#to be completely honest I don’t think I really made much progress this year :/… but that doesn’t mean I’m not proud of what I made!!

[sunnibits]

hello hello here is my legally obligated Art Vs. Artist for 2023!!

I struggled a bit more with inspiration and motivation this year, but I still managed to make some art that I’m proud of and enjoyed creating! I did a fair bit of OC art, contributed to Art Fight, had an unexpected amount of fun painting eggs, and of course still had time to squeeze in some slutty Izzy art <3 (albeit not nearly as much as last year).

all in all, a bit of a random mix this year, but I’m hoping to make more progress and regain some proper inspiration in 2024 :))

as always, thank you a million times to everyone who supports my art (especially to those who supported me opening my brand new inprnt shop!!) I truly mean it when I say every comment, every reblog, and every sweet message means the world to me <333 I’m eternally grateful :)

[yulin-pop]

⤷ ✧ Why does love?

Gender neutral

- order 77 | headcanons | First Years (Housewardens too ig)

Ace Trappola

Out of all people— you have a crush on Riddle?! He silently judges you for this. At first he thought you were just playing around trying to get a reaction out of him.

He was in denial for a bit before noticing how every time you “came to hang out” with him and Deuce, you gravitated towards Riddle. You always hugged him when you saw him and after a while complete ditched your best friends for their housewarden!

Now Ace will never stop mentioning your crush on Riddle. You’ll casually be reading Romeo and Juliet for class and he’s like “You and Riddle?” Just to make fun of you.

He is definitely not supportive. You saw how he was at the beginning of the school year— just a little bratty tyrant. And yes he did indeed change, but even now how could you be attracted to him.

“Riddle is really sweet though. Say, will you help set me up with—“

“Hell no.”

Honestly he would understand if it was Trey or even Cater but Riddle is bottom of the barrel in his eyes.

What’s even more frustrating is that Riddle definitely likes you back. He is way more tolerant of you misdeeds than anyone else. Riddle is always asking about you to him and Deuce. Like, where you are and if you’re struggling on any subject. Such a caring boyfriend…

Deuce Spade

Ehehe, what? It was unthinkable for you to have a crush on Riddle Rosehearts. He wasn’t sure if you were joking until you had to prove you were serious.

“Riddle, do you wanna go on a date?”

“D-date? I’ll see if I have time…” He bashfully said.

“AHHHHH THEY WERE SERIOUS?!”

Deuce is supportive unlike Acey-Wacey. He supportive by default but he really wants you to think hard when you say you have a crush on Riddle. The heart wants what it wants, he understands that. He promises to be at your wedding when the time comes.

Make him the flower boy!!

Jack Howl

Oh wow. That’s all he really could say. You two were just walking to the library together to return some books having a small conversation until you said “Leona is so hot I want him so bad.” Like wow maybe a warning next time. He really doesn’t know what to say. He just gives you a look.

He knows Leona isn’t a bad guy and he is very much not against it but what does it have to do with him?

Apparently you like guys who act cold because you really don’t care that Leona seems not to have any interest. You followed him around and he kinda just allows you to.

“No way, he totally likes me back. He literally sent Ruggie away to spend alone time with me.”

“Wait, really?”

It’s kinda hard to imagine that you actually made some progress with him. He usually tells you if Leona is in a bad mood or where he is. And you run across the school just to say hi to him. Maybe true love does exist.

Epel Felmier

Damn he knew something was up! He didn’t understand why you always wanted to go to Pomefiore, you always used the excuse that you wanted to hang out with him but you didn’t really hang out with him. You hung around Vil.

You denied having a crush on Vil but he noticed you were being love-dovey about things and smiling to yourself. You were making it too obvious but Vil was making it worse.

Always doting on you and walk you to class in the morning or some times you walk him to class even if you get marked tardy. He always has to fix your tie and fix your hair. Epel thinks you do it on purpose so Vil will care for you.

At some point you stopped lying to him when he started asking too many questions about your relations with Vil.

“Okay I’ll be honest. I don’t like Vil.”

“Be fer real—“

“I love Vil!♡︎”

He’s never falling for your lies of “Can I hang out at your dorm?” ever again. He will physically kick you out of Pomefiore the next time he sees you.

He really doesn’t blame you that much. Vil is well known, rich, and pretty so it makes sense but he won’t forgive you.

Ortho Shroud

The only one that genuinely supports. He’s actually really glad it’s you since you’re his friend so he knows you’re not a bad person. There’s plenty of people who just want the money from the Shroud name but he knows that doesn’t matter to you.

He’s also just afraid that Idia would end up alone. As said before, a majority of people would try to get with him for the money. Trust me he will be your wingman throughout all of this. He’s always talking about how great his big brother is to you.

“Idia is just amazing! He coded a game all by himself.”

“That’s so cool!”

“Also Idia mentioned you today.”

“Oh my goodness, what did he say?”

He’s always setting you two up to see each other and make it seem like a coincidence that you too have been bumping into each other so much.

What’s perfect is that Idia likes you back too! Ortho straight up asked him, do you like MC one time and Idia short circuited.

“L-L-L-L-Like?! Nonononononono Ortho what are you thinking?! Some weirdo like me could never even think about a relationship with someone so cute and kind!”

“Ooo you’re blushing! Your hair is turning pink.”

Blushing, hiding his face, laughing, everything else. Idia tries not to talk about you but he’s always asking Ortho what you were doing today and such.

He has the wedding all planned out. He’s determined to set you two up. He wants one of you to confess first. Even though he knows for sure that it’s a mutual feeling, he wants you two to figure that out on your own.

Sebek Zigvolt

When you started spouting nonsense about a crush and how lovely he was, he just brushed it off. He wasn’t interested in your romantic life one bit.

He never would’ve guessed it was his young master that you were trying to romance. And unfortunately it was working.

He didn’t understand why Malleus came back smiling to himself or muttering something under his breath. He also started playing around a little more. All very positive changes.

At the same time you were blushy and talked about being exciting for night to come so you can meet him. Whoever that him is, hope he’s ready to deal with your silliness.

When you gave Malleus an invitation to VDC, Malleus was positively glowing. He was blushing and rolling around on his bed holding the invite like a lovesick school girl. Malleus was definitely in love.

Ace, Epel, and Deuce mention it later.

“I thought it was just some random dude. I can’t believe you were flirting with Malleus Draconia…”

He wanted to laugh, what an odd joke. “Are you talking about some sort of a dream?”

The three stare at each other than at you.

“That dude MC was droolin’ over was Malleus Draconia.”

Sebek immediately is engulfed with shock. He’s in denial for a bit until he looks at you and shakes you back and forth.

“You… monster! You charmed the Young Master!! You are a lowly human, you are in no way worthy of a Royal fae like Malleus! Do you hear me?!”

He’s super mad and his week is officially ruined. It tells Lilia and Silver about it and Lilia just giggles while Silver congratulates him on finding love.

Lilia thinks is cute how you fell first but Malleus fell way harder.

Now they know where Malleus runs off to at night. He feels stupid since it was kinda obvious if he just looked into it more. He just hopes that you will treat his young master right and he’s happy (begrudgingly).

