the other churchgoers spoke to the man who'd just delivered a moving sermon before she decided to approach him herself. "Preacher Shelby," she started off as she stopped in front of him.

"Hello," he greeted her with a nod of his head.

"I was really moved by what you said in your sermon today," she said to him, and unlike all of the other conversations Tommy had stood through before this one, he listened, "people around here are too afraid to be upfront and confront their fate. What you said was right...we can't just let it overtake us. We must do something about it."

"I'm glad to hear that you found meaning in my sermon," Tommy started, a sense of poise in his voice, "too often people hear the truth and want to run away from it."

"I won't run from it," she told him in an assured tone, her words making a look of intrigue form on his face. There was something about this woman. "Preacher Shelby, I think I can help you," she said then, tilting her chin slightly upwards to show the confidence that she had.

"You think so?" he questioned her, his eyebrows raised. She only nodded, biting at her cheek to contain the grin that was threatening to form on her lips. "What's your name then?" he asked her, his lips parted slightly as he awaited her response.

"It's (Y/N)," she happily shared with him, "(Y/N) (Y/L/N)."

"Well, (Y/N)..." he started off, giving her a once over before continuing, "I look forward to speaking with you in the future."

"As I with you, Preacher Shelby," she allowed her grin to surface, and it stayed present on her face as she stepped backwards, leaving the conversation so that she could turn and exit the meeting house.

Tommy watched her leave, even more so intrigued now than he was before. He didn't get too long to look at her fleeting figure though as another man had approached him and wanted to get into the deeper meanings of what he'd just spoken about...oh if that man knew that there weren't any to begin with.

It took twenty minutes until he was finally able to leave the meeting house. His car was the only one left in the lot, which made the slip of paper sitting on the driver's seat catch him completely off guard. He instantly reached for his revolver that was tucked away inside his jacket, brandishing it and doing a sweep over the land; making sure nobody was waiting to ambush him.

He opened the car door once he found that the perimeter was clear, grabbing the paper and opening it. There were two sentences written on it: meet me by the riverside later on today...I have things to tell you. — (Y/N). Tommy pursed his lips together as he read the note over again. What things could she have to tell me? he wondered to himself, looking up again to make sure that he was still alone and hadn't been drawn into a trap. The land around him was still empty; no trap had been set, which meant that this woman actually wanted to talk with him. And he was interested.

He got into the vehicle after stuffing the note into his jacket pocket and started it before lighting himself a cigarette. He then took a long drag and exhaled the smoke slowly before putting the car into drive and leaving the lot.

——

(Y/N) was already sitting on one of the rocks positioned by the river when Tommy's car pulled up to where she told him to meet her. She watched as he shut off the engine and exited the vehicle. "I'm pleased that you showed up," she stated as he walked over to where she was sitting.

"I'm interested in what you had to tell me," he said to her, his statement holding truth. He was curious about her.

"Have a seat," she told him, moving over on the rock so that there was enough room for him to sit.

He nodded before sitting in the empty space. He looked at her then, and when she said nothing, he began speaking, "what is it that you wanted to tell me?" he asked, cutting right to the chase.

"I need your help," she kept her first statement vague.

"With what?" he took the bait, his eyebrows furrowing together as he asked the question.

"With what they've decided to do to a man in town," her answer was still vague.

"What are they doing with him?" he asked another question, his patience slowly wearing thin. She asked him to come out here...he shouldn't be the one prying for answers.

(Y/N) took a deep breath, ready to explain everything now that she saw he was genuinely interested in what she had to say. "You may or may not know that there's a strike happening in town. The men are protesting the low wages and terrible conditions. A man named Harvey was asked to come back...the bosses told him that they'd give him an increased pay if he broke the strike and returned. He's hesitant, but he has to...he's got two young children to feed and another on the way. His family couldn't keep living on nothing. He was desperate."

"The point of this is...?" Tommy trailed off, a slight amount of confusion present in his voice. Why was she telling him this?

"They're going to hang him, Preacher Shelby," she dropped the bomb, her voice dire, "he's an honest man, and yet they're going to hang him. They say he isn't guilty, but that someone still has to pay. And they won't be pleased until it happens because they want to make a statement...to show everyone what happens if you stray from the cause."

"Why're you sharing this information with me?" he asked her, still trying to figure out where he fit into this situation. Sure, it shocked him to hear that this innocent man was going to be hanged for trying to provide for his family, but at the same time he'd personally taken down men for far lesser offenses.

"Because they'll listen to you," she wasted no time in answering him, her eyes showing how much emotion she had invested into this predicament.

"How can you be sure that they will?" he asked her another question.

"I saw how they listened to you today, as you spoke about the dark days that are upon us. I saw how they lined up to speak to you afterwards. They were moved by your words. What you say holds weight in their minds. They'll surely listen if you tell them that what they're doing is unjust. You just need to get them to see sense," she continued with her pleas, making a strong case for why he should stop them.

Tommy took a deep breath, fingers itching to pull the pack of cigarettes out of his jacket so that he could let the smoke clear his mind. He had little care about these workers' movement...their struggle wasn't affecting him, so why should he go and stick his neck out for a man he'd never met? But yet (Y/N) pleas were weighing on his mind. He wondered for a moment if that was because they solidified the fact that his plan was working, or if it was simply because of the woman who was making them. He'd met few like her in all of his travels.

"Say you'll help me, Preacher Shelby," (Y/N) spoke again after a few silent moments had passed. Her voice had gotten even more desperate in the time that had passed without a decision being made. She hated that she was stooping this low to a man who she'd just met earlier that day, but she had exhausted all of her other options. "Say you'll help this honest man and his family."

"What'll be in it for me?" he asked her then, tilting his chin up slightly as he asked the question that had been burning a hole in his mind since she made her case. It had been hard for him not to ask this earlier...everyone was motivated by something after all.

"Anything," she blurted out without second thought, "I'll give you anything you'd want if you can help this man."

Tommy clicked his tongue at her words, shaking his head slightly. Stupid girl, he thought to himself, making foolish deals with people she hardly knows. "It isn't smart of you to put the word 'anything' out on the table, love," he told her, "someone might just hold you to it," his words were said as a warning, hoping to get her to realize what she'd done.

"I'm desperate," she didn't take it back.

"I can see," he pointed out.

"Will you help me, Preacher Shelby?" she asked him again, no care for his ominous comments present in her words.

She's persistent...I'll give her that, he thought to himself as he thought her statements over. It was unlike his choices in the past, but something was telling him to help her. "I'll help you," he made up his mind, his words making her grab onto his hand and squeeze it out of appreciation.

"Thank you so much, Preacher Shelby. You have no idea what kind of service you is doing for this man and his family," she said to him, sharing her praise for his decision, "thank you," she uttered her thanks and squeezed his hand one last time before letting it go and fighting the embarrassment that was bubbling up in her from making such a brash decision to grab him.

"When is this happening?" he asked her, now wanting more details about the event he'd agreed to stop.

"I...I'm not sure yet," she hesitantly answered him, sheepishness present in the apologetic smile she sent him. She didn't think she'd get this far.

Great, Tommy thought to himself, wanting to bring his hand to his face in frustration, I've agreed to this and she has no bloody clue of the finer details.

"I could get you the information though!" she jumped to tell him before he could back out of the deal. "I mean it, I can find everything out and tell you as soon as I have it," she added, her desperation present once again.

"Ok," he nodded, making her sigh in relief. She was happy to hear that he was still interested. "I'm staying at the inn; room 273. Come there when you find any information," he told her then, hoping that she wouldn't question the fact that he didn't have a permanent residence in the town.

"I will," she nodded as well, "thank you so much, Preacher Shelby," she expressed her gratitude once again.

"Thank me when it's over," he told her, his voice unintentionally holding a grim tone.

——

(Y/N) rushed down the hall of the inn, intently looking at each of the number plaques until she found the one she was looking for. She'd visited this room only a few days ago, but today it felt like she couldn’t get to it soon enough.

She knocked on the door the instant she got to it, and after trying four times, it opened. "Preacher Shelby," she panted, having not quite caught her breath yet, "thank you," she added once she trusted her voice again.

"For?" he asked with furrowed eyebrows, slightly surprised by seeing her at his door.

"You told me to thank you when it's over," she reminded him of their conversation by the riverside, "it's over, so thank you."

Tommy nodded as what they spoke about came back to him. "There's no need to thank me, love...they backed down quickly once I reminded them that judgment would be brought upon them and they would be condemned for hanging an innocent man," he gave her a rundown of how things unfolded.

"So you'll forgive them, Father?"

"Why?" Her question surprised him.

"Because they know not what they do...they're only working for their cause. My goal was to make sure that my brother stayed alive. I didn't want them to be condemned," she said to him, her stomach doing flips at the idea.

"Your brother?"

"That man was my brother," she told him, nodding slightly to accentuate her point. "You stopped them from hanging him. He was able to go back to his family because of what you said."

"Condemnation is up to God to decide," Tommy told her, "have a good day, (Y/N)," he moved to wrap up the conversation, starting to close the door between them.

(Y/N) stopped it before it could latch. "Wait, Preacher Shelby," she said, sticking her arm between the door and the frame.

"What?" Tommy asked as he opened the door again.

"I want to follow your cause...to help out in any way that I can," she said to him, her eyes locked onto his as she spoke.

Tommy furrowed his brows at her statement, letting it sink in before he stuck his neck out into the hallway so that he could look both ways; checking to see if it was clear. Upon finding it empty, he grabbed her forearm and ushered her into the room. (Y/N) gasped at the suddenness, but didn't try to pull away. Instead she followed him in, letting him shut the door behind her before he moved to lean against the chest of drawers sitting on the opposite side of the room. Nothing was said as he grabbed his pack of cigarettes and took one from it, rolling it across his bottom lip before bringing a lighter up to strike it.

(Y/N) watched as he took a drag and exhaled the smoke slowly, letting it billow out around his face. The way he looked at her from across the room made her shudder involuntarily. It seemed as though he was sizing her up, and he was now surrounded by a darker presence, one that she'd never aliken to a man of God. It confused her slightly, but overall made her more intrigued by him.

"Did you hear what I said before, Preacher Shelby?" she asked him, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. "I said that I want to be invested in your cause...to support you fully. I offered you anything in return for helping my brother, and that offer still stands, although I don't think I could ever be able to repay you for it."

"You don't want to do that, (Y/N)," he told her, speaking in a low voice that caused another shudder to course through her. She saw that he was now gripping the top of the dresser, his knuckles white.

"Why not?" she asked, playing the innocent part to continue to - hopefully - get more answers out of him.

"Because I'm not the man you think I am," he started vague, looking her over once before he continued, "I'm no preacher, and I'm certainly not one who's cause you should invest your time into."

"Why shouldn't I?" she asked another question, still not deterred by his ominous answers.

"I'm a bad man, (Y/N)," he admitted, pushing himself away from the dresser so that he could take a few steps in her direction.

"You saved my brother's life. You must not be so bad," she pointed out, not backing down from him even though he was becoming more daunting with each step he took in her direction. She wasn't afraid though. He almost wanted to laugh at how innocent she sounded.

"Words weren't what got your brother spared...it was my actions that did. I threatened those men; told them that they'd face a worse demise than the man they'd accused if they went forward with it," he told her of how things really went down, moving closer to her as he spoke.

"I don't care how you did it," she said to him, holding her ground.

"You should," he responded, standing toe to toe with her now.

"I don't," she insisted, taking a moment to look him over. She could see his striking blue eyes now. The ice in them was evident and staring into them did not reveal what he was thinking. It did make her more entranced by him though; she’d never seen eyes that blue in her life. "I'm tired of living this life...I'm tired of having no say. You accepted my invite, listened to me, and then brought justice where it was needed. That stands for something. I want you to free the slave in me; to free me from this hell that I've been tangled up in," she said then, her eyes staying locked with his as she watched them flit down to her lips before trailing back up. Seeing that made a fire ignite inside of her, "you don't scare me, Mr. Shelby," she said to him, dropping the religious title but still addressing him formally.

"I don't?" he asked her, his eyebrows raised as he held his intent gaze on her.

"No," she shook her head ever so slightly, a grin ghosting on her lips, "you excite me," she admitted then, her eyes locked with his, watching for how he'd react to her confession.

A grin teetered on his lips as he heard what she had to say. "Excite you?" he questioned, humming to himself before he continued, "I do bad things, (Y/N)...it'd be wise of you to rethink what you've said," he warned her.

"I said I'd give you anything," she reminded him, holding her ground even though she felt like she was going to combust on the inside. These things he was saying were meant to ward her off, but they only made her want him more.

She'd had her eyes on him from the moment she entered the meeting house he was speaking at. No man she'd met in the past had ever come close to the way he was making her feel at that moment. Her learning of his true persona made him even more enticing; now she was just waiting for him to make a move, because it seemed as though he was sizing her up in the way that she'd been doing to him.

His eyes roamed her face once more before he finally spoke again, his words cutting the tension like a knife, "so then tell me, (Y/N)...where's your savior now, eh?" he asked her, his eyebrows raising as he waited intently for her response.

"He's right in front of me," she wasted no time in telling him before she couldn't resist herself any longer and went forward with reaching over to take hold of the sides of his neck so that she could collide their lips together in a haste kiss.

It didn't take long for Tommy to take over, moving her back so that she was pressed against the door, his hands gripping onto her hips as he kissed her with the same amount of intensity that she was putting into her efforts. Her hands roamed up to his head, knocking the peaked cap off so that she could grip onto to the longer stands of his cropped haircut. They kissed until their lungs were burning, and (Y/N) was the first to pull back for air, giving him the opportunity to press a few kisses to her jaw.

"Is there something other than preacher that I can call you?" she panted out, bringing her knee up to brush against his thigh, her actions making him groan in response.

"Tommy," he shared his name in between the kisses he'd been pressing against her skin.

"Tommy..." she tried it out for herself, loving how it rolled off of her lips, "I said I'd give you anything, Tommy...just free the slave in me, please," she finished her statement with a satisfied sigh before his lips found hers again.

"Be careful what you ask for, love," he cautioned her, but his words fell on deaf ears as she was already too far gone to heed to the warning.

It was too late to turn back now. There wasn't anything that he could say or do that would make her stray from him. She realized that she was getting involved with a man who was surely closer to the devil than he was to God, and that notion alone excited her. She was invested, and he was going to free the slave in her...starting with making her feel things she'd never felt in her life.

Tagged: @mgcldydrms @the-anxious-youth @cloudofdisney @look-at-the-soul @elenavampire21 @mrsalwayswrite @julkaamazing @evita-shelby @lilyrachelcassidy @notyour-valentine @shelbydelrey @december16-1991 @onlydeadcells @peakyswritings @just-a-blackhole @watercolorskyy @strayrockette @peakyduchesss @alexxavicry @captivatedbycillianmurphy @yummycastiel @dark-academia-slut @tommystargirl @stevie75 @lyarr24 @signorellisantichrist @zablife @anotherblinder @midnightmagpiemama @cillmequick @rangerelik @dandelionprints @letal-y-poetica @itscheybaby @gypsy-girl-08 @insanitybyanothername @depxiety @raincoffeeandfandoms @dragons-are-my-favorite @acewritesfics @forgottenpeakywriter @cilliansangel @cljordan-imperium @areyenotfondofmelobster @little-diable

MASTERLIST

Listen to the song Free the Slave by KALEO HERE.

[icedragonlizard]

How I can see Galacta Knight interacting with Kirby and some of the dream friends

I've recently developed a self-indulgent headcanon that sometime after the events of Heroes in Another Dimension, Hyness becomes generous enough to finally let Galacta Knight be free from the crystal he's been trapped inside of for so long. About time that he was let out!

I have some interpretations for dynamics that he could have with Kirby and some of the dream friends. Do note I said some of them, because as of right now I don't have ideas for how he'd interact with all the dream friends, but I'm glad to share the ideas that I do have!

Anyways, let's go over them.

Kirby: I can easily see a friendship here, as Kirby always tries to be everybody's friend! While I imagine Galacta Knight would be very irritable and temperamental as a result of traumatization from being trapped in crystal for eons, he'd most likely take well to Kirby a lot sooner than most others. The fellow younger pink puffball is hard to resist. And because Kirby is compassionate and empathetic, he'd feel terrible for what Galacta Knight has been through and would give him a very much needed hug that he's been so incredibly deprived of.

Meta Knight: Even though I don't commonly factor in extra mode content in my headcanons, I do canonize Meta Knight summoning a clockwork star and make a wish to fight Galacta Knight as something that happens in my verse. And that's exactly why I don't see these two getting along. Galacta was already messed up from being eternally stuck in crystal by that point, he's not happy that Meta just summoned him, beat him up, and left. He kind of holds a grudge against him for it. He'd most likely want to fight Meta for revenge if they encountered again, and it wouldn't help that Meta would just gladly take the challenge as an excuse for another fight. It'd take quite a while for these two to warm up to each other, as Galacta would certainly need some time to get over his bitterness for Meta.

Dark Meta Knight: This one is pretty interesting to think about. I think there's an actual, sincere possibility that Galacta and DMK could get along over them both sharing a distaste for Meta Knight. But... despite this possibility, I think the most likely outcome of this dynamic is that they'd both just fight and try to kick each other's asses. They're both temperamental assholes that easily lash out. DMK is largely stand-offish and rather bad at making friends, and I imagine that Galacta would probably distrust other knights in general because his encounter with Meta Knight left a foul taste in his mouth. If they were to see eye-to-eye, I think it'd take a while for it to happen.

Magolor: I actually headcanon that Magolor knows about Galacta Knight's existence because the Lor Starcutter has information on him. Galacta was in Halcandra before, allowing the Lor to detect him and store him into her memory, and that's what made it possible to make a mask based on him in Merry Magoland. Anyways, I believe that Magolor would be giddy and excited to meet Galacta in person. He'd love to learn more about him and show all his merch to him. I feel like Galacta would be weirded out by Magolor at first due to his over-the-top eagerness to know him, but I could see him eventually coming around and even taking well to the wizard's whimsical nature. Magolor could also amaze Galacta with his comically big ultra sword.

Susie: I've noticed that Galacta Knight and Susie have many things in common: being largely pink, both have had extremely long-term trauma (Susie stuck in Another Dimension, Galacta stuck in a crystal prison) and they've both got a large knack for violence. I think it's very possible they could bond or at least get along over these things. Pink bitches named breakfast! I believe that much like Magolor, Susie would also be very excited to meet Galacta. She'd find him to be even cooler than Meta Knight, especially delighted that he's pink! Galacta would probably be quite off-put by her at first, but I could see him coming around to like her for a mutual love of pink and also liking all the tech stuff she does. I hc Susie is past mechanizing people, so no worries about Galacta being a robot here. I think they could get on!

Marx: When Marx first learned about the Meta Knight vs. Galacta Knight incident and that it involved a clockwork star to let the fight happen, it caught his attention. He pestered Meta about the details as he was curious to meet Galacta himself, which he'd then have the chance to do so after Galacta is free from crystal post-HiAD. Anyways, I imagine the dynamic between Marx and Galacta to be rather complicated. It'd likely be tense at first, since Marx might be insufferable enough to ask a bunch of obnoxious questions in regards to the allegations of "greatest warrior of the galaxy", which would prompt Galacta to skewer him on the spot. I know I said that Galacta could maybe come around to Magolor for being whimsical, but Marx is a bigger handful by comparison that'd be harder to warm up to. I think it's not impossible for Galacta to eventually come to like Marx, but it'd take a long time to get there, and would hate him at first.

Ribbon: Ribbon would most likely be mind-blown by Galacta Knight. I'm not sure there's much else to say in that regard. This knight is pink just like Kirby, and look at that weaponry and armor! She'd compliment him like nuts. I think Ribbon is someone that Galacta could come to like faster than many others. She's very nice, compassionate and loves pink! Galacta might have difficulties in getting along with people in general right after being freed of crystal because he needs time to recuperate and heal, but he could warm up to Ribbon a lot quicker than he could to most other dream friends.