[j-niret]

“ let’s stay in ”

✩‧₊˚ pairing — bf!hyunjin x curvy!gf!reader warnings — fluff, mild mentions of insecurities, lots of kissing and hyunnie being needy for his bby, size kink if you blink??? is pretty suggestive but i wouldn’t say this categorizes as full-on smut tbh

✩‧₊˚ requested? yes!

debuting this acc as my skz writing blog hehe (๑ > ᴗ < ๑) i had fun doing this request! pls lmk your thoughts on this <3

“almost ready yet babe?” hyunjin’s muffled voice through the door asks for the third time in a row. your brain kicks in to panic mode knowing he’s been waiting patiently for the past half hour yet no progress has been made. you were both supposed to meet with chan, changbin, and minho for dinner reservations but you loathed every single thing in your wardrobe right now. nothing was cooperating and you felt a meltdown beginning to transpire with the piles of clothes scattered across your bedroom floor. “y-yeah just um- give me a few more minutes be out in a jiffy!” that was a total lie but at least you stalled for more time. you’ve scoured your whole closet for a nice outfit to wear tonight but today was just not your day… almost everything you tried on was seemingly inadequate, fit weirdly, or accentuated that one particular body part a little too much for the other boys to see.

you huff in frustration, sifting through the tornado of a mess you’ve created, nothing was going your way; you still had no clothes on and hyunjin will start to grow suspicious any minute now. it’s not like you even have ugly clothes either — you buy the cutest stuff that matches your pretty aesthetic. you own a million and one dresses, skirts, frilly tops that hyunjin always says makes you look like a fairy princess, you had endless options but none lived up to your standards in this moment. time was ticking and you were only digging a deeper grave from procrastinating. “y/nnn, what’s taking so lo- you aren’t even dressed yet?!” hyunjin barges through the door without even knocking first. his eyebrows lift in confusion at the sight of you still completely undressed, you attempted to shield your body with your hands but hyunjin glares at your reaction. “what’s to hide? i’ve seen you in much less, no sense in being shy with me now babe.” he teased, snaking his arms around your waist while proceeding to litter kisses all over your flustered face.

usually you’d welcome this type of action with open eager and delight but your mind was being cruel to you, inability to focus on any positive attributes at this point. you wiggled in his arms to let loose from the tight grip he had on you but this only made him question your resistance, “what’s the matter bun?” he asks sweetly, voice notching up several octaves. “nothing’s wrong hyune, why would you think that?” you’re a terrible liar, hyunjin could notice something off with you instantly. “we’ve been dating almost a year now y/n, you can’t think i’m that oblivious to when you’re upset about something… talk to me, i’m here for a reason.” he nuzzles into the crook of your neck, pulling you closer into him. your timid nature makes it harder for you in expressing the way you feel, looking down at your feet clad with a pair of cinnamoroll socks. you hesitate to speak up but it was only fair to be honest with your boyfriend, “i just don’t feel like myself today…” your voice trails, unable to choke up another sentence. “how come? what’s goin’ on in that pretty little head of yours?” his hands roam your curves, delicately massaging your body. “i don’t necessarily… like the way clothing draws attention to my bum…” you admit, sulking in his arms “i get insecure about how large it is.”

hyunjin couldn’t tell if you were actually being serious or not, is this really something to feel insecure about? he thought to himself. he loves every inch, nook and cranny of you — it was a shock to him you could even think so poorly of yourself. “i’m not sure i understand where you’re coming from.. i mean look at you, you’re literally the cutest girl ever. i adore your body, and you have the nicest bum i’ve ever seen might i add!” he twirls you around to face him, eyes glimmering with twinkles in them as you looks at you. you couldn’t help but pout, although his reassurance was sincere you were still unable to get out of the funk your mind settled in. “heyy, don’t give me that look— turn that frown upside down for me doll.” his finger probes the side of your lip to curl into a faux smile. large, ring clad hands drift down further to scoop your toosh firmly in his palms. puckering his lips for a kiss as he leans down to close the space between you, you scrunch your nose while hesitating to kiss back — you still felt uneasy in your own skin, the sweet sugary taste of him was distracting you well though. you soon melted into his touch, forgetting about your problems once the kiss grew heavier, lips hastily moving together as he squeezes your rear, giving it a light tap to make you squeal in his mouth.

smirking into the kiss, he kneads the plushness of your cheeks while you sigh into him. you were on your tippy toes since his height towered over you like crazy, one of your favorite polar opposites you were most fond of. as you pulled away a huge grin was plastered on the brunette male’s face, admiring you in awe, he still can’t fathom someone as ethereal as you being fully his. “you’re perfect just the way you are babe. i’ll tell you everyday ‘til you get sick and tired of hearing it, even then i won’t stop!” he assures lovingly, “my juicy booty cutiee.” you burst out laughing at that silly little nickname, he never fails to turn your sour mood sweet again. he peppers a soft kiss to your forehead as he rubs your sides, he’ll never get enough of you, truly addicted by your existence.

the buzz of vibrating echoes in the air, interrupting the shared moment between you; hyunjin dug into the back pocket of his jeans to answer his phone. “yello?” he responds, you could faintly hear what you think was changbin on the other end asking if you two were still coming. “ahh right, about that… i think we’re gonna have to skip out on this one hyung, y/n’s not feeling too well right now and i need to take care of her.” your eyes grow wide at the excuse hyunjin came up with, it seems he’s changed his mind about the plans too. uttering a few more things before hanging up he shoves the phone back into his pocket and faces you again. “you know you didn’t have to cancel right? that was rude of you!” you felt slightly guilty but deep down you were relieved. “it’s okay really, let’s stay in and order takeout instead. i’m sure they’ll understand.” he shrugs, voice sounding like honey as he bends down for another quick kiss. “i just want all my attention on you tonight, my darling.”

[dianthusandhisreds]

「 ✦ 𝕄𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕦𝕤 𝕒𝕤 𝕒 𝕓𝕠𝕪𝕗𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟚✦ 」

𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓱𝓮’𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓪 𝓫𝓪𝓭 𝓶𝓸𝓸𝓭:

You can usually tell when Malleus is in a bad mood because, well, you can’t see the sun, or moon, or anything aside from dark clouds and streaks of lightning. So, when that happens, you normally try to get to him as soon as possible. He’s been through a lot; so, you feel like you should return the favour.

You always hear what he has to say and give him your opinion, an honest one always, he doesn’t want to hear any more lies to make him feel better, just the truth, and when you comfort him, you always speak your mind. On that topic, you always make sure to look straight into his eyes when you comfort him, caressing his hands or his cheek gently so he can feel that someone is there with him. So that he knows that you’re not a figment of his imagination, a piece of a dream, created by his desire to be held.

𝓖𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓼:

Malleus is not the most sociable person around, mostly because people usually find him intimidating or straight up terrifying; which drives you to introduce him to your friends.

He’s obviously curious about them for numerous reasons; first of all, they have known you for years, so they’ll probably be able to help him choose presents for you, know what makes you upset, happy… Second of all, you look very happy around them, for him, it’s like you’re a sun irradiating joy (his hear melts when he sees you smile so carelessly around them, stress lines completely erased from your face).

And lastly, because they come from your world and know their way around modern technology; he asks them for help when he doesn’t want to bother you with his questions and inquiries (you seem too busy helping the Heartsabyul duo to explain how does this “Blue tooth” functions. Is it a spell to brush one’s teeth? To colour them blue? Who would like to have their teeth painted blue? And why does it seem to be in his telephone? Where does that small gadget has its mouth?)