The Mage Sisters: Considering that I headcanon Hyness freeing Galacta Knight, I imagine that made the cult leader's daughters become interested in meeting him shortly after. I think the first impressions wouldn't be great as Galacta would want some time to himself initially, but I think he'd probably be able to come around to find these women to be alright. Zan Partizanne and Flamberge might be a little obnoxious with how much they'd like to spar with him, but otherwise I think he'd come to take a liking to their fighting spirits and capacity to cause extreme chaos and violence. He's known Hyness for a long time, so he'd be able to reveal a lot of stuff to them.

Those are all the dream friends that I got stuff for in terms of interacting with Galacta Knight. Sorry I couldn't do them all as of this time. I currently can't think up stuff for how the heck he'd interact with King Dedede, Bandana Waddle Dee, Taranza, Daroach, Adeleine, Gooey and the animal friends. But hope you enjoy what I do have here!

Like stated above in the stuff I put forward, the idea of both Magolor and Susie having a big fascination for Galacta Knight is pretty humorous. Heheheheheheheh.

[theboredinsomniac]

Maybe in Wonderland • part 1

pairing: dbf!Joel Miller x reader

summary: You get your dream internship for the summer so your parents throw a little party to celebrate the news. While you have your eyes on a guy from the neighborhood, Joel tries to convince you that maybe he's not the best choice for you.

warnings: age gap (reader in early 20s, Joel in late 40s), no outbreak

word count: 2k

story masterlist

note: I created a secondary blog to get back into the writing game. What do you think? This is a slow burn so far. I don't know how slow it's gonna be.

You knew that Joel Miller had been stuck in his empty nest syndrome ever since his daughter Sarah moved out after graduating from college two years ago. Since then, he and your father had spent a lot of time together, mostly because his younger brother was more focused on his new wife, Maria, so they didn't hang out as much as they used to.

Your father had been trying to convince him to go out more, meet new people, meet nice women, and take them out on dates. Hell, his own brother even lured him to a double date with a friend of Maria's, but Joel was not interested.

If there was one thing anyone should know about this man is that ever since it became crystal clear for everyone that he wasn't about to get back into the dating game, women had been throwing themselves at him left and right, taking conquering his heart as a challenge. He was in his late forties, hair and beard already graying, but it only made his Southern charm even more appealing.

Yes, you also found him handsome, and yes, you did toy with the idea of what you would do if you ever had him in your grasp. All this despite the big age difference, as you were still going to university, and that you were a few years younger than his daughter. It would have been weird to have anything to do with him, and you doubted he saw you as anything other than a daughter figure, so you put this thought aside.

Things changed a year later, when your dad threw a party for a few family friends to celebrate your summer internship at a big consulting firm. There was a truly hot guy you've been flirting with for a while who was supposed to attend as well, so you put on your best dress, added some light makeup, then went down to the backyard to mingle with the crowd, hoping he would show up as promised.

At one point, as you poured yourself a drink, you noticed Joel watching you while he was talking to someone, his eyes scanning your body with no shame. At first you thought you were wrong, that you were imagining things, but then he flashed a strange, almost flirtatious smile at you before turning his attention back to the couple he was talking to.

It wasn't all that new. There had been innocent touches during conversations, bear hugs that were warmer than the ones your friends gave you, but your brain always labeled them as acts of kindness, not as flirting. What if you've been wrong all along? Shaking your head, you tried to get this out of your mind. No. He was just friendly.

“Here you are,” Scott said when he stopped next to you with a hand resting comfortably on the small of your back.

You didn't even try to hide the wide smile that showed on your lips upon hearing his voice. “I was beginning to think you wouldn't come,” you lied with a laugh as you touched his upper arm. “But I'm glad you're here.”

Scott looked down at you with those adorable hazel eyes of his, taking in every little detail of your face as if that was the first time he saw you from up close. “I wouldn't miss this. Congrats again. You deserved that spot,” he told you with a smile that matched yours.

Things were so easy with him. The conversations were seamless with no awkward silences, and the way he looked at you gave you butterflies. He was working at a law firm, and he had a wonderful career ahead of him based on the reviews he got from his boss.

You were both career-driven, a trait you truly appreciated about him because this way he understood why you were so keen on getting a good job at a good firm during the summer and after college. Your parents loved him, especially your mom, who was already complaining about Scott dancing around you without asking you out on an official date. You didn't care. He just needed time.

“So how are things going at work? I haven't heard from you in a while,” you said with a dramatic pout.

He looked down at you tight-lipped, as if he was trying to decide how to answer you without saying something he shouldn't. You wondered what it was all about, but all of your worries were blown away when he said, “Tough cases we're working on. I'm not happy about who we're defending, but that's part of the job, I guess.”

For a moment you were afraid to find out he had a secret girlfriend. How silly of you. “That must be hard. But I'm sure you'll handle it,” you told him cheerfully.

“Hey, I'll go say hi to an old neighbor then I'll come back and find you, okay?” he suddenly said as he waved to someone behind your back.

“Sure,” you replied with a kind smile. “I'm not going anywhere.”

Once he left, you gravitated toward your parents, seeking comfort in the familiar faces while you waited. As you took a sip of your drink, you noticed the look your mother was giving you, the silent inquiry about your conversation with Scott. You shook your head and turned your attention to the ongoing conversation.

After a minute or two, one of the neighbors in that circle turned to you and said, “Your parents are pretty proud of you. But I can't blame them, I wish my daughter was more like you,” she said with a sigh that made your father laugh.

“Oh, did I arrive just in time for praising her?” you suddenly heard Joel's raspy voice before you felt his arm wrap around your shoulder.

You blushed, not at all happy about this sudden wave of attention from everyone. Sure, it was a party your parents threw to celebrate you, but you didn't expect people to actually care about it. And here was Joel, sounding excited to join the conversation.

Maybe a little too excited.

“I was just saying that her parents have every reason to be proud of her,” that neigbor who had talked before enlightened Joel.

He looked down at you with a wide grin. “Aren't we all proud?” he asked, his hand gently squeezing your shoulder. “I always knew she was the smart one in the family–no offense,” he added with a wide smile as he turned to your parents.

Your father waved his hand nonchalantly. “None taken, especially when you're saying the truth,” he said.

All this praise was getting to your head, so you looked up at Joel and went, “How's Sarah? Does she like her new job?”

The sudden change of topic surprised him, but his features quickly softened as he thought of his daughter. “She loves it. I know everything about what she does and what her co-workers are up to thanks to her detailed reports,” he replied proudly.

You couldn't help but smile at this. You hoped you could tell your parents just as much about your summer job when you get to it, and that they would be just as supportive and proud as Joel was with Sarah. Your relationship was wonderful with your parents, but work hadn't been something you discussed among yourselves before.

“I'll go get another beer,” you said when you noticed your cup being empty.

Joel raised the bottle he had in his hand and noted that it was also empty with a long sigh. “Guess I'll need another one, too. Come on,” he told you, guiding you towards the house.

The two of you walked in silence with Joel's hand still resting on your shoulder as he navigated through the small groups of people with ease. He only let go of you when you reached the empty kitchen and he opened the fridge to get two bottles from it. Meanwhile you were one step ahead, waiting for him with an opener in hand.

“Thanks,” was all Joel said before he leaned against the kitchen island and took a sip of his drink, his eyes fixed on you.

You tried to enjoy your drink, but your thoughts were bouncing around in your brain as you thought of Scott possibly looking for you in one moment, then about the way Joel's eyes were burning a hole in you in the other.

You wanted to be out in the backyard again, just to see if he really was looking for you, but at the same time you wanted to stay inside and find out what was up with the man in front of you. It was confusing, and you really didn't know what to do.

“What's going on between you and that Scott kid?” he suddenly asked. You raised a brow, trying to decide if you heard him right. Was it him asking, or was he just voicing your parents' question? “I saw you two being deep in a conversation.”

Taking a deep breath before exhaling slowly, you thought about how to answer it. There wasn't much to say since he was keeping his distance. “Nothing, really,” you replied with a hint of disappointment in your voice.

Joel picked up on it, because he put down the bottle and crossed his arms over his chest. “Maybe it's better this way,” he noted quietly, earning a confused look from you. “He's known for being a player. I don't know what he told you, but he has a new girlfriend every other week. His mother is so done with his behavior that she has been bugging him about settling down finally.”

You could feel a panic attack crawling closer and closer to you as you listened to Joel. Could it be true? Sure, you remembered seeing him with different girls when he still lived at home with his parents, but that was three years ago, he probably changed since then. He had a serious job, it surely changed him.

“You don't believe me?” he asked with a frown, looking slightly offended.

Shaking your head, you said, “It's not that I don't believe you, I just… I don't know. I kinda want to see where this could go.”

Joel closed the small gap between you and stood only one step away from you. “He doesn't deserve you. He might seem like a good catch, but trust me, he's not. You deserve better,” he added softly with a look in his brown eyes that you couldn't really decode.

You gulped then nodded. What else were you supposed to do? Licking your lips, you broke eye contact and looked down at your shoes, your heart beating a mile a minute. Things only got worse when he reached out to swipe a strand of hair behind your ear.

For the second time tonight you thought he was flirting with you. Something told you that his words could be translated to him being a better choice than Scott, but at the same time your rational mind was trying to convince you that you were dead wrong. He wouldn't flirt with you. You were to young for him.

Right?

When you looked at him again, you noticed that his lips were slightly parted as he watched you, seemingly lost in his thoughts. You didn't know how much time passed with the two of you looking at each other in silence, but it didn't really matter. You were too afraid to move, to break whatever spell this was, and you wanted to see what his next move would be.

“I shouldn't. Fuck,” he suddenly muttered to himself as he buried his hand into his hair and walked away from you.

You were frozen to your spot by the counter, having a hard time understanding what he was talking about. “You okay?” you asked innocently, as if your underwear wasn't already soaking because of the tension between the two of you.

Joel looked at you, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. “Yeah, everything's great,” he replied, obviously lying. “I'm sorry. I should go home.”

Nodding, you bit on your lower lip and watched as he walked outside, probably looking for your parents to say goodbye. And there you were, leaning against the counter as you tried to slow down your heart rate. What the hell had just happened?

[julijbee]

Id love to hear your review of the dlc and your alternate plot ideas if youre willing to share! The plot seemed. questionable

i am so glad you asked (evil smile). so i'm going to spoil the whole dlc, even irrelevant things that aren't "main story" plot that you'll probably want to experience on your own if you're still playing so proceed with caution. also this is entirely opinionated and you'll likely have a different opinion from me and that's fine. my opinions aren't objective fact they're just how i feel.

also if you are familiar with the plot of elden ring, particularly to do with miquella, as well as the plot of the dlc, you know what content to expect. if you are new to this content and have no idea- first of all what are you doing here? second of all i'll be discussing incest and sexual assault. peace and love, enjoy my 5,920 word review.

I played the dlc as a NG+, FAI/DEX build using vyke's spear, godskin peeler, and bloodhound's fang, and used my incantations for both buffs and attacks and switched them often. summoned mimic, always wore pot on my head, and favored light/med carry weight.

:D

GAMEPLAY (not story, just scroll if you only care about story)

so i'm going to start with reviewing the gameplay first because unlike the story section this is more positive, and while less people probably care about this, I DO!! i've been playing fromsoft's games for years and its because i enjoy them and think playing them is fun, that the stories they tell have resonated with me and i liked (most of... .. .) them has been a happy bonus. my honest opinions about the gameplay difficulty is that at this point in my souls playing hobby i think i've finally become one of those really annoying people who has no real idea of how hard the game actually is. with the exception of a few bosses, i thought the dlc was easier than expected, and i sometimes found myself wishing i found some of the earlier bosses more challenging, because those were objectively more fun fights than the later ones. i think the scadutree fragments are a really interesting way to both:

a: help players control the difficulty of the dlc, collecting more if they are stuck somewhere, or abstaining from use if they want more of a challenge

b: encourage exploration of their very vertically dense dlc map

it both maintains that idea thats vital to elden ring's formula, that the open map allows for you to explore and level up before attempting a boss again, but also ensures that you can find those levels you need without having to grind too hard in a smaller dlc area, and aren't kept from the main story for too long. i really enjoyed this, and honestly the side stories were the only things keeping me playing once i realized what the main story was doing, and all the life was slowly sapped from my body.

i am pretty sure at this point in time that i have completed most of the bosses- i think i am missing one of the four mausoleum bosses and i think i skipped one of the dragons on the way to bayle because i was sick of fighting so many dragons in a row, and i'm sure i've missed some mini bosses or areas, especially in the rauh area which i am guilty of sprinting through at a certain point.

with the exception of the final boss and bayle, i enjoyed the bosses in this dlc. the thing with the difficulty of these games is that in the past a lot of the difficulty spikes between games comes down to movement speed of player and bosses, and the effects this quicker and quicker timing has on the gameplay. they've also introduced some combat enhancements or tried out some ideas like weapons arts in ds3. (in non-souls games you have a lot more variations on the formula, with bloodborne's parry mechanics and less of a reliance on the character builds and armors, sekiro's systems being something that almost felt like you had to relearn how to play their games)

elden ring complicates this formula even further by introducing an expanded and much more practical system for weapon arts, a shit ton more weapons and armors, faith and int builds that are finally viable, and consistent boss summons with the spirit ashes. i'm both impressed that the game maintains the challenge of prior titles and even has some bosses that well outdo their difficulty, and also remains fun to play. the dlc maintained this FOR THE MOST PART, but with bayle and the final boss this kind of stumbled.

the problem i was shocked elden ring didn't already have was that when you're already going as fast as seems feasible, how do you augment the difficulty to give new challenges, and how do you make something fresh within this old formula. their bosses are difficult, but for the most part they're fun, and you can get to a point where you make that call of okay, this is hard but this is possible, or no this isn't possible right now, i need to change my strategy or level up or something else. the dlc was very fun to me because i was able to utilize the full arsenal of things id acquired over the course of my two prior playthroughs of the base game. if i had trouble with a boss, i realized at some point that i had plenty of viable builds i could apply to my character that better suited the boss. i switched between weapons, swapped out miracles, did some experimentation with the talismans and armor, and it felt a lot like fun trial and error to see which build would work, and very rewarding when it finally did!

bayle and the final boss felt kind of like they knew they were obligated to be crazy difficult, but they couldn't quite iron out how to do that without it being ridiculous. bayle less so than the final boss, but i feel like the warning for the final boss was there in bayle. he was whispering to me hey, hey, watch out. you know i cant be the worst, you know that final boss will be worse. also bayle gets a bit of a pass because he was a side story boss (i appreciated that the main story was a little bit easier than the side stories, because obviously you want your players to be able to get through the main stuff, with the side stuff being the extra. i personally liked that. anyways.) i did not have fun playing the final boss and it wasnt just the psychological damage (though that made me want to stop trying way more than the difficulty did tbf.) so far as gameplay is concerned i really enjoyed the dlc and i had a lot of fun exploring and fighting my way through it, there were some beautiful areas that made me excited to look at the concept art, and the weapons and new systems they added were a lot of fun when i tested them out. if it were just this gameplay i would be happy with the dlc and would probably still be playing it now.

THE STORY REVIEW. (hell.)

what makes me mad is that to some extent they gave me what i wanted. if you look back through my old posts or have the displeasure of knowing me in real life and heard me gushing about this, you already know some of my dlc wishes came true!

some of my dlc wishes:

i wanted new flowers to pick (small fish all things considered)

i wanted a boss with a large spear to skewer me in the air like a kebab

i wanted more frenzy content

i wanted some kind of resolution or at least some mention of godwyn's situation

i wanted miquella's gender to be unambiguously weird

i wanted miquella to be evil

i wanted more explanation for marika's whole "deal"

i wanted dumb melodramatic dlc npcs that are doomed to die horrible dlc deaths but one of them must be unspeakably snatched while doing so.

let sword freak (denoted by a line i heard from one of the dlc trailers) be a woman

please let the bewitching branch item description not imply what i think it implies about miquella and mohg

so. if you know the story you will already notice some red flags. i'll start with some positives

i really enjoyed my little dlc npcs, hornsent was the only thing carrying me through the middle-end section of the main story as i was buffeted on all sides with the terrible realization that they were going the exact direction that i begged and pleaded they would not go. i loved the heightened role the npcs played in the story, how frequently i was able to check in with them and have new little dialogues or tidbits, and i love that there are absolutely batshit unhinged women in this dlc and i am so happy there are more than one. in no particular order, things i really liked about the npcs:

hornsent is my sweet cheese he is my guy. i was really rooting for him and as someone who went into this dlc as an attached weepy miquella fan, i was on his side before the dlc killed my hopes and dreams and dashed them against the rocks. character who abandons all sense of self and personhood to become the embodiment of their hurt and rage? faceless formless gnarled twig of a character with desiccated bugs all over his face? character who i can feed soup to? character who somewhat hates me? character who made me laugh following the messmer fight by calling him "your ugliness"?? his death was inevitable and i accepted it, because i agree with him. miquella should not take his revenge from him, there will be no forced absolution nor "gentle kindness" imposed upon him. this was the evil miquella i wanted, the god so compassionate that no discord nor hate could exist under his rule, and all will be enveloped in kindness. it is horrifying to discard the self when the self is entirely made of hurt, and it is horrifying to be robbed of personal agency. anyways i love hornsent.

freyja is so gleefully ready to commit unspeakable acts of violence and so genuinely happy and excited about it that it makes me squeal. i love a character that is so excited to punch things that they cant keep it to themselves. they are happy and thrilled to be in the dimension of violence and strife. and she's so nice! usually you see these people falling into the edgelord stereotype which i am not particularly fond of unless they're especially pathetic and camp about it, but she was just a joy to interact with. when she told me not to worry if we were to fight on opposing sides, she would gleefully meet my blade and it would be an honor to do so, i wasnt even sad! yeah! it will be fun freyja, thank you. little bit soured to her towards the end there where she learned about the incest plot and had no other reaction to that other than to be excited radahn would be back, but to be fair to her why would she give a shit about this. sure, freyja. i'm happy for you, glad you're enjoying this dlc.

speaking of unhinged women, leda is despicable. i love her. the point that she sees nothing wrong with herself or her actions is integrated into even the most inane little dialogues, the one that stuck with me was her explanation of the war with the hornsent- she said they were the losing side of a war, and it was a terrible shame what happened to them, but they were no victims. (they had it coming. further than that, it was right that they were the ones to lose, winning holds significance in terms of showing divine favor and justice. its a terrible shame what "happened" to them (passive word), but they were not victims, the actions of marika and messmer's army were somehow vindicated in their actions). she's another look at what i had hoped for with my evil miquella point. i will expand on this when i start ranting about miquella so put a pin in this for now.

moore. another point into the miquella as a refuge category, or miquella as the water that washes away, and provides absolution. outside of that though i'm always somewhat on my guard with a character who has a speech impediment and seems to have some kind of cognitive disability, but he made me happy to talk to. i don't know if what i'm feeling is unsure about how he's written, or just wishing for more from him, but the exchanges you have with him where its clear his motivations are intensely people-pleasing, and that he is honestly very sad as a person made me sad :( hes a big guy, and dangerous in a fight (as i figured out pretty fast after he downed me with scarlet rot) so its difficult to minimize this outward appearance to keep oneself a: safe and b: friendly or pitiable enough to others that they offer the sort of protection necessary in numbers in the situation he finds himself in. i think he makes sense as a character, and i think hes very concerned with the opinions of others and his helpfulness to them and his perception. and while i think the kindness and generosity is learned and a necessity, i also think he's just genuinely a kind person, which is why he's relying on his strengths like this. anyways, sorry moore. :(

igon is way too much and i'm so glad he's real. i genuinely cracked up when i summoned him for the bayle fight and cackling at him got me killed. i wasn't expecting him to scream his little heart out and then keep going. and then keep going again. he won't stop it's spectacular. another thing of note is that he didn't get a single hit off that entire fight for me, drawing his bow took too long, and he spent most of that fight flat on his back with the damage counter going up. it just made his shouting even funnier, i wasn't even mad he was awful as a summon, he was so funny i was just glad he was there as a morale boost. also appreciate that dragon priestess seemed pretty done with him. i hope everyone else can appreciate his autistic charm with me.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT MIQUELLA NOW.

so i want to set the context for my dlc experience properly so everyone can understand where i'm coming from, because miquella was already a delicate character to like, and how they're a radioactive trash fire that's trying to kill me.