𝓙𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓸𝓾𝓼𝔂/𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼:

Alrighty… Our lover boy here ­might be a bit overprotective. I wouldn’t say that he gets jealous often, but sometimes he treats you as if you were made from glass, which can feel a patronizing. It’s not like you don’t appreciate him taking care of you, but it can be a bit too much; so, you’ll have to tell him to back off a little when you see that he’s overreacting; like when he decided to just send everyone into a 1000 year long nap because he thought that way everyone would be happy and out of harm's way, but let's not talk about that :)

𝓒𝓸𝓶𝓶𝓾𝓷𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷:

Malleus tries really hard to use his (newly acquired!) phone to contact you, but he hasn’t gotten quite used to it, he finds texting a tedious task and therefore prefers calling you or sending you letters in which he asks you about your day, Grim, your friends…

You, on turn, ask him how Lilia is doing, how is Silver and Sebek’s training progressing whether he saw and gargoyles the previous night; and now you have more than a hundred letters sitting on your bedside table.

They are filled with poems, dried flowers and thousands of very detailed sketches of grotesque stone creatures filled with explanations on their whereabouts, the kind of rock that was used to sculpt them, and curious details (see how the fangs of this magnificent creature are rounded and have almost disappeared? This means that this one is quite old, and thus shows signs of age and use. Don’t you think it’s wonderful? The many things these beings have witnessed, the time and care someone put into them?).

[heartbreakprincehbk]

Headcanon: Dating David Von Erich

Requested by @unforgettble420 !

To be completely honest, Kerry was always my favorite BUT honestly David is replacing him because he’s complete husband material. That man is a Cancer so you know he cares deeply about a family, taking the role as a provider seriously, responsible and protective and sentimental, etc. 

He would have first spotted you at one of the WCCW shows in the crowd and been distracted during his whole match. Kevin would have to yell at him to get his head in the game, and Kerry would catch on that you were the reason he was distracted after one too many looks in your direction.

After the show, Kerry and Kevin encouraged David to approach you in the parking lot. They both realized David wasn’t normally like this. He wasn’t nervous, but he did his best to shoo his brothers away to not ruin the moment. Little did he know, Kerry and Kevin were watching from around the corner of the Sportatorium.

He would be casual and calm as he approached and wasn’t afraid to compliment you in front of your friends.

“Excuse me, I don’t mean to interrupt anything, but I just had to tell you I think you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”

Not only were your friends impressed, but you were already smitten.

You would both keep talking, and he would eventually ask you out. You weren’t expecting much, maybe dinner or a movie, but he brought you to his family’s house where they had acres of land full of beautiful big trees. He had a picnic set up for the both of you, and was eager to get to know you.

Things would progress between the two of you pretty quickly, because David isn’t really the type for games or wasting his or anyone else’s time. He would know immediately that you were the one for him, and it would get serious pretty quickly.

He would ask your opinion on things like kids, what your goals and dreams were, if you minded him wrestling and traveling. He would be willing to make compromises, such as taking you with him on the road when you were able, and making up for the times he had scheduled matches. 

If you didn’t know wrestling or weren’t so familiar with it, David would teach you about it patiently, explaining the in’s and out’s, the characters, the training. He would always be amused when you worried over him getting hurt, but secretly, he would be thrilled that someone really cared about his well-being.

David would show you a new way of life, taking you to the lake with his brothers, riding with the windows down in his truck, tending to his horses with him. In turn, you softened him a bit with all the neck rubs and scalp massages. He wasn’t used to someone taking such care to buy him new socks to replace the ones with holes, or soft blankets on the bed.

David would love knowing you were taking time and care to make your house a home, and in turn he would always provide everything you ever needed; there was never anything you ever wanted because David made sure you had it. 

You mention you would like to learn how to ride a horse one time? David would get you your own and explain why he picked the breed and teach you himself. You mention you would like to paint? There would be an easel, paint, and different sized canvases in the spare room. You’re a little extra chilly when winter comes around? There’s a new fur coat in your closet. You like reading? He would literally build you your own bookcase. 

He trusts you entirely; as soon as he gets paid from wrestling, the money goes straight into your hands. 

He would take your wishes into account, but David was eager to have a family of his own. If that wasn’t something you wanted, he was prepared to be the best uncle to his brother’s kids and have them over often.

You were that couple that everyone thought had been together for 20 years; it was as if you had known each other your entire lives. David knew you better than himself. He knew all your moods, every look on your face, every answer to every woe. 

Naturally, all of his brothers were extremely supportive. 

Kevin, being the oldest and already starting to establish his own family, was very grateful and appreciative that David found someone so perfect for him and made him so happy. He would do a lot to make sure you felt comfortable within their family, always asking how you were doing, what you’ve been up to.

Kerry would treat you like the sister he never had. He would keep you company while you watched David wrestle, ask your opinion on everything from how his hair looked to how his own match went. He would also tease you, but never maliciously. 

Mike really adores you. He would gravitate to your side during family occasions, he would show you songs he had been working on first, and was always eager to talk about music with you. He nearly cried when you got him a new record player for Christmas.

Chris took a while to warm up to you, but pretty soon, he was your biggest fan. He would always be at your side asking you to help him build a puzzle he was working on, or asking you and David if he could tag along. You basically adopted him together, always taking him with you when you went to get lunch or see a movie. 

Doris normally held the belief that no one would ever be good enough for her sons, but then she met you. After watching the joy on David’s face around you, and how apparent it was that you genuinely cared for him and got along with everyone else, her mind changed almost immediately. She would love to chat with you about your future plans with David, and it would soon turn into lazy Sunday afternoons, you and Doris drinking tea on the porch while she painted–after your encouragement.

Fritz was less than thrilled when he found out another one of his sons was in a serious relationship, believing that it would damage the fanbase David and his brothers had established, but David wasn’t budging. As a result, he and his dad got into many arguments.

“She’s just like every other woman out there; they’re just interested in your money and want someone to take care of them!” “I’m not gonna let you talk about her like that. Unlike you, I want to take care of someone!” 

David didn’t let his father sway his feelings. He proposed barely a year after you started dating, taking you for a horse ride around his ranch and out towards the pond where he had flowers waiting for you and the ring in his pocket. 

Doris and his brothers were overjoyed; of course they were all excited and thrilled. Doris couldn’t wait to plan everything with you. Fritz finally came around, admitting you weren’t a bad person at all and realizing the relationship was more serious than he had thought. 

Your wedding was quite a huge deal, with the whole ordeal being mentioned on World Class on TV, with snippets being shown from the wedding. You had flowers from fans being delivered the entire month. 

David was sure to never leave your side the entire night of your wedding. It was important to him to start the marriage off with the most important thing–being together.

[buddieisgoingcanon2024]

I hope this doesn’t come across negatively but probably more realistic with a lot of hope, but I don’t think we’ll get too many more hints of buddie this season.

Also buckle up fellow buddies as this is a long post!!

I think some of the scenes where Tommy says Chris loved Buck and that he’d never come between them alongside dialogue about ‘jumping ship’ and Eddie wanting to scrap relationships and ‘hang with the boys’ are supposed to keep the coming out arc Buck centric whilst also leaving Easter eggs for future buddie.

However I think there are a few things that will mean we won’t see much progress until maybe even the second half of season 8:

1. Whilst as a queer person I hate to say this, I do see execs saying no to two characters who to the GA have only been straight presenting so far coming out as queer being an issue at least to do so close together. However, I fully think the show has backed itself into a corner and see it being endgame but definitely not this season or early next.