(also dlc confirms he/them miquella alongside he/him base game and she/her trina so you'll note the pronouns shift around. it's a little complicated given the whole trina splicing and diverging of identities thing so it'll be inconsistent, but hopefully everyone can tell who i'm talking about as i'm talking about them.)

having a character who is unspeakably old, but also has the physical appearance of an 8 year old is a red flag so large that anyone could see it, and i knew this from the moment i started picking up their lore in earnest. IN THEORY this could be a very compelling character, it has been done a couple times before well, and countless times before very poorly. i was not optimistic, and already in the base game his character was not treated as well as i would have preferred, but i was coping.

having someone who is trapped by their own body, or confined by both the perceptions of- and the realities of their body can be a compelling character. having someone who's life is impacted by perceptions of, judgements upon, limitations thereof of their body tends to be a character that i gravitate towards because surprise, this can be relatable for a lot of people- and a lot of different types of people. whatever allegory you're applying to this narrative of the disconnect between the body's presence in the world and the world's treatment and expectation of the body, i'm sure you can tell there's a broad scope of applications there. and then you add on this element where they're present in the realm of dreams. the implications of a god who walks dreams, the realm of the subconscious free of expectation and limitation, and then also is trapped by both a cursed body and the weight of duty, faith, and expectation, i enjoy these dynamics, i really do. it only helped that their gender was weird, and he walked dreams as a girl.

and the thing is, i've wanted him to be evil, i wanted him to be evil so bad you have no idea. not just because (by base game assumptions...) evil had been done to them, and theevil was a reaction to this, no! there was always something wrong with them, he was always scheming, they didn't turn evil.

the haligtree and their actions in going against the golden order are calculated- do i think their aspirations are better than his mother's? maybe? i think it's more the order he instates has the possibility of being better as a side-effect of his actions and they would have gone forward with their own ambitions with or without this possibility of things being measurably better. taking in a class of people subjugated by the current order to build their armies feels a bit cynical and calculated, no?

the second huge red flag was the bewitching branch item description. at first i was a bit thrilled, there! i said, there is the canon justification for my somewhat unfounded hopes for evil miquella! the suggestion that he is able to meddle with emotions and perceptions is a pretty troubling trait to have! especially by a character who is spoken of with both love and to a smaller degree hatred and fear! and then i spent longer than a few seconds thinking about this and was immediately worried about the implications that had on the mohg issue.

THE MOHG ISSUE.

so first things first, the existence of the dlc does not mean that suddenly mohg isn't bad gay rep anymore. like let me be clear here, for two years we had a gay pedophile in our triple a title who kidnapped his little brother for pretty unambiguously sexually charged reasons, the fact that the dlc seems to tack on an addendum of "oh by the way its actually not his fault and he didn't choose to do that" doesn't suddenly erase those two years, and the initial judgements a new player or someone who is unfamiliar with the lore might make. like that's bad, guys, that's pretty bad. i was really disappointed at the time that they had included this character archetype- moreso because i was a fan of their previous games that had their little nuggets of queer representation, and i made the mistake of expecting better from the developers and writers.

i was also mad because they didn't have to write it this way, this was a choice they made to include this, and it's my preference to not enjoy it, but it wasn't necessary at all. if the plot necessitated that something go wrong with miquella's cocoon and initial schemes for god pupation, it didn't have to be that his half brother kidnapped him.

(my borderline au content writing no one asked for: an alternative that i was fond of at the time (B.D., before dlc) was that proximity to malenia's rot could have caused him issues. you still have the issue of something has gone wrong, miquella remains asleep and rots in his cocoon, but you also have this element of the potential guilt on malenia's end- that would be incredible guilt to know she was at fault for the failure of all they had been working towards, and the added grim irony that (as we figured at the time) in shedding his curse in order to help her shed hers, she unintentionally sabotaged him by staying so close to "guard" him. it also involves malenia more in the game story, which was something i had hoped for a bit more of from the base game anyways.)

my concern over the bewitching branch lore can be summed up by saying this. having someone the story paints as the victim suddenly revealed to have wanted it all along, and been the instigator behind the assumed assault is shitty. it's just shitty. and i'll admit i might be more sensitive to this topic than the average elden ring player, so this is all colored by my opinions and biases, but it's bad taste. it's not a fun surprising revelation, it's not a plot twist you feel particularly excited about, you feel bad, and then you feel confused. I like the lore of elden ring, i've spent a lot of time reading it and speculating on it, and it is confusing why miquella would be the one to instigate their own kidnapping and assault.

you would assume that their intended plan would be the plan A he was going with, stay in the cocoon, do his thing, remain in the haligtree so it is sustained and they are safe within it, let malenia handle the defense and conquest while he naps, wake up at some undetermined date with his goals achieved (whatever those mysterious goals may be) and continue on with later stages of their plans. and you would assume that being ripped from the haligtree and doused in blood in a basement somewhere was not within the bounds of his plan A. part of why i dared to hope that i was reading too much into the potential mind-control thing was because it didn't seem like mohg's actions were benefiting miquella's plan in any way- it seemed pretty bad. the haligtree was dying, malenia was rotting, their body looked to be in pretty awful shape, and even their allies did not know where he was.

BACK TO THE DLC.

the dlc did not really expand the context in a way that made this make sense to me. context that he was discarding his body entirely made sense for miquella's character, and if they didn't care about the state of their body, i guess he wouldn't care that his body was taken from where it was abandoned- but it didn't seem like that was their intention to abandon his flesh from the start? or if it was, that they placed his flesh within the haligtree for a reason, and i'd assume he'd have wanted it to stay there. if they were concerned that his flesh was no longer safe in the haligtree and wanted it spirited away by any means necessary (i.e. "kidnapping"), first off i'm unsure of the danger that would cause that, but second off if he didn't care about their flesh- see earlier point- why would they care if it was endangered within the haligtree enough to have it kidnapped? so, this already doesn't make sense to me, and the added justification of oh, he just has the hots for their brother, this isn't satisfying to me. sure i don't enjoy it as a story element in general, but past that it just doesn't feel like a satisfying justification in context. he's ambitious and he's seeing his ambitions through by any means possible, why would they act in this selfish manner that seems to be detrimental to their own ambitions?

issues with the sense of the mohg situation aside, why radahn? the justification given in item descriptions and dialogue states that miquella found him sure and kind and worthy of being a lord in contrast to the conflict, fragmentation, and personal afflictions they were facing, but. why radahn? i liked radahn, i'll gladly point out that yes, he does seem to satisfy all of these character traits, but there isn't any established context between them. miquella doesn't interact with radahn in the base game, malenia dooms him to walk the battlefield addled by scarlet rot and reduced to an empty husk, and if it was miquella's intent to have him be their consort from the start, this paints malenia in a pretty negative light, no? we were led to believe they were a united front, her and miquella, that many of his actions were for her benefit, and they worked so hard in part because of his desire to cure them BOTH of their afflictions, especially and explicitly her affliction. so she's sabotaged miquella's plans? for what reason, did she not agree with it, did she hate radahn? there's no explanation given for this, like how there is no further explanation as to why it is radahn miquella is so hell bent on bringing back to life.

which is odd when you consider that there is another demigod who meets miquella's criteria, was definitely loved by miquella, seemed to be loved by malenia, seems to be depicted in the haligtree, and miquella was previously confirmed to have been trying to bring back to life. where the hell is godwyn?

let me clarify here, i do not like this plotline they have created where miquella apparently has the hots for every other brother in his family, i don't tend to appreciate incest as it occurs in stories, and if it were my choice i would just choose not to include it. i also understand that plenty of people don't care about that, and that media like game of thrones that features incest pretty prominently within the story is beloved by mainstream audiences. i am also aware of the historical trend of royalty being inbred and incest existing on a sliding scale of taboo through the millennia. the greek gods are all siblings, i still enjoy greek myths, etc. etc.. so if i were the sole writer for elden ring and was beholden to no one the story i would write would diverge from the current canon and i would not write myself into a position where miquella is marrying their brother because personally i do not enjoy this. this is not the reality we live in, and this is not the story we got.

within the framework of their story, it should have been godwyn, and i have no idea why it wasn't. i can speculate all i want, was it misplaced fanservice because people liked radahn? was it a plot twist executed poorly, is there some other reason im missing but someone else has pieced together and they'll call me an idiot over? i don't know, and i also sort of don't care, it doesn't make sense, and it also disregards a lot about radahn's character than i and others liked to get him to fit into this weird situation.

where is his horse? if miquella cared for him, and they were able to bring back a whole demigod, was it so impossible to resurrect his beloved horse? if miquella didn't care about him enough to bring back his horse, wouldn't radahn put up a fuss about that? if miquella was controlling him to agree to being his consort, and didn't allow for him to be concerned about his horse, this raises a few more questions about malenia fighting radahn and destroying all of caelid- and likely everywhere else if the fires at the borders of caelid ever go out. was he always controlling radahn, were they ever controlling radahn? what are the limits of this control, what are the rules, if any? there are too many frustrating elements that make very little sense about radahn.

conversely, these elements make a lot more sense when applied to godwyn, and it pisses me off that it seems like, to my speculative eyes, they pivoted away from him. it would make sense why they would need a body to resurrect him when he is just a deceased soul, and his body is busy being a tumor. you could argue radahn's body was not in great shape and was eaten by alexander, and that's a completely fair point, but to me godwyn makes much more sense. not to mention, again, miquella had been explicitly trying to bring godwyn back in the base game.

(and this is a smaller gripe, but radahn's previous boss model had no feet. in his lore they discuss him riding his horse, and then learning the gravity magic to lessen the load on his horse so he could keep riding it. like yes the missing feet could be chalked up to rot, but he also just could have not had feet and was using his beloved mobility horse and the gravity magic to get around the challenge of not being able to walk. i thought that was cool if true, and it was a little speculative thing about his character i really loved, and that just kind of got thrown out with the dlc too so i guess i'll have to die mad.)

was it really necessary to have the assumed sa victim with the body of a child secretly be the instigator and assaulter all along? and then to add insult to injury not even have their actions make any sense within the existing plot? like was that all entirely necessary.

OTHER DLC LORE OPINIONS

you might be surprised to learn that i did not hate most of the other dlc lore.

miquella using mohg's body as fuel to resurrect their consort, while fucked up, i think could work with character motivations. especially if he was holding a grudge towards mohg, or mohg's actions were in fact antithetical to their plans, or he wasn't the one in control of mohg's actions. it could make sense that he would want to humiliate him (as ansbach mentions a few times...). and as i've said before i think miquella is fucked up, i think they do bad things, i think their moral compass is skewed, i think he's a creature of ambition and spite. i could see a world in which he does this out of hatred and spite, but in the situation they've set up where miquella was the one potentially compelling mohg? it lessens that spite, why would they be so hateful or willing to humiliate him if they were the one to compel his actions? you could just say oh, miquella is cruel and messed up like that and he's doing it for the hell of it, but it's not that compelling and doesn't make it as interesting. it just kind of feels gross. so yeah, in the current story i'm not a huge fan, but i see the potential here.

marika's character development was genuinely cool to me- and i understand i'm speculating and i've been speculating this whole time, but that's my business and and i acknowledge it's speculative. marika as a hornsent is a really cool concept to me, and it makes pieces of the main game make more sense. it makes her motivations make more sense, adds color to her character (and she was already interesting to me) and even though this dlc is like a lot of their other dlcs where it adds characters and backstory for no reason and does the ds3 thing of surprise! more secret children! i enjoyed it. it gives her more of a why past judgements of her personal moral character, it grounds her more, i like it. i also enjoyed the tidbits with the pots and sages, further (if not vague) developments with the outer gods. like this is speculative lore than i enjoy, and it's the kind of stuff i was excited for in the dlc.

as i said before elden ring kind of did the ds3 thing where they just added a secret child that was suddenly plot relevant and added a bunch of unnecessary lore, but i didn't really care too much in ds3 and i don't care here. messmer's voice actor is funny and messmer himself is compelling enough that i'm fine with not taking things too seriously. it helps that without messmer there is not hornsent, and a dlc without hornsent is a dlc i wouldn't have finished. (genuinely, i was so discouraged by the main story plot revelations i didn't feel like it was worth it to finish the dlc, but i felt bad leaving hornsent unresolved so i killed messmer. and then just finished the dlc anyways, so thanks hornsent.)

truly and genuinely i was happy with st. trina. i was so excited she was included in this, i've been a st. trina truther for too long and i don't even know what that means because there were like two sentences about her in the whole game, but she's great. i could take or leave thiollier, on the one hand having a creep as a character is fine and hes written in a way that feels believably creepy while also like hes enough of a 3 dimensional character that he has his own personality and motivations, but him included with miquella being elected the president of incest for no reason was a bit of a sour note.

the idea that miquella is discarding his body, and every piece he discards is a piece that they may hate, but they also have to discard those pieces that he doesn't hate, and their power, and all that he is, that's a real sacrifice and i think it speaks to the depth their character COULD HAVE HAD. that and their very clear conflict with their own gender, and conflict with himself over his actions. they discarded the girl sleeping within them and locked her in a pit in the ground so that none would find her. and he discarded with her their love, and the "treacherous" parts of himself that doubted, and disagreed, and with this he was able to become more resolute on their path. trina disagrees entirely with miquella's path to godhood and begs you to kill him, pities him, says their path is destroying him, and those are all doubts he has discarded with her. it is genuinely sad to me that this is not the side of miquella that we get to enjoy as a character because of all of the rest of the mess that's thrown on top in the dlc.

and of course i'm mad because he's acting like marika, they're shaving off pieces of themself and sacrificing for ambition, and they're becoming her while he's intent on being the opposite of everything she stood for, and we were so close to having this. we were so close.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

so far as gameplay goes, i enjoyed this dlc and it did a good job of replicating that feeling of playing elden ring and exploring again in its condensed and familiar setting. i like a lot of their new mechanics and ideas they introduced, though some of the later bosses fumbled it for me balancing the difficulty with actually enjoyable boss fights that feel fun to play.

the main story pissed me off so bad i almost put down the dlc, and erased all excitement i had to play it (even keeping in mind the reservations i already had going in). the side stories were frustratingly fun and compelling when compared to the main story being such a trash fire. i wish things were different but they are not, and i am very disappointed.

if you actually read all of this bless you, i hope you have a beautiful day.

[headingalaxys-spicy]

Hi there! I love your blog, could I please request what traits America and England would look in a potential s/o, and what kind of partner they are with them?

Thank you I'm glad you like my writing! :) Hope your Sunday is going smoothly.

I am going to be writing this from the viewpoint of the human AU, non-yandere and gender neutral. But more like real-life scenarios that are easy to conceptualize.

⭐️ Alfred ⭐️

He can handle many different people, but he prefers they all have a strong personality. You are confident, resilient, take responsibility, and things like that. He finds it endearing when he can go toe to toe with you like cracking jokes and making silly bets. It’s a fun push and pull between the two of you. It keeps the relationship fun. He will prank you on occasion, but it's harmless things like hiding whoopie cushions in random places so you can trigger them.

(He wouldn’t do dumb shit that tries to hurt your feelings, harms you, etc. He’s dumb, but not that kind of dumb.)

He enjoys having a fun date nite with his sweetheart, and to keep it interesting, he’s made a jar where you’ll pull out a paper that will tell you where you’ll have dinner and/or activity. Usually happens on a Friday because Fridays are fantastic.

Alfred loves doing Saturday morning classic cartoons or superhero movies with you while you eat some ungodly sugary cereal with more color than a rainbow.

He loves it when you sit in his lap whenever you watch Netflix, TV, Livestream, etc.

He struggles to express himself & confront issues in your relationship. He can be dismissive or ignore your feelings either because he doesn’t get it or he’s not so great at recognizing when he’s said or done something to offend you. You’ll have to have a talk with him about these things. Alfred will take those conversations to heart, but starting the conversation is the most challenging part.

The two of you enjoy “trying” to cook but fail miserably. You make something that is slightly palatable or stick to simple things like chili dogs, burgers, or the classic PB&J sandwich. On the days you really fuck up the food it’s time to throw in the towel and order take-out.

Alfred enjoys poking and squeezing your thighs or picking you up and holding you in the air randomly. When you’ve been away from him for a few days or an extended period of time he will charge at you like a bull to hug you.

“(Y/N) I’ve missed you, babe!!!!!”

Depending on how long you’ve been dating he will slowly let his guard down. Alfred will elaborate on his insiecurites about how he craves for people to like him. He will talk at length about the things he does in order to do that and how it takes a toll on him in his endeavors to maintain that.

Alfred loves holding your hand. It does not matter where you are sports games, movie theatre, dinner etc he loves the way your fingers intertwine with his.

Alfred will slowly bring your hand up to his lips and kiss the back of your hand gently.

🪄 Arthur 🪄

Way picker than Alfred when it comes to who he chooses to date. He tends to look for people who are empathetic and kind. He wants the opposite of himself since he's kinda stuck-up. It plays out in the relationship, but in general, it’s nothing severe. However, when he is being a dickhead, you will have to be able to match his energy and be like Alfred & LOUDLY call him out. Mans will instantly get the message when you do. However, he will be a moody mope for the next couple of days afterward. (It’s nothing that High Tea and a conversation can’t fix) You’ll have to give him some time to process it.

Arthur enjoys taking you out to fancy dinners all across London. Since he can’t cook himself, he’s got to salute your appetite by showing you he knows what good food tastes like. Just he doesn’t have the capabilities to replicate it. Or, on most nights, he will bring home take-away food.

Arthur takes you to the White Swan bar often so the two of you can have drinks & chat. It’s his way of being able to maintain closeness to you. He loves having quiet nights with you. Date nights tend to involve board games and watching a new episode of that show that both of you like, or on occasion; he can be spontaneous and be like, “Let's go to (insert country name that you’ve always wanted to visit) and have a fun excursion.

Weekly Wednesday high-tea is a thing for you. He does even plan out cute matching outfits for you to wear. These outfits tend to range from being decked out in lace or having a nice pressed pink suit. (Looks similar to the Barbie Day-to-Night Doll) or any other fancy outfit he can think of.

On the weekends, his favorite pastime is to lay in bed with you lazily until late into the morning. Of course, cuffing is his favorite thing to do right next to snogging.

Like Alfred, Arthur struggles to express himself to you or avoids conversations where he has to unpack the unsavory parts of his personality. It’s difficult for him since he’s the youngest of his 3 brothers. He has a chip on his shoulder because he has had to fight for attention, love, & adulation. Unlike Alfred, he has a level of self-awareness that stops him from saying horrendous things that could upset you or damage your relationship in such a way that you would consider ending it. Arthur is afraid to be alone, even if he won’t admit it.

Arthur will be eager to show you his hobbies, like his connection to the occult through his family. He may or may not ask you want to do an Ouija board session with him. If you tend to be one of the more adventurous types he may even want to do urban exploring with you because Arthur likes his spooky shit.

He dotes on you a lot like the perfect gentleman he’ll always open the door for you and pull out your seat. Arthur ensures that you always have a safe passage home, if not he’ll drive you there himself, especially if you’ve had a rough day and he’ll lend his ears to you. As he listens you begin to cry, Arthur will pause and pull over. As you continue on about your plight his right hand will comfort yours. His left holds your face and wipes away your tears.

[agirlandherquill]

Written In Smoke - The Travelling Letter

it's been a very busy couple weeks, so to make up for my forgetfulness of making a letter last week i'll be combining the two together this week!