2. I think the catholic guilt story line is the perfect way for Tim to keep an Eddie coming out story alive in the background. I can see them keeping Eddie single while playing out that arc on things outside of his sexuality until they get a go ahead. (I do also think they might do a Demi sexual and asexuality spectrum sort of thing for Eddie which could be cool as they’ve only had him canonically sleep with 2/3 women and so could pull off a story line where Eddie hadn’t realised his feelings for Buck because he doesn’t understand his own sexual attraction and romantic attraction)

3. Realistically Lou is likely to have less and less time available for 911, I also don’t think they’ve introduced him with enough back story (plus glossing over the not so nice bits which means they can’t even bring that back up) to be more than the usual LI. I also do think it would be great to see his and bucks relationship play out and end amicably to really cement a change in Buck. I think they’re setting him up for Buck to learn a lot from him and I think it 100% fits Buck’s character for him to not be endgame with the first man he dates.

4. I think they’ve dug themselves a hole and buddie is the only way out. Tim admitted that he felt Buck was stuck in a hamster wheel and this arc was part of his way out. I would argue that Eddie’s character is getting there too. He tries a relationship, it fails (for honestly such stupid reasons lol) and then he has this whole ‘are romantic relationships even worth it’ attitude for seasons at a time.

5. Almost all long term arcs seem like they’re going to be ending this season. Henren adopting, Madney getting married, Bibuck finally no longer stuck on a hamster reel. I can see them making someone like Ravi a main (to and then starting buddie as a long term arc next year.

I’m so glad we got bi buck but let’s be honest, the hints for some sort of sexuality arc for Eddie have been way stronger. Lou already said that the original arc was for Eddie which shows that they think they’ve left enough easter eggs for it to make complete sense. They could have stuck Buck with a woman as endgame and denied all bisexual hints and the GA would’ve bought it because Buck always chases relationships. But I think they’d really struggle to do the same for Eddie.

That was a great long ask. Thanks anon. Those are awesome points you’ve made as well.

[morningglory-sims]

... The Chills Came From You 💙

I think they may be exploring, the "each other kind" 👀 I love them and their growing love for each other 🥰

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Transcript under the cut:

2 Months Ago

📍 Chisaka's, Mt. Komorebi

[AKIO] Yeah, so this restaurant is run by my older half-brother. This is essentially his inheritance from his grandfather on mother's side, so technically this is a family thing, just not my family, I guess?

[AKIO] *deep sigh* Fuck, family is complicated, huh? I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but some of the dynamics I would. A part of the tension going on with my family is my dad threatening to cut Isao off for taking over this restaurant. I don’t know if it’s one of his messed up ways of dealing with the grief of that failed marriage, but it’s really torn things apart.

[ELIZABETH] Oh, that must be so hard for your brother. I can tell he's just trying to honour his family's legacy in a meaningful way. After my mom died, one of my aunts felt like she was owed something because my mom was the "prettier" sister and she"suffered" because of her. It's really messed up how legitimate feelings of grief can be dealt with in such unhealthy ways. It makes me nervous for Kath's wedding.

[AKIO] I can imagine! That's really fucked up with your aunt though, I hope your sister is able to have her dream wedding.Now that I think about it, it’s the entitlement that gets in the way. Like you said, its not healing wounds in a healthy way. Anyway, I want to know more about your mom and your family. If you're comfortable sharing.

Family matters, and you matter to me.

[ELIZABETH] My mom was amazing! Totally warm, welcoming and made you feel like you mattered. She knew how to stand her ground and be bold, yet she was also shy. She passed away from heart failure when the twins were 17, Caroline was 15 and I was 13, she was so young. You know how it feels to be punched in the gut and have the wind taken out of you? I felt like that every day for almost a year. Being more on the quiet side, I for sure slipped through the cracks. My dad did his best, but it's hard to come to the realization that your parents aren't perfect.

[ELIZABETH] I think that’s why I went to school so far away. I wanted to get away from the place and the dynamics, not my dad or my siblings. To be completely honest with you, Akio, and I’ve only said this to Lily. I finally felt like I grieved my mom fully when Owen took my sorry ass out of Del Sol Valley. I had a good cry in his car and I got everything off my chest.

[ELIZABETH] It was really special because Owen and I don't always get a long, but during that road trip to Windenburg, we really bonded and opened up to each other. Family dynamics are rough, but when I learned to see my older siblings as people beyond just being my siblings, I love them more! I don't feel like I've been punched in the chest when I think about mom. She'll always be a part of me.And, I can carry that into other areas of my life, especially in my relationships. I still can't believe it's been almost 10 years.

[AKIO] Thank you for allowing me to know something so deep and special.

I learn so much about everything from you, Liz. Maybe I need to see my family as people beyond just as my family.

Maybe it would take out some of the emotion? You and your beautiful mind have given me something to chew on.

[ELIZABETH] We're all works in progress, Akio. We tend to figure things out as we go along.

[AKIO] Well, I'm lucky to have you in my life as I figure shit out. *winks*

[ELIZABETH] Wait, were you hitting on me? *winks* I'm grateful for you, babe. I've never felt safer with someone, I'm grateful for your emotional intelligence, and it's pretty sexy if I'm honest.

[AKIO] *blushes* Well, babe I'm so absolutely serious about, us. I've never felt cared for by anyone like you.

I see how passionate you are and how you care for others. I want you to know that I only do serious and committed, and I want that with you.

[ELIZABETH] *sighs deeply, relieved* I only want something serious with you, Akio.

[AKIO] Good, glad to hear that, beautiful. I adore you, so much and I can't wait to explore what life has to offer with you by my side. 

[ELIZABETH] *to herself* Ohhh, hmmm!

[ELIZABETH] *lowers voice* Explore, you say? I've been thinking about 'exploring' too…

[ELIZABETH] *gently caresses Akio's ankle with her foot - a little flirty game of footsie*

[ELIZABETH] I wonder if we're thinking about the same type of exploring, hmm? The each other kind?

[AKIO] *gulps, eyes widen *

[AKIO] *lowers voice* Well, Elizabeth Grace, I initially wasn't thinking of it that way, but I'd be pleased to facilitate that. Juri is sleeping over at Eiko's tonight... So we can get that exploring' figured out.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

It’s been a while! Being productive at the end of the year is truly one of the most difficult things in the world… But here are some replies~

simplydlightfuldestiny asked:

Whenever I look at the shroud brothers or specifically Idia, I kept thinking: I wonder if he would be hooked of angelique layer?

It's an old series made by CLAMP (card captor sakura, tsubasa chronicles, etc..)

But basically it's a battle of figurines that's linked to your mind and teamwork. I think he may have gotten inspired by it when he first made ortho.

You know, I also wonder what kind of anime Idia used to like as a kid and which ones he likes now. He seems to enjoy the “cute girls doing random things” genre, but he’s also definitely a man of culture that has a lot of favourite titles of all kinds of genre. He definitely would like something from CLAMP.

I haven’t seen Angelique Layer, but BATTLE OF FIGURINES!! That’s fun.

Maybe he did get inspired by it to some degree (he absolutely got inspired by anime, let’s be honest), but I can also imagine Idia realising the similarities later, maybe when he rewatches it together with Ortho.

Anonymous asked:

What would be one example of Azul and Idia being affectionate with one another

What are you talking about, Anon? They're always affectionate.... 🥹

But I’ll answer your question properly as well!

It’s very difficult to catch these two being affectionate with one another due to their condition (“being allergic to being emotionally open and vulnerable”), these instances are quite rare, but also completely depend on Azul’s mood. Idia just prefers not to do anything; the most thing you’d get from him is that sometimes he won’t tease Azul for being affectionate. Sometimes he might even kiss him back or push his cheek against Azul’s in a surprisingly cute way. But for that to work they need to be alone and frankly to shut the fuck up. And once again, Azul needs not to feel bitchy and pissy that day.