A Glimpse Through Time - little bits about me and what I’ve been up to this week

as the letter's name this week tells you, it's a travelling one, and also the biggest thing to happen in these past couple weeks, so here goes!

i went to bath! it was GORGEOUS and everything i hoped it would be

so, dear reader, i'm assuming you're wondering what i did on my trip, and what did i do? well:

I visited the Jane Austen Centre (it was the hottest day of the year so far, so of course i bought a fan, among a few other bits)

I also visited Mary Shelley's House of Frankenstein (timed it so i finished reading frankenstein on the train there which was pretty awesome)

I obviously popped into Waterstones (snagged a copy of the maze runner, since i haven't read it in forever and my kindle copy has since been gifted to a relative)

and if you're interested, here's some of my pics from the trip! (a fair few are on my kodak, so until i fill the film roll and get those developed those ones are under wraps i'm afraid!)

I don't want to spoil the experience for anybody so I'll just show a couple from the jane austen centre:

me, ink, and a quill (very ironically) don't mix, i ended up covered which wasn't a surprise at all, but it was very fun to do (and difficult, and i thought fountain pens could be challenging)

and mary shelley's house of frankenstein:

being the only one in the room at the time was a strange sensation to say the least but when this giant starts BREATHING it's a fright

super cool movie posters

and if anyone else attempts the 'touch if you dare' electrocution bit this is me giving you a heads up - my phone ended up flying out my hand onto the bare wooden floorboards of the house (that shock HURT)

and then some of the things i was lucky enough to see - it really is a beautiful place

needless to say i'm so, so glad that I went on this trip (even if it was terrifyingly exciting to do on my own, when my trains got cancelled and delayed and i nearly got stuck in london for a night (just had to go when the computers crashed globally didn't i? and a heatwave to boot)

now for the rest of this section!

books: of course I had to prep for my trip by reading frankenstein, sense and sensibility, and northanger abbey, and while i've been recovering from 11km of walking (so worth it) i've been reading it happened one summer which is so, so good!

shows/movies: i started rewatching the boys, finished watching the original star wars trilogy and i finished s5 of Dexter, so a bit of a busy couple weeks too

music: this one's a bit tougher since i've been so busy reading/watching things, but here's a few of the tracks i've been listening to this time round: bleachers by haiden henderson, animals by maroon V, and lilith by halsey

Spills From The Ink-Pot - writing, writing, and more writing

where do i start?

the calendar project is going well - this is day 9, and i've made a good start on chapter two

ruin's reprisal, i'm ashamed to say, hasn't been touched this week since i've been so busy, but i'm determined to finish the draft by the end of july (utterly terrifying)

also started dabbling in fanfic again (if such a thing is possible, it's been such a long time that i don't really know) which is a really daunting prospect but i'm looking forward to exploring it and how i write it some more

now, i usually include some snippets here but since all of my writing time has gone into the calendar project this week that's all I've got, so feel free to check out the most recent pages from my master post!

bit of a double whammy to make up for my lateness but here you go! this week's letter is all typed up, compiled and heading your way!

~ A Girl and Her Quill

Tag List! (if you want to be notified when a WIS post comes out, interact with this post :) )

@lead-to-code @catwingsathena @nothoughtsjustmhaandotherthings @thestorywitch @lunaeuphternal

@theaistired @frostedlemonwriter

[lowkeyrobin]

Hi! Could I request Maxggs dating headcannons? Thank you!

yeah of course!! so glad to finally have a max request lol ; thanks for requesting, hope you enjoy!

MAXGGS ; dating shenanigans

summary ; dating stuff w max

warnings ; language

word count ; 298

masterlist

he's literally the sweetest omg

he's always memorizing your interests and feeding into any collections you have (as long as it's like not overconsumption, like figurines and books yk, stuff you'll actually use and appreciate)

he loves sharing his music taste with you and getting more songs to listen to from you

loves doing character improv challenges with you

you both have an asmr channel together and it's mostly comedy stuff, like maya winky and caroline easome

you met through Harry and Freddie (🙏🙏)

you were like "oh cool a friend of my friends" at first

but they brought you two together at an amusement park

and you did basically everything together

Harry and Freddie were vlogging so they kept poking jokes at you two when you were out of earshot LMAO

he confessed first

he was having an existential crisis one rainy afternoon and ran over to your home with flowers

you opened the door to see him soaking on your steps holding a bouquet of your favorite flowers

"you okay, max?"

"y/n I'm in love with you"

like okay buddy

he's like a 4/10 on the pda scale

like he'll hold ur hand and kiss you and stuff but that's it

he doesn't need to display your relationship cause it's kinda awkward

he's not jealous either, maybe a 3/10

a lot of people just ick him out and he doesn't wanna get you stuck in a bad situation

and some songs that fit your relationships vibe 🫶

don't delete the kisses ; wolf alice

ways to go ; alec benjamin & khalid

different kind of beautiful ; alec benjamin

overdrive ; conan gray

she calls me back ; noah kahan & kacey musgraves

detour ; maren morris

somewhere in my heart ; aztec camera

fade into you ; mazzy star

[suzieb-fit]

Hmm, ok. I think it's finally time to accept that I have to stay peanut free. Any format. They need to go.

Anyhoo....Not gonna cry about it. It is what it is.

A very steady day. One walk and two short, medium effort home workouts.

Upper body strength after my walk. Then full body barre before lunch.

I was going to do something later, but the motivation wasn't there, for a few different reasons.

Still waiting for my omnipod/dexcom insulin pump loop system to settle down. No progress whatsoever, it seems.

That is definitely impacting both my physical and mental energy. Not exactly helping my emotional energy either.

But I keep tiptoeing through. I won't accept any other choice.

I've stuck pretty close to my macro targets, even with an extra (totally emotionally driven) snack. Mixed nuts (the ones I'm ok with), olive oil spray and sea salt. That's now my regular breakfast from tomorrow, unless i think of something else. That extra snack obviously wasn't my breakfast, lol!

The pic is from those final peanuts this morning.

I've got to put myself back into "take each day as it comes" mode.

Other "life stuff" going on right now, too. So I'm having to acknowledge this isn't a time to push.

I'm really glad I'm halfway through my 100 mile challenge to support the MIND mental health charity.

I'm seriously lacking donations, which saddens me, but I'm looking at it as a personal achievement interest, and the knowledge that I'm doing what I can to help out and show support for an excellent cause. I've also donated money myself.

Let's see what tomorrow brings....

[jaskiers-lutkulele-of-sex]

It’s another poop desperation holding game, but this time it’s at an amusement park with roller coasters. Eddie is already properly touching cloth standing in the line for a ride with Steve. Steve is insistent to keep the game going when it gets to their turn to take their seats and strap it.

hell yes.

Amusement parks are such a good time, and what a good challenge a roller coaster would be.

Like, in the line on the way there, the intention had still been just to hold as long as possible, but even though they'd talked about public or semi-public accidents before, they both liked the thrill but didn't actually want, like, to actually get caught... still, Eddie thought, he could hold through, like, one more ride and be fine. Especially a ferris wheel. like, it takes a little while, but Eddie gets to sit the whole time, so that's pretty good.

Eddie's focused on that, on the fantasy of being stuck on a ferris wheel like this, with Steve (maybe even with Steve intent on making it up to him, up there, out of sight...) and doesn't notice how quickly they are making it through the line.

he doesn't break out of his private thoughts completely until the next wave of desperation hits and he almost doesn't clench up in time, totally lets the monster he's been holding back peek out for a moment, unable to walk as Steve nudges them forward. he stumbles a little, and it pokes out a little further, before he gets a hold of himself and forces it back.

"Fuck, steve, that was close." he whispers, close to steve, disguising the move as a bit of roughhousing- retaliation for being pulled along.

"Hot as hell, though. thought you were gonna lose it for a moment there."

"I almost did. Fuck, I'm glad we're almost... to the... Steve. What line are we in?"

Because now that they're so close, Eddie realizes that actually, what he thought was just a crowd getting closer, was actually Several lines, parallel, because the entrance to ferris wheel was actually right next to the platform to get onto the roller coaster.

Steve scrunched his face a bit.

"Roller Coaster? Like we planned- Roller coaster and then, if we can manage it, ferris wheel to end the night."

Eddie had completely spaced that they'd meant to do the roller coaster again. they'd ridden earlier, when eddie wasn't so desperate yet, and now eddie remembered the thrill, and telling Steve they had to do it again, later, because it was such a good challenge.

fuck. fuck he'd completely forgotten, assumed they were in the other line, which they're right next to and just.... fuck.

"Fuck, Stevie, fuck. I forgot."

Steve's eyes got wide.

"You.. forgot? you, oh shit. did you think this was the other line?" and steve gestured at the big wheel with its rocking little baskets...

Eddie nodded, grimly.

"Oh. shit. are you... can you... ?"

Eddie rocked a little in place, stepped forward again, twisted a little.

"Fuck, I don't know. um, probably not this and that? like, I don't know about another line... actually, maybe we'd better just..."

But steve's concern was slowly morphing back into interest.

"Sure, yeah, you say the word, we can go back, but. um. I mean, it might be easier at this point, just to wait?"

Steve wasn't wrong, they'd moved into the section of line with actual bars and dividers, sections of stairs, and navigating their way out would take some work, they really were quite close to the end... but also...

"I don't know. I don't know if I can, uh, handle this one. like, uh, this.

And Steve nodded sympathetically, but also eddie watched him reach down real quick and adjust himself in his jeans.

"Uh," Steve pulled together, "Uh, either way. you, uh, you make the call. but, uh... I bet you can make it?"

Eddie narrowed his gaze

"You really think so, or you hoping I'll fail?"

Steve nodded.

"Yes."

-

they were literally two cars away from the end, when Eddie had to stop again, or shit himself.

It was so hard to not let on, to anyone else, and though the line was so tight at this point that he absolutely couldn't say anything, the tight press of bodies did mean he could reach out and grab steve's forearm, dig his nails in as he fought for control.

the line moved again, but Eddie couldn't, if he relaxed at all, it was over.

"What's his problem?" asked the guy behind them, a brunette girl with little more than a bikini on, hanging off his arm.

"He's, uh, nervous," Steve covered, "Doesn't like, uh, heights. you guys want to go ahead?"

Steve let the couple around them, and another few folks, and eddie breathed, and made it through, and could move again.

"Fuck, steve, this is a bad idea."

Steve clapped him on the shoulder.