But also, these two are the most passionate for each other when they do something together and it works. Especially Azul. If something that he and Idia have been working on works exactly how they’d planned it, he’ll get so overjoyed that he’ll hug and kiss Idia, scaring the shit out of him…

Anonymous asked:

Do you think if Jamil died then Kalim would turn out like Prince Soma in Black Butler? Go from happy to angry-despair?

I honestly believe that Kalim would overblot if something happened to Jamil. I say it every time we’re getting asked about Kalim’s possible overblot (which I find almost impossible, unless something happens to Jamil lol).

But if he is defeated and calmed down, it’d definitely affect his disposition for quite some time. A lot of it also depends on just how Jamil died in this scenario… But even if there is a culprit, I feel like Kalim would be more sad than angry.

Which doesn’t mean that he won’t brutally punish the culprit (which really goes against his morals, so it’d be extra painful), and also doesn’t mean that his mental state won’t progressively get worse and worse. Maybe he’ll become apathetic, maybe he’ll become even more self-indulgent, but deep inside he’ll mourn Jamil forever.

Anonymous asked:

Any thoughts on Ruggie x Idia?

“Oh Ruggie deserved it” was my first thought lol please give him all the S.T.Y.X. money. Azul would have to fight the hyena boy yet again!!

But in all honesty, that vignette where Ruggie saw Idia stalking Jack during the PE class and didn’t tell on him was quite nice. Even though it was for Ruggie’s own benefit, I like how he prefers to build connections instead of immediately trying to blackmail Idia for some perks.

+ I really like the fact that Ruggie seemed to be aware that Idia Shroud is _that_ Shroud, while the rest of the cast seemingly either didn’t think much about Idia at all or believed that he just happens to have the same last name as that rich and powerful family. It just shows who really pays attention lol

In general, even though they really don’t have all that much in common, at the same time both of them have this pragmatic side and “mind your own business” side, so I think they could get along or at least have interesting interactions. One thing that they definitely would have a conflict about is the fact that Idia clutters his place with merch and stuff, and Ruggie absolutely wouldn’t understand the idea of collecting useless items (we’ve seen this conflict during their Glorious Masquerade interactions)… So there is a lot of “food” for this ship if you think about it.

So yeah, we’re not deeply into them, but we definitely aren’t opposed to them as a ship.

[joesalw]

Hey, you don’t need to answer this if this is too long, i was ranting (lol)

            As a new ex-swiftie, I feel so suffocated right now because a good friend of mine is a taylor swift fan and I don’t know how to tell her that I am not a swiftie anymore (to put it lightly). Like, we became friends back in 2020 because of our love for taylor’s music, but around the time midnights came out, I became aware of the many problematic aspects to Taylor and that made me dislike her. Since then, I have progressively become more disgusted with her. After finding out about the privates jets AND her dating Matty Healy and doubling down on that (plus not stopping her fans from attacking joe), I kinda despise her now.

            I didn’t even listen to the recordings of speak now and 1989. I could only comment on the vault songs with my friend because I heard them nonstop on tiktok. I made a point not to talk about them with her too much though because I didn’t want to lie and say I had listened to them a lot.

            Now, with the release of TTPD, my friend is super excited, but the album has officially made me an anti-swiftie. I literally could only listen to a few songs before giving up (because they sucked ASS), but hearing about the rest has completely ruined all of taylor’s music for me. The old songs of red and folklore that I was desperately holding onto for the past year... they disgust me now too. I cannot enjoy taylor’s music anymore because of how much she disgusts me.

            All this to say, HOW do I tell this to my friend? I wanna be honest with her about it, but I don’t want to express how deeply I despise Taylor Swift now because I fear that might ruin my friendship. I mean maybe one could say such a friendship isn’t worth it, but my friend does matter to me a lot. Losing her would really hurt. I just don’t want to talk about taylor swift anymore with her because it’s so tiring and irritating.

            Is there a simple way you think I could tell her about my new “disinterest” in taylor swift without ruining the friendship?

I think it's better to be honest with your friend and tell her how things have turned you off. that being said if you think you’re gonna lose your friend just because of not liking taylor swift, then you’re not the priority in that friendship at all. i think your friend should respect you for having a different opinion and outgrowing her or else idk how that's gonna be a genuine friendship at all

[my-castles-crumbling]

Hello!!

How are you?

I’ve been feeling stressed out about a lot of things recently and everytime I’ve felt like this in the past it’s you who always helps me out! So I’m back… (not sure it’s a good thing)

Ok so firstly let’s discuss my sexuality. So for the past 3 years I’ve identified as bisexual. I basically like all genders but do have a preference. For example, I am more attracted to masc presenting people than fem presenting people, but I also prefer queer people more often than not. Does this make sense?

This makes me bi, right? Bc I have preference?, bc sometimes I wonder if I could be pan, but pansexual is with no preference (?)

Alrighty, second thing on my mind is the dreaded gender. I’ve been questioning for about 10 months now and I feel like I’ve made progress and I wanted to talk to you about it! So I was that anon and go was spamming your asks back in like December and January bc I was so confused about what gender identity I could be. I asked about almost all of them and you truely helped me so much!

I thought I was faking it as I’m like older than most people when working this stuff out (19), but you reassured me that I wouldn’t be faking it if it was keeping me up. You also said I could be genderfluid, like you. I remember you said you had similar experience to what I was describing: I did look into that and it’s still something I think about. I know I’m not cis. Sometimes I do relate to being a ‘girl’ (as uncomfortable as that makes me feel, it’s the truth). (I am afab). I know I’m definitely not a man. And I had thoughts that I could be agender.

I’ve come to conclusion that I am non-binary, possibly genderfluid, in which fluctuates from agender to demigirl to nonbinary. (Still discovering it all though). I just wanted to come on here and thank you so much for all the help and guidance that you provided! It really means a lot and you are the most amazing human in the world for that! 🫶🏼

Ok now lastly I am a uni student, and I have placement in 2 weeks. I’m going to a school to teach… yes I’m going to be a teacher (like you!) Clothes were the initial issue with placement as clothes always make me feel dysphoric, but you helped me with that as well! The thing that’s keeping me up lately is the title of what the students will call me. Most teachers go by Ms/Miss/Mrs/Mr and then their last names. I don’t want that. I know I’ll end up being called Ms ______, which makes me sad. What do students call you? Do you think it’s bad if I just tell them I want to be called by my first name or is that unprofessional? I know this is silly and I shouldn’t be overthinking it but it’s making me feel uncomfortable and sad so I thought I’d ask you for advice. (I also don’t know how I feel about Mx being used for me).

Again Cas, thank you for all the help you have provided me these last few months! I am so glad I found your blog when I did bc you have helped me in more ways than I ever could have imagined! I am so so grateful for you and I hope you have everything you want in life bc you deserve it!

Enjoy your day/night :)

Hi!!!

Yes, I remember you!

Okay so for sexuality...I think this is a matter of opinion, to be honest. Like, I've read completely different things and I am by NO means an expert. But in MY opinion? If you have the ability to be attracted to anyone, regardless of gender, that would be pan. Even if you have preferences. But if you're strictly only looking for certain genders, that would be bi. I hope that makes sense? Like there's a difference between having a preference and not being attracted at all.

I'm so glad I could help you with your gender! With teaching, have you ever considered just going by your last name? I think it might not be a good idea to go by first name, just because that brings you on a 'friend-level' and some kids will take advantage about it. But just your last name isn't gendered, and also give you some authority.

I'm so so glad I could help you, and please feel free to write again!

(Also I am naming all the anons who write to me in case they want to write in the future, and I am using a random positive affirmation generator to do so. So I dub thee: impressive anon. Enjoy your free tag!)

[acti-veg]

hey acti, i hate to be a downer when we're already fighting an uphill battle, but i guess i just wanted a fellow vegan to hear this :/

i dated someone this past year, and he knew i was vegan from the start, even when we were just friends, and it was never a problem; he surprised me with a vegan meal prep made with beyond meat once, would clean the grilling utensils when he was making animal-based burgers and I was having a plant-based one, and even, when we went out to eat and they got my order wrong and served me something with meat, put his hand on mine and said he knew i was frustrated and was sorry. fast forward five months and after we'd had a conversation where i told him in a hypothetical completely vegan world, we wouldn't be farming animals for agriculture so livestock animals like cows would sort of go extinct (which started with another hypothetical where i would either have to be super sick for a month or eat a piece of steak and be instantly cured, to which i answered id be sick for the month), he decided i was "radical" and we weren't compatible because he "didn't want his kids to be exposed to veganism". i'd even told him i would compromise (because ive always wanted to raise my kids vegan) in that when i would cook, the food would be vegan, and when he would cook, it wouldnt, and that wasnt good enough. there were other issues and red flags not related to veganism (though he was always making "joking" comments about how he'd "break me of veganism" by cooking a really good steak and convincing me to eat it), but it just really sucks! like vegans are the ones who get the bad wrap as supposedly being "extreme" - i shouldve been the one upset and bothered according to their stereoptypes for us, but it was him! carnists are just so close-minded and hypocritical its really unbelievable.

i really thought it could work if we just respected each other, but he, like most everyone, wasnt interested in genuine conversations or respect. and its so depressing because now i fear every other relationship i enter with a nonvegan will end the same! how can having compassion and respect for nonhuman animals make us so wrong in their eyes? i know it would probably be smarter to only date other vegans but i couldnt help falling in love with him. and the vegan dating pool is so small and spread out, and i dont live in a big, progressive city! im sorry to complain so much, its just a really exhausting reality.

thanks for listening <3

I’m sorry that it ended this way anon, it sounds like you’ve been through a lot with this one.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think that this sort of situation, as awful as it is, is anything inherent in being vegan. You had fundamentally opposing worldviews, relationships between people like that can last and be good for a while, but there will always come an issue that they’ll be split on and can’t compromise. He was unfair and handled it poorly, but even had he been more patient with you and more honest, it sounds like you just weren’t right for one another.

Not every non-vegan sees us this way, and plenty of people do navigate successful relationships with non-vegans. They can’t be anti-vegan though is the issue, and from what you’ve described here, it sounds like that is very much what he was. He would need to have at least been sympathetic to veganism and have a positive outlook on animal rights in general. He’d also need to have known what your intentions would be with any children, though it’s admittedly tricky to know when to bring that up.

Dating another vegan would of course be ideal, but someone who respects you and what you believe in, and crucially is honest about that, is all you really need. Everything else can be subject to compromise, but it sounds like that key thing was what was missing from this. It sucks that you had to find out a year in, but at least you know now before it went any further.

Best of luck in the new year anon, I hope you find better things, whether that’s happiness in your own company or with someone new. Take care!

[chibrary]

source: rosa elena torres, paddock magazine (original article deleted) format: interview season: 2017, f2

Being from Monaco, it’s fairly natural that you’ve been in some contact with Formula 1, but why did you choose to become a driver?

My father was a racing driver. One day I’ve tried karting and, to be honest, I fell in love with the sport instantly. I liked it so much that I knew that’s what I wanted to do in life, but apart from that there wasn’t a particular reason to go into Formula 1. It’s just a sport that I admire.

There are now several young drivers who are very good in Formula 1, like Verstappen and Ocon; how would you rate yourself among those?

It’s difficult to rate yourself compared to them, because we’ve never raced each other in single-seaters. I’ve raced a lot against them in karting and we were all very close. However, we’ve grown a lot. It’s very important how you grow in these and similar sports; if one day I have the chance to have a car that’s equal to theirs, it would be interesting to see how much progress we’ve all made. For now, it’s really exciting for me to see them doing well in Formula 1.

What are the main differences that you’ve found between your Formula 2 ride and the Formula 1 car you’ve tested?

The two cars are completely different, especially this year – Formula 1 cars have much more downforce. They also have a bit more power, but the downforce level is just incredible compared to let’s say a Formula 3 car.

And the power steering is something that is very different. In Formula 2 you don’t have the precision between the wheels and the steering wheel. In Formula 1 you do. You just need to get used to it. It’s a completely different feeling, but also the fast corners of Formula 1 are quite impressive.

Will you change your workout routine to suit Formula 1 cars?

To be honest, no. I think a Formula 2 car is a lot more physically demanding than a Formula 1 car because Formula 2 doesn’t have power steering and this is a huge physical challenge. I mean, it’s very hard for us in Formula 2 just to turn the steering wheel, whereas in Formula 1 you can just turn it with two fingers.

And will you make any changes in terms of what you’re eating?

I probably won’t, I’ll just work out and eat the way I’ve always done it.

[theenemyod]

So I wrote it

Con looks at Alistair, saying nothing. He doesn’t like what’s happening. Not specifically anything in his moment, but the body of a seven year old child sucks. His body can’t do anything it used to do, things that used to be easy take a lot more energy, things that used to be natural become annoyingly difficult. And the leg doesn’t help. 

And it doesn’t help anything that Alistair doesn’t know shit about who’s actually in this child’s body, and if he did Con would probably be dead in seconds. So he decides to say nothing at all. He has to be careful with his words as to not reveal himself. Alistair already has his suspicions, he doesn’t want to add evidence. He doesn’t want to end up dead. 

Although unfortunately he has no clue how to convincingly act seven years old. He mostly thinks of younger kids as hyperactive shits that can’t sit still for five seconds, but his leg hurts a lot when he moves too much anyways. That’s something he has to work on. 

He needs to get stronger. He needs to be in a condition that running won’t cause him physical pain and he can get back to at least his old level of strength. And magic level too. 

Before Alistair can say anything else, he silently leaves the room, hiding outside in the garden instead. 

Con hides himself in a particularly overgrown area, the small body being hidden well in the long grass. He decides to practice his magic first. That’s arguably more important. 

He starts practice with air magic, trying to make illusions or to move things. It seems like the thing with the least potential to cause damage if he somehow fucks this up, compared to some of the other elements. It’s also safer in the sense that he’s surrounded by grass and earth, so being pulled in and devoured would be harder, but his mind doesn’t linger on that for long. The concept of counterweights and everything in that area in magic is painful for him to think about, even the type that has nothing to do with… NO don’t think about it. 

Con starts to concentrate on his magic more, his hands shaking slightly, forcing himself to just focus. Focus on this. Don’t think about anything else. 

After a few hours, Con decides he’s made enough progress, and starts to climb out of the grass. He’s manages to pull his mind of the subject of counterweights, and isn’t going to let it wander back to that. 

His day goes like this most weekends. When Alistair will almost always lock himself in the garage or the basement working on some new weird project, leaving Con almost completely unsupervised. It’s been like this for about two years, since this body was five. This was defined a bit irresponsible on Alistair’s part, and definitely would be more of an issue if Con had actually had the mind of a five year old, but Con isn’t complaining. It gives him more time alone, something that before he hadn’t had much of. In the last two years alone it’s given him a lot more time to get better. 