"It's gonna be fine! You got this."

Steve had one hand in his pocket, and Eddie glared.

Steve grinned, unrepentantly.

And then there was one car, and then it was their turn.

Eddie was a little shaky, legs a bit unstable, from the tension, and steve gallantly ushered eddie in first, across, making sure he got in alright.

Sitting down was mostly a relief, although the change in pressure in his abdomen sucked, but Eddie held onto bravado... right until the ride attendant came along his side and shoved the shoulder/lap bar down tighter, ratcheting in a couple more clicks, right against eddie's gut.

"don't want to be sliding around," the guy said, before checking the next one.

"Steve." Eddie said, starting to panic.

"You got this, " steve encouraged. "You're gonna be fine."

the ride engaged, sending their car forward, ticking upward along its rails. the change in angle helped, bar not pressing so much, but it also released some of the pressure from where he had been pushing himself down into the seat, subconsciously trying to keep it all in that way.

"Fuck Fuck I don't know..."

"I do. It's gonna be fine. even if it's not fine, ah, it's gonna be fine."

Eddie peeked over, at the little noise, to see that steve was holding the handle on his chest bar with his right, outer hand, but that his left hand, next to eddie, was actually suspiciously not visible.

"Steve. Really?"

Steve laughed.

"Fuck, I can't help it."

"Yes you fucking can. If I've gotta wait, so the fuck do you."

Steve raised his left hand in surrender, and then reached over to squeeze Eddies thigh.

They were cresting the hill.

"You got this. it's gonna be-"

and they were off.

-

Eddie absolutely did have it... for about 80% of the way. the thrill actually distracted him for a bit, and he found himself shouting along with everyone else.

even through some of the drops and twists, eddie still held out okay.

partway through, though, they ascended again, and Eddie realized what was coming next, and unfortunately for him, whether his own nerves made it worse, or whether he'd just run out of luck, as they shot into the double-loop, his gut cramped again.

Eddie tried, he really, really did, but

"Fuck! Steve! Fuck I'm- Fuck!"

as the centripetal force squeezed them back, down, up into their seats, no amount of muscle control could save eddie, and he felt the pressure like he was a tube of fucking toothpaste, relentless, and as the pressure finally let up, and he could feel everything again, there he sat with what had to be at least a few inches of shit in his shorts, too far out to do anything but admit to himself that it had happened.

"Eddie?" steve asked, as they rounded the last corner and headed for the platform "You okay?"

Every bump and jerked shifted eddie, made the log slip out a little further, and a little further. Eddie needed it to stop moving, right now, it was too much.

"Steve, it's, i'm, steve i'm doing it..."

Steve reached down and grabbed eddie's knee again, and eddie jolted and felt a little more slip out.

"It's fine. You're good. we planned for this, remember? All you have to do it get out at the end, and I'll walk behind you, and we'll head out. no big deal."

Eddie couldn't respond, fighting the urge to push for all he was worth, almost certainly red in the face.

The car stopped, and the bars popped up, and people started getting out.

"Come on, eds, we've gotta go."

"Steve." Eddie managed, just barely.

"I know, come on..." Steve was standing, and he waved off the ride attendant. "My buddy is just a little dizzy. Scared of heights, but he wanted to try, you know?"

The wave wasn't ending and Eddie knew he had no choice, he was only drawing more attention.

"Ready eddie? I'm gonna help you up." Eddie wasn't ready. "One, two- "

Steve pulled him to his feet, and eddie turned, and miraculously kept everything in place... until the big step to get back onto the platform. He stepped with one foot, and pushed off... and felt the rest of the log slide out into his pants.

He tried to freeze up again, but steve was right behind him, guiding his stumbling walk,

"Steve, stevie, I-"

"I know, " Steve assure him, quietly, "I know, but no one else does."

Eddie kept moving, no one right near them, steve comfortingly close behind him.

It was uncomfortable, and embarrassing, but when eddie slowed before the stairs down, steve bumped into him from behind and eddie could feel how hard he was, and that was gratifying as hell, so he kept on.

"How obvious?" eddie asked, as they did the last of the stairs, before they had to rejoin the crowds.

Steve hung back a little, and then reassured- "Really, not bad. no one would know unless they were looking, your jeans are so dark, or unless they..." and steve groped his ass, with the last of their cover, and groaned, and grabbed himself.

"Come on, steve, gotta get out of here first." Eddie reminded, and steve fumbled for a moment, and then collected himself.

-

they were just past the gate, almost back to the van, when eddie got hit with another wave, everything else having moved to fill the space, but still wanting out.

"Fuck, steve, i- hmnng-" and steve looked around rapidly, and then tugged eddie between two bushes, in a row lining the parking lot.

"Go on" he said, and eddie didn't even need the permission, immediately dropping into a half-crouch, and giving into the urge to push.

another large log came, and eddie felt his shorts, and his regrettably tight jeans, reaching capacity.

"Ah- ah- fuck, there's so much, steve."

"Fuck." steve hissed back, rubbing himself again, on top of his own jeans, not looking away.

"ah- ah- okay. okay i think i'm good for a minute."

Eddie straightened back up, and he could feel the weight of his accident this time, enough to cause his clothes to sag a bit. he reached for his belt, unthreaded the tongue, and tightened it a few notches (he'd relaxed it earlier, hoping it would help).

they made it to the van, and eddie passed steve his keys, figuring maybe neither one of them was Fantastic to drive, but steve had more experience driving under, uh, stress, and eddie could already feel-

yep, even as he opened the passenger door, and shook out the trash bag he'd had tucked there, to put down on the seat In Case, his guts twisted again, and he immediately capitulated, looser mess now squishing in around what he'd already lost, started to squeeze forward.

Steve clearly heard it, and recognized the stance, probably could smell it by now, too, and he dropped into the driver's seat, closed the door, and immediately started fumbling with his fly.

"Dude," eddie protested, breathless, still pushing

"Nope." Steve countered, equally breathless. "You're done waiting, and I can't fucking drive like-- Fuck!"

and that was it, apparently, Steve closed his eyes, and arched into his hand and came.

at least he had the courtesy to cup his free hand around the head of his dick and catch most of it.

... not that eddie hadn't come in a spectacular mess all over the driver's seat, and other places, before. but still

"You fucking owe me, Harrington." eddie grumbled, as he now faced the reality that he was going to have to fucking sit in his mess until they got home.

"Absolutely," Steve agreed, with a dumbfuck grin.

[giselledorleans]

hshqtask059.

when did you join ? what made you join ? what do you remember from the plotlines that were current at the time ? where were you in life when you joined and where are you now ?

i joined in july 2017 ! i remember browsing the tags and finding laura's wc for irena's sister. i was so obsessed. i loved a good family connection and heck if that wasn't it ! i was studying back then and now i'm working for a company 🤢🤢🤢

which characters have you written over the years ?

iris <3<3<3 isabela, giselle, arthur sr., darcy, kurakin, ignac ! honestly a lot less than you'd think !

what is your favourite plotline that you've been part of ?

in a way arthur sr. short escapade. i liked the fact that the storyline's timeline was clear and i could have him for a short time. his interactions were pretty wild. and i loved his dynamic with art and nicole. but honestly ? there's been so many but i think i've enjoyed myself the most during isabela's best era ? when she was picking up fights left and right, rebelling, etc etc. isabela's friendships with rohan and remei are probably my favourites. rohan's relationship with isabela was so random and it was so organic. i adore it. writing with julie on the otherhand was so wholesome. this is just a sidenote but two threads that have stuck with me would iris and irena's fight. when i was writing that i felt like i finally tapped into something in iris that made everything clear. i knew the character, i knew what she was supposed to say, and everything made sense. i wanna say laura felt it too. our writing matched so well and we understood where the other character was coming from. it's one of my most precious memories. then there's giselle's and roman's threads. i don't remember if this was a single thread or if these moments were scattered here and there but i loved writing giselle against roman because he brought out the best of her. the d'orléans enabled the terrible side of her. they fed her selfishness and cruelness. roman challenged her and sort of reminded her about the truly meaningful things in life. the threads were important to me and i think they made giselle so much more interesting to write.

what about other people's plotlines ?

alexei's depression. i didn't realize what elisa was writing at first and then she started to drop the signs and i was like oh no. alexei is one of the saddest characters i've seen. i was sold.

who is your favourite character from the ones you've played ? why ? what made you love them ? what made them so fun to write ?

giselle. which is a bit weird because giselle has never really had the starring role in plots ? i think all my plots on her haven't exactly been about her but it has been a lot of fun to tag along ! giselle's snarkiness was fun and i loved her antics. isabela is a close second but i think she wasn't as flexible ? her threads were a bit repetitive in the end.

if you could relive a plotline, which would it be ?

iris and irena. i think it's been a very long time and if we got to write them now, we'd be able to write them even better. it might be just nostalgia speaking.

is there a plotline that you'd edit now if you could ?

i wouldn't edit anything but i wish i had spent more time developing the friendship between isabela, bash, art and co. i think it was a fun group and a bit random !

what's a plotline you wish you would have been able to finish before closing or just write more of ?

i wish i could have made giselle into a good sister-in-law to fanni ! something wholesome after a long period of darkness would have been nice. but also it would have been cool to develop the slovakia-hungary plotline. ignac was a lot of fun and i'm glad i picked him up even if it was only for a short time ( like almost a year but time moves weirdly.... ).

what is your favourite ooc memory ?

i don't know if this is strictly ooc thing but I LOVED the craziness of the monaco nye. i loved that everyone just did wild shit. it was amazing. i don't want to say we peaked there but we totally did.

where can others find you if they want to get in touch ?

i'm not gonna lie but i'll probably disappear. everything has to end and i think this is it for me and the hshq gang. i'm not opposed to writing with you guys again but idk how likely it is since the only reason why i was still on tumblr was hshq ahah

what else would you like to say ?

i agree with everything that has already been said and i think we did something special here. everyone did their part and everyone participated in such innovative ways, i respect everyone here greatly for it. it feels like i've grown up with you and the characters and it's a weird feeling to walk off now. everyone knew this day was going to come but now that it's here, i really don't want to accept it. i'm so glad i found hshq and you <3