He doesn’t goes back inside yet, not really wanting to see Alistair, but instead sits against the wall. He’s not using magic anymore, so he doesn’t have to hide what he’s doing, but at the same time he’s extremely bored. Half of what he does most days is just for the purpose of exhausting himself, so hopefully he can sleep at night. It works well enough, thankfully. It doesn’t stop the nightmares, but most nights he doesn’t have enough energy for his body to wake itself up. 

He gets up off the ground, and starts to walk around, figuring that’s be a good way to waste time. That’s another reason. He wants time to go quicker, if he’s being honest. He just wants to be twelve and get into the Magisterium already, not wait five years until then. This body sucks. He just wants to be him again. He’ll even deal with the scars if it doesn’t mean having to move around the world as a fucking seven year old. And by deal with the scars that does not mean not hiding them. No one is seeing those things. Ever. 

Con doesn’t return home until around sunset, when he realises Alistair might be getting worried. Though by now, Alistair is used to him being home late. And the people that live nearby are used to seeing an unsupervised seven year old walking around, though that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped judging Alistair slightly for it. Which Con can’t exactly blame them for. 

Inside Alistair is sat at the table, looking at some old book. He glances up at Con for a moment, then looks back down. Con wonders how much he knows, how much he’s figured out already. There’s no way he banned every mention on magic for no reason, or he didn’t even try to hide his hatred for the Magisterium, for no reason. But how much does he know? And is it enough to hurt Con?

[thievinghippo]

Hippo’s Writing Year in Review 2022

Believe it or not, this is the TENTH writing review I’ve done on good ol’ tumblr dot com. TEN. This upcoming April will be the 10th anniversary of when I created this tumblr and donned the mantle of the thieving hippo. Time freaking flies

For prosperity’s sake, here are all of the previous years reviews: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021

I ended the year with 188,642 words. Well below my goal of 240,000 words. But I moved and had to clean out my childhood home, so I’m gonna give myself a pass on that one

I actually only ended up posting 4 fics in 2022. Worked on a total of 13 in 4 different fandoms (The Untamed, My Time at Portia, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect)

Here are the fics that were posted!

Two Bits (m!Hawke/Fenris)

you lift my heart up (when the rest of me is down) (Wangxian)

A Game of Chance (Wangxian)

The Boys of Summer (Wangxian)

I really enjoy doing a deep dive of the year, so below the cut is a fandom breakdown of 2022

Overall, 2022 was mostly The Boys of Summer. I’m really glad I chose to write it, but DAMN. I have never had more trouble with a fic before in my life. I outline extensively before I start writing but that method failed me with this fic. I outlined, started writing, realized something wasn’t working, trashed everything, outlined again, rinse and repeat. This is what I mean. The posted version of tBoS is 83k words. I wrote 130k in 2022 (150k total over 21/22). More than 2/3s of my words in 2022 was tBoS. To be perfectly honest, I’m really glad its done and not taking up my brain space any longer

Had a surprise fandom hit me in the face with My Time at Portia, which is SDV-esque. (I actually like it better than SDV now!) I love my OC, Lettie, and I love the unconventional romance path I set her on. I’m in the process of writing a total of 7 fics for the fandom, all part of a series. Four are complete while two are in-progress, and the last one is outlined. I don’t expect much interest in the fics, but they’re actually helping me a lot with my original fiction

Dipped my toe in the Fenris romance and made a new Hawke. Who I absolutely have to get in a game at some point. Astor Hawke, an archer. He’d call himself a dashing rogue but he’d be wrong

Then while I didn’t post any Mass Effect fics, I did continue to work on my Sonya Shepard alphabet fic. I made the decision not to post any chapters until it was complete. Only 4 letters left, so hopefully sometime in 2023!

#

So let’s talk the good, the bad, and the ugly

The good. The Boys of Summer is DONE and even though I was banging my head against the wall, I’m really happy with how it ended up. And I might not have made my word count goal, I’m pretty happy with the words I did write

The bad. Honestly, I can’t think of much. I made steady progress and I learned a lot last year

The ugly. I absolutely have to start documenting the work I put into outlining and planning fics. I wrote no words in June, but half the month was me struggling to outline tBoS and planning out the My Time at Portia series. I deserve to see that as productive writing time!

Goals for 2023

Write 240,000 words. Yep. I’m going there. I’ve done it before and I can do it again

Finish the My Time at Portia series

Finish Sonya’s alphabet fic

Finish two in-progress Wangxian one-shots

Work on my next multi-chaptered Wangxian fic idea

WRITE TWO ORIGINAL NOVELLAS

Yep! I’m finally gonna branch out to some original work. I’ve got a boatload of ideas and I’m ready to actually give this a shot. I’ll probably end up self-publishing, but we’ll see!

So that was the year. I am ridiculously excited to see what 2023 brings!

[serioussimming]

Los Santos - Progress Report 2022 - Part 4a: General state of the world, R̶o̶a̶d̶s̶ and philosophy (somehow)

I love this title

Guarding the City of Los Santos from the safety of Mount Chiliad

During last years work on Los Santos (which was mainly september... Okay actually I think it was only september. But hey I haven’t made that much progress in any other year!) I replaced some road textures and reworked some road layouts that already existed. When a project is stretched out in such a long time window (2016-now) you not only work in one direction (from start to finish) but you also occasionally completely rework stuff from before. In all these years from 2016 this has been the only CAW project I’ve worked on. With every year I’m learning new quirks and tricks about the game and caw. When I started out I was 15! Now I am 22 and yet I still find fun in creating this very world.

I went from 15 year old boy with social anxiety who doesn’t go to school to play videogames all day to 22 year old young man (still boy to be honest) who had an extra in a tv show, moderated the local school charity art auction and who probably goes to university this year. Point is, I have changed so much in these 7 years you can’t even compare these two people and yet this project is somehow still going and it still feels like I only recently started it.

As I have said before Los Santos has never been a done in a year kind of thing for me. I mean I could do it but I don’t want to. I don’t have the time and the nerve for that. I like how I really sink into this project for one solid month and then don’t touch it for another 11. It sounds weird but it has always been about the journey for me. I find more fun in creating Los Santos than in actually playing the game and thus there is no pressure for me to get this world out by tomorrow. Hell I don’t even know what I should do with it when I’m done. Maybe doing a second version that corrects all the irreversible mstakes I made with this one? I hope not.  I would probably play in it for a week and call it a day.

I don’t know why but I have always been fascinated by this world building aspect. When I play any Sims game I always start to create a world/neighborhood/city and plan out how people live there, what they do and what It’s like to live there. This ambitious playstyle makes It really hard though to just have fun in Sims games and actually get anything done. That may be a stereotypical german trait of me. Not allowed to have fun and even turning games into work.

But it isn’t just sims games. In Minecraft It’s always the goal to create an entire landscape full of villages, fields, forests. But then in other games that are story driven and have a heavy focus on worldbuilding like Mass Effect, Bioshock or Dying Light It’s always my goal to consume as much as I can about the game and its world. I want to know every detail and really “feel the vibe” of it. Now that I think about it that’s also my goal when watching movies. Creating a world and then feeling it has probably been my goal all along.

I don’t even know what to call all that. Am I a storyteller? A creator? What jobs are for these kinds of people? Urban planning? Architect? Director? What do you call these people that always dream of crafting cities/worlds/universes?  God? Megalomaniac? Oh I hope not...

Ok the topic of roads is postponed to next part...

[candycandy00]

The League of Villains Heroes Prologue 1

Author's Note: This is going to be a long, multi-chapter story about what happens after the end of the story, how the remaining members of the League of Villains adapt to their new lives full of therapy and new jobs and new relationships. But, when they get dragged into a fight against an ancient evil trying to take over the planet, this group of former villains might have to become a group of reluctant heroes. No smut. Some strong language and violence later on.

Prologue 1: Shigaraki Prologue 2: Dabi Prologue 3: Toga Prologue 4: Spinner Prologue 5: Mr. Compress

Shigaraki Tomura shifted on the leather couch, still feeling slightly awkward to be here, even after all this time. The woman sitting across from him sat in a plush, high-backed chair, legs crossed, a clipboard in her lap which she periodically made notes in. She was probably in her early 50‘s, attractive for her age, neatly dressed with her dark hair pulled into fashionably loose bun.

The woman tapped her pen on the edge of the clipboard as she looked at him. “So what happened after that?” she asked.

Shigaraki shrugged. “Nothing. The guy let go of my shirt and walked away. I think he flipped me off, but I wasn’t sure. I went the other direction.”

“And you weren’t even tempted to decay him?”

“Nah. I’m not going back to prison over that asshole,” he said.

The woman smiled. “Excellent. You’ve come a long way, Tomura. Two years ago you told me you were struggling to keep from using your quirk on people who provoked you. Now you can shrug it off. That’s progress!”

Shigaraki bit back the urge to roll his eyes. “If that’s all two years of therapy can accomplish, I’m not sure it’s going so well.”

“You also said you’re getting along with your coworkers at your new job. And you’re still doing video game streaming on the side, correct?”

“Yeah,” Shigaraki answered.

The woman leaned forward and patted his knee. “Good for you. You said you really enjoy this streaming thing, and one of the fastest ways to recovery is focusing on doing things you enjoy.”

Shigaraki glanced at her face. She was a nice lady, his therapist. He didn’t hate her. In fact, in some ways, she reminded him a little of his mom. Not really in the way she looked, but the way she talked gently to him. But because he didn’t hate her, he felt like he couldn’t be completely honest with her. What would she think if he told her he “enjoyed” destroying things? And decaying trash and plastics that can’t be recycled at the factory he worked at just wasn’t cutting it. His thirst had never been quenched. But a year in prison and two years of therapy had at least given him a desire to try to control his urges.

“I do enjoy streaming,” he said, “but I have to keep my face hidden. If people found out who I am, I’d probably lose every follower I have. Trying to destroy society isn’t exactly something I could make an apology video for.”

His therapist chuckled lightly. “Yes, I’m sure. But as long as you’re still having fun, that’s all that matters. And didn’t you say you did a joint stream with your friend the other day?”

“Spinner? Yeah. But he’s a much bigger streamer than me. He’s got three million followers. The joint stream gave me a boost but he gets nothing out of it.” Shigaraki was quiet for a moment, then said, “I thought you said it was a bad idea to have much contact with the other members of the League?”

Her face softened. “Yes, and I still feel that way overall. Having too much contact with them could take you back to a destructive mindset, and we don’t want any of you to regress. But I think cutting off contact completely is an equally bad idea. The five of you can support each other’s rehabilitation, in moderation. Just try to keep it down to online interactions or occasional one-on-one meetings.”

“Yeah, no problem there,” he said, and it was the truest thing he’d said to her all week. Spinner was the only former League member that Shigaraki was in regular contact with. Even that wasn’t all that often, with Spinner being so busy with his streaming career. The others rarely initiated contact with him, if at all. But if he texted them, all of them always replied, even Dabi (who was usually at least two days late and responded with as few words as possible). It gave him the sense that they were still there for him if he really needed them, and made him feel a warmth toward them that he frankly didn’t feel for anyone else. But beyond that, he had little contact with them.

He’d be lying to himself if he said he didn’t miss their company from time to time. The months they’d spent together, often homeless, often crammed into whatever space they could find to keep their heads dry, had made them feel comfortable with each other in a way people who aren’t family rarely do. He wasn’t delusional. The League wasn’t a big happy family that all loved each other, but they understood each other, to a certain degree, and that was enough. On some nights when he couldn’t sleep, he’d be struck by memories of curling up on a stained mattress on the floor of some abandoned shack, Spinner’s scaly arm draped over Shigaraki’s chest, Toga’s hair fanning out and getting in his mouth, Mr. Compress’s foot jabbing his leg. He’d thought it miserable at the time, but now… on those uncommon nights when sleep wouldn’t come, he would trade his spacious apartment with the queen-sized bed for that cramped shack in a heartbeat.

His therapist was talking again, asking him if he’d been forming any meaningful relationships at work. He got along well enough with the people he worked with. No one bothered him, and no one ignored him either. But he wouldn’t call any of them friends. “They’re just co-workers,” he said.

“Aside from Spinner, do you have anyone else you’d call a friend? That you actually spend time with?”

“Does my dog count?”

She smiled but shook her head.

Shigaraki thought for a moment, then arrived at an answer he wasn’t sure he liked. “I guess… Midoriya.”

Her face lit up. “Oh, the hero you have to check in with every week?”

“Yeah,” he replied, a hint of annoyance in his voice. As part of his probation, he had to “check in” with Midoriya once a week. It could have been any hero, but Midoriya had volunteered, and Shigaraki had accepted. It wasn’t a huge deal. Sometimes they just met for coffee and the “check in” was done in ten minutes. Midoriya usually asked him the standard questions: How is work? Are you still going to therapy? How’s Mon-chan doing? Nothing too invasive, and Shigaraki appreciated that. But sometimes the hero stayed longer and talked to Shigaraki about his own life. At first, this had made Shigaraki feel uncomfortable, even awkward, but over time he’d come to enjoy the longer talks. He’d never say that to Midoriya though.

After a few more questions, the therapist laid her pen and clipboard on a nearby table and stood up. “Alright, I think we’re done for today,” she said.

Shigaraki stood up then too and pulled on his jacket. It was January, so the air was crisp and cold even though this winter had so far been mild.

“Have a great weekend!” the woman called as Shigaraki gave her a casual wave and left her office. He didn’t have to stop to schedule another appointment. He came in twice a week, like clockwork. This was another stipulation for his release from prison after only one year. If he ever refused to come in for therapy, or to check in with Midoriya, he’d be locked up again.

Shigaraki walked down the street, tightening his jacket around himself. It was late afternoon, and he thought he saw a snowflake fly past. He idly wondered if the trench coat in the back of his closet would be warm enough for snowy weather as he walked by small stores, ramen shops, bars, and the odd apartment building.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, so he pulled it out. It was probably a text from Spinner, or maybe his boss letting him know he had to come in tomorrow for some stupid reason. As he tapped his phone to look at the notifications, he was surprised that the text was from Mr. Compress (who didn’t go by that name anymore, but Shigaraki had as much trouble not calling him that as he had adjusting to calling Dabi Touya). He opened the text and stopped walking to read it.

“We’re having a little League reunion tonight at Chisa’s Bar. 7pm. Hope you can make it!”

Shigaraki looked at the clock on his phone. It was 5pm. He had plenty of time to go home, feed Mon-chan, rest for a little while, get his coat, and make it to Chisa’s. He quickly tapped out a response to the message.

“I’ll be there.”

He shoved his phone back into his pocket and headed for his apartment.